Why San Diego is one of the best place to buy Investment Property

7 Reasons Why San Diego Is one of the best place to buy Investment Property

1. Rentability

It is a great time to be a landlord but horrible time if you a looking to rent in San Diego. Vacancies are at the low rate of 4.1 percent for San Diego County. If your rental property is in fairly good condition and priced right, you will get multiple applications.

2. Rising Rents

According to an analysis of rental prices of single family homes by real estate data provider RentRange, San Diego ranked the 10th place where rent is growing the fastest. Rents in San Diego increased 13.6% between the third quarter of 2014 and the third quarter of 2015. The San Diego County Apartment Association reported even higher rent increase, 20% up over a year ago, 44.6% up from 2005.
Rental prices nationally have grown at roughly twice the pace of average hourly wage growth, which was a paltry 2.1 percent over the past year. Rising Rents means better cash flow.

3. Rising Property Value

San Diego County home prices rose 0.6 percent between August and September, and are up 6.6 percent since September 2014, according to the Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Prices Indices. The monthly rise was one of the fastest among 20 large real estate markets included in the indices, while the annual climb ranked seventh. The indices were created by taking the cost of housing in each market in January 2000, assigning them a value of 100, and tracking the subsequent rise and fall. San Diego’s mark in September was 216.62, reflecting more than a doubling of home prices in nearly 16 years. The rate of increase is the nation’s second fastestbehind Los Angeles.

4. Population Growth

Population growth is a significant factor in the rising demand. The county’s population grew by an average of nearly 33,000 people annually over the past two years, according to the San Diego Association of Governments estimates. Some of this is natural growth — more births than deaths — while some of it is probably also driven by new employment opportunities that have attracted new residents from out of town. The California Department of Finance predicted that San Diego County’s population will grow by 31 percent to hit 4.07 million people by 2060 (. Due to the lack of available land to develop, I do not see the kind of overbuilding that is expected in several other same-size metropolitan markets.

5. Short-term Vacation Rental Opportunities

With over 12,000 short term vacation rentals in the area, San Diego is rapidly becoming the fastest growing market in the country. According to Pillow, Short-term Vacation Rental Investors could be earning thousands more from their rental property. One beach community short term average rent is $4896, compared with only $1761 for long term rents. However, cities and communities in San Diego County have passed or will attempt to enforce restrictions on short-term rentals. If you are a Short-term Vacation Rental Investor, you have to pay attention to new regulations.

6. Out-of-town Investor Friendly

One of investors we know could not resist to purchase a Fixer house out side of California because it was so cheap. He thought he could fix and flip it. It was an online auction, he did not have time to visit so bought it without seeing it. It turns out that this house is in the very high crime area. It is so high that no contractor or real estate agents would go there. In San Diego, we do have some areas that have higher crime rates than the others but not to this extent. We always advise you to get know the area before purchasing but not having too high crime area makes San Diego out-of-town investor friendly.

7. Climate

San Diego has on average 146 sunny days and 117 partly cloudy days a year, we enjoy mild, sunny weather throughout the year. Climate is so mild that many rental properties do not have Air conditioning, which is one less appliance to worry about. Hurricanes are very rare and heavy snow and ice are very very rare in the wintertime. From a real estate investor stand point, you can expect the life expectancy of exterior materials such as roofs to last longer. If you install a tank-less water heater and Drought-Tolerant Landscaping, you will have a relatively maintenance-free rental property. Although we do have some floods that damage the property now and then, it is easy to avoid those locations. Just ask the neighbors.

Do you think of any other cities good for rental investment? Leave a comment!

Mark Kunce - Keller Williams San Diego Metro - The My Home Team

100% Financing Home Loan in San Diego, Home Ownership Made Easier

For some borrowers, saving up 3% for a down payment is still a hurdle they can’t quite clear due to the rising rent (44.6% up from 2005, according to the San Diego County Apartment Association reports. CBRE projects rents to increase by more than 3 percent in each of the next three years, until slowing to 2.4 percent annually in 2020.)

However, we have teamed up with a Bank that has a new program… 100% Financing Home Loan in San Diego (Zero-percent down mortgage).

This program is to help low- and moderate-income borrowers become homeowners by helping to overcome one of the “most significant barriers” to home ownership, the down payment.

It allows qualifying borrowers to finance up to 100 percent of a home’s value, with the bank contributing up to $4,500 toward certain closing costs.

Under this 100% Financing Home Loan program there are no private mortgage insurance, or PMI, requirements with a home mortgage, which can easily add $150 or more each month to the typical home loan payment.

To qualify for the program, certain eligibility requirements must be met. Those eligibility requirements include, but are not limited to (1) the property must either be located in a low-to-moderate income census tract (https://www.ffiec.gov/geocode/), or (2) the applicants on the loan cannot have an income greater than 80% of the HUD median income for the area. A lender credit not to exceed $4,500 will be applied at the time of closing, after final underwriting and product eligibility has been confirmed. (3) Minimum credit score of 620.

