San Diego Real Estate Blog

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You can follow Dawn Sells San Diego on Twitter. Our San Diego Real Estate Twitter has all of our blog posts tweeted as well as all information pertaining to the San Diego Real Estate Market, News and Trends. Twitter is a great way for us to stay in touch with home buyers and home sellers in San Diego County.

We also keep you updated on foreclosure and short sale properties that we are selling and up to date information on the latest foreclosure and short sale news. Twitter is an excellent micro-blog for getting San Diego Real Estate Tweets out fast to our followers. If you want to follow the best San Diego Real Estate on Twitter make sure you follow us.

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.

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San Diego Real Estate Blog      San Diego Short Sales

San Diego Foreclosures            San Diego Green Homes

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All Information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed. 

San Diego Real Estate Blog

2010 San Diego Real Estate Market

I know it’s still 2009 November and it might be a little early for 2010 San Diego Real Estate Market predictions but I think I’ll give it a shot. 2010 in the San Diego Real Estate Market should show more foreclosures than we had in 2009. In 2009 many foreclosures were held off of the market due to the moratoriums. Now that many of the foreclosure moratoriums are lifted the banks are gearing up to get the REO’s off of their books. 2010 in San Diego and many parts of the country will be known as the year of the “Last of the Foreclosure Market”. There will be more foreclosures after 2010 into 2011,  2012 and 2013 but 2010 will be the last big year for foreclosures.

There will still be more short sales and some banks are moving faster on them. There’s lots of talk about the short sales being streamlined and moving through the system faster. In 2010 it might just be a lot of false hope in this area. I hope I’m wrong and we see the short sales as a whole (not just select banks) move through the system fast and to a sale but it might just be a lot of hype. Systems like REOTrans are setting up to do short sales but I’ll believe the push towards short sales over foreclosures by the banks when I see it.

For homebuyers in 2010 it should be a delight with more inventory coming into the San Diego Real Estate Market. In some price ranges like the lower end first time home buyer prices under $400,000 there still will be a fight with other buyers to get the homes. There are way too many buyers and investors in the under $400,000 range in many areas of San Diego County that will keep this price range in very short supply in 2010. The upper end in non-coastal areas will still slide a little lower in 2010. We’ll see how this worked out in 2011.

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

San DiegoListing Book

All Information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed. 

San Diego Real Estate Blog

The First-Time Home Buyer $8,000 Tax Credit was just extended until April 30, 2010 by the U.S Congress.

Expands the credit to grant up to $6,500 credit to current home owners purchasing a new or existing home between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010.

Here is more information about how the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit can help prospective home buyers become part of the American dream.

Who Qualifies for the Extended Credit?

First-time home buyers who purchase homes between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010.

Current home owners purchasing a home between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010, who have used the home being sold or vacated as a principal residence for five consecutive years within the last eight.

To qualify as a “first-time home buyer” the purchaser or his/her spouse may not have owned a residence during the three years prior to the purchase.

If you or you have purchased a home between January 1, 2009 and November 6, 2009, please see: 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

Which Properties Are Eligible?

The Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit may be applied to primary residences, including: single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops.

How Much Is Available?

The maximum allowable credit for first-time home buyers is $8,000.

The maximum allowable credit for current homeowners is $6,500.

How is a Buyer’s Credit Amount Determined?

Each home buyer’s tax credit is determined by 2 additional factors:

The price of the home.
The buyer’s income.

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, credit may only be awarded on homes purchased for $800,000 or less.

Buyer Income

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, which is effective on November 7, 2009,  single buyers with incomes up to $125,000 and married couples with incomes up to $225,000—may receive the maximum tax credit.

These income limits have changed from the 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit limits. If you or your client purchased a home between January 1, 2009 and November 6, 2009, please see 2009 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.

If the Buyer(s)’ Income Exceeds These Limits, Can He/She Still Get a Credit?

Yes, some buyers may still be eligible for the credit.

The credit decreases for buyers who earn between $125,000 and $145,000 for single buyers and between $225,000 and $245,000 for home buyers filing jointly. The amount of the tax credit decreases as his/her income approaches the maximum limit. Home buyers earning more than the maximum qualifying income—over $145,000 for singles and over $245,000 for couples are not eligible for the credit.

Can a Buyer Still Qualify If He/She Closes After April 30, 2010?

Under the Extended Home Buyer Tax Credit, as long as a written binding contract to purchase is in effect on April 30, 2010, the purchaser will have until July 1, 2010 to close.

Will the Tax Credit Need to Be Repaid?

No. The buyer does not need to repay the tax credit, if he/she occupies the home for three years or more. However, if the property is sold during this three-year period, the full amount credit will be recouped on the sale.

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

San DiegoListing Book

All Information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed. 

San Diego Real Estate Blog

The San Diego Real Estate Market has seen better days. It’s not that there aren’t buyers seeking that perfect place to call home sweet home it’s the little inventory they have to choose from. Inventory is low especially in some areas of San Diego County in the first time homebuyer price ranges. So low that many VA and FHA buyers are taking their chances on short sales, which may or may not ever close escrow, and waiting it out.

I can’t tell you how many questions I answer on Trulia about buyers and short sales. Buyers are always asking, what takes so long, how come the banks won’t approve my offer, what’s going on, why did they take another offer, why did the bank foreclose on the home when I had an offer on it for 8 months, why is the seller declaring bankruptcy, and on and on. It’s like writing an offer on a home and putting it into a black hole and hoping something good comes out on the other end. It usually doesn’t.

