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.
buy (your business HQ) now or be priced out (of the growers market) forever?
nice house, nice price!
Rural? Maybe the zip but that seems like a pretty small lot.
Lol, I thought you said Christmas Casket. You know, it kinda sorta looked like a lonely memorial spray when you came down the stairs 😀
Nice house and great for planting and gardening for the green thumbs. I prefer North County where memorial spays on front lawns would be more appropriate than Realtor signs on any number of properties.
That actually seems like a reasonable price, $500 to swap out the bathroom faucets and it’s move-in ready.
Lot size is 11,686sf, not acreage but huge compared to CV tract lots.
Price seems reasonable. I really like the house. I love having the washer/dryer next to the master BR. We have that now (actually, similar layout in the upstairs) and love it. Hard to find for some reason, though.
-Erica
You really covered the essence of Vista in these shots. Some nice, big, beautiful homes but location may be a little out of the ways. Reminds me of the outskirts of Santa Barbara.
Did i say something wrong that resulted in my post (quoted below) getting pulled?
++++++++
7 Rules to Real Estate
Location, Location, Location, Location, Location, Price, LotSize
(okay, i made up the last 3)
But come on, Vista versus CV? Seriously?
In another thread, 3clicks described CV as the Detriot Lions to RSF’s Steelers. Vista must be the Torrey Pines High School Girls team.
Yes, and the new policy is to delete at will, rather than take it any more. I’m tired of the attacks, and the anonymous snide remarks intended to make me look bad.
I’m sure you think you’re just being funny, it’s just a stupid blog, why does anyone care?
But consider that between this blog and the youtube comments, I get 2-5 cracks on me per day, and I’m tired of it. I’m going to delete first, and ask questions later.
Thanks for the clarification JTR. Please remove my posting.
For the record, i never thought your Board was just a “stupid blog.” I am a fan of yours and will continue to be so. I am also a fan of the Board – despite all the snide remarks about CV and CV homeowners of which i am one. As you know, we’ve been described quite negatively on this board.
Thanks, I appreciate that. For the record, yours was a close call, but I deleted 3-4 yesterday so I’m a little sensitive.
Be proud of the CV, it’s still doing well, if you judge it by the new listing on Sonoma. Remember the short-sale debacle?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5uf40IFEig
This is the listing that the Chula Vista agent re-inputted a month after it got foreclosed. The REO listing hit a few days ago, and I was there last night around 7pm. FOUR other groups were looking at it while I was there, and this morning it went pending, listed at $799,000.
My guess at the sales price is $860,000, which if you look at the video, sounds crazy.
Nice house and yard. I’m a big anti stucco box clone fan and this house is cool and unusual. I’ll take a vineyard over a 76 Buccaneers CV box any day.
LOL
While discussing some of the worst NFL teams of all time, the first one that always comes to my mind is the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Not only because they failed to post a win the entire season, but because of the way they did it.
The Bucs were shut out five times in 14 games and were outscored 412-125 on the season. The offense averaged an anemic 77 yards per game on the ground and 137 passing yards per game.
All the blame could not be placed on the offense though. The defense was run over by virtually every team they played, giving up an average of over 170 yards on the ground and 340 total net yards per game.
The Buccaneers were not only good at losing, but they were good at losing big. The average margin of victory for the opposition was 20.5 points per game, and four times during the course of the season the competition scored 40 points or better.
It’s all about the school ratings. CV over Vista for any sane person that gives a crap about their kids’ future.
I love the discussion of the sunset gardening micro-climates. That definitely sways my purchase decisions.
I like the custom tile. Much more interesting that the cookie-cutter stuff you usually see.
Gardening and planting is how I’ve kept sane the last 7 mos and counting. And that gardening slant will contribute greatly to the sale.
Great private schools up in Vista, or just down the road. Save 500k on the house and it gives you all kinds of options for education, vacations and lowers the stress level!
I think it’s cool, but you might want to think about removing the steer? skull from the entrance to the pool, could offend some vegan-type buyer
I like it, and the price looks good, too.
If not for the stairs and the lack of privacy in the backyard, it could be very tempting.
We’re trying to determine if we want to open our minds to Vista. You definitely get better homes (we absolutely prefer custom) and better lots for your money there.
I don’t see it on your website. Where exactly in Vista is located?
I was researching climate zones and I found this map, way more detailed than the one on sunset.com
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/images/090504geo.jpg
I should have linked to the related article as well. Here it is.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/04/1n4micro001944-micro-management/
Great house. Fabulous price with a good size lot. Wish we could get something like that up in LA. Good luck on the sale.
I also love having the washer/dryer next to the bedroom. Put dirty clothes in washer, go straight to bed. Clothes are clean, throw on bed and fold. No carting a laundry basket up and down the stairs, almost tripping and breaking your neck.
Jim, thanks for hitting back – on behalf of real estate agents and home ownership. In spite of your excellent blog, professionalism, knowledge and expertise, there is always some malcontent, angry-at-the-world a@@@##@ that takes the opportunity to bash real estate brokers, bash the industry and home ownership, bash prop 13, threaten to kill realtors, and express hate for whatever does not exist in their warped world. Thanks for being you.
Good looking house… bid out, or still open?
what’s the address?
’76 Tampa Bay with a college coach. He should have brought all the player he recruited to USC. Read an article one time on his team in the early 70’s at USC. Something like 20-30 players were eventually drafted by the NFL.
I enjoyed having my washer and dryer upstairs until the day I came home to find my ceiling collapsed from the washer flooding. After that, I will never ever consider a house with the washer upstairs.
We’ve lived in East Vista for almost 15 years. The lifestyle here is unbeatable. We’re just on the edge of coastal clouds, so the gray is min., but heat is manageable (no A/C). The best part is the freedom to do what you want on your property – no nosy HOA people or rules about how you can landscape your yard. We remodeled our plain 50’s ranch into a craftsman and ripped out the grass to do California friendly plants. I’m so tired of all the bad press about Vista schools. My daughter has had great teachers and attends Vista Magnet Middle, whose test scores are approaching 900. We’ve got the Moonlight Theatre, the Wave waterpark, library, movies, etc. within a mile or two of our house. If you don’t need to commute to Downtown SD – East Vista (N of 78) is the best.