April 28, 2008

Monday Madness - Eating Lemon Grove, part 4

They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway

Here we are in the heart of the tiny city of Lemon Grove. Downtown is more hectic with the Trolley, Home Depot and Food 4 Less arriving in recent years. Still, people walk about because everything seems close and convenient.

We finished all the restaurants West of Lemon Grove Avenue and we’re hungry and eager to check out downtown. A quick peek at the ’strip’ before we go:

click any image to enlarge

South side of Broadway:

• Da Boyz- Pizza with attitude! Check out the old timey gangsta movie photos on the walls.
• Por Favor- Well respected local family eatery with patio dining available.
• Starbucks- Not many coffee snobs in Lemon Grove, yet the place seems popular.
• Golden Donut- For now it’s the only donut shop around. It’s a good spot for people watching.
• LG Pets- I don’t care how tender and juicy those puppies and kittens are; eating them is just wrong! Maybe a nutritious goldfish would be a quick snack though.
• Baskin Robbins ice cream- Rich and creamy!
• Papa John’s Pizza- Premium pizza from a name you know. fairly new in town.
• KC’s Express Chinese - Lemon Grove is blessed with many choices for Chinese food. At least one city councilperson buys here (can’t go wrong with insider tips).
• Los Rios Mexican - Excellent burritos and more. Recommended to me by a LG librarian.
• Jack in the Box - A very old store brought up-to-date. Used to look like a box, with the clown jumping out.

From Papa John’s you can look up Grove Street to the north. A block or two up there is a large cluster of condos, many of which are available at excellent prices. They include the usual pool, clubhouse etc, and when you buy with Redfin you can save around $1000. Recently a 1,022 sq.ft. unit sold for $175k. Let’s look at some quick stats on these:

North side of Broadway:

• Antique Row- Relatively new to LG, very popular, slightly upscale family dining and new patio for those who enjoy the ‘Greatest Climate on Earth’.
• Cilantro- Vegan dining comes to Lemon Grove. They’re new in town so pay them a visit.
• Panda- Well established, comfortable Chinese restaurant.
• El Pollo Grill- They were popular at a nearby location and now far more popular since they moved here.
• LG Deli and Grill- Before there was a Subway or Submarina, there was the famous Lemon Grove Deli.
• Food Factory cafe- Local business people eat here. Breakfast & lunch only.

Parking is a bit tight at times. Plenty of room near the donut shop and behind the shops on the North side of Broadway. Enjoy a walk around town, visit lots of eateries, shops and enjoy the bustling ambiance of a small town 8 miles from downtown San Diego. There are lots more restaurants to come in the final installment of Eating Lemon Grove.

see also:
Monday Madness - Eating Lemon Grove, part 1
Monday Madness - Eating Lemon Grove, part 2
Monday Madness - Eating Lemon Grove, part 3

You can follow my East County blog here or here. You’re at Redfin, the unbiased source for local real estate information.

April 26, 2008

Open House - A Realtor Conspiracy?

A Rant about Incomplete Open House Ads

Realtors are going all out to make sure you can’t get useful information from their Open House advertisements. You might think they would be happy to see their listing in my blog, for instance, and shared at other online locations. Yet I found a full dozen Open House invitations here in San Diego East County today and not a single one included an MLS number. Some wouldn’t even offer an address. Listings for condos failed to mention the Homeowners’ Association fees. It takes a lot of detective work to bring you these few open house listings, but with them you can follow the link to the Redfin page for a complete look at the MLS data and much, much more.

I am tempted to pick out one of the elaborate listings from the San Diego Reader or Craigslist and praise the wealth of pictures- pics of the house, of the agent, of the agent’s logo. I could praise the flowery text describing the property and the arrangement of text, pictures, and raw data. These adverts clearly show that someone has given thought, energy, time and money to get them right and have them posted in several places (a service does that for them). I don’t want to embarrass any particular agent, however, when I blast the ad for not including the MLS number, the address or other information that any reasonable shopper would clearly need before driving across town to see the property or suffering the obligatory interview with the agent.

