DocuSign Electronic Signatures

DocuSign is a leading provider of on-demand electronic signature solutions. Increased use of DocuSign's e-signature continues to revolutionize the real estate industry by providing additional service to our real estate clients and increasing customer satisfaction.

More than 20,000 real estate professionals have used DocuSign to accelerate their business, with thousands more subscribing each month. DocuSign real estate subscribers achieve higher sales, increase client satisfaction and maintain a competitive edge. Rather than driving across town to get a signature or inconveniencing clients to find a fax machine, real estate professionals use DocuSign to execute agreements with buyers and sellers electronically, eliminating the old process of printing, faxing and waiting for the return fax.

As more than 95% of home buyers have Internet access, but less than 10% have fax service in their homes, DocuSign saves agent’s time and money while providing client convenience. Clients can electronically sign real estate forms using any Web browser, and documents are legally binding, backed by a court-admissible audit trail.

When do you want to electronically sign your OFFER TO PURCHASE on your NEW HOME in Rancho Santa Fe, Olivenhain, Cardiff, Carlsbad or any other community from Old Town to Oceanside?

RELAX.... We'll handle the details.

TOP 10 MOST ADVANTAGEOUS PLACES TO RETIRE

Where do you want to live in retirement? Most folks age in place, but there are those who spend their golden years in dreamy locales.

According to Brady(John Brady, editor of the second edition of 100 Best Retirement Towns), the 100 most popular retirement towns list is compiled by calculating the 100 towns with the most online visits of the 450 cities reviewed at Topretirements.com. The list is essentially a popularity contest; it reflects the towns that site visitors are the most interested in for retirement. “One thing is clear,” Brady said of the trends he’s noticed in this year’s list. “The Sun Belt is so dominant because people are interested in retiring to where it’s warm.” In addition, he said, this year’s list is dominated by college towns. People are looking for a place to retire where they have access to intellectually challenging activities.

The towns with the most online visits include:

Ashevill, NC..... Sarasota, Fla...... Prescott, Ariz..... Paris, Tenn..... Austin, Texas..... Green Valley, Ariz..... Winston-Salem, NC.... Beaufort, SC

San Diego
To Brady, San Diego has the most perfect weather in the country. Its scenery, climate (there’s only 10 inches of rain on average per year), and lifestyle (the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park, Gas Lamp District and Torrey Pines Golf Course) are second to none and appeal to active adults 55 and older, reports TopRetirements.com.

Ft. Myers, Fla.

Planning to move? Already live here? Stake your claim to home ownership. Find your perfect home in Carlsbad, Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia or any other community from Downtown San Diego to Oceanside.... we've got it covered!

RELAX... We'll handle the details.

REFINANCE PROGRAM FOR UNDERWATER HOMEOWNERS GETS ANOTHER YEAR

The government is giving homeowners another year to refinance their loans under a little-used program designed to help borrowers whose homes have plummeted in value.

The Obama administration effort, known as Home Affordable Refinance Program, had been scheduled to end on June 10 but will now run out on June 30, 2011, states the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The program allows borrowers who owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are worth to refinance to lower interest rates.

It was originally projected to help 4 million to 5 million homeowners with loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So far, it has helped around 220,000, according to the Treasury Department.

ATTORNEY GENERAL WARNS CALIFORNIANS TO AVOID "FORENSIC LOAN AUDITS"

California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. joined the California Department of Real Estate and the State Bar of California in warning Californians to avoid forensic loan audits, the loan-modification industry's latest "phony foreclosure-relief service," in which homeowners pay up-front fees for a forensic review of their lender's practices, but are provided no actual foreclosure relief.

Individuals and businesses who offer forensic loan audits use inflated and misleading claims to convince homeowners to pay up-front fees for services that produce no actual foreclosure relief. Homeowners are encouraged to pay for an audit of their mortgage loan file to determine their lenders compliance with state and federal mortgage-lending laws. The audit is pitched to homeowners as a tool they can use to gain leverage and speed up the loan-modification process.

As part of the consumer alert, Brown offered the following tips for homeowners:

• Don't pay up-front fees. Foreclosure consultants are prohibited by law from collecting money before services are performed.
  
• Don't ignore letters from your lender or loan servicer. Responding to those letters is your best bet for saving your house.
  
