oceanside Archives - Luxury Home Digest

Urban Luxury Near the Beach

Roberta Murphy — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:46:31 +0000

When the combination of urban luxury and sandy beaches come together, we might think of high rises in Miami, Los Angeles, La Jolla or Honolulu.

San Diego County now boasts a second urban and beach destination: Oceanside Terraces, the new luxury midrise residence in downtown Oceanside.

We spend a great deal of time here and think we are in heaven, because we are dealing with amazed guests and interested buyers all day long.

Many step off the new Sprinter train next door, having come for a day trip from inland Escondido, Valley Center, San Marcos or Vista-or from San DIego to the south, They cant resist checking out Oceanside’s version of luxurious high rise living. Others come from Los Angeles, Orange County, North Dakota, Connecticut, Manhattan, Tucson, Las Vegas and Scottsdale–and are no less amazed.

The most excited guests, though, are Oceanside residents, who watched the construction of Oceanside Terraces over the last few years.

They understand the significance of this six-story multi-use building with prime retail on the first floor, offices on the second, and residences and penthouses on the fourth through sixth floors. They know that downtown Oceanside is becoming a walkable community and is on its way to becoming a shining model for urban living. They also know they have 3.5 miles of great beaches, the longest wooden pier on the West Coast, a balmy year round climate, and some of the friendliest people in San Diego County.

They are also savvy and know that Oceanside Terraces offers the coastal urban lifestyle so many buyers are seeking:

They want spacious single level homes large enough for guests, entertaining and long-term living.
They want close proximity to the beach. (How about 400 yards?)
They want a walkable community that offers fine dining, shopping, museums and farmers markets.
They want secure buildings, adequate covered parking and large lockable storage for bicycles, surfboards and other toys.
They want to be close to public transportation. (How about a train and transit center on the adjacent block?). They want an easy train ride to downtown San Diego to see Padres games, San Diego Civic Center theater productions, or perhaps enjoy dinner or a day in San Diegos Old Town or Gaslamp District. The appeal of more distant travel also beckons as a possibility with Amtrak.

Oceanside Terraces offer floorplans that range from 1730 to almost 2600 square feet. Prices range from the high $500s to $1.7 million and many boast sparkling ocean views.

For additional information, call Roberta Murphy at 760-402-9101 or Eve Simnski at 760-518-2264.

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San Diego Real Estate Exchange

Roberta Murphy — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 01:24:39 +0000

by Roberta Murphy

Bob Dyson is a real estate legend who recently launched Sothebys real estate offices in the San Diego, Palm Springs and Las Vegas markets. He has kindly agreed to share some exciting news with us about a new real estate exchange program that is set to rock the San Diego real estate market mid-January.

This program will do much to liberate locked-up equities in homes throughout Southern California.

But Ill not steal his thunder.

by Bob Dyson

How I See It: Lets Liberate Home Equities

With all the alarming issues facing us in Real Estate ownership and all the turmoil in Real Estate lending, I have been searching endlessly for fresh solutions to these problems. What if we could create a new and faster way to buy and sell homes in todays challenging market? What if real estate buyers and sellers could focus on the deal instead of getting lost in the details of granite surfaces, designer amenities and upgrades?

We believe our home exchange program will help stabilize our troubled real estate market and could be a program easily implemented in other cities outside of Southern California.

Quick Facts:

There are more than 25,000 homes for sale in San Diego County. We believe there are also more than 19,000 qualifed buyers who wish to purchase a home in San Diego RIGHT NOW.

So where are the buyers and who are they?

They are home owners living right here in San Diego.

They are home owners with œFrozen Equity – people who want to relocate right now but must sell their home first.

The Media:

Granted, there have real problems with the real estate lending industry . And the media has done an excellent job paralyzing the home buying public, scaring them away from purchasing.

Recent statistics provided by First American Title Company show that in San Diego County, the Palm Desert/Palm Springs areas and Las Vegas, foreclosure activity is centered in small pockets of those communities.

Areas like Rancho Santa Fe, Del Mar, Indian Wells and Summerlin have experienced very little impact from local foreclosures; however, those communities have been brought down by media hype and generalities.

It seems that nobody at the media level, or especially the government level, is paying attention to details. Our congressmen who are holding hearings on these issue dont even know what questions to ask – much less are able to present viable solutions.

Been There, Done That:

In January 1993 – in a similarly challenging Real Estate Market – several of us in the industry began calling our listing clients and we asked them one question: œWhen you sell your home, are you moving up in price, down in price or out of the area?

From that calling session forward, our little group began selling homes at an incredible pace. In January of that year alone, we sold 48 properties.

How We Did It:

We took our clients who had good equity, good jobs and good credit and matched their wants and desires to move up with other clients selling their homes who desired to move down.

We simply exchanged properties. It was actually as simple as œIll buy yours and youll buy mine.

Two purchase agreements were drawn up, each contingient upon the concurrent close of the other. Both clients got new loans and became a buyer in one escrow and a seller in the other.

