History of Carmel Valley, San Diego

Carmel Valley is a community located in San Diego county, on the North Coastal region.

It's early history is simple, it's first known human residents were the La Jolla Indians followed by missionaries when they were passing through on their way from one Mission to another. However the area was ranch land until developers bought the land to start building homes well into 1970's.

In February of 1975 the City Council approved a Master Planned Community to be built in the area, the original name for this community was "North City West" name that was changed in the early 1990's to Carmel Valley because there had been a monastery of the Carmelita's nuns in this area in the early 1900's and people already referred to the area as Carmel Valley. The idea was to build a community to become a model for other master planned communities to be built at later dates through out San Diego, this communities were to include plans for parks, recreation areas, trails, etc.

Wikipedia defines the geographic location as follows: "Carmel Valley is bordered to the north by the North City Future Urbanizing Area (NCFUA) and Pacific Highlands Ranch; to the south by Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve and Torrey Hills; to the east by Pacific Highlands Ranch and Del Mar Mesa; and to the west by Interstate 5 and Torrey Pines

Even though people refer to all of the areas that wikipedia refers to as Carmel Valley as a whole, according to the city, the boundaries remain unchanged from the original plan, even when they share the same 92130 zip code and in some cases the same school district, some of these communities, like in the case of Pacific Highlands Ranch and Torrey Hills, are not proper Carmel Valley.

This area, has established a reputation for having not only a great location with easy access to major freeway's but close proximity to the ocean as well as to the Torrey Pines preserve and hiking trails. However, it is best known for it's award wining school district which has become to be identified with high parent participation. It is a very family oriented area.

There is sometimes some confusion with the name of the area because there is a Carmel Mountain area very close by located on the I-15 corridor and then there is another Carmel Valley in Northern California, adjacent to the City of Carmel on the Monterrey Peninsula.

There is still new construction going on in the area but at a much slower pace, both because of the times as well as the fact that land is becoming scarce and the area is being built out.

Carmel Valley is referd by some as the typical suburbia with it's most characteristic resident being the big SUV driving soccer mom carting kids around the area. Yet we also have offices, big corporations, hospitals and retail that make this area a very desirable place to live.

For more information regarding the area feel free to contact me or keep checking this blog where I will keep posting everything about this and other surrounding communities.

If you want to search for properties in this area feel free to use our web site
www.SanDiegoExclusiveProperties.com

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Home Buyer Tax Credit Becomes Down Payment

HUD creates new $8000 dollar tax credit flexibility for first time home buyers.

In an effort to spur the housing market, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development released plans to implement flexibility to the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit; as part of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package.

"We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the cash can be used as a down payment," United States HUD Secretary, Shaun Donovan stated.

HUD will allow approved lenders and nonprofits to issue short-term bridge loans buyers can use for down payments. Buyers would repay the loans after getting their tax refunds in 2010.
“Allowing first time homebuyers to utilize the tax credit as a down payment, plus the availability of low interest rates creates incredible opportunities for those who waited. There might be a cost or a fee involved on taking advantage of this scenario, the cost is still to be determined.

If you have any questions regarding real estate please contact me rina@my858realtor.com

9 Easy steps to Buying a Home in this Market

SO YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING A HOME…WHER DO YOU BEGIN?

