Lisa Hayashi's Blog

Are You Swinging For The Fence?

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:44:40 -0600

In my "off-time" I like to watch my family play a good softball game. About halfway through the season, I begin to notice how different players hit the ball when they get their turn at bat. Some players swing at everything, some players don't want to attempt hitting the ball at all, because they're afraid they are going to get played "out". Somewhere in the middle there's a distinguishing player, the one that waits for the ball to be pitched in the "sweet spot" and then they swing the bat just at the right time, some even get on base and sometimes, when everything goes just right some players even hit a home run! Those are the players that are not afraid to wait for the right pitch before hitting the ball, but when it happens, they're ready and prepared to "swing for the fence"...

What does any of this have to do with real estate, one might ask? Well, the same mentality happens with buyers and sellers. Some people wait to relocate because they don't want to do anything; they're comfortable with where they are, but on the other hand, some people like to move around a lot, when they get restless, they pack up and move on to another home. And still, some people only move when they have to, maybe because of a job change, or a life change has prompted them to relocate their life.

For renters, this usually happens more often than desired. The rent might increase each year until it is no longer affordable to live in the same place. For homeowners, the average move used to be about every 7 years, but with the recent housing environment, many homeowners have been forced to move to their next home, sooner than they expected.

Getting back to why we wait, why we move, what motivates us to do anything? The point is the reason why we move, is usually because we can't stay in the place where we are anymore or we're in a place where we don't want to be. For one reason or another, where we are just doesn't fit our lifestyle anymore... so the next time that happens to you, make a plan, start reducing the clutter in your life, get preapproved with a good, reputable local lender, then start looking at homes online. The most important thing is to "get started" by taking small steps.

After you've done all that, and figured out where your next home is going to be, you're ready to call a lender to see if you can afford to move where you want to live. After applying for your home loan and knowing what you can afford, then it's time to call a real estate professional to help you. Once you start looking at homes physically and start making offers, you will learn where the market values are and the prices that are closing escrows. Along the way, you will learn a lot from the buying process, and how to make an offer that will be taken seriously, and eventually you will be moving onto your next home.

After all, no one really wants to keep getting up to bat only to watch the balls go by? Do they?

The market is prepared for that "home"run now... are you ready to swing yet?

4s Ranch Market Snapshot

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:38:36 -0600

One of the most sought after neighborhoods in San Diego county's North Inland is the master planned community of 4s Ranch. At the height of the housing cycle, construction in the area was booming and just so no one forgets their market is moving inventory once again. The market area is in recovery mode and most homes are still moving like the rest of the North inland corridor...

Just in the last month out of 35 listings, 16 are active and available with a range of homes from over 4000 square feet to smaller townhomes that are a little over 1000 square feet. The price ranges are from $1,079,000 to $395,000 and out of that same 35, nineteen listings went into pending within the last 30 days.

Clearly, the housing inventory is getting low again as we move into the last quarter of 2009, as many homeowners have chosen to stay in their homes instead of selling. When we're dealing with such a high demand and highly desired area, buyers are still competing to get their piece of the pie.

4s Ranch is home to some of the most newly constructed schools in the county; they have very involved parents and the high school is groomed with "state-of-the-art facilities including five art labs, two music classrooms, one drama classroom, 11 career-technical education classrooms, a Performing Arts Center and a Fine Arts Village designed to blend traditional mediums of visual arts, drama and music", making them one of the premiere high schools in the county.

Here is a link to more information about the schools in the Poway school district.

What's happening San Diego?!

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:14:51 -0500

It's that time of year again... when the days get darker sooner and our daylight "savings" time ends.

For San Diego, the changing of the clocks will happen next Sunday, November 1st, at 2am - so it will be

nice to get back our "lost" hour we gave up in the spring. There will be more time to do everything we

love to do...

What seems to have come even sooner this year than in years past, are the holiday displays in the

stores and even though most of us will spend less this year, it's never too early to start shopping for

unique gifts, if that is how you celebrate the holidays.

What a great time for the Harvest Festival to come to San Diego County at the Del Mar Fairgrounds

and it's going to be here this weekend! Hundreds of crafters will be showing off their unique wares...

What a great place to shop for that special gift for a family member or friend! You can even purchase your

tickets online, so the time to walk in and start browsing will be even shorter.

If you're not in the mood to shop, maybe you're an Los Angeles Lakers fan? Well, if you are, you might

want to go to the game at the Sport Arena tomorrow (23rd) night at 7:30pm. Here's another link to get

your tickets. It looks like there might be a few left...

If watching sports isn't your thing, you might want to warm up for all the Halloween events beginning

this weekend. There's a lot of haunting happenings going on. As if that's not all fun enough, there are a

lot of other events from a flower show to a triathlon, open air bazaar to a breast cancer walk...

Just take your pick and enjoy everything San Diego has to offer... it's supposed to be a great weekend : )

Enjoy!

A Place For Mom...

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:00:23 -0500

There was a time in my life when I never thought I'd make it to the year 2000. I was a teenager at the time and I told my future husband back then, that I thought turning 30 would be the death of me. I led a fairly wreckless life up until about that time in my life, so I really thought that particular age was "old".

Well, time went by and I made it to 30 years old (it was probably the worse year of my life, by the way) and these days, I'm well past that age, yet the hubby still teases me sometimes, that I'm still living on borrowed time...

I'm old enough to know now, that all of our time is borrowed. It's limited and it keeps going on and on, like the Energizer Bunny.

I bring up this part of my life, only to illustrate how fast time passes, but even more important, how quickly it passes for our parents as well. The fact that many baby boomers may find themselves, if they haven't already, taking care of their parents as we age ourselves, is astounding.

Recently, while surfing on "Facebook", I stumbled across a website called, "APlaceForMom .com" and since I had hoped that my parents might want to relocate to San Diego from the Bay Area, I was very curious to see what this service could do for us. I was interested to find out what our local area had to offer in the way of senior care services.

So... I went ahead and signed up online to be contacted and I was pleasantly surprised by the level of service, the timeliness of the follow up and the help I

received. Within a day, I received a phone consultation regarding what my parents' needs were and within just a few more days I received calls from 3 of the area's best assisted-living residences offering tours.

