What would you think if you discovered that the house right next door just listed for $220,000 less than you paid 2 months ago….
If the next-door buyer relied on the same faulty tax roll information that I had, he should sue.
22 Comments
Jim Klinge
Klinge Realty Group
Are you looking for an experienced agent to help you buy or sell a home?
Contact Jim the Realtor!
- 682 S. Coast Hwy 101, Suite #110
Encinitas, CA 92024 - (858) 997-3801 call or text
- klingerealty@gmail.com
CA DRE #01527365, CA DRE #00873197
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Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We sold a home with Jim and Donna and from beginning to end they were consummate professionals. Their initial walk through the property resulted in a list of items to be repaired or updated. They supplied a list of vendors and job quotes to do the repairs and updates. We originally wanted to sell ‘as is’ and just get it over with. They gave us a selling price for ‘as is’ and options for doing a few updates/repairs to doing it all with the selling price for each option. We agreed to do all they suggested and we sold for the exact price they predicted. For every dollar spent we got back more than $2 back in the selling price. And they got that price in a rising interest rate environment! Donna and Jim are extremely detailed and guide you through ever aspect of the sale. There were no surprises thanks to their guidance. We couldn’t be more pleased with their representation. Thank you Donna and Jim, Jerry and MaryTrustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We have known Jim & Donna Klinge for over a dozen years, having met them in Carlsbad where our children went to the same school. As long time North County residents, it was a no- brainer for us to have the Klinges be our eyes and ears for San Diego real estate in general and North County in particular. As my military career caused our family to move all over the country and overseas to Asia, Europe and the Pacific, we trusted Jim and Donna to help keep our house in Carlsbad rented with reliable and respectful tenants for over 10 years. Naturally, when the time came to sell our beloved Carlsbad home to pursue a rural lifestyle in retirement out of California, we could think of no better team to represent us than Jim and Donna. They immediately went to work to update our house built in 2004 to current-day standards and trends — in 2 short months they transformed it into a literal modern-day masterpiece. We trusted their judgement implicitly and followed 100% of their recommended changes. When our house finally came on the market, there was a blizzard of serious interest, we had multiple offers by the third day and it sold in just 5 days after a frenzied bidding war for 20% above our asking price! The investment we made in upgrades recommended by Jim and Donna yielded a 4-fold return, in the process setting a new high water mark for a house sold in our community. In our view, there are no better real estate professionals in all of San Diego than Jim and Donna Klinge. Buying or selling, you must run and beg Jim and Donna Klinge to represent you! Our family will never forget Jim, Donna, and their whole team at Compass — we are forever grateful to them.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. WeI had the pleasure of working with Klinge Realty Group to sell our home in Carmel Valley, and I cannot recommend them highly enough! Jim and Donna demonstrated exceptional professionalism, offering expert guidance on market conditions and pricing strategy, which resulted in a quick and successful sale. Communication was prompt and we were well-informed throughout the entire process. For anyone looking for a dedicated and knowledgeable real estate team, look no further! ---Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Donna and Jim Klinge of Klinge Realty Group have our highest possible recommendation. From Donna and Jim’s first visit to our house through closing their advice and counsel was candid and honest in all dealings. They kept us fully informed throughout the process. The house sold less than three days after listing with a two-week closing. My wife and I have sold several houses during our lives. This was by far the best experience. Klinge Reality is a premium service realtor. You can’t make a better choice for someone to sell your home fast and for top dollar.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Donna and Jim provided exceptional support and professionalism throughout the entire process. We couldn't have been happier with their efforts. They made our house shine, and thanks to their expertise, it sold above the listing price in the very first weekend! Truly a fantastic experience from start to finish.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. This year has been difficult on our family, mainly due to having to sell our home. Thankfully we knew God had a plan for us and working with the Klinge team was a key part of it. It was an obvious decision to work with them again after such an amazing experience when purchasing the same home we needed to sell. The challenge was, how will we do this in so little time with so much going on? Jim and Donna held our hand every step of the way. Whenever an unexpected issue arose they found and provided a solution. Never once did we feel pressured to make a decision and the Klinges were always reassuring after providing the information that the decision was ours to make. Despite the curve balls, they never panicked and exemplified the “can do” attitude, making us feel optimistic and taken care of. Their expertise and professionalism was superb. But of all the reasons to work with the Klinges, the most impactful and valuable is their compassion and genuine care for their clients. We pray that we can one day purchase our forever home and you better believe that Jim and Donna will be representing us - as long as they will have us of course. Thank you again Klinge team! Your execution, experience, and care are unmatched.