Green Real Estate Appraiser

Best of Both Worlds – Renovation Keeps “Old World Charm” but Updates to Present

Posted on February 26, 2012 | Leave a comment

When Sarah Cosier and Matthew Kalaher walked into their Californian bungalow for the first time, they were smitten. The couple loved the original timber work in the hallway and the high-walled rooms with plaster ceilings. They were impressed, too, that the house had not been renovated.

”That was a huge attraction for us. It had not been messed up by an ’80s or ’90s renovation,” Matthew says.

”It had original walls and floor plan. It just had a cheap lean-to at the back that did not interfere with the bones of the original house. It meant we did not have to work within someone else’s work.”

The couple lived in the Concord bungalow for three years before embarking on renovating. Sarah says they wanted to experience the house in all seasons before deciding what changes to make.

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San Diego – What is the median amount of time homeowners are behind on Mortgage?

Posted on February 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

The median amount of time that San Diego homeowners were behind on their primary mortgages when their lenders filed default notices was eight months, based on a report from local real estate tracker DataQuick, which captured the last quarter of 2011.

Those homeowners during that time frame owed $23,134 on a $392,000 mortgage. (Those are median figures. The median is the middle number in a data set.)

How did San Diego compare to California during 2011’s last quarter (from October to December)?

Statewide, homeowners were nine months behind on their home loans at the filing time of the default notice, the first step in the formal foreclosure process. They owed $19,949 on a $333,036 home loan, DataQuick stats show.

When did these loans originate?

In San Diego, the origination time was the second quarter of 2006, when weak underwriting standards allowed unqualified consumers to get loans. Statewide, it was the third quarter of 2006, which “has been the case for three years,” the latest DataQuick report says.

Although San Diego saw a small bump in foreclosures from November to December, they were down 16 percent when comparing the last quarter of 2011 to the same time period in 2010.

The number of trustee deeds, which signal a foreclosure, fell from 2,433 to 2,044. That drop also is mirrored in the statewide numbers, which show foreclosures falling to the second-lowest level in more than four years, DataQuick said.

Why the drop in foreclosures?

“Five years ago, almost all mortgage payment delinquencies would have triggered a default notice after a certain amount of time,” said DataQuick President John Walsh in a statement. “Strategies now include short sales, refinances, interest-rate changes, principal reduction as well as just plain waiting longer.”