Archive for May, 2008
Shhh! San Diego Real Estate Commissions Revealed
May 30th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Real Estate, Del Mar Real Estate, Oceanside real estate, Rancho Santa Fe Real Estate
It’s a taboo of sorts to discuss real estate commissions, not because it’s an impolite topic (like discussing one’s salary or bowel habits at a social gathering), but rather, it could land a real estate licensee in jail (or so we are warned). Of course, it is legal and necessary to discuss commissions with a home seller–and as we all know, this is a negotiable fee. But to publicly discuss real estate commissions is insane, unless, of course….
the courageous San Diego real estate blogger is quoting a bigger mouth.
So what can I say about San Diego real estate commissions? Well, according to HomeGain (the bigger mouth), San Diego real estate commissions during the month of December, 2007 (time for an update?) averaged 5.1 percent across the board, whether it was a $300,000 Oceanside condo, a $500,000 San Marcos home, a $750,000 Carlsbad home–or a $1,000,000 or more Del Mar or Rancho Santa Fe mansion.
I don’t suppose this is earth rattling news of any sort, and it feels about right to this writer and real estate broker–except for those San Diego sellers who overprice their homes and think that a 9 percent commission and a paid trip around the world will enable or convince us to sell this overpriced property to some unsuspecting buyer. Not a chance.
Home Gain says this figure is based on historical commission averages for San Diego real estate sellers who found their agents through Home Gain. And they, too, disclose that real estate commissions are negotiable.
(Note to myself: Yippee! I crossed that real estate minefield and am still in one piece).
Have a nice weekend–and enjoy all the graduations and celebrations in our midst!
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5 Little Economies for San Diego Real Estate
May 28th, 2008 Categories: Encinitas Real Estate, San Diego, San Diego Real Estate, San Diego Relocation
I traded the Mercedes for a Camry Hybrid almost two years ago, mostly because I like its tight turning radius (I make lots of u-turns), its fuel economy (I hate stopping for gas) and the fun questions I got from just about everybody (back then).
And I still love the car.
Last weekend, on my way to a home inspection in San Diego, I had to stop for gas in Encinitas (where it was selling for just $4.03 a gallon), paid $60 to fill the tank–and was grateful for the hybrid’s fuel economy. It also makes us wonder how rising fuel costs are already impacting the way we search for real estate in San Diego County.
Some observations:
1. The internet becomes more valuable than ever for searching San Diego real estate. Let your keyboard do the driving makes lots of sense these days. Search San Diego real estate with a simple click.
2. We’ll likely all become more efficient when we go out to see properties, and will see more on each trip compared to last year (increased inventory also helps).
3. Real estate agents’ business may become more local. Will we still see Temecula and Orange County agents showing widespread San Diego homes for sale? Wouldn’t a referral to a local agent (and vice versa) make more sense?
4, More than ever, smart real estate agents will prequalify their clients before investing so much time and money in them. This may require more time up front, but will provide huge savings for both the client and the agent.
5. I have resolved to clear stuff from the back seat of my car, so that clients might ride with me instead of fueling gas prices by following me around (which happens all too often). Children’s car seats, though, sometimes present seating problems.
None of these ideas will win prizes for originality, but if we all practice them the cumulative savings could be huge.
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La Costa Canyon: Break Up with Bottled Water
May 27th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Real Estate, Encinitas Real Estate
Trash cans at La Costa Canyon High School in Carlsbad, CA are emptier now that students, faculty and staff are switching to reusable water bottles.
And that is all because students with LCC’s Social Justice Project came up with a plan that is succeeding beyond all expectations, according to students and Christopher Greenslate, the LCC Social Justice teacher who also teaches journalism and English at the school.
Students sent out emails and made posters on recyclable paper to educate fellow students on the hazards of plastic water bottles, which are disposed of at the rate of 60 billion per year–and is the leading source of plastic pollution in the United States. They also sold recyclable bottles, which student and faculty quickly bought.
When that supply sold out, reformed plastic bottle users found other off-campus sources. It is hoped that the ubiquitous plastic water bottle will be replaced with reusable ones that won’t trash our planet so needlessly.
As a result of this successful effort, La Costa Canyon High School’s video about their breakup with bottled water has been selected as a finalist in Quantum Shift’s $50,000 contest for best environmental project.
