Clairemont Real Estate

Clairemont Homes for Sale

The My Neighborhood report covers the area bounded by:
52 to the north
Regents/Clairemont Mesa to the East
Jutland to the south
5 to the east
<— click for larger image

Stats as of February 1

Active Homes: 1
Contingent: 1
Pending: 1
Sold: 0

View a summary of all homes in this month’s report

Sales:
No sales in January

Inventory has been extremely low in our neighborhood over the past 6 months. Any decently priced home is selling within weeks of listing. Values in the neighborhood have gone up about 10% in the past year. Also, we are seeing a higher price ceiling in the area that was quite low 1-2 years ago.

Both the contingent and pending listings came on market already in contract with a buyer. The pending listing on Hidalgo is some kind of an inside deal. It’s being marketed way below market value. I went inside and had a back-up offer all cash $20k over listing, but the listing agent never returned my phone call….hmmm. I wonder what she’s telling the owners? I’m guessing she slotted in an investor of her’s that will flip the property, but who knows – we’ll find out when it sells.

The only active listing is active because it’s listed at $980k and the owners haven’t modified the price in 4 months. I’m sure Trish & Judy are pulling their hair out trying to get the seller to reduce their price. Although it is a very nice home & I’d love to see it sell near list price, I just don’t see anyone paying over $900k for it.

Be sure to check my Clairemont monthly update as well as my quarterly updates for San Diego County using the links to the left or by visiting the Market Data page.

Market Update: February 2013

Clairemont home sales, along with most of San Diego real estate, had very strong sales activity in January post holidays. This sales active once again outpaced new listings resulting in lower inventory, which has been on the decline for over a year. What will happen next? Read on to find out! Here are the numbers for January for the 92117 zip code as of February 1:

Detached (homes) Listings:
Active: 19

Contingent*: 9

Pending: 34

Sold: 27

Avg sale price = $430,627 | median sale price = $427,000

Avg Sold price/sq ft = $310 | Sales Range = $235k – 660k

Current Months of inventory = 0.7 (this indicates an extremely strong upward/seller’s market)

Attached (condos/townhomes) Listings:
Active: 10

Contingent*: 8

Pending: 15

Sold: 7

Avg sale price = $179,557k | median sale price = $181k

Avg Sold price/sq ft = $216 | Sales Range = $102 – 319k

Current Months of inventory = 1.4 (this indicates a strong upward/seller’s market)

* Contingent = a short-sale that has an accepted offer, but no lender approval (yet).

Adam’s Take:
We are currently experiencing an extremely low inventory market. Across San Diego, we have not seen inventory this low since mid-2004 when the market was still booming at 10-20%/year. Couple this extremely low inventory with near historically low interest rates and it’s no surprise prices are on the rise. Average sale prices are up about 10% in the last year and the current trajectory is moving fast.

The number of foreclosures in the market place has dropped significantly in the last couple years, which is contributing to these low inventory levels. In addition, there are less short-sales on market.

I was predicting that we had hit bottom over a year ago and it seems that prediction was correct in hindsight. Even if rates went up, it would take some serious downward pressure to counterbalance the lack of inventory and considering we are up about 10% in the last year, it is unlikely that we will ever see prices lower than we did 1-2 years ago.

Although prices were starting to go up at the beginning of last year, interest rates were dropping, thus actual cost for most homeowners (or at least those financing 80% or more) was actually dropping because monthly costs to own were down. Even with prices having recently gone up, actual cost is still near the bottom.

Either way, if you are a buyer and financing, you probably won’t ever find a better deal in Clairemont than you can today. With rates around 3.5%, if they go to 4.0% that is an approx 13% increase in cost. If rates go from 4% to 5%, that is an approx 26% increase!! Do you think it is more likely for rates to go to 4.5% or for home values to drop 26%? That is the question buyers have to ask themselves.

If you are a homeowner thinking of selling, this year could be a fantastic time to finally unload a property you’ve been holding onto because of a depressed market. With low inventory and low rates, buyers are lining up to pay more than the last comp. I am seeing multiple offers on any reasonably priced property. The market is super hot!!

Resources:
If you are a Clairemont homeowner curious about your home value (or thinking of selling!), I am happy to send you my estimate. Visit my Clairemont Home Values page and fill out the form.

If you are seeking to purchase a home in Clairemont (or anywhere else in San Diego), visit my Clairemont Homes for sale page.

Thank you for reading – I welcome your comments, questions, and referrals. I would also appreciate you forwarding this to anyone you know that is interested in our local Clairemont real estate market.

Adam Pascu
Owner, Broker
73 Degrees Realty
858-761-1707

Market Update: February 2012

Clairemont home sales, along with most of San Diego, had very strong sales activity in February. This steady activity has resulted in a low supply/inventory, which has been on the decline for over 6 months. What will happen next? Read on to find out! Here are the numbers for February for the 92117 zip code as of March 1:

Detached (homes) Listings:
Active: 61
Contingent*: 32
Pending: 42
Sold: 27
Avg sale price = $416,014 | median sale price = $400,000
Avg Sold price/sq ft = $275 | Sales Range = $217k – 645k
Current Months of inventory = 2.3 (this indicates an upward/seller’s market)

Attached (condos/townhomes) Listings:
Active: 23
Contingent*: 17
Pending: 15
Sold: 11
Avg sale price = $209k | median sale price = $185k
Avg Sold price/sq ft = $200 | Sales Range = $121 – 349k
Current Months of inventory = 2.1 (this indicates an upward/seller’s market)

* Contingent = a short-sale that has an accepted offer, but is hoping for bank approval.

