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.
“slogfest”. Now that’s a word I can endorse. There are always 3 options with a given market. It goes up, it goes down, or it goes sideways (slogfest!). The sideways era has begun.
There is no rehearsing or second tries, they call me First-Take Jake.
Sometimes I say stuff and have to look it up later, like today. From wiktionary:
slogfest (plural slogfests)
1.(informal) An activity or event characterized by a long duration and an exhausting, wearisome perception by its participants.
Jim, did I head you give a “shout out” in this video? omg…rotfl 🙂
The strength of the market in Carmel Valley is truly stunning.
Do you ever solicit for sellers on the fence? Folks with lots of equity in desirable areas who really don’t follow the market. Drop a postcard to all the houses around each of these saying, hey, your neighbor sold for x, we have frustrated buyers, if you are thinking of moving in the next few years, maybe start considering that . . .
I understand Carmel Valley when I consider the other options in San Diego, which are not so good due to poor construction and design pre 1985 or so.
Case in point: University City. This should be one of the most desirable location due to close proximity to jobs, shopping, beach, etc. And the schools are very good.
But the homes were mostly built in the 70’s and early 80s and therefore the housing stock is dismal IMHO. Tiny, poorly constructed houses on small lots. Also, little cohesion between the homes with lots of patch development in all different styles. Some people buy and remodel at great expense, but then you have nicer (but still small homes) next to eyesores, and you probably paid a lot to get there.
San Diego’s older housing stock is, frankly, nasty and this makes Carmel Valley with its reasonable location and new homes attractive to many.
I would also recommend looking at Poway which does have many older homes, but they generally have large lots and can be fixed up into something very nice, which I have seen done many times. They also have a stock of newer, larger, homes as well that look positively palatial after viewing what is available closer to the coast.
I like to think of Carmel Valley as the ‘Slums of Del Mar’.
(Ten year CV resident.)
CV stays up for a myriad of highly logical reasons – one major factor today is the flood of RSF, Meadows, and Santa Luz folks trading down. Did I saw flood? I meant tsunami.
Oredart @ #8
Would you mind pointing us to some evidence? It is a good theory given the tsunami in those high-end areas.
It is very strange that people continue to question the demand for neighborhoods like Carmel Valley. Carmel Valley, in my opinion, looks most like Irvine (in OC) and Cupertino (in Bay Area). They are all close to employment center, looks cookie-cutter, manicured, and good schools. It’s not that surprising.
jeshappy, I personally would pay a premium NOT to live in something that was “cookie-cutter”.
If that is what is a million dollar house in San Diego then something is very very wrong there!