1. Snap Back To Work Immediately After Labor Day
We hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend. However, be ready to 'snap' back to work immediately. The month of September will be crucial in deciding your income for the last quarter of 2012. Your success in 2013 will be determined by your fourth quarter in 2012.
2. Make Sure You Are Talking About the Housing Recovery
There is still a lot of economic uncertainty in the world. However, the one truly bright spot in the United States economy is housing. Make sure you let EVERYONE know that.
If you would like help explaining how the housing market is in full-out recovery, check out this webinar we recently hosted on the subject: Is the Housing Market in a Full-Out Recovery?
3. Bring Clarity to the Confusion about House Prices
Some experts are projecting home prices to appreciate 10% over the next year. Others are saying that prices might tumble another 20% over the same period.
Each market's prices will be determined by the number of houses available in the area in ratio to the number of buyers looking to purchase a home.
Make sure you are comfortable explaining the concept of 'Supply & Demand' and how it affects real estate. For a refresher on this point, you can take a look at a blog post we just authored: Supply & Demand and Its Impact on Housing.
4. Take a Class on How to Write an Effective Business Plan
Many of the deals you put into contract after October 1st probably won't close until 2013. That means that a 'new year' starts on that day.
What are your goals for next year? What will be your strategy?
Have you committed your thoughts to a formal business plan?
Treat your business like you would any other. Take a class on how to structure a business plan and see your income skyrocket.
5. Be Passionate, Yet Humble
A recent study by renowned researcher Jim Collins reported that successful business people combine a deep personal humility with an intense professional will.
You must stay the course and not let the current momentum lose any steam this winter. You have six more months of hard work to completely reverse the challenges you have experienced the last few years.
Your success is entirely in your own hands...
Friday, August 24, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Home Prices Reach Four-Year High
Home prices in San Diego County, still far from their pre-recession peaks, have risen to their highest level in four years, Tuesday’s DataQuick report shows. Home sales, which went through a five-month positive streak, have dropped.
The median price for all homes sold in July was $342,000. That’s the highest it’s been since August 2008, when the economy was in the dumps and the local median price was $350,000. The county peaked at $517,500 in November 2005.
July’s median price increased 1.9 percent from $335,500 recorded in June, and up 5.2 percent from the same time last year. Price boosts were most evident among condo resales. All five regions of the county saw price increases from a year ago. The hottest area was central San Diego, where the median price rose from $226,750 to $267,000, nearly 18 percent.
The county recorded 3,565 sales in July, marking the first sales drop in five months. Transactions fell 5.1 percent from June, but they’re 17.2 percent higher than a year ago.
DataQuick analysts said home values in Southern California as a whole came close to a four-year high due to “increased activity in move-up and high-end submarkets.” Evidence of that has been appearing in San Diego County this year.
Why are prices rising?
“Greater demand, partially triggered by historically low mortgage rates, and a thinner inventory of homes for sale help explain recent gains in the median price,” the DataQuick report said.
Mortgage rates, which inched up last week, are still near historic lows. The 30-year fixed rate is 3.59 percent, while the 15-year fixed is 2.84 percent.
Meanwhile, inventory in San Diego County remains lower than normal. There were 6,006 active listings in July. That’s the lowest level in at least three years, based on a snapshot from the San Diego Association of Realtors. (Note: The trade group began tracking listing figures long before that, but it began splitting active and contingent listings in June 2009 to get a sense of the number of short sales in progress.)
Another factor that continues to play a role in rising home prices is a drop in distressed sales, which include both short sales and foreclosure resales, DataQuick says. Together, they comprised 39.7 percent of July’s resale transactions, the lowest level since January 2008, when that number was 36 percent. This housing category is important because distressed properties are typically priced lower.
“Even adjusting for changes in market mix, there’s growing evidence prices have crept up in areas where more demand has met a shrinking number of homes for sale,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president, in this month’s report.
