Be sure to read our newest article about what makes Coronado real estate so great:

Coronado Real Estate: 5 Reasons Why It May Be the World’s Best

For the last five years, owners of California real estate have been hitting the ball out of the appreciation ballpark. Yes, a real estate market on steroids.

California

California is heavily populated from north to south along the coastline, but they state offers significantly different ecologies. In Northern California, one is much more likely to see signs of the four seasons, get cold temperatures and more historic feel in locations such as San Francisco. Southern California, on the other hand, has an extremely moderate climate with temperatures rarely dipping below 60 degrees even in the winter. Rainfall is also scant with San Diego receiving roughly 11 inches a year. If you are considering moving to California, there are two constants throughout the state.

Traffic

So many people have moved to the state that traffic can be a real issue even on weekends. Los Angles traffic is legendary, but San Francisco and San Diego have their own congestion problems.

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are a constant throughout the state as the San Andres Fault bisects much of the state. Earthquakes happen all of the time, but they are typically very small. If you live in California for more than a month, you won’t even notice them.

Beaches, Sun and Culture

There are serious benefits to living in California. Foremost, of course, are the beaches. If the thought of spending weekends and evenings on the beach appeals to you, this is the place. You’ll pay a premium for it, but there is nothing like it. For example, the temperature in San Diego on October 5, 2005, the day I am writing this, is 79 degrees!

California Real Estate

California is an incredible place to live and real estate prices reflect it. Single-family home prices average as follows for the three major metropolitan areas - $620,000 for San Diego, $1,300,000 for central San Francisco and $750,000 for central Los Angeles. As a general rule, the closer the home is to the ocean, the more it will cost.

As shocking as the prices are, the rate of appreciation is downright impossible to believe. In the last 12 months, California real estate has appreciated over 25 percent. For a 500,000 home, that is a gain of $125,000 in 12 months. Steroids indeed!

Real estate is all about location, location, location. While this is certainly a cliché, there is no doubt it is true in California.

Raynor James is with http://www.fsboamerica.org - FSBO homes for sale by owner. Visit our “sell my home” page at http://www.fsboamerica.org/seller.cfm to sell your home yourself with a free 1 month listing.

The Southern California city of San Diego has all the attractions of a big city with the tropical feel of the coast. Covering nearly 350 square miles with over 1.2 million residents, the city has much to offer in all aspects of life. These offerings extend to the real estate field, which is good news to those who are looking to buy or sell a home. The population is growing as well, meaning more people need to buy San Diego real estate. If you are looking to sell your home in this seaside city, you have endless options.

First Things First

When first considering selling your home, you will want to set up an appointment with a qualified professional to have a San Diego home evaluation done. This process will take into account various factors and give you the estimated market value of your home. The value you get from your home evaluation will help you determine what you should list as your initial asking price for your home. This can be one of the most important things you do as you sell your home for a number of reasons. Many people try to estimate their home’s value on their own and then formulate their own asking price. While this may work sometimes, it many times leads to frustration as the asking price is much higher than what should be listed due to market trends, etc. This then causes the homeowners to drastically slash their prices, causing the home to sell for much less than it should. To avoid this kind of trouble, take the time to get a home evaluation done.

What Counts?

When performing your San Diego home evaluation, your professional will take a number of things into account. These include:

• Size of the home (in square feet)

• Age of the home

• Intricacy and uniqueness of design

• Quality of materials

• Number of bedrooms and bathrooms

• Specialty rooms (not found in an average home)

• Amenities such as a swimming pool or fireplace

• Amount of acreage the home is on and the condition it is in

In addition to these physical factors, there are other things that are beyond your control that will be taken into account as well. The actual location of your home in your neighborhood and its proximity to local attractions and business centers, the quality of local schools, and even the employment rate may be factored in to your home’s final market value.

One quick note about online home evaluations: there are many websites that offer a home evaluation online if you enter information similar to that listed above. While these pages can be used for reference, a final San Diego home evaluation should be performed in person by a qualified professional.

Once you have the results from your San Diego home evaluation, sit down with a realtor and discuss where to go from there. Once you take into consideration selling costs and other expenses (real estate agent’s fees, etc.), you will be able to accurately formulate a fair asking price for your home. This will attract many more buyers from your market and will lead to a quicker sale of your home.

Inside Real Estate in a network entirely devoted to real estate information. Our staff of nationwide writers has provided a library of over 25,000 real estate articles. Inside Real Estate covers several topics from the basic “how to’s” of real estate to city specific real estate information.