Recession? What recession? Carmel Valley's Townhomes selling like ....

yeah, like hotcakes!
January 30th marked the released of the phase one of Pardee's townhomes in Carmel valley. They are called the Highland Village. I drove by in the morning and I could see lines forming and anxious buyers waiting to buy the homes.
These townhomes range from 2 to 4 bedroom, from the low $500Ks.
Here's the link:
http://www.pardeehomes.com/carmel-country-highlands/highlands-village

Oceanside Pier

Oceanside Pier, one of our favorite spot to hang out.

Lowe's Shopping Mall opening in Carlsbad in 2012

So, I received a notification from our HOA that a new shopping mall with Lowe's as anchor store will open sometime in late 2012. The location is corner of Palomar Airport and El Camino Real. It used to be Olympic Resort. That place has been abandoned for a few years and it does look bad for the city. It's such a prime location too! I was hoping and praying they will build a high class resort like La Costa. 
I am not sure why we need so many home improvements stores, there are a few Home Depots just a few miles down the road. Here's a link from NC Times.

Proposed Power Plant in Carlsbad

A new power plan is being proposed to be built along coastal Carlsbad. The city itself is opposed to this development, there are issues such as safety, air pollution, visual blight and no guaranty power for Carlsbad. 

The California Energy Commission will make the final decision about whether to approve this project. 

Click here for more info Carlsbad Power Plant  

Master Planned Community in Carlsbad, CA

Master planned community is a trend that has recently been adopted by home builders as well government planning agencies. Master planned community offers many advantages for the city the community is in, the community's own residents, as well as for the general public. Imagine having most places that you need to go to all within a few minutes walking or driving from your own home. Schools, super markets, coffee shops, restaurants, parks and recreation centers and other facilities built in the same complex where residential houses are located.


For the residence, the benefits are obvious, driving your kids to school in just a matter of 5 to 10 minutes, walk to the local supermarket for fresh groceries, meats, and a coffee shop is  within a few blocks from the residence house, having an outdoor birthday parties at the parks, or swimming pool at the recreation center, or even walk to your office. Aside from convenience derived from the proximity of these daily destinations, the residence also feels much stronger sense of community. Residence gets to know one another much better, as the kids go to the same school, residence tends to shop in same supermarket, seeing your neighbors in the park with the kids, etc. 

For the general public and local government, master planned community is desirable, because it reduces unnecessary traffic in the locality, it does not put strain on the city resources as the developer of the master planned community is required to provide the necessary resources: schools, fire department, etc.
In coastal San Diego areas there are several master planned communities developed recently. One such communities is called Bressi Ranch, located in the city of Carlsbad, in the north coast of San Diego county. The community was developed by Lennar working together with the City of Carlsbad. The city of Carlsbad is well known for its well-thought development planning, as evidenced by the look and feel of the city. The community was completed in 2006. Bressi Ranch community comprises about 500 homes with many different styles, sizes, and price ranges. The land was a former ranch operated by the Bressi family. The community is situated on gentle hills with beautiful ocean views in the not-too-far distance, and gorgeous canyon views all around the community. The landscapes are exceptional with many planted native trees, shrubs and varietes of flowers that bloom in different seasons. It was dubbed the "garden district" by the developer. There is an elementary public school (Poinsettia Elementary, grade K through grade 5) and a private junior high school (Pacific Ridge) on the community, there are many neighborhood parks situated all over the 200 acre plus complex, there are shops, restaurants, coffee shop, juice bars, 2 grocery stores (Stater Brothers and Trader Joes), 2 swimming pools, several R&D office buildings, a gas station, a Boys and Girls Club building. There is also a plan for a water park that will open in a few years. There are several golf courses outside the community complex, but just right next to it. The beach is literally 5 minutes away by car. Access to Interstate Highway 5 and Interstate Highway 15 are within a few miles.

