4S Ranch

Here it is a rainy Sunday afternoon in 4S Ranch, it has rained all weekend but it didn’t stop the buyers from coming out to purchase the new homes in 4S Ranch.  Both new subdivisions Andalusia and Monteluz sold out of phase 2 on Saturday.

On Friday my sellers at 16910 Silver Crest Drive accepted an offer on their home, they had received multiple offers.

Today I took a new listing in 4S Ranch, it’s the same floor plan as 16910 Silver Crest Drive.  It will be on the market in a couple of weeks.  Email me if you want more information. 

March 1, 2010, interest rates are great and inventory is low.  Take a look at the chart to see where we have come in the past 2 years. 

The red line indicates the number of homes sold in a six month period.  A six month period to me is a good time frame.  It evens out the little bumps like short months and agent’s forgetting to mark a listing as sold.  A short month is one that ends on a weekend, for example; February ended on the 26th, last business day of the month.  Since July of 2007 anywhere from 50 to 70 homes sold in 6 months or about 10 homes per month.

The blue line indicates how many homes are for sale the first day of the month. This number also includes the contingent listings (short sale listings with an accepted offer waiting for lender approval).  The MLS only recently started giving the contingent listings their own category.  I keep a running total of the contingent listings.  For example, for March 2010 there is a total of 37 listings of which 23  are contingent short sale listings. That leaves only 14 listings available to buyers to view and make offers on.  Out of the 14, 5 are short sale listings. If you are a ready buyer and don’t want the stress involved in buying a short sale the inventory is down to only 9 homes.  That’s only a months supply.  The information here is mainly resale homes, occasionally the new home builders will be listing their new homes on the mls.   Recently the two new California West developments sold out there first phases of  about 20+ homes very quickly.  All of this activity supports very high demand for the 4S Ranch community. 

Yesterday a had a very good turn out for my open house at 16910 Silver Crest Drive.  I think I had about 20 groups of people through. Everyone said the home showed very well. People loved the open floor plan, it’s priced right on at $659,000.  I sold the house three doors away in December for $655,000.  And of course all the kids has a great time with the free balloons.

There is very little inventory available for sale under the $700,000 range in 4S Ranch.  Last count there were only two homes that did not require lender approval to sell.  Last week in preparing for the open house I stopped by the 2 new subdivision and was told they has sold out the first release.  I also stopped by Chanteclair at 4S Ranch, there is nothing currently available for sale and only 9 homes remaining to be released.

If you are looking for the perfect home in 4S Ranch take at tour of 16910 Silver Crest Drive on my web site MaryAnnMorrar.com

16910 Silver Crest Drive is a beautiful Rosemary Lane home built by John Laing located in the heart of 4S Ranch.  The home features 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths with approximately 2455 square feet of great living space plus a 3 car garage.  One bedroom is located on the main level, just perfect for when guests come to visit.  The kitchen  is perfect with upgraded cherry cabinets, counter tops and large island.   The large family room has professionally installed surround sound package great for entertaining.  The laundry room is located upstaris, it has lots of cabinets plus a built in sink.  The wsher and dryer are included.  Large master suite features a shower plus soaking tub. There are too many features to list - Stop by and see for yourself - Open Sunday Feb. 14th from 1 to 4 pm.  Free Ballons for all the Kids

4S Ranch has great schools, it is part of the Poway Unified School District.  The elementary school for the neighborhood is Monterey Ridge it is located within walking distance.  The Junior High School is Oak Valley Middle School and there is the brand new High School just open in August 2009 Del Norte High School.

Shopping and dining are located close by in the 4S Commons Town Center.  There you can find Ralphs, Jimbo’s, CVS, World Market, Bed Bath and Beyond plus many more speciality stores.  For dining you can find a variety of cuisines, from Zocalo Grill to Pei Wei Asian Diner.  Other choices are Chilis, Brett’s BBQ, Pizza, Panera Bread and Wahoo Fish Taco.

