The Real View

Bonsall isn't an incorporated city, but instead is an identifiable rural area in the scenic rolling hills of North San Diego County. Bonsall is bounded by Fallbrook to the north, Escondido to the east, Vista to the south and Oceanside to the west.

Many of the homes here are custom built and sit on acreage. It is a favorite area for equestrian activities, and is home to several famed thoroughbred breeding and training centers including Vessels Stallion Farm, Moody Farms and San Luis Rey Downs.

Bonsall is a beautiful and well-kept secret in San Diego County. With a population of around 3500, this bucolic community is peppered with avocado, citrus and persimmon groves as well as crops of strawberries and flowers. Crops, horses and residents appreciate summers that are cooled by ocean breezes and winters that are moderated by nearby marine influences.

Bonsall home prices range from around $400,000 for a tract home to $5 million for a 9-acre equestrian estate. There are also condominiums in Bonsall that start in the mid $200's. Schools servicing this area include
Bonsall Elementary School, Bonsall West Elementary School, Vivian Banks Charter School and Sullivan Middle School.

Bonsall has its own public golf course, theSan Luis Rey Downs Golf Resort, which features a magnificent 6750 yard championship golf course in the heart of the San Luis Rey River Valley. It also offers a heated outdoor pool, spa, and the San Luis Rey Wedding Pavilion.

Search San Diego and Bonsall Real Estate

The Northwest Multiple Listing Service in Seattle has fired a major volley at Redfin.

John Cook and the Seattle PI report that Redfin has been fined $50,000 and been ordered to halt home reviews on its Sweet Digs blog, which has over 3000 subscribers. The posts are wriiten by 15 hired hands who have posted around 1000 home reviews in the Seattle and San Francisco markets.

According to CEO Glenn Kelman, they (Redfin) will have no choice but to abide by the ruling; otherwise, the NWMSL would cut off Redfin's daily IDX feed for listings. The NWMLS ruling was based on the frequently-enforced Rule 190 which prohibits brokers from advertising others' listings without permission.

And according to a reported Wall Street Journal story, Redfin was also asked by the NWMLS to cease publishing the number of days a home remains on the market.

Redfin is appealing the fine.

I watched Sunday night's 60 Minutes segment on the real estate industry and blanched when I heard reporter Leslie Stahl guarantee that Realtors get "six percent on every house they sell...it is sacrosanct."

Leslie Stahl dared to tread where no Realtor would ever step, because commissions are negotiable and anything to the contrary would amount to price fixing. If I go through the San Diego MLS, I will see commissions ranging from $250.00 to $10,000.00, and from  2 percent to 8 percent of the sales price. It is as far from being "fixed" or sacrosanct as home pricing itself.

60 Minutes allowed Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman to control the show, with back-up chorus from the former CEO of the now-defunct e-Realty. Their premise? Real estate transactions can be handled online, just like a hotel or airline reservation, and a desk-bound agent should be able to handle 8 transactions a week. In fact, Kelman confessed that he had hired an agent who only put five hours into a home transaction she had completed as a full service agent. He further stated that real estate "usually (has a) 3 percent sales commission.

Uh oh.

Response from the real estate industry has only begun to emerge. This letter to hundreds of Windermere agents and staff from Geoff Wood, CEO of the West Coast's upscale Windermere Real Estate (with 70 percent market share in Seattle), represents the feelings of many and reveals much:

            Windermere Agents, Managers, Owners, Staff, Services

From:              Geoff Wood, CEO, Windermere Services Company

Date:               May 15, 2007

On Sunday May 13^th, many of you may have seen that 60 Minutes aired a segment about the impact of online discount brokerages on the traditional real estate industry entitled "Chipping Away at 6%". The focus was on Redfin, a Seattle-based online real estate broker. An agent from Re/Max represented the full service side of the equation. 

When planning for this segment began last December, CBS asked Windermere to participate. We diligently sought out a handful of seasoned and articulate Windermere professionals and presented one agent to Leslie Stahl's team.  That representative was rejected and our feeling was that the agent did not provide the desired spin for their story. As it became clear the story's direction was very one-sided and becoming a promotional piece for Redfin, we declined to participate. Other major Seattle real estate companies declined participation for similar reasons.

As the 60 Minutes segment attempted to predict the demise of the traditional real estate agent, I've never felt more strongly in our position as a full service company. Comparing the discount broker's use of the internet in a real estate transaction to changes in the book, travel, stock and diamond industries cements our ardent belief in Windermere's approach to the full service solution. Windermere competes on extraordinary service, fees are secondary. Discount brokers compete on price and services are secondary. The battle for discount mediocrity has been waged in our industry for many years while at Windermere we've always strived to take the transaction to another level. Windermere will continue to be an industry leader in new technologies and new processes to streamline the real estate transaction. Our success is predicated on the incredible knowledge and experience our agents provide for their clients. That success is built upon the notion that our agents are counselors, hand-holders, coaches and educators for the vast majority of people who realize that a home transaction is an expensive and complicated financial proposition. 