“But we’re approaching the peak of the traditional spring-summer home-buying season,” he added. “Whether these trends hold into the fall and winter isn’t clear.
“If they do, then logically the number of homes on the market would eventually rise to meet the demand. More owners will be interested in selling, knowing their homes are likely to fetch a higher price, and more people will shift from a negative to at least a slightly positive equity position, enabling them to sell.”
Written by
Lily Leung
The median price for all homes sold in July was $342,000. That’s the highest it’s been since August 2008, when the economy was in the dumps and the local median price was $350,000. The county peaked at $517,500 in November 2005.
July’s median price increased 1.9 percent from $335,500 recorded in June, and up 5.2 percent from the same time last year. Price boosts were most evident among condo resales. All five regions of the county saw price increases from a year ago. The hottest area was central San Diego, where the median price rose from $226,750 to $267,000, nearly 18 percent.
The county recorded 3,565 sales in July, marking the first sales drop in five months. Transactions fell 5.1 percent from June, but they’re 17.2 percent higher than a year ago.
DataQuick analysts said home values in Southern California as a whole came close to a four-year high due to “increased activity in move-up and high-end submarkets.” Evidence of that has been appearing in San Diego County this year.
Why are prices rising?
“Greater demand, partially triggered by historically low mortgage rates, and a thinner inventory of homes for sale help explain recent gains in the median price,” the DataQuick report said.
Mortgage rates, which inched up last week, are still near historic lows. The 30-year fixed rate is 3.59 percent, while the 15-year fixed is 2.84 percent.
Meanwhile, inventory in San Diego County remains lower than normal. There were 6,006 active listings in July. That’s the lowest level in at least three years, based on a snapshot from the San Diego Association of Realtors. (Note: The trade group began tracking listing figures long before that, but it began splitting active and contingent listings in June 2009 to get a sense of the number of short sales in progress.)
Another factor that continues to play a role in rising home prices is a drop in distressed sales, which include both short sales and foreclosure resales, DataQuick says. Together, they comprised 39.7 percent of July’s resale transactions, the lowest level since January 2008, when that number was 36 percent. This housing category is important because distressed properties are typically priced lower.
“Even adjusting for changes in market mix, there’s growing evidence prices have crept up in areas where more demand has met a shrinking number of homes for sale,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president, in this month’s report.
“But we’re approaching the peak of the traditional spring-summer home-buying season,” he added. “Whether these trends hold into the fall and winter isn’t clear.
“If they do, then logically the number of homes on the market would eventually rise to meet the demand. More owners will be interested in selling, knowing their homes are likely to fetch a higher price, and more people will shift from a negative to at least a slightly positive equity position, enabling them to sell.”
Written by
Lily Leung
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
S.D. Foreclosures Up Slightly In July
Dataquick reports county had 3.4% increase from June, but 43% decline from a year ago
Foreclosures in San Diego County ticked up in July but are still lower than the pre-recession peak, says a report released from DataQuick on Monday.
The county recorded 452 foreclosures in July, up 3.4 percent from June but down more than 43 percent from a year ago. Putting the month-to-month bump aside, foreclosures have experienced 22 straight months of year-over-year drops. Also, last month’s foreclosure figure is the lowest for a July in six years and is far below the peak of 2,004 recorded in July 2008.
“From a foreclosure standpoint, we’re basically flat,” said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage, referring to the county’s month-to-month change.
“For only first-time homebuyers and investors, they might want to see more foreclosures,” he added. “But I think most people want to see this problem go away.”
Notice of default filings, the first sign of the foreclosure process, totaled 1,461, up nearly 2 percent from June and up nearly 15 percent from a year ago. Some context on the year-over-year increase: July 2011 marked a five-year low “in part because lenders were still addressing concerns with robo-signing” crisis — when major lenders approved loan documents without proper review, LePage said. Again, the county is far below peak distress levels. Mortgage defaults hit their highest point in March 2009 at 3,832.
