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.
So, “It’s never been a better time to buy?”
It’s a personal thing – you can decide for yourself. If your wife just threw you out of the house, threatened to take every penny you have left, and swore you’d never work in this town again, you may want to wait a year or two.
If you are analytical, this is an excellent guide – make sure to adjust the advanced settings:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html?emc=eta1
Don’t worry about the NC times.
They’re just pissed that one guy and his blog get as much or likely more traffic than their entire site.
If the NC times were smart they would offer to pay for advertising on your site and give you a columnist page. You have traffic and followers what does their current RE person bring to the table? (besides articles on how there’s never been a better time to buy?)
how many people in CA are living rent free still?
@ James
All those quantative easing dollars have to be spent on something eventually, why not hard assets, one of which is property? Every investment is essentially a gamble, its just that real estate is one of the lower risk ones though very certainly still a risk (ask your parents, grand parents, uncles and aunts as well as in-laws what they paid for their first homes and see what they are worth now. I will give you a written warranty that if they have held these assets for more than 15 years they have kept pace with inflation in capital value and are still capable of paying an inflation adjusted dividend (rent) over time.
It probably won’t be long until we start seeing analysis of the level of “shadow buyers”, i.e, inheritance money, unqualified credit challenged buyers who buy with seller financing, etc.
Andrew, I agree with your point but be sure to qualify *where* those houses are located. I picked a random 3 bed, 2 bath, 1800 sq. ft. house in Las Vegas as an example. Purchased almost exactly forty years ago, 9/8/1972, for $27,500. Current Zestimate $55,597. Assuming relatively modest five percent annual inflation (it was actually much higher during the late ’70s and early ’80s), the $27,500 needs to be $200,475 to keep up. So the adage “location is everything” certainly holds true.
Look at the trend, assess personal circumstances, decide.
Hi Jim,
Pardee is rolling out another new housing community in Pacific Highlands Ranch – Watermark – I believe that is the community that is going to go up the hill all the way to the back side of Straterra with houses starting at $1 million. I know that Pardee has been waiting for housing market to turn before starting on new, especially higher end homes, so this plus Alta Del Mar tells me they think the market is recovering in SD.
On another note, you comment often on your dislike for laminate floors – what do you think of the new porcelin tile that looks like wood for those with pets/kids that would ruin real wood floors?
I comment often on my dislike for laminate floors because they don’t help to sell houses.
They are durable and great for people who want an economical flooring solution that will endure kids and pets.
Do you like the laminate better than the porceline tile that looks like wood?
just sayin, I just used wood look porcelain tile for flooring in our guest house. It looks great and will take a lot of abuse. Economical? Not so much if you go with a high end Italian brand! Travertine would have been less. We used long planks which also require a good installer so you don’t end up with lippage (edges sticking up above the neighboring tile). Guest house funtions as more of a game & hobby room so I didn’t want to worry about spills, etc that I wouldn’t discover days after the fact.
Thank you New to LA. I’m very interested in this product, glad to hear it’s as awesome as it seems.
Signed,
Old from LA (lived there 40 years)
just sayin’, the tile manufacturer I used is Cerdomus, tile model/collection is Barrique. I used the Brun color in the 8×24 and 8×40 lengths and did a random layout. As with any product there is a large range of quality and price. I looked at several brands of wood-look tiles and wasn’t impressed untill I found these. I’m sure you can find a local tile place that carries them.