San Diego Real Estate Blog

San Diego Real Estate Blog

San Diego is predicted by Forbes to be in the top 10 for worst real estate markets in 2009. The article stated that the median home price in 2008 is $412,490. The 2008 real estate year  isn’t finished yet and the numbers wont be in for a while so I’m guessing Forbes got this number by looking at the 11 previous months in the 2008 which is only partially accurate although probably very close to the number that should come out in mid January of 2009. Forbes predicts that there will be a 21.1% drop in the San Diego median home price in 2009. If their prediction for 2009 San Diego median home values is correct the median home price at the end of 2009 should be $326,000. They also predict that in 2010 there will be a 2.9% drop in median home values from the 2009 number.

As a real estate agent in San Diego going into the 2009 market I think it’s going to be a great year. One of the best. I’m not one to sugar coat things either. The upper end homes in San Diego still have a ways to drop and many larger more expensive homes will need to come down and this is where you will see most of the bloodshed in the San Diego Real Estate Market in 2009. The lower end homes in San Diego which I would say are the homes under $400,000 in many cases have multiple offers on them when priced correctly. In some areas of San Diego County the lower end of real estate has leveled off. The median home price is not the average home price. The median home price is the home that is in the middle of all of the homes sold in a particular year. This means that if 20,000 homes sold in 2009 in San Diego the home that was number 10,000 is the median home price. Since the upper end will still come down, maybe 20% to 40% in some areas of the county this median price will be lower in 2009. Will it be 21.1% lower? Forbes thinks so and they might be right.

San Diego has a silver lining and that silver lining is that it’s San Diego. San Diego is one of the most desirable places to live in the United States and the world. San Diego was one of the first areas to head into the real estate downturn and will undoubtedly be one of the first to come out of it. They also predict that in 2010 there will be a 2.9% drop in San Diego median home values from the 2009 number. This is a great sign showing that the recovery should start then in the whole real estate market and the lower end should be getting a bump in 2010. When it does the lower end will start the recovery first flowed by the upper end. 2009 should be the best year for opportunity and getting the pick of the San Diego real estate litter especially with interest rates down and dropping even further in 2009. If you are considering buying a San Diego home in 2009 make sure you contact us. We know the market and what’s going on in San Diego County.
Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

Recently in San Diego a family brought their child to meet Santa so the young boy could tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. Unfortunately Santa had to give the little boy the bad news that he couldn’t get all the toys that he wanted this year. That made the boy very sad. This same scenario seems to playing out all over America and around the world. One local economist had said that in recent years Santa had been very reluctant not to bring all the gifts asked for by the children and adults. The economy was solid he stated and the real estate boom fueled the stacks of presents under the trees around the world. He said, this year even Santa has felt the pinch of the downturn in the economy.

When questioned Clause said, I’m short selling my home too… we’re all in this together. Mrs. Clause is heartbroken about loosing her home and their vacation home in San Diego. It was said that even the Clauses didn’t see this one coming. Santa is laying elves off in the North Pole and has asked for part of the $700 Billion in bailout money but Barney Frank denied them the funds.

With the economy down and home equities lower or non existent at least here in parts of San Diego, it might be a little light under the tree in 2008.

Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

I get many requests through emails, phone calls contacts from my San Diego real estate web sites and blogs asking information on buying a home or showing requests on our listings and REO’s. I work very methodically and although I can be flexible experience has taught me that procedure needs to be followed for helping clients achieve their dreams. Before I start showing property and in many cases emailing properties I will always have my new home buyer pre-qualify with one of the lenders I work with. If the buyer already has a lender I will ask them for their lenders info so I can call them and talk with them. I want to know what loan amount they can get to see what price range to show then homes or condos in.

Knowing purchasing power and monthly payment comfort zone is very important before a buyer gets far down the road of buying a home they can’t afford or looking in a price range that is too low for what they can afford and want to buy. I equate it to knowing how much many is in your pocket before you go shopping. Unless you’re using credit or a check you would need to know how much cash is in your pocket before you went into the grocery store and started filling up your cart. Some people find that they have no money in their pocket and can’t buy right now while others realize that they can buy groceries for a month. Before you buy a home or even start seriously looking a buyer needs to know how much the bank will loan them and what the monthly payments will be.

Once the buyer speaks with a lender then the buyer knows their home purchasing power and their agent knows in what price range to start looking in. To me this is at the very beginning stage of buying a home. I’ve noticed many inexperienced Real Estate Agents not guide their home buyers in the right direction by having them contact a lender upfront. It’s sad when the agent shows property to the new homebuyers for months, find the perfect home and then realize that the home they want is priced at $500,000 and they can only get a loan up to $300,000. It turns into a waste of time for everyone involved and shows the client how inexperienced the agent is. If you’re buying a home in San Diego make sure you call us and we can have one of the great lenders we work with call you.

Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

With thousands of foreclosures in San Diego and hundreds of thousands of foreclosures throughout the United States many renters are asking “What happens to us if the home we’re renting gets foreclosed on?” First of all a renter should always seek legal advice in this situation because laws are different depending on state and county laws. I have noticed that some banks and lending institutions will give renters relocation assistance in the form of money in a check to move out by a certain date usually less than 30 days.

Some renters I have spoken with have said that the landlord or owner of the home, condo or multi-unit property didn’t say anything to them about the property being foreclosed on. Renters are shocked to find out that the owners were collecting rent at the same time they weren’t making house payments. Property owners know well in advance that the bank is foreclosing on them and should ethically tell the renters what’s going on. Most of the time the renters will lose their deposits as well when the bank takes the property back and the owner disappears. If a renter is unsure about the home or condo they’re renting being a foreclosure or not they can contact a local Realtor – if in San Diego County contact us and we can tell you if a notice of default has been filed on the home or condo you’re renting.

Please be careful when renting another home or condo and find out before you move in if that property is a pre-foreclosure or foreclosure. CNN has a great video about this subject. Please view the CNN News video about renters and foreclosures below.

http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/12/09/news.120908.tenants.cnnmoney

Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

So now we’re bailing out the auto industry. Who’s next? Every business is affected in some way by the recession but do all of them get to be bailed out by American tax dollars? If so wouldn’t it be better to just help small businesses “businesses under 100 employees” than to help the giant companies that are run inefficiently with huge CEO bonuses. Of course the businesses have lobbyists and lots of them looking after their interests and lining politician’s pockets for their political careers but who’s looking out for us? And wouldn’t bailing out small businesses spread the wealth throughout the whole country instead of just concentrating on Detroit or just recently Manhattan. What is going on? Let these businesses fail. There are procedures for businesses to regroup its called bankruptcy.

Recently I saw the comparison on the news about how American Company Autoworkers are paid on average a little over $70 per hour while the Japanese Company Auto Workers working in the United States make just over $40 per hour. The American Company Auto Workers are unionized while the Japanese Company Auto Workers are not. The Japanese plants put out more cars and trucks per day then their Detroit counterparts. The quality of the automobiles is debatable so I won’t go there but the fuel economy of the Japanese Auto Makers is superior in most cases to the American Autos. If the American Automobile Companies business model is outdated and running in the red it needs to be changed by their high priced Harvard and Yale CEO’s not bailed out by you and me. Let them fail or every big business in the US will be lining up behind them.

I propose the solution of Loan Forgiveness. If all these huge corporations are getting bailed out then why not help out the taxpayers, the people, us? Now that we’re strapped with a trillion dollar debt and soon to be more to bailout every company with a hand out or political ties to the guy with the checkbook in D.C. Shouldn’t we be getting the money to help out us the homeowner the tax payer since we and our children are going to have to pay it back? Let the businesses fail but help the people – the people are the government not the corporations. If one of the main problems to our economy is the consumer and their lack of participation buying consumer goods then letting them loan modify at the new value of their home or walk away without any affect on their credit and no long term retribution from the debt collection companies that buy the bad debt from the banks is the option that should be considered.

I think the Federal Government should declare a SATE OF EMERGENCY just like they would in a natural disaster. And this economic disaster is far worse and more reaching with long term affects than a hurricane or tornado. I’ve seen my tax dollars go to hurricane relief and tornado relief and many other disasters all the time. Areas here in San Diego County and other areas of the country hit by the foreclosure tornado – hurricane - tsunami NEED HELP NOW! It’s time to help them – this is a STATE OF EMERGENCY!

What are your thoughts?

Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

SAN DIEGO CALIFORNIA – An F-18 crashed in San Diego today killing 3 on the ground. The pilot ejected safely from his F/A-18D Hornet. According to officials at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar the crash happened 2 miles from Miramar “Former Top Gun School used in the filming of the Tom Cruise movie Top Gun from the 1980’s” in an area known as University City in La Jolla Ca. The wreckage consumed 3 homes as it crashed to the densely populated neighborhood. The Jet Fighter Plane was returning to Miramar from the USS Lincoln which is a Navy Carrier stationed in San Diego.

Witnesses reported loud explosions and a mushroom cloud when the fighter came down. They reported their homes shaking like there might be an earthquake shaking the earth.

The video of the San Diego F18 Jet Crash is below from FOX News.

San Diego Military Bases

Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

San Diego is ripe for a great 2009 in the Real Estate Market. Prices are low and falling in the upper end price ranges and coastal communities. Interest rates are falling and should stay low through most of 2009. With the continuing foreclosures and the government helping homeowners and the economy out – here and there – the real estate in San Diego for 2009 should start the stabilization in the lower price ranges of single family detached homes. I’m starting to see it already and the entry level homes should continue to level off in many areas of San Diego through the 2009 real estate year.

