Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma
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Come gather ‘round people, wherever you roam And admit that the waters around you have grown And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone It your time to you is worth saving Then you better start swimming’ or you’ll sink like a stone For the times, they are a-changin’ Bob Dylan, 1964 Over the past two years we have repeatedly been asked, how long will this boom last? How high will prices go? Well, there are many indications that we are starting to see the end of th...
Imagine a 25% tax to sell your home? Assemblymember Christopher M. Ward of California’s 78th District, which is from Solana Beach to Imperial Beach, is the author of Assembly Bill 1771. It was co-authored by Assemblymember Kevin Mullin of California’s 22nd District, which is South San Francisco and South San Francisco Bay. They state that the focus of the bill is on investors/flippers. The only problem is it targets the capital gains from the sale or exchange of any qua...
I hear titles or cliches in my head, often when I think about the real estate marketplace. Titles like “The Fast and the Furious” or phrases like “the devil is in the details.” Sometimes it feels like we’re spinning plates on sticks, praying that none of the plates crash to the ground. Take your eye off the ball and “you’re out!” Sorry about that, I can’t help myself. The fact of the matter is that all those phrases apply to today’s real estate market and the importance of t...
I’m a very logical thinker. As a real estate professional that is mostly good because it keeps me focused on what is measurable and true. Real estate, however, for the consumer is a very emotional process. When the market is spinning as fast as it currently is, the emotion of real estate can get in the way of what is logical, measurable, and true. Back to the simple math of real estate; $1,000,000 less 4% is $960,000; $1,200,000 less 6% is $1,128,000. Those four numbers are t...
Politics and real estate are not mutually exclusive. Most everything that happens in politics which becomes governance, impacts property. I am reminded of the Realtor Code of Ethics Preamble that begins: “Under all is the land. Upon its wise utilization and widely allocated ownership depend the survival and growth of free institutions and of our civilization.” Much of what I grew up believing is being challenged today, and if I am completely honest, has been challenged as far...
Strike that. From my perspective, in a town like Fallbrook, Vehicle Miles Traveled is only bad or ugly. The idea of VMT originated in Sacramento to combat “global warming.” The proposal focused on the “stick” approach to decreasing the number of vehicles on the road each day. Rather than entice employers to increase consistent remote workers through tax incentive, the powers in Sacramento chose to punish the workers and the communities from which they come, by adding a fee,...
Realtors who never answer their phone but will respond immediately to a text Personal contact is in short supply these days. Customer service has become a phone tree with more limbs than I care to count. You can get lost in that tangle of limbs. In real estate, however, buying a home or selling a home is a very personal experience. So, when a listing agent does not answer their phone, but will immediately respond to a text, that just rubs me the wrong way. The simple courtesy...
An experienced, professional Realtor is all the above. The problem is that most Realtors don't know how to own those roles. They may have a cursory understanding of the contracts, and if they don’t, they have a broker (hopefully) to help them with the documents. But the details of a successful transaction rests with the ability of the Realtor to be effective in all three of the above roles. The fourth quarter has shown me how crucial proficiency in these roles is to c...
This is the time of year that everyone talks about gratitude. It’s as if there’s an obligation to bring it up because, after all, we have a holiday named after it, Thanksgiving. My first thought is, what a shame that we don’t talk about gratitude more regularly. It can’t possibly be that we as a people are only grateful from November to December each year, and the rest of the time, we’re just _ _ _ – fill in the blank. Thanksgiving does remind us to be grateful. I’m thankfu...
The week after I wrote my column on zestimates, Zillow, the creator of the zestimate, discontinued their i-buyer program because they owned 9,790 homes at a value of $3.75 billion, with two-thirds of them underwater. Zillow is trying to unload 7,000 homes with a value of approximately $1.8 billion. Their CEO, Richard Barton, cited price forecasting volatility as the main reason that Zillow had been overpaying for homes. Turns out that their very own zestimate program was not...
A zestimate by any other name is really a guess-timate. Algorithms provide a “value” on a property based on data. The data measures, in the case of real estate, the size of the building, the age of the building, the size of the parcel it’s located on, and the location of the parcel. It takes this data and compares it to other properties within a specific geographic area. The zestimate can be fairly accurate when it is applied to a home in a planned unit development, where...
Wouldn’t it be great if “yes” really meant “yes”? Many times, “yes” seems to mean “yes” only if it isn’t inconvenient or doesn’t make things more difficult. But “yes” should mean “yes” and “no” should mean “no.” Simple, no discussion, it’s either “yes” or “no.” In real estate, the lines are no less blurred on the “yes” meaning “yes” than in any other part of our lives. I can hear you now, saying, well, when I say “yes” it really means “yes.” Let me share some stories...
