On August 31, 2007, ACC Capital Holdings announced that it was closing Ameriquest (Argent Mortgage was the wholesale division) by no longer taking loans and selling its loan servicing unit to Citigroup.

Does this mean on September 1st 2009 all of the 2/28 (2 year fixed) loans will have been weeded out of various loan servicing portfolios?

If it does, we will have to wait until September 1st 2010 for the 3/27 (3 year fixed) loans!

The middle of 2007 was when we saw just about every mortgage wholesaler shut down their operations. Some went out of business and some shut down their mortgage wholesale division. If you consider that the majority of the current foreclosures being sold right now are the end result of some of these loans then it would be simple to say that once we pass this period of fixed loans we should see some improvements to the real estate market.

What is the difference with this market compared to markets of the past? When this market turns the availability of financing will never likely reach the levels we have recently experienced. Let’s say that we start to see considerable improvements in the early part of 2010 that would mean that we still have another 1.5 years of a rather gloomy real estate market from today.

My feeling is that the market will slowly start to improve once we work through this cycle of mortgage loans. Even when this happens it will take time and there is no telling what other negative economic factors will come into play such as inflation, the war and the overall condition of the economy. There are so many factors that will play into this real estate recovery.

I hope that you aren’t expecting a quick recovery to this real estate market. The reality is that it’s going to continue for another couple years.

I know this isn’t directly related to real estate but I found it interesting and it will have some impact on retail commercial real estate in San Diego and many other parts of the country. Here is a list of Starbucks in San Diego County that are going to close. Is this a sign of a recession? Don’t you get tired of all the media talking about the possibility of a recession? Lets face it, were in a very bad economic time and the closing of 600 Starbucks is a good example of people thinking twice about spending $5 a day on coffee. I guess it’s back to the instant coffee for a while!

Even as much as I love going to Starbucks (occasionally) I found that the number of Starbucks you would find in some areas was a little bit of an over kill. I live in Downtown San Diego and 4 of the Starbucks closing on this list are in the downtown San Diego area. I can think of 11 locations in about a 16 block radius in the downtown San Diego area.

Below you will find the list of Starbucks closing in San Diego. Starbucks will manage to survive and do just fine as we get past this bad economic time but it is interesting to see how so many people are cutting out expenses like this.

6556 3RD & H ST 3037 H ST CHULA VISTA CA
11223 OTAY RANCH TOWN CENTER 2015 BIRCH RD CHULA VISTA CA
551 MIRA MESA 9450 MIRA MESA BLVD SAN DIEGO CA
5637 MISSION GORGE RD 6171 MISSION GORGE SAN DIEGO CA
6514 1ST & MARKET 101 MARKET ST SAN DIEGO CA
6592 COLLEGE & LINDO PESSO 5131 COLLEGE AVE SAN DIEGO CA
6726 EUCLID AVE & FEDERAL BLVD 1722 EUCLID AVE SAN DIEGO CA
6818 UNIVERSITY & ARAGON 6511 UNIVERSITY AVE SAN DIEGO CA
9471 30TH ST & EL CAJON 2990 EL CAJON BLVD SAN DIEGO CA
9583 NATIONAL & 36TH 3582 NATIONAL AVE SAN DIEGO CA
10631 PARK & UNIVERSITY 3830 PARK BLVD SAN DIEGO CA
11837 11TH & C 1122 BROADWAY AVE SAN DIEGO CA 

For a complete list of Starbucks closing and to find out if your favorite Starbucks will be closing in your area please view the complete list here.

Maybe this is the one for you, Team Aguilar is proud to be offering a new listing on the market that is a beautiful home in the heart of La Mesa. This home in La Mesa features 3 bedrooms, 1 bath and beautiful hard wood floors. It’s recently been cleaned up with new paint, appliances and features great hard wood floors throughout the home. If you look at other similar homes in the area this particular home really feels like a home. It’s move in ready and has been maintained and taken care of. If you are in the area and would like to take a look please feel free to contact us so we can make arrangements to show you this beautiful home.

According to www.cyberhomes.com this property located at 3414 Trophy La Mesa CA 91941 is valued at $378,043. You can read a full report of the value of this property by going to the website and typing in the property address. One thing that Cyber Homes mentions is that the real estate market has declined over the last many months and you have to take into consideration that now may or may not be the best time to purchase. Let me give you my 2 cents on why this may be a good time to purchase.

