Home Buyer Down-payment Assistance is available for qualified applicants for the following cities in San Diego County.

• City of Chula Vista
• City of Carlsbad
• City of Santee
• City of National City
• City of La Mesa
• City of San Diego

These programs are available only via certified lenders.  Lookup Realty has several certified lender contacts we can refer you to, simply contact us to take next steps.

In most situations, your lender will want to see the following documents needed for mortgage loans before qualifying you for a mortgage.

Paycheck stubs

Mortgage brokers or banks will request copies of pay stubs from the three months prior to the loan application. If a prospective buyer owns his own business or works on a commission basis, the mortgage broker or bank may request additional documentation of income – up to a year’s worth of pay stubs or profit and loss statements.

Proof of Retirement Income

If the prospective buyer is retired, the bank may require documents to verify retirement income, such as social security statements, pension statements, or IRA or 401K statements.

Bank Account Statements

The bank may also request bank account statements for the past three months. If the prospective buyer has both checking and savings accounts, they should submit statements for both accounts.

Copy of Lease or Rental Verification

The bank may also request a copy of the prospective buyer’s current lease or a form signed by the landlord. The mortgage broker or bank may contact the landlord to verify rent paid and whether or not it was paid on time.

Employment Verification

Sometimes, the bank requests an employment verification form. This is simply a form that a prospective buyer’s employer fills out and signs. The form includes information about the prospective buyer’s salary, length of employment, whether there is going to be a change in the prospective buyer’s employment status and whether the prospective buyer may have a raise scheduled.

Tax Returns

The lender will request at least one year of tax returns. Many brokers will ask for up to three years of tax returns. The full tax return should be submitted.

VA Certificate

If you served our country in the military you will need a Certificate of Eligibility.

“Jason was excellent in all areas and got me through some stressful moments. He was always available and I knew he had my best interests in mind.”

Notices of Default (NODs) totaled 4,185 in the county in the first quarter of 2012 compared to 4,758 in the same period of last year. Trustees Deeds recorded (TDs), or the actual loss of a home to the formal foreclosure process, totaled 1,862 for the first quarter of this year, compared to 2,902 in the same period of last year. Statewide, a total of 56,258 (NODs) were recorded at county recorders offices during the first quarter of this year. That was down 8.5 percent from 61,517 for the prior three months, and down 17.6 percent from 68,239 in first-quarter 2011, according to DataQuick. Last quarter’s tally of 56,258 NODs was the lowest since 53,943 NODs were recorded in second-quarter 2007. NOD filings peaked in first-quarter 2009 at 135,431.

Source: San Diego Metro

Conventional Loans

• Chapter 7 Bankruptcy - 4 year waiting period from the discharge/dismissal date
• Chapter 13 Bankruptcy – 2 year waiting period from the discharge date or 4 years from dismissal date
• Multiple Bankruptcies within a 7 year period.  The waiting period is 5 years from the most recent discharge/dismissal date.
• Deed-in-Lieu/Pre-Foreclosure Sale (Short Sale) - Minimum 2 year waiting period.

FHA/VA Loans

• Chapter 7 Bankruptcy - 2 year waiting period from the discharge/dismissal date
• Chapter 13 Bankruptcy – 1 year of the payout must have elapsed and borrower’s performance must have been paid as agreed.  Documentation required.  The court must grant permission to the borrower to enter into a mortgage transaction.
• Foreclosure/Pre-Foreclosure/Short Sale – 3 year waiting period.

This beautiful home featured seven bedrooms and eight baths spread out over 9,264 square feet.

Despite the increased amount of activity, the U-T sites Dataquick to show that it’s not too late to get a good price. Compared to the cost of single family homes from a year ago, on average, the cost of resales has dropped 4.2% and new homes are going for 26% less. However, the paper doesn’t site this, but I would bet the significant drop in new homes sales prices is due to the fact that people are buying more K-B quality homes; i.e. homes of a lower quality than the higher quality and larger homes. I state this because higher priced home sales – those over $800,000- was off 5.6% from last March.

But the increased sales activity did create more competition, especially on lower priced homes, bumping the median cost of a home 5.1% over February.

So, the question is: Are we seeing the end of the housing recession or is this just a temporary spring fling, so to speak. The experts seem to be taking a wait-and-see attitude based on the future of the larger economic picture. Unemployment numbers appeared to be going down until last week’s jobless report. This is a presidential election year which normally is a bullish time for the economy. The Fed is committed to keeping interest rates low but the increase in oil prices and the inflationary effect that has on everything from gas to groceries continues to threaten the recovery. Yet, the general business environment and the stock market continue to climb and become more profitable. Then, there’s the instability in Europe and the astonishing level of government deficit spending. Not to mention a government that seems to have lost the ability do anything to stop it.

I would call this a mixed bag of conflicting factors that make it difficult to determine where the housing market is going.  From a personal and localized viewpoint, in speaking with my fellow REALTORS®, because of the increased activity we have seen this year over last, the attitude is upbeat and optimistic. There is more confidence in our profession than I have seen in years. For the first time since the bust, professionals are encouraging their clients to transact before prices start to escalate and inventory declines causing more competition. Lately, I have noticed some investors are starting to withdraw from the market as prices firm up. Barring an economic failure, it appears that prices have, indeed, bottomed out and with the recent increased activity in the housing market, especially in the less than $500,000 marketplace, prices will be forced higher. Therefore, if you’ve been sitting on the fence waiting for the market to bottom out, this may be a good time to get serious about making that home purchase.

The lots I located are one half to one acre and go for around a half million each. Many are sold with build to suit options with the architect and contractor in place with approved floor plans. The homes range from one and a half to five million dollars.