Many years ago, we purchased a home in Carlsbad, using a realtor that was recommended to us - Jim Klinge. Fast forward to 2025, we recently had the privilege of selling 2 homes in Carlsbad, CA and didn't hesitate to reach out to Jim and Donna Klinge of Klinge Realty Group to guide us through the sales. The transactions were very different, each with its own unique situation, opportunities and challenges. From start to finish, Donna and Jim helped navigate the pre-sale preparation, the listing, showing of the house, buyer negotiations, the final close and all of the paperwork and decisions in between. What stands out with both transactions is the professionalism of Jim and Donna (and their team), wonderful communication (timely, relevant, concise), their deep understanding of market dynamics (setting realistic expectations), their access to top-notch contractors, and last, their ability to guide us across the finish line successfully. We wouldn't hesitate to use Jim and Donna in the future and highly recommend them for anyone looking to buy or sell a property in North San Diego County.
Jim,
I just read this interesting article in today’s New York Times about developers’ increasing use of perpetual resale fees on new developments as a way to increase their bottom line.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/business/12fees.html?pagewanted=1&hp
Thanks for the La Jolla vid, I hope to see more in the future. In your estimation, is 700k for that lot a good deal(please don’t laugh)?
I know very little about zoning, but I would definitely consider going in for half with someone and splitting the lot… $350k for an ~8000 sqft lot in LJ actually seems pretty reasonable. What are building costs these days, still around $200 a sq. foot?
Nice to see some prices finally start coming down in LJ. If anyone out there reading this lives/has lived in LJ and could give me a brief run-down of what it’s like to live in the area I would very much appreciate it.
Genius,
I don’t live in LJ but I have immediate family there. The schools are good, but freeway access is pretty horrendous. If you have school-age kids, it’d be a good move. If you like staying home or just running local errands, it’d be a good move. If you like going places, or have to commute to work outside the LJ area… do some soul searching.
Bottom line, figure out what’s important to you and purchase accordingly. You might try my subjective home evaluation tool. I built it to help myself make purchase decisions, so it might not be 100% perfect for everyone, but hey – it’s free. 🙂
http://homeval.kwaping.com/
Happs,
That is a stunning story. Laugh out loud stunning. It’s the kind of thing that tears my mind right in half. One half of my mind would like to take the developer that slipped that into the contract out back and put a bullet in his/her head. The other half of my mind wants to get nose to nose with the seller who was too CLUCKING LAZY to read the damn 40 page contract and just signed it and laugh and laugh and laugh at them.
JtR, you should do a tour of that REO on Sagebrush. People will get a kick out of that one on the blog.
Love the house. Hate the traffic noise, and there’s too much work to be done for that price, IMHO.
Still, it IS a nice house.
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Genius,
If you ever see a decent lot that you’d like to buy and split, let us know. We might be interested in something like that. We’d want a *minimum* of 10,000 sf though.
Thanks Kwaping.
CA renter – I’ll take the 8k parcel and you can have the remaining 10k. You do realize, however, what kinda of neighbor you’re going to have.
If I see something in the future I’ll hit you up. 10k in LJ is kind of hard to come by.
Well, we’re pretty loud neighbors (in a good, fun way), so whatever you do, it couldn’t be much worse. 😉
Definitely let me know if you see something interesting, and we can go through Jim.