We survived another vigorous bidding war among eight buyers to prevail in winning this gem in the country! The half-acre lot filled with citrus trees makes the imagination go wild with the possibilities here in Green Valley, where 31 homes have sold for $2,000,000 – $5,000,000 in the last two years!
City officials hosted a community meeting on Saturday for the public to weigh in on three design concepts for Robertson Ranch Park.
“A Walk Through 3 Parks” took place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 10 at the Carlsbad Faraday Administration Center at 1635 Faraday Avenue, according to city officials.
Residents were encouraged to stop by for a “choose your own adventure” walk-through at three information stations focused on each of the park’s design concepts.
According to the city, residents had the opportunity to “meet and speak with the park design team, learn how they took inspiration from Carlsbad’s natural landscape to create designs that reflect the community’s priorities, ask questions, share ideas and let us know where we got it right and what you would like to change.”
The three potential design concepts for the park were agrarian tapestry, community quilt and rolling hills. All three design concepts come equipped with multi-use sports fields, restrooms, concession stands, pickleball courts, a buffer for nearby homes, a walking/jogging track and a 115-space parking lot.
Each concept will have slight differences in design related to the concept’s theme.
The park’s final design will be decided at two community meetings and through an online survey. Then, a final presentation will be scheduled for the City Council’s approval later in the year.
Depending on popular demand, the final design could be one of the three design concepts or a mesh of all three. The final design is not limited to the scope of one concept. “Based on other park planning processes, the final design usually ends up being a combination of the favorite elements of each design,” the city said.
This was the first meeting for the public to physically weigh in on the new design, with a virtual walkthrough meeting from 6-7:30 p.m. on Feb. 15. Register here to get the link.
The number of U.S. dollar millionaires has risen sharply since the beginning of the 21st century.
In 2000, there were 14.7 million millionaires worldwide, a fourfold increase in twenty years (300 percent). If we compare this figure with the fight against extreme poverty, the number of people below the global poverty line – which today stands at $2.15 a day – has declined at a much slower rate. At the turn of the century, there were 1.7 billion people living in extreme poverty, compared with around 700 million today, a drop of around 60 percent.
The United States is home to by far the largest contingent of dollar millionaires: 22.7 million in 2022, representing 6.7 percent of the country’s population. Next on this list is China with 6.2 million (0.4 percent of the population), while France completes the podium with 2.8 million (4.2 percent of the population).
Back in October, an oceanfront Del Mar house sold for a whopping $44.1 million, sending shockwaves through the quietly posh Southern California beach town and setting a new record for the most expensive San Diego County home ever sold. The out-of-left-field, off-market transaction came even as the San Diego real estate market has effectively stalled over the past year, with the deal pipeline choked by high interest rates, recession fears and low inventory. And the transfer also eclipsed Bill Gates’ recent $43 million purchase of an arguably more impressive house on the same strip of sand.
Property records indicate the $44 million house was purchased by a mysterious Delaware-based LLC, a common business tool used by the wealthy to cover their real estate tracks. But it’s certainly worth noting that the mysterious entity is managed by a longtime associate of Egon Durban—the high-flying, billionaire Silicon Valley dealmaker who has a known affinity for both record-breaking transactions and high-end real estate. Durban, the co-CEO of private equity giant Silver Lake, sports a personal net worth that tops $1.5 billion, according to Forbes.
Since the house was never on the market, photos are virtually nonexistent and details are few. But certainly the vast majority of its value lies in its oceanfront location—the property spans just over an acre of flat land, right on the sand—rather than the structures themselves. The main residence is unremarkable, large and well-maintained but visually dated. The property was built decades ago by prominent Hollywood real estate developer C.E. Toberman, founder of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood Bowl, and remained in the extended Toberman family until Durban’s purchase.
In addition to the U-shaped main house, which is single-story and painted a deep navy blue, there are two ancillary buildings on the property. Each of those includes a two-car garage and additional living space, likely for guests or live-in staff. The oceanfront compound also boasts a full-size tennis court—a very rare thing on the shores of Del Mar—and a gated, blacktopped driveway with off-street parking for dozens of cars. There’s also an outdoor swimming pool, plus a sizable backyard with a grassy lawn and a wooden deck with stairs descending to the sandy beach. Altogether, the estate sports eight bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms.
