San Diego’s Employment increased by 5,200 jobs in February and by 19,200 jobs over the past year. The unemployment rate in the San Diego County was 10.1 percent in February, down from a revised 10.4 percent in January 2011, and below the year-ago estimate of 10.6 percent, reports the state Employment Development Department.

This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 12.3 percent for California and 9.5 percent for the nation during the same period.

In San Diego between January 2011 and February 2011, professional and business services reported the greatest month-over gain, adding 1,800 jobs in San Diego (10,700 for the past year).

Other notable increases included the following:

• Leisure and hospitality industry increased by some 1,700 jobs (4,300 for the past year)
• Educational and health services industry increased by some 1,200 jobs (3,800 for the year)
• Government  jobs in San Diego increased by 900 (1,900 for the year)

View other blog posts about San Diego economy

Click here for more information on buying San Diego real estate

View other blog posts on San Diego real estate news

COASTAL SAN DIEGO PROPERTIES

In Buffett's most recent letter to his company's shareholders, he made a striking declaration of his feelings about owning a home: "home ownership makes sense for most Americans, particularly at today’s lower prices and bargain interest rates."  Warren Buffet just so happens to be the third richest human being on the planet.

Buffett believes now is the time to purchase as affordability has never been better. And he’s right that a home is a very strong investment, with abundant yields, both financial and emotional. According to a recent survey, the American Dream of homeownership lives on in the hearts of the 72 percent of Americans who say owning the place they live is a part of their personal American Dream.

Here are 3 basic steps Buffett urges every American who owns a home - or wants to - to include in their approach to home ownership:

1.  Ditch your "dream home" for a practical pad. When it comes to homes and mortgages, bigger is not always better.  What is better is to buy a home that makes sense for your family's future and its finances. In Buffett's own words, "a house can be a nightmare if the buyer’s eyes are bigger than his wallet and if a lender . . . facilitates his fantasy."  Instead of buying dream homes, Buffett went on, the goal should be to buy a home you can afford.

2.  When you buy, plan to hold. Warren Buffett is worth $50 billion, and he still lives in the home he bought 52 years ago - for $31,500. Many Americans got caught in the housing crash when they took on mortgages they could only sustain for a short period of time, then weren't able to refinance as expected. Buffett's stock investing advice has long been to avoid making investments you can't hold for at least 10 years. Likewise, buying a home should be done with a long-term plan to avoid catastrophe when home values fluctuate in the short term.

3.  Mortgages should have fixed, affordable payments. In his shareholder letter, Buffett points out that a housing company he holds has done vastly better than other real estate and mortgage industry players and attributes their success to the fact that "our approach was simply to get a meaningful down-payment and gear fixed monthly payments to a sensible percentage of income."

View other blog posts about buying San Diego real estate

View testimonials about COASTAL SAN DIEGO PROPERTIES' services

COASTAL SAN DIEGO PROPERTIES

Foreclosure filings in San Diego dropped to levels not seen since late 2008 when governmental intervention temporary slowed the foreclosure filing process, according to a report from ForeclosureRadar. 

Foreclosure Filings (aka Notice of Default filings) are the first step in the foreclosure process. Notice of Trustee Sale filings set the date and time of an auction, and serve as the homeowner's final notice before sale.

Statewide Notice of Default filings declined 12.8 percent month-over-month and Notice of Trustee Sale filings decreased 12.5 percent from the prior month.  On a year-over-year basis, Notice of Default filings fell 29.6 percent and Notice of Trustee Sale filings declined 17 percent from February 2010. Activity on the courthouse steps slowed with fewer sales leading to a 24.5 percent decrease in sales Back to Bank and a 20.3 percent drop in properties purchased by Third Parties, typically investors.  For the first time, Third Party investors saw a drop in the average Time to Resell a property, down 3.1 percent to 156 days.

View other posts with Foreclosure Info

View other posts on Avoiding Foreclosure

View COASTAL SAN DIEGO PROPERTIES Testimonials

COASTAL SAN DIEGO PROPERTIES

Testifying before a Senate panel, National Association of REALTORS® President Ron Phipps recently told members of Congress that sustainable homeownership must be the goal when considering future federal housing policies.

“As the leading advocate for homeownership, NAR wants to ensure public policies that promote responsible, sustainable homeownership and that any changes to current programs and incentives don’t jeopardize a housing and economic recovery,” Phipps told the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee.

Phipps said the housing market is starting to see signs of recovery; however, the real issue facing the nation right now is that many Americans can’t find meaningful work to support their families, and housing is essential to creating jobs.

“Homeownership is a pillar of our economy; our research suggests that home sales in this country generate more than 2.5 million private-sector jobs in an average year. For every two homes sold, a job is created,” Phipps said. He added that, while housing alone may not pull America out of this stalled economy, hampering its recovery will severely and negatively impact the nation’s recovery.

“Owning a home contributes to the strength of the nation’s economy and is still one of the best ways for individuals to build long-term wealth; therefore, we need public policies that support homeownership. Making it harder for families to afford safe mortgages does not further the goal of a housing or economic recovery,” he said.

Phipps agreed that reforms are required to prevent a recurrence of the housing market meltdown, but raising fees and increasing down payment requirements for well-qualified, creditworthy borrowers places an unnecessary burden on many families, especially those in high-cost urban markets. The San Diego housing market is improving along with the improvement of the local economy and job growth.

“Home buyers need a wide variety of traditionally safe, well-underwritten products with flexible down payment requirements, said Phipps. “Overly stringent requirements will turn away 10-15 percent of otherwise qualified buyers who have a demonstrable ability to repay—that’s approximately 500,000 home sales that won’t happen, further delaying the housing and economic recovery.”

“We need to keep housing first on the nation’s public policy agenda to ensure that housing and national economic recoveries are sustained, and that anyone in this country who aspires to own a home and can afford to do so is not denied the opportunity to build their future through homeownership,” Phipps said.

View other blog posts about San Diego Economy

Click here to view testimonials

COASTAL SAN DIEGO PROPERTIES