Real Estate: GOLDen Opportunity of This Decade

by Steve Harney on March 30, 2011

Everyone wants to comment on the current real estate market. They want to talk about how now is not the time to buy a home. Some even argue owning a house has never been a great investment. Most say it will be a long time before real estate again begins to appreciate. It all sounds so familiar to me. It was just a decade ago that many made the same arguments about gold as an investment.

Gold had dropped from over $400 an ounce to $250 an ounce (a 40% decline) from February 1996 to August 1999. People ran from gold as though it was a plague.

Lord William Rees-Mogg, the current Chairman of The Zurich Club, in 1997 said:

“No investment has been so thoroughly exploded as gold; most people think that there will no more be another gold boom than there will be another boom in tulip futures in The Netherlands.”

Two years later in 1999, Don Wolanchuk author of the Wolanchuk Report explained:

“Everybody hates gold. You can’t have a bottom until everybody is out. And everybody is out of the gold sector.”

Everyone knows what happened next. The proclamation of gold’s death was rather premature. Gold rose from $250 an ounce to over $1,400 an ounce in the next twelve years. I see the same situation with real estate today. I am not predicting that real estate will see the same levels of appreciation. I do believe however that the market will rebound strongly. Those who continued to believe in gold as an investment were rewarded.

Those who continue to believe in real estate as a sound investment will also be rewarded.

Here is what Adam Hamilton wrote in October 2000 in an essay titled Is Gold Dead?

The road for gold investors has been long and parched in the last five years. They have wandered through a seemingly endless desert, occasionally tempted by what proves to be an illusory mirage. Many have fallen beside the sun-cracked path, their white bones picked clean by buzzards and gleaming in the sun. Nevertheless, a brave contrarian core continues to march forward. They have studied history, currency, gold, investments, economics, and finance. They understand the timeless value of gold, the cyclical nature of the markets, and the vagaries of human psychology. They realize it is darkest before the dawn, and the journey most difficult right before the homestretch is reached. Gold is in an INCREDIBLE position, and it will have its day. Nothing goes up in price forever, and nothing goes down in price forever. Investments are cyclical. Gold is NOT dead, it is simply biding its time, waiting for its next earth-shattering mega-rally. The spoils that go to the few remaining gold investors when that day inevitably arrives will be fantastic. The stunning victory will quickly blot out the painful memories of the long struggle…

You could replace the word ‘gold’ with the words ‘real estate’ throughout this essay and it would apply today.

Cirque Du Soleil is in San Diego!

Cirque du Soleil is pleased to announce that its newest arena show, Quidam, will perform in San Diego from March 30 – April 3, 2011 at the Valley View Casino Center (formally the San Diego Sports Arena) for eight performances only. Quidam tickets are available now at cirquedusoleil.com/quidam or 1-800-745-3000.

Quidam had its world premiere in Montreal under the Big Top in April 1996. Since that time, the production has toured on five continents and been experienced by millions of people. In December 2010, Quidam will embark on a new journey, performing the same captivating production, but now in arenas throughout North America. The international cast features 52 world-class acrobats, musicians, singers and characters.

Young Zoé is bored; her parents, distant and apathetic, ignore her. Her life has lost all meaning. Seeking to fill the void of her existence, she slides into an imaginary world—the world of Quidam—where she meets characters who encourage her to free her soul.

Quidam: a nameless passer-by, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past and swallowed by the crowd. It could be anyone, anybody. Someone coming or going at the heart of our anonymous society. A member of the crowd, one of the silent majority. The one who cries out, sings and dreams within us all. This is the “quidam” whom this show allows to speak. This is the place that beckons—a place for dreaming and genuine relations where all quidams, by proclaiming their individuality, can finally emerge from anonymity.

Show Schedule (March 30 – April 3, 2011):

• Wednesday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m.

• Thursday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m.

• Friday, April 21 at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

• Saturday, April 2 at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

• Sunday, April 3 at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Ticket Information: • Adults: From $40 to $115 • Children (12 & under): From $32 to $93 • Military, Seniors & Students: From $36 to $99

Click Here for more Ticket Information! And Click Here for an amazing Preview video!!

Distressed Properties: Discounts and Difficulties

by The KCM Crew on March 25, 2011

Most buyers want to make sure they get a ‘good deal’ when they purchase something. Purchasers of real estate are no different. That is why many decide to buy a distressed property (a foreclosure or a short sale). The National Association of Realtors (NAR) last week reported foreclosures, on average, sell at a 22% discount and short sales at a 17% discount. It sounds like a pretty good decision to buy a property at those levels of discount.

However, the purchaser must realize that there are added obstacles in these type of transactions. Many foreclosures are left in less than pristine condition by the previous owner and some have title issues that must be corrected before they can change hands. Many short sales have multiple loans that must be negotiated before an offer is accepted by all parties to the transaction. This can take months in many cases. Purchasing a non-distressed property will probably have a lot fewer pitfalls.

“Patience Equity”

Does that mean that you shouldn’t consider a distressed property? Not necessarily. Just understand that there is an additional cost to purchasing a foreclosure or a short sale: the cost of time. For some, the 17 or 22 percent discount is well worth the extra time they must spend on the transaction. We like to call that savings your ‘patience equity’. Patience equity will require you to be patient however. Realize going into the deal that there will be obstacles to overcome and make sure you give your real estate professional time to overcome these challenges. Again, patience equity will require your patience.

Bottom Line

Buying a distressed property could make sense for you as long as you realize you will need to be VERY patient with your real estate agent throughout the process. If you are, you will own a home that has considerable equity the day you move in.

2nd Annual Mission Valley Craft Beer Fest

Most San Diegans normally visit Mission Valley for the mall, but this weekend, fans of craft brews should head out to Handlery Hotel & Resort for the 2nd Annual Mission Valley Craft Beer Festival. Rock out to live music by San Diego's favorite local musicians, including jazz crooner Missy Anderson, SoundDiego Live alum Jesse LaMonaca and the Dime Novels, and reggae band Safety Orange, while drinking your way through selections from more than 30 craft breweries and 15 local chefs.

Confirmed breweries:
Airdale Brewing Company, Back Street Brewery, Ballast Point Brewing Company, The Bruery,
Eastlake Brewhouse, Firehouse Brewing Company, Green Flash Brewing Company, Hess Brewing Company, Iron Fist Brewing Co., Karl Strauss Brewing Company, La Jolla Brewhouse
Left Coast Brewing Company, Lightning Brewing Company, Manzanita Brewing Company, Mission Brewery, New English Brewing Company, Oggi's Pizza & Brewing Company, Pacific Beach Alehouse, Stone Brewing Company.

Proceeds from the event will go to Fresh Start Surgical Gifts, a non-profit organization that provides reconstructive plastic surgery to children and young adults with physical deformities. Tickets $35, $15 designated driver. Save $5 with promo code “HOSTED”. Sunday, March 27, 12-6 p.m.

Bar Biz by Kelly Cisek

Kid's Day at the Carlsbad Flower Fields!!

Saturday, March 26, 2011 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm):

Kids’ Day – Fun filled day of activities, including snow and sledding, magic and juggling, an appearance by Ronald McDonald, live entertainment, face painting, animal balloons, child safety IDs and a performance by the San Diego Guild of Puppetry.


