Two new Woodbridge rentals in "Seasons"

I just listed two properties for lease in the Seasons tract in Woodbridge. This tract, with its charming white picket fences, is in high demand, and if these are still available next week, I'll eat my hat!

One is a 3 bedroom listed at $2,500 per month, and the other a 2 bedroom, list price $2,000.

39 Wintermist may be perfect for you if you're looking for a 3 bedroom Woodbridge home with a 2-car attached garage. It is the LARGEST FLOOR PLAN in Seasons. New wooden floors, new carpet, and a to-die-for GOURMET KITCHEN with new cabinets, beautiful stone back splash, stainless steel deep sink & top of the line STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES. Light and bright, with an open floor plan. The home has a great front yard and wrap-around back yard. The master bedroom has a HUGE ORGANIZED WALK IN CLOSET. The second & third bedrooms both have mirrored closet doors & organized closets. All bedrooms have ceiling fans, and of course the home is air-conditioned. FRIDGE, WASHER & DRYER are included.

57 Wintermist is a darling ONE-LEVEL townhome.
Great driveway to the 2 car garage, with direct access to the 2 bedroom house. Wood flooring and PLANTATION SHUTTERS. Freshly painted. Open-plan living and dining. Cozy fireplace in living room, with large windows that let in loads of light to the vaulted ceilings in the living room. Master bedroom has glass sliding-door to yard. Both bedrooms have mirrored closet doors. The condo has one of the largest yards in the tract.

California Pending Home Sales Rise for Second Straight Month

Pending home sales in California increased 4.4% in June from one year ago and were up 1.9% from the previous month, the second-straight gain for one of the hardest hit states since the housing downturn, (as reported by JON PRIOR from HousingWire.com), according to the California Association of Realtors.

The distressed property share of the market remained unchanged from the previous month, totaling 47% of all sales. Of these 19% were short sales, dipping from 20% in May. REO made up 27% of all sales in the state, relatively unchanged from the month before.

"Pending home sales have improved in the last couple of months and the next few months should bring continued gains," said CAR President Beth Peerce.

Foreclosure activity is on the decline in the state as well. According to real estate data provider DataQuick, default notice filings dropped 19.2% in the second quarter from last year. The 56,633 filings was a four-year low.

Some counties are heading toward a recovery faster than others. Distress sales made up 20% of the market in Humboldt County, in the far northwestern part of the state. That's compared to Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California where roughly 69% of sales were distressed properties.

"So much depends on the direction of the economy, going forward," Peerce said. "As for the makeup of the market, distressed sales continue to be a significant part of the market with the split between short sales and REO sales varying greatly across the state."

Behind on your house payments? Even if a foreclosure sale date has already been scheduled . . . even if you're doing a loan mod. . . even if you think you're in the eleventh hour . . . I can help.

If your property is in Irvine, Tustin, Costa Mesa, Mission Viejo or anywhere in Orange County, speak to me before doing anything. You HAVE to have a back-up plan. Ask me what your options are!

New law gives added protection to short-sale hopefuls

On Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 458 (Corbett) into law. The new law, which contained an urgency clause and became effective upon signing, protects homeowners pursuing short sales by barring first and secondary lien holders from going after sellers for money owed after the short sales close.

Making sense of the story.

A short sale – a transaction in which the homeowner sells the property for less than is owed on the mortgage – must be approved by the lien holder or lien holders, if there is more than one.

Under previous law (SB 931 of 2010), a first mortgage holder could accept an agreed-upon short-sale payment as full payment for the outstanding balance of the loan, but the rule did not apply to junior lien holders. SB 458 extends the protections of SB 931 to junior liens.

This is great news for people considering a short sale!

Fallen behind with your mortgage payments? If you're presently doing a loan mod, you MUST have a backup plan.

Ask me what your options are.

How to get a good FICO score

Sage advice from John Ulzheimer at Smart Credit on keeping your credit score high. He says he's a broken record on the subject, but I would contend that it is counsel that we need to revisit often...

You know who you are – you want to get the maximum FICO score of 850. You can’t be satisfied with an 849 or even 800. I hate to burst your bubble, but don’t waste your time on trying to reach the maximum score. You can get the lowest interest rates with a score of 760 and above. You don’t have to have the perfect score.

In your attempt to increase your score, you may actually decrease it instead so BE CAREFUL. Some actions you think may work can actually lower your scores, such as closing open accounts with no balance, paying off old charged off accounts, and applying for more credit card accounts.

Your score can change constantly because of the updates to your credit reports by the credit grantors. Even if you pay your bills in full each month, a balance will be reported to your credit reports unless you stop using them altogether.

