Your home's value is in your hands

Most of  us know that the value of our home is pretty important.  If you don’t know exactly what your home is worth, then you need to come see us at the San Diego Business Showcase.

Your home’s value is important

Since much of an average homeowner’s financial portfolio is tied up in the value of their home, knowing exactly how the market is affecting that value is important.  Will you be able to access funds from your home?  Are you upside down?  Can you take advantage of loan programs, equity financing or other tax planning techniques to better use the value of your home?

Free Home Valuation

Come to our booth at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on April 7, 2010, between the hours of  2 p.m. to 7 p.m.  We’ll offer you a complimentary valuation of your home, answer questions you may have, or just talk about the housing market here in San Diego.  We’re experienced real estate professionals who know what you need to know, and how to make it easy for you to get that information.

Sign up for VIP Treatment

Take advantage of signing up early, and receive VIP access to reports and valuations for you home and those homes of interest in your neighborhood.  Head to The VIP Real Estate Opportunity at our website, and get yourself on track for having information available 24 hours a day.

If you want a question answered immediately, just give us a call at 760-802-9713, and we’ll be happy to help.

Manage your money to help buy your home

One of our good friends and business associates is Accounting Value.  This North County small business is owned and operated byJuan and Natalie Ibarra.  They are members of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, LeTip Business Networking, and a host of other community organizations. They are sought after for their expertise in tax preparation and accounting value, and Natalie is known as one of the premier Quickbooks accounting gurus in the San Diego area.

And they are going to be at the San Diego Business Showcase on April 7th to meet and talk with you. Additionally, they are providing clients of Prudential California Realty and Don Reedy the chance to register for a free accounting consult.

Here’s what Accounting Value can do for you

The experienced accounting professionals at Accounting Value, Inc. work with you to:

• Manage & train staff
• Ensure Employees are productive and efficient
• Provide Operational business consulting
• Set-up Company Procedures & Guidelines
• Perform Budgeting, Forecasting and Cash Flow
• Complete Special Projects
• Stand in as Expert Witness
• Prepare Case Documentation With accounting consulting from AV, Inc., You will benefit from standard business practices and years of diversified practical experience.

Tax Considerations of Owning Real Estate

One of the reasons so many clients love working with us is that we provide access to a team of professionals who help with all aspects of buying or selling a home. Our networking associates, Juan and Natalie Ibarra of Accounting Value, work with us to provide tax advice and counseling to all clients who want to know all they can know, save all they can save, and be prudent in their financial dealings with the purchase or sale of their home.

Stop at our real estate booth at the San Diego Business Showcase

We’ll be talking to people from all over San Diego about buying a home, selling a home, financing a home, and how to find the best services available to maintain your home and real estate related finances.  Accounting Value will be providing the opportunity to get a free valuable consult as part of their participation in the San Diego Business Showcase and Expo. Here’s what you’ll get….

Free 30-minute consultation and needs asssessment to any first time client.

We take a look at several areas to develop a recommendations list for you at no cost including but not limited to:

• Accounting software
• Staff
• Business industry
• Business history
• Data “cleanliness”
• Goals for Growth

Stop by and see Don Reedy and the professional real estate folks at the Prudential California Realty Booth, or give us a call now at 760-802-9713 to schedule an appointment to talk with us about your home needs.

 Think you have this much time to sell your home?

Are you coming to the San Diego Business Showcase? I’m hoping you’ll say “Yes”, and mostly because if you have been sitting on the fence, wondering whether you should sell your home now, I want to be able to meet with you and give you a number of reasons why now truly is the time to sell.

Home Prices are NOT going up…any time soon

That’s what I truly believe based on my experience and knowledge of the San Diego real estate market.  Any by real estate market I mean your home! I hope that you will take the time to read this article by Jeff Brown, a well respected Realtor in San Diego. This guy absolutely nails it for those of you who love financial analysis. Even if you ultimately find points of disagreement, it’s something you should be thinking about, and how that will affect your home value, your investment portfolio value, and the value of all of your undertakings in the next several years.

