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Archive for the ‘North County Inland’ Category

Channel 10 San Diego I-Team

November 8th, 2009

San Diego Real Estate Blog

I just got finished watching an excellent report on Channel 10 News and I wanted to share it on my Blog because I think it’s worth watching. The show was a half hour and this is only one of the segments. It was very informative about San Diego real estate, auctions, loan modifications, and investment properties.

This story is called:

Builders Default On Land, Able To Buy It Back Cheaper At Auction

http://www.10news.com/video/21522316/index.html
 
Lauren Reynolds
10News I-Team Reporter
_____________________________________________________

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. 

Escondido Renaissance Faire San Diego 2009

November 8th, 2009

Escondido Renaissance Faire San Diego 2009 Green ManSan Diego Real Estate Blog

Escondido, CA. November 2009

We decided to go checkout the Escondido Renaissance Faire at Felicita Park in Escondido in North County San Diego. The Renaissance village known as “Village of Falconbridge” had an admission price of $16 per adult. I thought it was a little steep for a ticket but after seeing how much it took to put this event together I thought it was well worth the admission price.

Felicita Park itself is covered with large oaks and Sycamore trees and is great outdoor park in San Diego. This event had a true feeling of a Medieval Village complete with knights, Ladies, and everything you would expect. Most people were dressed up in medieval attire and really looked good. There was entertainment, like sword fighting, battles, singing, shoes and lots of other festivities. Lots of merchants and food too.

If you missed it in 2009 make sure you visit the Escondido Renaissance Faire at Felicita Park in 2010.

Some Videos from the event.

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. 

NAR Asking for Extension of the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit

October 21st, 2009

NARSan Diego Real Estate Blog 

I read a recent article titled: Realtors® Urge Congress to Act Now to Extend Homebuyer Tax Credit. In the article the National Association of Realtors included some facts about how many first time home buyers were helped into their new homes by the tax credit which will end on November 30, 2009. I know it’s helped here in the San Diego Real Estate Market and many of our clients have taken advantage of the incentive. 

Below is an excerpt from the article: 

The National Association of Realtors® is calling upon its 1.2 million members to urge Congress to extend the successful homebuyer tax credit into next year. 

Since its inception earlier this year, the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit has brought 1.2 million new buyers into the market—350,000 of whom would not have purchased a home without the credit, according to NAR. The credit is due to expire November 30. 

“Now is the time for Congress to keep this recovery going by extending the tax credit through 2010 and making it available to more homebuyers. We have all seen how the credit has been a spur to bring homebuyers into the market, and have seen the beginnings of a real recovery in the housing market. Housing has always led this nation out of economic downturns, and can do so again,” said NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dallas-Fort Worth. 

Realtors®, the leading advocates for homeownership and housing issues, will be writing to their Senators and Representatives to tell them of the successes with the tax credit thus far and to press them to extend and expand it now. 

For the entire article please visit Realtor.org 

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 VA and FHA Home Buyers

October 6th, 2009

VA FHA Home Buyers in San DiegoSan 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.

Foreclosures of San Diego

September 29th, 2009

San Diego Real Estate Blog

Foreclosures of San Diego is your source for all foreclosures in San Diego. We have tools to search all homes and condos for sale whether they’re Bank Owned REO Foreclosures, Short Sales or just normal listings. You can Search the San Diego MLS or use our San Diego Foreclosure MLS to find Foreclosures, Pre-Foreclosures or Auction Properties. Did I mention these Search Tools are FREE.

Foreclosures of San Diego

Thousands of people use our search tools every week and find the home or condo they are looking for in San Diego County. We allow visitors to use our tools because we want them to have a portal to search for their home or condo in the comfort of their home or office. If you need help seeing the property or writing an offer on the property or just some real estate advice please contact us.

San Diego Foreclosures

San Diego MLS

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.

Poway Rodeo 2009

September 28th, 2009

Dawn Poway RodeoPoway Rodeo 2009

San Diego Real Estate Blog

The Poway Coors Rodeo September 25 – 27 2009 Poway, San Diego California.

