San Diego Coastal Homes Blog

Some days I wake up and it truly feels like I am  standing on the side of the Italian cruise ship.  I turn on the news and realize that is the last thing I want to hear…this year is going to be a long nightmare of political idiotic commercials…I was in advertising for years- if you can’t believe you are really getting a “better” burger can you seriously believe anything politicians say.  But that’s for another time…

I glance out the window and the sun is shining, the brezze is cool, the flowers are blooming and all is good with the world.  I picked up the latest San Diego Magazine – yes… I am still loyal to print..even in this internet world- though I have to say if it gets any thinner it will be the San Diego Flyer instead of Magazine- to read their reasons to LOVE San Diego article.  Just curious -I  thought it would be a good blog for those readers in Iceland (I think there are some on this blog). 

One good reason is it seems like our medical community is still growng strong and that the Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine which opened in La Jolla last year has received a $43 million grant towards the continuing advance of stem research.  No matter what the feelings of this research are, it is the furutre of medicine and also a lot more scientisits and reaserchers will have jobs and be moving into the San Diego area.  Great for housing in the UTC and adjoining areas.

Seems like San Diego has dramatically fertile soil which in turn is producing a lot of organic produce.  This is great if grocery shopping in the organic aisle is in your budget- otherwise perhaps a window box with a shovel full of “fertile” soil can yield at least one cherry tomato tree.  Better something than nothing right?  I pass over the organic bananas and avocados for the other choice- I feel if the pesticides can burrow themselved into a banana peal then I should give them a chance.

I guess we’re the largest selling fish taco city in the country.  Seriously is this a reason to love San Diego…well I guess it is if you own Rubios???

This one is my favorite as it totally is linked in with home buying!  We rank fourth in the U.S for school choice.  We have only 218 schools and NYC ranked first with 1,474 schools.   Guess we got ranked B- by some research institute- however the good news is no one got an A?  We also have more than 40 charter schools in San Diego Unified which is a cool option for parents that want to go that route.  The one in Encinitas is fabulous in computer science from what I hear.  We are also placed well for affordeable private schools – unless you choose Bishops!

We have a US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista – didn’t know that!  It’s one of the only three in the country sending TEAM US to London..now THAT is cool… not sure I would move here for that but since I am already here that is COOL.  They give tours on Saturday…I’m totally there!

San Diego State has more than 1,200 veterans students on the campus with first ever on campus residencfes built exclusively for military residents.  TOTALLY wonderfull and I am so proud of my alma mater!  These are the folks that deserve whatever they want when they get home from being deployed!  Just saying!  Well not a new Porsche- but the education to get them there!

We have lots of cars but I guess a “bike coordinator” has been hired full time by the city.  How do you even get that JOB?  I guess first on their agenda is more bike corrals for businesses and bicycle education in school.  Not sure what that means but it sounds a LOT more reasonable than a HIGH speed rail from Cochella to NOWHERE that is going to cost California millions of dollars.

So take a look at the photo – you can ski in the morning at Big Bear, surf in Cardiff in the afternoon and hike in Torrey Pines in the evening.  And that is why we love to live in San Diego!!!

About three years ago when the word SHORT SALE came into prevelant view it really sounded scary.  What does that even mean.  Is the house actually shorter.  Is the escrow period shorter (yeah right) does the agent have to be shorter?  It was a mysteryto most of us. 

Then the reality of what a short sale hit us and what it entailed hit us.  They started showing up as MLS listings.  Those who did not understand them did not want to show them.  Then we realized that clients thought that purchasing a Short Sale was comparable to winning the lotto.  SO they started showing up on our showing lists.  The fun really started then as we saw homes without stoves, homes without doorknobs, homes without DOORS, and homes without toilets.  The best one ever was the house without a FLOOR.  What you do with pulled up carpet and pulled up wood planks would be a mystery except for one thing – these sellers were TICKED OFF and like children throwing tantrums this was the only way they had of GETTING back at that bad bad bank that had given them a loan so they could live in a home they couln’t AFFORD.  I know we are all adults – but seriously it can be dauting to have to look in the mirror and take responsibility for ones actions.   Buyers started NOT wanting to see these listings and it became apparent that agents needed to start taking control in advising these clients on how to leave their properties.  Some even listen!

