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.

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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!

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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.

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Sweet Digs on Dueling Digs

Our friends at Zillow have another great invention, the Dueling Digs.  It’s part challenge and part psychologist.  Basically, you choose a duel that includes Yards and Gardens, Living Spaces, Exteriors, Bedrooms, Bathrooms or Kitchens.  From there, you are entered into combat and must choose several of your favorite properties until the match is over.  At the end, a personal profile appears along with a message about your score and the details of the winning property.  You have just got to try this.  I spent a good thirty minutes playing this game and it was the best half hour of my day…on guard!

My results:  Zillow says I am sometimes classic, sometimes quirky.  They also called me a trendsetter.  My winning properties ranged in price from $150,000 for a little house somewhere on an obscure boat dock to a $6,695,000 mega mansion in Las Vegas.  My scores ranged from 48% for bedrooms to 59% for kitchens, so I guess I’m not much of a trendsetter from a statistical standpoint.

Have fun playing y’all.  Let us know how you do!

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The $6,000 Chair: Seller Knows Best?

This is the Messier Momma chair and the sellers are asking $6,000 (a piece).  I think I’ve seen something similar at Ikea for significantly less than that, or at the very least I’m certain I could find a pretty good copy at a much more reasonable price.  Now, this chair is really wonderful, I admit, but $6,000 worth of wonderful?  It has a great name and an endearing story behind its invention.  I like the name a lot, after all, I am a messier momma.  And the designer (Messier) made this special rocker for his pregnant wife just before the birth of their first child.  Still, much as I love all that, and assuming I had that kind of money to throw around, I wouldn’t do it.  I bet you wouldn’t either.  It just doesn’t make any sense.  I figure the market value of this cool contraption is around $150.00, so why pay more when you don’t have to?  Same goes for real estate, if a seller is asking an astronomical amount for something of lesser value (even if you love it oh so much) that doesn’t mean you should or would pay that price just because.   

3035 Nile Street - This North Park home’s Zestimate is $475,000, eppraisal is $506,837 and cyberhomes valuation is $602,970.  It last sold for $549,000 on June 24, 2004.  Seller is asking $685,000 ($571 per square foot).  On Redfin 156 days.

3812 Park Blvd. #501 – This Hillcrest condo’s Zestimate is $314,000, eppraisal is $340,382 and cyberhomes valuation is $400,851.  It last sold for $406,000 on October 27, 2006.  Seller is asking $445,000 ($543 per square foot).  On Redfin 91 days.

1756 Cable Street – This Ocean Beach home’s Zestimate is $443,000, eppraisal is $512,343 and cyberhomes valuation is $435,600.  It last sold for $445,000 on December 24, 2003.  Seller is asking $590,000 ($806 per square foot).  On Redfin 163 days.

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Radical Rodent Removal

Everyone hates termites, fleas and cockroaches; pesky and destructive insects that need to be bombed into oblivion.  But what is a homeowner to do if a rattler or someone’s exotic pet somehow ends up making your backyard their domicile?  Don’t spray it with Raid (you might make it sick but you’ll also make it angry) or haul out the shovel (that’s cruel and gross).  Instead, pick up the phone and call in the local reptile men.

Ghostbusters of the pest control world, Ben Hian and John Taibee run a business called Radical Reptiles and Friends which recently expanded from an educational/entertainment platform to rodent removal experts of the most extraordinary kind. 

Radical Reptiles started from one man’s love of exotic animals and children.  That sounds like a pretty funny combination but, oddly, the two are a perfect fit.  Kids love creepy creatures, science and nature.  It is one way we learn about our world and how we share it with other living things.  Plus it’s really cool and just plain fun. 

As Hian’s recognition grew, so did his demand and he gained a certain level of fame.  Locals came to know him as the reptile man and people started calling him when they found weird animals in their homes, yards and neighborhoods.  It happens a lot more often than you might think.  Sometimes a snake or other unsavory pest wanders into human territory.  Other times a pet gets loose and wanders off, ending up lost in some strange place.  

Now horrified habitants don’t have to resort to extreme measures to eradicate an unusual pest problem.  Radical Reptiles has expanded its services to include capture and care of loose lizards, sinister snakes and lurking lynxes.  So, if you or a loved one have a critter problem and need a humane solution, call the reptile guys.  They’re the coolest heroes of the urban jungle we call home.

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Elephants to Ants: Price Reductions Big and Small

Fortunately, real estate prices are still coming down in San Diego.  With that said, some price reductions seem to be more of a sales gimmick than an incentive to buy.  Itty bitty take aways with no real reflection of a home’s true value are annoying and silly.  Good chunky reductions are much more appealing, especially when they bring a property down below its market value.  Here are some recent price reductions that will irk and excite you.

Reduced $5,000 – 4857 Vista Street.  1933 single family home with three beds, 2.5 baths.  1,775 square feet priced at $492 per square foot.  Was asking $879,000, now $874,000.  Last sold for $800,000 on June 12, 2005.  It’s Zestimate is $696,500 and eppraisal is $742,274.  On Redfin 107 days.

Reduced $4,900 – 3634 Plumosa Way.  1932 single family home with four beds, three baths.  2,355 square feet priced at $501 per square foot.  Was asking $1,183,900, now $1,179,000 (nine price reductions since 12/17/07).  Last sold for $600,000 on June 22, 2000.  It’s Zestimate is $1,099,000 and cyberhomes valuation is $957,278.  On Redfin 118 days.

Reduced $100,000 – 3008 James.  1924 single family home with four beds, 2.75 baths.  3,908 square feet, priced at $320 per square foot.  Was asking $1,250,000, now $1,250,000.  Last sold for $509,000 on December 30, 1999.  It’s Zestimate is $1,351,000 and eppraisal is $1,151,674.  On Redfin 33 days.