The homes are grouped into several villages, each with its own style, size and price range. Because of these variations in size, styles, elevations, the houses all look quite different from one another. The villages are Magnolia, Canterbury, Cassia, Garden Side, Heather Court, Wisteria, Primrose, and a condominium complex. The Magnolias are semi custom homes up to 5000 square feet, with lot size up to 20,000 square feet. The Canterbury has 4 different plans, and each plan has 2-3 different elevation/styles. Canterbury homes range in size from 3000 to 4500 square feet. Cassia are similar size to Cantebury homes but offer quite different styles. Heather Court homes and Wisteria homes are unique in that the garages are in the back of the homes. Access to the garages are by the way of alleys behind the homes. Heather Court and Wisteria homes are in the 2700 to low 3000 square feet. Primrose homes are the smallest in the community with size ranging from 1800 to 2500 square feet. The price range for the homes: Magnolia $1 million and up, Canterbury and Cassia $700k to slightly over $1 million, Garden Side, Heather Court, and Wisteria are in the $650K to $900K range. Primerose prices are in the $500K to $750K range. These price ranges are current as of late 2009 and early 2010. The home prices in Bressi Ranch has seen 15% to 20% price correction since the peak of the housing market in 2005.

Master planned 社區是一個趨勢，最近已通過了房屋建築商以及政府規劃機構。主計劃中的社區提供了諸多優勢為城市的社會在，社區自己的居民，以及一般市民。想像一下，你最需要的地方去都在幾分鐘之內步行或開車從自己家裡。學校，超市，咖啡廳，餐館，公園和娛樂中心等設施建在同一大樓，住宅所在。對於居住的好處是顯而易見的，駕駛自己的孩子上學問題，在短短的5到10分鐘，步行到當地超市的新鮮食品，肉類，咖啡廳和內只有幾個街區的居住房屋後，戶外生日派對在公園，或在游泳池娛樂中心，甚至步行到您的辦公室。除了方便來自鄰近的這些日常目的地，官邸也感到更強有力的社會意識。別墅就是人們認識彼此好多了，因為孩子到了同一所學校，住所往往在同一超市購物，看到自己的鄰居在公園裡與孩子，等等 為廣大市民和當地政府，總體規劃社區是可取的，因為它減少了不必要的交通在當地，不把壓力對城市資源開發的總體規劃社會需要提供必要的資源：學校，消防局等

在沿海聖地亞哥地區有幾個總體規劃的社區最近發展。一個這樣的社區稱為 Bressi Ranch ，位於城市的卡爾斯巴德，在北部沿海的聖地亞哥地縣。該社區是由將 Lennar合作與城市卡爾斯巴德。在城市卡爾斯巴德是眾所周知的深思熟慮的發展規劃，這體現在外觀和感覺的城市。該社區於 2006年完成。 Bressi牧場社區包括大約 500家與許多不同的樣式，大小和價格範圍。土地是前農場經營的Bressi家庭。該社區是坐落在起伏的丘陵與美麗的海濱在遙遠的意見，看法和華麗的峽谷周圍的社會。有一所小學（Poinsettia Elemerntary) 在社區，有許多社區公園位於各地二零零英畝加複雜，有商店，餐館，咖啡廳，果汁酒吧，2個雜貨店（Stater Bros 易Trader Joe's），2個游泳池，幾個研發辦公樓，一個加油站，一個男孩和女孩俱樂部建設。還有一項計劃，水上公園，將打開幾年。有幾個高爾夫球場以外的複雜，但它的旁邊。海灘是字面5分鐘車程。進入 5號州際公路和州際公路15人在幾英里。

