San Diego Real Estate – CDPE Designation Awarded
January 7th, 2010 categories: San Diego Real Estate
San Diego Real Estate – CDPE Designation Awarded to William Johnson
Earlier this week I completed my live course here in San Diego achieving the new designation of CDPE through the Alex Charfin’s Distressed Property Institute.
Back in the nineties I did a few short sales listings when they were first accepted as means of avoiding foreclosure. Most of the work then was done with the homeowner and the homeowner worked with the loss mitigation department and if there was a hardship many of these homeowners ended up avoiding foreclosure. The consequences at that time for the homeowner were very different.
The short sale process today with the number of distressed homeowners is much more complex and time consuming than it was back then. I recalled being called to take the listing and actually did much less then that I would have to do today in the same situation. The process is more time consuming today having a lot to do with the sheer number of homeowners in distress overwhelming the lenders loss mitigation departments that must make the decision.
Over the past couple years having seeing the real estate business change right before my eyes, I still resisted marketing to the needs of the distressed homeowners thinking I might escape the need to do short sales in my real estate business. Sadly, the distressed homeowners are representing a larger share of the current inventory and in the next few years more and more homeowners are expected to be in this situation. Equity listings are in short supply in my market but the need to help distressed property owners try and prevent foreclosures is on the rise. The need for selling short to help homeoners prevent foreclosure is expected to greatly increase over the next few years.
Knowing something about short sales is simply not enough in this climate. It is necessary to take the course study that teaches the process and provides all the supplemental forms needed for the lender and the transaction. There is also the need to learn specific counseling of the consumer needing to prevent the eminent foreclosure. There is extensive knowledge required and especially in learning and being familiar with the governemnt programs that are currently available or soon will be. While this training helps some mitigate foreclosure, sadly it doesn’t work for everyone. But for each homeowner we help to prevent foreclosure, they become one less statistic and can better get on with the rest of their lives.
The course material and instructor were nothing sort of awesome and I would highly recommend this course presented by the Distressed Property Institute. Short Sales are a lot more work and considerably more time is needed to get the transaction to a successful closing. As real state professionals we must be committed to helping consumers avoid foreclosure even while also knowing that we can’t save them all but we can and do make a difference.
If you are Buying, Selling or Relocating to San Diego and need help from a professional REALTOR®, give me a call or visit my San Diego Real Estate website and sign up for Listing alerts for your favorite San Diego Home and Condominium Property Searches.
I specialize in Single Family Homes and Condominiums throughout the coast and inland areas of San Diego. Some of those communities are La Jolla, University Town Center, Bay Park, Mission Valley, Pacific Beach, Scripts Ranch, Poway, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho
Penasquitos,Carmel Valley and Solona Beach. If I didn’t mention a city or community that you are interested in, just let me know and i will find you an expert for that community as well.
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San Diego Real Estate – Affordability Caused By Declining Inventory of Single Family Homes Seems to be Decreasing
November 19th, 2009 categories: Buying San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate News, Selling San Diego Real Estate
With fewer homes with equity coming to market and the increasing numbers of buyers vying for the more limited inventory, there are few choices left for the family on even a reasonable budget. Federal Tax credits for First Time Buyers and move -up buyers within a specific income threshold has increased the competition for affordable housing. With prices for an average per square foot dwelling now heading into the $300 per foot range, the lack of inventory coupled with the increased demand is reducing affordability.
I have seen availability coupled with affordability drop, seemingly to close out the family even with a fair amount of income if they need to occupy the property in a reasonable time frame ( most short sale purchases can be several months off if lender approved). The numbers of Buyers for more moderate priced homes has mushroomed and this week alone I have viewed many properties through much of the lower half of San Diego County and touching into the upper half up of the county to the $400,000 level for just such a family. Many short sales have no acceptable occupancy time line and the corporate REO’s have limited financing due to the 90 day FHA flipping rule.
The market has heated up very quickly since the extension and expansion of the Federal Tax Credit for first time and for move-up Buyers in the moderately priced home range. The housing supply is dwindling and the current limited inventory in many cases is going into overbid with multiple offers..
Market conditions seem to indicate that the more affordable single family housing is to be found more inland and anything that is priced well and market ready within 20 to 25 minutes of the coast is getting a lot of Buyer showings and multiple offers within days of bringing the property to market.
Affordability as cited by the economic predictions usually deals with statistics based in medians and averages. I am not dealing with statistics but rather real families with real housing needs. Day after day searches bring me to the conclusion that housing affordability has waned and the price of property is increasing as affordability based on lower inventory are declining.
Please Note: This is real life and I didn’t bother to check to see how my empirical evidence aligns with the actual statistics since my clients are suffering through the real life situation and statistical numbers don’t mean much to them in trying to find a property they can call home.
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Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended and Enhanced
November 14th, 2009 categories: Buying San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate News, San Diego Relocation, Selling San Diego Real Estate
Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended and Enhanced.
If you are Buying, Selling or Relocating to San Diego and need help from a professional REALTOR®, give me a call or visit my San Diego Real Estate website and sign up for Listing alerts for your favorite San Diego Home and Condominium Property Searches.