Attached (below) is an article that will appear in the Puget Sound Business Journal that has some excellent talking points in support of our full service value proposition.  Even more important is our current branding approach.  Our view remains that we are simply in a different business than the online discount brokers.  We are in the experience business. 

(Not sure if the link will work or not)

http://mail.google.com/mail/?attid=0.1&disp=vah&view=att&th=112921c39f8e26dd

I got to decide where I wanted to go for Mother's Day Brunch this year. Last year, we all trooped over to the La Costa Resort's Ballroom for their annual Mother's Day Brunch-to-beat-all-brunches. The problem with those enormous brunches is I never know where to start--or when to finish.

This year, I opted for reasonable servings of fine food, no champagne, a killer Bloody Mary and Pacific beach views that remind me why we chose to live in San Diego. 

Jake's Del Mar is an old favorite, and we have enoyed their Sunday beach brunches for years. The atmosphere is casual and the service friendly.  Entrees range from about $11.00 to $18.00 and include orange juice and plates of fresh-baked pastries. Champagne is available at an extra cost.

Sitting on the sand, this restaurant is also a great choice for seaside lunches and sunset dinners. It's woodsy interior, floor-to-ceiling windows and original beach artwork combine to make for a memorable dining experience.

The Second Carnival of Luxury is being hosted by Active Rain's lovely Jennifer Kirby and her Minneapolis Luxury Real Estate blog.

Here's a chance to showcase luxury listings and blog articles about luxury lifestyles, great travel, luxury trends, luxury toys, tech and rants.

The first carnival was lots of fun and we all learned so much--so come join the fun and submit your articles to: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/eprof_10563.html

This is a great way to share who you are and what you do with an audience outside our familiar box.

Thank you Jennifer!!!

One of the questions we frequently answer is:

How much is membership at La Costa Resort?

This South Carlsbad, CA resort features two 18-hold championship golf courses, world-class tennis facility with 4 clay and 13 hard court surfaces, a state-of-the-art athletic club, a day camp for kids, fabulous pools,  a renowned spa, the Chopra Center, two fine restaurants and semi-regular social events for members. All of these features are the impetus for the membership information requests.

Here are the current rates as of this writing:

La Costa Sports Membership: $16,500

Includes use of tennis facilities, the athletic club, pools, golf driving range, and discount pricing at all restaurants, bars, shops and golf.
Monthly dues: $220.00
Quarterly food and beverage minimum: $275.00

La Costa Golf Membership: $95,000
Includes all of the aforementioned privileges in addition to unlimited golf and preferred tee times.
Monthly dues: $570.00
Quarterly food and beverage minimum: $440.00

If you are interested in joining La Costa, please contact Mike Murphy at 760-402-9102 and he will arrange an introduction. If the introduction to La Costa membership is made through Mike and you decide to join, you will receive an additional $100.00 La Costa Resort gift certificate

What a pleasure it has been to go through the entries for the first Carnival of Luxury.

It was fun to read entries not only from outstanding Active Rain real estate professionals (including Active Rain's Jeff Dowler, Eric Carlsen, and Jennifer Kirby), but a rant from a therapist, an art review, advice for creating abundant lifestyles, and the story of a Las Vegas legend who went from a $2500 loan to billionaire status.

Perhaps it is the ultra-warm weather we have been experiencing in San Diego-or the fun of judging, but hot seems to be the word du jour. It is also a convenient way to describe the winners and their blogs in the first Carnival of Luxury:

Hot  Luxury Tips
for Luxury Home Photography (or any home, for that matter) comes from Eric Carlsen and Room Reviews - Prep for Your Pro in VoxuryPopuli. He offers some terrific suggestions for making a home camera-ready. It's a checklist I'll be sharing with my sellers!

Hot Advice
comes from Wanda Grindstaff. Her article, Prosperity and Abundance is Your Birthright - Living with Intent , is full of sage advice on how to live a life full of prosperity and abundance. That and other wise words can be found at Creating Abundant Lifestyles.

Hot Finds
are provided by Jeff Dowler who deserves an award as a Top Luxury Scout for submitting two terrific articles from Richard Lombari's  Premier LA Homes. The first, A Luxury Home: How to Find the Right One is full a great advice. The second, Buying a Luxury Home: Why Use a Realtor is equally outstanding. Thanks, Jeff and hats off to Richard Lombari!

Haute Huts
are provided by the inimitable Dr. Paul Johnson and his Luxury Travel Blog.The winning travel article, is about an amazing hut-on-stilts in Bordeaux, France. Talk about some amazing real estate!

Hot Success Story
submitted by the WorldWide Success Blog tells the inspiring story of Ralph Engelstad's Success Secret and how he built a billionaire fortune starting with a $2500 loan. The founder of Las Vegas' Imperial Palace has terrific advice for anyone seeking success in life.

Hot Luxury Trend
Jennifer Kirby offers what may be one of the hot new luxury trends in safety in Fire Sprinkler Systems in the Luxury Home. Jennifer also had difficulty with our blogging categories and inspired us to create categories that were more fitting to the submissions. 

