Blood Drive Success!!!!

We're ecstatic to report that our very first (of many!) sponsored Valley Center Blood Drive was a success! We had a goal of 30 pints, and .........drum roll...............



We HIT OUR GOAL!



Thank you to all our donors and sponsors, and we'll do it again to support this worthy cause!

Here's our dedicated group of nurses, one of our co-sponsors, Rick Restivo, and the two of us - (twice, if you count the picture on our banner!)

How important are the schools?

Of all the local neighborhood amenities that can influence a buyer's decision to purchase a home, proximity to good quality schools is one of the most influential. According to The National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, schools were listed as a deciding factor for 19% of home buyers. This Field Guide includes articles and studies on the importance of schools for home buyers and how schools impact local property values

School Quality & the Homebuying Decision

High performance schools: Green/sustainable school buildings create healthier students, happier parents, and more attractive Smart Growth neighborhoods, (On Common Ground, Winter 2005).

Housing and school choice, (Affordable Housing Bulletin (King County, WA), Dec. 2002).

The perceived quality of public schools, (East Carolina University - Department of Economics, July 2000).

Which measures of school quality does the housing market value?, (Journal of Real Estate Research, Nov./Dec. 1999).

Do better schools matter? Parental valuation of elementary education, (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 1999).

School choice through relocation: Evidence from the Washington, D.C. area, (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago - Working Paper Series WP-99-7, Mar. 1999).

Neighborhood school characteristics: What signals quality to homebuyers?, ( Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Economic Review, 4th Quarter 1996).


Impacts of Schools on Property Values

Do good schools or good neighbors raise property values?, (UCLA / Dartmouth College, Apr. 2004).

School quality and property values in Greenville, South Carolina, (Clemson University, Apr. 2003).

School accountability ratings and housing values, (National Bureau of Economic Research, Jan. 2003).

Schools and housing markets: An examination of school segregation and performance in Connecticut, (University of Connecticut, Oct. 2002).

Why do households without children support local public schools? Linking house price capitalization to school spending, (University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School, June 2002).

What's in a grade? School report cards and house prices, (University of Florida - Department of Economics, May 2002).

School performance and housing values: Using non-contiguous district and incorporation boundaries to identify school effects, (National Tax Journal, June 2001).

The capitalization of school quality: Evidence from San Diego County, (San Diego State University - Department of Economics, Spring 2001).

School finance reform and housing values: Evidence from the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, (San Diego State University - Department of Economics, Jan. 2000).

Perception of public school quality and it's effects on housing prices: Evidence from Pitt County, North Carolina, (East Carolina University - Department of Economics, Dec. 1999).

House prices and the quality of public schools: What are we buying?, (Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Business Review, Sept./Oct. 1998).

The impact of school characteristics on house prices: Chicago 1987-1991, (Tufts University - Department of Economics, Aug. 1997).

How much more is a good school district worth?, (National Tax Journal, June 1997).

Magnet schools and the differential impact of school quality on residential property values, (Journal of Real Estate Research, Summer 1990).

Major Mortgage Players Pledge Foreclosure Relief; May Alleviate Fallout

Good news on the lending front! Maybe a rocky road, but a road nonetheless.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have joined the growing ranks of mortgage companies promising to devise ways to help foreclosure-bound subprime homeowners out of their current unaffordable loans. Freddie pledges $20 billion in new relief programs. Combined efforts could reduce the number of foreclosed houses glutting some local markets. Ken Harney reports.