The Flower Fields of Carlsbad is located at 5704 Paseo Del Norte in Carlsbad, CA, directly above the Outlet Mall and roughly two miles away from Legoland California and the SeaLife Aquarium. The Flower Fields is open to the public daily from March 1, 2011 through to May 8, 2011, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Admission is $10.00 for adults; $9.00 for Seniors (aged 60+) and $5.00 for children ages 3 to 10. Children 2 and under are free. Season passes are also available ($10.00 – $20.00). Click here for information about coupons and discount admission to the Flower Fields.

Here is a Great article on Building Wealth as a Homeowner!

The 4 Stages Of Wealth Building As A Homeowner
by Dean Hartman on March 24, 2011

One of the primary objectives of owning a home is to let the home appreciate over time and become a pillar of a family’s financial strength.

But before we can discuss “wealth”, we need to identify the stages to get there.

Stage 1

Having “Emergency Cash” is the first stage. It’s having $5-7,000 liquid for life’s inconveniences (the boiler breaking down, the car needing work, etc). When faced with the inevitable challenges that arise, many people are forced to run to their credit cards to make it through. They become stuck with high interest rate, non-tax deductible borrowing.

Stage 2

The second stage is the elimination of “Bad Debt”. We define “Bad Debt” as any debt whose interest is not tax deductible. Obviously, those high interest rate credit cards must be the first to go. But we also want to divest ourselves of the borrowing associated with car loans, boat loans, student loans, and personal loans because it typically can be done cheaper.

Stage 3

Shockingly, when you arrive at stage three, you will be considered in the Top 5% of Americans in terms of financial security. Stage three is accomplished when you have 3-6 months of your total expenses in reserves. The average homeowner (who is logically financially better off than the non-homeowner) has less than one month’s expenses in reserve! When life shows them more than a minor inconvenience (like a job loss, an illness/disability, or worse), most people are in a panic situation. With 3-6 month’s reserves, you will have time to weigh options and make better choices.

Stage 4

True financial security is attained when you become “Debt Free”. But not without debt. We consider our clients “Debt Free” when they have enough liquid assets to pay off whatever mortgage they have outstanding. Wealth building almost requires utilizing the tax benefits of having a mortgage in combination with strategies that utilize The 3 Miracles of Money…

The 3 Miracles of Money

1. Compound Interest – The impact of money left to grow upon itself can be dramatic. If you had $1 on Monday and you could double it every day ($2 on Tuesday, $4 on Wednesday, etc.), by the end of 20 days, you would have $1,048,576.00!!! Now, you can’t double your cash every day, not even every year, but the concept holds true…..compounding interest is a good thing!
2. Tax Free Growth – The ability to accumulate assets without giving Uncle Sam a third of it (in the form of Federal and State Income Taxes) is how the $1 became $1 million. If the growth was taxed at 33% ($1 on Monday gave you $1.67 on Tuesday – instead of $2- and so on), your $1 would only grow to $28,466.20 after 20 days!!! THAT IS NOT A TYPO! You would have “lost” over $1 million.
3. Leverage and Arbitrage – If you can put up minimum cash and take title to a significant asset (like a down payment on a home….the smaller the down payment the better), you can leverage that cash investment to large returns. At the same time, if you can take the cash that you don’t bury in home equity and effectuate a spread between your “after tax cost of money” (mortgage payment) and your investment options (hopefully, in a tax free environment), you can gain the exponential growth that creates wealth.

Bottom Line

Please take the time to investigate all that is possible, by harnessing the POWER of a mortgage to help you move your family towards wealth. Work with a loan officer who can educate you on the power behind properly leveraged real estate via tax savings and reallocation of equity.

San Diego State Aztecs are ready!!

Aztecs Ready To Believe
SDSU can beat one of the nation's top programs
By DEREK TOGERSON

San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher knows what he has in his Aztecs. He also knows the city knows what he has.

"We have got the whole community upside down excited about our team," Fisher said, "and it's fun."

Thursday's game -- tipoff from Anaheim is at 4:15 p.m. -- could be where the Aztecs announce their presence with authority. UConn is one of the nation's blue-blood programs, winners of two national titles in 11 years. They play in the Big East, universally regarded as the nation's best, toughest, most physical conference.

The Aztecs say, so what?

"I think it's a mind set," said Aztecs guard James Rahon. "We believe we should be here. We believe we can compete with anybody in the country. It's just a matter of going out and doing it."
The Huskies roll out a pair of 7-footers, intimidating for any front line. But the Aztecs have already found a chink in their massive armor.

"They start off big, but they always switch to smalls," said guard Jamaal Franklin. "So, our thing to do is narrow people down, make them run, make the bigs tired, and make sure they don't out muscle us, make sure we use our athletic ability and speed on them."

Even San Diego State's resident big man, 6-foot-11 Brian Carlwell, is on the "make the other team suck wind" bandwagon.

"We're used to pressing all game," Carlwell said. "Coming out of the press, we get to run, so I think pressing gives us an added advantage because of the fact we like to do it. Getting the ball back on a steal off the press, we get excited about, so we always run when we're excited."

The Huskies claim they can run the floor with anyone, and if they have a weakness, it's self-inflicted.

"I think our weakness is we beat ourselves sometimes," said Huskies forward Roscoe Smith. "Sometimes we don't come to play, whether it be me, or a single player, or us as a team. I feel, when we don't bring effort, we're not the same team."

Fisher is fond of saying "Don't make me coach effort." He pretty much never has to. So, since it stands to reason every team has a weakness, what's the Aztecs' kryptonite?

"I'm not going to say it," Carlwell said. "You've gotta find out."

If the Aztecs keep it a secret like Clark Kent, they'll be moving on to the Elite 8.



Source: Aztecs Ready To Believe NBC San Diego

7 ways first-time homebuyers can avoid a lemon!

That 'perfect house' can have some serious imperfections. Here's what to look for to avoid a big mistake with the largest purchase of your life.
By Heather Levin of U.S. News & World Report

You've been out looking at homes with your real-estate agent all day. As you walk through the door of the last house on your list, your mouth falls open.

Finally, you've found "The One," the perfect house. Stars shimmer in your eyes. You love the layout, the paint colors and the little powder room by the back door.

You make an offer and move in within the month. It's not until things settle down that you discover that the roof leaks and that the foundation must be replaced — immediately. Suddenly, the stars dim as you face the prospect of several expensive repairs and unexpected home-improvement costs. Not fun at all.

Homebuyers, especially first-timers, often are caught looking at the wrong things when they buy a house. They fall in love with all the things that are easy to fix and never think to look at the important clues that the house might be more trouble than it's worth.

What should you do to make sure you're not buying a lemon? Here are seven tips.

1. Check the foundation
A house's foundation is probably one of the most expensive things to fix, which is why you must go down to the basement before you even look at the rest of the house. Do you see any cracks in the concrete or stone? If so, the foundation might be structurally unsound. If the basement is finished, look for cracks in the drywall, especially around windows and doors.

2. Inspect the HVAC equipment
While you're down in the basement, look at the heating and cooling equipment. How old is it? Does it look like it's running properly? Are the vents connected well? These are important questions to answer to make your home energy-efficient and to reduce your utility bills. Replacing a home's HVAC system can cost tens of thousands of dollars, but many first-time buyers never give it a second look.

