In celebraion of the Lunar New Year, the Vietnamese community is presenting a festival to promote homeland traditions. As you enter a mock structure of the Vietnam Village, you’ll experience ancestral rituals and entertaining performances; plus contests, rides, food and merchandise. 5 – 10pm. Balboa Park $5 (adult), $4 (child). Nikki Lam, 858-717-9902. www.sdtet.com

San Diego is proud to be the host for the PGA TOUR Golf Tournament at the exclusive Torrey Pines Golf Course (11480 N Torrey Pines Rd.) where you can watch top professional golfing at its best. 10:30 – 5pm. Tom Wilson, 858-886-4653. www.centuryclubofsandiego.org

The CSU San Marcos Collegiate Triathlon Team has organized a sprint triathlon that is entirely held at Fiesta Island in East Mission Bay Park. It consists of a 300-meter swim, 10 mile bike ride, and a 3-mile run. Professional and amateur atheletes can take the challenge. 7-9am. $30. Wallace Wong, 760-805-1363.

Home prices decline in 70% of major markets in 2010.

2010 marked another year of price declines across much of the U.S. as prices faced significant downward  pressure with the national unemployment rate staying above 9.5 percent and REO saturation holding above 22 percent throughout the year.

- Rapid and severe declines subsiding, as only eight major markets experienced double digit price declines in 2010.

- Seix of the 15 major markets that managed price gains were in California (Riverside, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, and Fresno).

- Year characterized by record volatility, with quarterly prices changes of -4.3% (Q1), +5.8% (Q2), -1.6% (Q3), -3.9% (Q4) through the last four rolling quarters.

In 2010, uncharacteristic volatility occured in home prices within relatively short time intervals. Of the top 50 major markets, 38 saw price swings of more than six percent at some point last year, driven in large part by the extension of the federal hom buyer tax credit. Conversely, from the middle of 2002 through mid 2009 national prices only changed direction once and at no point were there quarterly price swings from negative to positive gans of more than one percent in consecutive quarters. At the beginning of 2010, however, national prices saw a 10.1 percent price swing from price declines to price growth. As the effects of the tax credit wore off, national prices reversed this pattern during the latter half of 2010, posting a 7.4 percent swing into negative territory for conservative quarters.

Source: Clear Capital

Knox Preparatory School (1098 49th St) students accompanied by school staff, administrators, and special guests will march around the community of Lincoln Park in honor and rememberance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The school band will lead the way with marching music. Gary Rollins, 619-262.2473

Remember to turn your clocks back an hour Saturday night!

During late Winter we move our clocks one hour ahead and “lose” an hour during the night and each Fall we move our clocks back one hour and “gain” an extra hour. But Daylight Saving Time (and not Daylight Savings Time with an “s”) wasn’t just created to confuse our schedules.

The phrase “Spring forward, Fall back” helps people remember how Daylight Saving Time affects their clocks. At 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March, we set our clocks forward one hour ahead of Standard Time (“Spring forward,” even though Spring doesn’t begin until late March, several weeks after the start of Daylight Saving Time). We “Fall back” at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November by setting our clock back one hour and thus returning to Standard Time.

The change to Daylight Saving Time ostensibly allows us to use less energy in lighting our homes by taking advantage of the longer and later daylight hours. During the eight-month period of Daylight Saving Time, the names of time in each of the time zones in the U.S. (map) change as well. Eastern Standard Time (EST) becomes Eastern Daylight Time, Central Standard Time (CST) becomes Central Daylight Time (CDT), Mountain Standard Time (MST) becomes Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), Pacific Standard Time becomes Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), and so forth.

http://geography.about.com/cs/daylightsavings/a/dst.htm

2009 was a hard year for most San Diegans lost their jobs and homes. Home values dropped throughout San Diego. It was difficult to get approved for a loan. The U.S. Government helped buyers with (FHA) loans, a government backed mortgage, making it easier to buy with 3.5% down. Many banks started to refinance their clients to slow down the foreclosures. The $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers was a great success that helped tens of thousands of people buy homes.

Stacey Miller

858-794-3161

stacey@staceymiller.com

Foreclosed homes accounted for 24 percent of all residential sales in the second quarter of 2010, RealtyTrac recently reported.   The average sales price of properties that sold while in a stage of foreclosure was more than 26 percent less than the average sales price of properties not in the foreclosure process “ down slightly from a 27-percent average discount in the first quarter– according to the report.
U.S. properties in the foreclosure process that were sold to third parties increased nearly 5 percent in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, but were down 20 percent from the second quarter of 2009.
Nevada, Arizona, and California posted the highest percentages of foreclosure sales in Q2.
Foreclosure sales accounted for nearly 43 percent of all sales in California, the third highest percentage among the states. California pre-foreclosure sales increased nearly 8 percent from the previous quarter, but were down 4 percent from the second quarter of 2009. California REO sales increased 1 percent from the previous quarter but were down 45 percent from the second quarter of 2009.

Get ready to experience the “Grand Daddy” of street fairs. From it’s humble beginnings 37 years ago, the La Mesa Village Oktoberfest   has grown to 8 blocks filled with crafts and commercial booths, a kids carnival,5 food courts, 2 beer courts and a BIG beer garden with a stage and dance floor. La Mesa Village. Friday and Saturday, 11am – 11:30pm. Sunday, 12-6pm. 619-462-3002. www.lamesavillage.com

The J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Home Buyer/Seller Satisfaction Study^SM, now in its third year, measures customer satisfaction of home buyers and sellers with the largest national real estate companies. Overall satisfaction is determined by examing the three factors for the home-buying experience: agent/salesperson; office; and variety of additional services. Four factors are examined for the home-selling experience: agent/salesperson; marketing; office; and variety of additional services. Overall satisfaction among home sellers averages 742 in 2010.

For full article, please click link below:

http://www.jdpower.com/microsites/prudential/featured_video.aspx?ap=1