Campo, Chula Vista’s EastLake and Otay Ranch areas and northeast Chula Vista posted the most default notices per 1,000 homes in the neighborhood, DataQuick’s analysis shows. The top three foreclosure areas were Campo, Bonsall and San Ysidro.
Economically, July was a mixed month for San Diego County and the state, possibly affecting last month’s distress levels:
• The county lost 4,400 jobs, the lowest number of jobs cut for a July since 1990.
• California recorded 272,789 initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits, up nearly 4 percent from June.
• The median price for all homes sold in the county rose to a four-year high. Sales fell 5.1 percent from June but are 17.2 percent higher than a year ago.
Written by
Lily Leung
Foreclosures in San Diego County ticked up in July but are still lower than the pre-recession peak, says a report released from DataQuick on Monday.
The county recorded 452 foreclosures in July, up 3.4 percent from June but down more than 43 percent from a year ago. Putting the month-to-month bump aside, foreclosures have experienced 22 straight months of year-over-year drops. Also, last month’s foreclosure figure is the lowest for a July in six years and is far below the peak of 2,004 recorded in July 2008.
“From a foreclosure standpoint, we’re basically flat,” said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage, referring to the county’s month-to-month change.
“For only first-time homebuyers and investors, they might want to see more foreclosures,” he added. “But I think most people want to see this problem go away.”
Notice of default filings, the first sign of the foreclosure process, totaled 1,461, up nearly 2 percent from June and up nearly 15 percent from a year ago. Some context on the year-over-year increase: July 2011 marked a five-year low “in part because lenders were still addressing concerns with robo-signing” crisis — when major lenders approved loan documents without proper review, LePage said. Again, the county is far below peak distress levels. Mortgage defaults hit their highest point in March 2009 at 3,832.
Campo, Chula Vista’s EastLake and Otay Ranch areas and northeast Chula Vista posted the most default notices per 1,000 homes in the neighborhood, DataQuick’s analysis shows. The top three foreclosure areas were Campo, Bonsall and San Ysidro.
Economically, July was a mixed month for San Diego County and the state, possibly affecting last month’s distress levels:
• The county lost 4,400 jobs, the lowest number of jobs cut for a July since 1990.
• California recorded 272,789 initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits, up nearly 4 percent from June.
• The median price for all homes sold in the county rose to a four-year high. Sales fell 5.1 percent from June but are 17.2 percent higher than a year ago.
Written by
Lily Leung
Monday, August 20, 2012
Finally, It Is Time to Buy a House
Warren Buffett famously once said: "Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful."
And if you're not instinctively scared of the housing market, then global warming, saturated fat, running with scissors and the bogeyman probably aren't keeping you awake at night, either.
The fact that everyone is scared to dabble in—much less commit to—housing makes it a close-to-perfect investment based on Mr. Buffett's principle. But buying real estate is a good long-term investment for many more reasons, some of which have only become apparent in recent weeks.
The most striking: Housing prices rose sharply from April to May. The S&P/Case-Shiller Index rose 2.2% in 20 of the nation's big cities. Prices shot up more than 3% in Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Minneapolis. Even Detroit's housing market scored a gain, inching up by 0.4%.
Nationally, the increase was the first in seven months. More importantly, the increase matched other data and empirical evidence this spring that foreclosures slowed and inventories were shrinking. Simple economics suggests that as the supply of distressed property slows, buyers will be forced into higher-price properties.
In addition, interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages have tumbled below 3.5%. For those who can get credit, these aren't just historically low rates; they are one-sided deals tilted toward borrowers.
Other good signs: Housing starts rose 6.9% in June. Home-building stocks are on the rise, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up 27% so far this year. And for those who can invest in property, rents continue their ascent. Prices are at a 10-year high, with the median unit renting for $710 a month. Real-estate website Trulia found that it is cheaper to buy than rent in each of the nation's 100 biggest metropolitan areas.
