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.

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

Real Estate Short Sales

We specialize in real estate short sales in San Diego County but also have experienced real estate agents throughout the country that we can refer to you.

Right now we are experiencing market conditions that are making Real Estate Short Sales very popular. Over the last few years you would never hear or talk about a short sale because your home had gone up in value and you would not be faced with a loss due to having to sell your home.

Now that the real estate market has slowed, and homes are not going up in value like they once did, you are hearing people talk about real estate short sales.

In case you didn’t know; what is a Real Estate Short Sale? To keep it simple, a Short Sale is when you sell your home for less than what you owe your mortgage company.

When does a short sale make sense? If you need to sell your home because you can’t make the mortgage payment or you need to move because of uncontrollable circumstances, then you should consider a short sale. Banks are very reluctant to do a Short Sale and do not make this an easy process. If you want to do a short sale, you have to get approval from the bank. It is not something they will allow everyone to do. The process you went through to get approved for your home mortgage, you will need to go through a similar process but this time showing the bank that you have no way of continuing to make your mortgage payment.

Depending on your situation, it may or may not make sense to do a short sale. We can help you understand and determine what all of your options are if you give us a call.

We want to see you make the right decision and we will help you do what makes the most sense for you, not for us. The most frustrating thing that we deal with in this market is the vultures that seem to surface every time someone has a difficult time with their mortgage payment. We want to warn you of these Real Estate Scams, Short Sale Scams and people offering to help you get rid of you home, or offer to have you sign the home over to them in exchange for money. Don’t do it, don’t sign anything. I can’t tell you how many horrible situations we see people get into because someone was looking to take advantage of an unfortunate situation.

After reading this you will ask yourself why we do this, I am sure they want to make money as well.

Yes, we make money but we make a reasonable real estate commission just like any other agent that would help you sell your home. We don’t have you sign your home over and then flip it, or rent it out to someone else and collect rent payments while it goes into foreclosure over the next few months. We have experience that goes far beyond your typical real estate agent. Our President, Carlos Aguilar has years of experience helping people with short sales. He has worked on the other side working in the loss mitigation and REO departments for several large institutions and knows exactly what needs to be done to complete a real estate short sale.

If you are experiencing difficulty making your mortgage payment, please call and speak with us about the possibility of a real estate short sale.

We have been working with banks for years and have helped hundreds of people complete a short sale from start to finish.

Carlos Aguilar
Team Aguilar
Real Estate Short Sale options in San Diego.

When you are facing a difficult situation and feel that you may not be able to keep making your mortgage payments you need to act quickly because you may have some options. Many people do not fully understand the foreclosure process and do not realize that banks do not want to be in the business of owning real estate. They are more likely to work with you and try to work something out instead of taking your home.

If you want some advice or assistance selling your home or understanding what your options may be, please call us. Here at Team Aguilar we have helped thousands of clients work through a difficult situation.

Some of your options to consider are

- Selling You Home
- Negotiating a Forbearance
- Doing a Short Sale
- Refinance Your Home

Some real estate scams you need to be careful of, don’t sign anything and don’t allow anyone to tell you that they will help you out and take away your problems. The reality is that many people take advantage of people in a tough situation.

Make sure you call or email Team Aguilar if you have any questions.

We will be happy to provide you sound advice and discuss what you options are.

Thank you,

Carlos Aguilar
President
Team Aguilar
Helping people avoid foreclosure by providing them a real estate short sale to sell their home.

The San Diego real estate market is holding steady compared too many other markets in the United States. In recent weeks the condo market in San Diego has slowed down to a much slower pace then the year before. When you compare total sales for single family and condos in San Diego County you will see a decrease in units that have sold. In August of 2006, there were 2,571 units sold compared to 2,182 in August of 2007.

The market in San Diego has remained fairly steady and has not experienced the same declines as the rest of the United States. Many people feel that the market will continue to decline and in San Diego it is not going to happen like it is in other areas. You have to take the approach and if you feel that you can afford to purchase a home this may be your best opportunity to do so. The market will never experience the type of loss that many people would like to see, San Diego has too many factors that continue to keep the economy much stronger then the rest of the country.

If you really want to purchase real estate and take advantage of a great opportunity then do it, now is the time. The best thing you also have going for you is that mortgage rates are still at historic low levels and any other drop in real estate values may be offset by mortgage rates being higher at the time of purchase.

Take advantage of the market, there are some great deals right now!

As all of you have heard the real estate markets are struggling in many areas of San Diego. This is due primarily to the other hot topic in the news: Sub-Prime Lending. Unfortunately many homeowners in the last few years have fallen victim to the frenzy in the lending market that encouraged homeowners to buy or refi using a loan that starts with a low rate and then, at the end of its initial two year period, begins adjusting. During the first five years of this frenzy rates were low and it didn’t matter when the loan reached that first adjustment. Today we are in a different Interest Rate market and many borrowers are finding that first adjustment is causing their payments to be out of their reach. This in turn is the reason why we are hearing so much about Foreclosures. It is unfortunate for many that are losing their homes, however the reality is that this also creates opportunity for many investors.

As many of you know I have spent years managing and disposing of foreclosed properties for banks and lenders. The number of available foreclosed homes is growing and the prices are dropping. During the last 7 years, many of you would call me and ask about buying a foreclosure and I would tell you that it was very rare to find a foreclosure in this market because there were so many buyers for every home that came on the market. This has changed and we now have growing lists of condos and single family homes.

Remember, as with any investment, the time to buy is when the market is Down and Sell when the market is up. You may remember the early 90’s when we saw a record decline in real estate prices in San Diego. Many of you also took advantage of that market and purchased property that we sold 5 years later at double and even triple what you paid for. While no one can predict the future, we can make decisions based on what we have seen in previous markets. We are heading into another similar market as the 90’s and if you have an interest in investing in this market this is the time to do it!

Real Estate California