San Diego Business Showcase is the place to discuss selling your home

Let’s go back to my initial question.  Do you think you have this much time?  It’s a rhetorical question, of course, since you don’t, but because we have been taught to believe that we have all the time in the world to watch our home values increase, we only have to sit back and wait until the inevitable happens. 

I really want to meet with you, talk, network, explore your ideas, the data, and the reasons why you may want to sell your home now rather than wait until the next big increase in property values. 

And I think that doing this while visiting San Diego’s premier business networking eventwill help you put the issues related to home values in a unique perspective you can’t get just by reading, perusing the Wall Street Journal, or even the internet.  Coming to this event is inexpensive (just $10 to get in…and there’s food as well). 

Give me a call, or email me at DonReedySanDiego@gmail.com  I’ll send you some information, as well as an entry into a drawing for some really cool prizes we’re giving away. 

My friends and colleagues, Greg Swann and Cathleen Collins, manage and operate one of the finest real estate companies in America. Their home is in the Phoenix, Arizona area, and they excel in just about every aspect of helping a homeowner sell their home.

Recently Cathleen wrote an article outlining why it’s so very important to get just the right Realtor to list and sell your home, particularly if the sale is going to be a short sale. Here in North County San Diego, with a market similar to that in Phoenix, Cathleen’s advice is just as important, and just as valuable.

Here’s what Cathleen has to say. Read it, and enjoy a professional clearly detailing how and why to make this difficult kind of real estate transaction the best it can be.

It’s tough out there, everybody knows that. Your house may not be worth even half what you paid for it, and you’re having trouble keeping up with the payments. It could be your situation is so dire as to boil down to two choices: Let the bank foreclose on you or try to do a short sale.

What’s a short sale? If you could sell your home for what it’s worth today, you would probably have to come “short” to the closing table: The amount of money you could bring back to your lender from the proceeds of the sale would be less than you owe.

Are banks willing to do this? Yes, in principle. The bank reasons that it can get more money for a home that is still being cared for, as compared to yet another vacant lender-owned home.

What about you? Is a short sale to your advantage? Here’s your bottom line in both cases: Zero dollars and zero cents. That’s how much you’ll receive when your house sells.

So why should you prefer a short sale to a foreclosure?

For one very simple thing, because it’s the more responsible thing to do. You can’t pay your mortgage, and that’s a tragic turn of events. But by helping the bank effect a short sale, you’re doing what you still can to honor your obligations.

Even more important, a successful short sale can be less damaging to your credit than a foreclosure. You’re going to take a hit on your credit rating, either way. But the worst consequences of a short sale could be over in two or three years, where a foreclosure may wreck your credit for five years — or even longer.

On balance, a short sale is probably the better idea. Here’s the next question: Does it make any difference to you which Realtor you hire to list your home for sale as a short sale?

Remember that net figure: Zero dollars and zero cents. Since you won’t be getting any money from the sale of your home what difference does it make to you which Realtor sells it?

As it turns out, it makes a lot of difference. For one thing, no short sale is secure until it is closed. There is always the threat that the bank will go ahead and foreclose on you. You need a Realtor who can put matters in motion quickly, so you can complete the short sale before the bank gets tired of waiting for its money.

There’s more. Many Realtors treat short sales like a red-headed step-child — a slap-dash listing effort focused more on adding to their listing inventory, rather than actively selling your home. But the faster your home sells, the more money it is likely to command — which will make your buyer’s offer that much more attractive to the bank.

So what will make your home sell more quickly?

The answer? Marketing.

Where you and your lender see a short sale, your buyer sees a home. And guess what? Your buyer is seeing a lot of really grungy homes. Dirty. Missing appliances. Crowded floor to ceiling with personal possessions. Even though you have no equity in the property, your marketing problem is no different than in a normal equity sale: How do you get buyers to prefer your home over all the others available on the market?

And this is why it matters which Realtor you choose to list your home as a short sale. Your net might be zero dollars and zero cents, but you still have a lot to lose. The faster your home sells, the more money it will command, and the more money your lender stands to get, the more likely they are to approve your short sale.

