The new development at Cannon and El Camino Real in NE Carlsbad is taking shape, though the first move-ins won’t be until mid-2016 – and the high-enders won’t be until 2017. But in the meantime, these houses will occupy the minds of buyers, so any sellers nearby will be affected.
In SE Carlsbad, we saw how Davidson’s Arterro tract helped to elevate prices throughout La Costa Oaks. But those were all similar and newer McMansions – the older homes near RR will take a backseat to the new stock.
When first announced as a 672-home development, it sounded huge – but less than half are houses. There are 308 single-family homes, 364 condominiums, 175,000 square feet of commercial development and 88 acres of open space including five neighborhood parks.
The condos are being called apartments, and are in the gray area on the map. Like many builders, they are probably hoping to rent them for ten years, and then sell them later to avoid any construction-defect lawsuits. But that high-density look will be interesting right in the middle of higher-end houses.
There is a little something for everyone – and that’s probably good because the builder has had over 4,000 inquiries so far:
The Ridge will be 1,600sf to 3,000sf houses, but those lots look smaller. Prices start in the mid-$600,000s, and they will be opening in Spring, 2016.
The Vistas will be 2,100sf to 3,900sf, and start in the $700,000s, but I think most will be in the $800,000s and $900,000s. They’ve gotten started on a piece of the existing neighborhood in the bottom right corner on the map and are taking reservations.
The Terraces will be 2,900sf to 4,600sf houses on lots that will average 6,000sf. They will start in the mid-$900,000s, and be opening n Summer, 2016.
The Bluffs will be the big bombers on the hill, though no ocean view. The houses will be 3,200sf to 4,900sf on lots that average 8,500sf. Prices aren’t announced yet, but should be over a million.
You can see here that the lots in the Vistas are brief. This is a 3,900sf house going on a lot with a 15-ft. backyard – max. It is 11.2-ft on the other side, and I think that includes the slope. The price is $934,995.
In case you missed it, last month Fannie Mae began to transition the multi-graph and narrative report detailing results of its National Housing Survey (NHS) into a different format, the Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI). The Index distills responses to six survey questions about consumers’ home purchase sentiment into a single number which the company says “reflects current and forward-looking housing market outcomes and complements existing data sources to inform housing related analysis and decision making.”
The HPSI summarizes consumers attitudes about whether it is a good or bad time to buy or to sell a house, what direction they expect home prices and mortgage interest rates to move, how concerned they are about losing their jobs, and whether their incomes are higher than they were a year earlier.
The hottest free agents this season are real-estate agents.
In pursuit of more deals and commissions, real-estate agents—most of whom are independent contractors—are increasingly switching brokerage firms. And just like in the big leagues, when these players move, egos can clash.
“There’s not a lot of brand loyalty,” said Billy Rose, an agent and co-founder of the Agency in Beverly Hills, Calif. “A lot of times they become mercenaries,” he said about agents, because they’re getting recruitment offers all the time.
Jen Winston left Hilton & Hyland last October to join the Agency. For her, one of the biggest factors was marketing support. Whereas many brokerages may have one or two dedicated marketing people, the Agency has a team of 20 to do everything from posting listing photos online to sending branded bottles of Pinot Noir to clients—all of which frees agents to close more deals.
Ms. Winston, 30, entered real estate in 2012. She said she appreciates the culture at the firm, where agents are collaborative and share commissions. “A little bit of something is better than all of nothing,” she said.
Before the move, she said she earned “just under six figures” as an assistant to more senior agents. Now, with an estimated annual sales volume of $25 million, she says she will triple her income. Hilton & Hyland declined to comment.
Rebecca Mairone scarcely deserves a mention in the annals of finance, except for this: She’s the only executive of a major U.S. mortgage lender found liable for her part in the 2008 financial crisis.
Mairone was chief operating officer for a division of Countrywide Financial Corp., the California giant that came to symbolize the excesses of the subprime era. While top executives there and elsewhere walked away, Mairone, now 48, was targeted in a civil case by federal prosecutors. In October 2013, a Manhattan jury found her liable for misrepresenting the quality of mortgages her company sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff called her testimony “implausible” and slapped her with a $1 million fine. Bloggers said she helped destroy the U.S. economy and should be jailed or worse.
Two years later, Mairone is heading back to court in an attempt to overturn that ruling and restore her reputation. As she has all along, she maintains she did nothing wrong. Years after the housing bust, her case reminds Americans yet again that not a single senior executive has been held accountable for a mortgage meltdown that cost millions of people their homes, livelihoods and savings.
“She’s not uniquely responsible,” said Brad Miller, a Democratic congressman from North Carolina from 2003 to 2013 who served on the House Financial Services Committee. “But the question isn’t whether there should’ve been a claim brought against Rebecca Mairone. It’s why weren’t a lot more brought?”
The blog post linked below points out the percentages of total realtor listings on Zillow. The Z Group didn’t take too kindly to such exposure, and they issued a cease-and-desist order, so I’m not sure how long this link will be working:
Zillow and the San Diego MLS do not have an agreement to automatically upload the realtor listings, so those seen on Zillow are manually-uploaded, or by private agreement. The blog post shows that Zillow has about 90% of the San Diego realtor listings, but the same chart has four cities that show over 100% of the realtor listings.
