Views of La Jolla » My Point of View

5 Quick Tips To Selling Your Home In Today’s Market!

Michelle Silverman — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:52:03 +0000

La Jolla’s Real Estate market is starting to heat up! Motivated buyers are showing up in droves at open houses across La Jolla, and homes priced right are receiving multiple offers. As a La Jolla Realtor I could feel the change starting a couple of months ago! Now, that Spring is here and Summer is right around the corner the frenzy of our real estate market is starting to heat up!

In fact CNNMONEY stated:

“Buying a home may never get any cheaper than this. Several housing experts are predicting that this year will be the last chance for bargain hunters to cash in on the best deals of the weak housing market.”

I think buyers are finally getting the message!

In order to successful sell your home in today’s market, here are 5 great tips!

Curb Appeal Your home is like a person and has only 6 seconds to make the right first impression! Don’t waste it! Make sure your home’s landscaping is pristine, bright colorful flowers are planted, and the front door is freshly painted! This will give a buyer a great first impression and tell him/her that the house is well taken care of.
De-Cutter It’s time to clean out your closets, give away old clothes to make the closets look bigger. Throw away the pile of magazines that you been saving. Get rid of oversized furniture and the junk in your garage! Put your personal photos away, otherwise it ishard for any buyer to visualize himself or herself living in your home.
Price The key to selling your home quickly is to price it right! Don’t over price your home; otherwise you will be chasing the market down. Remember Distress Properties, Foreclosures, & REO all play a part when you are pricing your home right! Of course, there are other factors to such as; location and condition! A seasoned Realtor can help advise you.
Staging Hire a professional stager to help stage your home. Remember you live in your home one way, but to sell it is another story! A stager can help with the de-cluttering and making an awkward space make sense! Having the house staged generally leads to a faster sell!
Qualify the Buyers Today there are more cash sales happening then ever before. But there are plenty of homebuyers that are getting financing, so make sure that buyer has a pre-approval letter in hand. You don’t want to waste time with an unqualified buyer.

So to stay ahead of your competition: make sure your home is in pristine condition, priced right and has great curb appeal! Next, open your front door and let the world know you mean business!! There will be a sold sign on your front yard before you know it!

If you are thinking of buying or selling your home feel free to give me a call 619-980-2738! I’m here to help!

A Complete Guide to San Diego’s Garden Tours!

Michelle Silverman — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:06:31 +0000

If you are a frequent reader of my blog then you know I love to garden. To celebrate Spring, San Diego offers a variety of fabulous garden shows. Where you can stroll through wonderful garden paths and admire beautifully manicured gardens, full of amazing colors and beauty. From now until the end of May, dozens of private gardens will open their gates to appreciative visitors as part of 19 unique garden tours listed below. (via San Digeo Union Tribune) Many of the garden tours are also fundraisers to wonderful causes in our community. Tickets are available online or at area businesses listed on the sponsoring organizations’ websites.

Here are the list of Spring Garden Tours for 2012!

Sunday

14th Annual Borrego Garden Tour

Art abounds in the six tour gardens in Borrego Springs. One 4-acre oasis with a stream and seven waterfalls surrounds a Drew Hubble-designed straw-bale home. Another landscape is prowled by sculptor Ricardo Breceda’s metal dinosaurs.

Tickets: $18

Details: abdnha.org

March 31

San Diego Horticultural Society “Garden Tour for the Senses”

Nine diverse landscapes in Mount Helix/La Mesa range from a Rosarian-tended garden with 600 rosebushes, an edibles garden that supplies the owner’s two restaurants and a Ryan Prange-designed contemporary garden around an award-winning midcentury home. Last stop is Perennial Adventure display garden and nursery.

Tickets: $25 ($20 in advance for SDHS and La Mesa Beautiful members)

Details: sdhortsoc.org

April 13

24th Annual Lake Hodges Native Plant Club Spring Garden Tour

Three of the five water-wise tour gardens replaced thirsty lawns. Located in Poway and Rancho Bernardo, all showcase succulents, California natives and other Mediterranean-climate plants. Refreshments, plant sale and garden-product vendors.

Tickets: $15

Details: LHNPC.org

April 15

10th Annual California Native Plant Garden Tour

Tour goers are guided past 15 front-yard gardens in the historic Seaside neighborhood of downtown Oceanside. Along the 1½-mile route, native plant experts will answer questions and refreshments will be sold.

Tickets: Free

Details: ocna.info

April 19

Bernardo Gardeners Garden Tour

A garden reborn from the ashes of the 2007 wildfire is one of five tour gardens spread across four Rancho Bernardo neighborhoods. An organic vegetable garden and a bird and butterfly garden also are featured. Free refreshments and a color bowl sale.

Tickets: $15

Details: bernardogardeners.org

April 21

Encinitas Garden Festival & Tour

Twenty-plus tour gardens in Leucadia range from a bird lover’s native plant refuge to an oasis of rare tropical plants and artists’ hideaways filled with sculptures, including a collection of cows. Garden marketplace, food vendors and free talks.

Tickets: Adults $21, children $7 in advance; adults $25, children $10 on event day

Details: encinitasgardenfestival.org

April 21-22

“A Floral Olympiad” — The 87th Annual Coronado Flower Show

A festive tent in Spreckels Park is home to floral displays, information booths, a beer garden and entertainment. Maps are available there for drive-by visits to winning front-yard gardens around the village.

Tickets: $5

Details: coronadoflowershow.org

April 28

17th Annual Friends of East County Arts Garden Tour

Dick Streeper, rose columnist for this newspaper for many years, opens his garden for this tour. A putting green, boccie court, outdoor chess set, ponds and other garden amenities fill the other five tour stops located around East County. Craft vendors and refreshments.