Hot Luxury Listing
Bradley Woods through his Conceive, Believe, Achieve blog submitted a knock-your-socks-off listing for a beach villa in the French West Indies. It's unclear whether Bradley is a Realtor or not, but he certainly has an eye for fine properties and luxury dreams!

Haute Luxury Art 
Ruth Mitchell and her Buy Outside the Box blog suggests that Priscilla Humay Might be the Sharpest Pencil in the Box. "Art is a many splendored thing. Read about one of the country's finest colored pencil artists," said Mitchell. We agree!

Haute Tempers and Travel Miles
Chicago's Therapy Doc and the Everybody Needs Therapy blog submitted a story about his enormous frustration with British Air and how they use tiny fine print to disclose how quickly their air miles expire. British Air: Beware the blogosphere!

Hot Luxury Gossip 
This is juicy. Did you know that the softening market has even hit the likes of Oracle's Larry Ellison? He has reduced the price of his Atherton, CA home from $25 million to $16 million. This comes from The Silicon Valley Blogger and The Digerati Life in a submission titled: A Steal?  The Former Boss' House Is For Sale at a 35% Discount

South Carlsbad in the 92009 zip code is bordered by Palomar Airport Road to the north, El Camino Real to the west and an irregular border with Encinitas and San Marcos to the south and east. The area is largely encompassed by the communities of La Costa, Rancho Carrillo and Bressi Ranch.

There are currently 173 active single family listings in this zip, with 72 reported pending sales. According to Dataquick,  the median sales price at the end of March, 2007 was $830,000. Prices for homes in this South Carlsbad area range from a low of $490,000 for a 3-bedroom, 3-bath home on Xana Way to a $2,795,000 La Costa estate.

Anecdotally, well-priced homes in the Encinitas/San Dieguito school districts are moving quickly, especially if there are no-to-low Mello Roos.  

Most sellers have come to grips with the market and are pricing their properties to sell. No longer can they count on getting $10,000 to $25,000 more than the last comparable sale. These days, we encourage our motivated sellers to take an athletic stance in their pricing and stay competitive.

Our advice to buyers? 

Take advantage of the current market conditions. Most sellers are realistic, but there is no blood running in the streets. If the real estate market were to be compared to the stock market, this area represents blue chip territory.

Take advantage of the market dips and plan on holding for as long as you can.

Real estate and lifestyle don't get much better than this!

Search Carlsbad Real Estate

Luxury Home Digest

Forgive me for this digression away from real estate.

What we as real estate professsionals do often involves quality of life as much as it does the sale or purchase of a property. And sometimes we run across tidbits of information that could make a difference in someone's life or perceptions.

Because I am interested in brain research, I tend to seek out information related to that subject.  You see, we lost my mother several years ago to Alzheimer’s Disease and she died last May. The questions of how and why—and what could have/can be done to prevent and treat this crippler still haunts this daughter. Edith Michelson was a smart, beautiful and health-wise real estate broker, who would have rather been a fighter against the disease instead of its victim.

This recent discovery arrived from Cognitive Labs , which describes Northwestern University’s research into the connection between vasectomies and male dementia. It appears that vasectomies are not directly related to Alzheimers, but rather to another form of male dementia that can be equally tragic.

It’s an interesting read that results in some amusing commentary about going from “shooting blanks to drawing blanks.”

I first discovered my emerging tail wlthout knowing what one was.

A year or so ago on my regular San Diego real estate website I discovered that someone had landed on the site with the search term rimless shower doors and wondered what on earth that had to do with real estate or my website. Some simple research led me deep into one of my long descriptions about a listing that happened to have rimless shower doors.

"Ha!" thought I. "Google isn't the super sharp tool I thought it to be...." What do rimless shower doors have to do with San Diego Real Estate? Beats me, but it spurred thinking about the possibilities. In fact, I wrote a blog about Long Tail 101 early in my ActiveRain association, and am still amazed at what that a growing long tail can attract:

Just last night, I fell out my chair laughing when Luxury Home Digest ended up as the #2 entry under the Google search term: Ways to Shave --which just missed out to:

Learning The Best Ways To Shave Your Pubic Hair

My article? Ways to Shave Your Carbon Footprint--a very tame article meant as a tribute to Earth Day.

I just checked the Site Meter for my other blog and here are the last 10 seach terms and rankings for those who ended up on the site: 

1.  #4   Snoring Rooms  (Google)

2.  #9  Short Sales Realtor (Google)

3. #32  Luxury Home Listings (MSN Search)

4.  #8  Switchable Mirror (Google)

5.  #2  Bedroom TV Beds (AOL Search)

6. #1  San Diego Short Sale Home (Google)

7. #8  Underbed TV (Google)

8. #8  Blue wood woodsmart solutions (Google)

9. #1 Bathtub (Reddit.com)

10. #64  Home Staging San Diego (Google)

These results aren't highly scientific with a sampling of only ten, but some initial conclusions might be drawn.

• Google is the 900 pound search gorilla.
• Keep an eye on social bookmarking sites like reddit and digg.
• People really like their TV's.
• More people snore than we ever imagined.

San Diego MLS