Jay Becker

Yes, you heard me right. 1 click gets you in the drawing! I joined Facebook and am giving away a free ipad after I get 250 LIKES. It's as simple as that! I love giving back.

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Fellow realtors, I specialize in luxury san diego real estate and offer generous referral fees. Call me to refer a client.

Jay Becker 858.222.43217

This article is a way in which a client and planet conscious Realtor, gives back to his clients, the community and mankind.

Don't avoid purchasing an older home just because it does not have all the bells of whistles of a new 'green' home.

There are some easy ways to reduce utility costs without sacrificing luxury.

Part 1 – LIGHTING AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Recessed lighting has been considered a luxury upgrade in residential housing since the 1960’s. Recessed lighting can fixtures provide a nice general and accent lighting and replace the need for lamps and multiple hanging fixtures. It is estimated that the greenhouse gas from regular light bulbs alone is equal to that of the emissions of 800,000 cars per year. And that if all US households just used only 1 high efficiency light bulbs, that savings would save enough energy to cover the entire energy consumption of 3 million US Homes (energy consumption facts from Energy Star)

HIGH COST LIGHTING: The one negative about recessed can lighting is that each fixture generally requires a 60-75 watt bulb, so when you add up what might be 6-12 cans or more in a living room, you can easily reach 1000 per watts per room before you know it.

EARLY SOLUTION: The development of the CLF or ECObulb provide consumers and alternative screw in bulb, however they light emitted is a harsh fluorescent industrial style lighting. So your living room, and all of your furniture and artwork, when from looking soothing to losing its richness and creation of a harsh viewing environment. There is a delay from when you turn on the switch until the light bulbs are fully bright. Also your lighting was now no longer dimmable so all lights were either ON or OFF. They reduced the wattage to that of about half of traditional bulbs, however to many, the cost savings did not outweigh the creature comfort aspect.

THE BEST SOLUTION: Enter the world of NEWER AND IMPROVED LED. Where initial LED lights were not dimmable, and would only work on LED specific fixtures, and were only available in a bright industrial white light. NOW LED lights are dimmable, available in a wide range of color spectrums, and have screw in bases to adapt to any lamps.

COST AND PRODUCT LIFE: (below are estimates based upon more common bulbs an styles)

Traditional Recessed Light bulbs range from approx 45-95 watts, last anywhere from 400- 2000 hours or so and cost about $4-$12 each

CLF Bulbs run cool, use 13-35 watts, last twice as long as regular bulbs approx $9-$17 each

LED Flood lamps, use 2-4 watts, last 16-30 years, and cost $40-60 each

ENJOY THE SAVINGS – YOUR TRUSTED AND RESPECTED REALTOR

Jay Becker – http://own-sd.com/introduction.html

http://www.sandiego-coastal-homes.com/

http://www.sandiegolistingsearch.com

http://www.facebook.com/#!/ownsd

Here are a few guidelines I use with my clients to preserve your sanity and keep your clients happy.

1) Short sale listings where there is "No Lender Knowledge", would be the equivalent of a 17 year old planning an elaborate road trip with the parents car, before asking for parental permission. Meaning it's not going to be a quick no, and you might want to consider 'alternatives' rather than be disappointed. The process may be long and painful.

2) Short sale listings where the "Short Sale Package is submitted", at least all parties are in the know, yet based upon the backlog of reviewing short sale requests, it could still be quite a time consuming venture with a good deal of uncertainty along the way. Personally, I feel that the time frames have greatly improved, however, buyer's can lose their spark if they get bogged down with long periods of non-communication from the bank.

3) Short sale listing referred to "Approved Short Sale" - may only mean the bank had approved the short sale 'concept' regarding the property, and is not prepared to share an acceptable price as the new legislation states that they are required to do so. Best to inquire with the listing agent and confirm, they are ready to go, and ready to respond to offers, and they you are in a better position for a quick response.

