Another of San Diego’s Finest Neighborhoods, Carmel Valley. Here Is The Scoop -Rina Podolsky San Diego Exclusive Properties_ Carmel Valley Homes For Sale

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Carmel Valley is a community in San Diego county that has become one of the prime Neighborhoods for many reasons, from its privileged location just a short distance from the beach, it’s top ranking schools and it’s easy freeway access. It has fared better than many local areas through the Real Estate market ups and downs and continues to be a very sought after place to live.

• LOCATION

Carmel Valley is bordered to the north by the North City Future Urbanizing Area (NCFUA) and Pacific Highlands Ranch; to the south by Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve and Torrey Hills; to the east by Pacific Highlands Ranch and Del Mar Mesa; and to the west by Interstate 5 and Torrey Pines. Nearby is the Torrey Pines State Preserve, where one of two stands of the endangered Torrey Pine is found to occur.

While many people in the area are now referring to the entire 92130 zip code as Carmel Valley, the actual boundaries of the community remain unchanged from the original community plan. The remainder of the 92130 zip code is filled by the surrounding communities of Del Mar Mesa, Pacific Highlands Ranch, and Torrey Hills.

Original Carmel Valley Area Map

• HISTORY

The earliest inhabitants of the area are believed to have been the earliest settlers in the region. There have been some artifacts found along the Carmel Creek area that are said to belong to this Native American tribe, confirming their settlement in the area, however, little is known about their life in this region.

Later in time, around the 1800 to 1900 the area was known as “Cordero” in it is where we find “Ranchers” it is thus known as the Rancho Period. The main activity in the region was producing and trading cattle hides and tallow. This was immediately followed by a period of agriculture became the main trade. At this time in history, we had the California Gold Rush going at full swing and some of these gold rushers did come to settle in the area, among those settlers we had the McGonigle Family who acquired  2,040 acres of what is today known Carmel Mountain preserve. It was then that the area became known as “McGonigle Valley.

Around the 1890’s the sisters of Mercy came from San Francisco down to the region. When they established themselves in the area they gave medical care to the McGonigle family and established a dispensary in 1000 acre parcel of land that they purchased from the same family. They also established a dairy farm and a vegetable garden. They also built a three story Victorian home that has played different roles through out time, it played the role of housing orphans, dispensary for the nuns and that is what later became Mercy Hospital, it later became a private home and horse ranch and most recently, after the Carmelites land was divided in two by the passing of the 56 freeway in the middle of their land, the home became property of the Chabbad center and it is currently on sale. The other half of the property houses a Church and burial grounds.

This nuns  from the Carmelite order and were instrumental in naming the area when they named a mountain “Carmel Mountain” and their ranch “Carmel Mountain Ranch” after it. That is how the area got it’s name.

Sisters of Mercy Victorian House

However in 1975 the area was mapped out and a plan was established it was named the “North City West Master Plan” and the name of the area was changed to North City West.

Construction in the area began in 1983 and by that time the original name had stuck to the region and so in 1990 the local planing board change the name back to Carmel Valley. The area is designated with the 92130 zip code.

Today Carmel Valley has grown to include surrounding areas such as: Torrey Hills, Del Mar Mesa and Pacific Highlands Ranch.

• SHOPPING + ENTERTAINMENT

As of Today there are 3 main shopping Areas.

The largest is Del Mar Highlands Town Center It includes fast food restaurants such as Mc Donalds, El Pollo Loco and Rubio’s,  it also has Red Robin, Sammy’s Pizza and Champagne bakery, Starbucks and Chuao chocolatiers. It is divided in upper and lower level and houses some clothing boutiques, Gepetto’s Toy store,  an Aveda and a Barnes & Noble book store. It houses two major groceries stores, Ralphs and a Jimbo’s which is a more natural and organic store. This shopping center included the Carmel Valley Ultra star movie theaters, however they ar currently close for remodel and will re-open sometime this summer.

There is another shopping center called Piazza Carmel  It is a smaller plaza that includes Souplantation, Villa Capri a Vons grocery store, some boutiques and banks. Across the street you will find a Shell Gas station and a Pat & Oscar’s restaurant.

The other shopping area is  Torrey Hills Shopping Center located in the southern part of Carmel Valley, this plaza is the most recently built but it is also the smallest one, it has a Vons groceries store as well, Starbucks, an italian restaurant three banks and the Carmel Valley office of Windermere Exclusive Properties.

The Scoop is that there will be 3 more shopping areas built in Carmel Valley, 2 of them are expected to be big shopping centers. One is located on the corner of Del Mar Heights and El Camino Real right across of Del Mar Highlands Town Center and construction is expected to begin soon.

The other major shopping area that is expected to be built is in the Pacific Highlands Ranch Neighborhood, it is said that it will include some major department stores but no word yet on which ones or when it will be built.

Finally, in the corner of Carmel Mountain and Carmel Country, Pardee is building a new community, part of the land, the south-west corner of it to be precise, is designated to be commercial/retail, No word yet what stores will be there but it is a much smaller space.

There is also a little known secret, here is the Scoop there is an Organic Farm right in the middle of Carmel Valley called Sea Breeze Farms

Also coming to the neighborhood we have 3 restaurants opening their doors in 2011, all of the in Del Mar Highlands town center. Rimel’s Rotisserie, The Counter which will be a burger place, Searsucker a great downtown restaurant is also working on opening up a new restaurant as is Swirls, a yoghurt ice cream store.

