A one-of-a-kind Automotive Cultural Event, this oldest and grandest car show in North Orange County hosts Hot Rods and a Concours d’Elegance with the true classics of the automotive industry spread out over eight acres of lawn.

More details are available online: www.themuck.org.

Newport Beach Jazz Festival

May 18th – 20th | Hyatt Regency | 1107 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach

Southern California’s most famous Smooth Jazz Festival takes place in the intimate outdoor amphitheater at the Hyatt REgency Newport Beach each May with three spectacular days of world-class performances by over two dozen world-class jazz artists.

More information can be found on the official website.

Doheny Blues Festival

May 19th-20th | Doheny State Beach, Dana Point

The Annual Blues Festival is the true kick-off to the summer, with a weekend filled with music, lots of vendors, and an International food court that features foods from around the world.

More details are available by calling (949) 360-7800 or clicking here.

The Museum features artist talks and video screenings once a month, primarily hosted by California Biennial artists. You can view the guest and topic lineup here.

This month’s Lecture Series is on May 17th at 7 PM. The series continues every third Thursday of the month; free with admission.

850 San Clemente Drive | Newport Beach | 949-759-1122

After being gone for more than 15 years, the event takes place June 16 and 17 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine.

The Taste of Orange County will return in June after a more than 15-year hiatus, an event producer confirmed this week.

Not only is the countywide, five-star culinary festival emerging from retirement, but artisan cocktails, locally brewed beer, sommeliers, cooking demonstrations, celebrity chefs, arts and musical entertainment are in the festival’s corner this time around.

“With the explosion of restaurants and chefs and food and wine, we do [festivals] all over the country in individual cities,” said Judy Gray, one of the event’s producers. “But we really need to do something all together. The time has come again. I think this is going to shine a light on how the culinary scene has grown and what it has to offer.”

The two-day festival will be held June 16 to 17 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine…

…About 30 restaurants and chefs countywide will be represented at the festival, she said.

Among those are A Restaurant (Newport Beach), Andrei’s Conscious Cuisine & Cocktails (Irvine), Katsuya (Laguna Beach), Montage (Laguna Beach), Red Table (Huntington Beach), Haven Gastropub (Orange), Pascal Restaurants (Newport Beach and Costa Mesa), Sundried Tomato Café (San Juan Capistrano and Laguna Beach), the Cellar (San Clemente) and the Ranch Restaurant (Anaheim)…

Read more of the Daily Pilot’s article here: “Taste of OC will return”. The festival’s website is located at www.tasteofoc.com.

Just when it seemed like rates could not fall any further, Freddie Mac reported fixed mortgage rates sunk even further for the week ending May 10.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.83 percent (0.7 point), down slightly from last week’s average of 3.84 percent. A year ago at this time, the 30-year was 4.63 percent.

The 15-year fixed also moved downward, ending at 3.05 percent (0.7 point) this week. Last week it averaged 3.07 percent, and last year at this time it was 3.82 percent.

The 5-year ARM dropped to 2.81 percent (0.5 point) compared to 2.85 percent last week and 3.41 percent a year ago at this time.

The 1-year ARM moved up to 2.73 percent (0.5 point). Last week the 1-year ARM averaged 2.70 percent and 3.11 percent a year ago.

“Following April’s weaker than expected employment report, and the French and Greek election results raising concerns over the stability of the Euro currency zone, long-term Treasury bond yields declined allowing fixed mortgage rates to ease to new all-time record lows this week,” said Frank Nothaft, VP and chief economist for Freddie Mac.

Nothaft also noted the 115,000 jobs the economy added in April, which was below the market consensus forecast and less the prior month…

Read the rest of DSNews.com’s article here: “Rates Continue to Fall Hitting New Lows Amid Economic Concerns”.

This corner penthouse condominium for lease is in a prime location to provide some of the best views of Newport Beach’s harbor, city, and mountain views. Recently remodeled, the condo features such luxurious elements as Brazilian granite counters, walk-in pantry, Canadian hardwood and travertine flooring throughout, and maple cabinetry in the kitchen.

The condo community offers the amenities of two-car underground parking, an elevator, and laundry facilities in unit. Private boat dock for a vessel up to 40 feet in length may be available through the homeowners’ association. The property is within walking distance of the beach, as well as the best Newport Beach dining, entertainment, and shopping amenities.

Please contact Renee to view this property or for more details, at (714) 914-9060 or Renee@prucdm.com.

