Small Investment Opportunity

Front of Condo

Fallbrook Short Sale condo

For those of you looking for a small real estate investment, try this one:

• 2 Bedroom (dual master) condo on Gird Rd that sold in June of 2005 for $355,000 owner then re-did the kitchen with granite counters and new appliances.
• Will rent for $1,300 – $1,400 – the rear entrance to Camp Pendleton is nearby.
• HOA is $200/mo and there are no Mello-Roos.
• It is a short sale and I think I can get it approved between $170k and $180k. 
• With 25% down, it looks like worse case it is break even cash flow and best case it is a 4% return on invested cash

No, it’s not the perfect unit.   Yes, there is road noise.  No, you are not going to want to retire into it.

It’s an investment.  With cash flow.  And upside.

Kitchen

So, if you are looking for an investment in San Diego that you can get with 25% down as a small investor and get it for about 50% of the price paid in  2005 (with a kitchen re-model thrown in since then), give me a call.

Monday Morning Coffee – A Crime on the BBQ

Monday Morning Coffee

Good morning,

I hope you had a nice weekend.  I learned that cooking ribs on the BBQ while swimming in the pool is a great way to end up with ribs that resemble charcoal in both look and taste. 

We had a couple of open houses this weekend and traffic was decent – not like what we have been seing, but not “sky is falling” bad either.  That is generally the feeling I get from other agents also, it has slowed down, but there are still buyers out there, despite the end of the tax credit.  Countywide, the trend I talked about last week is continuing – more and more homes on the market and a slowing sales rate.  

We still have the largest issue at the high end (over $1M) where there have been 708 sales in the last 6 months and there are 2,168 homes on the market (18 months inventory).  Until jumbo loans become more readily available, this number is not likely to go down much.

We have one new listing on the market this week, but the web site is not yet up for it.  If you are interested, it is a 4 bedroom, 3200+ sf home on the north side of 4S Ranch.  It is a short sale and is priced at $700k.  The owners have taken great care of the property and it shows very well.  

Next week, we will have a 3 bedroom 1,600+sf home in High Country West (West Rancho Bernardo) available.

That’s it – enjoy the coffee!

Lesson in Unconditional Acceptance

by Brenda

I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called “Smile”. The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reaction.

I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway…..so, I thought, this would be a piece of cake (literally).

Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonalds, one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special play time with our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did. I did not move an inch…an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.

As I turned around I smelled a horrible “dirty body” smell…and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was “smiling”…his beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God’s Light as he searched for acceptance.

He said, “Good day” as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally deficient and the blue eyed gentle man was his salvation. I held my tears……as I stood there with them.

The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, “Coffee is all Miss” because that was all they could afford (to sit in the restaurant and warm up they had to buy something…they just wanted to be warm).

Then I really felt it…the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes. That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me…judging my every action. I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot.

I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue eyed gentleman’s cold hand. He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, “Thank you”. I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, “I did not do this for you…God is here working through me to give you hope”. I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, “That is why God gave you to me honey….to give me hope”. We held hands for a moment and at that time we knew that only because of the Grace were we able to give …..

We are not church goers but we are believers. That day showed me the pure Light of God’s sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class,with this story in hand. I turned in “my project” and the instructor read it….then she looked up at me and said, “Can I share this?” I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class. She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings (part of God) share this need to heal.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonalds, my husband, son, instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student. I Graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn….unconditional acceptance……after all….we are here to learn!

Have a Great Week!

Scott Voak

Monday Morning Coffee – Revised look San Diego’s May home sales

Monday Morning Coffee

May Home Sales

Good morning,

I hope you had a great weekend.  Mine is rapidly coming to a close and there is still much to do, so this will be short this week.

Now that most of the reporting is done for May, the numbers are a little clearer for San Diego County. 

• There were over 3200 homes sold in May which was up 11% over 2009 and 10% over April.  This was to be expected as first time home buyers pushed out April closings to May to take advantage of the state tax credit.
• The number of homes in escrow at the end of the month fell to just over 5500, a 26% drop over 2009 and a 14$ drop over the end of April.  Once again, this was expected as the federal tax credit pulled a lot of demand forward, and now that it has expired, the demand will be less than it otherwise would have been through the summer.
• Inventory as measured by homes that are: Listed for sale, shown as Contingent or Pending, divided by the last 12 months sales increased by 8% over last year to 7.5 months – the first increase since September of 2008.  If measured using only the “Active” listings, inventory still sits at 4 months, which is even with last year.

Ok, so much for the quick analysis.  We have one new listing this week.  It is a short sale condo and as such the photos are not as good as they could be, but it is a great opportunity to look at a 2 bedroom starter condo for under $300k. This home went on the market last week with first showings at the open house Sunday.  We already have one offer, so if you are interested, please let me know asap.

That’s it, nice and short this week.  Enjoy the Coffee – this week, in honor of our graduates, an excerpt that supposedly came from a Bill Gates graduation speech.

On the rules of life for graduates.
RULE 1.

Life is not fair; get used to it.

RULE 2.

The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you
to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

RULE 3.

You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school OR
college. You won’t be a vice-president with a car phone, until you earn
both.

RULE 4.

If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He
doesn’t have tenure.

RULE 5.

Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a
different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.

RULE 6.

If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your
mistakes, learn from them.

RULE 7.

Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now.
They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and
listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the
rain forest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try
“delousing” the closet in your own room.

RULE 8.

Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has
not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they’ll give
you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear
the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9.

Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off and very
few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on
your own time.

RULE 10.

Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave
the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11.

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

 Have a Great Week!

Scott Voak

858 688 0189