The movie theater will re-open with a new concept of VIP theaters where patrons will be able to reserve their seat ahead of time and there will be drinks and dinner served to your seat.

There are many excerisze places that go from yoga and pilates studios to full out sport centers. There are 2 in particular that are worth mentioning:

Pacific Athletic Club – One of San Diego’s  finest sports resorts.

The Training Club – An innovative, high energy, and fun workout facility, totally committed to creating exercise programs for groups and individuals.

 

• REAL ESTATE MARKET

There are currently 230 Homes listed as Active

Here is a brief chart of the current listing statistics

out of which 160 are Detaches homes 70 are attached

There are 33 homes showing as contingent (this is a recently added status that means an offer has been accepted by the buyer and an approval is being negotiated with the bank in the case of a short sale)

There are 62 homes in escrow or listed as pending

In the past 30 days there were 35 homes that Sold here is a chart to view the stats of past months sale

out of those 35, 22 were detached homes and 13 were attached

There are 224 properties in the public records list of homes in some stage of Foreclosure, you can search foreclosures here

In general this area has fared very well thru the Real Estate market downtown.

You will be able to find many different communities within the area and prices go from $205,000 to $7,980,000 but the average sales price is around $1,ooo,000. If you want to look for homes in this area be sure to check out this site

• SCHOOLS



ELEMENTARY

There are 3 main School District operating in the area as far as elementary schools go.

Solana Beach School District

Solana Highlands: 3520 Long Run Drive; Office: 858.794.4300, Fax: 858.794.4350, CDC: 858.794.4377

Carmel Creek: 4210 Carmel Center Road; Office: (858) 794-4400, Fax: (858) 794-4450, Absence: (858) 794-4451, CDC: (858) 794-4477

Solana Pacific: 3901 Townsgate Drive; Office: (858) 794-4500, Fax: (858) 794-4550, CDC: (858) 794-4577, Absence: (858) 794-4551

Del Mar Union School District

Ashley Falls: 13030 Ashley Falls Drive; voice 858.259.7812, fax 858.259.1828 Carmel Del Mar: 12345 Carmel Park Drive; voice 858.481.6789, fax 858.481.7418

Del Mar Heights: 13555 Boquita Drive, Del Mar, CA 92014; voice:858.755.9367, fax:858.509.1412 Del Mar Hills: 14085 Mango Drive, Del Mar, CA 92014; voice: 858.755.9763, fax: 858.755.6107 Sage Canyon: 5290 Harvest Run Drive; voice: 858.481.7844, fax: 858.481.7949 Torrey Hills: 10830 Calle Mar de Mariposa; voice: 858.481.4266, fax: 858.481.0344 Sycamore Ridge: 5333 Old Carmel Valley Road; voice: 858-755-1060 Ocean Air: 11444 Canter Heights Drive; voice: 858.481.4040

Poway Unified School District

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Both Solana Beach and Del Mar Union school districts merge when it comes to upper grades but Poway remains separate. We have:

Carmel Valley Middle School 3800 Mykonos Lane 858-481-8221

Earl Warren Junior High 155 Stevens Street, Solana Beach, CA 92075 858-755-1558

And Poway Unified School District

HIGH SCHOOL

Torrey Pines High School 3710 Del Mar Heights Road 858-755-0125 (Torrey Pines High School Foundation)

Canyon Crest High School 5951 Village Center Loop Road 858-350-0253 (Canyon Crest High School Foundation)

And Poway Unified School District

Only a very small section of Carmel Valley falls into the Poway School District designated boundaries and most people don’t even know that this is the case, so make sure you confirm that the home you are considering moving into falls into the boundaries of the school district that you are looking for. All of the schools in the area have received top rankings you can check the scores in this CA state website

You will also find Private schools in Carmel Valley:

San Diego Jewish Academy Upper School (grades 6-10) 11860 Carmel Creek Road voice (858) 704 3770 fax (858) 704 3771 Lower School (grades K-5) 11860 Carmel Creek Road voice (858) 704 3761 fax (858) 704-3701 Cathedral Catholic High School 5555 Del Mar Heights Road 858-523-4000 Notre Dame Academy pre-school to 8th grade 4345 Del Mar Trails Road 858.509.2300 thesisters@ndasd.org

Del Mar Pines (grades K-6) 3975 Torrington Street San Diego, CA 92130 858-481-5615

If you have any other questions about Carmel Valley, would like any additional information or want information in any of the surrounding areas please feel free to contact me at : info@SanDiegoExclusiveProperties.com

 

 

In Foreclosure… Not Everyone Is There to Help -Carmel Valley Real Estate- Rina Podolsky

 

I was recently at an appointment with a homeowner who wanted to sell his home in Carmel Valley. For people familiar with the 92130 zip code in San Diego, it is an area that has held its value very well through the whole market crash and beyond. Which in turn means that we have less Short Sales than in many other areas in San Diego County and that also has translated into a market where Foreclosures are not as common widespread. Having said that, I do have to say that there are several homeowners that find themselves in a tough situation, and need to make a decision on what to do.

Some of this homeowners will sit down with me or other Real Estate professionals trying to get an idea of what their options are. At this point a reputable professional, will advise them to first talk to their lender, try to work something out and also will ask them as many questions as possible regarding their current situation, their short, medium and long term plans, their wants, their needs. This helps not only the  person asking the question but the homeowner who is forced to go through the excercise of prioritizing and looking at the big picture.