I specialize in Single Family Homes and Condominiums throughout the coast and inland areas of San Diego. Some of those communities are La Jolla, University Town Center, Bay Park, Mission Valley, Pacific Beach, Scripts Ranch, Poway, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho
Penasquitos,Carmel Valley and Solona Beach. If I didn’t mention a city or community that you are interested in, just let me know and i will find you an expert for that community as well.
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San Diego Real Estate – Economic Predictions Indicate Improved Real Estate Market in 2010
November 14th, 2009 categories: San Diego Real Estate
With the now approved extension and enhancement of the Federal Tax Credit for Buyers of residential real estate, we will see a few bright signs through the expanding real estate market at least during the first half of 2010.
While I expect the Winter and the Spring markets to be at least as good as much of 2009 , the indicators will show some more improvement in 2010. Regretfully there will be mortgage resets, the possibility of increasing unemployment and more homeowners defaulting on their mortgages which will offset some of the more positive improvements of the market .
This is not to give a negative perspective of our markets but one of realistic expectations. I expect we are at or near the end of the downward price spiral and things are showing signs of a bit more stability. Interest rates are expected to remain historically low through the first half of the year and beyond that no one is certain about where rates will go. My guess is that they will remain low through the whole year.
Statistically we currently have between 1.5 and 2. 6 million households in the US that are at some stage of foreclosure. And through a larger scope there are over many millions of households that are late on their mortgage. A good percentage of the late pays now being caused by unemployment.
I expect to see more short sales and Reo’s ( Bank Owned Foreclosed Property) in the market in 2010. The National Association of REALTORS predicts in the range of 4.7 million home sales around the US. Here in San Diego a good percentage of our share of those sales will be distressed properties. Maybe as high as 30 to 35%. Equity Sales will increase in 2010 but currently the market has a declining inventory of properties for sale.
We have a ways to go to get a to a fully improved market, although there are new reports daily that the trends are becoming more favorable each quarter. We have had 7 straight quarters of the market moving in an upward direction. We have seen prices begin to stabilize and we have seen prices even increase in a couple areas. We have heard that the percentage of homeowners that are upside down is declining. All good news. We are not out of the woods as yet but we are beginning to see sunlight again through the trees.
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REALTORS and Real Estate Technology Professionals Gather in San Diego
November 14th, 2009 categories: San Diego Real Estate News, William's Life in San Diego Musings
REBarCamp San Diego was a Huge Success!
Well over 400 participants converged at the downtown San Diego location of the world famous Stingaree NightClub, hosted by Jim Marks, NAR, Zillow and countless others, the REBarCampSD kicked off yesterday morning at 8:30Am and ended with a party like reception outside on the rooftop under the stars of the Stingareee Nightclub. This Venue I am told may be one of the most outstanding ever to host the BARCamp events.
What an extraordinary experience!
“Attendees don’t just watch a set list of speakers. They give their own talks. Podcasting. Web standards. Microformats. Gum stick computers. Physical security. Robotics. Evolutionary algorithms. It can be anything. One of the best barcamp presentations ever given was about sandwiches. BarCamp is what you make of it.” a quote taken from the REBar Camp site.
Topics today included the “Importance of and increasing SEO for your website” presented by Drew Meyers ( Zillow ) through topics on “Blogging” , by Jay Thompson and Kris Berg ( PhoenixRealEstateGuy.com and SanDiegoCastles.com) “Marketing properties with Photos “,” Syndication of the WordPress platform, Social Networks and guidelines for maximizing your experience,” Introducing Posterous.com”, presented by Eric Stegemann. All the social network gurus were there to help each us learn the many ways to interact and build and establish relationships. Social Networks are about Relationship Building. There were experienced “REO Specialists” conducting discussions on the “future and explosion of REO’s”, “ShortSale Specialist Experiences”, and “How to convert Online Consumer Leads” by Bob Wilson. There are too many topics to name all of them but certainly all of the many remarkable topics had presenters giving of their time to help each of us participating to always have the best online experience.
There were 3 levels of areas at the venue ( 12 specific and named areas ) used throughout the venue creating 12 simultaneous classrooms, that changed topics every 30 minutes. The sessions involved a presenter that guided the full participation of each and every attendee. As they say, “ This is not a spectator sport”. To maximize your shared knowledge and experiences, everyone was encouraged not to just attend but to actively participate.
Some of us knew each other well on line and today many of us from ActiveRain, Facebook,Twitter, Linked In, met in person for the first time. I guess you can just imagine how incredible that was.
What an amazing event and I was overwhelmed with the outpouring for friendship and sharing at this most amazing experience.
I am re-posting this post that I originally published on another blog for Real Estate Professionals.. The reason is simple really, I feel it will help you the consumer to know our passion and dedication to learn all that we can that will ultimately help you the most in your real estate decisions. To know that we care to be the very best we can be in providing you state of the art services for any transaction that will assure you the best result.
If you are Buying, Selling or Relocating to San Diego and need help from a professional REALTOR®, give me a call or visit my San Diego Real Estate website and sign up for Listing alerts for your favorite San Diego Home and Condominium Property Searches.
I specialize in Single Family Homes and Condominiums throughout the coast and inland areas of San Diego. Some of those communities are La Jolla, University Town Center, Bay Park, Mission Valley, Pacific Beach, Scripts Ranch, Poway, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho
Penasquitos,Carmel Valley and Solona Beach. If I didn’t mention a city or community that you are interested in, just let me know and i will find you an expert for that community as well.
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