Friday, January 15, 2010
Thursday, November 19, 2009
I found some information on Del Mar 's history through it's own historical society. According to documents found the date when you could say everything was set in motion was on August 14 1882, the day the railroad tracks were laid along this stretch of coastline in the effort of uniting San Diego and San Bernardino.
The man in charge of overseeing the project was Theodor M. Loop an engineer and contractor. He set up camp in a beautiful parcel of land that he referred to as "the most attractive place on the entire coast.". He set up a tent city and built a house for himself and his family. It was his wife Emma who named it, Ella, called it "Del Mar" - words taken from a popular poem, The Fight on Paseo Del Mar.
Loop met a gentleman named "Colonel" Jacob Taylor who suggested they develop the area and build a town here. It was 1885 when he purchased 338.11 acres at the northern end of the mesa from homesteader Enoch Talbert. It is said that he paid $1,000. And at this Del Mar was officially founded.
Taylor had a very clear picture in his mind of what the area was to become. His plan was for this to be a playground for the well to do, a seaside resort for the elite. The visionary designed and built a town whose focal point was Casa del Mar, a hotel-resort. Other town attractions included a natatorium, dancing pavilions, and a bathing pool extending from the beach out into the sea.In 1889 tragedy struck and the main attraction, the hotel, burnt down to the ground and so the town was left without it's focal point. This together with the struggling economy left the small town in a dormant state for at least 15 years.
It was until the beginning of the 1900 when The South Coast Land Company hired a prominent Los Angeles architect, John C. Austin, to draw plans for a new hotel, the Hotel Del Mar. The hotel opened in 1910, and fulfilling the original plans for the area, the elegant hotel served as a magnet for Hollywood stars of the silent film days.
From 1912 till 1920 beautiful new homes began to appear around the new town and many of them soon became landmarks. Construction was halted in the 1930's
Still it was during this time in 1933 when the search for a site to host the San Diego County Fair began. Ed Fletcher suggested that the 184 acre site in the San Dieguito Valley - just off the main highways and the Santa Fe Road - would be easily accessible and a perfect setting for a fairground.
It was on October 8, 1936 when the fair opened with an attendance of fifty thousand guests.
Bing Crosby made the Del Mar Turf Club a reality and Pat O'Brien became the Vice President. The Race track opened on July 3, 1937,and with it a new era began in Del Mar. The track was hailed as Bing's Baby or Movieland's Own Track. In 1938, Bing recorded the song that would open and close everyday of racing since those early days - Where the Turf Meets the Surf (click to listen to the song).
The race track brought A list celebrities and personalities every year, and many of them decided to set up homes in Del Mar, among them Lucy and Desi, Burt Bacharach and many others.
However during World war II the race track had to be closed and converted into a bomber tail assembly production facility until 1945 when racing returned to the the track.
The city of Del Mar was incorporated until 1959. During the following two decades everything was mostly quiet in the area. There was a growing movement of people in Del Mar whose goal was to beautify and maintain the open space, and it was at this time when the gorgeous Seagrove park with its grassy are overlooking the ocean was created.
Today the centerpieces of new Del Mar are L'Auberge - a beautiful hotel designed with the Stratford Inn in mind - and just recently renovated. And the elegant shops and boutiques of the picturesque seaside shopping center, Del Mar Plaza. Its selection of restaurants provides great taste, mood, and rave reviews.
Del Mar has maintained it's picturesque main street, it's small upscale town ambiance, with beautiful homes each one unique and different from the rest, some landmarks in their own right some brand new.
Today Del Mar is 92014 zip code. According to the Multiple Listing Service information the area has:
142 Active Listings out of which 114 are detached and 34 are attached
7 Contingent listings
32 Pending
15 Sales in the past 30 days
This gives it a 9.47 month inventory of homes.
60 properties on the counties list of foreclosure and preforeclosure.
And according to the statistics of the sales the averages are:
A.Selling Price-$1,640,770
A.Price per Square Foot $740.52
A.Days on Market 108
A. percentage of sale to asking price 94%
The School District includes the Del Mar Union School District which is one of the highest ranking school districts in all of San Diego. It has 8 Elementary schools and 2 middle schools and 2 High Schools.
For more detailed information you can visit my web site http://www.sandiegoexclusiveproperties.com/ or contact me by:
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All the information in this blog has not been checked, it is believed accurate but not guaranteed.