Other benefits of the program:

• Borrowers can move into a new residence with as little as $500 of their own funds. Seller funds and cash gifts can be used to pay remaining closing costs and so-called “prepaids” — expenses such as taxes and insurance that must be paid at closing before they are technically due.
• The program offers flexible fixed-rate mortgage terms, with 30-, 25-, 20-, 15- and 10-year options available.
• No income limits apply when the property is located in a Low or Moderate income census tract.

In some cases, borrowers participating in the program will pay a monthly mortgage payment that is as much as or less than what they currently pay as renters. And that’s an important point: This program will be helping people who’ve already proven their ability to make that monthly payment.
Contact us for details and complete eligibility requirements.

Mark Kunce

Keller Williams San Diego -The My Home Team

Discover Neighborhood: Solana Beach, favorite destination for Denver Broncos Fans in San Diego?

The charming, seaside community of Solana Beach is nestled along the northern coast of San Diego County, and is approximately a 30 minute drive from downtown San Diego. The median sales price for homes in Solana Beach CA for Oct 12 to Dec 12 was $726,000 based on 62 home sales.

If you are a Denver Broncos Fan in San Diego County, you need go to the Chiefs Burger and Brew. Despite the name, it is the headquarters of Southern California Bronco Fans. They even have seats from the old Mile High Stadium. I recommend you to come at least 1 hour earlier to get a table.

I was so disappointed after the devastating loss against Ravens and how the defence played conservatively (but I am not against Fox's decisions to take a knee).
Looking forward to 2013 season.


If you are a Denver Broncos Fan (or football fan) and looking to buy or sell Real Estate in San Diego County, please contact me at mark@sdmyhome.com . It is always fun to talk about football while we are taking care of your buying/selling Real Estate needs.

Short Sale News: CoreLogic: Home Prices Sustain Recovery with 4.6% Yearly Gain

ome prices continued to trend upwards in August, posting both yearly and monthly gains for the sixth consecutive month, CoreLogic reported Tuesday. 


When including distressed sales, home prices in August rose 4.6 percent from a year ago, marking the biggest yearly gain since July 2006. Month-over-month, prices were up 0.3 percent from July to August. 

When excluding distressed sales, which are short sales and REO transactions, prices were up yearly and monthly by 4.9 percent and 1 percent, respectively. 


CoreLogic’s Pending HPI points to further increases into September. Prices including distressed sales are expected to rise by 5 percent yearly and 0.3 percent monthly. 

“Sustained economic recovery in the U.S. requires a healthy housing market. You cannot have a healthy housing market without price stabilization and ultimately home price appreciation,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic, in a release. “Improving pricing trends over the past few months and our forecast for continued gains in September bode well for a progressive rebound in the residential housing market.”

On a state-by-state basis, all but six states saw price gains. 

Including distressed sales, the five states that appreciated the most over a one-year period were Arizona (+18.2 percent), Idaho (+10.4 percent), Nevada (+9.0 percent), Utah (+8.9 percent) and Hawaii (+8 percent). 

Rhode Island led with the biggest decline, where prices fell 2.6 percent, followed by Illinois (-2.3 percent), New Jersey (-1.4 percent), Alabama (-0.7 percent) and Connecticut (-0.5 percent). 

Phoenix continued to outshine other metros, rising 21.8 percent from August 2011. Houston ranked second, but was still far behind, gaining 6.3 percent during the same period. Washington D.C. (+4.8 percent), Dallas (+4.3 percent), and Los Angeles (4 percent) were also among the top five.

 Source: DSnews.com
Reported by Esther Cho

Video Blog: Short Sale and HOA Dues, San Diego Short Sale

Video blog about Short Sales and HOA Dues.

Video Blog: What are the qualifications for a short sale?

Today I discusses the qualifications for a Short Sale.

New Listing! Chula Vista 3BR Home $285000

We have listed a new property in Chula Vista.
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Short Sale News: Short Sales Surpass Foreclosures as Banks Agree to Deals

The number of U.S. home short sales surpassed foreclosure deals for the first time as banks became more agreeable to selling houses for less than the amount owed on their mortgages, according to Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS)

Short sales accounted for 23.9 percent of home purchases in January, the most recent month available, compared with 19.7 percent for sales of foreclosed homes, data compiled by the Jacksonville, Florida-based company show. A year
earlier, 16.3 percent of transactions were short sales and 24.9 percent involved foreclosures.

“It’s a fairly recent phenomenon that short sales have been increasing,” Jonathon Weiner, a vice president in the applied analytics division of Lender Processing Services, said in a telephone interview. “Short sales should be the dominant way of disposing of assets” in distress, he said.


Lenders are catching up to short sales after being slow to provide the staffing and incentives necessary to complete the deals, Weiner said. The transactions typically fetch a higher price for banks than sales of homes that have gone through foreclosure. In January, foreclosed homes sold for an average of 29 percent less than comparable non-distressed properties, compared with a 23 percent discount for short sales, according to Lender Processing Services. The gap has narrowed as short sales become more common, Weiner said.

