2008 March

Archive for March, 2008

Carlsbad couple suing Realtor

March 31st, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, San Diego county Real Estate News

Carlsbad– There is an article in today’s San Diego Union Tribune about a Carlsbad couple that is suing their realtor because they overpaid for their Aviara home.

The Ummels purchased their Carlsbad home in May of 2005, which is widely recognized as the peak of the area real estate boom. They paid $1.2 million dollars for their 3697 square foot home which was listed at $1,175,000–1,245,000. There was currently another home for sale on the same street for $999,000 to $1,100,000. Since it was just a few homes away, I would have to believe they saw and viewed this home, though it is not mentioned in the U/T article*. It did sell for $1,025,000 but closed on the same day as the Ummel’s home, so this information was not available. However from the start it was listed for over $100,000 lessThe last home, a model match, that closed was listed at $1,175,000 to 1,245,000 and sold earlier in the year for $1,095,000.

Obliviously as a REALTOR I have a special interest in this lawsuit, and several months ago when I first about it my thoughts went to the bank and appraiser.

Are there dishonest or less than forthcoming realtors? ABSOLUTLEY, but there was an independent lender that has lending guidelines and hires an independent appraiser. The appraisal came in supporting the $1.2million purchase price. The Ummels did sue the lender and the appraiser and have settled with them for $10,000 each.

I am going to keep an eye on this and may even be at the courthouse tomorrow. I will be very surprised if a jury finds the agent liable. Again, a bank and appraiser reviewed the purchase contract, the current market conditions and supported the purchase price. Also, if the Ummels did look at the other home for sale for $100,000 less, anyone buying a million dollar home is hopefully intelligent enough to make their own decision. Stay tuned.

* I have a call out Lisa Weisberg who wrote the article to see if she asked if they viewed this other home or saw the flier.

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Awesome Clairemont Location

March 30th, 2008 Categories: San Diego County Community News, San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, San Diego County run routes, San Diego county Real Estate News, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports

This home is located on a finger tip canyon lot just above San Clemente Canyon. Access to the trails and ability to hook up with Rose Canyon are all at the bottom of the hill. This home is offered at $399,000 to $475,000. Call me if interested. 760–415–3329

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McDonald house charitiy of San Diego raffling million dollar home

March 26th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, San Diego county Real Estate News

Encinitas– NO qualifying and $150 down!!!

The Ronald McDonald house charities of San Diego is doing their annual fundraiser raffle and this year the grand prize is this 4400 square foot home with ocean views in Encinitas.

The cost to enter is $150 per ticket of which there will be a maximum of 32,000 sold. Not bad odds. There are 320 total prizes being given including 304 chances at $300, so with odds of 1 in 100 to win a prize, there is a good chance of at least getting a little something while helping a great charity. There are also three early bird drawings from $25,000, this Friday, to $5000. Go here to enter.

Remember though that nothing is free and the possible financial expense of winning this home would be close to $425,000, so you may consider the $1.4 in cash. This prevents you from having to pay the tax on the front end. With the cash prize, the charity will withhold 25–28%.

Good luck!!

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70.3 World Champion visits TCSD

March 22nd, 2008 Categories: Aquathlon and Duathlon Race Reports, San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports

San Diego– Triathlon Club of San Diego hosted 2007 70.3 World Champion Mirinda Carfrae Thursday night. Mirinda has recently signed on with local company and club sponsor ZOOT Sports, so with the help of Elisette Carlson(pictured with Mirinda and I) the meeting was on.

Competitor Magazine editor Bob Babbit was on hand to interview Mirinda and as usual, Bob’s incredible knowledge of the sport and his appreciation of the age grouper made the interview insightful and entertaining. I think it was also comforting to Mirinda as she did tell me that all of this attention is new to her and a touch disconcerting. After hearing her share her experiences growing up with 5 brothers and sisters, coming up through the sport and her record setting performance at the 2007 World Championship, she seems very genuine and presented herself with gratitude towards the sport and her fellow athletes. ZOOT scored a winner in her!!!

She also spoke about her sponsorship with Cannondale which I tuned in to as I am currently looking into the new carbon Slice, and Cera Sport. I love the 2007 Felt B2, but after a second back surgery the new Slice feels less chattery through my body and fits me a bit better. During the question and answer when asked about nutrition, she said she feels very strongly about Cera Sport and if results are any indication it must work.

