Look Smart at a Party! 9 San Diego Facts

San Diego is the eighth largest city in the United States and the second largest in California after Los Angeles. It is located on the Pacific Ocean at the southernmost end of the west coast of the continental United States.  But you probably already knew that.  But did you know these fun San Diego facts?

NAMING RIGHTS
San Diego was discovered by Portuguese explorer Juan Cabrillo on Sept. 18, 1542 when he landed at Point Loma Head. The Cabrillo National Monument pays tribute to his discovery.  Surprisingly, it was not Cabrillo who named Sand Diego.  Rather, it was Sebastian Vizcaino who arrived in San Diego some 60 years later, who named the city after one of his ships (and the November 12th feast of San Diego de Alcala).

SPORTS CURSE?
While an amazing place to live, San Diego residents must become accustomed to losing, at least when it comes to sports!  Without a single Super Bowl, World Series or NBA championship in history, a sports fan would have to be a glutton for punishment to call this place home.  Ironic since baseball great Ted “The Thumper” Williams was born here!

MAKING BEAUTIFUL MUSIC
It was at San Diego’s Innerchange Coffeehouse and Java Joe's where Utah native Jewel Kilcher – better known as Jewel – became a star.  It was here that her Billboard Hot 100 #2 smash, “You Were Meant for Me” was born.

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Downtown San Diego Condos: Short Sale Updates. Run from RCS

What is happening in today's short sale world?  What have we learned working with our San Diego real estate owners?

There is some good news with short sales and some bad news.  Let's talk about the good news first. Many lenders have seen it is better for their bottomline to work with a seller and buyer than go through the foreclosure process.  These lenders are actually starting to be cooperative.  The Bank of America has adopted a computer based short sale process called Equator.  You can upload required documentation and see the short-sale process unfold.  If you are missing something, the system notifies you.  If you need something, the system notifies you.  The B of A is making it easier for the consumer to work through the mess they have found themselves in.  

Other lenders are not acting in good faith.  RCS (Residential Credit Solutions)  is one of those lenders as far as we are concerned.  We have been working with RCS for a year on a short sale and they have no intention of working with our seller.  Our seller is in the military.  She has been transferred.  She tried to keep up with payments.  It finally became too much.  We had a short sale buyer.  In our opinion, RCS acted in bad faith and our seller  lost the buyer.  We have been trying to obtain a loan modification for our seller.  She really wanted to keep the property.  RCS put up so many roadblocks, it became evident they would not work with a modification.

Our client is being deployed out of the country.  We tried the Sailor and Serviceman's Relief Act.  Our client should have been covered.  RCS spent the time and money to have attorneys find a loophole and our client is losing her condo to foreclosure tomorrow.  We are depressed about this.  She did everything she could to keep her condo.  We did everything we could to help her obtain a modification or workout.  The short-sale negotiator we used in this case did everything he could to help her.  RCS did nothing but hang up the phone and refuse to work in good faith.

We are sad and we are depressed because we know our client is not the only one experiencing this at the hands of RCS.  It makes you wonder why?  Are they receiving money on the backend from the U.S. Government?  What is really going on?  We don't know.  We will probably never know.  All we know is that in our opinion and experience,  RCS acted in bad faith and they probably aren't the only lender around doing that.  Our hats are off to lenders like the Bank of America, Wacovia and Wells Fargo.  They are at least trying to help the consumer.

If you would like some additional information regarding selling your home or condo, visit our Oops It Didn't Sell website. We have a FREE booklet you can download.  If you have any short-sale experiences to share, let us know.

Downtown San Diego: San Diego County Sale Statistics

Here are a couple of charts for real estate sales comparisons.  The first chart is an overall of San Diego County home and condo sales.  Once you look at the Downtown San Diego condo sales chart that follows you can see how they compare and contrast.

Now compare the chart above which is a complilation of all San Diego County zip codes and both single-family detached and condos, to the chart below for Downtown San Diego condo sales.  As you can see there are a number of downtown San Diego condos for sale, and these statistics do not generally include builder units.  Some of the current builders include one or two of their inventory in the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) so as to attract real estate agents.  In a market with more than sufficient inventory, builders rediscover that real estate agents have viable buyers.  In a seller's market, builders and developers ignore us and in a buyer's market like we have today, developers love us because most, not all, but most buyers, feel safer in purchasing if they have a realtor representing them.

This is a series of articles by Sharyn and Victoria Crown, Downtown San Diego real estate agents specialzing in Downtown San Diego condos.  Visit us on  our San Diego Crowns Real Estate  Facebook page.  Text SDCROWN to 87778 to search properties on your mobile phone.

Downtown San Diego Condos: Funky Garcias Begins the Journey

As I was eating lunch today at Funky Garcias, it occurred to me that I could start a food journey.  How long would it take and how would I like it if I ate my way around one Downtown San Diego block at a time?

So I decided I would start at Funky Garcias, which interestingly enough used to be the old Sun Cafe.  The Sun Cafe was a downtown San Diego landmark and if you live in one of the downtown San Diego condos, you may have eaten breakfast at Sun Cafe.  That being said, time moves on and restaurants change and relocate or close.  Funky's is a great place to start and now all I need to do is decide where next.  Nicky Rottens or Tabule or The Field Pub. 

Some people collect butterflies.  Some people watch birds, or football or baseball.  Since food and I are great friends, this might be the best hobby for me.  The key, I am thinking, is to see if I can eat at each restaurant in this particular block and eat healthy at the same time.  Today was fairly healthy, a taco and a tostada.  No chips because Victoria told me to knock them off.

My camera phone may not take the best picture in the world, but trust me, this carne asada taco and pollo tostada tasted better than my picture looks.  My waitress was really efficient and cheerful, and sometimes that also goes a long way.

For my first stop in my new "Eat My Way Around the Block" tour, Funky Garcias was worth the lunch.

  This is a series of articles by Sharyn and Victoria Crown, Downtown San Diego real estate agents specialzing in Downtown San Diego condos.  Visit us on  our San Diego Crowns Real Estate  Facebook page.

Downtown San Diego Condos: For Sale and Solds

Trendgraphix takes the statistics from Sandicor, our multiple listing service, and compiles them into graphs that give a picture of the marketplace.  What is interesting about this particular graph is the discrepancy between the average listing price versus the average sale price.  Notice there tends to be a $250,000 - $300,000 difference between the listing price and the average sale price.  It appears  that downtown San Diego condo buyers are in the lower-priced quadrant.  This can be attributed to affordability.  The lower end of the downtown San Diego condo marketplace is where a buyer can obtain a VA or FHA loan, which equates to low or no-down loan programs.  When rents and mortgage payments get close, most people want to purchase their own place. 

2010 will be an interesting year to follow.  We may start to see if the mid-range priced condos in downtown San Diego will recover.  Recovery generally starts from the bottom up,  so what will be the difference between listing and sale prices in six months? 

This is a series of articles by Sharyn and Victoria Crown, downtown San Diego realtors.