The process and the response exceeded our wildest expectations. We provided all parties with work sheets, we moved sales prices and new loan amounts around with our lenders and, in most cases, satisfied the needs of both clients.

Exchanging Properties in Todays Real Estate Market:

Today, we are taking our exchange idea of the 90s, dusting it off and are updating it with todays technologies.

What is evolving is an industry-supported effort to help buyers and sellers with good credit, good jobs and solid equity move NOW.

To best understand this new program please click on the following link to visit www.HomeExchangeProgram.com. The site is still under construction, but you can get a feel for how exchanges work.

Real Estate agents and sellers alike can participate in this program. The more of us who participate, the faster this Real Estate market will right itself and and help œAll Ships to Rise.

If you would like to discuss the Home Exchange Program, please give me a call at 858.481.2020 or email me.

And thats œHow I See It.

Bob Dyson

Bob Dyson is the Broker of Dyson & Dyson Sothebys International Realty in Palm Desert/Palm Springs, Calif. and Las Vegas, Nevada and Villa Sothebys International Realty in Del Mar, Calif. With nearly 40 years experience in the Real Estate Industry, Bob has become an industry innovation leader. In addition to his many years in the brokerage industry, Bob is also involved in real estate mapping and development and currently has several thousand acres in various stages of mapping and development in Southern Nevada and Southern California.

About the Company
Dyson & Dyson Sothebys International Realty and Villa Sothebys International Realty were founded in Southern California in 1988 under the name Dyson & Dyson Real Estate Associates. Offering a variety of unparalleled real estate services, the brokerage operates offices in Las Vegas, the Palm Desert/Palm Springs area, and Garner Valley under the name Dyson & Dyson Sothebys International Realty and in the San Diego County area under the name Villa Sothebys International Realty.

Each office is independently owned and operated.

The Witch Creek Fire

Roberta Murphy — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:31:21 +0000

by Roberta Murphy

Witch Creek Fire

I awoke at 4:30 a.m. yesterday morning with a sense of dread, quickly remembering that there is a demon called the Witch Creek Fire raging in the communities around our home in La Costa. It is just one of several mega firestorms raging in San Diego County–but is the one we fear(ed) the most.

Monday afternoon, our Reverse 911 system called to inform us we are under “volunteer evacuation” guidance. We chose to remain home because the fires were distant and the ocean even closer. A half-packed suitcase still sits by the bedroom door, and we are ready to leave with minimal notice.

As I tiptoed downstairs in the dark, I wondered which of our sons had been burning incense. I then realized that threads of smoke from the fires had slipped into our home. Why did it smell almost-fragrant?

Stepping outside in the pre-dawn hours, I saw reassuring stars in the sky. Monday, the sun was red as it glowed behind huge layers of smoke. The air is still full of floating ash and other waste from the fires. The winds are still, there are fewer lights in the hills and the bottoms of my feet stay black because of barefoot habits.

Television news stays on. Over 500,000 people in San Diego County have been evacuated, 25,000 are without power and we all hanging onto news reports and trying to sort out the rumors that are raging with the fires. I am following the aptly-named Witch Fire, because it is the one which endangered our own community.

Coastal Del Mar, Encinitas, La Jolla, Solana Beach, Carlsbad and Oceanside are still intact. Rancho Santa Fe has suffered losses. Parts of The Bridges were in flames; several homes off Via de la Valle and across from Morgan Run Golf Club were burned; that Fairbanks Ranch was in the path of flames, and it appears firefighters were able to stop the Witch Fire at Escondido Creek, which would have put Encinitas and South Carlsbad in danger.

The Witch Fire, as it is now called, has very expensive taste.

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Show Me the Money: San Diego

Roberta Murphy — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 17:49:15 +0000

by Roberta Murphy

Its always interesting to know how metropolitan communities stack up when it comes to median household income, and San Diego is no exception.

There were a few surprises.

I had no idea Carlsbad would outrank Encinitas, or that Poway would beat out Coronado. San Diego is full of surprises.

When to comes to compiling such reports (and a host of others), there is no finer source than the San Diego Business Journal. Their data is fresh, well-researched and provides some interesting reading.

This latest report regarding median household income within San Diego Countys incorporated cities is no exception.

*Cities Of Interest*:	2007 Population:	Median Household Income :
San Diego	1,326,837	$61,043
Chula Vista	227,723	68,497
Oceanside	176,644	62,271
Escondido	141,788	60,639
Carlsbad	101,337	90,115
El Cajon	97,255	50,433
Vista	94,962	60,757
San Marcos	79,812	68,109
Encinitas	63,259	86,444
National City	61,115	41,959
La Mesa	56,250	55,667
Santee	56,158	74,321
Poway	50,830	93,542
Imperial Beach	27,709	43,355
Lemon Grove	25,451	57,000
Coronado	22,957	91,748
Solana Beach	13,418	102,810
Del Mar	4,548	108,635

Note: Rancho Santa Fe and La Jolla were not included, as Rancho Santa Fe is not an incorporated city and La Jolla is part of the City of San Diego.

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