 ANYWAY at first I turned down Short Sale listings simply because the agents who were doing them in my office always looked like they were close to a mental breakdown. Spending hours and hours on the phone talking to some poor person sitting in an office in Omaha with about ten thousand files in front of themwasjust not my idea of a good time.  I could not offer a service that I was not familiar with in all fairness to my clients who I treasure above all.  I simply referred them out.

I then got a call from a client who has become a friend and decided I needed to take this project on.  Fortunately I got a referral from my favorite escrow officer for a professional negotiator…I did NOT really know that existed as my only experience was on the short sale buying side where the other agents pat weekly statement when asked for updates was – I DON”T KNOW.  Hiring this person was the best thing ever – yes they need to be PAID- but you know the Greedy become the Needy in my book and to have clients taken care of well is the most important thing.  I NOW can take a Short Sale and can treat it exactly like a TALL SALE.  It can be staged, it can be promoted, it can be photographed professionally, it can be marketed and shown off just like a regular house because IT IS.  There is no more stigma in selling your home this way.  The economy has decided to stabilize our home prices devaluating their worth, and it is what it is.  Short Selling  is the same business decision as many others made daily by businessmen.   Short Sale if you need to – make sure your house is treated with the same care and respect as any other house the agent is listing.  Leave the toilet in place – it makes for much better photographs and in a couple of years your credit will be clean as a whistle and you can buy a house that you will love even better at a much better price!

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 After a nice Christmas Dinner one of my favorite guests insisted that we watch the SNL video FIX IT.  I thought it was a perfect ending to the Christmas season that although has been good for a lot of us – not so great for others.  This guy who’s name I can’t remember was/is hilarious in his approach to the economy – and believe it or not as funny as he is if you look at the under belly it is TOTALLY relevant. 

Mr President – we wanted change – you got a lot of votes for change – no one meant THIS change…of course it’s just not the President but all those fools in Washington lobbying their behinds off to keep THEIR jobs – well there are a lot of us out here that want the same thing.  Being in real estate I would just like to see the banks actually LENDING their tarp money and giving us interest rates on our CD’s that are more than .0000001%— we are so happy to give you our money so that when you actually do a loan you can charge at least 4.5%…seriously am I the only one with questions? 

I want to be optimistic and hope that even if we have to do some Short Sales in 2021 it means that sellers will be going on with their lives and planning for their next purchase to be at a fair price with a good intrest rate and NO MORE 80/20 loans!  I am approaching Short Sales as regular sales – staging the homes, doing fabulous marketing and finding new happy owners that are paying what the homes were probably worth 5 years ago.  WE learn by doing…right?

Watching this video I was hysterical…we are voting for you…FIX IT… otherwise let us FIX it ourselves!!!  This is not a polical column but I could seriously FIX a lot of things in a week…don’t ask me which ones as I don’t want to make anyone NOT happy!  Back to the video – I woke up this morning and TI STILL WASN’T FIXED…We have 6 more days of 2011… START FIXING!!!    After 30 years I still love SNL!  I know- let’s vote for Lorne Michaels for president!

Well the big turkey day is almost here and it is definitely a time for reflection on what the good things in life still are. Good health with an occasional back problem, happy family with an occasional relative that we don’t let in the house. Very loved pets that we wind up spending our savings on but could not live without, what on earth would we have to talk about if it wasn’t for Tucker and Isabella..?. Our friends and our clients. Well most of them –and being happy that we live in San Diego with all this amazing sunshine! I really give thanks for our “first time buyers” as even in these hard economic times they are so hopeful, and joyful and appreciative of still being able to achieve the home ownership American Dream!

