San Diego Housing Market Has Been Steadily Improving-But Now It Is Slowing Down

Over the last 14 straight months, the San Diego Housing Market was improving. I reported so here on ActiveRain and on my Voice of San Diego Real Estate blog site with glee. So what is happening now? It would seem at first glance that the Federal Tax credit coupled along with state housing credits inspired most of the qualified buyers that were in the market to have already purchased leaving, us with a much smaller Buyer pool. And  that doesn’t look to be increasing any time soon. Could that be a real possibility after having a steady increase in the improving numbers of home prices and sales? A possible cyclical change already?

According to Data Quick reporting, more money was spent last month on housing in Southern California  in in the past 2 years. Home purchases are dropping significantly and with the historically low rates that haven’t been this low since the 1970’s, what could be going on?

We have had home price improvement for home sellers with the median price edging up 13.2 percent in the last year. The mix of homes  from distressed to equity homes sales has improved from what was in the range of over 50% to about 33% currently. Higher home priced sales  make up about 20.8% , which is up over last year , Investor and absentee buyers are currently making up about 19% of the sales. So that leaves up with 30% of the market made up of homes sales in the low priced category ( under $500K ) which is now lower than last year.

I suspect that Buyers are having a more difficult time of qualifying for the mortgages now. The requirements are getting more difficult  to qualify so it may be that many more potential buyers are not eligible to purchase.

Here is another  statistic that  might help explain some of the change we are experiencing. Over the years , typically adjustable rate mortgages make up  anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of the buyer pool at any one time. Today we are down to just a little over 6% of the mortgages  are adjustable. Jumbo loans , even though the interest rates are available under 5%, qualifying requires extra high credit scores, at least 20% down and cash reserves.

The Buyer pool is still shrinking and that could spell some serious pricing problems ahead for sellers as we see the ratio of supply and demand make these dramatic changes. This is likely to add to the number of distressed homeowners entering the inventory market in coming months. It may be early for this statement but I am thinking that the idea that the housing market is going to float all boats and help get us out of the economic downturn might have been just wishful thinking.

6015 Caminito Del Oeste , San Diego

Deluxe Townhome on Tecolote Natural Reserve

Striking University Canyon West two level contemporary townhouse on canyon rim with serene views. Shows beautifully with some updated amenities. Glorious backyard oasis w/tiled patio, partial cover, pond and lush plantings. All set beside a gorgeous canyon setting. Contemporary white kitchen with solid surface counter tops. New dishwasher and stove installed June 2010. 3rd BR  convertible is open loft style w/no closet.
University Canyon West is an upscale condominium development in the heart of San Diego above Fashion Valley behind the USD Campus. Bordering the Tecolote Canyon Natural Reserve, it is a quiet gem in the heart of central San Diego. Close to Mission Bay, Old Town, the world class shops and restaurants of Mission & Fashion Valley and convenient to downtown. This unit shares only one common wall and feels in many ways like a single family home. This floor plan’s features include soaring vaulted ceilings, clerestory and solarium windows, an upgraded fireplace surround with raised hearth, a skylight stairwell, a kitchen with breakfast area, a direct access 2 car garage and an exclusive use/owner maintained backyard/patio on the canyon. Plantation shutters can be found in the dining room, master bedroom, front guest bedroom and in the 3rd bedroom/loft. Wood pattern laminate flooring on the staircase, upstairs hall, 3rd bedroom/loft convertible and throughout the first level with the exception of Kitchen,with rustic white tile. For more information on this home or any other property available for sale in San Diego, contact the Local Expert, William Johnson, RE/MAX Associates

La Jolla Festival Of The Arts

This art show and 4th annual charity event held at the beginning of each summer is sponsored by the Torrey Pines Kiwanis Club. It is held on the east campus of the University of California San Diego. The designated grounds use many acres to accomplish the very large event. One of the finest Art Shows in all of Southern California, this art show in particular, I don’t miss. 

This is no ordinary community art show as it features Internationally known artists, book signings, Chalk art by Prominent world Class Modonnari, a Classic Car exhibit, Cuisine prepared by Restaurant Row participants, An Interactive Kids Zone, and Music Entertainment by Featured Musicians and Bands on The Carvin Entertainment Stage.

