Another reason Carmel Valley has been so hot is because of the competition nearby.
Fairbanks Ranch is the neighbor to the north of Carmel Valley’s 92130 zip code, before you get to Rancho Santa Fe. While CV has newer tract houses on smaller lots, in Fairbanks Ranch almost all of the lots are over an acre, and have custom-built estate homes. Here’s an example:
From the LA Times (online) 11/4: “Fed to Buy $600 Billion in T-bonds to Prod Economic Growth – Fed Policymakers Aim to Drive Down Long-Term Interest Rates to Spur More Home Refinancing and Consumer and Business Spending and Encourage Companies to Begin Hiring”
Full article: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fed-stimulus-20101104,0,3699860.story?page=1
QCOM just popped after a strong earnings report. As long as I can remember, housing in this area has been impacted by stock option money. If the stock market keeps rumbling higher that may have some positive effect on the housing markets close in to job centers such as SV.
pemeliza – stocks are a very dangerous game right now. Public companies have been staging an unprecedented buy-back of their own stocks in order to keep share prices up. That is a very, very bad sign that there is significant weakness in the market and lack of demand. Retail investors (that would be you and me) have been leaving the financial markets in droves since April when it became apparent that the whole shebang is a computer rigged facade.
The market is very shaky and only fools and professionals are in it anymore.
Art, I bought the market in march of ’09 for the first time since 2000. I didn’t buy much but I have been sitting on most of it selling a bit here are there into the rallies. I will likely be completely out of the market again by the end of the year.
Also, I don’t think you can fully explain this rally since ’09 by saying that companies are buying their stocks back. For example I held some shares of IBM since year 2000 and finally sold at the end of 2009 at a break even price. Since I sold, the stock has been on a tear and hitting new highs. The weak dollar is definitely helping certain stocks and I don’t see the dollar getting stronger anytime soon.
Anyway, QCOM at 50 is much better for the local housing market than QCOM at 30. That is the only point I was trying to make.
Fairbanks – The beauty of Fairbanks is its combination of excellent SW ‘ranch’ location and its infrastructure. The mature trees, extra-wide streets, large lots, and significant volume of estate homes will keep this community in demand for ever.
If you want to follow the ‘worst house – best neighborhood’ methodology, this is the north county neighborhood I would pick.
Now that a lot of the homes are beginning to show their age, and are in ‘need’ of remodeling, this could be a GREAT opportunity to get into the neighborhood. The constant remodeling is a sign of its intrinsic value.
I have significant trouble finding another neighborhood in the area with as much value (albeit expensive value) as Fairbanks.
In summary, a good acre lot with an updated renovated home for under $2.5mm ($400/sf or so) will be a great purchase.
ps: at the peak, these homes were in the $600/sf+ range.
The ceilings are too low? Has the average American grown that much taller since the 80s? The master bedroom is too small? It has a walk in closet to hold everything but the bed, which obviously fits just fine. Why do you need a larger bedroom? The family room is too small? How big is a family these days? How large a kitchen do you need to store and prepare food?
The fact that this structure is FO in less than 30 years says everything you need to know about the insanity of the housing market and how ridiculous buyers’ “needs” and expectations are. It was three times the size any family could possibly need when it was built and now it can only be made usable by extensive renovation? What a sad waste of money and resources.
Lol Bluezette,
I share your sentiment BUT, though Jim didn’t say so, I believe the point was that a lot of that space (too damn much imo) is wasted by that compartmentalized design. The term functional obsolescence is derogatory but I personally wouldn’t design 7500 square feet the way that house was designed either.
Maybe the architect did remodeling on the side and was planning for the future. Or maybe the original owners wanted it all tight like that. It does seem like a waste to get it in fashion but it is what it is.