Saturday, April 24, 2010

Susan Botticelli, Broker Opens New Real Estate Business!


With over 15 years of selling residential real estate and land throughout San Diego County, and more than 400 transactions completed, I can legitimately state that I have a wealth of real estate experiences to draw from when representing my clients! As of April 1, 2010 this wealth of experience and the desire to expand entrepreneurial opportunities has lead to the creation of my own real estate brokerage, San Diego Properties Group.




I have been a top producing agent throughout my career. With Coldwell Banker Real Estate I garnered the Distinguished Achievement Award for being the top real estate sales agent as a rookie. After 5 years with Coldwell Banker I moved to One Source Realty to work with a locally owned and operated firm. Monthly sales meetings with One Source Realty honored me as the top listing agent and top sales agent over 5 years of business. Then Keller Williams Realty lured me away to join the La Mesa office and begin the process of opening a Keller Williams office in Mission Valley, San Diego. It was at that time I obtained my broker's license to prepare to become the broker of that office.




I quickly realized it would be an impossible task for me to continue to serve the needs of my loyal clientele and be an effective broker of this new office, and be a great mom and single parent to my daughter Stefani and my son Andrew. I decided to keep my focus on selling real estate rather than managing a multitude of agents. I loved working with Keller Williams from the standpoint of that company's ethics and multilevel training programs. As with working with any company though, a successful business relationship is formed by staying within the companies corporate box and there are restraints on how you run your business.




My own brokerage, San Diego Properties Group, is a real estate services company providing expert guidance in the sale and purchase of single family homes, condos, investment properties and land. With California real estate values at a low point over the last 3 years, investors are acting on the opportunities to place their dollars in tangible assets like real estate. First time buyers have turned out in great numbers to take advantage of the available $8,000 tax credit for purchasing a home. Families who have outgrown smaller homes are now buying larger, newly built homes at lower market prices with their own tax advantage of $10,000 in tax credits.




Another focus of San Diego Properties Group is helping clients work through financial problems of the current economic downturn. New government programs are beginning this month to assist homeowners with modifications of their mortgages through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). This program is designed to assist homeowners with retaining their homes through a modification of their existing loan terms. For those who are unable to retain their home another program called Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) has been created to provide incentives for short sales and deed-in-lieu of foreclosures. Both government programs are focused on making the quagmire of steps required for successful loan modifications or short sales simpler. San Diego Properties Group has the experience of short sales helping homeowners get relief from burdensome property debt.




San Diego Properties Group not only handles transactions throughout San Diego County, but is also networked with other brokers and real estate companies across America in order to provide relocation assistance. My clients who need to sell their homes in San Diego County, in order to make a job-related move to other states, find that I can provide the services they need to make this transition as smooth as possible. With the network of agents in other cities and states I have created, I can research which real estate companies, but specifically which agents or brokers, have the expertise to best help them find the perfect replacement home.




Having lived in the community of Rancho San Diego in the East County for 15 years I have focused on making my community a better place to live and given back to the community in many ways. As a board member with the Cottonwood Homeowner's Association I saw the problem of this group dwindling away which resulted in it's dissolution. I have worked to bring back a sense of community by holding neighborhood meetings to discuss ways to monitor crime, improve the maintenance and use of parks and open spaces, as well as hosted parties in the parks and annual neighborhood garage sales.




My website http://www.ranchosandiegolifestyle.com/ has become a great source of information on community developments as well as a place where neighbors can network with each other. The monthly email newsletter is read by over 1,000 residents each month. The website provides neighborly referrals for business owners, updates on new companies and business in the community, real estate articles with data on changing values and trends, a job search site and lots of articles for homeowners.




As a board member for the East County YMCA I have worked for many years raising funds and helping to guide decisions on building and operating the new McGrath Family YMCA just open in April 2010. This state-of-the-art facility offers a much needed community site for families and individuals of all ages to gather for exercise, sports leagues, youth programs, senior social activities and other community based programs. This year I will co-chair the 16th annual fund raising event The Branding where over 600 area residents and companies will turn out for an evening under the stars and the shadows of this new facility to raise funds for this new facility




East County YMCA supporters have raised $8 milllion so far to fund this building project which is debt free! The facility includes the Tuttle Indoor Soccer Field, the Scott Mc Donald Baseball Field, the Dallas Pugh Gymnasium and the Hendrix Youth Center. An additional $3 million is being raised to build three pools at this site. Supervisor Dianne Jacob has committed to building a signature East County pool complex here which will include a kiddie splash pad, a 25 meter indoor pool and a competition pool. A total of $500,000 has been donated so far to build this pool complex. Contact Susan Botticelli at 619-441-8473 to discuss donation and naming opportunities and how you can participate in making this dream become a reality!




For more information on our changing real estate market, or to talk with Susan about selling or buying real estate, contact her at 619-441-8473 or email at sbotticelli@att.net today!

Friday, April 23, 2010

McGrath YMCA Ribbon Cutting Ceremony


Tears of joy and celebration flowed on April 7th, 2010 as over 400 Rancho San Diego residents, contributors and supporters welcomed the first YMCA kids into this state-of-the-art facility located on Campo Road and Jamacha. Basketball games, exercising on the new equipment, food and music were enjoyed by all.


What a gift to our community this $8 million facility is. Look for three pools to be built soon as promised by Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

Schwarzenegger signs Short Sale Bill SB401- Forgives CA Taxes on Short Sales

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed CA Senate Bill 401 into law, which conforms California tax law with Federal tax law on debt forgiveness from short sales and foreclosures on a primary residence.
Governor Schwarzenegger made the following the statement:
“”This legislation is a great example of what we can accomplish when we work together to solve problems that affect Californians, and I applaud Senator Lois Wolk, Senator Ron Calderon, Assemblymember V. Manuel Perez and Assemblymember Anthony Portantino for their work. It is important that we continue to provide all possible assistance to homeowners who were negatively impacted by the mortgage crisis, and this bill will provide them with necessary mortgage debt relief and protect them from thousands of dollars in unfair taxes,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “SB 401 will also help promote the growth of renewable energy projects in California by providing tax assistance to businesses to get their projects of the ground, which is good news for our economy.”