For those of you who are shopping for homes in better school districts, we have the tools for you! Last year we updated our homes-by-school-boundary maps to reflect the updated school scores. This is just a sample map, but you can get the idea of what this is all about. The flags show where the elementary school is, the pushpin shows the home, and the boundary lines are color-coded to show you the API score of the school. In this case, you can see how there are homes in school boundaries ranging from orange (850-899) to green (700-749). Pretty cool, huh?
AND, if that's not enough info for you, we've also created a 4-page article entitled Schools and Homes that discusses a variety of issues relating to San Diego Schools and Homes.
So, if you need this sort of info, just give us a call. We've got all sorts of good information about the area.
John Hokkanen, Encinitas Real Estate
Foreclosure properties! Everyone wants to know about them. So we created some special computer programs to sort through the MLS listings and identify (as best we can) which properties are bank foreclosures and which are not. (That may sound easy, but it's not as easy as you think.) Here's an example of one of our new maps for the Encinitas and Carlsbad area. The pushpins show you the number of bedrooms (number) and price (color). We also have a condo/townhome map.
This map is great because it does a good job of separating the short sales from the already-foreclosed property. That's important because short sales can be difficult, while bank-owned property is much easier because the banks genuinely don't want to own property. On short sales, it's a bit more complicated because they DON'T own the property, but are being asked to take less (not something that a bank wants to do unless it has to, and, when it owns the property, it's truly in that position). All of our maps for Encinitas are available at our web site, http://www.EncinitasCarlsbad.com. Most are generally accessible, though some require registration.
John Hokkanen, Encinitas Real Estate
I head up a team of 10 agents, so I get a good idea about what is happening in the buyer's market. There has been a DEFINITE INCREASE in the buyer activity in the next 30 days. Many people are looking for a bargain, but others want to take advantage of the new conforming loan limits that are going to be put into place. Net Result: Property showings have gone up. We're writing more offers (albeit most at the discounted end of the market), and we've put two homes for sale into escrow in the past week or so.
My Oceanside agent (Yvonne) has been showing property and writing offers like crazy for about 3 weeks. My Escondido agent (Karen) is doing the same. Poway/RB/Carmel Valley (Chris) indicates that activity is way up over Q4 of last year. Margaret (Encinitas/Carlsbad) is quite busy, has several in escrow and several more at various stages. Fallbrook (Heather) also reports that she's quite busy. Ralph (La Jolla) and Kathy (South of I-8, Pacific Beach) both report lots of activity across the spectrum.
So, it may be that the stimulus package is actually doing its thing. It does not appear to have made folks less concerned about baseline cost - that seems to be the biggest focus.
John Hokkanen, SurfTheTurf.com Team
The Encinitas and Carlsbad inventory situation appears to be stable. Though inventory levels are slightly higher than last year, and prices slightly lower than last year, the market is not the kind of unstable situation that you can find in some of San Diego County's inland markets. Here's the inventory graph, derived from data taken from the Sandicor, Inc. MLS.
The median price graph is as follows:
So, median price is flucuating between being higher and lower than last year, though there is a downward trend from last June. The coming months will really tell the story. It's important to note that the median price (at which half of the homes sell for less than that) falls close to or within the window of the new conforming mortgage limits making a real difference. So, if people take advantage of the new mortgage limits, then we should see sales in the bottom half of the market improve.
If you like graphs and data, you should definitely check out our web site. It's not like any other that you'll find in the area.
John Hokkanen, Encinitas Real Estate
Casa Bella Realty & Mortgage
One of the fun things we do on our web site is plot out the land and lots for sale. It makes it really easy for those people who are shopping for a piece of land to see what's available and how close it is to the ocean. Here's the most recent map.
The color of the push pin represents the price and the number represents the number of acres (anything above 5 gets a five, and anything below 1 gets a one). It may not look like a lot (pun intended), but this is more than we have seen for quite a while (if my memory is correct). If you want to use the interactive map, here is the link: http://www.encinitascarlsbad.com/page.cfm?page=LotLand
Call us if we can help.
John Hokkanen, Encinitas Real Estate
As the back-end person of the SurfTheTurf.com team, I am responsible for the group's marketing and technology. Visit our web sites and see the next era of home shopping - www.SurfTheTurf.com.