It’s that simple. Working with a better Realtor — better not just at the mechanics of short sales but also at the mechanics of marketing — will bring you better, faster, happier results.

This is not a joyous event in you life, that’s understood. But working with the right Realtor on your short sale will help you make the best of a bad situation.

Am I blowing my own horn? Oh, you bet! I have advanced designations in short sale negotiation and management, and I’ve developed an extensive praxis for successfully marketing homes. I’ll bring every bit of this expertise to bear in getting your home sold as quickly and as painlessly as possible.

What’s the cost to you? Zip. Nada. Nothing. We typically charge our sellers an up-front retainer from $1,500 to $2,500. But they’ll be seeing cash at the closing table, and, if you go ahead with a short sale, you will not. We’ll take our compensation from the proceeds of the sale at Close of Escrow, and we’ll pay the buyer’s broker as well. You have nothing to lose by choosing a better listing agent — and a lot to gain.

So let’s talk, shall we? Give me a call at 602-369-9275 (Outside of Arizona? Dial 1-800-508-5430). or email Greg or myself and we’ll get together to figure out the best short sale strategy for your home.

Want to short sell your San Diego Home?

If you live in North County San Diego, and want to take advantage of what Cathleen and Greg do in Phoenix, then please contact me by phone right now.  Just pick up and call 760-802-9713, or click on the Contact Us button above to email.  Remember, there’s never a cost for our advice, and always an experienced ear to listen to your questions.

What Does your Customer Look Like?

The Face of Networking

Ever try buying a home without looking at it?  Sure, it can be done, but unless you’re just investing for the numbers, seeing is believing. 

When you want information on buying or sellling a home, do you head straight to your PC to search Zillow or Yahoo?  Are you more comfortable with relying on Prudential or Coldwell Banker?  Or do you have that Special Realtor in mind?

Let’s Meet at the San Diego Business Showcase

If you look at the picture above you’ll see that there are very, very subtle differences in each of the photos.  Just a small change in shape, color, complexion will make your mind see that person in a different light.  You know it, but it’s hard to describe.

That’s why meeting Don Reedy at the San Diego Business Showcase will help you balance what you’re hearing on the street with the subtle, but very important, distinctions about what IS happening on the street.

It’s Time to Sell Your Home Now….Really

If you have any reason to think about selling your home now, but are certain that the market is not in your favor, then please come and meet face to face with us at the San Diego Business Showcase and Expo.  This is the time to sell, and we’ll outline five reasons why now may be only time to sell if you intend to do so within the next ten years! 

Bring a copy of any of the San Diego Equity Facts Blogs with you to the San Diego business networking event of the year, and I’ll give you coupons good for discounted services from the best of the best here in North County San Diego.

Contact us ahead of time at 760-802-9713 if you want to talk with us before the showcase.  Of, and by the way, this year’s Showcase is taking place April 7, 2011.

It’s pretty standard now to show homes that have been vacated by the owners, either by foreclosure or in a short sale situation. In both cases, the owners have fallen behind in payments, and one way or the other, either by force or by choice, they leave the home vacant.

Enter the all knowing, all seeing, all too oblivious real estate agent. That would be me, by the way, at least the oblivious part. Today I was showing homes in the Temecula area, when at our last home at about 2 pm in the afternoon we entered a vacant home in a very nice neighborhood. The home had a pool that was in apparently good shape, an interior that was slightly outdated but clean, and although there was pretty good light entering through a number of windows, it was otherwise impossible to see because the electricity had been shut off.

That’s when I wandered down an interior hallway and into a very dark bathroom just adjacent to a downstairs bedroom. I took one step in while at the same time running my hand along the wall inside to find the light switch.

Then this. 

Yep, unmistakable sound of a very loud, very nemesing rattle from a sound I’ve heard many times before at my rural home in Vista. Mr. Rattlesnake was lying in the dark, and he certainly wasn’t going to let me come into the bathroom without giving me fair warning.

I’m just writing this now, although it’s been a few hours, because it took quite a long time for the goosebumps to subside and my heart medicine to kick in. If you think seeing a rattlesnake is scary, then you out to encounter the sound of one in the dark. Yikes!