的住宅被分為幾個村莊，每一個都有自己的風格，規模和價格範圍。由於這些變化的大小，樣式，立面，所有的住房完全不同了彼此。Magnolia Estates 房多達 5000平方英尺，以每手股數高達 20000平方英尺。坎特伯雷有4個不同的計劃，每個計劃 2-3不同海拔/風格。坎特伯雷家園的範圍是：從 3000到4500平方英尺。肉桂類似大小Cantebury家園，但提供了完全不同的風格。Heather Court and Wiesteria 的家獨特的，因為車庫是在背面的家園。進入車庫由小巷方式背後的家園。希瑟法院和紫藤家是在2700年到低三千平方英尺. Primrose是最小的家園在社區的大小不等一八○○年至2500年平方英尺。價格範圍的房屋：Magnolia 100萬美元時，決 $坎特伯雷和70萬片，略高於 100萬美元，花園口，Heather Court和Wisteria的售價在650K至900k的範圍。 Primrose價格在$ 500,000至$ 750K的範圍。這些都是當前的價格範圍為 2009年末和2010年初。在房價 Bressi牧場已經出現 15％至20％的價格調整期以來，住房市場在2005年。目前，有家庭的所有村莊可用於銷售，一些短期銷售，沒收了一些房屋，以及一些正規的銷售。如果你在市場上良好的家庭，Bressi牧場是社會你不想錯過。我是居民的Bressi農場自2005年以來，我非常熟悉的領域。請不要猶豫，給我打電話的調查。沒有義務什麼那麼。

Home prices in Southern California hit the bottom (房價在南加利福尼亞州見底)

It may seems there no end to the economic down turn, unemployment remain high with over 10% of eligible workforce out of work. California unemployment rate is higher at around 12%. Companies are not hiring new employees and are waiting for the overall economy to improve. So to an uninformed home buyer or real estate investor, the best strategy is keep the money safe in the bank. This can be a mistake. 

The major economic indicators have shown that the economy is on its way to a rebound. Although unemployment rate is still high, the rate of companies laying off worker has drastically reduced, and if this trend continues, it will be times before companies are hiring again. 

Another major economic indicator, the stock market has been on the rising trend in the last 12 months or so as indicated by the Dow Jones Industrial Average chart below from 2008 to December of 2009.

似乎有可能沒有結束經濟放緩反過來，失業率仍然很高，超過 10％的合格員工失去工作。加州的失業率較高，約為 12％。企業不僱用新員工，並正在等待整體經濟將有所改善。因此，為了不知情者置業或房地產投資者，最好的策略是保持資金安全的銀行。錯誤的！

主要經濟指標顯示，經濟正在途中的反彈。雖然失業率仍高，利率的公司裁員工人已大大減少，如果這種趨勢繼續下去，有時會前公司僱用了。另一項主要經濟指標，股市一直在上升趨勢在過去 12個月左右的所指出的道瓊斯工業平均指數下面的圖表從 2008年至2009年12月

To help sustain the economic activity, and primarily to boost the housing market, the US Treasury Department has keep interest rate lowest in decades. The current mortgage rate is still at record low, with 30 year conventional mortgage hovering around 5% recently. The graph below show the average mortgage rate recently.

為了幫助維持經濟活動，主要是為了刺激房地產市場，美國財政部一直保持利率十年來最低。目前的抵押貸款利率仍處於歷史低點，與傳統的30年期抵押貸款 5％左右徘徊，最近。下圖顯示的平均抵押貸款利率近來。

All these macro economic forces are working hard to improve the overall economy of the country. And it is working. The home values are at the bottom, and potential buyers are looking for great deal in the housing market. Attached is a graph showing  the real estate median home prices in late 2009.

所有這些宏觀的經濟力量正在努力提高整體經濟的國家。 ，這是工作。家庭價值觀是在底部，和潛在買家正在尋求大量房屋市場。附上一個圖表，顯示房地產房價中位數在2009年年底。

Living in San Diego 生活 在圣地亚哥

San Diego county is located in Southern California, near Mexican border and about 100 miles from city of Los Angeles. The biggest city in San Diego is the city of San Diego. City of San Diego is sunny, and situated right on the pacific coast. It is a busy port with many cargo ships, as well as major cruise ships port of call. The city is also home to United States marine bases, United States Navy, and United States Air Force.

