15458 Harrow Ln Poway, CA 92064

**New Listing!**

4Bed-4Bath-4,286 Sq. Ft.

SOLD for $1,249,000!

Presenting one of the best lots in highly desired “The Grove” gated community situated on 1.7+ acres w/ sweeping mountain views! Entertain in backyard oasis w/ pool, spa, BBQ, fire pit! Interior boasts SS appliances, granite counters in kitchen; oak wood & Italian tile floors; newer windows, vaulted ceilings; full bed/bath downstairs, dual master suites, spacious office, huge custom built media room! Fully owned solar, drought resist landscaping means zero electric bill, only ~$100/mo water bill!

**Media room custom designed with triple sound boards in walls and surround sound speakers for optimal acoustics. This room is set apart from rest of house and has private access to backyard. Would be perfect for movie theater, kids play room, game room or you decide!** Full bedroom downstairs has private gas fireplace and is perfect for guests, in-laws or visiting family with adjacent full bath.** Property has 2 AC units, whole house fan, ceiling fans in most rooms and dedicated laundry room!**

**Large 4 car garage with additional workshop, mud room adjacent to 4th stall.** Beautiful circular driveway provides space for many additional cars, room for RV and toys parking too!** Close to Poway Performing Arts Center, Lake Poway, Blue Sky Reserve and more!** This property is in immaculate, move in ready condition and presents a tremendous value at only $326/sq ft, priced well below recent sold comps, don’t miss out!**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Property Values By State From 2005-2017

Home price appreciation is an important topic in today’s economy. Using data from the American Community Survey (ACS), we can analyze the gains and losses of property values over time. I estimated the median property values by state in 2017 using the FHFA index and the median property values from the (ACS). I then calculated the growth rate from 2005 -2017. [1]

The states with the highest estimated median property values in 2017 are Hawaii ($637,892), District of Columbia ($605,756), California ($522,431), Massachusetts ($396,992), and Colorado ($342,967).

The states with the lowest estimated median property values in 2017 are Alabama ($141,714), Oklahoma ($137,387), Arkansas ($129,902), West Virginia ($122,791) and Mississippi ($118,019).

On a regional level, the estimated price growth appears to be the strongest in the South, West, and Midwest. Price growth is weakest in the Northeast states. Overall, all regions are displaying growth in property values with only a few states showing no growth or loses. Below is a breakdown of the Census four regions by state.

  • In the South, which typically leads all regions in sales, Texas led the region with 63 percent estimated price growth from 2005 to 2017. Although Florida experienced strong price growth since 2012, home prices have only increased by 14 percent since 2005 when house prices were still generally at peak levels.

  • In the West, the least affordable region[2], Montana led all states with 71 percent price growth from 2005 to 2017. Despite the strong price growth in California since 2012, prices have only increased by 9 percent since 2005. Nevada shows a negative 5 percent price change over this time.

 

  • In the Midwest where affordability is most favorable, North Dakota led all states with 111 percent price growth from 2005 to 2017. The increase is likely due to the boom in shale oil production up until 2014 when oil prices started collapsing. Illinois, while having the smallest growth in the region had an estimated 7 percent price growth over this time.

  • In the Northeast where price growth is typically slow, Pennsylvania lead the region with a 40 percent price growth from 2005 to 2017. Rhode Island was the only state to have a decline of negative 4 percent price change over this time.

SOURCE: Realtor dot org, Michael Hyman

11301 Creek Rd Poway, CA 92064

**NEW LISTING ALERT!**

4 Acres of Vacant Land!

Priced at $399,000!

Ultra Private 4+ Acre Lot in beautiful Poway. Enjoy the peace and quiet of this tranquil property set away from distraction. Build your dream home on this secluded parcel located in the award winning Poway School District. Tremendous value added with much infrastructure already in place! Well on property, SDGE power pole in place, Sewer connection available at street. Property and Topography Surveys previously completed. Previous MDRA approval with city. Enjoy this exclusive location! **Bring All Offers**

Where Home Prices Are Headed in 2018

A tap on the brakes from the new tax law may be just what the market needs.

