A local San Diego brokerage, ARG has announced they are the first broker in San Diego to pull out of listing syndication.

I am not going to go into great detail on this site which is consumer orientated.  If you want to know more please visit an excellent article by Lily Leung with the San Diego Union Tribune.  She has also posted some consumer reaction to the announcement here.

Fred Glick makes several important points in the video below about ARG’s announcement which focus on Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com.

First, that the underlying message is to call the listing agent, no one else will know more about the property or represent you better.  Sounds like dual agency to me.

Second, that the seller should be concerned and not allow his or her listing to be syndicated on Zillow Trulia, or Realtor.com, the three largest consumer real estate sites on the Internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMQm3ZvVRl4

What are your thoughts?

For our regular readers of San Diego Lifestyle my apologies for my long absence.  I’ve been busy with a few major projects and it has kept me from my regular blogging schedule.

We’ve made a few changes to San Diego Lifestyle including a brand new Diverse Solutions Home Search solution.

I’ve reviewed all the major IDX systems and Diverse is by far the fastest, easiest to use, and powerful consumer home search platform out there available to real estate companies.  For those that don’t follow industry news Diverse Solutions was just purchased by Zillow and I’m confident that it will continue to be a market leader in home searches.  Our older WordPress based search will be phased out over the next month or so.

We don’t required you to login to search or use the system, but the advantage of you doing so is the ability to save your favorites for easy retrieval, make notes, and access both of your desktop, laptop, or mobile device.  The mobile experience on a iPad or tablet is the best I have seen.  Rest assured that if you sign up we will not spam you or add you to any mailings without your permission.  You can however request a showing from within the program and one of our Associates will get right back to as soon as possible.

Secondly, San Diego Lifestyle is the now the public face of RealtyV2 with the addition of our Associates.  I will continue to write general real estate and San Diego information but my focus is not on active selling as much as management and projects.  However, I will always continue to represent past Clients to keep up with the latest changes in the marketplace.

I appreciate all your feedback and comments and look forward to another interesting year in Real Estate.  If you have the money and a good job there are some amazing opportunities in the marketplace with unheard of interest rates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q3uJSKBFG8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4uNu7EicIQ

I thought this was really interesting that the San Diego Bay western salt ponds after 50 years, are being opened up to the Bay and tidal fluctuations.  This is the part of the final phase of the restoration project pictured to the left.  Here is what the U. S. Fish and Wildlife had to say regarding the project:

As you travel along the southwestern most corner of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge, along the Bayshore Bikeway, you will see all the activity happening on the Western Salt Pond Restoration Project! Since construction began in December 2010, the dramatic change from commercial salt ponds to restored wetlands is taking place within the three western-most ponds (Ponds 10a, 10, and 11). What is going on under the water surface will soon be visible as we begin creating rare salt marsh wetland habitat.

The restoration of critical wetland habitat in San Diego Bay is essential to fish and wildlife and to the long-term health of the bay.

The western salt ponds will be transformed into open water, intertidal habitats such as mudflats, low-marsh, and mid-marsh (above). The construction will consist of earth moving by dredge, from Pond 10 into Pond 11 to create a sinuous network of channels that will serve as the main sloughs of over 200 acres of estuary in south San Diego Bay.

Once the channels are cut, and the proper elevations are achieved, the existing levees separating these ponds from the tidal waters of the bay will be breached in two places! These ponds have not received tidal bay influence since 1960 or earlier. By the end of Summer 2011, tidal ifluence from the San Diego Bay will flow and fluctuate within these ponds, which will allow natural plant propogation to take hold. Just wait to see what wildlife will come!

It is a challenging, yet exciting and rewarding project. It is the hope of all the project partners and local residents of San Diego that when completed, this project will restore native ecosystem functions of lower tidal marsh habitat…and to the rest of the South Bay. It is also the hope that in the future, this habitat will attract a keystone endangered species to thrive here: the Light-footed clapper rail.

Read more ….

Little boxes on the hillside,

Little boxes made of ticky tacky,

Little boxes on the hillside,

Little boxes all the same.

There’s a green one and a pink one

And a blue one and a yellow one,

And they’re all made out of ticky tacky

And they all look just the same.

- Malvina Reynolds

The latest Case-Shiller report was out yesterday and you can view or download it below.  For those in a hurry here is a headline for you…

San Diego Real Estate Down 5.3% From Last Year!

In America we seem to be addicted to statistics and percentages.  Headlines proclaim “prices crash” when the adjustment is .2%. Many don’t really want the facts, just a quick soundbite which they consider factual rather than sensationalism.

Looking at the report closer we can see that the San Diego Market went down .2% from the pervious report, while the national average was -4.1%.

At San Diego LIfestyle we prefer to look at the facts from multiple data sources rather than a headline.  We drill down to street level for our Clients to find out the real story.

General market conditions can be found with national reports, slightly better with country reports, and the best with communities.  To find out the real story in a particular market you’ll need to analyze and find the best comparables.

I call this what your neighbors have been up to – recent sales will establish future value trends.

It is important to remember that while real estate can be considered a commodity, each property is unique.  The price of a can of chocolate can go up and down and the statistics really mean something.

Even in communities of little boxes that all look the same, some will be more desirable, and some less depending on location, closeness to shopping, or located on a 12 lane freeway.  Yet they are all thrown into the mix and averaged out with a catchy headline to sum it all up.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

I often have people ask me if there is money to be made in flipping homes?

House flipping is the practice of buying a bank owned home from auction or a distressed property on the market, fixing it up, and selling it for a profit.  In the last year we have seen many of ameuter investors on the Courthouse steps, often driving prices up and leaving little to no room for profit on a flip.

This is really a serious business.  Risks include title issues, unknown property defects including structural, mold, or foundation issues, and an unstable real estate market.  According to Foreclosure Radar margins in San Diego County can be thin.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, Lily Leung wrote an excellent article on Sign On San Diego titled “Is There Money To Be Made In Home Flips?”

Investors who work in teams scout for bargains, close quickly with cash, gut and beautify, and market the homes to agents — all while the timer’s ticking. If everything goes right, their money and muscle will yield enough profit to keep that machine churning.

“It’s not for the weak of heart,” said Chief Denney, a Rancho Santa Fe investor whose company Compass Real Estate Capital will flip 100 homes this year. “It looks easy … but it could be disastrous for someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.”

Read more…

 

There is another article on House Flipping For Beginners on SF Gate.  The article includes 8 steps for those considering house flipping.

The term “house flipping” refers to the act of purchasing a residential property, making necessary renovations and quickly selling the property for a profit. The idea is to invest in relatively inexpensive improvements that will generate a significant increase in potential market value. Time is an important element in house flipping. Ideally, a house flipper seeks to sell the home before a mortgage payment is due, in order to minimize monetary investment and maximize profit.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cgb-BCh-4g

Been changing a few things, hopefully for the better, on San Diego Lifestyle.  They include:

• Link to Google Chat from website - unfortunately only Flash.
• Cleaned up menu making it easier to find your way around.
• Additional ways to contact me including voice, text, chat, and Skype.
• Finally updated my photograph so people don’t look so surprised when they meet me in real life.