Featured Events in May!

Red Bull Air Races, Saturday May 9-Sunday May 10
The competition features a dynamic new discipline of flying, called 'air racing' where the objective is to navigate a challenging race track in the sky, in the fastest possible time. Flying individually against the clock, the pilots have to execute tight turns through a slalom course consisting of specially designed pylons, known as 'Air Gates'. They compete in knockout rounds with the two fastest pilots going head to head in the final.
Click here to visit the event website.

Old Town Cinqo de Maio, Saturday May 2-Sunday May 3
The 26th Annual Fiesta Old Town Cinco de Mayo presented by Tequila Herradura is backin Historic Old Town! Spend thisCinco de Mayo in Old Town at the oldest and largest celebration of the Mexican heritage in San Diego! This two day event takes place on Saturday, May 2nd from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM and on Sunday, May 3rd from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Click here for more info.

Coronado Historic Home Tour, Sunday May 3
The Coronado Historical Association's annual Historic Home Tour features an extraordinary grouping of historic Jessop homes. The Jessop family built 35 homes in Coronado after an economic slump in the late 1800s with diverse architectural styles, a Hawaiian Plantation, Dutch Colonial and several California Bungalows dating from 1903 to 1938. In addition, there will be a home designed by legendary architect Cliff May who pioneered the California Ranch style in the 1930s. Join the Coronado Historical Association now and take advantage of a special promotion that includes two tickets and a family membership for $100 − save $20! Tickets can be purchased online at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=8xkc49cab.0.0.niingsbab.0&ts=S0400&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coronadohistory.org%2F&id=preview

Pets Cruise Free on the Bay, Thursday, May 14
On Thursday, May 14th Hornblower Cruises & Events will present the 9th annual Pet Rescue Day on the Bay event to benefit the Helen Woodward Animal Center. By donating a new or gently used blanket or towel, a dog and its owner cruise FREE on any one-hour harbor cruise on a Hornblower yacht on the 14th. Items will be collected from 9:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and donated to the animal center. Click here for more info.

Little Italy Sicialian Festival, Sunday, May 17
The music, dance and cuisine of Sicily come to the streets of San Diego's Little Italy on Sunday, May 17, 2009, 10 am-6 pm, as part of the 16th annual Festa Siciliana Sicilian Festival free celebration on India Street. This popular event features authentic Sicilian food and entertainment, surrounded by the colorful ambiance of the revitalized Little Italy section of San Diego's downtown.
Click here for more info.

Charming 2 Bedroom Coronado Condo: $485,000!

This is the least expensive 2 bedroom condo on the Island! Lovingly updated with slate floor, new fixtures and stainless appliances in kitchen, this 2 bed/2 bath unit is located just a few blocks from beaches and 1 block from schools. Owner very motivated to sell!

Contact christinevt@prusd.com to view this unit or for more info at anytime.

4 Perks of New Homes

It could be a great time to buy a brand now home because prices are down and builders are motivated to unload declining, but still significant, inventories. Here are a few reasons for buying new rather than existing properties.

● Buying new means new everything. New homeowners don’t have to replace carpeting, paint, or redo the kitchen.
● Mortgages on new homes are often lower. That gives new homebuyers bargaining power.
● Appreciation is greater. New homes tend to gain more value than existing homes during the first five to seven years.
● New homes are often more energy efficient. Research shows that homes are 30 to 35 percent more energy efficient than a home built 10 years ago.

Why it's Better to Move Up in a Down Market

Math smiles on buyers who move up in a down market, according to experts. And smart homeowners are taking advantage of the times to get a bigger house--even if the one they live in is worth less than it was when they bought it.

Real estate agents from the foreclosure epicenters of Florida and California to more stable markets like the Seattle area are using that advice to lure move-up buyers.

“Do the math,” said agent Mark Zawideh, who has been selling homes in the suburbs west of Detroit, where prices have declined 18 percent in the last year alone. “If you’re in a $200,000 house (the median price in the area) and you lost 18 percent, that means you lost $36,000,” Zawideh said. “But if you’re moving up and buying a $500,000 house, that person just took a $90,000 loss, so you can see you’re making 54,000.”

“Obviously, if you’re selling for less than you could have gotten two years ago, you’re disappointed, but you really need to look at your bottom line,” said Walt Molony of the National Association of Realtors. “If you’re trying to trade up, whatever you’re going to trade up to is going to sell at a discount, too. You need to look at your net.”

Click here for the full story from MSNBC.com.

