Why Should I Buy Real Estate At All.. Especially in North San Diego County?

 

January 26, 2012 JoeCobb Real Estate Issues

Why Should I Buy Real Estate At All.. Especially in North San Diego County? Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell you why i have enjoyed my career as a Realtor and Real Estate Broker since 1978.

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Is It A Good Time To Sell My North San Diego Home?

 

JoeCobb says:

to know if it is a good time to sell a home in North San Diego County, or anywhere you must first look at why you would want to sell.

If it is to move to a larger, or more desireable home timing the market is not so important so long as that new home is readily available. When you buy and sell in the same market you are insulated somewhat from loss. That being said, today is an excellent time to sell, if you need to, in order to improve your living standard. Especially if you have an older mortgage on the one you sell and a new mortgage at today’s rates and terms on the new home. Usually that new home will be at a higher price and you may even improve your actual out of pocket payment for the mortgage.

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Why Should I buy a north San Diego home in this market?

JoeCobb says:

It all depends on your personal situation. Where do you want to live? How long would you plan to live in that area? Do you have a stable income? What are the needs of your family? How far would you drive to work; to shopping; to recreation; to worship? What are the rents in that area? What are the prices of homes you would want in that area. Can you qualify for a loan to buy that home you would want? Do you have the needed cash to get that loan?

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San Diego Veterans Have V.A. Loans To Buy Their Homes.

Many veterans may have forgotten the V.A. loan option.  It you are a veteran, including 6 year National Guard or Reserve you may want to find out if that V. A. loan is the best for you. With the interest rates and prices so low it would be a shame not to buy this year if you are only short the down payment. 

From the San Diego Union:
GUEST COLUMN

VA loans opening homeownership doors for more veterans
Past and current military personnel looking for financing in today’s more stringent mortgage environment can take advantage of the VA loan program, which has been available for more than six decades to help members of the military own their own homes.

The program,established in 1944 as part of the Servi...Article Continued →

You Can Buy San Diego Real Estate even if you may think your credit is not good enough.

This San Diego Uniion article shows you may be scared away from even trying when your new home is just an application away.  The key is to be able to realistically afford it.   The truth is you may be able to pay less for your monthly living by buying rather than renting.  In fact, the interest rates and San Diego home prices are so low it is time to look at buying before they turn around and you are priced out of the San Diego market.

KENNETH HARNEY Nation’s Housing

INFORMATION GAP KEEPING MORTGAGE SEEKERS FROM DEALS

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Signs of improvement in San Diego Home Sales.  We are experiencing tiny, but steady, improvements in the housing sector of San Diego County.  Now is the time to consider buying with the market interest rates low and the prices flat.  Look at your New Year Resolutions now.  If you need to move in 2012 it is time to plan that move so you won't be left behind when the rates and prices increase..

REAL ESTATE

County foreclosures were flat last month while default notices dropped

Figures released Monday from DataQuick show the number of San Diegans who lost their homes to foreclosure has flattened, while default notices in the county declined last month. The data firm counted 666 foreclosures in November, down 0.1 percent from October and down 7.9 percent from a year ago. Last month’s tally is now the lowest since November 2007, when the county recorded 478 trustees’ deeds, which signal a home has been lost to foreclosure.

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Fantastic relief for the middle to high end properties in San Diego.  North county areas affected include Coastal, Torrey Del Mar, Highland Ranch, 4S Ranch, RAncho Bernardo, Penasquitos, Poway, Scripps Ranch, Escondido, San Marcos, Fallbrook, Hidden Meadows, San Marcos, and Vista or whenever a home needs a mortage of that amount.  This will relieve the shortage of mortages in that range making it possible for more people to buy. 

KENNETH HARNEY

Nation’s Housing

NEW LOAN LIMITS MAKE FHA TAKE ON LARGER ROLE

After a year characterized by grumpy partisan gridlock, Congress came up with a Thanksgiving compromise that could change the mortgage choices of buyers and refinancers in more than 660 markets across the country: It raised maximum loan limits for the Federal Housing Administration while leavin...Article Continued →

Good new for some who have loans they are struggling with according to the San Diego Union.

REAL ESTATE

Mortgage aid open to more Calif. borrowers

A state-run program that helps homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages now has broader eligibility guidelines, opening up help to borrowers who did “cashout” refinances and own multiple properties.

The program, called Keep Your Home California, is run by the California Housing Finance Agency. It has helped close to 8,000 low- and moderate-income households that are behind on loan payments or are close to default, the agency’s leaders said.

