The downward adjustments have ignited outcries from California politicians and sparked a campaign by the state’s largest real estate group and its national partner to extend the higher limits; they argue that the Golden State’s housing market and economy can ill-afford another setback to recovery.

“This is just going to kill us,” said Beth L. Peerce, president of the California Assn. of Realtors. “You don’t want the real estate market to get any worse than it is, and it surprises me that our congressmen and senators don’t understand that.”

But with Washington focused on slashing deficits, few observers predict any further extension of the 3-year-old policy that was intended to throw a lifeline to higher-priced housing markets. Most of the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders have already stopped making loans at the old limits, concerned that they will not be able to get them off their books before the official Saturday deadline.

The move to lower loan limits is the first major effort by the federal government to reduce its footprint in the mortgage market. The government currently supports about 90% of new mortgages — essentially propping up the home loan market after credit dried up and home sales plunged in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis.

The loan limit determines the maximum size of a mortgage that the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy or guarantee. So-called nonconforming jumbo loans that are offered by the private mortgage market typically require bigger down payments and carry a higher interest rate, driving up monthly payments for borrowers.

In February 2008, with the housing market and economy reeling, Congress raised the limits for the types of mortgages eligible to be insured or bought by the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The limits, which are based on a county-by-county analysis of home values, have been extended by Congress every year since to give housing a boost.

FHA borrowers in Los Angeles and Orange counties will see loan limits drop to $625,500 from $729,750, a decline of $104,250. Other pricey areas facing the same change include San Francisco, New York and Washington.

Under the new FHA loan limits, Monterey County would see the biggest drop in the limit, falling $246,750; followed by Merced, down $201,450; Riverside, falling $164,650; San Bernardino, declining $164,650; Solano, dropping $157,300; and San Diego, down $151,250.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits will also follow those changes except when they call for dropping the limit below $417,000, which was the old jumbo limit for Fannie and Freddie loans. When that happens, the limits will drop to no lower than $417,000.

Real estate professionals are bracing for the policy change to hit California hard, as buyers begin learning that they may no longer be able to afford the higher-priced homes they had been considering. The California Assn. of Realtors estimates that more than 30,000 California buyers statewide will face bigger down payments, higher mortgage rates and stricter requirements under the adjustment.

Syd Leibovitch, president of Rodeo Realty in Beverly Hills, said many deals by his brokers involve loans done at the highest amount allowed under the old limits.

“It is not going to be good,” Leibovitch said. “The majority of our deals are 729-FHA loans because they are the easiest to qualify.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) co-sponsored a bill in early August that would allow the higher limits to stay in place for an additional two years. The real estate and mortgage industries also have been lobbying hard to keep those limits.

With the nation still recovering from the credit crisis, there is virtually no mortgage market outside the loans eligible for government guarantees. Still burned from the subprime mortgage meltdown, very few investors want to buy a mortgage unless it carries government backing, said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance.

But as time runs out, pleas by industry groups appear to be going nowhere. The government is arguing that taxpayers can no longer afford the cost and risk of subsidizing home loans on a grand scale.

“Everybody is asking California to take one for the team,” Cecala said. “It is the largest mortgage market in the country, it is the largest state in terms of mortgage activity and it is also the highest cost, where more mortgages are made at the limit than in any other state. It is basically ground zero to a downward adjustment in the loan limits.”

The lower limits arrive at a time when lenders are eyeing borrowers more closely than ever to make sure they can make their loan payments.

Major banks are concerned about being forced to buy back loans that don’t adhere to certain standards, so qualifying for mortgages has become an increasingly onerous task, with banks demanding more paperwork and higher credit scores.

“The bottom line is Fannie and Freddie will scrutinize any loan that has any performance issue,” Cecala said, “so the way to avoid that as a lender is make sure that they are pristine.”

Source  latimes.com

My clients just closed escrow on this wonderful, 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath condo located in Mira Mesa! The unit features vaulted ceilings, new carpet & paint, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. This was an REO, listed at $180,000 and we were able to close escrow in 15 days with a purchase price of $175,000.

They have excellent credit with scores that top 800, life-long careers and investment portfolios that have set them up for a comfortable retirement, they say.