The nicest part was, that the "APlaceForMom.com" service is free and they also know of other options available besides assisted living. For now, my parents have decided not to relocate anywhere, but it's always good to know they have choices. I was more than impressed with everyone that responded, so I wanted to let others know about them.

I realize it's probably not something most people want to think about, but it's never too early to start planning for the future...

4s Ranch Living at its best... Start planning for the holidays now!

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:20:01 -0500

Honey! Stop the car!!!

    Price: $3685/month


    Beds: 5

    Baths: 4.5

    Sqft: 3729

    Lot Size: 6342 sft

    Year Built: 2006

  Property Address:
17051 Sienna Ridge
San Diego, CA 92127

Start planning for the holidays now! Imagine being moved in during winter break, available in December. Stretch out in this spacious 5 bedroom home! Features one bedroom, one bath on entry level, four bedrooms and a spacious loft upstairs, gourmet granite kitchen, \"Bose\" surround sound system, and a 3 car garage! It doesn\'t get much better than this... Located near a community park, and the 4s Commons Town Center for convenient shopping and dining out. Truly a must see... Security deposit, credit report and lease required.

Professional low maintenance landscaping

Gardener included, enclosed patio

Security equipment owned

Tankless water heater

Tile floors for convenient cleaning

Indoor laundry room

Spacious Loft on second level

Built-in barbecue - great for entertaining

Granite kitchen - lots of storage

Guest bedroom and bath on first level

Extra sink in kitchen, refrigerator, dishwasher

Appliances included, washer/dryer

Near public library, Panera\'s, Chili\'s restaurants, shopping

Within Poway school district

Contact Information
	Century 21 Award Lisa Hayashi 9934 Mercy Road #200 San Diego CA 92129 858-444-2425 More Listing Information Visit Website Email Me

This information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

Have you ever given a concession in order to close a deal?

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:28:27 -0500

I went to a short sale seminar yesterday and the speaker used to be an asset manager for a now defunct bank. He told us a lot about how they had handled short sales from the bank's side.

He also mentioned that the reason why the bank takes a long time to approve a short sale is because the longer they take, the more money they make. I never did understand that statement, but maybe they are betting the market will recover while they take their time, allowing them to foreclose and sell a home at a higher price without the second encumbrance. I don't know.

Getting back to the subject, he said they always go after the agent's commission and it's actually a RESPA violation for us to allow it, because it's not in the contract and it hasn't been negotiated with the seller beforehand, since they always pull this technique in the 11th hour. Their only concern is their bottomline.

He said it should really only take 2-4 weeks to be assigned to a negotiator. He added that if we did anything to annoy the bank employees at any time in the process, that they would conveniently "lose" our file. He added that they purposely "lose" files to buy time.

Hearing his matter of fact way of describing what goes on, was disheartening to say the least. He was a very negative, but brutally honest speaker. He said they do whatever they can to make the most money no matter what. I still wonder why banks should be allowed to take more money than a property is worth? He even said they don't care about "appraisals", but then that maybe why his bank went under.

I wonder if we can make up an abbreviation or code in the confidential remarks section of a listing that could let all agents know that the banks holding the loans on these homes are the "extortion" type of negotiators, that are basically loan sharks taking advantage of everyone in their path? Maybe it can even be an icon of a shark.

Maybe our MLS services could add this abbreviation code and save us all some time by allowing us to classify these lenders. If they could "lose" our file, then our special designation can signify, this home is listed for formality purposes only (the hidden meaning - don't waste your time everyone.)

I would guess there's a certain amount of "blackballing" that goes on in every industry, in ours I would guess it might be a FSBO that wasn't very nice to anyone trying to help him. Truly, the banks here, are the real culprits, they made the bad loans, why should we all be paying for it?

Just how does an appraisal affect a home purchase?

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:30:26 -0500

Over a year ago, I had a conversation with an appraiser regarding the
home values of homes that were NOT in distress.
My question to him was, did he appraise those homes differently than
homes that were short sales and bank owned property?

His answer actually surprised me. He said "No, those sellers will just have to
come down to where the rest of the market is." I was more than disappointed
to hear that, knowing that many distressed homes were not in the same condition
as someone who might just want to sell to move into a larger or smaller home.

Just how does an appraisal affect a home purchase? To put it bluntly, it affects
everything and it changes the market and its home values to an even larger extent.
More importantly, how can a "regular" home sell in a market that's filled with
sales comparables that are made up of short sales and "REO's"?

Sure, a "regular" home seller is free to price their home higher when their home is
NOT in distress, but they need to understand buyers are comparing their home's value
to homes that are. Pricing a home higher because it doesn't "have to" sell obviously won't
make it sell any faster. In fact, just the opposite might occur... a home could sit
on the market a very long time, when sellers insist on waiting for a higher price.
Even if a home "not in distress" gets into escrow at a higher price, it still doesn't mean it
will appraise for a loan, when the buyer's lender gets their appraisal done.

On May 1, 2009 the Home Valuation Code of Conduct went into affect. This
affects all appraisals on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, which accounts for
approximately 65 percent of the California mortgage market. One would hope that
appraisals will be more objective, now that an appraiser's report no longer depends
on that appraiser getting more work from a bank, because lenders are using
Appraisal Management Companies, to order appraisals now.
What's been most affected is the time it takes to get an appraisal done because
the AMC's are being used, but homeowners will no longer get inflated appraisals.

Kudos to San Diego Gas & Electric for saving us energy...

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:10:19 -0500

Ever since we had to evacuate in our last wildfire, I no longer pay my gas and electric bill by check anymore. I go online and pay it like so many others, because during the fires that was the most efficient method to pay when I had no access to my home. Nothing was going to be "business as usual" in the week of the wildfires, but I was impelled to pay my bills on time...

Anyway, that didn't stop SDGE from sending me a letter recently, regarding their new Smart Electric Reader that will soon be exchanged for the old spinning wheel one outside. The interesting thing about that letter was that it came with a small insert that announced how we could get a "Free Home Energy-Saving Kit". What? Something for "Free"... I'm all over it. I just ordered mine online. You get a low-flow showerhead, a faucet aerator for the kitchen, and two faucet aerators for the bathrooms. Isn't it great to go "Green"?

