Kenneth Harney a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post wrote an article that appeared recently in our Union Tribune and condensed all the known information about mortgage money and loan availability for todays Buyers of residential real estate.

The essence of the article was about the lack of shortage of money and the credit available to buy homes. He makes a very strong point that it is because the government has backed these loans and there is much less risk, at least for now. 

Now, it is acknowledged that attaining credit today is certainly not as easy as it once was but if you have a good credit score and at least some money to put down, you stand a very good chance of getting your loan request approved. 

Here are the Key Highlights of Kenneth Harney’s article.

There is no shortage of money available for home mortgages, no freezing of credit to purchase or refinance a house. Why?  Because the American mortgage market effectively has been federalized – at least for the time being.  

Loan terms and credit underwriting standards have been toughened up, but you can still put down 3 percent (3.5 percent after Jan. 1) on an FHA-insured mortgage and 5 percent on certain Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan programs with private mortgage insurance.  

Despite the global financial system’s quakes, mortgage rates not only remain low by historical standards but have actually declined recently. 

Maximum loan amounts - through FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in high-cost local markets on the West and East coasts ( San Diego is included in this category ) will continue to be $729,750 through December 2008. In January, the high-cost maximum is projected to dip to approximately $625,000. 

Home prices – pushed by foreclosures and short sales – have rolled back to 2003 and 2004 levels or lower in many of the former boom market areas.

Buyers are seemingly liking the lower prices as many more are coming off the sidelines and making offers and deals are coming together.  Our National Association of REALTORS reported that the Pending Home Sale index increased  over 7% based on contracts signed in August.

The conclusion is that there is plenty of money available as long as you can qualify for it. If you are in the market to purchase a home, besides the large lenders, there are numerous San Diego local banks and credit unions that are wanting to lend mortgage money from their own portfolios and are competitive on their terms and rates. 

I was impressed with the amount of antique machinery and the old wine presses used at the turn of the century. The extensive grounds are much like a graveyard for rusted out old farm equipment and tools that is so very interesting. Everywhere you look are old antiquities.

There are even a couple old antique Olive presses resting comfortably from their glory days tucked into the shade of the remaining olive trees.

Today most of the grounds where grapes were once grown are covered with quaint shops, restaurants and they still do wine tastings of both their wines and others that are on sale from other wineries in the state of California. One of the newer buildings is clad in wood siding made from the end of old wine boxes. You will see a close up photo from Robert Mondavi wines as one of the wood shingles.

The Rancho Bernardo Historical Society is building a new museum facility on the grounds with a $300,000 fund it has raised for construction. Remnants from the Old Historical Society’s Building that was torn down have been salvaged for inclusion in the new museum to be built here. I have included a picture here of the temporary quarters of the Ranch Bernardo Historical Society.

What a delightful experience visiting there today. I have lived in the Rancho Bernardo area for over eight years and I had never visited the winery before. I love the surroundings, the old antique machinery and the quaint village type of atmosphere and I plan to return again and learn more about the history of this wonderful little treasure in Rancho Bernardo.

I saw a sign in one of the shops that made me think of all of you and knew you would like it. Especially Sally Chesseman, Gary Waltol and Julie Neerings. Maybe we should adopt this as the new ActiveRain Mission Statement. Here is a picture of the sign.

Thousands of acres of land were burned in the last fires and it struck many homes and these homes were not just the ones in the back country. These fires spread by cinders that fly in the air and land on roofs, ignite any dry brush and as demonstrated in the last two fires, the fires are not selective as to neighborhoods. They indiscriminately can touch anyone , anywhere, even if you live right on the coast.

These suggested protections are for you safety, your family’s safety and most especially the safety of your home. Having fire or hazard insurance , while it may cover some or all of your property, can not guarantee you complete protection from loss. You can’t replace a loved one. Many homeowners involved in last years fires are still arguing with insurance companies to get settlement and rebuild. The best course of action is to try and protect yourself, your family and your homes from being lost to these potentially devastating fires. There is a lot you can do to help yourselves before the potential for fires strike.

Here are 10 good tips for your safety as well as creating a defensible space around your home during this dangerous season.