But this year, “after faxing a ream of paper” about their finances, they got so fed up applying for a home loan that they simply wrote a check for their new, $85,000 vacation condo in Phoenix.

Trying to get a loan “was just a nightmare,” says Bob Zych, 65, a manager for Mohawk Industries in Omaha.

Following the greatest housing crash since the Great Depression, home lending standards have tightened to their strictest levels in decades, economists say. And people such as the Zychs and others nationwide are paying the price.

Tight home loan credit is affecting everything from home sales to household finances. Many borrowers are struggling to qualify for loans to buy homes. Others can’t take advantage of some of the lowest interest rates in 50 years because they don’t have enough equity in their homes to refinance. Those who can get loans need higher credit scores and bigger down payments than they would have in recent years. They face more demands to prove their incomes, verify assets, show steady employment and explain things such as new credit cards and small bank account deposits.

Even then, they may not qualify for the lowest interest rates.

The National Association of Realtors says lending standards are too tight and are hurting the housing industry’s recovery.

The lending industry counters that standards are where they need to be, given still-falling home prices and the shaky economy.

“It used to be anybody with a pulse could get a home loan. Now you have to be an Olympic athlete,” says Guy Cecala, of Inside Mortgage Finance.

“The pendulum has swung too far.”

Down payment amounts rise

The change is evident in the higher quality of loans held by government entities, which now buy or guarantee most new home loans.

Lenders that originate loans seek to meet their standards so that they don’t have to hold loans themselves.

Through June, single-family home loans bought by government-backed Freddie Mac, for example, had an average down payment of 29% and an average FICO credit score of 751, the agency says. That’s up from average down payments of 23% for loans originated in 2007 and average FICO scores of 707, Freddie Mac says.

FICO scores top out at 850. The national median is 711,  FICO says.   

New Federal Housing Administration loans, popular with home buyers who lack big down payments, likewise are being made to borrowers with higher credit scores.

From January through March, those loans went to borrowers with an average credit score of 704, up from 631 four years ago, FHA data show.

Even the worthiest borrowers have to put down more money than a few years ago to get the best loan terms.

Real estate website Zillow analyzed 3.6 million loan inquiries made through its website to mortgage lenders since 2008.

In July, prospective borrowers getting the best loan rates had average down payments of 28%. Three years ago, before the worst of the financial crisis, such shoppers averaged down payments of less than 24%, according to data from Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.

“The people getting loans over the last couple of years are largely pristine,” say Robert Walters, Quicken Loans chief economist. “Lenders are making sure no stone is unturned.”

A struggle to close

Sometimes, even borrowers with seemingly pristine finances are struggling to close home loans.

Stephanie, 45, and Brian Poore, 46, of Hubert, N.C., went through two lenders this year before the third extended them a loan  on an $86,000 condominium in Wilmington, N.C. The couple bought the condo for their daughters, ages 19, 16 and 15, to use during college.

The first lender went overboard on income questions, Brian Poore says, asking him to prove that he didn’t pay for room or board while living on an Army base in Iraq, where he works as a contractor.

Another lender qualified the couple for a loan, given their credit scores above 780 and other financial resources. But then the lender backed off, saying it couldn’t resell the loan to Fannie Mae because the condominium homeowners association didn’t have enough cash reserves for maintenance and repairs.

With the third lender, the Poores had to put 25% down — not the 15% they originally intended.

The process took five months. The loan was for $67,000. One of the Poores’ relatives recently bought a new car and got a $55,000 loan in less than a day, Stephanie Poore says. “I feel bad for anybody having to go through this,” she says.

The Zychs were hamstrung by lenders’ concerns  about their previous investments.

During the past five years, they  acquired three rental properties — all in Omaha — that were leased and produce a positive cash flow for the couple. When the Zychs went to buy the Phoenix condo, lenders balked, saying they had too many properties, even though their finances were solid.

“How would anybody ever get a loan if we can’t get a loan?” Bob Zych asks.

Roberta Fernandes, 24, a first-time home buyer, got a loan. But not without help. She needed almost 50% down to get a loan to buy her Miami condo in June. Fernandes is an assistant to a financial adviser at a brokerage firm. Her short work history hindered her ability to get loans with smaller down payments.

