As of May 1st we are seeing mutliple bidding wars on homes. The inventory is limited at this time. Will we see another run away real estate market with sales over the asking price going forward?

The 2011 HomeDex Annual Report was just released this week.  We always look forward to this annual edition as it reflects the entire year as opposed to the month over month reports.  Because the entire year's sales volume is used, there is a more accurate portrayal of what took place in the Real Estate market during the past year. 

It is pretty easy to be a 'Monday morning quarterback' when we read this sort of report, the real challenge is to firgure out what will happen to the market in the months or even the years to come.  The fun thing about all of this is that even when we are in the middle of the heat of the market we usually do not know what really happened until about three months have passed.

Here are a couple of high lights from this years annual report:

The median price for a North San Diego County single-family detached homes sold in 2011 was $430,000.  The represents a 6.52% decline from the 2010 price, which was $460,000.  The 2010 price of $460,000 was up $50,000 from the 2009 price of $410,000.  And, the 2009 price was down 9.69% from the 2008 price of $454,000.

Even more interesting is that Fallbrook (92028 zip code), Oceanside (92054 zip code), Rancho Santa Fe (92067 zip code), Solana Beach (92075 zip code), and Carmel Valley (92130 zip code); all showed an increase in the median price over 2010.

The median priced single-family attached home in North San Diego County dropped 4.13% to $232,000 from $242,000 in 2010.

HomeDex is provided by the North San Diego County Association of Realtors

Click on this link to view the entire report.   2011 HomeDex Annual Report

The positive news is the now famous art piece will most likely stay in Encinitas, said the creator.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mosaic-20110624,0,3903187.story 

As goofy as these guys can sometimes be, this one makes a lot of sense to me. 

http://tbwsdailyshow.com/2011/05/04/department-of-justice-sues-major-bank-for...

Thank you tgl9000 for sharing this video on YouTube.

Where to Go During an Earthquake

Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway? Well, forget it! This is a real eye opener. It could save your life someday.

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON 'THE TRIANGLE OF LIFE'

My name is Doug Copp I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI ), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries. I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years, and have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene -- unnecessary.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them - NOT under them. This space is what I call the 'triangle of life'. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the 'triangles' you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Most everyone who simply 'ducks and covers' when building collapse are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a bed, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different 'moment of frequency' (they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads - horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

8) Get near the outer walls of buildings or outside of them if possible - it is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

Spread the word and save someone's life...

Nooshin Khosh

North Coast San Diego Living Magazine offers a resource for North San Diego County Homeowners-

From beautiful entry doors (the front door makes a statement),

Wood Garage Doors that give your home instant curb appeal

Frame-Less Glass Doors to really open up to the outdoor lifestyles, Foam Shape Technology to Give Your Enviroment A Touch of Architectural Class

A Kitchen Makeover possibly Fast and Affordable

Lighting

Decorative Concrete Coatings

Pool Remodeling Pros and Cons

The opportunites are enless with home improvements you can make.

Take a look at some of these fabulous ideas http://www.affluentreaders.com/nsd/ 

Everyday we see opportunities for investment in real estate.  And at the same time we meet people who want to invest but do not have the necessary cash available to take advantage of the opportunities. 

Have you considered using the cash available to you in your retirement account? 

Under certain circumstances this can be done with out taxation or penalties, just like buying or selling shares of stock in your account.

First of all let's make it very clear that we are not financial advisors.  We are not recommending that people participate in this investment option.  And most of all, we strongly recommend that everyone seek advice from licensed professionals.  We are only presenting an option for people to investigate and decide for themselves.

Nationwide there are billions if not trillions of dollars invested in individual retirement accounts like an IRA or 401(k).  It appears that most of this money is invested in the public market and that over time it has garnered a decent income and growth.  Did you know that there are many more investment options than most of us do not know about?  I have done some reading on the web and have come across a couple of examples of how to move money into real estate investments.  Many people think that to buy a rental house using their retirement account they must first withdraw the money, pay the income tax and applicable penalties and then use what is left to buy the property.  Instead if they get good advice and proper direction it appears that they can use the funds in their retirement account to buy the property and hold it with in the retirement account and just another investment.

Here are a couple of web sites that present the whole program.  We selected them randomly and do not recommend any one of them.  They are in no particular order.

CheckBookIRA

TheIRAClub

MyRealEstateIRA

MyWayIRA

If this is something of interest to you, please contact us.  We can help you with Residential Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate, Apartment Complexes, Retail Real Estate, Industrial Real Estate, and more.