Our Cedarcrest listing hit the open market on January 25th, and we recieved NINE offers! I gave all of them a chance to bid it up, and ten days later, our sellers had their net proceeds in their account!
They moved to Portugal, and yesterday they reported that the weather is similar to what it is in California, and his favorite cup of coffee only costs seventy cents!
You’ve saved and invested your whole adult life for this, and the time has come to quit working and start living. But where will you spend your retirement years?
If you decide the answer is abroad, you won’t be alone. Millions of Americans have done just that. Some experts estimate that as many as 12% of the nation’s 45 million or so retirees are living overseas.
There are a lot of incentives for such a move: a lower cost of living for a higher quality of life, for instance. New experiences in exotic settings. And there are any number of locales willing to up the ante to have you choose them as the golden isle for your golden years.
Editors know that there isn’t anything more eye-catching in real estate than talking about people losing their home. In California, lenders are required to offer every delinquent homeowner a loan modification before being able to foreclose, so those who want to keep their house will likely find a way to do it. Judging by the graph above, very few homeowners are giving it away!
Despite the declining rates and the robust economy that characterized the U.S. during the fourth quarter, the Federal Reserve’s pursuit of lower inflation has proven to be an obstacle for the American housing market.
The consequence of that pursuit, which pushed up borrowing costs on U.S. households, is a 16 percent year-over-year surge in mortgage delinquencies (60 days past due), according to TransUnion’s fourth-quarter Credit Industry Insights report, exposing the growing struggle of consumers in the face of evolving macroeconomic uncertainties.
TransUnion’s report, produced from billions of updates received each month from banks, credit unions, finance companies, auto dealers, mortgage companies, retailers, student loan providers and public records, found that a total of 1.3 percent of all consumer-level mortgages in the U.S. were in serious delinquency in the fourth quarter of last year.
With roughly 84 million mortgages active in the U.S., according to data from LendingTree, that would mean about 1,092,000 Americans are more than 60 days past due on their mortgages.
While that may seem alarming to some, it isn’t nearly as bad as what happened in the aftermath of the great financial crisis (GFC) in 2008, according to Michele Raneri, vice president and head of U.S. research and consulting at TransUnion.
“We’re still in a pretty good spot, especially when you’re looking at 60 days past due,” Raneri told Newsweek during an interview on Wednesday. “So it has inched up a little bit, but it’s still not come back to what would be considered pre-GFC or probably even pre-pandemic.”
Asked whether or not the slight uptick is of concern, Raneri said, “I don’t think so. Of course, people in the industry are watching it to see if it’s becoming a bigger problem, but I don’t think that it’s something that is an indication of a bigger problem.”
She continued that the delinquency issue is not a “systemic” problem reflective of the GFC, partly due to stricter lending standards, and that back in 2008, people had “so little equity in their homes.”
On Monday morning, these were the counts of active and pending listings between La Jolla and Carlsbad:
Actives: 312
Pendings: 149
This morning, the counts are:
Actives: 286 (-26)
Pendings: 164 (+15)
These are pre-Super Bowl numbers and it’s been pouring rain for a week!
What’s going to happen once we get into the more-traditional selling season of March, April, and May?
These blog posts are uploaded onto my LinkedIn page, and it was there yesterday that Carl asked what my crystal ball said about pricing this year.
It’s going to keep going up!
The houses that aren’t well presented and are sloppy on price are going to sit. But those that have something special about them, and/or are presented well and have an attractive price are going to find a buyer in the first week or two.
NSDCC Supporting Data:
2023 Median List Price: $2,199,000
2023 Median Sales Price: $2,157,500
January, 2024 Median List Price: $2,200,000
January, 2024 Median Sales Price: $2,275,000
The median list price of today’s 164 pendings: $2,499,950
Some buyers are getting deals, mostly on the scratch-and-dent homes where sellers and listing agents didn’t do much, if anything, to prepare the home for sale. But look at the January median sales price – it’s higher than the median list price!
Here we go again!
We are already on our way to a +10% increase in pricing – and it’s only the first week of February!
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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!