The variety of Fine Arts in different medium covers a very large area on the grounds and the numbers of artists this year was extraordinary. The sections of street painting by world class class Madonnari ( chalk artists) was simply amazing.

This year, I am featuring two artists whose wonderful artistic stylings I have come to know and really enjoy. Introducing you to Kari von Wening and Jan Bush.

This Hand Painted and Metal Sculpture, titled ” Bon Appetite” is one of the pieces that drew me in to see Kari and Jan’s work. Earlier this year, I had first come across their works as exhibited at the Little Italy show in Downtown San Diego.

It was quite evident that I wasn’t only one drawn in as their display area was crowded with art collectors. And they were the more serious collectors who regularly add to their collections. I met one middle age couple that been collecting their work for some time and were about to purchase yet another piece for their collection.

There was another violin there that I was attracted to and they asked me why I liked it. The form and design reminded me of “Carnival” in Venice. We discussed that further and they decided they wanted it in their collection. I was delighted to have been a part of the decision making process for them.

At the La Jolla Festival of the Arts show yesterday, once again I was found a piece called “Bon Appetitie”. I was talking with Kari and Jan about the Blog post I wrote of the review of the movie Julie and Julia where I used that title.

I asked Kari and Jan if I could feature this violin in this post because I really liked it. Who knows, I may start a new collection of their violins. Their work is so intriguing and is always an inspiration to me. Here is a link to their site if you would like to see more of their works. As a collection is really wonderful and each piece seems to make such a bold statement.

Here are some other photos representing other works found here at this festival. Enjoy!

While visiting the many artists exhibits I also found and spoke with many different kinds of artists, specializing in different media, including a Photographer whose work I really appreciate. He and his wife are world travelers and he originally was a newspaper Photo Journalist from San Francisco. We spoke about his vast array of works, my interests in photography and about the PhotoBlogger group I founded. His work is simply stunning and he has welcomed me to consult with him on some very creative techniques he developed.

Some of the artist categories at this show were custom jewelery design, wood workings, furniture, photography, original oil, water colors, acrylics, glass,paper, ceramics, Fiber and textiles, Sculpture, Drawing, airbrush and mixed media and Madonni.

]]> http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/07/03/la-jolla-festival-of-the-arts-featuring-the-works-of-kari-von-wening-and-jan-bush/feed/ 0 http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/05/11/1235/ http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/05/11/1235/#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 01:17:32 +0000 William Johnson http://therealestatetextbook.com/?p=1235 San Diego Home Prices Leading the Nation in Home Price Increases.

According to Zillow, San Diego home prices year over year have increased 3.5 % and other reliable analysts agree that San Diego’s bottom was met and prices are on the rise and now lead the nation. Out of 27 major market areas, San Diego lead the way of the 6 top markets showing ayear over year increase in price followed by 4 other California markets.

Good news for Homeowners and for home ownership. It seems pretty clear that if prices are going to continue to rise, short of any great new economic downturn on the horizon, this is a very good time to buy with prices still low and interest rates still affordable. Single family homes are up on average 4.5 % over the past year and condominiums were 2.2 %.

Buyers that want to buy a home at the ground floor level would be well served now to get back into the market and make hay will sun shines, which it does most of the year here in San Diego. There are still some very good bargains out there but the inventory is low and hasn’t had much increase in inventory. Think in terms of supply and demand and take action now.

I would highly recommend San Diego Buyers to realize that the time is now if you still want in at the bottom.

]]> http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/05/11/1235/feed/ 0 http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/04/01/how-to-determine-the-best-real-estate-professional-for-you/ http://therealestatetextbook.com/2010/04/01/how-to-determine-the-best-real-estate-professional-for-you/#comments Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:20:27 +0000 William Johnson http://therealestatetextbook.com/?p=1227 How to determine the Best real estate professional for you!

Sometimes San Diego real estate buyers and sellers experience difficulty selecting the perfect Real Estate Professional to assist them with their home buying and selling experience.

Often it can be as easy as taking a test to find the perfect agent for your home buying or selling experience.

