The town homes are typically 2-3 stories and offer more space than your average condo.  Most of these town homes range from about 1500-2000 square feet, but I’ve seen some that are quite larger.  Some people really like the town homes because they “feel” more like a detached home and in some ways, offer more privacy that living in the high rise portion of a building.

Another great thing about the town homes, is that they usually have a lot more outdoor space.  Many of the town homes I’ve seen are three stories with the living room, kitchen and a half bathroom downtown stairs, two bedrooms on the second floor and an open loft/office/guest room on the third floor.  Additionally, these homes will typically have a patio/outdoor space on the ground floor, a balcony on the second floor and either another balcony,  or a much larger outdoor space on the top floor.   Some condos, like at Park Place, dedicate the entire third floor to large rooftop decks.  This is great for people who like to garden, layout, entertain, or anything else!

The drawback(and to some, the pros) to these town homes, is that they’re multilevel.  I always advise my clients to think about the resale value of whatever they’re buying, even if they think they’ll never sell it…and with stairs, you automatically cut out a percentage of potential buyers.  You also won’t get much of a view from a town home, but there are pros and cons to all homes.

In some buildings, like La Vita in Little Italy, many of the town homes have private garages.  Owners of these town homes pull into the buildings main garage entrance like everyone else, but then they have an additional garage entrance to their own private space.  This is great for those of you who need/want more space and privacy.

If you’re looking for the convenience and luxury of a high rise, but want your “own space,” a town home might be the perfect fit for you.  If you’d like a list of town homes that are currently available, please call Denny Oh at 858-243-2092 or denny@sandiegoh.com.

Looking at what’s currently for sale at The Grande condos, list prices range from $399K up to $2.35 M…with a total of 33 active listings. Additionally, there are seven contingent properties(condos that are short sales and have accepted offers, contingent upon the lien holder(s) accepting the sale terms) and three that are in escrow.

When I looked at what was selling, I noticed that 18 of the 27 sales(67%) had sold in the last six months.  Compared to the rest of the downtown San Diego condo market, the Grande seems to be busier than the rest of the market.  In the last six months, there were 438 sales in the 92101 zip code(at least these were the sales listed in the MLS).  In the six months prior to that, there were 455 sales downtown – about a 4% difference.  Part of the reason why there were more sales in the prior six months, is because of the inventory.  With more condos to sell, there was more to be purchased – buildings like Park Terrace, Bayside, Sapphire Tower, Eletcra and The Legend all had more developer inventory than they do now.  Also, traditionally, the summer months are busier than the winter months.

In my opinion, I think we’re going to see a lot more activity this summer.  People are tired of waiting for the market to bottom out(if it hasn’t already) and they’re tired of renting.  I think we’re going to see a lot more activity at the higher end of the market, but not necessarily see prices going up.  Keep in mind, selling and buying in a down market is much better than doing so in a hot market.  In slower times, buyers have more leverage and more choices.  Often times, in a rising market, buyers who recently sold their homes are faced with a swarm of buyers and increasing prices.  Take advantage of today’s prices and today’s low interest rates(which by the way, just dipped).

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Denny Oh 858-243-2092 denny@sandiegoh.com

What’s great about the A3 and A4 floor plans at The Grande condos, is that they offer panoramic views.  Unlike the E floor plans, the A3 and A4 plans have great water views and great city views.  Since there are only three condos per floor, the tower shrinks and allows for a more expansive floor plan.  Additionally, the A3 and A4s on the 35^th floor have two balconies, where the other similar units only have one(this is because the building shrinks at floor 35 and the the second balconies sit on top of the A1/2 and B plans). These “bonus” balconies are pretty large and since both balconies are right off the living area, they’re perfect for entertaining. 

The newest penthouse for sale is on the 35^th floor of the Grande North and it faces south.  Of the non-E plan penthouses, this condo is the most expensive, listed at $1,550,000, but it does have some advantages.  For one, this is not a short sale.  It’s also very neutral in terms of decor – there are very few upgrades, making it easy for you to make it your own.  A similar unit in the Grande South has been remodeled and has “impressive and Italian inspired features” that I’m not a huge fan of, but this could fairly easily be changed.  The biggest difference is the view.  Souther views from the Grande South will change drastically.  Views to the south from the Grande North will also change, but will be less impacted than from the Grande South.  I personally would have a tough time choosing between a northern view from either Grande tower, but would probably prefer the northern view over the southern.  Again – this is just personal preference though.

These A3 and A4 floor plans range from 1783–1786 sqft(respectively), but you’ll often see 1844 sqft, which was produced by one of the appraisers who measured one of the condos several years ago.  Regardless, you probably won’t notice much of a difference between the two plans.

