San Diego Condos

San Diego Buyers… Mortgage Interest Rates are Bottomed Out for Condo and Home Real Estate Purchases.

Tara — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:50:22 +0000

Attention San Diego Condo and Home Buyers…. Yes that’s correct. The past few weeks have posted mortgage interest rates at 4.5% for 30 year fixed home loans. This is the lowest they’ve ever been in history. Interest rates have only one direction they can go from where they are currently at. Up. The current FED Fund Rate is at 0.00% folks so there is absolutely no room for the FED to cut rates any further. There’s also a lot of talk about the local San Diego Real Estate market already having bottomed out. We have been seeing indicators of this for the past several months. Again, some housing industry pros have attributed some of those signs as being produced by the crunch for the federal first time home buyer tax credit. But as I’ve said before, with interest rates at an all time low and pricing at levels of 7-8 years ago there’s not going to be a better time to buy.

So San Diego Condo and Home buyers… if you are “waiting out the market” on either the interest rate or pricing…. wait no longer.

Tara Steinke

Solant Real Estate Advisors

619-384-6014

FICO Scoring and the effect on San Diego Real Estate Condo and Home Market

Tara — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:41:47 +0000

Does the FICO credit scoring system make sense in the current real estate and other credit markets? Many financial experts are arguing that the scoring system is inadequate and entirely too simplified. Current reports are indicating that over 25% of the US population has a FICO credit score less than 599. This is up from a projected 15% prior to the recent recent real estate and financial melt down. That translates into over 43.4 million people that are unable to get a home loan, car loan or even credit card… and likely for a long time to come. There’s a growing grumbling in a number of FICO driven industries that our overwhelming dependence on scores has gone from way too liberal (arguably one of the major causes of the melt down) to increasingly too conservative. Many say that if one was faced with a foreclosure from a job loss or other circumstance completely out of one’s control the current scoring model doesn’t take that into account. Some folks in the San Diego real estate industry, and throughout the country, argue that underwriters should go one step further and actually underwrite (i.e. read!!) each individual credit report to examine specific circumstances in order to make a logical rather than exclusively score driven decision. In approving condo and home buyers for mortgage financing there still needs to be assurances and tight lending practices to limit risk in lending. But the San Diego Condo and Homes market would benefit from a number of highly qualified buyers that don’t fit the “perfect borrower model” by a more realistic set of guidelines and better research in the bank underwriting departments.

Tara Steinke

Solant Real Estate Advisors

619-384-6014

San Diego Condo and Home Buyers in Escrow: Federal Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension

Tara — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:36:04 +0000

Some great news last week as Congress finally passed an extension to the first-time home buyer federal tax credit closing date. Now you home buyers still would have to have been in escrow with a purchase contract acceptance date prior to June 1st to qualify. However, this extension gives the hundreds of thousands of home and condo buyers that entered into contract on time, but were delayed by one reason or another, a longer period to close and snag the $8000 credit. The extension gives qualifying escrows until September 30th, 2010 to close. This is a huge win for buyers and one that the National Association of Realtors have been pushing hard for in recent months. Many San Diego Condo and Home buyers had rushed to find a property and get into contract only to be thwarted by lagging short sale approvals or frustrating REO / Foreclosure red tape. A definite positive for the country’s real estate market as a whole. A sizeable thank you to the NAR is definitely in order for standing on behalf of the consumer.

Tara Steinke

Solant Real Estate Advisors

619-384-6014

San Diego Real Estate Buyers: Enticed by ultra low Foreclure Home and Condo Prices?

Tara — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:35:33 +0000

Foreclosures remain to be a reality even as we see glimpses of recovery in the San Diego condo and home real estate markets. And many online entities continue to leverage that to drive traffic to their sites… these include large data sites (think Realty Trac, Zillow, etc), national real estate firms and local agents alike. Many home and condo buyers get excited when they see some of the “published” foreclosure pricing found on some of these sites. However, I’m going to tell you… don’t get excited. What many of these sites do (Realty Trac is the best known) is pull data from public record as to the price the home or condo was “taken back” for… OR worse they report the loan delinquency amount as the price. So buyers clamor to find out “can this be true??” NO. Almost 100% of foreclosure homes are handed over to a local listing agent to list, market and sell in the typical manner. Can you get a deal on a foreclosure property? Absolutely. The best way is to be an all cash buyer. The next best way is to have a significant down payment of 20-30% if not more. The best deals can be found for all cash buyers on properties that are in bad enough shape that no bank will lend on them… therefore eliminating any buyers out there that need a loan to purchase.