Her parents put up more than half the required down payment. Without their help, getting a loan “would have been impossible,” Fernandes says.

Jose, 40, and Ivelte Hidalgo, 35, also recently bought in Miami. Jose started a medical research consulting business in 2007. Ivelte works in the business, too.

Because they were newly self-employed, the couple were turned down by two lenders for home loans in 2008 and 2009.

They finally secured an FHA loan for a $280,000 house, which they purchased this summer. The couple put 3.5% down, the FHA’s minimum.

With higher down payment requirements and tighter standards for conventional loans, the FHA has become a major player in the home-lending market.

For the first six months of this year, almost 51% of loans to buy homes were done through the FHA. That’s up from 3.4% in 2007, says Inside Mortgage Finance.

But FHA loans aren’t always the best deal.

Although they have smaller down payment requirements than conventional loans and credit criteria that are not as strict, there are limits on how big FHA loans can get.

FHA borrowers also pay a 1% upfront fee that conventional borrowers don’t pay. And if buyers have enough money for larger down payments, they can avoid higher FHA premiums for mortgage insurance, which protects against default.

It can also take longer to get rid of mortgage insurance on an FHA loan than on a conventional loan, says Keith Gumbinger of mortgage tracker HSH.com.

Conventional loans with less than 20% down are available. However, such borrowers need mortgage insurance. In general, the lower the down payment, the more one pays in mortgage insurance. Interest rates also rise as credit scores drop.

For some properties — including those needing bigger loans, condominiums and homes in areas hard hit by the real estate crash — 20% or more down payments are the norm, says Greg McBride of Bankrate.com.

Nearly all borrowers are facing more documentation requests.

Except for a few years leading up to the real estate crash — when some borrowers got loans while providing little if any documentation of their assets and income — borrowers have long had to supply two years of tax returns, pay stubs and financial statements when applying for home loans.

Now, lenders want tax records to come directly from the IRS, as well as from borrowers. The IRS releases the records after applicants sign forms giving it permission to do so. Instead of two months of bank statements and pay stubs, lenders may want them for each pay period until the loan closes.

Howard Landa, a California physician, purchased a $900,000 home in Moraga, Calif., last year and refinanced it this year. The refinance lender wanted pay stubs for every two weeks as the loan was in process, which took almost two months.

Landa also had to explain a new Macy’s credit card line, which he opened to qualify for a discount on a suit he bought from the retailer.

When he bought the house, Landa  had almost enough money to pay cash for it. He also had an outstanding credit score of 810. Even so, the lender carefully checked his income, even requiring copies — front and back — of several $500 and $1,000 checks he deposited in his checking account after being reimbursed for travel expenses.

“It seemed like an incredible waste of my time and their money,” Landa says. “They’re trying to dot I’s and cross T’s to show that they checked 40 documents, but it doesn’t mean that they’re important documents.”

Reduced risks = fewer defaults

Higher standards do appear to be reducing loan defaults, which means fewer foreclosures in the future.

Fewer than 1.3% of loans originated in 2009 that were resold to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae went into default after 18 months, government data show. That’s down from more than 22% default rates for 2007 loans and about 3% default rates in 2002.

Avoiding defaults has become a primary goal of wary lenders, says Walters, the Quicken Loans economist.

They fear loans will go bad and the investors that buy them — such as Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae or others — will discover mistakes and sue the originating lender.

Many such lawsuits are underway.

“Our line of defense is to cross T’s 42 times and dot I’s 52 times,” Walters says. With home prices continuing to fall across much of the nation, lenders realize that any mistake “could be fatal,” he says.

Yet, the National Association of Realtors, and a number of consumer groups, say the tight standards are also a drag on the economy.

The NAR estimates that home sales — stuck at anemic levels — would jump 15% to 20% if lending standards simply returned to where they were a decade ago, before they got so loose they helped create the real estate bubble that later popped.

However, lending standards are unlikely to loosen until home prices stabilize, says mortgage loan expert Jason Kopcak of investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald. Nationwide, home prices are down  30% from their 2006 peak and are expected to fall more this year.

“The industry is basically status quo,” agrees Michael Copley, head of retail lending for TD Bank.

Source usatoday.com

The committee’s words:

To help support conditions in mortgage markets, the Committee will now reinvest principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities. In addition, the Committee will maintain its existing policy of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction.

