Lets look at the new homes for Sale in Cordova & Trellis community of Windingwalk located in Eastlake Chula Vista.

It appears that brand new home buyers in Chula Vista are not paying any closing costs for the time being. With such good prices, low rates of interest, incentives of saving money and the existence of home buyer tax credit, the opportunity is almost too good to be true. Why not welcome 2010 with a brand new home in this neighborhood?

Home prices at Cordova, Windingwalk begin at around $300,000 and six floor plans are offered along with two-story homes with three or four bedrooms, three bathrooms and garages. Homes in Cordova come with formal dining and living spaces, huge master suites with equally huge closets, well-designed kitchens, downstairs bedrooms and appliances of stainless steel. Some even provide yards.

At Trellis, Windingwalk, on the other hand, single-family homes offer four floor plans with four or five bedrooms, three bathrooms and garages. These homes begin at around $400,000. Homes in Trellis come with traditional styles of architecture with details that range from Spanish to California Cottage. They also come with formal dining and living spaces, butler’s pantries, maple cabinets, granite countertops, downstairs bedroom suites and stainless steel appliances.

This perfectly planned community even comes with various amenities, such as convenient marketplaces, retail centers, and popular food and entertainment places. Anyone familiar with Eastlake Chula Vista know that it offers everything you need to live comfortably.

Residents of Windingwalk have their own private parks, recreation center that provides top-notch amenities like resort-like swimming pools, spas, grassy play areas, basketball courts, spacious courtyards, outdoor barbecues, and wedding garden with a covered gazebo and plush lawns. These facilities stand out with their dramatic covered walkways, entry towers and archways.

Once completed, Windingwalk hopes to offer up more than two thousand residences along with various community facilities, public parks, office spaces and high schools. So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of the market and look at the options available at Windingwalk in Chula Vista.

Home buyers that take out home loans insured by the government will soon learn that their loan officer or Realtor cannot have anything to do with the ordering or choosing of an appraiser. The change comes months after already making the change to Fannie Mae and most conventional loan programs. The reason for the change is the belief that over the last few years appraisers were pressured into giving a loan officer or Realtor a value they needed to make a deal work. With all of the loan fraud and pressure on overvaluing homes the industry feels this is the root of one of the problems that needs to be corrected.

Moving forward Realtors & loan officers will no longer have the power to order appraisals for FHA-insured loans. What does this mean for the typically consumer? It’s hard to say. One thing is for sure. Appraisers are going to have a hard time being aggressive on their appraisal value. It’s going to be their name and their license on the appraisal and since they have no contact with the Realtor or loan officer they won’t feel the pressure to come in with a certain value.

Here is a brief explanation of what would happen in the past.

Loan officer or Realtor need a value of $300,000 to make a purchase or refinance deal work.

If the appraiser comes in at $300,000, everyone is happy but if the appraiser comes in at a value of $290,000 that throws a BIG WRENCH in the deal! Why would this be an issue?

On a purchase deal it means the seller is only going to sell their home for $290,000 which is $10K less and that means less money in their pocket. The seller may just cancel the deal and wait for another offer to come along at $300,000. Hopefully this appraiser is pushed to come in at this value. Perhaps the agents provide listings of recent sales to help support their sales price of $300,000. Believe me, agents, buyers, seller’s and loan officer’s PUSHED appraisers as much as they could to come in at a value they needed. If a commission was on the line, great lengths were taken to close that deal.

What about a refinance? You have similar things to deal with. Cash out refinance means it’s less money going to the home owner and less money for them to take a trip, buy a boat or just blow in Vegas!

The thing that makes this difficult and why I would imagine appraisers would support this change is that the appraisers who were inflating home values were being rewarded by MORE BUSINESS. (More Likely To Get Repeat Business) It made it difficult for a good appraiser to continue to work when the Realtor or loan officer controlled who they ordered the appraisal from. Do you think a loan officer or Realtor would order another appraisal from an appraiser that prevented them from closing their last deal? Probably not, this was a major problem in the real estate industry.