It will be an interesting year to come. What will happen to Freddie and Fannie? Will they end having to move in together in order to survive? What about PMI insurance. A lender just told me all those companies but two have closed down because of all the claims that had to be paid for foreclosures. Meaning that yes you can get an FHA loan but In order to get that added insurance you better have golden credit . Yes we Re entering the Land of Oz in real estate land, but as in anything in life we must move forward or we won’t get anywhere!!

It’s still really fun to look for a new house. Just the excitement of going Into many areas, neighborhoods and properties and discovering all over again the things that are important when you purchase a home. The things you can easily do to make it your own. When selling you will be on your way to a new adventure. A new beginning and life experience. Even the clients that are selling their home on a short sale that I have represented are entering a new phase of their lives, Lemons and lemonade and all that !

So it’s all good. Started this morning when on going to buy a new car battery for my car since the battery symbol came up on my car computer I arrived at car dealership and was told that the battery I needed was for my KEY –then i knew it would be a good day. When i can spend $10.00 instead of $350.00 I know all is right with the world!!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL in blog world,,,!,,!,,

Am I the only one who thinks that the world has gone a bit mad?  This kind of economic times makes even the sanest of people a bit crazy.   In real estate we are in theory hired to do the very best job possible for our clients.  We are “suppose” to be experts at what we do.  I totally understand a person just getting their license being confused beyond imagination…you mean we have to “do all this” in order to get paid… plus be responsible legally for everything we touch.  YUP, those glory days of throwing transactions  together and having them close without a great deal of work are over!  It has been an interesting year though with clients who think they know more than the professionals they hire.  Sometimes I really dislike ALL these real estate sites that offer the entire world information on home sales that are sometimes right and sometimes just don’t exist.  I have spent hours trying to find a property that was listed on Zillow only to FINALLY track it down listed in ANOTHER county, a short sale with an accepted offer and a seller and listing agent with marginal English skills.   And of course a client on my end who probably doesn’t believe a word I am saying because it’s STILL listed ACTIVE on Zillow.  Not beating up Zillow – well a little bit – because other sites are just as bad.  HOW many languages do they give this Real Estate test in???  Seriously shouldn’t it be English ONLY???

I am doing my first short sale listing and both my clients and clients on buyers side are wonderful.   But dealing with this transaction is like trying to buy a ticket to fly to OZ.  The bank, in this case banks are as hard to reach as getting access to the Wizard.  Fortunately I hired a wonderful negotiator since talking to banks for me is like a foreign and strange language.   I can just imagine these bank folks walking into their offices in the morning and having a machete to get through the maze of files.  Then they get the Brokers Personal Opinions which are a constant amazement to me…These folks literally have the power to take down the comparables in a neighborhood again like waving the wand of Oz.   Of course in real life comparables have gone down the tubes anyway with some clients….You want to offer “what”I say to a client who is waving reams of research which actually substantiate what I am saying – but their response is “well that is what the house is worth to US!!!”    Oh, o.k. – I’ll put that on the justification letter when I present your offer right after I tell them you hate their bathrooms and their taste and have to change everything in their house.    Right before the listing agent hangs up on me!  I wonder if its too late to go to Nursing School?

My favorite story of the week was on a closing where my client a wonderful lady that she is called the Salvation Army to schedule a pick up of her assorted furniture, accessories, kitchen goods etc.  They told her “that’s a lot of things – we need to send out a special truck”.  No problem – appointment made.  Then her movers came to pack her house up and she generously said to the guys – that pile is available if you guys want anything.   She passed by the pile shortly before the Salvation Army was due to arrive and it was GONE.  Maybe three items were left.  Sign of the times ?  She hastily had to call the Salvation Army and explain her dilema but the truck was on the way and came for the few items.  I told her to check Craigs List and E Bay as her furniture would be posted the next day.

