Several of these sites offer nearby recent sales, with the promise that savvy sellers can go online, input your address and find out what specific homes in your neighborhood have sold for lately — some even go so far as to take the leap from what those homes have sold for to placing an estimated value on your home.

These sites try hard to do a lot of the work for you — surfacing the homes they see as comparable to yours.

However, these are just that – computer programs that rely on formulas, not necessarily all the facts.

So, what’s involved is a computer taking the description of your home from the public records (which usually reside at the county recorder’s office and in their databases) or from a recent listing (if your home has been sold in the past few years), in terms of the number of bedrooms, bathrooms and square feet, primarily, and pulling out the closest homes to yours that have sold recently that have similar data on record.

However, the computer can’t necessarily distinguish nuances in a property’s condition or aesthetics, nor does it always correct for whether the house two blocks over was a short sale or a foreclosure.

Depending on where you live, how similar homes are to each other in your area, the level of sales activity near your home and the level of accuracy found in the public records for your house and nearby homes, these sites can offer very comparable “comps” — or comparables that aren’t really comparable at all.

If you live in a fairly cookie-cutter subdivision where several homes just like yours have sold very recently, you’re likely to get a good set of comparables, and a value estimate that’s at least in the ballpark. But in many areas, lots of fairly common scenarios can come between you and a good set of automated comps:
• if your home is older and has had a lot of improvements and even additions that are not in the county records, you’re likely to get bad comps;
• if homes in your area are very different from each other, you might get bad comps;
• if you live in a neighborhood very nearby another neighborhood where homes have a much higher or lower value than your area’s (say, because they belong in a better school district or even on the other side of the city limits), you’re prone to getting bad comps;
• if your home is in an area where homes are dense, the algorithm might jump over many very nearby properties to get to a relatively dissimilar one even a half-mile away, and that can give you bad comps.

The listings provided by the sites can be very useful for homeowners trying to stay on top of what homes around theirs are selling for — not listed for, but actually selling for. They are less useful, in my opinion, at placing values on properties; the sites that do this usually have their accuracy rates listed somewhere on the site, and I haven’t yet seen one that’s impressive.

But when it’s time to actually list your home, or figure out what it is worth, no computer — no algorithm — is as accurate as a living, breathing local real estate professional who sees and sells all the different specimens of homes in your neighborhood and sees firsthand what ready, willing, qualified buyers actually pay for them, day in and day out.

This is a great way for you to do some initial research.  But one of the reasons that agents are so invaluable to the home buying and selling process is that they bring more, structured, valuable, precise information to their clients.

Two prominent home-price indices continued to show declines in September and October, with one outlook indicating no more than flat growth in the next two years.

A home-price index report from loan data aggregator Lender Processing Services showed the national average sales price for single-family homes fell 4.4 percent year over year and 1.2 percent month to month in September, to $202,000.

LPS’ Home Price Index, tracks monthly sales in more than 13,500 ZIP codes. Prices declined on a monthly basis in all ZIP codes covered by LPS. The top 20 percent of homes (selling for more than $317,000) saw a slightly smaller monthly decline, 1.2 percent, than the lowest 20 percent (selling for less than $102,000), which saw a 1.4 percent drop.

“Home prices in September were consistent with the seasonal pattern that has been occurring since 2009,” said Kyle Lundstedt, LPS Applied Analytics’ managing director, in a statement.

“Each year, prices have risen in the spring, but revert in autumn to a downward trend that has not only erased the gains, but has led to an average 3.7 percent annual drop in prices to date. The partial data available for October suggests a further approximate decline of 1.1 percent.”

A report released by property data firm CoreLogic bears out the monthly decline in October. For the third straight month, nationwide single-family home prices fell on both a monthly and yearly basis, dropping 1.3 percent from September and 3.9 percent from October 2010. Excluding distressed sales (short sales and real estate owned home sales, also known as REOs), October’s index fell 0.5 percent from a year ago.

“Home prices continue to decline in response to the weak demand for housing. While many housing statistics are basically moving sideways, prices continue to correct for a supply and demand imbalance. Looking forward, our forecasts indicate flat growth through 2013,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a statement.

The index was down 32 percent in October from an April 2006 peak. Excluding distressed sales, the drop was 22.4 percent. CoreLogic’s index is based on 30 years of data for repeat sales transactions, and “price, time between sales, property type, loan type and distressed sales.”

Home Amenities:

• 3684 square feet
• 5 Bedrooms
• Bonus Room
• 4.5 Baths
• Outdoor Courtyard and Deck
• 3 Car Garage
• Front and back yard landscaping included (NOT typical in new construction)
• Upgraded wood flooring
• Gourmet kitchen with granite counter tops, and Bosch stainless steel appliances
• Access to La Costa Oaks amenities (clubhouse, two pools, fitness center, playgrounds)
• Encinitas and San Dieguito school districts

If you or someone you know may be looking for a fabulous home in La Costa Oaks, contact us!

