Lower Otay Lake - Chula Vista California - August 2010
Who would believe that there was a World War II Bomber at the bottom of Lower Otay Lake in Eastern Chula Vista? I’ve fished this lake many times and hiked the hills around it for many years and never once imagined there was an airplane at the bottom of it let alone a rare Navy SB2C Helldiver. I can remember coming out to the Upper and Lower Otay Lakes back in the late 1980’s and all through the early 1990’s long before the real estate boom when homes sprung up around the lakes edges. I can remember cattle covering the fields and grazing on early misty mornings and lazy afternoons. It was more like a western scene from 100 years ago, long before there was an EastLake. When I first heard about the World War II Bomber in the Lower Otay Lake I immediately wondered how it got there and why it was being pulled out.
I had just finished up a round of golf at the EastLake Greens Golf Course on Saturday when my friend John brought up the airplane in the lake. I said let’s go see if it’s still there. We took a drive from the golf course through EastLake Greens on Hunte Parkway and a right down Otay Lakes Road. We turned right onto Wueste Road and through EastLake Vistas down to the Lower Otay Lake. We knew right away that it was still there from the amount of cars parked along-side the road and the carnival like excitement on the people’s faces walking to and from the closed parking lot. We saw the erect white arm of the giant crane used to pull the Helldiver from its wet and muddy grave. As we parked and walked closer we saw the grey plane sitting on the rocky shoreline of the lake next to the fishing dock. Needless to say it looked pretty cool. My friend and I are both former Marines and this made out for an exciting encounter with a piece of military history. Kind of like meeting a war hero the likes of Chesty Puller or Dan Daly, although they are long dead this military hero was brought to life from its long dark and muddy sleep. This war plane had never seen combat but if its fait were of different circumstance I know it would have.
For the full story, much better than I could tell it please visit the Naval Aviation Museum Web Site for all the information on the Helldiver history and what’s going to happen to it.
IB Pet in Imperial Beach San Diego is the only place I go to for pet supplies including dog and cat food, dog and cat toys, dog beds and everything else for all of my pet needs. I recommend IB Pet because I’m a big fan of customer service and that’s what I get at IB Pet. They’re located right off of Palm Avenue in Imperial Beach and easy to get to from anywhere in South Bay San Diego including Chula Vista and Coronado Island. I would even drive to IB Pet if I lived in Escondido or Oceanside. It’s worth it.
Lori and Russell Blauert are the owners of this Imperial Beach Pet Store and I want you to check them out next time you need pet supplies or just some great advice.
This is their goal off of the IB Pet Web Site:
Our goal is to help educate our customers in proper nutrition, care and an overall healthy lifestyle for their pets. Through our carefully selected canine and feline diets, your companion can enjoy meals like those nature intended. In addition, we carry a full line of innovative pet care products - leashes, collars, toys, beds, grooming supplies and more!
I know Lori and Russ personally and I think you will like what they have to offer. Check out IB Pet. Mike Lewis.
You can follow Dawn Sells San Diego on Twitter. Our San Diego Real Estate Twitter has all of our blog posts tweeted as well as all information pertaining to the San Diego Real Estate Market, News and Trends. Twitter is a great way for us to stay in touch with home buyers and home sellers in San Diego County.
We also keep you updated on foreclosure and short sale properties that we are selling and up to date information on the latest foreclosure and short sale news. Twitter is an excellent micro-blog for getting San Diego Real Estate Tweets out fast to our followers. If you want to follow the best San Diego Real Estate on Twitter make sure you follow us.
If you need help buying or selling a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.
I know it’s still 2009 November and it might be a little early for 2010 San Diego Real Estate Market predictions but I think I’ll give it a shot. 2010 in the San Diego Real Estate Market should show more foreclosures than we had in 2009. In 2009 many foreclosures were held off of the market due to the moratoriums. Now that many of the foreclosure moratoriums are lifted the banks are gearing up to get the REO’s off of their books. 2010 in San Diego and many parts of the country will be known as the year of the “Last of the Foreclosure Market”. There will be more foreclosures after 2010 into 2011, 2012 and 2013 but 2010 will be the last big year for foreclosures.
There will still be more short sales and some banks are moving faster on them. There’s lots of talk about the short sales being streamlined and moving through the system faster. In 2010 it might just be a lot of false hope in this area. I hope I’m wrong and we see the short sales as a whole (not just select banks) move through the system fast and to a sale but it might just be a lot of hype. Systems like REOTrans are setting up to do short sales but I’ll believe the push towards short sales over foreclosures by the banks when I see it.