Keep Your Home California’s services include mortgage help for the unemployed, mortgage aid for homeowners with other documented financial hardships, relocation help for people going through a short sale or ...Article Continued →

The government has new guidelines you need to know about as reported in the San Diego Union.  Here is how you find out if you are able to be helped.

FIND OUT IF YOU’RE ELIGIBLE FOR HARP

Eligibility requirements

• Your home loan must have been sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before June 1, 2009.
• The loan-to-value ratio must be more than 80 percent.
• Homeowners must be current on mortgage payments in the past six months. They can’t have more than one late payment in the past year.
• Borrowers must be able to afford the refinanced mortgage payment.
• Proposed changes would:
• Cancel certain risk-based fees, leading to lower closing costs for homeowners who refinance into loans with shorter terms.
• Get rid of the 125 percent loanto- value cap.
• Eliminate the need for banks to pay for “representations and warranties,” which are in place in case borrowers de...Article Continued →
  

WHAT GETS US INTO TROUBLE IS NOT WHAT WE DON'T KNOW..

IT IS WHAT WE KNOW FOR SURE THAT JUST AIN'T SO!!

------Mark Twain    

Buyers and Sellers in San Diego are caught in a the mindset that they know real estate is a bad investment at this time.  The Facts:

1. History of prices and interest rates show that this is the best time in decades to buy and it is the best time to own real estate.   The charts for both speak for themselves.  Look at the charts.
2. A close analysis of the actual cost of renting vs buying today after taxes and all considerations show owning is less expensive.  Rents will go up as the economy strengthens.  If you own your own home you can make the changes to ...Article Continued →
   

5 Keys To Buying A Home In San Diego  

1) The best time to buy is when others are not.  

2) Real estate has up and down cycles but always tend up over time.   If the home you want to buy is available in the right location, at a price you can afford over time, and we are in a down market, why not buy? 

3) We know interest rates are low at this time but they can change quickly. 

4) Because most families move during summer break from school schedules, homes on the market during this time of year have sellers with higher motivation.

5) Fear stops many from buying.  Facts overcome fear.  Find out the facts from your trusted real estate advisor.

Tuesday, 16 August 2011

SUMMER SLUMP SEEN IN DECREASE

IN COUNTY HOMEBUYING IN JULY

DataQuick reports 11.7% dip in sales and 1.5% in prices over a short month

LILY LEUNG •U-T

San Diego home prices and sales fell in July, not atypical for the summer months and likely due to fewer business days last month, according to Monday’s report from La Jollabased real estate tracker DataQuick.

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A bright spot shows nondistressed sales are moving up

LILY LEUNG • U-T

San Diego County’s overall housing market stayed “sluggish” in the second quarter of 2011, but nondistressed sales saw a “healthy rebound,” according to Thursday’s report from the University of San Diego’s real estate center.

In a separate report covering July sales and prices, the San Diego Association of Realtors also shared mixed results.

The USD paper said the county recorded 8,839 sales in the second quarter, a 20 percent increase from the first quarter but fewer than the same quarter in 2010.

That data was collected from Honolulu-based Collateral Analytics and presented in a report by Norm Miller, Charles Tu and Lou Galuppo.
 

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For release:
July 15, 2011

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® applauds Gov. Brown on signing SB 458 into law

LOS ANGELES (July 15) – The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) applauds Gov. Jerry Brown on signing SB 458 (Corbett) into law. SB 458 extends the protections of SB 931 (2010), to ensure that any lender that agrees to a short sale must accept the agreed upon short sale payment as payment in full of the outstanding balance of all loans.

Under previous law (SB 931 of 2010), a first mortgage holder could accept an agreed-upon short sale payment as full payment for the outstanding balance of the loan, but unfortunately, the rule did not apply to junior lien holders. SB 458 extends the protections of SB 931 to junior liens.

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Some unemployed homeowners who are struggling to stay in their properties could be allowed to miss mortgage payments for a year as they're job-seeking, through Obama administration reforms announced on Thursday.

The changes, to start Aug. 1, are expected to help tens of thousands of borrowers, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan told the Associated Press on Thursday.

One of the changes requires servicers to extend their grace periods for qualified FHA borrowers from four months to 12 months.

Administration officials also will require loan servicers taking part in the federal government's Making Home Affordable Program, which aims to prevent foreclosures, to extend their grace periods for eligible out-of-work homeowners from three months to 12 months.

