Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Back to Work
This new hilltop tract on the border of Carlsbad and San Marcos may leave you shaking your head:
Posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 12:24 PM in Thinking of Buying? | 35 Comments » | 
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What is so bad about power lines? Is it the concern that they might fall on the house someday in an earthquake, or storm?
kompeitou | April 2nd, 2009 at 12:58 pmYou sound like a complete A**hole! Maybe the builder was planning on building on the ocean view side at a later time? I’m sure you’ve seen communities where a home sits on a non-view lot and the exact same plan has a fabulous 180 ocean view! Instead of being such a whiny bitch – why not put some effort into helping your own industry!
Punky | April 2nd, 2009 at 1:24 pmWow, Jim, all the publicity has gotten you some negative comments.
I’ve actually asked Jim about power lines. In older neighborhoods, poles, power lines are, IMHO, not bad. In fact, they are required if you want power… But, most of the lines we’re talking about (and seen here) are these huge, high tension dealies, and not old school street strung poles, etc. You ever been under one of the big ones? They buzz like mad, and there were even some studies (since debunked) that they cause cancer.
Former RB Resident | April 2nd, 2009 at 1:30 pmLie down with the L.A. Times, wake up with fleas.
W.C. Varones | April 2nd, 2009 at 1:40 pmThe high tension wires look bad, sound bad and do emit electromagnetic radiation. http://www.doobybrain.com/2008/02/03/electromagnetic-fields-cause-fluorescent-bulbs-to-glow/
Punky, who cares what the builder will or will not do in the future. In this market you have to put your best foot forward, and those houses are not it. I think most of the people here would agree that Jim is doing more to help the profession than 99.9% of the other real estate “professionals”.
Jamey | April 2nd, 2009 at 1:44 pmI would never buy a home anywhere near a powerline.
Todd | April 2nd, 2009 at 1:54 pmWhat’s so hard to figure out about power lines? Obviously they’re bad.
If you had a choice, would you take the house with them, or the one without them? Obviously without. Now imagine a market flooding with inventory, which holds their value better?
Oh, POOF! You don’t have to imagine.. it happened.
Stephen Waits | April 2nd, 2009 at 2:05 pmWhile you may be comfortable with living under power lines, many people share Todd’s views, making reselling the home that much harder. Something to think about.
Kwaping | April 2nd, 2009 at 2:06 pmWhat’s so bad about power lines??? Don’t be such a power line hater Jim! Shocked people could be offended by pointing out homes built facing the Edison river instead of the ocean. I think the guy could have slapped up a mobile home facing the ocean view with a dirt road leading to it and sold it for more than those 3 little clown boxes crammed next to each other. I know, I know, he paid 15 mil. for the land but still…
mybleachhouse | April 2nd, 2009 at 2:14 pmI work at a steam plant making electricity, plenty of high voltages lines and equipment.
Only reason i can see avoiding power lines is aesthetics.
kompeitou | April 2nd, 2009 at 2:18 pmOnly reason i can see avoiding power lines is aesthetics.
And who would ever care about aesthetics when purchasing a home?!!!
W.C. Varones | April 2nd, 2009 at 2:23 pmAfter watching the video a second time, i think the upstairs windows looking onto the neighbors upstairs would be more aesthetically unappealing than the power lines. Unless the next door neighbor was a SI swimsuit model.
kompeitou | April 2nd, 2009 at 2:23 pmIs punky really super jenae?
arizonadude | April 2nd, 2009 at 2:27 pmJim, maybe the builder put those houses under high tension power lines for a reason? For starters, Free Night Lights For Life™!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DumgUdJhzpo
Do you realize the markup those houses are going to get just by Star Wars fans alone? Just imagine the lightsaber fights you can have in that house!
(Not to get wrapped up in semantics, but I think you mean Tesla River, MyBleachHouse. Edison was a DC guy while Tesla was an AC guy. Needless to say, Edison got his butt kicked.)
no bubble here | April 2nd, 2009 at 2:39 pmSo what does it cost to run power lines under ground in Carlsbad/San Marcos? Probably a lot. The 2005-06 builder mindset was probably not to worry about it in an environment where new construction was selling like hot cakes and maybe it did make sense then from a cost/benefit analysis not to go the extra mile. But in today’s market, a view lot better be the real deal. Powerlines will kill the value.
