Investors are faced with the same dilemma as regular buyers – very few properties for sale:
Jim Klinge
Klinge Realty Group
Broker-Associate, Compass
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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Verified 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.Verified 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.Verified 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!Verified I appreciate Jim & Donna's great teamwork, sound advice, and guidance that eased the stress of selling our Carlsbad home. Their professional input and assistance throughout the process was very helpful. Highly recommended!Verified 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...Verified 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.Verified We had a wonderful experience buying our home with Donna and Jim! In particular I was very impressed with their efficiency and support through the purchase process. As we were doing the walk through, Donna started contacting roofers, plumbers, aircon, electricians, etc for all the areas we needed potential repairs - by the time we were done with the walk through appointments were already set up to get estimates for all the major services. When we had to change an appointment, or couldn't make one, Donna was there to arrange things to fit our schedule. Even after we closed on our home, Donna helped set up the repairs we needed before move in day. They truly went above and beyond to deliver exceptional service. I'll be calling them for our next home!Verified The sale of our home exceeded our expectations - Jim and Donna Klinge are the best! We’ve followed Jim’s Bubbleinfo blog since the 2006 housing bubble. After he helped us buy in 2017 we stayed in touch and Team Klinge were the obvious choice when it came time to move. They guided us through the preparation of the house, including a kitchen refresh - Donna and Lisa skillfully managed the various contractors for us after we had moved out of state. Donna’s excellent attention to detail and regular communication made the whole process run smoothly from a distance. Jim’s market knowledge, expert negotiating skills and candid opinions, together with Donna’s responsive communications and problem solving, set them in a league of their own. Highly recommended!Verified Jim and Donna have exceeded my expectations with sale of my house. It was best experience with house sale. Professional, responsive, superior negotiating skills. I would recommend them with 5 star (I would give them even more than max) rating. Sale of my house was closed for really good price in 10 days. Jim and Donna perfectly handled house preparation for sale. Thanks a lot!!!Verified Jim and Donna have exceeded my expectations and made my most recent move back to California go so much more smoothly than I expected. Jim’s Bubbleinfo blog was full of useful information about the current market conditions. His experience helped us make a successful offer for the home we wanted in a desirable neighborhood. After the purchase Donna organized the work we needed done in the house without us having to make an additional trip. We were pretty worried when we started searching for real estate that not being in the area was going to makes things really difficult but Jim and Donna made the process so much easier. I enthusiastically recommend them.Load moreVerified by TrustindexTrustindex verified badge is the Universal Symbol of Trust. Only the greatest companies can get the verified badge who has a review score above 4.5, based on customer reviews over the past 12 months. Read more
Something is very much messed up with this current situation that buyers have few houses to buy and like Tom said millions are not making payments. Is someone out there going to do something about it?
Most flippers I know are twiddling their thumbs and nervously checking their bank balances. Many of them are already using the “grass roots” approach Tom mentions. What they are finding is underwater sellers will not sell until they have to. Many of these folks are already being solicited daily by agents looking for short sale listings and flippers are just more flies to be swatted.
The leap from 60 day flipper to developer is difficult. The market is pretty stable over 60 days. Not so much over 6 to 8 months. Interest rates could go up or we could be in another recession in December/January. There are a lot of risks with developing and it is usually more capital intensive.
Tom does nice work and he has developed a reputation for that. He also seems like a conservative guy that only takes on well thought out risks. He has a better chance than most of making the transition.
Jim, in my area it is both a shortage of inventory and a shortage of well priced inventory. Recent publicity trumpeting rising median prices has encouraged sellers to list too high and to keep their prices high. Cash buyers know the market and don’t bite (for the most part) and buyers who have to get financing can’t get the properties to appraise.Here’s an oddity, I checked the MLS and there were no homes priced between $1MM and $1.5MM but 211 homes priced $1.5MM and up, out of 957 active listings..
Tom,
I couldn’t agree with you more on the people not paying their mortgage. Every dollar they steal is taken out of the pocket of a young couple thats working but unable to buy a home.
Have you ever considered remodeling people’s homes to get by during the flipping drought? I don’t know the typical margins for remodeling. But if flippers are working for 10% profit there has to be more than that in remodeling.
I’ve got a 40s home were looking to update and add on to.
Hey Jim, I think the video came off like its impossible to find deals. That’s not the case at all, I landed another non-MLS 15% deal this month and wholesaled it to a friend who’s on number 30 this year. I’m just being picky.