How to Get that Valuable First Time Homebuyer Credit

Congress included an attractive tax credit in the economic-stimulus law, but the fine print is tricky. Here’s help to see if you qualify, and to determine whether to claim it this year or next.

The new law sweetens a provision known as the "first-time homebuyer credit." In essence, if you meet certain qualifications, you may be eligible for a tax credit of as much as $8,000. You also have a choice of claiming the credit on your federal income-tax return for 2008 or 2009. A credit is typically more valuable than a deduction, since it eliminates your taxes on a dollar-for-dollar basis — and in this case, you may get it even if you don't owe any taxes.

But Congress made the homebuyer-credit fine print so devilishly tricky that many Americans are likely to have to pay an expert for help in deciphering it.

Click here for a Q & A from the Wall Street Journal that helps you understand how you can claim this tax credit.

Federal Housing Help Plan Launches

The Obama Administration’s program to rescue distressed home owners got off the ground this week. The program was announced on Feb. 18, but it took several weeks to put the bureaucracy in place.

Six of the nation’s largest banks signed up to participate, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday. They are JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, GMAC Mortgage, Saxon Mortgage Services, and Select Portfolio Servicing.

Treasury says it is allocating $50 billion to the program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide the rest.The plan calls for loan servicers to reduce interest rates so a family’s monthly mortgage obligation is no more than 38 percent of its pre-tax income. Loan servicers also can reduce loan balances. After the loans are modified, the government then provides enough money to reduce payments to 31 percent of income.Participating servicers get $1,000 a year for each modification and another $1,000 a year for three years if the borrower remains current. Servicers get an extra $500 if they do the modifications before the borrower falls behind in his payments—and the borrower gets $1,500. Also, homeowners get $1,000 a year for five years if they remain current on their payments. The money must be used to reduce their principal balances.

Source: CNN, Tami Luhby (04/16/2009)

Economists See Rebound in September

Economists surveyed a Wall Street Journal article expect the recession to end in September.

However, the majority also believe that the economy will not begin to grow until the second half of 2010, which is when they expect the unemployment rate to go down.

Economists are seeing more signs of a recovery in the broader economy this year. On average, the economists expect the recession to end in September, compared with the October forecast last month. This marked the first time since the start of the recession that the economists didn’t push the date of recovery further into the future.

Click here for the full article.

Home Prices Flat and Sales Rocket 43%

San Diego County home prices remained virtually flat in March for the third straight month, with sales of entry-level homes the strongest, in the clearest sign yet that at least the market's bottom rung may have stabilized.

The county's median price was $285,000, unchanged from February and up $5,000 from January, MDA DataQuick reported yesterday. Sales skyrocketed to 3,020, up 43 percent from a year ago; it was the biggest increase for any March in five years.

“The sales are the first thing that has to improve to bring stability into the housing market, and there's a good reason why the sales are improving, and that's affordability,” said Esmael Adibi, director of Chapman University's Anderson Center for Economic Research.

Click here for more.

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

Top Economists Say Recovery has Begun

Economic recovery is about making people feel more confident, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com.

Zandi evidenced increasing home sales and gains in the stock market are some promising signs that the worst is over and people will start spending again.“We’re starting to see some pent-up demand for goods,” he says.But Zandi warns that the situation is still fragile. "

Confidence is a very fickle thing. It can go from abject pessimism that pervades now to a more balanced view of the world rather quickly.”

Robert Brusca of FAO Economics is predicting strong growth in the last half of the year and a quick recovery for the labor market. "You've lost 5 million jobs. It shouldn't be hard to put 2.5 million jobs back on rather quickly after you hit bottom," he said.

Joseph Carson, chief economist at AllianceBernstein, calls improving home sales, a rising stock market, and better-than-expected retail sales in February and March good signs of a turnaround. By the time President Obama’s stimulus package takes effect, the economy will be ready, he says. "The stimulus has a much better chance of working if trends are already turning up than if it needs to halt a decline," he said.

Source: CNNMoney, Chris Isidore (04/06/2009)

FHA Loans Make up 20% of New Mortgages

Federal Housing Administration loans can be a very good deal for home buyers, especially those who don’t have a lot of cash or whose credit rating isn’t stellar, experts say.

FHA loans now account for 20 percent of new mortgages, up from 3 percent in 2006. What's more, the number of authorized FHA lenders has increased 500 percent in two years.