Monday, April 23, 2007
By Kenneth R. Harney, Realty Times
With major mortgage market players pledging new relief plans for financially-strapped subprime homeowners, the foreclosure fallout this year and next may not be as severe as some real estate analysts had forecast.
Chief economists from the National Association of Home Builders and Freddie Mac have cited a potential rise in foreclosed homes as a drag on home sales in the coming months. Freddie Mac chief economist, Frank Nothaft, said in a recent commentary that unknown numbers of "foreclosures may dump new supplies of (unsold houses) onto already-depressed local markets, intensifying the downward price pressure in those areas."
But last week on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, some of the biggest institutions in American home real estate promised new programs to stem the subprime foreclosure tide. Freddie Mac told a Senate foreclosure-avoidance summit last Wednesday that it planned to devote $20 billion to help refinance subprime buyers facing unaffordable payment adjustments or foreclosure into fixed rate conventional loans.
Fannie Mae earlier had announced a new refinancing program of yet-undetermined dollar volume to reach out to ailing subprime borrowers with adjustable rates on the rise. The congressionally-chartered company said that as many as 1.5 million homeowners facing payment shocks may be eligible for Fannie refis into more favorable loans.
Washington Mutual announced last week that it would refinance up to $2 billion worth of subprime adjustables into 30-year fixed rate loans, and cut one half percentage point off its regular fixed rates to make the deals more affordable. Citigroup also announced a subprime refi relief program, and the Federal Housing Administration told Congress it would do whatever possible to accommodate distressed subprime homeowners in its regular insured fixed-rate programs. FHA's rates typically are 3 percentage points or more lower than subprime rates.
At the same time, FHA commissioner Brian Montgomery told a House Financial Services committee hearing that his agency needs Congress to approve "modernization" legislation before it can most effectively help out subprime borrowers. Among the key changes that would give the agency broader clout, he said, are higher loan limits in high cost areas such as California and the Northeast, where FHA currently funds few mortgages because of statutory restrictions.
Fannie's and Freddie's announcements drew the praise of key housing legislators, including House Financial Services chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass), who said their ability and willingness to take on such programs fulfilled part of their public purpose.
Senate banking committee chairman Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Del) held a federal-private "summit" Wednesday bringing together top federal regulators and private mortgage industry leaders. Dodd said the strong interest and commitments from the private sector to assist subprime borrowers makes a major federal "bailout" effort unnecessary. He specifically ruled out a controversial proposal by his committee colleague, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) which would involve distributing "hundreds of millions of dollars" of federal aid to nonprofit and community-based housing counseling organizations around the country for use in assisting foreclosure-endangered subprime borrowers.
"I'm not interested," said Dodd.

link

Sign up to help kids!

What a greaty idea! We can't believe we haven't heard of it before now! There's a way to get Amber alerts sent to your cell phone as a FREE text message. The way it works is, whenever an Amber alert is issued in any of the zip codes you sign up to recieve, you'll get a text message. That way, vital information is distributed quickly, and hopefully, more monsters are taken off the streets.

GREAT idea.

How can consumers receive Wireless AMBER Alerts?

Wireless subscribers, whose wireless devices are capable of receiving text messages, may opt in to receive Wireless AMBER Alerts by registering at www.wirelessamberalerts.org or by visiting their wireless carrier's website.

When they opt in, consumers need to provide their wireless phone numbers, including area code, and designate up to five ZIP codes for which they want to receive Wireless AMBER Alerts.

IMPORTANT: Information you provide will be used solely for the Wireless AMBER Alerts initiative and will not be shared with additional parties.

Interested in Interest Rates?

Friday, April 06, 2007

McLEAN, VA -- Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.17 percent with an average 0.4 point for the week ending April 5, 2007, up slightly from last week when it averaged 6.16 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.43 percent.
The 15-year FRM this week averaged 5.87 percent with an average 0.5 point, up slightly from last week when it averaged 5.86 percent. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 6.10 percent.
Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.92 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, up from last week when it averaged 5.88 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 6.11 percent.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.44 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, up slightly from last week when it averaged 5.43 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.57 percent.

"Mortgage rates have remained within a narrow band of 0.1 percentage points over every week in March," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. "This relative stability is due to mixed economic data releases as to how strong the economy is and whether future inflation will recede. One bright spot this week came from an unexpected increase in pending home sales for February, which suggests the housing market is still healthy."

"Looking forward, the upcoming March employment report and producer price index should offer further insight into the current state of the economy and give us an idea where interest rates are headed in the future."