Find out who truly is the very best Real Estate Professional for YOU!

(DON’T SCROLL DOWN YET)
DO THE SIMPLE MATH BELOW, AND THEN SCROLL DOWN TO FIND THE PERFECT REAL ESTATE AGENT FOR YOU.

No Peeking!!!
It’s AMAZINGLY CRAZY how accurate this is!!

1) Pick your favorite number between 1-9
2) Multiply by 3
3) Add 3
4) Multiply by 3, again
5) You should now have a 2 or 3 digit number….
6) Add the digits together

Now, scroll down.

With that number, see who your PERFECT AGENT is from the list below:
(1) Your cousin, Vinny, who just received his real estate license this past Tuesday

(2) Bob, who rode his bicycle 7 miles to your house, because he lost his license to drive

(3) Nancy, who told you to get in, sit down, and shut up, because you were in for the ride of your life

(4) Madeline, the agent who consulted with a Ouija board to determine your home’s list price

(5) Eric, who brought his aggressive Pit Bull along for showings, because he didn’t know “who” or “what” we might encounter while viewing vacant properties

(6) Marcus, your car’s auto-mechanic, who also sells real estate on Sundays, and sometimes in the evenings

(7) Allison, who once volunteered her time at the hospital, but is into real estate as a hobby now.

(8) Ellis, who told you before you could sell your home you needed to complete the list of 78 improvements on your home. Total cost of improvements $56,000. Home value – $150,000

(9) William Johnson – Realtor for over 20 years and lives here in wonderful San Diego. Caring, experienced and the consummate professional.

(10) Oh, oh, need to cross Don’s name off this list, because we buried him last month.
See, it wasn’t that difficult to select the perfect real estate professional after all.

At the end of your successful real estate home buying or selling experience with #9, you will know how accurate this test was!

Why are you laughing???

P.S. Stop picking different numbers. Just dial (858-487-6975) and ask for William Johnson, author of the Real Estate Text Book with over 20 years of experience. Tell him you took the test, and it told you to call.

*This test is meant for entertainment purposes only! Any names used (other than my own), are either fictional, or have been changed to protect the guilty!

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.

Visit Social Media Advocate

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.

San Diego Real Estate …. WOW!…Wireless Discount Coupons with new iPhone App…. YOWZA!!

Wireless is in, paper is out. Even for those that like to clip coupons to their favorite restaurants or department stores. With competition heating up, having access to coupons on your cell phone will make it really easy. Remember to take your phone with you and forget the paper coupon.

Well,that is how it is for some businesses already and there will be growing encouragement on retailers to be sure to add their coupons online as well as  running those coupons in newspapers and mailers and making them available to access right on your phone.

The software app was developed by Yowsa and can be downloaded now for iPhone users. Perhaps there will be other platforms in the near future but for now, iPhone is the place. When I have asked people what kind of phone they have and they answer other than the iPhone, I always chuckle and say , “Gee that’s too bad”. The truth is though that I am sure all phones with data plans will eventually have these type of apps. When you think about it, clipping coupons is not always convenient and most often, even when you have a coupon, you forget to take it, at least I do.

Problem solved. At least for a few companies that are integrating their coupons with the Yowsa software that runs the app. And the way it works is so cool. You either get a promotional code that is imputted into the cash register at time of checkout or you get a bar code right on the screen of your iPhone and it can be scanned.

What could be more convenient ? Frankly with the economy the way it is and people looking for breaks in retail and food prices anywhere they can find them, this new service could not be more timely. This idea could also work for any type of service that might include hair salons, carpet cleaners, dry cleaners, laundry, car washes,  etc.

There will be more and more of demand for online coupons as people start asking about them. As people get used t the idea that these great money savers are online and ready for them, they will downloading the app and taking advantage so that they can carry all the coupons with them. These coupons might even determine where you might want to eat lunch one day based just on the fact that you have a coupon with you.