I guess the biggest differentiator is if it is a short sale or not.

If it is not a short sale, if you make a back up offer, and the seller has options, they can use the two offers against each other to drive up the price.  It also puts the first buyer in a position where they may accept the house under less than ideal circumstances solely because there is a back up offer that might take it if they don’t.  It gives the existing offer less bargaining power, giving the seller advantages over both of you!

If it IS a short sale, it may be completely different!  Because short sales typically take a very long time to get bank approval, it is very common that after making an offer, the original buyer may have found another property, and have moved on.  So the bank will often quickly move on to the back up offer.

Each situation is different, but when you find a home that you might like, talk to your Carlsbad real estate agent to discuss your negotiation strategy.  They will determine what might be best for your situation, especially based on how much you may want THAT house!

The La Costa Greens Presidio Club House
Tennis Courts
A Luxury Fitness Facility
A Competition Swimming Pool
Community Playgrounds
Community Walking Trails
Community Grills

In addition to all of these community amenities, Viridian at La Costa Greens is also on the La Costa golf course.

Viridian homes are between 2,800 and 4,200 square feet, starting with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths (with the three bedroom homes having either a bonus room or an optional fourth bedroom), going as high as five bedrooms, with a cabana for private living.

The Viridian at La Costa Greens homes are part of the prestigious, high ranking Carlsbad Union School District, going to Poinsettia Elementary School and Carlsbad High School.

Living in La Costa Greens will give you access to  some of the premier shopping, restaurants, fitness centers, and entertainment.

If you are interested in buying or selling a La Costa Home, contact The Mewborn Team.  We are experienced, full time agents, that live in La Costa and are La Costa area experts.

The simple answer is probably – as long as you aren’t too far into the purchase transaction.  If your Carlsbad real estate agent is savvy, they have normally written a number of contingencies into your purchase contract – allowing you to get the home appraised, get loan approval, get an inspection, etc.  The period of time for you to get all these answers, and “remove your contingencies” is typically 14 to 17 days.

At the end of that time period, you either have to sign off on the contingency removal, or get the seller to agree to an extension of a contingency.

HOWEVER – Buyer BEWARE!!!  If you are purchasing a San Diego foreclosure or San Diego REO property, then you have likely signed a very “non-standard” California purchase agreement.  Most REO homes have very specific terms that will often leave you without your earnest deposit if you pull out of the purchase.

This is one of the largest reasons most buyers should have a buyer’s agent working on their behalf!  You want a representative that has a fiduciary responsibility to look out for YOUR best interest – even if it costs the agent a sale!  If you are working with the agent that is representing the bank, they have been hired specifically by the bank to get this home sold – and unfortunately, it is YOUR interests that suffer!

As always, if you are in a current situation, and need legal advice, we strongly encourage you to contact a real estate attorney.  If you have general questions, or are looking for a La Costa or Carlsbad home for sale and would like someone to ensure that YOUR best interest is protected, contact The Mewborn Team.  We promise to always deal with our clients with fairness, honesty, and integrity, giving you as much information as possible to make your best decisions!

Who ever would have guessed that we would actually see interest rates in the 2% to 3% range – especially for a prolonged period of time?  It AMAZES me that these rates have continued.  When I bought my first house in 1997, my interest rate was 8.5%, and everyone told me what a great rate that was.  REALLY????

If you are looking for a $500,000 home today, this is what it would look like at different rates (assuming a $500,000 purchase, 1% in property taxes and $500/year in hazard insurance)

As you can see, just a 3% change in interest rates can make as much of a difference as $1,000/mo in your payment.  As most of us are looking at buying a home, we normally buy at the absolute top of our price range.  We always want the nicest home we can get at the best payment possible.

So, if you are seriously looking for a home, this might be the time to jump into the market!  It seems to be the “perfect storm” for potential buyers – historically low home prices AND historically low interest rates.

If you have any questions, always feel free to contact The Mewborn Team.  We’re always happy to answer any questions or find you a resource that will be able to meet your needs!

By being pre-approved, you know what you qualify for, as well as what the bank will actually lend you -so there aren’t big, disappointing surprises at the “end” of your transaction!

As a lender is looking at whether or not they will lend you money, one of the first, and biggest things they will do, is to look at your debt to income ratio.  What is that?  How is it calculated?

To make it simple – your debt to income is the percentage of your income that is spent on loans (car loans, home loans, credit card debt, etc).  Your other expenses – utilities, insurance, etc are not included in this calculation.

In order to get a loan in today’s environment, your debt to income (DTI) often has to be below 40-45% of your gross income.  So in order to get a better idea of what you can afford, add up all your monthly loan payments and divide it into your total monthly income.  This simple calculation will give you your current debt to income ratio.  It will also tell you how much more monthly debt you can take on to remain below that 40-45% of your gross income.

If you have any questions about calculating what you may be pre-approved for, please contact The Mewborn Team.  We would be happy to work with you and a lender to get you pre-approved for a loan for your future home!