Top 5 Markets Where Home Prices are Rising

The most recent S&P Case-Shiller home price index reveals what major metro markets are reporting rising and falling home prices.

5 Cities Where Prices Rose

Seattle: 5.7
Charlotte: 5.6
Portland: 2.8
Atlanta: 0.8
Dallas: 0.5

15 Cities Where Prices Fell

Tampa: -10.1
Detroit: -9.3
San Diego: -8.3
Phoenix: -8.0
Miami: -7.8
Las Vegas: -7.6
Washington, D.C.: -7.2
Los Angeles: -5.7
San Francisco: -4.2
Cleveland: -4.1
Minneapolis: -4.0
New York: -3.8
Boston: -3.6
Chicago: -1.3
Denver: -0.4

我家房子的照片上了10月28日的纽约时报

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/weekinreview/28odonnell.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

更好玩的是照片上的人， 哈哈，是我爸妈的背影。

Maybeck的block party

今天在中文报纸上看到了他们的大幅中文广告。 他们最近还是一如既往的很aggressive的推销。

刚巧昨天晚上我们整个block开party 庆贺大家的房子都没事。 我们2条街各有10栋房子。 大家都谈起当初是怎么选中Maybeck的。 和builder一起work是都遇到过什么问题。 和他们聊天非常有收获。 有人说买新房时最好能和已经买了住进去的人聊聊， 听听他们的说法。 我也是这么建议给我要买新房的客户和朋友。 我有一个客户在我带她看过Model又带她去一个已经入住的房子里看之后说， 看样板房有很多的误导，哪些是default哪些是upgrade的option, 但是去看了入住后的房子又和房主聊一聊对她make decision非常有帮助。

做一个中立的agent?

Agent难道就是去和客户到房子那里去开门吗？我听自己的客户说他上一个房子用的一个很大牌的agent, 陪他看房子从头到尾都不说话，看过房子就问一句：要写offer吗？ 那么中立的agent, 虽然也一样花了一些时间陪你看房子，有意思吗？

大火之后的市场 Market after the fire

Boost or Continue slow down?

Here are the comments from people who think the market gonna boost:

1. The fires will boost the local economy by adding construction jobs. Over a 1000 homes need to be rebuilt.

2. The displaced people will need somewhere to live for the next 18 months. The rent market is already tight.A raise in rents could make buying seem a better idea.

3. This coupled with the 80,000 loans currently being restructured and a possible continued cut in the mortgage rates could soften the rate of decline in the market. While prices have been declining, most of us expected it to be at a much more rapid pace. Many of my friends are saying that it is looking like things are not dropping fast enough and feel all the bail out efforts might make this a time to buy. Basically, they feel that the system of survival of the fittest within capitalism has been breeched by all of the bail out efforts. Basically in this country, there are no consequences for foolish decisions.

I agree with 1&2. Those are pretty much the facts. About 3...it's really hard to say. Many homeowners are in financial trouble now. That will certainly impact today's market.

节约用水！Water Conservation

今天带客户去看房，旁边一老太太用hose冲她家的草坪，也就罢了。 之后就开始洗她的driveway. 我眼睁睁看着她浪费水还是没有勇气去和她说一下。 为什么有的人节约用水的意识那么差？ 就算是水白来的，也不要浪费，别说现在加州的水多金贵啊。

昨天我发到我们社区的bbs上面的帖子。有很多人跟贴，补发在这里也。 希望有更多的人能自觉的减少用水。

By Connie Zhao:
San Diego imports more than 85% of its water. Every drop is precious even without this fire. I would suggest that everyone in our community try our best to conserve water. I know there are already many people doing so and let's share our tips of water conservation here. What we do in our family is we use a small bucket to collect water when we wash fruits and vegetables.Then dump the water into a big bucket. When its full we use it watering plants in the yard. It may not seem very convenient but you will be amazed that how much water you can save this way. I also found some tips here: http://www.sandiego.gov/water/conservation/tips.shtml

By Gena Barney:
regarding water conservation... i was VERY surprised to see a home owner on 4S Ranch Parkway (just a couple of houses north of Lone Quail on the east side of the street) with his screens off of his windows and washing them down today in the front yard...There has ONLY been talks about water conservation for days and to use water for something so trivial, that could definitely wait. I felt it was very selfish and short-sighted.