Please visit the site and cast a vote for La Costa Canyon’s Social Justice. Perhaps their efforts will spread to other area schools, colleges and workplaces. In addition to lessening environmental impact, there will be significant cost savings. Home filtered water put in glass bottles is not only healthier, but runs just 1/10 the cost of bottled water.
All of San Diego and the neighboring communities of Carlsbad, Encinitas, Olivenhain, Cardiff, and Rancho Santa Fe should be proud of La Costa Canyon High School and their very green project.
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Mortgage Trouble in San Diego? Beware the Scammers
May 24th, 2008 Categories: San Diego, San Diego Real Estate, San Marcos Real Estate
I am just now cooling down after spending a good part of this afternoon trying to help a San Diego area homeowner saddled with the unpleasant results of churned mortgages.
This particular property in rural San Marcos has been refinanced by the same lender with a total of nine loans over a couple of years. In one instance, only 28 days elapsed between refinancings. With total debt now approaching $2 million, this distraught owner is seeking a way to keep her home and not be forced to sell it.
Sometimes, keeping people in their San Diego homes is just part of our job–and one of the most rewarding ones.
But the ordeal got me thinking of all the scams surrounding (and invading) San Diego real estate. Mortgage scams certainly contributed to the rise in San Diego foreclosures and short sales, but it is the buzzards circling over and divebombing distressed homeowners that infuriates this Realtor.
Some of the current San Diego scams:
1. The mortgage buzzard persuades the distressed homeowner to sign over the deed to their San Diego home–and then offers to rent it back at a rate that may exceed the original mortgage payment. If the homeowner-turned-tenant falls behind, they are not only evicted but have also lost any equity they may have had in their property.
2. Beware of what you sign: Many homeowners have inadvertently signed over the deed to their San Diego real estate, believing they are simply signing mortgage documents. I have spoken with several homeowners who have been near-victims of this real estate scam.
3. Watch out for hefty upfront fees charged by those who offer to stop your San Diego foreclosure. All too often, these scammers generate lots of paperwork, get some signatures, collect a check (for up to three month’s payments)– and disappear. Far better to call a San Diego Realtor who can help negotiate with lenders on your behalf–and is paid only when and if your property actually sells or is leased.
If you have any questions about these scams, please feel free to give me a call at 760-402-9101 or contact me via this site. I’ll try to answer your questions.
PS: No offense intended to California vultures.
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Phantom Galleries for San Diego
May 22nd, 2008 Categories: Oceanside real estate, San Diego Activities
Here’s another blog post that has nothing to do with San Diego real estate or homes, but everything to do with walkable shopping areas and the potential for fine eye candy.
Late yesterday, I received a fun call from April Game, CEO and Founder of the San Diego Fine Art Society. She explained their goal of allowing area artists to display their works in San Diego’s empty storefronts that are barren ugly or otherwise unremarkable.
It is an idea that would encourage walking, conversation–and perhaps a new appreciation for the arts and the artists who share their works.
I immediately thought of the ground floor retail space at Oceanside Terraces in downtown Oceanside. What a great visual display it would be for art to replace the empty window spaces that populate this luxurious building and residence.
On this San DIego Realtor’s to-do lists for today? Make some calls and try to secure some empty storefront windows in downtown Oceanside.
This phantom gallery project appears to be well-underway in Los Angeles, and the San Diego metropolitan area just may outshine its northern neighbor (right, April?)
To be continued….
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Downtown San Diego Blast
May 19th, 2008 Categories: San Diego, San Diego News, San Diego Real Estate
Upon hearing of this afternoon’s blast at the new Hilton Hotel under construction in downtown San Diego near Petco Park, we immediately worried about the injured.
Apparently 14 workers were maimed in the unexplained blast, which occurred at around 2 p.m. this afternoon. It appears that four lower floors of the waterfront skyscraper were badly damaged and that debris is littering the ground below.
San Diego Police and San Diego firefighters are still surrounding the site near the San Diego Convention Center, and the entire scene is being investigated.
Fortunately for all (except for the intent of the bad guys), there was no fire. And that is a blessing for all.
Will this affect downtown San Diego real estate and home values?
I am inclined to think not, as long as this is an isolated event.
In the meantime (and quickly), I hope San Diego Police and Fire personnel nab those who set off this blast–and that the innocents who were seriously injured recover quickly and completely.
