southwest california: Temecula Valley Wine Country Short Sale Homes 7-29-08 - 07/29/08 04:23 PM
7-259 wine country short sales You might think that owners of $1,000,000+ homes in the Wine Country would have the backing to weather the current storm in the real estate market - but you would be wrong. While they are not losing homes at the same rate as local tract home owners, the number of bank owned homes in the Wine County currently accounts for 4% of the active inventory (Temecula Valley Wine Country Bank Owned Homes) and homes with notices of default account for another 10%. A home with a notice of default filed is typically going to be a … (2 comments)

southwest california: Temecula, Murrieta 1st Half Sales Figures are in - Good News? - 07/21/08 03:17 PM
6-18 05 comps Temecula, Murrieta & Lake Elsinore Home Market What does this mean to YOU? 3 straight months of increasing sales = 1 quarter of improvement. One quarter doesn't make a trend by any means, but it's definitely a relief and an improvement from the past 24 months of free falling sales numbers. Now if we can just string together another quarter or two, we won't be out of the woods yet but we'll be headed in the right direction to get out at least. That's the good news. Obviously prices are still dropping but that will continue until our … (0 comments)

southwest california: Southwest California Homes Sales - 5/08. Gettin' Better All The Time - 06/19/08 01:35 PM
6-18 05 comps Temecula, Murrieta & Lake Elsinore Home Buyers LOOK AT THOSE NUMBERS! I’m not trying to tell you the slump is over – we're going to keep piling on bank repo's for another 12 to 18 months. But the numbers speak for themselves and this is the 2nd month in a row where the number of homes sold has exceeded last year. Murrieta's sales volume was over 4 times what it was in May 2007 and Temecula nearly doubled. Lake Elsinore had a little dip last month but overall the numbers are very positive and close to 2006 levels.  … (1 comments)

southwest california: Improving Your Credit Score & Payment History Tips - 06/17/08 04:31 PM
6-16 improving your credit score *  AR Members I recently participated in a Housing Preservation workshop with a representative of Springboard, a non-profit consumer credit management company headquartered in Riverside, CA. They produce a variety of excellent printed materials, Q & A's and seminars and I wanted to pass along their contact information as well as well as a link to an excellent publication entitled 'What Makes Up Your Credit Score'. Available as a web file or PDF download, this booklet is a must-read for anybody thinking about buying a home and maximizing your credit score. For additional information, please read … (2 comments)

southwest california: What Makes Up YOUR Credit Score? - 06/17/08 04:03 PM
6-16 what makes your credit score *  AR Members I recently participated in a Housing Preservation workshop with a representative of Springboard, a non-profit consumer credit management company headquartered in Riverside, CA. They produce a variety of excellent printed materials, Q & A's and seminars and I wanted to pass along their contact information as well as well as a link to an excellent publication entitled 'What Makes Up Your Credit Score'. Available as a web read or PDF download, this booklet is a must-read for anybody thinking about buying a home and maximizing your credit score. For additional information, please … (2 comments)

southwest california: Understanding Credit Scores - How Important is it to YOU? - 06/17/08 12:43 PM
6-16 credit reports * AR Members I recently participated in a Housing Preservation workshop with a representative of Springboard, a non-profit consumer credit management company headquartered in Riverside, CA. They produce a variety of excellent printed materials, Q & A's and seminars and wanted to pass along their contact information as well as well as a link to an excellent publication entitled 'What Makes Up Your Credit Score'. Available as a web read or PDF download, this booklet is a must-read for anybody thinking about buying a home and maximizing your credit score. For additional information, please read my article entitled … (5 comments)

southwest california: Saving Your Home From Foreclosure - 06/17/08 09:37 AM
5-16 saving your home. AR Members*
One of the best primers I have seen regarding foreclosure is available from the Consumer Action Project, a  service and counseling organization with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. I recently participated in a Housing Preservation workshop with a representative of this group and wanted to pass along their contact information as well as well as a link to an excellent publication entitled 'Saving Your Homes From Foreclosure'. Avaialble as a web read or PDF download, this booklet is a must-read for anybody facing the possibility of foreclosure.  Saving your home Foreclosure—the repossession of … (0 comments)