Unfortunately, it is not entirely uncommon for people at this stage to do one of two things after a meeting with a Real Estate professional.

The first one, is for them to still ignore the problem and continue pretending like something will happen that will make things ok at the end. In this case I sometimes get contacted by them when it is imminent that they won’t be keeping the home. Sometimes we can still do something but we are so much more limited at that point and that is if we can help them at all.

Or the second situation that happens and it pains me as well, is that I get a call back a couple of days later saying that they have not called their bank yet but it is ok because they have found another option. While doing research on the computer they found a company that is guaranteeing they will save their home and solve their problem. Or something along those lines. Here is where I want to be very clear. I am ok with people using other reputable Professionals, I want them to succeed in their aim of solving their problem in the best way possible. However (yes and this is a big one) The are SCAMS galore out there pertaining to Foreclosure aid. If they are promising something that sounds to good to be true…you know the rest.

Now being a homeowner in distress you have heard this before yet how are you supposed to know who is legit and who is not. Why waste a good chance when it can turn out to be a true saving grace? right?

Here are just a few pointers to be aware, if you come across any of these, please, STOP, and do a lot of research or actually, just stop altogether and go somewhere else for help.

The following list was compiled by Brian Olenik from Corinthian Title who has spent ample time researching this matter.

• Anyone asking for a fee in advance, before providing any services
• Instructs you to stop making mortgage payments to the lender and instead start paying into an account that he will set up for you. It might be under his own name or someone else other that yours.
• Instructs you not to contact your lender, lawyer or consult with any of the people you trust in regards to this matter
• Requires payment only in the form of cash, cashiers check or wire transfer.
• Advises you to transfer your property deed or title to his or her company
• Fills out paperwork themselves without allowing you to fill it out.
• Encourages to lease your house and says you will be able to then buy it back at a later date.
• Requests something to be done immediately and without delay. This includes pressuring you into signing something that you do not fully understand or have not had a chance to read, or are not sure you feel comfortable with. In many of this cases, time IS of the essence, but some hours or one day to go over paperwork carefully are time well spent, not wasted.
• Offers to buy your house at a fixed price that is not set by the housing market at the time of sale.
• Requests you to give power of attorney
• Requests signatures in a grant deed or deed of trust.
• Request signatures in forms that are not completely filled out.
• Refuses or fails to give promises or commitments in writing.
• Promises that no matter what the circumstances are, he will be able to stop the foreclosure.

 

These are the most common types of scams that are currently happening, and although there are others not listed here, the main thing is to keep a level head, try to think things through, many of these scammers are amazing at getting people to trust them, they have explanations of why and how to most questions yet disappear two days after they have gotten what they wanted from you. This is the time when you want someone to help you look at thing from a clear perspective. Run it by someone you trust before committing to anything.

There are a few places where you can go for help.  You should go to the HUD web site www.hud.gov there you will find valuable information on scams and foreclosures as well as a list of approved agencies.

There is also a special line created to guide and help homeowners , it is the Homeownership Preservation Foundation their number is 1-888-995-HOPE.

If you do come across a situation where you feel you are being a victim of a scam, you can contact:

California Attorney General  http://ag.ca.gov

California Department of Real Estate www.dre.ca.gov

Department of Housing and Urban Development  www.hud.gov

Federal Trade Commission  www.ftc.gov

Your local Better business Bureau www.bbb.org

You can always start by talking to a trusted Realtor or Real Estate lawyer of your choice, they should be able to help you figure out what your options are and steer you in the right direction and in most cases they will do this as a free consultation, we certainly do this for any of our clients.

Please feel free to contact me even if you are not in the state of California I  help guide you towards someone who is reputable in your area.

You can contact Rina and Sergio by going to our web site at www.SanDiegoExclusiveProperties.com and clicking on the contact us button or on any of our social media links.

But please remember, the sooner you take action the better your chances of having choices.

Foreclosure Moratorium Lifted

The ink wasn’t even dry on the newspaper (or this blog for that matter) regarding some of the largest banks putting all foreclosures on hold for what analyst thought would be a long time, and here comes Bank Of America proving them wrong and making us re-write our news and commentary pieces.

What happened? On Monday BOFA announced that it is lifting the foreclosure halt Partially, only on those states that have judicial foreclosures, that is, states that require a court to approve the Foreclosure, the ban will be lifted, these states, were the first ones to be put on a foreclosure freeze last week and the first ones to be put out of it.

BOFA said is that they will resume foreclosures in 23 courts starting october 25. They also said they are very confident and have reviewed their process and find it to be sound. As for the rest of the foreclosures in non-judicial states, those will resume soon after the bank begins refilling amended affidavits.

It is estimated that 30,000 foreclosures will resume now and 102,000 will resume thereafter the corrected affidavits are in place.

GMAC who also declared a temporary moratorium is also lifting the halt and moving forward with the foreclosure process.

The question remains, why halt the foreclosure process one week and bring it back to working order the next? Could they really have sorted out the state of this foreclosures in a short week? I highly doubt it specially when we are talking about institutions that have continued to make mistakes, and who take 9 months to approve a short sale.