3. Look for water damage
If the house has had problems with water in the past, you're looking at several expensive fixes.First, one-time occurrences, such as a basement leak, can happen again. Second, that water damage could have opened the door for mold, especially dangerous black mold, to grow. Look for brown or white stains down the side of the basement walls. These can indicate a past leak. If the floor is bare, look for horizontal stains. Be suspicious if the basement has been painted recently. Sellers often do this to hide water-damage stains. It's also important to check the bathroom and under the kitchen sink. Look for stains that would indicate mold growth.

4. Check the electrical system
If you are looking at a home built before the 1930s, it still might have old knob-and-tube wiring. It can be a problem, if has been tampered with in any way. For example, if the attic has blown insulation sitting on top of the knob-and-tube wiring, this is tampering — and it's a serious fire-safety hazard. Most insurance companies consider knob-and-tube wiring to be unsafe, so you're going to pay more or be turned down for homeowners insurance if you don't replace it. Replacing it means rewiring the entire house, which will cost tens of thousands of dollars.

5. Look at the house at least twice
Remember, when you first see that "perfect house," you're looking through rose-colored glasses. Always sit on the decision to make an offer and go see the house again a few days later.

6. Get a home inspection
This seems like old advice, but many people still don't get a home inspection before they make an offer. If the home inspector says more research is necessary or files an inconclusive report, get a second opinion.

7. Consider that if the price is too good to be true, it probably is
Trust your gut here. If your dream home's price is suspiciously low, there's probably a good reason.

Beware. Buying a house is a huge decision and investment, especially if it's your first home. Don't let first impressions and appearances sway you. Make sure you do your research and watch out for some of these pitfalls.

Starbucks + Mobile Apps = Success!

Starbucks Card Mobile Is a Hit: 3 Million People Pay Via Phone App
4 hours ago by Jennifer Van Grove

Grabbing a cup of joe got a whole lot easier this year. In January, Starbucks began accepting mobile payments via the Starbucks Card Mobile iPhone and BlackBerry applications at 6,800 company-operated stores. Today, the company revealed that more than 3 million people have paid using Starbucks Card Mobile.

The mobile payments milestone was presented by chairman and CEO Howard Schultz to shareholders during the Starbucks Annual Meeting of Shareholders at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle.

“Starbucks now offers the nation’s largest mobile payment network,” vice president of Starbucks Brady Brewer added later in the meeting.

The Starbucks mobile payments offering is a “touch to pay” system. It allows the customer to hold up the app’s barcode to the in-store scanner at the register to pay using the electronic tender. The program was piloted at select stores in September 2009. After extensive testing, it was found to be the fastest way for customers to pay.

The past financial quarter was the best performing in the 40-year history of the company, according to Schultz. Starbucks cards now account for 22% of all transactions, he says.

Mobile payments is just one element of a much larger social and digital media strategy that Schultz refers to as a “blueprint for growth.” This involves the brand crossing over into the consumer packaged goods (CPG) category by leveraging its digital and social properties. Schultz was eager to inform shareholders that the Starbucks brand is number one on Facebook with 29 million fans, and is also a top brand on Twitter and Foursquare.

Schultz used Starbucks’ new instant coffee brand VIA as proof of the crossover strategy. VIA generated $194 million in sales in its first year, and is now in 40 points of distribution.

Ultimately, Schultz believes the company’s CPG business will rival its retail business — and that the Starbucks Card Mobile application will connect both sides of the brand’s identity through loyalty programs.

16 ideas to help come up with money for a down payment!

Coming up with a big pile of cash to buy a home may seem daunting, especially if it's your first place. Here's expert advice on the many ways you could make it happen, along with 4 dead-end options to avoid.
By Marilyn Lewis of MSN Real Estate

If you’re hoping to buy a home to take advantage of cheaper home prices and attractive mortgage interest rates, your first question may be: "Where do I find money for a down payment?"

Below is a list of workable ideas and those to avoid. We gathered expert advice from Bill Banfield, director of capital markets for Quicken Loans; Jeffrey J. Belonger, manager with Infinity Home Mortgage Co. in Cherry Hill, N.J.; and EJ Hawkins, counselor with ClearPoint, a national nonprofit credit counseling service.

First, a few tips:

- Check with your bank or mortgage broker that the source of your down payment is approved in your loan’s rules.
- Ask real-estate agents about state and local housing incentives, grants and loans and what local lenders offer.
- Some down-payment ideas are safer than others; a few have toxic consequences to your taxes or retirement savings. Study your options carefully and review your plan with a certified public accountant or a nonprofit housing counselor approved by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (find one here or call 1-800-569-4287).
- Keep a paper trail of every move so you can document, for your lender or the tax man, each income source, asset sale and transaction.
- Be wary of mortgage fraud. The scam you’re most likely to encounter is when a mortgage professional suggests inflating the price of a house in order to kick back cash to you for closing costs. It sounds tempting, but you’d be getting fleeced by overpaying for the house and you could face jail time if you participate. Report crooked players to your state attorney general’s office (find yours here).

Here is a list of ideas for scraping together your down payment.

Low-risk sources of cash
1. Pull from savings: The time-honored way to fund a home purchase is to set aside money each month. Use an automatic electronic transfer through your bank or credit union. Choose an account that that earns the most interest possible while letting you access the money. Review account types and learn how to "ladder" certificates of deposit by reading this article.

2. Liquidate miscellaneous assets: Sell your nice car, buy a beater and apply the difference to your down payment. Sell your boat, motorcycle, collectibles or other assets. Use your tax refund. Call in money that people owe you.

3. Sell stock options: If stock options are part of your compensation, selling them might earn you cash. Contact your human-resources department to learn the rules.

4. Sell taxable investments: Sell stocks, mutual funds, bonds and other taxable investments before touching money held in tax-deferred retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s and IRAs, which require you to pay significant penalties when you sell.

5. Cash in a life-insurance policy: So-called permanent life insurance policies (not "term" policies but "universal" or "variable universal life" or "whole life" policies) grow in value as you pay into them. When enough value has accumulated, you can take cash out or borrow against them. Talk with your insurance agent to learn your options.

Caution: If you no longer need the insurance, this could be a nice source of ready cash. But first-time homebuyers usually are young, have children and need the protection of insurance; withdrawing money from a policy could reduce or eliminate your death benefit, leaving your family in financial trouble if you die. You also can lose coverage if you borrow against the policy but don't pay it back. Ask your insurance agent to outline the pros and cons. Call your state's insurance commissioner's office if you have questions. (Find yours with this map.)

Friends, family and employers
6. Use a gift: Some mortgages – loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration, for example – let you apply gifts from immediate family members toward your down payment. You’ll need a "gift letter" from the person who gave you the money, verifying that it doesn’t have to be repaid. Be prepared for the lender to ask for copies of checks or wire transfers.

7. Try your employer: Some corporations, universities and local and state governments have programs to provide employees with down-payment assistance. Check with your human-resources department. For example, in South Dakota, 19 employers participate in a state-sponsored Employer Mortgage Assistance Program that lets employees take out a 2% interest rate second mortgage for $600 to $6,000 to cover closing costs and down payment. Each year, the city of Baltimore and state of Maryland contribute as much as $6,000 to 100 city employees (PDF) to help them buy homes within the city. These programs are meant to help keep valued employees in their jobs and closer to work.

8. Enlist a partner: A co-owner can help by sharing costs, including the down payment, and by signing on to be responsible for repaying the loan if you can’t quite qualify for a mortgage. A lender can explain the details.

