Mortgage Rates Plummet

The $800 billion infusion of federal funds into credit markets has an immediate impact on mortgage rates.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Mortgage rates fell sharply after the administration announced that it will pump another $800 billion into credit markets to free up frozen consumer and mortgage lending.

That number dwarfed previous government actions aimed at bolstering the mortgage lending market.

"The feds agreed to spend a half a trillion dollars to buy up mortgage backed securities and another $100 billion to fund lending for Fannie and Freddie; we're not talking chump change anymore," said Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates, a publisher of mortgage information.
Rates averaged 5.77% for the day on a 30-year, fixed rate loan, down from 6.06% Monday, according to Gumbinger. They fell as far as 0.75 percentage points during the day, according to Orawin Velz, Associate Vice President for Economic Forecasting at the Mortgage Bankers Association.

That could save a typical homebuyer more than $90 a month on a $200,000 mortgage.
"The government action was geared to bringing mortgage rates down," said Velz, "and it did."

The drop was the largest since early September, when the administration announced that it was taking control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500), and stemmed from similar market sentiment.

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Sales Up and Prices Down in San Diego

As the nation's economy heads toward a possibly deep recession, San Diego County's housing market is not all doom and gloom, according to an article from the San Diego Union Tribune.

While prices continue dropping as low-cost foreclosures dominate the market, bargain hunters snapped up more properties last month than at any time in nearly a year. Lower prices have also resulted in the best affordability rates in nine years.

MDA DataQuick reported yesterday that there were 3,598 sales last month, the best October in three years, as prices dipped to a median $323,500, a number not seen in six years. Foreclosures made up nearly half of all resales, their highest proportion so far.

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Encinitas named one of the ten best places to sell a home

According to Forbes, Encinitas is one of the 10 best suburbs to try to sell a home right now. With the year-over-year price change at only -5%, and a median home price of $1.23 million (according to Forbes,) the beach town is one of the best places to try to sell...if you must. The percentage of sellers decreasing their home prices is 40%, which is actually low compared to other neighborhoods.

Click here for a slideshow to see the top ten places to try to sell a home right now, according to Forbes.

Study says number of first-time home buyers increasing

Low home prices and excess supply helped drive a rise in first-time U.S. homebuyers and reduce excess inventory, according to a study released Saturday by The National Association of Realtors.

According to the survey, which was released at the 2008 Realtors Conference & Expo, the number of first-time buyers rose to 41 percent from 39 percent of all transactions in 2007.

"First-time buyers are much more flexible in entering the market because they aren't concerned about selling an existing home," National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.

Other interesting tidbits:

• According to the study, the median age of first-time buyers was 30, down from 31 in 2007.
  The median income for a first-time buyer was $60,600 and typical first-time buyers bought homes costing $165,000.
• Of first-time buyers who made a down payment, 69 percent used savings and 26 percent used money from a friend or relative. Another 7 percent received a loan from a relative or friend, while 16 percent used funds from their investments. A fixed-rate mortgage was chosen by 92 percent of those surveyed.

Click here for the full article from MSNBC.

What $1 million gets you in homes around the U.S.

CNN Money release their quarterly look at what one million bucks will get you in homes around the country.

A five bedroom house in North Carolina, a 3 bedroom townhouse in Philly, or an impressive home in Atlanta?

Click here to see what 1 million will get you around the U.S.

Are you Over-Paying Your Property Taxes?

As many as one-quarter of San Diego County homeowners may be paying too much property tax because their homes are worth less now than when they bought them, according to study by a San Diego software company.

EasyTaxFix.com, a start-up that offers a Web-based property tax appeal service, conducted the study using county data provided by La Jolla-based MDA DataQuick. It estimates that one in four households is potentially over-assessed.

Though they haven't seen the study, officials at the county assessor's office say EasyTaxFix's calculations are probably about right.

The county did its own analysis recently, said Jeff Olson, chief of assessment services. It found that 28 percent of all county properties changed hands in the past four years – when values jumped sharply during the housing boom.

“If you consider that to be January 2004 to present, you're looking at 28 percent of the properties in the county that could be candidates for a reduction in value,” Olson said.

Click here for the rest of the article from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

It's official: No more booze at city beaches

Disaster! The beach booze ban has passed. Shiraz at sunset? Red wine and some rays? Schmirnoff in the sand? It's over, all over! :(

A drive to permanently from San Diego city beaches and waterfront parks was passed, bringing an end to the long battle to force booze from local beaches. Proposition D will extend a one-year ban that has been in place since January. If it had failed, the temporary ban would have expired.
Jim Lantry, who worked to pass the measure, said he believes having a trial ban in place convinced people that permanent restrictions would benefit the city.
“Once people had the chance to see what alcohol-free beaches meant, they changed their minds,” Lantry said. “They said, 'I'd like to have a beer at the beach, but frankly it's not worth it.' ”

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When will the bloodshed end?

14 more die in day of raging violence in Tijuana.

TIJUANA – Police across Tijuana were on high alert as the region's continuing violence claimed 14 lives yesterday, including two state police agents, two victims who were decapitated and four apparently shot while walking.

The first Baja California state agent, Marco Cárdenas Carrasco, was killed about 8:30 a.m. yesterday while driving near the intersection of two major boulevards in eastern Tijuana.
Shortly after 3 p.m., Roberto Elizalde, a veteran agent who oversaw an office in the eastern Mariano Matamoros section, was ambushed on a major thoroughfare as he left his shift.

Yesterday's decapitated victims, both men, were discovered about 6 a.m. near the Otay Mesa border crossing, their bodies inside large plastic barrels, and their heads placed on the lids. They were not identified, but a handwritten message was left: “This is what will happen to those that hang out with the filthy Arellano Félix.” It was signed la maña, a term for mafia.

About 6:30 a.m., four unidentified male victims were found in Mariano Matamoros, on the side of a dirt road near a community clinic attended by dental students. They were between 20 and 25 years old.

Shortly after 5 p.m., two dead men were found inside a vehicle in a neighborhood west of downtown.

At 7 p.m., in the eastern area of Los Alamos, assailants shot four men, apparently while they were walking, the Attorney General's Office reported.

Law enforcement officials say most killings in recent weeks have been the result of battles among criminal groups seeking control of drug trafficking in the region.

From San Diego Union Tribune.