Archive for June, 2008
Has it REALLY come to this?
June 30th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
SAN DIEGO– I do not think it I am shedding light on anything new by telling 
you that home sellers are taking their lumps right now.
We’ve seen reports of the home seller throwing in the Maserati, motorcycle, vacation, etc. I wrote about a local developer that was doing a ‘buy one get one free’ promotion, but one women in Florida seems the most desperate of them all. How about, buy her home and HER affection at the same time?
Deven Trabosh, a divorced mother of two daughters from Florida has listed her home for sale. The price, $340,000. For an additional $500,000 you can also purchase this vanguard of family values who insists she is just looking for someone to love her. 
Ideally, Trabosh hopes a European man will close the deal and says she’s willing to move overseas.(Did I mention she has two daughters?)
“I know I’m putting myself out there. I’m sincere. I believe in true love,” she says. “I want to get married again.”-Yahoo.com
Just in case you are thinking about looking in to the purchase, here are two things you need to know. First, her ‘love’ can not be financed as it is personal property and secondly,here is a starter on prenuptial agreements
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Is it time to convert to solar water heaters?
June 28th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, What to do in San Diego
SAN DIEGO– While in Oregon for a family vacation and to do the Pacific Crest triathlon, I caught a glimpse of an article in the local paper about Hawaii passing a bill mandating solar water heaters on all new home construction.
I have been very tempted to go solar with both our hot water and electrical needs. There is a neighborhood near mine, The Summit, where it seems as though half the homes have solar hot water heaters. I feel guilty everytime I drive by. Living in San Diego county, we surely get our share of sunshine!!
So, the biggest concern I have is cost. I know that there is $1500 rebate offered which should bring down my cost to about $2500. Additionally there are tax credits also, but I can not find a good reliable number on this.
Now, according to FINDSOLAR.com, at the cost of $2500 I should be able to break even in about 3 years from my energy savings and the tax credit. The bug benefit though is in the process, I would save 33 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere. Seems like a no brainer.
Once home I am going to use the FINDSOLAR.com site to start the process of finding a contractor and verifying this information. Stay tuned.
If you have experience with converting your home to solar could you please send a comment. Thank you.
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The shortsightedness of California offshore oil drilling
June 19th, 2008 Categories: San Diego County Community News, What to do in San Diego
“We are in this situation because of our dependence on traditional petroleum based oil”– Govenor Schwarenegger, North County Times,6/19/2008
SAN DIEGO–The best thing to come out of the rapid rise in cost of crude oil prices is the increased focus it has cast on alternative energy. But now, President Bush is trying to turn California offshore oil drilling in to a solution to the current situation. What I appreciate about our Govenor is his strength of resolve to call himself a Republican, yet not tow the party line when he knows it is bad for California.
Offshore, California is reported to sit on a reserve of approximately 11 billion barrels of oil. According to a 2005 report from the California Energy Commission California’s current oil production reached its peak of 72 million barrels 
1995. Now with new technology it should be safe to assume that production could be increased from this number, but we’ll stick with the 72 million figure. Using this number it would take less than 16 years to pump all of the reserve.
Now, let’s pretend we will be opening this NEW supply as well as areas of the Atlantic and the Gulf Coast region not in production to help our current crisis. When could we expect these regions to come online and what would be the impact?
According, to a 2007 report by the Energy Information Administration using official US government data, we should not expect these resources to come online until sometime around the year 2017 and the impact of these new resource through 2030 would be ‘insignificant’ with only an increase of production near 7%.
The cost of offshore drilling in California
Local congressional Representative Darrell Issa(Vista) has weighed in as, in favor of opening the coast to drilling. His reasoning according to todays North County Times is twofold. 
First he feels we are “running out of options” and, there is a “greater likelihood of spills from ships than from platforms” that are now needed to bring oil into California. While the first comment made from the congressman shows either his ignorance to the importance of developing new energy alternatives or his desire to tow the party line, the second comment is not based on fact.