Investigate government programs
9. State grants and loans are a potentially useful but constantly changing pool of down-payment money distributed through local and state agencies. Usually, these require a government-insured FHA mortgage. Funds are usually claimed quickly and programs expire or change frequently. Act early to be considered, or add your name to a waiting list. Find programs near you using HUD's state listings: Click your state’s name, then click "assistance programs."

Caution: Don't get roped into paying for "help" to obtain government grants and loans. Scammers and middlemen offer to guide you or qualify you for a fee, but you’ll get safer, cheaper advice from a HUD-qualified housing counselor.

Negotiate — with everybody
If you can save or even eliminate closing costs — which run roughly $5,000 to $8,000, depending on where you live — you can free up precious cash for your down payment. Although a seller can’t fund your down payment, the law lets buyers accept help with closing costs. Using an FHA loan, you can accept up to 6% of your home's purchase price toward your closing costs, although the FHA has explored dropping that to 3%. Conventional loans limit the help you can accept to 3% of the price if your down payment is 10% or less; it's 6% with a down payment of more than 10%. Your seller, lender or real-estate agent can help with closing costs. These parties occasionally will kick in to help a cash-poor buyer get a deal done. Here’s how:

10. Your lender: Buyers occasionally persuade lenders to forgo part of their "origination" fee and contribute it toward the closing costs, Hawkins says. The lender gets a smaller fee but the deal still puts money in the lender’s pocket. Another option: The lender might be willing to sell you a higher interest rate in exchange for helping you. In this case, the lender rolls the closing costs into your interest rate and you pay them as part of your monthly mortgage payment instead of as an upfront chunk of cash.

Caution: Depending on how long you keep the home, paying a higher interest rate than necessary could, over a loan’s lifetime, cost more than the down-payment help is worth. Find a nonprofit housing counselor to help you calculate if this is worthwhile.

11. Your seller (including builders): Buyers have a lot of leverage with sellers today, at least in some parts of the country.

- Ask your real-estate agent to help you search for sellers who are offering to cover closing costs. - Propose that the seller help with closing costs when you’re negotiating price.
- Sellers sometimes will sweeten the deal by purchasing discount "points" that lower your interest rate, letting you use more of your cash for the down payment. Each point costs 1% of the loan amount and can be used to reduce your rate by 0.125 to 0.25 percentage points. (If your mortgage was for $150,000, the seller might buy one point, for $1,500, potentially lowering your interest rate from 5.25% to 5%.) This would lower your monthly payment from $828 to $805.

Caution: Pushing a seller too hard to lower the price and make other concessions could ruin the deal. Be prepared for the seller to ask for a higher purchase price in exchange. Then the question is: Will the appraiser find the home worth the higher price?

12. Seller financing: Infrequently, a seller may be willing to act as your banker. It might be possible to strike a no- or low-down-payment deal with a seller who owns the home free and clear. But if the seller has a mortgage, you’ll need to qualify for a loan just as you would with a bank, including a down payment.

13. Your real-estate agent: Agents don’t like to admit it, but occasionally some will give up a portion of their several-thousand-dollar commission to keep a sale from falling through. Approach this conversation with tact and care.

14. Your new employer: Your leverage with an employer is never better than when you are first signing on. Depending on the company and how badly your skills are needed, you might be able to negotiate a contribution toward your down payment as part of your benefits package, as a signing bonus or in place of a relocation allowance.

Tap your retirement savings
Yes, you can cash out retirement accounts. But don’t do it. The ground lost in saving for retirement isn’t worth it. Also, the Internal Revenue Service penalties for removing cash from a tax-protected account before you retire are steep.

However, here are two less expensive (but still ill-advised) ways to leverage your retirement savings:

15. Tap your IRA. There’s an exception to penalties on withdrawals from retirement accounts that lets first-time homebuyers withdraw up to $10,000 from an IRA to use as a down payment on a home purchase.

Caution:

- Remember to declare the income on your taxes (you were excused from paying tax on it when you put it into the IRA, remember?)
- Be sure to chat with your accountant before doing this.

16. Borrow from your 401(k): Most companies let employees borrow from the balance of their 401(k) accounts. Rules vary but, generally, you can extract as much as half of the vested amount in the account, up to $50,000. As you repay it, the money, including the interest, goes back into your 401(k). The plan administrator at your workplace can outline the specifics, including how long you’re given to repay the loan.

Caution:

- As long as you repay the loan, you won’t be taxed on the money until you withdraw it in retirement; unlike a mortgage loan, the interest you pay on this loan is not tax-deductible.
- As with the IRA withdrawal, this is considered a bad idea because it sets back your retirement progress.
- If you leave the employer for any reason before repaying the loan, you’ll have to repay the entire thing at once. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Dead-end options to avoid
You may have heard from friends and family about other strategies. Chances are, changing rules or interest rates have made them less effective. Don’t waste much, if any, time pursuing these:

1. Peer-to-peer lending: Websites such as Prosper.com and Lending Club essentially create a marketplace for people to directly lend and borrow money. The idea is that the lenders reap interest, borrowers get cash and the site collects fees. But Prosper, for one, has not funded one down-payment loan in the last year. CEO Chris Larsen speculates that's because piling a down-payment loan on top of a mortgage is unwise and unlikely to attract Prosper lenders.

2. The American Dream Downpayment Act was a federal program of grants up to $10,000 to first-time buyers, but no longer is offered.

3. Private nonprofit gift programs: Until late 2008, a special category of seller-funded nonprofit programs was able to channel up to 6% of the purchase price of a sale as a "gift." Federal law now prohibits seller-funded down-payment assistance, which means that programs run by AmeriDream, the Nehemiah Program, GAP, Homes for All and RealtyAmerica have all been closed.

4. Section 8 homeownership vouchers: Low-income buyers may be able to get help through this federal program, but you and the property must meet the qualifications. "The unfortunate part of the program is that there are too many variables involved," Hawkins says. "In all my (10) years in real-estate and financial counseling, I’ve only seen it used one time."

Philip Rivers Takes Charge!!

Chargers players begin workouts
By Kevin Acee
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

In the absence of organized team activities due to their being locked out by NFL owners, Chargers players began working out Tuesday at a site away from Chargers Park.

The workouts were, predictably, organized by quarterback Philip Rivers. The players plan to work out together four days a week.

Coaches at the NFL’s annual meeting varied slightly in their feelings on players working out on their own.

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan responded with just an exaggerated smile and blank stare.

It is safe to take a coach’s reluctance to speak on the topic as his not being entirely enamored with the concept of players on the field doing their own thing, perhaps doing something not quite as a coaching staff would desire and doing it over and over.

Norv Turner professed confidence in the Chargers players, largely because his quarterback is like a coach.

“Our guys will do a great job,” Turner said.

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said players working out on their own had history as a guide.

“In the old days that’s what guys did,” Carroll said. “It used to work out. It’s more old school.”

Free help for Homeowners!

Housing clinic offers free help to homeowners
By DEBORAH SULLIVAN BRENNAN dbrennan@nctimes.com

Homeowners facing default and foreclosure can get free help at a housing clinic April 16 at the San Marcos Community Center.

The clinic, sponsored jointly by the Housing Opportunities Collaborative, the city of San Marcos, San Diego County Library and the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, offers what program manager Gregorio Estrella calls a "one-stop shop" for distressed homeowners, with free legal advice, and credit and mortgage counseling.