Monday, November 9, 2009
History of La Jolla California
La Jolla is believed to have been the home of Native Americans and some artifacts have been found, however there has been no clear consensus as to who they where and what happened to them.
The first written records that have been found according tho the "La Jolla Historical Society" are those that appeared in all land grant and mission records since 1928 and in scattered documents at least back to 1870 when they appeared spelled "L-a-J-o-y-a".
That spelling is consistent with the Spanish spelling of the word "The Jewell" although some argue that the name actually comes from the Native American term Woholle that means, hole in the mountain.
The reality is, no matter where the name actually originated it is assumed to be the first option because La Jolla is actually considered to be a Jewell. With it's breathtaking views of the ocean and the mansions lining it's streets, this is a place that exudes refinement.
Incorporated in 1850, the first lots of land sold in La Jolla in 1869, they were purchased by two brothers, the Sizer lots were sold for $1.25 per ACRE and each purchase a 80 acre lot in what is now downtown La Jolla. However it was Frank Terrill Bostford who first started auctioning off pieces of land in the area which earned him the title of "Father of La Jolla"
By 1900 it had 350 residents and by the end of the first world war there about 4000. At this time in history the basis of the economy for the area was tourism. The architecture slowly shifted its design from the initial cottage style to the Spanish mission style of construction.
In 1929 with the crash of the stock Market, the area was affected along with the rest of the country, not many houses were built in the 10 year period following the crash and it was until the second world war that the area had another growing spur, after the end of the war many people came back to call this area home and they began developing the adjacent hills into subdivisions. By 1960 17,000 people called La Jolla home and Today there are well over 40,000 residents.
Although la Jolla is most famous for its natural beauty and terrain, it is also well known for being the place where Charles Lindbergh learned to fly gliders, he flew from the top of Mt. Soledad. Today there are no gliders flying out of that area but there is a very well known glide port in the Torrey Pines area, just above the Scripps institute of oceanography, there you can watch this gliders take off almost every day.
Another well known attraction in La Jolla is the 7 caves at La Jolla Cove, only 1 of this caves is accessible from any point other than by sea, it is a destination for scuba divers and Kayaks which are very common in the area.
There is also the La Valencia Hotel which is a destination hotel visited by many stars back in the golden era of cinema and even today. It is located adjacent to the La Jolla Cove park and it has some of the most amazing vies any hotel has in the area.
La Jolla has also been the home for many famous artist, writers, even a Nobel Laureate and many sport and movie stars. But one of the most famous residents would be Theodore Geisel also known as Dr. Seuss. Today you can still walk down prospect street with its many galleries and stores and find many of his paintings and artwork for sale in the area.
Today, the citizens of La Jolla are among the most engaged in the world of charity, it is a society that is constantly supporting all kinds of causes and it has become a standard of living to be involved with at least one cause if not several. From the Rady Family who a couple of years ago gave a sizable gift to the San Diego Children's Hospital having it re-named Rady Children's Hospital to the Jacobs family who are known as one of the most philanthropic families and big patrons of the art who donated 100 million dollars to the San Diego Philharmonic Orchestra.
La Jolla's zip code is 92037 and it has consistently remained on the lists of most expensive zip codes in the country. Today there are 427 properties listed for sale out of which 259 are detached homes. There are 83 properties in pending Status and there have been 50 properties sold in the last 30 days. The average sale price today is $866.06 per square feet and 120 days is the average days that a property takes to sell.
If you have any quetsions regarding this area or any other areas in San Diego please contact me
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Monday, October 12, 2009
History of Carmel Valley, San Diego
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.
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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Do we have a Sellers Market in San Diego?
If you have been following my blog you will probably remember that the mark to differentiate between a buyers and a sellers market is the months of inventory available for sale at a given time frame. Any market that has 6 months worth of inventory or above is considered to be a "Hot" market or a "sellers" market.
This morning I checked 21 different zip codes in the area and found that 12 out of those 21 had an inventory that was under the 6 month mark and only 4 had an inventory above the 10 month mark.
The other interesting factor that came to be apparent in this mornings research was that many of these areas with low inventories had sold for an average of 100 percent of asking price or more. Another clear sign of a Hot Market that we had not seen in a long time.
Among the areas with the lowest inventory rates are the following zip codes:
Zip Code Inventory
91010 3.83
91913 3.57
92010 2.9
92122 3.8
Two of this zip codes belong to Chula Vista, one more to Carlsbad and the last one is in University City.
