Saturday, January 28, 2012

Mortgage Interest Rates Have Done A 180 Deg Turn

Freddie Mac reported Thursday that mortgage interest rates have done a 180 and are now starting to climb, buoyed by positive housing data over recent weeks which show the market ended 2011 on a high note. Still, interest rates on home loans remain extremely low by historical standards.

For the week ending January 26, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.98 percent (0.7 point), reversing its previous three-week trend of setting all-time record lows. Despite the jump, this marks the eighth consecutive week the 30-year fixed rate has remained below 4.00 percent.

The 30-year rate jumped 10 basis points over the past week, up from 3.88 percent reported by the GSE last Thursday. As a point of comparison, though, last year at this time the 30-year averaged 4.80 percent.

Freddie Mac’s study puts the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage at 3.24 percent (0.8 point) this week, up from last week’s average of 3.17 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year rate was averaging 4.09 percent.

The 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.85 percent (0.7 point) this week. It was 2.82 percent last week and 3.70 percent this time last year.

The 1-year ARM was the only loan product in Freddie’s study that did not show upward movement, but there was no downward movement either. It came in at 2.74 percent (0.6 point), matching last week’s average. A year ago, the 1-year ARM averaged 3.26 percent.

Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, cited several pieces of positive housing data that point to improvements in the marketplace.

New construction of single-family homes rose 4.4 percent in December to an annualized rate of 470,000. That’s the most since April 2010, Nothaft noted.

Existing home sales increased 5.0 percent at the end of 2011 to an annualized sales pace of 4.61 million units – the largest amount since May 2010.

In addition, Nothaft points out that pending home sales in November and December averaged the highest reading since the March and April 2010 period.

Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey averages data gathered from 125 lenders across the country.

Courtesy of:  http://www.dsnews.com/

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Sunday, January 15, 2012

San Diego Median Home Values 4th Highest Among 25 Top Cities - Zillow

The median value of a home in San Diego County is $338,800, fourth highest among 25 major metro areas, according to new data from Zillow. The U.S. median is $147,800.

Only three metro areas -- New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco -- top San Diego.

San Diego values are down 36.6% from their peak, but 7 metro areas -- Miami, Detroit, Riverside, Phoenix, Tampa, Sacramento, and Orlando -- are down more than 50%.

courtesy of:  http://www.sandiegoreader.com/, Don Bauder

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Welcome To San Diego Restaurant Week

SUN, 1/15/12  to  FRI, 1/20/12

Extraordinary three-course menus from San Diego's best restaurants from $20-$40 per person.

Experience cuisine that delights your palate and defines the art of dining in San Diego. Choose from over 180 of the city's best restaurants and enjoy a fixed price, three-course dinner for $20, $30 or $40 per person, depending on the restaurant.

Start the fun early with San Diego Restaurant Week's lunch program, which gives daytime diners the opportunity to feast on special two-course, prix-fixe lunch menus for just $10, $15 or $20 per person at participating restaurants.

Now in its seventh year as San Diego County's largest and most successful dining event, San Diego Restaurant Week runs from January 15-20, 2012, and is designed to spotlight San Diego as a premiere dining destination.

Whether you crave seafood, organic, fusion, American or ethnic, there is something for everyone during San Diego Restaurant Week. If you enjoy relaxing at the Gaslamp’s newest tapas bar one night, dining al fresco by the bay the next, and ending the week with an indulgent dessert at one of this city’s most remarkable five-star restaurants - now here is your chance to do so at a discounted price! Choose from restaurants located throughout San Diego in some of the most vibrant and distinct neighborhoods, from La Jolla, Carlsbad and Coronado to Old Town, Little Italy and the Gaslamp Quarter.

There are no tickets or passes required for Restaurant Week. You may simply dine out at as many participating restaurants as you like, exploring new dining opportunities or enjoying old favorites. Advance reservations are strongly recommended (but not required) and can be made by contacting the restaurants directly.

For a complete list of participating restaurants (searchable by location, cuisine and price), visit the San Diego Restaurant Week website.

courtesy of:  http://www.sandiego.org/event/Visitors/7820

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Welcome To San Diego Restaurant Week

SUN, 1/15/12  to  FRI, 1/20/12

Extraordinary three-course menus from San Diego's best restaurants from $20-$40 per person.

Experience cuisine that delights your palate and defines the art of dining in San Diego. Choose from over 180 of the city's best restaurants and enjoy a fixed price, three-course dinner for $20, $30 or $40 per person, depending on the restaurant.

Start the fun early with San Diego Restaurant Week's lunch program, which gives daytime diners the opportunity to feast on special two-course, prix-fixe lunch menus for just $10, $15 or $20 per person at participating restaurants.

