![\"This](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/web-HC-2.jpg\")
<\/a>And then there\u2019s the resale housing market. Prices are up everywhere, about 12 percent nationally. Locally, according to DataQuick, single-family home prices rose 19.2 percent from June 2012 to June 2013. In North Park, the price increase was even more dramatic: 27 percent. In Hillcrest: 23.5 percent.<\/p>\n
But does that mean it\u2019s okay to start feeling good about your house as an investment again?<\/p>\n
Maybe. But your house isn\u2019t worth anything unless a lending institution, or an appraiser, or a guy with a lot of cash says so.<\/p>\n
\u201cAppraisers have three boxes to check off on the standard forms: inclining market, stable market, declining market,\u201d said Ron Rooney, an attorney and broker associate for Ascent\u2019s North Park office. \u201cUp to last year, an appraiser would have to check declining market.\u201d<\/p>\n
That meant that even if appraised value matched the sales price, banks wouldn\u2019t lend. Things are easier now, Rooney said, because \u201cappraisers aren\u2019t checking that box anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, it\u2019s hard to find a comp that matches what buyers are willing to pay. Sometimes, it\u2019s just a matter of waiting until a nearby property sells and establishes a higher comparative price. Other times, it\u2019s more complicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast month we sold a property in Carmel Valley,\u201d Rooney said. \u201cThe best comp was $585,000. We listed it at $589-$629,000, and closed at $669,000. We had 17 offers in one week.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the bank\u2019s appraisal was $50,000 below the sale price, so Rooney had to get creative. \u201cThe buyer had to wave the appraisal, and come up with an additional $50,000, out of pocket, to close the deal.\u201d This kept the loan amount within the bank\u2019s appraised value, and established a higher comp for the next house to come on the market.<\/p>\n
This is part of the process driving up prices. So is a lack of inventory, because some homeowners are still underwater. But there\u2019s another reason. Blame it on information overload.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the folks I\u2019m working with may no longer be underwater, and they may be interested in selling, but they\u2019re ambivalent,\u201d Rooney said. \u201cThey are hoping to see further increases, so they can take some profits with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
But if they are planning to buy another, isn\u2019t the price of that house also going up? And aren\u2019t interest rates also rising? Isn\u2019t it in their best interest to act now, rather than later?<\/p>\n
Rooney laughed. \u201cThat\u2019s an argument you can imagine me making. Intellectually, they understand. But understanding doesn\u2019t always get them over the psychological barrier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
So Rooney said he continues to provide encouragement \u201cin a very diplomatic and polite way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charles Tiano, a Mission Hills broker with a background in flipping houses, sees another factor driving prices: pent up demand. \u201cDuring the past six or seven years, people who would normally buy a house or move up, their plans were virtually put on hold. What we\u2019re seeing now is a real dramatic entry into the marketplace. Six years of people getting their life together, starting their family, downsizing, making transitions: it\u2019s all happening in one year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince 2007, the market has been unbalanced. It had more sellers and fewer buyers. And the majority of buyers were investors. There were a number of savvy people who were able to take advantage of low prices and low interest rates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiano was one of those people. He bought a short sale in University Heights \u2013 the Darling House, a pink Victorian at the west end of Adams Avenue \u2013 that he\u2019s been restoring. Tiano has an interior design degree from San Diego State University, and although he was in commercial real estate for 30 years, he\u2019s been flipping houses and doing interior design work and project management for remodels since the recession started.<\/p>\n
Recently, he\u2019s been representing buyers and sellers for his brokerage, C Edward & Co. Tiano has seen a change in consumer confidence: no need to analyze the numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHomeowners are definitely loosening up. One trip though Home Depot and it\u2019s obvious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However, no one\u2019s partying like it\u2019s 1999.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumers are more cautious,\u201d he said. \u201cThe spending they do, they want to make sure they get a return on it. Not frivolous purchases, not big screen TVs. But investments in their homes, and that\u2019s a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mini-boom means buyers are again getting priced out of the market, said Jaye MacAskill of Windermere in Mission Hills. As board president for Save Our Heritage Organisation, she knows her historic homes. People from around the country reach out to her when relocating to San Diego. They go into shock, however, when they see the prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have someone who wants to move out here next year. It was quite an eye opener for her to see how far $400,000 goes in San Diego,\u201d she said. \u201cPrices countywide are approaching $500,000. That shuts out a lot of first-time homebuyers. Mission Hills, Hillcrest, North Park\u2014they\u2019ve already been gentrified. It\u2019s been a flippers paradise for the last 15 years, now very few older homes remain intact.\u201d<\/p>\n
MacAskill has some numbers of her own: \u201cIn 92103 there are 51 total listings. Of those, 37 were built before 1963. In 92104, of 43 total residences, 38 were built in 1963 or earlier,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That means if you\u2019re looking for something with historic potential in Hillcrest, Mission Hills or North Park, there are only 75 candidates. Last month, 4,048 single-family homes sold in San Diego. That gives you an idea how rare historic homes are, and how few houses are on the market in the metro area. Rarity, location and pride of ownership have kept prices high in historic neighborhoods, despite the recession.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe least expensive house in Mission Hills is listed at $669,000,\u201d MacAskill said. \u201cIt\u2019s 858 square feet on Witherby Street. That\u2019s $780.77 a square foot.\u201d In North Park, things aren\u2019t much better. In West End, two blocks from the intersection of Upas and 30th streets, a 580-square-foot, one-bedroom bungalow on a 1,300-square-foot lot is listed at $369,000: $639 a square foot, and $80,000 more than it sold for a year and a half ago.<\/p>\n
But all things considered, maybe that isn\u2019t such a bad deal. After all, money isn\u2019t everything. And a house isn\u2019t just a number. It\u2019s a home, provided you can get financing.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taking the temperature of the red-hot Uptown real estate market Michael Good | House Calls Never have so many people been so overwhelmed by so much confusing, confounding and contradictory information.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":246409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"It\u2019s getting warm out there","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}