What we are presently experiencing in the San Diego Real Estate Market is what many other counties in the country are experiencing. Huge declines in home prices! What will be the factor to stabilizing these home values? The value of real estate can only come down so much before several things start to happen. 1 being that people who are presently renting a home decide that they can make a sacrifice and actually afford to purchase instead of continuing to pay rent. 2 Investors feel that it’s within their investment guidelines and they start to purchase and suck up extra real estate inventory.

What we have seen in San Diego are huge drops in home prices which I feel have just about reached the bottom. We are starting to see home values level off and many investors and 1st time home buyers are jumping into the real estate market. This may or may not be the right home for you but it’s definitely a home worth looking at. It priced @ $299,000 and may be something that you can purchase, own for a few years and use the gained equity to buy a larger home. If you are an investor, this may be a perfect long term rental for you to consider.

MLS #: 080038969 Axia Real Estate Group, Inc. Team Aguilar Carlos Aguilar 619-743-4118

IRS Code - Taxation of a Real Estate Short Sale

This information on taxation of a real estate short sale is not to be taken as tax advice. It’s is for general reference only and you should consult your tax preparer.

We receive this question almost daily. I will try to simplify this response to make it as easy to understand as possible. On December 20^th, 2007 President Bush signed into law the “Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007“. President Bush was quoted saying the following about this new law, “When your home is losing value and your family is under financial stress, the last thing you need is to be hit with higher taxes.  So I’m working with members of both parties to pass a bill that will protect homeowners from having to pay taxes on cancelled mortgage debt.” ─ President George W. Bush, 9/1/2007

Previously, if your home value declined and you sold your home for less then what you owed to the bank the previous tax code would allow the IRS to tax the amount of forgiven debt and treat this amount as income.

Now, based on the new “Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007″ the amount of debt that is forgiven is not tax considered additional income and you will not be subject to paying taxes on the forgiven debt. This would apply to any debt discharged on or after January 1^st 2007 which is secured by a primary residence which the debt is incurred in the purchase, construction, or substantial improvement of the primary residence.

This is the bill as it reads on the house.gov website, source is http://www.house.gov/

Permanent exclusion from gross income of discharged home mortgage indebtedness. The bill would amend current law, which requires taxpayers to include discharges of mortgage indebtedness as income and to pay tax on this income. The bill would provide a permanent exclusion for any discharge of indebtedness (on or after January 1, 2007) which is secured by a principal residence and which is incurred in the acquisition, construction, or substantial improvement of the principal residence. Instead of including this amount as income, the basis of the individuals principal residence would be reduced by the amount excluded from income under this bill. This proposal is estimated to cost $1.379 billion over 10 years.

Long-term extension of the deduction for private mortgage insurance. The bill extends the deduction for private mortgage insurance for seven years (through the end of 2014). Current law limits the deduction for private mortgage insurance to payments made prior to the end of 2007. The bill would provide that payments will qualify for this deduction whenever they are paid so long as the contract is entered into after 2006 and before 2015. This proposal is estimated to cost $570 million over the next 10 years.

Modification of the qualification tests for cooperative housing corporations. The bill would modify the requirements for qualifying for the special rules available to cooperative housing corporations. Under current law, a cooperative housing corporation must meet several requirements, including a requirement that 80 percent or more of the cooperative housing corporation is earned from the corporation’s tenant-stockholders. The bill would provide two alternatives to this 80 percent rule (i.e., one based on square footage and another based on cooperative expenditures). These two alternatives will make it easier to qualify as a cooperative housing corporation. This proposal is estimated to cost $22 million over 10 years.

Modification of exclusion of gain on sale of a principal residence. The bill amends the current law exclusion of up to $250,000 ($500,000 if married filing a joint return) of gain realized on the sale or exchange of a principal residence. Under current law, the sale of a home will qualify for this exclusion if the home is a taxpayer’s principal residence for at least two of the five years ending on the sale or exchange. This exclusion applies even if the home was initially purchased as a second home. Under the bill, if a taxpayer moves their principal residence to a second home, the taxpayer will only be able to utilize this exclusion to the extent that it relates to the period of time when the home was first used as a principal residence. The bill grandfathers use before 2008. This proposal is estimated to raise $2.005 billion over 10 years.