Our Team Has Many Skills - My professional work began as a software engineer. By the age of 17, I had begun working in the aerospace industry developing avionics software. However, a desire to expand my horizons eventually led me to get a study Political Theory and then go to the University of Virginia School of Law. While practicing as a litigator for the US Government, I began to explore how technology could help professional service providers (lawyers at that time) and redefine what kinds of services they provided to clients. After we moved to Encinitas and my wife began her real estate business, I left the legal field to use my technology and Internet skills to build her business and then our team of real estate agents. My focus is on marketing and technology, both of which play an important role in how we service both buyer and seller clients.
Home Sellers - Sell High & Sell Quickly - The home sales market rises and falls. In any market, selling a home for the highest possible price within a reasonable timeframe means finding the one buyer who loves the house. In addition, a listing agent must work with buyers' agents with professionalism and integrity to conclude transactions succssfully. Home sellers must know their agent has the personnel, experience and tools to minimize delays and get the job done on time.
Home Buyers - Locate the Ideal Purchase, Negotiate the Price, and Avoid Pitfalls - With so much money on the line, home buyers want and need to avoid any mistakes. They need to find the home that meets their specific needs so they are happy and do not have to move. They need to negotiate the right price to minimize loss if the market falls. They need to make sure that they know what they are buying and are well-represented so they are not surprised once they move in. Home buyers must know that their agent has the knowledge and experience to be their advisor and advocate.
Successful real estate teams proactively find ways to sell homes at higher prices for sellers and to locate and negotiate ideal purchases for buyers. Agents who passively watch the market without strengthening their internal resources fall behind. The key is a comprehensive approach that weaves skills, technologies, and resources to respond to an evolving sales market. As one of the strongest real estate teams in San Diego County, the Surf The Turf Team continually positions itself to meet the needs of today's and tomorrow's home sellers and buyers. Our array of core competencies and breadth of professional services are among the most comprehensive in the United States.
A good example of how we provide exceptional value to our clients are our brochures. Typically, we print 5,000 brochures for every listing that we take. Some people ask, "What in the world do you do with 5,000 brochures?" The answer is simple: Get them into the community! Selling a home is about maximum exposure of the property to as many potential buyers as possible.
Click here to see some other samples.
Our Experts
We have built our team around area expertise, and that is why we do not let just any agent join our ranks. Just as law firms have partners who are experts in corporate, tax, or family law, we have experts who specialize by location and each of us represents both sellers and buyers. Thus, you work with an agent who knows your area of interest. Because we are a team, you get the expertise needed even when selling in one area and buying in another.
Standard Listing
Commission: 5%, shared 50/50 with buyer's agent
Marketing Package
Professional architectural photo shoot
Aerial photographs of front of home and community features (pools, greenspaces, etc.)
5,000 four-page, full-color brochures
1,000 home tour DVD videos
2,500 door hangers (for delivering brochures into
target areas and move-up neighborhoods)
Aggressive web site marketing - We spend
thousands of dollars on advertising
Virtual Tours (360° photo views)
Video streaming of entire guided home tour video
Prominent positioning at SurfTheTurf web sites
Craigslist and other web site postings
Property presented at broker caravan "pitch"
session and held open for agents to preview
Open houses as often as is practicable
Other marketing as determined
Enhanced Listing
Commission: (based on scope of enhancements)
Additional Marketing Options
Additional home tour DVDs
Custom mailing campaign
Custom print advertising campaign
Custom Internet advertising optimized for
specific search terms
Custom-labeled water bottles for events
Other agents charge 5%, 6%, or even 7%. Only our team offers these services, and we do so for a modest 5% commission....
Call us today--We will be happy to meet, answer your questions and evaluate your home’s value.
No Pressure - No Obligation
Example of one of our aerial photos:
Click here to see a sample DVD video
Our clients love our team-based approach because it means that someone is always available to see property, hold an open house, or answer questions. Plus, our clients get to draw upon the collective knowledge of the entire team. For example, when one of Chris’s clients wants to shop in Encinitas or Carlsbad, the client is welcome to speak directly with Margaret and draw upon her deep area knowledge. While most clients prefer to work with just one agent and draw upon another team members’ expertise, clients also have the option of working with different agents for different areas!
Our web sites have tools for buyers that are unrivaled by other sites. See my Carlsbad and Encinitas web site as an example. We understand that buyers want great tools for shopping on-line, and our web sites have the best tools anywhere. For example, our homes-by-school-boundary maps allows parents to compare schools and the homes within their boundaries at the same time! Here are some other tools that buyers like:
- Fixer Upper Lists - Motivated Seller Homes
- No HOA Fee Homes - Golf Course Properties
- 55+ Community Maps - Not-on-Internet Homes
- West-of-I-5 Homes - Value-Pick Listings
and our exclusive Crystal Ball Home Search
Here is a small example of one of our maps. The push-pins are color-coded by price. The number on the push pin tells you how many bedrooms. One need only click on a pushpin to get all the details.
