Are there changes afoot for the HECM for purchase reverse mortgage program?

Yes, it appears so. The new Federal budget, currently working its way through various committees in the Legislature, have reworked the HECM for purchase Reverse mortgage program to decrease the amount of funds that will be available to seniors in the reverse mortgage transaction. While some of the costs of the loan have actually decreased, this potential reduction in benefits could affect seniors who are considering options related to buying a home utilizing a reverse mortgage.

The current bills moving through Congress decrease the potential benefit to the senior by anywhere from 10% to 18%, and it seems likely that a compromise will result in a reduction somewhere in between.

How to Get your HECM for purchase Reverse Mortgage now

Give me a call ASAP. The new laws are purported to lower the benefit amounts as above by October 1, 2010. There is still plenty of time for a senior 62 years or older to take advantage of the more liberal benefits currently available.

Best Moonlight Musical Nears End of Run – Don’t Miss It

Crazy For You, a wonderfully danced and acted musical by the Gershwins is in its last weeks here at the Moonlight Amphitheater in Vista. I saw this fabulous musical last night, and really wanted to shout out loud after having done so.

This is fun, frolicking, and filled with some of the best dancing I’ve seen. Choreographed by John Vaughan, you’ll find that tapping and moving in your seat is involuntary and very, very engaging. I loved the dances and the dancers, and some of the routines simply were as good as you would expect to see anywhere in the country.

Well, the night was wonderful, and all the Moonlight staff were generous and fun as usual. Saw friends from all over North County, and was delighted at how grownup and special this Vista theater venue has become.

Go see it.
“Crazy for You”
When: 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays; through Aug. 28
Where: Moonlight Amphitheatre, 1200 Vale Terrace Drive, Vista
Tickets: $22-$45
Info: (760) 724-2110
Web: Moonlightstage.com

Help A Veteran with Housing In Oceanside TODAY

North County Interfaith Council, dba Interfaith Community Services, was founded in 1979 by a handful of diverse faith communities to address the needs of low-income, homeless, and underserved populations. These faith centers regularly encountered individuals in crisis, but were incapable of meeting their needs. Individually, the faith centers were giving handouts, but by creating Interfaith, they were better able to produce change in the lives of the hungry, substance abusers, the mentally ill, homeless, and the unemployed.

As membership and participation grew, Interfaith evolved into a continuum of programs and services that provides the tools and resources people in crisis need to stabilize and rebuild their lives. These programs are organized into five main areas: basic needs, housing, counseling, employment services, and drug & alcohol rehabilitation. Under these department headings are numerous programs covering a broad spectrum of support. Programs are designed to overlap so that each client receives as many services as necessary for his/her specific situation.

Interfaith offers 12 programs throughout North San Diego County, from the coastal City of Oceanside to inland communities south and east of our Escondido headquarters. With more than 3,400 volunteers in direct service, more than 400 member faith centers, and 100 professional staff, Interfaith served 33,700 unique persons with a variety of services just last year. Our staff and volunteers reflect the cultural diversity of each community where we offer programs.

Interfaith’s annual budget exceeds $9 million, and Interfaith’s overhead costs, defined as management and fundraising, are only 9.6%. We have successfully managed millions of dollars from numerous federal, state, county and municipal grants. Interfaith has also been part of national studies by Columbia University and the University of Houston, which have measured and touted the exceptional efforts of Interfaith as national models for welfare reform (Columbia University) and faith-based community development (University of Houston).The Coalition Ministries and Congregations Study completed by Houston was, in fact, funded in part by the Lilly Endowment.

How To Help Today with Transitional Housing for Veterans in Oceanside

Three facilities offer 144 beds for homeless veterans. The newest of those facilities provides lodging for 72 men and women in an apartment complex in Oceanside. In Escondido, Merle’s Place provides a dormitory arrangement for 44 men, and two apartment buildings on Aster Street have 28 beds for male clients. Merle’s Place is named for Merle Fischlowitz, a long-time supporter of Interfaith Community Services.
While housed in the three shared-living facilities, tenants – including seniors and the disabled – work with case management on plans to transition to independent living and, in some cases, to retirement or assisted living arrangements. For most clients, the transitional living period of up to 24 months provides them the opportunity to achieve stability by gaining income and finding permanent housing. Use of alcohol or illegal drugs is banned in the transitional, residential housing programs, which are funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

We need about $500,000 to pay off the mortgage on the Veterans Transitional Housing complex, and if you are a veteran, want to honor a veteran, want to honor the service of all veterans, or simply want to help transition a servant into a productive and fulfilling life, then please consider helping.

You can donate to Veteran’s Housing in Oceanside by contacting Interfaith Community Services using the enclosed form, or simply call:

Greg Anglea
Director of Development
(760) 489-6380 x220
ganglea@interfaithservices.org

Oceanside Chamber of Commerce Weekly Business Offer

Harney Sushi

Harney Sushi is San Diego’s premiere sushi bar and restaurant experience. As fresh as it gets, as imaginative as you want. We offer award-winning sushi and gourmet specialty rolls, an extensive list of wine & local or microbrewed beer, 40 of the world’s best sakes, DJ’s, VIP booths, and much more. For contact information, menus & more, please visit our website at Harney Sushi

How to Get Great Sushi with A Great Offer

All you need to do to get an offer from Harney Sushi in Oceanside is to text OSSDISC to 70101, and you’ll receive this week’s offer with a discounted lunch at one of North County’s best sushi restaurants.