In other words, if you can buy a home today, you can save the difference it would cost you to rent even if you stay in the home just five years. If you can buy a property and rent it, it is almost certain that the rent will cover the cost of the financing—and the property will appreciate.
Here's where the fear comes in. From 30% to 50% of existing mortgages in the U.S. market are underwater, depending on the estimate. That means many borrowers are trapped in their homes and loans. They either can keep paying and hope prices will improve or walk away, putting downward pressure on home prices.
Foreclosure rates have leveled off, but market analysts believe an increase is likely.
Here's why. Since the financial crisis, 3.7 million homes have been foreclosed on, but an additional 1.4 million remain in the national foreclosure inventory, according to CoreLogic, a real-estate research firm.
Finally, a housing recovery won't happen, or could be snuffed out, by a rotten economy. There's never been significant growth in housing with high unemployment. And as Dow Jones's Kathleen Madigan noted, "Potential buyers must feel secure with their job prospects before they commit to long-term mortgages. Higher loan standards mean banks want to see an applicant's solid income history before lending."
There is plenty to be afraid of when it comes to home buying. But in the current investing climate, housing presents an attractive long-term investment that should hold steady or even have upside surprise in the short term.
Fixed-income yields have fallen to historic lows, and the stock market has traded in a range, rising and falling skittishly on jobs, growth data and the news from Europe.
Recently, I was forced to choose between renting and buying. I decided to buy because it offered immediate monthly savings compared to renting, not to mention a mortgage-interest deduction.
So this is at least one case where I'm putting my money where my keyboard is.
Mr. Buffett would remind us that investments of any kind are not without risk. Each should be considered with the investor's time horizon and appetites. But he also has acknowledged that real estate is especially attractive when financing is cheap, there is pent-up demand and prices have been driven down by a spooked market. Put another way, it's time to be greedy.
By DAVID WEIDNER
And if you're not instinctively scared of the housing market, then global warming, saturated fat, running with scissors and the bogeyman probably aren't keeping you awake at night, either.
The fact that everyone is scared to dabble in—much less commit to—housing makes it a close-to-perfect investment based on Mr. Buffett's principle. But buying real estate is a good long-term investment for many more reasons, some of which have only become apparent in recent weeks.
The most striking: Housing prices rose sharply from April to May. The S&P/Case-Shiller Index rose 2.2% in 20 of the nation's big cities. Prices shot up more than 3% in Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and Minneapolis. Even Detroit's housing market scored a gain, inching up by 0.4%.
Nationally, the increase was the first in seven months. More importantly, the increase matched other data and empirical evidence this spring that foreclosures slowed and inventories were shrinking. Simple economics suggests that as the supply of distressed property slows, buyers will be forced into higher-price properties.
In addition, interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages have tumbled below 3.5%. For those who can get credit, these aren't just historically low rates; they are one-sided deals tilted toward borrowers.
Other good signs: Housing starts rose 6.9% in June. Home-building stocks are on the rise, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up 27% so far this year. And for those who can invest in property, rents continue their ascent. Prices are at a 10-year high, with the median unit renting for $710 a month. Real-estate website Trulia found that it is cheaper to buy than rent in each of the nation's 100 biggest metropolitan areas.
In other words, if you can buy a home today, you can save the difference it would cost you to rent even if you stay in the home just five years. If you can buy a property and rent it, it is almost certain that the rent will cover the cost of the financing—and the property will appreciate.
Here's where the fear comes in. From 30% to 50% of existing mortgages in the U.S. market are underwater, depending on the estimate. That means many borrowers are trapped in their homes and loans. They either can keep paying and hope prices will improve or walk away, putting downward pressure on home prices.
Foreclosure rates have leveled off, but market analysts believe an increase is likely.
Here's why. Since the financial crisis, 3.7 million homes have been foreclosed on, but an additional 1.4 million remain in the national foreclosure inventory, according to CoreLogic, a real-estate research firm.