Great ideas for homeowners

Plants aren't the only "green" things for Spring.....

NAHB Remodelers offer a Top 8 list for home owners who want to remodel green.

o Install maximum insulation in the area to be remodeled.
o Install high-efficiency windows instead of those that just meet the energy code.
o Seal all exterior penetrations in the area being remodeled.
o Purchase only Energy Star&Reg; rated appliances.
o Install only low-flow water fixtures.
o Upgrade to an Energy Star® rated water heater, or better yet a tankless water heater.
o Purchase the highest efficiency HVAC system you can afford.
o Make sure the home improvement is really green.

Resources include:
U.S. Green Building Council.
National Association of Home Builders.
Build It Green.
National Association of Remodeling Industry.
Publications include:
"Hiring and Working With Green Building Professionals" by Practica Consulting an Austin, TX-based green building consultant.
Consumers Union's Greener Choices.
Green Builder.

The market

Monday, April 09, 2007
By George W. Mantor, Realty Times

I keep reading about how the real estate market has changed. It's either "slowed, leveled-off, in a trough, retreated, plunged, plummeted, collapsed, corrected, contracted or returned to normal," depending upon who wrote the story.

More accurately, what has occurred is that the easy surplus of transactions over the last few years that fed the hopes and dreams, if not the mouths of a crush of new licensees, has abated.
The market hasn't changed; it has moved on. And it certainly hasn't returned to normal and never will. There isn't any such thing as a normal real estate market because each market is new and different and unique to now, and driven by not one event but several, some of which never repeat themselves.

Take for example the past five years. Was that a "buying frenzy" as bubble-heads assert? Or, was it a dynamic period resulting from the intersection of real estate favorable circumstances?
Often the events that shape the present take place well in advance of the visible result.

Everyone knows we just had a real estate boom, but few people seem to understand why. Some pundits have gone so far as to argue that the run-up in housing prices was the 21st century equivalent of Holland's infamous "Tulip-Mania."

What writers and academics don't seem to understand is that nobody wants to spend so much to buy a house. There is not only strong resistance to rising prices, but also the very real limit placed on that price by issues of affordability.

This is evidenced by the astonishing pent-up anger that is being expressed in real estate blogs. Fueled by impatience and wishful thinking, these advocates of the bubble theory have disparaged brokers, lenders, builders, and even the buyers themselves for locking them out of the market. People aren't livid about the cost of Cadillacs.

When you understand how we got here it's all perfectly reasonable and logical. Powerful forces are at work here. The circumstances that produced these forces are actually accelerating.
Return with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear.

1978 -- the last "normal" year. Housing was generally affordable and interest rates were 9.5 percent. Between 1980 and 1981, sales plummeted as interest rates topped 16.5 percent. Nothing normal about that. Homes sat on the market for months and many were foreclosed.
Given those circumstances, many practitioners left the business as it seemed impossible to find a way around such an obstacle. Those of us who stuck it out invented a little wrinkle that was quickly maligned and eventually outlawed. "Creative financing" they called it back in the day. Risky, they said. An evil concoction that combined nose thumbing at the existing lender with sellers financing parts of their own transactions. Big banks just loved it. Not!

A loophole in California law allowed a buyer to "take subject to" existing financing without any approval from the lender. Just start making the payments. But the lower interest loans were on properties that had about doubled in value and that left an often sizable gap to be bridged. A higher interest second would be obtained for part of the financing and the seller would carry a reasonable third trust deed for the balance. We would wind up with a "blended" rate equivalent to 11 or 12 percent.

Soon it became apparent that the other advantage was that the buyer didn't need to put twenty percent down, overcoming yet another obstacle in California.

1983 -- the market began to improve dramatically as adjustable rate mortgages began to appear and interest rates began to decline. But for the next seven years, rates would not fall below 10 percent. Yet year after year more homes, both new and resale were being sold.

1988 -- new home sales hit a record 675,000 units while existing homes sales peaked at 3,512,000.

1991 -- new home sales bottomed out at 507,000 while resale closings fell to 3,186,000 units.