Now don’t get me wrong, I did not want a moratorium knowing that it would mean for these homes to start accumulating on the banks  inventory, instead of them coming at a steady pace into the market. We learned that lesson already. However, Now that the fact that there might be serious questions about the banks process not only on the foreclosure end, but on the ownership of some loans, even if it is a small technicality, has hit the mass media, there WILL be reactions from many ends, legal reactions that is. And that will only tie up and bring more complications and cost more money. So, in conclusion, I am glad they lifted the moratorium but I hope that their process is really as clean as they say and that the banks are as confident as they claim to be because they will have to prove it in court.

TimesFootnote:
Since I last published this last night, there is already an update that I deemed pertinent to this note. This morning there was an article on the LA Times http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bank-of-america-loss-20101020,0,5193498.story , it states that some of the investors that bought faulty mortages from BOFA have sent a written request to the bank, asking that they buy back improperly procesed loans. BOFA has so far refused to do so.

Now What? The foreclosure halt and its consequences explained

First it was GMAC halting foreclosures in 23 states, then JP Morgan Chase said it will delay the process of more than 56,000 foreclosure proceedings and from there all the way to Bank Of America announcing last week that it was pausing foreclosure proceedings in all 50 states while they review the process and paperwork for “defects”.

Today it was announced that California will be joining a task force created as a multi-state inquiry into foreclosures.

All this comes when it seemed like foreclosures where starting to ease up.

But what is this latest crisis all about. What is it that the banks are corned with at this point of the game?

Lets start by a quick explanation of the life of a mortgage .

Once a mortgage is created, it does not usually stay with the bank or institution that originated it. Mortgages will change hands several times through its life span. When a mortgage gets sold and changes hands the new owners have to get an “assignment”  from the buyers. An assignment is a document signed by both buyer and seller acknowledging the sale of the loan, this note has to be attached to all other documents and delivered to the new owner.

It gets a little more complicated from here. Many mortgages are the “securitized” this means that it get pooled in with a a large number of other mortgages by an investment firm and becomes part of a pool of mortgages that will be sold off in slices to different investors as an investment vehicle. Then someone is assigned with being the one in charge of properly dividing the money that comes in from the monthly mortgage payments and also of foreclosing on the ones that have stopped paying. This person is called the “servicer” . When a mortgage is securitized, what happens to the note, who gets the note? Neither the investor nor the servicer gets this note or assignment, not even the investment vehicle has the assignment, instead they go to a repository company and the transfer is noted in an electronic base.

So where did the break down occur? well, at the height of the mortgage wave, Notes were coming in at such a fast pace and paperwork was not being filed, revised or monitored. This was the barely -doc to no-doc era and so paperwork was more of an afterthought in many cases and this lack of concern went from the origination of the loan all the way to all the transfers.

Making matters even more complicated is the  fact that some of the institutions went under or were acquired by larger ones.

You might ask, how does dis impact the foreclosures and why if that had been happening for all this years, why the halt now?

Well, there were warning signs and some people did raise their concerned voices but they were not paid attention to, probably because the crisis  and the bubble burst seemed so large and that was the main concern, so it was until  Jeffrey Stephan a loan officer for GMAC admitted in a deposition to the signing of about 10,000 foreclosure proceedings per month for five years straight without reviewing the paperwork properly, that serious cracks in the process were revealed in a very public way that caught so many people’s attention and brought forth a probe into  GMAC (Ally) foreclosure proceedings starting a chain reaction to other banks since Jeffreys signed foreclosures for other institutions as well.

Initially the halt was done in 23 states that had what is called Judicial foreclosures. This means, that their foreclosure process, requires the lender to go through a court process and file a claim and turn in the appropriate paperwork which includes  a sworn and notarized affidavit of a loan officer and submit the mortgage documents.

Often, however, judges will issue foreclosure orders without the mortgage documents so long as the borrower doesn’t contest this point.Once the do this the get the court approval to move ahead with the foreclosures.

As I said not all states require this, some states, like California, do not need to get a court approval in order to complete a foreclosure. So the first states where the pause was enacted where those where the bank had to initiate a court process and had been required to turn in paperwork which in many cases was nowhere to be found, so how could they have foreclosed with court approval without all of the paperwork in order?

In many cases the foreclosures were not contested by anyone and so in those cases the banks went ahead and foreclosed even with the missing assignment documents, but in some other cases there are allegations of banks  and evidence has been produced to show that notarizations have been faked, documents forged.

Even though the situation looks worse in judicial states because there is forgery that was sent to court involved, this dies not exempt the other states from misdoings so, that is why the halt was extended in many cases to all 50 states.

In many cases, the notes do exist it will just take a big effort to find them and complete this files propperly. So this might sound like it is simply a case of paying to much attention to a paper trail. However, the fact that all this got through the banks, that there are allegations of forgery and in many cases there simply are no notes or assignments, this has the potential to become a huge mess.

There is lawsuit written all over this one from so many sides that it will look like lawyers playing fields.

Homeowners who have been paying their mortgage regularly are wanting to make sure the one they are paying actually owns the note, and if it turns out they don’t, well they will be suing for money paid to an institution that had no rights. Now there are those who properly securitize the loan and did not get the assignment note, they are looking into lawsuits from investors because tis bonds usually include a representation and warranties that the bank has obtained all documentation related to the mortgages included in the loan.

Without going into detail on this one, there is also a problem between senior and junior liens, and when the froze the foreclosure process, senior leans are responsible to pay junior liens some money even when the mortgage is not bringing in any, until this mortgage is foreclosed, so this puts senior liens in a delicate position.

And then, what happens if a note is never found? who owns that mortgage? Is the homeowner free and clear? who is he supposed to make payments to? If they stop making payments, who will have the right to foreclose?

