Entries by Alex Rojas

San Diego home price increases outpace nation, most U.S. cities

Original article found here.   San Diego had the third highest annual home price increase in the nation in August, a distinction not reached since 2014, said a top real estate index released Tuesday. San Diego County home prices have risen 7.8 percent in a year, said the S&P Case-Shiller Indices, which are adjusted for […]

House Republican tax reform will slash mortgage interest deduction

Original article found on here. Republicans announced their new tax plan, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Thursday, and its implications on the housing market are much larger than expected. The bill, H.R. 1, cuts the mortgage interest deduction in half. It’s previous limit was $1 million. From the bill: The aggregate amount of indebtedness taken into […]

Home Staging Decreases Time on the Market

Home Staging Decreases Time on the Market, Finds Realtors® Report MEDIA CONTACT: JANE DOLLINGER / 202-383-1042 /  Original article found here. WASHINGTON (July 6, 2017) — Sixty-two percent of sellers’ agents say that staging a home decreases the amount of time a home spends on the market, according to the National Association of Realtors® 2017 Profile […]

8 Dumb Reasons Why People Can’t Buy a Home

8 Dumb Reasons People Can’t Buy a Home By Daniel Bortz | Jul 11, 2017 original article found here. akurtz/Getty Images Buying a home—especially if it’s your first—can be a lot like losing weight in the sense that people end up doing, well, some pretty dumb stuff in the process. But while desperate dieters might waste money on “magical” weight-loss pills […]

FHA Mortgage Insurance Price Cut Is Trumped: What Impact Will It Really Have?

By Jonathan Smoke | Jan 25, 2017  Reposted from Realtor.com, read original post here. AntonioGuillem/iStock Aspiring first-time buyers in January got a new year’s fake-out from the government. On Jan. 9, Julian Castro, then secretary of Housing and Urban Development, announced a reduction in the annual mortgage insurance premium. The change, aimed at lower-income borrowers, would affect new loans insured […]

The Misleading Math Behind the Rent vs. Buy Calculation

By Jonathan Smoke | Feb 17, 2017 Original article can be read here  KTSDESIGN/iStock There’s about $13.1 trillion stashed away in the United States, in plain sight. Where? In our homes! Do we have your attention yet? That’s the total value of the equity held by over 75 million U.S. homeowners, according to the latest estimates from the […]

How a $40M Duo is Leading a Luxury Auction Brokerage Branch

How a $40M duo is leading a luxury auction brokerage branch 2 real estate professionals take the high-profile marketing tactic to San Diego By Gill South | Dec. 28, 2016, inman.com The grand, revered auction rooms of Christie’s and Sotheby’s in London, Paris and New York — which sell millions of dollars of fine art, antiques and jewelry […]

The Odd Tale of the $1 Historic Home That No One Wants

The Odd Tale of the $1 Historic Home That No One Wants By Claudine Zap | Nov 3, 2016 , realtor.com Holly Smyth, City of Hercules You’ve heard it before, but we’ll say it again: The San Francisco Bay Area is a pricey place to live, where even decrepit shacks command six-figure sales. But what if we told you there’s […]