By the way, Harney Sushi is located at 301 Mission Avenue in Oceanside.

Enjoy!

Did you ever wonder why California’s unemployment rate was so high?  Ever wonder why the eighth largest economy IN THE WORLD seems to be down on its knees begging for life support?

Recently Governor Schwarzenegger discovered after seven years in office that that the California bureaucracy seemed to be out of control at the State and local level.

According to the governor’s story, this businessman decided a year ago that he should expand into California as well, and selected a site in the southern part of the state and set to work preparing to open the first of what he hoped would be numerous restaurants around the nation’s most-populous state.

But then the not-so-invisible hand of state bureaucracies stuck a, uh, middle finger into his plans and as Schwarzenegger tells it in this 5-minute video, a swarm of inspectors descended on the would-be restaurant and triggered the interminable flood of restrictions, paperwork, regulations, and the sheer abuse of power.

Seems California will be the State that ate itself pretty soon. More regulations than you can throw a stick (or middle finger) at, and more gridlock at the legislative level. Hey, Sacramento, any progress on passing a balanced budget? It was due July 1st………

Have a great Tuesday. Remember to do your part whenever you can to vote for smaller and smarter.

Overview of Oceanside CA Home Prices Reveals…….

The trend now is pretty clear.  Home prices for the Oceanside area have trended to a virtual pause.  That is, the housing market here in Oceanside is now very, very stable.  Prices and inventory of homes have not changed much in the past two months, and while buyers still benefit from the historically low interest rates that are available, there seems to be no trend toward prices falling any further.

The graph above (click on it to see it better) indicates that the home prices in Oceanside have truly stabilized, and while they are moving upward, they are doing so in a very slow and measured pace.

Oceanside’s Top Real Estate firm can help you buy or sell your home

Don Reedy and the Prudential California Realty team of experts are once again J.D. Powers and Associates best value for real estate in North San Diego County.  Enjoy reading about homes and other ideas here, and then when you want to see a home, or find out how to get the most for your home, give us a call.

We are surrounded by Miracles.  We are surrounded by ingenuity.  Take a few minutes today to reflect on the world that could be if we could share, learn and grow together.

Of course, to do all of this would require some common sense….but that’s for another post, another day……..

India develops world’s cheapest “laptop” at $35

NEW DELHI — India has come up with the world’s cheapest “laptop,” a touch-screen computing device that costs $35.

India’s Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal this week unveiled the low-cost computing device that is designed for students, saying his department had started talks with global manufacturers to start mass production.

“We have reached a (developmental) stage that today, the motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of them cumulatively cost around $35, including memory, display, everything,” he told a news conference.

He said the touchscreen gadget was packed with Internet browsers, PDF reader and video conferencing facilities but its hardware was created with sufficient flexibility to incorporate new components according to user requirement.

Sibal said the Linux based computing device was expected to be introduced to higher education institutions from 2011 but the aim was to drop the price further to $20 and ultimately to $10.

The device was developed by research teams at India’s premier technological institutes, the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science.

India spends about three percent of its annual budget on school education and has improved its literacy rates to over 64 percent of its 1.2 billion population but studies have shown many students can barely read or write and most state-run schools have inadequate facilities.

Copyright 2010 Reuters.

Seems all the states, and now the District of Columbia, are trying to stay up with California’s earthquake quota.  Today an earthquake rocked Washington, D.C. with its biggest quake in over 40 years.

The question is, does this earthquake teach us anything about our own California?

It’s Friday, so on a lighthearted note, I’m going to say that the D.C. earthquake teaches us that the continuing fiscal crisis in California is making its way across the country, trying to wake us up. It’s rumbling here in California now, only you won’t feel the tumbler until perhaps it’s too late.

Message to members of the California Senate and House……

Pass a balanced budget now.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Old Mission Montessori School Oceanside

Christmas in July will again take place at the Old Mission Montessori School in Oceanside on July 10th and July 11th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Over 100 booths with artisans, jewelry, homemade products, art, toys and Christmas novelities will be available.

An auction will take place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 11th, and there will be food, music and other festivities.   Here’s the location to help you find it.

Old Mission Montessori School In Oceanside

Summer is here. What’s happening to Oceanside home prices?

If you click on the picture above you’ll see that the trend is stable, with some potential for a downward shift in prices.  What makes this clear is that the average price of an Oceanside home has remained stable at $359,900, while at the same time the inventory of homes on the market has increased.  Check out the chart below.

You will see that the number of homes for sale in Oceanside during the past 7 days has increased about 10% over what it has been averaging for the 90-day period coinciding with it.  If home prices were up, I’d say that was a good thing for Oceanside home prices; a sign that home valuations were solid.  But that’s not the case.  It looks as if the market is soft, and this is at a time of year (summer) when prices typically bound up.

It’s a good time to list your home for sale in Oceanside

No, I’m not crazy.  Even though home prices are stable, if your home is a great home, and you are willing to do what it takes to price your home correctly, and stage your home correctly, then the lowest interest rates in perhaps the last thirty years will help you sell now.

It’s a great time to buy a home in Oceanside

Is it possible that home prices will drop further?  Sure, but IMO not likely.  What is more likely is that prices will stay the same, and now, with an increasing number of Oceanside homes for sale, you will be able to find just the right home at just the right price.  And….the best mortgage rates you’ll ever see.

Thinking of buying or selling.  Call me today to talk and learn more.