9 Easy steps to purchasing a home in today’s market


1-Look at your reasons for homeownership and make an informed decision whether buying a home IS the right step for you at this time. If it is, determine your time frame.
2-Sit down and talk to a lender. Yes even before looking at a single property, get the facts of what you can afford in this market and which loan programs are out there and right for you (it might be more or less than you think). This will allow you to be very precise and save time and even hardship down the line. You will also be ready if you come across a great opportunity and want to make an offer right away.
3-Now that you know how much house you can afford and what limitations your loan has (i.e FHA loans will have strict guidelines and not all properties will qualify for this loans) Make sure you will have enough money in reserves after the purchase.
4-Sit down with the other people that will make the decisions with you and make a list with at least 3 categories: a) Things I NEED (must haves) b) Things I would LIKE (Nice if I could have) c)Things I could NOT accept (deal breakers). In this list you will asses what is important to you from the area to the numbers of bedrooms and Bathrooms. Try to make it as extensive and detailed as possible but then be willing to be flexible and open, this list will change through the process. It is O.K.
5-Start looking…If you have not contacted a Realtor up to this point, this is the time to do so, you want someone who will not only help you find a home (“apparently” not that hard to do on your own with the help of today’s technology) but will actually look after your best interest and give you guidance about the process, the specific areas, will be able to navigate this real estate market and all the different forms of listings that have come up in recent months (REO, Short Sales, Auctions, etc.) the market is changing day to day and you need a professional that is ahead of the game to know how to deal with each situation and to prepare you on what to expect , how long it might take, and how to make the right decision in each case.
6-Be prepared to start writing offers when you see a home you like. In order to do this your agent will help you determine the right offer depending on the particular circumstances. Not only money wise but timing, correct wording on the contract, order of paperwork it really does make a big difference when dealing with banks making the final decision.
7-Get an accepted offer (probably after a couple of offers and counter offers) Open an Escrow. This is where your agents Negotiation skills will come into play.
From this point on, there will be some deadlines to meet, your Realtor should have already sat down with you and explained the Escrow process and what comes next, including removal of contingencies and specific timeframes. There are inspections to be done, documentation to be gathered and funds to be handled….
8-Everything goes according to plan (usually there will be some bumps and unexpected turns down the line, but do not worry this is why you have a great agent or team of agents working on your behalf) Seller gets paid…you just got yourself a HOME!!!
9-Remeber to have fun!!! Try to enjoy the ride and be open to adjust the path during the process.

Torrey Hills Master Community

I will be sharing some information about different areas around San Diego, their history, local Restaurants ,schools, etc.

TORREY HILLS MASTER COMMUNITY

The planning area contains approximately 784 acres and is located in the northern region of the City. The community is bounded by Interstate 5 to the west, the Carmel Valley community to the north and east, and the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve and Mira Mesa community to the south. West of Interstate 5 is the Torrey Pines community planning area.
The Torrey Hills area's planning history is tied to the planning efforts for Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve. For nearly ten years, prior to the adoption of the City of San Diego Progress Guide and General Plan in 1979, the City and County had been conducting studies on Los Peñasquitos Canyon as an open space park. During that period, the Carmel Valley community was being planned, and the Torrey Hills area was specifically excluded so as not to preempt the determination of a precise park boundary. By the time the City's Progress Guide and General Plan was adopted in 1979, the precise boundary of the park still had not been determined, and the Torrey Hills property was designated as Future Urbanizing on the General Plan until the boundary of the preserve could be determined.
In February 1980, Genstar-Peñasquitos (now AG Land Associates, LLC) dedicated a total of 1,806 acres of Los Peñasquitos Canyon to the City for use as a preserve. This action precisely defined the boundaries of the preserve as it borders the Torrey Hills property. This action subsequently cleared the way to initiate a community planning program for the Torrey Hills property and to amend the City's Progress Guide and General Plan which transferred the original plan area from Future Urbanizing to Planned Urbanizing.
Prior to 1986, approximately 178 acres located adjacent to the Torrey Hills community planning area was designated as "Future Urbanizing." On November 4, 1986, the citizens of San Diego approved a ballot measure which directed that a 166 acre parcel owned by the City and located at the western boundary of Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve adjacent to Interstate 5 be traded for 288 acres of privately owned land located adjacent to the preserve and just north of the area known as "The Falls." An additional 12 acres located between the 166 acre parcel and Interstate 5 was also incorporated into the ballot measure. This total 178 acre addition to Torrey Hills was referred to as the "Park Trade" property. Approval of the ballot measure resulted in a transfer of this property from Future Urbanizing to Planned Urbanizing.
In 1994, the City Council approved an amendment to the Torrey Hills Community Plan and the City's Progress Guide and General Plan which served to implement the results of the initiative, converting the Park Trade property from Future Urbanizing to Planned Urbanizing, and providing for expanded industrial and residential opportunities for the community. Other minor changes which occurred in the 1994 update included a restructuring of industrial uses diminishing the focus on professional office use; the inclusion of 1.3 acres previously shown within the Carmel Valley Neighborhood 8A Precise Plan; and the addition of Vista Sorrento Parkway, the northern extension of which provides north-south access through the community between Carmel Mountain Road and Sorrento Valley Boulevard.
In subsequent years the area devoted to industrial land uses has been reduced and concentrated in the western portion of the community, where easy access to Interstate 5 and Vista Sorrento Parkway is available. An amendment in 1997 provided a broader range of residential land uses, varying from apartments, condominiums and town homes, to smaller lot detached residential and single-family subdivisions. A Neighborhood Commercial Center was added, providing for retail commercial uses typically serving residential neighborhoods. Additional amendments since 1997 have also changed residential and industrial land uses in the western portion of the community.