Never in our 25 years selling real estate have we experienced more homeowners who are selling and leaving California. Easily 8 out of every 10 of the sellers we work with are leaving California to find more affordable housing, lower taxes, and a different political culture. Retirees are leaving California. They want to stretch their retirement funds out as far as possible, so giving up great weather in exchange for a lower cost of living and lower taxes, are worth the move....
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a warranty on everything in life? I for one, would love a warranty on health, or relationships. I suppose one could say that generally we all have a warranty on health. The warranty just runs out at different times for every individual. The warranty on health could be deemed to be invalid if an individual intentionally does things to undermine their health. A warranty on relationships would be awesome if it meant that a service could be p...
In the last 15 years, the State of California has adopted key legislative bills that address the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32, 2006) sets a statewide GHG reduction target to return to the 1990 emissions level by the year 2020. In addition, in 2008, California adopted SB 375 which specifically addresses emissions from transportation. SB 375 directs California's Metropolitan Planning Organizations to meet GHG emission reduction...
In real estate, we try to anticipate everything that could impact a transaction. The best way to stave off any unexpected discovery is through full disclosure by the seller of everything they know about the property that could affect the value and desirability of the property. As I’ve mentioned recently, disclosure by the seller is one key to a smooth transaction. There are also reports that sellers provide to the buyers which provide information from third parties that add a...
The simple definition of disclosure is “the action of making new or secret information known.” The antonym is equally simple and profound, “concealment.” In California real estate, the Transfer Disclosure Statement is something sellers are required to provide to the buyers when they transfer or sell their property. A second disclosure is the Seller Property Questionnaire which provides a more in-depth disclosure about the structure, the parcel, the neighborhood, etc. Both form...
I have been a licensed Realtor since 1997 and Chris Murphy and I have been selling real estate in North San Diego County since 1998. We have loved our profession and most all the clients we have represented over the years. The rewards of this profession are found mostly in the relationships we’ve created, built on trust and mutual respect. Occasionally, a client is worth memorializing in one of my columns. I have shared the stories of many wonderful clients who hired us to h...
Last week I wrote about questions and how important it is for sellers and buyers to be fully informed and the best way to do that is to ask questions. So, what about responses? How should a seller or buyer respond, when asked a question or finding themselves in an unexpected situation? My mind works in funny ways. It almost never turns off, and songs, yes songs, often pop into my mind when life happens. Mostly they’re great songs like “Morning Has Broken,” when I see a beaut...
Imagine doing something for the first time, every 5 to 20 years? You would feel like you’d never done that activity ever before. That is what home sellers and buyers experience every time they participate in a real estate transaction. Unless you are an active investor, or you are working with an experienced Realtor, the process of buying or selling feels like you are walking through a maze, with mirrors, trap doors, and dead ends. Even if you have bought or sold within the p...
Prop 19 went into effect on April 1, 2021. This proposition just narrowly passed with a 51% to 49% margin. It’s hard for me to understand why anyone would oppose a proposition that will benefit so many homeowners in California. But thankfully, it doesn’t matter that it passed by the slimmest of margins. It became law and homeowners over 55, those who lost their homes due to a natural disaster, and homeowners with disabilities across the state are taking advantage of it. There...
This year, I have been going through the alphabet, writing an article each week that correlates to a letter of the alphabet. Beginning with the letter A, arriving this week to the letter O. Some letters required more than one week to cover the topic. For example, the last two weeks I wrote on the letter N for negotiating. The first week addressed various negotiating techniques focused on buyers. The second week focused on negotiating for the benefit of sellers. This week I...
Last week I focused on how important negotiating is when a Realtor represents a buyer. The key to success always starts with trust and confidence, that the Realtor can help the buyer achieve their goal of purchasing a property. In a fast paced, challenging market, like we are currently operating in, that trust and confidence is the centerpiece to writing the best offer possible, that both protects the buyer’s interest, yet is appealing enough to the seller. A skilled, e...
The real estate market is on fire! There are very few homes for sale, so negotiating the best terms for our clients is the single most important asset an experienced Realtor brings to the transaction. Negotiating exists at all levels of the transaction. The principals make all the final decisions, but truth be told, an effective Realtor negotiates not only with the other Realtor, but with the principal they are representing. If principals had the information available, and...
Moving day actually begins well before the actual day the moving truck shows up. If you’re a seller, you’ve probably begun the activity of purging things the moment you started thinking about selling your home. If you didn’t, the process of packing up a home after living there for five years or more will be daunting. We find that no matter how large a home is, people seem to find a way to fill up all the storage places within the home. This is evidenced by the many vehic...