Archive for February, 2010
Where did all San Diego’s great bike rides go?
February 26th, 2010 Categories: Real Estate News
SAN DIEGO- Imagine the idea of San Diego with an additional 390,000 new homes and 1.2 million more people. That is the forecast of the new 40 year study that will be presented to the San 
Diego county planning board today.
What is funny with this type of study is that it does not address one crucial element to our survival, and that is water. If the county really is really going to grow remotely close to these numbers you can count on more desalinization plants to be starting with the Carlsbad desal plant. We are losing water share from the Colorado river and the water from the delta and rivers is being closely watched and regulated with regard to its impact on wildlife. The Delta Smelt my do to farming in the California what the Northern Spotted Owl did to logging in Oregon.
“We can imagine densifying housing, but what about the impact it has on roads and libraries and hospitals?” said urban studies professor Keith Pezzoli of the University of California San Diego. “And cities are in a state of crisis. Where’s the food, energy and water coming from? If you think it’s going to come from far away, you’re wrong. It’s a different paradigm now. We’re not in Kansas anymore.”-sduniontribune 2/26/2010
I have always been of the opinion that “toilet to tap” is on our future and that desal is coming like it or not.
So while the quality of life may be going down the tubes in the future, I am looking for lemonade here and I think it can be found in water ETFs. Yes, it may be time to put money into the companies that are going to grow in importance. One of my favorite financial blogs has stated that water will be a more valuable than oil in the future.
Here are some quotes from Investing in Water: Blue Gold by Chris Mayer.
- A gallon of crude oil costs $1.45. A gallon of Evian costs $11.91. This simple observation led one successful investor to assert that oil is undervalued.
- One official recently said China’s problem is “more serious and urgent than [in] any other country in the world.” China’s rapid industrialization has outpaced its water infrastructure, which is on the verge of collapse. As Minister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng noted, “The price of China’s economic boom is being paid in water.” Two-thirds of China’s 600 largest cities don’t have enough water; half of these cities have polluted groundwater. Less than 15% of China’s population has safe drinking water from tap. The recent spill in the Songhua River, widely covered in the media, only worsens the problem.
- The Christian Science Monitor in December 2004 contained a provocative article suggesting that we could see a cartel of water-exporting countries emerge over the next decade, in a style not unlike the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. “Water is blue gold; it’s terribly precious,” Maude Barlow, chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, told the Monitor, “Not too far in the future, we’re going to see a
move to surround and commodity the world’s fresh water. Just as they’ve divvied up the world’s oil, in the coming century, there’s going to be a grab.”
Whether or not you choose to believe Barlow, it is clear that the demand for clean water is real. In an attempt to avert crisis, China plans to build hundreds of new water treatment plants. But for now, bottled water is the preferred choice – even among the Chinese, at least among those who can afford it. When I was in China, bottled water was nearly everywhere. As the Monitor points out, consumption of bottled water nearly quadrupled between 1997-2002.
So here you go San Diego WATER ETFs!!! If we can’t change the future, maybe we can a few bucks on our way to unpleasantness.
Time to go for a swim.
| Currently No Comments »
San Diego housing market heating up
February 18th, 2010 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, San Diego county Real Estate News, San Diego homes for sale
SAN DIEGO- I spent some time with clients from TCSD in the Carlsbad area looking at detached
homes in the high 400’s to mid 500 range. There were two homes out of the seven that stood out from the others.
One, on Vancouver Street, was a single story with a three car garage located on hilltop cul de sac location in a great established community. The other, on Valley Place near the high school, was the classic 1960-70’s beach cottage with the awesome knotty pine tongue and groove ceiling that too was located on a large pie shaped lot on a cul de sac also.
There was some interest in these homes and in follow up with the other agent, I learned that they were both going in to escrow within 5 days of being listed and these were not homes being sold under market value.
I saw this as a great sign since both of these homes were listed in the mid 500K range. Taking it one step further, I was curious to see how the San Diego market faired over the weekend.
Looking at all homes listed between 2/11 to 2/16, 805 total, almost 10% were in escrow or contingent status for short sales!! 78 listings went off the market within the first week. Now looking back to the same period in 2009 the rate was approximately 7.5% with 68 out of 892 homes going off market in the first week.