By 2009 there are over 900 Homes divided in 12 communities, plus Over 1200 rental Units.
Torrey Hills is also home for a great number of office buildings including the offices for Cardinal Health among others

The local elementary schools are:

• Torrey Hills Elementary http://www.dmusd.org/torrey/
• Ocean Air Elementary http://www.dmusd.org/oceanair/

Current issues in the community:

• Sunrise powerlink project
• Torrey Reserve Project

Local Restaurants:

• Taste of Italy
• Daphne's
• Subway
• Zip Fusion
• Joey's Smokin BBQ
• Pick up Stix
• Starbucks
• Ruth's Chris Steak House

Stores

• Vons
• Beach Bungalow
• Art and framing by Munro Gallery

Banks

• Bank of America
• Union Bank
• Wells Fargo
• California Bank and Trust
• US Bank

There is also a medical building located inside the Torrey Hills Shopping Plaza.

Upcoming Events:

• March 12, 2009 Art and music Festival at Torrey Hills Elementary.

If you want any other information about this area or if you would like me to cover a specific area in future postings please let me know by leaving a comment on this post.

Enjoy your weekend!

Rina Podolsky

Foreclosure rates in San Diego

I received a link to an interesting foreclosure comparison chart for 2007 to 2008. The numbers show a decrease on both Notices of Default and Foreclosures, they are single digits decreases but a step on the direction we want the economy to go. It is important to understand that at this point it is not clear what is the real cause for this decrease, but given that the economy and consumer confidence shifted for the worse during last year, the most likely explanation is the fact that banks are now required to give longer notices and try to avoid foreclosures, and on the same lines, people are more aware and are trying to renegotiate with banks which at the same time have started to negotiate more with homeowners.
If you would like to see the numbers go to http://v2.sharperagent.com/Boomerang/GetFile.flx?flxnodeco&xml=%3CFile%20userid=%22A7E38D0E-5329-4F86-905F-B0BE2AF64783%22%20storeid=%229017320%22/%3E

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Best,

Rina Podolsky

What is the current inventory of homes in San Diego

One question that often comes up when talking about the current condition of the Real Estate market, is the Absorption Rate. The absorption rate can be defined as the time it would take the current inventory of homes to sell given the average selling pace of the past (typically six months, averaged).
The reason we do this is because it helps us to track trends in the market and thus figure out where it is heading.
However, absorption rate is NOT an exact science. Figuring it is based on the premise that one will be looking for a TREND. It is advised to consistently do the numbers each month, to be able to track a trend.
So... Absorption Rate (AR) = Number of Homes LISTED divided by Average number of homes SOLD Per Month over the past six months.