1. Trim any dry brush away from anywhere around your home. Be thinking in terms of at least 100 feet out. Sparks fly and any thing less than this allows these sparks to land on your roof or other areas of your property that can catch fire.
2. If you have a natural vegetation ( not what we think of in terms of landscaping) prune  it down to no higher than  6 inches. Keep it low or remove all together down to the  plain dirt would be even better.
3. Carefully look at your trees. If they need pruned, now is the time to do that. Don’t wait. Do it now. If these trees overhang the driveway or if you can’t get them trimmed back sufficiently for emergency vehicles to enter, considering removing them altogether. Trees to close to your home add the potential of fuel to any fire.
4. If you have used wood chips for your mulch areas around the house, remember this wood can ignite. Use rock mulch or replace the wood mulch with the new synthetic mulch that doesn’t burn. It looks good and doesn’t dry out like wood. This is an easy area to overlook. The sparks fly and if they get down into the old dry wood chips, you are creating a perfect environment for fire.
5. Even if you have a tile roof but have gutters that may be full of old leaves or combustible debris, you are not safe. If the sparks land there, there is a good chance that your home can catch fire, even with the tile roof. Think about it, there is wood all around it and if the gutters are on file, you home may be soon. The winds will carry the embers and you risk can losing your home. Clean the gutters out and be sure there is nothing in them.
6. Check around your home for things stored or stacked near it. Are these things flammable? If they are, they probably will burn with embers that can land on them. Clear away anything that can burn as it probably will. All these items are additional fuel that can put your home at risk.
7. Be sure to register your phones ( yes, not only your home phone but your cell phone as well) for the Alert San Diego emergency notification system.
8. Talk to your neighbors and help them to take these same actions. Help them understand that the best defense against the potential for wildfires burning in your neighborhood is a strong defense and you can help them understand the importance of taking these actions. All together, you can help protect your neighborhood. Clear thinking and ACTION is essential.
9. Remove outdoor furnishings that are close to the home or under windows. If they catch fire, the heat can break the glass and risk fire on the inside.
10. Last but critically important. Know where you important papers are in the house. Get these organized NOW so that if you have to evacuate, you can get your hands on them quickly. This is so essential and it is the very least you can do now, while you have the time to think this through. If you had an hour to leave your home, you will have no time to locate them. So organize things now and be ready for a fast exit should the need arise. During this season, it is essential that you think of your family’s survival and comfort if you have to flee. Having each member of the household prepare a bag of essentials that they can just pick and put in the car would save a lot of time. You know what the essentials are, so I am not going to  list them here. A few clothes,shoes, socks and underwear are obvious. But how about medications, important documents, precious keep sakes, family photos, checkbooks, jewelry,your computer,etc. The time to think of all this is NOW.

There is much to be done. Don’t wait till the fires become eminent. Do at least these things now!

These are some ideas of ways for YOU to help minimize the probably of a wildfire burning down your home and the need to evacuate. Being a REALTOR, when you want to sell a home, I help you Stand Out in the crowd and get it sold. In the case of doing your part in protecting your home from wildfires, if you take these actions, you might be one of the lucky ones and have a home that is left standing after the fires. You can help your own home ‘Stand Out’ in the crowd. And that of your neighbors. Having been through 2 of these fires and once even evacuated, I can only help you with some of the ideas. You must do or hire someone to do these most important things. So don’t risk your home, your own safety or those you love. At least do the measures above to help provide for your safety.

PS. If you have a pet, and that is any kind of pet, please think about their safety as well. They can not fend for themselves. They can suffocate from smoke just like us humans. Now think about this. If your pets are in a cage, a carrier or just home in their natural place, if the home catches fire or even just has a lot of smoke, please be sure you can get them to safety. Don’t forget, they are one of the family too!

There is also much more that you can do. In an ensuing post, I will provide you a list of ways to fire retard your home and property that can add yet another layer of fire protection for your home. These fire retarding measure will take some time but worth the effort. The fire season comes annually and you should be thinking both short term and the longer term. Living in areas with a potential for wildfires means that you must be proactive. It is important for yourself and those you care about.  

Please take this seriously! The life and home you save may be your own.

                                            William Johnson

                                           The Voice of San Diego Real Estate

 

The Encina Power plant currently uses the seawater for it’s power plant’s cooling system but will be soon be converting to an air cooled system. The Poseidon’s Desalination Proposal of using the seawater intake had stirred opposition from environmentalists and a recent legal opposition by environmentalists was dismissed against one of the permits this past week.

All Systems Go! Poseidon expects to deliver drinking water to nine local San Diego water agencies by 2011 and in a statement by Poseidon Resources, it  rightfully claims this is a  historic day for California as the desalinated water will now be a  measurable component of the State of California’s water resources.

