Category Archives: Real Estate

San Diego – Better fire protection may lower insurance rates

Posted on September 26, 2016 | Leave a comment

organization that weighs fire risks has determined that San Diego’s backcountry is safer after years of investments, a declaration that may make it possible for property owners in the county’s rural stretches to buy fire insurance for the first time or to pay lower premiums on existing policies.

The improved rating from the Insurance Service Office came after the Board of Supervisors created the San Diego County Fire Authority in 2008 and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to improve fire protection in 1.5 million acres of the backcountry after major fires in 2003 and 2007.

The county put various fire agencies under one command, and added more career firefighters, staffing, equipment, training and communication systems. The investments cut response times by 30%, the county said.

The fire protection and the improved rating is a big deal for people who live in rural parts of the county, according to Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

“What this means is not only can they get fire insurance, it lowers the cost of fire insurance in much of this area,” she said.

The $350 million worth of improved rural fire protection is also important for people who live in more populated areas, she added.

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Real Estate Guru Warns Market Peak is Near

Posted on September 22, 2016 | Leave a comment

Based on the last 50 years of economic cycles, Lee said the current boom is likely to end in 2017, ‘18 or ‘19 and another upturn may begin in 2023. It will be characterized by “globalizing and knowledge.” The generation raised on the Internet, transparency, relationship-driven interaction and new technologies will be in charge.

On the residential side, Lee said homeownership by 2025 will drop below 60 percent, down from the record 69.2 percent in the mid-2000s.

“People are not buying homes — they are renting — and we will continue to move to a rental-based society,” he said. “Uber, Lyft, iTunes, Airbnb: You name it, you’re out there doing it. It’s all about renting, not owning.”

Among 100 predictions he has come up with for the next 10 years, Lee offered these:

Buildings will be fined and taxed if they are not energy efficient and water-wise. “Every one of these things is making real estate the ‘energy czar’ for America.” He also said the federal government is likely to pass a mandatory building code that property owners will have to follow.
Commercial buildings will include some form of urban farming, starting with the use of 700,000 excess shipping containers.
Women will represent 40 percent of individuals in the “C suite” for CEOs, CFOs and chief technology officers. They will make decisions on leases, capital and other important matters.
Coworking spaces will become more common as a way to utilize office buildings 24 hours a day rather than just from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Warehouses and other industrial buildings will employ robots and robots will build buildings. Consequently some 10 million jobs for humans will disappear. “I don’t know what we’re going to do with all the people.”
Young real estate graduates will have the pick of plum industry jobs because of retiring baby boomers. “There’s not enough of you and not enough good ones and smart ones. Don’t take the cheap stuff (job offers).”
Despite the rent-not-own trends, he said, first-time buyers with enough savings should act now because of low interest rates and plan to stay in place for several years, implying that flipping houses won’t be an option in many cases.

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San Diego- Median home price hits highest point in a decade

Posted on September 21, 2016 | Leave a comment

The San Diego County median home price hit $498,000 in August, its highest point in a decade, real estate tracker CoreLogic reported Monday.

Home prices have climbed steadily most of the year, but are still below the all-time peak of $517,500 set nearly 11 years ago.

In August, the median price of a resale home was $550,000, a 6.8 percent increase in the last 12 months. Resale condos reached $377,750, up 7 percent in a year, and newly built homes were $684,5000, up 5.6 percent in a year.

“It’s possible that the Southern California median sale price has already peaked for the year at $465,000, where it has held steady for the last three months,” he said. “Historically, the median sale price has most often peaked in one of the summer months or in December.”

Experts suggest a lack of inventory, low mortgage rates and a lag between home construction and demand have kept housing prices rising.

The Greater San Diego Association of Realtors said the number of single-family resale listings dropped 2 percent from August 2015 to 2,124 and increased 1 percent over the same period on resale condos and townhouses to 1,127 units.