Real estate news has taken a dramatic turn in the last two years as foreclosures, bankruptcies and steeply-declining sales have dominated the headlines. But two local real estate agents are optimistic about San Diego’s future, particularly downtown, and they have recently started their own business to capitalize on the predicted recovery. Francine Finn and Raye Scott have a combined 45 years of real estate industry experience as agents, but they added “business owner” titles to their resumes in June when they purchased a Windermere real estate franchise and opened an office at 560 First Ave. in the heart of the Marina District. They are the first female owners of a Windermere franchise in San Diego County. The duo said that their decision to venture out on their own came as a result of the positive indicators they have seen regarding the market’s recovery. “The recession has been a speed bump for downtown, not a roadblock, and we’ve already seen signs that it’s recovering, that the worst is probably in our rearview mirror now … the future is great for the downtown,” Scott said. Finn said that downtown is becoming an attractive area for buyers not just from other parts of the county, which have historically comprised about 60 percent of residents in the downtown area, but from other states as well. “It’s a very walk-able city, it’s a very clean city, a very safe city, and it’s getting better every day,” Finn said. The business partners are hoping to add 40 agents to their staff within the next year and they said that although those agents will be selling homes throughout the county, they will all need to be well-versed in the rapidly-evolving downtown market. “Downtown is a market that you have to stay on top of, because there is still a lot of growth to happen,” Scott said. “One unit may have a view today; it may be gone tomorrow. We need to know that and we need to stay on top of that so we can educate our clients … it’s a full-time job.” Finn said downtown’s small footprint, in comparison to other cities like San Francisco or Seattle, will spur recovery more quickly, for a variety of reasons: new homes currently on the market are being absorbed quickly, there are few build-able sites left and any new construction will take three to four years to complete, which sets the stage for an increase in demand for a finite inventory of existing homes. While the pair points to numerous economic indicators that the market it recovering — flat average home prices since last July (as opposed to the large declines seen previously) and more buyers paying with cash, for instance — Scott said she is also seeing empirical evidence that consumers are feeling more confident. “Every time I look around, somebody either has a new baby or is pregnant! People wouldn’t decide to start their families or expand their families if they didn’t think that things were getting better,” she said. For more information or to contact the agents, visit www.scottfinnhomes.com.