Buying a Home in San Diego

Here are the newly listed Del Mar real estate listings for February 15th, 2010:

There is a 1-bedroom/1-bathroom condo listed for sale for $169,000.

There is a 3-bedroom/3-bathroom detached home listed for sale for $1,395,000.

There is a 5-bedroom/6-bathroom detached home listed for sale for $2,649,000.

Eleven Rancho Santa Fe real estate listings closed in January 2010 per the Sandicor MLS. All of the eleven were detached homes, ranging in price from $1,225,000 to $7,800,000. The highest sale price per square foot was $604.67/sf, and the lowest was $302.48/sf.

• One of the homes sold for $1,395,000 less than the list price.
• All eleven sellers/listing agents offered a commission to the buyer's agent.
• Nine of the eleven transactions had both parties represented by a different agent (a seller's agent and a buyer's agent).
• Two of the transactions were transactions in which dual agency possibly occurred (which means the seller's agent possibly also represented the buyer). Actually, all we know from Sandicor is that the listing agent is also listed as the buyer's agent. Whether or not the real estate agent acted as a dual agent or only as an agent for the seller isn't disclosed.
• Eight of the eleven closed Rancho Santa Fe real estate listings were located in a neighborhood called Covenant (or The Covenant).
• Two were in Fairbanks Ranch. One was in Del Ray Estates.
• The largest lot was larger than than 4 acres.
• The smallest lot was possibly as small as 0.25 acre.

What's currently for sale in Rancho Santa Fe?

• There are currently 217 Rancho Santa Fe real estate listings for sale in the 92067 zip code.
• These 217 listings range in price from $795,000 to $29,900,000.
• 214 of the 217 Rancho Santa Fe real estate listings are detached homes.
• Eight of the 217 listings are listed as short sales.
• Currently, there are 17 properties listed as "pending" in Sandicor, ranging in price from $845,000 to $7,995,000.
• There are also 12 listings marked as "contingent." Look for a future post from me that explains what "contingent" means in Sandicor terms.

Search for Rancho Santa Fe real estate listings on our website at globella.com.

All date reported in this post was taken from Sandicor on 2/4/2010.

Nine Coronado Island real estate listings closed in January 2010 per the Sandicor MLS. The sale prices ranged from $540,000 to $2,100,000. Sale price/square foot ranged from $462.50/sf to $1,627.02/sf.

• Six of the nine closed Coronado Island real estate listings were detached homes (the other three were condos.
• Six of the nine were transactions in which each side had it's own agent (a seller's agent and a buyer's agent).
• Three of the nine were possible dual agent scenarios. These three transactions had one brokerage representing both the buyer and the seller (interestingly enough, it was the same brokerage for all three transactions). Sandicor lists the selling brokerage and the buyer's brokerage as the same brokerage, but it is unclear whether the brokerage was working only for the seller or acting as a dual agent for both parties in the transaction.
• All nine of the listings advertised a commission to be paid by the seller (guaranteed by the listing agent) to the buyer's agent.
• The average time on market was 174 days, the longest was 290 days, and the shortest was 20 days.
• Two of the nine closed listings were listed as short sales.
• One listing sold for $195,000 less than the list price. Another sold for $18,000 more than the list price (one of the short sales).

What's currently for sale in regards to Coronado Island real estate?

• There are currently 178 Coronado Island real estate listings for sale.
• These 178 listings range in price from $399,000 to $24,000,000.
• Six are listed as townhomes, 63 as condos, and the rest as detached homes.
• The detached homes start at $544,800 for a 1/1 with 720 square feet.
• 18 listings are marked as "pending" in the MLS, and seven are marked as "contingent."

Search on our website for the current Coronado Island real estate for sale.

All data was supplied by Sandicor on 2/4/2010.

Last month (January 2010), seven Del Mar real estate listings sold through the Sandicor multiple listing service (MLS), ranging in price from $685,000 to $1,700,000 (all in the 92014 zip code). Two of the seven real estate listings that closed were listed as short sales. Another two were listed as bank-owned foreclosures. The remaining three were listed as normal (traditional) listings.

• Six of them were detached homes in Del Mar. One was a townhome.
• The two short sales sold for $685,000 and $802,000. Both were detached homes (built in 1971 and 1975).
• Six of the transactions had two agents involved (an agent representing the seller and an agent representing the buyer).
• One listing sold with the listing agent also representing the buyer (This is called dual agency). That one sold for higher than the list price and was over $1,000,000. It was on the market for only 11 days.
• The average time on market was 93 days. The longest was 187 days, and the shortest was 11 days.
• None of these Del Mar homes for sale were located right on the beach.

