Category Archives: Uncategorized

North County: I-5 Widening to begin late this summer

Posted on May 9, 2016 | Leave a comment

north cty

A massive plan to widen Interstate 5 in northern San Diego County is set to kick off late this summer and could transform one of the most heavily traveled freeways in the state.

How will this effect homes in the North County? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your home value questions.

The work is part of the $6.5 billion North Coast Corridor Program — led by the California Department of Transportation and the San Diego Association of Governments — that will ultimately stretch 27 miles from La Jolla to Oceanside. The plan includes an ambitious collection of transportation, environmental, and coastal access projects that will take shape over the next 30 years.

Key among them is adding four express lanes to I-5.

The $700 million first phase of the corridor project will begin in the next several months with freeway work in Encinitas, where an eight-lane bridge that crosses the San Elijo Lagoon will slowly be replaced with a larger, wider structure. Work will also begin on another freeway bridge that crosses the Batiquitos Lagoon in Carlsbad.

And the freeway bridges are just the beginning. The $700 million Phase 1 work will include:

▪ Adding a single carpool lane in each direction by cutting into the freeway median from Lomas Santa Fe Drive in Solana Beach to state Route 78 in Oceanside.

▪ Replacing single-track wooden railroad trestles across the San Elijo and Batiquitos lagoons with double-tracked, concrete bridges.

▪ Building bicycle and pedestrian bridges and connected trails, as well as a wide range of wetlands and lagoon restoration projects.

All of the Phase 1 construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020. The price tag includes $480 million for the highway improvements, $140 million for railway improvements and $80 million for environmental work.

6% Commision for home sales once were the norm…that’s changing

Posted on May 4, 2016 | Leave a comment

Commissions of 6 percent for home sales once were the norm. That’s changing. – The Washington Post <!–

Mandie Sellars, a homeowner in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina, had the misfortune of buying a home and then almost immediately getting a new job about an hour from her new home. Not only did she want to avoid paying commissions to sell the home she just bought and to buy another, but the market was also hot in the area where she wanted to live.

“I knew I needed to move fast, and so when I saw a property online that I liked I contacted a company called SoloPro,” says Sellars. “Twenty minutes later I was in the house with an agent and two hours after that I made an offer. My offer was accepted by 5 p.m. that day after the home had been shown 17 times.”

What’s different about Sellars’s experience is that she opted for an on-demand agent service that doesn’t charge commissions. She paid $25 for email alerts so she could find a property, $50 for the property showing, $100 for an agent to present her offer and $800 for a transaction coordinator. SoloPro will give her a rebate of 3 percent of the purchase price — the equivalent of a typical buyer’s agent commission — at her closing, which she estimates to be about $5,700.

Technology has changed businesses in ways that were unimaginable a decade ago, but even industry insiders say that residential real estate practices have yet to fully adapt to the reality that buyers and sellers have unlimited access to property listings and other information that was once held firmly in the hands of realty agents. That access has led many consumers to question the fees they pay for the services of an agent, commonly 6 percent of the home sales price, including payment to a buyer’s agent and a listing agent, or $30,000 on a $500,000 property sale.

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

Case-Shiller shows San Diego home price increases slowing

Posted on April 27, 2016 | Leave a comment

Home price increases outpaced the national average in San Diego County in February but at a slower pace than usual, said the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday.

The San Diego median home price ticked up 6.4 percent in the last 12 months, lower than the 7.2 percent gain in December and 6.9 percent in January.

The nationwide median home price, up 5.3 percent in the last 12 months, also showed signs of slowing.

David Blitzer, managing chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in the report that a lack of new home construction and rising prices are not just bad for new buyers but have owners in a bit of a bind.

“Homeowners looking to sell their house and trade up to a larger house or a more desirable location are concerned with finding that new house,” he wrote.

SD median home price ticked up 6.4% in the last 12 months | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com

From January to February, San Diego home prices, adjusted for seasonal variation, increased 0.2 percent — the third lowest of the 20-city composite.

Mark Goldman, finance and real estate lecturer at San Diego State University, said the month-to-month change was not yet enough to qualify as a trend but would be a different story if it continues into the summer.

“At this point, keep an eye on it. Don’t panic,” he said. “We’re in a good, sustainable range of price appreciation.”

Goldman said the home market could continue to do well for owners if investors decide real estate is a better play than stocks and bonds.