For homebuyers in 2010 it should be a delight with more inventory coming into the San Diego Real Estate Market. In some price ranges like the lower end first time home buyer prices under $400,000 there still will be a fight with other buyers to get the homes. There are way too many buyers and investors in the under $400,000 range in many areas of San Diego County that will keep this price range in very short supply in 2010. The upper end in non-coastal areas will still slide a little lower in 2010. We’ll see how this worked out in 2011.
If you need help buying or selling a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.
San Diego REO – Dawn Lewis REO Listing Agent San Diego California
Excellent Opportunity to own a home in San Miguel Ranch. Chula Vista Bank Owned Foreclosure for sale. This newer 5 bedroom 3.5 bathroom home has over 3,300 square feet. This Chula Vista REO has it all including, Berber carpet, tile, huge kitchen with big island, stone counter tops, breakfast area, 2 fireplaces, lots of ironwork, huge master bedroom, bedroom and full bath on first level, big yard with custom BBQ area and covered seating area, and Coronado Island views. This Bank Owned Gem is located in 91914 Chula Vista in San Miguel Ranch.
If you need help buying or selling a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.
The San Diego Real Estate Market has seen better days. It’s not that there aren’t buyers seeking that perfect place to call home sweet home it’s the little inventory they have to choose from. Inventory is low especially in some areas of San Diego County in the first time homebuyer price ranges. So low that many VA and FHA buyers are taking their chances on short sales, which may or may not ever close escrow, and waiting it out.
I can’t tell you how many questions I answer on Trulia about buyers and short sales. Buyers are always asking, what takes so long, how come the banks won’t approve my offer, what’s going on, why did they take another offer, why did the bank foreclose on the home when I had an offer on it for 8 months, why is the seller declaring bankruptcy, and on and on. It’s like writing an offer on a home and putting it into a black hole and hoping something good comes out on the other end. It usually doesn’t.
Keep in mind if you’re a buyer who wrote an offer on a short sale you probably are in competition with 5 to 50 other buyers. Only 1 of those offers will get accepted and many times the home will go to foreclosure and no one gets it. It’s frustrating for everyone involved including all agents, the negotiators at the banks, sellers and all the other buyers trying to buy the home. Just think how the seller feels….. they are losing their home, their dreams, their investment, they and their family – kids, dogs, cats now need to find another place to live, most likely a rental or in with family, and their life is being turned upside down. Kind of puts things in a different perspective when you look at it from the side of the one who is losing the home.
San Diego Home Buyers using a VA or FHA Loan to buy a home or condo are often in third and fourth place when writing offers on foreclosed properties. They have that going for them too. The problem is with so many investors in the market buying foreclosures for cash or large sums of money down in conventional loans the VA and FHA loans aren’t usually the best way to go for an asset manager looking at offers on the REO asset they are managing. On cash offers they don’t have to worry about appraisal issues or finding out a buyer really doesn’t qualify for the loan to buy the foreclosure. It’s an unfortunate situation that people who want to buy the home to live in and be part of the community are being put in the back seat to investors looking to make a buck. But it is what it is and for now it’s bad news for some VA and FHA buyers. Hang in there. Times will change.
If you need help buying or selling a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.
Foreclosures of San Diego is your source for all foreclosures in San Diego. We have tools to search all homes and condos for sale whether they’re Bank Owned REO Foreclosures, Short Sales or just normal listings. You can Search the San Diego MLS or use our San Diego Foreclosure MLS to find Foreclosures, Pre-Foreclosures or Auction Properties. Did I mention these Search Tools are FREE.
Thousands of people use our search tools every week and find the home or condo they are looking for in San Diego County. We allow visitors to use our tools because we want them to have a portal to search for their home or condo in the comfort of their home or office. If you need help seeing the property or writing an offer on the property or just some real estate advice please contact us.
Ashlon Langley Writer and Director of The Car a 1970’s film starring James Brolin was interviewed on Shameful Cinema. I write many Blog posts about San Diego and San Diego Real Estate and after reading the Ashlon interview about this 1970 movie I thought I would deviate and write about something out of the ordinary. I like the 1970’s low budget movies without all of the special effects and outspoken actors of today’s Hollywood. Ashlon responding to a question from the interviewer Andy about the car design he said;
Ashlon: The under-cranking was reminiscent of the Adams Family and The Munsters television series, making that quality silly to me. However, the design is choice! I love that one of the confusing points for the cops in the movie is that they can’t tell what make or model the beast is. And… it has no tags! If only they could get a license plate, the bungling cops could stop all the mayhem, yeah right!
I wrote about this movie and this interview because things are also reminiscent of the 1970’s even though it’s 2009. We are now like in the early 70’s in a recession and inflation is due to rise. America has taken a hit in the pride department due to the media’s constant attack on the good things America stands for and good things the United States does for so many around the world. The 70’s brought about the 80’s and the economy started gaining ground again and Americans had a lot of good things to feel good about. Watch The Car if you can and read the Ashlon interview. It’s truly entertaining.