1993 -- locally this was not a time of optimism within the real estate industry. But as I looked into the future, I realized that the events preceding the next boom were already underway, and I published my analysis in April in which I predicted the coming boom.

1994 -- Boomers are in their peak family-forming years and should have been flooding the market. Instead the tail end of a brutal recession spooked many potential homebuyers into remaining renters. Pent up demand was building below the surface and as circumstances improved, one by one these over-ripe candidates came off the fence to join the competition for a shrinking inventory.

1997 -- Taxpayer Relief Act radically changed capital gains treatment on profits made on the sale of a personal residence. This began to impact the second home market as well as underscore the financial benefits of home ownership.

1999 -- the appreciation cycle began. Boomers were returning to the market to find limited choices and shortages began to develop in some areas. Boomers will continue to be first time buyers for another decade. Both generations X and Y have had an impact on the market over the last five years and that will continue to grow.

Builders responded, selling a record 885,000 homes in 1998 and 881,000 in 1999.

2000 -- "Dotcom" crash causes corresponding slow down in both new and resale housing.

2001 -- Demand of all types, deferred, pent-up, contemporary, investor refugees from the stock market and accelerated demand combine to overwhelm inventory in many communities.
During the prior decade, builders all but abandoned condominium construction because of rampant defect litigation. The result was that overtime, a smaller percentage of resales would occur at lower prices because that inventory was never built.

And while all of that was unfolding, an evolution in real estate finance was taking place which would make homeownership possible for more people. Today there is a loan for anyone who is responsible with money and has a decent job. That alone is worthy of a moment of pause.
I know that some of you are prone to thinking that many of these new loan types are dangerous to borrowers and, frankly, I think that's nonsense.

I'm from the old school. Give a man a chance, even a desperately slim chance, and see if he can make it. Most will find a way. The idea of a starter loan or a temporary loan is a solid one. The problem is that financing is an area where the industry has done a poor job of educating the consumer.

Factor in historically low interest rates and the explosion of attention that has surrounded the boom and it is easy to explain the events of the last few years.

Along the way real estate development has become more expensive as easy to develop land has disappeared and what remains often has significant challenges.

Material costs have increased, infrastructure costs have increased, labor costs have increased, and the bottom line is that, in many markets, builders are abandoning plans because the consumer cannot afford what it costs to build.

And if they cannot build them for less, the gains of most real estate owners are well protected. These are important talking points to share with everyone you meet.

The economy is solid if not spectacular when compared to historical norms.

The wild card for the next few months will be the number of unoccupied homes in some regions. Will that result in significant declines in value? My bet is that it won't go deep and it won't last long.

Is it really SPRING?

It's so nice to feel the warmth and see the flowers of Spring! We hope you are enjoying the weather and the sights around Valley Center's gardens.

We all could use a few more "April showers", though it is certainly nice to get a jump on the "May flowers", isn't it?

Spring Garden Checklist

The spring season starts early in Southern California, but that doesn't mean that local gardeners are any less busy than gardeners from other regions. Warmer springtime temperatures not only awaken new life in dormant plants, but also ambitious plans for eager gardeners. Although most folks are anxious to get new plants in the ground, it's always a good idea to take care of basic garden maintenance first. If gardeners have not cleaned garden debris and added soil amendments in the autumn months, early spring is a good time to do so. Since winter rains may have carried nutrients below the reach of the root zone, now is also a good time to fertilize lawns, shrubs, trees and planting beds. Such care will result in a magnificent display in later months.

Other spring reminders include:

Plant canned roses now to enjoy blooms during the summer months.
Fertilize established roses.
Buy and plant summer bulbs, such as callas, cannas, dahlias, and gladiolus.
Replace winter-spring annuals with summer annuals, including asters, coleus, impatiens, lobelia, marigolds, petunias, and zinnias.
Purchase and plant perennials to provide structure to the garden.
Start seeds or buy plants for the warm-season vegetable garden. (tomatoes!)

Happy gardening!