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San Diego Real Estate Blog   

I think “Making Home Affordable” the title and the name of the web site have it all wrong, it’s supposed to be “Buy a Home You Can Afford” but most things right now in the world are either upside down or just plain wrong.               

I checked out the Obama led web site “Making Home Affordable”. The standard Homeowner’s HOPE Hotline mantra with the HOMES of HOPE 888-995-HOPE number in red to get you to call for urgent help. This government has hijacked the word HOPE from day one and probably won’t stop until they’ve moved on. Which is HOPEfully soon. Not that the next elected group of thugs and profiteers will do much better … I’d settle for doing nothing than the direction we’re heading now.                         

It was the HOPE of homeownership for many who should never have qualified for the loan that drew them into this burden that now is destroying their lives …. THE MORTGAGE PAYMENT. A HOPE fueled by GREED that lent money to anyone with a faint heartbeat with little regulation and little to no verification of the homeowner’s real ability to pay it back after the ARM would readjust. Lenders were making money hand over fist and could sell the note quickly on Wall Street to a sea of buyers, so why should they care to verify or tighten up on their lending practices. Now the banks and mortgage holders are losing money hand over fist as taxpayer’s bailout them out as well as our government and their buddies…… hand over fist.  

The printing presses ($100 machines) are rolling at the Department of Treasury and the money going in every direction imaginable except to where it needs to go. The cost “PAYBACK” is left to our children and their children and so on….. while the baby boomers will have their nest eggs refilled with government pork, $4,500 car buying credit and free healthcare. WHOOOOPI. One of the saddest parts of this whole mess is putting the burden of this generation’s foul-ups on the children and their children. Well I guess they’re doing what they like to do, borrow and spend and expect someone else to pay or somehow get out of it. Their best answer is to pin it on the kids because they don’t have a voice, YET!                  

HOPE. I used to think HOPE was something like a wish, a dream that you wanted one day to be fulfilled, something in your life or in another’s life that would happen to bring joy into it. Now HOPE is a slogan, a word used by agenda pushers to play on people’s emotions and to get them to go in a specific direction. After all, who doesn’t want HOPE? Right?

Back to the web site …….

On the home page of this web site it asks

Are You Eligible? Please use the self-assessment tools provided on this websiteto see if you are among the 7 to 9 million homeowners who maybe able to benefit from Making Home Affordable.

Right below this is a “Find out if you are eligible” button.

The next web page will ask you to choose if you want to see if you are eligible for “Home Affordable Financing” or “Home Affordable Modification”. Select the one that best fits your desire.

Under “Home Affordable Financing” you have to answer YES to every question to be eligible. That means that you own a 1 -4 unit home, your loan is with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, your current on your mortgage payments and “the kicker”-  you believe that the amount you owe on your first mortgage is about the same or less than the current value of your house. Remember that last question asked about first mortgage only, not first and second. If you answered yes to all of these cross your fingers and toes and HOPE.

Under “Home Affordable Modification” you also have to answer YES to every question to be eligible. That means your home is your primary residence, the amount you owe on your first mortgage is equal to or less than $729,750, you’re having trouble paying your mortgage, you got your current mortgage before January 1, 2009, and your payment on your first mortgage (including principal, interest, taxes, insurance and homeowner’s association dues, if applicable) more than 31% of your current gross income? HOPEfully you can answer YES to all of the questions and then there’s HOPE.

I don’t want to give a sense of false HOPE to troubled homeowners so I want to be clear about this. Please try and use this web site to see if they can help you. From what I have seen in the San Diego area including Chula Vista is that most homeowners that purchased a home in the past 1-4 years can’t truly answer YES to all of the questions in either category. The ones that can are still only eligible for the Making Home Affordable program.

Most of the homes in many neighborhoods in San Diego County are short sales. This means that there was no loan refinancing or loan modification for the homeowner that allowed them to successfully stay in their home. If there was they would not be short selling the home, and many are short selling their homes and condos. Some truly just didn’t try, shame on them. Most are just way upside down in property value and can’t make the monthly payments since the ARM readjustment or loss of job.

Its simple math, let me show you;

Paid $800,000 for home … worth $500,000 – why do I want this home?

or

Monthly income $5,000…. house payment jumped to $4,900 – need to eat!

These short sale listings will either be sold short or be taken back by the bank through a foreclosure and end up on the market as a Bank Owned REO. I have spoken with many homeowners who just want to get out their homes or condos and just move on. They want to close that door in their lives and open the next one. The choice of keeping a home that has decreased in value 40% in 3 years and a monthly mortgage payment that is just not possible to pay is destroying families.