As if that's not enough, I also saw another flyer advertising the FEDERAL Tax credit of $1500 for "qualified energy efficient" improvements. It's part of the stimulus package, and it's a great opportunity for any "homeowner". I believe the improvements have to be on your primary home, but still - if you've been waiting for an excuse to get central air conditioning installed, or a new water heater, now you get a federal tax credit to boot! So, start improving, because there's a deadline for everything...

It's back-to-school time and if you're moving around, find out what school your child will be attending

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:12:33 -0500

Well, the summer is winding down and it's that time of year again.

School is starting soon if not already, and there is a lot of back to school shopping going on. Most area residents already know what school their student is attending, but just in case you are planning a move to the San Diego inland area, here is a link to an address look up to see which schools are assigned to you, should you be contemplating a home you're looking at online.

Not all homes in San Diego are within the San Diego district though; there is also a link to the Poway school district that includes 2 San Diego zip codes. And here is a street look up list for the Solana Beach school district you can use if you are thinking about living along the central coast.

If you decided to live a tad North, here is the Escondido Union School District link for their boundary maps.

If you want to know general information on the several county school districts, here is the link to the

San Diego County Office of Education's website indexing most of the public school districts.

If you're planning to attend college in San Diego County here is another link that lists our college websites:

Do you ever hide money from yourself?

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:53:27 -0500

How about someone else who keeps your money "hidden"? Every once in awhile, I will find money that I put away in one part of my wallet where I don't usually go and when I find it again it's like a day to celebrate. In the last couple of years, there have been many homeowners applying for property tax reassessments since the value of their homes have declined. That's not what I'm writing about today, but that issue is what led me to the tax assessor's website.

What I found was a section where many people have forgotten where they have money that could belong to them. That is in the form of unclaimed monies that the County of San Diego has and have been unable to find the rightful owners of these funds.

People have moved and relocated a lot in the last few years and some may not even be in the area anymore, but if you know or have contact with anyone that has moved outside of our county, you may want to pass this article onto them.

Here is the link to the webite to check to see if you have "unclaimed monies" left with the county of San Diego.

By the way, the state of California also has such a website. Here is the link to find unclaimed monies from the state.

Incidentally, while I'm on the subject, the IRS also has unclaimed tax refunds that they have not been able to distribute for one reason or another.

Just how bad is the economy? Really...

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:26:14 -0500

I can remember a time when we lived without cell phones, satellite dishes, cable television, gourmet coffee, and even the internet... My point is, that we never realize how basic our needs really are, until we have to decide to cut back on our "luxuries."
Many people have lost their jobs in the last year and are struggling to sustain the standard of living they have. I would have to hope, that most are finding some ways to survive that they hadn't thought about before. Even if it means moving in with roommates, family or friends... in the long run, there has been a major shift in the way we all think, act, and respond to everything that we have read, heard, and experienced in the last year.

The media doesn't write about the many more people that are still employed, that make up the majority of the population, remember the ones that still go to work every day? There's not much difference in who we are and what we all think we want - economically speaking. We've all been affected by this recession one way or another. I would have to believe that it's changed our spending habits for the long run, more people are saving now, even the people that weren't directly affected by a loss of job or income are spending less.

With that in mind, it would seem even more important that everyone at some point, should have a plan for retiring some day, somehow. There are lots of ways to retire. Some ways are riskier than others, and most would agree that the amount of risk a person is willing to take in their life, has a direct relation as to how soon they can retire.
Some people might tell you they don't even want to retire, because "being active" keeps them young - but I would hope that eventually senior citizens could stay active, without the obligation of having to go to a job everyday.

So, lets list some ways people have used to retire earlier rather than later:

1. They bought their home early in life. Some might even have bought a second home to relocate and rented out the first home. This would have created a stream of income they could use later...

2. They used the stock market and learned how to buy and sell options as well as to diversify their savings.

3. They started businesses (restaurants, gas stations, farms, etc.) and saved for retirement the old-fashioned way.

4. They found a need and invented something to make a better "mouse trap" and they collect royalties from those sales.

5. Some people used multi-level networking selling well known brands, such as Tupperware, Shaklee, Amway, Avon...

6. Others have always lived below their means and saved something from every paycheck and invested wisely.

7. Some write books of their experience and sell them. Over time, it's a good source of income, because they only had to write the books once. Nowadays, there are plenty of self-publishing websites.

8. Still others, plant gardens of vegetables and fruits or bake bread and pastries, and sell their goods at farmer's markets.

9. They wrote computer programs that they sold online. This is similar to the many "create and sell" ideas that many have used. Much depends on individual skillsets and talent.

10. Some people compose music and/or create crafts that they sell their products online nowadays as well. The possibilities are endless. Have you ever heard of itunes or etsy?

The point is that even though we are in a recession, there is still some hope that the economy will recover sometime in the future and someday there will be a time when we should retire. There are many ways to attain financial independence. I read recently, that the only limitations in life are the ones we place on ourselves... think about it.

What's holding you back?

Where would you like to buy or sell on the current housing cycle curve?

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 13:17:37 -0500

Obviously, if you were thinking of selling, you would want to be at the top of the cycle on the curve and if you were a buyer, you would hope to be at the bottom of the cycle of the curve. Most economists agree we are somewhere near or at the bottom; they are just debating how long it will last. Some say it will take months and others claim it will be years before they see a shortage of inventory, which will eventually cause prices to rise. One thing is for sure, desireability of locations will determine how the spectrum of inventory will be sold.

Truth is, no one really knows where the curves will turn for sure. And hindsight is the only clear vision to cycles. Most economists have agreed that the housing market recovery will be a much more localized result when it does start to happen. Even San Diego's current entry-level buyers that started looking for their first home in San Diego earlier this year, are beginning to realize they need to search outside the boundaries of the city of San Diego into the non-incorporated areas, to purchase a comparable size home in the same price range.

Some properties that first appeared to have reasonable pricing coming onto the market
have been closing escrow at up to 75% over their listed price, since ultimately it is the market that determines value. Several listing agents I have talked to have been receiving multiple offers, but that's what happens when homes are undervalued and underpriced to begin with... that's what I hear that banks are requesting. Whereas it causes a lot of sales activity in good locations, it also allows the industry to find and regain the true value and demand of our local market.

