Talking San Diego Real Estate

Is the San Diego Real Estate Market as Bad as We Hear in the Media?

Sandy — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:19:08 +0000

The current San Diego real estate market it complicated, but exciting! Buyers and Sellers are learning about foreclosures , short-sales , bank-owned properties and yes, multiple-offer situations !

Many buyers are staying away from short-sales either due to their own personal bad experiences or at the recommendation of their agents. A property that is listed as a short sale is in a pre-foreclosure status. The seller is trying to sell the property for a price that is less than what is owed on the property. In order for this sale to be a success, all lenders involved must agree. If there is a second mortgage the process is further complicated because in many cases the lender in second position receives nothing or very little. The process can take up to several months and then still go into foreclosure.

The abundance of short-sale properties is making bank-owned properties and the traditional homeowner properties very appealing! Many of the short-sale properties have several offers also and are awaiting the lender

How do photos affect the final sales price of a home?

Sandy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:49:12 +0000

It is amazing to see homes in the MLS, some asking for well over a million dollars, that have few or no photos. Many of the photos that do exist are small, dark or fuzzy and do not highlight the features of the property. People are very visual, especially in the internet age.

Whether the subject is on Craigslist, eBay, the MLS or a personals site, photos attract attention. There are almost 20,000 properties listed in San Diego county today. Many can be filtered out by location, number of beds and baths and the asking price. But once the buyer is down to a manageable number, they start looking at individual properties. Whether they look on Realtor sites like UltimateSanDiegoHomes.com, Realtor.com, CraigsList or others, much of the decision of which homes to see is based on a few seconds looking at a photo.

It makes sense that homes that have more and better photos are more likely to attract buyer attention and therefore attract a higher price, but is there any evidence that is true?

To answer that question, we compiled sales data for San Diego county. We compared the average sales price for homes based on the number of photos in MLS to the average sales price in the same zip code. The summary is shown in the chart below.

This chart shows that homes with the maximum of 12 photos in MLS sold on average for 6% more that other homes in the same zip code. Homes with 4 or fewer photos sold for 4-13% less than the average.

This research is far from scientific. It only compares homes to the average for the zip code and does not take into account the quality of the photos, other marketing efforts, property condition, etc.

It is very possible that having a dozen on-line photos is simply an indication of the marketing effort that the listing agent is putting forth. Someone that is doing a lot of open houses, advertising and on-line marketing is probably not going to skimp on photography.

It does seem clear though, to get top dollar, the more pictures the better.

For more details on the study, please email info@UltimateSanDiegoHomes.com.

Real estate sales slowing down? Not in Bay Park.

Sandy — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:43:20 +0000

While many areas are experiencing slower sales, Bay Park real estate has had a 27% increase in the number of single family homes sold so far this year compared to the same time period last year. Even though there has been a lot of pressure on home prices by all of the bank owned properties, Bay Park has maintained it’s average sale price over last year.

What is keeping the prices up and driving up the number of sales? There are a number of factors at play. Although the prices have held steady, Bay Park is still a hidden bargain. Prices are far below those in other coastal communities. With gas pushing $5 a gallon, Bay Park’s central location becomes a money saver.

Price is not the only factor. Where else can you still get view properties? There is a great deal of remodeling and rebuilding in Bay Park. These past two years we have be excited as new businesses, restaurants and coffee shops have come to Bay Park. This will attract more businesses and residents to the area.