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Archive for the 'Rancho Penasquitos' Category
Gretchen Pagnotta Top Real Estate Agent in San Diego Gets Client Review
“When we decided to look for a house in San Diego, we wanted to work with a realtor who would understand our particular concerns as we looked for a home on the west coast while still living on the east coast. We are so glad we found Gretchen!
Gretchen did an excellent job in understanding our needs and asked good questions around what we wanted in a home and community. Gretchen also carried out a number of pre-visits to look at potential homes even before we arrived in San Diego, knowing that we only had a limited time to view homes. When we finally arrived in San Diego, Gretchen came to our first meeting prepared with useful information and a spreadsheet of potential new homes outlining the pro and cons.
Gretchen showed a lot of patience while we figured out where we wanted to live. We never felt pressured. We did find our dream home in Rancho Santa Fe and Gretchen’s insights and knowledge were an extremely helpful part of the decision making process. We would definitely work with Gretchen again!”
Pete & Kally D.
I always enjoy hearing from my clients how I helped them in their home search and relocation to the San Diego Area. My successful San Diego relocation process ensures my clients find a great home in a community that fits their own lifestyle and needs. I start out with taking a full assessment of my client’s lifestyle. We discuss everything from hobbies, entertaining, lifestyle, new job, current and future home style needs.
I help them explore the new opportunities the San Diego’s climate offers. This may be the new idea of having more outdoor living spaces. It could include the proximity to local biking and hiking trails. I work with my clients to help them define what communities would work best for them. I take in to account the location of their future employer, their school needs and their housing desires and budget. I enjoy matching my client’s needs to the homes available in the community.
Let me be your guide. As a resident of the San Diego area for over 27 years and raising my sons in North Poway I have a full understanding of what this beautiful city has to offer new residents. Working together I can introduce you to your new neighborhood and the amenities that meet your family needs. My personal knowledge and successful real estate background is a perfect match for families relocating to the San Diego North County area. If you are looking for a home in the Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch, Rancho Penasquitos, 4S Ranch, Carmel Valley, Del Sur, Santaluz communities let me share with you my personal inside knowledge of these fantastic communities. We can explore both the new construction and the resale homes. I look forward to working with you. You can contact me at [email protected] or give me a call at (619) 846-3114.
Light Fixtures Adding Drama in Davidson Communities
Miraval and Arista Are Beautifully Decorated!
Davidson Communities has always had a repuatation for building and designing beautiful homes in San Diego. I recently toured 2 of their new products; Miraval and Arista, both located in North County. Miraval is minutes from Carmel Valley and Arista is in The Crosby gated community. The homes themselves were beautiful but the decorating was fabulous…fresh, innovative and full of style. What amazed me were the light fixtures which were everywhere…small lavatories had chandeliers, kitchens had multiple large fixtures, living rooms had oversized fixtures and the wall sconses…unbeliveable. Hope you enjoy these…and if you want a tour let me know! We save our buyers thousands in incentive credits when we negotiate new home sales! Remember the builder sales people are agents for the builder representing the builders best interests! I am one of the top agents in San Diego and want to help you finding the perfect home that you can add your personal style to!
- Gorgeous entry fixture
- Unique kitchen light fixture
- Beautiful fixture for an office
- Simply fabulous!
Santaluz Seller Gives Testimonial
Testimonial from Santaluz Seller

Hi Gretchen, Thanks for selling our home. We appreciate all your efforts and enjoyed working with you and Alan. We are sending a testimonial on our experience with working with you and Alan. I’d like to thank Gretchen and Alan for their real estate professionalism and expertise in marketing and selling our home, especially in this difficult market.We were anxious to move to our ranch and had our home listed previously for three years. When we listed our home with Gretchen and Alan, they sold it within six months. They truly know and understand our community and how to market it. We highly recommend Gretchen and Alan for anyone wanting to buy or sell their property. Thanks again for all your efforts. It was a pleasure working with you both.Don and Katie Bloom
If you have a home to sell in Santaluz or another San Diego North County Community we would like to share our proven Marketing Plan with you!!

