The San Diego Home Blog

Photo credit: Kris Berg (aka Mother of the Year) from her cell phone.

This is the week Drew Carey is sending my daughter and me to the Big Easy. As we were chilling in the San Diego Airport Terminal 1 yesterday, I was reminded that Terminal 1 is not nearly as new or nice as Terminal 2. It is, however, the only terminal which serves breakfast burritos. And after enjoying one of these, I can tell you that the burrito distinction is in fact another vote in favor of Terminal 2. I was also reminded of a another thing. You get what you pay for.

The “Free” Public WiFi is indeed properly priced. Three airports later, I had yet to cash in on the bargain that is cost-free Internet connectivity. Other happy travelers were by all appearances doing important on-line things, while I was left frantically and repeatedly pushing the refresh key to be greeted by a not so happy 404 Error message. Even my broadband wireless has mostly failed me so far.

While I have every intention of posting from afar (I always do), the reality is that I will probably be mostly absent this week and by Friday in need of emergency Gumbo detox. In the meantime, we will be enjoying a few reruns here. My hope is that two year’s worth of posts have left me with at least a couple of timeless articles worthy of revisiting. Or not.

For now, I am enjoying the deep south. My keyboard is literally sweating at 7:00 am, and I look like I am wearing a Brillo Pad on my head.  Maybe there is something to that dry heat after all.

I will leave you with this view from our hotel room. Eat your heart out, and thanks, Drew Carey!

 

I was looking at a summary of median housing price trends for San Diego that came through my inbox yesterday and was again reminded how stupid statistics can be. Actually, they can be downright dangerous if you don’t know what you are really looking at.

Of course, I honed in on the I-15 corridor communities, our core area, and specifically on Scripps Ranch, where we make our home. Based on annual median prices alone, one would conclude that everything is coming up roses. In fact, median sale prices were shown as increasing slightly in 2007 as compared to 2005. It’s a great time to buy!

Speaking as one whose feet are literally on the ground in this market, I assure you that 2007 prices did not outperform those of 2005, our peak year. That is, not if you are comparing “like” fruits. Using the data available through our Sandicor Multiple Listing Service, here is what I found:

The MLS data tells us that home prices haven’t changed a bit in the past two years in Scripps Ranch. Woo-hoo! Then, why all the whining about some housing market correction? Well, the median prices per square foot have changed. The median home purchased in 2007 was bigger; buyers are getting more for their money. And, of course, there are far fewer buyers.

This supports what I have been saying all along. Would-be buyers do exist, but they will commit when they perceive value. They are generally spending the same amount on a home, but they expect that home to be a better value than it was in 2005.

As a cautionary note, there are a couple of other things which are messing with even my statistics. First, in 2005 we had new homes flying off the shelf in Scripps, but those were rarely listed in the MLS. The builders didn’t need to do anything but put a few flags and balloons outside the models, and they certainly didn’t need to cooperate with the buyer’s agent. Today, the remaining unsold new home product is among our largest and pricier product, and list them in the MLS they must. Second, the statistics don’t reflect what I know to be true from my daily experiences. Even like-sized homes are not created equal. The homes which are selling at the higher price points today are generally in superior condition to their 2005 counterparts. Buyers expect granite counter tops now; they expect highly-upgraded and absolute turnkey for less than they would have paid for mediocrity two years ago.

Statistics can be enlightening, but just we careful that you know what they are really telling you.

The gracious (misguided?) folks at Inman invited me back. The next installment of the semi-annual Real Estate Connect conference will be held July 23rd through 25th in San Francisco, and I will have the honor of moderating the opening act at the Bloggers Connect workshop.

This will be my third Real Estate Connect and, if you are in any way involved in the real estate industry and aren’t planning on attending, let me know. We will administer the saliva test immediately.

Steve “lets me” fly solo to these. He is under the impression that it is one big vacation, some much needed “me” time, and has visions of a bunch of laptop-toting, lampshade-wearing agents making html jokes and generally getting crazy. “Who messed with my Favorites folder?” “Is that your Facebook page or did you just forget to let the dog out?” Let the hilarity ensue.

Networking is a big part of it, no doubt, and I will admit even to the IRS audit agent that I do have fun at these events. But it is mostly work. The program is packed with information, breaks are few, and if past experience is any indication, I will arrive at the airport security checkpoint Friday on all fours, utterly exhausted and muttering incoherently about bulls and bears aggregating their listing feeds and the role of video in monetizing Craig Newmark.

