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Welfare recipients get $12,000 from strip club ATMs

Real Estate Home Blog — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 21:11:50 +0000

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the state’s Department of Social Services to take out clubs and casinos from the list of businesses that have been approved to dispense cash for state-issued cards. The California governor was compelled to make this move after the Los Angeles Times reported that more than 50 percent of California casinos and poker rooms are listed on the state website, indicating where welfare recipients can receive their cash benefits. The Los Angeles Times again brought the issue up, inquiring from the administration the amount of welfare cash that has been taken out from 17 adult clubs in the last few years.

It seems that many welfare recipients in the state of California have been able to withdraw taxpayer cash from ATMs situated at strip clubs and casinos. According to reports from the Department of Social Services, since the start of the year 2007 up to the end of the year 2009, over $12,000 coming from the program of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families has been dispensed at various clubs throughout the state, including Seventh Veil, Star Strip and Sam’s Hofbrau. Meanwhile, almost $4.8 million have been dispensed at casinos and poker rooms during the same time period. Majority of this, amounting to more than $4 million, were taken out from ATMs at tribal casinos.

The state administration and managers of strip clubs are apparently not aware that their ATMs have access to these welfare benefits. Allegedly, the machines have been provided by a third party. Thus, the managers have no way of knowing whether the ATMs belong to the state system or not. The Quest ATM network is the company in charge of the state’s ATM system.

However, some advocates for the underprivileged would rather keep things the way they are. They say that there is some logic to maintaining access to welfare cash from these establishments, as many recipients probably live or work nearby.

Since the report was released, Governor Schwarzenegger has ordered the deactivation of ATMs in casinos and entertainment clubs from the ATM network of the state. He has also called into action the Department of Social Services, so that welfare program can be reformed as deemed necessary.

During the month of May, Governor Schwarzenegger actually proposed to abolish the CalWorks program in order to reduce the budget deficit of the state. This program is in charge of providing cash for the welfare benefits.

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Obama criticizes GOP while calling federal deficit major concern

Real Estate Home Blog — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 18:58:35 +0000

Around 1,400 residents of Racine, Wisconsin listened to US President Barack Obama’s insights on the continuing economic crisis. In a speech reminiscent of his campaign, the president recognized that the federal deficit is a primary concern.

At the same time, he also criticized the recent actions of the Republicans, saying that they are stopping the country’s recovery by blocking what he termed as “commonsense legislation”.

This speech came after a fall in the stock markets was noted, mainly attributed to a drop in consumer confidence.

President Obama stated that he is discontented with the elevated unemployment rate in the country. Economists have estimated that the country has lost approximately 100,000 jobs in the month of June, and that the unemployment rate, which is at 9.7 percent, will further increase. The president also said that he is unhappy with the low economic growth rate.

The federal deficit, which is still growing, remains a major issue for the president. He already appointed a deficit commission, who will be in charge of looking for solutions to balance the country’s revenues and expenses. This can be done by reforming Social Security and Medicare, among other items.

President Obama likewise condemned his Republican opponents, calling their actions in Congress obstructive. This is mainly due to the group preventing the passage of a bill that aims to extend tax credits and unemployment benefits to certain residents and small businesses. Other issues that came up were the low rates of job growth and the oil leak in the Gulf.

In response to the criticism by GOP that the Democrats are merely increasing the burden on the American taxpayers, President Obama stated that the US government cannot solve the country’s financial problems on its own. Some circumstances, such as Social Security, do need intervention by the government. However, businesses should continue to be the major producers of jobs and growth for the country.

The president just came from a trip to Columbus, Ohio last week for the groundbreaking of a road project funded by the economic stimulus plan. This serves as part of the “Recover Summer” program by the White House, which is a six-week long thrust by the government to focus on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This act was designed to improve the country’s economy and create more jobs by increasing stimulus spending by the government and reducing taxes. Many detractors have repeatedly criticized this act, saying it has failed to decrease unemployment significantly.

