No Place Like HOME: Clinic Offers Info on Loan Modifications, Free Consults

Agents attending last week’s meeting of the East San Diego County Board of Realtors learned about a free counseling clinic Saturday in Ramona, where homeowners can find help with loan modifications and other issues.

It’s a long drive from La Mesa, but the HOME Clinic can save people $550 through free counseling with a HUD-approved housing counseling agency and $300 an hour in attorney’s fees with a one-on-one session with a pro-bono attorney to learn about  legal options.

Saturday’s clinic is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the San Diego County Public Library, 1275 Main St. The following month, the same clinics will take place in San Marcos on April 16 and Alpine on April 30.

The HOME Clinic is a community service of the Housing Opportunities Collaborative, a coalition of nonprofit organizations and housing agencies in the San Diego region, to assist and educate homeowners and homebuyers with their housing questions. 

HOC is a federal Housing and Urban Development-approved housing counseling agency and is sponsored and taught by all volunteers.

Besides loan modification assistance, and referral to local law enforcement or local professional associations who may give resolution to your problems, the clinic offers sessions on credit management,  bankruptcy and consumer protection.

The East County Board of Realtors is an organization of active brokers and agents with control of all aspects of local day-to-day workings of real estate. All areas of the United States have boards, and the group has national board as well.

Most brokers belong to a board and are the only ones who can call themselves Realtors. Agents and brokers pay dues to both national and local groups. Our local board is on Broadway in El Cajon. Everything real-estate-related goes through the board including the timely entry, updating and accuracy of the Multiple Listing Service.

It has a board of directors, officers and many committees. I am on the ethics committee. There is a general meeting every Thursday where agents and brokers can do PowerPoints of newest listings, talk about price changes, and generally network with others in the industry. There are many real estate offices, but they all go by the local board’s rules and regs.

For more information on the Ramona meeting, visit sandiego.myhousingforall.org or e-mail homeclinic@housingcollaborative.org. You also can call 619-283-2200 or 800-DOC-0503.

 La Mesa Real Estate Week at a Glance (Single-Family Detatched)

Thirteen new property listings in the past week (with rooms/bathrooms):

7496 Muriel Pl   3/1  $260,000        4636 Panorama Dr.  3/2  $399,900

4437 Conrad       4/2 $459,900         9307 Tropico Dr.     3/2  $439,800-$464,000

3985 Denver Dr.  4/3  $495,000-$535,000

10601 Itzamma Dr.  3/3   $$535,000-$575-876

7128 Purdue Ave. 3/1  $275,000       5519 Pennsylvania Ln. 2/2 $279,900

6755 Vigo Dr. 3/2   $322,900              6305 Meadowcrest Dr. 3/2 $330,000

8480 Dallas   3/1    $339,500                 6708 Vigo    3/2      $379,000

9380 La Suvida  4/2  $469,000

One property went into escrow

5835 Lake Murray Blvd.     3/2      $319,000

None sold