What does that all mean?

Michael Lea, director of SDSU’s real estate center, said officials are basically selling off shorter-term Treasury holdings for longer-term ones and mortgage-backed securities.

“They’re changing the composition of their balance sheet,” said Lea, a past chief economist of mortgage giant Freddie Mac. “This isn’t a new round of quantitative easing. They’re reinvesting, not injecting more money into the economy.”

The decision could push down long-term interest rates, and in turn, mortgage rates.

Why is this needed when home-loan rates are historically low?

“Mortgage rates are not the problem,” Lea said. At issue, is weak demand for mortgages because of income uncertainty and unemployment coupled with tight lending guidelines.

“This will have very little impact on the average person,” Lea said. “It’s meant to signal to markets that the Feds are still trying to do something.”

Greg McBride, of financial site bankrate.com, also weighed in on Twitter.

“What will Fed’s Operation Twist do?,” wrote McBride, referring to Wednesday’s plan. “It might push down mortgage rates. But it will also squeeze bank margins, leading to lower savings yields.”

Source signonsandiego.com

Sales of existing homes are expected to rise to 496,200
units from a projected 491,100 in 2011 and 491,500 last year, the Los
Angeles-based group said in a statement. Median prices probably will rise 1.7
percent to $296,000 from $291,000 this year, according to the Realtors.

“The fundamentals of the housing market — such as low
mortgage rates, high housing affordability and favorable home prices — are
expected to continue,” Beth L. Peerce, president of the California association, said in the statement. “But at this point, a strong housing recovery will depend on consumer confidence, job creation and the availability and cost of home loans.”

California home sales, which account for about a 10th of the
U.S. total, have fallen from 625,000 in 2005, while median prices are down from
a peak of $560,300 in 2007, according to the group. The state ranks second
nationally, after Nevada, in the pace of foreclosure filings. One of every 226
homes received a notice of default or was subject to a foreclosure sale in
August, RealtyTrac Inc. reported Sept. 15.

It will take as long as five years for the state’s inventory
of foreclosed properties to be absorbed, Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist
for the California Association of Realtors, said in a conference call today.

‘Closer to Five’

“It depends on the area,” Appleton-Young said. It will be
“closer to five in the inland areas, where I don’t think we’ve seen a lot of
the supply that’s going to come through come through,” she said.

California’s unemployment rate was 12.1 percent in August,
also second to Nevada and above a U.S. rate of 9.1 percent, the state
Employment Development Department reported Sept. 16.

The California Realtors’ forecast for this year was lowered
from 505,000 sales projected in June and 502,000 in October.

Source bloomberg.com

Mark Mills, a downtown condominium specialist with RE/MAX Real Estate Consultants, wrote that out of estimated 8,000 condominium units constructed between 2001 and 2008, only about 3 percent remain available.

“There are not many markets like this anywhere in America where supply is so limited,” Mills said. “This is bad news for buyers and even worse, no new condos are under construction.

“It’s not uncommon for condo sellers to receive multiple offers these days. The pendulum has swung to the sellers’ favor in 2011,” Mills added.

Russell Valone, MarketPointe Realty Advisors president, said while he doesn’t believe multiple offers are that common, there is no denying the available inventory is shrinking significantly.

“New inventory is down to 276. I remember (in the mid-2000s) when it was a couple of thousand. We sold 145 this year, so we’re down to less than a year’s worth of new inventory,” Valone said, adding both new and resold inventory total about 500 units.

Mills noted that while there are plans in the pipeline, the next condominium tower won’t be ready before Bosa Development comes online with a project in 2014 or 2015.

The first up will likely be a 287-unit development Bosa is planning at Kettner and Ash.  The Vancouver, British Columbia developer is also considering a new condominium tower adjacent to its Bayside development along the North Embarcadero.

Bayside was the last new downtown San Diego condominium project.  Available for occupancy in summer of 2009, it took approximately two years to sell out.

“The sales story of Bayside is one that a lot of developers paid attention to, and thus the hesitancy to build new condos in the near future,” Mills stated.