5 Steps To Get Top Dollar For Your Home Step #4
Attention San Diego Home Sellers!! Tell me What You Want!
I have written 3 blogs on this subject in the past few weeks. So far we have covered:
2. Preparing the Home For Sale
Now I want some input from you the customer! I love that word, “customer”. I use it often when seeing all types of people that provide me with a service including my doctors. Many people use the term “clients” but my belief is that all salespeople need to treat the people who are considering giving them their business as “customers.” In order to do this effectively we need obtain information as well as provide information. So, San Diego homeowners here is your chance to let me (as well as other real estate agents that read this) what your expectations are in a real estate agent who you are considering contracting with to sell your property.
Let’s explore the following topics:
PRICING YOUR HOME
Most real estate agents review what is available, what is in escrow and what has sold in the neighborhood their seller lives in. My husband goes 3 steps beyond this and graphs median prices, averages and a standard deviation. We also have viewed all the homes that are currently on the market the so we can provide our sellers with accurate information on how those homes compare with location, features and upgrades. Many times we have also seen the homes that have closed escrow.
Do you feel as a seller you will rely on this information in arriving at a price or do you want an agent to take the figure you have decided to use based on your own opinions/research. Also are you familiar with what we call Value Range Pricing where a range is given; “Seller will entertain offers between $599,900-$649,900.”
STAGING YOUR HOME For A Sale
Do you have expectations that your agents will help council you in staging your home? Are you willing to move furniture, store some items and purchase some items if it will make your home sell faster. If so what would you consider a reasonable budget for this? WE routinely walk a home and make suggestions room by room, see my blog on staging. Staging may not bring you more money although statistics have shown in most cases it does but I can assure you it leads to more interest and a faster sale. Also do you think this is a skill real estate agents should have or do you think it is reasonable to pay for a consultation from a person who does this for a business?
PREPARING YOUR HOME FOR SHOWINGS
Showing instruction are stated in the MLS for agents to follow when they need to set a time to view a property.There are many ways to schedule showings. Homes can be shown with a lock-box where agents call the owner and if they do not reach them leave a message for a time they will show the home . The home can be shown with an “Appointment Only” where an agents who has the buyer must contact either the listing agent or the owner to set a specific time to show the home. They may then either use a lock box if one is allowed, be shown the home with an agent or seller. Some people believe the higher priced homes are shown by appointment with the listing agent but we actually see many luxury homes on a lock-box especially if they are vacant. As a seller what do you think would be your preferred method of having your home shown?
ADVERTISING YOUR HOME FOR SALE
Research has shown a very small percent of homes sell off of print ads. That said the weekend newspapers are full of print picture ads. As a seller what are your expectations of advertising your home? If you were a buyer how would you begin your home search?
INTERNET EXPOSURE IN SELLING YOUR HOME
The percentage of people searching the web and ending up buying a home from their searches keeps rising. Lets face it, we search for almost everything on line. The information is everywhere, Realtor,com, Trulia, individual websites, blog sites (your are reading this),zillow and the list goes on. Same question, if you as a seller were looking for a home where would you look? What are your expectations for your agents. Would you expect a virtual tour, exposure on the major search engines, U-Tube..tell me what your expectations would be.
COMMUNICATION THROUGHOUT THE LISTING
My husband and I pride ourselves on this topic. We communicate because time and time again our customers have told us they did not get adequate communication from a real estate agent they had formerly worked with. We like to discover what our sellers prefer, email or phone contact with updates. Updates include hits on the internet (Realtor.com makes it super easy), our personal websites, showing feedback, market activity and suggestions for price adjustments and objections to overcome. Your are in the drivers seat…how often would you like to hear from your agent and what information do you want them to provide and in what format?
