Rod Victoria's Weblog

No.5 – Pay off your consumer debt

No.4 – Build an emergency fund

No.3 – Amass equity in real estate

No.2 – Put 10% of your pretax income away for the long-term

No.1 – Insure against risk

I have been really focused this last year or so and I’m happy to say I’m currently 4 of 5 of these Financial Goal.  I’m in the processing of saving $$$ for a house. I am going to put down 20%, and am going to stay away from any FHA (3% down payment) loans. I’ve been able to wipe out my debt, establish an emergency fund, I have 15% of my pretax income going to looong-term investments, and am fully insured against risks. I really hope to get into the real estate market within a year or so. **Fingers Crossed**

I plan on making a lot of changes this year. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life in all aspects of my life, whether it be financial, with friends and family, at the workplace, in my marriage, etc. This year I want to take all that I’ve learned from all of these mistakes and be a better person.  It’s gonna be awesome. I just have to stay focused.

An old picture I took last year from my Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

FREAKIN’ FUNNY AS HELL!! HAHAHAH!

Shot at a local Park in Tustin. This is the shot after Hector’s post processing work. He makes it look so damn easy!

This was taken at a local park in Tustin. Hector has been working on some basketball shots so he asked if I could gear up in my ref outfit. It was so simple to get the lighting we wanted. If I remember correctly we had an AB in a beauty dish top right of camera, bare AB pointed at basketball hoop, and an SB800 on the ground pointed up at the basketball hoop behind me. This shot was Straight Out of Camera.

I have to apologize. I have been telling friends and family that there will be a second wave of foreclosures coming soon. But after seeing the following chart on OC Register … we haven’t seen the end of this first wave.

The debate over the contentious issue whether the housing market has reached its bottom and is on its way up is quite intriguing. Realtors and housing crisis pundits are offering their stands on this issue to help us understand situation better. Here is a brief overview of the recent housing market situation and few reasons justifying the assumption that Housing market after all has not yet bottomed out.

Cost – There may not be any increase in the real estate price/cost in the near future or even in the next few years. Instead, the cost may decrease in the next 2 to 4 quarters

Price Reversion To The Average – Often when things or assets are priced higher than normal, the price not only tends to come down to the median, but it often plunges way below it. The same thing may be possible with housing prices-they may change back to the standard average.

Unemployment – The unemployment rate may keep on increasing in the next few quarters. Consequently, it decreases the number of individuals or families, who can afford to buy homes. In addition, the salary or compensation has remained static in the last ten years. Hence, this further decreases the chances of families to invest in larger homes.

Mortgage Foreclosures – A Loan Modification has not helped much in reducing the rate of defaulting mortgagers. There is a possibility that the rate of delinquent repayment, defaults, and foreclosures may not have reached the maximum. Once this rate starts increasing, it will force the real estate prices to fall even lower.

List Of Available Houses – In real estate, a shadow inventory is often referred to the list of available homes, which have not been disclosed for sale in the market. Many banks, financial institutions, builders, and lenders have a list of properties that they have not disclosed in the market yet. This may further thwart the improvement of real estate prices for quite some time. Besides, the increase in mortgage foreclosures has resulted in almost 3 million additional homes that will be up for sale when the prices are right.

Fear – Many factors in the past decade have contributed to the unwillingness on the part of potential buyers to invest big time in property. Since 2005-2006, the rate of property has decreased. Besides, the dotcom failure and the recession that hit the world in 2008 have further contributed to the total loss of 25 trillion dollars in the country. This has caused fear and panic among the homebuyers, who do not want to invest in something big.

Credit Rating – Many Americans have low credit rating, high debt, and not enough money to make a down payment on property. To add to this, banks are making stringent rules about mortgage approval, which also include high credit rating and low debt rate. These further make buying houses much less easier for many.

Cost Cutting – The result of the credit crunch has made many Americans cut down on expenses and to deleverage their balance sheets-it means they are trying to reduce the percentage of debt in their balance sheet, either by lowering expenses or by selling assets. Today, more Americans are investing wisely and are trying to avoid loans and debts.

Information from housingnewslive.com

Here’s DataQuicks price by city. Interestingly enough I see they have adjusted the Riverside county median down $1k from their earlier report. It was $180k and on this later report it’s listed as $179k (dropping by the week……)

City                           Sales   Median      2008median    % drop