Category Archives: Real Estate

HOA Governing documents – Learn it, know it, live it

Posted on March 13, 2019 | Leave a comment

CC&Rs — The CC&Rs document is recorded (amendments also must be recorded), and therefore is also a public document. Associations often use unrecorded, unofficial copies, but official copies can be retrieved from the County Recorder.

CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions) are a long contract automatically binding all owners, and the law holds each to have read, understood, and agreed to its contents… regardless of whether the owner actually did so.

CC&Rs cover how the property is used, maintained and repaired, and very much affects living in that association. There usually will be a section called “Use Restrictions,” listing a number of prohibited activities, although restrictions can also be located elsewhere in the document. Restrictions can range from pet limits to parking to rental restrictions. In multi-story condominium buildings, they may (and hopefully do) prohibit certain flooring surfaces. CC&Rs will also usually address what the HOA maintains and repairs and what is homeowner responsibility.

CC&Rs are amendable through a vote of the membership. However, the stated percentage of votes required for amendments is usually high, making amendment more difficult.

FYI: thinking of buying a condo with a VA loan? The complex must be VA approved.

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Slowest in nation: San Diego home price gains stall

Posted on February 27, 2019 | Leave a comment

Resale home prices in the San Diego metro area increased the slowest in the nation in December, 2.3 percent in a year, said the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices released Tuesday.

While prices are still going up, slightly beating inflation, it is a major reversal of fortunes in the 20-city index considering San Diego prices were among the top four in the nation 13 months earlier.

The last time San Diego metro was in the bottom spot in the index was in October 1996, back when the index was 19 cities. It had never been in the bottom spot since it expanded to 20 cities in 2000.

The last time San Diego metro’s annual price increases were so slow was August 2012.

Annual nationwide price increases were 4.7 percent in December with the biggest price gains in Las Vegas (11.4 percent), Phoenix (8 percent) and Atlanta (5.9 percent).

Experts say rising mortgage interest rates are much of the cause of the slowdown in high-priced markets. David Blitzer, managing director of the index, said a major factor could also be wage growth not keeping up with housing costs. He said wage gains were around 3.5 to 4 percent last year, still below the nationwide home price increase.

“There have been a few places with very sharp reversals,” Blitzer said. “I think a lot of times prices are just outpacing people’s ability to pay in a lot of places.”

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SD launches online tool to boost neighborhood feedback on housing projects

Posted on February 25, 2019 | Leave a comment

San Diego is aiming to get more feedback on future housing and commercial projects by allowing residents to offer opinions and suggestions online, instead of attending community forums and local planning group meetings.

“With this new tool, residents can tell city planners exactly where they would like future development to go and what they want it to look like,” Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in a news release. “We want to make sure we are giving folks every opportunity possible to make their voices heard.”

The launch of the new tool comes after a new city audit this winter found that San Diego’s 42 neighborhood planning groups lack transparency and fail to attract a cross-section of residents.

Residents will be asked to specify their priorities for future development in eight geographic zones, including areas near planned stations on a new trolley line along Morena Boulevard and other transportation corridors.

They will pick from a variety of theoretical residential and commercial developments with the requirement that they find at least 5,000 new housing units for the city. Forty percent of those units must be near three new trolley stations.

The new digital engagement tool is being launched first in Clairemont, where an update to the community’s blueprint for growth is under way.

The digital feedback tool can be accessed at clairemontplan.org/online-community-engagement-tool.