Investors and first time home buyers (hoping to close escrow by the November 30th deadline for their $8000 tax credit) are continuing to drive this market up as well. Needless to say, it has been a very competitive market for most entry level buyers in the last 6 months. Time is running out when considering most short sales and bank owned property take 2-6 months to close escrow. There is also a backlog of homes waiting in contingent status that are in front of what's actively listed. Fence sitters really need to get off the fence with the understanding that they're already behind...

We're already at unprecedented price levels where rents are higher than house payments on entry-level property. The trap and the facade of renting is that people sometimes end up paying for a lifestyle that they just don't want to give up; it's short-term thinking at best. They will keep renting as long as they can afford the rent, but we all know that doesn't stay the same. I recently read that the difference between how rich people think vs. the rest of the population is their ability to plan their future with long-term thinking... just in case we all forgot, buying a home should be a "long-term" decision.

Are you ready to think like a rich person?

5 Ways To Show The World You're A Serious Buyer

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:42:45 -0500

REALTORS get to answer numerous inquiries from prospective buyers on any given day. Unfortunately, many are not taken as serious buyers, which may be why sometimes listing agents won't return calls requesting information. Some buyers start out having unrealistic expectations about what kind of offer they can make on a home that they would like to own "someday" in the future. What we are actually qualified to purchase, and what we "want to" buy are sometimes completely different properties.

Have you ever walked into an expensive store or business and known within minutes you didn't belong there? The feeling is the same when shopping for homes. Who really wants to look at homes, when at the end of the day everything is just way out of our price range? It always feels better to shop in a price range you're comfortable with and can compete in, should there be a multiple offer situation. In today's market that is a predominant environment we've been in, since FHA loans will go up to $697,500 in California now, as long as you qualify anyway.

If you're shopping for a home, here are 5 ways to show your agent, the listing agent and the seller that you are a qualified and motivated buyer:

1. Have you provided your qualifications to a direct lender before beginning your home search? With today's new loan standards, it only makes sense to run the numbers with an expert, and to start a home search in a price range you know you can afford. The seller and the agents representing each side of the transaction and the escrow company need to know that you are both financially qualified and motivated to consider the potential home of interest before spending time and energy on you. If you were a seller, would you want someone in your home browsing around that could not afford it?
If you cannot provide and submit a preapproval letter from a direct lender with your offer, you most likely won't be considered a prepared and serious buyer by anyone. It only makes sense to find out "how much home" you can be shopping for vs. "wishing you could move someday" with no plan in place. Do you really believe that in a marketplace where buyers are making "blind-offers" that there isn't a shortage of inventory in their price range? If you want to compete, then you really need to talk to a good local lender before beginning your physical search of homes. The worse that can happen is that you're really not ready to buy a home... at least you will find out from the lender what you have to do to get to that goal.

2. Do you have the required funds available to close escrow?
The typical home purchase requires at the very least 3.5% (for FHA loans) of the purchase price as your down payment. In addition, funds may be needed for closing costs, (which include property taxes, homeowner's insurance, etc.) and you will probably need some extra funds to make your ultimate home personally yours after you purchase it.

3. Have you previewed the locations of homes you're contemplating before physically driving by? In other words, have you used maps online to research on your own whether the homes of interest are near businesses, on a busy corner, near a freeway or backs to a canyon or a busy road? All of these factors will affect the resale value of that home, whether they bother you or not; it will come into play for the next buyer when you go to sell.

4. When you find the right home, are you prepared to make a realistic offer?
In today's market, many homes are selling for the full asking price because they are already listed near or below their recent sales comparables. If a home is a bank owned or short sale listing, it's already starting off in a weakened position. If your initial offer is less than 93% of the justifiable price, you will probably not be considered serious. Prospective buyers who put in "low-ball" offers to test the waters are usually wasting a lot of their energy and time, especially when there are already multiple offers involved. These buyers are usually investors with all cash or are often just "reaching" for more home than they can reasonably afford.

5. Is the offer accompanied by a good-faith deposit?
Homebuyers have to show they are committed by including as high a deposit as possible with their purchase offer. Customarily, and at the very least in today's market, a reasonable good-faith deposit is calculated at 1% of the purchase price at the time the offer is submitted.

There are many ways to show people you're a serious and committed buyer, but these are just the basics that sellers and professionals in the industry will be expecting...

In summary, be motivated enough to get preapproved by a good local lender.

Take your future seriously enough to make your home search a priority in your life.

When you have your preapproval letter, be realistic when making your offers.

Until next time, happy house-hunting!

Stop letting the tail wag your dog... plan for your future - Be the dog!

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:06:23 -0500

How many times have we told ourselves we'll do this when that happens? Or more specifically, we'll sell our home when prices go back up... or we'll buy our home when the mortgage rates go down.

"Time" is a funny thing, no matter what we do, it keeps passing us by and if we can't change with it, we can easily get left behind. The market has been quite sensitive to every change that happens. We've all come to expect more with every change. We're the same people who want our gas prices to go down, our stocks to go up, our jobs to pay us more and at the same time we just want to work less, but unfortunately, life just doesn't work this way.

Let's begin by addressing the seller who wants to relocate, but also wants to wait for prices to rebound to get more out of his home to move on. This could be a great plan if you already have another home to move into, but if you don't and you have to replace your current home, in this situation you could also be paying more for that next home, unless you decide you want to rent instead.
In that case, one may still be paying more to rent a comparable home since time has marched on and rents are much higher than when they purchased that previous home.

Of course, it all depends on how long a homeowner has been in their current home and how much equity there is. It's a great way to free up some cash if you've been in your home longer than 5 years and one can take advantage of the capital gains law, that is if you're in a position where you still have some substantial equity. No one says you have to put it all into your next home.

Now, lets also address the other scenario for buyers sitting on the fence...

When rates go up, some buyers may decide to pull back and wait, because they can't afford to buy what they want at the higher rates. While they're hoping rates will come back down, most will also hope that home prices will continue to decline.
The problem with that strategy is at the same time they're on that fence hoping, inflation is taking hold (remember mortgage rates went up because treasuries went higher) and usually when that happens, employment figures come in higher or less layoffs are reported, as Obama has already set the stimulus in motion as his goal this year. As more people get back into the work force, they will begin to buy homes again and overall, home prices will eventually recover as well - only to begin a new housing cycle.

Even if primary home buyers don't buy now, investors will and be selling to the fence-sitters later possibly at higher prices. The economic cycle is everchanging, and waits for no one.

