CHRISTMAS CARD LANE - Rancho Penasquitos, CA 92129 – At dusk daily Dec 1-31, 2008

Holiday Events

This will bring smiles and Christmas cheer.

One of San Diego’s most famous neighborhood light displays in Rancho Penasquitos. Holiday lights will dazzle your eyes!

This is a simple idea, but wonderful to look at and be a part of. The displays start right after Thanksgiving and stay there through New Year’s Eve.

Giant plywood greetings in front yards, some amusing, some religious, all brightly hand-painted, lots of Cartoon characters will make you laugh.

Hot Chocolate for sale, everyone’s happy and in the Christmas mood. Most people walk or drive. Horse drawn wagons are available, too.

Location: Northwest of the intersection of Carmel Mountain and Black Mountain roads.

Price: free!

  Encinitas Holiday Parade – 5pm Sat, Dec 6th 2008

This will get you in the Holiday Spirit!

The 2008 Christmas parade includes a tree lighting ceremony – this years theme is a “storybook holiday” The tree lighting begins at 5 p.m with the parade following at 5.30 pm The parade route travels old Hwy 101 between D and J streets in Encinitas. More info call 760-633-2740

Holiday Lights

Nov 27th 2008 – Jan 4th 2009

 

This is so much fun for the family, something you will want to do during the holidays!

Holiday of Lights – Del Mar Fairgrounds – This runs from Thanksgiving Day until early January, the Holiday of lights at the Del Mar Fair grounds is a really spectacular drive through light show and exhibit themed for the holidays with more than 350 family orientated displays. Visitors can view the lighted holiday creations from their vehicles as they drive along a route through the Fairgrounds and around its racetrack.

The hours of display are Sunday through Thursday 5.30 – 10.30 p.m and Friday and Saturday 5.30 – 11pm. Admission: $14 per car,up to 5 people; and $19 per vehicle,6 or more people. More info call 858-755-1161

http://sdfair.com/holidayoflights

Southern California home sales rose unseasonably last month from September as buyers shook off gloomy financial news and took advantage of often-steep discounts.

A total of 21,532 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the six counties of Southern California in October – the highest for any month this year.

Fueled by lower prices, SoCal sales have risen on a year-over-year basis for four consecutive months, breaking a 33-month streak of annual declines.

“You could easily imagine a meaningful decline in sales last month, given the seasonal norm and the dire financial news that potential buyers had to ponder in September. But we have yet to see any big, sudden drop in the number of transactions closing escrow. It tells us there were a lot of very serious buyers in the market during late summer and early fall – buyers who consider housing a relatively good buy or investment,” said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Last months increase is due to 2 things: Number 1 is the weak sales last year after the credit crunch and the subprime meltdown and number 2,  a large number of sales in the inland markets where where prices have fallen 30% or more.  With prices like these the investors and first time buyers are having a field day.

High foreclosure resale levels help explain the SoCal $300,000 median sale price in October, the lowest since it was $298,000 in April 2003. Last month’s median was 2.8 percent lower than $308,500 in September and 32.6 percent lower than $445,000 in October 2007. The October median stood 40.6 percent below the peak $505,000 median reached in spring and summer of last year.

Use of FHA-insured loans allowing a down payment of as little as 3 percent represented nearly one-third of all Southern Californias purchase loans last month, up from 2 percent a year earlier.

The typical monthly mortgage payment that Southern California buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,413 last month, down from $1,458 the previous month, and down from $2,115 a year ago.

DQ news contributed to this article