Most taxpayers know that they will pay a 10% penalty if they withdraw funds from their IRA before they turn 59.5 years old. There is an exception for first-time home buyers that allows a penalty-free withdrawal of up to $10,000 per person if they haven’t owned a home in the previous two years.
This would allow a married couple who each have an IRA to withdraw a lifetime maximum of $10,000 each, penalty-free for a home purchase.
All fire evacuations have been lifted, weather conditions have changed and the fires are either contained or getting close to containment. Even though the San Diego County fires are no longer forefront in our minds, there are still many people who had to evacuate, or who lost homes, pets or other property due to the fires.
If you’d like to give to the victims of the fires or give to the firefighters, NBC San Diego has provided organizations accepting donations:
Paying cash for a home seems like a huge advantage to qualifying for a mortgage and an appraisal. However, for the fortunate few who don’t need a mortgage and are cash buyers, there is a question they should answer before they make that decision: Do you think at any point in the future, you might put a mortgage on this property?
It’s important because paying cash for a home could affect the ability to deduct the interest if the homeowner should place a mortgage on the home at a later date.
Continue reading The Question Every Cash Buyer Should Answer
As part of their 2014 consumer advertising campaign, the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® is offering a $10,000 furniture makeover sweepstakes. You could win!
Courtesy of NBC, one random winner will receive a $10,000 check to purchase new furniture and other home furnishings.
94% of purchasers last year opted for a fixed-rate mortgage at some of the lowest rates in home buying history. Yet, some of them will pay more in interest than necessary based on the time they’ll own the home.
If a person only plans to be in the home a few years, the adjustable-rate can offer significant savings.
Not only is the interest rate on the adjustable-rate lower than the fixed in the initial period, amortization on a lower interest rate amortizes faster than a higher interest rate.
March housing statistics were a bit of a mixed bag in San Diego County. Hopefully this indicates that we are moving toward a more balanced market.
The housing statistics report for San Diego County overall showed an increase in the median price for single-family detached homes from $470,000 in February 2014 to $492,000 in March 2014 and a year-over increase of 13.1 percent from March 2013.
In North San Diego County, the median price for detached homes slipped slightly dropping from $564,500 in February 2014 to $556,000 in March 2014, but still increasing almost 6 percent compared to March 2013. This annual appreciation of approximately 6 percent is much more sustainable than the many months of 20 to 25 percent year-over median price increases we had been experiencing.
The median price of single-family attached homes increased both countywide and in the North County area in March 2014 showing a year-over gain of 5.44 percent countywide and 1.83 percent in North County.
To read the full housing statistics reports, please click on the links below.
With interest rates lower than they’ve been in over 40 years, it may be difficult to think of a “window of opportunity” closing. However, it isn’t difficult to understand that it may very probably cost more to live in a home in the near future due to rising interest rates and prices.
Zillow recently reported results from a nationwide study that home values are expected to appreciate by 4.5% through the end of the year. Coupled with Freddie Mac’s projection that rates are going up, the cost of housing for buyers by the end of the year will be higher than it is now.
The housing statistics reports for San Diego County and North San Diego County are showing a slowing of the rate at which prices are increasing, but are still indicating tight inventory for buyers and a strong market overall.
While the median price for all North County home sales remained the same, countywide single-family detached homes saw a one percent decrease in their median prices from January 2014 to February 2014 and single-family attached homes dropped 1.64 percent. Year-over countywide detached homes had a median price increase of almost 16 percent, and attached homes saw an increase of 20 percent.
The number of sales and listings countywide increased from January 2014 to February 2014 as is typical this time of year, but the greater increase in sales is still keeping inventory tight as shown below.
To read the full housing statistics reports, please click on the links below.
When looking at this recent survey of what people want in a neighborhood, I thought it was interesting how important walkability and public transportation are to people buying a home. Since Southern California is so car dependent, these are issues for many of our communities.
Even with our excellent weather and wonderful communities, Walk Score does not rank San Diego County highly on their walkability scale. We have no cities scoring 50 or above on their scale of 0 to 100. The city of San Diego scores the highest in the county at a still car-dependent score of 49.
The more things you have, the more you have to take care of. And in this case, the more that you have to store that gets in the way of finding the things that you actually use. Periodically, you need to go through every closet, drawer, cabinet and storage area to get rid of the things that are just taking up space in your home and your life.