With the contract that most Buyers don’t read very carefully, there is specific language for the items and issues that warranty does not cover. Your experience with home maintenance and the breakdowns that naturally occur as systems wear out over time might surprise you that many of these are not covered  within the scope of your agreement.

Thinking logically about what is not covered ( which you will find in the contract ) and then the reality of facing some of these repairs, you may question the usefulness of the coverage in the first place.

There is excellent reason to have the coverage that either the Seller may provide or that you can provide for yourself if the Seller declines this aspect of your offer to purchase the property. But you should be aware of the the limitations of coverage and the exceptions in the policy as you may face these issues during your ownership.

If your water heater goes out and you have coverage, it will either be repaired or even replaced. Unless that is, the issue is sediment ( calcium or other chemical build up), unless you have specific coverage for that feature. If the issue was caused because it was not property vented, the vented aspect of water heater may not be covered. What does this mean? You probably won’t know until you file a claim and pay the service charge for someone to determine the cause and the remedy. That should sound fair enough. But here is an issue you might not be prepared for. Does any licensed and qualified plumber see the issue exactly the same way? You may be surprised to learn , they do not. Coverage : uncertain.

If you have coverage on your air conditioning system and it fails, it is time to make the call and get someone out to get it fixed. Here are some of the areas where when you purchased the home, you may not have realized what you actually have in the way of the air conditioning system.

For instance, in California, SEER 10, 12 or SEER 13 . What does that mean to you the consumer and did you know to ask?. Did the Contractor that inspected your home go over this with you, did your REALTOR or the Seller mention it? Most Home warranties repair or replace faulty air conditioners to this standard. So what does SEER mean? From a very useful source,ASHI,The American Society of Home Inspectors, here what the SEER means. “Every air conditioning unit is assigned an efficiency rating known as its “seasonal energy efficiency ratio” (SEER). The SEER is defined as the total cooling output (in British thermal units or Btu) provided by the unit during its normal annual usage period divided by its total energy input (in watt-hours) during the same period”.

If the heating or cooling system provided to you in your home is not of the property capacity for the size of the home and it breaks down, there is an exclusion in many home warranties that may specifically decline coverage to repairing or replacing an inadequately sized system should it break down.

The point is that as a Buyer today, you need to know to ask more questions. Assuming you already know or don’t need to know those answers about a home may actually cause your real learning experience to be deferred until something breaks down.

Construction standards today provide that if a home was built to code, the components of the home meet the minimum standards for functionality and safety. So while the home functions and  is safe, you still must expect that things will break down as most components of a home have a useful life term.  When the useful life of the components in your home start breaking down from either wear or just being old and giving out, the Home warranty can step in and help you out with the expense.

But it has limits and these limits should be understood. As a buyer for a residential property, I would guess there could be no better way to understand the components of your home than reading carefully a home warranty plan and then asking lots of questions. With every qualified answer, you will be getting a real education about the home you are soon to own.

One very smart way to do this is be sure to have a home warranty plan in your offer to purchase. Get a copy of what the coverage is and read it carefully, making special note of the exceptions. When you have your contractors inspection, this is a great time to compare the available coverage and understand what is going to covered and what is not. You might even want to upgrade that home warranty policy yourself adding other components that you discover when doing the contractors inspection.

You might wonder why there are exclusions for instance on covered items. This is insurance and not unlike medical coverage, there are exceptions or circumstances that are either excluded or qualified based on criteria from the insurance coverage. When you better understand the components of the coverage, you better understand the components and any exceptions, in this case of your home.

Learning is a logical process and requires usually starting from some elementary point and building on that point. Getting more and more knowledge as you go. The biggest mistake any buyer can make is to assume you already know something just by looking at it , when you have a perfect opportunity to put aside what you think you know and learn the elements of your home from the ground up. You can never know to much and starting with your contractors inspection and a good home warranty with the proper coverage of what you are buying will go a very long way to providing you and your family the best living experience in your new home.

Pesticides produced from natural sources such as the oil from oranges, hasproven to be as effective as other synthetic chemicals with the added advantage that they do not harm the eco-system. Oil of chrysanthemum is a natural pest deterrent.

We have been discovering that the synthetic chemicals which do not break down have found there way into our  water supplies as they leach through the soils into the underground water.

Overtime, synthesized chemical treatments become less effective as the pests build a natural defense  to them, requiring even more harmful chemical substances to be used. Employing the methods and research of Integrated Pest Management  or IPM along with the numerous natural sources of remedies, pest treatment remains effective and assures of us of no further harm to any part of our entire eco-system.

