June Market up by 22 percent in Oceanside

July 6, 2011

June turned out to be a good month over all in the Oceanside Real Estate market. Currently there are 465 re-sale homes on the market but more importantly, we closed 122 which is up by 22% over the past several months! We still are predominantly in the distressed sales arena with 58% of the available homes requiring short sale approval. The balance is REO homes and traditional sales.

With interest rates still under 5%, it just makes sense to go ahead and buy. You will see mixed messages out there about the market. More analyst than not are saying we are still in for some devaluation. Please understand that when they speak, they are speaking about the nation as a whole and not the San Diego specific market place. Here is the reality: Even if prices in our area where to fall another 10%, locking in your future with an interest rate as low as we have available really makes that 10% insignificant. There is no doubt in my mind that we will see interest rates start to rise at the end of this year. It may be a very short time when rates return to 7-8% which by the way, is still considered a phenomenal rate. That type of increase however will significantly impact affordability. 5-10 years from now, I guarantee that you will be glad you took advantage of the low rates.

Oceanside, where it's cheaper to buy than rent!

May 6, 2011

I have been a Realtor in California for the past 24 years and I cannot think of another time when it actually was true that it was cheaper to own a home rather than renting. According to North County Times reporter, Eric Wolfe, such a time has occurred in 2 cities in San Diego County. One of those cities was Oceanside and the other one is Poway.

Recently I had a client who fell right into the story of our subject line. This young Marine and his wife decided that it was time for them to buy their first home. Though their budget was very limited, we found a very nice little 2 bedroom 2 bath town home with a nice size patio/yard and a 1 car garage. The cost was $155,000 and we were even able to get the seller to pay for all of the buyers closing cost. When all was said and done, their monthly payment with principal, interest, taxes, insurance and home owner’s dues totaled $1350.00. If they were to go out and rent that same house, they would be paying $1400.00-$1500.00 per month.

What a great way to get started! If they needed to relocate, there wouldn’t be any problem renting the home and someone else would be making their entire payment for them! Did I mention that he used a VA loan and didn’t have to come out of his pocket with any money?

The good news is that this isn’t an isolated story. There are a number of homes out there where this scenario can be played out. I recently compiled my top 15 list of homes that are extraordinary buys. If you would like me to email you this list, just send me a quick note and I would be happy to do it. I look forward to the possibility of speaking with you soon. Happy month of May!

Real Estate Market Conditions

June Market up by 22 percent in Oceanside

Oceanside, where it's cheaper to buy than rent!