The best news is, that currently we have relatively lower home prices, coupled with historically lower mortgage rates, not to mention the first time home buyer credit that expires at the end of this year. There's not a much better time to buy. Even a homeowner selling in this market, has a much better chance of buying their next home in a flat market if they still have equity to invest it into a more suitable home.

Remember, "time" is still moving and maybe we should be, too.

Increases in our sales tax rates for San Diego County... Higher in some cities than others

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:02:35 -0500

Most of San Diego county had its sales tax rate increased to 8.75% at the end of March of this year.
This change has made everything taxable more expensive in San Diego county. Most people will notice
slowly if they eat out a lot, but if you happen to be planning to buy any big ticket items, you might want to re-think where you will be shopping at the time. Most of San Diego county's sales tax rates went from 7.75% to 8.75%.

Below are some of the higher sales tax rate cities in San Diego county:

La Mesa = 9.5%

El Cajon = 9.75%

National City = 9.75%

Vista = 9.25%

As if that's not enough, California is also going to increase the personal income tax rate in the 2009 and 2010 tax years by .25 percent. It doesn't seem like a large difference, but with the recent recession, it does seem like we are continually biting off our nose to spite our face.

I would hope many will decide to brown-bag their lunch to work, but with rising gas prices, people will now be forced to spend less overall, because of the increases and the state will receive even less revenue, than if they had just left things alone.

The Dynamics Of An Auction or How To Play The Game...

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Sat, 23 May 2009 10:34:05 -0500

Some years ago, I went to a furniture auction at a store that was "going out of business". While I waited to bid on the dresser that I wanted, I watched all the other bidders go through their thought buying processes. There were many different items on sale - but one thing was for sure, at the end of the day, everything would be sold. Most buyers had only certain items they wanted to bid on, like me. Some buyers, which I suspect were dealers or working for the furniture store, bidded on everything. Some were there to give their best bid on what they wanted and left the sale after they lost. Still some were only there to watch to experience the excitement.

Why would I bring this up? Well, the latest real estate market environment is a lot like an auction, especially if you're shopping for a home in the under $500,000 price range. Since many first-time home buyers are taking the opportunity of the $8000 tax credit, it has caused a lot of competition out there.

Yet, there are a couple of other types of buyers out there. Here are the players usually found at an auction or the latest pool of home buyers at the offer table:

1. Vulture funds or well-funded wholesale "dealers", although the interesting thing about the "flipper" is that this type of bidder will reach their maximum price, before backing down and going on to the next deal. Dealers have profit percentages before the "deal" is worth their effort.

2. Individual investors that have cash, but are willing to hold on for awhile because they want cash flow, which is higher than investing in certificates at their bank.

3. Primary homebuyers that have substantial cash that are happy that the prices are finally where they find the payments are comfortable for them and they are ready to reside in a home of their own instead of renting any longer.

4. Primary homebuyer with less than 20% down using conventional financing and buyers using VA or FHA, loans.

Somewhere along the bidding process, there will be a price point when the dealers will walk away because the deal isn't worth their time or trouble. At another point in the bidding process, the investor with cash won't be willing to go higher as well, as they do have their cash flow to think of...
Still at some other point, the primary homebuyer with cash will also find what they're looking for or just not be willing to increase their bid and remove themselves from the competition, also.

After all these buyers are done, then the rest of the market (the number 4's) can compete.

Can you see the bidding ratio between the different buyers yet?

What it comes down to is that 80% of the market (those number 4's) that are investing less than 20% cash down, in order to have a fighting chance at getting the home they want, either have to wait for the other bidders to run out of money OR they need to bid higher than buyer types 1, 2, and 3 just to win out at the offer table.

This is why we're seeing many homes get sold over listed price... with these kind of dynamics, no wonder we are seeing stabilization in the market and rising prices beginning to take hold.

Are you ready to play the game now?

Finally, a designation in our MLS that makes sense!

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:18:08 -0500

A recent change to our MLS system has made it a requirement for all properties in some kind of "contingent" status be designated that way, instead of sitting in active status.
That would explain the over 10,000 listings that are no longer in active status in the last couple of weeks.

Here is how the local ruling is written:

10.1.1. Contingent Status. The Mandatory Remarks field in the MLS must be modified if any one or a combination of circumstances listed in (a) through (f ) are in effect and meet the criteria below:

(a) Offer accepted contingent on court approval

(b) Offer accepted pending lender approval of Short Sale

(d) Offer(s) submitted awaiting REO approval

(e) Offer accepted with __ hour first right of refusal

Lets hope all short sale and REO listing agents are paying attention. It will make shopping for a home for many buyers and their agents, a much more efficient process.

Committing To The Process

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:16:00 -0500

Another month has gone by, and another thousand listings have vanished from our current inventory of homes in the MLS. If we keep this up, inventory WILL be in a shortfall a year from now as previously predicted.

What much of the population doesn't realize yet, is that a good percentage of homes in San Diego County are sold already, but they are sitting in active status because we are waiting for banks to approve a massive amount of short sales and bank owned homes.

Buyers presently shopping for a home understand this is happening; they are still competing for the same homes. Many are losing out on the homes of their dreams, even homes that were never really available to the general market to begin with, because somehow they hit the MLS with those now infamous words, "Offer accepted pending lender approval".

I'm not going to exacerbate how that happens, but just say that it's happening more and more lately.

The worse part is, that a number of "short sale" listing agents are not committing to qualified buyers at all... so why should buyers commit to them?

Here are two examples from both sides that I have seen and heard lately:

In the MLS, an agent inputs these remarks in his short sale listings:

"Once we receive short sale approval, we will send out an email requesting your highest and best offer. The seller will then decide which offer they will accept. No offers will be signed until then."

At least with this listing agent who basically has said he will make no promises, by not accepting any specific offer, most buyers will know not to waste their time with a home like that.

Buyers in general, don't want to compete against each other when there are so many other homes available where sellers have much more integrity and motivation.

From an agent talking about one of his clients:

"I've got over 15 offers out on short sales for him..."

If this is how short sales are being handled lately, than what's going to happen to the rest of the market when all the dust settles...

That "buyer" who has several offers out on short sales will only be able to close escrow on one home. What will happen to the other 14 homes that thought they had a deal?

