Last year, the State of California earmarked $100mil for a tax credit available to purchasers of newly constructed homes.  This money was used up in just over 3 months.  Fortunately, the State passed bill AB 183 last week with another $100mil for this purpose as well as an additional $100mil for 1st Time Home Buyers.  The CA Franchise Tax Board will have the official posting on their website by tonight.  Here are the some of the...continue reading...

There are three types of financing: FHA, VA, and Conventional.  Conventional has three subsets: Conforming, High Balance Conforming, and Jumbo.  A question I have been asked frequently these days is, “So what is the minimum down payment?”   FHA: For purchase prices up to $722,750 in San Diego County, the minimum down payment is only 3.5%, all of which can come from a gift.  There is upfront mortgage insurance charged by the FHA of 1.75% of the base loan amount (going to...continue reading...

Despite Foreclosure Inventories, Forclosure Sales Drop Discovery Bay, CA, March 15, 2010 - ForeclosureRadar, the only website that tracks every California foreclosure and provides daily auction updates, issued its monthly California Foreclosure Report for February 2010. After reaching the lowest level in a year last month, Notice of Defaults, the start of the foreclosure process, increased by 19.7 percent in February. The number of properties scheduled for foreclosure sale remained near record levels, yet foreclosure sales, either Back to Bank or Sold...continue reading...

The era of everyday lower prices appears to be ending, at least according to recent data from real estate search firm Trulia.com, which reports a new low of 19% of listings currently on the market experiencing a price cut as of March 1, 2010 . Trulia.com's track record isn't particularly long – it dates back to April 2009 – so we don't want to read too much into the news, but it's worth noting that it marks the first time price...continue reading...