This would mean that consumer home appraisals are going to reflect the value of a home much more closely since brokers that would usually profit from approved loans won’t be choosing appraisers that could declare higher values.

However, there are certain organizations that state that changes and other attempts to reform the industry of appraisal hurts both appraisers and consumers because the new rules will result in home values that are extremely low since the appraisers are not familiar or experienced with the local markets. If you have appraisers coming from miles and miles away to perform an appraisal they may not be familiar with the area like a local appraiser.

The changes started last year when a code was adopted and made to divide loan officers from ordering appraisals. Although the entire process has been changed, it still remains to be seen whether it was a smart move and only time will tell.

If you are looking to complete a purchase or sale of a home, you shall no longer be kept in the dark when it comes to its closing expenses, thanks to the changes made in the RESPA this year. Loan originators seem to be opposed but it should help even the playing field and help buyers avoid the all too familiar bait and switch policy!

These changes require lenders to completely disclose every single closing expense, including expenses related to getting loans and any estimated expense for settlement, title insurance and the like.

Closing process forms have also gone through changes to make things easier for consumers to fully understand these costs and to compare them with the final closing expenses. This has encouraged consumers to shop around and compare costs from different lenders prior to making a mortgage choice.

Unfortunately, these offered estimates are usually only binding for ten days, so buyers only get several weeks to complete necessary tasks like keeping settlement services and reviewing title reports prior to closing. It would therefore be a necessity to act fast and meet deadlines within contracts of sale.

Because of this, every home buyer should work closely with an expert in real estate to come up with the best strategies in finding the ideal closing service vendor in no time.

Several Tips You Should Follow:

1. Since local customs and laws tend to differ, your agent might strongly recommend you to get optional services like home warranties and inspections. Ask and make sure it makes sense for your purchase.

2.  Buyers who are smart can save tons of money just by finding personal providers of closing expenses to retain quality at a lower cost but this can lead to delays and make it difficult to close on time.

3. Overall, it comes down to the old rule that you just need to read and understand everything you are signing. The item that really concerns me is lenders will have to offer buyers a good faith estimate and it has to remain the same all the way through to the end of the loan. Any unexpected expense will require the loan to go back in to underwriting and cause additional delays.

Make sure you do your homework and find a great mortgage company to work with!

Are you looking at homes or condos with an HOA?  If you are looking into buying a home, you may want to do a little more research before you purchase. In today’s real estate market, many HOA’s are underfunded which may require you to make a larger than normal payment to fund the HOA.

A Homeowners Association refers to a legal and formal entity made to maintain a community’s common areas and enforce deed limitations. Their ultimate objective is to protect the values of properties, maintain a community’s appearance and character, as well as meet the expectations of anybody within that community.

Because of this, buying a home with a Homeowners Association could be useful if you want to ensure that your common grounds are maintained, such as community pools and landscaping. However, you should do your research first to avoid getting yourself into undesirable situations because of the rules and financial issues.

Here are several things you should know, learn and explore about a Homeowners Association to help you decide whether this would be the ideal situation for you:

1. Check if any special assessments have been made. Viable funds and studies of reserve could help any community stay away from needing special assessments.

2. Review the funds of reserve, which pay for improvements in the long term, like road paving, pool work, or condominium complex work. Finding out the amount of money that has to be inside the fund might be difficult. However, if you are a buyer, you can find out if your selected Homeowners Association has conducted reserve studies as of late. Such studies will also advise how much money needs to be kept every year to make sure that every need is paid for.

3. Review the charged fees of assessment, which are usually charged by the month, the quarter, or the year. It would be essential to discover exactly which assessments you will be paying for. This usually includes community pools and playgrounds, walking trails and clubhouses, lawn care and landscaping. It might also include the maintenance of common grounds, such as snow removal or trash pickup. If you are aware of this information, you will better understand how much you should budget for these areas that will become your responsibility after buying a home in a certain community.