Volunteer attorneys and financial counselors provide general information through educational sessions, Estrella said.

They also review participants loan documents to offer individualized analysis of their situations, he said.

Experts will discuss options and help homeowners chart a course of action, which may include loan modifications to stave off foreclosure.

Moreover, he said, the counselors will follow up with participants after the session, helping walk them through the complexities of the banking system.

"The housing counselor takes care of them at the home clinic, then takes them through completion with their lender," he said. "The counselors have working relationships with people at each bank, and that's a tremendous value."

The event will be the 78th such clinic offered by the collaborative, and the 27th sponsored by the county library system, organizers said. The clinics typically draw about 50 to 90 people.

Susan Moore, community relations manager for the library, said the cooperative effort brings expert housing advice into the comfort zone of public libraries.

"Our director wanted us to focus on what's important now, which is jobs, health, housing," Moore said. "We looked around at housing and found it was confusing for people, that they really needed information, which is what libraries do well. They needed a trusted space, and the library has lots of branches around the county."

Heavy Smoking disappearing in CA. Can it last??

HEALTH: Heavy smoking plummets, especially in California
But state's anti-tobacco program running short of funds
By BRADLEY J. FIKES - bfikes@nctimes.com North County Times - The Californian

Smoking plummeted from 1965 to 2007 among the heaviest users in the United States, especially in California, according to a new study led by veteran UC San Diego smoking researcher John Pierce.

The drop in "high-intensity" smoking, defined as 20 (one pack) or more cigarettes a day, helps explain declines in lung-cancer deaths, according to the study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Lung-cancer risk is related to both the duration of smoking and intensity of consumption," said the study.

However, Pierce said, the state's tobacco control program is in trouble. Because the program is funded through tobacco taxes and smoking is down, less money is coming into the program. And that means California's spectacular results in reducing smoking and lung cancer could be imperiled.

In the United States, excluding California, the percentage of high-intensity smokers dropped from 22.9 percent to 7.2 percent during the 1965-2007 study period. In California, the percentage of high-intensity smokers fell from 23.2 percent to 2.6 percent during that period.

"The pack-a-day smokers are disappearing in California," Pierce said.

California had a lung cancer rate of 77.1 per 100,000 people in 2007, compared with a rate of 101.7 per 100,000 in the rest of the United States. To put it another way, California had a 24 percent lower lung cancer rate than the rest of the nation.

Changes in "social norms" encouraged by the state's anti-smoking program spurred the reduction, Pierce said.

"There's a California effect, across both initiation (of smoking) and cessation," he said. "The initiation rates are one-third to one-half the level in the rest of the country."

In other words, Californians increasingly tend never to start smoking, and those who do increasingly tend to quit.

California's anti-smoking program, financed by cigarette taxes, has been especially vigorous, the study noted. But California has fallen behind much of the country in its cigarette tax rate, which used to be among the highest in the nation, Pierce said.

"It's not bringing in the money, and it hasn't got the price disincentive to stop smoking," he said. "Its price is now lower than the average across all the country."

The state has not raised its cigarette tax of 87 cents a pack since 1999, according to the California Department of Public Health. A 2010 report from the American Lung Association gave the state a D grade for its cigarette tax rate and an F for its tobacco control spending.

Pierce said the program suffered from the failure of an initiative on the November 2006 ballot that would have hiked cigarette taxes by $2.60 a pack.

"It was too much for people," Pierce said of the tax. "Even the tobacco-control people said it was too big of a hike. If they had done just $1 or $1.50, it would have been in line with what was happening in the rest of the country."

The study was funded by the University of California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program and by the Moores UCSD Cancer Center through a donation from Carol Vassiliadis and family.

Hail and Snow in S.D County??!!

Hail, snow follow heavy overnight rain
By Gary Robbins
Originally published March 21, 2011 at 6:18 a.m., updated March 21, 2011 at 12:20 p.m.

Readers report that hail has fallen in Carlsbad, Escondido, Solana Beach and Pine Valley, and that heavy snow is currently falling at the Palomar Observatory. Snow was falling in Pine Valley, at about the 3,800-foot level.

David Wright in Pine Valley sent an email saying, "Snow stopped again. Vacillates between snow, rain, and light hail. Has subsided for now. The chickens and turkeys do not seem to like it."

The raw weather is being produced by cold air from the storm that moved ashore last night and dropped more than one inch of rain on many parts of the county. Sporadic showers, and possibly a thunderstorm or two, are possible through this afternoon, says the National Weather Service. A winter weather advisory will remain in effect for the eastern-most section of the county until 6 p.m. The winds have died out after gusting 40 mph to 50 mph late Sunday afternoon and evening.

The weather service says, "A fast moving short-wave will move rapidly to the east-southeast, possibly bringing some light precipitation along and west of the mountains for Tuesday morning.

"Yet another shortwave could reach southwest California bringing another chance of light to locally moderate precipitation late Wednesday and Wednesday night."

Oh, and by the way, spring began at 4:21 p.m. on Sunday.

The National Weather Service released this list of rainfall totals across Southern California. Some of the figures in our chart are higher because we drew information from a larger number of sources.

Thinking of Buying?? Here is a nice article to check out:

If Your Goal Is to Buy Low, Buy Now!
by The KCM Crew

There is a very famous saying which asserts “Sell High, Buy Low”. It is obviously great advice no matter what the investment. Below is a graph showing the cycle of investments. It shows the points of maximum risk and maximum opportunity when purchasing. We want to sell high (point of maximum risk) and buy low (point of maximum opportunity).

The challenge is how to determine when we have hit bottom if you are a purchaser. The only time you can guarantee a bottom is after you pass it.

However, there is more and more evidence that the COST of a home has in fact hit bottom. Notice we have used the word COST. Unless you are an all cash buyer, you must take into consideration the expense of financing a property to determine the true cost of purchasing the home. Interest rates have increased over the last quarter; and the rise in rates has counteracted any fall in prices.

Let’s look at an example:

Let’s say you were going to take out a $200,000 30-year-fixed-rate mortgage in November of 2010. At that time, interest rates were 4.17% (as per Freddie Mac). Your principle and interest payment would have come to $974.54. According to the most recent report from Case Shiller house prices fell 3.9% in the 4th quarter of 2010. The most recent report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency shows a 0.8% fall in prices. Let’s use the larger percentage decrease: 3.9%.

For the sake of keeping the math simple, we will now say you can get the same house with a $192,000 mortgage (4% discount from November price). Interest rates are now 4.95% (as per Freddie Mac).

Your principle and interest payment would now be $1,024.84.

By waiting to pay less for the PRICE of the house, the COST increased over $50 a month. That adds up to more than $600 a year and over $18,000 over the life of the loan.

We realize that there are other things to consider (ex. the mortgage tax deduction, etc.). This example is just a simple way to show that there is a difference between COST and PRICE.

Bottom Line
If you want to buy low, buy now. It appears COST has hit its lowest point.

S.D. home prices, sales slightly up in February

Last month's momentum driven by sales of distressed properties
By Lily Leung

San Diego County homes prices and sales increased slightly in February from January, a market driven heavily by cash investors buying distressed properties, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

February’s median price for all homes inched up to $308,000 from $304,000 in January. However, the median price fell 4.3 percent from $322,000 a year ago. The median price for single-family homes, comprising the bulk of the county’s inventory, decreased 0.7 percent in February from January, indicating a flattening of the market.