Kingside | April 2nd, 2009 at 3:16 pmKingside, thanks for asking that. I don’t get all these powerlines in new areas. I live in a very old neighborhood, we have the standard, old school lines (elect, tel, etc.), as do all the other old neighborhoods. The newer neighborhoods (1966, I think) have buried lines. Maybe I’ve lived here too long, but frankly, I don’t really notice them. They are silent, on wood poles and fit in with the character of the neighborhood. So, why, why, why are all these new neighborhoods surrounded by high tension lines that make noise and yet have underground distribution and drops to the houses. Don’t people bury long distance lines any more?
Former RB Resident | April 2nd, 2009 at 3:32 pmIt really shouldn’t be surprising. They carve up a mountain/hillside, scrape it flat on top and build (3) nearly identical, super-vanilla sameness, packed-in tract houses.
I am certain aesthetics were not at the forefront of any one’s mind involved with this project or most other slash & burn sprawl in San Marcos.
Mozart | April 2nd, 2009 at 3:32 pmWait, wait, wait.
When I read Todd’s post, I thought it was tongue-in-cheek. Uh… seems like others didn’t read it the same way.
If you had a house nowhere near a powerline, hope you have solar and a whole lotta batteries.
I personally, prefer cold showers. There’s something primal and refreshing about 60 degree water pouring over my body at 6:00 AM. Sure wakes me up. And, frankly, who needs to wash clothes? Keeps the water bills down.
Or, like my brother in Hawaii, you can go completely “off the grid” which means that you can have an enormous unsightly propane tank in your back yard which partially reeks of rotting eggs.
Your choice.
Chuck Ponzi | April 2nd, 2009 at 3:38 pmPunky is suffering from BlogRage. Must of bought a home in Carmel Valley in 2005 right next to a Super Power Line. Will make your fillings tingle.
Todd | April 2nd, 2009 at 3:44 pmIt is amazing how many transmission lines there are in this area. Must be because of the proximity to the power station west in Carlsbad and maybe San Onofre?
I’ve put power lines underground, the old school type, and it cost about $50,000 for about +200 feet plus trenching. The cost for a transmission line would be astronomical.
I imagine that transmission lines as part of the grid would be untouchable. Too bad a little of that stimulus money wasn’t thrown at this problem or other power lines that tend to cause fires around here.
Mozart | April 2nd, 2009 at 3:49 pmIf I had to choose, I would rather be a “reasonable” distance from the high tension lines–say 500 or 700 feet where you see them in the distance but don’t hear them–than having those old-school lines at 20ft high in front of my driveway–I go to those older hoods and that is the first thing I see–maybe it’s just me???
Local Boy | April 2nd, 2009 at 4:09 pmThere are some newer studies that show long term exposure (living) under power lines is an indicator for cancer in kids. These studies were done in the UK and in Tazmania, Australia.
All I know is that our first house in San Diego was over near Balboa/Genessee – in the mount streets. We had a transmission power line in the backyard. I lived there my first 4 years, the rest of the family was there 6 years. (House I was born into.) Family of 5, 3 are dead of cancer, and 5 different malignancies. My dad and brother both survived one form of cancer only to be killed by a completely different cancer.
Yes, this is strictly anectdotal. But I would not buy within 1000 feet of a high voltage transmission line. I live in an older hood with the distribution lines around… but that doesn’t have the same risks.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7503/1290
UCGal | April 2nd, 2009 at 4:35 pmDon’t they usually build the model homes on the least desirable lots and then phase in the best the lots at a premium? That way, after they add all the upgrades to the models, they can sell the less desirable lots for the same amount – maybe even a couple of years from now when the market has quasi-recovered. That’s typically what I have seen…
SEH Looker | April 2nd, 2009 at 4:43 pmIt seems to me that the builder built this first phase of homes hoping that potential buyers would see the **slight** ocean view (from the second floor) and think that’s what they would be getting. In truth, everything will be blocked by the next phase of homes that will be built to take full advantage of the view.