According to a Mark Co. report, Bayside was closing in on the last of its 232 sales as of the end of May.  As of that date, 216 units had closed escrow, nine were under contract and nine were available.  Bayside lowered its prices and the sales pace picked up.

The prices of the Bayside units weren’t only relatively low, (averaging in the $900,000s instead of more than $1 million), but Mills noted that Bosa was selling the project’s remaining units at 20 percent off its construction cost.

This has been happening as the Vancouver developer shifts its immediate focus to its San Francisco projects.

Others such as Centurion Development’s Sapphire Tower at 1262 Kettner Blvd. have also wound down. It had 76 closings, 13 under contract and nine available as of the end of May, according to The Mark Co.

Some complexes such as The Smart Corner — which has a trolley moving through the property on the edge of the East Village near City College — have had a more difficult time.  Smart Corner, co-developed by Lankford & Associates and Canyon Johnson Urban Partners, among others has taken several years to sell the first 140 of its 301 units.

Another 11 were under contract at the end of May, but that leaves 150 awaiting buyers.

Slow sales have been due to a soft economy and what many consider to be a less-than-ideal location.

The 679-unit Vantage Pointe development on B Street wasn’t able to sell a single condominium after it ran headlong into the recession at the last decade’s end.  Since then, the property was purchased by Sam Zell’s Chicago-based Equity Residential for $200 million, and is reportedly 95 percent leased after having been converted into apartments.

There is no clear answer as to when building might start again.

“Before another developer comes to downtown San Diego and starts building condos, the sales price per square foot is going to have to climb a couple hundred dollars for them to not only cover their costs but make the profit they are seeking,” Mills said.

“Supply is influenced by a variety of factors. These include available land, availability of building permits, construction financing terms, builder confidence and faith that future housing demand will be strong enough for investors to sell their condominiums for a profit,” Mills continued. “Playing an increasing role in developers’ minds these days is the rise in raw materials costs that need to be recovered through higher sales prices. When you look at downtown San Diego, you have very little land left to build on, difficulty getting building permits due to strict city guidelines, and strict and difficult construction loan terms.”

Valone, who recalls when the 60 to 70 cranes in the air downtown led some to quip that the crane was the city bird, isn’t exactly sure when they will return.

“It has more to do with lending than demand, though we might still see someone cement a deal before the end of the year,” Valone said.

In the meantime, Mills said prices that went through the floor during the recession increased by 4 percent during the first six months of 2011.  At this pace, Mills said downtown could see its condo prices rise 8 percent this year.  He suggested downtown San Diego real estate is faring better than most cities because it offers excellent weather, condos less than 10 years old and a low crime rate.

It also is not only highly favored among second-home buyers; Mills said 40 percent of condos bought in 2011 were by those paying cash.

From www.sddt.com

Mortgage rates have plunged to all-time lows amid concerns the economy is stalling again, Freddie Mac said in its weekly survey.

Lenders were offering the 30-year fixed-rate home loan at an average rate of 4.12% this week, down from 4.22% last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The 15-year fixed loan was at 3.33%, down from 3.39%.

Both of the rates set records in the survey by the giant mortgage finance company. Borrowers would have paid an average of 0.7% of the loan amount in upfront lender fees and points on the 30-year loan and 0.6% on the 15-year loan, Freddie said.

Adjustable-rate loans set records or tied previous lows as well, the survey found.

“On net, the economy added no new jobs last month and was the weakest reading since September 2010,” Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft said in a news release.

“Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained at 9.1%, marking its 31st consecutive month of being above 8%, the longest such stretch in 70 years.”

The rate on the 30-year fixed loan had bumped above 5% last February before slowly grinding lower.

It has now been below 4.5% for six straight weeks, setting a previous low record of 4.15% in the Aug. 18 survey. (Freddie Mac began tracking the 30-year loan in 1971.)

The survey asks lenders for popular combinations of rates and fees that they are offering to borrowers with good credit and 20% down payments or 20% home equity in refinancings. Well-qualified borrowers who shop around often obtain slightly better deals.

The low rates still aren’t exactly generating a new boom in home lending, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. says.

The trade group’s latest survey of mortgage applications said they fell by about 5% last week compared with the previous week — the third straight week of declining demand. From the MBA news release Wednesday:

“Heading into the Labor Day weekend, the 30-year rate was at its second lowest level in the history of our survey (the low point was reached last October), and the 15-year rate marked a new low in our survey,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s Vice President of Research and Economics.

