California is first state to approve $15 minimum wage

California has become the first state in the nation to approve a statewide $15 minimum wage.

Both the State Assembly and State Senate passed the measure on Thursday afternoon. Governor Jerry Brown said he would sign it on Monday. 

"No one who is working full time in California should live in poverty due to a low wage," said Democratic State Senator Mark Leno, who cosponsored the bill. 

The measure will raise the state's minimum wage to $10.50 in January and to $11 in January 2018. It will then increase by an additional $1 per hour every year until it reaches $15 in 2022. If, however, the state goes through an economic downturn or budget crisis, the governor may choose to slow the implementation. 

The final bill gives small businesses, with 25 or fewer employees, an extra year to implement the increases. 

Related: New York seals deal on $15 minimum fast food wage

About 5.6 million Californians, or about 32% of the state's workforce, currently live on the minimum wage, according to Kevin De Leon, the president pro tempore of the state senate. 

Los Angeles has already agreed to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020, making it the largest city in the nation to do so. San Francisco plans to reach a $15 minimum by 2018. And other major California cities, including San Diego and Oakland, have raised their minimum wages as well. 

Related: LA largest city in America with $15 minimum wage

Setting a minimum wage at $15 has plenty of critics. 

"California may be the first state to pass a $15 minimum wage, but it will also be the first to find out why that's a bad idea," said Michael Saltsman, research director of the Employment Policies Institute, a conservative think tank opposed to minimum wage hikes. He argues that many businesses will have to cut staff or close because of the deal. "This pain from a $15 minimum wage will only be exacerbated in more troubled counties in the state." 

Related: What you need to know about the minimum wage

California's current statewide minimum wage of $10 per hour is already among the highest in the country. It's tied with Massachusetts and is second only to Washington D.C., which has a $10.50 minimum, according to the National Council of State Legislatures. 

New York lawmakers also made a minimum-wage move Thursday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state's legislative leaders in Albany announced they have come to an agreement that will eventually raise the state's minimum wage to $15 for everyone. New York state already requires large food franchises to pay at least $15 per hour. 

Wilcox Estates Moved!

I am so excited to announce I have moved my Real Estate business to Canter! If you know anyone thats looking to buy, sell, or invest in real estate now is the best time. Rates are low and prices are competitive. At Canter I have a great team of Lenders, Lawers, Wealth Management Team, and Development Team who are ready to help with any project big or small.

About Canter: 

Canter Companies is a full-service investment firm headquartered in San Diego, California. Offering comprehensive services, Canter can easily oversee the entire lifecycle of a project through acquisition, funding, development and sales. Our proprietary research and analytical processes help us identify potential opportunities and exploit market inefficiencies. Because of our well-honed ability to pinpoint unrealized opportunities, Canter has a proven track record of success throughout various market cycles. We also have affiliates and advisors in the Central Valley and Bay Area to service our growing clientele. Our relationships with our partners and affiliates allow us to entertain other unique investment opportunities outside the real estate industry.

Why Canter: 

Canter Brokerage is known for offering the most innovative marketing strategies to attract potential buyers. We believe there are many elements to a successful marketing program and take pride in our implementation of traditional tactics with an innovative approach. A customized blend of these elements combined with your property’s features and a suggested price range delivers signi cant results. Our network and reach extends throughout the San Diego community, the region of Southern California, and around the globe. We are constantly working to gain access to more qualified, motivated buyers and bring them to your home. Our primary goal is to sell your home.

We are always searching for new ways to draw attention to your home making it more appealing to buyers, ensuring you have the best results. We want your home to be seen by as many audiences as possible. Print and digital advertising allows us to leave a lasting impression of how special your home is. Our adverting campaigns are strategically designed to attract qualified buyers. The Canter Brokerage marketing department includes graphic designers and copywriters who create advertisements with impact. We have the ability to advertise your home in several print publications, which may include local and regional, daily and weekly newspapers, real estate and lifestyle publications, and periodicals. Cory Wilcox

760.707.6021
corywilcoxre@gmail.com

4 Reasons To Stay Invested In U.S. Housing

The stock market’s wild ride over the last couple of months may have introduced a measure of uncertainty into the investment outlook for some sectors of the global economy. However, U.S. housing was not one of them. 