Then there are the simple Open House ads. Maybe four sentences that might include an address, the date of the Opening, number of bedrooms and price. Those last two are always included. The most backward Realtor understands that the public demands at least that. Let’s make them understand that we demand more. Remember that when these simple ads include an MLS number, you and I can see the rest on Redfin or elsewhere. That little number gives us much important information. (is that what they’re afraid of?)

I would love it if you would call every agent with a ‘teaser’ listing and scream “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more!” Do not play their game. If they refuse information, you should refuse to go.

That’s right. Let the tricksters sit and stew during their Open House day all alone. This is the information age. Many Realtors are dragging their stone age feet and continuing to play the games of the 1950s. Let the fossils find other work and the honest agents have your business. You are making a major investment- do you really want to trust an agent who is concealing relevant information before you even meet?

I’m sorry to be so harsh. Remember I’m not an agent. In my innocence, I expect agents to exhibit the same professional diligence and integrity that we expect of doctors, bloggers and teachers. I believe Open House days bring opportunities for Realtors, buyers and sellers. I’m aware that the agent often finds this a very difficult day and they put forth a heroic effort during the experience. I just can’t understand why these sometimes elaborate Open House announcements deliberately hide critical information.

You can follow my East County blog here or here. You’re at Redfin, the unbiased source for local real estate information.

[data from generally reliable sources, please comment on any errors!]

April 23, 2008

What’s Selling in Spring Valley lately?

Hard to beat these prices!

The actual sales prices are priceless. This is where the rubber meets the road and seller’s hopes and buyers efforts reach their ultimate compromise. As you study the asking prices, it’s valuable to know where they finally end up.

Your Name Here?

Make it Redfin!

This caught my eye because I bought a 5br home in 1979 for $80k. Things have changed. This 5br house w 2 baths sold on Apr 3rd for $273,750. That’s $132 per square foot, boys and girls. Impressive these days. 10163 Canyonridge Place in Spring Valley has 2,081 square feet, built in 1978. In 2005 it sold for $514k, almost twice the current price. The Redfin data isn’t current yet, but you can find more at Trulia. Zillow estimated this property at $397,500.

2423 Carrera Court is a similar recent sale. It’s a 4 br 2 ba 1,873 sqft home built in 1979 that sold for $280k ($149/sq.ft.). Sweet. The last sale listed was $165,500 (10/28/1993) which seems a reasonable appreciation for a residence in a community without dramatic fluctuations. The ZESTIMATE™ was $384,500

Let’s have a look at the ‘expensive spread’ with fewer calories for more dollars: 10540 Villa Bonita sold for $385,000 on Apr 3rd, 2008. Not an outrageous price for 4 br 3 ba 1,882 sqft is it? Still it is $205/sq.ft. which is a bit higher than the above listings. The price has come down as you might expect from $515 in 2005. We’re using Trulia for this information and they don’t offer Zillow estimates. This sale seems slightly higher than the previous, but for all we know there are gold filled plumbing appliances and carbon fiber toilet seats. There’s much you can’t learn from listings alone.

We should include a condo here so take a look at 3011 Chipwood Court, 2 br 2 ba 916 sqft and it sold for $137,900 on Apr 3rd, 2008. What can we add to this? It was built in 1987 and at this price it sold for $151/sq.ft. Does that seem low? Normally, smaller homes draw a higher price per square foot than larger homes. This is a very low price per foot even in East County. Add to that the fact that the unit sold for $322k in 2005 and this is a crushing reduction. On sold homes, we don’t have access to homeowners association fees and that is critical to evaluating condo sales.

Let us take a moment to reflect upon the wealth of information available to us in recent years. Let’s appreciate that it is a snowball effect that grows monthly and we can expect a continuing explosion of new data in the months ahead. Companies like Trulia, Redfin, Zillow and even the stodgy MLS are finding ways to inform and educate.

