Realtor Chris Hasvold loves Fallbrook's small-town feeling

Rick Monroe

Special to the Village News

What Chris Hasvold loves most about Fallbrook is its small-town atmosphere.

“I didn’t think it existed in Southern California, but Fallbrook is special,” the longtime local Realtor said. “You walk into the grocery store and there are always people who you know who say hello.”

Fallbrook has been his home since he moved here in 1987 as young, successful real estate professional.

Hasvold, 58, said he grew up in the Torrance area and played basketball in high school. He was recruited to play at University of California Santa Barbara but didn’t like the experience and left, planning to transfer to Chico State University or California State Polytechnic San Luis Obispo. Instead, he decided to sit out a year and worked in construction.

“Real estate was just a fluke,” he said. “A friend suggested I try it — back in 1980 — and I just loved it.

“I’ve done it all – residential, development, industrial and business. I love the creativity and that every deal is different,” Hasvold said.

His real estate business started in his hometown – while he was still a teenager – initially in the residential arena. However, as a 25-year-old he created a partnership with investors to develop an 8,000 square foot strip mall in Lomita.

“I had no money, but was able to line up an architect and contractor and went to the bank for a $650,000 loan. The center was built, and it’s still standing,” he said.

After the birth of their first child, he and wife Lisa realized that Torrance wasn’t the same community as it was when they were growing up. The open fields were gone and buildings were wall-to-wall, he said.

“We were looking at Valencia or Temecula-Fallbrook, but when we visited here, we knew this would be home,” Hasvold said.

The Hasvolds, who will celebrate their 35th anniversary in September, built their Fallbrook home in 1988. Four years ago, they downsized after their two sons moved on with their lives. One son stayed in the real estate business in San Diego, and the other works for Google in Orange County.

Hasvold’s real estate practice in Fallbrook began with a private office, but in 1993 he owned an ERA franchise for three years. Since 1996, he has owned Coldwell Banker Village Properties.

“CB is the most trusted name and it’s the best of both worlds because you have their brand and it’s locally owned,” Hasvold said.

CB Village Properties has about 30 agents, which Hasvold said is a perfect amount because they can be properly mentored and trained. Those agents represent more than 700 years of local real estate experience, he said.

“That’s so important, because Fallbrook and Bonsall are unique,” he said. “We encourage people to use Realtors who live in the area because you run into so many different things – like easements, septic tanks, groves and such. It’s frustrating that more than half the transactions in our area are done by brokers who don’t live here – and that’s not good. Some of them don’t know what they don’t know.”

“There’s not an office in the county that is better trained,” he said. “The public perception of real estate agents is not positive. I think it should be more difficult to get a license and easier to lose it. Then only true professionals would be left.”

Real estate is still a good profession to enter into, Hasvold said.

“Definitely,” he said. “There will always be a human needed in the transaction. For most people, buying a home is the biggest transaction in their life. They need a person they can trust.”

Hasvold is a highly recognized local, county and statewide professional in his field. He is president-elect for 2020 of the North San Diego County Association of Realtors, representing 5,000 real estate professionals. He is also a director of the California Regional Multiple Listing Service, the nation’s largest multiple-listing service.

Hasvold and his Coldwell Banker real estate office are involved in community events and organizations.

“We established a Community Support Fund in the 1980s, and since then it has donated more than $500,000 to local charities and organizations. Most of us give individually as well,” he said.

For more information, call (760) 728-8000 or visit cbvillage.com.