Archive for May, 2008
The San Diego Housing Market. Which Is It , A Mexican Hat Dance or a Standoff ?
May 28th, 2008 categories: San Diego Real Estate, Selling San Diego Real Estate
The San Diego Real Estate Market
The title question refers to the the San Diego real estate market, of course. As the voice of San Diego real estate, I wanted to lift the shadows of the question for you and give my perspective on this.
The Media
The press always seem to have their way , don’t they? They write all these articles that would make you wonder what planet are we living on. Are they writing news or just trying to make news when they try to get you the consumer to respond a certain way? “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn”. OK, I do but that is beside the point.
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Memorial Day Tribute - We Owe More than A Moment of Reflection
May 26th, 2008 categories: San Diego Real Estate
Holiday in May
Each year we have a holiday on the last Monday in May, Memorial Day. Many of us reverently fly our flags and some even make gardens of colorful flowers to symbolize our nation’s loss. Many just think of it as another 3 day weekend in late spring that brings us the all joys of the beginnings of summer weather. Wherever you might be on that scale, you might also reflect on how the loss of our brave men and women have impacted their families, wives and children who will endure their loss of loved ones, for all their lives. Husband and wives, children, mothers and fathers separated without any real reconciliation. Only the haunting memories of life as it was not how it might have been. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Wall Street Journal Reports The Housing Crisis is Over! Is It?
May 25th, 2008 categories: Buying San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate News, Selling San Diego Real Estate
Breaking News
For a change we are hearing some good news being reported in the news. It would only be natural that it should first be reported in the Wall Street Journal. As the voice for San Diego Real Estate, it pleases me greatly to share this good news as first reported in the journal and now in The Real Estate Text Book.
One caution. Before you go out and begin using your mortgage again as an ATM machine and borrowing money against your equity to redecorate the house, it would be beneficial to read the entire Wall Street Journal story and keep it in perspective by tempering it with your own empirical evidence.
The Good News
But at least some “Good News” is finally being reported! Actually, I have been seeing strong signs of increased Buyer activity here in the San Diego Housing Market and that usually indicates that Buyers are now coming back in the market and I predict more will be planning on taking action soon.
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California Senate Bill Wants Lenders to Better Maintian Their Bank Owned Properties
May 9th, 2008 categories: Legislative, Local San Diego News You Can Use, San Diego Real Estate
From the Voice of San Diego Real Estate, this just in. 
A recently passed California State Assembly bill will allow communities in California to go after the lenders with a daily fine of $1000 per day for neglecting an REO property’s conditions and allowing them to become rundown and a neighborhood blight. The bill SR 1137( Perata) was passed in the senate and moves now to the assembly for ratification. If it passes there, it goes to the Governor for signing and making it law.
While I certainly agree with the intent of the bill, I wouldn’t count on anything changing to much in the way REO’s are maintained while on the market. I am not sure if lenders give authority to their listing agents for other than utilities but from the REO’s I have seen, they certainly do not get the maintenance attention they need.
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Home Makeover Series: The Kitchen - Getting Ready To Remodel Your San Diego Kitchen
May 9th, 2008 categories: San Diego Real Estate
From the Voice of San Diego Real Estate, here are some guidelines you will find useful before starting your Kichen Remodel. Many homeowners that I have talked to discover that when they do this room, there are so many little details they forgot to ask about and when the process is started, the changes cause the price of the remodel to zoom.
The major components of the Kitchen are Flooring, Cabinets, Appliances, the Sink and Faucet, Counter Surface, and Lighting and we are just getting started. That sounded like just about everything but it is the little details of other things that ultimately make the difference of your final satisfaction and not to forget about in the budget.
Most home owners that are undertaking the task of a complete remodel, need a space plan. Are you just setting up new to replace the old or are you planning to have something a bit different, perhaps more efficient? Having a real Kitchen designer to work with you first will help you determine the optimization of the space and to make the Kitchen more functional will pay big dividends. Many of the big box stores, like Home Depot and Lowe’s have many choices and usually they offer a design service if they are going to supply at least the cabinets and counter tops. Be careful here. They may send the person out to measure and once you approve, that is what you get. If anything needs more adjustment than the tolerances, you may be buying some new cabinets. Try to get this part really clear. Prior to demolition of the old, crooked walls,uneven floors, things that we never really noticed before will be the likley issues you must deal with. If you do it correctly, you will be dealing with those issues before any new installation begins, not after when the cabinets won’t fit because you changed you mind about the counter top or where the window was going to be. A half inch is a small measurement but it can throw off a whole plan if it is not accounted for.
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Home Makeover Series: The Kitchen
May 9th, 2008 categories: San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate News, Selling San Diego Real Estate
From the Voice of San Diego Real Estate, If you read “ Getting Ready” in the previous article I posted here and have followed all the guidelines and precautions, you are now ready to begin the design and selection process.
Cabinets and Style
With all the choices in the market place, selecting the color scheme of wood tones , paint colors, floor finishes maybe even window coverings is your first step to complete the design. Assuming you now have that, what about the cabinets.
There are as many different design and qualities as there are finishes, maybe more. What sort of feeling do you want and how have you budgeted for this most important element in the design? One of things to be aware of that while any new cabinet will look good for a while, what happens when they don’t. What happens to the finish and any broken parts. Store brands or off brands may not have the adds you you passed over for the immediate budget concerns . What is something gets damaged and you need to replace it. Will the brand still be around to help with the solution.
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The Voice of San Diego Real Estate and A Serious Discussion on Mortgage Loans and Lending……The Past, The Present and The Furure
May 7th, 2008 categories: Buying San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Mortgage Banks and Loans Info, San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Real Estate News, Selling San Diego Real Estate
The Past - As practitioners in the real estate industry, not one of us is unfamiliar what with has already happened leading up to and the result of the sub prime crisis.
The Present - We are all pretty much in tune with the almost daily ideas being suggested by underwriters, mortgage purveyors, Congress and others. Everyone has ideas, testing the waters for that one stroke of brilliance that will act as a magic pill to solve the whole problem, one step at a time, one sweep at a time or even one huge brush stroke and make the problems all disappear.
The Future - Depending on who’s idea(s) win out, the course for the future of the mortgage market will probably be a lot different than it is today. That future could be filled with new opportunities as the skilled learn the new required steps for making it all seamlessly come together. Or it could be an ultra new “hybrid” type of market, a different set of rules for nearly every kind of situation imaginable, difficult to learn and even more so for the mortgage professionals to manage.
Taking a step back, let’s be clear where we were and why the market was so robust that it increased homeownership from a national average of approximately 50% to about 65% over a five or six year period. As the days roll on, that number is declining back though it is doubtful it will ever fall to anywhere near the 50% level again.
The perception during that run up period was that housing prices would continue to escalate forever and was reinforced daily by the statistics of skyrocketing sales and prices to match. With that no longer being our reality today, where are we now on that statistical scale? It has left us with falling home prices, fewer buyers in the market place, fewer home sales, and more uncertainty than in the past 20 years.
By the end of 2007 there were over 2 million foreclosure filings and 400,000 had already lost their homes. Now as bad as that sounds by the end of 2008, that may look like a ‘not so bad’ number comparatively speaking.
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