I’ve been bitten by the lure of real estate most of my life, but I think I’ll take a pass on being literally “bitten.”

Anyone out there had any similar experiences?

Get Title Insurance – Things can go wrong!

Forgery

Ever sign your spouse’s name to a check?  Ever had a friend sign your name to something  just because it was easier?  Well, when you’re buying a home, forgery is not a pretty word, and some of the ugliest stories have happened between family members.  Title insurance professionals will tell you that forged deeds, loan documents and other claims against a property happen all the time.  A little anger, mixed with the thought that their crime will get “lost in the paperwork” make for hundreds of stories about relatives and friends who forge a document, and in so doing, create a situation where the ownership of the property is in question.  Those questions bring lawyers and lawsuits, and if they can’t be resolved, then the person riding to the rescue on the white horse is your Title Insurance Company.

Liens

Homeowners get work done on their homes.  Happens on a daily basis, and most of the time the work gets done, paid for, and all is well and good.  But you may know that sometimes work gets down, usually by a General Contractor, and when the contractor does not get paid, that contractor will file a lien against the property for the amount of the bill.  That lien is a recorded document (that means that the document is “recorded” by an official of the governmental body in the location of the property, and it is done so that an official record of the claim or transaction can be referred to later on).  It can happen, however, that the current homeowner does not disclose the lien, and that means that a subsequent buyer will still be responsible for payment to the contractor.  It is also quite common for the mechanic’s lien to never be filed properly at all by the contractor.  Enter Title Insurance to the rescue.  A title search will usually turn up these recorded claims, and they can be dealt with before the sale.  Again, buyer saved from a potential crisis down the road.

Competency

 If you’ve ever had an elderly parent, or suffered through an incapacitating injury to a loved one, then you will know that mental capacity can be diminished or destroyed, cutting that person off from being able to perform the usual tasks we take for granted.  So, let’s say that grandpa, who has been forgetting things and making multiple mistakes in the daily tasks he had once found easy, signs over the home to a neighbor “because they asked him to.”  This may not get recorded, and if it does, is it really a legally binding contract due to the fact that grandpa was of diminished capacity?  The answer is……..don’t know, but you’re going to have legal problems, and again, title insurance will insure against a negative outcome. 

More about title insurance…..

 Contact me if you want to find out specific answers to your questions. My team at California Title Company have all the answers, a willingness to help, and a desire to see that you don’t fall prey to any of the situations above.

Business Networking in San Diego Just Got Easy

Wanted to repost this important news event. We participated in the Showcase this past March, and what we thought we would experience turned out to be just a fraction of the good business karma that abounded at the show. The new San Diego Business Showcase for 2011 will take place in just 358 days, on April 7, 2011. This is a tentative date, but will allow the show exhibitors and attendees to experience an extra hour of daylight, and additional hours to peruse the show.

 Nothing makes more sense to a small business than a great networking event that truly brings in the smartest business people from the area. On March 11, 2010, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, the San Diego Business Showcase and Expo will take place between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. There will be thousands of visitors, and over 200 exhibitors at this year’s event.
What’s more, if you haven’t had the chance to see what the Oceanside Chamber is doing in conjunction with FOURTEEN OTHER SAN DIEGO AREA CHAMBERS, you need to set your networking sites on attending this event.

Will Your Business Work Smarter This Next Year?

The San Diego Daily Transcript is a major sponsor of this year’s event, heralding the importance of business networking for San Diego businesses.  They know that keeping in face to face contact with your clients and competitors, studying new business marketing concepts, and staying abreast of the best and brightest San Diego area busineses will not only make you money, but will position you and your company to work smarter this next year, gain or keep the market share you have, and set the stage for growth.

Don Reedy/Prudential California Realty

We’ll be there as well, of course, as we have for many years.  We can talk about the importance of managing your real estate expectations, getting the front seat for financial input on the market, and taking advantage of many of the loan and tax credits that are currently available for San Diego residents will be a treat for you.  We just love talking, and business networking is all about taking the information we provide on homes to a higher level by meeting and talking face to face with our lenders and agents to see how you can benefit.