Looking for a great condo development in the heart of San Diego’s Gaslamp district? Park Terrace condos is in the heart of the downtown area of San Diego. It’s a brand new development that is right next to the ballpark in San Diego. There are 2 towers in the complex, 1 that is 7 stories and the 2nd is 14 stories. The complex features security access for both buildings, great underground parking, community room with TV, Pool Table and Outside Patio area with BBQ’s. 

Park Terrace sits around the corner from everything in the downtown area. It;s close to popular bars, restaurants and many shops. Petco Park is the home of the San Diego Padres and makes it a great place to be for exciting times during baseball season.

If you are thinking of buying a condo in the downtown area of San Diego then Park Terrace is a development that you need to look at. Please call us today if you would like additional information on all of the current units available for sale.

Carlos Aguilar     800-332-1687

Team Aguilar specializes in selling condos in the downtown area of San Diego. We have sold condos in the Ballpark, Marina, Little Italy, Gaslamp and Cortez Hill districts of downtown San Diego. Please call us for any additional information. We can set up a customized real estate search for any of the downtown areas and target specific projects, buildings, districts, type, size or anything else you may be looking for.

Bienes Raices en San diego

Let’s walk away from the real estate market for a few moments and talk about Wall Street. What was the big news today on Wall Street? Wall Street experienced huge gains today in the markets. The Federal Reserve announced that they would provide $200 billion in Treasury securities for 28 days in return for mortgage back securities. What does this mean?

Mortgage Backed securities have not been very desirable with all of the uncertainty in the mortgage market. This will help increase the demand for mortgage backed securities and supply liquidity to help revive a market that appears to be really locked up by the fear of where mortgage back securities may be heading.

By no means does this mean we are coming out of the current housing crises but it could be considered a small step in the right direction. It’s very important to restore confidence to mortgage back securities and make investors feel comfortable investing in them again.

This will be a short term fix and be in effect for 28 days. We will see how things go and over time the real estate market will come back and be stronger then ever but it will also take time to get past this current run of loans that are experiencing default rates higher then investors hoped for.

An increase in Foreclosure activity in any market also results in increased activity for Real Estate Auction companies.  Let me clarify a key point that seems to be causing some confusion.  When I refer to “Real Estate Auction” I am not talking about the Trustee Sale that occurs when a lender takes title to property because the property was lost to foreclosure.  The Trustee Sale is a totally different type of auction and one that i will write a different article on at future date.

What I am referring to is the Auctions that we now see being advertised heavily on television and newspapers.  These auctions are offering single family homes and condos at what appears to be substantial price reductions. 

These auctions are as a result of the current property being a bank owned listing that has been on the market longer then expected and the bank needs to sell it ASAP. The interesting thing is that these properties have already been available to the public for sale and as a result of them not selling they give the auction company the right to sell them and it creates a big frenzy and many people feel like they are really getting a great deal and sometimes they are but many times the property ends up selling above what it was being previously listed for.

Auctions are not a bad way of buying real estate foreclosures but you will find that you don’t find the true investors buying a large % pf their portfolio at the auctions. You will have a much better chance of getting a good deal on real estate buy doing your own homework and looking to purchase foreclosures prior to them going to auction. Contact me for additional information about buying bank owned real estate in San Diego County.

Please feel free to read our article recently written about different ways to purchase foreclosures. You should also call a local real estate expert in your area that can help you find the foreclosure you arelooking for. We have all the San Diego Foreclosure Information you need if you are looking in the San Diego area.

San Diego Real Estate Update

What is the real estate market like in San Diego compared to the rest of the country? If you want to sell your home this may not be the best time to do so, but if you are looking to purchase a home in San Diego there couldn’t be a better time to take advantage of a market that has been a roaring beast over the last 10 years.

San Diego is experiencing a slow down just like the rest of the country is experiencing but it still remains a much stronger real estate market compared to others. When you compare the other real estate markets to San Diego you will find that San Diego remains much stronger compared to others because employment remains strong in the county. When I look at San Diego I think of these different things that are a big part of the economy.

1. The Military – You can’t think about San Diego and not think about the military, the Navy, Marines both have a very large presence in San Diego County at several different bases.

