San Diego Real Estate

Real Estate Bargains in Rancho Santa Fe?

Rancho Santa Fe Real Estate Market: Partly Sunny

February 28th, 2008 Categories: Luxury Homes, Rancho Santa Fe, Real Estate News

by Roberta Murphy

San Diegos high end coastal North County is surviving the real estate storm fairly well at least compared to the rest of San Diego County.

Weve had a surge of buyer interest in Rancho Santa Fe real estate lately, and the folks at First American Title were kind enough to share some of their recent San Diego market research with us.

Rancho Santa Fe has the highest home prices in San Diego County, and also consistently makes the top ten lists of priciest homes in the United States as well. Many affluent home buyers want the peace, land and privacy afforded by Rancho Santa Fe. Home prices here generally start at $2 million and quickly rise to multiples of that amount.

To search real time market stats for Rancho Santa Fe, you can easily do so by clicking the appropriate link to the right of this site. I was interested in a simple macro view of how of how the Rancho Santa Fe real estate market performed from 2006 to 2007, in relation to its coastal North County neighbors.

The chart below shows how Rancho Santa Fe is faring with homes in the 92067 area falling 7.6 percent from 2006 to 2007 and the more rural 92091 (which includes the gated community of Cielo) actually rising 7.4 percent.:

2007 # Sold/ Median Price/ Median Price

Area Resale/ Detached Resale/ Detached % Change 06 ˜07

Rancho Santa Fe (92067) 172 $2,425,000 - 7.6%

Rancho Santa Fe (92091) 37 $2,631,000 +7.4%

Del Mar (92014) 139 $1,442,000 - 1.6%

Carmel Valley (92130) 427 $1,000,000 - 2.9%

Solana Beach (92075) 80 $1,200,000 +0.0%

Encinitas (92024) 446 $835,000 +4.4%

Cardiff (92007) 97 $915,000 +7.7%

Carlsbad NW (92008) 172 $735,000 +1.4%

Carlsbad SE (92009) 452 $820,000 +6.5%

Carlsbad NE (92010) 121 $644,500 - 1.6%

Carlsbad SW (92011) 223 $870,000 +5.1%

La Jolla (92037) 306 $1,697,500 - 0.1%

Statistics provided by DataQuick Information Systems

It is also worth noting that the wealthy gravitate to San Diego County.

San Diego is home to 7 billionaires and over 100,000 millionaires, who do much to keep our local economy in forward motion. They are settled throughout the county, but a large and unspecified number live behind the private gates of Rancho Santa Fe.

Photo courtesy of ms4jah

Additional reading relevant to Rancho Santa Fe:

San Diego Realtors Seeing Double¦Offers

San Diego Real Estate Exchange

Posted by | Currently No Comments »

San Diego Luxury Builder: 2007 Worst in 40 Years

Carlsbad FSBOs and Short Sales: Uh Oh

February 18th, 2008 Categories: Aviara, Carlsbad, La Costa, Market Trends

by Eve Sieminski and Roberta Murphy

Eve and I spent the afternoon studying For Sale by Owner (FSBO) sites and researching these Carlsbad listings and Carlsbad real estate through our local San Diego MLS.

The results are very interesting–and were enough to keep us at this real estate task for most of the day.

Some casual observations:

The vast majority of these Carlsbad FSBO listings are overpriced. Are the owners relying on outdated information from Zillow or wishful thinking when pricing their homes?
Many of those who purchased their Carlsbad homes in 2005-2006 may face difficulty if they need to sell today.
The majority of the advertised FSBOs are in short sale position. In other words, these sellers owe more than what their homes are likely worth. This leads us to wonder: How prepared are these sellers to negotiate with lenders and keep buyers on the line?
We observed several expired listings in Carlsbad that are now listed as For Sale by Owner. Prices generally stayed at the original listed price. Might price have been a reason these homes didnt sell in the first place?
Carlsbad homes in the 92011 zip are selling the fastest, and seem to be holding values the best. This is because this area is closest to the beach and includes the planned community of Aviara. Market absorption rate here is 39 weeks.
La Costa homes in the 92009 zip are burdened with a number of newer subdivisions including La Costa Greens, La Costa Oaks, La Costa Ridge, and Bressi Ranch. Most of these Carlsbad homes sold in the 2005-2007 timeframe and those re-entering the market now will have difficulty breaking even and may even face a loss. Market absorption time in the 92009 zip is running 49 weeks.
North coastal Carlsbad in the 92008 zip code surprisingly has the longest market absorption rate: 60 weeks. This could be because many of the homes are older and current buyers are favoring newer properties.
Northeastern Carlsbad in the 92010 zip has a market absorption rate of 50 weeks. This area is predominantly populated by the newer construction in Calavera Hills, but also has some established older neighborhoods.