Californian, in 2005 burned 44 million gallons of gas and 10 million gallons of diesel EVERYDAY. Our oil consumption is so great that in 2005 we could only produce 37% of the oil needs of the state. The only way to turn back those ships Congressman Issa is so worried about is to stop using so much oil. In order to do this we need to invest in alternative energy strategy and look at new ways of developing biodegradable non petroleum based ‘plastics’.
Besides the occasional oil spill, which we are all keenly aware of, a not so apparent impact on the coastal environment would be the removal of the old offshore oil platforms themselves.
They have already started to decommission old oil platforms and many more will be running dry. There are a couple schools of thought going and a state assembly bill about this problem.
The oil companies would prefer to remove the above sea structure while leaving the submerged legs in place. This process is termed ‘rigs to reefs’. The idea being that these legs become artificial reefs. In fact in 1996, 2,700 tons of mussels, scallops sponges and other sea creatures were left 
rotting on the docks in Long Beach when Chevron removed four platforms off Carpinteria. This tactic could save the oil companies approximately 600 million dollars. But this is not just favorable to the oil companies. The blasting necessary and other heavy work required to remove these legs from the sea floor would be very detrimental to sea life.
It seems the environmentalist most opposed to this have teamed up with an adversary, the fishing industry. See the fishing industry is opposed to this solution as it would prevent from using trawlers to fish for fear of snagging their nets. This method of fishing in and of itself is not environmentally friendly.
The beginning of the end.
Ultimately, there seems to be nothing substantial or positive gained from opening offshore oil reserves to drilling. Instead of having the government 
and energy companies investing hundreds of millions to extract this finite energy source many years down the road, our citizens deserve this money to be used in developing alternative energy sources and other alternatives to petroleum based products that will produce long term benefits. More is learned in the time of crisis than during periods of abundance. That is when complacency sets in.
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Local triathlete JP Theberge wins World Championship Gold
June 15th, 2008 Categories: Aquathlon and Duathlon Race Reports, Real Estate News, San Diego County Triathlon Race Reports, San Diego county Real Estate News, Triathlon Club of San Diego Race Reports
SAN DIEGO– Former triathlon club of San Diego member, CAF athlete and 
Carlsbad resident J.P. Theberge won the Gold medal for Team USA at the Vancouver Triathlon World Championships competing in the Athletes with a disability division. JP had his right leg amputated in 1997 following a motorcycle accident in San Francisco.
With the conditions on race day being downright ugly, the triathlon was turned into a 3k-40k-10k duathlon and it took JP into the second run to catch and pass eventual second place finisher Martin Falch of Austria.
Once in front, JP had an auditory advantage over Martin.
“The Austrian had a prosthesis that made some sort of hissing noise, so I could hear him behind me,” Theberge said. “I knew I had to keep up my intensity to keep that noise from gaining on me. He had beaten me twice before so I was motivated, especially since my wife and kids were watching and my in-laws flew in to spectate.”-North County Times, 6/15/2008,Rick Hoff
Rounding out the top three was another American, former New York police officer Tommy Koehler.
If you see a handsomely tan 6’0 man running down the coast highway betweenLeuacadia and Carlsbad, chances are that’s JP. Give him a shout and a wave he’s earned it!! Congratulations JP!!!
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San Diego’s MLS train wreck
June 11th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News
SAN DIEGO– San Diego’s exclusive MLS provider switch from the TEMPO 3 system to the new TEMPO 5 system two weeks ago. This switch has caused not only heartache and headache for REALTORs, it has impacted our businesses by destroying the number one connection I have with you, my client. If I can not provide you with current and accurate listings and data in a timely manner, what service am I left to provide?
There has been a ton of discussion amongst my peers about this, but Kris Berg, a fellow Prudential agent has authored a blog post that is a great beginning of what is happening county wide. I know that anything I tried to pen would not measure up, so she has graciously given me permission to repost it here in it’s entirety. Thank you Kris.
Be Kind to a REALTOR week
Have you noticed your agent behaving strangely? Maybe he has been a little testy, a tad grumpier than usual. Perhaps she walked through the walk-through with glazed eyes and a look of befuddlement, not really seeming into the whole discussion of how to operate the irrigation timers. Or, it could have been the odd encounter at the open house that tipped you off, an open house lacking cookies, a guest register or, most curiously, that coveted “free list of homes.”