We were invited to head on out to the Rodeo in Poway by a good friend. We couldn’t resist because we knew how much fun the event would be. We went up on Saturday Night on September 26 and found the tickets to be reasonably priced thanks to the many sponsors who helped out including Wal-Mart and Coors. The crowd was great and it felt like being in the mid west at a hometown rodeo. Well I would have to say Poway is San Diego’s little piece of the Country in San Diego County.

We arrived and took our seats in the stands  and enjoyed the bronco riding and then the Shooting Stars Drill Team. What a show! The sheep riders were having a good time riding the sheep as hard as they could. The bull riders came out and gave it a go and the bulls were tougher than ever. I got a new cowgirl hat for the night and took a picture for my FaceBook. I attached quite a few videos of the night.

It was a great Poway Rodeo and next year I’m getting a front row seat and getting there early.

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.

Lawrence Yun Predicts San Diego Market Recovery

August 23rd, 2009

Lawrence YunSan Diego Real Estate Blog 

I Googled San Diego Real Estate this morning and saw the top rated spot was a news article from the Union Tribune, Real Estate Expert: San Diego at Leading Edge of Recovery. The Real Estate Expert they site in the article is Lawrence Yun the Chief Economist for the National Association of Realtors. Yun is known for making many blunders and erroneous predictions in the past. Check out http://www.lawrenceyunwatch.blogspot.com/ for some in depth research on Yun’s other predictions and faux pas. I’m a big fan of laying all the facts out on the table for anyone buying a home in San Diego County. A prediction like this headline needs to have all the facts including the ones behind the scenes. 

The article Real Estate Expert: San Diego at Leading Edge of Recovery bases the recovery on rising prices and sales. Yun states that there is only a 2.5 month inventory of homes for sale and new home construction sluggish. He said that the demand is strong. In an excerpt from the article Yun confesses: “He began with a confession about how he missed the real estate bubble of 2004-06. Surely, the system had enough checks and balances to avoid a runaway market, he thought at the time. “I was clearly wrong,” he said.” My concern now is what else is Yun overlooking through assuming that others have checks and balances in place.  

In the UT Article, “He also predicted that foreclosures will continue at high levels for the next 12 months because of the weak economy. But unlike last year, he said this year’s foreclosures are being snapped up in many markets, including San Diego.” The market in many areas of San Diego is saturated with many short sales. Many of the short sales have homeowners in them not making mortgage payments and in the foreclosure process while trying to short sell their home. I think the foreclosures at high levels will carry on well past 12 months. Related Blog Post : http://www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/tools-resources/new-foreclosures-by-state-for.html  

Many agents and asset managers speak of the tidal wave of foreclosures that are coming. I wonder why the banks are holding back all of the foreclosures that should be on the market. If the foreclosures are being held back and not put on the market for sale then there is a false sense of inventory. They are foreclosed on or will be soon but the homes are intentionally not being made available to home buyers. Why? Maybe this is to stabilize and firm up the market. But is this real or false stabilization? 

The question is by doing this is it creating another problem of false values like the bubble we just came out of. I don’t know but the information needs to be out there for potential home buyers so they have all the facts when buying. Let’s face it, when NAR says something the news and the public listens. Let’s make sure they have all the facts not just the talking points for getting buyers to buy homes. 

Is this last spike in sales and home prices in San Diego due to the mass of foreclosures being held off the market and only a trickling of foreclosures being released for sale? Is there a Great Wave of foreclosures coming? Just do a Google search for REO Tsunami and you will have plenty to read. 

I think it is a great time to buy a home in many areas of San Diego County in certain price ranges. I think interest rates are low and the $8,000 tax credit is a helping hand for first time homebuyers. I also think that a home buyer needs to be aware that there are many more foreclosure due to hit the market and the word on the street is that the banks are holding back many foreclosures. If you are considering a home purchase in San Diego do your homework and gather all of the facts.

Union Tribune Article - http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/19/real-estate-expert-sd-leading-edge-recovery/

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. 