The session I am moderating is titled, “Creating Content that Hooks Readers” and, if my last post on drywood termites is any indication, they picked the right girl — to not speak. Oh sure, the day before I wrote the engaging piece about how someone posted my stick figure drawing without permission (on their own post about plagiarism), and on Mother’s Day I wrote an article about… I’m not really sure what that one was about. Generally, though, I am a disjointed train wreck when it comes to content, at least in the conventional wisdom sense.

Maybe that’s why I’m moderating. It might be an Inman intervention of sorts. I’m ready for them. In my case, them is:

Mike Simonsen, Co Founder & CEO, Altos Research
Ben Martin, Director of Communications & New Media, VARblog
Jeff Corbett, Author, The XBroker Blog
Benn Rosales, Founder, Agent Genius

Aside from the “let Kris have a microphone” mishap, the program is a veritable who’s who of blogging and industry insiders. The program will make your head spin. Be there or stay here and hang out with Steve. How’s that for compelling?

I love the graphic which is displayed in this post about plagiarism. Hover your mouse over the picture if you dare.

Actually, I have no problem sharing this work of art. Granted, it took me exactly 2 minutes to draw this timeless masterpiece using the touchpad on my laptop, but I am more than willing to share. Considering the context, however, a photo credit would have been a nice touch.

Too funny.

It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.  Anne Frank

The idea of sponsoring a food drive came from the most unlikely of places. It was born from the social network that has been a byproduct, not the goal, of our blogging in particular and our online presence in general.

Through our activities here, we have become a part of a deep and diverse community, like it or not. We have become acquaintances with many and true friends with many more of the people we have met in the virtual space. They are agents, certainly, but they are also vendors, and they are simply buyers and sellers just passing through. When you take the time to look closely, to really break it down, none of us is unlike the other. We are all trying to do the very best we can in an uncertain and dynamic environment.

We all have job-thingies, and we have family obligations, and we have time constraints. Yet, I am reminded daily, through this wider Web that we are weaving, that at the end of the day (I know, Steve, this goes in the Bad Word Bucket), we are more similar than dissimilar, and that we all long for the same things: Security, shelter, friends, happiness, and community. It was during one conversation with someone whose philosophy I admire greatly that I was introduced to another who had participated in a similar event, an event which was loosely related but mostly unrelated to the daily business of our real estate business.

And thus came our Scripps Ranch Food Drive. I admit that I have often watched the telethon with celebrity spokesmen urging us to give, all the while thinking that they could just give (they have wealth I could never imagine, after all) and call it a day. But, it is really about using a platform to inspire others to respond in kind. Call it the power of the collective wherein a million little droplets can become a deluge.

We are not wealthy in the conventional sense, and I am certain that most everyone reading this will say the same about themselves, but if we were to be honest, we are blessed beyond words. So many others, sadly, are not. Steve and I are not in the position to save the world, or even save a village, but as residents of our San Diego village, we saw an opportunity to make a small difference.

We distributed food bags to approximately 4,000 homes (all on recycled paper, of course). We advertised the event locally for two consecutive months in the Scripps Ranch Newsletter (with a circulation of approximately 14,000), on our web site, on our blog, and in our own mailer to these same homes. Through the generosity of local residents and the Rotary-sponsored Scripps Ranch High School Interact Club, not to mention our own unpaid offspring (and we will surely pay in the end), we went on a scavenger hunt of sorts this past weekend to collect donations.

Now for the tally board. Scripps Ranch residents were magnificent in their generosity, and we can not begin to thank them enough for their donations and their support. We collected more than three-quarters of a ton of food for Second Harvest Food Bank for San Diego. We aren’t finished, because we are still getting calls today from neighbors who forgot the date but want to contribute. The morning after, still reeling from our food drive hangover, we found bags stacked at our front door. The front seat of my zippy-red VW Bug is full of canned goods as I write, and I am blown away by the outpouring we saw from our community.

A final thanks to all that gave of their weekend to help us with this effort. From the residents who called us asking if they could help, to John Lowe from our office, to the Scripps Ranch Interact Club brigade who rallied yet again for a worthy cause, we owe you a debt of gratitude. And, to Andrew Loeber from the Interact Club who provided so many awesome pictures, here is your special photo credit! You rock!

photo credit: Mykl Roventine

And I didn’t get you anything.