Eve and I are continuing our market studies so that we can better advise our clients who need to sell their North San Diego County homes. Real estate is selling, and we are even managing to garner multiple offers for our attentive Carlsbad sellers.

All too often, a home seller assumes that because his or her home has granite surfaces, stainless appliances and a jetted bathtub the home is worth substantially more than an unimproved one down the street.

We are finding, though, that most buyers will bargain for the cheaper home and use the savings to make improvements to their own liking.

Where is the San Diego Market Bottom?

San Diego Realtors Seeing Double¦Offers

Posted by | Currently 1 Comment »

Are You the High Bidder for Your San Diego Real Estate Listing?

February 16th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad, Encinitas, Market Trends, Real Estate Juice, Real Estate News

by Roberta Murphy

The San Diego real estate market is abuzz with talk about real estate auctions and the enormous turnouts they are generating. Inventory is being quickly absorbed by competing and hungry investors, who bid against one another hoping to buy a San Diego home below market value.

All of this leads us to wonder about overpriced listings and sellers who are unsuccessfully holding out for unrealistic prices.

I recall years ago when my sister was in escrow with a very generous offer on her home. She began to have second thoughts about selling, and worried endlessly that she had made a mistake in selling her home at such a price.

Would you buy that house today for the price your buyer is paying? I asked.

No, she replied.

Well, if you dont sell, you will have bought the home for that price.

When overpriced homes sit on the market and fail to attract a buyer, the seller has effectively become the high bidder for the listing.

By failing to price a property to the market, the seller creates another expired listing and has outbid all other potential buyers.

We work with North San Diego County expired listings, and encourage our savvy sellers to price their property so that we can create a bidding war. Hungry, deal-seeking buyers of San Diego real estate are flocking to aggressively-priced homes. The majority of our listings generate multiple offers and end up selling close to market value in a very short period of time.

Better to price a listing as a best buy and sell quickly than to languish and expire on the market.

Besides, its generally best not to be the most aggressive bidder for your own property.

If you are interested in knowing how to create a bidding war when you sell your home, please call Roberta or Scott Murphy at 877-818-8197 or directly at 760-402-9101 (Roberta) or 760-613-6190 (Scott).

Posted by | Currently No Comments »

San Diego Real Estate: Per Bob Dyson

February 12th, 2008 Categories: Market Trends, Real Estate Juice, Real Estate News

by Roberta Murphy

Bob Dyson has a voice worth hearing especially as it relates to Southern California real estate.

Dyson is owner-broker of Villa Sothebys International Realty in Del Mar, CA (which may be San Diegos fastest-growing real estate firm) as well as Dyson and Dyson Sothebys in the Palm Springs area.

Dysons regular As I See It columns are eagerly awaited by not only Sothebys savvy clients, but by countless real estate agents as well.

To share the wealth with all, we present his latest in its entirety:

Today Id like to take a deeper look at the state of real estate. Although its a brand new calendar year, I still see some negatives yet to come in ˜08.

INSURANCE COMPANY ISSUES

Insurance companies for years have been insuring the top end of residential real estate loans. Any loan over 80% Loan To Value (LTV) usually required the borrower to pay Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). This insurance guarantees the lender that, if the borrower fails to pay mortgage payments and is foreclosed on, then the insurance company would pay the lender any losses they would incur.

With the foreclosure market escalating, losses in these categories of insurance are climbing at an alarming rate. Insurers are claiming these loans are fraudulent - which triggers a clause in most PMI agreements with lenders. Lenders, of course, are arguing that the loans are not fraudulent. Meanwhile, liability to both lender and insurance company are climbing daily.

As we get ready to experience more than $1 TRILLION (yes, with a T) of adjustable rate loans adjusting upwards, many are already preparing for the loss of their home. Some have even stopped making payments or have bought or rented elsewhere knowing their credit will be damaged.

THE LOCAL ECONOMY

With every residential property sale usually two families move - one moves out and another moves in. This one transaction usually triggers some 1,000 other transactions within a community - from the purchase of everything from new furniture to linens to opening up accounts with dry cleaners and drinking water delivery.

In an off market, every one who relies on these real estate transactions feels the ripple down effect that impact all sectors of the economy.