Prior to this trip, the president’s last visit to Wisconsin was in November of last year, when he discussed education to the state. According to the latest public poll in the state, which was held in March, President Obama only had a 44 percent approval rating. Of the voters in Wisconsin, 50 percent disapproved of the way he was handling his presidential duties.

U.S. Congress backs home buyer tax credit extension

TeamAguilar — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:02:01 +0000

It was good news for homebuyers all over the United States last June 30, as the US Congress finally approved a tax credit extension bill.

According to this tax credit extension bill, anyone trying to take advantage of the home buyer tax credit will have the closing deadline extended for those trying to buy homes. Originally, homebuyers who have signed contracts by April 30 needed to go to closing by June 30. With the new bill, they now have until the last day of September to close their purchases. According to real estate agents, many home buyers would not have been able to make the June 30 deadline, had it not been moved. The approval of this bill will also benefit settlement offices and banks, as they are already having a hard time dealing with the sheer number of people who are hastening to close their purchases by the end of June.

The Obama administration has so far been successful in jump starting the sales of American houses in the midst of the economic recession. Since the tax credit was initiated, residents all over the country have been rushing to buy their dream homes. This is because first-time homebuyers can get an $8,000 tax incentive, while homebuyers who are purchasing their primary residence can get as much as $6,500 as tax incentive. This tax credit program has been credited by many, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as the major factor in boosting up California’s economy and housing market. This is especially true in his hometown of Nevada, where foreclosures have become a common matter.

A bill that covered both the tax credit extension for homebuyers and an extension of the jobless aid program was actually proposed previously in the Senate, but was blocked by the Republicans. The bill fell short by a single vote. The proposition was to extend until November the said program, which provides benefits for residents who have been unemployed for a long time. Approval of this bill would have cost $34 billion; because of this, the Republicans objected. Instead, Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republicans, suggested an extension of two months using the money from the economic stimulus program last year. The Democrats, however, objected to this. Senator Reid has said that he would again attempt to pass the bill after the recess on July 4th.

The tax credit extension bill has now been forwarded to the office of the President, and awaits his final approval. This has been very popular in markets where home prices have fallen. Homes for sell in El Cajon, a suburb of San Diego have seen an increase in sales because of the tax credit.

Alex Aguilar
Team Aguilar Real Estate Agent & Blogger!
San Diego Real Estate
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BofA Offers Help to Homeowners Underwater

Real Estate Home Blog — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 10:10:09 +0000

With hopes of encouraging more participation from homeowners in programs of modification, the Bank of America now has a brand new approach on modifying loans that are extremely underwater.
First, it looked at principal forgiveness when modifying adjustable-rate and subprime mortgages that qualified for the NHRP. These also had to meet the most basic qualifications of the Home Affordable Modification Program.

This approach focuses on mortgages that are extremely underwater and have high delinquency rates, most of all Pay-Option ARMs and subprime loans.

The Bank of America has seen a lot of homeowners that owe a lot more on mortgages than on what their homes are actually worth but are reluctant to accept solutions that focus merely on the payment without balance reductions from their loans.
When it comes to these mortgage modifications, the Bank of America is going to take principal reduction into consideration to reach reasonable payments that are equal to around 31% of the household income. If it is a necessity to get extra savings to reach that target of payment, a reduction of interest rates will also be taken into consideration.
Under this new approach, the qualified homeowners will get an offer of interest-free principal forbearance, which can become forgiven principal – a result of up to 30% in loan principal balance reduction.

For the initial three years, the forgiveness installments will be set to a level of 20%. In the last two years, this amount will rely on the property’s updated value to make sure that the LTV won’t go below 100% because of principal forgiveness.
Earned principal forgiveness can help homeowners

Aside from this new approach, the Bank of America has also started to provide two other sustainable and reasonable payment solutions when it comes to certain Pay-Option ARMs.
If negative amortization is the case, they will think about offering up HAMP modification to get rid of negative amortization and to forgive some of the amounts for principal reductions. If pending Pay-Option ARM recasts appear to increase the monthly payments of a customer, however, a preemptive modification which gets rid of negative mortgage amortization and changes it to a completely amortizing market rate loan might be taken into consideration.
The latest NHRP components will come about next month and they are expected to offer up improved solutions to principal reduction to around 45,000 customers that qualify for the HAMP modification. This would result in around a total of $3 billion of reduced principal.