Tickets: $15 in advance; $18 on event day

Details: friendsofecarts.org

11th Annual Point Loma Garden Walk

Eight large gardens and a couple of the homes they surround will open for touring in the bay-view La Playa area of Point Loma. Included are two Michael Buckner garden designs, a Tuscan villa with a vineyard and a historic home with an art-embellished succulent garden. New this year is the Dana Diamond escorted tour with transportation and lunch. Garden Boutique and plant sale.

Tickets: $25

Details: pointlomagardenwalk.com

Ramona Garden Club Spring Sale and Garden Tour

A parklike landscape with panoramic vistas, a cactus and succulent garden and a 250-bush rose garden are among the seven stops around rural Ramona on this self-guided tour. Plant sale, vendors and opportunity drawing at the Ramona Library.

Tickets: $20

Details: ramonagardenclub.com

April 28-29

“Go Wild!” — San Diego Native Garden Tour

Twenty-five native plant gardens across the county are featured on this inaugural two-day tour. Included are stops at home and public gardens as well as landscape restorations. Talks, plant sale and marketplace, chance drawing for a garden design.

Tickets: $20

Details: cnpssd.org/tour

May 4-6

“Water-wise and Butterflies” — 15th Annual Sage & Songbirds Festival and Garden Tour

A three-day tour of six bird- and butterfly-friendly gardens in Alpine plus a raptor rehabilitation facility is part of this festival; it includes a free butterfly release, a habitat plant sale, information booths and vendors at Viejas Outlets Showcourt May 5-6.

Tickets: $15 in advance; $20 after April 1

Details: chirp.org

May 5

“Rambling Through the Ranch” Garden Tour

Trolleys transport visitors to five Rancho Santa Fe gardens and return for a lunch, garden marketplace and entertainment. Tour stops include a Tuscan estate with wine-producing vineyard, a ranch-style adobe landscaped with natives and succulents and a Mediterranean view home’s lush hillside garden and orchard.

Tickets: $45 ($30 for garden club members)

Details: rsfgardenclub.org

16th Annual Clairemont Town Council Garden Tour

In addition to 15 gardens in the Clairemont neighborhood, this tour includes an afternoon-long reception with talks by gardening experts on energy efficiency, “green” gardening and other topics. Refreshments.

Tickets: $12 in advance; $15 on event day

Details: clairemontonline.com

May 12

Mission Hills Garden Walk

More than a dozen gardens around bungalows and historic estates in the heart of Mission Hills highlight this pre-Mother’s Day tour. Three stops showcase urban farming. Marketplace and wine tasting at Mission Hills Nursery.

Tickets: $25 in advance; $30 day of event; children under 12, free

Details: missionhillsgardenclub.org

17th Annual Country Garden Tour of Fallbrook

The home garden of sculptor Jim Helms, the ornamental and edible garden of a permaculture practitioner, and a stylized cactus garden are among the seven stops on this tour. The event begins at Palomares House on Stagecoach Lane, where refreshments will be served and garden items and art will be sold.

Tickets: $20 in advance; $27 on event day

Details: aauwfallbrookca.org

May 19

“Rosecroft Revisited: Historic Gardens of Point Loma” — San Diego Floral Association Historic Garden Tour

Rosecroft, the Italian Renaissance home of Floral Association founder Alfred D. Robinson built 100 years ago, is the centerpiece of this tour that includes five other historic gardens in Point Loma. Marketplace.

Tickets: $20 in advance; $25 on event day

Details: sdfloral.org

14th Annual Secret Garden Tour of La Jolla

Destination gardens are not announced until tour day, but past tours have visited both charming cottage gardens and sprawling seaside estates. Special Platinum Tour includes transportation and brunch. Musical entertainment and tabletop displays.

Tickets: $50 ($40 for La Jolla Historical Society members)

Details: lajollahistory.org

Sixth Annual Loma Portal Home & Garden Tour

Xeriscape gardens, outdoor entertaining spaces and renovated historic homes and landscapes will be part of this eight-to-10-garden tour in the Loma Portal area of Point Loma. Craft fair and opportunity drawing at Loma Portal Elementary School.

Tickets: $20

Details: lomaportalelementary.com

(Via Mary James is a San Diego freelance garden writer).

Can You Feel It? La Jolla’s Housing Market Is Picking Up Speed!

Michelle Silverman — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 02:04:16 +0000

Can you feel it? La Jolla’s housing market is picking up speed! I just finished showing a home in La Jolla to my clients today. My parting words to them were “if you want to write an offer don’t wait, there are already two offers on it.” The La Jolla housing market is definitely on the up swing. Since the first of the year, I have seen more La Jolla homes going under contract, and the ones that are priced right are receiving multiple offers. Is it a Sellers market?? It’s possible.

However, I might not go that far. Now that Spring has arrived, home buyers are out in force. I’ve seen them at my open houses and they are ready to buy! There are two great reasons for this: La Jolla home values are the lowest in 10 years and interest rates are still at historic lows!! Those two factors are bringing out all of the previously hesitant home buyers who have been sitting on the fence for quite awhile. La Jolla home buyers are realizing that they don’t want to be left behind, especially if and when home prices start moving up. It is true, that you only know when home prices have hit their bottom when it’s to late!

Here is a quote from the Fannie Mae National Housing Survey of February 2012 stating how home buyers are feeling more confidant today:

“With low mortgage rates and falling home prices, 70 percent of those surveyed say now is a good time to purchase a home. Also, more Americans surveyed say now is a good time to sell, rising to 13 percent in February, which is the highest level in more than a year but still low by historic standards”.

If you had been waiting for home prices to hit their bottom, my advice to you is to stop waiting! The bottom could be here now. There is no better time to buy a home then right now! If you need additional information on what the value of your home is, give me a call at 619-980-2738 I’m here to help!