San Diego Coastal Homes Blog

Well another week of running from house to house trying to get them SOLD.  Its not so much that there are no buyers- its just that there are no buyers that want to make a DECISION.  The very best buyer client to have at the moment is one that is living with their IN LAWS and are about to go CRAZY and have a MILLION dollars CASH sitting in the bank ready to GO.  THEN you have a motivated client and hopefully some good inventory to show to them.  It’s become very apparent that in this market if you DON”T have to MOVE you wont.  Lenders are nuts, buyers are waiting for “a little better house at a much less price!  I am waiting to wake up and be Angelina Jolie- but that isn’t happening either- no Brad in my house today!

Been reading a lot of trade magazines hoping to pick up some useful information and I am always fascinated by staging TIPS as I have been to The Staging Institute yadda yadda so I know the basic “drill”.  This article in a Real Estate magazine had a blurb on staging for Gen Y generation.  Sorotoff interesting as my questions was HOW DO WE KNOW THE BUYERS COMING THROUGH THE LISTING ARE Y -Z -OR just normal 40 years olds looking for a house?  Interesting.  Evidently these “Echo Boomers” want the property to suit them instead of trying to change it to suit their lifestyle.  VERY few houses are ready to go perfect- a new buyer WANTS the excitement of making the house their own.  I guess is you are working in a area which is a Gen y MAGNET- This might makes sense.  I can’t think of any in San Diego- maybe Northpark- that really suit a specific demographic.  By the time they have a husband and even HALF a kid they head for Carmel Valley – a place they never would even have visited before!

Evidently Gen Y’rs like to HANG out… vs. the rest of us that like to do WHAT? So we are suppose to think Anthropology and Pier One instead of IKEA. News flash all my staging starts at Pier One and that was BEFORE I graduated from college and that was a LONG time ago!  Go Green… well we all want to do that anytime we can – age does not make a difference.  I do agree though that when I shop at Anthropology and Pier One I make notes and steal styling ideas whenever I can-  changing them to make them my own.  All in all the magazine blurb was interesting and really just shows that whether you are X- Y or Z – buyers just want a property to look inviting and they have the vision of how they would make it their own!

Well its been a while…not that I don’t have anything to SAY- just that I don’t have any exciting real estate news that the entire world isn’t aware of!   We are doing a transaction with Pardee new construction in Carmel Valley and I have to say that the sales agent there has been really wonderful.  Our client has done a magnificent job in “negotiating” after the fact and if he isn’t happy with the final product and price we will have to put a “hit” out on him.  I think the key is having a SUPER qualified buyer- even though they have a huge list of “prospects” in this ever changing world a live prospect one day is super dead the next…not literally – don’t get excited.  It’s interesting when you visit the sales offices and models on a week end that its obvious it is CHEAP ENTERTAINMENT for many….being in real estate the LAST thing I want to do is LOOK at homes during my free time…to each his own…I have a staging credential – I KNOW how to put a LOT of acessories in a house and make it look “modelish”!  Honest – my visits to Marshalls, Home Goods, Burlington, TJ Max result in amazing accessories, bedding, furniture- you name it!

As with anything in life its the “qualifying” that counts.  I’ve had clients calling me to tell me – why I don’t know – just a friendly EAR – that they can’t re fi their homes because you can’t do the “easy qual” process anymore…unless you are Donald Trump… can’t have it both ways these days — either you make money or you don’t —if you work for yourself and hide half of your income under the “bed” – well just be happy your bed doesn’t catch on fire!

My only complaint about new construction is their “design center” is really  “on medication”… charging three times as much as say – Home Depot – just doesn’t work these days – buyers are way too sophisticated to get “swept” into a design center when they can save  2/3 of the flooring price.  Want design advice – give me a call…I do it for FREE for clients…and it turns out great…your either have good taste or not…but aside from that this purchase has been a great deal for the buyer in an area of overpriced older houses they SCORED…. of course we had to beg, plead, nudge and be overall pleasant as well as pushy to get the home over the 20000 other interested (but perhaps not so qualified) buyers:)  We’re good – what can I say!!