One-Story Country Living!

Take a drive to the country and see our new listing in Vista!

685 Barsby St., Vista

3 br/2 ba, 1,891sf

YB: 1960

0.51-acre lot

LP = $899,000

Check out this country charmer with newer kitchen and bathrooms on a spacious 1/2 acre lot with vineyard! The huge eat-in kitchen – with granite counters, walk-in pantry, and sleek two-tone cabinetry – is the center of the home, with spacious living and family rooms that all expand outside to create the ultimate indoor/outdoor experience! Hardwoods, dual-pane vinyl windows & sliders, solar, travertine, herb garden plus orange and avocado trees too! This is a hot buy!

Open house 12-3 on Saturday, March 23rd.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/685-Barsby-St-Vista-CA-92084/16628107_zpid/

One-Story, Newer, Price

Michele and I cruise around twice a week looking at the new listings.

I love it because I get to pontificate about the business and give her guidance like a good broker should.

She asks many great questions, and today was no exception. She had read the blog post from 2009 where I said agents should know the hot buys. She asked about the definition of a hot buy.

Today there is an easy formula to identify a hot buy:

If the number of Zillow Saves is 5% or more of the Zillow Views, it is a hot buy.

If the Zillow Saves are 7% to 10% of the Zillow Views, grab your checkbook – because it is sizzling hot.

Of course, now that I’ve divulged my tip, a few agents will manipulate the counts so if the listing agent is a known scumbag, then don’t trust their counts. You know who the scumbags are, don’t you?

We came up with another idea too.

If the house is one-story, newer, and the price is attractive, it’s a hot buy. But then we went one better.

If the house has two of the three (one-story, newer, attractive price), it’s probably a hot buy anyway.

If the list price is attractive, that is enough to power any sale, but if the price is attractive and the house is either one-story or newer it will probably be a hot buy. In 2024, a newer one-story house doesn’t even need to have an attractive price – there are so few of them that they can ask anything they want.

We saw three houses for sale today that will demonstrate my theorem. All are one-story homes that have been improved and should appeal to the maximum number of buyers – especially the seniors who have the money and will only consider a renovated one-story in a good location with some view:

For those who desire a full ocean view from both the family room AND the primary suite and can live with 1,620sf built in 1986 on a smaller lot in Carmel Valley, you can’t do much better than this for $2M:

https://www.compass.com/app/listing/13384-pantera-road-san-diego-ca-92130/1443561425642687169

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If you want a fully-renovated one-story house just east of the freeway in Solana Beach that overlooks the golf course, then this would be worth a look:

https://www.compass.com/app/listing/332-santa-helena-solana-beach-ca-92075/1451069101991133209

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Want to step it up and buy a brand-new 4,194sf one-story house with ADU in a prime Del Mar location with ocean view – and price is no object? Then this is for you, priced at $16,995,000:

https://www.compass.com/app/listing/355-bellaire-street-del-mar-ca-92014/1447350924812111265

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Why would these three list for sale now instead of waiting until next year? Well, I can’t help you with that. It is the most lucrative time ever for buyers to pause during the absolute peak wait-and-see period of all-time.

So if 1-2 of these go pending by the end of the year, it will show that the premium properties are always hot – and I wouldn’t be surprised if they all sell.

Trophy Properties

Remember when Doug said that buyers these days want something special? With all the domestic and international conflicts, mortgage rates at 16-year highs, and ultra-low inventory making the house-hunting almost unbearable for most buyers, there are still homes selling – the ones with something special.

We received four offers and closed escrow in two weeks with a cash buyer who paid $75,000 over list!

More on Boomer Housing

The author has been writing about housing for 3+ years, and has already identified the key topic. Even though the houses owned by boomers might be in superior locations, they are dated and in need of repairs and improvements. While she thinks fixers will become popular again, it will only be those that are appropriately discounted. During the frenzy, no discount was needed, now it’s around 10%, and soon it will be 20% or more as the group of two-story fixers grows faster. The market is dividing into four quadrants; one-story, two-story, creampuffs, and fixers.

The number of people 80 years of age or older is expected to more than double between 2022 and 2040, increasing from 13 million to 28 million. As the baby boomer generation ages into their 80s, starting slowly in the late 2020s and picking up speed in the 2030s, they will likely begin downsizing and selling their homes, putting more housing supply on the market.

However, many of the homes being sold by baby boomers will need some work. Approximately 942,000 single-family homes owned by a head of household that is over the age of 60 are considered “inadequate” dwellings, according to the 2021 American Housing Survey (AHS). The AHS definition for an “inadequate” dwelling includes units with severe defects such as a lack of electricity or hot water, insufficient heating during the winter, or water leaks. That still leaves approximately 32 million single-family homes considered “adequate” in 2021. Of those, approximately 11 million were in the top 25 U.S. metropolitan areas, including 1.5 million units in New York, 852,000 in Los Angeles, and 490,000 in Washington, D.C.

Even so, many of the structures considered adequate would still likely need updating and remodeling to be brought up to date and be attractive to potential buyers. Given the highly sought-after locations of these housing units, there will likely be buyers willing to spend the money needed for updating and remodeling. Somewhat by default, the fixer-upper will be popular again.

The demographics for home buying will remain very favorable in the coming years. Today, the housing market suffers from a shortage of housing inventory—a deficit of approximately 2 million housing units in early 2023—due to a combination of decade-long underbuilding and a demographic wave of demand from millennial home buyers. However, the generation behind the millennials, Generation Z, is smaller in size and will likely require fewer housing units. Over the next decade, as baby boomers age out of homeownership, the housing shortage may narrow and eventually disappear. Demographic trends dictate long-run demand and supply in the housing market and, though they may move slowly, they are hard to outrun.

https://blog.firstam.com/economics/when-boomers-and-millennials-collide-tectonic-shifts-in-demographics-are-coming

Open House Report

Now that summer is over and mortgage rates are screaming towards 8%, many will assume that the real estate market has gone dormant for the rest of the year.

But my strategy of effectively sprucing up the house and utlizing an attractive price keeps working. Towards the end of this video I show the recent comps for the neighborhood, and you’ll see that ‘attractive’ factors in the time of year and market conditions but isn’t under market – especially considering that the home has the original roof, original windows & doors, and original bathrooms:

Attention Downsizers!

1610 Hermosita Dr., San Marcos

3 br/2 ba, 1,906sf

YB: 1991

4,597sf lot

LP = $1,100,000

Check out our new listing of a roomy 1,906sf one-story home right on the Lake San Marcos Executive Golf Course – now called the Exec at Lakehouse! Hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings with several skylights, refreshed white kitchen with quartz counters & eat-in breakfast nook, fantastic great room, extra-large primary suite with ample walk-in closet, and a courtyard that some homeowners have converted into additional living area. The location might be the best on the street, for two reasons: the longer driveway is one of the few where you can park cars on it, and the property is around the bend and rarely gets hit by golf balls – wow!

https://www.compass.com/app/listing/1610-hermosita-drive-san-marcos-ca-92078/1410292751028638057

Open house 12-3pm Sat&Sun!

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