Finally, a housing recovery won't happen, or could be snuffed out, by a rotten economy. There's never been significant growth in housing with high unemployment. And as Dow Jones's Kathleen Madigan noted, "Potential buyers must feel secure with their job prospects before they commit to long-term mortgages. Higher loan standards mean banks want to see an applicant's solid income history before lending."
There is plenty to be afraid of when it comes to home buying. But in the current investing climate, housing presents an attractive long-term investment that should hold steady or even have upside surprise in the short term.
Fixed-income yields have fallen to historic lows, and the stock market has traded in a range, rising and falling skittishly on jobs, growth data and the news from Europe.
Recently, I was forced to choose between renting and buying. I decided to buy because it offered immediate monthly savings compared to renting, not to mention a mortgage-interest deduction.
So this is at least one case where I'm putting my money where my keyboard is.
Mr. Buffett would remind us that investments of any kind are not without risk. Each should be considered with the investor's time horizon and appetites. But he also has acknowledged that real estate is especially attractive when financing is cheap, there is pent-up demand and prices have been driven down by a spooked market. Put another way, it's time to be greedy.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Mortgage Relief Law May Get a Reprieve
Here’s some encouraging news for financially stressed homeowners across the country: The Senate Finance Committee approved a bipartisan bill before heading home for summer recess that would extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act through 2013.
Why is this important? Several reasons: The debt relief law spares homeowners who receive principal reductions on their mortgages from being hit with hefty federal income taxes on the amounts forgiven. Without it, millions of owners who go through foreclosure or leave their homes after short sales would experience even more financial stress.
The law — which has also provided relief to thousands of people who have debt balances written off as part of loan-modification agreements and is crucial to the $25 billion federal-state robo-signing settlement with large banks — is set to expire at the end of December. Some Capitol Hill analysts predicted that, along with a host of other special-interest tax benefits, an extension might have trouble making it through the partisan gantlet in an election year.
But the Senate committee managed to pull together enough votes Aug. 2 to pass the debt-relief extension, after heavy lobbying by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders. The bill, which now moves to the full Senate for possible action next month, also would extend tax write-offs for mortgage insurance premiums for 2012 and through 2013, and continue some energy-efficiency tax credits for remodelings and new home construction.
The mortgage debt relief extension could ultimately affect millions of families who are underwater on their loans, delinquent on their payments and heading for foreclosure, short sales or deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure settlements. Under the federal tax code, all types of forgiven debt are treated as ordinary income, subject to regular tax rates. When an underwater homeowner who owes $300,000 has $100,000 of that forgiven as part of a modification or other arrangement with the bank, the unpaid $100,000 balance would normally be taxable.
But in 2007, Congress saw the fast-mounting distress in the housing market on the horizon and agreed to temporarily exempt certain mortgage balances that are forgiven by lenders. The limit is $2 million in debt cancellation for married individuals filing jointly, $1 million for single filers. This special exemption, however, came with a time restriction. The current deadline is Dec. 31. Without a formal extension by Congress, starting on Jan. 1 all mortgage balances written off by banks would be fully taxable — a nightmare scenario that has had financially stressed homeowners worried for months.
These apprehensions were raised even higher when some policy analysts predicted that a Congress as fractious and dysfunctional as the current one would never get its act together to pass any tax bills until the closing moments of the lame-duck session expected after the November election.
Even then, with issues like the mounting federal debt and draconian spending cuts scheduled for Jan. 1 taking precedence, smaller tax extensions such as mortgage debt relief might well be lost in the dust storms, experts predicted.
A few Republican policy strategists, including Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former Congressional Budget Office director and economics adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, speculated that tea party freshmen in the House might oppose the debt-relief extension because they see it as another costly bailout funded by taxpayers. The estimated revenue cost to the Treasury for a two-year extension is $2.7 billion.
The mortgage insurance deduction is another key housing benefit that made it into the Senate committee’s 11th-hour extender bill. Mortgage insurance generally is required whenever home purchasers make small down payments, whether on conventional, private market loans or government programs.