4. Study the conditions, covenants and restrictions. Now, this might be a problem since you will discover what a community allows and doesn’t allow when it comes to home and yard changes. Many buyers buy homes, only to find out that they can’t add swimming pools or make additions or even plant a certain type of tree! To avoid this, you need to find out the basic rules when it comes to flying flags, satellite dishes, outside antennas, home businesses, patios, fences and pets. It would be absolutely essential to know which rules you have to live by in certain Homeowners Associations.

5. Keep in mind that rules change as time goes by. Because of this, you should periodically review the rules to ensure that you live peacefully within your Homeowners Association. The key in today’s market is to make sure the HOA is funded and has plenty of reserves.

Did you know that you can grow a moustache, as well as help raise awareness and funds to fight male cancer, at the same time? Follow the footsteps of a man named Jay Thompson who is doing exactly that.

November also happens to be the month of “Movember”. That’s right. Every year, awareness and funds are raised during this month for male health through a worldwide moustache-growing charity event to fight depression and prostate cancer in men. Now on its 6^th year, the “mo” is being embraced once again.

In case you didn’t know, prostate cancer can strike 1 out of 6 men within their lifetimes, while testicular cancer happens to be the most common cancer that afflicts men aged 18 and up – definitely something you should think about.

Whether you’re a man who values his goods (what man doesn’t?) and understands how much other men value theirs, or a woman who appreciates movember and would like to support the same efforts, you can bring the look back and have some fun for two serious causes.

Even if Movember hasn’t been formally launched in your particular country, you can still help raise money and register at any of their charity partners through the internet. All of the funds raised are going to go to Livestrong (remember their bracelets?) and the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

Any donations would be appreciated. So why not skip the barber and grow all of your hair out this month to donate your money for a good cause? A lot of men will be eternally grateful.

When I heard that Mayor Jerry Sanders and Chargers President Dean Spanos were in serious talks about the possibility of a new stadium located in downtown San Diego, I was THRILLED by the prospect. No offense to the city of Escondido who have been courting the Chargers to move their team there for a quite few years now. It’s just that the Chargers are not Escondido or Chula Vista, and most certainly, not Los Angeles. They are San Diego!

For anyone who has been to Qualcomm Stadium, you fall in to one of two categories:  One type of person believes Qualcomm is an ill-designed cracking slab of concrete with narrow walkways and a cold, uninviting aura. The other type of person is one who has never been to another NFL Stadium to see just how big of a difference a nice stadium can be.  In fact, as far as I’m concerned, Qualcomm and Candlestick in San Francisco are on par with one another and both should be torn down. The Spanos know this and understand this, which is why they want to build a new stadium. But the fact that the city and its taxpayers don’t want to help pay for a new stadium, is the biggest hurdle the Chargers face.

Just because the taxpayers don’t want to help out however, does not mean they are not supportive of Mayor Sanders who is working with Dean Spanos to figure out where the money to build a new stadium can come from. According to Matthew T. Hall of the Union Tribune, one financing option that is being thrown around could come from “selling or developing the city-owned 166-acre Qualcomm Stadium site, which the team would leave vacant.” This is an option where the city can help out without a tax hike. It also brings to light the fact that Qualcomm’s site is HUGE and the proposed site downtown would be much smaller.

The downtown site would be 15 acres directly next to Petco Park that currently includes the city-owned Tailgate Park, the Wonderbread Building, and the bus yard for the San Diego Transit Corp. The beauty of this site, is that the infrastructure is all in place thanks to Petco Park. There’s parking, public transportation set up, and a slew of bars and restaurants in the area that make a killing on game days.  In addition, Hall reports that Charger’s special counsel Mark Fabiani says the downtown stadium makes financial sense “because infrastructure improvements to accommodate a stadium of up to $1 billion elsewhere could cost $200 million, but they are a fraction of that downtown”.