But…. buying a foreclosure property in decent condition may have you paying slightly more. WHAT??? Yes… I said slightly more. WHY??? Well, with an estimated 60-65% (if not more!) of the local San Diego condo and home listings being short sales, our local foreclosure and traditional sale listings become very attractive to buyers. These non-short sale listings allow for a buyer to get an accepted offer right away, open escrow right away and CLOSE! Although the lenders are improving on short sale approvals, you still never know until the seller actually gets approval. And there is potential for a number of bumps and bruises along the way. So foreclosure and traditional listings get bid up by buyers hoping to by-pass the short sale wait game.

Also… I might add that foreclosure listing agents know the game. They list the properties just at or below market value in order to bid up the price a bit for their bank clients. Just like traditional sellers, banks are trying to get the highest market value buyer on each property and the listing agent has a fiduciary commitment to them to deliver that as best they can.

Tara Steinke

Solant Real Estate Advisors

619-384-6014

San Diego Real Estate Front: Will Condo and Home Sales Suffer without Federal Buyer Credit?

Tara — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:20:08 +0000

Most industry experts are crediting the April 31^st in contract deadline for the Federal first-time home buyer tax credi for the continued increased sales this April (as reported by the National Association of Realtors, NAR). Many buyers found themselves rushing to contract in order to take advantage of that large dangling carrot. Right here in San Diego, I found myself in this exact position with several of my own buyer clients and were able to seal the deal for a couple of them within the final weeks on downtown San Diego condos. The NAR reports that the March-April surge is the largest since last November when buyers were facing the original tax credit deadline, which was then extended into 2010. Of course, improved consumer confidence and crazy low mortgage rates have only helped to fuel the current surge. Many industry experts have been quoted as saying “there gets to be a point where it’s just silly not to buy.” And many think we hit that point. There is word of weakening market confidence now that we’ve lost the federal first-time home buyer credit and knowing that the California credit is quickly being snapped up. Only the summer will tell…. which is usually a hot point in the annual real estate cycle. In my opinion, the current low pricing and amazingly low interest rates provide a combination that continues to offer huge opportunity to any qualified, able home or condo buyer out there in San Diego county.

Tara Steinke

Solant Real Estate Advisors

619-384-6014

Buyers… buy a 2 bedroom condo in Pacific Beach, San Diego under $300k!

Tara — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:20:51 +0000

Hello buyers! Even though the federal first-time home buyer credit is no longer an option, it’s still a fabulous time to buy residential real estate. I may have said this before, but I believe we are at bottom. And I predict that our localized San Diego Condo and Home market will hang out at the bottom of this down-curve throughout 2010 with marginal and normal price increases starting in 2011 (i.e. price recovery). Don’t get me wrong, the real estate market has seen recovery in the way of increased sales numbers but we’ve only seen price increases in certain localized areas of the market. But here’s the deal…. prices are lower than they’ve been in 8 years and mortgage interest rates are tremendously low (conforming 30 year fixed dipped to 4.65% this week!!!). I mean on the pricing front…. if you love Pacific Beach, there are currently five Pacific Beach area (92109) two-bedroom condos on the market priced UNDER $300,000 with eight or nine more priced in the low to mid $300s. This is just one San Diego neighborhood’s example of the current steals out there. Get shopping.

Tara Steinke
Solant Real Estate Advisors
619-384-6014

New San Diego Condo Listing: Great Investor or First-Time Buyer Opportunity!

Tara — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:56:18 +0000

San Diego Condo Buyers…. a great opportunity to get into the market at just $200,000. This beautiful North Park condo is in like new condition and ready for move in. Smaller complex with only 30 units and 70+% home owner occupancy. Close to all that North Park has to offer including 3 grocery stores, numerous restaurants and hot nightlife spots. Owner may need to pursue a short sale option but we’re working on another option. Contact me today for a private showing!

