Tony Cannon

I don't know if many Oceanside folks could tell you where the Summit View community is located. It's one of those smaller tracts(only about 100 single family detached homes), but it has a lot of fine qualities that make it one of my favorites. It must be liked by the owners there too, since only about 2 or 3 homes sell each year and property values are holding well for Oceanside.

Built by Beazer 1999-2001, the homes have no HOA, no Mello Roos, and property taxes less than 1.1%. Over half the homes have panoramic views and generally pretty good lot sizes with the usuable area at least 6000sf. Located in the Vista School District with highly regarded elementary and middle schools.(http://www.k12.vusd.ca.us)

There are 5 floorplans ranging from a single story 2260sf to a two story 3118sf home. 2007 prices are in the $600,000-700,000 range. Street names are Bella Collina, Napoli, and Verona.

More community information available at http://www.NorthSanDiegoHomes.us

River Ranch has homes built in 2001-2002 by Fieldstone and KB Homes and is located at the corner of Hwy76 and Old Grove. It represented a reasonable price point for newer homes, without Mello Roos in a gated community with pool, convenient location and good schools in the area. Unfortunately, buyers there seem to have gotten in over their heads and now I recognize it as one of the newer tracts that's had the most price decline.

Today, there are 12 homes active, 2 in escrow, and 6 sold in the past 4.5 months according to the Sandicor MLS. 4 of the actives are short sales, 1 is bank owned; 1 of the pendings is bank owned, 1 is a short sale; and all 6 of the sales were bank owned. The 6 solds averaged $192/square foot, while the same time frame last year was $238/sf representing a 19.3% decline in price for the average 2335sf home. At least the time it takes to sell a home hasn't changed that much and hovers around 80 days.

Visit http://www.NorthSanDiegoHomes.us for more information

The gated River Ranch community in Oceanside, CA located near Hwy76 and Old Grove involved 2 builders: KB Homes and Fieldstone under the phase names Avondale and Sedona for KB, Somerton and Del Sol for Fieldstone. Construction of these single family detached homes took place around 2001-2002.

Avondale: Plan 1 is 1860sf, plan 2 is 2291sf, plan 3 is 2459sf
Sedona: Plan 1 is 2337sf, plan 2 is 2492sf, plan 3 is 3149(or 3146)sf

Somerton: Plan 2254, 2478, and 2650 (floorplans)
Del Sol: Plan 2648, 2990, 3352, and 3516 (floorplans)

Community amenities include swimming pool and spa, half basketball court, children's playground, and picnic area. Lots are small, mostly around 4500sf. As of 2/20/08, HOA dues run about $95/month and prices are $420,000-660,000. Walking distance to Nichols Elementary School, part of the Oceanside School District (www.oside.k12.ca.us), across the highway from Lowe's (www.lowes.com), and property taxes under 1.1% with no Mello Roos. Street names are: Vista Verde, Saddlehorn, Rawhide, Wind River, Deer Valley, black Canyon, Alamo Way, Monte Vista, Spring Canyon, River Ranch, Aspen Creed, Meadow Sprin, Silver Spring, Morgan Creek, Deer Creek, and Forest Ranch.

More community information and school scores at http://www.NorthSanDiegoHomes.us

Well, it has been 6 months since my last update for Rancho Del Oro(RDO) and a lot has happened since then. The lenders dropping many loan programs in July 2007 caused almost a halt of sales for RDO in the next couple months causing a 10% drop in prices in those 2 months. And sales have remained relatively slow since then. 100% financing is limited to sales prices less than $417,000 and buyers for more expensive homes that actually have a down payment are few and far between. Foreclosures have become the driving market force. Many REO(bank owned homes) are now on the market and generating sales, but the lowered prices have hurt all sellers. Successful short sales are practically non-existent, so it means more foreclosures lie ahead.

As of 2/20/08, the good news is there are only 45 detached homes actively for sale in the Sandicor MLS in the Villages of Rancho Del Oro(including the Beachwood community) compared to 77 last August. Plus 17 homes show as Pending status. If that active inventory and rate of offers continues, things could stabilize, but then again, 2007 started out much like this and then the bomb dropped.

Looking at sales in the past 4.5 months, 23 homes sold for $236/square foot. A year ago it was 44 homes for $277/sf during the same time period representing a decline of almost half the number of sales and 14.8% drop in price for the average 1970sf detached home.

What does this mean for Rancho Del Oro sellers? The good ole days are gone and you need an experienced, honest real estate agent and financial advisor to make sure you understand your best course of action. For buyers, you need to keep a long term perspective, and buy a home based on need not speculation.

More about the area can be found at http://www.NorthSanDiegoHomes.us

Since I've been doing BPOs(broker price opinion...kind of like a mini-appraisal on properties in financial distress) in the north San Diego County area, it has become increasingly obvious that a number of real estate agents in the area have homes with a notice of default(behind on their payments), or are attempting short sales(debt obligations are more than the sales price less the cost to sell) on their own properties. I can maybe understand if these are agents that are new in the business or haven't sold many homes, but I've seen agents who sell more homes than me finding themselves in this position.

My question is: how good is a real estate agent at advising clients about home ownership if they can't even manage their own home(s)? In fact, at my prior broker, the office manager had her home go into foreclosure, thus enabling me to label her "the real estate manager who can't manage her own real estate".

Your comments are appreciated