 Admittedly, I’m still a little wiped out from the Earth Hour which we celebrated just a few weeks ago. My daughter, only recently of voting age and going through that period I call the “Mother Jones Stage,” decided we should embrace this sixty-minute prime time slot as a family. So our little tribute to the environment involved a 20-minute preparation period wherein we turned on virtually every light in the house in order to find the 28 random candles which would allow us to live comfortably during our time of sacrifice. Then, we huddled around the computer and squealed with delight at Google’s front page, which had gone “dark” for the event. In this case, “dark” meant they were temporarily employing a black background with white lettering. One quick search for “Earth Hour,” and I had the whole screen lighting up like a runway.

I must say that Earth Hour was a phenomenal success. It was a little eerie watching television in the dark, and navigating our way to the microwave to make popcorn presented its own challenges, but at least no one got hurt. Isn’t it ironic.

The point is that radical change is not an event; we need to first take our baby steps. And before attempting to walk, we need to raise awareness that there is in fact a reason to get up off the floor.

On the personal front, we are trying to do better with our consumption and, yes, our waste, but we are taking baby steps. We still buy disposable water bottles, but we refill them more often. I drive a VW Beetle; it’s not a hybrid, but it’s not a Hummer. Steve is a one-man army which leaves the female contingent in our house feeling like they are being followed by the Verizon Wireless network, only they are moving from room to room turning out lights behind us.

Being more responsible in the way we conduct our business, more respectful of our environment, is something with which Steve and I have personally been struggling. It’s a struggle because we are just two people, and we can not change the world or even our profession by ourselves. We can not quit printing brochures overnight, because the majority of consumers still want to touch and feel a glossy property description as they pass through a neighborhood or through a home, and the sellers want to see their homes promoted in this way. And, with virtually every other agent with a marketing budget relying to some extent on mailings for listing and personal exposure, print marketing for ourselves and our listings will continue to have a place. If Ralph Nader was a licensed agent, he would still have to eat.

More agents are embracing online transaction management and electronic signings, yet still these things are not the rules but the exceptions. We tried the “shame you into it approach” with our alternatives to the paper brochure. Unfortunately, our Web Cards are not being entirely embraced… yet. We will keep trying. In the meantime, we will continue to spend more to at least ensure that our paper consumption is on recycled stock. Are other agents even paying attention?

So, it’s Earth Day. My washing machine is working overtime, and every computer in the house is engaged. We don’t have solar panels, and I use far too many paper plates. But, my awareness has been raised. If we can start creating a little social stigma where our familiar and traditional ways of doing business and living life are concerned, if we can get to the point were it is widely considered uncool to buy a bottle of water or an inkjet cartridge or to print a brochure, then we will start seeing real change.

Can you hear me now?

Once in a while we need to step back from real estate and perceive the larger world around us. In San Diego County, there are tens of thousands of people living below the poverty level. Many thousands are lacking food every day. In the past, Kris and I have spent time helping to serve food to some of these less fortunate people. It was heartbreaking to see people of all ages, including families with small children, needing assistance. We don’t do enough.

So when Kris suggested that we tap into one of our greatest resources, our Scripps Ranch community, to help, my first thought was, how? Hence, the 1st Annual Scripps Ranch Food Drive was born. We have teamed up with a great organization, Second Harvest San Diego Food Bank which is headed up by Gary McDonald, one of our own Scripps Ranch neighbors. Last Saturday, we arranged for the delivery of 4,000 food drive bags to homes in Scripps Ranch Villages. We know that there are more than 11,000 homes and condos here, but this is a start. 

(Kris showing off the hottest fashion accessory of the season for Scripps Ranch residents, made from recycled paper, of course.)

Instructions on the bags simply ask that you fill them up with non-perishable canned foods and place the bags curbside by 9:00 AM next Saturday, April 19th. Along with our own team (including Daughter Emily and friends), we have enlisted volunteers from Scripps Ranch High School to help us with the collection effort. Hopefully, we will be retrieving many, many bags filled to the brim. Second Harvest San Diego Food Bank will be picking up the donations from our Prudential California Realty Scripps Ranch office later in the day and transporting them to their warehouse for distribution.

This effort will certainly not save the world. It’s just one little thing we can do as a community to help be part of the solution.