California Real Estate YES ON 5 – NO ON 10
California Real Estate
Two very important California Real Estate issues are on tomorrow’s ballot!
Homeownership and private property rights are on the California ballot this November and the election outcome will determine our state’s housing future. REALTORS throughout the state are committed to protecting home-ownership and are urging our clients, colleagues and fellow Californians to look closely at this year’s ballot. The state’s housing future depends on it. Read more 
California Homeowners Bad News
California Homeowners
Senate-Passed Tax Legislation Bad News for Homeowners
Yesterday morning, the U.S. Senate, by a vote of 51-49, passed legislation that would change the face of homeownership in this country for decades to come. The House passed its own version of tax reform Nov. 16,2017.
A last-minute change to the Senate version would make up to $10,000 in property taxes deductible for the small number of homeowners who would still be itemizing. Previously, the Senate version had eliminated the property tax deduction entirely. The change aligns with the property tax cap set in the House bill. One difference between the two bills is that the Senate version retains the deductibility of mortgage interest payments on up to $1 million of indebtedness; the House version caps indebtedness at $500,000 (again, for the small minority still itemizing).
Now, members of the Senate and the House must meet to agree on a final bill. It’s not too late to make your voice heard.
Join us in telling your members of Congress that incentives for homeownership and the capital gains tax exclusion on the sale of a home MUST be protected. Read more
San Diego Real Estate Internet Traffic
San Diego Real Estate Internet Traffic
We had over 25,100Â unique visitors to this site last month! Please keep in mind I’m not talking about hits here, I’m talking about unique visitors a much more accurate way to track website popularity.
A unique visitor is one visit from a unique IP address within a 24-hour period. What this means, is that if you visited this site today from your smart phone, laptop, or desktop computer, it would count your visit as one unique visit. If a few hours later today, you again visited the site from the same Internet appliance, your second visit would not be counted at all. If you visited again the following day, or perhaps I should say at least a minimum of 24 hours from your last visit, it would count you as another unique visitor. Read more
California Real Estate Home Prices
California Real Estate Home Prices
In a report just out from the California Association of Realtors, California home sales data shows that both the California median home price and California existing home sales both gained ground last month. The report showed that single-family detached home sales were up 8% compared to California home sales in October 2015. Read more
Real Estate Halloween
Real Estate Halloween
Halloween Airedale Terrier
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here in California many people who get involved in a real estate transaction sometimes feel it’s very scary because of the myriad of paperwork that both the state and federal government require. So, as a fair warning if you haven’t sold or purchased a property yet in California, be prepared to be a little scared when you are confronted with what seems like an endless flow of required forms and disclosures.
If you have an experienced and knowledgeable real estate professional to assist you you won’t have any less paperwork but you will have an understanding of not only what you are signing, but insight into each forms intended purpose.yes, if you don’t want to feel scared or end up with a frightful outcome to your real estate transaction, it’s always best to have a seasoned real estate professional representing your interests. With that said, unfortunately even a real estate professional, can take the fright out of the hollowing season!
Read more
Invest in Your Home
Invest in Your Home
This survey shows that the majority of women understand that in order to have a comfortable retirement they have to invest. Well, what better first investment can there be than owning your own home versus renting a similar size property?
Here in San Diego, depending on your financial situation it has usually been far better to own your first home, or if you want to look at it another way, to invest in your first home, then to rent a similar size property.
In the last few years, here in San Diego leasing real estate prices especially for starter homes and condominiums really increase. Also, we have seen rents in San Diego jumped way up because of a shortage of supply. Read more
California Real Estate Outlook
California Real Estate Outlook 2014
By Bob Schwartz, San Diego, California real estate broker
Although the last two years have seen a nice bounce back recovery in almost all of the California’s real estate markets, the last quarter of 2013 saw a pronounce slow-down in real estate sales. Many believe the sales slowdown to be a direct result of rising interest rates and the resulting increase in home mortgage rates.
For those interested in my Outlook for the San Diego real estate market in 2014, I suggest reading my article published on January 5, 2014, entitled 2014 San Diego Real Estate Market Forecast. Today’s article has more to do with underlying problems in California’s economy and what I see as a possible sure remedy that could turn California back into the ‘Golden State’. Read more
California Real Estate Over-regulation
California Real Estate Over-regulation
If you own a rental property in San Bernardino, you are part of the evil 1%!
Yes, California is still under a tremendous unfunded debt burden, and this year has seen a number of California cities including San Bernardino declare bankruptcy. Even in light of these facts of gross mis-management, the city of San Bernardino is moving forward with a program that affects landlords of apartment buildings with as few as four units. Read more
California Home Sales Improving
California Home Sales Improving
The number of days that it takes to sell a home has been decreasing as the real estate market is improving. Of the four fastest selling cities in the country, three California cities made the list.
In the country the average days on the market until the home is sold was 95 days. In Oakland, California, the average number of days a house remained on the market in September, 2012 was just 21 days! This was followed by the cities of Stockton and lodi, where the average number of days on the market before a home sold was43 days. The city of San Francisco came in third in the average number of days on the market at 44 days. Read more
California Real Estate Armageddon
California real estate Armageddon
It seems that California cities are embracing the notion of play now pay later when it comes to school district bonds and construction improvement bonds.
This is the ideal concept for local government officials. They can give their constituents new facilities and improvements without any current cost or tax increase. By the time payments become due, the current politicians will no longer be in office, most likely moved on to state or national elected positions or retired and receiving a bloated pension. Read more