Two and half years ago our precious little one ( a Yorkshire) developed a cough and the vet believed she had a cold. It did not sound like a cold so we sought out a specialist’s advise and it was discovered that she had a polyp in the back of the throat area. A biopsy was performed and she was diagnosed with Lymphoma.

Chemo Therapy

Believing that it was caught very early, an oncologist was recommended and treatment ( 25 weeks of Chemo ) was underway that same day. The 25 weeks of Chemo was difficult on all of us as we saw her hair change texture and fall out only to start growing back in as curly and in some of the oddest colors when she went into remission. It took the better part of a year to return to some normalcy. But after that round of chemo, CeCe did so well for almost a full 6 months.

After the next check-up, we received the heartbreaking news that the cancer had returned and she would need another 25 week round of Chemo. This was completed and then only weeks had passed this time before it became necessary for round 3 to be started.

With all the Chemo , steroids and medications used to help control her body’s reaction to the chemo, her body scans now were indicating that her heart was enlarging and that there were even more serious problems with the lungs and the scans clearly indicated that the trachea was now collapsing. Into the 3rd round Chemo for 10 weeks, the new medications were really not helping her and she was having difficulty with getting enough oxygen. These past few weeks after her most recent Chemo treatment, the changes and new difficulties in her health were becoming dramatic. We found ourselves at the emergency ward this past week, day after day and CeCe’s heart doctor, and the two Oncologists discussed that her quality of life was slipping rapidly and that there was now no hope for recovery and that her oxygen levels were getting so low that her body was now going into stress and her life was now passing at a very accelerated rate.

Final Reconciliation

Reconciliation came this past Thursday Sept 11th, at 4:30 PM as she was released from her anxiety of being oxygen starved and allowed to pass on to the Rainbow Bridge where we one day we will all come together again, this time never to be separated. Her life was so very dear to us and she filled our lives with such much joy. No less like a child to us than any other, her valiant struggle is over and she is now at peace. We celebrate her life this day. Writing this through our tears is so very hard but we wanted to share this lasting tribute of her with you.

CeCe’s Life

Her life was a such a total joy that we are so grateful for and feel that we were so blessed to share. It was a love that was so unconditional. Through our aching heart and tears, we wanted to tell you about her and how she was such an integral part of our lives and family. The source of love in our lives matters little, be it human or some other. What’s important is that as part of our life journey that we learn to love and be selfless in that love, knowing that it is returned to us many fold and it shapes who we become. Over our lives it would be expected that we will have many opportunities for love, different kinds of love and frequently, a love that is tested. Having to let her go may have indeed been the most difficult part of our love for her. 

Click here to view some of our favorite pictures of CeCe.

Celebration of Life

On this day of the celebration of her life, we will share with you something that had been shared with us to ease the pain and sorrow of the loss of our precious CeCe. I guess in some ways, it embraces the hope and belief we have that when God closes a door, he always opens a window.

We love you our little CeCe girl and we miss you so very much!

The Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called  Rainbow Bridge

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that loved one goes to the Rainbow Bridge

There are meadows and hills for all of our special little ones so they can run and play together.
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and they are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

They are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. Her bright eyes are intent; Her eager little body quivers. Suddenly she begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, her legs carrying her faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special loved one finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your little one , so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge
together….

Pacific Beach

In this marvelous coastal community of Pacific Beach,you’ll find that the stereotypical ‘ California Dream ‘ popularized by the California Beach Boys, alive and well. One of the more fascinating aspects about this beach community is its amazing diversity. It draws its citizens from the world over.

Enjoy this the wonderful look back in musical history that helped popularize all of Southern California Beaches and Pacific Beach “PB” was no exception. For many this became more than a dream, it is now their new California Lifestyle.

Yes, Pacific Beach has become one of America’s favorite surfing destinations but it is so much more. It is a beach community that has become a real ‘Mecca’ for it’s night life, known throughout the country and beyond, From it’s many coffee houses, nightclubs, and late-night restaurants that are clustered mainly along Garnet Avenue and Mission Boulevard, PB is practically a phenomenon enjoyed by nearly everyone living in San Diego county.

But just a block or two away from all the beach activities provides for the “much quieter” residential community. If beach front living is your preferred style, you will love the ambiance that PB provides with it’s casual, friendly, laid-back and eclectic life style. Housing opportunities from affordable condominiums to luxury homes will be sure to satisfy most any taste or budget.