The article, written by Lily Leung, states that last month recorded the most sales of any April, since 2006.  With 3,559 sales in San Diego County, April of 2012 was 8.6% higher than the previous April and almost 10% higher than March’s sales.  This April’s median sales price was also up, 2.4% year-over-year and 2.8% up from March.

The rest of Southern California hasn’t done quite as well, showing a 3.4% decrease in median sales price from March and up only 5.1% from April of 2011 - 3.5% lower than San Diego.   For some reason, San Diego seems to be ahead of the curve when it comes to real estate.  Maybe we are past the bottom?!

I personally have been seeing a market that’s incredibly competitive.  What people don’t realize is that there’s very little inventory (good inventory that is).  So until you’re ready to buy something and are actually submitting offers, you don’t realize that homes are selling too fast and for too much.  Sitting on the sidelines and watching the news, or reading articles, doesn’t give you an accurate representation of what’s really going on.

If you’re thinking about buying or selling real estate in San Diego, feel free to get in touch with me.  I’d be happy to offer some free advice.  Denny Oh 858-243-2092 denny@sandiegoh.com

The master bedrooms has two large closets and has plenty of space for your furniture.  The Legend condos also has a 3,200 square foot 7th floor outdoor deck, which has a great view into Petco Park.  The deck also has a couple of fire pits, BBQs, TVs and an outdoor kitchen.  Unit 901 at The Legend also comes with a convenient storage room at the end of the hallway(most units don’t have storage, or if they do, they’re in the garage).

The Legend condos also has a heated pool, jacuzzi, gym, lounge room, steam and dry sauna, security guards and a concierge service.  The Legend is one of downtown San Diego’s most unique and luxurious buildings!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, Denny Oh, at 858-243-2092 or denny@sandiegoh.com.  This condo will be available at the beginning on June.

The most unique of the bunch, is a 6,950 sqft townhome that’s located in the heart of the Gaslamp District.  633 Fifth Ave was built in 1882 and has a basement(office space), a ground floor retail space(currently a hat store) and a three story residential portion that is about 3,500 sqft.  The residential portion of the home is pretty interesting.  The first floor of the home has the living room, kitchen and an office area.  Off the back is a large outdoor deck area that has an elevator going down to the street.  The top floor has thw two master bedrooms, with views east and west.

There’s no parking with this property, but it is a historic building and qualifies for the Mills Act.  With a hefty $5.5M price tag, I doubt this wil sell fast.  It’s expensive, but also incredibly unique.  At $791/sqft, it’s not a bad price, but it just depends on what you want to do with it.

The other penthouses are located in Bayside, The Meridian and the Harbor Club.  If you have any questions about an San Diego real estate, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  Thanks.

Inventory this year has been incredibly low.  For much of 2012, downtown San Diego has had around 170 active listings(this has just recently gone up to 181 as of today) on any given day.  In 2011, we were closer to about 220 active listings at anytime(this isn’t based on any reports, just from what I noticed and recall).  At the peak of the market, we were closer to about 600 active listings at any time.

Why is this happening?  I’m not really sure.  Perhaps is banks holding back on selling REOs, maybe it’s because most people who were going to short sell their homes, already have.  Maybe it’s because everyone’s waiting for the market to pick, or maybe it’s because no one has an equity in their home and they don’t want to do a short sale.  In any event, there’s not much for sale.

Here’s the good news: if you’re a seller, or are thinking about selling, you should do it now.  I’ve repeatedly seen listings come on that I personally, thought were over priced.  Then a few days later, these overpriced listings were suddenly in escrow (so much for being a real estate expert).  This has happened several times and it doesn’t seem to be stopping and it’s definitely not uncommon to see multiple offers.  Now, I’m not saying that prices are skyrocketing and the market is taking off. What I am saying is that there’s a lot of buyers out there and not much supply.  You don’t have to be an economist to figure out what the result is.

In the first quarter of 2011, there were 229  downtown San Diego condo sales.  The most expensive condo sale was for $2.7M, but the average sales price was $415,705.  More telling however, is the median sales price, which was $325,000 – showing that most of the 92101 condo sales were at a lower price point.  Also, the median sales price to list price, was 96%.

In the first quarter of 2012, there were 194(15% less sales than Q1 of 2011) condos sales downtown and the median sale to list price was 97%.  Clearly its not a HUGE change, but it is noticeably different, especially when you’re the buyer.  Rentals are also very high in demand and rents are slightly higher.  The median market tine is also lower in 2012, at 57 days, versus 67 days in 2011(about 17% longer).