The new tax law is likely to increase Patrice and Kalvin Sosoo’s housing costs when they buy their next home. New Jersey is the poster child for the high-cost, high-tax states where housing markets—and homeowners—are supposed to suffer under the new tax law. Patrice and Kalvin Sosoo, of Teaneck, N.J., have a toddler, Kingsley, and a baby on the way, so they’re in the market for a larger place. But the Sosoos aren’t deterred by the new rules, even though housing costs for their next home are likely to be higher.

Under the new law, homeowners with existing mortgages taken out before December 15, 2017, can continue to deduct interest on up to $1 million of mortgage debt. After that date, the limit for all “acquisition debt”—money used to buy, build or substantially improve a home—falls to $750,000. The deductibility of interest on home-equity loans or lines of credit, old or new, that are used for other purposes—such as paying for a vacation, a car or a college education—disappears. Plus, the deduction for state and local taxes, including property taxes, will be capped at $10,000.

While living in their first home, the Sosoos itemized deductions on their federal tax return, including $11,000 in annual property taxes. The Sosoos have set a price limit of $700,000 on their next home, so they will still be able to deduct all of their mortgage interest. But they’ll take a major hit on the deductibility of their state and local taxes; they estimate that property taxes alone will run them about $15,000 annually. “Taxes here are crazy, and the $10,000 limit kind of hurts,” says Patrice. But when they file their taxes for 2018, a tax-rate cut and the higher standard deduction could offset at least some of the loss in state and local tax deductions.

Limited Damage

The new law raises the standard deduction to $12,000 for single filers, $18,000 for head-of-household filers and $24,000 for married couples who file jointly. That may make the limits on deduction of mortgage interest and state and local taxes a moot point for many homeowners, who will benefit by switching from itemizing to taking the standard deduction.

And despite the agita that followed passage of the tax law, the changes will affect relatively few homeowners. In 2017, about 100,000 home buyers, or just 3.9% of all buyers nationally, took out a mortgage that exceeded $750,000, and they’re mainly concentrated in the Bay Area of California and the New York metro area, according to Attom Data Solutions, which analyzes property data.

Attom also found that 4.1 million homeowners, or 4.4% of all homeowners, paid more than $10,000 in property taxes, and they’re concentrated in high-tax counties in the Bay Area, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Texas. But high-earners in places with lower property taxes could also hit the limit. Many high-income homeowners who are subject to the alternative minimum tax were already limited to deducting interest only on mortgage or home-equity debt used to buy, build or improve their homes, and they were prohibited from deducting state and local taxes.

What do the changes to the tax law mean for home prices? Moody’s Analytics expects the housing market to continue recovering in 2018, the seventh year since the market hit bottom. But Moody’s predicts that by 2019, home prices nationally will be 3.7% lower, on average, than they would have been otherwise. The value of tax benefits was baked into home prices in high-cost, high-tax areas, so home prices will rise more slowly as prospective buyers try to contain the after-tax cost of home ownership. Some renters may rent longer or choose not to buy at all. Some buyers will look for less-expensive homes. Sellers of higher-end trade-up homes will feel more pressure to lower their prices. Their buyers not only will hit the mortgage-interest and tax caps but also will be more likely to take the standard deduction and discontinue itemizing, especially if they have no other sizable deductions besides housing costs, says Andres Carbacho-Burgos, a housing economist at Moody’s Analytics.

High-cost counties that will see home-price appreciation slow are concentrated on the West Coast, in the largest metro areas of Texas, in Chicago, and in the states from Massachusetts to Virginia. New Jersey is the worst case because it has the highest average property tax rate of the 50 states and the largest share of high-tier markets. Moody’s figures that by mid 2019, New Jersey’s home prices will fall by 2% from the year before.

The trend of people moving from high-cost to lower-cost states will accelerate, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors. Home prices will continue to rise in states such as Arizona, the Carolinas, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Texas and Utah as more people move in than out. But prices in Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey and New York will decline as more people leave.

Home Prices Around the U.S.