I downloaded the app and a number of stores come up. For example, REI, Sears, Saks Fifth Ave, The Container store, Islands Restaurant, Pier 1 Imports, Rubio’s, The Sports Authority,Tutti Fruiti Yogurt, Mountain Mikes Pizza , Loehman’s, golf courses and there were more. I had written to Yowza seeking permission to use their logo which they granted and they also informed me that some new restaurants in my area are about to come on line with Yowza. Great news.

Yowza has this cool little dial for how many miles away you want your list from. There is a also an FAQ section on Yowza’s Home page.

You will want to check this out. And I have an idea from the vast number of stores I haven’t mentioned that Yowza could use some help getting the word out and I for one will be telling stores where I shop about it and encouraging them to sign up. Hey, it’s in our best interest, right? So tell your clients about it, tell from friends and mention it at stores you shop in. I thnk Yowza is going to become one of my favorite iPhone apps.

Spring brings a new vitality and a richness in the day for our new beginnings. The seedlings struggle and push their way through the earth to catch the glimmer and the light of the new sun, transferring that energy into rapid growth that will bear the fruits and the flowers.

We begin those tasks that will bring about another new year of change. As the plants and birds and other animals know, it is not a time of just passiveness. Before babies are born and the flowers and fruit mature to their full beauty, a life producing energy of work has to take place.

We begin to see new light filter into our lives, it is time for work. Time to prepare our homes and our lives for the upcoming summer, clearing away the old and the tired for a spring new freshness. But it doesn’t end there. That is just the beginning. It is also time to clear the old things of winter and bring the new colors forth that are only enhanced by the new brighter light of the sun.

Spring is a time to clear from our consciousness the old and dull thinking and open our minds to the new brightness of the day and the exciting new possibilities of tomorrow. It is time once again to learn new things and new perspectives and to invite a new freshness into our lives. Spring is time for own renewal of our values and joys and the richness of opportunities yet to be realized as the days move forward.

Spring is a time to begin new involvements and begin the work to establish new friendships. Spring is time to experience the new life that is promised. Of the world surrounding us and the world within us as we mature through yet another new spring season.

Spring in San Diego real estate is always fresh with new Promises and bright with new opportunities and possibilities. For the tired and weary of yesterday, the new spring day is a chance to breath the freshness of new life. As our lives come upon yet a new spring beginning, we can each see the Spring ,fresh with it’s new promises.

I think all too often, Buyers and Sellers are most often disappointed when they have no clear end picture in mind

I have had buyers tell me that they would like a 3 bedroom home with 2 car garage, it has to have at least 2 full baths and big yard. And when I ask where in San Diego they would like for me to look for that home, I get a rather large area of numerous communities that they want to consider based on some criteria of which they seem not very clear. What this tells me is that the Buyer has yet to put their desired home in the context of an actual place where such a home might exist. In particular, the budgets that are often relayed as fixed also have not correlation to the locations discussed.

We know for a fact that a home in Mission Hills, Point Loma or La Jolla that fits all the parameters of size and functionality does not have the same price tag as a home of like characteristics in San Diego Metro or in more inland communities. When the Buyers shop Mission Hills and then expect that magically the target home will somehow appear if we look hard enough or make offers low enough, when the budget dictates that we should be looking in other communities where homes typically of that market value exist.

There is a greater than a 50 % chance that this Buyer will not actually be purchasing anytime soon. The challenge of housing costs, limited by a realistic though restrictive budget is very real in any market and the limitations of budget need to be clearly drawn. The best way to be an informed buyer is spend a proper amount of time visiting various communities and understanding better the uniqueness of each area, the types of homes typically found there and the amenities of schools, shopping etc with the framework of that area. The more they see practical examples of homes they would consider in the context of the individual community and realistic budgets, the more likely they will be to actually buy a home there.

Without having the end picture in mind, a complete accurate picture, we are not likely to find the right mix of home, feature , budget and community in one package. I am a Certified Residential Specialist and with a good consultation, I can help you shape that proper end picture and then help you locate it in the right community here in San Diego. It will save you frustration and a lot of time searching. Given a large number of haystacks, in any haystack, though a needle may be there, wouldn’t it seem more useful to find the right haystack first?

My name is William Johnson and I am with RE/MAX Associates.  I would love the opportunity to work with you and help you find that just right home in just the right community.