You’d think that in this market, the builder would put his best stuff out first, but if he did that, the second phase would have absolutely no hope of selling. Power lines on one side, stucco on the other is a much harder sale than power lines on one side, open space and slight views on the other.
I’ve seen this done before — release homes that have a tiny bit of a temporary view first – then once they are sold, build *smack* in front of them. You’d be surprised at how many people allow themselves to be fooled into thinking that the blockage won’t be that bad. It always is. I actually think this is the builder’s only shot at selling homes on those inferior lots.
HappyRenter | April 2nd, 2009 at 5:09 pmWC Varones gets the post of the day.
That was funny.
sunsetbeachguy | April 2nd, 2009 at 5:28 pmTypically in housing developments I’ve watched, builders will build on their worst lots first. F’rinstance, the lots closest to what will eventually be a busy street.
As they build out further, they do the better and better lots until at the very end, the primo lots are built upon. This offers incentive for purchasers in previous tracts to upgrade to the better lot, in essence selling lots to a buyer twice. And I’ve seen people do that exact thing a few times.
Locomotive Breath | April 2nd, 2009 at 7:10 pmSo, why, why, why are all these new neighborhoods surrounded by high tension lines that make noise and yet have underground distribution and drops to the houses.
I’m not sure if the high-tension transmission power lines can be buried underground. They put out heat and resistance increases as the temperature of the lines increase. Putting them out in the open is the best way to ensure that the temperature and resistance are both as low as possible
This offers incentive for purchasers in previous tracts to upgrade to the better lot, in essence selling lots to a buyer twice.
I haven’t known anything but the previous boom, and now crash, but it seems like this would only work in a bubble market. In a down/flat market there wouldn’t be so many of these upgrade buyers, and putting your worst foot forward could cause many to write off your development before the primo properties are built.
Byrk | April 2nd, 2009 at 8:35 pmI don’t know about the scientific effects of power lines, but I do know that those houses look miserable. Just awful. Oh, and there’s at least 50 others just like that in North County sitting on the MLS. Good luck selling those.
The Blur | April 2nd, 2009 at 9:46 pmLMAO@Ocean? Power lines?
Jim is right! The builder now is not only a broke builder, but he’s also one heck of a buffoon!
LiVinon3x | April 2nd, 2009 at 10:59 pmi think the upstairs windows looking onto the neighbors upstairs would be more aesthetically unappealing than the power lines.
That depends on the neighbors.
Number2Son | April 3rd, 2009 at 5:12 am@local boy,
When I left the area I was like you “man, look at all these aerial drops, must suck when the thunderstorms hit”. But, when you live in an older city where they are ubiquitious (think San Francisco, Chicago, parts of NY and DC), they kind of disappear mentally. Even infill in older neighborhoods often have them since the distribution for elec, cable and tel is in the air anyway. If you want totally underground, you have to move to newer suburbs, often further out of town. Of course, all of that is ruined when you’ve got this nonsesne that Jim keeps filming.
But, despite all the powerlines, The Coaster house Jim filmed is still my favorite.
Former RB Resident | April 3rd, 2009 at 7:10 amThis strikes me as an angry man with a camera. MAYBE (and that is the right journalist question to ask) the builder COULDN”T build on the lot in question because it was protected open space. You don’t KNOW. A different builder (with a bigger kind of home) might own that side of the street. This is a good example of bad blogging trying to be a journalist – the right thing woudl have been to ask a couple of more questions. Jim could be PRECISELY right about them being stupid but first he needs to discount some plausible other explinations.
Erik | April 3rd, 2009 at 10:39 amDon’t you guys ever watch Ghost Hunters? Their EMF detectors go completely nuts anywhere near those power lines.
Regardless of the ghost thing, the reality is that anybody who thinks power lines over little Timmy’s bedroom are not a health problem is delusional.
Dean Corso | April 3rd, 2009 at 12:14 pmThere are no scientific studies that say they are a health problem.
Geotpf | April 4th, 2009 at 4:11 pm..except the ones already posted in the thread, LOL.
Geotpf | April 4th, 2009 at 4:16 pm