What's currently on the market in Del Mar?

• Currently (as of February 4th), there are 132 residential Del Mar real estate listings for sale in 92014, ranging in price from $195,000 to $61,000,000.
• There are 97 detached homes for sale in Del Mar, ranging in price from $775,000 to $61,000,000.
• There are 16 Del Mar townhomes for sale, ranging in price from $469,000 to $3,350,000.
• The rest are listed as "all other attached" (mostly Del Mar condos), ranging in price from $195,000 to $5,995,000.
• Only two of the 132 Del Mar properties for sale are listed as short sales.

What's in escrow?

• There are 20 properties currently listed as "pending" in the MLS, ranging in price from $349,000 to $5,395,000.
• There are also nine properties listed as "contingent." Contingent doesn't necessarily mean "in escrow." Stay tuned for a future post about the definition of "contingent" as a status field in the Sandicor MLS.

Del Mar is one of my favorite areas of San Diego, and the Del Mar real estate market certainly is an interesting market at the moment.

Search Del Mar real estate for sale on my company website.

All of the data presented above was reported from Sandicor on 2/4/2010.

The most expensive home sold in 2009, according to Sandicor MLS data from 1/21/10, was a home in La Jolla that sold for $18,150,000. The home was originally listed for $26,500,000 and was on the market for 219 days. The home has six bedrooms and 11 bathrooms and is 9,309 square feet in size. All of the information reported in this post is according to data from Sandicor. The home is located in an area of La Jolla called La Jolla Shores.

If you would like to view luxury listings for sale in La Jolla or other areas of San Diego County, visit the luxury listings page on my official website at http://luxury.globella.com.

If you are planning to buy a home in San Marcos, CA, be sure to put Mahogany on your list of must-see communities. Mahogany is a new home community being built by Brookfield homes. I have taken several clients there over the last year or so, and one of my clients ended up buying a Mahogany home just a few months ago. The location is in the foothills just outside of Carlsbad (outside of Carlsbad by about a 1/4 mile, I would guess). The homes range in size between about 2,400 and 3,800 square feet with 3-5 bedrooms, depending on which model you look at. For more information, go to Brookfield's website. Pricing starts in the high $500,000s.

If you do want to see the homes, be sure to take your agent with you. Every new home development I've worked with has a policy to only let you use your own agent to represent you if you bring your agent with you on the first visit to the community. In other words, in my experience builders are offering to pay your buyer agent for you (just like other sellers tend to do) as long as your agent is with you on your first visit. Otherwise, the builder forces you to use its own sales agent (an agent of the seller) and makes you pay for your own agent if you want to have representation during your purchase transaction. They watch their door closely, and have a sign-in sheet. There are only a couple of agents that work in the sales office, so they are able to recognize people that have been in there previously.

In my experience, buyers today want to be informed. They want a good deal, and they want to know that what they are buying is worth the price. Even if buyers end up buying a new home, they want to see other homes for sale in the area to make sure the price is right. Sometimes it makes more sense to buy a used home and fix it up. Other times you may find a used home that is in mint condition. I've never found a buyer who wanted to be represented by the seller's agent. I have met people, however, who didn't realize they were being represented by the seller's agent until after the transaction was over. That's crazy! An exclusive buyer agent's job is to represent you (the buyer) and your best interests at all times, so be sure to always take your agent with you when you go to see a new home community for the first time.

Photo courtesy of Mahogany at Old Creek Ranch by Brookfield Homes

When you are buying a home in San Diego, it's important to review market reports and statistics to know what's going on in the marketplace. I ran this report on 1/21/10. My report showed that 21 listings closed escrow in the last 90 days (according to information from Sandicor) in the Little Italy district of downtown San Diego. Prices ranged from $170,000 to $465,000. Some were bank-owned foreclosures, and others were short sales. Some properties sold for more than the list price and others sold for less. In the picture below you can review the report. Of course, we can run these reports for any area of San Diego, and this is part of what I do when reviewing the marketplace with my clients in our initial consultation (see my blog post about the Globella Buyer Strategy Session).

My report also showed that there are 45 active listings for sale in Little Italy. If 21 listings sold in the last three months, that's an average of seven per month. If we stay on that pace, it will take about six months to sell most of the current inventory. If you want to buy a condo downtown, you may come across many types of listings including bank-owned foreclosures and short sales. It is absolutely important that you hire an agent on your side of the transaction to help you navigate your way through this funky real estate market.

Click here to view current listings for sale in Little Italy and other areas of downtown San Diego.