America’s housing market is continuing to grow faster than the economy overall. We are seeing a number of opportunities and remain constructive on the sector. Here are four reasons why:




1. Strong job growth and consumer confidence: The U.S. economy has added roughly 3 million private sector jobs over the past year. This includes more than 750,000 new jobs in the 25- to 34-year-old cohort, an important segment for first-time buyers, a rate that is near a 15-year high. A pickup in wage growth is likely given the improvement in the labor market; the unemployment rate declined by 2.4% in the past two years to reach 5.1%. We expect more jobs and higher incomes will lead to rising consumer confidence and demand for homes, even in the face of modestly higher mortgage rates.




2. Low inventories and rising pent-up demand: Both the absolute level of inventory of new and existing homes (now 2.5 million units total) and inventory as a percentage of households (now 1.6%) are at or near 15-year lows. Over the past year, 1.5 million new households have formed; that compares with less than 1.2 million new housing units. In addition, over 30% of 18- to 34-year-olds are living at home. What does this mean? A lot of pent-up demand, and if it picks up, as we expect, housing starts will likely rise toward 1.5 million units (or higher) in the next two to three years. Simply put, with residential investment spending at 3.3% of GDP, the U.S. has been significantly under-building relative to long-term demand (the 55-year average is 4.5% of GDP – see Figure 1).

3. Willingness to lend and expanding demand for credit: Banks are finally lending again! In reviewing second quarter 2015 earnings details, we noticed that mortgage origination growth at all four of the largest U.S. banks rose by double digits. At the same time banks are increasing their willingness to lend, households are becoming more confident and many are now in a position to re-lever: Consumer debt service ratios are near 35-year lows. Importantly, a significant number of previously foreclosed homeowners could become eligible to buy a home over the next five years. As such, the demand and supply of credit is likely to pick up, which should support the U.S. housing market.




4. Relative affordability: At this juncture, owning a house is incredibly cheap – both from a historical affordability perspective and relative to the cost of renting (see Figure 2). Although some have expressed concerns rising rates will reduce affordability, keep in mind that it would take a two percentage point rise in mortgage rates to go back to the long-term average. A very modest pickup in mortgage rates, which are currently under 4%, can be handled by an economy adding 3 million jobs in the private sector alone, in our view.

How to take advantage of current trends

In many regions across the country, there is a significant shortage of housing inventory relative to job creation. In Orange County, California, for example, job growth is overwhelming housing inventory by a ratio of five to one. Our view based on the most recent data is that home ownership is cyclical: As housing prices rise, people become more confident, credit becomes more available. The most recent data on housing starts suggests a shift toward single family home construction. Home builder sentiment is at the highest level it’s been since November 2005. We expect companies tied to housing will see earnings growth much higher than the markets overall.

Investors seeking to capitalize on these trends should stay overweight U.S. housing and housing-related sectors. We continue to see value in select companies in areas such as building materials, home improvement, title insurance, homebuilding, banks and specialty finance companies as well as in non-agency mortgage-backed securities(MBS).

The Cheapest And Most Expensive San Diego Neighborhoods for Rent

San Diego rent prices continued to steadily increase across multiple bedroom types this September. The city maintained its place as the 11th most expensive market in the US to rent, inching ever closer to 10th place Seattle. One bedroom median rents jumped 2% to $1,540 alone last month, and are now up 7.7% in the past trailing year, while two bedrooms were also up 2.4% to $2,100.

Such increases have put San Diego ahead of Portland, Denver, and Philadelphia in our latest October National Rent Report, which details rent trends across the 50 largest cities in the United States.

Looking at the map above, the most expensive San Diego areas to rent this fall include Coronado ($2,600), East Village ($2,170), and Little Italy ($2,040). More affordable finds in the $900-$1,200 range can be seen in areas such as Oak Park, Burlingame, and El Cerrito.

If you’re interested in seeing how San Diego stacks up to the rest of the United States, view our National Rent Report for October, which analyzes over 1 million active listings available in the prior month.

To keep up to date with rent changes across the country, like or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. In the market for a new place? Search over 2,350 San Diego apartments on Zumper.

2015 Real Estate Review

Last year was a great year for Real Estate in San Diego and 2016 is just going to get better. In 2015 San Diego sold $15,105,240,866. Thats right 15 BILLION! The average home sale was $675,004 and average day on market was 40. (this is only the detached housing market) The biggest home sale was 7007 country club drive La Jolla listed for $19,800,000 and selling for $17,000,000 cash!