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Jim and Donna were fantastic! Jim understanding my needs, recommending potential places, pointing out the pros and cons of each property was invaluable. Then when the offer was accepted Donna’s organized guidance through the inspections, paperwork etc made the whole process seem effortless. So grateful that I had them on my side!Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We first found Jim through his blog at bubbleinfo.com, which really showcased his knowledge of SoCal real estate. Since then we've done three transactions with Jim and Donna, and they are an incredible full service agency, with Jim's deep market insight and Donna's deft contract and project management. We trust them implicitly in their analysis and strategy, which is based on years of experience. They're always available and on top of things, and we strongly recommend them to anyone.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. The Good The Klinge Realty Group operates like a finely tuned machine, with a very personal touch. We contacted them on a Sunday and they were talking to us about our family and our needs on our living room couch the following day. They carefully listened to us and worked with us to identify the best and quickest path to listing within 2 weeks to take advantage of the low inventory conditions in our South Carlsbad neighborhood. They knew our tract specifically and had many previous sales there over the years - they came prepared with a thorough analysis of comparative sales and recommended a pricing strategy that they felt confident would yield offers the first weekend on the market. The Great Over the next two weeks Donna coordinated a range of vendors who she knew from experience could get the preparation to list work we needed done on time and with high quality. Our light tune-up involved excellent experiences with their stagers, landscapers, contractors, electricians, and plumbers. Throughout this period Donna's daily communication was clear, concise, and responsive. Any time we had questions Donna picked up the phone or texted immediately - but almost always, she answered our questions before we even knew we had them. The Outstanding We had a tricky situation with a shared fence that could have delayed our escrow. Donna used superb mediation skills to negotiate the terms of replacement and was personally on site with the fence contractor to make sure everything went smoothly. The fence looks great and escrow closed on time. The Truly Exceptional Our house came on the market on a Wednesday and between then and Monday morning Jim was personally at all three open houses. He was in constant communication explaining potential buyer reaction and strength. As he predicted offers began to come in on Saturday and each one was incrementally higher than the last. At the end we had 5 offers, 4 of which were over list, and the final accepted offer was $100,000 over list. In addition to being over list it included rent back terms that met our needs. The Recommendation For all of these reasons we would strongly recommend The Klinge Team to anyone wanting to sell in North County Coastal San Diego. I had been reading Jim's bubbleinfo.com blog for 15 years and knew when the time came to sell that he would be our first call. Jim Klinge is not your standard realtor. He is keenly aware of market conditions and sales strategies. And, works his tail off - though not as hard as Donna . At this point he's gone from realtor to friend and I plan to have him over to grill and chill at our new place to talk real estate, but also just about life and raising kids in San Diego. He's more interested in relationships than his sales numbers - and that's why his sales numbers are so high. We have already recommended the Klinge's to some close friends and another successful sale is on deck right around the corner...Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We recently had the pleasure of working with Jim and Donna from Klinge Realty Group to sell our house, and we couldn't be more satisfied with the experience. From the initial meeting, they listened attentively to our needs and provided invaluable guidance on specific improvements to get our home market ready. Their responsiveness throughout the entire process was truly impressive. Anytime we had questions or concerns, they were quick to address them, ensuring we felt comfortable and informed every step of the way. What stood out the most was their team and extensive network of tradespeople, which made addressing any necessary repairs or updates seamless and stress-free. Thanks to their expertise and dedication, our house sold quickly and at a great price. We highly recommend Jim and Donna to anyone looking to buy or sell a home. They are a fantastic team who truly care about their clients and deliver exceptional results.Load more
Less than 1500 sq ft for over $900,000? Yikes.
I’ll second that yikes.
JTR, you don’t think 1429 Rubenstein Ave will get bid up from 699k?
Sue? You’ve got to be kidding, right?
People want to play Housing Ponzi again? Well, swim at your own risk. How many times do people in California need to touch the stove before they realize its hot?
Pay for a home the discounted value of what you think you could rent it for. Maybe you won’t get the “joy of ownership” as quickly, but when you do at least you’ll know you didn’t overpay. Pay more than that and blame yourself… don’t immediately look for someone to “sue” over your mistake. Silly fishes…
Way too funny. Don’t think we weren’t checking that one out pretty seriously. Problem is we’d only be willing to offer $450K.
Supposedly, they’re only taking cash offers. Also, the lot on the $920K one was about twice the size of the current listing (just guessing from eyeballing it), but it had greenhouses that needed to be torn down. Technically, I think that can be a hazmat deal, but people don’t seem to bother with doing things the “right”/legal way when doing demo work. Just guessing on the hazmat demo, but have seen this to be the case with other properties.