Now let’s take it a step further. What will happen with all those people whose home was foreclosed and sold? If they come after the bank and actually prove that the foreclosure was improperly done? Their home was already sold, there is a new owner who might be facing a legal battle he did not sign up for.

Finally, if this situation takes a year to correct, once the halt is lifted, we will find ourselves with a wave of foreclosures that had been accumulating instead of slowly coming into the market at a regular pace, how will this new flood be absorbed by a weakened market?

 

 

Since the news on this one broke I have also been hearing some homeowners not currently in default that are not happy to hear that so many people will be living rent/mortgage free for a year (or two) while they are doing things correctly.

We should be paying attention to this one closely!

Top 10 Restaurants in San Diego

This past week I asked on Facebook and twitter for peoples top 10 restaurants in San Diego. Although I have not tried all of them I decided to pass along the most frequently recommended ones along with mt own favorites. I have ordered them according of number of times each one was recommended. I have also set the goal of going to each and everyone of this restaurants and giving you a review.

1.- PIATTI

2182 Avenida De la Playa, La Jolla

858-454-1589

http://www.piatti.com

2.CUCINA URBANA

505 Laurel St, San Diego

619-239-2222

3. MARKET RESTAURANT & BAR

3702 Via De La Valle, Del Mar

858-523-0007

http://www.marketdelmar.com/

4.-BENCOTTO ITALIAN KITCHEN

750 W Fir Street, San Diego

619-450-4786

http://lovebencotto.com

5. ACQUA AL 2

322 Fifth Ave, San Diego

619-230-0382

http://www.acquaal2.com/

6.- BUSALACCHI”S ITALIAN RESTAURANT

3682 5th Ave, San Diego

619-298-0119

http://www.busalacchisrestaurantssd.com/

6. SAVORY

267 N. El Camino Real # A, Encinitas

760-634-5556

http://savorycasualfare.com/

7. HASH HOUSE A-GO-GO

3628 5th Ave, San Diego

619-298-4646

http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/

8.- KENSINGTON GRILL

4055 Adams Ave, San Diego

619-281-4014

http://www.kensingtongrill.com/

9.- EL BIZCOCHO @ RANCHO BERNARDO INN

17550 Bernardo oaks Dr, Rancho Bernardo

858-675-8550

http://www.ranchobernardoinn.com/bizcocho/

10.- ISLAND PRIME

880 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego

619-298-6802

http://www.cohnrestaurants.com/restaurants/islandprime/

There are some restaurants that I do want to mention even if they did not make the top ten because they were mentioned and/or because They are long time favorites.

• Urban Solace
• Kitchen 1540
• Lou and Mickey’s
• Blue Boeheme
• Hanae sushi
• Bankers Hill
• Q’ero
• El Callejon
• The Prado
• Oceanaire
• Baleen
• Sky Room
• Taka
• The Palm
• Romesco
• Poseidon
• Sbicca
• Delicias
• Thyme
• Candelas

If you have a review in any of these restaurants or any other ones that you think should have been on this list please let me know.

How to buy a Short Sale….Succesfully Carmel Valley Real Estate

In past posts we have talked about the different type of sales, covering Foreclosures, Short Sales, Deed in Lieu, and regular Sales. However we have done so from a seller’s perspective mainly.

I very often work with buyers and in this market, most people who initially approach me to help them find and purchase a home, will bring up the idea of snatching a great Short Sale for them to purchase at an amazingly discounted price. Some of them will have already heard some of the horror stories of people waiting months on end for the bank to approve the sale, yet many have no idea what it really implies and all the emotional and labor intensive process that a short sale can be. As an agent, a very important part of my job is to prepare my clients to what lies ahead, so when any new client approaches me, I ask them to give me at least 20 minutes of their time just so we can go over what I consider the ABC’s of buying : 1) A Short Sale  2)Foreclosure  3)Regular Sale. Only after they have heard what each of them entitles will we come up with a specific search plan for them.

So when it comes to the Short Sale portion, there are basically 6 points that I consider crucial for them to understand and be aware:

First, The timeline is what we call a moving target, it is NOT set in stone and will shift as we move along, so if they are in a situation where they have a set date by when they have to be living in their next home, short sales might not a good choice. Banks are taking anywhere from 60 to 130 days average to approve a short sale. Although some lenders like World Savings have set up faster programs where they are able to approve a short sale in as little as 7 days, and then on the other end of the spectrum I have seen others take as long as 9 months to approve a short sale, specially in the higher end loans where the bank will be forgiving a considerably higher amount of  debt.

Second, although it varies greatly in each case, I have seen a trend lately of banks not covering closings cost of a short sale and most of the time they will not pay for money owed to the Home Owners Association So it will be up to you as the buyer to bring some extra cash to the table and cover those extra expenses, this sometimes makes that initial price you offered and got an acceptance on, not such a great deal after all. Be very careful that you ask all the  necessary questions before you open escrow, have the listing agent disclose to you what the bank has agreed to pay for as soon as they know and most of all, ask them if there are any back payments to the HOA, any other liens, back taxes, etc.

Third, Don’t assume that because it is not a foreclosure the home will be left in good shape. Many of the short sales will have delayed maintenance issues, some will come up during the inspection face, and some will come out a little while after living in the home so it is highly advisable to buy a service insurance policy at least for the first year after purchase. Also, you will need some extra cash to fix up the property once you buy it, it is a house that has been lived in and that will need some repairs.

