Move to New Mexico
Los Alamos is #1 on his list – check it out here:
Encinitas 1947 & 1987
Let’s Sell Houses
Home Seller Tip, 2025
The market is ‘slowing’ and pretty soon we will all just be standing around wondering what happened. The underlying reason is that the new rules discourage agents from wanting to work with buyers.
I just had one where my buyers offered $175,000 over the list price. The listing agent countered and reduced the seller-paid commission to me by a half-percent. I got penalized for having my buyers offer $175,000 OVER the list price, and it put me at odds with my own client.
The other parts of how the listing agent handled the negotiations were so repulsive that it made me embarrassed to be a part of our so-called profession. Why would I want to go through that again?
It was already hard enough trying to represent buyers.
Cannon Park Deal
CARLSBAD — It has been a long time coming.
After 12 years, the city of Carlsbad, San Diego Gas & Electric and NRG Energy, and its subsidiary Cabrillo Power LLC, have agreed on a land settlement for property on Agua Hedionda Lagoon and along Carlsbad Boulevard and Cannon Drive.
The city and two energy companies have been haggling since 2013 over the deal, now known as the Seaside Agreement, but the City Council approved the deal during Tuesday’s meeting.
The deal will see the city take ownership of more than 5 acres at the site of SDG&E’s North Central Service Center along Cannon Drive and Carlsbad Boulevard, Cannon Park, the middle and inner lagoons, 5.7 acres of land on the north shore of the lagoon and more, according to Carlsbad Deputy City Manager Gary Barberio, who has worked on the deal since 2013. SDG&E will move its operations center to the east side of the property in a land swap with Cabrillo, while a new trail system will be constructed just east of the Carlsbad Strawberry Fields property on what is known as Lot 11.
Should the deal fall through, Cabrillo will pay the city $10 million.
Read the full article here:
https://ncpipeline.substack.com/p/carlsbad-sdge-landmark-deal
Robert Reffkin in San Diego
Robert Reffkin was in San Diego yesterday to talk Compass. He will be visting all the Compass regional offices to assure agents that we are on the right track.
We’re on the right track.
Private Exclusives are permitted in the Clear Cooperation Policy. Nobody disputes it, including Zillow who has already said that they won’t be blocking our Private Exclusives from their website.
Compass plays by the rules.
We hear a lot of noise from the ivory towers about Compass withholding properties in order to sell them off-market, but you saw in my recent blog post that we’re doing about the same number as we’ve always done (less than 1% of total sales) and other brokerages are doing about their same numbers too.
You won’t find any agents on the street who want to ban off-market sales. They are legal, within the rules, and we love them.
I have a new rule to fix it.
All off-market sales are forbidden to be on the MLS.
I’ve mentioned how it’s a badge of honor for agents to input their off-market sales after closing. They see other agents do it – many of them prominent – and their ego wants to join the party.
If the MLS police just stopped allowing off-market sales to be inputted, then the problem could solve itself. Agents who went a year or two without seeing off-market sales on the MLS would probably forget all about them.
Oh, you want to input for appraisal purposes? Appraisers have enough comps – and they will find yours on the tax rolls if they need it that badly. Oh, you want it on your sales count? Nobody cares about your sales count except you, and because we’re suspicious of anything off-market, sorry. No sale on the record for you.
It would help to eliminate the frivolous or shady off-market sales, which no one talks about or wants to change. People just use the topic to beat up on Compass because their knee-jerk reaction is that we’re up to something, when we’re not.
A month ago, Robert put this on his Insta account:
Corcoran, Douglas Elliman, Redfin, and eXp have now said publicly that they do exclusive listings. It’s rumored that every brokerage has them, and they should – they are legal and permitted.
If you don’t like it, then change the rule that permits them.
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Other tidbits from the meeting:
Of the real estate licensees nationally, 94% haven’t closed a sale this year.
Should Compass put up a big fight, or just go on our merry way? Robert is promoting our 3-Phase Marketing Plan that sounds really good to some home sellers. It’s within the existing rules, so let’s keep our head down and serve our clients the best we can. There’s nothing to fight about, really.