I would suggest if you see a home of interest you may want to do your “research” sooner than later. The good ones go quick!!
| Currently No Comments »
Extortion at Carlsbad’s Village H
February 14th, 2010 Categories: Real Estate News
CARLSBAD- I live in the north east corner of Carlsbad in the 92010. In the years that I have lived here I have often taken my dog Dave to the “grove” for an off leash walk. This is an area that has been designated as open space and is part of the city of Carlsbad’s master trail plan. This area that has been enjoyed by so many residents over the years and was designated by a 
recent city of Carlsbad study as the number two area of importance for city preservation. Designated a such, this property qualified for purchase with city funds if given the opportunity. There is one part of this roughly 60 acre parcel, 3.2 acres, that can be developed for public use which would be a church, pre-school, community center, etc. so there is some value to the property.
In the spring of 2009 the property was offered for sale and the city of Carlsbad was offered the Village H property for $385,000. The city passed on the opportunity and the property was sold to the Thompson Corporation of Nevada for $315,000.
Not too long after the purchase of the property, the owners put up wrought iron fencing(seen in the bottom picture) and a locked gate as well as no trespassing signs. As this work was started, it stirred up the neighboring homeowners around the trails and there was great concern for about the loss of the walking trail. This led to the formation of a citizens group, Save Village H. The citizens demanded an explanation and now the drive was on to have the city acquire this property.
Definition of extortion; charging of unfairly high prices: the charging of an excessive amount of money for something
The current owner, several months after purchasing the property and installing the fence, have listed the property for sale with an asking price of $3.95 MILLION dollars!! Now I don’t know if this was a plan or not, but this is brilliant. Buy the property for $315,000 because come on, with 95% of it designated open space, it is semi-worthless. HOWEVER, cut it off to the public who have been using it for decades to walk their dogs, let their kids run and swing from the trees, create this great public uprising and dangle it back in front of the city for an over 1200% premium!! Brilliant!!
“Heck, what’s a little extortion amongst friends?”-Bill Watterson
| Currently No Comments »
HUGE drops in foreclosure related activities reported for January
February 9th, 2010 Categories: Real Estate News, San Diego County Community News, San Diego County Fixer of the Week, San Diego county Real Estate News
SAN DIEGO NORTH COUNTY- Foreclosureradar.com reported that notice of default filings were down 44% in San Diego’s north county when comparing January’s 2009-2010 numbers. Additionally homes sold at auction for the region in the same time period were down 76%.
In an article in today’s North County Times they suggested that the “efficiency” of short sales was a contributing factor to this reduction.
"The stress of default is still there," said Mark Goldman, a real estate instructor at San Diego State University. "But we’re starting to hear a lot more buzz about the efficiency of short sales."-nctimes.com
While I do not necessarily see an increase in the number of short sales, I certainly am not experiencing or hearing of an increase in efficiency. Short sales are still very dependent on the short amount, the ability of the seller to show the need for the short sale and to provide the paperwork required by the bank and probably the most weighted aspect, is the number of lenders in the decision making process.
“Approximately one-third of the short-sale listings on the market don’t close, either because the lender won’t approve a realistic price, or because there are multiple liens secured against the property”-Dyan Hymer,2/9/1010,”The truth about short sales”, Inman News
If you think you may be losing your home, I strongly encourage you to try to short sale. Give me a call with any questions. 760.415.3329
| Currently No Comments »
Wake up highway 56, here comes the train
February 6th, 2010 Categories: Real Estate News
SAN DIEGO- At this week’s public meeting of the California high speed rail authority, there was 
discussion of moving the trains I-15 to I-5 leg from Rose Canyon to the highway 56 corridor.
The 56 corridor was added as one of several "alternative routes" by the authority after staunch public opposition last fall to the proposed Rose Canyon Open Space alignment near University City.-nctimes.com
While this train may or may not ever happen, if I lived anywhere in the area of the 56 corridor, I would pay close attention to the planning process by signing up for the mailing list. It could have a significant impact on real estate values.
| Currently No Comments »