OPEN HOUSES SELL HOUSES
So many times we hear that sellers think Open Houses” are good for the agent in bringing them buyers but not in selling their home. I agreed with this up until the Internet provided so much information. My husband and I hold regular open houses as we see so many buyers preferring to come to open houses once they have researched the Internet. Most have not established a loyal relationship with a real estate agent. We strongly feel it gives a seller a strong advantage to let their neighbors know their home is for sale and to take a peek. Neighbors can be a huge source of potential buyers as they tell their friends, business associates about a home for sale in their neighborhood. After all most people do like where they live! In addition it is a way for busy working people to view homes in neighborhoods they are considering without necessarily having to make an appointment with an agent. As a seller do you value or see the importance of Open Houses? Would you want them and at what frequency? Have you ever sold one of your homes from an Open House?
So these are some of the hot topics but please, don’t hold back! Tell us what you want when selling your home! Oh, and by the way we know you want to pay 1% but that was not part of the discussion. Just a reminder though on this subject. Commissions are negotiable with brokers. That said you will not get Nordstrom Service and Quality for Kmart pricing. You do however deserve the highest degree of service from full service brokers and that is why we want to hear from you, THE CUSTOMER! Email me!
If you live in Del Sur, 4S Ranch, Santaluz, Penasquitos, Poway or Rancho Bernardo and need to have an evaluation on the value of your home please let us know! No obligation!
For Market Trends in North County click here!
52 Weeks of Fun in San Diego: Week 1
I decided it would be great fun to feature all the great “happenings” and resources in San Diego. San Diego has so many great activities, events, shopping, restaurants and just plain fun things to do. So week by week I will highlight what I think people might like. I welcome your comments and feedback!
Family Fun for the Week in San Diego
Info taken from http://hotels.sandiego.org/-/hotel/99/official website is http://www.usopensandcastle.com/
US Open Sandcastle Competition
Sand Castles at Imperial Beach
619-424-6663
8/06/10 – 8/08/10
Date Night: Go to the Movies!
I recommend: The Kids are All Right
I saw this last weekend and loved it…great scenes, laugh and cry and relate…enjoy Director: Lisa Cholodenko – Cast: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson
Taking Care of Yourself Tip of the Week
Shopping Place of the Week in San Diego 
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Carlsbad Premium Outlet Mall with over 90 stores!!!
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Attention Home Owners! Enter my $500 Home Depot Drawing!
Could you use $500 to do a little project around you home? We want to give it to you!
If you could use a $500.00 Home Depot Gift Certificate enter our current drawing contest! Just complete the form below and return it to me. We will have a drawing on Labor Day. You must be a homeowner and complete the entire application to win. Your information will be kept confidential. We need a minimum of 350 entrees to have this happen so spread the word! If you would also like a complimentary estimate of value on your home or any sales statitics or real estate information let us know. We are here to earn your trust and business. Subscribe to our blog and let us know what you like about your neighborhood so we can share this with our customers! We sell, list, lease and trade properties in Escondido, Santaluz, DelSur,4s Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Scripps Ranch, Encinitas, Carlsbad, San Marcos, Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe!
RANCHO PENASQUITOS End of Month April 2010 Home Sales Stats
RANCHO PENASQUITOS End of Month April 2010 Home Sales Stats
Currently there are 66 homes for sale in Rancho Penasquitos ranging from $349,900 for 888 sq. ft. to $900,000 for 2668 sq.ft. The picture below is a list of the year to date home sales, please click for a larger view:
Seller Tip Of The Month:
Give your neighbors a chance to pick who buys your house. Holding an Open House usually attracts surrounding neighbors who will then tell their friends and family about your home.
Call us today at 760-715-0478 if you are thinking of selling your home. We would like to offer you a FREE market analysis of your home. You can also fill out the form below and we will contact you asap.
Best MLS Photo’s for RANCHO PENASQUITOS
Best View for Rancho Penasquitos Home for MLS photo this week
Wow, what a VIEW!!! Where is my glass of wine? Who Cares if I had a bad day when I could come home to this!!!!!!!! This home has 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2,579 square feet and is listed just under $799,000.
Best Cul-de-sac location for Rancho Penasquitos Home for MLS photo this week
This just looks like a “welcome home” house….What is it about 3 car garages that is so great???!!! This home has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2,284 square feet and is listed for $739,000. Read the rest of this entry »



