Other benefits of FHA loans include easy loan modifications for borrowers who fall behind, easy refinancing plans if rates decline, and low rates overall, which don’t rise if the borrower has a low credit score.

There are no income restrictions on FHA loans, so even borrowers with good incomes may find them attractive.FHA loans still require a pre-settlement inspection of the home, but the process isn’t nearly as arduous as it once was, says George Hanzimanolis, past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

Source: CNNMoney.com (04/01/2009)

Pending Home Sales Up in February

Pending home sales have edged up, hinting at a possible pickup of sales activity in coming months, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index, 1 a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in February, rose 2.1 percent to 82.1 from a reading of 80.4 in January, but is 1.4 percent below February 2008 when it was 83.3.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the market is continuing to underperform. “Pending home sales have a way to go for there to be a meaningful increase, but recent increases in shopping activity are hopeful indicators that we’ll see additional sales gains,” he said. “More buyers are getting into the market to take advantage of stimulus incentives and much improved housing affordability conditions, but it will take a few months before we could see this turn up in measurable sales contract activity.”

Also in February, NAR’s Housing Affordability Index rose to a new high.

Click here for more.

FHA Loans Allow Mom & Dad to Help

Do Mom & Dad have cash to help you with your home purchase? If so, FHA loans might be the way to go.

FHA loans allow gifts for the entire down payment and closing costs, while only 6 percent of closing costs for conventional loans can be treated as a gift. Families are avoiding the required paperwork by turning over the money months before the home purchase, so it can be considered the buyers' own.

Click here for more info.

Banks Offer Jumbo Loans

Major banks are spotting opportunities and getting back into the business of making jumbo loans.

Bank of America, the country’s largest mortgage lender since it acquired Countrywide, has renamed its lending arm Banking of America Home Loans and is rolling out a program to finance loans between $730,000 and $1.5 million.

“There’s a real need for loans of this size," says Barbara Desire, who heads consumer real estate operations.Other lenders moving into this space include ING Group, Amsterdam-based banking and insurance conglomerate, which will offer jumbos as large as $2 million through ING Direct.

Source: Washington Post Writers Group, Kenneth R. Harney (03/21/2009

Who is buying vacation homes?

A lot of people, according to the National Association of Realtors. Despite weakening second home purchases in 2008, the long-term demand looks favorable for the second-home market because there are large numbers of people in the prime years for buying a second home.

Currently, 39.2 million people in the United States are ages 50 to 59—a group that dominated sales in the first part of this decade. An additional 44.8 million people are between 40 and 49, and another 40.7 million are 30 to 39.

“While economic factors can affect sales from one year to the next, the fundamental demand from these large population groups will remain,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist. “Given that most people become interested in buying a second home in their 40s, the bulge of population approaching middle age should drive the second-home market over the next decade.”

The typical vacation-home buyer in 2008 was 46 years old, had a median household income of $97,200, and purchased a property that was a median of 316 miles from their primary residence; 35 percent were within 100 miles and 36 percent were 500 miles or more.When asked about their reasons for purchasing a vacation home, 89 percent of buyers wanted to use the home for vacation or as a family retreat; 27 percent to diversify investments; 27 percent to rent to others; 26 percent to use as a primary residence in the future; and 17 percent for use by a family member, friend or relative.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Wall Street Journal: 6 Reasons Why its a Good Time to Buy

I just stumbled upon this article from the Wall Street Journal, listing the top 6 reasons why it's a good time to buy. I couldn't agree more!

1. Uncle Sam is willing to help. First-time buyers (defined as anyone who hasn’t owned a home in the last three years) are entitled to a maximum $8,000 tax credit; interest rates are at record lows; and the Federal Reserve is doing its best to make mortgage loans available.

2. People have to live somewhere. About 800,000 new households are formed each year in this country, ensuring that the housing market will tighten, even if the economy doesn’t soar.

3. Borrowers leverage their investment. If you put $10,000 into the stock market and it earns 10 percent, you’ve earned $1,000. If you put $10,000 down on a home and its values increases 10 percent, you’ve made $10,000.

4. When prices come back up, you’ll have instant equity. In parts of the country where foreclosures have driven down prices, better times will mean the price of the home you buy will rise rapidly.

5. Mortgage costs stay the same. If you get a fixed-rate mortgage, the monthly payment stays the same – while everything else, including rent, goes upward.

6. You own it. There is something comforting in the notion that your home is your own. You can paint it any color you want, let the dog run in the back yard and hang a swing for the kids in the front.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, June Fletcher (03/27/2009)