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.

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.

It’s been a busy week and I just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know we are going to get this blog going but I have had a couple people out of the office and it’s been a really busy couple weeks. Things should be getting back to normal here shortly and we will get back up to speed!

I hope everyone is doing well. There has been so much going on in the news. It’s a great time to be writing so please bare with us while we get things back on track.

One interesting subject being talked about is the possibility of extending the First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit. Our friend the Phoenix Real Estate Guy just wrote a solid update on the subject and the possibility of it being extended. Please take a minute to check it out HERE.

See everyone back here shortly.

Also, we are working hard to bring a Spanish version of our website. It’s a lot of work, here is a link to Bienes Raices en San Diego.

It is understandable that as a first-time home buyer you may not be aware of the intricacies that go with buying a new home.  Imagine the pressure that you’ll feel having to go through this process without any prior knowledge and with a deadline to beat too!  Usually, it takes 12 weeks to search for a home (you really have to be thorough especially when pickings are thin) and an additional 6o days to get the documents in order to close the sale.  With the November 30 deadline looming on the horizon, you only have 12 weeks to search for a home and close the sale and beat all the other first time home buyers who are rushing to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit.

What can you do to get a jump on the process?  The best thing that you can do for yourself is to get an online account with your preferred realtor.  With an online account, you can specify which type of house you’re looking for, which location you prefer, what your budget is, whether you’re looking for a furnished or unfurnished and many other details.  Whenever your conditions are, you’ll most likely going to receive an email (usually), or phone call to notify you of any updates so that you can schedule a look-see. 

The next step is to prepare for negotiation.  What better way to get the upper hand than to arm yourself with updated information on prices, market sales, features and property values?  If you come prepared then the lender knows you mean business and aren’t likely to be fooled by smooth words.

Appraisals take time so you should make sure that the lender can satisfactorily deliver their appraisal on time.  Ask for a desk price if the property doesn’t appraise for the bid price.

Financing all boils down to the documents that serve as proof of income so you should start compiling your pay stubs, income tax statements and all that can help your cause.  The more complete your documents, the faster the approval rate.

The last thing that you can probably too is ask your insurance company to forward a cost estimate to your escrow company early.  The earlier they can accomplish this, the faster the escrow company can estimate your closing costs which you have to pay come closing time.

As summer approaches…well hell, Memorial Day Weekend was this past weekend so……Now that summer is here, we San Diego residents find ourselves in a formidable “Level 2″ drought alert condition. For residents this means that there will be rate hikes on excess water use, limits on outdoor watering, and mandates to promptly repair leaks. But this drought brings to light an ever-increasing problem and the need for a new era of water restrictions and social responsibility.

In 2001, California passed a bill that, according to Hoa Quach the political writer for the San Diego News Network, that “forces developers to show that the Urban Water Management Plan, which is completed in five-year cycles for a 20-year outlook, shows a sufficient amount of water is available for the proposed project.” Much more effective, in my opinion, is the part of the bill that “requires projects over 500 units to create an alternative water supply.” Hoa Quach interviewed Tom Sudberry or Sudberry Properties whose company is developing a 4780 unit multi-use development called Quarry Falls near Qualcomm Stadium. That development, per the requirement of 2001′s senate bill, will have its own water treatment plant. According to Tom Sudberry, “We’ll be able to create about 250,000 gallons of water a day, enough water to irrigate all of the landscaping of the entire project.” In addition, sub-meters will be installed for each unit allowing the tenant to keep tabs on their own water use.

It’s good to see some real solutions being put into action on new developments. But a big step to improving our city’s water conservation would be to require sub-meters to be placed in all new developments. However, according to Marco Sessa, Sudberry VP, “regardless of new buildings having sub-meters or not, older homes use more water than new buildings as older homes may, sometimes have leaks that use a vast [amount] of our H20. One wonders whether more effort should be placed into retro-fitting some of the older homes.” Well Marco, brings up a good point. But in my opinion, more effort should first be put forth towards permanently expanding water restrictions not just to developers, but to everyone, just as they have done now that we’re at a Level 2 Drought Alert. I couldn’t believe how much my condo complex watered the lawns every day until the alert came into action. I like a green lawn as much as the next guy, but no one needs to water their lawn twice a day EVERY DAY!