During one of our numerous drive-arounds, we saw the one next door (the one that sold for $920K) with a sign out. We called up to see what the deal was, as it wasn’t listed on the MLS yet. The agent said it was the sixth call he got on that house, and he had only put the sign up the day before! All this activity just from the sign. It shows how manic the buying activity has been this year.
Yes, we really like that house, but not for the price!
CAR, I don’t think you could get a place like that in north-west Leucadia for under 500k. Jim’s I-5 listing on the oside-cbad border brought 600k on a smaller lot. Cardiff is way more $$$ and this listing is way off the I-5. Also the composer area is a very desirable ‘hood.
I would be surprised if they don’t have a full price cash offer by now. The place that sold for 920k got bid up from 849k. Either there were multiple offers over 849k or the buyer was horribly misinformed (very possible). Then again maybe the buyer was looking for a house in cardiff west of the I-5 (but not on the I-5) on a huge lot and had the $$$ to get what they wanted. Personally, I don’t have that kind of cash to throw around on a fixer but some around here do.
With all due respect to Bizzle, people buying houses on very large lots are always going to pay a price much higher than rent value because much of the value is in the land. In the extreme, land buyers are getting no rent value.
If the new listing on Rubenstein closes at the list price of 700k, the buyer at 920k down the street maybe still have gotten a decent deal because he got an extra building lot for 220k.
This place on summit was only 1092 sq. ft. lot on a 10000 sq. ft. and just sold for 1M even. Obviously there is a high demand for older homes in cardiff on large lots west of the I-5 even in this market.
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-090043831-1347_Summit_Ave_Cardiff_CA_92007
here is another teardown on a large lot that closed at 832k
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-090028523-1580_Rubenstein_Ave_Cardiff_CA_92007
here is one on a 4000 sq ft lot with view potential and a 1094 sq ft house that brought 760k (listing says current rent is only $2200 a month) In contrast, my buddy just bought a place in the county for 265k that he is renting for $1900 a month.
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-090010048-2151_Cambridge_Cardiff_CA_92007
How depressing.I wonder how long fannie mae will be a landlord?Being a landlord is more than collecting checks.
Does anyone know what percentage of loans were sold to fannie and freddie vs loans that were securitized and sold to investors?
Anyway to check to see if your loan is owned by fannie or freddie?
big fan of the nice/pricey parts of coastal north county, but I’ve never understood the appeal of cardiff. Just don’t get it. Old, dirty, no sidewalks, traffic, and no real walking to anywhere.
Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Anyone who loves cardiff able to enlighten me to the appeal???
Clearfund,
How is business? Are you finding great buys still?
Are you using a pool of money from investors to finance your purchases?
Any advice for the small investor out there in this environment?
Thx
If you surf, there’s great surfing off of Cardiff.
I grew up in Cardiff, so I’m biased, but I love the vibe there. It’s so much less pretentious than, say, the Del Mar scene. The surf is great too. Only a couple chain stores, but mostly local businesses.
But now it seems to be a little too trendy. I would never pay those prices for the crap I see on the MLS. A well-located piece of crap is still a piece of crap. And by a simple eye-test, I can’t figure out how some of the locals can afford to live there. I understand wealthy people aren’t always cruising around in Gucci loafers, sport coats, and bmw’s, but let’s just say it doesn’t feel like it’s millionaires’ neighborhood. I think those buyers are foolish.
When my parents moved there in ’79, it was just a sleepy, out-of-the way, beach town that was affordable. It makes me wonder if places like Camarillo and Ventura will be similar in the future or maybe already (I’d be curious to know Rob Dawg’s perspective.) I hate myself for saying this, but they’re not building any more oceanfront land.
Are people jumping into large lots with a good view in anticipation of walking away from their McMansions? With that Option-ARM wave coming, I don’t see how this price range has anywhere to go but down. The new house building market is gone, and who’s going to want to pay that much for a beat-on 1500 square foot place?
“Realtor malpractice” (JtR)
*Chuckle* Another classic! And that $920K cash house? Surely I can make some sense of it with the info Jim shared with his readers. Perhaps putting it down in black & white will make my (real estate) brain stop hurting. Here goes:
1. 1,658 sf on a 2/3 acre lot
2. 6/2009: On courthouse steps at $635K–no takers
3. Bank took back
4. Listed at $849K
5. 9/2009 Sold! $920K CASH *Only $80K to $1 million!*
6. *Calculator Whirling* $554/sf
Nope, that didn’t help! Add me to the “Yikes” crowd. I’m very curious. How long was it listed before it went into escrow, Jim?
*Sigh* No wonder I’m considering leaving my beloved CA (I’ve spent most of my life here and am a native). But it’s a difficult choice for me: Become a homeowner again after 7 longs years of renting but that means leaving many cherished friends. If I do make that choice, a big mahalo to the Wright Brothers.