One interesting change this summer is the buy and hold guys are now in the game. When you see a 200k house that needs 40k in rehab get bid up to 170k this is whats happening. I’ve confirmed it after talking to listing agents.
I’m getting 2 emails a week from new investors asking me to teach them how to flip houses in San Diego, pretty funny.
Investors are now over paying with the hopes that by the time the rehab is done they can get more than the comps show.
I’ve always sneaked through the crowd and had no problem making my way to the keg and filling up 2 cups, nothings changing on my end. But, for the unimaginative, lipstick flippers who just jumped in the game here in San Diego because it was so easy anyone could do it, their seasons will come to an end when all the low hanging fruit has been picked.
Its probably better and they can go back to doing whatever it was before all the distressed inventories littered every block. If you add real value to a house, you will make money.
My year is in the books already with the spec we have coming up. I’m already looking at projects for next year. Its anyone’s guess what the market will do but I know I can adapt. I’m not looking to become a developer per say, just continue with larger structural projects that the crowd cant take on/or make any money with, working with GC’s.
Have fun with whatever you do, keep it low stress and enjoy your family and life! Afterall, this is why we are self employed.
Always insightful, thanks Tom and Jim. Love your refreshing outlook on life Tom!
A lot of ppl would be more comfortable with and not aversive of buying houses that need remodeling/updating if guys like Tom are for hire to take on the job.
This was great. Thanks Tom and Jim.
Nice work Tom! Where did you buy the wall sconces?
Thanks Local Boy. Here is the only place I could find that hour glass sconce in brushed aluminum. They could be used outside too. Kinda pricey but a real show stopper for MCM design for sure.
http://justmoderndecor.com/
Thanks Tom and Jim. Nice to see there flippers out there who are creating some real value.
I also laughed when Tom gave the number of cash offers on that property. I don’t know where all these people are coming from either, but there can’t be an infinite number of these people.
The amount of people out there not making payments is disturbing. Logic would dictate there is another decline in prices on the way.
Thanks for the update Tom & Jim, also congrats on finally getting Sparks closed.
Best wishes to Tom T. on the new build and I’m also curious about what he’s planning on doing with the mobile home. Is it on land or in a park? I hope he’ll mention it on his blog again.
As others have already said, I wish I could find somebody like Tom to handle remodeling at my house. I could sure use somebody with his vision, taste, and ability to execute quickly!
I agree Tom–Those lights are sweet!
@interesting, thanks for asking…The mobile home deal is not anything special, but more of an exercise for me to learn another investing angle. A private seller contacted me about buying it through our website. I’ve turned down 3-4 already but thought what the heck I want to try and learn a little and do one.
Mobiles are not real property, so essentially its a depreciating asset. The lady wanted 25k. Its a 1976 double wide in a clean and established Lakeside park. I negotiated her down to 10k. There have been sales around 32k. I thought it would be a great little ROI and with little skin in the game so I’m giving it a shot.
All I’m doing is carpet and cleaning, heck I cant even paint it because its paneling inside. I plan to list it for 22k and go for a quick sale.
The great thing is that in its current condition nobody could move in (cats). The lady owns it free and clear and has already bought a house. In order to buy it the park has to approve you as a resident (2400/mo income).
It was interesting when the park manager learned I wasn’t moving in after approving me, he initially told me “no flipping allowed” in his park. I quickly turned him around assuring him that what i was doing was a win-win for everyone. I’ll find him a good tenant and there wont be a low MLS comp that hurts everyone else’s values. In the meantime I’m responsible for his space rent. It will be interesting, the 700/mo carrying costs for space rental is the unknown for me so hopefully I can turn it at a discount quick. I’m already in contact with all the agents who have recent listings and sales, one guy says he has a buyer for me already so we’ll see.
..all this being said, the real way to do mobiles is supposedly owner finance, set it up to pay back your investment in no longer than 18 months and then cash flow 300-400/month. Owner finance is great because you don’t get landlord calls and you get a nice deposit up front. Additionally its common that buyers default so you end up selling the same mobile home and getting deposits multiple times. Just not my style though: )
Thanks for the reply, Tom.
Interesting stuff, I can remember my dad having to take back a property on an owner financed sale, not fun. I wouldn’t want to have to foreclose on somebody in the current environment though. 🙂
Best of luck to you, I’ll keep checking out your blog for progress reports on the new build!