It is not surprising that most of the areas with the hottest markets at this point are also the areas that had the highest drop in prices and the highest number in foreclosures and short sales in the county.
Now looking at the zip codes that currently have the highest inventory we see:
ZIP CODE INVENTORY
92014 9.35
92075 11.45
92037 12.4
92101 9.73
92067 33.4
Most of this areas are coastal areas or very expensive zip codes with multi million dollar homes that have an average selling price of around $400 to $500 dollars per square foot. This are homes that would require jumbo loans if someone wanted to purchase a home with a 20 or 30% down payment.
The one exception to this last statement would be the 92101 zip code that belongs to the Downtown San Diego region. The situation with downtown is different because of the recent overflow of new projects that have been built in the last few years, that include many high rises and multi unit condos that have inundated the market in that particular area.
So as a conclusion from this morning look at the Real Estate market latest numbers I must say that at least for now the market HAS shifted into a hot market in the low to mid range priced areas and is staying cool at the upper priced regions.
The question still remains what is driving this market upswing? many believe it is the first time home buyers fueled by the tax credit incentive that is about to go away. together with the low mortgage rates and investors jumping in to buy well priced properties at bottom prices.
I hope you find this information helpful and if you are interested in getting any more specific details regarding the data that was used for this Blog, please feel free to contact me.
rina@my858realtor.com
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Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Has buying foreclosures become a speed sport?
What I mean by that is that there are many people already out there trying to do just that, they are making offers and trying to buy these properties. You have individuals looking to buy their personal residence, small investors looking at one to four properties and you also have major investors looking to buy in bulk or at the very least very large quantities of bank owned properties also called REO's.
There are in fact so many people trying to buy them, that when you put it together with some of President Obama foreclosure prevention efforts, particularly the foreclosure moratorium, the outcome has been that it brought the inventory of homes in the $300,000 range which is the average REO listing price way down, according to the California Association of Realtors it went from a 10 month inventory to a 3.5 month inventory in one year. Nationally REO's went down 26% from June of 2008 to June of 2009.
Some areas like Sacramento which was one of the hardest hit areas by foreclosure's are even down to a 30 day inventory or less.
So, how is this translating into the actual buying process? Well,people who are looking to buy these homes basically are getting just one shot at making and offer, they have to offer what has been now called their "highest and best" gone are the days of negotiating, starting low and getting a counter offer. If you have been writing offers and trying to buy a property for the last 6 months, by now you know that if you see a good one you act on it quickly, you come in at asking price or over asking price and when you are looking you better be ready to move fast or it won't be there by the time you are ready, this means having your financing in place, pre-approval and proof of funds as well as down payment all ready to go.
When you look at what has been happening it is very interesting to see that some of the properties in this up to $500,000 price range come into the market and go into pending sometimes less that 2 hrs later. Before banks were leaving properties on the market for 3-4 months before accepting an offer, however some banks finally figured that it was costing them too much in HOA's, taxes and other fees so they are moving them very quickly.
The other reason some people have mentioned as to why are trying to get this properties out of their books quickly is because they are concerned of a new wave of foreclosures inundating the market sometime next fall.
One of the ways that they had managed to lower the number of foreclosures was by trying to do loan modifications with some of the homeowners, I have to say that from what I have seen not many of these have worked out, most people have gone to the next option which is attempting a "Short Sale". From the ones that were modified, it has been reported that 53% of them have fallen back into arrears, making Loan Modifications only a temporary extension of the problem but not a solution, and one of the reason for that concern regarding a new wave of foreclosures.
Short Sales and Loan modifications are 2 other subjects that I would like to address on a later post, there is a lot to be said about them as well.
But in closing, The market for REO's at the price point we have been addressing here is a hot market and the more information you have and the faster you can make an educated offer, the greater the chances of your success in acquiring one of these homes. You will be in a much better position if you have an experienced team and a clear strategy.
If you want any information or need any help getting started just contact us and we will be happy to help
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Getting Ready to Sell your Home
I would start with the 3 D's and move on from there. Here is a list:
- Disassociate:
As hard as it may seem it is very important to shift your thinking to this no longer being your home, if everything goes right it will very soon be someone Else's and the sooner you come to grips with that reality the smother the whole process will go. This first step will allow you to move on to the next one with much more ease and understanding. Rather than fighting the process you will be ready to embrace it and move ahead.