Lennar sold 800,000 homes last year, and HALF of them were off-market.
Several Compass agents agreed that they don’t use the MLS at all – everything they need is on our platform.
How about the people who aren’t used to being around other people these days? Today, there are people who get by without having a meaningful conversation with another human being – maybe they talk with their dogs and cats, but not much with other humans beyond the ‘how ya doing’ occasionally. We are cocooning as a society, and selling your home with minimal human interaction should be an option that many may prefer.
The market is softer and sellers might have a better chance to sell for their price off-market. Buyers are known for paying more for an exclusive offering, so it is a viable option for procuring a top-dollar sale. Sellers should at least have that choice available to them.
It’s a new day. Many, and probably most, listings aren’t getting any showings, let alone offers. The way it’s going, selling off-market will sound better and better.
Coachella 2025
Brain May from Queen joined Benson Boone for Bohemian Rhapsody
Benson’s guitarist is Sus Vasquez who toured with Natalie last year with Karol G.
Missy Elliott
Many influencers were active and this guy had an entourage – I stood up and got on camera in one of these.
Charli xcx
Green Day played their explosive set without one word in between about Trump or anything political. Because Billie Joe has given 45-minute political sermons between songs, I thought there would be something that might change the world but because they did the music for Bill Maher’s show and he came out as a Trumpster this week, maybe BJ was speechless? Hard to believe, but it was so!
If you prefer the polished version with close-ups, watch theirs:
Frenzy Monitor
The unsolds are rising quickly with +96 since mid-February.
In 2024, we didn’t have 462 active listings until the middle of June!
But South Carlsbad and Carmel Valley are cruising along nicely with their actives-to-pendings ratios within the 2:1 standard we use to gauge a healthy market.
The number of actives is +23% above last April, and the number of pendings is 17% lower – the result that we’ve been talking about since October. It’s mostly a higher-end problem and it won’t work itself out.
Sellers will just be content to wait and see, cancel their listing for the holidays, and be back again next year….at the same price.
Our New Listing in PV
Check out our new listing!
2302 Birdie St., Oceanside
4 br/2.5 ba, 1,944sf
YB: 1989
No HOA
LP = $1,200,000
Wouldn’t you love to find a renovated home on a big lot that is move-in ready? Here you go! Upgraded this year with new flooring & paint, windows, sliding-door, kitchen (with walk-in pantry), baths, lighting, and landscape – wow! Huge 15,224sf lot, central A/C, 3-car garage, and no HOA! Secluded location with minimal impact from neighbors. The last sale in Pacific Views was $1,250,000 on Feb 27th for a house that was 75sf bigger. Close to Carlsbad, beach, freeway and all the modern conveniences – check this out!
https://www.compass.com/listing/2302-birdie-street-oceanside-ca-92056/1820722907676486161/
Open 12-2pm Friday and Saturday, April 26th & 27th.
Sellers: “Full Price or Higher”
They’re not going to give it away!
Amid growing economic uncertainty, recession fears, and continuing tariff turmoil, there’s a glimmer of hope among homeowners who say that they are still feeling very optimistic about getting top dollar for their properties—with many going as far as to predict that they will sell their dwellings for more than the asking price.
A new survey conducted by Realtor.com® economists has found that 81% of potential home sellers think they will achieve their asking price or secure a higher offer as the market moves into its best time to sell.
Only 13% of the more than 800 would-be home sellers interviewed as part of the study said they expect to get less than their asking price. A further 5% responded that they do not know what will happen.
https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/best-time-to-sell-asking-price-survey/
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Redfin has joined Zillow in the dogpile on Compass, which is such a joke because they sell their listings off-market too. Zillow has already said that their coming ban of off-market listings doesn’t include the Compass Private Exclusives (via Rob Hahn) because they are in the MLS and comply with the current NAR rules.
It’s grandstanding, which both have a long history of doing. They say and do things to be in the spotlight – not to change the world of real estate sales. If you want to do that, then change the rules.