I have met many that have said “enough, I’ll take the credit hit and short sell my home or let the bank foreclose on it” and they have. I will always ask them if they contacted an attorney and a CPA to go over all of the ramifications of both. This is essential if the path of short sale or foreclosure is in any ones future.

I HOPE this review of the Making Home Affordable web site helps you.

http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/

If  you need help buying or selling a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Foreclosures

San Diego REO Listing Agent

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

May 2009 - The Mortgage Reform and Anti Predatory Lending Act HR1728 passed on Thursday May 7, 2009. The House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 300 to 114 and is said to protect homeowners from questionable and predatory lending practices that were partially responsible for the record home foreclosures and financial crisis.

This Mortgage Reform and Anti Predatory Lending Act sets up rules to ensure that lenders make loans that mortgage borrowers can afford to pay back. The act also bans prepayment penalties on ARMs Adjustable Rate Mortgages that are the real culprit loans in the foreclosure mess. This bill will also hold accountable the secondary mortgage market for following the same rules. One lawmaker said, “The message is simple. Lenders can’t give loans to people who can’t afford them. And borrowers have to tell the truth about their finances when they apply for a loan.” Not to be disagreeing with the administration of hope but isn’t this just common sense?

Nancy Pelosi the Democratic House Speaker said, “The simple fact is that our laws and enforcement efforts did not keep pace with the complexities of a global economy and a financial industry where the greed of some trumped common sense. Insisting on responsible borrowing and lending and ensuring that borrowers enter into mortgages they can repay or refinance will help families protect their most valuable asset — their home — and guard against another financial and housing market meltdown.” I would have to ask Nancy why she didn’t do something about it, she was a lawmaker at the time and there were many economists warning the government about this.

Many San Diego home owners and potential home buyers know the facts about the San Diego housing market and its foreclosure mess. This act, although very important for protecting potential home buyers when getting a mortgage comes in way too late. The damage is already done. I think if anyone dropped the ball it was the U.S. Government and there lack of proper legislation to protect home buyers and the greed that’s within the system itself. Isn’t that what we elect them for? It’s very interesting to see where all of the elected officials got their campaign contributions, the banks and companies now getting all of our future tax dollars in the form of a so called bailout? What a joke.

If  you need help buying a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Foreclosures

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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 National Association of Realtors® NAR reported that the February 2009 sale of existing homes in the U.S. including single family homes, condos, town homes and co-ops rose by 5.1% from the 2009 January sales numbers. This is great news for the real estate market especially here in San Diego. The Southern California Real Estate Market has seen a huge influx of buyers in early 2009. Some of this could be due to the great $8,000 Tax Credit for First Time Home Buyers and the $10,000 New Home Buyers in California. I am working with a lot of investors in the San Diego Real Estate Market and so are many other Realtors® I know.

This news is also coupled with the news of median home prices of existing homes across the nation has dropped 15.5% from February 2008. Buyers should delight in the fact that prices are low and interest rates are also down. San Diego REO or foreclosed homes in lower price ranges are getting multiple offers and are even having appraisal problems when selling because comps are lower than the new sales. These are good signs and investors and home buyers “especially new home buyers” are out in force in the San Diego area. The new foreclosures “dubbed the Next Wave” are hitting soon and from what I see the buyers will be there to gobble them up.

San Diego in 2009 should be a year of high volume sales!!!

If  you need help buying a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Foreclosures

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San Diego Real Estate               San Diego MLS 

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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 San Diego Housing Commission or SDHC has several home buyer assistance programs for San Diego home buyers. Some of the different home buyer assistance programs include deferred loans, grants for down payments and closing costs, tax credits, and opportunities to purchase homes at below market rate prices. This San Diego home buyer assistance program allow a home buyer to purchase a home anywhere in the City of San Diego. This means that the area must start with the Zip Code 921. This encompasses a huge area of San Diego and includes thousands of homes currently for sale. 

Most of these home buyer assistance programs in San Diego are for first time home buyers except for the For Sale Affordable Homes Program. A San Diego First Time Home Buyer is defined as a buyer that has not owned any real estate in the previous 3 years. There are also maximum purchase price limits and area median income restrictions as well.