There has to be more commitment to the process from everyone if we are all going to get through this mess. Buyers, as well as sellers, need to commit themselves to the process or we really will be in for a longer recovery.

I haven't even mentioned the commitment of lenders following through on their part of the process, but while we're at it, they also need to grant the loans they started.

I've also heard from other agents that their buyers are losing their deals because banks are changing the lending criteria halfway through the process.

It's like telling a lion to jump through a hoop, only at the last second you decide to change the size of it, so he can't fit.

There's so many factors in closing escrow on a home now, without all these other things going on. Just identifying some of the problems within the industry is exhausting. Please try to understand if you are buying or selling a home in the current market, please remember the most important thing...

Without commitment from all parties, we won't as an industry, be able to move forward.

If anyone has a suggestion on how they handle short sales either from the buyer's or the seller's side, please feel free to comment.

Maintaining a vacant home

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:50:14 -0500

Many years ago, way back in 1996 we had to relocate and sell our home. It was in the last market downturn and we had vacated our home for almost a year before it finally sold. Shortly after the "first-time buyers" had moved in, they took a bath and the water had leaked into the carpeted master bathroom. Since that never happened when we lived there, we didn't understand how something like that could happen or be our fault for that matter.

Unfortunately for us, the buyers thought it was a pre-existing condition that we didn't disclose, so the beginning of a 4 year arbitration had unfolded. Years later, we realized the home sat vacant for 11 months and we were told by a plumbing contractor, it was entirely possible that the seal on the bathtub dried out during that vacant timeframe, so when the buyers decided to draw their first bath, the new moisture and their weight cracked the seal. It turned out that the plumbing had similar incidents in other parts of the house, probably for the same reason. Soon the problem escalated into many more issues with the house and with attorneys involved, it became a long drawn out process.

Even though the buyers had their homeowner's insurance and warranty company cover the damage, they continued to seek compensation from us. It was apparent to us while we read their deposition, according to their perception, whatever issue came up after they lived in the home, whether it was real or not - from their standpoint, we were going to be responsible. In the end, and after all that time we finally settled, but we realized we should have handled that situation differently. The biggest lesson for us, was that we should never let a molehill become a mountain.

The reason why this experience is so haunting to me these days, is because there have been so many vacant homes sitting on the market with the recent short sale and foreclosure environment. Many of them are bank owned and not being maintained. Many short sales have owners still occupying them which to me, seems like a good thing now. And still some homes are just sitting vacant for one reason or another.

If you are planning to relocate and vacate your home, the obvious maintenance for most people would be taking care of the landscaping. That's easy to hire someone to do that. The not-so-obvious maintenance is what I mentioned above. If you are still in the local area, you might consider visiting your home to run the water in the whole house once or twice a week, run the dishwasher, flush the toilets, basically test the plumbing. Check the electricity; turn on and off the lights, run the garbage disposal. When we sold the home referenced above, because some agents forgot to turn off the lights, we had some electrical repairs to deal with, when it went through escrow. If you're no longer living in the area, request that your listing agent do these small things for you. Hopefully, if these precautions are put into place, then less homeowners will have to experience the ordeal I described above.

Pricing a home in a declining market

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:07:19 -0500

We own investment property in another state and it wasn't until recently I found out that the condominium we owned there had lost almost half its value. I questioned the Realtor who sold us our "investment" and asked whether that was normal pricing or not as I realize some areas of the country are recovering sooner than others. His reply was that he had hoped that it was an exception and that it was the "bank" that wanted a quick sale so their instructions to the listing agent was to price it appropriately. I was told that it was an all cash deal, although it did not seem to matter since the sale had already taken the rest of the community with it.

It made me look at our own local market more objectively to say the least. So, I began to research some local listings that were priced somewhat questionably and wondered why agents would list below the market average? Most would say that the bank either asked them to set their pricing accordingly for quick cash sales, but still others are putting a little more thought into the process and hoping for an auction type bidding war. They have priced their listings just below the last sale price. Sadly, this strategy has pulled the entire industry to a place we haven't been in a long time.

So, what is a seller supposed to do in this kind of market?

First, be motivated. As an example, the other day I was talking to a seller that happened to be an appraiser. His agent had priced his home within a $40,000 "range" and he had received an offer $9000 under the highest price of the range. He explained to me that they did not hit his "number" so he said he was thinking about taking his home off the market. Clearly, this is not the type of seller that should be putting his home on the market currently, although understandably some part of him wanted to move on.

Secondly, if you are a seller who needs to sell your home, then you may want to consider obtaining the services of a professional appraiser before listing your home. Granted an appraisal is a snapshot in time, so if you take this route then you don't want to wait too long afterwards before going on the market.

Thirdly, shop your own home before going on the market. You may want to survey your own area for the current listings and sales, drive by them, look inside them if they're still on the market. Compare your home to the rest of the market physically, not just on paper.

And lastly, while you're interviewing listing agents, ask them about their sales to non-sales ratio; in other words, how many expired or cancelled listings have they had in the last 2 years. They could be efficient at inputting listings into the MLS, but unless they actively market your home in all the other ways we are taught to do, how will you know if they are capable of actually SELLING your home?

After all, I would rather hire a REALTOR with enthusiasm to market my home vs. someone who just has their assistant input it into the MLS with all their other "inventory".

10 Things To Do When Facing A Possible Foreclosure

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:00:28 -0500

When a homeowner can no longer make their mortgage payment, many borrowers turn to their lender and after speaking to their customer service department. they are left wondering why their bank is not helping them. Some claim they are being told by their bank, that in order for them to be able to help them, they need to stop making their payments.

Borrowers understandably wonder why they have to ruin their credit before getting help with their loans. The logical and legal step is that the bank has to help the people that are more behind on their payments, but that is not always so easy to determine. There can also be many obstacles that stand in their way, because many homes have second loans on them which are held by other lenders. Just imagine what the bank is dealing with; it's quite similar to the picture in the following example...

Imagine the captain of the Titanic is a bank mitigator, and the passengers are the people with defaulting "loans" that he has to prioritize to figure out who needs to be saved first. Some people are already in the water treading because they jumped in early. Some of them have life jackets on, some don't and they're drowning. Some are still on the boat looking for a way off, some are waiting and hoping to be saved even though they know the boat is going to sink. Some are in a lifeboat and wondering why the rest of the passengers can't be saved. Some are stuck on the lower floors, and can't even get to the surface. If you're the Titanic captain or the bank mitigator, who would you save first?