UPDATE: It appears this San Diego blast occurred as a result of a gas leak that occurred in a fifth-floor boiler room. The main concrete and steel structure sustained no real damage. Most of the destruction was limited to the northwest corner of the hotel building–along with the mechanical room on the fifth floor.
As we wrote last night, this should have no impact on urban San Diego real estate values.
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San Diego REO Listings Offered by Ghosts
May 12th, 2008 Categories: San Diego, San Diego Market Trends, San Diego News
I’ll never understand the process by which lenders choose to list their
San Diego REO’s and foreclosures. Some are listed by normal real estate agents, but more and more these REO’s (bank-owned properties) are listed by unknown companies with agents who rarely respond to phone calls or emails.
Should we be looking for some logic in the lender’s decisions to list with these phantoms?
There again, these may be the same folk who lent mortgage funds to ghosts in the first place. I mean, they loaned hundreds of millions to phantom borrowers who said they earned $20,000 a week working as a gardner or car salesman– or whatever suited their imaginations. Their homes, haunted by unsustainable debt and a declining San Diego real estate market, floated back to the lender…who then turned to eidolon agents to market their foreclosed properties.
I guess if lenders didn’t bother to check the reality of their borrowers in the first place, why should they now take to time to check the substance of their real estate representation for their REO’s?
We have worked with several buyers of San Diego foreclosures, and are appalled at the low level of representation a number of these foreclosed properties receive. In several cases, we have ended up faxing offers to the agent’s number listed in the MLS, and waited for a response from…someone or anyone. No reply was forthcoming, even though our offers were at and above the listed price.
We have an offer in on one foreclosure near San DIego State University now, and it cannot be presented to the lender because the agent is on a two week vacation. (Uh…isn’t there an assistant, or another agent who is taking care of this absentee’s business?)
Are the banks/lenders aware of this non-representation?
And why am I feeling that we are in deja-vu all over again? I hoped thought most of the dingbat agents had left the business after the crash of the 2003-2006 real estate market.
Regrettably, those San Diego agents seem to have taken another get-rich course and are now in the foreclosure business.
And it seems many lenders have ended up with the same folk who helped get them into trouble in the first place.
I am wondering if this is a phenomenon that is isolated to the San Diego real estate market–or is it more widespread?
For the sake of our national economy, I hope not.
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Save trees: (How to) Stop Junk Mail
May 8th, 2008 Categories: San Diego Activities, San Diego News, San Diego Real Estate
Here’s a little tip that might save a few trees and the good nature of more than a few San Diego home owners.
I don’t know about you, but there is nothing more annoying than to have solicitors intruding into your life by telephone. Millions rejoiced when Do Not Call lists were instituted and we all reclaimed precious time in our lives by signing up.
Now if we could just find a way to stop those pesky surveys.
Not quite so intrusive is all the junk mail that clogs our mailboxes, trash cans and landfills. I would be delighted to never receive another offer to refinance my home, buy more insurance, open a Capitol One credit card, or borrow money of any sort.
I am also more than a little annoyed that credit bureaus are allowed to sell our information, FICO scores and other data to these soliciting firms. Were you aware of this practice?
Want to opt out?
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to opt out from these offers and prevent the credit reporting companies from selling or providing your credit and contact information to these solicitors.
To do so, just go to OptOutPreScreen and complete a simple form.
By doing so, Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion will be unable to share your information for at least five years. If you wish to permanently do so, instructions are provided for doing so by snail mail.
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Downtown Oceanside: Moving Up
May 6th, 2008 Categories: Oceanside real estate, San Diego Activities
by Roberta Murphy
Late yesterday afternoon at a Carlsbad Cinco de Mayo fest, I met two wonderful ladies who had spent the last 20 years with their families living in downtown Oceanside.
Their kids went to school in Oceanside–and for the umpteenth time, I heard rave reviews about the downtown Oceanside community spirit, and the friendliness and caring of its residents.
“People here don’t just come home from work and pull down their garage doors. We truly connect and socialize with our neighbors,” one explained.
Oceanside, CA is a great place to spend a weekend, a two-week vacation, or even a lifetime (say local residents). It offers a great coastal climate, broad sandy beaches, relatively affordable homes, condos and townhomes, and lots of activities for all ages.
Visitors to Oceanside (many arriving by train) marvel at the downtown building and bustling activity. High rise condominiums, such as the newly-constructed Oceanside Terraces, are reshaping the local skyline, while the historic Oceanside Pier continues to draw fishermen, sightseers or those out for a lengthy ocean stroll.