2. Tourism – San Diego is a huge tourist attraction for people seeking some beach and sunshine!

3. College School System – We have San Diego State, UCSD, USD, Cal State San Marcos among others where thousands of kids escape to San Diego to get away from their parents which brings thousands and thousands of kids to San Diego economy.

4. Bio-tech / Pharmaceutical Business – Many people don’t realize how much research and development is done in San Diego.

These are just some of the different industry’s that bring a tremendous amount of revenue to San Diego’s economy. The reason I bring this up is to show you that San Diego has different industry’s that continue to keep the economy strong. If you really want to own a home in San Diego then take advantage of this market and purchase something. I don’t expect to see home values stay flat for much longer then the remainder of 2008 and many markets in San Diego are still appreciating and slowing going up in value.

You may also want to consider purchasing a foreclosure and we can help you with that. We work with many different banks and have many different foreclosures for sale in San Diego. Please visit our foreclosures for sale section to view the entire inventory of foreclosures for sale in San Diego County.

Carlos Aguilar is a licensed realtor in San Diego. He has been licensed since 1972 and is an expert in Residential real estate in San Diego county. In addition to residential real estate, he is an expert in Commercial Lending for income property.

 The Realtors Association of Northwestern Wisconsin has joined some other associations in forbidding its members to use terms related to “MLS”. Paying members can’t use terms like “MLS”, “Search the MLS” etc. in domains names, or on their web sites.

Read the whole article here: NAR Wisdom

I have assembled a list of questions that I receive from my clients prior to me helping them with a real estate short sale or help them avoid foreclosure. I hope this helps you understand what I am here for and how I can help you avoid foreclosure. I specialize in real estate short sales. Please contact me with any additional questions.

Answers to common Real Estate Foreclosure Questions

Q. Why should I trust you to help me?

A. I know at a time like this it is hard to trust anyone other than your family. I will earn your trust by doing things to help you. If you will give me the chance, I believe that actions speak louder than words.

Q. I tried to sell my home and I owe more than they are selling for?

A. I know the market is tough for sellers today but there are so many options for you to consider.

Q. I can’t even sell my home for what its worth, how would I ever pay you?

A. Well in most cases if you would consider a Real Estate Short Sale I would be paid by the bank or mortgage company. Remember the last resort would be to just let it go. I also might be able to recommend you to someone in my professional team to further advise you.

Q. If I sold my home where would I get the cash to satisfy all parties?

A. Good question, Most of the time you will be far better off owing a small deficiency rather than the whole amount. At this point am I safe to say you don’t have any money at this point to apply to any deficiency? The banks do not want to foreclose however they will do what they have to too get their money back.

Q. Why should I sell my home just so you can make a commission?

A. The answer is simple, I don’t want to just sell your home to make a commission, I have a better reason and that is I make a living by selling homes and helping people buy them. But a long time ago I realized that I made a lot more money and friends by doing the right thing for each and every client. You see I have helped several people in your situation avoid foreclosure and not always did we sell their home.

Q. What kind of guarantee can you give me that you will be able to sell my home and get me out of
this situation?

A. I could or would never give anyone a guarantee, but what I will do is assure you that I will do every
thing possible to help you find the best alternatives to your situation. I will also work directly with the
banks and others to get them off your back. I have a high success rate in dealing with the banks as well
as get you top dollar for your home.

Q. If I sell the home how will be able to move?

A. If you are referring to money, remember to save the payments you would have paid to the banks while we are in the selling process. That should more than cover moving costs as well as other related costs of moving.

Q. Aren’t you just like everyone else, you just want to stick your hand in my pocket?

A. NO. I actually want to offer my assistance in any way I can. The first thing I want to tell you is
something you may not know. Do you know all the ways you can stop a foreclosure? I do and I want to
share them with you.

Q. I have called the bank and they won’t help me?

A. All they want is paid and paid on time. I have a way with the banks that will help you in the long run. I also have an entire list of Government and non-profit agencies that might be of assistance. I have seen some cases where they will help with some of the past due payments so you don’t lose your home.

Depending on what your real estate needs are, you can view our Real Estate Short page here @ this link Real Estate Short Sale For information on San Diego CA Real Estate contact Carlos for San Diego Real Estate.

Carlos Aguilar
Team Aguilar
San Diego Foreclosure Information