By Jessica Berlin:
Hi everyone,The San Diego County Water Authority has challenged everyone in the county to save 20 gallons of water every day. Here's the website: http://www.20gallonchallenge.com/.Please do everything you can to save water.

By Sharon Siu:
Good topic! Here's what we do: 1. Turn off water when brushing your teeth2. Water less minutes if possible.. decrease each station time by 1 minute, and then check in a week to see if grass is as green. If it is, decrease it by another minute until you see a color difference! =) We safed ALOT of water doing so!! We saw a drop in our water bill!

That's enough

看电视采访一个Ramona的farmer. 他说： “We have land, we have people, that's enough."

Shelter in place

Here is a fascinating fire protection strategy that may have
contributed significantly to our immediate neighborhood's survival in
the wildfire:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071025/news_1n25stay.html

4S Ranch: County and City Boundaries

All of 4S Ranch developed by Newland Communities is within the county of San Diego.

Within the community of 4S Ranch developed by Newland Communities, we are surrounded on three sides by the city of San Diego; the southern boundary is where Bernardo Center Drive turns into Carmel Valley Road. (Carmel Valley Road is a city road within the city limits.) At least one resident, Karen, began calling the sheriff and our county supervisor Bill Horn's office to try to clear up the confusion yesterday afternoon. Bill Horn's office verified that we are indeed in District 5 of county jurisdiction. In the map below the purple area is the city of San Diego that surrounds us, the green to the north and west is the county of San Diego, District 5. I added the pink line to show the boundaries of 4S Ranch developed by Newland.

San Diego Fire

I hope everyone is safe...

I just back home this afternoon. The houses in 4S ranch area are all fine. The sky is clear and air quality is good. It certainly nice to be back at home. We stayed at a friend's home in Ivrine and I really missed San Diego.

经过这次大火，可能很多人包括我自己就更明白什么是生活中最重要的了吧？就买房子而言，一定要把地势放在一个更重要的位置了。具体的分析明天再来写，现在真的很困很困了。晚安～

Carmel Valley Mello Roos

CARMEL VALLEY IS A MELLO-ROOS DISTRICT IN CERTAIN DEVELOPMENTS*
THE AMOUNTS BELOW ARE SHOWN ON THE ANNUAL PROPERTY TAX BILL AS CFD #1
SPECIAL TAX FEES MAY INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

HOUSING SIZE - SQ. FT.	ANNUAL MAXIMUM SPECIAL TAX
2,500 and ABOVE	$1,244
2,250 to 2,499	$1,131
2,000 to 2,249	$1,018
1,750 to 1,999	$905
1,500 to 1,749	$791
1,250 to 1,499	$678
1,000 to 1,249	$565
0 to 999	$452

* Mello-Roos Assessments on residential properties built after 7/1/88

Arabella

我有2家客户他们同时喜欢上了Arabella. 地理位置没话讲。 学区也非常好(San Dieguito Union High School and Solana Beach School Districts )。05年的时候当选为Sustainable Community of the Year。

Arabella 的房子基本上都是有Energy Star® 可以省电省气。很多的Living Smart features are automatically included an energy-saving 50-gallon water heater, a GE Energy® photovoltaic roof panel system on all ‘California Ranch’ exteriors, fluorescent lights, engineered high-performance lumber and spectrally selective glass for increased energy efficiency and reduced fabric fade.

我觉得Pardee homes挺有眼光的。 很多年以前就看中了Carmel Valley这片地皮， hold了这么这么地久。 然后盖房很Green. 很适合能afford这个价位的人群的需要（比较environmental sensitivity and energy-conscious 的人群）。

Arabella从一开始就是从Mid70万起价的。 3个plan range from 2,007 to 2,453 square feet。

Pardee建整个的Pacific Highlands Ranch master-planned community, 现在已经建好了活动中心（recreation center）， 我朋友的妈妈很喜欢， 每天去里面运动游泳:)。 另外还有今后要建的multi-use trail system for hiking and biking, an intranet and a Village Center with a complement of everyday shopping conveniences.

总之这个new construction是我比较推荐的。 不过价格是从05年到现在一路在上涨。 现在PLAN3的价格是86万as of 10-22-07。 有兴趣想了解更多情况请和我联系。 买new construction我算是很有经验的了。一定可以给你提供很多宝贵的意见。