All in all it was another visit for the triathlon club with one of our sports elite. The Triathlon Club of San Diego is 1700+ members strong and easily the best value in triathlon. We meet once a month and have numerous club workouts throughout the week as well as two ‘races’ a month.Go here to join today.

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Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

March 13th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, San Diego county Real Estate News

San Diego– Opening my newsletter from the California Association of Realtors led to an AH-HA moment for me. There was an article titled “C.A.R. TO ROLL OUT GREEN INITIATIVES IN 2008” and I think this could be a great thing. Here is the mission;

The three-pronged mission of the Green Task Force is to encourage the greening of C.A.R. business practices; raise awareness and educate members and consumers about environmentally sound practices, and encourage C.A.R. to form strategic alliances in support of environmentally sound practices.-CAR Newsline Wednesday March 12,2008

I have long felt that there is a huge waste of paper in the real estate industry. Anyone who has purchased a home in southern California knows the paperwork is out of control. The contract, disclosures ad nauseum, HO Docs, preliminary title report, inspections, escrow instruction, etc. it is crazy. I recently represented sellers in Encinitas that moved to Iowa. Their purchase contract in Iowa, including a contingency for sale, 3 pages!!! Our contract alone is 10 pages with the advisory.

My transaction coordinator and I figured out there are about 250 pages generated each transaction. This includes copies not used, such as sending over for a signature and only keeping the signed copy, fax covers, waste and more.Now there are about 7 duplicate files in most transactions. So we averaged that there are about 1750 pages total. Multiply this by the number of homes sold in 2007 from the MLS in San Diego County, 24,013, and we get roughly 43 MILLION sheets of paper, of which very little is recycled because the documents in the files need to be saved. This is approximately 215 tons of paper or 376 compact cars!!! What’ crazy is that/, the production of one ton of copy paper produces 3 tons of green house gas emissions.

So what does this mean. This means we use approximately 5100 trees just for our files. This is not fliers, ads and all the peripheral things. Here is a great site containing many more facts as well as a free program to help cut down on print paper waste. A fact that stands out for this native Californian is that a single sheet of paper can take up to 13 ounces to produce!! That is almost 4.5 MILLION gallons of water when applied to the California real estate industry. We won’t go into all the resources that are needed and what their particular impact on our environment can be.

In order to do my,our, part and help you my friends and clients I am teaming up with GREEN DIMES which is an Eco-mmunity that helps conservation by eliminating junk mail from your mailbox and also helps with reforestation by planting trees. I am going to direct the funds to American Forests and their California Wildfire Releaf program. This program will plant 1 tree for each dollar received.

From this point forward, and retroactively to past clients, I will pay for your first year of this program. Financially this is a small commitment. However I feel it is a great way to do my part in limiting the impact of my industry and to show you that I truly believe in leaving as small a footprint as possible. With any luck we will have several hundred trees planted in 2008!!!

Cut and paste this and include in your signature line on all your emails.

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

sources for facts quoted noted on http://www.printgreener.com/earthday.html

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Ocean water temp: 59, but oh so hot on the coast

March 11th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News

Tamarack beach– Well I guess I could post about the fed infusing upto $200 billion dollars into the economy causing the stock market to soar. Or maybe, a nicely researched post about the UCLA Andersen report which suggests there no recession. But more important than all of this to those of us living in southern California is how beautiful today was!!!

I have a younger sister that is about to spend $8–10,000 dollars on a trip to Australia. Now, I understand travel, and no I have never been down under, but there is absolutely NO WAY it can beat our home on a day like this. I think most aussies living here would agree too.

Case in point. I am in escrow on a home where the homeowner is Australian(will be buying another house in Carlsbad), the other agent’s husband is Australian and two of the other homes we looked at were owned by Aussies.

But my real reason for bringing this up is how much money she could save just by simply realizing we live in paradise!!! It’s a classic case of not seeing the forest because of the trees. The human condition that there has to be something better!!

I believe if you are vacationing from the San Diego area go somewhere different. If there is not snow and ice, large and abundant wildlife that dominate the San Diego wild animal park in their natural setting, monkeys and jungle or buildings constructed before the english language started spreading throughout the world, don’t go. Save your money.

Paradise people, we live in paradise!!! So take that vacation in your own backyard.