If you need help buying a home, condo, Bank Owned REO, Foreclosure or Short Sale in the San Diego area including Chula Vista make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.
San Diego - First Time Home Buyers Only – 8000 Dollars !
The $787,000,000,000 stimulus bill signed into law has some benefits for first time home buyers. In the bill signed by Obama there is an $8000 first time home buyer tax credit. This $8000 amount was sized down from $15000 in the original version of the stimulus package. Here in San Diego County California and rich foreclosure environments like Chula Vista in South County San Diego welcomes this first time home buyer $8,000 tax credit incentive.
Some of the details are that the home purchased must be the first time home buyers principal residence. There is a cap of $8,000 if the purchase price is higher than $800,000. A first time home buyer in San Diego or anywhere in the U.S. would be someone who has not owned a principal residence for 3 years. This will only apply to home buyers buying in 2009 so if you’re sitting on the fence of San Diego home buyers this could be the thing that gets you down off the fence and back in the market.
There are also income limits that state single buyers need a modified adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less to qualify for full credit and $150,000 for married couples. If buyers make more income than the amounts stated they could be eligible for reduced credits. Make sure you talk to your accountant about this. The $8000 tax credit is refundable. Buyers will have to own the home for at least 3 years if they want to capitalize fully on the tax incentive. The tax credit will have to be returned to the government if they sell early. There are situations that will be exceptions to this rule.
Make sure you contact professional tax consultants for full factual information on this $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.
If you need help buying a home or condo in the San Diego area make sure you contact us we’re your San Diego Realtor.
I spent some time today researching San Diego median home prices in 2009 compared to what they were in 2008. I found a great link that shows the median price from January 2008 to January 2009 and shows the difference in median prices in percentages. My theory based on real estate trends and experience in San Diego County has held true. I have been stressing the fact that many coastal areas will be hit the hardest despite what many so called experts have been saying. I have also said that areas like newer Chula Vista like EastLake, Rolling Hills Ranch, San Miguel Ranch and Otay Ranch have taken a huge hit early in this San Diego real estate downturn and won’t be hit nearly as bad as some of the areas that have a false sense of security. What I mean by false sense of security is that many coastal areas in San Diego just because they’re close to the beach are said to be by some real estate agents immune to a real estate downturn. Nonsense!
Some of these so called “untouchable to recession proof real estate areas” are North County Coastal and Coastal Central San Diego. Some of these areas are; Carlsbad, Encinitas, Oceanside, Solana Beach, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, and more. These areas have taken some of the biggest hits of all and in my opinion will continue to see slashed prices through 2009. These costal real estate areas should see bigger drops than the areas of Newer Chula Vista which has already taken its biggest drop early on.
The false sense of values in these coastal areas has allowed inventory to build and short sales and foreclosures to start their run up. These areas are and will be a buyer’s delight in 2009. I still think the newer areas of Chula Vista are closer to their bottom than many of the other areas in San Diego County. This means if you’re buying a home in these areas it could very well drop in value less than other areas of San Diego County. From January 2008 to January 2009 this was exactly what happened and is a good trend going into 2009 for home buyers.
Now the reality of some of the statistics in this San Diego Real Estate Median Home Price Chart is that the number of sales in some of the communities is so low that they are not that accurate. What is accurate is the overall median home prices by areas like; North County Coastal, East County, and South Bay San Diego. These are a culmination of the total sales in the areas and have a large enough number of closed sales to be accurate.
The chart tells me there has been a lower reduction in median home prices in South Bay San Diego OVER ALL OTHER AREAS of San Diego County. The bleeding is less in this area and some good signs of recovery and less hemorrhaging than other San Diego communities. Buyers and investors both are seeing the value in many South Bay San Diego Communities.
Checkout the San Diego Median Home Price Chart and make your own conclusions.
Hunte Parkway and a right down Otay Lakes Road. We turned right onto Wueste Road and through EastLake Vistas down to the Lower Otay Lake. We knew right away that it was still there from the amount of cars parked along-side the road and the carnival like excitement on the people’s faces walking to and from the closed parking lot. We saw the erect white arm of the giant crane used to pull the Helldiver from its wet and muddy grave. As we parked and walked closer we saw the grey plane sitting on the rocky shoreline of the lake next to the fishing dock. Needless to say it looked pretty cool. My friend and I are both former Marines and this made out for an exciting encounter with a piece of military history. Kind of like meeting a war hero the likes of Chesty Puller or Dan Daly, although they are long dead this military hero was brought to life from its long dark and muddy sleep. This war plane had never seen combat but if its fait were of different circumstance I know it would have.