So, in the spirit of our Level 2 times, I am providing a list, courtesy of Better Homes And Gardens, of things you can do to help reduce the amount of water you use, and to help Southern California face our water shortage head on:

Check all pipes, hoses, and faucets in the house for leaks. According to the American Water Works Association, a dripping tap can waste 5,000 gallons of water in a year.

Check toiliets for leaks. put a little food coloring in the tank. If it appears in the bowl without flushing, it’s leaking and  can waste up to 4,000 gallons of water in a year.

Take shorter showers as they use two or three “buckets” of water every minute; limit baths as they use two-and-a-half times as much water on average as a shower.

Turn on your dishwasher or washing machine only when it’s full. A dishwasher uses only about 9-12 gallons of water while hand-washing dishes can use up to 20 gallons.

Don’t run the tap when brushing your teeth; use a cup of water to rinse.

Use a trigger hose when washing the car.

Use a broom to clean your driveway, not your hose.

Install water-saving shower heads and low flow faucets.

Consider buying a rain barrel to capture water for shrubs and lawns.

Cover the swimming pool on hot days and at nights as pools can lose up to 50 gallons of  water in a single day through evaporation.

Don’t use your toilet as a disposal unit by flushing a used tissue or other garbage. A single flush can use as much as seven-to-ten gallons of water depending on your resevoir.

Keep a container of drinking water in the fridge. Running the tap to cool water can waste up to three gallons per minute.

By Andrew Brentan

There was a comment to the previous article earlier this week that mentioned she and her husband were planning on waiting about a year for home prices to drop even further before considering buying a home. Not a bad plan by any means considering the fact that many areas will indeed continue to drop in home prices. But it occurred to me that there may be other things one might consider before officially putting off buying a home for a year. For example, have you seen what mortgage rates are at these days? They’re absurdly low! So I thought I’d briefly discuss some things that I have been reading up on this week regarding the issue of whether to buy now or to wait.

For starters, I want to discuss home buying as opposed to refinancing because refinancing is a slightly different beast than buying a home; Mainly because it heavily involves the equity (or lack thereof) in your property. That being said, there is a different train of thought that goes with when to refinance and when to wait.  And so, without further ado……….

James Hagerty of the Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Jay Brinkman, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said “rates on 30-year fixed rate mortgages for borrowers with strong credit scores are likely to be in the range of roughly 4.6% to 4.75% at least through the summer.” This dip in rates came after last Wednesday’s announcement by the fed that they were committed to buying an additional $750 billion in mortgage backed securities (in addition to the 500 billion already committed). So this begs the question: How long can rates possibly stay this low? Peter Thompson of Illinois Mortgage Rates and News wrote a great, in depth article on this and he goes into the three schools of thoughts on what will happen going forward:

1. “The Fed buying will push rates steadily lower, possibly into the mid to low 4s. This is the view you hear in the media.” He goes on to say, ” This may happen, but it will take a lot more than just the Fed buying to get rates this low, and with lenders still near capacity, they are keeping more of the profit for themselves instead of passing it along to consumers.”
2. “Rates will stay low, but closer to the range we are in now. This means rates will stay affordable longer, but may not go a lot lower.”
3. The law of unintended consequences kicks in and instead of rates dropping, fear of inflation and the devaluation of the dollar drives rates higher than they were before. There are a lot of inflation hawks out there, and I agree that down the road we are going to have to deal with inflation. But that is in the future.”

For #1 to happen, banks would need to start cranking out loans at a ridiculous rate, which most likely isn’t going to happen. And #3 may be in the cards, but not in the immediate future, so I, like Peter, think that #2 is the most likely result. So that’s good news for homebuyers looking to hold off buying for a little longer.

