Camden Park Sounds Lovely

 $424,000. 00 listed for sale 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath 1390 square feet

Contemporary styled homes in a lovely landscaped development with mature trees. Resort-style community pool and spa for your enjoyment. Walk to elementary school the award winning Don Juan Avila Elementary Close to parks, Aliso Viejo Town Center, the Edwards Aliso Theater and a variety of restaurants.

This condominium has cathedral ceilings in the living room, a large fireplace, 18" stone tile flooring throughout downstairs level, spacious formal dining room area, bright open kitchen with breakfast bar area. Priced at $424000 – a very desirable hot price in Orange County for entry level homeowners.

Camden Park was developed by Ryland homes in 2000 through 2001. The architecture is a combination of Bay and Gable homes seen in Old Town Toronto with verandahs and little towers reminiscent of popular east coast architecture. 

There were 4 floor plans developed in Camden Park. Each Townhouse includes a 2 car attached garage, central heating and air conditioning and fireplace. Many of the units have a nice distant view of the Hills and city lights. 

 There are nine streets that make up the community of Camden Park: Brisbane Lane, Cupertino Cir, Plumeria Lane, Benchmarke Lane, Kenilworth Lane, Open View Lane, Burlingame Lane, Harvest Point Lane and Warmspring Lane.
Camden Park is serviced by the acclaimed Capistrano Unified Public School District. The grade school is Don Juan Avila, and the middle school is also Don Juan Avila. The upper classes are conducted at Aliso Niguel High School.

BUT here is the problem:

It has been close to ten years since the complex was built out. The Association’s Management Company has filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court alleging that the builder completed shoddy work. It is common for lawsuits to pop up in this time frame, as the calendar for a Builder Developer to be responsible is just at the limit of too long for homeowners to file complaints. The suit was filed in August of 2012 and appears to be on track for trial. In fact there have been 70 filings against Ryland Homes for construction defect.

Camden Park sounds and appears at the price points for homeowners lovely BUT it is impossible to buy with an FHA loan and until the lawsuit is clarified getting a mortgage from GSE sponsored conventional is also going to be difficult. Would the Association have been better off negotiating with the Builder?

When there are pending lawsuits of size able nature, and the association may not have sufficient funds to cure or fight the suits it makes it near to impossible to close a mortgage loan in a complex. Owners in Camden Park cannot refinance with today’s low interest rates on conventional loans and Buyers cannot get an FHA loan in this complex.

Physically the main defect is the foam insulation used inside walls and around the window trims. Now after time, heat and moisture the foam is protruding from window wells. The cure would be to pull out the windows, install new sealant and replace, re-plaster and repaint. Each window repair might cost two hundred dollars BUT no telling what dry rot or problems may open up inside each window. The recent lawsuit claims that owners have been unable to track down the real principals of Ryland Homes, but it appears to be a publicly traded company. I believe the sub chapter corporation that built this tract is a separate entity. There are 70 filings against Ryland Homes in Orange County Superior Court.

https://ocapps.occourts.org/civilwebShopping/SearchEntity.do#top/

Larry T. Nicholson, Ryland President did not respond to my inquiry about this complex. He is CEO of Ryland Group. Only comment made was from a receptionist, “we have built 300 homes.”

http://www.ryland.com/

 

Ryland operates as a home builder, mortgage company, title and escrow company in many states.
I read some thirty complaints to the Better Business Bureau and on complaint boards, then I stopped reading... Most appear to be homeowners who found construction problems in their new homes. They contacted the builder and were given the run around or subcontractors who slapped a fix on half the problems. It is impossible to determine if these complaints are resolved or accurate.

http://www.pissedconsumer.com/reviews-by-company/ryland-homes.html/

"I contacted Marc Austin thirty times (Operations Manager) with no resolution."

"HOA has received a settlement with regards to shoddy craftsmanship of our Ryland Built Homes. Obviously, Ryland believes it was easier and cheaper to pay off certain HOA boards than to actually fix the problem. My $250,000.00 house is just now 5 years old. In this time, the driveway has started sinking, the front stoop has started sinking, there is a small sinkhole in my..."

"My tub that has a crack that was disguised to pass inspection by Ryland a shower bottom done the same way a false door that leaks into the wall and now shows mold growth btw insurance will not pay claim ryland says the warranty is out of date"

Types of Mortgage Lenders

Types of Mortgage Lenders

Laguna Beach Red Door Curbside Appeal

Porfolio lenders

A portfolio lender is institution which lends their own money and originates loans in their own name. They are lending for their own portfolio of loans and not worried about being able to immediately sell them on the secondary market. Because of this, they don't have to obey Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (called GSE’s) guidelines. A portfolio lender can create unique sets of rules for determining the soundness and pricing of a loan.

Often only a portion of their loan programs are "portfolio" product. If they are offering fixed rate loans or government loans, they are certainly engaging in mortgage banking as well as portfolio lending.