Distressed-Property Inventory The growing percentage of short sales, which don’t require going through the drawn-out foreclosure process, is a sign that the U.S. is making progress in working through its inventory of distressed properties, Weiner said. The increase in short sales also may help values find a floor quicker.

“Our baseline scenario is that home prices will hit a bottom at the end of this year,” he said.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency ordered loan servicers to respond to all short-sale offers within 30 days, and approve or reject them within 60 days, in an effort to expedite a process that can take months longer than conventional home sales, the agency said in a statement today.

The FHFA, which oversees mortgage companies Fannie Mae andFreddie Mac, wants to improve the short-sale process “to prevent foreclosure, keep homes occupied and help maintain stable communities,” Edward J. DeMarco, the agency’s acting director, said in the statement. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae completed 125,456 short sales last year, the most recent period for which figures are available.

Cash Incentives Banks including Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)last year began giving cash inducements as high as $35,000 to selected homeowners who agreed to a short sale as a way of speeding up the process.

Bank of America Corp. paid $19.9 million in the first two months of this year for 22,534 homeowners to relocate after short sales and deeds in lieu of foreclosure, when borrowers agree to return the property deed in exchange for debt forgiveness, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said March 16. Its short sales rose 31 percent in January and February from a year earlier.

Banks have struggled to reduce losses from delinquent mortgages. Almost 4.4 percent of homes with loans had received a notice of foreclosure sale at the end of 2011, the 11th consecutive quarter the rate has been higher than 4 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Falling Foreclosures Foreclosure filings, including notices of defaults and bank repossessions, fell 16 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier after lenders under legal scrutiny slowed actions against delinquent homeowners, RealtyTrac Inc. reported April 12.

Lender Processing Services, a 2008 spinoff from title-insurance company Fidelity National Financial Inc. (FNF), counts short sales by tallying mortgage and property transfer documents filed with county recorders, Weiner said.

Other reports haven’t shown the same magnitude of short-sale growth. The National Association of Realtors reported that 13 percent of transactions were short sales and 22 percent were foreclosures in January. In February, short sales increased to 14 percent and foreclosure-related transactions declined to 20 percent, the group said March 21.

Showing an ‘Uptick’ The Realtors collect their data from transactions on the Multiple Listing Service, a database of homes on the market, and a survey of about 3,000 members, said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the association.

“The February data is showing a bit of an uptick,” he said in an e-mail from Washington. “We’re hearing the process is going a bit more smoothly now, so that comes as no surprise.”

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported a preliminary 19,600 short sales in January, compared with the Lender Processing Services tally of 48,721. An April 6 HUD report showed that the number of short sales rose 4.3 percent from a year earlier as the number of real estate owned, or REO, sales -- another name for foreclosure sales -- fell 39 percent.

Before agreeing to accept a loss on a short sale, lenders usually require homeowners to show evidence of hardship, such as inability to afford their mortgage payments or the need to relocate for a job, said Weiner of Lender Processing Services.

California, Arizona Short sales outnumbered foreclosures in states with some of the largest shares of homes facing foreclosure, such as Arizona,California, Florida, Nevada and New Jersey, Lender Processing Services reported.

In New Jersey, short sales have exceeded REO deals every month since June 2010. In January, short sales accounted for more than 15 percent of the 3,033 New Jersey homes sold, compared with 3.9 percent for foreclosures. It took 966 days for banks to repossess a home in New Jersey, second only to New York, according to RealtyTrac. Both states require judicial hearings for foreclosure approval.

In New York, where it takes 1,056 days to repossess a home, 7.9 percent of purchases in January were short sales while 2.3 percent involved bank-owned properties.

“In general, markets where larger incentives are provided usually have extended foreclosure timelines, such as Florida,”Tom Goyda, a spokesman for Wells Fargo, said in an e-mail from Ellisville, Missouri. Wells Fargo, which doesn’t disclose its short-sale totals, offers homeowners as much as $20,000 to relocate, he said.

Florida Short Sales In Florida, the number of short sales has exceeded foreclosures since July, according to Lender Processing Services. That’s about nine months after banks imposed a moratorium on home seizures amid allegations they used improper documentation and forged paperwork to claim title to properties with delinquent mortgages. The five largest loan servicers, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan, agreed in February to a $25 billion settlement of the
allegations.

In California, which has the largest number of homes facing foreclosure, short sales have outnumbered sales of bank-owned homes since August. In January, 37.2 percent of homes sold in the state were short sales compared with 25.8
percent for foreclosures, according to Lender Processing Services.

Banks have sped up the short-sale approval process, requiring less paperwork to prove hardship, especially for homeowners who haven’t made a mortgage payment for months on their primary residence, said Ethan Gregory, a broker with First Coast Realty Associates in Jacksonville, Florida. Banks have offered his clients as much as $13,000 to relocate, an incentive that gets the homeowners engaged in selling the home, he said.

Banks “embraced it before the settlement, but the settlement pushed them to do more streamlining,” said Gregory, whose firm handles about 50 short sales a year. “They understand it’s really the best exit for them.”

Source: bloomberg.com
Reported by John Gittelsohn