Rancho Penasquitos Market Report Summer 2009

August 5th, 2009

Rancho Penasquitos Real Estate MarketSan Diego Real Estate Blog

Rancho Penasquitos Market Report Summer 2009 – Rancho Penasquitos like the rest of San Diego is still valuing down and has had a median home price decline 11% from last year. Ranch Penasquitos had 40 home sales and 24 condo sales in June of 2009. These numbers were the latest full numbers in when this report was completed. The median home price for June is $533,000 and the median condo price is $208,000 which was a condo value decrease of 27% from last June. If you’re buying or selling in Rancho Penasquitos call me, Dawn Lewis. 

San Diego Real Estate Market Conditions – The San Diego MLS is filled with short sales and foreclosures and out of the two the short sales stay on the market a very long time making it look like the San Diego Market is saturated with homes for sale but the reality is there is very little to actually write offers on. The conventional listings as well as REO’s sell fast when in good condition and priced correctly. Multiple offers on many of the lower end price ranges of San Diego homes and condos.

 Buyers are actually getting discouraged with the lack of inventory in the San Diego Market. I have personally seen over 50 offers on a single property for sale that was priced correctly. This is not uncommon. Also keep in mind if you’re a buyer that 49 out of the 50 offers won’t get accepted. This is causing many buyers to be disillusioned by the market and home buying and has them second guessing any agent that they hire. The upper end still has room to drop and should be looked at with caution. Use a good Realtor like me to help you with all of your Real Estate needs in San Diego.  

June 2009 Sales and Median Prices 

Central San Diego Existing Home Sales – 565 Median Price $365,000 Down in value -10% from last year. Existing Condo Sales – 475 Median Condo Price $263,000 Down in value -10% from last year. 

East County Existing Home Sales – 340 Median Price $295,000 Down in value -15% from last year. Existing Condo Sales – 139 Median Condo Price $131,000 Down in value -22% from last year. 

North County Inland Existing Home Sales – 629 Median Price $364,000 Down in value -13% from last year. Existing Condo Sales – 189 Median Condo Price $216,000 Down in value -15% from last year. 

North County Coastal Existing Home Sales – 386 Median Price $455,000 Down in value -17% from last year. Existing Condo Sales – 128 Median Condo Price $323,000 Down in value -23% from last year. 

South County Existing Home Sales – 376 Median Price $320,000 Down in value -15% from last year. Existing Condo Sales – 169 Median Condo Price $151,000 Down in value -28% from last year. 

When you need help with San Diego Real Estate please call me and my team. I have over 20 years experience as a licensed agent in San Diego and have sold well over 2,500 homes. Put my experience to work for you.  

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 AgentSan 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 Listing Book

August 3rd, 2009

San Diego ListingBook

San Diego Real Estate Blog

San Diego Listing Book

We are Listing Book Agents and all use Listing Book to help you with your San Diego Real Estate needs. Dawn Lewis and The Dawn Lewis Team all use Listing Book to help you buy and sell your San Diego home or condo. We are local San Diego Real Estate Agents that use Listing Book to help our clients find a home in San Diego County. These Listing Book Tools are also essential in Listing and Selling a Home or Condo as well. Please sign up for our Listing Book Tools FREE to help you with your San Diego Home Buying Search.

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We have signed up with Listingbook to use their real estate search tools to better serve our clients in their San Diego Home and Condo search. Listingbook has the best real estate buying tools to assist San Diego home buyers in their real estate search. Listing Book is the future of finding a home on the internet and has the best real estate searching capability out of all the tools today.

We are proud to be users of Listing Book and we believe offering it to our clients and potential clients will create a better real estate experience for the buyers, sellers, and agents in San Diego County, California. Please sign up for our Listing Book San Diego tools and allow us to help you buy or sell your San Diego Home.

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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.

Making Home Affordable

July 29th, 2009

Obama Hope Website for Real Estate Home OwnersSan 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 HOPE in loan modification and refinancingno 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 Passing the bailouts to our kidsexpect 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 No HOPE in HOMES of HOPEbefore 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 Which door to take?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.