Redfin Sweet Digs San Diego: San Diego real estate blog focusing on hot properties and current market trends. » Carol D. Hian, HDFP

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

Fear and Loathing on Golden Hill

Carol D. Hian, HDFP — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:51:21 +0000

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

Carol D. Hian, HDFP — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:25:06 +0000

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

Carol D. Hian, HDFP — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:28:34 +0000

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?

Carol D. Hian, HDFP — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:20:21 +0000

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

Carol D. Hian, HDFP — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:49:46 +0000

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

Carol D. Hian, HDFP — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:30:36 +0000

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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