So what now?  If you’re thinking about selling, give me a call. Denny Oh – 858-243-2092 - denny@sandiegoh.com.   If you know you need/want to sell in the next 12 months or so, I would strongly suggest you consider doing it now.   I’m not saying you’ll get some ridiculous, unrealistic price, but if you’re within reason, you’ll probably get multiple offers and sell quickly.

If you’re a buyer, call me.  Denny Oh – 858-243-2092 - denny@sandiegoh.com.  You need an agent who will send you listings every day and educate you on the process.  I’ve seen buyers submit terribly poor offers on listings (that have multiple offers), I’m assuming, because their agents didn’t advise them properly – just because a listing is priced low, it doesn’t mean you should write a low offer.  In a world of short sales and listing agents who want multiple offers, it doesn’t matter what the list price is…you need to know what the value is.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  Thanks.

My previous post about the Pinnacle condo sales in 2011, was accurate in regards to The Pinnacle, but not for the overall number of sales in downtown San Diego.  I think this was primarily due to delayed tax recordings, but either way, I apologize for any inconvenience.  The new number of sales in downtown San Diego in 2011, is 1028 sales. 

Approximately 39% of these sales were resales and about 21% were developer sales(new construction).  Another 24% or so were short sales and roughly 16% were REOs(foreclosures).  August of 2011 had the most sales, with over twice as many resales than July, which is typically the busiest month for real estate sales.  The average sales price for 92101 condos fluctuated between about $407K-507K.

East Village had the most number of condo sales, followed by Little Italy and the Marina District.  Year over year, 2011 had about 9% fewer sales than 2010, but had about a 5.5% higher average resale price($510,004 vs $483,391) than 2010.  The biggest difference was that there were 412 developer sales in 2010 and only 217 in 2011.  The number of short sales and REOs were about the same, as were their average sales prices.

The most obvious trend of 2011, was that 41% of all downtown San Diego condo sales sold for $300K or less.  This includes properties that were purchased at the court house steps(Trustee Sale auctions).  An additional 33% of all 2011 sales were between $301-500K – so 74% of all downtown condo sales in 2011 sold for $500K or less.  However, there were 13 condos that sold for over $2M.  Cash was also pretty popular, making up 42% of all downtown condo purchases last year.

Overall, 2011 seemed to be a pretty good year in real estate.  Buyers were spending money and more importantly, investors were spending their money on real estate.  I honestly think this is probably the best time to buy real estate in San Diego and depending on what you have, one of the best times to sell real estate as well.

If you have any questions about these statistics or real estate in San Diego, please call Denny Oh at 858-243-2092 or email me at denny@sandiegoh.com.

Click here to search the MLS.

Please click below to see a slide show of the data above(and some other statistics).

“The below email and attached composite were sent to me from the manager at Discovery regarding the attempted attack last night on 8th Ave near Symphony Towers. I heard from another manager that there was an attempted attack on an M2i resident about 2 weeks ago. Please be aware of your surroundings at all times, especially if walking alone. Be mindful about being distracted while texting/emailing/phone calls.”

“Attacked on 8th Between A and B

“Last night I was walking home from my office at 707 Broadway at 8pm.  I was attacked by someone who I thought looked harmless. When the guy ran up behind me and covered my mouth and told me to be quiet, I struggled to stay in front of a parked bus next to Symphony Towers.  I knew there was a bus driver in the bus because I do try to stay aware of my surroundings.  I struggled so hard that we both fell off the sidewalk in front of the bus.  I jumped up first and started screaming and pointed to the bus driver.  Thankfully, the bus driver responded and tried to run after the guy.  He got away, but the detective had me do a composite sketch which I attached.  I had to wait over an hour at Symphony Towers for the police to respond because the dispatcher had told the officers it was domestic violence and not assault and battery.  I was cut, sratched and bruised from the assault.The attached sketch is not the most detailed rendering, but I am concerned because I think that the kid must live, work or go to school in the area.  Since he did not try to steal anything, the police do think he was trying to sexually assault me.  The detective is trying to get video footage from the symphony.Anyhow, I was hoping we could send the attached composite sketch to the other buildings in the area?  I know many of us female residents walk our dogs late at night and/or walk home.  The incident happened 2.5 blocks from the Discovery building.  My attacker was hispanic, around 21 years old, height 5’4″ish and probably 120 lbs.  He did have acne scars which they could not add in the sketch.