But all is not perfect. Nobody offers all the answers yet and you can’t depend entirely on the data they offer. Trulia doesn’t offer Zillow data. Zillow is somewhat limited with their estimates but improving. Redfin shows none of these recent sales but is good about active listings in general and lots of community information (and community blogs like this). There are others offering worthwhile information on foreclosures, open houses, freeform listings, FSBO, mortgage reform and much more. There will be new companies who may displace some existing efforts with innovative approaches. We are part of a pioneering effort that will lead us all into unknown territory. For those who fear change, it may be time to reconsider for there will be great opportunities. Buyers and sellers are in the driver’s seat for the first time in history.

You can follow my East County blog here or here. You’re at Redfin, the unbiased source for local real estate information.

[data from generally reliable sources, please comment on any errors!]

April 23, 2008

Something I’ve Been Meaning to Say for A Long Time

Reposted from the corporate blog:

For no real reason, a San Diego Sweet Digs blogger attacked real estate broker Kris Berg today. The contract blogger, a usually kind person who deeply regrets the post, no longer works for Redfin because she violated the first rule of our culture, which is that everyone is respected. The charter of Sweet Digs is to write about local real estate, and to leave the shooting-yourself-in-the-foot-stuff to me.

The post makes me physically ill, not only because it seemed mean-spirited but because we know Kris Berg to be a wonderful person, a total pro and a darn good blogger. Worst of all, it deepens a brainless, destructive division between Redfin and our peers that has caused me great — this is the right word — anguish. We have already commented directly on the post, and Kris has already been gracious enough to accept our apology. So the rest of this post is an apology to everyone else in real estate, many of whom have reacted to more than just what we said about Kris last night. And because this is so hard to write, it’s also a list of small but important things we can’t apologize for too.

We all know that Redfin’s business model is different than yours: we try to get customers via our search site, we pay our agents salaries and customer-satisfaction bonuses, we want to put the escrow process online to avoid talking so much to our customers, and we refund part of our commission. This makes us freaks perhaps, or even fools if you like, but not an enemy.

Just because our model is different doesn’t mean that we think it’s universally better than the commission-based model. You have no idea how many times a day, every day, all night, we worry that we can’t make it work, usually right before we’re filled with euphoria at our prospects. We long ago imagined the party you’ll throw on our grave if we fail. But the reason we can’t give up on Redfin is that it’s what we would want for ourselves. Clearly, most consumers still prefer the traditional model. But some consumers have chosen our model too.

So that’s what we can’t apologize for: for who we are, for tinkering to make our model better (especially around tours, where it has been broken), for believing we can make it work. But we are sorry for our tone — I am sorry for my tone. What is most important to us is that Redfin’s (often ineffective) calls for reform stop ticking you off. Like you — and unlike the Zillows and Trulias whom you love (and whom we sometimes find ourselves admiring too) — we are real estate agents. We have a vested interest in making real estate better. We share our data via the MLS. We play by its rules. And we work together buying and selling homes.

The change we want is change everybody wants: that consumers can choose the services they pay for without fearing retribution, that they can access property information on their own. That’s it.

I don’t know how we’ve screwed things up so badly that our complaints about vandalized yard-signs or blocked offers have ticked you off. We should all denounce the one-in-a-zillion nut jobs who pull these stunts, because they make us all look bad, and it only takes one or two to terrify an entire market (#1 reason Redfin.com visitors don’t buy through us, 2 years straight: “fear of discrimination”).

It took us a while to realize how stupid it is for us to talk to the press about these incidents — nobody is ever punished, in even the slightest way, even when caught red-handed, and nobody else in real estate is outraged — but we’ll try harder to work out future incidents in private.

And, today’s blog post aside, there is reason to believe we can patch things up with everyone else. Last week, I finally told Greg Swann — he was so nice and gracious — that I was sorry for picking fights with him. Last month, an MLS decided to liberalize its data-sharing rules. Yesterday, a broker phoned to point out — privately, kindly — a possible error in one of our marketing claims (which we will correct if it’s wrong). And Kris Berg took my call today when 9 out of 10 people would have hung up in my face. Every week or so, I get a thank-you note from an agent about a deal we worked on together. How wonderful, how unnecessary and necessary, is that?

So maybe there’s hope that we can work things out. This isn’t a promise to be boring. But at least we can be civil. We weren’t today. We are sorry for the post about Kris Berg. We wanted to say to everyone else in real estate talking about this post that we hope there can be peace between us.

-Glenn Kelman, Redfin CEO

April 22, 2008

Barbie Takes a Bite (Again!)

 The following post was on an unauthorized topic by one of the local real estate mavens who contribute to Redfin’s blog. The writer no longer works for Redfin, which has published a retraction on our corporate blog. We have great and genuine respect for Kris Berg. We apologize for this post. (Glenn Kelman, Redfin CEO)

I am not a big fan of “competitor” bashing. I usually figure that, unless someone does something that is unethical, disingenuous or hurtful, there is room in this world for differences. The abundance of choices and our freedom to make them is at the very foundation of this country’s moral compass.

Redfin has sometimes been characterized as the anti-realtor. That is a manipulation of the truth. Sure, there are lots of things we don’t like about traditional real estate and making a change motivates us. But, those who tout our demise are the traditionalists looking for reasons to justify the preservation of practices we truly don’t support. Barbie is one of those looking. Not only is she looking, but she is stewing, biting, overindulging and making herself sick.

In all fairness, hunger makes people behave badly. I am reminded of the proverb about the impoverished old lady who stole a loaf of bread to feed her family. Did her desperation justify her actions? The difference is that our lady isn’t starving, in fact she’s feeding herself to excess. And she’s doing it with others’ contributions.

Anyone can organize a canned food drive, but without can openers, a cook top and plastic ware, what good does it do? Isn’t that pretty superficial? Same with blogger fodder. What is the value of feeding your readers meat of any quality if you took the goods from someone else’s fridge and then serve it up with bitter herbs? Everyone ends up with a bad taste, longing for a barf bag and mouthwash.

Barbie and Ken have accrued quite enough wealth of their own and could easily throw a gracious party. Yet, they choose to feed on the wealth of others instead, taking just the bits they want and serving a meal without all the food groups. If you want a canned meal disguised as a formal soiree, they’re throwing a gala. If you want a quality caterer without all the pretentious fluff, there are better places to party.

Recent San Diego Sweet Digs Posts:

Open House 4-19 & 4-20

Fear and Loathing on Golden Hill

Tragedy, Triumph, Tides: What Wikipedia Has to Say About San Diego

The American Dream - remembered

The $6,000 Chair: Seller Knows Best?

April 21, 2008

Ginger and Mary Ann in Hillcrest, Ocean Beach, North Park

San Diego real estate is a plethora of architectural and building styles.  From spanish to colonial, traditional to modern, bungalows to mansions and everything in between.  What is your style?  If you’re a Ginger, then you might lean towards sleek and glamorous.  If you’re a Mary Ann, then perhaps your taste is more along the lines of casual simplicity.  Hillcrest, Ocean Beach and North Park have lots of listings to choose from in each of these realms and in similar price ranges so you can be a movie star on a budget or the girl next store who wants to splurge on something special.  Doesn’t that just make you want to break into song? 

Ginger in Hillcrest:  4055 Third Avenue #103.  2004 condo with one bed and two baths.  It has 1,820 square feet and is priced at $329 per square foot.  Asking $599,000.  Short sale with no past sales price or valuation data.  On Redfin 36 days.

Mary Ann in Hillcrest:  3633 Indiana Street #13.  1980 condo with two beds and two baths.  It has 975 square feet and is priced at $327 per square foot.  Asking $319,000, last sold for $223,000 on January 26, 2001.  It’s Zestimate is $401,000 and eppraisal is $335,059.  On Redfin 46 days.

Ginger in Ocean Beach:  4916 Del Mar Avenue.  Single family home with two beds, two baths.  It has 1,410 square feet and is priced at $635 per square foot.  Asking $895,000, last sold for $850,000 on September 17, 2004.  It’s Zestimate is $707,000 and cyberhomes valuation is $782,548.  On Redfin 10 days.