If you have never before felt compelled to be kind to a Realtor, I beg you to dig deep this week. Muster all of the compassion you can. Your Neighborhood Specialist has been Tempo-ed.
Last Wednesday, the curtains came down on our local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) software. May 28, 2008 will be date forever etched in the memories of San Diego agents as the day the music died. Tempo 3 was killed dead and, in its place, Tempo 5 was born.
“What happened to Tempo 4?” you ask. I am wondering the same thing; the missing link is probably the software that actually worked. At a time when agents everywhere are otherwise indisposed, distracted with thoughts of just how they will eat in July and generally working three-to-the-ninth-power times harder for a fraction of yesterday’s paycheck, our Board of Realtors decided it was time to better serve us.
Now, this isn’t about agents being disinclined to embrace change. Every new lunar cycle brings a new statute, a new form and a new lockbox vendor, the latter requiring tens of thousands of soldiers defending the American Dream to converge at some random convention hall to take advantage of the limited time trade-ins. With each conversion comes a few weeks of confusion, but we have always managed to survive. That was then. Tempo 5 is Armageddon.
Here is my own analysis of what is wrong with our new Tempo 5 MLS software: It doesn’t work.
The gory details follow:
- First we will assume that your computer runs on Internet Explorer, because Tempo 5 only runs on Internet Explorer. Before you can safely enter the system for the first time, you need to change your screen settings, download ActiveX controls from a site that cannot be accessed, a site that perpetually returns a “404 Error - Site not found” message, adjust your Internet security settings, enable pop-ups, and add a total of four sites to your “trusted sites.” This doesn’t seem insurmountable until you consider that the average agent can’t back out of their driveway without a Thomas Guide.
- The old system required each agent to log in with a special password, one that was updated each month for security purposes. It seems that some bad apples were sharing their special passwords, however, so a new, safer system was clearly needed to ensure that only licensed, dues paying, authorized users can gain access to the proprietary data — You know, the data that you can find on Zillow or Trulia or Redfin or Realtor.com or… So, now we have a little key fob. Logging in requires a Member Number, a Password and a randomly generated Access Code obtained by punching the button on your key fob thingy. Where is this key fob? In my case last week, it was in my purse on the Louisiana Swamp Tour, while Steve was in San Diego needing to input a listing.
- The new software is as intuitive as the Bush administration. For a profession where the barriers to entry include a number two pencil and an opposable thumb, we have a software system seemingly developed by a rabid badger holding a Doctorate in quantum physics and a grudge.
- We need a bicycle, but the Board delivered a space shuttle — one with defective O-Rings. Search result screens without scroll bars, even the blank “white screen” variety which Steve has been enjoying of late, were initially an irritant, but are actually becoming welcome sights. It beats the heck out of “Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and must close,” which is the screen I have most often enjoyed. If one is lucky enough to keep their connection for any measurable length of time (say, a nanosecond), they are confronted with load speeds roughly equivalent to the gestation period of the African Elephant.
- We can make this easy, or we can make this hard. We made it hard. To input a new listing requires 125 distinct inputs. The basic search screen offers thirty different search fields, and the advanced search page is the page where only the bravest dare go. While I am spending my month of June trying to get a new listing entered or narrow down the active listings to just the homes with an upstairs laundry closet with gas hook-ups and a community pool but homeowner’s fees less than $72.95 a month, every would-be buyer west of the Mason-Dixon is out signing a contract on a home they found on Craigslist.
I have only scratched the surface of the Realtor’s anguish this week, but hopefully it is enough to inspire you to be kind to your agent. Run, don’t walk, to Hallmark. Offer your sympathy and your support. Your Top Producer is going through difficult times. And, whatever you do, don’t ask us about homes currently on the market. We have no clue.