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First step in the affordabilty game plan

March 6th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego county Real Estate News

San Diego– The first domino has fallen in the new fight against housing affordability in California and other high priced housing markets across the nation.

As part of the ecomonic stimulus package the FHA has increased the loan limit of loans it will insure to 125% of the median housing price. In San Diego that equates to $679,500.

While this seems like great news, and it is, we need another domino to fall. That domino is the increase in the conforming loan limit for Fannie and Freddie Mac. Once that domino falls, interest rates on loans that are more realistic for our area will fall by about 1% against today’s values(6.03 versus 6.99– source, bankrate.com)On a $550,000 dollar loan this would be approximately $350 a month.

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Helping the homeless? Maybe not.

March 5th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego county Real Estate News

Carlsbad– WELCOME TO BRESSI RANCH, Carlsbad’s new garden district.
A place so imaginative, eclectic and walkable, it breathes new energy into every day. Envisioned and developed by Lennar Communities, featuring two of America’s most acclaimed builders, Bressi Ranch will be a people friendly place where families can live, work and play, amidst gardens that bloom year round. So goes the narrative on the Lennar website.

What has prompted this post is a ‘transfer fee’ that is imposed on every home sale of .05% in this community. It’s not the fee so much as to where it goes. The Lennar Charitable Trust. Yes, this builder has IMPOSED a fee that goes to their charitable trust where they benefit from the image enhancement. This is a company that had 2005 and 2006 combined gross profits in excess of 3 billion dollars.

Now, I am HUGE in to giving and am heavily involved in community and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. This is a photo of myself getting ready to do an ocean swim with my good friend Eric Davis whom is a paraplegic. This was her first ocean raced triathlon since her injury. She did outstanding by the way!!! What bothers me is Lennar enhancing their community image on the backs, sometimes unknowingly, of the homeowners. I say unknowingly because in the midst of a real estate transaction these charges are often overlooked. It also may prevent homeowners form giving to causes they believe in.

What are the quotes from Lennar and Carlsbad Mayor Bud Lewis about the trust and the community?

Mayor Bud Lewis, who worked in a Boys & Girls Club facility in San Diego in the 1950s, said he knows what a clubhouse can do for low-income children. The crowd laughed when Lewis added that the Bressi Ranch area, which is known for its up scale homes, isn’t hurting for money, but still could use a place to keep children with working parents busy.-North County Times, 2/7/2008,BARBARA HENRY

But the better quote came from Matt Coleman the Executive Director of the Trust. It is part of this great article questioning if this trust was actually started to circumvent low income housing laws among other things.

“Anyone who can afford a home ought to kick down a few crumbs to a homeless person,” said Coleman. “Lennar, from a social level, really believes that those who have the ability to give back should give back.”– Copyright 2006, Gale Group, Kate Berry

So how are those up scale homes doing in Bressi Ranch? Not so well and maybe the homeowners there need some charitable contributions.

The home pictured in the beginning of this post originally sold for in 2005 for $948,500. This 4 bedroom 3.5 bath home is now owned by the bank and is on the market for $759,500. That’s roughly a 20% loss in 2.5 years and no this isn’t unusual.

Here is a 4 bedroom 4 bath home that sold for $1,350,000 in April of 2007, yes 2007. It is currently on the market as a short sale for $850,000 to 1,100,000. On the high side it too is about a 20% loss and these are not exceptions. In fact 9 of the 19 active listings in the MLS on March 5,2008 are either short sales, in Notice of Default or bank owned. Maybe Lennar needs to listen to Matt’s advice and get rid off this fraud.

What do fellow builders think about this one of kind, for San Diego, fee being charged?

“What strikes me as odd about it is that with housing as expensive as it is, to require homebuyers to make an additional payment continues to make housing affordability more of a challenge,” said Stephen P. Doyle, president of builder Brookfield Homes’ San Diego/Riverside division. Doyle is also president of the California Building Industry Association.-San Diego Union Tribune, April 14,2005, Carl Larsen

And to end it all, here is another quote from the same U/T article from Lennar’s Regional President Jeffery Roos.

Roos said the foundation, whose administrative costs are absorbed by Lennar, will track future sales through a title company.

Unfortunately, their financial statement for 2006 shows title search as a line item expense of $32,098 as well total support services expense as a seperate line item of $511,470.

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