The bad news is, low rates don’t make getting the loans any easier. Banks have yet to loosen their grip on the lending guidelines that have been tightened almost to the point of strangulation after the sub-prime mortgage disaster. Only borrowers who can make sizable down payments, have plenty of assets, a steady job, and impeccable credit, are getting the loans at these low rates.

So even if you are waiting for a certain market to bottom out or mortgage rates to dip even further, it cannot hurt to look into the matters of financing now. That way, when you do wish to buy, you will know what you qualify for before looking to find that perfect home.

When the President came to California yesterday and announced that the state will receive $145 million to help communities hard-hit by the foreclosure crisis, I thought to myself, “$145 million? That’s pocket change.” I realized then, that with all the stimulus packages, and budgets plans, and financial talk that have been spattered about the news like a massive Pollock painting in the last few months, my perception of the actual worth of $145 million dollars had been greatly skewed. $145 million can go a long way, can’t it?

The funds, as the President said on Thursday, “will be used to purchase and rehabilitate vacant, foreclosed homes and resell them with affordable mortgages.” He goes on to add that the funds “will also provide mortgage assistance and rehabilitation loans for low-income and middle income families.” The program that generated these funds, “was created as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which permits state and local governments to purchase foreclosed homes at a discount and rehabilitate or redevelop them”, reports the Associated Press. “Additionally, funds will come from the massive stimulus package.” Who knows how much additional funding from the stimulus package will actually go towards California’s foreclosure problem, and who knows how far this money can go to do all the things that the program is intended to do.

After-all, according to the RealtyTrac research firm, there were filings for 80,775 foreclosures on California properties in February. Oooooowweeeee, that’s a fair bit of foreclosures. How much money are we getting again? Of course, that number is slightly skewed due to the foreclosure moratorium that took place starting at the end of November and ended towards the end of January. For those unaware, the moratorium basically just halted the foreclosure process for that time period in an effort to keep people in their homes during the holiday season. So during that time, the amount of foreclosure filings piled up. But now that it’s over, we’ve got a lot to deal with. It would be interesting to get a number on the average dollar amount that will be spent per foreclosure with this money and see how big of dent the $145 million can actually make.

But I don’t mean to sound like Debbie Downer. $145 million is a fair bit of money. And hopefully a nice chunk of the money that California gets from the stimulus package will help as well. And moreover, this money will certainly help rejuvenate some neighborhoods in the state, and any bit of progress that can be made to lessen the enormity of this foreclosure crisis is a damn good thing.

By Andrew Brentan

I don’t get it. I’m not going to complain by any means, but I don’t quite understand how the new home construction projections surged up 22% from January. Steven Bernard of the Associated Press reported this morning that, “The Commerce Department said new home construction rose to an annual rate of 583,000 in February from a revised 477,000 in January. Economists forecast construction would drop to a pace of around 450,000 units, according to Thomson Reuters. Building permits, a key measure of future activity, also rose unexpectedly.” Economists were predicting a 6% decrease, and suddenly there’s a 22% increase in projections? What gives?

I read articles this morning in damn near every major newspaper I could find and not one of them offered any possible explanation on this. Like I said, I’m not complaining. The markets of course, responded favorably to this report and even offset the concerning news that Nokia is laying off 1,700 workers. But my question is how, when there are record-breaking amounts of residential inventory on the market across the country, there is a sudden burst in desire to build more homes that are not being bought up any time soon?

Jeff Bater and Brian Blackstone of the Wall Street Journal may not have offered any explanation on the projection, but they did address my question/concern: “…some are wary a rebound in home construction will only add to the glut of inventories, particularly, new homes at higher prices-an especially tough sell in this market.” Yes gentlemen, I’m wary. Chew on these stats that they went on to rattle off: “Sales of new homes have fallen for six consecutive months through January and are down nearly 50% from January 2008, while inventories have ballooned to a supply of 13.3 months, which is driving prices lower and holding off would-be buyers.” And so I’ll pose the question again…what on earth made the projections of home construction rise 22% from last month? I feel like the Commerce Department is just playing with our emotions to build some confidence. Well, confidence with a healthy dose of skepticism…but as of today, it seems to be working.

By

Andrew Brentan

Who knows what to think about anything these days? It is hard to wrap one’s head around anything when so much is happening and none of it seems to be good. And so, when I learned that Stanford Kurland, the former president of Countrywide, had started a new mortgage company, my first reaction was, ohhhhhhhh boy, here we go again. I mean, there are a boat load of lawsuits underway against Countrywide, and some of them are accusing Kurland of being one of the main guys responsible for the irresponsible lending practices that dished out billions of dollars in risky home loans, which inevitably led to Countrywide’s demise, and left thousands of people risking foreclosure.  But then I learned what his new company was doing, and my initial thoughts towards the man and his company changed.

The Private National Mortgage Acceptance Company, or simply PennyMac, buys up delinquent home mortgages that the government took over from failed banks for a fraction of what they are worth, and get a piece of what they can collect. As an example, PennyMac would buy a delinquent $500,000 mortgage for say, $180,000 (of course, in reality they are buying many mortgages at once). When they buy these mortgages for pennies on the dollar, they can afford to restructure the loan with the homeowners, slashing the interest rates, keeping the owners in their homes and making payments. And PennyMac gets to keep a share of the money coming in from these mortgage payments, which otherwise might not have been made. So this is not only helping homeowners, but it is helping the government get back some (as opposed to none) of the money from the bad mortgages they bought up.

According to Eric Lipton in an article for the New York Times, PennyMac struck a deal with the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), where “it paid $43.2 million for $560 million worth of mostly delinquent residential loans left over after the failure last year of the First National Bank of Nevada.” Lipton goes on to say that, “Under the initial terms of the FDIC deal, Penny Mac is entitled to keep 20 cents on every dollar it can collect, with the government receiving the rest. Eventually that will rise to 40 cents”. They’re doing to be doing real well. And some whom they have helped are doing well as a result also.

Lipton describes the Laverdes family had fallen three months behind on their mortgage after their furniture store began feeling the pressure of the economic crisis. They were “fearful that they might need to move their four children, three dogs and giant saltwater aquarium into a cramped apartment, leaving behind their dream home. But a PennyMac representative instead offered to cut the interest rate on their $590,000 loan to 3 percent from 7.25 percent, cutting their monthly payments nearly in half.” Wow, go delinquent for a couple months and get rewarded with a 3% interest rate! Must be nice.

So perhaps our country needs more companies like PennyMac right now. Take some of the burden off government and banks and struggling homeowners, and turn a pretty profit while they do it. Is it too much to hope that companies like this can help stabilize the housing market? Probably, but like I said, I don’t know what to think at this point, so any beacon of light in this dismal economy and I’m going to cheer it on.

By Andrew Brentan

A Call to Agents

My superiors, the President and CEO of Axia Real Estate Group in San Diego, have asked me to write a blog announcing that we have now expanded our business into Riverside County and that we are looking for agents to work in both Riverside and San Diego.  I said to them, “Superiors, with all do respect, this is not something to discuss on a blog. This is something to announce on the home page of the website or take out an ad in the Reader or SignOn SanDiego.”  As you can tell by the fact that I am indeed writing a blog on our business expansion, I did not win this argument. And so, without further ado, let me introduce to you, Team Aguilar of Axia Real Estate Group:

Under the direction and leadership of Carlos Aguilar (President), and Howard Blum (CEO), Axia Real Estate Group, Inc. has been helping buyers and sellers in the San Diego region for over a decade. Carlos loves using the line that he has “been in real estate longer then he would care to remember” which was voted by me, to be his most over-used line of 2008. But he has been at it for a long time — originally licensed in California in 1972. The bottom line is, the man knows everything there is to know about real estate in California and he’s a pleasure to work for and with. And even if he wasn’t the one paying my salary, I’d say the same thing.

So, now that Team Aguilar has expanded into Riverside, we are looking for experienced real estate agents to join our group and work both Riverside AND San Diego regions. Agents should be experienced, knowledgeable, and willing to follow up on leads. If you are interested, or have any questions, call Toll Free Number at (888) 317-1496 or email info@teamaguilar.com.