Now in its seventh year as San Diego County's largest and most successful dining event, San Diego Restaurant Week runs from January 15-20, 2012, and is designed to spotlight San Diego as a premiere dining destination.

Whether you crave seafood, organic, fusion, American or ethnic, there is something for everyone during San Diego Restaurant Week. If you enjoy relaxing at the Gaslamp’s newest tapas bar one night, dining al fresco by the bay the next, and ending the week with an indulgent dessert at one of this city’s most remarkable five-star restaurants - now here is your chance to do so at a discounted price! Choose from restaurants located throughout San Diego in some of the most vibrant and distinct neighborhoods, from La Jolla, Carlsbad and Coronado to Old Town, Little Italy and the Gaslamp Quarter.

There are no tickets or passes required for Restaurant Week. You may simply dine out at as many participating restaurants as you like, exploring new dining opportunities or enjoying old favorites. Advance reservations are strongly recommended (but not required) and can be made by contacting the restaurants directly.

For a complete list of participating restaurants (searchable by location, cuisine and price), visit the San Diego Restaurant Week website.

courtesy of:  http://www.sandiego.org/event/Visitors/7820

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Credit Score Zealots Pursue Fool’s Errand to Get Over 800

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Jeff Rose, a 33-year-old financial planner, is trying to improve his credit score even though it’s 780, which is 69 points above the median score.

Rose, who lives in Carbondale, Illinois, said he opened up a second credit card last year to establish another line of credit and help boost his score. He said he doesn’t know exactly what actions will help or hurt his score, so wants to get it above 800 to ensure he gets the best rate if he refinances his mortgage.

Three years after the credit crisis when lenders abruptly closed accounts and cut limits, consumers, including those who have excellent scores, have become more focused on getting the number above 800. Those efforts may be futile because once consumers have FICO credit scores of 760, a higher one doesn’t mean they’ll get better interest rates on mortgages and credit cards or more elite card offers, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, a unit of Bankrate Inc.

“There’s very little incremental benefit to getting a score above that,” said McBride, who’s based in North Palm Beach, Florida. Once consumers are above 760, “it’s a lot more difficult to move the score up in any noticeable way, and little reward.”

Mayank Maheshwari, 26, a business analyst who lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, said his FICO score is 780 and he’s still trying to get it higher. He has a student loan that he hasn’t paid off in full, although he can afford to, because he thinks maintaining monthly payments on time will help increase his score.

FICO Scores

The most common scores are based on models established by Minneapolis-based FICO, formerly known as Fair Isaac Corp., which are used to gauge a consumer’s financial health. The numbers, which range from 300 to 850, affect the ability to get mortgages and credit cards, as well as the rates borrowers pay for them. The score is used by 90 of the 100 largest U.S. financial institutions, according to FICO’s website. There are other scores used by lenders, such as VantageScore, which has a 501 to 990 range for measuring credit risk.

About 18 percent of 200 million consumers in the U.S. with credit scores, or 36 million Americans, had credit scores of 800 or higher in 2011, according to estimates from FICO. More than 75 million had scores of at least 750 while the median credit score last year was about 711, FICO said.

‘Bragging Rights’

The percentage of consumers with scores of 750 or more has fluctuated only slightly during the past five years, said Barry Paperno, consumer affairs manager for myFICO.com. That’s because consumers with high credit scores tended to maintain their good behaviors during the credit crisis, such as paying down debt and cutting expenses, Paperno said.

The score that’s considered the cutoff to qualify for the best rates, however, has changed. Before the recession, it was generally 720 instead of at least 750, said Ben Woolsey, director of marketing and consumer research at CreditCards.com, a website for cardholders based in Austin, Texas.

FICO credit scores rank borrowers according to the likelihood of default and there’s almost no difference in the probability of default when a consumer has a 780 or an 820, said Ken Lin, chief executive officer and founder of San Francisco- based Credit Karma. That means lenders won’t price a consumer differently and extend different rates, since the risk is virtually the same, Lin said.

“If you’re at 780 plus, it’s all bragging rights from there,” Lin said.

Credit Decisions

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.89 percent in the week ended Jan. 12, according to Freddie Mac. The average interest rate charged on credit-card balances was 12.8 percent in November, according to Federal Reserve figures released Jan. 9.

A FICO score of 760 or higher on a $300,000 30-year fixed mortgage may qualify a borrower for a 3.62 rate or $1,368 monthly payment, compared with a 3.85 percent rate and monthly payment of $1,406 for those with scores from 700 to 759, according to myFICO.com. Having a credit score of at least 720 means a consumer may get a 3.89 rate on a 36-month auto loan of $25,000 and pay $737 a month, compared with 5.31 percent and a payment of $753 for those with scores from 690 to 719.