Once a borrower has made the payments on a portfolio loan for over a year without any late payments, the loan is considered to be "seasoned." Once a loan has a track history of timely payments it becomes marketable, even if it does not meet Freddie/Fannie guidelines it might be sold in a group to an investor. Or these may be held if the rates are a bit higher, there is a small margin of profitability in holding the servicing. If the lender can sell off loans for a profit (say servicer offers .49% today, they are often grouped into bundles or tranches then sold for a profit to an institutional servicer or investor. The loans are grouped into a Trust that a number of investors may “buy” as a group entity hoping the higher than market rates will not get paid off for a predetermined estimation of time (say they think loans at 5.5% with certain traits: location, FICO, borrower type, age of borrower, just about any set of thousands of details that analysts can rate a bucket).They “guess” the loan will remain in the bucket paying for five more years.

Selling these "seasoned" loans frees up more cash for the "portfolio" lender to make more loans, which is another way that portfolio lenders engage in mortgage banking. If the loans are sold, they are packaged into pools and sold on the secondary market. You will not even know your loan is sold because, quite likely, you will still make your loan payments to the same lender, which has now become your "servicer."

Direct Lenders

Lenders are considered to be direct lenders if they fund their own loans. A "direct lender" can range anywhere from the biggest lender to a very tiny one. Banks and savings & loans obviously have deposits they can use to fund loans with, but they usually use "warehouse lines of credit" from which they draw the money to fund the loans. Smaller institutions also have warehouse lines of credit from which they draw money to fund loans. Smaller institutions obviously cannot fund big production lumps that always occur when rates are volatile.

Direct lenders usually fit into the category of mortgage bankers or portfolio lenders, but not always.

One way you used to be able to distinguish a direct lender was from the fact that the loan documents were drawn up in their name, but this is no longer the case. Even the tiniest mortgage broker can make arrangements to fund loans in their own name.

Direct lenders are generally companies that underwrite a loan themselves. There are two types of direct lenders. There are about 3200 lenders who call themselves direct but in fact are too small, and undercapitalized to actually fund much direct

Type One: The difference between a direct lender and any other type of mortgage provider, is that they are more nimble. What makes a direct lender different is the fact that they generally have a very large line of credit with another financial institution which allows them to write large checks for your mortgage. However, once the mortgages closed, they will always sell the loan off to someone else to service the loan and collect payments on the loan.

Type Two Direct Bankers who can both portfolio the loans the close and sell them. There are only 100 super funded institutions that can do this. This group is going to be the survivors and drivers when our Federal Government starts to wind down the GSE’s

 

Bathroom Remodel in Woods Cove, Laguna Beach

Correspondents

Correspondent is usually a term that refers to a company which originates and closes loans in their own name, then instead of selling those loans in pools. They sell them individually to a larger lender, called a sponsor. The sponsor acts as the mortgage banker, re-selling the loan to Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac as part of a pool, or may hold the loans as they follow market trends.

Mortgage brokers deal with lending institutions that have a wholesale loan department.

It is almost like being a mortgage broker, except that there is usually a relationship between the correspondent and their sponsor.

Credit Unions

Credit Unions sometimes operate as correspondents, although a large one could act as a portfolio lender or a mortgage banker. They often do not sell loans at all.

Bank 

anks and savings & loans usually operate as portfolio lenders, mortgage bankers, or some combination of both. A bank is a highly regulated institution that does a variety of things. They offer auto loans, credit cards, a checking or savings account, and a home loan, among other things. A bank is generally a one-stop shop for all things financial. Bank employees even the loan officers are not licensed and report to the bank. Loan officers as bank employees are part of a bureaucracy that expects them to sell you a checking account, use their insurance division and open the safe deposit box. Loan officers are not required to be licensed.

Banks tend to drop behind the Wizard’s screen when it comes to deciphering how they handle mortgages. That’s because some banks will service your home loan and own the rights to repayments for the life of the loan, while other banks will sell your loan to a third-party after you sign the paperwork. Most financial institutions that offer mortgages sell them to third parties. That said, some banks will both service some loans and sell others to third parties.

Mortgage brokers

Mortgage brokers are companies, or individuals, who have access to a variety of loan programs through various financial institutions. I actually worked as a mortgage broker for a period of time and we could access mortgages through all of the major banks, direct lenders, and any other lending institution nearby, with the exception of credit unions. The benefit of a mortgage broker is that, assuming you trust yours, he can do the shopping for you with all of the financial institutions he works with.

The other disadvantage is that although they have access to many different programs from many different lending institutions, they are a middle man, which means they will charge a fee for their service. There is nothing wrong with this inherently, in fact, the extra shopping a mortgage broker can do for you may get you the best deal on your mortgage; it’s just important to keep in mind that they do charge a fee for their services.

