I appreciate our clients who are willing to go on camera to express their thoughts about their experience – thank you Eddie89!
A key point for buyers in a bidding war is to know when to increase your bid, and by how much. I help you determine which houses are worthy of a higher bid – and most aren’t, so you will lose a few!
Many thanks to our clients here who were willing to describe the performance of our team on camera, and how they felt about it!
My mom shares her birthday with the U.S.A. – here she is celebrating her 83rd while on her summer tour of kids and grandkids this week.
She moved in with us about three months ago, and while it has its challenges, overall it’s been good. She likes her chair yoga classes, and we’re hoping to have her attend multiple times per week to keep up her fitness.
Happy Birthday Mom!
When a buyer’s agent calls the listing office to inquire about making an offer, the usual response is, “Send it in, and we’ll get back to you.” More questions don’t reveal much else, and the buyer’s agent is left wondering if there is any hope of selling a house.
There is big money being thrown around these days, and how your listing agent operates determines your fate. Sellers should hire a agent who demonstrates what they do to sell your house for top dollar, not just process your paperwork.
Here’s an example of how I work:
We have a busy family like everyone else….so busy that the only time this summer the four of us could get together was one afternoon last week, so we went sailing off Shelter Island for $89 per person at http://sailsandiego.com/. Here are photos:
I always figured the sub base would be a super-sophisticated security zone. It looks like a dock, a floating fence, and a couple of flags from here:
The skipper said they are burying the nuclear waste from the aircraft carriers and subs here:
We all know about the Old Point Loma Lighthouse on top of the hill, but this is the Coast Guard’s newer lighthouse at the more-appropriate sea-level location at the southern tip of Point Loma:
North Island is a very active Navy base:
This was docked for a few hours and then poof, it was gone:
Eddie89 has been one of my all-time favorite contributors here at the blog, having left dozens of comments over the last three years – thank you for your insights! I appreciate the testimonial too, and publish it below to give Kayla and Donna their due props!
Since Zillow only allows me to write 1 review per real estate transaction, per team of agents we worked with, this is going to be a super long review.
Review on Jim Klinge: Jim Klinge is the quintessential real estate agent, the “broker’s broker” of real estate agents. My husband and I reached out to Jim for the purchase of our first home in North San Diego County. We emailed him on a Saturday night, received an email reply that same night and we were hitting open houses Sunday morning!
We also had a list of potential houses we were thinking about purchasing and Jim was able to expertly go through that list and eliminate the turkeys so that we wouldn’t be wasting our time and money. Due to the very competitive San Diego market, we were outbid on several of the houses we did like, before we finally hit pay dirt and found a home in excellent condition and more importantly, in an excellent location!
We highly recommend Jim Klinge to help you buy or sell your home!
Review on Kayla Klinge: We had the pleasure of working with Kayla through her dad, Jim Klinge. Kayla attended all of the home showings and helped dig up the details on each of the homes we were thinking of buying. Even though we were not looking at million dollar listings, Kayla made us feel like “million dollar” clients and her thoughtfulness and professionalism were instrumental in helping us choose the right home in the right location. She’s definitely going to be a superstar in the real estate industry!
Review on Donna Klinge: In a world where we’re seemingly surrounded by mediocrity, it was such a pleasure and refreshing change of pace to deal with a consummate professional like Donna Klinge!
After purchasing our first home in North San Diego County, Donna took full ownership of helping my husband and I navigate the gauntlet of paperwork we had to fill out with escrow and then deal with all the myriad contractors and inspectors to help get our new house fixed up. She was also instrumental in putting together the repairs estimate based on the findings of the home inspector, which resulted in the sellers reducing the sales price to help us with repairs.
We couldn’t have asked for a better team to help us purchase our first home in North San Diego County.
Here is a cruise through Del Cerro, which is across the freeway from SDSU. The video didn’t pick up my intro that described what realtors can do in a low-inventory environment – expand the target zone, just like buyers should. After a short stint in P.B., I spent my early years in a Mission Valley office (Century 21 Campbell and Associates/Merrill Lynch Realty) and cut my teeth in central San Diego, so areas like Del Cerro are like going home for me:
For those who like to digest their real estate news via their social media outlets, here are our links:
My twitter account is mostly the posting of articles written elsewhere, but are pertinent to us. Most of the bubbleinfo blog posts can be seen here:
https://twitter.com/Bubbleinfo
There are two Facebook accounts, and this is the one that gets the bubbleinfo posts automatically:
https://www.facebook.com/Jim-Klinge-Klinge-Realty
Both Kayla and I are supposed to be fueling the Pinterest account, and it is mostly full of remodeling ideas:
https://www.pinterest.com/klingerealty/
We have a new Instagram account to which both of us are contributing. Kayla noted that she got more followers to this account in one weekend than I’ve added to mine in 2+ years:
https://www.instagram.com/thesandiegorealestate/
The Bubbleinfo TV videos are posted to my youtube account:
https://www.youtube.com/user/JimtheRealtor
There is a bubbleinfo mobile app available at the App store, and Google Play!
Are you getting the feeling that our low-inventory conditions are here to stay?
Our local Case-Shiller Index has risen 59% since April, 2009, and fewer people are selling? Instead, they appear to be riding into the sunset.
Consider these boomer stats from wiki:
For those who moved up a couple of times, their current house is the best they’ve done, and is good enough to last them. There isn’t a compelling reason for boomers to move if they bought low, and the house is paid off or refinanced into an ultra-low rate.
Baby boomers are currently 53 to 71 years old, which should mean they could move if needed. They just don’t want to.
If things got tough, it’s more likely they would share with the kids. Either have a kid move in and help with care-giving, or go live with a child.
My mom is moving in with us this month.
My dad died in 2010, we sold their house, and mom has been on the move ever since. She tried living on her own, but that was boring, and then recently she lived with my little brother, which everyone will tell you is no picnic. She lasted 14 months with him, which is more than I would have!
But even with a life-changing event, there’s no change to real estate. Mom’s house was sold long ago, and we don’t need to move to accommodate her.
We’ll all just get along instead!
As baby boomers keep aging, many, if not most, will find a way to make do with what they have, rather than move. Upon their demise, one of the kids are more likely than ever to inhabit, rather than sell.
The rapid ascent of prices haven’t helped either – it’s probably one of the main reasons don’t want to move. It’s too expensive, compared to what they have, and they’d rather find a way to stay put.
I am fortunate and grateful to have a group of home buyers willing to make offers during the off-season. To give you a feel of what to expect ahead, here are the results of offers made since December 18th:
Purchase-offers submitted: 11
Bidding wars: 9
Bidding wars won: 3
My buyers tend to prefer the premium properties, so no surprise that other buyers would also be interested. But to have multiple offers on 9 out of 11 properties during a historically quieter time in the market probably means that the selling season will be raucous and highly competitive – and it starts Monday!
I usually have a better win ratio with bidding wars, but we strive to get the right discount for fixers. Today’s frustrated buyers make hasty offers without properly assessing the cost of repairs needed, and once the bidding war breaks out, they end up paying too much just to win a house.
Get Good Help!
Are you looking for an experienced agent to help you buy or sell a home?
Contact Jim the Realtor!
CA DRE #01527365, CA DRE #00873197