San Diego County recorded 2,330 sales in February, up from 2,248 in January, or 3.6 percent. Transactions were down 5.5 percent from one year ago.

DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage said February’s monthly increase in sales and flat prices can be attributed to a high volume of short sales and foreclosures.

About 55 percent of February’s resales, including single-family homes and condos, were distressed properties, LePage said. Thirty-four percent were foreclosures (up from 32.8 percent in January,) and an estimated 21 percent were short sales (about the same amount as January).

One year ago, distressed properties made up about 59 percent of resales in the county.

Short sales — deals in which the sale price was less than the mortgage balance — have risen sharply in the last three years, DataQuick numbers show. One year ago, they accounted for 20.5 percent of resales in the county. In 2009, it was 15.7 percent.

“They’re increasing by a lot,” LePage said. “If processing foreclosures gets a lot more expensive, then we should expect a lot more short sales and loan modifications.”

Also notable was that 30.6 percent of the homes sold in February were purchased with cash, a record high for the county, according to DataQuick figures, which go back to 1988.

Absentee buyers, people who likely will not occupy the purchased homes, bought a record 28.3 percent of the properties in San Diego County in February, DataQuick reported. In the past decade, that average number was about 16 percent. (The company’s records for absentee purchases start in 2000.)

With conventional mortgage now difficult to obtain, cash buyers are particularly attractive to sellers, said Rick Ungar, a real estate broker with Keller Williams Realty Carlsbad.

Ungar said investors are typically the first group to jump back into a recovering real estate market.

“Individual buyers usually wait until prices bounce back,” he said.

Gary Laturno, a San Diego real estate attorney and broker, said distressed properties have been a big part of the market for the three or four years.

Recently, he’s noticed an uptick in interest for distressed luxury homes among his company’s listings, with some buyers making all-cash offers.

Laturno, of Laturno Kuick Realty, says the increase in interest may be due to drastically reduced prices for high-end homes and better-performing stock portfolios.

“People who have wealth are feeling much better in the economic situation,” he said. “They’re out looking at and making offers on homes where the values have fallen.”

Discount Coupons to the Carlsbad Flower Fields!!

Enjoy two admissions for the price of one with this online coupon to the Flower Fields, courtesy of Nickelodeon. Click here to redeem this buy one get one free coupon. Print the coupon and take it to the ticket sales booth at the Flower Fields. The discounted admission coupon expires April 30, 2011. The offer is not available to groups larger than six people. Other restrictions may apply.

Buy One Get One Free – Library Coupon

Purchase one general admission to the Carlsbad Flower Fields and receive a second general admission for free! These Buy One Get One Free coupons are available for free at Carlsbad City libraries while supplies last. Attached to the coupon is a ranunculus bulb for you to plant at home! Simply pick up a coupon and present it at the ticket sales booth at the Flower Fields for redemption. This coupon expires May 8, 2011.

About the Flower Fields

The Flower Fields of Carlsbad is located at 5704 Paseo Del Norte in Carlsbad, CA, directly above the Outlet Mall and roughly two miles away from Legoland California and the SeaLife Aquarium. The Flower Fields is open to the public daily from March 1, 2011 through to May 8, 2011, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Admission is $10.00 for adults; $9.00 for Seniors (aged 60+) and $5.00 for children ages 3 to 10. Children 2 and under are free. Season passes are also available ($10.00 – $20.00).

Circus Vargas is in Sand Diego!!

Circus Vargas, family entertainment at its finest...

This exciting edition of Circus Vargas takes the audience on an artistic journey, encompassing the cultures of the world, elegantly achieved through a series of circus vignettes depicting the experiences, memories and vision of a traveling circus performer. Join us on a captivating jaunt across the globe, as seen through the eyes of the talented aerialists and acrobats featured in this magnificent presentation, who bring with them, their interpretation of the art of circus, needing no translation, transcending all language, age and cultural barriers, and making Circus Vargas the magnificent circus it is today!

Arrive Early for the Preview Show!

Prior to every show, Host & Hostess Jon & Laura Weiss welcome the audience and invite the children (of all ages) into center ring for a tutorial of what life is like under the Big Top! Join the fun with Jon as he guides everyone on a crash course in circus skills such as juggling, feather balancing and hula-hooping!


For Ticket info Click here, or email info@circusvargas.org or call 877-GOTFUN1!

Celebrate St. Patricks day in the Gaslamp!

Go Green or Go Home!

Thursday, January 14th, 2010 9:47 pm by admin11
Miller Lite shamROCK 2011
Presented by Jameson Irish Whiskey and The Field
Thursday, March 17th, 2011 – 4:00 PM – Midnight

To benefit the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation
It’s time to get down and get lucky at shamROCK 2011! That’s right, on Thursday, March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, from 4:00 PM to Midnight; the Gaslamp will make its magical transformation into the greenest party this side of Dublin! shamROCK 2011 will certainly have enough traditional Irish music and food to get your step dancing on, but we’re also rolling out over 60,000 square feet of green Astroturf, building three stages of live entertainment, hiring the coolest DJ’s, biggest bands and the hottest go-go dancers you’ve ever laid your emerald eyes on! And don’t think we forgot the most important part of your St. Patrick’s Day party; shamROCK has enough green beer, Jameson Irish Whiskey, and traditional Irish fayre from The Field to shake a four leaf clover at!

This year, shamROCK 2011 will take place in the Gaslamp on “F” street between 5th and 7th Avenues, 6th Avenue between E and G Streets and G Street between 5th and 6th Avenues in the Gaslamp Quarter. The main entrance is located at 5th and G Street and with sell out crowds topping over 20,000 attendees for over a decade; you better get your tickets quick!

shamROCK 2011 is rocking the Gaslamp with three stages of live music and killer DJ’s!

As always, shamROCK will be again offering our designated driver program, with FREE rides home anywhere in San Diego County to anyone with a shamROCK wristband.

Tickets to the greenest party in town are only $25 in advance and $30 on the day of the event and with that, you not only get all the food, drink and entertainment that shamROCK has to offer, but also in and out privileges, specials and no cover charges at over twenty of the Gaslamp’s hottest nightclubs and restaurants. Remember you must get your tickets early because this event will sell out. You can get your tickets in advance by going to The Field located at 544 5th Avenue between Market and Island Avenue, visit http://www.sandiegoshamrock.com/ or call 619.233.5008. Attendees must be at least 21 years old and have proper ID to enter. shamROCK benefits the Gaslamp Quarter Historical Foundation. So grab your favorite leprechauns and get down to shamROCK 2011 to celebrate like only the Irish can!

Japan begins air drop on stricken reactor

By ERIC TALMADGE and MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press

ZAO, Japan — Japanese military helicopters dumped loads of seawater onto a stricken nuclear reactor Thursday, trying to avoid full meltdowns as plant operators said they were close to finishing a new power line that could restore cooling systems and ease the crisis.

U.S. officials in Washington, meanwhile, warned that the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in northeastern Japan may be on the verge of spewing more radioactive material because water was gone from a storage pool that keeps spent nuclear fuel rods from overheating.