 

Internet lenders
Mortgage lenders have proliferated on the Internet in recent years, offering fast, easy loans at competitive rates. Some are online channels of brick-and-mortar financial institutions or mortgage brokers, others are Internet-based banks or brokers. Sometimes referred to as Consumer Direct. Where consumer does all the work.  Fine for a cookie cutter wage earner refinancing their only one single family house. Not good for self employed, complex, condominiums, larger loans above $417000, not good for a purchase can’t close on time, often rate lock is not honored.

 

 

Home Siding

I am working on replacing warped and damaged  bevel rabbeted siding on my home in San Marin
Standard Pacific built this tract in 1991 and some homes are Cape Cod style, with this thick wooden siding. My sister and brother in law replaced siding on their house in Beacon Hill and were able to purchase the pieces directly off the shelf at Home Depot on La Paz. Unfortunately Home Depot, Lowes, and even Laguna Lumber Ganhal Lumber does not stock my siding. I can order it online but the shipping cost, the set up cost to cut the rabbet edge and bevel is pricey. 

My research into siding reveals this as a complex problem. Reomodeling or even simple home repairs are not always as straight forward as you might think. 

I would like to find a company, lumber yard or woodworker that is local to Orange County that create the siding for me.

Definitions for Siding 
This is one of three posts

Aluminum Siding: Panels of aluminum with a baked on enamel finish, think of Tin Men directed by Barry Levinson.
Backerboard:  flat material fastened to the side of a house between the studs and siding to provide a surface to attach siding to -often composite or pressed board layers or cheaper material
Battens: Strips of wood placed over joints in wood siding to seal the joints.
Beveled: Panels that are tapered rather than cut rectangular the edges are angled
Buttlock: The bottom edge of a piece of  siding which locks into the previously installed panel.
Caulking: Material used to seal joints at intersections of different materials. Used with different types of siding to join the siding to pre-existing materials.
Channel: The area where siding and soffit panels are attached to the trim or corner post. Also refers to the trim itself, which is named for the letters of the alphabet they resemble (J-channel, F-channel, etc).
Checking: A split or crack that appears along the grain of wood siding.
Clapboard: Horizontal, overlapping wood planks.
Composition Board: Siding that is composed of weather resistant, compressed wood material, pieces of wood chips and sawdust combined in a glue solution (often has fumes)
Course: Each single row of siding.
Cupping: When a warp develops in wood plank siding.
Double Course: When an underlayer of shingles or shakes is covered by a new application of siding.
Face: The siding that is visible once it is installed.
Fascia: The exterior board that runs along the edge of a roof. The fascia creates a finished look by covering up the ends of the roof rafters.
Flashing: A layer of sheet metal used under siding on windows and doors to prevent water from penetrating the home.
Gable: The triangular end of a house that stretches between the eaves and the ridgeline of the roof.
Gable Vent: A vent placed in the gable of a home that increases air flow to the attic, thereby reducing heat and moisture buildup.
Lap: The overlapping of two siding panels to allow for expansion or contraction of the siding material.
Nailing Hem: The section of siding where the nail slots are located.
Overhang: The portion of the roof that extends beyond the walls of a home. The soffit or eave is the underside of an overhang.
Plywood Siding: Plywood siding that comes in grooved or decorative patterns.
Scoring: The process of running a sharp object, such as a utility knife, across a siding panel without cutting all the way through. The panel can then easily be broken off cleanly along the line of scoring.
Single Course: Wood shingles or shakes applied so each course is exposed to the elements.
Soffit: The underside space between the end of the roof and the side of a home, often vented to provide circulation to the attic.
Square: A measurement that equals 100 square feet of siding.
Stucco: A cement, sand and water finish to a home that is water resistant. Available in a variety of finishes and styles.
Tongue and Groove: A way of connecting materials, such as wood, in which the tongue of a board is placed into the groove of the board following it.
Vinyl Siding: Plastic siding that comes in a variety of colors and styles. his doesn't last forever as they advertise and melts in a fire     
Wall Sheathing:Sheets of plywood or wood planking used to cover the wall framework of the house.
Weep Holes: Openings cut into a siding material to provide for water runoff.
Weep screed: allows moisture to escape mechanism as part of the drainage system as required at the bottom of all framed walls; by all
Wood Plank Siding: Rectangular wood planks that can be installed either horizontally or vertically.
Wood shakes: Rough, thick, uneven shingles, either hand split or cut, that can be used as a siding material.

California, and American Real Estate Recovery

News media is honking about the real estate recovery. Actual statistical reports demonstrate that we are back on the road to healthy and out of the Third Great Depression.

LPS reports foreclosures down trend and drying up:

http://www.lpsvcs.com/LPSCorporateInformation/NewsRoom/Pages/20130423.aspx

MacArthur Foundation reports on housing in America:

http://www.macfound.org/press/press-releases/how-housing-matters-survey-finds-american-attitudes-transformed-housing-crisis-changes-lifestyle/


California is seeing 56% improvement in the lower in real estate and coastal areas.

Get out the fireworks!