People have asked about our DVDs and video technologies. We have been producing DVD home tours of our listings for years, and our innovation in this area has shown us that DVDs are instrumental in many ways:
More Previews
Since the DVD is placed on every brochure, each person who drives by may preview the home in the comfort of his or her living room.
Easier Access
Accessibility of the home is important, and DVD video makes a difference when a home is less accessible due to pets, sickness or other reasons.
Compelling Stories
Because the story told through the video is entirely under our control, we can present a home in the most compelling way. This can even involve the filming of local features, like parks and community pools, or interviewing of neighbors.
Involving Others
DVD video allows a potential buyer to share the home with others whose opinions matter (e.g., parents, friends, etc.) and allows the buyer to revisit the home again and again. This helps buyers share and maintain their excitement for a home.
John Hokkanen
Broker, SurfTheTurf.com, Inc.
A California Real Estate Brokerage
Returning to live in San Diego County after 15 yrs absence required some readjustment. We located EncinitasCarlsbad.com through the Web and found it an invaluable tool for optimizing our SD home search from the LA Area. We were able to select homes which fit our criteria, to explore the areas we were interested in, and to make best use our visits to San Diego. Margaret & Barbara provided great service in all aspects of the home search, negociations and purchase (not to mention recommendations on local restaurants & other amenities) and John provided excellent service as well as a more-than-competitive loan. I cannot imagine a more effective way for folks outside of the area to locate and purchase a San Diego home.
Gene
A long distance purchase from the other side of the globe? No problem for Margaret Hokkanen. We were originally drawn to Margaret through her comprehensive web site. She responded immediately to our emails, which was a good indicator of the responsive service we would subsequently experience from ten time zones away. We visited Encinitas during our home leave from US Government service posted to Egypt, where Margaret and her partner Barbara spent the day giving us a flavor of the area. Once back in Egypt, Margaret made good use of technology: responses to our emails were fast, lots of digital pictures arrived for houses of interest, and documents were exchanged as email attachments, pdf files and scans, and, when necessary, old fashioned FAX. Margaret quickly got a feel for what we wanted, and within a hour of hitting the MLS we had data sheets on houses of interest. Margaret provided comprehensive answers to our questions, carefully explaining the unique features of the California real estate market and her approach and negotiating strategy. She provided resource information about the 1031 exchange process and linked us with a 1031 facilitator. Margaret knows the neighborhoods well and could easily point out plusses and minuses of a property, including the tone of the neighborhood. She understood the challenges that a ten hour time difference introduced and ensured that the sellers also appreciated this.
Robert
John's note about Robert: Our web sites were able to provide Robert with the kind of information that he wanted and needed from half way around the world.
We shopped around for different agents, and I can say that until we met Margaret and heard about Margaret and heard about the kind of marketing that she does that we were generally quite disappointed [in agents]. So, when we heard what she did and we saw the marketing material, we decided that was a good approach...Everything from the preparation of the house to the preparation of the marketing, the open houses all worked out extremely well. Margaret made herself available at any time, she answers the phone, and we had open houses whenever we felt that it was appropriate. And so I would recommend her and her services and the services of her team members to anyone who wants to sell a house[.]"
Thomas
John's note about Thomas: I met Thomas outside our real estate office where he was looking at our brochures. I took the time to get one of our brochures with a DVD and handed it to him, suggesting that he take a look at it if he was considering the sale of his home. He called Margaret later that day.
The result of using [the SurfTheTurf team] was an infinite amount more of exposure on the market due to the DVD house tour that they made for us....The pictures on the brochure were superb. It was not just the one little picture to show what the house
looked like. It was a big splashy thing that made it look like one of the very expensive million and a half dollar houses being sold somewhere. Just the feedback and continual contact with them as a team. It was regular and we were never left wondering what was going on....What we realized as we went through [the selling] process was that the support that they gave us and the help they gave us they made things very easy for us....They let us know what to expect along the way and they delivered on all of that. For us, it was very easy. The best part for us is that they sold our house very quickly. Maybe we paid a little bit more over a discount broker but we got the result that we wanted. We're very happy.
Jo & Richard
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