The county of San Diego has many different regions. There are many cities and smaller towns along the pacific coast. These coastal areas are where most people live. The area to the east are generally very dry and desert like and mountainous. In the coastal areas, the weather are very mild with summer temperature in the 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and winter temperature in the 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Regardless of seasons, there are plenty of sunshine anywhere in San Diego County. In the sparsely populated desert areas, the temperature can be as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and near freezing in the winter time. San Diego county has little rain fall, much less compared to northern california.

There are several regions in San Diego, where many Asians live. Scripps Ranch, Mira Mesa, Linda Vista, Carmel Valley are popular with asians. These areas have some asian owned businesses, restaurants, banks, groceries, etc. However, you can find many asians living in many other parts of San Diego.

The areas on the north west side of the county (north county) are very affluent, and have nice towns and cities. North county has many nice sandy beaches, 5 star hotels and golf courses, Lego Land amusement park, and nice shopping areas. The cities are smaller, and less crowded. These areas do not have any major factories or other heavy industrial establishments. There are also a state university as well as junior colleges in the north county. The north county towns and cities also are homes to some of the better schools in the whole state of California. If you like laid back, no stress living, then the north county is the place for you. It is only 30 minutes away from city of San Diego and the airport, 1.5 hours away from Los Angeles area, but it is not crowded and messy like the big cities. In North county, there are plenty of parks and recreation for outdoor activities as well as for sight seeing.

The real estate property values are at the lowest in several years. After the peak in 2005, the prices of homes in north county  has come down 20-40%. There are plenty of homes in the market with wide price range and varieties. With the interest rate at the lowest in decades, there is no better time to buy a home in San Diego North County. Please contact me with any questions about buying or selling home in San Diego.

生活在圣地亚哥

圣地亚哥縣是位於南加州，靠近墨西哥邊境約 100英里的城市洛杉磯。最大的城市聖地亞哥，是城市聖地亞哥。圣地亚哥市，是陽光普照，並有權對位於太平洋沿岸。這是一個繁忙的港口有許多貨船，以及主要的郵輪停靠港。這個城市也是在家對美國的海上基地，美國海軍和美國空軍。

在圣地亚哥縣有許多不同的區域。有許多城市和小城鎮沿太平洋海岸。這些沿海地區是大多數人的生活。該地區向東普遍十分乾燥，沙漠和山區等。在沿海地區，天氣非常溫和，夏季溫度在華氏 80度，冬季氣溫在50華氏度。不管季節，有很多地方的陽光在圣迭戈縣。在人口稀少的沙漠地區，溫度可高達華氏 100度在夏季和接近冰點的時間是在冬季。聖地亞哥縣降雨量少，更比北加州。

有幾個地區，聖地亞哥，在那裡許多亞洲人居住。斯克里普斯牧場，米拉梅薩，卡梅爾瓦利很受亞洲人。這些地區有一些亞洲的國有企業，酒樓，銀行，雜貨等，但是，你可以找到許多亞洲人居住在其他許多地方的聖地亞哥。

該地區的西北一側的縣（北縣）非常富裕，並漂亮的城鎮。北縣有許多不錯的沙灘，五星級酒店和高爾夫球場，樂高遊樂園的土地，和好的購物區。較小的城市，和不那麼擁擠。這些地區沒有大的工廠或其他大型工業企業。還有一個州立大學和初級學院的北縣。北縣城鎮的家園，也有一些比較好的學校，在整個加利福尼亞州。 如果你喜歡悠閒，沒有壓力的生活，那麼，北縣是你的地方。僅 30分鐘遠離城市聖地亞哥和機場，1.5小時距洛杉磯地區，但不擁擠和混亂等大城市。在北縣，有很多公園和娛樂的戶外活動以及觀光。