Prices increased nationally by 5.4% in 2017, compared with 5.8% in 2016, according to Clear Capital, a provider of real estate data and analysis. Jobs fueled demand from millennials and Generation Xers, who competed for a dearth of starter and trade-up homes and drove up prices.

Home values rose in 269 of the 299 cities tracked by Clear Capital, going up by double digits in about one-seventh of them. With the exception of San Jose, Calif., epicenter of the tech boom, the places with the biggest gains were mostly smaller cities on the West Coast, in the Mountain states or in Florida that are attracting buyers priced out of larger cities nearby or have thriving economies. The cities where prices lost ground have moribund economies. They’re mostly located in Upstate New York, the Rust Belt and the South.

CoreLogic, a financial data and analytics company, forecasts that prices will rise by about 4% in 2018, reverting to their historical pace. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic, says that in late 2017, CoreLogic analyzed home prices in the largest 100 metro areas and found that about one-third of them were overvalued by 10% or more, based on the long-term relationship between income and home prices. Are they in bubble trouble? “No,” says Nothaft. “It’s more an amber warning light indicating erosion of affordability.”

Nothaft says historically low mortgage rates have helped to mask declining affordability, and when rates edge up in 2018, affordability will erode, adding to the potential for a slowdown in sales and price appreciation.

An Unbalanced Market

The U.S. homeownership rate reached 64.2% in 2017, and it’s on a sustainable upward track, according to the U.S. Census. (The homeownership rate peaked at 69.2% in 2004.) Throughout 2017, the number of new homeowners exceeded the number of new renters, and first-time home buyers accounted for nearly one-third of all home sales. Millennials are making their first foray into ownership, and Gen Xers are transitioning from renting back to owning, says Yun. But until the inventory of new and existing homes increases, many would-be first-time buyers will be forced to continue renting.

Existing homeowners are staying put longer than ever, and the share of repeat home buyers fell slightly between 2016 and 2017. Many homeowners would like to sell, but they fear they won’t be able to find another home they want. Others don’t want to give up their cheap mortgages

New homes are the key to unlocking the inventory stalemate, and with more new homes coming to market, the acuteness of the overall housing shortage is past, says Yun. “This year won’t be as bad for buyers as 2017, but it won’t be back to normal, either,” he says.

As the housing market approaches the spring sales season, one thing is sure: Most people buy or sell homes for reasons other than tax benefits. “They’re getting married, having kids, or they’ve changed their jobs, or they’re retiring,” says Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at Trulia, an online real estate marketplace. “The tax benefits are of less importance to them.”

Mortgage Outlook: Rates Will Ratchet Up

The 30-year fixed rate has lingered at about 4% or less since mid 2011, but this is the year mortgage rates will begin to rise from historic lows. The Federal Reserve is all but certain to continue ratcheting up short-term rates, and yields on 10-year Treasuries, which are tied to the 30-year mortgage rate, have already jumped. In early February, the national average 30-year fixed rate was 4.2%, according to Freddie Mac. By the end of 2018, Kiplinger expects the 30-year fixed rate to hit 4.5% and the 15-year fixed rate to reach 4.2%, up from 3.7% in early February.

Borrowers who have a FICO credit score of 720 or higher and a down payment of at least 30% will get the best rates. Lenders will look at your whole credit profile, however, and consider factors that will offset risk, such as making a larger down payment or having other assets, says Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. You still must be prepared to produce heaps of documentation of your income and assets and answer persnickety questions. With rising home prices and increasing equity, homeowners who haven’t refinanced yet could still snag a low fixed rate. As rates rise, 5/1 and 7/1 adjustable rate mortgages, which lock in a lower rate for five or seven years and then default to a one-year ARM, could gain popularity. Rates on jumbo loans (with a loan amount of $453,100 or more or, in high-cost areas, $679,650 or more) may be even lower than on conforming loans, says Cecala.

When you shop, include an independent mortgage broker or two along with your bank or credit union and non-bank lenders such as Quicken, Caliber Home Loans or LoanDepot. Brokers may be able to find a cheaper deal through their wholesale channel than you could by approaching lenders directly.