"The current unemployment forbearance programs have mandatory periods that are inadequate for the majority of unemployed borrowers," Donovan said, in a media release.

Unemployment re...Article Continued →

The 2011 assessed value of taxable property in San Diego County is up from last year, the first year-over-year increase since 2008, said County Assessor Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr.

The uptick of 0.51 percent, or $2 billion, over last year's tax roll indicates that "the market is flat," Dronenburg said.

The County Assessor's Office calculated the total assessed tax roll at $395.7 billion, generating roughly $3.9 billion in property taxes, or 1 percent.

Factors that contributed to this year's increase include: a decrease in residential appeals, new assessments of homes that changed owners and new construction activity, Dronenburg said.

All 18 cities in San Diego County saw assessed value increases this year, except three: Carlsbad,Chula Vista and Imperial Beach. Cities with the highest increases in tax roll were Del Mar and Solana Beach.

The average increase in individual assessed value was 13 percent. Dronenburg gave the following hypothetical example of how much m...Article Continued →

Home prices in San Diego stopped their slide in April after falling seven of the prior eight months, thanks mostly to the start of the summer home buying season.

But the local housing market still doesn't appear to be on solid footing, according to a widely watched housing index. San Diego home prices remain 4.3 percent below levels seen in April 2010. April prices locally were roughly equivalent to August⁄September of 2009.

Last spring, a federal tax break for first time home buyers expired, and that clearly has played a role in the year–over–year price declines, say industry experts.

Still, the trend of falling prices – coupled with continued high unemployment and a weak economic recovery –– has raised concerns about lingering weakness in the housing market. So news that prices actually increased in April is seen as positive.

"What we're seeing is pretty flat house prices," said Gary Painter, a USC professor and director o...Article Continued →

The devastating wildfires of 2007 burned twice for Janice and John Strizver.

There was the the initial, horrific loss of their Ramona home consumed by fire. And then came the slow, angry burn on realizing that their insurance payout would fall far short of the cost to rebuild.

Now a new set of state regulations, which went into effect Monday, seek to combat the problem of underinsurance by imposing a uniform standard for the way insurance companies and brokers estimate so-called "replacement value" when a homeowner decides to buy or renew a home insurance policy.

Strizver, whose insurance company paid only $360,000 of the $700,000 cost to rebuild their 3,500-square-foot home, said the reform is "absolutely needed."

"We'd had the same insurance and the same agent for 20 years, and they assured us that we had more than enough coverage," said Strizver. "I'm a nurse and my husband is a computer programmer, what do we know about insurance? That's why we had an agent.

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Homeowners in California have less than two weeks to get a carbon monoxide detector installed in their homes.

A new state law that goes into effect July 1 requires the devices to be installed in all single-family homes that have an attached garage, fireplace or a fosil-burning heater.

The detectors of the odorless, colorless gas can be bought at hardware stores for anywhere from $20 to $90. The bill requires that devices sold are certified by the Office of State Fire Marshal.

The State Air Resources Board, a regulatory board at the California Environmental Protection Agency, estimates that carbon-monoxide poisoning causes 30 to 40 deaths every year in California. The board said inhalation of the gas has led to about 175 to 700 emergency room and hospital visits within the last three years in California.

But not everyone has to install the detectors by July 1. Owners of other dwellings, such as hotels, apartments and dormitories, hav...Article Continued →

The Union-Tribune on Monday brought you a synopsis of Harvard's annual housing report, which explained the potential impact that baby boomers and those in their 20s will have on the residential market.


Today and Wednesday, we'll continue to break down the 40-page paper from the university's Joint Center for Housing Studies.


Today we're drilling into how age and immigration will affect homeownership in America.
 

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Baby boomers looking to downsize and young adults who can afford to finally move out will be key drivers of the residential recovery, saysHarvard University's state of the nation's housing report, released Monday.


The U.S. home recovery, expected by many industry leaders to come around slowly, in the meantime has been hampered by declining prices, high rates of foreclosure in states such as California and people faced with negative equity.


"The state of the nation's housing is sobering," said Eric S. Belsky, the managing director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, which wrote the report. "Total housing construction over the previous decade now barely exceeds the lowest level of any ten-year period in records dating back to ...Article Continued →

Homes in San Diego County will always be a good investment on the
long term despite all the bad news.  This last decade has shown that
loose lending practices promoted by the government, lenders, and even
realtor groups with the good intension of increasing home ownership
failed.