Electra is a luxury condo building in downtown San Diego built in 2007. The building is 43 stories tall with 248 units. Many of the units have phenomenal views of downtown and the San Diego Bay. I recently (July 2009) helped a client purchase a 2-bedroom (plus a den) condo on the 42nd floor. I wish I could move in! The place was beautiful. The amenities at Electra, in my opinion, are top-rate. I also love the fact that they preserved a historical building at the base of the development (see the picture on the right).

As of 1/21/10 there are 13 units for sale in the building (active listings). Most are re-sale listings, but some are still being sold by the developer. List prices range from $349,000 at the low end (for a 1/1 on the fourth floor) to $1,795,000 on the high end (for a 2/2 with 1,707 square feet on the 31st floor). There is also a unit on the 43rd floor (the top floor) listed for $1,650,000.

Another interesting thing is that there are currently zero Electra listings listed in Sandicor (the San Diego MLS) as "contingent." Listings with the "contingent" status most often are short sale listings that have already accepted an offer but are waiting on bank approval (which may take several months or may never happen). Currently, there are six listings in escrow (marked as "pending" in Sandicor), and two listings have actually sold there in the last three months.  One 2/2 unit on the sixth floor sold for $557,000 in December, and another 2/2 unit on the seventh floor sold for $595,000 in November.

If you would like to view Electra listings for sale, go to my official website and visit the downtown page at http://downtown.globella.com.

Click here to view all downtown San Diego real estate listings.

Many of my clients have bought condos in downtown San Diego. It's one of my favorite areas of San Diego. My goal is to be a resource to San Diego home buyers, and I have put together a website for buyers like you who want to know what's for sale in downtown (and you don't have to register to see the listings). You can see below exactly how the site looks.

Click here to go directly to my downtown site to search for condos in specific condo buildings.

As you can see, I have set up this website with links for every building in downtown. When you click on any link, you are able to view the current active listings in that specific condo building. I organized the buildings into the different districts of downtown (East Village, Ballpark, Cortez Hill, Little Italy, Columbia, Marina, and Core). I also designed an interactive Google map at the bottom of the page with a pin for every condo development on the list.

If you are looking for a condo in Little Italy, you will be interested in seeing listings in condo buildings such as 350 West Ash, Acqua Vista, Aperture, Bella Via, Breeza, Columbia and Fir Lofts, Date Street Townhomes, and Doma. Other condo projects in Little Italy include Ecco Lofts, Finestra Lofts, Hawthorn Place, Kettner Rowhomes, La Vita, Lusso Lofts, Palermo, Porta d'Italia, Portico, Porto Siena, The State, The Waterfront, Victorian House, and Village Walk.

If the Marina District is more your style, you will be able to view listings in buildings such as 235 on Market, Atria, Brickyard, Cityfront Terrace, Citywalk, Columbia Place, Crown Bay, Harbor Club, Horizons, Island Lofts, Marina Park, Pacific Terrace, Park Place, Park Row, Renaissance, Pinnacle Museum Tower, and Watermark.

Would you like to search for condos in the East Villlage/Ballpark district of downtown? On my site you can view all the active listings in each condo development including: Alta, Angove Lofts, Diamond Terrace, Element, Fahrenheit, Jacaranda Studios, M2i, Metrome, Nexus, Park Boulevard East, Park Boulevard West, Parkloft, Park Terrace, Rowhomes on F, Smart Corner, The Legend, The Lofts at 777, The Mark, Union Square, and Vantage Pointe.

Maybe you are more interested in the Columbia District? We have all of those buildings, too! In you the Columbia District section you will find listings for buildings such as Bayside, Electra, Sapphire Tower, Seven on Kettner, The Grande, and Treo.

The Gaslamp District has residences like Gaslamp City Square, Meridian, and Trellis.

Cortez Hill has condo buildings like Aloft, Aria, Beech Tower, Citymark at Cortez Hill, Cortez Blu, Discovery, El Cortez, Park at 10th, Parkview, and Solara Lofts.

Anyways, by now you should get the point. I've organized all the condo buildings in downtown into an easy-to-use search page. This way you can always see what's listed in any condo building in downtown San Diego at any time!

If you'd rather search on your own you can always use our search function at http://listings.globella.com.

I hope you enjoy looking at the listings. Remember, the internet is a great tool, but it doesn't take the place of a good real estate agent. I will be here whenever you are ready, and you can always know that as long as you hire a Globella agent you will always be hiring an exclusive buyer agent, and you will always have a company and an agent who works only on your side of the transaction - the BUYER'S SIDE.