Okay, it’s the San Diego Business Showcase on March 11, 2010 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Be a better small business. Experience business networking like it’s meant to be.

Hey folks…..remember, the new and improved San Diego Business Showcase is tentatively scheduled to take place on April 7, 2011, so contact your Chamber of Commerce now to see how to sign up early to exhibit.

Unlocking the secrets of title insurance

What is Title Insurance?

I was talking to Jill Green of California Title Company yesterday. She came in to talk to a couple of the agents at our Prudential California Real Estate La Costa office. Usually seeing a title rep would be of little interest to you……….unless you’re buying or selling a home. Then, these title insurance representatives really earn their way, and help you in ways I think most of you are unaware of.

Title Insurance is Insurance

When you buy a home, you take ownership through a deed, grant or what is commonly called a title.  This document is at the very heart of your ownership in the property.  Is the property actually yours to sell?  Has the property been encumbered?  When you purchase the property, can you rest assured that no one will come calling to say “this property belongs to me…so move out!”

Title Insurance is just what it says.  It is insurance you purchase, both when selling and buying, that assures you and the other party that the home or land that you are negiotating are in fact free and clear, able to be sold or bought, and that you can sleep at night if someone claims future ownership or liens against the property.

Seller’s Title Insurance

The seller of a property will have to obtain title insurance to assure the buyer, and the buyer’s lender, that there are no liens, encumbrances, claims, taxes, defaults or other proceedings against the property that leave it anything but free and clear.  It is possible that at some time there were loans taken out against the property that may not have been recorded.  It is possible that old defaults may have slipped through the cracks of the County Recorder.   (Any of you ever have a governmental agency “goof?” )  If there are errors, even if you did not know about them, you may not actually have full ownership of the property you are going to sell.  So, in order to make sure you do have all those rights, you buy insurance, title insurance, to make sure you can sell.

Buyer’s Title Insurance

When you buy a piece of land or a home, the lender will want you to purchase title insurance.  This insurance will guarantee the lender specifically that the loan they are about to give you is a loan for a home that is not encumbered.  The bank is making you buy insurance, title insurance, to protect them, the bank.  Sorry, no getting around this. 

Title Insurance Costs

During a typical transaction the buyers and sellers will each purchase an insurance policy (title insurance).  The seller will buy title insurance, and pay for it, to prove to the buyer that the home is free of any claims.  The buyer will buy title insurance, and pay for it, to prove to the lender that the home is free from any claims.  The costs for title insurance are fairly similar across title insurance companies.  You can browse rates and comparisons at www.clta.org and of course on www.Caltitle.com.  Remember when pricing that if you have refinanced, sold or purchased within the past five years, you may qualify for a short term rate for title insurance, and that may save you a lot of money depending on the value of your home or land.

Title Insurance – A Summary

Title insurance is insurance both the seller and buyer provide at any real estate transaction.  The title insurance protects all the parties to the transaction, seller, buyer and lender.  Don’t think for one minute that buying title insurance is not important.  It’s the glue that holds together the chain of title to, and the ownership of, the home or land you are about to sell or buy.

Buying or Selling a Home?

Welcome back to the finest business networking event in San Diego.  Once again the San Diego Business Showcase will be the forum for many types of businesses and ideas, and this year Prudential California Realty’s Don Reedy is once again going to share ideas, facts and information about the real estate market in San Diego with all who attend.

Don Reedy is an experienced, award winning Realtor with the North County San Diego office of Prudential California Realty.  His work with both high end and first time homebuyers has brought him lots of associated contacts and sources of information, all of which he shares here at the San Diego Business Showcase, on his blog, and his VIP site for home buyers and sellers.

Join Us to talk about Real Estate

Come join us at our booth to get all your home buying or home selling questions answered.  We can set you up with our valued associates to answer questions about real estate matters, help you get a valuation on your home, discuss recent legislation affecting your home, and help get you the financing you need to purchase the home you want in North County San Diego.