Profile of consumer with 850 score:
A credit reporting agency and analytics company for communication industry, SubscriberWise, conducted research on their database of one million consumers to analyze those with a FICO score of 850. Of those that received a score, .002% had a score of 850. The average age was 61 years (ages ranged from 44 to 89); and average age of credit file was 30 years (ranged from 1958 to 1994). Keep in mind this was a small population and for a particular industry. That doesn’t mean that those younger can’t achieve the maximum score.

The ideal range is 760 to 810; you still get the best interest rates. Don’t try to game the system. You may lower your score instead. I am a broken record on the best way to keep your credit score high – pay your bills on time, don’t use more than 20% of your available credit, pay down your debt and don’t apply for new credit.

Another spectacular 4th of July in Woodbridge!

Plans are underway for another spectacular 4th of July in Woodbridge!

Join your friends and neighbors for a day filled with activities, laughter, and excitement.

Wristbands are required for the many activities offered at the South Lake Beach Club on the 4th (volleyball tournament, carnival, bingo, swimming at the South Lake Beach Club, and boat races), but are not required for the Ralph J. Redington 5k/10k and Kids Run, and Wheels on Parade.

The run forms and wristbands are now on sale and available for purchase through the Association Office at 31 Creek Road.

There will be 3,000 wristbands available for purchase at $8.00 each and are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis to adult WVA members with proper Facility Identification.
Residents may purchase as many wristbands as they wish!

For more information regarding the 4th of July activities you can visit the Association website at http://www.wva.org/, and if you have any questions, please contact me at (949) 232-5634 or through my website here.

Why They Are Saying to Buy A Home Now?

The Price of a home versus the Cost of the home is often a calculation over looked. Our friends at Keeping Current Matters touch on this and bring 4 articles that all talk to the point that this is the time to buy. Why They Are Saying to Buy A Home Now?...

Despite what appears to be a non-stop wave of tough news regarding real estate, four major media players have come out this month with the same advice: It Is Time to Buy a Home!

Here are the four articles and a breakdown as to why the advice makes sense.

The Wall Street Journal:
Why It’s time to Buy

CBS Money Watch:
Why the Time to Buy is Now

Forbes Magazine:
9 Reasons to Buy a House Now

National Public Radio:
For Many, It’s Still a Good Time to Buy a Home

With prices continuing to depreciate in most regions of the country, some may wonder why these four entities are suggesting to their readership that now is the time to buy.

Each organization realizes that PRICE is not as important as COST. The cost of a home can go up even if prices continue to fall. Unless you are an all cash buyer, you must take into consideration the expense of mortgaging when calculating the full cost of a home.

Here is some information to consider.

Interest Rates
Currently, interest rates sit at historic lows. However, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, PMI and the National Association of Realtors are all projecting approximately a 1% increase in mortgage rates over the next year. A one percent increase in rate negates a ten percent fall in prices.

Lending Standards
The government has proposed a tightening of lending standards called Quality Residential Mortgage (QRM). If accepted as proposed two things will happen:

The qualification process for loans will become more difficult.

The cost of a loan will increase.

Bottom Line
There is a reason more and more financial organizations are suggesting to their followers that now is the time to buy a home: because the cost of purchasing a home is about to increase (even if prices continue to fall).

Should You Rent or Buy in this Market?

More good info on the rent vs. buying a home front from my friends at Keeping Current Matters. Get the facts and make a decision. Remember, loan limits look to be changing this fall.

Families are trying to determine whether or not now is the time to buy a home.

Some are advising these families to sit out the current real estate market and instead rent for the next year or two. I don't agree with this advice.

Homeownership means a lot to a family. I also realize that the financial aspects of purchasing a home today can be a concern. The challenge is any advice given by someone in the real estate community is immediately dismissed as self-serving.

For this reason, I want to give you the advice of three entities not involved in real estate sales:


Citigroup

“When we examine the relationships between mortgage payments and income and mortgage payments and rent, we see that these relationships have also reverted back to or below equilibrium points. In some cases, particularly when mortgage payments are compared to the cost of renting, home prices actually appear cheap.”

JP Morgan

“JPMorgan analysts said ‘the continuation of falling rental vacancies and rising rental demand will make home buying increasingly attractive’, especially as rental prices increase.”

Business School professors Eli Beracha and Ken H. Johnson

“Fundamental drivers now appear to be in place that favor homeownership over renting in the near term future…

The second finding might seem unwise to many given the recent crash in the real estate markets around the country. However, rent-to-price ratios now seem to be in place along with other fundamental drivers that favor ownership over renting…

Conditions (historically low mortgage rates and relatively low rent-to-price ratios) now seem in place to favor future purchases.”

Bottom Line

Is it better to rent or buy? According to those quoted above, it seems it may be becoming a no-brainer. Let's talk.