Reduced $15,000 – 4474 Polk Avenue.  1924 single family home with two beds, one bath.  623 square feet priced at $278 per square foot.  Was asking $188,000, now $173,000.  Last sold for $339,000 on December 9, 2004.  It’s Zestimate is $383,500 and cyberhomes valuation is $319,671.  On Redfin 86 days.

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North Park has some of the best priced homes in the Hills.  It’s also a great neighborhood and, while it has some marginal pockets, for the most part it is a very nice place to live.  North Park has older homes and some pretty unique condo conversions with a little bit of new development that hasn’t detracted significantly from the character of this part of the city.  The atmosphere is young, hip and earthy.  Art galleries, good eats and funky shops line the commercial corridor.  Homes and schools branch out to the north and south of University Avenue.

North Park home prices vary widely and it is interesting to see where the bottom is in this area.  Sometimes the lowest priced homes also have the best prices per square foot but that is not always true.  Right now, the condo on 34th Street is the lowest priced attached property by asking price and square footage.  The home on Swift Avenue is the lowest single family home by asking price and the property on Parrott is the lowest detached home by square foot. 

4150 34th Street #2 – Asking $129,000.  1986 one bed, one bath condo.  It has 613 square feet and is priced at $210 per square foot.  It last sold for $240,000 on January 15, 2005.  It’s Zestimate is $178,500 and eppraisal is $196,201.  On Redfin 14 days.

3815 Swift Avenue – Asking $239,900.  1918 two bed, one bath single family home.  It has 700 square feet and is priced at $343 per square foot.  It last sold for $304,254 on August 10, 2006.  It’s Zestimate is $284,500 and eppraisal is $379,772.  On Redfin 106 days.

1734 Parrott Street – Priced at $153 per square foot.  1962 four bed, two bath single family home.  It has 2,289 square feet and sellers are asking $350,000.  It last sold for $410,000 on October 3, 2007.  It’s Zestimate is $432,500 and eppraisal is $467,658.  On Redfin 197 days. 

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Reversion of Loan Limits – What You Can Buy Under the New Cap

Come the end of the year, conforming loan limits will roll back. Not quite as far as they were, but they will fall to $550,000 under the current plan. What does that mean for us San Diegans? Well, it means loans will be in shorter supply and the pool of properties falling under the new guidelines will get a whole lot smaller. If you follow any of our posts dealing with pricing, you understand the implications exactly. While they say the median home price in San Diego is somewhere around $500,000, the truth is that takes a lot of territory into account. The more desirable neighborhoods in the Hills and by the beach have very little inventory in that price range and those that are have their issues. If the loan limits were to be rolled back today, here are your choices in Ocean Beach for which you could obtain a conforming loan. Pretty slim pickin’s!

5176, 5178 and 5180 Longbranch – Three condominiums in the Sea and Sand Building. Each has one bedroom and two baths. They are priced between $499,000 and $539,000. All have been on Redfin 333+ days.

4521 Voltaire Street – 1921 single family home with one bed, one bath. Asking $385,000. Last sold for $205,000 on July 5, 2000. It’s Zestimate is $402,500 and eppraisal is $462,119.

2440 Seaside Street – 1941 single family home with three beds, one bath. Asking $469,007. Last sold for $597,500 on April 5, 2005. It’s Zestimate is $587,500 and eppraisal is $724,696. Fixer-upper.

4636 Longbranch Avenue – 1937 single family home with two beds, one bath. Asking $500,000. Last sold for $615,000 on August 21, 2006. It’s Zestimate is $648,000 and eppraisal is $613,117. Probate and Short Sale combined.

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Cranky Ape and Winnebago: Thermometers for Real Life

If you want to know how things are, ask someone who’s been there. I once was in Target buying a microwave oven and some lady, unsolicited and out of the blue, began to tell me how awful my choice was. She had already purchased the model I was picking out and it burned her pizza on the outside while the middle was still frozen. Don’t we all like to ask our friends’ opinions about new movies before we invest $10 and two hours of valued time just to be utterly disappointed?

Well, if you want to know how the economy is really doing, ask people in cyclical industries that typically get squeezed first by the emergence of a recession. That means luxury goods. High priced motor homes, adult play things and vacations definitely fall in that category and the sector is both hurting and thriving depending on which side you are viewing.

So what is a cyclical business? It’s one that grows and retracts based on market conditions. When businesses that thrive on poor economic conditions are doing well you can pretty well bet we’re in a downtown. Similarly, when businesses that flourish in strong economies begin to fail, it’s a sure sign of troubled waters.

Cranky Ape is a company that specializes in high end repossessions like recreational vehicles, boats, snowmobiles, motorcycles and more. Business is good for the repo industry and if you look at their inventory you’ll understand what I mean.  

Winnebago is the polar opposite. This is a company that specializes in high end luxury goods, namely vacation travel homes (I think I just coined a new phrase).  I consider mobile homes much in the same way as vacation rentals or timeshares because both are payment based and for the most part people buying expensive RVs are not using them as their primary residence.  At any rate, Winnebago is having a tough time right now and they have scaled back their operations significantly.

Projections for travel and tourism in 2008 are way down.  So are new home sales.  People always need a place to live so homes will sell regardless and are not quite as volatile as plain old wants, however, fewer people will upgrade in an economy like this and more may choose to rent.  There is also the fact that we are a mobile society and there are those who will need to move and sell their homes, even at a loss.  That goes for those who must sell for financial reasons related to the condition of the economy as well.  All in all, there is no question that we have seen brighter pastures.  The question is how bad will it get before things start to turn around?

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