Rates of Unsold Homes Finally Going Down

Real Estate Home Blog — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:33:20 +0000

It has been said that a small foreclosure surge will not significantly effect the sales of homebuilders this year because home sale inventory and new construction have fallen quite far below average levels in a lot of cities. Although it would be preferable not to have any more supplies come through foreclosures, a bit more will not totally hurt the markets.

After the housing boom collapse, foreclosures ended up soaring, which produced a glut in a lot of markets and sent home prices down. This resulted in homebuilders struggling to entice buyers into their homes instead of the discounted homes owned by banks. However, recent steady sales in a lot of markets ravaged by foreclosures have slowly sent down the amount of these homes in today’s market.

Additionally, a lot of banks slowed down the process of foreclosure, occasionally choosing to modify mortgage loans at risk. This also ended in less bank-owned properties in the market.

Naturally, the last thing anybody would wish to see is a flood of foreclosures, as predicted by economists who stated that it would happen if borrowers that have option-ARM mortgages choose to default in the near future. A lot of their loans are scheduled for resets, which could possibly trigger big increases in monthly payments.

This does not mean that marketplace concerns should be forgotten. Naturally, risks do exist that are very real and they should never be shoved aside for anything.

The Realtors’ Outlook on Commercial Real Estate

Real Estate Home Blog — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:18:30 +0000

It does not seem like 2010 will be the recovery year of commercial real estate. In fact, vacancy rates look like they are about to rise, while rents look like they are about to drop.

Not a pinch of meaningful recovery seems to be expected before 2011 due to problems with consumer confidence, unemployment and various other conditions of the economy.

Due to the recession’s lingering impact from the last few years, vacancy rates are going to go even higher and a lot of owners of commercial properties might have to make some rent concessions.

The job market is expected to get better sometime this year, so there should be a rise in demand for warehouse and office space, but it will probably not happen before 2011.

The realtors analyze quarterly data, offering up forecasts for the four primary commercial sectors, as follows:

The office sector forecasts a rise in vacancy rates to 17.6 by the end of the year compared to last year’s 16.3%. On the other hand, yearly office rent looks to go down by 7.2%.

In the industrial market, the vacancy rates seem to rise by 14.9% by the end of the year compared to last year’s 13.9%. On the other hand, yearly industrial rent will probably go down by 9.6%.

Retail vacancy rates look to rise a little bit to 12.7% from its 12.4%, while regular retail rent might drop by 2.4%

In the market of apartment rental, vacancy rates will most probably go down to 6.6% compared to the previous 7.4%, while regular rent might drop by 3.4%.

San Diego Golf Tournament Good for Local Economy

TeamAguilar — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:13:26 +0000

Tom Wilson is the Farmers Insurance Open’s tournament director whose golf course at Torrey Pines is about to tee off. Torrey Pines golf course is an amazing course just minutes away from La Jolla and Del Mar.

For almost two decades now, this tournament has suffered from sponsorship problems, scandals related to professional golfers, and natural disasters; hardly any good news has come their way at all.

After their long-time title sponsor, Buick, pulled out last year, the PGA Tour came together with Farmers Insurance for a year-long title deal for sponsorship that can be renewed to several years afterwards.

A lot of people know how many difficulties actually lie in actually getting businesses to open up their checkbooks for these things since they happen to be within contracting corporate environments, where each spent penny is justified and scrutinized.

Then, after Tiger Woods took a leave from the game, the PGA Tour really took its toll. Last year, attendance and hospitality activity were down. However, there is still an economic factor, so there is anticipation from Wilson’s part despite the low ticket sales.

With Woods out of the picture, a lot of people see San Diego’s Phil Mickelson’s chance to finally assert himself, so a lot of people might come to watch the new face of this tour. After all, Tiger Woods shouldn’t be the only professional golf player people pay attention to, right?

