#1 Goal? Buy a house owned by a designer – they always max out their own home! This recent remodel was meticulously crafted with high-end premium upgrades throughout, including full gourmet kitchen with Wolf/Sub-Zero, a sensational primary-bath customization, hardwood flooring, new dual-zone HVAC installed in 2025, custom wrought-iron stairrail, and it has the secluded bedroom suite downstairs – all on a culdesac one block from Ocean Air Elementary! Backyard includes infrared grill and wood-fired oven imported from Italy plus all new painted fence and gates! Wow! Don’t miss this one! Less than a 1/4-mile to Starbucks and only 1.2 miles to I-5 freeway. Don’t get stuck in PHR traffic – this location will set you free!
Open 2-4pm on Friday and 11am – 2pm on Saturday and Sunday
Downstairs suite
Similar house behind us with the same price went pending right away and has a back-up offer:
Are you looking for an updated beach bungalow that is walking distance to everything downtown Oceanside has to offer? This is it! Hardwood floors, like-new kitchen and baths, new paint, 2-car garage, big backyard with detached office plus lemon, fig and avocado trees – wow! Great candidate for adding an ADU.
Recent comps include 208 S. Ditmar 2br/2ba 1,106sf closed for $1,385,000 on 12/16/24; 310 S. Tremont 3br/2ba 940sf closed for $1,375,000 on 10/24/24; 713 Stanley 3br/1ba, 996sf closed for $1,300,000 on 9/19/24.
Do buyers need to wait until 2025, or are there some deals to be had now?
I have some unfinished business left in La Costa that buyers in search of a project should consider.
It’s a home that needs major updating to become a modern custom golf estate, but we have it priced in. Thelast sale nearby was in July for $2,350,000 for 2,432sf that was right on the street (not directly on the golf course like my listing is). We are 2,887sf of single-level living on a 9,800sf lot with 82-feet of golf course frontage for just $1,995,000!
We’ve had lookers and one low offer so we’re still in the hunt. Come by 12-2pm on Saturday!
I keep adding and subtracting photos in the MLS, and refreshing the remarks too:
Last Friday I had my nine reasons why inventory is going to surge in 2025, and it’s going to start up in January just like it did this year. It wasn’t a bad thing in 2024 because NSDCC sales have increased +6% year-over-year as the demand picked up some of the extra supply.
But as we saw in August, the demand has its limits, so any surge in supply in 2025 needs to be muted, and hopefully we’ll end up with about the same number of listings as we had in 2024 – and they just come earlier.
My nine categories are full of potential home sellers, and here’s #10 – covid buyers:
Younger Americans who bought homes during the COVID-19 pandemic could account for a surprisingly large share of home sellers in the coming year, as boomers who have owned their homes for decades mostly refuse to sell, a new survey finds.
Among current homeowners, nearly 1 in 5 say they plan to sell their home next year, according to the results released on Wednesday by Bright MLS. Although people who purchased their home in the past five years accounted for just 24% of all homeowners, they made up 32% of those who plan to sell their home in 2025.
Homeowners in their 30s and 40s will be the most active group of sellers in 2025, with 27% of homeowners aged 30 to 39 and 28% of homeowners aged 40 to 49 indicating they expect to sell in the coming year. By comparison, just 10% of older homeowners plan to sell.
“Record-low mortgage rates during the pandemic were a huge incentive for individuals and families to buy a home. Many of these buyers also have been able to quickly accumulate significant equity in their homes as home prices have escalated,” says Lisa Sturtevant, Bright MLS chief economist.
In November, national median list prices were up 37% from the same month five years ago, according to Realtor.com® economic research data.
“This wealth gain has created financial security for this group of homeowners, and is also allowing them to be move-up buyers even in today’s relatively high interest rate environment,” says Sturtevant.
The Realtor.com 2025 Housing Forecast notes that the market is shifting from a strong seller’s market to one in which buyers and sellers have more balanced market power.
“As a result, sellers will need to price carefully to attract buyers, especially in markets where affordability is an issue,” says Realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale.
Hale adds that while there’s potential for a favorable market for sellers, “the overall landscape will depend largely on how economic conditions, interest rates, and housing supply evolve over the first few months of the year.”
The survey found that of homeowners in their 30s and 40s who are planning to move, 30% have a mortgage with an interest rate below 4% and more than two-thirds have a rate below 5%.
Mortgage rates are currently averaging 6.69%, and the Realtor.com economic research team forecasts they will continue to average above 6% through the end of 2025.
It means that many families who plan to move will do so regardless of the higher rates. The survey found that the traditional reasons of family and career were the main impetus for moving among younger homeowners who plan to sell.
Among homeowners in their 30s who plan to sell, 37% said it would be for job reasons and 34% cited family reasons, including marriage, children, divorce, and being closer to family.
For homeowners in their 40s, the priorities were reversed, with family changes cited as the most common reason for moving, at 44%, and career changes, at 26%.