6266 Camino De La Costa - On the market for $15,500,000 selling in 

6 days for $14,300,000 cash! 

6102 Camino De La Costa - On the market for $12,500,000 selling in 

330 days for $12,450,000 cash!

9046 La Jolla Shores Lane - On the market for $13,599,000 selling in 

49 days for $12,000,000 Cash!

341 Sea Ridge - On the market for $12,500,000 selling in 

1 day for $11,500,000 Cash!

310 Dunmore Drive - On the market for $12,980,000 selling in 

21 days $11,400,000 Cash!

15651 Puerta Del Sol - On the market for $36,000,000 selling in 

42 days for $11,200,000 Cash!

3006 SANDY LANE - On the market for $12,995,000 selling in 

133 days for $11,000,000 Cash!

17025 Sobre Los Cerros - On the market for $10,250,000 selling in 

158 days for $9,300,000 Cash!

2611 Crown Crest Lane - On the market for $9,200,000 selling in 

1 day for $9,000,000 Cash!

Call cory today for more info on any of these properties. Also if your looking to

buy or sell call me 760-707-6021 corywilcoxre@gmail.com

MILLION-DOLLAR HOME SALES UP AGAIN IN THE GOLDEN STATE

MILLION-DOLLAR HOME SALES UP AGAIN IN THE GOLDEN STATE Source: DQNews La Jolla, CA.—-The number of California homes that sold for a million dollars or more rose to its highest level in seven years last quarter, the result of rising home prices and an improving economy. The luxury market’s high end continues to do best, with record sales above the $2 million mark, a real estate information service reported. A total of 12,826 homes sold for a million dollars or more during the April-through-June period. That was up 60.4 percent from 7,994 during this year’s first quarter, and up 9.1 percent from 11,758 in second-quarter 2013. Last quarter’s $1 million-plus sales were the highest for any quarter since 13,681 homes sold for $1 million or more in second-quarter 2007, according to CoreLogic DataQuick. The all-time high was third-quarter 2005, when 15,898 Golden State homes sold for a million dollars or more. The nine-county San Francisco Bay Area stood out last quarter: The 5,734 sales there of $1 million or more represented an all-time high. The previous peak was 5,699 in second-quarter 2005. While statewide $1 million-plus home sales rose 9.1 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, total sales across all price categories fell 7.4 percent. Two of the main reasons for the increase in $1 million-plus sales are increased demand, and robust price appreciation that over the past year has pushed more homes up over the million-dollar threshold. “It’s always fascinating to watch this part of the real estate market. It behaves differently, responds to its own set of criteria. These buyers, especially those in the multi-million-dollar market, are less likely to agonize over credit scores, income and job security, down payments and mortgage interest rates,” said Andrew LePage, CoreLogic DataQuick analyst. “While we can only speculate, it seems self-evident that luxury home buyers have substantial assets, and they’re constantly evaluating where to park those assets. Right now it’s interesting that there appears to be enough inventory to meet the demand for luxury homes. That’s not always the case in many mid-priced and lower-cost housing markets, where demand continues to outweigh supply,” LePage said. A total of 265 homes sold for more than $5 million last quarter, an all-time high. In the $4-$5 million range, a record 213 homes sold. In the $3-$4 million range, 469 homes sold, also a record. In the $2-$3 million range, 1,595 homes sold, another high. In the $1-$2 million range, 8,381 sold last quarter, still behind the record 9,885 sold in second-quarter 2005. There were 1,923 sales where the price was unavailable, but where it could be determined that the price exceeded $1 million because of the size of the mortgage. San Diego-based DataQuick was acquired in March by Irvine-based CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider. CoreLogic DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. The million-dollar transactions include home sales where it could be determined from public records that there was a buyer, a seller, that money changed hands, and that there was a legal transfer of property ownership. Not included were property swaps, sales of multiple lots, sales where no price or loan amount was available, teardowns, and large farm or ranch properties. Sales to companies and trusts were included. Last quarter 3,882 of the homes that sold for $1 million or more were purchased with cash. In the luxury market, the higher the price, the more frequently cash was used. Of those who did finance their purchase last quarter, the median down payment was 30.0 percent of the purchase price. The lending institutions most willing to provide mortgage financing for homes that sold for $1 million-plus were Wells Fargo, Union Bank and Bank of America. The most expensive confirmed purchase last quarter was a 11,637-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 6-bathroom Westwood mansion built in 1931 which sold for $45,000,000 in May. The largest was a 16,840 sq.ft. 6-bedroom, 13-bathroom mansion in Indian Wells that sold for $4.5 million. In some communities virtually all home sales were in the million-dollar category. Among them: Hillsborough, Rancho Santa Fe, Atherton and Los Altos. Newly-built homes accounted for 8.8 percent of last quarter’s $1 million-plus sales. Condo sales made up 10.1 percent. Most $1 million-plus condos were sold in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego counties. The median-sized $1 million-plus home was 2,400 sq.ft. with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The median price paid per square foot for all million-dollar homes last quarter was $729, up 7.6 percent from $678 in second-quarter 2013. For the overall California market, the square-foot median was $226 last quarter, up 13.0 percent from $200 in second-quarter 2013, CoreLogic DataQuick reported. There are 8.85 million houses and condos in California. Of those, 277,666 are assessed for more than a million dollars by county assessor offices, CoreLogic DataQuick reported. To view the ranking of cities by the number of million-dollar home sales, please visit DQNews.com.

