Green Real Estate Appraiser

Trapped in Negative Equity

Posted on April 1, 2013 | 2 comments

Home sales around the country are on the rise.

But finding a house to buy could be a big problem. The inventory of homes listed for sale is at the lowest point in more than a decade.

So why aren’t more properties coming on the market?

Housing economist Mark Fleming thinks it’s because many homeowners just owe too much to comfortably sell.

Have questions about the value/sale price of your home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com

“Almost half of all mortgage loans today are under-equitied — they have less than 20 percent,” Fleming, chief economist for housing and mortgage analyst CoreLogic Inc., said recently.

“These people aren’t supplying their homes to the market because they are underwater or under-equitied.”

Fleming, who spoke to a meeting of the Mortgage Bankers Association in Grapevine, Texas, said it will be years before some homeowners who purchased before the recession have enough of a stake in their house that they can trade up to another property.

Even though home prices are increasing in most U.S. markets, it will take a while before homeowners can net enough from the sale of their current home to have a down payment for another purchase.

“Equity is one of the primary constraints to people buying and moving,” Fleming said.

CoreLogic estimates that 22 percent of mortgage holders nationwide owe more than the value of their properties. And the situation is worse in places in Nevada, Arizona and Florida, where more than a third of homeowners with a loan are upside down, according to CoreLogic.

“Negative equity will cast a shadow over the housing market for years to come,” Fleming said.

Rising home values will eventually cure the situation, he told members of the Washington, D.C.-based mortgage group.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

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Posted in Real Estate

Tagged low real estate inventory, rising home values, why

Apartment Project Lures Residents With Free Solar Power – San Diego

Posted on March 31, 2013 | Leave a comment

Solterra

Location: 9685 Erma Road, Scripps Ranch

Description: 114 1- and 2-bedroom apartments, 741 to 1,127 square feet

Amenities: 3,200-square-foot club room with gaming center, cybercafe, restaurant-style bar and professional culinary kitchen, sports club, stand-up tanning salon; saltwater pool and spa, sun deck, free Wi-Fi, barbecue and fire pit lounge.

Energy saving features: Smart thermostats and in-home virtual net-metering displays, Energy Star General Electric appliances, prewiring for electric vehicle charging in garage

Projected rent: $1,495 to $2,255

Status: First move-ins, May; completion in June

Solterra, H.G. Fenton’s 114-unit apartment project nearing completion in Scripps Ranch, boasts a saltwater pool, games-filled clubhouse and stand-up tanning salon.

But what may prove to be the deal closer when the luxury project opens in May is free electricity to residents.

In San Diego County’s first such “net-zero” energy project, enough solar power cells are being installed to produce all the energy needed for average users as well as the common areas at the 4-acre site just east of Interstate 15 at Mira Mesa Boulevard. If residents don’t exceed the average use projected, they can expect a rebate check in the mail.

Company President Mike Neal said even at a time when vacancies are dropping, there is still stiff competition for landlords to attract tenants, especially in the luxury market.

“We want them to choose us,” he said.

And it’s the energy-saving features that he hopes will make the difference.

“With our apartment communities we’ve previously put photovoltaics on, we noticed our customers had a real interest in it,” Neal said. “Some of them would say, ‘How could that benefit my unit?’ We took it upon ourselves to take this project and try to answer that question by providing it and seeing how the customer likes it.”

Disclaimer: For information and entertainment purposes only

How to Compare Furnance Efficiency When Buying

Posted on March 30, 2013 | Leave a comment

Like most fuel-saving home appliances, high-efficiency furnaces cost more than others upfront. That complicates the idea of upgrading. Does it make sense to invest in a new system when you already have one that works?

Start answering those questions by zeroing in on three key points. As the heating season ends, the time is right to re-evaluate. A contractor can test the existing unit and provide an efficiency rating that you can check against new models. And there’s a season’s worth of fuel bills to compare with projected operating costs of possible replacements.

The idea is to establish where your system is now and what you can save by going to the range of 95 percent efficiency where only 5 cents of every heating dollar is lost in exhaust. (There is no exhaust with electric systems on site. There is a loss where the power is produced, say, in a coal-fired generating plant.)

Compare AFUE ratings

The Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency, printed on the manufacturer’s nameplate and product literature, expresses the percentage of usable heat derived from the fuel. If you’re old furnace says 75 percent and the new one says 95 percent, you’ll save about 20 percent of the fuel bill. Except those are optimum ratings. You’ll get the number on a new furnace, for a few years at least. But after several years efficiency drops a few points from age, and 5 to 10 percent without regular maintenance. The AFUE is also shown on the big yellow EnergyGuide label, which is different on furnaces than on most other major appliances. Instead of estimating operating costs, it shows the AFUE rating as a percentage on a sliding scale between the least and most efficient models in the category. To carry the Department of Energy’s Energy Star label, gas furnaces must have AFUE rating of at least 90 percent, and oil furnaces at least 85 percent.