Only about 6% of homeowners aged 60-plus said they were planning to sell their home in 2025, according to the survey.
Check out our new listing in Mystic Point in NE Carlsbad, priced at $950,000!
4142 Karst Rd., Carlsbad
3 br/2.5 ba, 1,509sf
YB: 2007
HOA fee = $360/mo.
LP = $950,000
Open house 12-2pm on Saturday November 23rd.
Are you looking for a turnkey townhome with gorgeous views of the dedicated open space around Lake Calaveras adjacent to the miles of hiking trails nearby? Check out our new listing in one of the best locations at the end of the culdesac in Mystic Point – the premier townhome community in NE Carlsbad! New carpet and paint, central A/C, two walk-in closets in primary, laundry room upstairs, and this home has one of the larger backyards! The long driveway allows for two additional off-street parking spaces too – four-car parking guaranteed, wow! Where else in Carlsbad can you find all of this for less than a million?
Check out our new listing adjacent to the 4th hole at La Costa Golf Course! A classic old Hollywood custom home with large rooms and high ceilings that add charm and character to the single-level experience with primary suite and all living areas on the 1st floor! Add your final touches to this 3 br/3 ba, 2,887sf estate and create a golf showcase! Two others on the course now listed for $3,000,000+ and my listing is priced at only $1,995,000 – wow! Open 12-2pm on Friday and Saturday!
Here’s our new listing in Starboard by Davidson Communities – San Diego’s best builder!
7618 Circulo Sequoia, Carlsbad
5 br/3.5 ba, 4,000sf
15,314sf private corner lot
LP = $2,500,000
Davidson’s Starboard neighborhood is known to be among the finest in Carlsbad, and for most the Residence Two is the favorite floor plan. Its 4,000sf surrounds the private 700sf courtyard which extends the indoor/outdoor living area all on a whopping 15,314sf lot.
Five larger bedrooms include a bedroom/full bath suite downstairs which is sequestered off by itself for maximum privacy. The lushly landscaped backyard is a tropical oasis waiting to provide the new owners the perfect place to relax and enjoy the good life, plus it’s just a short walk to the community clubhouse, Olympic-sized pool, and fitness center. Hardwoods, stainless, dozens of big windows for plenty of natural light, four fireplaces, 3-car garage, and dual-zone central A/C.
Either walk the dog around the neighborhood’s 1.2-mile loop or hike/bike the miles of trails nearby! Top-rated Encinitas schools too – wow! If you are looking for an upscale luxury experience that matches your active lifestyle, check this out!
Davidson homes tend to sell for a premium – 7302 Calle Pera closed for $3,025,000 on 9/19! Other comps include 6643 Halite that closed for $2,925,000 on Aug 30th…6626 Halite that closed for $2,475,000 on Aug 30th….7290 Sitio Lima closed for $2,580,000 on 5/23/24 (backed to RSF Rd.)…smaller 7558 Circulo Sequoia on a smaller lot closed for $2,444,000 on 7/3/24…..3056 Via Romaza 3,174sf closed for $2,700,000 on May 28th.
Holy Man Cave! Check out this very habitable 2 br/2 ba country cottage with massive 3,600sf 12-car garage on an acre in the hills of Vista! Are you dreaming about finding the ultimate extra-large workshop with 12-ft ceilings, dozens of electrical outlets, and plenty of room for every toy imaginable? This is it! Or for those ADU builders, you’ll have a terrific head start on creating the perfect granny flat. Check this out! Zillow rent estimate for house is $2,999 per month.
The lawyers think we should do more to prove our worth, so I’ll mention our recent sales where we represented the buyers.
Some may think we are too busy to help them or have other pre-conceived ideas, but hopefully these will help to demonstrate our ability to assist buyers. I encourage every buyer and seller to review an agent’s Zillow account to examine their sales plus reviews – here is a link to ours.
1. The sellers were getting divorced and we thought their price was attractive for a good-looking home in a premium south-facing location so we offered full price, and they took it.
2. Our buyers wanted to purchase a single-story turnkey home with view for less than $1,000,000 – which is getting harder and harder to accomplish. This had a new kitchen and primary bathroom, so our folks installed new hardwoods to complete the full package.
3. Our buyer completed a 1031 exchange with this groovy 2br condo west of the freeway in downtown Carlsbad. We made cash offers and lost out on six other properties before finally landing this gem:
4. Getting a house this size in Carmel Valley for this money has only happened four times this year – and one of those was an off-market sale, and another was one of the goofy Harcourt auctions:
I cover all price points and areas, and my specialty is identifying the less-obvious concerns while we are at the home or by video – which works great if you are busy or out-of-town.
I do all the showings and negotiate the contracts myself, and then Donna takes over. Once the home inspection is complete, she gets quotes for anything that needs attention and then goes to work on the sellers so they pay part or all of the expense.
I don’t think I’ve ever sold an actual ‘dream’ home. My buyers typically get a premium property at an attractive price – and I tell every buyer to expect to spend $25,000 to $50,000 on any house you buy!
