About San Diego's Liberty Station, CA

 

San Diego Ukulele Festival, July 14-16

The inaugural San Diego Ukulele Festival will take place at Liberty Station in Point Loma on July 14, 15 & 16. Events are at Ingram Plaza, 2640 Historic Decatur Road.

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Times are:

• 6:00 - 9:30 p.m. on Thursday
• 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. on Friday
• 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Saturday

Concerts are free except for the 6:00 p.m. each day. There will be 25 workshops on Saturday, ranging in price from $20 to $35. The $35 workshops include lunch.

Some of the world's best ukulele players will be at the festival, including Jake Shimabukuro, James Hill, and San Diego's own Fred Thompson.

Shimabukuro has a beautiful ukulele version of The Beatles' While My Guitar Gentle Weeps which has garnered over 8½ million views on YouTube:

For more information, call 619-743-3890 or visit the San Diego Ukulele Festival web site. 

♪♫♫♫♪

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If you owe more than your house is worth and can't afford your payments, you might be able to sell it for less than you owe -- without having to pay the lender the difference.

If you can no longer make your mortgage payments and your home is now worth less than you owe on it, foreclosure may not be your only option.

A short sale, in real-estate terms, is a sale of a house in which the sale price is less than what the owner still owes on the mortgage. It is a procedure sometimes agreed to by lenders, who often would rather take a small loss than go through the lengthy and costly foreclosure process, in which the lender allows the sale of a home for less than it is worth and forgives the rest of the note.

While there are some significant negative consequences to a short sale, an ever-increasing number of properties are being advertised as short sales.

Short sale: Win-win-win situation

The beauty of short sales is that they can be a win-win-win situation for seller, buyer and lender. Here's how:

• The seller gets out of the mortgage liability without facing bankruptcy.

• The buyer gets the home at a reduced price.

• The lender agrees to a loss it considers minimal without going through a foreclosure and being saddled with an unsalable property.

While it may seem surprising that lenders would agree to accept less than what they are owed, they benefit from the process, too. The lender benefits by not having to go through the protracted process of foreclosing on the borrower and then having to put the property on the market and go through the whole marketing process.

A market saturated with foreclosures can cost lenders billions -- and as much as $50,000 per foreclosure -- according to a study released earlier this year by the congressional Joint Economic Committee.

When you go into a short sale, you have an institutional lender that are most concerned with the financial situations of the seller when they ultimately make their decisions. If a seller can handle the mortgage payment, there's no motivation for the lender to let the seller out of the mortgage at a lower price.

A lot of lenders aren't even going to consider a short sale unless it seems like (the homeowner) is in financial distress.

Last gasp only

While getting a lender to agree to a short sale may seem like an answer to the prayers of homeowners who want to unload a house, it's not a good move if you're merely looking to find a new place. It's generally a last-ditch effort when the only other option is foreclosure.

Should you go for a short sale? It depends on how deep a financial hole you're in and how likely it is you'll be able to overcome those financial difficulties. If you're just having a short-term problem -- short-term disability or maternity leave or layoffs, but they have good prospects to find something soon and they can weather the storm and hold on to the profit through that -- obviously they wouldn't want to think about a short sale. But if the choice is foreclosure or short sale, generally a short sale is going to be a better idea.

Before you think about asking your lender to consider a short sale, it would be a good idea to get your paperwork lined up.

Be ready to document your need and to show the lender you are serious about your situation, including a hardship letter (an honest explanation of your financial situation and how it occurred), pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns, an appraisal and documentation of your debts.

3 critical safeguards

If you're considering a short sale, experts advise you to take the following steps to meet potential negative consequences head-on.

1. Get it in writing. Make sure the lender agrees in writing that the short sale will absolve all debts.

"If they owe $300,000 on the house and the short sale is for $280,000, is there any possible way that the lender's going to come after them for the $20,000? Most lenders will put that in the agreement that they're not going to come after the deficiency.

2. Protect your credit rating. Ask the lender how it will report the short sale on your credit report.

Most of the time, a short sale shows simply that a debt is satisfied, but theoretically, a short sale could reflect on the credit report as 'settled for less than the full balance. Such a designation is a negative mark on your credit report, though it wouldn't hurt your credit as much as a foreclosure would.

3. Get professional tax advice. Short sales often have tax repercussions since lenders can claim the forgiven debt as income that they provided you.

That means if you agreed to a short sale for $50,000 less than what you owed the lender, the lender could issue you a 1099 for $50,000, which you would have to pay taxes on. If you meet the IRS' definition of insolvency at the time the debt was forgiven, then you generally don't have to pay taxes on it.

We hope that the information we have provided for you helps give some insight on how the short sale process works. However if you are behind on your mortgage payments and are facing foreclosure we recommend you talk to an experienced foreclosure prevention specialists.