It doesn’t mean that all the news is great and everything in real estate and the economy is just fine but it is the start of the next market. Once the entry level home prices stabilize it will have an effect on the entire market. Many “on the fence buyers” should jump into the market in 2009. With a new president in the White House this should calm the uncertainty of the whole election issues we’ve been focused on for the last 2 years. Many buyers who short sold their homes in 2006 and 2007 will be able to buy again. The investors have been pulling money out of their roller coaster ride on Wall Street and are deciding that real estate is a better more tangible item to own, especially real estate in Southern California.

Are you considering the purchase of a home or condo in San Diego in 2009? If so contact us for a one on one Q & A.

Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

I get asked this question every year without fail. I would have to say that my answer is always the same. You should buy a home when you’re ready to buy a home. The answer will be different for everybody when asked that question. It’s personal and depends on the factors of the individual or family. If the question is, “Is This a Good Time to Buy a Home in San Diego?” then I would have to say it depends.

The San Diego County real estate market is different in different areas of the county and in different price ranges as well as for homes and condos. In many areas of San Diego County including the Chula Vista area the 3 bedroom homes priced under $400,000 seem to be in high demand and when they are foreclosures and priced right they get gobbled up quickly. Since we are foreclosure REO agents in San Diego our Bank Owned Homes that we list in the $400,000 and under range sell fast.

In San Diego County the upper end homes which I’ll categorize for this post to be over $800,000 have and will continue to drop in value through 2009. If there is a particular San Diego neighborhood or floor plan that you are interested in I would have to say that it would be a good idea to keep your eye or have your agent “ME” keep an eye on that area for well priced homes. They will drop in 2009 in many areas but this could be the window of opportunity that won’t last forever. The government is spending a lot of money to stabilize the real estate market and when in does stabilize the upper end will too.

Condos are a bargain and will continue to get cheaper. If there is a particular complex, area, or floor plan you desire it will be bargain time for you throughout 2009. You can be picky in most areas with the condos because of the huge inventory to select from. My opinion is that if you can afford a single family detached home it is usually a better choice than buying a condo for resale reasons. For those of you who enjoy the ease of condo living the fruit is ripe so start looking in 2009 and pick the one that is just right for you.

2009 in San Diego will still be a buyers market.

Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

The ARM “Adjustable Rate Mortgage” Reset Schedule for 2007 through 2012 is quite grim. The ARMs are coming in huge numbers as they have been through 2007 and 2008. This graph from Credit Suisse with a slight modification of adding the Years and Months to the data bars is a clear pictorial of the Mortgage Meltdown Crisis.

The ARM’s are broken down into 6 groups: Agency ARM, Alt-A ARM, Option ARM, Prime ARM, Subprime ARM, and Unsecuratized ARMs. These Adjustable Rate Mortgages will reset to higher monthly payments which many homeowners will be unable to afford. Many homeowners make the mistake of depleting their savings and retirement accounts trying to keep up with the higher payments. Homeowners have the option of calling the mortgage holder and asking them for a loan modification, to refinance or readjust the loan payments. Homeowners can also short sale their home or let the bank foreclose on it. In all cases Real Estate, Legal, and Tax advice should be sought by the homeowner by the appropriate professionals in their fields of expertise.

   ARM “Adjustable Rate Mortgage” Reset Schedule for 2007 through 2012

Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

Interest Rates have dropped to the lowest rates since January of this year. The average rate on a 30 Year Fixed Loan has dropped to 5.53%. In January of 2008 it was at 5.48%. With low interest rates along with sharp discounts on housing prices this could be the right time to jump in and find a home for Christmas. This should be as big of a boom as when the market was climbing out of control but people are just concerned about where the market is going and where the economy is heading. The value of real estate is unprecedented in the San Diego area. Home prices have fallen to 2002 and below pricing in some areas of San Diego County. In Chula Vista, especially areas like EastLake which was voted best master planned community 10 years in a row is exceptional and a bargain right now. If you’ve ever wanted to live by the San Diego Beaches the San Diego Coastal areas are on their way to some great discounts in 2009.

In October 2008 there were 84,000 properties repossessed in the United States. More than 279,000 homes received some type of foreclosure related notice in October of 2008. By the end of the year it is expected that over 1,000,000 foreclosed homes will be on the market for sale in the United States. California is still in the top 10 of foreclosure states. These stats were from an MSNBC article on RealtyTrac data. With all the bailout legislation rolling out let’s hope that there is some help to keep people in their homes by new adjusted pricing and new more affordable loans.

Please use the links below to help you with your San Diego Real Estate Search and Information from your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

San Diego Relocation                San Diego Home Search by Map

San Diego Home Buyers           San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values           Local Real Estate Information

San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

All information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.