“My manager at work has spoken with Equity Office Properties and the Downtown Clean and Safe Program.  They will be distributing the sketch around as well.  The police have also blasted it out.  Please let me know if you have additional questions.  I would hate for this guy to try to attack someone else in the neighborhood.”

 

At $310/sqft, this unit is the least expensive condo currently listed at Parkloft(based on $/sqft), but is slightly above the $295/sqft average for the last six months of sales there.  This condo does have a balcony and two parking spaces.  If you’d like to look at this condo, or any other real estate in San Diego, please let me know.

Denny Oh 858-243-2092 denny@sandieogh.com

Click here to see what’s for sale at Parkloft condos in downtown San Diego.

No, homes prices haven’t come down 15.5% in a year.  This decrease in average sales price is mainly because there were more 1 bedrooms and lower floor sales in 2011, than 2010(at The Grande).  For a point of reference, there were 935 sales in downtown San Diego(there were 944 including the sales off the MLS) in 2011, with an average sales price of $425,168 (at $367/sqft) – 2010 had 907 sales and an average sales price of $404,229 (at $369/sqft).

Looking back at 2006(typically considered the peak of the market), there were a total of 60 sales between the Grande North and Grande South towers.  The highest sales price back then was $2,130,000 and the average sales price was $1,018,984.  Obviously times have changed, but the demand for one of the few “front row” luxury highrises is still strong.  Currently there are only 5 active listings at The Grande, but a total of 8 that are in escrow, or are in contingent status.  If you’re thinking about selling, now is the time!  Call me at 858-243-2092 or email me at denny@sandiegoh.com to find out what your home is worth and how I can help you get it sold – short sale or not.

Click here to see what’s for sale at The Grande(but I may have a few pocket listings that are not on the MLS)

Right now, there are a measly 195 active listings in downtown San Diego.  This is the lowest amount of downtown San Diego condos for sale I’ve ever seen.  Downtown, the busiest price point is $400K(or so) and below.  Right now, there are 65 active listings and 59 pending condos, priced at $400K or below.  In the last 90 days, there have been 98 sales(actual closings) with a list price of $400K or below.  Let me say that again – 98 sales in 90 days and there are only 65 active listings.  There were 22 more sales in the same time period, between $400k-500K.  Clearly, if you are thinking of selling your place and it’s around the $400K price or less, you need to list it now.  Don’t wait until next year when all the “first time” buyers and investors have already purchased what they needed.  Do it now, when there are multiple offers on short market times.

Going up in price point, there are 41 active listings between $500-750K.  There are only 9 pending condos and only 26 sold in this price range over the last 90 days.  This is a slower price point, but not bad (it just looks slow because the sub-$400K range is so active).  There are only 9 pending sales in this range.

Moving on up, there are 23 active listings for condos priced between $1-2M.  There are 7 pending sales and surprisingly, there were 23 sales in the last six months.  Above $2M, there are only 9 active listings, zero in escrow, but four have sold in the last six months.

Overall, the market seems to be doing pretty well.  Yes, prices may come down a bit more, but there are plenty of “experts” who will argue either side.  Alan Nevin seems to think that we’ve already passed the bottom.  I guess my point is that, if you plan on selling your place sometime in the next few years, you should think long and hard as to why you shouldn’t do it now.  If you have any questions, comments, jokes, etc…feel free to email me at denny@sandiegoh.com or call me at 858-243-2092.  Or you can post a comment below.

If you want me to give you a better idea of what your home might be worth, get in touch with me via one of the methods above.  And I promise, I won’t harass you to list with me, or spam you.  Thanks.

In the interview, Nevin is quick to admit that this is the first time he’s been optimistic about the San Diego housing market in about four years.  He points out that all seven of San Diego’s major economic driving forces were doing well(i.e. biotech, manufacturing, telecom, etc) and that the market has bottomed out and is moving forward.

Some interesting statistics mentioned were that San Diego’s unemployment rate has dropped from about 10.1%, to 8.9% in the last year and 23-25K jobs were created in 2011. Nevin also focused on the fact that vacancy rates are extremely low, at only about 3-4% and that foreclosures have significantly decreased.

No one can ever be 100% sure, but it seems like there are a lot of people out there buying San Diego real estate.  I know that I’ve been getting a lot of inquires lately and there’s a lot more demand than 12-18 months ago.  Hopefully we start to see more inventory come into the market, but they will predominantly be resales, as there’s very little new construction going on(zero condos are being built downtown right now).  Take advantage of current rates and find yourself a home!

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