Should Bankers Worry about Commercial Real Estate?

Real Estate Home Blog — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:09:51 +0000

Alarm bells are starting to sound in the industry of banking due to today’s commercial real estate meltdown. Signs seem to show that banks are going to get hit, but there is quite a difference between the foreclosures of several homes and those of offices, shopping centers and hotels with steeper prices.

Belly-ups that occur within more expensive properties also make the pain worse for the people who hold their debts. Because of this, the financial industry is predicting waves of bank failures within the next few years.

Since community banks are more exposed to loans of commercial real estate, a lot of them tend to keep these loans instead of selling them over to investors.

Last week, the Exchange Building on Madison Avenue fell into foreclosure and 20 banks have already gone bust, as if to prove how bad the problem is getting. More banks are expected to join that amount due to commercial real estate.

Considering the market of commercial real estate and its economics, it would seem like some negative impact therein should be going forward. The debt holders will need to renew loans which support their debts and by doing so, their values will most likely deteriorate.

By the year 2014, a trillion loans of commercial real estate are said to mature and half of them will be higher compared to their properties’ value. Even those borrowers who have profitable properties might not get to refinance their loans due to underwriting standards, higher demands for extra investments and limited credit.

It seems that the way this economic rebound is unfolding, most of all when jobs are involved, is connected to the resolve of the question involving commercial real estate. The uncertainty that comes with its future definitely needs to be cleared.

In Shelby County, the activity of commercial real estate at the beginning of the year showed some signs of quickening. 57 commercial sales were registered here last month, higher by 8% compared to last year, while the overall dollar volume went up by 55%.

15 Mortgage Companies Subpoenaed by HUD

Real Estate Home Blog — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:58:36 +0000

The HUD says that it is currently taking a much closer look at several mortgage companies in order to find out why there have been so many problems when it comes to mortgages insured by the FHA.

There are 15 companies in total, all of which were given subpoenas recently and demanded data and documents related to loans that have failed and which have ended in claims that were paid out by the FHA’s fund of mortgage insurance.

The objective of this entire initiative would be to find out why a high claims and defaults rate exists within these companies and if some sort of wrongdoing may have anything to do with it. Accusations aren’t made yet as no proof of them exists at the moment, but aggressive pursuits are being done for any fraud indications.

Every loan listed will get checked thoroughly for any reasons behind their failures. After finding out the causes, it will be decided whether more remedial actions or reviews would be needed.

The initiative also hopes to aid in improving risk management of fraud in the near and distant future.

IRS Releases Form for Home Buyer Tax Credit

Real Estate Home Blog — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:12:46 +0000

The IRS has recently released a form, which eligible homebuyers have to claim in order to get the first-time credit of homebuyers this tax season. They have also announced tax returns processing and brand new requirements in documentation to deter any fraud that may be related to first-time credit of homebuyers.

This brand new form follows major changes that were made a few months back, which extended credit to a wider array of home purchasers while adding new requirements of documentation to avoid fraud and making sure that taxpayers properly get credit at the same time.

Now, eligible homebuyers can begin to file tax returns from 2009 while taxpayers who want to claim the credit of homebuyers need to file paper tax returns due to the extra requirements in documentation.

2009 tax return processing is expected to begin mid-February after completing the testing and updating of systems to meet brand new law requirements. These updates will let the IRS put important system checks into place in order to avoid any fraud related to credit from homebuyers. Several early taxpayers who want this credit might need to wait several more weeks before getting tax refunds, though.

Aside from filling out the required form, every eligible homebuyer needs to add one document from the following to get credit:

- A settlement statement copy that shows every party’s signature and name, sales price, purchase date, and property address.

- A copy of an executed contract of retail sales that shows every party’s signature and name, property address, purchase date and purchase price.

- An occupancy certificate copy that shows the owner’s property address, name and certificate date.

Plus, long-term residents of a home can claim this credit if they choose to buy a brand new main residence. In order to qualify, however, every eligible taxpayer needs proof of having lived within older homes for five consecutive years. Also take note that the IRS has become stricter with compliance checks now.