The Family Stone

by | Jun 21, 2017 | Wednesday Rock Blogging

The Family Stone is playing at the Belly-Up this Friday night at 9:00pm!

One of the few who could keep up with Prince – start at the 1:20-minute mark, and catch everyone doing the slide at the 4:00-minute mark.

Point Loma Sailing

by | Jun 21, 2017 | About the author, Jim's Take on the Market, Local Flavor | 5 comments

We have a busy family like everyone else….so busy that the only time this summer the four of us could get together was one afternoon last week, so we went sailing off Shelter Island for $89 per person at http://sailsandiego.com/.  Here are photos:

I always figured the sub base would be a super-sophisticated security zone.  It looks like a dock, a floating fence, and a couple of flags from here:

The skipper said they are burying the nuclear waste from the aircraft carriers and subs here:

We all know about the Old Point Loma Lighthouse on top of the hill, but this is the Coast Guard’s newer lighthouse at the more-appropriate sea-level location at the southern tip of Point Loma:

North Island is a very active Navy base:


This was docked for a few hours and then poof, it was gone:

Trendy Tuesday by Kayla

by | Jun 20, 2017 | About Kayla, Jim's Take on the Market, Trendy Tuesday | 5 comments

I subscribe to Architectural Digest and I absolutely LOVE reading all their articles. I get so many ideas for interior design and it’s a great resource to see all the upcoming trends. It’s also great when you feel like looking at really cool homes all over the world!

Here is the most Instagrammed house in Los Angeles. A lot of brands like to use this home as a backdrop for their look-books. It’s also been used as a filming location for the past few years.

Now, this isn’t the most practical home for a family. It’s multi-level and has more of an artsy/zen-like feel, but that’s normal for Venice!

Here is the article from Architectural Digest:

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/inside-the-most-instagrammed-house-in-los-angeles

Here is another link from Image Locations that gives you a better idea about the inside:

http://imagelocations.com/oasis/

Investor Financing For Flips?

by | Jun 20, 2017 | Jim's Take on the Market, Real Estate Investing, The Future

Big-money investors are entering the real estate space, though not in California yet – but it’s just a matter of time.

Notorious R.O.B. explores whether there would be much difference between selling to an investor, and selling with a realtor on the open market:

http://www.notorious-rob.com/2017/06/are-investor-offers-always-worse/

But he also brings up a curious thought – what if the investors re-sell the house, and carry the financing for the buyer? An excerpt:

Longtime readers know that I think the most interesting possibility is that companies like Opendoor, Offerpad, and others are looking at revolutionizing the home financing process by offering direct seller financing to buyers. That was premised on the idea that these guys would resell their loans as private label RMBS.

What if they figure out a way to just hold on to the loans and service them directly in some fashion?

If investors were selling re-conditioned homes and offering to self-finance the purchase, they could bring in a whole new set of homebuyers that can’t get a loan now.  They wouldn’t finance just anybody, but they could pick up those who get left out of the current mortgage guidelines for silly reasons.  If they had sensible guidelines, they could even become the go-to lender – you just have to buy their house, at their price, to get their financing!

Creating a new buyer pool could keep the party going for a few more years!

Read Rob’s article here:

http://www.notorious-rob.com/2017/06/are-investor-offers-always-worse/

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Hardwood-Floor Tips

by | Jun 19, 2017 | Jim's Take on the Market, Tips, Advice & Links

If you have hardwood floors in your home, then you likely know the fear of ruining them.

Hardwood flooring can really take a home to a whole new level. It is so classy and sophisticated, yet also so homey and comfortable. They really are the perfect floors. That is, if you know how to take care of them.

You should absolutely never do these 10 things to your hardwood floors if you want to keep them looking spiffy.

While well-cared-for hardwood floors are gorgeous, there’s nothing more unattractive than scuffed-up planks. It’s easy to ignore your floors for a while, and then all of a sudden find them almost completely ruined. The worst part is that the more they get ruined, the harder and more expensive they will be to fix.

If you want to keep your hardwood floors looking nice, follow these 10 rules!

https://littlethings.com/never-do-to-hardwood-floors/

Zillow Hardball?

by | Jun 19, 2017 | Jim's Take on the Market, Listing Agent Practices, Zillow | 3 comments

On May 1st, Sandicor, our MLS for San Diego, began automatically uploading our listings to Zillow in an effort to improve accuracy.

This is how Zillow advertises the pending sales in Orange County, which is how they were presented in San Diego prior to May 1st:

They leave the list price at the top, which is helpful for searchers who knew the house was for sale but didn’t know the how much.

They make it clear that that the home is pending, which is good for their accuracy, and they mention the listing agent, with a phone number, along with the three-headed monster on the right.

Here is how Zillow has been marking our pending sales since May 1st:

If you were a casual observer, you wouldn’t learn much about this home.

  • No list price.
  • No ‘pending’ banner (or anything about it being for sale or not).
  • No listing-agent info (except I’ve learned to put my name in the first line of the remarks).
  • No three-headed monster (three agents who pay for advertising).

If you were told about a new listing on this street and checked Zillow for more info, they now give you nothing!  What’s worse is they have captured my photos and remarks, but now prevent me from editing.

It’s not just me – I checked some of highest-spending Zillow agents, and they are getting the same treatment.

Is it just an oversight in the transition?

After a couple of inquiries, a Zillow rep did respond today, and said I should probably check with my MLS to fix it.  Thanks a million.

There is a work-around. Join the CRMLS (which provides the MLS for the rest of Southern California), input your listings there, and then Zillow will reflect them when pending.

Until then, our listing accuracy has gone backwards in San Diego!

It may not seem like much, but listing agents are judged by their online presence. When potential sellers see our listings without prices, for-sale status, or even the listing agent mentioned, they will think that we won’t be doing much for them either.  But it is out of our control – Sandicor and Zillow are running this circus!

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