Regardless of whether a homeowner is behind on their payments, or going to be - below are ten options that could be considered by someone facing foreclosure:

1. Loan modification, find someone who specializes in this or ask for referrals

2. Lease out their home to cover most of the payment and then relocate

3. Sell their home before it goes into foreclosure

4. Sell the home as a short sale, take the credit score loss, and chalk it up to a life lesson

5. Stay in the home, find an equity partner possibly, rent out some rooms to accomodate the increase in payment until the market recovers

6. Offer their bank the "deed in lieu of foreclosure" and walk away

7. Refinance under better terms by bringing in cash and paying down the balance

8. Wait for the stimulus bill to help by using the HOPE NOW program to refinance your loan.

9. Miss some mortgage payments and THEN call your lender

10. Use the ultimate stalling tactic; ask the bank to produce the original note you signed when obtaining the loan. After all, if they can't prove you owe them the money, what will they do?

For everyone, their circumstances and priorities are different. A troubled homeowner needs to make the choice that makes sense for them. Take heed that a foreclosure situation is temporary and know that you shouldn't ignore the elephant in the room.

Be proactive whatever you do!

Is it really the American consumer they're blaming for the mess on Wall Street?

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:23:41 -0600

I don't know about you, but I'm so tired of hearing the media place blame on "the American consumer" for the state of the economy. Remember when they told us that American consumers were spending too much, especially when they bought their homes? Needless to say, someone allowed 100% financing to take place??? Who was that anyway? It is apparent now, that the banks unloaded their risky loans on Wall Street's unwary investment companies. I would guess that many people trusted those same investment firms to invest their savings carefully, so that it might be there someday.

Now I'm reading that the American consumer is not spending enough, because "they can't use their homes like an ATM anymore." They are saying that people are saving more now. Well, when one loses their job I would guess "saving" some income would cross their mind. In fact, why aren't they telling us why people are losing their jobs? Could it have something to do with the fact, that they perpetuated all the negative chatter to bring this economy to its knees??? I sure wish they had some substantial evidence to blame the American consumer.

I believe the people that have always saved money are still saving percentages of their income. Those same people will still be able to purchase things they want, only because they have always been discriminating when shopping, whether it's for food, durable goods or housing. Right now, they could be first time buyers. They could also be high income people that were always conservative with their money and also, everyone in between that this economy doesn't affect quite as much. There are always going to be people who need recession-proof services and goods and always people that will continue using and purchasing them. There are also people who work in those industries as well.

In fact, I'm guessing that the people writing about the "American consumer" are not seeing what I saw this last weekend. I saw a long line of people waiting to pick up furniture that they had purchased at a local furniture retailer. Sure, they were all savvy enough to save the delivery charge, but there were still about 25 trucks, vans and SUV vehicles waiting to pick up their merchandise. It took over an hour before the warehouse worker brought our purchase outside. Sure not many are at the mall, buying the clothes the retailer couldn't sell in December. In case you haven't noticed, the Christmas season is over. It seems short-sighted to say that people won't buy what they need. I know several friends that have been waiting to purchase cars and waiting on doing home improvements because of the way the media continues to play on their fears. It's not that all American consumers don't have the money to spend. The media has put so much fear out there that even the people who have money don't want to spend, at least not enough to go out and do the things they want to do.

Granted, there will always be people who spend money they don't have, but I'm so tired of hearing the media shift the blame to the American consumer, when the real culprits are the people in charge of our savings. Lets get one thing straight... IT WAS THOSE IN CHARGE OF LENDING that created this mess that we're all dealing with, because they allowed all the steps to happen. They allowed the 100% financing because they wanted to meet their quotas. They turned around and sold those loans to Wall Street, so they could continue lending that same money over and over again.

Lets stop placing all the blame on the American consumer. The American consumer made their biggest mistake in having faith in the system. Sure, many Americans used their equity to purchase personal goods, but they had no idea we would be where we are today. Some American consumers leveraged their home to invest their equity in more real estate and some people sold early enough and actually made a lot of money... there's nothing wrong with that. Those are also the people who are not afraid of taking the risks when they should be taken, regardless of what the media is writing about.

The truth is that there are still many people that ARE employed, even as we get to a 10% unemployment rate, it still means that 90% of the people are working! 90% of the people are still saving and learning to spend more wisely. If you are in the minority and have lost your job, you need to be the person that doesn't do what everyone else does, in order to get re-hired. Remember, you still have skills; skills that are still marketable or at least, transferable. The hardest part about being unemployed is believing that you can do something about it. Be proactive. Take it as an opportnity to find out what you really want to do with your life. I'm hearing there are many in the technology industry that are actually building their own companies now, after being laid off... there's a lot of talent out there still untapped. For people who don't want to work for less, is it better to be underemployed or unemployed? One job sometimes leads to another, but it's difficult to find that opportunity if we don't make ourselves "available" to what could be and the unlimited possibilities that come with that way of thinking.

I truly believe out of this old economy, many new ventures will begin and everyone will ultimately find a new place in the global economy.

Biting off your nose to spite your face...

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:37:17 -0600

Nowadays, some credit card companies are changing the rules to their user agreements. This is a prime example of "biting off your nose to spite your face". One might ask how could that be? In essence, a credit card company needs income to keep afloat, but by raisiing their interest rates and saying you could close your account if you don't like it, is basically throwing good business out the window. Granted, not everyone that would leave are worth keeping, but not having regular interest income from your good paying customers is another story. It would stand to reason that the people who could get a better rate from another bank would go ahead and cancel their accounts and the customer who didn't have a choice would stay and pay the higher rate. Logically speaking the credit card company is creating quicksand for the customer who uses credit and keeps paying on their balance with a higher rate. In the long run, many of those accounts may go into default eventually and get charged off and on goes the cycle of needing to raise the interest rates yet again, to cover those losses. To some extent, this "strategy" must work for the banks that use this technique, but most likely the class action lawsuits that follow will incur them more losses from those legal expenses.