Another phase of dredging in Newport Harbor is underway.… (KEVIN CHANG, Daily Pilot)

The latest phase of Newport Beach’s harbor dredging is underway, with giant vessels removing thousands of yards of toxic sediment from Lido Isle.

The sediment will be sent the Port of Long Beach for disposal in time to meet a June 30 deadline.

The $6.5-million undertaking launched May 2 and will focus on the Lower Bay. Sediment off West Coast Highway, the south side of Lido, the north side of Balboa Island and an area near the Coast Guard station will be hauled away.

Long Beach will use the dirt as fill to help expand its port.

The city missed an earlier removal deadline, but got a another chance when it was pushed back to June 30.

To meet the new deadline, the city has approved dredging from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, with the possibility that work could go around the clock, according to the city’s website.

Material not sent to Long Beach will instead go to a federally approved disposal site 4.5 miles off Newport Beach’s coast.

Read the rest of this article by the Daily Pilot here: “More Newport Harbor dredging gets underway”.

View more on the city’s website here: www.newportbeachca.gov.

Sales of U.S. homes in the foreclosure process, typically short sales, rose 33 percent year over year, to 35,000, in January. A total of 32 states saw annual increases in short sales, and 12 states saw more short sales than REO (real estate owned) sales.

The short-sale increase comes after three years of declines following the inauguration of “a new presidential administration with a new approach to the foreclosure problem,” wrote Daren Blomquist, RealtyTrac’s vice president and author of the report.

“Short sales have long held great promise as a market-based solution to the nation’s foreclosure problem, but short sales transactions over the past three years have actually declined after peaking in the first quarter of 2009,” Blomquist said in a statement.

“January foreclosure sales numbers, along with first-quarter foreclosure activity, strongly indicate that downward trend is ending, and we believe 2012 could be a record year for short sales.”

Several states saw triple- or double-digit yearly jumps in short sales in January, including Georgia (up 113 percent), Michigan (90 percent), California (52 percent), Texas (48 percent), Arizona (44 percent), Nevada (36 percent), and Florida (20 percent).

Although REOs continue to outnumber short sales nationwide, there were only 2,600 more REO sales than short sales in January. Nearly a quarter of states had more short sales than REO sales, including Utah, California, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Colorado, New York and New Jersey, according to the report.

Six out of the 10 states with the highest share of short sales in January were in the West.

Of the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, nine out of the 10 metros with the highest share of short sales in January were in the West, six of them in California.

Even as short sales increase, the prices buyers pay for them have decreased. In fourth-quarter 2011, a pre-foreclosure property sold for an average $184,221, down 11.3 percent from fourth-quarter 2010. In January, such a property sold for $174,120, down 10 percent year over year.

Short sales are also selling for bigger discounts when compared to the average sales prices of nondistressed homes. Short-sale buyers received an average 21 percent discount in January, up from an average discount of 17 percent the year before. RealtyTrac does not take into account property condition or size when calculating discounts for distressed properties.

Short sales in Massachusetts, Missouri and California saw the biggest discounts in January.

Short-sale timelines appear to be getting shorter. After peaking at 318 days in third-quarter 2011, the average number of days it took for a property to go from the start of the foreclosure process to its sale as a pre-foreclosure was 306 days in the first quarter, slightly down from 308 days in the fourth quarter.’

Although foreclosure starts — either default notices or scheduled foreclosure auctions, depending on the state — were down 11 percent from the previous year in March, last month also saw the third straight monthly rise in foreclosure starts.

There are nearly 3.5 million delinquent borrowers nationwide; 41 percent of those borrowers are seriously delinquent and therefore at high risk for entering the foreclosure process and becoming short sales, RealtyTrac said.

Another, bigger potential pool of short-sellers are borrowers with underwater mortgages. More than 12.5 million borrowers owe at least 25 percent more on their mortgage than their home is worth.

“Even if these homeowners aren’t struggling to make mortgage payments and therefore are at low risk for foreclosure, if they need to sell sometime in the next five years it’s likely they’ll need to sell via short sale,” the report said.

Among lenders and loan servicers, Bank of America had the highest short-sale volume in January, followed by Chase and Wells Fargo.

PNC Financial saw the biggest annual jump in short sales, followed by the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac combined.

Those three government-backed entities also had the lowest average short-sale prices in January, the biggest declines in average sales price for short sales, the lowest number of average days to sale, and the biggest decrease in time to sell.