Some of the programs are:

* 3% Interest Deferred Loan
* Grants for Down Payments and Closing Costs
* Mortgage Credit Certificates (MCC). Can be used for San Diego bank owned properties.
*  For Sale Affordable Homes

For more information on the San Diego Home Buyer Assistance Programs please visit the San Diego Housing Commission Web Site.  http://www.sdhc.org/hafirstimebuyer1.shtml

Also Visit:

California $10,000 New Home Tax Credit

$8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

If  you need help buying a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Foreclosures

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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

This $10,000 tax credit in the state of California only applies to homes that have never been occupied and purchased between the dates of March 1, 2009 and March 1, 2010. The California home buyers must also reside in the home as their primary residence for at least 2 years from close of escrow.

A qualified home buyer is:

A taxpayer who purchases a single-family residence, whether detached or attached, that has never been occupied, that is purchased to be the principal residence of the taxpayer for a minimum of two years, and that is eligible for the homeowner’s exemption under California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 218.

A qualified principal residence – new home is:

-A qualified principal residence means a single-family residence, whether detached or attached, that has never been occupied and is purchased to be the principal residence of the taxpayer for a minimum of two years and is eligible for the property tax homeowner’s exemption.
- Types of residence: Any of the following can qualify if it is your principal residence and is subject to property tax, whether real or personal property: a single family residence, a condominium, a unit in a cooperative project, a houseboat, a manufactured home, or a mobile home.
- Owner-built property: A home constructed by an owner -taxpayer is not eligible for the New Home Credit because the home has not been “purchased.”

The State of California has set aside $100,000,000 in tax credits for new home buyers. This program is on a first come first serve basis and once the allocated new home tax credit money is gone it’s over. Make sure if your California real estate agent is unfamiliar with this tax credit you let them know about it. You should also contact your accountant. Some details include that the tax credit amount is equal to either five percent of the purchase price or $10,000, whichever is less. Taxpayers must apply the total tax credit in equal parts over 3 successive taxable years which is a maximum of $3,333 per year beginning with the taxable year of when the new home is purchased. This can also be used in addition to the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit in the Stimulus Package.

If you are interested in applying you will need to:

- Do the following within 7 days of close of escrow on your New California Home.
- The seller must complete Part I of Form 3528-A which is the Application for New Home Credit and certifying that the home has never been occupied as well as provide a copy to the buyer or escrow person.
- The buyer will complete Parts II & III of Form 3528-A.
- The escrow person on behalf of the seller and buyer will fax the completed Form 3528-A to FTB at 916.845.9754, and provide a copy to the buyer.
- Fax is the only delivery method that will be accepted and considered for credit allocation by FTB, as the date and time stamp on the fax will determine the order in which credits are allocated.
- Fax only one completed application per residence with all qualified buyers listed. Do not include information on nonqualified buyers. An incomplete application may delay or prevent credit allocation.
- Do not fax the application to FTB before escrow closes.
- Do not fax the application to FTB more than once. We will process the applications in the order received as quickly as possible.
- Escrow companies should only send one application per fax transmission.
- The buyer keeps a copy of the completed Form 3528-A for their records.
- The State of California Franchise Tax Board will have a fill able Form 3528-A online soon. In the meantime, if you fill out the form by hand, please print numbers as clearly and neatly as possible using CAPITAL LETTERS and staying between the lines. The faxes can be very hard to read.

For more information please visit the State of California Franchise Tax Board link.

If  you need help buying a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Foreclosures

San Diego REO Listing Agent

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 spent some time today researching San Diego median home prices in 2009 compared to what they were in 2008. I found a great link that shows the median price from January 2008 to January 2009 and shows the difference in median prices in percentages. My theory based on real estate trends and experience in San Diego County has held true. I have been stressing the fact that many coastal areas will be hit the hardest despite what many so called experts have been saying. I have also said that areas like newer Chula Vista like EastLake, Rolling Hills Ranch, San Miguel Ranch and Otay Ranch have taken a huge hit early in this San Diego real estate downturn and won’t be hit nearly as bad as some of the areas that have a false sense of security. What I mean by false sense of security is that many coastal areas in San Diego just because they’re close to the beach are said to be by some real estate agents immune to a real estate downturn. Nonsense!

Some of these so called “untouchable to recession proof real estate areas” are North County Coastal and Coastal Central San Diego. Some of these areas are; Carlsbad, Encinitas, Oceanside, Solana Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, and more. These areas have taken some of the biggest hits of all and in my opinion will continue to see slashed prices through 2009. These costal real estate areas should see bigger drops than the areas of Newer Chula Vista which has already taken its biggest drop early on.