• Don't transfer title or sell your house to a "foreclosure rescuer." Beware! This is a scam to convince homeowners they can stay in their home as renters and buy their home back later. It could also be part of a fraudulent bankruptcy filing. Either way, a scammer can then evict you and take your home.
  
• Don't pay your mortgage payments to anyone other than your lender or loan servicer. Mortgage consultants often keep the money for themselves.
  
• Never sign any documents without reading them first. Many homeowners think that they are signing documents for a loan modification or for a new loan to pay off their delinquent mortgage. Later, they discover that they actually transferred ownership of their home to someone who is now trying to evict them.
  
  Homeowners who have been scammed can contact the Attorney General's office at 1-800-952-5225 or file a complaint online at www.ag.ca.gov/consumers/general.php.
• More information about avoiding scams can be found by visiting the DRE's web site at
  www.dre.ca.gov..
  
  

SUSAN B. ANTHONY - Women's History Month

Susan B. Anthony was one of the pioneers of the Women's Suffrage movement. She was one of the the co-founders of the National Women's Suffrage Association, and worked along side Harriet Tubman to bring about change. Susan B. Anthony traveled throughout the US as a speaker, often delivering close to 100 speeches per year on the topic of women's equality. Although she passed away 14 years before the 19th amendment was passed, which gave women their right to vote, Susan B. Anthony is remembered today as one of the most influential figures in the movement.

TIPS TO RESPONSIBLY MANAGE CREDIT

New regulations from the Credit CARD (Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure) Act take effect on February 22, 2010. Many consumers are still curious about the net impact to their daily lives.

The Credit CARD Act seeks to eliminate unfair practices and make the entire credit fee practice more transparent. Take a look at your credit card statement and look for new credit disclosure information.

5 sensible credit card management tips:

1. Maintain prompt payment status with your credit card company. Demonstrating that you can responsibly meet your current credit obligations is the number one behavior that will impact your standing with the credit card company and your credit score. By missing or being late on a payment, you will incur fees, potentially increase your interest rate and lower your overall credit score.

2. Pay down high balances to improve credit card utilization. This will show that you can responsibly manage your credit limit, minimizing the chance of higher tiers of interest rates or reductions in credit limit. Additionally, better credit utilization will help boost your credit score.

3. Maintain activity on your credit card accounts. By using the revolving credit lines that you need or want to keep and promptly paying on them, you can help avoid cancellation of those credit card accounts. Additionally, some credit card companies are introducing inactivity fees. This behavior will avoid those fees and help boost your credit score, while having a long existing credit line closed could lower your score.

4. Avoid fees through responsible spending habits. Credit card providers will likely look to recoup revenue by charging fees for extra services. New regulations prohibit over limit provisions unless consumers opt-in to the service. Card providers could then charge consumers for this right. By remaining aware of credit limits and balances, consumers can avoid a need for these fees altogether.

5. New regulations do not apply to corporate or small business cards. This means some small business owners might consider using personal cards for business expenses because of fee and rate limitations. However, these owners should remain cautious because their personal credit scores could suffer in the event of missed payments or defaults.

Manage and protect your credit to increase your purchasing power when buying a new home in Encinitas, Carlsbad, Solana Beach and any other community from Downtown San Diego to Oceanside.

RELAX.... We'll handle the details.

JUMBO MORTGAGE GOOD NEWS

Rates on jumbo mortgages... loans of more than $729,750... may become more available as lenders begin to slightly relax some of their lending requirements. THAT'S GREAT NEWS.

About 2 weeks ago the average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate jumbos loans dropped to 5.79%... nearly a five-year low. The average rate is down from well above 7% in late 2008.

The lower rates and relaxed terms reflect growing confidence among banks in the housing market. By definition jumbo loans are too big to be bought by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae or to be insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

The maximum amounts for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae "conforming" mortgages and for FHA mortgages are set by Congress. The maximum loan amount for single-family homes was $417,000 from 2006 until February 2008 when lawmakers increased it temporarily to $729,750 in certain high-cost areas. Conforming loans top out at $697,500 in San Diego County.

As a reminder the above limits refer to loan amounts, not purchase price. Find out from a mortgage professional the exact numbers for your area and your circumstances.

What's your purchase price range? What's your purchasing power in today's market? How small will your payment be to purchase a home in Del Mar, Cardiff, Encinitas, Olivenhain, Leucadia, Carlsbad, etc?

RELAX.... We'll handle the details.