Fourth, Don’t fall in love with this property, an acceptance of your offer does not mean it is yours. Although your chances of buying this home did increase by getting an acceptance, it still has to go thru a long approval process and then there is the pending auction date you have to beat, many people assume that since the bank has approved the short sale, that means that they have cancelled the foreclosure proceedings and that the home is now ready to close. Sadly, one is independent of the other, sometimes the bank will grant you an extension on the auction date just so you can close a sale however more and more lately, banks have started to be less agreeable to grant extensions, they will allow one but no more than that and they WILL sell it in auction two days and even one day prior to the closing escrow date, so be very vigilant of those auction dates and if there was an extension on the auction date, make sure that it has gone into effect.

Fifth, On a typical transaction you have 17 days to complete all of your inspections before you are required to remove your contingencies, in many short sales situations, since ironically you are running against the auction date clock and some times because the bank has requested it so, you only have 5 days to do all your inspections, so make sure you have all your inspections ready to go in a moments notice as soon as you open escrow and know beforehand what you are willing to accept and what will make you pull out of the deal.

Sixth, Expect to be making offers along with people who are looking for investments and are all cash. If a short sale is looking like it is a good deal, there will be some competition so make sure that along with your agent you know how to write an attractive offer that will increase your chances of getting accepted. There are some key points that banks and therefore listing agents are looking at to select the offer that will get the house.

Probably right about now you are ready to give up on short sales altogether, however, the fact is that many of the homes that are for sale in today’s market, are short sales and they will be around for many years to come still, so it is not the best idea to discard any short sales as an option unless you are really pressed for time. Short Sales are a reality so it is wiser to learn how to deal with them and what to expect, it is also smart to have an experienced agent guiding you to the process and even better yet if there is a solid qualified short sale negotiator dealing with the short sale part of the process, one that knows exactly how to deal with the specific bank that holds all of the loans on this property and that has a proven track record of succesful closings. Be aware that sometimes, the agents will have NO information from the bank for a long period of time, so bear with them but stay on top of it.

The one thing that I tell my clients is to keep their emotions in check and to keep looking, hope for the best but don’t close your options just yet. Once you are in escrow and have a clearer picture you can stop actively looking but don’t start mentally placing the furniture just yet…keep a clear head and be realistic that this deal might not happen.

And last, please, whatever you do, DON”T make any big purchases that will disqualify you or affect your income debt ration making your own loan a new issue to deal with, this sometimes only comes up at the eleventh hour when there is not enough time to correct it, so help and don’t hurt your chances when you are trying to close an escrow on a short sale.

You are ready to buy a home, but your offers keep getting rejected?

When you decided it was time to buy a home, if you are like most people, you felt some apprehension and a lot of excitement. So you started going to open houses, along the way you might have gotten a hold of a Real Estate agent to help you along the process, you got pre-approved for a loan, you kept looking at houses, you searched online, probably every other day if not daily,twice a day, maybe three times a day, until one day you finally take the big step…You write up an offer!

You sign it and wait…and wait….and then, the news comes….It was not accepted, someone else’s was chosen. WHAT???? How can that be you ask yourself? The one house that is getting an offer is rejecting mine in this down market? Turns out, that it got three offers on the first week and one was full price so they did not choose yours that was way lower. So…your search continues because you know you are going to find a house.

Weekend of open houses, more appointments during the week, more homes, one that has a funky layout, one that does not have doors in any bedroom, one more that has apparently been lived in by the Adams Family, now you start comparing them all to the one that got away, and you are not liking any of them. You decide to take a break, so you go away for the weekend. During your relaxing get away you think about it and you decide to commit yourself to BUYING a house. So you come back renewed and refreshed and determined to start writing up offers right and left hoping that one sticks, one has to work!!!

Armed with a pen and lower expectations you go out to…see some more houses, many of which you have already seen but are giving them a second chance. And since you mean business you start writing up more offers, however since you feel you are definitely compromising on what you are buying you don’t feel you have to pay close to market price so you start writing lower offers, if one works for the amount that you are offering, you will handle living in that funky layout for a while.

You look, you, sign, you send, you wait…rejected, rejected, rejected, accepted….WHAT???? the funky layout one got accepted??? you open escrow and you are not excited, you are nervous, you don’t even remember the home that well, you have seen so many that even when you saw this one 4 times you can’t remember it now. So you ask to see it one more time.

You walk in this home that is soon to be yours, you start looking at it with different eyes, you had not noticed that the laundry is directly next to the living room, that the ceiling in the master bedroom is 2 feet lower than in the rest of the house, that the kitchen only has two cabinets and no pantry.During the inspections some details come to light and that is just more than you can bear. This, is NOT your house, you cancel escrow.

You take another break, a longer one in this occasion, after a month or so, you realize, your time frame to move is coming up, so you have to get back in the game. This time you are dreading it. How did you get to this point? shouldn’t you be excited? you are buying your home!!! You talk yourself out of your own head drama, and start the process one more time, hoping that this time things will work out because now you have the added factor of working against the clock. Question is, what are you going to do different this time? How will you get your offers accepted? or is that really the key question?

Of course this is an exaggeration, or is it?

