San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Industry announcements
Todd Bloom of Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices California Properties Honored as a Five Star Agent by San Diego Magazine for 13th Time
For the 13th year in a row, Todd Bloom of Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices California Properties’ La Jolla Prospect office has been recognized as one of San Diego Magazine’s Five Star Real Estate Agents.
“The Five Star award identifies San Diego agents who provide exceptional service and overall satisfaction as rated by clients, peers, and industry experts,” San Diego Regional Vice President Nicki Marcellino said. “Todd is known for being extremely knowledgeable. As someone who loves interacting with and relating to people, it’s easy for Todd to build a rapport with his clients. He carefully listens to their needs and thoughtfully considers their options. He has a tenacious work ethic, and puts his all into finding his clients the home of their dreams.”
PSAR board member was U-T summer intern
Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR) member Andrea Martino, an escrow company sales executive, was recently elected to a two-year term (2021-2022) on the PSAR board of directors as an affiliate director. As a teenager attending Otay Ranch High School in Chula Vista, Martino was selected for a summer journalism internship program at The San Diego Union-tribune. “It turned into a life-changing event,” said Martino. “The experience taught me not to be afraid to be challenged outside my comfort zone. Today, I’m a firm believer that great things happen outside our comfort zone.” The program, which pairs students with mentors in the U-T newsroom, focuses on reporting and writing, with special attention paid to critical thinking, objectivity, accuracy, fairness, interviewing, research and media literacy.
San Diego 3rd highest for bidding wars
San Diego had the third most competitive housing market in the nation in August, according to Redfin. Roughly 65 percent of homes for sale in San Diego encountered at least more than one competing offer, behind the markets of San Jose and San Francisco. Bidding wars also are present in more than half of home transactions in popular cities where people are choosing to migrate, including Austin, Tex. (58 percent), Phoenix (56 percent) and Sacramento (57 percent). Nationwide, 54 percent of homes faced a bidding war in August. “Low mortgage rates are motivating homebuyers who are thinking of moving to go through with it,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather.
California 3rd least affordable in nation
California is the third least affordable station in the county in which to buy a home in 2020, behind New York and Hawaii, according to a study from Refiguide.org. The study also said 43 of the top 50 least affordable cities in the U.S. are in California, with Newport Beach ranked first, El Cajon at 28th and Escondido at 38th. Rankings were determined by measuring median household income as a percentage of home prices, as well as recent U.S. Census data and Zillow market reports. The five most affordable states were Mississippi, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Michigan and Illinois. The five most affordable cities were Youngstown, Ohio; Jackson, Miss.; Flint, Mich.; Detroit; and Gary, Ind.
Kathleen Popp Joins Rancho Bernardo Office Of Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices California Properties
Helping clients feel at home in the community comes naturally to Kathleen Popp, one of the latest real estate agents to join the Rancho Bernardo office of Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices California Properties.
“I grew up here and know the area very well,” Kathleen said. “Rancho Bernardo, Poway, and Escondido are lovely places to call home.
I absolutely love helping clients find or list their properties in these wonderful communities.”
When an agent friend urged her to check out Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices California Properties, Kathleen was impressed with the company’s global reputation, strong leadership team, and cutting-edge marketing tools. Kathleen employs all that the company offers, along with the social media skills she has developed. But she especially enjoys meeting potential clients in person.
Fall is the new spring for housing market
Record-low mortgage rates, skyrocketing buyer demand and shrinking inventory will push the housing market to its busiest season throughout the end of this year, making this fall to resemble a typical, active springtime for homebuyers and sellers, according to a recent report from Inman News Service. The reset housing market will remain active this year because the coronavirus pandemic has increased the need for more spacious, multi-functional homes and the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates low in an effort to shore-up the economy. Also, timelines that normally revolve around the start of the school year are no longer applicable. The National Association of Realtors is projecting that 2020 will outperform 2019 with increased home sales.
23k new real estate jobs in August
In August of this year, when the unemployment rate fell to 8.4 percent, compared to 10.2 percent in July, the real estate sector of the U.S. economy added 23,000 jobs from July to August, reported the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The real estate sector includes sales, rental and leasing professions. However, the government said there are still approximately 150,000 fewer individuals employed in real estate than this time last year. The report indicates housing has largely remained immune to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown because of a shortage of homes for sale and home buyers who remained employed channeled their savings and took advantage of low mortgage rates.
Remote work could create 2M new buyer
The Covid-19-fueld trend towards working remotely from home, rather than at an office, could convince 2 million current renters to become homeowners as they will relocate from their current, high-priced metro area to another city or state where they can afford monthly payments on a starter home, according to a new study from Zillow. “If remote work becomes a bona fide long-term option, especially with the pandemic, that could reshape the U.S. housing market by opening up homeownership to people renting in expensive parts of the county,” said Zillow economist Jeff Tucker. Of the 2 million renter households that could unlock homeownership opportunities through remote work, nearly half of them are millennials, Zillow said.
PSAR assists first-time military buyers
The Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR) has announced the completion of the inaugural “Robert Calloway Memorial Veteran Housing Grant” program. Named in honor of Calloway, a military veteran and 2019 PSAR president, the grant program helped first-time military homebuyers with closing-cost assistance. PSAR said 34 active duty, reserve or veteran military families in San Diego County, who were first-time homebuyers, received a $1,500 grant for closing-cost assistance. The $51,000 PSAR grants program was a joint partnership with the California Association of Realtors’ Housing Affordability Fund. “PSAR was honored to give-back to our military community and provide closing-cost assistance to our hometown heroes and their families who were searching to find a place to call home,” said Robert Cromer, 2020 PSAR President.