- De-personalize
If you take away most of the things that are very personal it will allow the visiting buyers to visualize themselves living there. If you have a room full of your fishing trophies it might bring you great pride and joy but it will not speak kindly to everyone visiting the house. It is surprising how many people can not see past what is there right now. In a moment of uncertainty such as we are living, many buyers will not move forward on a house unless they really fall in love with it and can see themselves living in it for a long time if needed.
You can leave some personal items and a few pictures here and there but the picture wall with 360 pictures that include your cousins prom picture, your nieces who are 21, first grade picture etc, that wall needs to be freed, pictures taken off and most likely will need a fresh coat of paint.
- De-clutter
I can not stress enough the importance of this one step.
I understand you are still living in the house and need to have your things with you, but if there are things everywhere, the message will be, this house is to small and It does not fit anything!
Also many people do not deal well chaos and it will make them feel uncomfortable just to be in a cluttered home, they might like the house but will leave with a feeling of not being comfortable there. You want people to come in and stay a while, the longer a prospective buyer stays in a home they are viewing, the greater the interest, you want them to come in, sit down in the living room, they are picturing their life in the home.
De-cluttering means, taking out a lot of the things you keep in the closets and kitchen cabinets as well, people will open them and try to see if there is enough space or if they seem crammed.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to rent a storage unit and start packing, you are going to have to do this eventually in order to move anyway, why not do it now and have the house show better, bigger more orderly. Kids can use less toys for a little while, winter clothes does not need to be in the house if it is 82 degrees outside, you get the idea.
- Make Repairs
If the front door does not open easily and it will take the agent accompanying the buyer 3 min to unjam it...FIX it! Otherwise people are stepping into the home with the notion that this house will need repairs right away and that it has not been properly maintained so there will be things that are not visible that will be in need of repairs soon.
There are many little things that have been bothering you but you just think they are not that big of a deal...they are if you don't fix them, they are not that big of a deal to solve so just go ahead and take care of them before people start coming to see the home.
Like with everything, you only have ONE chance to make a first impression, if a buyer comes in and sees many little things that need fixing they will probably move on to the next house OR reflect it on the offer they make, not the cost of repair only but the cost and the fact that they are willing to go through the hasle of fixing it. Even worse will be that the realtor taking this client who did not want to make an offer will remember the fact that the house had many issues to fix and will think twice before showing it to any other clients.
- Experience it for the first time
Try looking at your home with fresh eyes, start from the outside and go through it as if you were thinking of buying it. From the curb appeal and landscaping to the layout of each room. Curb appeal IS very important. I have had clients that will tell me the don't want to go inside of a home just based on what they see from the outside or sometimes I have seen clients fall in love with a home even before going in.
Can you change anything to make it more appealing even if it is less functional for you fir a short time? Maybe send some of the furniture to storage as well?
- Go the extra step but not too far
Sometimes with the best of intentions people re-do the house and go all out painting it and staging it before putting it on the market. That is GREAT, i believe in well done staging, but be careful that you are not going too far and making it a very particular style or use colors that will not go with most peoples taste and style. You would be limiting market and in some cases I have seen people de-clutter their home only to fill it back up with "staging" props.
- Price it right
You can do all of the above and still not get any offers if the price is not chosen correctly, actually you might go through all the trouble only to find yourself with very little to no showings at all!
This is where a very good , Honest realtor makes a big difference. You should talk to a couple of realtor's before choosing one but be very careful that you don't go with one because he promised you to get you more money for your home or because he quoted your home as being worth more.
The best one is the one that is willing to loose the listing for telling it like it is. Besides which one do you think will sell your home sooner? It is proven that the biggest chance you have to sell your home for a better price is within the first 45 days of the house entering the market, if you overprice it at the beginning you just lost that window because you will have less showings and will be seen as unmotivated and unrealistic to sell.
- Be Flexible
Be as flexible as possible with the showings. If you don't make it easy on people to see the home they will not make offers on it.
- Don't take it Personal
People have different tastes for everything, homes are no different. Some will like your home some wont.
And when it comes to low offers do not take offense, look at it, answer it and let it go. Now if you keep getting all this low offers it is time to re-asses your price, maybe the offers are not low but it is your expectations of price and your take on the market that is too high. Go back and look at the recent numbers in your specific area and take into account all factors affecting your home.
Ultimately the "Market" is the real determinant of value.
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HAPPY MOVING!!!