Of course there are naysayers who don’t want to see a stadium go up downtown. Business owners that would have to move, nearby residents who don’t want a huge construction project going on in their neighborhood or the influx of crowds that would be present on game-days.  But I am not going to address such people or such issues, for this is an unapologetically biased blog in favor of a downtown stadium.

Yes, there are hurdles to overcome before this dream can become a reality, mostly of the financial kind. But the city needs this. It needs something it can rally around. Something to be proud of besides the weather, and a beautiful new stadium in the city’s up and coming downtown is just what the doctor ordered.  And can you imagine how much money a Super Bowl hosted downtown would bring into the city?  But all the benefits of a new stadium are light years away. At this point it’s just good to see that San Diego is once again the front-runner for the new home of the San Diego Chargers.

Let’s face it: real estate has been hard this year and because of this, the 2009 Realtors Conference & Expo should be a must-visit, if you are a realtor in the United States of America. No time would be better than now to invest in networking and education for your personal business and you can do so this weekend in San Diego.

From November 13 to 16, the National Association of Realtors will hold the 2009 Realtors Conference & Expo in San Diego, so get ready for the latest upturn in the industry and think about taking part today. This year’s main sessions include:

- One hour with the commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration, David Stevens, who will talk about today’s primary issues such as appraisals, condominium rules, loan limits, and solutions for the insurance fund of the FHA.

- Testing your presence on-camera with the host of HGTV’s Real Estate Intervention, Sabrina Soto, through an interactively simulated home walk-through. Plus, she will share tactics that can be put to use in your personal marketing plan.
 
- A political and legislative forum by political insiders Bill Press and Michael Murphy, who will talk about the ever-evolving political landscape, as well as how this will impact the races of the House and Senate from their very own perspectives.

Plus, you’ll even get the chance to meet William Shatner on Saturday, November 14 from 1 to 4 p.m. If you happen to be a realtor who is also an avid fan of Boston Legal or Star Trek, you will not want to miss out on this opportunity to get his autograph or pose for a photo with him, would you?

Besides, San Diego in itself is worth the time to visit. If you miss the summer weather or simply need to take a break from everyday life, San Diego would be the perfect place to kick back and relax, with November being the city’s sunniest month of the year.

If you’re worried about shelling out too much cash and your budget is quite tight at the moment, here are some ways you can save money on your trip to the conference:

1. Opt for registrations that will fit your personal schedule and needs. Passes for the expo itself are $25, while passes for one whole day are going for $130 and passes for the entire conference are $330.

2. Room with somebody. (There are several low rates still available if you book now.)

3. Take the shuttle. To get to the Convention Center itself, there are complimentary shuttles from various hotels and you can even get a cheap airport shuttle from the National Association of Realtors.

San Diego meetings are always something worthwhile. Recently coined as the country’s top meetings and conventions destination, visitors enjoy exploring this urban playground. Not only will you be surrounded by fun and the sun, but there are tons of attractions that you will love in San Diego, as well. Trust me.

I would like to thank all of the Military men and woman who are serving and who have served our country. It’s hard for someone like me to understand the sacrifice they have made. I am a younger individual (29 years old) who has never had to live in an era with a draft. We have had the benefit of living our life without having to think about being drafted or going to war. It wasn’t very long ago when you may have been called upon and it was expected for you to go fight for your country.

I didn’t grow up in a Military family or have anyone in my immediate family who was an active Military member. I don’t know what it feels like to have a loved one deployed for 6-12 months at a time or know what it’s like to lose an immediate family member. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be.

I don’t think enough of our younger generation realizes the sacrifice our Military and Veterans have made to allow us the freedom to do many of the things we take for granite. Today is a day to thank all of our Military men and woman. I wish you all the best and can’t tell you how much we appreciate your service.

Everyone in my family and here at Team Aguilar would like to extend our thanks and appreciation for all that you have done.

According to Sign On San Diego’s Roger Showley, the Urban Land Institute released its “Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2010” report last week.  On the report’s 9-point scale, San Diego’s real estate market is predicted to improve to 5, a whopping one tenth of a point above 2009’s ranking. What does this mean? Not much really, but it does mean that things certainly are not getting worse.

