Archive for the 'Carlsbad schools' Category
“Old” Carlsbad positively leads the cities housing market
September 14th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Business Community, Carlsbad City, Carlsbad Real Estate, Carlsbad South, Carlsbad Village, Carlsbad schools
CARLSBAD-Of Carlsbad’s four zip codes, 92008, 92009, 92010 and92011, the best real estate data are coming from the “old” area of the city.
The San Diego Union Tribune reported on data from DataQuick this weekend that approximately two-thirds of sellers lost money when selling their home.
For Carlsbad, the 92008 “village” zip code had the lowest rate of homes sold for a loss in the city and was in the top 6 for the entire county. From June 22 through August 22, there was a total of 40 transactions of which 10 were for a loss. Additionally, when looking at detached homes, 92008 has the second best affordabilty of 15% which is double from its last year mark of 7%.
Turning our attention towards 92010, in the same data used revealed that the 92010 had the lowest difference on median price from previous sale of 6.9%. This is also the fifth lowest for the entire county. To put this number in perspective, the area hardest hit, Golden Hills, had a median loss of 55% which translates to a return of only $45,000 for every $100,000 in initial purchase price. The other areas of Carlsbad saw approximately twice as much loss at approximately 13.7%.
In more good news for the area, 92010 maintains its position as the most affordable area of the city at 16% for detached homes and just over 26% 
when combined with attached homes.
The 92011 zip code was not included in the article. The study was done on zip codes wth 10 or more transactions during this two month period and with 60 closed transactions, 92011 should have been included. I have contacted the author to see if I could get an explanation.
Contact me any time, I am here to help.
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Carlsbad’s new high school to be delayed
August 27th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Business Community, Carlsbad Community Events, Carlsbad Outdoor Events, Carlsbad schools
CARLSBAD– Starting back in the 90’s Carlsbad initiated a habit plan in the Calavera Hills Preserve for the California gnatcatcher. More recently an 
area in the southeast section of the Calavera Hills area was designated a habitat area for the least Bell’s vireo. This area was part of a mitigation plan for the recent development of Calavera Hills and Robertson Ranch project.
The good news is the habitat efforts seem to be working as two nests for the vireo as well as gnatcatcher were recently found in the designated habitat area and in an adjacent property currently used for farming.
The bad new is that this property is the site of and adjacent property designated for the new high school Carlsbad voters approved in proposition P.
In what for me, a Carlsbad homeowner and supporter of Prop P, can only be summed up as “you’ve got to be kidding me”, the success of these habitat programs and proximity to a major aspect of the school site is now delaying the construction of the new high school and may alter the planned facilities permanently. It is very surprising that this habitat and its potential impact was seemingly not taken into account when designing and spending Prop P money on the development of the site plan. Between the fencing and signage 
the boundaries of the habitat are very apparent. I could absolutely understand if the district released a best case site plan and a separate contingent site plan. However I can find no evidence that this was done.
The school district on August 18th released their own statement regarding this ‘new‘ information and its possible effects on the construction. Firstly, there will be a delay in construction of approximately a year which they believe will add approximately 3–4% to construction costs. Additionally, I would predict construction cost may as be effected if there are mitigation costs and site adjustments that will need to be added to the site to help maintain these habitat sites. Secondly, there will most like be changes made to the facilities planned for the site with the possibility that the proposed football stadium will have to be cut from the plans.
“The district may have to abandon plans to build a football stadium at the new campus. According to site plans, the visitors’ bleachers border the least Bell vireo nesting sites.
“There’s obviously concerns about lighting and noise, because bleachers (during sporting events) are very noisy,” (Elisa)Williamson said.– SD Union Tribune, 8/16/2008
However, we need only to look at our new golf course to see how quickly construction costs can escalate because of time delays, habitat expenses and site changes.
Originally the Carlsbad municipal golf course was projected to cost $10 - $15 million. In 2005 when the Carlsbad City Council finally went ahead and moved forward with final construction, they were told the project’s costs would be $37 million. When actually completed late last year and opened for play, the costs had ballooned to (approximately)$63 million.– San Diego Institute For Policy Research, 2/28/2008
While walking my golden retriever, Dave, yesterday out in the Calavera area we came across two different areas where sound tests were being conducted. They seemed to be set up to monitor road noise from the Cannon College interchange. I have a call in to the school district to get further information about the sound testing and if they plan to simulate stadium noise in order to determine the potential impact.
What was Dr. Roach’s, Carlsbad school district superintendent, feelings about these developments?
It’s not surprising. The city created a special habitat there for the bird after Corky McMillin Cos. upset least Bell’s vireo habitat at its nearby Robertson Ranch housing project, Roach said. McMillin paid the city to establish the habitat as part of a mitigation agreement, he said. – SD Union Tribune, 8/16/2008
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Carlsbad’s 92010 most affordable housing in city
June 24th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad Business Community, Carlsbad Real Estate, Carlsbad east, Carlsbad schools
CARLSBAD–The plus side of the current real estate market is that affordability is increasing as housing prices decrease. I can remember not too many years ago, Carlsbad residence were expressing concern that their children would be priced out of their own city. Well times are changing and it may be time for you to get in the game.
The HOMEDEX report provided to local realtors such as myself, reports that the affordability rate in Carlsbad’s 92010 nearly doubled for single family detached homes since the same time in 2007.
Affordability is defined by this report as 20% down with the payment not exceeding 33% of the household income.
If you are in the market for an attached home,Carlsbad’s 92009 has the highest affprdability rate.
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Carlsbad 2008 school rankings announced
May 22nd, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad City, Carlsbad Community Events, Carlsbad schools
CARLSBAD– The state rankings for California were published today in the North County Times and while Carlsbad schools tested well, there were a couple surprises.
When looking at the overall district API score of 829, the district ranked third behind Encinitas and Poway Unified. As a realtor, I have been paying attention to these numbers for quite sometime and these three districts are always battling in the top three.
The surprises to me were how low Pacific Rim, Calavera Elementary and Carlsbad High School fell from year to year in the comparison to similar school rankings. Pac Rim went from 10 to 3, Calavera from 8 to 3 and the high school from an 8 to a 2!!! The cool thing about data is the spin factor. In the spin, on a test where 1000 is perfect, Pac Rim scored 909, Calavera 837 and the high school a 775. The high school score is not that great but 
until you compare it to the test scores around the county.
I spoke with the new principal of Pacific Rim Robert Devich about the scores. He told me that the similar schools score is taken from a comparison of 100 schools. The that define schools are number of students, number of free lunches, demographics and number of second language students.
To is credit, he did not spin me and while agreeing that test scores are high, he felt strongly that the similar school’s score was a very important 
indicator as to the health of the school.
His reasoning for the shift in the ranking was essentially that the school had a high number of students that, while scoring high in the past did not in 2007. The reasons for this, he believed, belonged to the leadership of the school and the culture they create. With this being his first year, and coming from Kelly school which stayed at a 10 from the previous year, he felt 100% confident that he will turn that 3 score around.
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Carlsbad 3 bedroom contractor special
April 15th, 2008 Categories: Carlsbad City, Carlsbad Outdoor Events, Carlsbad Real Estate, Carlsbad schools
CARLSBAD– Here you go, the contractor/ sweat equity special you have been waiting for!!! 
This home listed by Windemere Exclusive Properties, features 3 bedroom, 2.5 baths with a pool on a 8000 square foot lot. The home sits just above Aqua Hedionda lagoon and one block, Laguna Riviera park, from Kelly Elementary school.
This project being offered at $459,000. If you are interested in viewing this home contact me, Brian Long at 760–415–3329 or follow this link.
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