How can Zillow have more than 100% of the listings shown on realtor.com?
The authors suggest that it could be due to quality issues, but let’s face it, it more likely due to sandbagging – realtors putting listings on Zillow to find their own buyers to double-end the deal, but not sharing them on the MLS.
With publication of his memoir, The Courage to Act, on Tuesday by W.W. Norton & Co., Bernanke has some thoughts about what went right and what went wrong. For one thing, he says that more corporate executives should have gone to jail for their misdeeds. The Justice Department and other law-enforcement agencies focused on indicting or threatening to indict financial firms, he notes, “but it would have been my preference to have more investigation of individual action, since obviously everything what went wrong or was illegal was done by some individual, not by an abstract firm.”
There’s a consumer alert about an apparent scam targeting families in Rhode Island after a local couple lost $13,000.
Experts say this scheme is very sophisticated, and anyone who’s in the market for a new home needs to be on alert.
It’s a simple idea: pose as a real estate agent online and target home buyers. But in reality, it is anything but simple.
“The goal is to hack into the real estate agent’s email account,” said Connor Dowd, a broker with Keller Williams Realty of Newport. “Once they’re in, they try to learn about any real estate transactions that are currently going.”
These guys are confident the Fed won’t be raising rates for a while – one says it won’t be until 2020. In the meantime, 30-year jumbo fixed rates are back into the mid-3s (WFB advertising 3.625%, APR 3.641%), creating an ideal selling season when you’d least expect it!
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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!
Anu Koberg
July 13, 2024
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We first found Jim through his blog at bubbleinfo.com, which really showcased his knowledge of SoCal real estate. Since then we've done three transactions with Jim and Donna, and they are an incredible full service agency, with Jim's deep market insight and Donna's deft contract and project management. We trust them implicitly in their analysis and strategy, which is based on years of experience. They're always available and on top of things, and we strongly recommend them to anyone.
Bjorn Isachsen
July 10, 2024
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The Good
The Klinge Realty Group operates like a finely tuned machine, with a very personal touch. We contacted them on a Sunday and they were talking to us about our family and our needs on our living room couch the following day. They carefully listened to us and worked with us to identify the best and quickest path to listing within 2 weeks to take advantage of the low inventory conditions in our South Carlsbad neighborhood. They knew our tract specifically and had many previous sales there over the years - they came prepared with a thorough analysis of comparative sales and recommended a pricing strategy that they felt confident would yield offers the first weekend on the market.
The Great
Over the next two weeks Donna coordinated a range of vendors who she knew from experience could get the preparation to list work we needed done on time and with high quality. Our light tune-up involved excellent experiences with their stagers, landscapers, contractors, electricians, and plumbers. Throughout this period Donna's daily communication was clear, concise, and responsive. Any time we had questions Donna picked up the phone or texted immediately - but almost always, she answered our questions before we even knew we had them.
The Outstanding
We had a tricky situation with a shared fence that could have delayed our escrow. Donna used superb mediation skills to negotiate the terms of replacement and was personally on site with the fence contractor to make sure everything went smoothly. The fence looks great and escrow closed on time.
The Truly Exceptional
Our house came on the market on a Wednesday and between then and Monday morning Jim was personally at all three open houses. He was in constant communication explaining potential buyer reaction and strength. As he predicted offers began to come in on Saturday and each one was incrementally higher than the last. At the end we had 5 offers, 4 of which were over list, and the final accepted offer was $100,000 over list. In addition to being over list it included rent back terms that met our needs.
The Recommendation
For all of these reasons we would strongly recommend The Klinge Team to anyone wanting to sell in North County Coastal San Diego. I had been reading Jim's bubbleinfo.com blog for 15 years and knew when the time came to sell that he would be our first call. Jim Klinge is not your standard realtor. He is keenly aware of market conditions and sales strategies. And, works his tail off - though not as hard as Donna . At this point he's gone from realtor to friend and I plan to have him over to grill and chill at our new place to talk real estate, but also just about life and raising kids in San Diego. He's more interested in relationships than his sales numbers - and that's why his sales numbers are so high. We have already recommended the Klinge's to some close friends and another successful sale is on deck right around the corner...
Chris Shea
June 21, 2024
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We recently had the pleasure of working with Jim and Donna from Klinge Realty Group to sell our house, and we couldn't be more satisfied with the experience. From the initial meeting, they listened attentively to our needs and provided invaluable guidance on specific improvements to get our home market ready.
Their responsiveness throughout the entire process was truly impressive. Anytime we had questions or concerns, they were quick to address them, ensuring we felt comfortable and informed every step of the way. What stood out the most was their team and extensive network of tradespeople, which made addressing any necessary repairs or updates seamless and stress-free.
Thanks to their expertise and dedication, our house sold quickly and at a great price. We highly recommend Jim and Donna to anyone looking to buy or sell a home. They are a fantastic team who truly care about their clients and deliver exceptional results.
