The San Diego real estate market outlook for 2010 looks promising.

Although it is much more difficult to qualify for financing in 2010, the fact is that more people can actually afford a San Diego median priced home now than in 2005.

Back in 2005, all you needed to qualify for a loan was a job and an imagination. Banks like Countrywide Home Loans thrived on popular programs like their signature, “fast and easy” program. For this program, you had to have a job and be able to tell the loan officer what your income could be on your best year with the maximum overtime and a bonus that was crazy.

Banks would loan money to applicants that worked for a 2 person landscaping company that were creatively titled, “landscape architects” with no formal training or schooling. Now these applicants would say they were making $125,000 per year and voila, there it was, a new mortgage. Any wonder why we are seeing so many foreclosures today? I don’t know about you, but I pay the landscapers that take care of my rental properties in the ballpark of $75 per month. It would take an awful lot of lawn mowing to make $125,000 per year at that rate…

Given that the price on San Diego Real Estate has dropped drastically since 2005, the number of people who can really qualify to purchase San Diego condos with their true income is higher. This, along with the release of more foreclosure and short sale inventory will translate into more sales for the county. Given that more than 20% of San Diego’s jobs are related to real estate in one way or another, this could be a great stimulator for our local economy.

It is great to see first time home buyers get out there and get excited about buying a San Diego home. It’s always fun to see their energy and ideas for all of the improvements they want to make because many of these buyers are willing to purchase a fixer-upper in a great metro San Diego or San Diego beach neighborhood.

We plan on seeing more San Diego real estate sales in 2010.

We expect to see the median price stay in the $300,000 to $335,000 range and also foresee some great deals in the high end market as financing for homes above $697,500 is still not favorable at this time.