I did this exercise for 5 different areas today.* Here is what I have found:
1- Chula Vista

• ACTIVE: 1453
• SOLD:**278.50
• AR:5.21

2-Rancho Santa Fe

• ACTIVE: 254
• SOLD:** 9.6
• AR: 26.45

3-Carmel Valley

• ACTIVE: 215
• SOLD:**52.66
• AR: 4.08

4-Downtown San Diego

• ACTIVE: 570
• SOLD:**34
• AR: 16.76

5-Oceanside

• ACTIVE:1090
• SOLD:**232.83
• AR: 4.68

Doing the Same excessive for San Diego as a whole we get:

• ACTIVE: 15,945
• SOLD:**2758.66
• AR:5.78

In closing, we can see that we have areas with a very high AR while others are surprisingly low for a market that is perceived as a "Buyers Market". Typically speaking, a Buyer’s market exists when the absorption rate for homes exceeds six months; a Seller’s market exists when the absorption rate is fewer than six months, although that definition varies depending the source.

Once again, Happy Holidays and let me know if you would like any topic to be addressed in future posts.

*All data taken from MLS. This information might not include all listings available and sales recorded at the county.

**Average monthly Sales from past 6 months.

Rina Podolsky

Area specific housing data for San Diego

As promised yesterday, I have more specific data for you.

I found an interesting tidbit of information I wanted to share with everyone;
According to Professor Pigginton,the single family median price per square foot was down a gruesome 6.1% between October and November which indicates a market still declining, however, he also mentions that the home inventory in San Diego has shrunk by 22% from where it was a year ago, this is relevant because it is one of the first signs of a market beginning to turn.

Now lets go ahead and look at some data for specific areas as of today:

ZIP ACTIVE PENDING SOLD* SOLD**
92101....573............109.........55...........669
91913....359............217..........86...........752
91914....179.............102.........40..........293
91911.....335............198.........49..........560
92057....406............184.........89..........975
92014....168.............11...........5 1..........33
92024....256............55...........14.........428
92037....408............66............27........497
92067....257.............13............6..........123
92130....219............63............30........569

This is only a very small sample of areas in the county, if there is any one area you would like to hear in my future postings, let me know.


For now I leave you with some questions. How do you feel about the government making this massive monetary commitments in order to bail out different industries? Do you know where this money is coming from? What does it mean for our future economy?



*Properties sold between the dates of November 20,2008 and December 20,2008
**Properties sold between January 1st,2008 and December 20, 2008


All data provided by local MLS






Best regards,



Realtor Rina

So...How is the Real estate Market???

This is a question I hear every day, and in all honesty...there is no simple answer.
The reality is that it all depends on why you are asking? it is not that the facts change, it is that the focus you have while looking at those facts creates a whole different explanation.

And as if that was not enough...we cannot talk about a Real Estate market in San Diego in general and expect to have an accurate picture of all areas. You have to clearly define what area in San Diego county you are interested in. If you look at Chula Vista it is an entire different picture than Encinitas for example.

Now having said that, let's take a look at certain current conditions that do affect the market in general.



Even though there has been talk about the banks shifting their aim from foreclosing on faulty loans to attempting to work things out and renegotiating with the homeowners who have this loans, it takes time...unfortunately for those people already going through the process of being foreclosed upon, this shift has come too little to late. And we have yet to hear from this lenders, who will be able to renegotiate, under what terms and for how long. Until this does not come to fruition we are not certain how it will affect the market



New loans are hard to qualify for and are taking much longer than expected which in turn is causing homes to stay on the market for longer periods of time and escrows to take much longer than before and in some cases to even fall through. So even though rates are at a very attractive level right now, that means nothing unless you can qualify for one, and then actually get funded.



Most sellers are more sensitive to the conditions of the current market that what they were let's say one year ago, which in turn translates to more offers being accepted and more homes going into escrow. From our experience, generally speaking if a home is priced correctly and marketed correctly it will get sold, it is just taking longer.


Now, interestingly enough, for the first time in months I have found ourselves in multiple offer situations, it might have been a coincidence and it has not happened consistently enough for me to consider it a trend, but it is a start.


So in closing, we are in a challenging market but not everything is looking grim, and I actually do believe we are reaching a turning point.

In one of my next postings I will address specific areas and data to give you some facts and numbers.

If you have any specific areas of San Diego county you would like me to address please let me know and I will do so.


Best regards for now!