Buying A Downtown San Diego Condo: What is the Foreclosure Process

Since foreclosures require adherence to laws and regulations, it sometimes seems confusing to the average consumer.  The San Diego real estate market has been experiencing the impact of foreclosures and short sales.  We found a really easy chart that will show how many avenues can be used for a foreclosure.

Foreclosure Radar, a company that tracks foreclosures nationwide has summarized the overall foreclosure status and then down to California's foreclosures.

Nationwide Summary:

"Foreclosure filings and sales increase throughout most of our coverage are in August. Foreclosure starts jumped significantly, reversing what had been a declining trend over the past several months. Investors bought more properties on the courthouse steps in August than in July everywhere except in Washington. The number of properties Sold Back to Bank jumped significantly in Oregon, and also rose in California and Nevada. 

Foreclosure starts (the first notice filed, either a Notice of Default or Notice of Trustee Sale depending on the state) rose in every state. This appears to have been primarily driven by Bank of America and related entities, where we saw an overall 116 percent increase from July to August. Wells Fargo and US Bank also saw an increases in foreclosure start filings, while filings by JP Morgan Chase and Citibank were essentially flat. 

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Buying a Downtown San Diego: Can you do it on your own?

You know you are smart.  You know you want to buy a condo in Downtown San Diego.  Can you do it yourself? 

Of course you can.  However, can you do it better with the help of a Downtown San Diego real estate agent?  Do you know the history of the buildings?  Do you know Downtown San Diego Districts such as Gaslamp, Marina, Little Italy, etc? 

An even more important question, or perhaps the two most important questions are "What is the owner occupancy in the building I like?" and "What buildings in Downtown San Diego have litigation?"

The answers to these two questions will determine if you can buy and finance a Downtown San Diego condo.  Lenders today want high owner occupancy and do not want buildings in litigation.  You might spend a lot of time viewing available condos; calling listing agents to view a unit; write an offer;  have the offer accepted; and then find out the owner occupancy is too low or the building is in litigation and has been taken off the acceptable list for many lenders.

Statistics show that the majority of both homebuyers and homesellers want a real estate agent to represent them.  Here are a few stats from NAR’s 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers:

▪ The typical home buyer will search for homes for 12 weeks and view 12 different homes or condos during the homebuying process.

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Why Buying In San Diego is Better Than the Stock Market

We have all seen the volatility of of the stock market over the last few days and weeks.  It can be traumatic if you own stocks and watch them drop.  Is there any solution to this drastic up and down?  Yes, real estate is still the long-term solution for investment.  If you view the history of returns with real estate and stocks, you will see your real estate portfolio still wins.

This chart was created before the big stock market drop on Monday, August 8, 2011.  Return on stocks might look worse now.

San Diego real estate has experienced drops but no matter what, people still want to live in Southern California and San Diego has the best weather and location of all Southern California.  Buying in San Diego is a good investment, and right now we have some excellent buys. 

Anyone burned in this round of stock market drops may be starting to think real estate, contrary to all the media hype, may be a better investment.

Visit our  Search Downtown San Diego condos site.  You can search and select buildings, neighborhoods and units. This  is a series of articles by Sharyn and Victoria Crown, Downtown San Diego real estate agents

International Buyers: Are They Purchasing San Diego Real Estate

Did you know there are still people purchasing San Diego real estate?  Although the housing market is definitely on the depressing side, both financially and emotionally, there are still people purchasing U.S. real estate and closer to home, San Diego real estate. 

Foreigners are contributing positively to our San Diego marketplace.  In fact, California is a key state where foreigners are commiting their money in a purchase.  Credit Sesame and ColumnFiveMedia have taken real estate sale information and translated the data into visual graphs.  The following graph shows the bite that foreign purchasers are taking out of our inventory.

In other words, 1 out of approximately every 12 buyers is coming from another country.  Interesting isn't it that others have more faith in our real estate market than we do?  The next logical question is where do these buyers purchase their home, condo or commercial property? 

 As you can see, California is one of the prime states that attract foreign buyers.  We follow Florida and that makes sense since Florida is closer to Europe. The majority of foreign purchasers are not buying in the midwest, unless they purchase in Tennesee or Illinois.  Florida is #1 for buyers and we are #2.

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Real Estate Price Projections: What Does J.P. Morgan Predict?

Future Real Estate Price Projections from Macro Market Survey and J.P. Morgan Chase

As you can see by the J.P. Morgan and Macros Market Survey projections, this may be the last year where we expect prices to dip.  All things considered, none of us can read the crystal ball, and there are a lot of factor, jobs being one of the most important factors, to help predict future home prices.

San Diego real estate has experienced significant price drops in all areas of the market.  We have seen a firming up already at the bottom end of the market.  We are starting to see well priced higher priced homes have competing offers.  As one of our agent friends says, "Price sells in all markets."  That is very true.

Lending rules are also getting ready to change in the next few months and that may affect pricing more than J.P.Morgan Chase is considering.  Loans are going to be harder to obtain, although some days we find it difficult to believe things could get any harder or any more ridiculous.  I sometimes think loan underwriters are escapees from the funny farm, as politically incorrect as that is to say.  Loan underwriters start from the French justice system.  You are guilty and must prove your innocence.  If you are a cash buyer you must prove where your cash came from.  You must prove you are not a drug cartel leader or cheating the government.  It is a world gone crazy.

However, I digress.  Bottomline is that this is the best time to get out there and purchase.  It is also the best time to short sale any non-performing asset.  You can short sale your underwater property and be back in the marketplace within a couple of years, based on what we are seeing now.  Maybe even sooner.  Take the time to clean everything up in your credit portfolio.  It may seem a daunting task, but time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well try to do some good with your financial situation.

For a more in depth look at what is happening in the San Diego real estate market, please contact us for additional information.  We will be happy to provide you what we know and what we think is going to happen, based on research we have uncovered.

This is a series of articles by Sharyn and Victoria Crown, San Diego real estate agents and brokers.