Got this one from Augie Scampone today:

Startling San Diego County Foreclosure Statistics

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/11/28/news/01dataparty112807.txt

Within the article, click on the "housing market" hot link in the 3rd paragraph.

This will display another article entitled "An Uncertain Market". Scroll down until you see a sub article in a box called "A Tight Squeeze".

Scroll to the bottom of this small article and open the "View all" window; select a zip code to see how many and the percentage of houses within the selected zip code were in some level of foreclosure in the FIRST 6 MONTHS OF 2007. WOW!!

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

Here's some helpful information:

1) Property Tax Exemptions & Exclusion Relief - this has instructions for those that lost homes in the devastating fires, disabled vets exemptions, EVERY HOMEOWNERS property tax exemption (since values are declining, reduce your property taxes), homestead protection, living trusts & much, much more. You really need to look through this one!!!

2) Incentives to Buy - ideas on selling properties that most sellers won't consider.

3) The Art of Contrarian Investing - ideas on why for now & in the next couple of years it's time to invest & buy.

and 4) Our governator is working to provide assistance also: "Governor Schwarzenegger Announces Executive Order to Assist Wildfire Victims in Recovery Efforts".

My thanks to Fred Eckert of Chicago Title for sharing these documents with us.

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

Property_Tax_Exemptions.pdf
Incentives_to_Buy.pdf
Art_of_Contrarian_Investing.pdf
Assist_Wildfire_Victims.pdf

A Sign of the Times

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

Southland Home Sales Plummet
by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll-->November 14, 2007

La Jolla,CA----Southern California home sales remained at their lowest level in more than 20 years last month, the result of market uncertainty and a continued drop in "jumbo" mortgage financing. Prices have dropped back to spring 2005 levels, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 12,999 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in October. That was up 4.4 percent from 12,455 for the previous month, and down 45.3 percent from 23,745 for October last year, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last month's sales were the slowest for any October in DataQuick's statistics, which go back to 1988. The previous low was in October 1992 when 16,887 homes sold. The October sales average over the past 20 years is 24,725.

To see the rest of the article
http://www.dqnews.com/RRSCA1107.shtm

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

It's official.

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

I'm speaking next Wednesday, November 28, 2007 at 7:00 p.m., for a couple of hours at the Investors Workshops REIA meeting. It will be held in Orange County at the Doubletree Hotel in the City of Orange & located at 100 The City Drive (Chapman & The City Drive). Go to www.investorsworkshops.com for more information. Meeting fee is $25.

I've also agreed to speak at the RealWealth Expo in San Diego, January 10-13, 2008. www.realwealthexpo.com. We haven't decided if my session will be a note buying or creative financing session. Stay tuned.

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

IRS Deadline Extension

Just received this from 1031 Exchange Advantage, Inc.

The recent wildfires in Southern California have affected many of us and we sincerely hope everything is well with you and your families.

The IRS has issued an extension notice for most counties in Southern California including, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

The following criteria must be met to qualify for the extension under Revenue Procedure 2007-56, Section 17:

The taxpayer is located in one of the counties or is otherwise an affected taxpayer as defined in the Notice, regardless of where the relinquished property or replacement property is located, or otherwise has difficulty meeting the exchange deadlines.

The relinquished property was transferred (or the parked property was acquired by the Exchange Accommodation Titleholder (EAT) in a reverse exchange) on or before October 21, 2007.

If the taxpayer meets these criteria, then ANY 45 day or 180 day deadline that falls within the period on or after October 21, 2007 through January 31, 2008, is extended for an additional 120 days from such previous deadline.

Please contact your tax advisor if you have further questions.

You get another four months to complete identifying a property/properties and then completing your exchange.

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

The Union-Tribune had four negative articles today regarding the dip in real estate: "Realtors say Existing Home Sales to Fall to 5-year Low in 2007, and outlook worsens for 2008", "Home Prices in San Diego Flatten to 3.5 Year Low", "Bank of America writing down $3B in assets" and "Credit Market Problems for Banks May Last Until 2009". Real Estate sales & values are declining. Mortgages are going bad. These articles go along with Countrywide's announcement that they are going to provide workouts with their customers that cannot afford their mortgage payments after the mortgages have reset. Lenders are admitting they have problems! Imagine that?