Under a provision in the tax code that expired last December, certain borrowers could write off their mortgage insurance premiums on their federal income taxes, just as they do with mortgage interest. To qualify for a full deduction, borrowers could not have adjusted gross incomes greater than $100,000 ($50,000 for married taxpayers filing separate returns).
The Senate’s bill would extend the write-off retroactively to this past Jan. 1, and would continue it through December 2013. No buyer or owner who planned to write off premiums during 2012 would be penalized, in other words, despite the expiration last December.
KENNETH HARNEY NATION’S HOUSING
Why is this important? Several reasons: The debt relief law spares homeowners who receive principal reductions on their mortgages from being hit with hefty federal income taxes on the amounts forgiven. Without it, millions of owners who go through foreclosure or leave their homes after short sales would experience even more financial stress.
The law — which has also provided relief to thousands of people who have debt balances written off as part of loan-modification agreements and is crucial to the $25 billion federal-state robo-signing settlement with large banks — is set to expire at the end of December. Some Capitol Hill analysts predicted that, along with a host of other special-interest tax benefits, an extension might have trouble making it through the partisan gantlet in an election year.
But the Senate committee managed to pull together enough votes Aug. 2 to pass the debt-relief extension, after heavy lobbying by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders. The bill, which now moves to the full Senate for possible action next month, also would extend tax write-offs for mortgage insurance premiums for 2012 and through 2013, and continue some energy-efficiency tax credits for remodelings and new home construction.
The mortgage debt relief extension could ultimately affect millions of families who are underwater on their loans, delinquent on their payments and heading for foreclosure, short sales or deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure settlements. Under the federal tax code, all types of forgiven debt are treated as ordinary income, subject to regular tax rates. When an underwater homeowner who owes $300,000 has $100,000 of that forgiven as part of a modification or other arrangement with the bank, the unpaid $100,000 balance would normally be taxable.
But in 2007, Congress saw the fast-mounting distress in the housing market on the horizon and agreed to temporarily exempt certain mortgage balances that are forgiven by lenders. The limit is $2 million in debt cancellation for married individuals filing jointly, $1 million for single filers. This special exemption, however, came with a time restriction. The current deadline is Dec. 31. Without a formal extension by Congress, starting on Jan. 1 all mortgage balances written off by banks would be fully taxable — a nightmare scenario that has had financially stressed homeowners worried for months.
These apprehensions were raised even higher when some policy analysts predicted that a Congress as fractious and dysfunctional as the current one would never get its act together to pass any tax bills until the closing moments of the lame-duck session expected after the November election.
Even then, with issues like the mounting federal debt and draconian spending cuts scheduled for Jan. 1 taking precedence, smaller tax extensions such as mortgage debt relief might well be lost in the dust storms, experts predicted.
A few Republican policy strategists, including Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former Congressional Budget Office director and economics adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, speculated that tea party freshmen in the House might oppose the debt-relief extension because they see it as another costly bailout funded by taxpayers. The estimated revenue cost to the Treasury for a two-year extension is $2.7 billion.
The mortgage insurance deduction is another key housing benefit that made it into the Senate committee’s 11th-hour extender bill. Mortgage insurance generally is required whenever home purchasers make small down payments, whether on conventional, private market loans or government programs.
Under a provision in the tax code that expired last December, certain borrowers could write off their mortgage insurance premiums on their federal income taxes, just as they do with mortgage interest. To qualify for a full deduction, borrowers could not have adjusted gross incomes greater than $100,000 ($50,000 for married taxpayers filing separate returns).
The Senate’s bill would extend the write-off retroactively to this past Jan. 1, and would continue it through December 2013. No buyer or owner who planned to write off premiums during 2012 would be penalized, in other words, despite the expiration last December.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Foreclosure Investors Face Slim Pickings
Bank owned resales make up smaller share of total market.