When it comes to housing and how banks handle home loans for their customers, they did a similar "changing of the rules" when it came to the option arm loans and adjustable rate loans. Borrowers were not told all the facts. Of course, when the defaults began they said now that your home is no longer worth as much as your balance, you can no longer make the minimum payment. Mr. Bernanke raised the short term rates and all of a sudden that was the payment they wanted to force you to pay. Most borrowers assumed they would be able to refinance their loans before those rates adjusted, unfortunately no one knew the government wanted to take over. Well, with that responsibility comes fall out.

Too bad Mr. Bernanke thought he needed to "control" inflation and raise the funds rate 17 times since mid-2004. So, now we all wait for our new government to help the economy recover. What seems to be going on is that, the risk takers are running out of money and the people (including banks) who have or control money don't want to take any risks.

Unfortunately, when there's only so many dollars to go around, someone is going to get the short-end of the stick. In today's bailout plan, the short end of the stick, sorry to say, will be left to our children and their children will inherit the burden of having to deal with the debt of this bailout for generations to come.

So... what can we do to contribute to a recovery for everyone? First off, we all need to work together to get through what's ahead. We need to believe that what the country is going through is temporary. And yes, we need to continue believing that the jobs President Obama talks about will be created and the bailout funds will be used properly and monitored by many. Most of all, we need to care enough to be involved as a country and aware that everything we do now will affect our future, especially if we choose to do nothing. We need to stop being complacent and demand change, not just from our leaders, but from ourselves. How else can we grow without change? Mostly, we need to stop "biting off our noses to spite our faces"...

To Infinity and Beyond... and back again!

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:00:53 -0600

Four years ago did we ever think that we could be where we are today? Probably not. The prices of homes were at levels we had never seen before; we were in unchartered territory and many thought buying real estate was the fastest and easiest way to making money, using little or no money down, while daring to use the most creative financing one can't even talk about now without a shudder.

Fast forward the last 4 years into today and now we are on the other side of the curve of the housing cycle and for the most part housing is affordable again.
The current inventory in San Diego County is amazing! Today, I searched for "attached" homes that were priced under $99,000 and 395 listings came up. Did you get that number; that was three hundred and ninety five units! There was a time when we didn't even have inventory in that price range and it wasn't that long ago.

So, one might wonder why a renter would continue to rent even in this market, but we all know everyone's situation is different. Surely, if someone could afford to rent a condominium for $1000, then one might wonder why wouldn't they purchase a comparable place if the average mortgage payment in today's rates for a $99,000 condominium was only $480/month (that is with 20% down). Even if their HOA fees were $300/month and property taxes were $104/month, would it still not make sense to take the leap and still stay under that same $1000/month? Calculating it all out, that former renter/and new homeowner could actually save $116/month.

One main reason why the transition from renting to becoming a homeowner is so far out of reach for so many, is basically because they are unable to save the down payment needed to make such a purchase, because they have been on a rental treadmill. After paying for rent and all their other expenses, it's very difficult for anyone to find anything left over.

Granted, one of the most difficult things to do in this recession is to save anything extra from a paycheck in today's economy, but the other reason why it's so tough to use our own money, is because even after saving something so substantial - it is twice as difficult to let go and invest OUR savings into real estate, even when it's for a piece of our own future stability. Adding that possibility to the mix, the biggest problem would have to be, that we've become a society that has been conditioned into relying on credit to live. Our savings rate as a country until recently, has been in negative territory.

In recent years, many would have rather risked all (100%) of the bank's money rather than their own, when it came to being a homeowner. Yet even now, those same defaulted homeowners want the lenders to take the loss of equity and re-wager its trust in them to refinance their balances to pay their loans back, even when they weren't willing to pledge their own 20% down to begin with. Investment without risk would be ideal, but unfortunately it does not exist.

To the latest generation of homeowners, that (20% down) practice today still seems rather abrasive - that a bank could even ask us to put some of our own money in the deal, (to invest in ourselves and in our future, how absurd!) The shift in our societal attitudes has been detrimental to everyone's long-term wealth and the funny thing is... before subprime lending ever existed that "20% down" requirement was just the standard practice.

Only now as we all look back in hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a bad decision to invest 20% of our own money, especially if those who couldn't, would have been forced to stay on the sidelines and continue to save their money. Maybe then, prices would not have been driven up to infinity and beyond and the market as a whole could have stabilized a lot sooner rather than later.

Where's the silver lining in this market?

Lisa Hayashi E-Pro REALTOR DRE#00915227 (CENTURY 21 Award) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:26:21 -0600

Well, you may be wondering what have we learned from the subprime meltdown... I believe the process of which we all have experienced in the last 2 years will teach us all very important lessons which will force everyone to be held more accountable for their actions and to incorporate more responsible lending into the system.

I recently had a conversation with a Realtor in Las Vegas that said at the height of their market, they were closing deals above the appraised value of a home.
I was very disappointed to hear, that as an industry we allowed that to happen. For some reason, we all wanted to believe in a market that couldn't seem to decline. It seemed to become one big pyramid scam. Now we know that those out of control market conditions were all based on a fallacy... the fallacy that real estate over time, would never go down.
At the height of the market, the majority of first time home buyers were priced out of the market. It was agreed by many, that in order to get the market moving again, we would need the future buyers to come from the entry level market.

So, where is the silver lining of this market? Well, first of all, current homes on the market are now at price levels we haven't seen for some time. In addition, mortgage rates seem to be in plausible payment structures, that is if you have a substantial down payment and are willing to invest those funds into a home you will live in for several years to come.

Secondly, if you're a first time buyer, you now have a limited time to get yourself a substantial $7,500 tax credit if you buy before July 1, 2009.

So, what's going to happen in 2009? No one really knows. It will depend on whether the bailout will work out the way the government hopes it will. Pumping billions of dollars into the banking system to allow current troubled homeowners to refinance out of their quicksand loans is one thing, (the inherent problem is that their homes are no longer worth what they once were). This leaves the government owning a lot of real estate in the long run with the taxpayer's money.

Now, lending new money to new first time home buyers is another. That kind of funding should be based on more accurate values, but it's entirely possible that even those values may have already reached unprecedented levels that we won't see again for a long time, once this market begins its recovery. This window of opportunity is just a snapshot in time.

The ultimate challenge ahead for all of us, is regulating what banks will do with their new-found funds. It seems to many borrowers that the banks are just saving their funds for a rainy day, and for all we know that day has already come and gone.