The troubles at several of the plant's reactors were set off when last week's earthquake and tsunami knocked out power and ruined backup generators needed for their cooling systems, adding a major nuclear crisis for Japan as it dealt with twin natural disasters that killed more than 10,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

A Japanese military CH-47 Chinook helicopter began dumping seawater on the damaged reactor of Unit 3 at the Fukushima complex at 9:48 a.m., said defense ministry spokeswoman Kazumi Toyama. The aircraft dumped at least four loads on the reactor, though much of the water appeared to be dispersed in the wind.

At least a dozen more loads were planned in the 40 minutes that each crew can operate before switching to limit radiation exposure, the ministry said.

The dumping was intended both to help cool the reactor and to replenish water in a pool holding spent fuel rods, Toyama said. The plant's owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said earlier that the pool was nearly empty, which might cause the rods to overheat.

The comments from U.S. officials indicated there were similar problems at another unit of the Dai-ichi complex.

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko said at a congressional hearing in Washington that all the water was gone from a separate spent fuel pool at the plant's Unit 4. Japanese officials expressed similar worries about that unit, but that it was impossible to be sure of its status.

Emergency workers were forced to retreat from the plant Wednesday when radiation levels soared, losing precious time. They resumed work after radiation levels dropped, but much of the monitoring equipment in the plant is inoperable, complicating efforts to assess the situation.

"We are afraid that the water level at unit 4 is the lowest," said Hikaru Kuroda, facilities management official at Tokyo Electric Power Co. But he added, "Because we cannot get near it, the only way to monitor the situation is visually from far away."

The storage pools need a constant source of cooling water. Even when removed from reactors, the rods retain radioactivity and must be cooled for months, possibly longer, to prevent them from posing a threat of meltdown.

Japanese officials raised hopes of easing the crisis earlier Thursday, saying that they may be close to bringing power back to the plant and restoring the reactors' cooling systems.

The new power line would revive electric-powered pumps, allowing the company to control the rising temperatures and pressure that have led to at least partial meltdowns in three reactors. The company is also trying to repair its existing disabled power line.

Tokyo Electric Power spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said the new power line to the plant is almost finished and that officials plan to try it "as soon as possible," but he could not say exactly when.

Reflecting the state of alarm over the issue, Japan's 77-year-old emperor expressed deep concern in a rare unexpected television broadcast on Wednesday, saying "I hope things will not get worse."

He urged the Japanese to care for each other and not give up hope. Millions of lives were disrupted by the magnitude 9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which are believed to have killed more than 10,000 people.

Nearly a week after the disaster, police said more than 452,000 were staying in schools and other shelters, as supplies of fuel, medicine and other necessities ran short. Both victims and aid workers appealed for more help.

More than 4,300 people are officially listed as dead, but officials believe the toll will climb to well over 10,000.

"There is enough food, but no fuel or gasoline," said Yuko Niuma, 46, as she stood looking out over Ofunato harbor, where trawlers were flipped on their sides.

The threat of nuclear disaster only added to Japanese misery and frustration.

"The anxiety and anger being felt by people in Fukushima have reached a boiling point," the governor of Fukushima prefecture, Yuhei Sato, fumed in an interview with the Japanese television network NHK. He said evacuation preparations were inadequate, saying centers lacked enough hot meals and basic necessities.

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from a 20 kilometer (13 mile) radius around Fukushima Dai-ichi.

A Cabinet spokesman, Noriyuki Shikata, said the government had no plans to expand the evacuation plan. But the U.S. Embassy issued an advisory urging all Americans living within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the plant to leave the area or at least remain indoors.

The chief of the U.N. nuclear agency, Yukiya Amano, said he would go to Japan to assess what he called a "very serious" situation and urged Tokyo to provide better information to his organization.

Other countries have complained that Japan has been too slow and vague in releasing details about its rapidly evolving crisis at the complex of six reactors along Japan's northeastern coast.

The 180 emergency workers who were working in shifts to manually pump seawater into the overheating reactors to cool them and stave off complete meltdowns were emerging as heroes as they persevered in circumstances in which no radiation suit could completely protect them.

Japan's health ministry made what it called an "unavoidable" change Wednesday, more than doubling the amount of radiation to which the workers can be legally exposed.

"I don't know any other way to say it, but this is like suicide fighters in a war," said Keiichi Nakagawa, associate professor of the Department of Radiology at University of Tokyo Hospital.

The government asked special police units to bring in water cannons - usually used to quell rioters - to spray onto the spent fuel storage pool at unit 4.

"By deploying defense personnel and riot police, we're doing our best to tackle the situation by spraying water to cool down the reactors. We sincerely hope that this mission will go well," Shikata said.

Elevated levels of radiation were detected well outside the 20-mile (30-kilometer) emergency area around the plants. In Ibaraki prefecture, just south of Fukushima, officials said radiation levels were about 300 times normal levels by late Wednesday morning. It would take three years of constant exposure to these higher levels to raise a person's risk of cancer.

A little radiation has also been detected in Tokyo, triggering panic buying of food and water.

Thinking of Selling Your Home? Check out this Article:

Will I Get More Money If I Wait?
by The KCM Crew

Sellers in any real estate market are looking to get the best possible price. If you are looking to sell in the next year, today’s price may well be the best price. Home values stabilized somewhat in 2010. Many hoped that was a sign that values had bottomed out and we would see price appreciation in 2011. Studies released this week have painted a different picture.

If we look at CoreLogic’s January Home Price Index (HPI), we see that prices are again beginning to decline:

National home prices, including distressed sales, declined by 5.7 percent in January 2011 compared to January 2010…

Mark Fleming, chief economist with CoreLogic, said, “A number of factors continue to dampen any recovery in the housing market. Negative equity, which limits the mobility of homeowners, weak demand and the overhang of shadow inventory all continue to exert downward pressure on housing prices. We are looking out for renewed demand in the coming months as the spring buying season gets underway to hopefully reduce the downward pressure.”

They are not talking about the spring market increasing or even stabilizing prices. They hope it will “reduce” the pressure to drive prices lower.

Radar Logic’s RPX Composite Price comes to virtually the same conclusion:

Radar Logic believes the RPX Composite price will continue to exhibit year-on-year declines throughout 2011 due to a growing supply of homes for sale and in the inventories of financial institutions, and weakening demand due to the reduction of government incentives for home buyers. Moreover, banks are facing uncertainty over whether they will be forced by regulators to expand mortgage modifications, and may reduce lending and tighten standards as a result.

“No matter what you call it, a ‘double dip’ or the continuation of a long process of deterioration, the current trend in home prices is evidence that housing markets are continuing to languish,” said Quinn Eddins, Director of Research at Radar Logic. “We expect the negative trend to continue under a severe supply overhang that includes a large and growing ‘shadow inventory’ of homes in default or foreclosure.”

Bottom Line:
It seems that prices have again begun to fall nationally. With the overhang of existing and shadow inventory, prices will probably continue to decline throughout most of 2011. If you’re thinking of selling, now might be the best time. Check with a local real estate professional to see how this might impact your area.

5 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch

If this year’s SXSWi conference is any indication, the foremost digital marketing trends of 2011 will be central to one theme: user presence.

Too often, businesses over-engineer their marketing efforts in an attempt to capture the attention of their audiences’ minds and wallets. But audiences are smart, and they’re immune to these efforts.

