San Diego County Short Sale | We Can Help
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– Durrell Thomas
DRE Lic #01371856
(760) 576-4357
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We share with each other. Because it’s the right thing to do. Because it makes us a better office. Because it gives better customer service.
DRE Lic #01371856
(619) 940-4591
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A few years back we purchased the KnowYourOptions.org domain and developed a website to help struggling San Diego North Valley homeowners to literally “know their options.” Our goal was to help our California
neighbors to make informed decisions about homeownership.
Should you short sell? Foreclose? Get a loan mod?
It’s never an easy decision, but once you have all the facts (and the right counselor) that difficult decision becomes simpler. Fannie Mae recognizes this as well, which is why the organization purchased KnowYourOptions.org from us and redirected the site to KnowYourOptions.com™.
The new Fannie Mae site has the same intention that our original site had and continues to do an excellent job of informing the consumer how to stay in their home or how to leave their home. We fully endorse Fannie Mae’s current use of the site.
San Diego homeowners can certainly benefit. Here’s how.
Fannie Mae backed loans could mean you have more options in dealing with your home loan. All this will be discussed when you meet with a housing counselor or broker, but it’s best to get as many of the facts as you can first. Use the Fannie Mae Loan Lookup form to find out for sure.
Find foreclosure education events in and around Southern California. These are in-person discussions that explain how foreclosure works and what you need to do.
You could search YouTube for hours to find the video with the information you need. KnowYourOptions.com has 20 videos covering short sales, died in lieu, forbearance, and more.
As you go through the process you’ll need to collect copies of documents to share with your mortgage company. Start now to prevent stress later. This checklist will help.
The contact information of your mortgage company should be on your monthly statements, but you can also use Know Your Options and search the site for a web address and a phone number.
Read the frequently asked questions, learn the mortgage industry terminology, and know what it means to stay in your home or leave your home. WhatsMyOptions.com is also a great resource for this kind of information.
By answering a few simple questions you can receive a personalized set of options.
What else would you like to know? Tell us what San Diego homeowners need.
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“You can either complain that rosebushes have thorns – or rejoice that thorn bushes have roses!”
~ Anonymous
Whether or not you have a green thumb, you probably know that gardens may contain either annual or perennial flower varieties. Annuals are fun to grow for several reasons: 1) they sprout quickly from seeds, 2) they flower the first year, and 3) their colors can be brilliant and most pleasing. They are also less hardy and die out at the first sign of frost. Each spring, new seeds must be planted.
Perennials are another story. Growing from seeds, they take longer to sprout and rarely flower the first year. Their colors are more subtle hues, and they require more attention in the early stages. They must be cut back in the winter and covered with mulch, and may require fertilizer in the spring. They also come back year after year, returning with stronger roots, greater beauty and abundant growth. With time, they require less and less attention, yet continue to prosper. No matter how cold the winter, they always return with renewed vigor.
Friendships and business relationships are a lot like flowers, and may also be either annual or perennial in nature. They may be quick to bloom and most enjoyable to experience, yet fade quickly at the first hint of trouble.
Others grow more gradually through trust-building and respect. They may not dazzle the senses or leave us breathless, yet they are consistent, trusting, and produce a warm glow that hardly fades when tested by adversity. These relationships grow over time, and produce an abundance of lasting beauty.
In business, as in personal relationships, the best things in life come with time and caring. When planning your life’s garden this spring, why not devote your attention to the perennials? With an added touch of patience, you can look forward to the sweet fragrances to come.
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It has been a rough three years, with buyers and sellers battered by a wave of foreclosures, tight credit and uncertain job prospects. Government support — in the form of tax credits and federal backing for mortgages — has helped keep sales moving. But now those supports are ending, making this spring a key test of whether the housing market can walk on its own again.
The next 60 days, should tell us where we’re going 
But some of that strength comes from supports that are soon to be pulled out.
Homes must be in contract by April 30 to qualify for the $8,000 tax credit; and unlike last fall, when it was first set to expire, there is little momentum in Congress for another extension.
Meanwhile, interest rates are widely expected to rise after the Federal Reserve stopped buying mortgage-backed securities at the end of March.
So far, rate increases haven’t happened — Freddie Mac’s average 30-year fixed rate mortgage climbed from 5.08 percent to 5.21 before falling back to 5.07 a week later — but many experts think they will creep up over the next few months if the economy improves. Some predict six percent by year’s end.
That’s still low by historic standards, but over 30 years every 1 percentage point increase adds roughly 10 percent to the cost of the loan.
That, as much as anything, may push more people to buy this spring, Abbott said, even if they don’t hit the tax credit’s timeline.
“What does your total cost of ownership look like if rates go above 6 percent?” he asked. “It’s really not about the $18,000 credit; it’s about what you’re going to spend to own the thing.”
But the recovery is still tentative, and nobody is expecting the market to roar back, especially in the area that most interests sellers: price.
Housing Chartbook April 2010 (Wells Fargo Securities)
Prices have bounced back a bit in the past six months but are still well off their mid-decade peaks. Median prices in San Diego have dropped 48.5 percent over the past three years, said David Stiff, chief economist for Fiserv, a financial data firm. He said he expected a roughly 1 percent decline in both 2010 and 2011. It’ll be 2017 before prices fully rebound here, he said.
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