“Despite these rates however, refinance application volume … is more than 35% below levels at this time last year. Purchase application volume remains relatively flat at extremely low levels, close to lows last seen in 1996.”

 

 

Source latimes.com

The U.S. government has sued several of the country’s largest banks over mortgage-backed securities they sold that lost value in the housing market collapse.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, filed the lawsuit Friday seeking seeks compensation for more than $41 billion of losses related to subprime mortgage bonds. The suit could hamper a broader government mortgage settlement with banks, Reuters reports.

Bank of America Corp, its Merrill Lynch unit, Barclays , Citigroup and Nomura are among the banks named in the suit, Reuters reports.

The government says the banks misrepresented the quality of the mortgage securities — securities that were backed by subprime and other risky loans but were deemed safe investments by ratings agencies.

The lawsuits come as a result of past claims from the FHFA. Last year, the FHFA issued 64 subpoenas to various entities seeking documents related to mortgage-backed securities in which the Fannie and Freddie had invested.

The agency said at the time the documents would enable it to determine whether the banks and other financial entities were liable for losses they had suffered from their investments. FHFA said it expected to recoup funds, which would be used to offset payments made by the U.S. Treasury to Fannie and Freddie.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are viewed as critical to the mortgage market, because they buy mortgages loans and mortgage securities issued by the lenders.

A single tear is slowly falling down my cheek as I type, and internally force myself to acknowledge, that summer is coming to a close. Considered the official end of the season, Labor Day weekend is just around the corner, bringing with it a wild lineup of pool parties, music festivals, celebrity appearances, and urban artistic expression. Labor Day means the gradual fall into autumn has begun, but we San Diegans won’t say goodbye to our favorite of seasons without a bang.

Our top picks for 2011 Labor Day Weekend in San Diego include the Identity Music Festival at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, featuring Kaskade, Afrojack, and Pretty Lights, Fortune’s Labor Day Pool Party at Ivy Rooftop, the Wet Pool Party at W Hotel, and dual double-headers with Pauly D and Martin Solveig at Intervention, and Avicii and Mark Knight at Wavehouse. If you need a break from the club scene, enjoy a free concert from Ben Harper at the Del Mar Racetrack, soak up some culture during the East Village Random Acts of Art event, or upgrade your day-life and join The Local for Sing, Dance, Crawl 2.0 in the Gaslamp Quarter.

Discover our 2011 San Diego Labor Day entertainment guide.

Industry Mankini Contest at Voyeur – 8/30

As the old saying goes, there’s no better way to kick off a holiday weekend than with an old fashioned mankini fashion show contest and champagne spray-down party. We here at DiscoverSD.com are inviting you to get weird with us on Tuesday, August 30 as we host the No Pants Dance at Voyeur, featuring DJ sets by Mr. White and Brady Spears, as well as super-cheap champagne bottle specials, to encourage excessive spraying, of course. San Diego’s bravest industry babes will walk the runway, rocking their finest mankinis as styled by Diesel Salon and iTAN Solariums, and lucky guests in the crowd will judge who is the hottest of all, while spraying them, and themselves, with ridiculous amounts of champagne. Yep, we’re actually serious. Guest list gets you no cover and hosted cocktails 9-10pm.

Identity Music Festival at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre – 9/2

The Identity Festival is taking over Cricket on September 2 with LED Presents, introducing this iconic outdoor venue to an entirely new concert experience. Similar to old Street Scene days, the Cricket campus will be divided into multiple stages, featuring over 20 performances in rotation from 1pm to 11:30pm. Identity will showcase Kaskade, Afrojack, Pretty Lights, Steve Aoki, Nero, The Crystal Method, LA Riots and many more.

LED Presents Avicii at Wavehouse – 9/3

LED Presents is invading Wavehouse this Labor Day weekend, featuring back-to-back parties on Saturday and Sunday, from day to night. Get the party started on Saturday, September 3 with Avicii, a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer also known as Tim Berg, is known best for his single “Bromance” which charted in the top 20 on the national single charts of Belgium, the Netherlands, and his native Sweden. More hot Avicii tracks include “My Feelings for You,” with Sebastien Drums, “Street Dancer,” and “Tweet It,” among others. Don’t miss Avicii spinning live at Wavehouse, with opening sets from Brady Spear, Tara Brooks, Victor Dinaire, and Jay Idol.