These two issues alone are resonating across the country and are creating the worst case of No Buyer Confidence that I have experienced in my 40 years in the real estate industry.

SLOW GOVERNMENT REPORTING

Government reporting is FINALLY catching up to reality and reports are reading that property values are hitting 5- to 20-year lows that have never been seen before in many US communities.

SOLUTIONS AHEAD AS I SEE IT IN 2008

AUCTIONS

As I mentioned in my last email, I have personally experienced some recent auctions in Southern California and Nevada and all of these auctions were well-run and well-attended. Attendees were qualified and ready to buy and, in general, these auctions sold out with many of the properties selling at MORE THAN retail value. Auctions have proven to me that property will return to home ownership and to investors much more swiftly than any downturn experienced in times past.

HEDGE FUNDS

Also this month, I have personally experienced what is happening in the hedge fund markets. I have met with hedge fund managers who, in many cases, are the same people who accumulated hedge funds from investors around the world for the loans now going into default. These fund managers are going to individual investors and are accumulating large pools of capital to be used by these funds to acquire defaulting properties in large bulk purchases. In some cases, hundreds of properties at a time.

Our company alone has written letters of intent on several large blocks of residential properties for clients that will be purchased at significant discounts from the banks. The hedge fund-owned properties are then put back up for sale to the general public through either auctions or real estate firms with the intent of significant profit and gain for their investors.

CONFORMING LOANS

Congress is about to pass an increase in conforming loan limits. Conforming loans are home loans guaranteed by the federal government. This practice and the formation of the FHA (Federal Housing Administration - now referred to as HUD) began just after WWII to stimulate and promote home ownership. This was the beginning of the middle class in American in the late 1940s, and has afforded many families great wealth and financial growth.

Higher conforming loan limits (as high as $730,000) are being proposed and will solve several major problems as we see them today:

* Home owners will refinance immediately and avoid adjustable loan rate increases

* Mortgage brokers will be back in the game everywhere

* Banks and savings and loan lenders will again return to lending practices under the governments guaranteed loan programs through FHA and other government sponsored lending programs

* Investor confidence will return¦home owner confidence will return¦inventory will reduce swiftly¦buyers will re-enter the home buying market and buyer confidence will return with a vengeance

GOOD MINDS AT WORK

The current real estate market conditions are affecting the world economy for reasons mentioned above. A lot of very wise people are working on many models and scenarios that are aimed at fixing the current pandemic, while establishing some new guidelines that might assure that this will not happen again.

The federal government and the Treasury are both really focused on this issue like never seen before. It takes this type of concentration by leadership to make change in a timely manner.

BUYER/INVESTOR CONFIDENCE

Despite the negative issues mentioned above, and assuming some of the solutions I have mentioned, I believe that we will see a V shaped rebound of our economy rather than a slow U shaped recovery all to begin by 2nd quarter of ˜08 and expand rapidly throughout the year.

* There is a lot of cash and good credit on the sidelines waiting for the bottom of this market.

* Great real estate inventory is on the market everywhere.

* Sellers more than ever have to sell.

* Main Street and Wall Street are both more than ready, willing and able to make this problem go away.

So, conditioned on the timeliness of the proposed governmental changes mentioned above, Im predicting - Investor and residential Buyer Confidence begins to return in second quarter of ˜08.

And thats How I See It.

Bob Dyson

About the AuthorBob Dyson is the Broker of Dyson & Dyson Sothebys International Realty in Palm Desert/Palm Springs, and Garner Valley, Calif. and Villa Sothebys International Realty in Del Mar, Calif. With nearly 40 years experience in the Real Estate Industry, Bob has become an industry innovation leader. In addition to his many years in the brokerage industry, Bob is also involved in real estate mapping and development and currently has several thousand acres in various stages of mapping and development in Southern Nevada and Southern California.

About the CompanyDyson & Dyson Sothebys International Realty and Villa Sothebys International Realty were founded in Southern California in 1988 under the name Dyson & Dyson Real Estate Associates. Offering a variety of unparalleled real estate services, the brokerage operates offices in the Palm Desert/Palm Springs area, and Garner Valley under the name Dyson & Dyson Sothebys International Realty and in the San Diego County area under the name Villa Sothebys International Realty. If you would like to view any of the properties we currently have available in these great destinations, please visit www.dysonanddyson.com or www.VillaSIR.com.

Each office is independently owned and operated.

Posted by | Currently No Comments »