Why You Should Get Off Your Duff And Refinance

OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY 10/24 10AM - 2PM

Mortgage costs, we keep hearing, are going to go up when the Federal Reserve at long last gets around the lifting short-term interest rates. While long and short rates don’t move in lockstep, Fed tightening tends to boost long rates eventually. AdviceIQ Network member Rick Kahler, present of Kahler Financial Group in Rapid City, S.D., tells us how to get in on refinancing to a lower rate while the option lasts:

Interest rates on home loans still are very low in historical terms. That means it remains a good time to dig out your mortgage loan paperwork and consider if refinancing is right for you.

Five years ago, the government started injecting trillions of dollars into the U.S. economy. Conventional wisdom suggested that rising interest rates were soon to follow. Some even predicted the collapse of the dollar and hyper-inflation. Instead, inflation is down, the dollar is the strongest it’s been in 10 years, and interest rates fall to the lowest levels in decades.

When refinancing, you take out a new, lower-interest loan to pay off the old one. Here’s how to find out whether it’s a good option:

First, check the current interest rate on your mortgage loan. Let’s assume you have a balance of $200,000, with monthly principal and interest payments of $1,013 at a rate of 4.5%.


Next, shop around. Call two or three mortgage brokers and find out the interest rate you can obtain on a new loan. They’ll ask for your household income, the value of your house and the current balance on your mortgage. If you don’t know how much your home is worth, contact your local property tax office for an assessed value.

Ask the brokers to give you the interest rate and payments on a mortgage similar to the number of years left on your current loan. Also ask about a shorter-term loan, which usually has a lower interest rate.

When shopping for a new mortgage, you may be tempted to reduce your payments even more by lengthening the term of your new loan. While the benefit is more spending money per month, you can end up paying more in interest. I strongly suggest obtaining a new mortgage that is equal to or less than the number of years remaining on your current loan.

John Schuler | NMLS# 76904 

Senior Loan Officer | Movement Mortgage

12780 High Bluff Dr | Suite 130

San Diego | CA | 92130

d: 858.436.8248 | c: 760.707.9353 | f: 619.821.2024

Apply Online at:   http://movement.com/john.schuler

OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY 10/24

808 Regal 6J Encinitas 92024

Encinitas Living!

open house Saturday 10-2

808 Regal Rd 6J Encinitas Ca 92024
$345,000

2 Bedroom 1 Bath 769 SqFt. 

Rare opportunity in the heart of Encinitas, minutes from the freeway, close to the new 44-acre Encinitas Community park, Encinitas library, and walking distance to the beach. This condo is in a beautiful gated community with laundry facilities on site, expansive grassy lawn's, clubhouse, pools, and much more. Get your kids in one of the best school districts San Diego has to offer. Encinitas is home of world renowned yoga studios, dining, beaches and it's active lifestyle.

You get to live in beautiful Encinitas for under $400k!

WELCOME HOME!

Call me today 760-707-6021