Even in this economy her heart was in the right place:)

I was reading blogs on Active Rain the other day – the real estate geared web site and was amazed at some of the stories that are posted out there.  Of course considering the state of the world nothing is that strange anymore!   I Read a post from an agent who had recommended to her sellers that they did “not need” to stage their home as they could not spend the extra money to hire a stager.  Years ago I had taken the time and spend the funds to actually go to a Staging Institute to just learn the basics of that profession.  Was not planning on charging clients for the service but in my mind if someone needs “a little make  up” to make them look better – then what the heck apply the darn stuff.  I assure you that cover girls on magazines do NOT look like they do on that photo in their ordinary lives!

For my first property – it was an empty home – I went to IKEA and spent about $1000- YES that is a lot of money but goes a long ways in IKEA.  I was able to stage a kitchen and family room in a property where those were those were the rooms that were directly in line with the Ocean Views.  Did a few other touches in other rooms as home was vacant and low and behold wound up selling it to one of my own clients.  My seller was very appreciative of not only the sale (duh) but that I had taken the time and money to show their house in the very best possible light!  As they had small children with lots of toys  it looked better than when they were living in the property!

I have to admit that I do love the process and find that even multi million dollar homes can use that “extra” pair of eyes to re arrange furniture and add accessories.  I hate to say it but even if you are in that price range does not mean that sellers necessarily have the knowledge of what is trendy out there in home decorations.  I have stolen many ideas just from wandering around Pier One and seeing new methods of table settings!   With a little money and a lot of imagination a dining room can easily be transformed!

True fact – I have a garage piled high with staging furniture and accessories which could be used for better purposes… or actually that is the best purpose I can think of using a garage:)

Well among all the other exciting things that are happening in the madness of the world our little village of Del Mar received a “bomb” scare yesterday that there was a bomb in the nothing but exclusive L’auberge Hotel.  Of course what first comes to mind is “terroist”… what second comes to mind is “guy mad at girlfriend who found new guy at the hotel bar”.   I hate to be cavalier but I just couldn’t imagine going to the trouble to blow up the L’auberge hotel in Del Mar if it was a real terroist.  It’s exclusive but unless the President of some huge corporation was staying there the news splash would just not be that huge.

Of course my tiny brain immediately thought – hmmm what does that mean for Del Mar Real Estate?  The already overpriced market would become more desirable because we were important enough to “blow up” – or would buyers shy away because all of a sudden we were “important enough to blow up”. 

I am not being cavalier – it’s just one totally bizarre occasion in the last news week.  The president is making a speech – whoops no he’s not because the Republicans are making a speech on the same day.  He’s announcing plans for job growth – well that’s a GOOD thing because from what I hear there has NOT BEEN ONE NEW JOB in August… does the White House really know every new hire at MacDonalds.  Ron owns a restaurant – he hired a new waiter – doesn’t that count as a new job? I am so confused.

Well another blog without any relevant content- but it makes me get things off my mind that may be somewhat amusing to someone else.  If not have a good Labor Day anyway:)

I was on Active Rain the other day and found an interesting blog that I had to respond to. An agent on the east coast was commenting how amazed she was when agents don’t attend their clients property inspection. I am in a transaction now where not only did the agent not attend the inspection I can’t get him to answer the bloody phone. I get an assistant. Do clients realize that when they list that is the last time they will see their agent? I am sure they don’t have a clue. I am considering taking a bill board and listing all the hot shot agent that once they get your signature you never see again. of course I am kidding but it just drives me crazy.

I can’t tell you how many times we have been at a listing inspection where the inspector for the buyer —Justifying their fee of course. Is going on and on a about widget not fitting the gadget. Making this up of course but thankfully my partner has built restaurants from the ground up and understands construction issues. He knows a problem vs a not so much problem. How can we explain to our seller what an inspection says and means if we are not there to see it.

Not being at a buyers inspection and letting the buyer do it with inspector is a preamble to a buyers heart attack. Again issues like dirt too close to the house is easy to fix with two gardeners and a shovel. Without that explanation the buyer thinks his new house is sinking into the ground. The best way to fix problems is to know about them. Very few are not fixable. But if you are not there to visually understand what they are or are not any problem will be daunting,

These are interesting and challenging real estate times. When we are hired for a job we first of all should be happy to have it. Second of all agents should actually be the ones taking charge and doing the job! What a concept!