Here at The Watson Group Realty we are trained and certified (SFR) Short Sale & Foreclosure Resource Consultants that are experienced with negotiating short sale transactions. The Watson Group Realty are the PREFORECLOSURE SPECIALIST you need on your side! We understand that sometimes bad things can happen to good people.

We are a family of caring professionals working together to help you stop foreclosure and save your home. Our home foreclosure intervention offers highly experienced and effective assistance to homeowners faced with the possibility of losing their homes. By providing alternative solutions, using government and non-government programs, we can tailor a mortgage work out plan to meet your specific family needs and circumstance. Our services are free so pick up the phone and contact us today!

To Find out more on how we can help you, gives us a call at 858-272-6000 or 281-797-3841 or visit one of our sites below.

STOP FORECLOSURE!

Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) $3,000 Cash Relocation

Assistance Program For San Diego, CA Homeowners.

Exit Gracefully

​If homeownership is no longer affordable or the weight of homeownership has become too much to bear, MHA has a program that allows you to exit gracefully from the property with $3,000 in relocation assistance. The HAFA short sale program is designed to help underwater sellers either modify their loans or sell their homes as a short sale to avoid foreclosure. Through Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA), you won't owe any more for the property after selling, and you will be free from the threat of foreclosure. The benefit of a HAFA short sale is that you are no longer responsible for the difference between what you owe on your mortgage and the amount that your home sells for. That's right if you qualify you walk away free and clear!

Eligibility*

You may be eligible to apply if you meet all of the following:

• You live in the home or have lived there in the last 12 months.
• You have a documented financial hardship.
• You have not purchased a new house within the last 12 months.
• Your first mortgage is less than $729,750
• $934,200 for 2 units
• $1,129,250 for 3 units
• $1,403,400 for 4 units
• You obtained your mortgage on or before January 1, 2009.

• You are experiencing a hardship (such as a job loss, divorce or medical emergency) and are unable to afford your current home loan

• You owe more than your home is worth. (Contact The Watson Realty Today to Find What Your Home Is Worth)

• You must not have been convicted within the last 10 years of felony larceny, theft, fraud or forgery, money laundering or tax evasion, in connection with a mortgage or real estate transaction.

*Eligibility criteria are for guidance only. Contact your mortgage servicer to see if you qualify for HAFA.

Program Availability

HAFA is available for mortgages that are owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or serviced by over 100 HAMP participating servicers. A list of HAMP participating servicers can be found here .

How Will HAFA Program Affect My Credit?

Although a short sale will have a negative effect on your credit, by completing this transaction, you may qualify for future credit sooner than if you allow your home to go through the foreclosure process.

While your lender works with you to complete a short sale, they will continue to report the status of your account to the major credit reporting agencies. If a short sale is completed on your property, your lender will report that your loan was "paid in full for less than the full balance."

You should only consider a short sale after you've explored all other options, including modifying your loan. Please visit our page www.thewatsongrouprealty.com for a complete list of options you may want to consider.

You should contact a tax professional to gain an understanding of any tax implications.

For More Information

If you have additional questions about getting mortgage help contact The Watson Group Realty at (858)272-6000 or 281-797-3841. We will help you understand your options, design a plan to suit your individual situation, and prepare your application. Research shows that homeowners who work with experienced HAFA Short Sale Specialist like us are more successful and have better long-term outcomes. There is no cost to you for this valuable, around-the-clock service. Help is available contact us today!!!

Program Dates

Effective April 5, 2010 - Dec. 31, 2012

Liberty Station, one of the nations top ranked neighborhoods has a lot of real estate activity going on these days. As of late April 2009 there are five attached homes for sale and ten single family homes for sale.

There have been seven units sold in the neighborhood so far this year with five currently in escrow and expected to close in the next 30 days. The average home in Liberty Station has sold this year in just under two months. To those that know Liberty Station, its no surprise that the seller of these homes received 97.7% of their asking price. Liberty Station is a one of a kind master planned community in the Point Loma area, its fairly new, has shopping and a great micro climate due to its close proximity to the ocean and bay. Current opportunities for home shoppers in Liberty Station begin with a townhome at just over $500K. The most expensive unit in Liberty Station is currently priced at just over a million dollars for over 2,600 square feet. If you want something special in Liberty Station please contact me as I know the inventory well and have a new listing coming up soon that might fit your criteria.

In mid November 2008, the average price per square foot of a home in Liberty Station has fallen 13%. Volume of sold units is down 26%. Available for sale inventory is currently at 3.7% of total units, or roughly 13 out of 350. Prices for available homes in Liberty Station range from $499,000 to $1,185,000.

Compared to 2007, the number of days to sell a home in Liberty Station has remained constant at just over 70 days. Also holding steady in 2008 is the average discount negotiated off the asking price, in 2007 it was 4.5%, so far in 2007 its 4.4%.

Call me today for a list of available homes in Liberty Station.