房地產物業價值的最低數年。高利率，2005年，住房的價格在北縣已經下降20-40％。有很多家庭在市場上廣泛的價格範圍和品種。隨著利率維持在數十年來最低的，沒有更好的時間來購買住房在聖地亞哥北縣。請與我聯繫有任何疑問對買進或賣出聖地亞哥的家中。

Owning Vs Renting

With the recent price correction in real estate market, there are plenty of good value real estate properties that are available in the market today. One might think this will be strong motivation for everybody with the financial capability to buy up the real estate properties. Many people do so, purchasing the property as their primary residence or as investment properties. However, there are people who will never own their own properties, even when they are financially capable to do so.

Since the peak of the housing bubble in California (2005-2006), and specifically in the San Diego county area, the prices of properties have come down anywhere from 20-40% off the peak values. The downturn is pretty significant as the whole economy is pulled down to its lowest level in many years. As the bad loans were not being paid, banks are experiencing great losses un-seen before. The economic disaster is unavoidable given the poor banking regulations, and the individuals' greed hoping to cash in on the market boom. As the banking regulations tighten, the market situation is slowly improving. The 30 year mortgage rate remains lowest in many years, with rate as low as 5% for conventional loans.

While it may seems that this is a good time to buy your own property, not every body with financial capability will do so. First of all, owning a piece of real property requires a lot more commitment compared to renting. It's fairly easy to rent an apartment, condominium, or even a single family home, provided that one has the financial means to pay for the monthly rent. Lease contract can be a month to month basis, up to a yearly contract. There is no need to worry about home maintenance, buying home insurance, paying HOA fees, paying real estate tax, etc. You just live in your rental property, pay the rent when its due, call the landlord when service/maintenance is required. And if you don't like the place you are living in, or want to move to other place due to jobs or any other reasons, you could just wait out till the contract ends, or in some cases, before the contract ends, with some penalty payment. Secondly, to rent a place, does not require you come up with lots of money, like buying a home. Usually a first month rent and a last month deposit will do. Compare that with tens of thousands of dollars needed for down payment to a house and closing cost fees. Also, with renting, there is not a whole lot of risk involved. The worst that a person can loose is the last month deposit for some damages incurred. While a home owner has lots more risk such as loss of home from natural or man made disasters, loss of property values, ability to pay for mortgage and/or real estate tax, etc.

That's right home ownership is not for every one. Not when you have to deal with so much responsibilities and risks. Why not just rent your entire life. There are people who do that. But, if you like to have a place of your own, have more privacy, and invest your money in real estate, have your own yard with the flowers and trees of your choice, have more permanency and stability in life, then home ownership if for you. Never mind all the hassles with owning a home, that's little price to pay for what will be the best decision you make in your life (assuming you purchase the property that meets your needs and at the right price). Property values in San Diego county has over time proven to rise steadily in the long run, easily outpacing inflation, and other investment instruments. The same can not be said of other region in the country. In california, especially near the coastal region, the population is steadily increasing with people moving to this areas from other states, immigrants from other countries seeking better jobs, life and opportunities, older folks retiring from colder region. In addition to the influx of people to the state, the state, county and municipality authorities have managed development very well. Instead of building sprawling cities with ever expanding boundaries, these government entities have managed to limit such large scale development that are not sustainable. This is even more so in San Diego county with its limited resource, natural or man made. Water has to be piped in from the colorado river or nothern california. New schools, roads, hospitals, and other basic infrastructure needs to be built. These limited resources, puts a damper on the large scale development. As a result of that, the demand of housing always surpass that of the supply of available housing. This leads to the every increasing real estate property values in San Diego county.

I hope this article has shed some light about the benefits and disadvantage of owning real property in San Diego county. I will be more than happy to discuss the real estate situation in San Diego. Feel free to call me or send me an email. There is absolutely no obligation on your part.