The false sense of values in these coastal areas has allowed inventory to build and short sales and foreclosures to start their run up. These areas are and will be a buyer’s delight in 2009. I still think the newer areas of Chula Vista are closer to their bottom than many of the other areas in San Diego County. This means if you’re buying a home in these areas it could very well drop in value less than other areas of San Diego County. From January 2008 to January 2009 this was exactly what happened and is a good trend going into 2009 for home buyers.

Now the reality of some of the statistics in this San Diego Real Estate Median Home Price Chart is that the number of sales in some of the communities is so low that they are not that accurate. What is accurate is the overall median home prices by areas like; North County Coastal, East County, and South Bay San Diego. These are a culmination of the total sales in the areas and have a large enough number of closed sales to be accurate.

The chart tells me there has been a lower reduction in median home prices in South Bay San Diego OVER ALL OTHER AREAS of San Diego County. The bleeding is less in this area and some good signs of recovery and less hemorrhaging than other San Diego communities. Buyers and investors both are seeing the value in many South Bay San Diego Communities.

Checkout the San Diego Median Home Price Chart and make your own conclusions.

http://www.dqnews.com/Charts/Monthly-Charts/SDUT-Charts/ZIPSDUT.aspx

If  you need help buying a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.

San Diego Foreclosures

San Diego REO Listing Agent

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

Do you want a list of San Diego Foreclosures? If so we can help you with that. There are thousands of foreclosures in San Diego County and the list changes every day. We thought about putting a daily San Diego foreclosure list together but then thought why not just give the San Diego foreclosure search tools to the buyers. That way a buyer looking for a foreclosure in San Diego or even the whole state of California can search foreclosures by zip code, price, size and any other possible search criteria.

This service costs us money but we feel that if a client wants to search for a foreclosure, why not give them the tools real estate experts use. Buyers then know how serious we are about helping them find a San Diego foreclosure by letting them use our expensive foreclosure analyzer tools for free. A list of foreclosures in San Diego is ineffective compared to how these tools can help you locate the perfect San Diego foreclosure. When you’re ready to buy a San Diego Foreclosure make sure you call us the San Diego Foreclosure Experts!

San Diego Foreclosure Search Tool

If  you need help buying a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtors.

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San Diego House Values                 San Diego Real Estate Blog

San Diego Foreclosures                   San Diego Short Sales

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All Information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

San Diego Real Estate Blog

Blue Whale in San Diego found floating dead. A 35 foot long blue whale was found floating dead off of the San Diego Coast in La Jolla. The blue whale carcass was netted and taken to Fiesta Island which is well known for the annual Over the Line Tournament. Fiesta Island is next to Sea World San Diego and is a local favorite place for jet skiing, swimming and fires on the beach. The smell from the carcass was said to be a potential nuisance to the La Jolla residences noses.

The whale was analyzed by whale experts and dismantled and taken to the Miramar Landfill. The cause of death is still unknown. I have seen many whales off the San Diego Coast but never a blue whale. Hopefully the one I see will be alive.

The blue whale is the largest mammal and most likely the largest animal to ever live on the planet. Blue whales have a length of 75 to 100 feet with the longest one on record being 108 feet.

San Diego Foreclosure Search Tool

If  you need help buying a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtors.

San Diego Real Estate                     San Diego MLS

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San Diego House Values                 San Diego Real Estate Blog

San Diego Foreclosures                   San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Realtors                          San Diego REO Listing Agent

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San Diego Real Estate Blog

If you are a San Diego Border Patrol Agent buying a home in San Diego County including Chula Vista, Otay Mesa, San Ysidro and Imperial Beach make sure you call us. We have helped many Border Patrol Agents in San Diego buy a home. We appreciate all the hard work you do in San Diego County and want you to know when it comes to find a Real Estate Agent in San Diego we’re here to help. If you’re a Border Patrol Agent relocating to San Diego make sure you give us a call. We can get started right away emailing you homes for sale in San Diego and get things ready for your move to Southern California.

We have some great tools on our San Diego Real Estate Web Site to help you find your new home. We also have great maps to assist you in the location of the home to the rest of San Diego and distances to freeways. Also due to the large amounts of foreclosures in San Diego we have a San Diego Foreclosure Search Tool. If you’re in the U.S. Border Patrol and you need help buying a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtors.

San Diego Real Estate                     San Diego MLS

San Diego Listing Book                    San Diego Relocation

San Diego Home Buyers                  San Diego Home Sellers

San Diego House Values                 San Diego Real Estate Blog

San Diego Foreclosures                   San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Realtors                          San Diego REO Listing Agent
All Information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.