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Neighborhood Discussion

This is were people can post their own comments about San Diego Neighborhoods.

John’s San Diego Real Estate Updates

It seems like most of the sales these days are coming from foreclosed homes and short sales.  Buyers have been waiting for prices to drop and the prices are now “making sense” again.  In an effort to stop foreclosures and help people avoid foreclosure in San Diego, I have set up a website to discuss strategies to avoid foreclosure, save your home from foreclosure, stop foreclosure, how to do short sales and save your credit while doing it. The website is www.SDstopForeclosureNow.com and it has valuable information and offers free reports on how to save your home and/or credit from foreclosure. Check it out!

John’s San Diego Selling Tips

This is a distress sale market.  If you are in a tough spot and have to sell, you are not alone.  Many people are sharing your pain and there is a way to save your credit and avoid the emotional and economic stress of the “F” word (“FORECLOSURE”).  There is a great resource dedicated to How to Stop Foreclosure in San Diego. Click this link and check it out - sdsfn.com.  That stands for “San Diego Stop Foreclosure Now .com”. Great resource for the community.

If you are simply selling because of reasons other than some form of distress, you still have to understand the market you find yourself selling in. To sell in any market, you have to think like a buyer.  Today, there are many distress sales out there for buyers to pick from, so if you want to sell in today’s market, you should be prepared for “lowball” offers.  Don’t take it personally and don’t let a low offer upset you.  Buyers are offering lower – period. To attract a buyer, you have to have your property priced competitvely.  Once you have their attention, you have to have it in nice condition.  Most buyers are more willing to buy a house in “turn-key” condition.  The buyers looking for a fixer are looking for a deep discount beyond the fixup costs, so to maximize your sales price, get it looking good to set yourself above the competition. 

John’s San Diego Home Prices

Everyone asks, “How are real estate prices doing?” Owners are hoping to hear that they are stabilizing and will go up soon while buyers are hoping to hear that they are still falling.  I don’t have a crystal ball – nobody does.  I can tell you that there are people buying and prices have continued to drop in recent weeks in most areas of San Diego. 

I see more and more short sales and bank repos in the available inventory.  “Good deals” are being snapped up in competitive bidding.  Sellers that are not willing to take a loss or the current market prices are renting out their properties or taking their homes off the market and holding until the prices come back up again.  This is amplifying the message that the prices are falling since the higher priced homes are removed from the available inventory leaving the more accurately priced ones and good deals. 

John’s San Diego Home Buying Tips

This is where John will discuss home buying tips.

John’s San Diego Business Updates

You hear a lot about lenders going out of business, rate increases, shrinking liquidity in the secondary mortgage market, skyrocketing defaults and foreclosures putting downward pressure on sales and prices in Southern California.  I’m in the field every day helping buyers and sellers find homes and sell homes. My humble day to day experience tells me there are plenty of buyers sitting on the sideline, others relocating here due to job offers and we always attract vacation home buyers and retirees from around the world.  Prognosis:The demand is healthy.

As for loans for the buyers – sure, a few of the “risky” home buying programs built upon low to no equity loans have been taken away from the buyer’s loan choices. But, there are still good loans out there for good borrowers. Prognosis:This too is healthy.

Our economy keeps truckin’ along.  San Diego has companies moving here in strong numbers.  So, the outlook for employment is good – also, healthy for our housing market. 

The only pox we have on the housing market are the defaults and foreclosures.  But as the healthy demand absorbs these fire sales, values will stabilize.

Buyers – Now is the time to get those good deals – while there is downward pressure on prices.  Simple economics say, “buy low – sell high”.

Sellers – There are several motivations for selling:

• Investors – If you can cover the loan payments, hang in there.  The near future is june gloom, but healthy signs are in the future.  If you must sell, do it now and take your lumps before you bleed too much red.
• Move Up – Now is the time to move up. Sure you may have to sell for less, but you buy a more expensive asset for a lower price. Here’s an example: Your bungalow was worth $400,000 last year, but you need more room today and want to buy a $500,000 house.  If prices have dropped by 10%, you will sell for $360K and buy for $450K – a jump up in mortgage of $90K.  If you wait ‘til the market starts rising back to $400K before moving up, you end up with a $100K jump.
• Move-Down – Hold if you can afford the loan payment.  Wait until prices move upward.
• Move-Out – You are probably moving to a market where values are dropping, stable or stabilizing, so sell now if you plan to buy wherever you are moving.