隨著最近的價格調整房地產市場，有很多很好的房地產價值是可以在市場上今天。有人可能認為這將是強大的動力與每個人的財務能力購買了房地產。許多人這樣做，購買物業作為其主要住所或 投資屬性。然而，有些人誰不會擁有自己的財產，即使他們有經濟能力這樣做。

由於在繁忙的房地產泡沫在加利福尼亞州（2005-2006年），以及特別是在圣迭戈縣方面，物業價格下調 20-40％來自任何地方起飛的高峰值。經濟衰退是非常重要的，因為整個經濟被拉下的最低水平，在許多年。由於不良貸款沒有得到支付，銀行正在經歷巨大的損失未見過的。經濟災難是不可避免的給窮人的銀行規定，個人的貪婪，希望以現金投入了市場的繁榮。由於銀行收緊法規，市場情況正在慢慢改善。 30年期抵押貸款利率仍然是多年來最低的，與率低至5％的常規貸款。

雖然它可能似乎這是一個好時機購買自己的房產，並不是每個機構，財務能力將這樣做。首先，擁有一塊不動產，需要有更多的承諾相比，租賃。這是很容易租公寓，公寓，甚至是單個家庭住宅，只要一有經濟能力支付每月租金。房屋租賃合同可以是每月的基礎上，由每年的合同。沒有必要擔心家居維修，購買家庭保險，支付性骨費用，繳納房產稅，只等你住在你的出租房產，支付租金時，應有的，要求業主在服務 /維修是必要的。如果你不喜歡你的地方居住，或想要移動到其他地方，由於工作或其他原因，你可以只等到等到合同到期，或在某些情況下，在合同到期之前，與一些付款。其罰款次，租一個地方，並不需要你拿出很多錢，如買房子。通常是第一個月的租金，上個月存款就可以了。相比之下，與成千上萬的美元需要支付定金，房子和關閉的成本費用。另外，在出租，沒有一大堆的風險。最糟糕的一個人可以是鬆散的存款上月發生的一些損失。雖然房主有很多更大的風險，如喪失家庭的自然或人為災害，財產損失的價值，有能力支付抵押貸款和/或房地產稅等

這是自置居所的權利是不是每一個人。當你有沒有處理這麼多的責任和風險。為什麼不租你的整個生活。有些人誰這樣做。但是，如果你想有一個自己的位置，有更多的隱私，你的錢投資房地產，有自己的院子的花草樹木您選擇，有更多的永久性和穩定的生活，那麼，如果置業為您。沒關係的麻煩與所有擁有一個家，那是什麼代價，什麼是最好的決定，你在你的生活（假設您購買的財產，以滿足您的需求，在合適的價格）。物業價格在聖地亞哥縣隨著時間的推移證明穩步上升，長遠來說，大大高於通貨膨脹和其他投資工具。同樣不能說其他地區的國家。在加利福尼亞州，特別是靠近沿海地區的人口不斷增加的人口移居到這一地區其他國家，移民來自其他國家的更好的尋求工作，生活和機會，退休的老傢伙從寒冷的地區。除了湧入人民對國家，州，縣和市當局管理的發展非常好。而是擴張城市建設與不斷擴展的邊界，這些政府機構已成功地限制了這種大規模的發展是不可持續的。這是更是如此聖地亞哥縣以其有限的資源，自然的或人為的。水管道必須在從科羅拉多河和北加州。新的學校，道路，醫院和其他基礎設施需要建設。這些有限的資源，放在一阻尼器在大尺度上的發展。結果這一情況，住房總需求超過了供應的現有住房。這導致每增加房地產價格在聖地亞哥縣。

我希望這篇文章中披露了一些輕帶來的好處和缺點擁有不動產聖地亞哥縣。我將樂意討論房地產形勢在圣迭戈舉行。請隨時給我打電話，或者給我發送電子郵件。絕對沒有義務對您的電腦。