The decision to offer a mortgage and the size and rate on that loan is based on many factors about a borrower’s financial history, Tom Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets, said in an e-mail. JPMorgan’s risk management approach is proprietary, and criteria that go into the decisions on credit cards may be based on income and credit history with other Chase products, said Paul Hartwick, a spokesman for the New York-based bank, also in an e-mail.

Elite Offers

While the type of mortgage product and region may impact rates, generally FICO scores above 720 receive the lowest rates, Terry Francisco, a spokesman for Bank of America Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina, said in an e-mail. A FICO score is one of several considerations the bank uses in determining credit-card rates, Betty Riess, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, which is the second-biggest U.S. lender, said in an e- mail.

Elite card offers are more likely to be based on income and assets than solely on high credit scores, Bankrate’s McBride said. When making credit decisions, American Express Co. looks at a cardmember’s credit profile, which includes total debt level, reported income, credit bureau score, credit report and payment history, Melanie Backs, a spokeswoman for the New York- based firm, the biggest credit-card issuer by purchases, said in an e-mail.

Hiccups Happen

Revolving debt, which includes credit cards, climbed in November by $5.6 billion, the biggest advance since March 2008, according to Federal Reserve data.

“There are a lot of companies out there competing for credit,” said Linda Sherry, director of national priorities for Consumer Action in Washington. “Once you’re there, your dance card is going to be full,” she said, referring to a score of about 770.

The benefit for consumers who have good scores and are still trying to raise them is that they’ll have more of a cushion in case they do something that negatively affects their scores, said Woolsey of CreditCards.com. Borrowers should also keep in mind that each lender may vary on what they use as a cutoff for qualifying for the best rates, although anything above 750 generally should be sufficient, he said.

“Some hiccups could happen and I get whacked and I’m a 720, so you shouldn’t be too comfortable because you never know what might happen,” said Rose, the CEO and founder of Alliance Wealth Management.

Timely Payments

Consumers with scores from 750 to 800 who want higher numbers should continue what they’re doing, just for a longer period of time, said FICO’s Paperno. That means continuing to pay bills on time, keeping a low amount of debt relative to available credit and not opening accounts unless needed, he said.

Making a payment 30 or more days after the due date could cut a score by as much as 110 points while applying for a new card may result in a five point drop, said Liz Weston, author of “Your Credit Score.”

Borrowers should avoid using more than 30 percent of their available credit, even if they pay their balances in full, because the balance owed may be reported to the credit bureaus before the payment is due, according to McBride.

Credit Monitoring

Credit scores are usually a lagging economic indicator, since delayed payments on mortgages and subsequent foreclosures may take time to show up on reports, said Lin of Credit Karma. The average score will rise this year as a result of the economy recovering, Lin said.

Some things consumers do to try to improve their scores, such as paying for a credit score monitoring service, aren’t worth it, said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at the U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Washington. Monitoring doesn’t prevent errors or identity theft and consumers may not understand the cost of the service, Mierzwinski said.

Instead, borrowers may want to just stagger looking at each one of the free credit reports they’re entitled to annually from the three major credit bureaus every four months, he said.

“Credit is there to save you money,” said Lin, referring to how a high credit score can help consumers qualify for lower interest rates. “You shouldn’t be using money to build credit.”

courtesy of:  http://www.businessweek.com/news, Alexis Leondis

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Puppies The Size of Soda Cans

San Diego Dog Beaches and Parks

Play on the sand and take a dip in the ocean with your canine companion at San Diego's local dog beaches, or let your pets run free and rule the pack at San Diego's best dog parks.

Dog Beaches

Fiesta Island (Mission Bay)
Directions: From I-5, take the Sea World Drive exit and head southwest, then make a right onto East Mission Bay Drive, then left to Fiesta Island. 
The whole island is leash free. You can explore the fields inland as well as the beaches. The water's are very calm water, so your dog can take a quick dip. Be aware of boats and jet skis, and stay off limits from these hazardous areas. It's the least-crowded dog beach, even on weekends. Open 24 hours.

Dog Beach (Ocean Beach)
Directions: From I-8 west, Turn left onto Sunset Cliffs Blvd. Take the 1st right onto W Point Loma Blvd. Left on Bacon St, and then right onto Saratagoa Ave. Located at the Sandy Area at north Ocean Beach. This beach area is at the west end of the San Diego River Floodway, also known as the Ocean Beach Flood Control Channel.
Dog Beach is the original dog beach in San Diego and one of the most popular places to take your dog. Dogs are permitted without a leash 24 hours a day.