southwest california: More Silver Linings Showing Thru - CA sales strengthen - 05/30/08 06:51 AM
5-30 sales increase According to a report released today by the California Association of Realtors,  home sales in California actually increased in April reversing a 30 month decline in sales numbers. According to the report, home sales statewide rose 2.5% above April 2007 led by areas that have taken some of the biggest hits like Sacramento and Riverside County. As pointed out in my latest local market update, Southwest California (Southwest Riverside County) sales were up nearly 45% on average over a year ago. That's the good news.
The flip side is that prices were down statewide by 32%. Our median … (1 comments)

southwest california: Seller Bail-Out or Just Another Fraud? - 05/29/08 02:20 PM
5-29 new home builders As a result of our declining market situation here in Southern California, many new home builders have halted construction or significantly scaled back their operations. They can no longer compete with the inventory of bank owned properties that sold as recently as 18 months ago for $237 + / SqFt and are now selling for $100 or less. There is a home builder in San Diego County who is actually doing a 'Buy 1 - Get 1 Free' home deal to try to get rid of his inventory. If you buy one of his custom country homes … (11 comments)

southwest california: Memorial Day - A Day of Tribute & Thanks - 05/24/08 11:23 AM
5-24 memorial day
As you are aware from past articles, every year some of your SRCAR Directors & Officers travel to Washington D.C. in May for our annual National Association of Realtors Legislative Conferences. We meet with other N.A.R. Directors, discuss federal legislative issues and meet with our Senators and Representatives. During any downtime, we also see parts of the city and visit our nations historic treasures including the Lincoln Memorial, WWII Monument, Viet Nam Veterans Memorial, the Capitol and, of course, Arlington National Cemetery.
Our trip usually falls between two of D.C.’s premier and most beautiful events – … (8 comments)

southwest california: You're Either At The Table - Or On The Menu. - 05/22/08 11:28 AM
5-22 at the table You're either at the table or on the menu
Many of you have heard me make that statement at one time or anther over the past few years regarding participation in the political process. I know a lot of you could care less about politics but the fact of the matter is, you have to be engaged today or you’ll be out of business tomorrow.
Members of the largest trade association political action group in the country, the National Association of Realtors held our mid-year Legislative Meetings in Washington DC last week. In addition to all … (3 comments)

southwest california: Another Fraud Scam Bites the Dust - 05/22/08 10:11 AM
Brown Announces Arrest of Foreclosure Rescue Scam Artists SAN DIEGO--California Attorney General Brown today shut down a team of scam artists that acquired deeds to hundreds of homes in foreclosure by convincing desperate consumers to place their property in a “land grant,” a phony and worthless real estate document. “There hasn’t been a legitimate use of the land grant since the conclusion of the Mexican-American war,” Attorney General Brown said. “If some fast talking scam artist offers a quick escape from foreclosure using archaic documents, be extremely suspicious.” Yesterday, investigators from the San Diego District Attorney’s Office and FBI agents served … (0 comments)

southwest california: Southwest California Homes Sales - 5/08. Some Good News - 05/20/08 02:14 PM
04 comps Temecula, Murrieta & Lake Elsinore Home Buyers LOOK AT THOSE NUMBERS! I’m not trying to tell you the slump is over – because we’ve still got a ways to go. But the numbers speak for themselves and this is the first month where the number of homes sold has exceeded last year. Murrieta's sales volume more than doubled April 2007 and Temecula was up by almost a third. In fact the numbers in all three cities are back to 2006 levels – and that’s not bad. Prices are still dropping, and that's not good for private Sellers. Our sales … (1 comments)

southwest california: Coming Up Short - A Brief Intro to the Short Sale - 05/09/08 11:36 AM
short sales The current real estate market is producing a phenomenon we last saw over a decade ago, and hoped we wouldn’t see again, the short sale. If you weren’t around for those fun times, here’s what we’re talking about. Say you didn’t heed my advice over the past few years about avoiding exotic mortgages and you got wired into a 100% mortgage consisting of an 80% 1st mortgage and a 20% 2nd with an adjustable interest rate. Now the rate has adjusted once or twice and your income hasn’t quite kept up, leaving you a tad shy of the monthly … (2 comments)