Even though it is not a real case in particular, it is very real. Selecting a home to buy and buying it is a major decision in life, I don’t care if it is your first one or fifth one, it is something that will take a big toll on the way you will be living in the near future. So it is understandable that there will be some stress involved, which is why it is very important to have a plan, before you even begin looking at homes. An important part of this plan, should be to  have a team of experts guiding you, that are capable of reading not only the local market, but specific situations on a case by case, and prepare you to what to expect along the process

In your team you need:

1.-A full time real estate agent that knows the area you are looking at but is also willing and able to research other areas that might work for you and that is getting trained and up to date with the constant changes in Today’s real estate market and the different ways that each of the distinct types of listings work, for example, he should know the best way to negotiate with a bank, the best way to write up and submit an offer for a short sale, even how to handle a regular sale, imagine that!.

2.-A full time mortgage broker or lender, that is reputable and up to date with the latest changes in rules and regulations in the lending arena. There have been many changes in the last months and some of this changes are very important and can throw off an entire escrow because there are issues of timelines, the margin for error here have become minimal so it is very important that you not only select the person who brings you the best rate, but the one that will be able to handle the transaction and ultimately close your escrow.

3.- Other professionals: Which might include ,A Financial advisor, CPA, Real Estate Lawyer and even a contractor.  Not everyone needs all of this professionals, however in most cases at one point you will need the advice of one or the other and it is best to have them in place from the start so that when you are ready to move on a home, you can access them and get the answers you need as quickly as possible. Which of these you will need depends on you, everyone does things differently.

Now that you have assembled your team, the next step is to get pre-approved. Notice that you have not started to look at homes yet, it is smarter to know with certainty how much home you can afford, before you start looking. You do not want to look at  homes in the wrong range because if you qualify for less the step down will be hard to swallow, and can hurt your chances of liking the homes you will look at.

In the meantime with your agent, you can start discussing parameters, he will have a lot of questions for you.  Make a list of what you like in a home, what you NEED in a home, what you dislike and put them in order of non-negotiables down to acceptable. Understand that there is no perfect home, not even if you built it yourself. So it will require some compromises on your part.

Now is the time to understand what you are looking for, and make a strategic plan accordingly. What are you looking for? Are you buying a deal or a home? I am not saying that you should pay asking price on the first house you see.That would be plain stupid, but understand that everyone dreams of buying a great home at an amazing price, however you have to be realistic or else you will get caught up in the trap that I presented before. Know that if what you are looking for is a deal, your search will require you to be more able to compromise on other things, you will need to have more time to find it, be realistic and knowledgable about the specific market where you are looking, and be clear. What does a deal look like in this area in this market? understand that in this case you will get rejected many times, however you are going about this as a business, you are looking for a deal.

If you are looking for a home, that again does not mean you have to overpay, but understand that if you want a home, with all the bells and whistles, with privacy and a big yard, it will be more sought after and you will have more competition, those things come at a premium, but remember that those things have value so that when you are ready to sell, you also get a premium for them. If you are willing to compromise on some of the most sought after elements you have a stronger position to negotiate. And yes, you will negotiate, and to negotiate you need to have clarity in the following:

1)What is the motivation behind the sale.

2)How badly do I want this house.

3)What are the properties weaknesses.

4)What can I offer to make myself a stronger candidate.

And as I had said previously you have to understand the market, its prices, etc, Be knowledgeable be smart and be quick. In other words, be prepared.

You can not negotiate with an un-motivated seller. Move on. If someone does not want to sell, or if they don’t need to sell, they will not negotiate in the price they have set as a minimum in their mind.

Now here is the big secret…ready? Listen to your team. I dont mean hear them out, I mean listen carefully and communicate back to them clearly, what your expectations are, give them constant feedback. Be ready to change your point of view as things progress but communicate any changes  to your team so that they can adjust the search and the plan accordingly. Understand that they are on your side and they know what they are doing, they have done it many times before. They will be strong at reading the situation, telling you when something is already a deal at the listed price, when you are looking at properties they have a trained eye, listen to what they say, I can assure you in the story that I used to open this post, the agent must have pointed out to the buyer some of the problems with the funky layout home, but sometimes out of desperation we don’t listen, and later question why we were not told.

Also, there are different and creative things that your team can come up with, but you have to understand each one has implications, be open to them but ask questions.

Now, knowing all of this, the question is are you ready to buy a home? I mean, are you really READY to go out and BUY a home?

If you need any help or advise on buying a new home you can contact the author at info@SDExclusiveproperties.com or if you want to search the San Diego area market you can do so at http://www.SDExclusiveproperties.com

Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure vs. Short Sale

So far we have been hearing and reading a lot about Short Sales and Foreclosures and little about the third option which is a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure, or simply ” Deed in Lieu” (DIL)

Since the DIL was included in the HAFA rolled out by president as a favored option some people have begun to give it a second glance. Some institutions like Bank of America have started to actively pursue people who could be candidates and they are sending them letters offering to consider the option.

But what is exactly a Deed in Lieu? In brief it is when a homeowner agrees to give back the deed to the property (ownership) to avoid going thru the legal proceedings of foreclosure. This can only be done with a first mortgage and having a second one or any other liens on the property complicates things., and many times this is the main reason why a lender would not accept a DIL.

As far as the impact on your credit score, it bears almost the same weight as doing a short sale, which some people say it is about 200 points deduction in your score, it is considered a settled debt by the credit bureaus. However that does not mean that you turn in the keys and you get to walk away completely free and clear in all cases, so it is very important that you hire someone to at least read over the settlement contracts and legal paperwork before you sign it. In many cases, since the lender will be responsible for now putting the property on the market and getting it sold and they don’t know how much they will be able to net, they reserve the right to a deficiency later on.  Just like with a short sale, you have to try and negotiate with them to not include certain key phrases and to let you walk away without asking you to repay, in the present or the future, any part of that debt.