San Diego Union Tribune

San Diego homeownership drops in past decade

BY LORI WEISBERG

A prolonged housing crisis and recession erased all of the homeownership gains of the last 10 years, leaving San Diego Countywith a lower proportion of owners than at the start of the decade, new census figures show.

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This is very important information for the young people who want to buy homes in San Diego.

FOR YOUNG BUYERS, HOUSING BUST IS A BOON

ROBERT J. SAMUELSON

Newsweek

If you're a 20-something or even younger, your economic future is at best clouded.

Your taxes will almost certainly be higher than today's; your public services (schools, police, sanitation, defense, scientific research) will almost certainly be lower. Paying for old people, covering rising health costs, repairing dilapidated roads and servicing government pensions and the huge federal debt will squeeze take-home pay. Is there any hope for economic gains?

Well, yes – and from a surprising source. Housing.

Say what?

Almost everyone considers the housing collapse a disaster, and it is. Since 2007, roughly 8 million homes have gone into foreclosure.

Housing prices, according to the widely cited Case-Shiller index, are ...Article Continued →

POLITICS ASIDE, WE'RE UNDER-TAXED

Federal rates for America's rich and poor have fallen below historical standards

KEVIN G. HALL

MCT NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON

Here's a dirty little secret that most Americans don't want to hear: We're undertaxed.

That may sound like heresy; nobody wants to pay more taxes. But by historical standards, what we pay in federal taxes — rich, poor and everyone between — has gone down.

At a time when Washington is wrestling with how to end federal budget deficits and trim the national debt — huge questions that are expected to dominate the nation's politics through the 2012 elections — the fact that Americans are undertaxed compared with U.S. historical norms is central to the discussion.

This fact is separate from the politically charged questions of whether government spends to o much, the fairness of who pays how much and w...Article Continued →

3 1/2 percent is the:
Average rate of growth expected this year in U.S. home-improvement industry.

The gain, which follows a decline that started in the third quarter of 2007, may come as property owners who scrimped during the recession spruce up kitchens and bathrooms. Spending probably will rise 9.2 percent to $125.1 billion in the first quarter from $114.6 billion a year earlier, and 13 percent in the second quarter, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. Spending fell to a six-year low of $112 billion in 2009. The center measures data including hours worked by remodelers and retail sales at building materials stores, according to Bloomberg News.

Continue to read on here: San Diego Union Tribune

Great information for home-owners, home-buyers, and everyone in between!

A look at what San Diego has to offer after 55!

The investors have been having a thriving business picking up foreclosed properties and short sales in lower priced areas. Many of those best buys have disappeared or are on their way out as prices have risen. The flip investors have renovated and resold much of that inventory thus raising the values of those properties.

We are still left with some great opportunities in the lower, middle and higher price areas that are great for home buyers who intend to live and raise their families in a nice neighborhood.

The nicer the neighborhood the more demand there is for a property which translates into price. (Supply and Demand) Most importantly, if you find a home that is perfect for your family and is in the best location you can afford you should waste no time in purchasing it after comparing it to others on the market. If it is that good someone else will soon find it and it will be gone.

If you are a seller who wants to buy a better home of higher value you ...Article Continued →

Market Update as of January 2011:

Real estate in San Diego County generally reached the bottom prices last year and has been climbing slowly month over month. The volume of sales has decreased but is expected to pick up when people realize they should take advantage of the lower prices and comparatively lower interest rates. The interest rates seem to have reached the bottom and have climbed as the economy shows signs of recovery.

The crystal ball does not show the future but most experts know and expect the interest rates and prices to continue to rise over the next several years.

Combined with prices and interest rates the term "location, location, location" best describes value and opportunity today. Now is the time to buy the right home or property in a great location.

Joe Cobb Broker
Realty Experts

 

"Home" A place of solice, comfort, and peace. A place to rest, to dine, to rejuvenate, to play, to interact with friends and family.

At Realty Experts we are your partner in real estate. We help you look for and acquire the house that can be your "home". Whether selling and buying or buying for the first time we are here to help.

To accomplish this we listen, counsel, inform, and guide you. We are your servant and mentor in the process.

Our goal is to give you the service you need in such a way as to earn your continued trust in all your real estate needs and to give you the confidence to refer your friends and relatives to us.
Now is the time to buy, or sell in order to buy that future home you have always wanted. Interest rates and prices are still low but just beginning that ...Article Continued →