I agreed with Jim’s advice to me, and recently hopped on a plane, and found what would be an over $1 million house (where I currently live) that’s listed for just $299K. All I ever needed (or wanted) tucked into 2,123 sf! And the LIST price is $299K or $140/sf.
The finish work mirrored my late husband’s quality of work and he was, IMO, the best finish carpenter on the planet.
I wish I could come to a decision. It could be one of the best choices of my life or one of the worst. I just don’t know. And it’s my last home, so that adds pressure to the whole dilemma.
This is why I’m taking my time to look at all worst-case scenarios. I probably won’t come to a decision until at least January 1st…
Susie,
Where did you look?
As a fellow native Californian, I empathize with you. It’s a wonder that people who have no connections here are willing to move here from other places. There’s no way in heck we’d still be living here if we weren’t native with family, life-long friends, work, and “familiar places” to hold us back. I envy people who live in other states.
Susie, Cardiff is one end of an extreme. 635k would have a great deal for that house but not everyone looking to buy is going to the courthouse. There are a lot of risks as JTR has pointed out.
There are still plenty of places in and around SD where you can get a decent house for $299k. My friend just bought a 2100 sq. ft. house built in 2004 for 265k on 1/2 acre. The house sold for 600k at the peak. It can be done but you will have to give up on living a couple of blocks from the beach.
JtR, I’ve seen numerous faulty tax rolls too – those 1031 exchanges can really skew the numbers.
I drank the kool aid – business is interesting but busy. I do not believe that we are close enough to a bottom in SD due to many factors discussed here. Thus I am tentative at best for SD. Obviously there are deals here and there, but not the type that give me a sleep at night, long term comfort level.
Lots of safe opportunities for investing if you use common sense and a rear view mirror longer than 2002 for value perspective. Investing, not speculating (very different..and this market is full of speculators claiming to be investors).
I am more positive on investing in areas where the prices are much lower relative to incomes that they are here. I also use a definition of an average house that is much more ‘mid level manager’ than the standard median priced home here in SD represents. Thus apples to apples I can get a mid level mgr house house for $200k in Phoenix (well above the median, etc) which would cost over $600k here.
Residential: We are more interested in short term lending to investors than we are in owning the assets in current market environment with very little near term investment upside (we don’t like to gamble on the speculative upside, only upside due to fundamentals). Would rather hit lots of singles and doubles than strikeout with an occasional homerun.
Commercial: GOLDMINE IS OPENING. Makes the housing market look like chump change. Buying for high yield (12% plus) in brand new bldgs that are in foreclosure but didn’t get a chance to lease-up. Hold for 3-5 years, stabilize, cash equity out and cash flow for years to come with lots of balance sheet equity and well below replacement costs and low leverage.
We typically pool investors into property funds and manage the deal on our collective behalf. Residential we pool investors into funds to handle 50+/- properties at any given time. commercial we pool funds on a property by property basis.
Desert Realtor-You may have confused tax codes.
A 1031 Tax Deferred Exchange deals with an investor’s Capital Gains (income tax), and affects the tax basis for accounting purposes.
Tax Rolls deal with “Property Tax”. The Tax Assessor is not privy to one’s accounting tax basis’. They assess based on the investor’s new purchase price, therfore, exchanges can not skew the tax rolls.
There is however, a tax code for those over 55 (I think 55) which allows them a one-time property tax-base transfer of their primary residence, allowing them to move their tax basis–this may skew property tax rolls???
CAR, I don’t think you could get a place like that in north-west Leucadia for under 500k. Jim’s I-5 listing on the oside-cbad border brought 600k on a smaller lot. Cardiff is way more $$$ and this listing is way off the I-5. Also the composer area is a very desirable ‘hood.
I would be surprised if they don’t have a full price cash offer by now…
pemeliza | November 8th, 2009 at 6:01 am
———————
Yes, I agree with all that you’ve said, which is exactly why we aren’t making an offer on it. We know somebody else will gladly pay more than we’d be willing to pay, so we wait…
We’re looking for our final house, so we’re willing to wait for the right house at the right price (hat tip, JTR). That house would require about $200K worth of work to get it exactly where we want it, and $900K (all in) is too much for something like that, IMHO.
CAR, I believe that your patience will ultimately payoff. Just the last couple of weeks I have seen some new listings in Carlsbad at prices that are clearly lower than a few months ago. I think we will definitely see a leg down in pricing this winter. I think if I was looking at north county coastal I would have waited like you are. There are so many distressed properties up there because of all the new construction during the bubble years.
LocalBoy – I’m not confused. 1031 exchange escrows can produce some very odd transaction reports that end up on the property tax rolls and property profile reports.