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San Diego Homes advertised in China

Posted on June 7, 2016 | Leave a comment

More San Diego County real estate firms are looking to China.

Windermere Real Estate, Berkshire Hathaway and other big companies have worked out deals with Juwai, a growing Chinese-language website that lists homes from La Jolla to Rancho Santa Fe.

Roughly 3,000 San Diego County properties were listed on the site Monday afternoon, ranging from a $139,000 condo in Carlsbad’s Lakeshore Gardens to a $4.6 million, six-bedroom home in Rancho Santa Fe.

Juwai said it has seen an uptick in business as increasing numbers of Chinese people seek assets tied to the American dollar — especially in Southern California — after the devaluation of Chinese currency and stock market fluctuations.

“There is a demand for San Diego properties,” Matthew Moore, president of Juwai’s North American operation, said Monday. “Our aspiration is to grow the number of listings we have in San Diego.”

Other companies listing San Diego properties on Juwai are Galvin Estates, Sand & Sea Investments, JODI Group, Coldwell Banker and Premier Coastal Realty. A few rental units ended up on the site, as well as land sales.

The financial incentive for local real estate agents, and their sellers, to reach Chinese buyers is significant.

Chinese buyers spent $28.6 billion on residential property in the United States from April 2014 to March 2015, more than any other nationality, according to the National Association of Realtors’ latest foreign-buying report.

Thirty-five percent of those sales were in California, the association said. A new report is expected from the association by mid-summer.

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Tips for first-time buyers

Posted on June 6, 2016 | Leave a comment

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE

Buyers should plan to put at least 20 percent down in order to be taken seriously. That’s right, for a $500,000 apartment, you’ll need a down payment of $100,000, and that does not include closing costs.

Be prepared for other charges large and small. Among the larger is the 1 percent surcharge on sales of $1 million or more in New York City, known as the mansion tax. Among the smaller incursions on your wallet: the co-op lien search fee (roughly $300), the board package fee ($500 to $2,000), the appraisal ($300 to $1,500), the condo municipal search ($350 to $500) and so on. Brokerage firms including Douglas Elliman and Town Residential offer a laundry list of estimated closing costs on their websites.

CLEAN UP YOUR CREDIT

Unless you are sitting on a substantial nest egg or are being financed by a benevolent relative, you will need a loan to afford your first place in New York City. Banks use credit scores, also known as FICO scores, to evaluate the potential risk of lending to individuals. The higher the number, which runs from 300 points to 850 points, the better your credit score.

Knowing your score well in advance will give you time to clean up any mistakes, like tax liens that were paid off many years ago or parking tickets that should have been expunged, said Peggy Dahan, an associate broker with Siderow Residential Group. “Sometimes it takes months to clear it up, and by then the seller has sold your dream apartment and we are back to Square One.”

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San Diego Among ‘Hottest” Market

Posted on June 5, 2016 | Leave a comment

The median online listing time for a home in San Diego County was 37 days on market, down from 41 the month before. It had reached the No. 5 hotness spot, its highest ever, on the list in January. San Diego averages around 10.

Although what may considered a “hot” market for some, particularly sellers, might not be others.

“Market hotness has very different meanings,” said Javier Vivas, economic researcher for Realtor.com. “In our very basic interpretation, we’re simply saying there is pent up demand and limited supply.”

A lack of homes for sale, coupled with job growth and low interest rates, have pushed home prices up 6.4 percent in the last 12 months in San Diego County — making purchasing a home increasingly difficult for first-time buyers. The median home price here was $489,000 in April, said real estate tracker CoreLogic.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

San Diego Homes advertised in China

Tips for first-time buyers

San Diego Among ‘Hottest” Market

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