The Real View

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

We’ve 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.

Real time market stats for Rancho Santa Fe can fluctuate from month to month, and minute details can be pulled from that data.  I was interested, though, 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.

Click to see how Rancho Santa Fe holds up in the prime North County real estate market.

You may also wish to read:

Real Estate Bargains in Rancho Santa Fe?

San Diego Realtors Seeing Double…Offers

San Diego Real Estate Exchange

Redlining is a term that describes the unethical–if not illegal–practice where lenders “red line” a neighborhood or community, making it very difficult for buyers to purchase in these afflicted areas.

I have recently heard from a couple of direct lenders in San Diego,  Countrywide Home Loans and Bank of America, that most if not all of San Diego County real estate is in the “red zone.”

Qualifying for current “red zone” status simply means that the subject property is located in a “declining market” area. The impact of this colorization is significant to both the San Diego real estate market as a whole–and to first time home buyers in particular.

Furthermore, I suspect it is a practice affecting much of the country. 

How this version of redlining works creates a no-win situation for buyers putting down less than 5 percent.

Even if a buyer has negotiated a bargain purchase price, say 10 percent under market value, the appraiser will automatically deduct another 5 percent from the contract price to determine a value. In other words, a borrower cannot get away with putting less than 5 percent down.

I spoke with Brian Brady a couple of weeks ago about this matter. I had been told by a representative from a large direct lender that San Marcos, CA was in a “red zone,” and would be subject to different lending standards. Brian bristled at the thought of redlining, declaring it an illegal practice unless an entire region were painted red.

Click to read the rest of this juicy story 

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 don’t 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.

Click to continue reading about sellers bidding for their own homes.

You may also wish to read: 

San Diego Real Estate in the Tank: Fact or Fiction?

San Diego Luxury Builder: 2007 Worst in 40 Years

Where is the San Diego Market Bottom?

San Diego Realtors Seeing Double…Offers 

Eve Sieminski and I spent yesterday afternoon studying a number of various For Sale by Owner (FSBO) sites and researching these Carlsbad listings and Carlsbad real estate through our local SANDICOR MLS.

We had initially intended to study all of North San Diego County, but ended up drilling down to just one city: Carlsbad.

The results are very interesting.

Some casual observations:

1. 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?
2. Many of those who purchased their Carlsbad homes in 2005-2006 may face difficulty if they need to sell today.
3. The majority of the advertised FSBO’s 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?
4. 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 didn’t sell in the first place?

Click on Carlsbad market reports to see how individual zip codes (92008, 92009, 92010, 92011) are performing--along with our market opinions.

You may also wish to read: 

Are You the High Bidder for Your San Diego Listing? 

San Diego Real Estate in the Tank: Fact or Fiction?

San Diego Luxury Builder: 2007 Worst in 40 Years

Where is the San Diego Market Bottom?

San Diego Realtors Seeing Double…Offers 

The San Diego real estate market has been swirling with dismal reports about short sales, foreclosures and inventory gluts.

The markets are particularly bad in San DIego suburbs like Eastlake, Otay Mesa, San Marcos and Oceanside–where so many new subdivisions were built in the last six years.

Buyers swarmed into these communities, lured by granite countertops, stainless appliances and liar EZ loans. Most buyers assumed they would be able to sell at a profit as soon as the builder’s next phase was released.

Fallout from this real estate mess has left no community unscathed. Even the Rancho Santa Fe real estate market has a few foreclosures pending. But more than a few San Diego Realtors are starting to whisper about the return of multiple offers.

These aren’t the same kinds of multiple offers we saw in 2004 and 2005, when San Diego home prices were reaching new highs each month, and we were being honored by the news media as having one of the hottest real estate markets in the US. Today’s multiple offers come from home buyers and investors who have been waiting in the wings for what they see as a market bottom. Or something close to that buyer’s heaven.

San Diego homes attracting multiple offers are generally priced substantially under market. They also make the Realtor grapevine:

 Click here to hear the gossip.

 (I hate this as much as you, but fear death-by-double-content-penalty)

Baby Boomers have never been the silent sort, and more and more we are hearing their wishes in unison.

Disclaimer: The San Diego real estate market is not like Las Vegas, or Tucson or Asheville or Biloxi and our home prices, though far more reasonable than a couple of years ago, are still quite high–because of ongoing demand. Blame that on our incomparable balmy climate, stunningly beautiful ocean and mountain views, great golf courses that can be played year round, a vibrant San Diego downtown area and a series of unique seaside villages across the San Diego Bay and up the San Diego County coast.

We work with a number of baby boomers who are either moving to or within the San Diego area--and so do many of the bloggers on Active Rain.

Many of those already invested in the San Diego real estate market are seeking to downsize and move away from the sacred soccer fields, elementary school crossings and the cul de sacs.

Those moving to San Diego from other areas are generally fulfilling a lifelong dream of spending the rest of their lives at the craggy southern coastal tip of California. They want to live in places like La Jolla, Coronado, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas, Cardiff by the Sea, Carlsbad and yes, downtown Oceanside.

They, like the San Diego Baby Boomers, want to move away from hometown suburbia and plug themselves into a different kind of energy.

What do many of these Boomers want and what are we hearing?

 Sorry for the suspense, bit to find out, click here: