Michael Mekler

The 2007-2009 financial crisis has left many scars for all. We have learned that home appreciation is wonderful but if we treat our home like an ATM machine the concept of the American Dream can become a nightmare. There is always a lesson to be learned otherwise the pain and suffering that most of us sustained will go to waste. One of the best things that I learned was to embrace the concept of "Staycation". Of course one could pick Hawaii, Tahiti, Australia, or any other exotic place around the globe. Having grown up in Lima Peru, a place near and dear to my heart, it is still considered a third world country. Social problems made my upbringing extremely interesting to say the least. The US has been my home since 1980.

Last Saturday, on a moments notice, my wife and 2 boys threw the surfboards and boogie boards on the car rack, packed a light lunch and off we went to the beach. San Diego allows you to do these kind of things all the time. After catching a few waves I decided to sit on the sand next to my wife and watch the kids enjoy themselves. As my eyes turned to the ocean, just like magic, a group of dolphins jumped just behind the white waters. It took a while absorb it all but it was by all means an awesome moment. I don't know how much other people would have to pay to capture that moment. But for us it was 100% free. The entire experience was priceless.

Fast forward to Mother's day Sunday night. I was thrilled to have a feed of the Yankee-Boston baseball game. I am a big Yankee fan and it was a bit sad to see my Yankees lose although they took 2 out of the 3 games. I am only bringing this up because as I was watching the games in shorts, T-shirt and sandals the crowd at Fenway Park was bundled up pretty good in a 40 degree May evening. As much as I miss Yankee Stadium, and I have not been to the new one yet, I will take my boring 72 degrees throughout the year.

I think my vote is pretty clear. San Diego wins hands down. If you love the outdoors are thinking about moving to vacation land there is no time like the present to make the move. After all, real estate prices and interest rates may never be as favorable as they are right now.

The most esteemed experts in social media all agree on that “addiction and burnout” with the popularity of social networks like Twitter and Facebook will only happen to those expecting instant gratification. Patience is indeed a virtue. This week one of the most respected bloggers, Tamar Weinberg, wrote the a great article “ Is Social Media Becoming Boring?” to address this very issue.

If you are anything like me, I am plugged into Twitter because I know I will learn what is going on in every corner of the world directly from the local sources, instantly. A perfect example are the recent world natural disasters in Haiti and Chile. These events popped up on Twitter before CNN was airing them. When I tell this to people that have never heard of twitter (hard to believe it, but yes there are still some) they think I am crazy. They don’t get how the power connecting via social networks.

When it comes to social media we need to pace ourselves and create some strategies to avoid the burnout and to ensure that all the time and work that we have already invested does not go to waste. Here are some pointers on doing just that:

1. Read books from the greatest authors in Social Media. Business Coach and blogger Stephanie York recently wrote the article “I need someone to help me!!!! 4 ways to find help“. By choosing a mentor like Stephanie, that will encourage you and guide you through your efforts, it will make a world of difference in your everyday psyche. For the professional that aspires to make Social Media part of your life there are some MUST reads. Here are my 4 suggestions: “Crush it! Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion”, by Gary Vaynerchuk; “Trust Agent” By Chris Brogan and Julien Smith; “The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web”, By Tamar Weinberg. Finally, a book that has a more global approach, articulates the current way business is done and has made an enormous difference in my life is “Linchpin” by Seth Godin. You can purchase them all through Amazon. I have them all together for you on the right hand column of this page.
2. Make a Social Media Schedule. It is so easy to feel lost and overwhelmed if you don’t follow a pattern that you can stick to every day. There are many ways to socialize by blending most of your networks into one service and actually schedule action items even if you are away from your office or in the middle of a meeting. Personally, I am a huge fan of Hootsuite.com. Try it. It is free.
3. Finally, and maybe most importantly, Social Media is NOT a source of immediate gratification. It takes time for the search engines to recognize you as a trusted source. The ONLY way to accomplish this is by writing and posting on your blog as often as possible. I LOVE Wordpress as a blogging platform and I use the “Thesis Theme” with it simply because it is extremely user friendly. One word of caution here. The day you feel like posting has become a chore and not a passion you are doomed. Your posts define you and make you transparent to your readers. If you are writing for the sake of writing without giving it your all, your follower base will sense it and stop following you.

