Open House at my BEAUTIFUL Solana Beach listing this Sunday! 

1pm-4pm

This is an absolutely beautiful peice of coast San Diego Real Estate.  Come by and view it for yourself.

San Diego County housing is considered undervalued according to national economists.It is the fourth consecutive quarter that San Diego housing prices were below what is considered to be the normal price. Rancho Bernardo home sales demand has increased and inventory is decreasing in many price ranges. We are receiving multiple offers on short sales, foreclosures and typical “normal” sales that are priced right The median price for a single-family home was $327,300 in the first quarter. Based on hisotoric trends for household income, affordability and appreciation, the “normal” value should have been $415,300. 
 
This information shows that it is a great time to buy real estate in Rancho Bernardo and all of San Diego County!

Remember the original idea of owning a home? It was the American Dream and a privilege to own the home you and your family lived in. It was not an easy achievement but there were many reasons to own a home. You do not pay rent, you avoid unplanned rent increases, have control on whether you need to move, how you want to improve the home and it is a tax incentive with the interest and property tax deduction.  However, with the historical and cyclical escalating real estate market such as we had in the early 2000’s it became an investment, much like the stock market. It became so easy to be approved for loans and if you sold your investment in time you made money. If not, you may be in the same situation as so many people that I am working with right now. The percentage decrease in the market was not something that was planned by lenders or homeowners and almost EVERY real estate homeowner has been affected one way or another.

What I have seen though, is a return to the original principles where lenders are qualifying borrowers very strictly with full documentation and requiring a substantial amount of down payment.  It is once again a privilege to own a home because it is more difficult to qualify but at the same time it is more affordable as the sales prices AND interest rates have come down to a lower monthly payment. Once again, it may be time to buy that starter home because it is less expensive than renting…back to basics. Buy a home, build up value and move up. Remember, you don’t buy your dream home the first time out-you build up to it. So the cycle begins…..again….

- Marilyn

Californians; We are a resilient group of Americans.  Is it only Californians that have this gut level feeling that everything is going to turn around?  Talking to people of many ages and backgrounds, this week, who have lived in California a really long time, there is this down deep, gut level feeling that the real estate cycle is spinning toward the upward direction. The reason they feel this is because they have experienced this cycle before in California.

Here is what I am seeing and hearing:

• Multiple offers on “normal” sales, short sales and foreclosures
• Less negotiation on distressed sales (indicating we are at market bottom)
• Vacancy rates in apartments becoming higher due to those residents buying homes and moving out
• Lots of all cash buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines
• Current homeowners moving up as property tax basis is lower and interest rates are fantastic.
• Foreclosure sales decreasing
• Good news from real estate economists!

-Marilyn