NAR Calls on Home Buyer Tax Credit: Claim Short Sale & Foreclosure Approval Taking Too Long

Tara — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 22:59:32 +0000

As we near the final 2 weeks of the Federal First-Time Home Buyer Credit, San Diego condo and home buyers are struggling to close on before the June 30^th deadline as are buyers across the country. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has been clamoring on Capitol Hill calling for an extension with claims that banks have been taking too long in getting approvals on short sale applications and offers on bank owned foreclosed properties.

The folks at the NAR are concerned that the momentum the national real estate market has gained in recent months will be thwarted if contracts fall apart due to the inability for buyers to close on time. In addition, reports are beginning to indicate that some industry professionals are becoming slightly less optimistic looking at a market without the first-time buyer credit in the near future. Despite what these reports may or may not be showing, I feel that this market, even without the credit, continues to offer a huge opportunity to buyers with extraordinarily low mortgage rates and some of the lowest pricing we’ve seen in 7-8 years. Purely put, buyers that didn’t have a prayer to enter the condo or home market here in San Diego 4-5 years ago can now do so. And to many of my recent buyers, the $8000 federal credit was merely a bonus, not a deciding factor.

Tara Steinke

Solant Real Estate Advisors

619-384-6014

Another Possible Negative for FHA Real Estate Buyers of Condos and Homes in San Diego

Tara — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:39:21 +0000

Oh… Congress Congress Congress…. Yet another contradiction. Congress woman Maxine Waters recently stated her “great concern” for increased home financing rates and the negative affect that could have on a stabilization real estate market. So why is she, along with FHA commissioner, now supporting HR 5072 that was just passed to the house floor?? The bill allows for the FHA to raise the mortgage insurance annual rate from .55% to 1.55% — this would increase the FHA MI reserves to a whopping $233 million per MONTH (yes per MONTH). San Diego Condo and Home buyers, write your house rep and tell them to vote NO on HR 5072.

Let’s look at an example of the affect on an FHA buyer’s financial outlook when considering a purchase of a home or condo here in San Diego. Let’s assume a purchase price of $300,000 at an interest rate of 5.0%…. currently this would reflect a principal and interest payment of about $1611 and an additional .55% a month for mortgage insurance, translating into an additional $138 per month. At the increased rate of 1.55%, the mortgage insurance premium each month would increase to $387… an increase of $249 per month. That’s equal to having over a 7% interest rate!!

Why would FHA commissioner David Stevens be telling the National Association of Realtors to “storm Capital Hill” in support of this bill? Well, this is bad news for our clients looking to buy San Diego real esate… but means more money for the US government. That was easy to figure out. Bottom line, this will cost my clients more money while contradicting the nation’s collective goal to move towards economic recovery.

Tara Steinke

Solant Real Estate Advisors

619-384-6014

41% of Polled Home / Condo Owners Say They Would Walk – Effect in San Diego?

Tara — Fri, 28 May 2010 00:07:53 +0000

According to the results of a survey conducted by Trulia and RealtyTrac, 41% of homeowners polled stated that they would likely walk away from their condos or homes it was under water (owe more on their loans than what it’s currently worth). And some industry veterans believe that percentage to be a conservative response. What does that mean for the country’s future in REO and Short Sale transactions (with consequences spanning to the San Diego real estate market)? Well if we were to consider that in 2008 it was reported that the US has approximately 130 million condos / homes and 20% are currently underwater….. with 40% of those home owners considering walking away at a median sales price of $166,000; according to the National Association of Realtors… we are looking at a possible $1.7 trillion in upcoming foreclosure and short sale condo /home inventory.

Reports such as these do reflect what we are seeing right here in our own localized San Diego condo and home markets. With many home owners still in an up-side-down situation with their lending, we will continue to see an influx of foreclosure and short sale real estate listings. As a seller, and also as a buyer considering these bank-involved transactions, you should make yourself fully aware of the pitfalls involved. We have many recent blog articles addressing the ins and outs of these two very different situations (i.e. foreclosures and short sales each have their own pitfalls!!). Feel free to check them out!

Tara Steinke

Solant Real Estate Advisors

619-384-6014