Archive for September, 2009
San Diego’s real estate inventory at less than one month?
September 29th, 2009 Categories: Client Testimonials, Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, San Diego county Real Estate News
SAN DIEGO- I received an email from a client this morning in which they expressed concern that my home search notification was not working as they had not received any updates since last Saturday. Knowing that ‘things happen’ I checked out their profile and delivery information which was all accurate and the expiration date of the search was still current.
The area search parameters for this particular client are pretty large in scope. We are using a map overlay from the 15 down the Sorrento Valley traffic corridor to the coast up to Carlsbad. While on the coast it does only run about 5 miles inland, but this is still a fairly large slice of real estate.
For the home itself, we have detached and attached with a garage, one or two car attached or detached, at least 2 bedrooms and 2 baths and no less than 1100 square feet in size up to $450,000. Now that is not asking alot! Consider the average home price in San Diego for August 2009 ranges from $255,000 in the South Bay area to $450,000 in the North County coast region.
So the culprit was not the system, it was the simple fact that there have not been any new listings for the system to deliver. Currently in their search there are only 40 active listings, yes only 40, and that represents less one month of inventory which is currently running at 49 sold homes a month. According to Housingtracker.net, the number of active listings in August 2008 were 11,774 versus 20,748 in August of 2007. This is definitely a seller’s market and may be a great window of opportunity if you are looking to sell.
del.icio.us Tags: san diego median home price,short sales carlsbad,brian long realtor,carlsbad foreclosures,encinitas village park,beach cottages,triathlon club of san diego,san diego real estate marke,t foreclosed homes,short sale carlsbad
| Currently No Comments »
My new home office
September 20th, 2009 Categories: Real Estate News
CARLSBAD- This morning I opened a link off the MSN.com home page for a presentation on “Bathrooms of the future”.
Expecting to see bathrooms that were cutting edge on water conversation, big impact in small 
spaces(the home of the future most likely will not be the McMansions of late) or highly rated in energy efficiency, this presentation left me very disappointed. It is full of very HIGH END items such as showers with tanning lights in them or the lead shower, which is more of a portable spa unit and retails for about $25,000 not including installation.
Additionally, there are some examples, that while cool and cutting edge with all the new information technology integrated into them, are incompatible with the reality of our diminishing fresh water capacity. I don’t see how a shower which has “digital controls to preset the four in-shower audio speakers, six shower heads (with 22 or 54 nozzles, for a rain-forest experience), steam and two hand-held shower wands.” aligns with the bathrooms of the future. For this native southern Californian, this is an example of the archaic luxury of the past destined for the Smithsonian.
However, there was one “bathroom” that really caught my eye and had me daydreaming about the ultimate home office. In place of that hurry up shower after a bike ride or morning surf to get off the work in time, relax and slip into the future. Here you will not only draw a bath, you will boot up your tub. Imagine the low stress office environment as on one plane you are on conference call, yet at a deeper level you are being swept away by your Calgon bubble bath. Ahh… serenity at the office place at last!!!
If you see me me with soap behind my ear, don’t be surprised if I start telling you about my work day.
| Currently No Comments »
Cardiff homes for under $400K?
September 14th, 2009 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Fixer of the Week, San Diego county Real Estate News
CARDIFF- I am blessed to have great clients. Currently, I am working on building a
relationship with a local builder that could be a long term benefit to us both.
There are a couple homes for sale in the Cardiff area of late that are coming in at under $400,000. While researching one of these as an investment possibility, it’s a fixer, I came across this sold listing that clearly states our current market.
FORECLOSURE! 5 BEDROOM HOME, ONE BLOCK EAST OF I-5. BANK WILL FINANCE YOUR HARD TO QUALIFY BUYER W/ONLY 5% DOWN! CALL VICTOR FOR DETAILS, THIS HOUSE HAS FREEWAY NOISE, BUT AT $102/PER SQ FT YOU CAN BUY EAR PLUGS!
This was a home listing in 1994!!! While $102 a square foot is long gone and hard to qualify buyers are just that, it really struck a chord with me. It is a very accurate depiction that the real estate market is a cycle. Today this home is valued at just under $580,000.
| Currently No Comments »
Wells Fargo throws upscale Malibu RAVE
September 11th, 2009 Categories: Real Estate News
SAN DIEGO- A few weeks ago I read an article about rave parties that were popping up in large 
foreclosed homes in our local area. It seems groups of young adults would scout out foreclosed homes in rural areas, “redecorate” them and advertise a party where they would charge money. Obliviously in their wake they left a trail of destruction to the homes only to be discovered later.
It only took a weekend for the $1 million home up for sale in Fallbrook to go from a pristine showcase to a dump.