13138 Welton Ln Poway, CA 92064

**New Listing Alert!** (SOLD $615,000!)

4Bed-2.5Bath-2,190 sq. ft.

Priced at $595,000!

Bring offers! Investors welcome. Huge half acre level lot with tons of potential. Large home set back from street, opportunity to add square footage if desired. Semi circle driveway with two entry/exit points. On well water, no city water fees! Owned by same family since 1958. Highly desirable Poway Unified Schools. Zoned RS-2, inquire for details on animal regulations and zoning, horses okay, 2nd dwelling/guest house okay! Possibilities are endless with this property, don’t miss out on this one!

6546 Windward Ridge Way San Diego, CA 92121

**New Listing Alert!** (SOLD $1,030,000!)

5 Bedroom-3 Bathroom-2,893 sq. ft.

Priced at $1,095,000!

Rare opportunity to own largest floor plan in highly desirable Pacific Ridge with unobstructed panoramic canyon views! Home boasts formal living and dining room, large family room with double height ceilings, spacious eat-in kitchen, full bed/bath downstairs, generous master w/ en suite bath and private balcony, dedicated laundry room and huge bonus room that could be movie room, game room, kids play area, 5th bedroom, you decide! Centrally located to all shopping, dining, highly rated schools & beaches!

Bitcoin is finally buying into U.S. real estate

Bitcoin is already in retail and restaurants — so it was only a matter of time before the cryptocurrency took on real estate. That time is now. Bitcoin is slowly making its way into closings on everything from Lake Tahoe land in California to Manhattan condos to single-family homes in the heart of Texas.

“Our buyer has evolved, they’ve moved from mom and pops to young people who want to pay with various forms of payment,” said Ben Shaoul, president of Magnum Real Estate Group. “Cryptocurrency is something that has been asked of us — ‘Can you take cryptocurrency? Can we pay that way?’ — and of course when somebody wants to pay you with a different form of payment, you’re going to try to work with them and give them what they want, especially in a very busy real estate market.”

Shaoul is redeveloping a building on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, turning it into condominiums priced between $700,000 and $1.5 million. He admits that there is currently a lot of inventory in the market, and therefore having an edge over his competitors is especially key. Bitcoin, he hopes, will be that edge.

“I think the demographic of the crypto user is a younger millennial, but, that being said, you have a lot of people come over from other countries, who are buyers from different places, who like to trade in different types of currency. Not everyone wants to trade in dollars or yen or euros,” Shaoul said.

He intends to hold the bitcoins, rather than convert them to dollars. As an investor in the art market, where bitcoin is also increasingly present, he sees an opportunity to make even more money. Bitcoin has also been appreciating at lightning speed lately.

Others, however, are not as comfortable with the relatively new currency. The first ever single-family home sale in Texas involving bitcoin was announced last month. The buyer, who works in the tech industry, purchased the newly built home in Austin using bitcoin, but the seller, a custom homebuilder, wanted the currency converted to dollars during the transaction.

“Austin is a really technologically advanced city, I’d say, so I was surprised we hadn’t heard anybody wanting to do this before,” said J Kuper at Sotheby’s International Realty, which brokered the deal. “But, candidly, we didn’t know how to do it. It was a quick challenge and scramble to figure out all the moving parts, but we were instantly excited about the opportunity to figure that out.”

They used BitPay, a global bitcoin payment service provider headquartered in Atlanta. It converted the bitcoins into dollars for the buyer. Given that bitcoin’s value is a moving target day to day, the risk was all on the buyer side. The seller agreed to a fixed price in dollars.

“We found that on the day of the closing, we were kind of watching it [bitcoin’s value] through the day,” said Kuper. “The timing actually ended up perfect for the exchange, very well for our client, so there was really no hesitation, no need to postpone.”

Kuper said the client got a “very fair” exchange rate, though he could imagine how it could’ve been more volatile. He says bitcoin has proven to be a bit more stable in the past six months.

There is, however, still a lot of nervousness for newcomers to the currency. Neither the buyer nor the seller in the Austin deal would talk about the transaction. Much of the concern may be around the lack of regulation so far in cryptocurrency and the lack of understanding as to how gains in bitcoin are taxed. The Internal Revenue Service issued some guidance on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in 2014.

