Another bunch of bull sales gimmick to drum up traffic. So many sellers say auction and that they’ll take the best offer by friday xx/xx/06. When the time comes around, the property is still sitting unsold. Then the seller lost all credibility with his potential buyers.

If I were to buy, I’d put in one low-ball offer and that’s it.

This property is not listed on foreclosure.com. Without a pre-foreclosure or foreclosure status, it is obviously a sales gimmick.

Manhattan Beach has 18 pre- and foreclosure properties.

No area is immune.

Next week, after my kids return to school, I will do a study of beach communities, unless one of our realtors has the information for us before that. I am interested in the declines so far,and what happened in the last downturn to areas within 3 blocks of the beach.

I am also interested in how much faster builder tract subdivisions lose their value. I was told that anything east of the I-5 is considered sub-par by long-time San Diego residents. The cool properties are west of the I-5. Can anyone confirm that? This friend said exceptions are for old money areas of Poway,e tc. She said newbies to San Diego flock to the McMansions in San Marcos, Escondido, Carmel Valley, but they are nothing special, and native San Diegans shun these places. Any comments?

An area in Poway, called the Grove, is like that. Large homes on 1/2 – 1 acre lots or larger, priced starting at $1.5 mil. Sterile, boring neighborhood. Every house looks the same practically. Palm trees here and there,but no character, no big trees. I would NEVER even rent in the Grove. The gate is so pompous. My friend had her purse stolen one morning, from the top of her car. What good was the gate? Give me Green Valley, a 1970’s neighborhood, with architecturally distinct homes, custom homes, no two alike, any day of the week. That is my dream neighborhood. Trails, a creek, lots of large trees, large lots. Never could see why anybody would buy a hey-I=look-just-like-you type of tract house. Especially when they are so close together. Even the ones far apart are hideous. I hope builders will get back to being craftsmen, instead of slapping together a bunch of wood without any creativity at all. Boring boring boring. My pet peeve is builder tract homes. A real dishonor to the name “builder”.

True, west of I5 is where the old money is except for Rancho Santa Fe, Fairbanks Ranch and Mission Hills.

Powayseller, I agree with you on houses, but not everyone can afford an architect-built house. That’s just too costly and not realistic.

Mass home builders provide good products at good prices. We just need more low-end, higher density, better planned communities (outside the home, not just inside), and public transport.

I prefer old cities like New York and Paris, but for new planned new cities, I like Singapore. The housing is affordable (built by the government) well maintained and pretty decent for the common man. The home ownership rate there is 85%, the highest in the world. To me, Singapore is very much like San Diego but with higher density. The average person lives in decent condos and rich people live in luxury towers or in SFR.

Its really really eerie to hear people hold up singapore as a model of what a good government is, seriously eerie. Their laws are draconian. Most Americans couldn’t stand living in that place. Sure its clean, because they cain you if you aren’t. Sure its peaceful, there are ghurkas there to knock sense into people if they get out of line. Sure there is housing, its all govt built (talk about govt meddling in your personal life). Oh there is even a govt agency to help ugly people find spouses. Lovely place, simply stunning.

I hate being a flag waving American, that kind of jingoism really rankles me. On the other hand this place offers alot of freedom while still providing a structure most people can live within. Caining wouldn’t be a bad idea though…

Josh

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Powayseller – I have also heard about properties west of I-5 being more of a premium. I think it is part perception, part reality, and part marketing hype.

Who is to say what it is “valued” at? Isn’t that up to the market? Apparently he has been unable to sell it at that price, so that makes me think that’s not its true value.

I agree. I’ve seen MANY people say things like, “I sold my house at 5% under market”. Uhhh, no. If that’s what you were *able* to sell your house at, in that momement in time, then that is what the market value was.