Beer cans, tequila bottles and drug paraphernalia covered the ground, graffiti marred the walls, and sticky goop coated the floors.
“They trashed the place,” said Realtor Tony Ward, who was hired to sell the Tecalote Drive home before the bank forecloses on it.
The makeover, which totaled about $8,000 in damage, was the work of a “party crew” that broke into the home over the Fourth of July weekend and charged hundreds of young people $2 to $5 apiece to party there two nights in a row.
Similar illegal parties have popped up around North County this summer as people try to make a profit and take advantage of homes for sale or abandoned due to foreclosures.
Four young people have been arrested so far.
“This is a new phenomenon for us,” said Fallbrook sheriff’s Detective Jeff Lauhon, who launched an investigation after the July Fourth break-in. “It’s something we’ve never seen before.” – San Diego Union Tribune, 8/24/2009
While this is something I can understand coming from the younger crowd, this morning I read about a Wells Fargo Senior VP of foreclosed homes walking the same path.
It appears Cheronda Guyton decided that a 12 million dollar foreclosed home in Malibu would be the perfect to spend long summer weekends and host parties.
A Wells Fargo & Co. executive who oversees foreclosed properties hosted parties and spent long summer weekends in a $12 million Malibu beach house, moving into the home just after it had been surrendered to Wells Fargo to satisfy debts, neighbors said.
Residents in the gated community told the Los Angeles Times that a woman they believe was Cheronda Guyton took up occupancy at the home in May. Residents said they obtained Guyton’s name from the community’s guards, who had issued her a homeowner’s parking pass.- AP, 9/11/2009
The worst part of this story for me is that the previous owners lost the home due to the loss of investments with Bernie Maddoff.
| Currently 2 Comments »
Could we lose the mortgage interest deduction?
September 3rd, 2009 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, San Diego county Real Estate News
SAN DIEGO- Back in March, I wrote a blog post about a proposed mortgage interest deduction change by the Obama administration. The proposed plan would limit the deductible amount of both mortgage interest and property taxes for those earning more than $250,000 a year. I wrote that in San Diego county the effect of this proposal would not be as damaging to our real estate market as the California Association of REALTORS was portraying. The overwhelming majority of San Diego homeowner’s make less than $250,000 a year.
Now there is a new proposal be presented to help raise much needed government revenue. Under this new proposal the impact would be felt by a much larger percentage of our county’s populous as this new proposal is based on the amount of debt associated with the property. The impact CAR feared with this first proposal would be much more justified with this new one.
Tops on the CBO’s hit list for housing: Slash deductions for homeowner mortgage interest from the present $1.1 million limit to $500,000, phased in with $100,000 annual reductions starting in 2013 and extending to 2019. Under current law, taxpayers can write off mortgage interest on their principal home debt up to $1 million, and on home equity debt up to $100,000.
Under the CBO’s option, that maximum mortgage debt amount would shrink yearly until it hit $500,000. Over a 10-year period, this change alone would boost federal tax collections by an estimated $41 billion.
The CBO offered up a second option if Congress wants to raise a lot more money: Replace the current mortgage interest deduction with a flat 15 percent tax credit for everybody with mortgage amounts below the declining limits in the first option. Rather than taking write-offs that are tied to your personal income tax bracket, every homeowner would get a credit worth 15 percent of mortgage interest paid. – San
Diego Union, 08/30/2009
So in the first proposal, only those with earnings over $250,000 would face reductions in their ability to write off interest. In this latest proposal, which would phase in starting in 2013, the impact would be almost universal as the average San Diego county home would most likely exceed $500,000 by 2019. This is when the full effect of the proposal would be in effect. Remember in November of 2005 the San Diego county median home price peeked at $517,500 according to Dataquick.
This type of change will directly impact home values as potential buyers will not be able to borrow as much knowing their is less of a tax incentive. Additionally, if implemented as written, the timing will most likely coincide with our markets climb out of the lows we are setting now thus prolonging a stagnation in home values many years beyond the predictions.
The good news here, yes there is a silver lining, is that this type of thing has been proposed in many different forms.
According to news reports, including The Los Angeles Times, the panel "tentatively agreed to recommend a substantial reduction in the limit on mortgage interest that homeowners can deduct from their taxes." Californians are concerned because the median home price in the state — where one out of nine Americans live — is already well over a half million dollars. Others are concerned that a cap on mortgage interest rate deduction could lead to an elimination of the benefit for all homeowners. – Blanche Evans,Realty Times, October 15, 2005*
Yes, the above was written about in 2005 after then President Bush formed a panel to "simplify Federal tax laws to reduce the costs and administrative burdens of compliance with such laws, among other purposes including recognizing the importance of homeownership and charity in American society."*
| Currently 1 Comment »
