San Diego Real Estate Blog

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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
_____________________________________________________

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.  

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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.

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