Mary Ann in Ocean Beach:  5040 Saratoga Avenue.  1948 detached condo with two beds and one bath.  It has 792 square feet and is priced at $581 per square foot.  Asking $460,000, last sold for $536,500 on November 9, 2005.  It’s Zestimate is $387,000 and cyberhomes valuation is $401,374.  On Redfin 102 days.

Ginger in North Park:  3779 Granada Avenue.  1971 single family home with three beds and two baths.  It has 1,838 square feet and is priced at $326 per square foot.  Asking $599,000, last sold for $160,000 on September 23, 1994.  It’s Zestimate is $663,000 and eppraisal is $512,003.  On Redfin 92 days. 

Mary Ann in North Park:  3140 Thorn Street.  1916 single family home with three beds and two baths.  It has 1,775 square feet and is priced at $326 per square foot.  Asking $579,000, last sold for $653,454 on April 30, 2007.  It’s Zestimate is $614,000 and eppraisal is $477,543.  On Redfin 185 days.

If you liked this post you might also enjoy:

Tragedy, Triumph, Tides: What Wikipedia Has to Say About San Diego

The $6,000 Chair: Seller Knows Best?

Elephants to Ants: Price Reductions Big and Small

April 21, 2008

Monday Madness- Buyer Tips on Video

Know what you want; negotiate; get a rebate…

Let’s have fun with videos today. If you have the Flash Player installed, and if my blogging software works correctly you will enjoy a respite from pouring over the fine print of listings and mortgage documents. Monday Madness will help get your week off to a good start.

Many buyers have only a vague idea of what they actually need in a house. Here is a man with special requirements who demonstrates how to be certain that the house will meet his needs:

Negotiating is a fine art. Here we see a master at work:

What, you think this is all fun and games? You will think this next video is serious at first - until you get your rebate and laugh all the way to the bank.

There is more video on real estate at YouTube and elsewhere. Much of it tiresome, silly or both and surrounded by an ocean of unrelated flotsam. Patience may bring you an unexpected gem, which you are obligated to share with a comment and a link.

Madness is a frequent Monday occurrence on this blog. Look here for it next Monday and you can find more at:

Monday Madness - Flaccid Folding Stuff ? (make the best of a weak dollar)
Monday Madness - You have Permission! (NAR says buy)
Monday Madness - Realtor Jokes (Realtors just don’t get no respect.)

My other local blogs are slightly more serious:

People are Staying Home in Droves! (extreme non-exodus from San Diego)
Just the Facts, Ma’am (the state of buyer information)

You can follow my East County blog or here, and Carol’s Hillcrest, North Park and Ocean Beach blog. You’re at Redfin, the unbiased source for local real estate information.

[Problems with videos? Leave a comment & I’ll try to fix it.]

April 18, 2008

Open House 4-19 & 4-20

Every one a winner:

Well, well; we’re stretching our boundaries into Pine Valley and Ramona today to see some interesting open houses. Everything I’ve listed today is excellent- nice homes, nice views, nice communities. Each house has interesting features: The first two and the last are listed well above their recent sales prices (not all prices are falling). The Alpine Av home has no sales history- it may have served the same owner for many years; and perhaps you will live there happily for many years.

Yes, as often happens, these open houses are priced higher than most ‘closed’ houses. Someone must believe that if you actually see them, you will find value there. You might find it harder to get a price concession too, but try anyway.

I should add that the Ramona house on Watt Road is outside Redfin’s service area at the moment. You won’t have any difficulty finding an agent to represent you there, but you will miss the Redfin rebate.

If you need some encouragement read these recent blogs:

The American Dream - Remembered
Here’s why to Buy Now

Just for fun, read these recent blogs:

Monday Madness- Where’s MY Bailout?
Monday Madness- The Simpson’s house

And for more fun, stay tuned for a new Monday Madness coming up real soon! (guess when)

You can follow my East County blog or here, and Carol’s Hillcrest, North Park and Ocean Beach blog. You’re at Redfin, the unbiased source for local real estate information.