Well it seems like the latest government economy boost is to lower the conforming  loan amount from the high $600,000 to the mid $500,000.  Meaning that if a buyer was to stay with a conforming loan and wants to purchase a $800,000 home they pretty much have to come up with an extra $100,000 down or go “Jumbo” loan and qualifications.  Where in anyones mind does this make any sense.  I am not a business analyst – fasr from it – I love to stage houses and make buyers and sellers happy when they sell or buy a home.  However I am completely convinced if Congress wants to come over for dinner I can have a group of friends who are all businessmen or women and we CAN GET THAT BUDGET  BALANCED OVER ONE DINNER- granted a little wine will be involved but it will be done!!!

I truly believe most of the folks running our country have never had a JOB much less a real profession aside of course from going to law school.  I have a few close friends that are alwyers and trust me THAT would not stop them from balancing a budget either!  I have nothing against either party – they are all like small children stomping their feet in the playground with all of us waiting to see who wins the fight.

I told a client just the other day to just quit watching the news.  She is a smart woman and of couse this will not happen – but also she needs a “home” and we as the American people can only take control by continuing to live our lives as normally as possible- however perhaps paying more attention at the poles and maybe start voting for candidates that possibly have RUN A BUSINESS!

I am a positive person- but this is starting to wear me down a bit.  Sellers say “why isn’t my house selling”… simple answer – it would but not at your price.  It doesn’t mean the house isn’t worth it theoretically – it’s just that buyers if they aren’t getting a “screaming” deal” in their minds buying that house makes no sense.  The emotions  of home buying seem to be dissapearing and I hate to see that happening as your home is your “safe haven” – the best place in the world to be.

All that being said homes are still selling and buyers ultimately will be happy in what they buy.  San Diego is still one of the best places in the world and this will keep us “on the map” as one of the best cities to live in.

Again it’s been a while since I’ve blogged in.  It’s been an interesting time since I have had a chance to visit homes from $399,000 upwards to $2,500,000- NO not for the same client.  That would be enough for me to be institutionalized which sometimes seems like a nice vacation option!  I hear from our office broker that we have more escrows than we have had in the last year.  Encouraging news though most of them seem to be at the low end.  However I think that’s fine since it means more “normal” folks are getting into the market.  I don’t think it’s investors that much as unless they have cash money is hard to get.  Rule as of now is a borrower – well qualified borrower can have three properties. 

Interesting though that in North County San Diego – especially Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar, Cardiff and Solana beach prices have stabilized but a HIGH prices.   If a buyer is looking at a property for say $2,500,000 (we love those buyers) in there mind house should come down considerably.  I say in their mind because seriously how many buyers in that price range are out there and ready to “pull the trigger”.  They are out there – but like a client I have from back east – has been waiting for two years to make the home purchase move because they are convinced Del Mar will tank.  “no tanking” around the corner.  Another client wants a “screaming deal”…I told her totally honestly that in the area they want to buy – west of I-5 in Del Mar NO ONE IS SCREAMING.  Clarisse can you hear the screaming of the lambs (favorite movie) – NO LAMBS are screaming in Del Mar.  Condos have come down somewhat but any house in coastal Del Mar is over 2Million.  However in Rancho Santa Fe IF a property has been on the market long enough – IF that seller is motivated – THERE IS A GOOD DEAL to be had.  Just have to kick a lot of cactus to find a snake!

I find though that banks are less confused – Wells Fargo has been great – large mortgage companies are performing timely.  Putting an offer in on an REO or Short Sale is still a pain and a challenge…one would think REO’s would be easier than sellers—NOT.  But we live in a great country—we still have a chance to obtain the American Dream of home ownership…and hey realtors have to actually WORK…from my standpoint that’s not all bad:)