Properties that were foreclosed upon in the past year and resold in San Diego County made up 20 percent of total home resales in June, matching the recorded low in September 2007, DataQuick stats show. Their share of the resale market was 21.3 percent in May, 28.5 percent a year ago and had a peak of 55 percent 3½ years ago. In other words, bank-owned resales are making up a smaller share of the total market as time passes.
The shrinking inventory of foreclosure resales and the heightened demand for them likely has helped drive up the median home price in the county, said Andrew LePage, an analyst at La Jolla-based DataQuick. Foreclosures, which can be in poor condition, tend to be sold at a discount.
As their presence in the county continued to subside in the past six months, home values in San Diego County have either stayed relatively flat or crept up slowly.
“It has a significant impact on the market in how the market feels to buyers and sellers out there,” said LePage, referring to the latest foreclosure figure. “Buyers don’t have as many foreclosures to choose from, and sellers don’t have as many foreclosures to compete with.”
Even with a declining inventory of foreclosure resales, investors are still out in significant numbers. Investor sales comprised 27.5 percent of total sales in June, matching the percentage in May and up from 24.1 percent a year ago. They peaked in February, at 30.1 percent.
What kind of effect do investors have on neighborhoods?
It depends on your perspective and your neighborhood.
Investors, who typically snap up distressed properties because of their lower prices, may be doing areas a favor by rehabbing homes and selling them to first-time homebuyers who wouldn’t have the means to do the extensive rehabbing.
“It’s an ecosystem,” LePage said. “Investors are scavengers that pick up problem properties. If too many stack up, that has negative impacts on the way neighborhoods look and the quality of home values.”
On the flip side, stories have surfaced of investors crowding first-time buyers. Investors tend to have cash, and cash is more attractive to home sellers, LePage said.
“It depends on your perspective,” he added.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
County's June Job Growth Strongest Since 2010
San Diego County employers added more jobs to their payrolls in June than they have in any single month in more than two years.
Local employers added 13,400 workers to their payrolls last month. Only in April 2010, when they added 13,500 jobs, was there a larger number of people hired in a single month.
The data, released Friday by the state Employment Development Department, comes at a time of growing skepticism among employers over the health of the economy. The presidential election, health care reform, the European debt crisis and the year-end fiscal cliff have kept hiring slow, economists said.
“It looked like we were losing momentum, but San Diego has shown significant resilience,” said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Still, the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent. It was 8.8 percent in May.
The June growth is also a big jump from what employers added in June 2011, when they hired 3,900 workers. In June 2010, they only added 1,500.
June is typically a month with significant hiring in the leisure and tourism industry. The field added 7,200 workers last month, the most of any sector.
“I don’t think a lot of it is artificially high because when you do the June-to-June comparisons, last June you had to have summer hiring as well,” said Alan Gin, an economist at the University of San Diego.
Gin said the most important number is the 24,000 jobs gained from June 2011 to June 2012. It’s the kind of year-over-year growth economists say will really take a chunk out of the unemployment rate.
It’s the highest year-over-year job growth since May 2005, when county employers added 25,100 jobs. The jobless rate then, however, was 4.1 percent.
We finally got the job growth, but the unemployment rate still went up.
Well, blame the grads.
Gin said June is historically one of the worst months for the unemployment rate, largely because college and high school graduates enter the labor force and other students look for summer jobs. May, conversely, is one of the best (the county’s 8.8 percent rate in May was a three-year low).
San Diego State University issued about 7,000 bachelor’s degrees in May, and the University of San Diego about 3,000. The University of California, San Diego graduated roughly 6,000 in June. The labor force grew by 14,900 last month.
Gin said when adjusted for seasonal factors, like college graduation, the county’s unemployment rate is 8.8 percent.
Still, summer hiring seemed to be the reason for the job growth, with its 7,200 jobs.
“We are seeing a significant rebound in tourism, which appears to be more than just the seasonal increase,” Reaser said.
