Luxury Real Estate Market: What is Normal? I often turn to Billy Taylor, financial services guru at San Diego’s Villa Sotheby’s, when I want to hear the latest scoop on the mortgage market. Just last week, for example, Billy shared that Chase had moved out of the jumbo mortgage market entirely. That leaves a mere handful of lenders who will even consider doing jumbo loans, which help fuel much…
by Roberta Murphy I really want to talk about the effect gas prices will have on real estate, but first wish to tell a little story: My grandgather, Adolph Michelson emigrated at the age of 7 with his family from Norway to Deadwood, South Dakota. It required a long, hard journey by steamship. train and wagon to arrive at their eventual home in the steep hills above Deadwood. It was…
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…
by Roberta Murphy Opportunities for real estate fraud couldn’t have been more ripe than in 2005 and 2006, when real estate prices started to quietly soften–especially in fertile markets like San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Miami. Home prices in these areas had rocketed to unsustainable levels, and some of the micro markets within these areas had already started to stall as early as 2005. By 2006, market time and…
by Roberta Murphy In our coastal San Diego luxury real estate market, buyers are almost manic about their closets–and especially the ones in the master suite. Luxury home buyers are most pleased when there are separate closets for each–or if single, closets for the seasons. The compleat closet in the luxury home will be spacious, well lighted and masterfully organized. It is a room where we prepare ourselves to meet…
by Roberta Murphy We are trained and skilled negotiators. Give us a chance, and we could probably get hostages released from terrorists, convince a teenager to leave his tongue unpierced (perhaps)–or successfully negotiate a sale leaseback of the Brooklyn Bridge. As competent Realtors, it’s what we enjoy doing, and we are passionate about negotiating on behalf of our clients. Most successful transactions have been hammered out when we account for…
by Roberta Murphy I must be crazed to write a title like that because we are courted almost daily by San Diego mortgage lenders and brokers who want our real estate business. We deal with a number of home buyers and feel an enormous responsibility to recommend the best mortgage professionals in the business. I am convinced that the San Diego real estate and mortgage market has far too many…
by Roberta Murphy Early weekend mornings are quiet around our household. The guys like to sleep in, the parrots are quieter than usual and I have the luxury of spidering around the web and spinning ideas. The newspaper still sits in the driveway, and will remain there until Eric, our middle son, goes out to retrieve it so he can read the sports pages. Until that time, the world is…
by Roberta Murphy We list and sell real estate in good, bad and indifferent markets. Short sales are becoming common, though. So is blood in the streets. People move up, down and out all the time because life is about change and transitions. And each time the real estate market shifts, we regroup and modify strategies for buyers and sellers. There may be some inconveniences and pricing adjustments for…
by Roberta Murphy Sellsius Real Estate is one of my favorite blogs. Its full of hip news, developing real estate stories and intelligent opinion. Its a place I visit often. Founders Rudy Bachraty and Joseph Ferrara have now unveiled a new site that so caters to real estate buyers who wants more precision in their property search results. BMW and Mercedes engineers couldnt have done a better job. Its a…