Dog Beach (Del Mar/Solana Beach)
Directions: From I-5, take Via De La Valle exit west. Left onto Camino Del Mar. Take the frist first right on Sandy Lane. *Via De La Valle & South Highway 101 to Camino del Mar and 29th Street to just south of Via de la Valle at the mouth of the San Dieguito River (next to the Del Mar Race Track).
This beach is open to dogs Sept. through June 15 only and is leash free, confined to the area south of 15th Street and north of 29th Street. For the rest of the year, leashes are required. Be aware of the common parking tickets, especially along Camino Del Mar. There's some free parking just south of the river.

North Beach (Coronado)
Directions: From I-5, take CA-75 towards Coronado, continuing onto 3rd Street. Make a left on Alameda Blvd, right onto Marina Ave and continue onto Ocean Blvd. *Located at the northernmost end of the beach next to Naval Air Station on Ocean Boulevard near Sunset Park.
Wide and sandy beach; good for dogs who like a strong surf.

Mission Beach (Mission Bay)
Directions: From I-8, take W Mission Bay Drive, going right. Take the ramp onto West Mission Bay Drive, and make a left onto Mission Blvd.
One of the most popular of the San Diego dog beaches, it's best to bring your pet here in the winter, or on evenings or weekends. The beach tends to get very crowded on summer weekends since it is the most accessible and well known. Watch out for the common aggressive or other trouble-making dogs.

Cardiff State Beach
Directions: From I-5, take La Costa Ave exit and head west. Make a left onto North Coast Highway 101. The beach is located one mile south of Cardiff on Old Highway 101.
Dogs are allowed here on leash only.

Imperial Beach
Directions: From I-5, take exit 51 (CA-75 / Palm Ave)
Imperial Beach allow dogs on the beach areas north of Palm Avenue and south of Imperial Beach Boulevard as long as they are on an 8-foot leash.

La Jolla Shores Beach
Directions: Take I-5 to West La Jolla Parkway, continue onto Torrey Pines Road. Make a right onto La Jolla Shores Dr, and a left onto Calle Frescota.
Camino Del Oro. Leashed dogs are allowed on this beach and the adjacent Kellogg Park from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m.

Dog Parks

Guajome County Park
Address: 3000 Guajome Lake Road, Oceanside, CA
Dogs are allowed inside the park for an additional fee of $1 per pet. Dogs must be on a 6 foot or less leash, and they are not allowed on the trails, only the paved areas.

Encinitas Park
Address: 505 South Vulcan Avenue, Encinitas, CA
Dogs are permitted off leash from 6 -7:30 a.m. and 4 - 6 p.m on M/W/F only. All other days and times dogs must be on leash.

San Diego Humane Society and SPCA Dog Park
Address: 2905 San Luis Rey Road, Oceanside CA
The park is located next to the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA. Park hours are 7 days a week from 7am-7pm. It features: one park for more active dogs, one park for less active dogs, restrooms, seating, shade, waste bags, but NO lighting. The park is still Oceanside's only off-leash dog park. The Humane Society phone number is 760-757-4357.

Palomar East Dog Park
Address: 785 E Palomar St Chula Vista, CA 91913
Located in Veteran's Park.

Cadman Community Park
Address: 4280 Avati Dr San Diego, CA 92117

Capehart Park
Address: 4747 Soledad Mountain Rd (between Beryl Way & Chalcedony St)
Open 24 hours. Located at the corner of Felspar and Soledad Mountain Road.

Balboa Park
Address: San Diego, CA 92103
Open 24 hours at two locations. Nate's Point - Balboa Drive at El Prado on the south side of Cabrillo Bridge, and Morley Field northwest of the tennis courts.

Doyle Community Park
Address: 8175 Regents Rd San Diego, CA 92122
Open 24 hours. 

Grape Street Park
Address: Grape St & 28th St San Diego, CA 92102
This park is unfenced. Located at Grape Street and 28th Street. Leash free hours: Mon-Fri: 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday, and holidays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Kearny Mesa Community Park
Address: 3170 Armstrong St San Diego, CA 92111
Open every day from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Maddox Neighborhood Park
Address: 7815 Flanders Dr San Diego, CA 92126

Rancho Bernardo Park
Address: 18448 W Bernardo Dr San Diego, CA 92127

Torrey Highlands Park
Address: San Diego, CA 92130
Located on Landsdale Drive off Del Mar Heights Road.

Harbor Island
Address: 2036 Harbor Island Dr San Diego, CA 92101

Wells Park
Address:  1153 E Madison Ave El Cajon, CA 92021
The off-leash area is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Poway Dog Park
Address: 13094 Bowron Rd Poway, CA 92064 
Off-leash hours extend until 9:30 p.m.

Harry Griffen Park
Address: 9550 Milden St La Mesa, CA 91942

Cadman Community Park
Address: 4280 Avati Dr San Diego, CA 92117

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