Adam’s Take:
We’ve had a low inventory market for over 2 quarters now and are currently at our lowest point in 6 months. With rates hovering at all-time lows (at about 4% for 30-year fixed), I am not surprised to see relatively strong buyer activity right now and very low-end prices creeping up. That being said, average sold price/sq ft has remained quite level around $275-280. We are mostly seeing the really low prices creeping up – very few homes are listed or selling for less than $300k, even the very small homes under 1000 sq ft or the serious fixers.

Number of sales was strong for February (indicating January activity) and so are the number of pendings (indicating February’s activity). This is very encouraging. If rates stay low, I would not be surprised to see some very slight gains in home values this spring.

At this point, though, we have such a low inventory and no new housing, that I am starting to get used to using that “bottom” term, which you only know in hindsight. If you view my (coming soon), report for all of San Diego, you’ll see low inventory all across town. I am still holding out to see what will happen if/when rates tick back up closer to 5% – in that case, we wll have downward pressure, but if inventory remains this low, demand will have to drop considerably for prices to begin falling any noticeable amount.

Either way, if you are a buyer and financing, you probably won’t ever find a better deal in Clairemont than you can today. With rates at 4%, if they go to 4.5% that is a 12.5% increase in cost. If rates go from 4% to 5%, that is a 25% increase!! Do you think it is more likely for rates to go to 5% or for home values to drop 25%? That is the question buyers have to ask themselves.

Resources:
If you are a Clairemont homeowner curious about your home value (or thinking of selling!), I am happy to send you my estimate. Visit my Clairemont Home Values page and fill out the form.

If you are seeking to purchase a home in Clairemont (or anywhere else in San Diego), visit my Clairemont Homes for sale page.

Thank you for reading – I welcome your comments, questions, and referrals. I would also appreciate you forwarding this to anyone you know that is interested in our local Clairemont real estate market.

Adam Pascu
Owner, Broker
73 Degrees Realty
858-761-1707

The My Neighborhood report covers the area bounded by:
52 to the north
Regents/Clairemont Mesa to the East
Jutland to the south
5 to the east
<— click for larger image

Stats as of March 1

Active Homes: 1
Contingent: 4
Pending: 1
Sold: 2

View a summary of all homes in this month’s report

I included 1 sale from January here because I did not write a report due to establishing my new brokerage, 73 Degrees Realty!

Sales:
4646 Leathers St: (5/3, 2259 sq ft) sold for $510k with price/sq ft = $225. This was a foreclosure in the Palisades that was underpriced ($489k) and sold within a week. Pretty clean, but outdated on a hillside with private backyard. Definitely needed upgrading, but a good location and fair deal.

2808 Wyandotte Ave (3/2, 1520 sq ft) sold for $403k with price/sq ft = $265. This was a foreclosure that was on market for quite some time, which is odd for a foreclosure. The home is in a great location with a panoramic view north over the 52. It had good size, but the layout was a not ideal, and the home was completely outdated. For someone looking to do a renovation on a decent sized home in a good part of the neighborhood with a great view, this was a good buy.

3047 Fawn Ave (4/3, 2185 sq ft) sold for $575k with price/sq ft = $263. Large private canyon lot in cul de sac and completely renovated, this home is one of the nicer properties in our neighborhood. However, it was on market for 3 months because of poor initial pricing. Although, considering this was the 2nd highest sale in the hood this year, I really shouldn’t criticize…

4572 Hidalgo Ave (6/4, 3400 sq ft) sold for $638k with price/sq ft = $187. This property has 2 homes on 1 lot and was on market for most of the year. The 2nd home is down the hill and feels like a separate lot (2/1 rented for $1450/month). The main house had some real layout issues and although it was turnkey, for such a large home, I would expect the new owners to be spending $20-3ok unless they are going to rent it all out. Couple these issues with the non-conforming nature of the property, and someone bought this property for a very low price/sq ft.

**note: remember that price/sq ft will be lower for smaller homes than larger homes because of the high value of land.

Inventory is quite low right now in our neighborhood and sales have remained steady in the last couple months of 2011, probably due to historically low loan rates. Not only have values been slightly up recently, but we’ve had a number of higher-priced sales in the 4th quarter. In fact, the highest priced sale the first 3 quarters was my neighbor who sold for $515k. In the 4th quarter, we had 3 sales that broke that price and one just under it at $510k. All in all, it’s a great sign to see our neighborhood’s price ceiling on the rise!

Be sure to check my Clairemont monthly update as well as my quarterly updates for San Diego County using the links to the left or by visiting the Market Data page.