As we all know, San Diego’s residential sector took an enormous hit dropping from a median home price of $517,500 in 2005, to a much more realistic $325,000. An now, with the residential market coming around, so too will other real estate sectors. Showley reports that Jonathan Miller, a consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers, who wrote the “Emerging Trends” report said “San Diego is improving because its housing market, having declined earlier than markets in most places, has “stabilized” and is thus setting the stage for nonresidential properties to recover.” “Setting the stage” doesn’t mean nonresidential properties WILL recover in 2010, but I don’t think anyone is going to complain about a stabilizing market that brings with it the hope of once again having flourishing real estate market, even if it is still a ways off. 

What else did the reports say?

“For 2010, the market is a pure hold’ meaning investors should retain their properties and not rush to buy or sell.”

“Shopping center owners should ‘hang on for dear life’ as retailers struggle with falling sales and many vacate their premises.”

“Office-building landlords should expect a game of ‘tenant musical chairs’ as lessees seek the best deals.”

“Hotels can’t get any worse but will ‘lead the commercial real estate industry in recovery’ as the economy improves.”

As for San Diego, even a miniscule glint of improvement on the real estate front is a sign of hope. Jonathon Miller adds, “the point is San Diego, unlike some other markets, has taken a tough hit here, but it appears to be stabilizing, and that’s better than other markets around the country.”  It’s funny to think that just a few years ago “appreciation” was the word that was being used. Appreciation was expected and relied upon, and taken for granted. And now, with our heads in our hands and hopefully a little wiser, appreciation is a distant memory. Now, the word “Stabilizing” holds a similar connotation that “appreciation” once had.

If you missed your chance to reap the benefits of the first-time homebuyer tax credit this past year, you will get one more shot.  The Senate passed a bill on Thursday 98 to 0 that will extend the original first time homebuyer tax credit for another seven months and expand the bill to benefit some current homeowners looking to buy a new home. The bill should reach the House floor by next Thursday and then require the signature of the President.

So what does this new bill consist of? Well, for starters, contrary to many of the proposed bills, this bill does not increase the amount of tax credit. It remains $8000 for first time homebuyers. However this time around, if you are currently a homeowner that has owned your home for at least five consecutive years, you are eligible to receive a $6500 tax credit if you buy a new primary home. In other words, if you are buying a 2^nd home you will not get a tax credit, but if you looking to move and buy a new primary residence, you might be eligible.

Who is eligible? Obviously first time homebuyers, and as previously mentioned, folks that have owned a home for at least five consecutive years. But the bill limits the purchase price of the home to $800,000 and there are income caps, which disqualify any individual who makes more that $125,000 annually and couples who make more than $225,000. In addition, this tax credit offer won’t last as long the second time around. One must sign a contract by April 30 2010, and close on the home by June 30^th to qualify. And if you think they will probably end up extending the offer even further, think again.

According to Dina ElBoghdady of the Washington Post reported that Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), “a longtime advocate of the tax credit, praised passage of the bill in his chamber but said the extension would be the last one. “Tax credits like this only work by creating the sense of urgency to take advantage of them”.  So if you are considering buying a home and are eligible for the tax credit, you better get a move on.

But will this extension of the tax credit really stimulate more home sales? Stephen Ohlemacher of the Associated Press reported that there are those like Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) who question its effectiveness. “For the vast majority of cases, the homebuyer tax credit amounted to a free gift since it did not affect their decision to purchase a home,” Bond said. “And for the small minority of buyers whose decision was directly caused by the credit, this raises the question of whether we are subsidizing buyers who may not have been able to afford buying a home in the first place”.  Though there may be plenty of truth to that statement, it seems that at this point there is nothing else that can be done to at least try and stimulate home buying. And the 98-0 vote in favor of the bill confirms that our Senators don’t think there is anything else that can be done either.