We no longer seek out information — we expect information to be seamlessly integrated into our everyday lives. Picking up on that trend, small businesses plan to increase spending on inbound marketing in 2011, according to recent reports. These efforts will include established initiatives such as Facebook campaigns and location-based advertising, but businesses will also experiment with a handful of new (and not so new) strategies. Here are five digital marketing trends to watch as the year unfolds.

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1. Group Messaging

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Group messaging has undoubtedly become this year’s location-based service. The clear front-runners are Beluga and GroupMe, both of which offer users a way to communicate in small, personalized groups of friends. So, how does this tie into marketing strategies?

What more can you ask for as a business than to have groups of customers already populated and organized by interest, age and location? The data that these groups provide is invaluable.

Much like location-based marketing campaigns in 2010, marketers will be anxious to find ways to integrate messaging and purchase points into groups. As Beluga co-founder Lucy Zhang explained on a SXSWi panel this past weekend, the primary use case for group messaging this winter has been to organize ski trips. Imagine the marketability of those groups looking for ski gear, lodging and restaurants.


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2. Reputation Engines

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Somewhere along the way, professional networks have begun to exist upon a foundation of trivial metrics. Our everyday lives have become inundated by these reputation engines: mayorships on Foursquare, the velocity of one’s HurricaneParty, number of followers on Twitter, etc.

Several recent companies such as BranchOut, Honestly.com (formerly Unvarnished) and Hashable, have attempted to bridge the gap between real-world reputation and online marks, but it is unclear whether or not these companies will successfully convey the appropriate balance.

Marketers would be wise to turn to a keen eye towards these networks because they represent the base of influence, both online and offline. Whether or not the algorithms are perfect, each social network exists to harness the power of relationships forged in real life — and serves as a prime audience for marketing.

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3. QR Codes

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Ok, so QR codes really aren’t new. Businesses have been generating QR codes for marketing purposes for several years now. But I have a confession to make — I simply do not understand the success of QR codes.

The technology itself is rather trivial and has been around for more than a decade, even though QR codes penetrated the mainstream market pretty recently. For example, on a recent shopping trip to Sephora, I noticed the use of QR codes to collect additional information about products around the store. Considering I am admittedly secluded within the tech industry, I was anxious to know just how successful a somewhat “nerdy” marketing gimmick could be on the average, everyday consumer. So, I quickly asked a nearby sales clerk, “How many shoppers do you generally see scanning your QR codes each day?” Her response: “What is a QR code?”

Now, it’s obviously not fair to judge an entire strategy on a single participant, but this is where my own confusion lies. QR codes are everywhere. And yet, it’s as though consumers simply decided not to question them. Has this been your experience?

Regardless of how many scans a QR code will garner, it certainly appears that we will see an increasing use of them in 2011.


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4. Startups for Startups

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A few months ago, a startup received over 10K signups within two days, without ever disclosing what it even does. And thanks to LaunchRock, companies can now create a no-fuss landing page for their business in a matter of minutes, thus initiating the single-most meta business model I have seen this year. These companies collect user contact information, promising access to their beta if they agree to publicize their own sign-up.

Which begs the question, how much information is really necessary to market to an audience? Not much it seems.

Users are hungry to be early adopters. Even mainstream users are becoming increasingly savvy to the newest thing -– tech is sexy again, and smart marketers know this. In 2011, I expect to see similar efforts that reflect this startups for startups meme. Everyone wants a piece of the startup pie and schemes like Launchrock are certainly a great way to gain attention and gather data.

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5. Q&A Sites

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Quora, a Q&A site launched in 2009, has mostly attracted the attention of the technology and media industries, but it will likely inspire mainstream marketers soon. The site, along with some of its competitors, has become a useful marketing tool. The Q&A space is quickly heating up, with influential organizations like TED and Facebook getting into the space.

Q&A sites provide a platform where users can engage in simple dialogue pertaining to any question — businesses have the ability to seed questions, interject into negative discussions, establish credibility and respond to competitor questions.

Much like a company blog that is built to drive conversation around a particular brand and industry, businesses will continue to find avenues to market to targeted audiences, such as those found within each Quora topic.

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Conclusion

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Marketing strategy in 2011 evolves directly from the location-based marketing of 2010. We have found that messages are most successfully communicated to audiences that have already coalesced around common bonds.

Thinking of Selling Your Home??

If you're thinking of selling your home, but not sure if you should? Take a look at this article:

Selling Your House? 5 Reasons To Do It NOW!
by The KCM Crew

The conventional wisdom when selling a home has always been to wait until the ‘Spring Buying Season’. Over the years, that has seemed to make sense and is now accepted as a good strategy for those who want to sell their house and receive the best possible price. This real estate market has shattered many previously held beliefs. The wisdom of waiting for a spring market is another belief that is about to fall. Here are five reasons why?

1.) Interest Rates Are On the Rise
Interest rates have spiked up rather dramatically over the last ninety days and are now over 5%. Initially, an increase in rates has a positive effect on the market as it forces buyers off the fence. However, it also eats into a buyer’s purchasing power. As rates increase, the mortgage amount a buyer qualifies for decreases. This will eventually have a negative impact on prices.

2.) Your Dream Home Will Never Be Cheaper
If your family goal is to sell your current house and take advantage of the fabulous selection of properties currently available to buy the home of your dreams, DO IT NOW! Prices will continue to soften in most markets. However, if you are buying, COST should be more important than PRICE. Cost can be dramatically impacted by rising mortgage interest rates. Do the math and decide if now is the time.

3.) Buyers Are Out Early
There is mounting evidence that buyers are coming out earlier this year. A belief that now is a good time to buy coupled with the increase in interest rates has started the buying season early.

Pete Flint, CEO of Trulia:

“We’re seeing a national resurgence of buyer and seller activity on Trulia.com. In January alone, we experienced an unprecedented level of site traffic including 11 million unique visitors – which is more than 70 percent year-over-year growth. We are now experiencing 100,000 property views per minute.”

The National Association of Realtors just reported that the number of house sales increased 12.9% over last month.

4.) Inventory Increases Every Spring
Every year there is an increase of inventory which comes to market as we approach the spring. Here is the number of listings available for sale in 2010.

February – 3,531,000
March – 3,626,000
April – 4,029,000
We believe there will be an increase in these numbers in 2011 as there is a pent-up selling demand created by the weak market of the last few years. You won’t have to worry about this increasing competition if you sell now.

5.) We Are in the Eye of the Foreclosure Storm
While banks are trying to rectify their foreclosure procedures, there is a large supply of discounted properties which has been delayed coming to market. This inventory will be released sometime in the next few months. Foreclosures sell on average at a 41% discount. When released they will be competing with your house for the buyers in the marketplace. If you are looking to sell in 2011, you want to sell before this inventory becomes your competition.

CNN Money quoted the leadership Of RealtyTrac on this issue:

“We’ve now seen three straight months with fewer than 300,000 properties receiving foreclosure filings, following 20 straight months where the total exceeded 300,000,” said James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac.

“Unfortunately,” he added, “This is less a sign of a robust housing recovery and more a sign that lenders have become bogged down in reviewing procedures, resubmitting paperwork and formulating legal arguments related to accusations of improper foreclosure processing.”

“We expect a spike in the first quarter,” said Rick Sharga, a RealtyTrac spokesman.

Bottom Line
These are five strong reasons to sell now instead of waiting until later in the year. Call or text me today so we can go over the best options for you and your family.