[data from generally reliable sources, please comment on any errors!]

April 18, 2008

Fear and Loathing on Golden Hill

Fear and Loathing on Golden Hill is a small blog with a big voice.  It typically covers topics that are most relevant to locals but in a way that will appeal to a much greater audience.  Community gardens, political squabbling and stupidness in neighborhood bureaucracy are among the chatty posts.  Despite the blog’s name, it is not fearful at all and touches on some risque subjects others might avoid.  It’s refreshing and frank.

I especially liked the post Getting Your Jollies on in District 3, a little bit of light commentary on the John Hartley fiasco with a really great picture to boot.  Kermit for Council!

A Chasm Opens in the GH Community Garden is a post that I found touching and typical.  Oh, I’m as passionate about community gardens as any neighborhood activist, but I just don’t get the power struggle that inevitably ensues with projects like this.  Good lord, plant your beans people and leave poor Heidi be.

Golden Hill has a pretty lively and progressive community development corporation.  Building a Community (book club) is a post about the organization of like minded, coffee drinking locals driven by a desire to improve their neighborhood, one slow read at a time.

There are so many engaging and entertaining things to read about at Fear and Loathing.  I urge you to check it out and let Ben know his friends at Sweet Digs say hey.  Keep writing Ben, we’ll keep watching!

Recent San Diego Sweet Digs Posts:

Tragedy, Triumph, Tides: What Wikipedia Has to Say About San Diego

The American Dream - Remembered

Sweet Digs on Dueling Digs

The $6,000 Chair: Seller Knows Best?

April 17, 2008

Tragedy, Triumph, Tides: What Wikipedia Has to Say About San Diego

Do you love San Diego for everything that we are and all we have to offer?  So do I and how we got to be here is as diverse as our neighborhoods and communities.  For all their similarities, North Park, Hillcrest and Ocean Beach each have their own histories and stories to tell.  Whether you’re a long time local or a new comer, there’s probably something about this city you didn’t know.  So read on.  Hopefully you’ll gain at least one small insight into what makes us tick that you never had before.

North Park 

North Park was the site of California’s worst aviation accident to date when, on September 25, 1978, PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727-214 jetliner, crashed near the intersection of Dwight and Nile streets after colliding in midair with a Cessna 172 aircraft. The disaster killed 144 persons, including all 135 passengers and crew members on board the PSA jet, both occupants of the Cessna, and 7 persons on the ground in North Park. Nine other people on the ground were injured and 22 homes in the neighborhood were destroyed or damaged.

Hillcrest

Hillcrest is a neighborhood in the Uptown community of San Diego northwest of Balboa Park.  Hillcrest is known for its tolerance, diversity, and locally-owned businesses, including restaurants, cafés, bars, clubs, trendy thrift-stores, and other independent specialty stores. Due to Hillcrest’s grid street pattern and relatively high population density, pedestrian activity is relatively high.  Hillcrest is the residential and commercial hub of San Diego’s gay and lesbian community. Most gay bars in San Diego are located in Hillcrest and surrounding neighborhoods. The LGBT community center (”The Center”) is also based in this neighborhood.

Ocean Beach

Earlier names for O.B. include Mussel Beach, Mussel Beds, Medanos (Spanish for ‘dunes’), Palmer’s Place/Ranch, and Palmiro’s.  The Ocean Beach Municipal Pier, built in 1966, is the longest pier on the West Coast, measuring 1,971 feet (601 m). The pier, which includes a restaurant and bait shop, is located at the south end of the beach and is available to the public for walking and fishing. A concrete walkway spans most of the length of the one-mile beach.  The northern end of OB’s waterfront is known as Dog Beach, alongside the canal that empties into San Diego River. It has been set aside specifically for leash-free pets and their owners 24 hours a day.

If you liked this post you might also enjoy:

The $6,000 Chair: Seller Knows Best?

Elephants to Ants: Price Reductions Big and Small

Slippers - Lowest Priced North Park Homes