The San Diego Real Estate Blog

Encinitas Octoberfest Draws Big Crowd

The 13th annual Encinitas Otoberfest was held this past Sunday September 23rd and had just about everything for every age. This Encinitas Realtor attended several years in a row and been rather underwhelmed but this year was particularly unique. Vendors had lot to offer and there were lots of them. The crowd was fun and great to watch and the food was awesome and authentic.

Activities ranged from face painting, jewelry exhibits, food varieties from Vagillucci's Italian restaurant, Mexican food, Brauts and beer and dancing to a great oompa band that kept people hopping all day. A huge tent housed the food area with foods by famous Tip Top Meats while Mountain Vista was lined up and down with vendors from Encinitas Karate, Navy Seals, Encinitas BMW, unique beach art, paintings and face paintings. The booth I thought was of special note was the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce booth with their new t-shirts, coffee mugs, maps and other logo branded goodies. Honestly Encintias is truly on board to compete head to head with other cities with their new image campaign. If you haven't seen it, you'll want to check it out. The t-shirts make great gifts.

Another attraction of note was the Firefly Grill & Wine Bar strategically perched above street level with outside tables. The tables were full from early lunch till wrap time around 5 with patrons relaxing and watching the crowds. The video recap of the Encinitas Octoberfest can be seen here or on my website at www.MickeySellsHomes.com . With the weather turning cool and the temperatures about as perfect as they get here in Southern California, the Octoberfest and happenings in and around the area are just going to get better through the end of November. Have fun!

Buyers take your mark, go!

That fence has been getting pretty heavy. There's been lots of buyers on it for some time now and there's no reason in this Encinitas Realtor's opinion, not to think about buying a home now that the Federal Reserve has cut the interest rates by a half point. Pardon me for saying it but, thanks to the Fed for doing something! It's a move we'll watch observantly because of how it was done. This type of cut is more for helping credit card and home equity line of credit borrowers who's rate is tied to this type of cut. Mortgage interest rates are tied to the bond market. When it goes up rates go down.

I had an open house at my single story 1800sf super fixed up listing in South Encinitas on Sunday and no less than 18 sets of buyers showed up. It's a range price of $679,000 to $739,000 (yes we have ranges in San Diego). I've never been more slammed trying to answer questions and meet everyone. I kept asking and trying to figure out why so many people were there and after talking to many of them discovered they believed the market was about to turn. Hey, I knew something might happen if the Fed dropped rates 1/4 point but SURPRISE (it's your birthday!) have one of these 1/2 point cupcakes.  If anything's going to do it it's a lowering of interest rates and it will certainly help reduce inventory here in North County San Diego and help buyers get off the fence and start looking again.

We're a bit inventory deficient with single stories right now and I've got two of them (one with fabulous lagoon view in Aviara) that's about to come up and one in Encinitas with hand pounded copper sinks, new travertine, Hans Grohe faucets, new kitchen and baths. The sub-prime crisis has eliminated 1/3 of the buyer pool and it's been a tooth and nail battle with every listing fighting it out for market positioning. If the interest rates bring out the buyers and the inventory begins to decrease we might have some balance, something we've not had here in San Diego for quite some time.  I'll let you know what next weeks open houses bring.