The whole Klinge family is attending the 1000Watt Brand & Marketing Summit in Dallas this week – yeehaw!
One of today’s speakers dove into AI and how agents can use it to save hours of time doing mundane work. But I think everyone could benefit from these tidbits!
As of right now, I’m not one to use AI too much. I usually just ask some simple questions when I’m not in the mood to scour the internet for answers. Most recently I asked ChatGPT the wattage of my microwave by sending in a photo and I also asked why the red light of my blender was blinking. So that just proves how I’m really using AI to save time in my professional life.
One feature of ChatGPT I learned about from today’s speaker is custom GPTs. If you pay for Chat GPT Plus ($20/month), you unlock the ability to create custom GPTs for tasks and topics you repeatedly need assistance with. For example, the speaker hosts a podcast and he created a custom GPT to prepare him for each episode before filming. So now, instead of spending 30-60 minutes researching his next guest, he simply puts in the name of the guest and it produces all the information he needs based on his customization of the GPT.
I thought this was pretty sweet and could be used for plenty of tasks, both work related and not.
My first project: make a custom GPT to help me make our weekly KRG newsletter. I often include upcoming local events and sometimes it takes an annoying amount of time to find events that seem enjoyable, so hoping this makes it quicker. I just did a few rounds of questions and fine tuned the events it pulled by date, location, audience, etc. – so far so good! I’ll keep using it and see how it goes!
If you’re interested in doing the same, here are the steps:
Let’s compare the start of 2025 to previous years.
The last obvious buyer’s market was in 2009, and in the graph above you can see how the supply swamped the demand.
This year, sales have been strong and the supply is still relatively muted. Cash sales are a major driver, and buyers wouldn’t be paying all cash if they didn’t have faith in the environment.
So we’re fine, at least for now.
There won’t be a major panic either – homeowners have too much equity, and not giving it away will feel like the perfect solution for a ‘soft’ or ‘bad’ market. They will just wait until next year.
There should be some great deals made by those who stay in the game and grind out a lowball deal here and there. But they will be rare.
The last downturn was made worse by the exotic low or no-down financing. Most of those who bought in the 2005-2007 era had no equity by 2009, and walking away was common and encouraged by the unscrupulous agents and lenders.
The environment is completely different now.
Everyone was nervous how the market would respond to the doubling of mortgage rates. Three years later, we have survived better than anyone imagined.
We’ll survive the ‘tariff transitory temporary two-step whoop-de-doo market’ too.
We’re not in a buyer’s market is because sellers have to agree to it AND move down on price – if they don’t, then the market is just loitering.
Sellers have the right to hold out on price and either wait for a lucky sale, or hope that market pricing rises up to meet them and their aspirations. The latter has been working for years!
The selling season will run out of gas at some point.
It may have already.
It sure looks like the second half of 2025 is going to be sluggish. Only the gunslingers and crazy people will have much luck then.
So all we have are the next two months.
Mortgage rates will have some influence on the outcome. But the days-on-market will be the main cause of buyer reluctance to paying the seller’s price.
Three-quarters of the current inventory has been for sale for more than two weeks. If those aren’t sold in the next month or two – and their DOM ends up being 60-90 days or more – the chances of them selling in 2025 are remote at best.
Simple tip for home sellers: Decide how much of a discount you are willing to tolerate. Divide it in half, and reduce your price once in April, and once in May. If not sold by the end of June, pack it up and try again next year!
For a buyer’s market to actually happen, it would take sellers to acknowledge it, and act accordingly. Acknowledging it means lowering their price until they get offers, and then cut a deal with one of them.
We’re a long ways off from that happening.
Instead, let’s call it the ‘tariff transitory whoop-de-doo market’ for now.
It’s code for a paused, standoff, you-go-first market.
Previously, buyers hoped for mortgage rates to get under 6% to excite them, but now it’s going to take mid-5s at least to get them to re-engage. It will be too easy for them to pause for at least a week or two to see if the tariff talk scares any sellers to dump on price. Besides, they’ve seen all the current inventory and didn’t like any of it. Not at those prices anyway.
But the drop in rates has stalled. Inflation fears should keep them stalled.
If the rates don’t get the buyers going, then what’s left?
The over-list sales in March were down YoY, but the sales and pricing are holding up. It’s just more mellow? There were 46 sales that closed over their list price, and 76% of those were under $3,000,000.
Statistically, the first quarter of 2025 looked a lot like it did in 2024.