Construction added the second-most jobs with 2,600.
Kelly Cunningham, an economist at the National University System Institute for Policy Research, said June’s gain was significant. He said the 13,500 jobs added in April 2010 were largely due to government census workers being hired. This June, the government sector shrank the most of any industry, losing 700 jobs.
In terms of growth, professional and business services added 1,800 jobs in June, and posted the largest year-over-year gain at 7,200. Most of those jobs came in professional, scientific and technical services. Administrative, support and waste also accounted for about a third of those jobs.
The state has monthly job data going back to 1990. After April 2010, the next highest month of growth came in February 1995, when the county added 12,600 jobs and had a 6.2 percent unemployment rate.
Statewide, California’s unemployment rate was 10.7 percent in June, adding 38,300 jobs. The nation’s was 8.4 percent.
San Diego’s unemployment rate tends to be lower than the state’s due to a diverse economy that includes in-demand fields such as tech, health, research and defense, economists have said.
By Jonathan Horn
Local employers added 13,400 workers to their payrolls last month. Only in April 2010, when they added 13,500 jobs, was there a larger number of people hired in a single month.
The data, released Friday by the state Employment Development Department, comes at a time of growing skepticism among employers over the health of the economy. The presidential election, health care reform, the European debt crisis and the year-end fiscal cliff have kept hiring slow, economists said.
“It looked like we were losing momentum, but San Diego has shown significant resilience,” said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Still, the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent. It was 8.8 percent in May.
The June growth is also a big jump from what employers added in June 2011, when they hired 3,900 workers. In June 2010, they only added 1,500.
June is typically a month with significant hiring in the leisure and tourism industry. The field added 7,200 workers last month, the most of any sector.
“I don’t think a lot of it is artificially high because when you do the June-to-June comparisons, last June you had to have summer hiring as well,” said Alan Gin, an economist at the University of San Diego.
Gin said the most important number is the 24,000 jobs gained from June 2011 to June 2012. It’s the kind of year-over-year growth economists say will really take a chunk out of the unemployment rate.
It’s the highest year-over-year job growth since May 2005, when county employers added 25,100 jobs. The jobless rate then, however, was 4.1 percent.
We finally got the job growth, but the unemployment rate still went up.
Well, blame the grads.
Gin said June is historically one of the worst months for the unemployment rate, largely because college and high school graduates enter the labor force and other students look for summer jobs. May, conversely, is one of the best (the county’s 8.8 percent rate in May was a three-year low).
San Diego State University issued about 7,000 bachelor’s degrees in May, and the University of San Diego about 3,000. The University of California, San Diego graduated roughly 6,000 in June. The labor force grew by 14,900 last month.
Gin said when adjusted for seasonal factors, like college graduation, the county’s unemployment rate is 8.8 percent.
Still, summer hiring seemed to be the reason for the job growth, with its 7,200 jobs.
“We are seeing a significant rebound in tourism, which appears to be more than just the seasonal increase,” Reaser said.
Construction added the second-most jobs with 2,600.
Kelly Cunningham, an economist at the National University System Institute for Policy Research, said June’s gain was significant. He said the 13,500 jobs added in April 2010 were largely due to government census workers being hired. This June, the government sector shrank the most of any industry, losing 700 jobs.
In terms of growth, professional and business services added 1,800 jobs in June, and posted the largest year-over-year gain at 7,200. Most of those jobs came in professional, scientific and technical services. Administrative, support and waste also accounted for about a third of those jobs.
The state has monthly job data going back to 1990. After April 2010, the next highest month of growth came in February 1995, when the county added 12,600 jobs and had a 6.2 percent unemployment rate.
Statewide, California’s unemployment rate was 10.7 percent in June, adding 38,300 jobs. The nation’s was 8.4 percent.
San Diego’s unemployment rate tends to be lower than the state’s due to a diverse economy that includes in-demand fields such as tech, health, research and defense, economists have said.
By Jonathan Horn
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