Stephen MacLeod's Blog

Mira Mesa California real estate market snapshop. Fannie Mae released a survey report showing 70% of those polled in June and July feel now is a good time to buy.  Homes are now more affordable then they have been in years and with mortgage interest rates being at all time low make monthly paymen...

Oceanside real estate maket snapshot. Greetings, Recently the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) introduced the "Short Refinance" program designed to help home owners refinance their existing homes if they owe more money than it's worth. The goal of this process is to refinance your existing mo...

Greetings, If you are in the market to purchase a home and find a property that needs repairs but you are a little short on funds, this loan may be for you. FHA's Streamlined 203(k) program permits homebuyers to finance up to an additional $35,000 into their mortgage to improve or upgrade their h...

Welcome back, A recent study revealed that nearly 2,500,000 California homeowners have a negative equity condition and upwards of 30% of homeowners are now consumed by the negative equity trend which inverted the value of their home. Consequently the number of individuals choosing to walk away fr...

Greetings, Now is a good time to buy a home. Most of the other buyers have now vanished, as the tax credits on purchases have just expired. We're four to five years into the biggest housing bust in modern history. And prices have come down a long way- about 30% from their peak, according to Stand...

Welcome back, Nearly 9 out of 10 buyers search for homes online, according to National Association Of Realtors. Now you have available to you one of the most comprehensive websites in San Diego. Contact me and I will show you how to get the most out of this website for your new home search. The k...

Greetings, The statewide median price of an existing single-family home increased 10.4 percent in July to $314,850compared with July 2009. Locally, the keymetrics below will provide some insight into the Carmel Mountain Ranch single family home, and condo/townhome market: Carmel Mountain Ranch Si...

Welcome Back,   Did you know in a 1031 Exchange the IRS considers the transfer of encumbered property back to a lender in lieu of foreclosure, as a sale that is subject to recognition of gain or loss under Section 1001? Worse yet, if the debt is nonrecourse, the entire amount of debt is included ...

Greetings, When applying for a loan it is important to know lenders scrutinize all elements of a mortgage application, but one factor remains critical: The debt-to-income ratio, or the percentage of a borrower's monthly gross income that goes toward housing expenses.  If it surpasses 36 percent, ...

Greetings, The percentage of homeowners who reduced their listing prices rose approximately 3 percent in August compared with July, according to a monthly survey conducted by ZipRealty which examines home listings in 26 major markets. The San Francisco, Orange County, San Diego, and Los Angeles m...