So why does a homeowner or bank choose a DIL over a Short Sale or vice versa? It will depend on each case and the particulars of the situation. For the bank it is much quicker and less expensive than going thru a prolonged short sale tha might take months and might still end up in foreclosures after all that time and effort. However, if there are liens attached, unpaid HOA fees, second mortgages or any other aggravating situations it might end up costing them more time and effort than the short sale, and since many lenders have been working in streamlining their short sale process, the chances of the sale being completed in a decent amount of time, are good. Also, this means the bank gets one mores home to get rid of.

As far as the homeowner, DIL can be a great option since they don’t have to deal with the process of short selling their home, they simply walk away, with a similar credit impact on their record without all the hassles, however, it is harder to get the bank to agree not to attach a deficiency since they have not started the sale process and don’t have as clear a picture of how much they will end up selling it for. The banks have up to now, been very limited on the DIL they had accepted, they had very strict guidelines and that disqualified many homeowners.

One thing is very clear, it is important to explore all your options, case by case and you should do so with the guidance of someone that will help you navigate this complicated waters.

Cancellation of debt, might have Tax implications

I want to share with you some information that came to me from Chris Sorensen and the HELP project.

If you are in a situation where you are considering; A Short Sale, Loan Modification, Letting your property go to Foreclosure or even Bankruptcy, there are Several Tax implications to consider before taking any of the before mentioned routes. I would really hate for you to be in a position where after the fact you learn that you not only lost your home, but now owe money to the IRS.

Here is the information that Chris suggest you take to your CPA so he can help you understand where you and your particular situation would stand.

DEBT CANCELLATION OVERVIEW
Prepared by Jerrie Muir, IRS Tax Consultant
March 5, 2010

I. General Rule. When a taxpayer borrows money from a commercial lender and lender later cancels or forgives the debt, the cancelled amount may have to be included in income.

II. Common Exceptions:

Qualified Principal Residence Indebtedness- IRC Section 108(a)(1)(E)
Bankruptcy- IRC Section 108(a)(2)(A)
Insolvency- IRC Section 108(a)(1)(B)
Certain Farm Debts
Non-Recourse Loans

III. Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-142)
a. Generally allows taxpayers to EXCLUDE from income debts forgiven or cancelled which were used to buy, built, or substantially improve a home OR refinance debt used for one of those purposes
• Debt must be secured by a home
o Principal residence defined under Treas. Reg 1.121-1(b)(1)
• Maximum amount treated as Qualified Principal Residence Indebtedness is $2 Million ($ 1 Million for taxpayers who file a Married Filing Separate Tax Return
• Applies to 2007, 2008, and 2009 Tax Returns
• Forgiven debt excluded from income is reported by taxpayer on IRS Form 982, Reduction of Tax Attributes Due to Discharge of Indebtedness (and Section 1082 Adjustment), which is attached to the filed tax return
• Forgiven debt of a taxpayer is reported by the lender on Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt
• Taxpayer can also exclude debt if they are insolvent or debts are discharged through Title 11 Bankruptcy
o Taxpayer may make an election to reduce the basis of depreciable property by the excluded income rather than the other tax attributes- IRC Section 1082
• Forgiveness of a Non-Recourse Loan, which is a loan where the lender can ONLY repossess the property and not pursue you personally- Cancellation of this type of debt is NOT TAXABLE
• Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act does NOT apply to debt forgiven on second homes, rental property, business property, credit cards, or car loan
• Capital Loss on the sale of a primary residence is NOT deductible on a tax return

• EXAMPLE:

2002
Home Purchase $435K
1st Mortgage $420K
Down payment $ 15K

2003
2nd Mortgage obtained to build $ 30K
to build additional room

2006
1st and 2nd Mortgages $440K (Loan Balances)
(Before Refinance)
Fair Market Value of Home $500K
Refinance Amount $475K (Cash out of 35K)

2008
1st Mortgage $475K (Loan Balance)
Fair Market Value of Home $425K
Loan Modification Amount $ 40K

• Taxpayer has 40K in cancelled debt
• 35K Non-Qualified Principal Residence Indebtedness is reported on Form 1040, Line 21, as Other Income
• 5K Qualified Principal Residence Indebtedness is reported on Form 982

IV. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-343)
• Extends the mortgage debt relief on Qualified Principal Residence Indebtedness for tax years 2010, 2011, and 2012

V. Recourse Debt- When the amount of debt discharged exceeds
Fair Market Value of property
a. Difference is cancellation of debt and considered income
i. Treas. Reg. 1.1001-2(c), Ex. 8; IRS Revenue Ruling 90-16

VI. Non-Recourse Debt-
b. Foreclosure/Deed of In Lieu of Foreclosure treated as deemed sale with proceeds equal to the amount of nonrecourse debt
c. Abandonment of real property that has nonrecourse financing treated as deemed sale
d. NO cancellation of debt when treating the nonrecourse debt principal as the amount realized from a deemed sale

Please seek good counsel with an acredited CPA and depending on the case perhaps you will need a lawyers advice as well.

Please be wary of companies charging up front fees for any help with one of the situations mentioned before, it is many times not legal and in most cases a bad idea.