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San Diego looking for drought solutions
June 5th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, San Diego county Real Estate News
SAN DIEGO– “Cutbacks panic landscapers; sales at nurseries dive As dead lawns and fallow fields replace yellow ribbons as a sign of patriotism in this parched state, local nurseries and growers are bewailing the departure of more than one kind of green. Sales to area landscapers are down to “basically nothing,” at one major wholesale nursery, a trend repeated at other outlets.”-San Diego Business Journal, March 1991, Bradley Filkes
So goes the opening of an article in the San Diego Business Journal in their March 1991 member paper. The yellow ribbons were from the Desert Storm under the first President Bush and we were in a drought. Funny thing history.
But not too worry as a solution was found in 2003!!!
“Despite the recently signed Colorado River water transfer deal that would guarantee San Diego County enough water for the next 75 years, city and county water officials, landscape architects, grounds superintendents, 
property managers, builders, business owners, and even entrepreneurs are getting more involved in water conservation.” -San Diego Business Journal 10/27/2003.
Oh really?!!!
On Wednesday Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger formally declared a statewide drought and while rationing has not yet begun, it does look large. 
Currently Carlsbad is in the process of building a desalinization plant on the site of the Encinas power plant and I believe this is an excellent idea. The problem is, we can not just continue to farm new sources of water, we need to be more resourceful with the water already in service.
Many communities have already started using reclaimed water for irrigation and in fact can produce more than they are currently able to distribute. The problems currently holding back this resource are financial. With the current stresses facing municipal budgets it may be a while before they can 
get the infrastructure in place to better distribute this water. Additionally, another source of funding for these improvements, development, is out the window right now and growth, well that is just an add stress on the fresh water supply.
This brings to toilet to tap as I have written about before. Yes I know, public perception is against this, but I will be the first in line to take a nice big drink. I trust the technology.
Lastly, the City of San Diego has a conservation website on ways to help save 20 gallons a day, the 20Gallon Challenge. Additionally they are 
offering incentives on everything from toilets to artificial turf.
Much like how $4+ gallon gas has boosted scooter sales, been the death nail of the SUV and slowed cars down on the freeway to increase fuel mileage, what is it going to take to change our attitudes about our water supply?
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San Diego Habitat For Humanity homeownership opportunites
June 4th, 2008 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, San Diego County Fixer of the Week
SAN DIEGO– Habitat for Humanity San Diego started off this week in coastal north county with a building blitz on their 20 home Oceanside project near Libby Lake. The plan is to build four homes this week and then construct the other 16 over the next year and a half. If you would like more information about this project please go here.
Currently, Habitat for Humanity has two other projects slated for San Diego county. In east county, Habitat for Humanity, along with the Jimmy Johnson Foundation, will be building four single family homes in El Cajon. The groundbreaking for these homes is scheduled for the end of June.
In the Carlsbad village Habitat for Humanity will be doing a condo project 
built on the site of this condemned home and will be named Roosevelt Gardens. The project is an 11 unit condo complex consisting of of eight 674 square foot one-bedroom units and three 894 square feet two-bedrooms and is pictured above. You can go here to the Habitat for Humanity site for all the information.
This is a great opportunity for the individual or family that meets the purchase criteria. A 30 year 0% loan!?! OUTSTANDING!!!
UPDATE: July 1st Habitat for Humanity will be holding and orientation reagrding the Carlsbad project. Go to the website for all the information
UPDATE 2: Construction will be starting the first week of October and there still are units available.
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San Diego county animal shelters holding a ’sale’
June 2nd, 2008 Categories: San Diego County Community News
CARLSBAD– Have I told you I love my dog? I think I have.
Now through the August 30th, the San Diego County animal shelters will be waiving fees on some pet adoptions. This promotions waives the adoption fees for cats older than 6 months and dogs older than 5 years. Additionally, any cat or dog that has been at the shelter for more than 30 days will have the adoptions fees waived.
While a dog or cat, especially dogs :-), can bring so much love and enjoyment in to your life, they can also bring plenty of frustration and 
expense. Before you adopt, PLEASE research breeds, learn everything you can about how to identify potential problems when adopting, make sure your lifestyle is conducive to adding a long term commitment to your pet and lastly, remember that your pet will need food, toys, routine medical and dental care and also possible emergency care. Here is a nice article to get you started, but the internet is full of information, so Google away!!
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