Wet Pool Party at W San Diego Hotel – 9/3

Release SF and HomeMade are taking over the W San Diego Hotel during Labor Day weekend to host the Wet Pool Party, all day and all night, on Saturday, September 3. The Wet Pool Party features headliner DJ and producer Mark Farina, as well as beats by Franky Boissy, Halo, Cris Herrera, Paul Najera, Jason Tokita, Jon Dadon, Drummer John and more. Get the party started at 1pm, and don’t stop ‘til 2am.

DJ Pauly D at Intervention at Hard Rock Hotel – 9/3

The Hard Rock Hotel San Diego is celebrating Labor Day in a big way, with a double-header of Intervention madness on Saturday and Sunday, from morning ‘til night. Start the weekend off right by partying with Pauly D as he spins live at Intervention on Saturday, September 3. You know him for his dark tan, big muscles, and slick back hair, but this “Jersey Shore” stud is also an emerging star in the DJ industry.

Sing, Dance, Crawl with The Local – 9/3

Regular bar crawls are so 2010. Thankfully, The Local’s signature Sing, Dance, Crawl event is back again for Labor Day weekend, taking your daytime drinking to an entirely new level with loads of interactive entertainment at multiple venues across town. On Saturday, September 3, head to The Local at 10am for breakfast and drink specials, before dancing and crawling your way to House of Blues, FLUXX, Stingaree, and Bootlegger ‘til 7pm. And of course, we’re hooking you up with more party perks. Enter promo code DiscoverSD when buying your ticket to be entered to win a $60 Gift Card to The Local to be used on food and drinks!

Buyers acquired fewer houses in July in North San Diego County than in any July since the first Reagan administration, according to data from the San Diego County Assessor. Rancho Santa Fe 92067 had a median sales price of $2.25 million with 11 units sold in July, a 26.7 percent drop in sales. However, home prices rose in 92067  about 23 percent. Solana Beach 92075 was even worse, a disaster actually. Only two  home sold in July, down 71.4 percent  for an average price of $881,000. Del Mar? Cardiff? No change with seven single-family detached homes dold at Cardiff and six at the home of Carson Palmer, Del Mar.

Prospective homebuyers in July worried about national and international economic problems, from a potential U.S. government default to European debt to high unemployment, real estate agents said. Buyers who did enter the market bid low on houses attempting to score deals.

Meanwhile, some sellers decided to wait it out for better prices. Yet others decided to rent their houses instead of selling. But it all added up to a historically slow July.

“It was rough,” said Fred Bradley, a Rancho Penasquitos broker. “July isn’t supposed to be rough, but it was.”

The 721 houses sold in July in North County were the fewest since 1984, down 11 percent from June and 8.7 percent from last July. Rancho Penasquitos, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Santa Fe and Carmel Valley sold 35 percent fewer homes in July than in July 2010.

Normally, summer is a real estate agent’s busiest season as people try to make purchases and move before school starts.

The median price fell to $425,000, down 5.3 percent from June and 7.6 percent from July 2010, according to the assessor records.

“I think there’s a lot of folks right now that are really concerned about the global economy,” said Brian Westre, a Rancho Bernardo broker. “Anytime markets are rocked, they start to worry about their own job.”

Overall, North County foreclosures in the first half of the year are at their lowest since 2007; mortgage interest rates are well under 5 percent; and the median price of $425,000 is at the same level it was in 2002, or 33 percent off its 2007 peak.

But prices may be too high for local buyers: Many tried to get deals with low offers.

“The buyers, by and large, are waiting for prices to go down, and sellers are waiting for prices to go up,” Bradley said. “We’re stuck in the middle.”

Some sellers are choosing to rent their houses instead of selling. The house rental market is hot, as credit-troubled residents still need somewhere to live.

“Rents are pretty good. A lot of people are renting their property out; if they have the equity, they do it,” said Sharon Johnston Mead, a Vista broker. “I’m not having any trouble renting mine, knock on wood.”