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 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...
whew….the new camera is back!!!
Looks like a ‘blush’ and ‘bashful’ color scheme. Someone’s signature color must have been pink.
Was that an intercom in the kitchen? That stinks of ancientness even worse than the pink bath.
I’m shocked this house is only from the early 90’s. Seem more like early 80’s to me. Clearly we are not just looking at all original, but likely all standard features from the builder as well.
seems everything mid 90s and earlier in this town just stinks! (IMHO). If someone were to invest 250k in a cosmetic overhaul (interior and landscape) do you think the buyer would get a good return on his/her investment?
No.
The model-match with all the offers closed yesterday for $760,000:
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-120016439-4579_Mercurio_St_San_Diego_CA_92130
If you felt like pouring $250,000 into a house for personal enjoyment, feel free. But if you sold in the next few years, your return on investment would be a negative number.
I’m buying a 1991 house and it has even more pink than this house.
getting pretty darn hot up here in 92011 Aviara/Mar Fiore Tract too!
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-120019836-1366_Cassins_St_Carlsbad_CA_92011
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-120008885-7209_Sanderling_Ct_Carlsbad_CA_92011
that sanderling house, to me, is an outlier. Very customized and definitely a standout…not the typical home for the average buyer. Though I love the Cassins/Corvidae/Colidris area, the homes just feel & look tired!
What about this one in the Bay Collection? Newer, pools, ocean views, upgraded to the 9’s and less than 300/psf! Any idea why this one is just sitting?
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-120013188-7062_Heron_Cir_Carlsbad_CA_92011
80k nice cosmetic rehab..
Yes on Sanderling being an outlier, price-wise. It only appraised for $1.1 and the buyers went ahead anyway and paid the $1.34.
Your Heron listing, and the Bay Collection in general, is being hampered by this short-sale lowball that closed for $950,000:
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-110043217-7054_Heron_Cir_Carlsbad_CA_92011
It is only four doors down, and on the same side of the street.
This 3,057sf across the street has closed since for $1.073 million:
http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-110001785-7071_Heron_Cir_Carlsbad_CA_92011
Between the two sales, buyers aren’t going to be too comfortable paying more than $1.1 million for 7062 or any others in the BC. This is the damage caused by shady short-sales; they cause other sellers in the immediate area have to set back their plans at least 6-12 months until the bad comp is beyond sight.
Straw buyer fraud on the way up, short sale fraud on the way down. Jeebus.
It might be hot, but why is CV so hot? I would honestly like to know. Is it because soccer moms like the neighborhood and the school district?
800K -1.3 mil seems like a fortune for a house in CV. I just don’t get it.
GettinReady – agreed. At those prices, it is the last place in San Diego I would want to be.
don’t get it on CV myself. it is a lemmings effect.
CV = great Schools, proximity to high paying jobs and beach. Otherwise, pretty bland.
As a student of consumer behavior, I think the appeal of CV is not the objective benefits such as the schools, the proximity to jobs, shopping or recreation, but instead something much more fundamental.
CV does an impressive job of satisfying important consumer needs for safety, security and a certain level of prestige. These higher-order attributes are telegraphed to consumers through controlled and self-selected homogeneity: homogeneity of house elevations, street names, neighborhood look and feel, shopping plazas, and, perhaps most important, the demographics of its denizens.
To live in CV is to communicate a certain statement about one’s self and one’s place in the universe. The people who don’t “get” CV or find it bland, or would frankly rather die than be caught dead living there are just in a different market segment.
CV is a great case study of just how much people value certain higher-order attributes and just how much developers and retailers can charge for delivering on the promise.
somehow I have lost the “o” in hoff. There. I think it’s back now.
Profhoff – appreciate your very thoughtful and educated insight. I have lived in CV for 12 years, and yes I find it bland. And I find the values of some residents appalling and shallow (especially the higher end neighborhoods). But as to why anyone would pay $900k to live next to a freeway (as 2 homes that came up today attest to), I stick with great schools and proximity to good jobs and decent weather (not hot due to being near beach). That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it 🙂
Just went pending!
Jim – how’s your listing on Lower Ridge Rd doing?
prohoff got it right. CV has the mystics of prestige Asians are particularly prone to.
absolutely, it is the “Irvine effect” in full force.
this explains the $200k premium to other nearby communities with good schools.
…and there’s almost as much to do in CV as there is in Irvine. Never trust a city that doesn’t have a proper bar.
Agrestic ain’t got nothin on it.
I agree that CV, and the 56 corridor in general, appear to be the locale of choice for Asian buyers with the means to get in. The census stat I last saw was that North County added 60K Asians over the past 10 years, probably mostly in that corridor I would guess. When you have a substantial influx of an ethnicity that are heavily focused on one prize area, you get the CV effect. CV has not quite reached the status of a place like Cupertino, an Asian enclave or “ethnoburb” as the scholarly may say, but when you look at school demographics and trends it’s hard to argue that it’s not well on its way to achieving that status, and right quickly.
@ OCrenter
What other nearby coastal communities have equivalent schools and the proximity to San Diego’s economic centers with houses that cost $200K less than CV?