The 1Q25 sales were 410 vs. 414 in 1Q24, and pricing was higher this year:
Let’s retire the old graph here for the record – it was scorching hot in 2021 and early 2022:
A guy commented on an old REO video that was one of my favorites of all-time. I remember it not only because an ice-cream truck was featured in the video (like so many of my REO videos back in the day) but also because a neighbor busted my chops for parking on the sidewalk here.
As you can see above, we sold it for $183,000. The video has 8,800 views:
Invitation Homes bought it for $275,000 in 2013, and still owns it:
I guess you can say they have hit the housing ATM since!
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Jim & Donna Klinge helped us sell our home of 30 years in Ocean Hills. We were very happy with their service and would HIGHLY recommend them to anyone looking for an Honest, Knowledgeable, Skilled, Informed Efficient realty team. Both Jim & Donna were so helpful in different ways and complemented each others skills. Please refer to a more detailed review that we wrote on YELP. Thank You Both for all your help!!!
Jesse O'Hara
June 12, 2025
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A+ thank you
Lisa Tuomi
June 11, 2025
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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.
Jerry Meyer
March 28, 2025
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We sold a home with Jim and Donna and from beginning to end they were consummate professionals. Their initial walk through the property resulted in a list of items to be repaired or updated. They supplied a list of vendors and job quotes to do the repairs and updates. We originally wanted to sell ‘as is’ and just get it over with. They gave us a selling price for ‘as is’ and options for doing a few updates/repairs to doing it all with the selling price for each option. We agreed to do all they suggested and we sold for the exact price they predicted. For every dollar spent we got back more than $2 back in the selling price. And they got that price in a rising interest rate environment! Donna and Jim are extremely detailed and guide you through ever aspect of the sale. There were no surprises thanks to their guidance. We couldn’t be more pleased with their representation.
Thank you Donna and Jim,
Jerry and Mary
Heather Quejada
March 27, 2025
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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.
Lou F
March 27, 2025
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WeI had the pleasure of working with Klinge Realty Group to sell our home in Carmel Valley, and I cannot recommend them highly enough!
Jim and Donna demonstrated exceptional professionalism, offering expert guidance on market conditions and pricing strategy, which resulted in a quick and successful sale.
Communication was prompt and we were well-informed throughout the entire process.
For anyone looking for a dedicated and knowledgeable real estate team, look no further!
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William Sams
March 25, 2025
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Donna and Jim Klinge of Klinge Realty Group have our highest possible recommendation. From Donna and Jim’s first visit to our house through closing their advice and counsel was candid and honest in all dealings. They kept us fully informed throughout the process. The house sold less than three days after listing with a two-week closing. My wife and I have sold several houses during our lives. This was by far the best experience. Klinge Reality is a premium service realtor. You can’t make a better choice for someone to sell your home fast and for top dollar.
Emily Hernandez
December 29, 2024
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Donna and Jim provided exceptional support and professionalism throughout the entire process. We couldn't have been happier with their efforts. They made our house shine, and thanks to their expertise, it sold above the listing price in the very first weekend! Truly a fantastic experience from start to finish.
Jesus Adrian Sahagun
November 11, 2024
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This year has been difficult on our family, mainly due to having to sell our home. Thankfully we knew God had a plan for us and working with the Klinge team was a key part of it. It was an obvious decision to work with them again after such an amazing experience when purchasing the same home we needed to sell. The challenge was, how will we do this in so little time with so much going on? Jim and Donna held our hand every step of the way. Whenever an unexpected issue arose they found and provided a solution. Never once did we feel pressured to make a decision and the Klinges were always reassuring after providing the information that the decision was ours to make. Despite the curve balls, they never panicked and exemplified the “can do” attitude, making us feel optimistic and taken care of. Their expertise and professionalism was superb. But of all the reasons to work with the Klinges, the most impactful and valuable is their compassion and genuine care for their clients. We pray that we can one day purchase our forever home and you better believe that Jim and Donna will be representing us - as long as they will have us of course. Thank you again Klinge team! Your execution, experience, and care are unmatched.
SABIHA PASHA
July 23, 2024
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Jim and Donna were fantastic! Jim understanding my needs, recommending potential places, pointing out the pros and cons of each property was invaluable. Then when the offer was accepted Donna’s organized guidance through the inspections, paperwork etc made the whole process seem effortless.
So grateful that I had them on my side!