4) Short sale listing "Bank Approved Short sale at $1.295,000", now we are talking. Treat this like any other REO Bank Owned property, and submit away. Yes, their approval may only apply to the prior submitted offer, but at least you have a sense of where they were before which is an indication of where they will most likely be.

5) REO / Bank Owned Properties - Kid in a candy store. Bank's have no emotional attachment to 'file numbers'. Get a sense of their portfolio, management pressures to move the assets and critical time lines, and you can master your own destiny and carefully evaluation the bank's motivation.

Great purchases continue to happen in San Diego, and in many cases moving the asset is more important than them getting the last 5% on price.

Forge on and go get 'em. SAN DIEGO IS ON SALE 20-40% off at the bank!

Always ranking among the top coastal areas in the entire US by many travel and financial magazines is San Diego, CA. The idyllic weather, most incredible scenic coastline, and hospitable residents make it a fantastic place to call home.

The recent national market correction has opened up windows of buying opportunities for many that have been on the sidelines for many years, but not all properties on the market are 'great deals'. Some sellers are still looking to obtain sale prices at or close to the highs, and have not been educated to the accurate market values. There are also many sellers that are aware of the accurate market but are trapped in their purchase. Some buyer's acquired their homes in the peak years, or that have continued to tap out their equity, and are now selling, do not have the flexibility to deliver the attractive priced properties that buyer are seeking today.

Large price reductions do not always indicate that the property is truly a good value, even though it might appear to be a bargain.

Whether you are an agent or buyer or seller, the only true comps are RECENT SOLD's - Period. Because of the insane practice of dramatically under pricing short-sale listings, and also listings for properties where the owners seem to be stuck in values when we were at the highs, comps on ACTIVES have become completely irrelevant.

Appraisers are also reluctant to extend much in the way of value on upgrades, as they had in the past, so if you are looking at a very highly upgraded property chances are your appraisal might come in low, thus giving you a bargain opportunity on that property.

View our Coastal San Diego Site: www.SanDiego-Coastal-Homes.com

Visit our La Jolla Site: www.LaJollaHomes.NET

Vistor our San Diego Site: www.OWN-SD.com

Also 2 of our key sites for searching for real estate in San Diego, CA

www.SanDiegoListingSearch.com

www.SanDiegoRealtyDirectory.com

$1,000,000 dollar ocean front home, short sale, now only $489,000 - wow. 17 offers in the first 3 days....

Sound too good to be try? IT IS.

The bank is owed $ 925,000 and they are not going to take anything less than $ 865,000.

If you are a seasoned buyer's agent, or educated client, you will realize that this falls into the 'too good to be true category' HOWEVER....there are deals on the horizon.

Once the property reverts back to the bank, and 80% of these will. After the borrower is no longer on the hook for being responsible for a loan to pay back the bank a percentage of the deficiency balance, and now that all of the consumer protection law concerns are worries of the past, the real deal making begins.

BANK OWNED - GREEN LIGHTS TO GO....although the banks might play hard ball early on in the process, the bottom line is they are not in the real estate business, and it is only a matter of time until one of the bank execs makes the call to clean out the balance sheet, and move the properties.

If you are a highly skilled buyer's agent, you can secure a great price for your client, if you are consumer, going after the property directly with the bank, and you do not have the skill-set of successfully securing bank owned properties in the past, the best advice I can give you is 'secure a buyer's agent immediately, you pay not commission on listed properties, and you are almost guaranteed to secure the property at a better price, and have the due diligence process meticulously managed.

We recently secured a 1.7 mil property for a high level executive for 1.1 mil. We saved 600k on the purchase, saved him probably $50k of his time, $5k in travel, and he did not have to learn a new trade along the way. Although this circumstance may not be typical result, this is the kind of value a seasoned buyer's agent can bring to the table.

A trusted professional in their specific is your best resource.

Visit us at www.OWN-SD.com

Also 2 of our key sites for searching for real estate in San Diego, CA

www.SanDiegoListingSearch.com

www.SanDiegoRealtyDirectory.com