Looking for a place to get a little exercise or just take a stroll?  4S Ranch has great spots for walking and trails for hiking.  Take a look at the trails map.

On Saturday, January 16, 2010, I got a chance to preview the two new home developments offered by California West Communities in 4S Ranch.  I arrived at about 11 am to the first one, Andalusia.  There was a big crowd of people walking through the models and enjoying snacks provided by Wahoo’s.  There are 4 floor plans available ranging in size from 2,222 to 3,226 square feet.  There is a very good single level floor plan which I liked.  It has a good, open kitchen and “great room”.  While there is no living room there is a formal dining room.  The other plus is it has a guest suite.  Plan three has a great island in the kitchen, however, I found that walking in the front door to the dining room unacceptable.  I prefer a more formal entry.  Overall, the models were perfectly decorated.  There was no firm pricing as of yet but the low to mid $600k’s is what I heard the staff saying.  After reading through the features page I would definitely need upgrades.

Next, I drove over to Monteluz, a proposed 63 home development here.  Again there was a good sized crowd enjoying snacks provided by Brett’s BBQ (food was good). There are three floor plans ranging in size from 2,556 to 3,949 square feet.  The lot sizes are larger here.  The average size is about 8,281 square feet compaired to 6,900 square feet in Andalusia.  Once again, there is a single level floor plan  offered. If you are wondering ”what’s the big deal” about a single level home, there were no single level homes in the north section of 4S Ranch.  As I walked through the models I was listening for buyers’ reactions and comments to the homes and everyone was very positive.   When asked ”which home did you like best”, I was surprised that it was the single level floor plans.  The prices here are said to be in the high $600,000’s.  The homes and lot sizes are larger and there are better standard features such as granite counter tops than in Andalusia. 

The Grand Opening is scheduled for Saturday, January 30th.  Click here for directions

Happy New Year - January 4, 2010; it’s great to be starting off a new year.  Inventory is down in 4S Ranch.  As of today there are only 9 traditional listings available for sale in 4S Ranch plus 4 short sales.  The other 17 listings are contingent sale listings with accepted offers waiting for an agreement decision from the lender.  2009 was not a bad year in 4S Ranch.  Detached home sales increased by 10%.  Twice as many short sale listings closed escrow in 2009 compared to 2008.  Many homes priced below $700,000 are receiving multiple offers and are selling with a week or two.  Pending sales are down, however, I think it’s because of a lack of inventory of homes available for sale, because demand is very good.

12/1/2009 - Here is a very quick look at 4S Ranch real estate market.  The numbers for 4S Ranch show a good improvement over last year at this time.  The number of sold homes represents the number sold in the last 6 months.  There are very few active listings available.  The chart show 30 listings however 21 of them are contingent short sale listings (with accepted offers).  Leaving only 9 homes available.  Out of the 9 homes only 1 is priced below $700,000.  The 4S Ranch market below $700k is very strong.  Many homes priced below the $700k range are receiving multiple offers.  The is more opportunity for buyers in the homes priced above $700,000.

I have a new Rosemary Lane listing coming on the market in mid January - it is the 2455 sq.ft. floor plan - email me if you want more info.

With 20 contingent listings here in 4S Ranch waiting for lender approval to move on to the next step pending status, do you ever wonder if its worth while making an offer on a Short Sale listing?  Buyers are snapping up short sale listings very quickly and just as quickly moving on to the next listing.  Some of these listings have been on the market for over a year.  Many buyers after waiting 4 or 5 months lose interest or find out the lender will not accept their short sale at the price they offered. The worst case is after waiting months the lender forecloses.  Is it worth it?

To find out, I used matched paired analysis, I found 3 very good sets of sales.  The difference in price ranged from 8% to 12%. On first look about a 10% savings.  Or a $68,000 saving on the average priced home sold in 4S Ranch.  Then I started to dig a little deeper and consider other things, such as having to pay rent an additional 4 to 10 moths or more.  Most short sales take a long time to complete, the rare one closes in 2 months. So subtract rent.  6 months $2000 per month $12,000.  Next thing to consider is condition, short sale listings are sold in “AS IS” condition and most need carpet, paint and landscaping maybe another $15,000 or so.  In short sales the extra applicances are not included the big refrigerator nor the almost new washer and dryer so another $3,000.  This doesn’t take into account the short sales that are stipped down to the bone, light fixtures, binds and built-in appliances all removed.  Now you are looking about $30,000 in cost that you would not have with a traditional stagged to sell home. This takes the saving down to $38,000 or about 5.5%.  That’s still a pretty good deal if you can get it to close escrow.  The biggest risk with Short Sale listings is the inability to close escrow.  This year the number of short sale listings that closed escrow doubled from last year and I hope we will see the numbers improved next year. 

Halloween may be over but short sale listings are still haunting the 4S Ranch market.  Looking at the graph 68 homes sold in the last six months.  Out of the 68 homes 29% were short sales.  Currently there are only 32 homes for sale and 18 of those are in the contingent status (offers pending lender approval) leaving only 14 active listings of which 5 are short sales, 1 Bank foreclosure and only 8 traditional sales available for sale. WOW! -a little over a month’s worth of inventory.  Shouldn’t prices start to climb?  Isn’t marketing time dropping?  Not yet really and I blame it on the contingent short sales.  Once a property reaches contingent status all the millions of web sites need to pull the listing off the market.  Go to Realtor.com, it’s flooded with contingent homes for sale which you can not even make an appointment to see.  Looking at Craigslist you see contingent listings posted by other agents (not the listing agent) that have been contingent for well over 4 months - What sense does that make?  Is it hurting the market?  I think it is.  Homes listed all over the Internet that are really no longer for sale gives the impression the market is soft.  Short sale listings are receiving offers in less than a week, many have 1 or 2 back up offers waiting.  The Chanteclair subdivision, North 4S Ranch, sold 12 homes in one hour on Saturday August 15, 2009.  They already have a new Priority List for buyers when the new phase opens.  That’s not a soft market.  The Maybeck subdivision only has the models left and available for sale. 

The graph to the left displays the contingent sales as pending, whereby the seller has accepted an offer and the home is no longer available to show.  This paints a very different picture of the market.  I would like Internet sites such as Realtor.com to stop advertising contingent listings.  Further, I would like all short sale listings with accepted offers, as well as the “no longer available for showing” listings to stop being listed as active.  This skews the market statistics and ultimately misleads both buyers and sellers about market conditions.  Then buyers will better understand the market.  What do you think?

16926 Silver Crest Drive ~ 4 bedroom 3 bath homes located in the heart of 4S Ranch 

This home is perfect for the chef who loves to entertain!  It’s open and spacious lay-out is ideal for throwing the “perfect get-together”- from cozy Sunday dinners with close friends or large Super Bowl bashes.   Always wanted to have Thanksgiving Dinner at your home but never had the room?  Now you can!

As you approach the front door you are greeted by the outstanding beautiful architectural details of this John Laing built Rosemary Lane home.  When you open the front door you are dazzled by 18″ tile running all the way to the back of the house.  The main level boasts a cozy living room, bedroom and full bath.  Further down the hallway you enter the huge kitchen, dining and family room areas.  Three different rooms that blend very well into each other perfect for entertaining.  The host/hostess will never feel left out of the party.

This “picture perfect” home has been upgraded with French doors.  The bathroom counter tops are Silestone /Quartz.  The Mud Room features corian counter tops and lots of cabinets for storage.  The main level bathroom has been upgraded with a raised oval sink and matching toilet. 

Another great surprising feature of this home is the extreme energy efficiency of the Ainsworth LuminOX radiant barrier panels built into the roof.  This feature will save you money on your cooling bills for years to come. 

The slogan for 4S Ranch is “It’s all right here” and it’s so true.  There are great parks and hiking trails, shopping and restaurants, employment centers and great schools.  If you must leave to go to the beach or commute to work, it’s very quick to access I-15.