I hope you sense that my soul is filled with a passion to help people into living their own dreams through writing or even video blogging. If any of the above seems foreign to you email me or call me. I respond personally to every call and email. I will never claim that I know it all, but I can probably point you in the right direction.

As the first time home buyer and move up buyer credit gets closer to expiration it is quite apparent that there will be more activity of shoppers in a frenzy to make offers on the existing inventory. Another catalyst to create the “perfect storm” for some home buyers is the speculation that interest rates will be going higher when the fed exists the purchase of Mortgage Backed Securities.

With this in mind it is important that buyers consider all mortgage products. The loan that should gain tremendous traction is the FHA Rehab loan 203K. This loan comes in two flavors, the streamline and the non-streamline. The main difference between the two is that the streamline FHA 203K is one that has a maximum of $35,000 set aside in escrow for specific repairs. The non streamline FHA 203K is one that takes into account the appraised value of the home, not as it is now but, as it will be once the completed work is finished. The work can include, complete remodeling of bathrooms, room additions, in depth repairs, detached garage construction, etc.

If your desire to achieve the American dream feels like it is slipping away due to the fact that you have placed multiple offers, this is not the time to quit. Just think of how much more you know about your local market and when you go out shopping don’t get stuck not placing offers due to the property’s current condition or appearance but how it will look through your creative eye when it is completed.

If we look back at the history of the latest real estate downturn, and according to Realty Trac, the current wave of foreclosures started roughly in July of 2007. In August of the same year the number of foreclosures peaked at close to 250,000 fillings. That monthly number is somewhere near what some call the "plateau" seen in February of 2010 but yet far off from the average month during any given month of 2006 of less than 100,000 nationwide. Let's forget for now the fillings of Bankruptcies filed during the same periods.

Currently, FHA represents the majority of purchase loans in the US. According to the HUD/FHA guidelines the eligibility for the seasoning (the "waiting time") of a foreclosure before an individual can purchase again is 3 years. 2 years for a chapter 7 bankruptcy and 1 year for a chapter 13 bankruptcy with proof of on time payments to the trustee. Over the last few months I have received significant amounts of emails and calls asking "when can I buy gain?".

At first the idea of a defaulted home owner buying another property seemed outlandish but when we go back and realize that the main reason that the cycle started was due to a sub prime mortgages that after a 2 year teaser rate became impossible to pay back at rates close to or, in some cases, above 10%. Fast forward 3 years and here we are in a completely different environment with rates at historical lows of 5% for a 30 year fixed. Home values have decreased across the country and some markets are down 25%. Granted that the aggressive underwriting guidelines are gone for forgettable future and now the pendulum has moved almost to much in the other direction there will be a true opportunity for the hard working American that has not lost sight of the dream of owning a home.

Although the unemployment rate represents a HUGE issue for the overall economy it may not be the case for the housing market. If we do the math and subtract the current 11% in California versus the +/-4.5% that we had, before the economy took a nose dive, that only eliminates an additional 5% of the general population but with home ownership at historical lows of 64.5% that number truly eliminates less than 2% of the former homeowners.

We all know that price is the point at which the supply curve meets the demand. The fact is that under normal circumstances the largest portion of the population that becomes "new homeowners" are couples that have recently gotten married or had a baby. That population has not gone away. There are just as many people getting married and having kids in 2010 as there were in 2007. One last potential increase in demand is the possibility of our troops coming home and obtaining financing via the VA system. If we add all these factors together the outlook may not be as bleak some economist have already predicted further declines for the remainder of the year.