For those seeking museums and missions, Oceanside has many rich offerings. For example, the California Surf Museum located at 223 North Coast Highway is a surfers’ mecca. Not only do they offer displays showing the evolution of surfing, but they also have a large display of surfboards, ranging from single-finned woodies to contemporary four-finned and lightweight fiberglass models.
If you are interested in the visual and fine arts, there is the edgy Oceanside Museum of Art, located at 704 Pier View Way. In addition to their eye-opening and provocative art displays, the museum also hosts their School of Art, which offers instruction in a variety of media, including painting, pottery and ceramic sculpture, along with drawing and drumming. The Oceanside Museum is housed in the classic Irving Gill-designed building that preserves the 1930s flavor of Southern California.
Oceansides Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is California’s King of Missions. It was established in 1798, and is located just four miles east of downtown Oceanside. This early and largest California mission is still a center of Catholic Church activities and events. Visitors are welcome to stroll through the Mission Church and the surrounding gardens and grounds.
The Oceanside Farmers Market is a local’s favorite and is held every Thursday between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Pier View Way, between Coast Highway and Ditmar Street. The event reopens in the late afternoon at 4 p.m. to the delight of both downtown residents and visitors. All can find just-picked and local fruits and vegetables, fresh fish, fragrant and steaming hot tamales, bouquets of local flowers, and other culinary surprises. Bring your appetite and sense of adventure!
Restaurants are abundant in downtown Oceanside, and range from seafood spots by the Oceanside Harbor, to Cuban, Japanese Mexican, French and California Nouveau cuisine. For a taste of history (but not yesterday’s fare ), you may wish to stop for a cup of coffee or a meal at the 101 Cafe, located at 631 S. Coast Highway. This roadside treasure has been around since 1928, and offers visitors glimpses of what life was once like in this scenic California beach town.
For additional information about Oceanside and life in San Diego’s prime North County, you may wish to view the following:
Oceanside Urban Luxury: Oceanside Terraces
San Diego Baby Boomers: The Wish List
Fun at Oceanside and San Diego Farmer’s Markets
Oceanside and San Diego a Bargain for Foreign Investors
Things to Do with Kids in Oceanside and San Diego
Oceanside and San Diego Real Estate Irresistible to Foreigners and Expats
Things to Do in Downtown Oceanside
Testimonials from Our Real Estate Clients
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Should I Wait to Buy a Home in San Diego?
May 5th, 2008 Categories: Oceanside real estate, San Diego, San Diego Market Trends, San Diego News, San Diego Real Estate
A Zillow questioner asks if he or she should wait to buy a home in San Diego until the market levels out.
It is a question that seemed to beg an answer from me, if only because we are personally struggling with that very issue as I write this post.
We have an opportunity to buy an Oceanside property that should yield a mildly positive cash flow with a 20 percent down payment. It is new construction, close to Oceanside beaches, and the only hurdle is finding financing that is reasonably acceptable for our circumstances. But that is another story.
The Zillow questioner is asking about the advisability of buying a piece of San Diego real estate as his or her home in today’s market. So much depends on location and local market conditions.
My advice:
You may want to explore home financing options available today that might not have worked just a couple of years ago.
The ACORN loan (available through Bank of America and Chase) is great for buyers earning less than $92,000 per year and who own no other real estate. The down payment is low and there is no PMI (private mortgage insurance). Loans are available up to $500,000, and buyers must attend a one-day class on home ownership prior to receiving an eligibility certificate.
FHA loans are also making a recent strong appearance in San Diego, and we are using them with a number of our buyers. These loans offer 3 percent down payments on mortgages up to almost $700,000. There are additional fees involved with FHA loans, but motivated sellers may be willing to assist with these costs–and may also be willing to reduce the home price to meet FHA loan maximums.
The best strategy is to find a very well-priced home (compare to area comparables)–or perhaps even a San Diego foreclosure– and secure the best available mortgage financing.
It’s a raging buyer’s market that will benefit the courageous, hard-working and smart investor.
This is advice I would offer to anyone considering the purchase of San Diego real estate in the sub- $700,000 range.
If you are considering San Diego County real estate beyond that price range, please give me a call at 877-818-8197 or 760-402-9101 and we can discuss other options.
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