“What they said in that guidance is if you hold bitcoin or ethereum or one of these other convertible digital currencies as a capital asset, when you use that bitcoin to purchase goods or services — so for example, if I were to take $1 million in bitcoin to buy an apartment building or something — to the extent that bitcoin has appreciated since I acquired it, any of that gain, that built-in gain, would be taxed when I used the bitcoin to buy the building,” said Jeremy Naylor, a tax attorney and partner at the firm Cooley.

He added that whether people are voluntarily paying that tax might be a separate question, but from a technical, legal perspective, it would be similar to selling stock to generate the cash to buy an apartment. In a direct transaction, buyers simply skip the part where they convert the bitcoin into dollars. Using BitPay, the buyers are ‘selling’ the bitcoin, and therefore any appreciation is taxable.

The complicated nature of real estate may be why bitcoin has been slow to move into the market. One of the first deals in the U.S. involved a $1.6 million sale of land — a home site — in Lake Tahoe in 2014. Martis Camp Realty President Brian Hull, who brokered that deal, said his firm has not received any other inquiries from buyers interested in using bitcoin.

International buyers seem more comfortable with the currency. Last month British entrepreneurs Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman launched a bitcoin-priced real estate development in Dubai.

The U.S. market has been slower to buy into bitcoin for real estate. All of the deals so far have been done without a mortgage, and Shaoul said the bulk of those inquiring about his Manhattan condos are foreign buyers.

“This industry of real estate is notorious for lagging behind in technology, and innovation,” he said. “Now we are starting to innovate, so we’re very far behind. Bitcoin and payments with bitcoin have been around for years. Why it hasn’t touched down in real estate in the sale of an apartment is odd, quite frankly.”

Diana Olick-www.CNBC.com

— CNBC producer Emily Gaffney contributed to this report.

Mortgage rates surge to 10-week high but a dovish Fed may quash that move

A big move up follows several weeks of grinding higher, yet the 30-year fixed rate still held below 4%

Rates for home loans jumped in the latest week following a smaller rise in U.S. Treasury yields, mortgage provider Freddie Mac said Thursday, yet they remain pinned below the closely watched 4% threshold.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.91% in the Oct. 12 week, while the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.21%. Both products rose six basis points during the week. The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.16%, versus 3.18% during the prior week.

Mortgage rates fell below the key 4% line in early July and have remained there even as the current week’s move marked the fifth-straight week of increases or flat readings. Most housing experts expected mortgage rates to move above post-crisis lows during 2017, but so far the benchmark 30-year fixed has averaged just 4.01% this year.

Unsettled geopolitics are keeping demand for safe assets like government paper high, which pushes yields down. The 10-year Treasury TMUBMUSD10Y, +1.10%  , which mortgage rates track, may resume its slide in the coming week in the wake of a more dovish tone from the Federal Reserve than investors had anticipated.

Published: Oct 13, 2017 by Andrea Riquier

12480 Escala Ln San Diego, CA 92128

**New Rental Listing!** (LEASED!)

5Bed-4Bath-2,755 sq. ft.

Offered at $3,600 per month!

Welcome to your beautiful 5 bedroom Rancho Bernardo pool home! Features include large dual master suites (one downstairs) each with own private full bath, lovely dual pane windows/sliders throughout, newer tile, countertops, and appliances in kitchen, great floorplan perfect for entertaining! Enjoy your own private pool, the peaceful and quiet cul de sac location, the great views, and top rated schools! This wonderful property is close to all shopping, dining, golf, freeway access & more! Don’t miss out!

14583 Scarboro St Poway, CA 92064

**New Rental Listing** (LEASED!)

3Bed-2Bath-1,188 sq, ft.

Offered at $2,350 per month

Beautiful 3 bedroom 2 bath Poway home. Features wood flooring throughout, brand new carpet in bedrooms, and spacious screened in back patio (Not counted in the square footage). Private backyard and large front lawn on a quiet, neighbor friendly street in the highly sought after Poway Unified School District. Move in ready!