San Diego Real Estate Cafe by Krista Lombardi
Archive for the 'Seller’s Cup’o'Joe' Category
The Winning Touchdown!
Imagine a football field which is 100 yards from goal line to goal line and 
you are somewhere on that field in terms on how much of your mortgage you have paid off. 15 years would be mid-field.
We’re obviously not out of the woods yet in terms of the housing crisis, we’ve seen some positive signs, we don’t know if they will stay positive. Here are perspectives that are not coming from CAR, NAR, Trulia, or Zillow, ideas in this blog today are coming from finance guru Jane Bryant Quinn. Let’s see what is similar or different.
Jane Bryant Quinn says: “If you’re paying on a house that’s worth less than the original price, keep paying it. It might be a slow recovery. But remember that with each payment you’re gaining more equity. You might be gaining very short yardage each month, but you are moving toward a first down with payment.”
A short sale, foreclosure or bankruptcy will devastate your credit score. Bankruptcies take a decade to go away, so instead of following the crowd, be one of the players on the field that is advancing and moving toward the goal of owning the property free and clear and financial security.
Is a Full-Time Realtor Better Than a Part-Time Realtor?
Tempers can flare over this subject in the real estate world. Seasoned agents 
giggle and stick up their noses to the part-timers. Part-timers usually don’t have the financial means to quit their day or night jobs.
What difference does it make?
Especially in the San Diego real estate market nowadays, you had better be ready to go for months without a paycheck. Brand new agents may go for up to or more than one year without earning a dime. Here’s the thing, it’s a business. Your first year in business, you are not expected to make money or break even, you don’t need to take Business 101 to know this.
Having said that, a lot of people do not know this before setting out. They see the big bucks and the million dollar homes and think “wow, I’d like to make a lot of money!”
Let’s stop for a moment. 3% commission is a lot of money. But you should never join this industry because you want to make a lot of money. You’ll quit the first year.
Special Addition Foreclosure Prevention Library
The California Association of Realtors has provided new information made available by legal counsels and current market conditions for the following subjects:
1. Proposition 8 – Property Tax Relief
2. Tips for a Short Sale Seller
3. Tips for a Short Sale Buyer
4. Foreclosure or Short Sale
5. Foreclosure Prevention Resources
6. Short Sale Process
7. Foreclosure Timeline
8. Homeowner Liability After Foreclosure
9. Avoiding Foreclosure Scams
10. Alternatives to Foreclosure
The information is designed for those who may be at risk of foreclsoure in the San Diego real estate market or who are already going through the process, and possibly helping to prevent foreclosures.
This information is free. If you are interested in one of these titles, please send an email with the title in the subject line to sandiegorealestatecafe@gmail.com
3 Essential Tips When Negotiating Price on San Diego Real Estate
One of the key factors when deciding which agent to work with is 
negotiations! It just is. With all the factors that go ino the process, you just want to make sure that you don’t leave anything on the table while not turning relations between all the parties into sour grapes.
What are the most important elements to negotiating on San Diego real estate?
1. Keep emotions at bay
You cannot get emotionally involved. An offer, even a lowball one is not an insult, it is a representation of the buyer’s sense of urgency in relation with the market and his/her own needs for moving forward with a purchase.
When you get a lowball offer, take a deep breath, sleep on it, and then respond to the offer.
The Ups and Downs of Real Estate
I’m a local San Diego real estate agent and part of my business plan and job duties is to assist as many people as possible with their varying housing situations. The primary two of these situations is selling and buying of property. The thing is that in these current volatile times, some of these situations are newer in nature and present more challenges than in the past. The advent of new types of financing has changed the topography of the real estate landscape. The times have changed and as a modern day Realtor I feel that I would be doing a disservice to the public in general if I didn’t try to help as many people as I’m capable of.
As I walked my “Farm”, which is the geographical area a Realtor is more familiar with and is ususally the neighborhood he or she resides in, I made a tough decision. I decided that as I knocked doors I would make the extra effort to approach those people who I thought might be in a slightly more difficult situation, requiring more immediate attention. Talking to people in these more difficult situations can be unnerving because the subjects the conversation touches on are of significant size and importance. A home, in andof itself, is a person’s largest asset and carries with it emotional attachment that other possessions don’t, thus making people more reluctant to open their door to a Realtor and talk about their situation.
Is It Time to Move or Improve in San Diego?
Your neighbor’s home has been on the market for 2 months and you’d like to get top dollar for yours…but is it worth the time? When you bought the property, you figured that you’d move in a few years and sell it. Of course, back then house values were climbing 20% minimum per year and everyone was saying that San Diego real estate would ‘never go down.”
But now little Johnny is 10 and he can’t share a room with his brother anymore. What to do?
First of all, what do you owe on the home? One in four homeowners nationwide owe more than the home is worth. To calculate what you owe on your property click here.
While the value of your home is a bit gloomy, the good news is that costs to renovate and build are down. As a general rule, improving costs less than trading up. The cost of drywall is down 25%, lumber is down 42%, plywood is down 45% and contractors are charging less for labor.
How to choose? First, estimate what your home is worth. Second, have a look at the “Cost vs Value” in Remodelling magazine. Lastly, make it fun. If you are going to remodel, pick you project wisely but enjoy it, after all, it is your home where you will be for years to come and you’ll want to be happy there.
Happy home selling!
Fixing the Housing Market
The Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in the
ir homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave.
This latest program, which will allow owners to sell for less than they owe and will give them a little cash to speed them on their way, is one of the administration’s most aggressive attempts to attack a problem that has defied all solutions.
Spring Cleaning, Anyone?
A big pet peeve are photos taken that just don’t make sense. While having only one photo of a property is definitely not ideal, if you’re selling your San Diego real estate, a picture that makes the home look bad is even worse.
Looking at this picture, my first thought is, “Who fired the maid?” and “If this is the kitchen, what does the rest of the house look like?” Neither of which are selling points…
The realtor and photographer can usually push the mess to the side so that the pictures themselves will look amazing, afterwards, if you are the seller, please keep it that way so it will sell for top dollar, buyers can’t see through the clutter to imagine their belongings there.
Homeowner Associations, Good or Bad?
What I’ve learned from living in San Diego and selling San Diego real e
state, is that some people are adamantly against living somewhere where there is an HOA. I’ve also learned that these same people are missing a few key points of why HOA’s can be great. Read on to hear the good, the bad and the ugly about HOA’s.
Read the rest of this entry »
How Much Should I Offer?
It often happens that we have multiple offers on a single ho
me. It causes a dilemma for buyers and a situation in which they wonder: “How much should I offer?”
Multiple offers are fantastic for home sellers, if you are on the other side of the fence and you’re a home buyer, it can really be confusing. Often sellers price their home low as a key to get the most number of prospects in the door, get the most number of offers, and ultimately get a high price on their property so they can ride off to the sunset.
While I love this when I am representing the seller, it can cause emotional strife for a buyer. If you are a buyer who has been in the San Diego home market for awhile, you have probably seen a big difference in the trends here.
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