If you like the Grande and the incredible water views of the E plans aren’t enough, check out one of the other penthouses.  Did I mention that the penthouses come with storage rooms(not lockers) on your floor?! 

If you’d like to see one of these condos, or any condos in the Grande, or elsewhere in San Diego, please contact Denny Oh at 858–243–2092 or denny@sandiegoh.com

Click here to see more condos for sale at The Grande

Click here to read about Bayside condos by Bosa

Click here to read about the Harbor Club condos

In 2009, there were 10 sales in the two Harbor Club condo towers.  The sales prices ranged from $396,000 for a fifth floor one bedroom, to $1,320,000 for a 24th floor two bedroom.  Between the 100 and 200 Harbor Drive towers, the 10 sales in 2009 represented $9,741,000 worth of sales.  The median sales price was $1,075,000 and the median sales price per square foot was $658.34.

The median market time was 54 days, while the average market time was slightly higher at 71 days.  Currently, there are 11 condos for sale between the two Harbor Club towers and the median asking price is $1,079,000.  There were six sales in the western, 100 Harbor Drive tower and four in the eastern, 200 Harbor Drive tower.  The Harbor club is two towers, but there are only about 100 units in each highrise (99 in the 100 tower and 102 in the 200), so it’s really the equivalent of something like The Grande, or Pinnacle, both of which only have about 200 units each (The Grande has two towers, so there are really 442 condos there).

With that said, the two Grande towers had 25 sales total in 2009. The average sales price at The Grande towers was $741,592, ranging from $310,000 for a 5th floor one bedroom, up to $1,595,000 for a 28th floor two bedroom plus den condo.  The median sales price at The Grande was $655,000 with a median market time of 56 days(average market time was 76 days).  So the Harbor Club saw just about 5% of its condos change hands, while The Grande had a 5.7% change of ownership.

I think we’ll continue to see higher end buildings do well and protected views are going to be that much more valuable.  Most experts agree that a “healthy” market should have anywhere from 7-10% of its inventory on the market.  With about 5% of their inventory sold in 2009, the Harbor Club seems to be doing just fine.

Rosen spoke at today’s Fisher Center annual real estate conference and  “predicted inflation could quickly rise to 3 to 5 percent, forcing the Fed to play catch up and raise short-term interest rates to between 3 and 4 percent within two years.”  If this is true, then the near zero interest rates of today, will soon be history.  To put things into perspective, a person who buys a $350K home today, with 20% down at 5.25% will only be able to afford a $297K home if rates rise only 1.5%.  That’s almost a 15% decrease in buying power!  For those of you who have been looking to buy, you know how much of an impact $50K can have on what you can buy.

Rosen does anticipate several more, smaller, peaks and valleys, but an overall improvement in the housing market.   If you’re looking to buy, I’d act soon so you don’t get hit by these rising interest rates.  Also, my guess is that there will be another Federal tax credit to first time home buyers…hopefully.  Click here to read the full article.

You see, when someone tells me that they’re working with other agents, I think…this is a waste of my time – I’ll focus on my loyal clients. Now this might sound mean, or inconsiderate, but so what.  Ultimately, this is my job.  This is how I make a living and pay my bills. If a buyer won’t commit to me, then I won’t waste my time and risk them buying a home from someone else…because remember, I get paid solely on commission, not for the time I spend with someone.  I’m not asking you/them to sign in blood, but after working with me for a while, I do expect loyalty and exclusivity.

Additionally, many people don’t realize that realtors have access to the same inventory.  The MLS for one area has all the homes for sale, regardless of the listing company.  I can show Prudential listings, RE/MAX listings and even all the smaller companies’ listings.  So using someone from Prudential, Coldwell Banker and Keller Williams doesn’t grant you access to more homes.

Another thing about Denny Oh, is that what you see(or in this case, read), is what you get.  I am responsible for the all the content on my blog(minus a few posts from a lender I used to work with) and I don’t hire writers to blog for me.  I’m sure I could spend some money and pay a college student to write blog posts that will help www.sandiegoh.com come up higher on searches, but I guess I pride myself on creating my own success and not buying it.  I don’t think people/companies who do pay for better SEO ranking are bad, but I just think it’s better to do it with useful, genuine info.

Teams – why not work with a team?  Well that’s a good question.  I myself was part of a large team until several months ago.  Teams can be great.  However, here’s where they can let you down.  You see, most teams are built around one or two lead agents.  These lead agents are the image of the team and are primarily responsible for the business that it generates.  The team leader will spend money on marketing to generate leads, which he or she then passes along to another agent on the team(not all teams, but most teams follow a business model similar to this) and gets a percentage of the commission the other agent makes.  Doing so allows the team to pool their money/resources and spend more marketing dollars.