Keep in mind if you’re a buyer who wrote an offer on a short sale you probably are in competition with 5 to 50 other buyers. Only 1 of those offers will get accepted and many times the home will go to foreclosure and no one gets it. It’s frustrating for everyone involved including all agents, the negotiators at the banks, sellers and all the other buyers trying to buy the home. Just think how the seller feels….. they are losing their home, their dreams, their investment, they and their family – kids, dogs, cats now need to find another place to live, most likely a rental or in with family, and their life is being turned upside down. Kind of puts things in a different perspective when you look at it from the side of the one who is losing the home.

San Diego Home Buyers using a VA or FHA Loan to buy a home or condo are often in third and fourth place when writing offers on foreclosed properties. They have that going for them too. The problem is with so many investors in the market buying foreclosures for cash or large sums of money down in conventional loans the VA and FHA loans aren’t usually the best way to go for an asset manager looking at offers on the REO asset they are managing. On cash offers they don’t have to worry about appraisal issues or finding out a buyer really doesn’t qualify for the loan to buy the foreclosure. It’s an unfortunate situation that people who want to buy the home to live in and be part of the community are being put in the back seat to investors looking to make a buck. But it is what it is and for now it’s bad news for some VA and FHA buyers. Hang in there. Times will change.

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

San DiegoListing Book

All Information is believed to be correct but not guaranteed.

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

CAR Revises San Diego Real Estate Sales Numbers Due to MLS Data Glitch
 
This blog post is in reference to an article in the Wall Street Journal by James R. Hagerty. The WSJ reported that:

“The California Association of Realtors expects to make sharp downward revisions in its recent monthly reports of soaring home sales in the San Diego area, Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist of the trade group, said in an interview. The problem resulted from a glitch in data from a multiple-listing service in San Diego, Mr. Kleinhenz said. He said a change in computer systems used there resulted in incorrect data being sent to the Realtor association over the past year or so. Thomas Lawler, an independent economist in Leesburg, Va., who tracks home sales nationwide, raised questions about the San Diego data in a report last week. Mr. Lawler noted that the numbers reported by the Realtors vastly exceeded those from MDA DataQuick, a research firm in La Jolla, Calif., and other sources. The California Realtors have reported that San Diego sales in April were up about 63% from a year earlier. Mr. Kleinhenz said that is expected to be revised downward to a gain of about 20%. For May, the group reported an 89% increase in sales in San Diego; that will be slashed to about 6.5%, the economist said. As a result, he said, the state-wide sales gain for May — reported last week as 35% — also will be revised down, though it probably will remain above 30%, Mr. Kleinhenz said.”

I use the San Diego MLS as a Realtor in San Diego. There have been some changes to it over the past year and just recently. Fields have been added and things have been changed around. It took Listingbook quite a while to finally come into San Diego as a tool for agents and their buyers and sellers to view real estate for sale in the MLS. It has been frustrating for me as well because the IDX solution for my San Diego real estate web site has been changed several times because of the adjustments in the San Diego MLS. This has also made many of my search links invalid and error codes pop up when clients do searches with prior created links. It has forced me to remove the links. I also understand that the MLS not only in San Diego but other areas of the country change from time to time and will always have to be modified with new fields and updates. It is a part of technology and changing times.

The old adage “GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out” – doesn’t apply either because it wasn’t “Garbage In” it was just “Garbage Out”. Because of the Changes in the MLS I can see how the sales calculations can be different from what they were in the past because of the added fields that are now in play. I’m glad the mistake was caught and I’m sure more caution will be used in the future when doing these calculations. It can also affect the Median Home Price data as well. If fields change and new categories are created someone with an understanding of all this needs to be overseeing the operation to make sure the reporting is correct. DataQuick got it right ….. Why not hire them.

Wall Street Journal Article http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124638992043975185.html

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

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

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

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

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

Many people hear short sales and think “shorts for sale” these are not shorts for sale in San Diego. They are short sales or selling your home short of what is owed on it to the bank.

The San Diego MLS is filled with Short Sale Homes. Many buyers think that most of the homes for sale in San Diego Foreclosures or bank owned homes. The fact is that there are many more short sales in San Diego County than there are foreclosures. When buying a short sale home in San Diego there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. Things that you will need an experienced San Diego Short Sale Realtor to help you with. There are many reasons why a short sale home can be a better option over a bank owned home.

A short sale home is a home that is listed for sale and will sell for less money than what is owed by the homeowner to the bank or mortgage company. San Diego has many short sale homes on the market and will continue to through 2009, 2010, 2011 and maybe even further down the line. If the home doesn’t sell as a short sale it will in most cases become a foreclosure and will be taken back by the bank and become an REO or Real Estate Owned on the banks books. The banks will then sell this home or hire a San Diego REO Listing Agent to sell the home as a foreclosure.

Some of the benefits of buying a short sale home over an REO are that in many cases because the homeowner still owns the home the homes are in better condition. The homeowner wants their home sold before the bank forecloses on it and in most cases will have it well kept during the short sale process and in many cases be living in it. This is not always the case but it is more likely that a San Diego Short Sale is in better condition than a San Diego REO. The process for buying a short sale is usually much longer than buying a foreclosure. There is much more negotiation and bank processing time when purchasing a short sale.

If you are considering buying a San Diego Short Sale Home make sure you contact us. We have many to show you.

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.

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.