southwest california: Spring Cleaning? Ventilate the MOLD out. - 05/08/08 11:55 AM
mold 5-8 As we transition from cold, wet winter weather to warm, damp summer weather, lets spend a minute talking about something near and dear to our hearts, or at least to our lungs, which are in the same general neighborhood. MOLD. As consumers, we have demanded ever more energy efficient homes to help reduce heating bills in the winter, cooling costs in the summer. We just honored two local home builders for their efforts in this endeavor. 
But, to improve heating and cooling efficiency, our homes don’t breathe anymore. We create artificial indoor environments that shield us from the outside … (9 comments)

southwest california: La Cresta - A Compilation of Estate Homes - 05/07/08 04:10 PM
La Cresta non reo 5-8-08 La Cresta, located in Southwest California, offers a unique estate lifestyle that is difficult to obtain at this price not just in Southern California, but anywhere in the country. Located in the Coastal Foothills just west of the I-15 Freeway above Murrieta, La Cresta encompasses an area of gently rolling hills suitable for vineyards or groves, expansive meadows ideal for equestrian pursuits, and magnificent hillside properties offering panoramic views from the Pacific Ocean to the snow-capped San Jacinto mountains and the flowering beauty of the San Rosa Plateau.. 
Homes in La Cresta range from modest single … (1 comments)

southwest california: Rental Fraud - Advise Prospective Tenants to Be Wary! - 05/06/08 05:15 PM
rental fraud Our Mortgage Fraud Task Force has continued to meet - and meet with some success. We have now had a meeting with our District Attorney, Rod Pacheco, and have had meetings and conversations with members of his White Collar Crime task force that encompasses Real Estate Fraud. Our initial concerns regarding their apparent lack of involvement have been somewhat assuaged. Although we have yet to see an indictment handed down against any of the perpetrators in our area, we have been assured that they are actively working on it. We are also attempting to provide mls access to the … (6 comments)

southwest california: Prop 8 - Reducing Your Property Tax Burden in Riverside County - 05/06/08 01:03 PM
Prop 8 If you purchased a home in Riverside County between 1998 and 2001 you saw the value of that property shoot up by nearly 155% before the cooling trend started in 2007. That means a home purchased in 2001 for $300,000 may have sold for as much as $765,000 at peak value. That same home today might fetch $475,000. While that’s still a return of better than 50%, it doesn’t do much to dampen the shock experienced by many of you and does nothing to alleviate the pain of those who purchased a home after 2004.
While the Federal … (1 comments)

southwest california: REO Market Update - La Cresta Estate Homes in SoCal - 05/06/08 09:52 AM
La Cresta La Cresta, located in Southwest California, offers a unique estate lifestyle that is difficult to obtain at this price not just in Southern California, but anywhere in the country. Located in the Coastal Foothills just west of the I-15 Freeway above Murrieta, La Cresta encompasses an area of gently rolling hills suitable for vinyards or groves, expansive meadows ideal for equestrian pursuits, and magnificent hillside properties offering panoramic views from the Pacific Ocean to the snow-capped San Jacinto mountains and the flowering beauty of the San Rosa Plateau.. 
Homes in La Cresta range from modest single story homes of … (0 comments)

southwest california: Temecula Valley Wine Country Homes 5/5/08 - 05/05/08 01:23 PM
win country homes 5-5-08 As of May 1, 2008, there are approximately 83 homes listed for sale in, and adjacent to, the Temecula Valley Wine Country. All homes are a minimum of 2 acres with prices ranging from $359,900 to $2,699,000. While that represents a remarkable price spread, please keep in mind that the Wine Country still includes some areas that allow manufactured homes. Some of these homes offer the opportunity to purchase acreage, including productive vineyards, for the same price as a tract home. Address                Price     BR/BA Age     SqF  Lot Sz   Date Listed 35509 Schuber LN,  … (5 comments)