Now the problem with this business model is that the buyer/seller who contacts the team for help, is probably interested in working with the lead agent(especially since teams rarely advertise their “junior” agents).  So while Joe Homebuyer is calling #1 Agent because he sees his advertising all the time, he’s ultimately going to work with one of #1 Agent’s associates and not the person he was calling for.  I’m not saying that the junior agent won’t be able to get the job done, but I’m simply pointing out that teams do have downsides.

I personally have been contemplating on whether or not I should “hire” a buyer’s agent, or an assistant, but I haven’t figured out how/what I can delegate to someone else.  I’ve learned that I’m very particular about what I do and I’m not ready to let someone else do my job( and yes, I do realize that I’m giving myself too much credit and that someone else could just as well do the same quality of work that I try and produce).  I guess my point is, I pride myself on how I deal with my clients and how I acquire them.  I have never spent a penny on any AdWords, pay per clicks, or anything else.  And while this may change at some point, I will still make sure all the content on my site is useful and not just a bunch of random keywords thrown together to get better Google results.

I’ll leave you with this – my goal is to do extremely well in real estate.  This means that I want to make a lot of money helping people buy and sell homes.  This also means that I am making it my top priority to make you, the client, completely happy.  I believe in longevity and don’t push buyers and sellers into closing a deal, just so I can get a pay check.  The happier you are, the better off I am.  If you’re looking for someone to help you with your real estate needs, please get in touch with me.

Denny Oh 858-243-2092 denny@sandiegoh.com

Take Bosa’s Bayside condos for example.  Current list prices at the Bayside condos are about 30% below what Bosa originally offered them at and in some cases, Bosa even took off up to an additional 13%!  A few months ago,  I was able to get my clients an additional 13% off the list price.  However, now that Bosa has sold about 100 of the 232 condos at Bayside.  And now that Nat Bosa has all, or close to all, of his money out of the development, he’s tightening the belts and isn’t willing to give money away.  The 10-13% decreases we were seeing is now closer to 5-10%.

Bosa is also reducing how much they’ll negotiate with buyers on specific floor plans, which are more popular.  For example, there are very few A and C floor plans left and well, it’s demand versus supply(unfortunately for you).  These NW and SW facing 2+Den condos offer great water views at relatively low price and people were quick to pick them up.

Countywide, San Diego’s median home prices have also gone up by 6.9% and up 14% for Southern California, compared to last year.  Clearly it still heavily depends on where in So Cal, or San Diego, you’re looking to buy though.  If you’re looking to buy, or sell, please let me know. And unless you’re a cash buyer, you should seriously start looking at when you can buy.  Don’t wait for interest rates to go up any higher!

Right now, there’s a great condo for sale on the 17thg floor of the south tower of the Renaissance condo development.  This floor plan is by far one of the most convenient and intelligently designed condos in all of downtown.  It’s a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom condo that’s just under 1300 sqft.  Very few buildings offer 2.5 bathrooms and even few offer dual master bedrooms! Additionally, the two bedrooms are on opposite ends of the condo to maximize privacy and space.  Another great thing about this floor plan is that there is very little hallway space – so even though it’s less than 1300 sqft, it feels like a lot more.

This floor plan at the Renaissance condos is also a corner unit.  This particular condo faces south and west, with great bay and city views.  Another thing I love about this floor plan is that the kitchen is very open and it’s great for entertaining.  And here’s one more thing – the corner windows in this unit consist of four large panes that collapse as they slide open, creating a great open feeling.   This is very unique and it’s great for enjoying the great San Diego weather.

Here’s why this is such a great deal.  This 17th floor condo just went on the market yesterday for $615,000-675,876.  There is a very similar unit(same layout/orientation, but a few sqft larger) on the 12th floor that’s currently for sale and is listed at $788K.  The most recent comparable sale is unit 1406, which is a similar unit/layout, but on the 14th floor of north tower, which in my opinion doesn’t have as nice of a view(the south tower blocks its views).    This condo sold for $726,440 less than a week ago – that’s at least a $50K discount for a better view and a higher floor!

If that’s not enough convincing, here’s another comp.  Unit 1111 at Renaissance sold in February of 2009 for $745K.  This is condo is in the same tower/stack as the one you can buy right now on the 17th floor, for much less.  This is a great deal and it’s not a short sale nor an REO.  Let me know when you’re ready.

Click here for more downtown San Diego condo deals.

Click here to search all the condos for sale at 645 Front Street – The Renaissance.