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

I'm sharing the HomeDex information gleaned from the Sandicor MLS information and provided to North County brokers. You can evaluate the information yourself. The median price of single family detached homes has fallen from $600,000 in June 2007 to $531,000 in October.

homedex_0807.pdf
homedex_0907.pdf
homedex_1007.pdf
homedex_1107.pdf

I wish you… Invest Intelligently!!!

Ward Hanigan is speaking to the SDCIA on Wednesday November 14th. His presentation title will be "Foreclosure Investing In a Deteriorating Buyer's Market". Be there or be square. I believe Ward is the foremost authority in the country on foreclosures! And Ward will be holding a raffle...

Bruce Norris will be our speaker on Wednesday December 19th. He will have lots of new material to share with us. I was able to preview some of the new information when I attended Bruce's presentations in L.A. & Orange County while we were displaced last month. The SDCIA will also have our annual the Christmas party that evening with lots of giveaways & hors d'oeuvres.

Next year, starting on Tuesday January 8th, the SDCIA meeting moves to the second Tuesday of each month.

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

My last beginner calculator class of the year will be in Orange County, at a site to be determined, on Saturday November 17. This was a surprise addition due to our November 10 class filling up. I limit the number of students per class to 15 because it's a workshop. Below is a pdf file with details of the class except location.
flier_OC_Nov172.pdf

Please contact Floriana by email (workshops@ricasahomes.com) if you're interested.

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

The NoteWorthy convention for those brokering & investing in notes was larger this year. That’s a sign of the times. And it’s interesting that the paper business is gaining in popularity and institutional money is tighter. The institutions that buy notes are suffering right along with the credit crunch and they’re buying criteria are extremely tight… right now. That will change as time goes on. What that means is that you’ll need to find private sources of money to buy notes in the near future. You can do it. I’ve made a career of buying notes & making loans using private money. Just be VERY CAREFUL!!!! And follow the rules.

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

I’ve made several presentations recently: Inland Empire REIA, my beginner calculator class in San Diego, the NoteWorthy convention and the Robert Campbell Timing the Real Estate Market subscriber’s conference. The note business is counter-cyclical to the real estate market and is now becoming more popular. I’ve been showing folks a couple of ways to profit from the upcoming market by using/creating paper.

Bob Campbell is a sneaky bugger. He invited me to speak at his subscriber’s conference. I was happy & honored to do it. He advertised for the conference with my name as a presenter. Then a week before the conference he gave me a dress code!!! Those attendees are my witness that I do own a suit & tie. Yes, that's me.

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

Today, I’m sitting in John Schaub’s “Making It Big On Little Deals” seminar in Costa Mesa. I just learned that he probably won’t teach next year. John’s putting on an All-Star event in Las Vegas May 1,2,3,4, 2008. Go to it. I’ll say this again, “Go to seminars from instructors like John Schaub, Peter Fortunato, Jack Miller, Jimmy Napier, Jay Decima & others like them because they’re still teaching… and not for much longer.”

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!

Oh oh say can you see by the fires’ burning light. Boy was that true last week! I was one the million people that evacuated San Diego county due to the fires. We were fortunate in that we didn’t suffer any loss. However some of our friends weren’t as fortunate. I truly hope that you weren’t one of those unfortunates. If you were I hope you’re getting the assistance you need.

I ran away because I have asthma and have a need to breathe. We returned this past Sunday evening. The air was still bad. I actually evacuated to “SmelLA”; where I originally moved from due to the polluted air…

What will these fires mean to Southern California? Here’s what I think:
- The price of single family properties will either: slow the free-fall or stop.
- Rents will rise as vacancies disappear.
- Jobs, especially in construction and lending, will come back.
- The economy of the area will improve.

Why? Well several reasons:
- The government will bring in emergency funds & low interest loans to repair the damage caused by the fires.
- Construction workers will come back into the area because of the newly created jobs to rebuild the houses that burned.
- The people that lost their houses first moved into local hotels, in with friends or left the area. They will need places to live in order to continue with their lives.
- Those same people need to replace the items they lost. So grocery stores, home improvement stores, etc., will sell more stuff.
- The very slow and ponderous building permit process will be streamlined and faster. So now might be a very good time to add on a bedroom & bath to all those old 2 bedroom, one bath bungalows. You will improve the marketability, value & get more rent.

I’m sure you can think of lots of others reasons.

So if you can purchase a property properly and have property management skills… now’s a good time to invest locally again.

I wish you... Invest Intelligently!!!