On Christmas Eve, in the middle of the day, chaos ensued at the Whole Foods Market on University Avenue in San Diego. Too many shoppers, with too many cars, were creating gridlock/ Despite the valet parking service as well as the traffic control officers hired for the day, it was the price of doing food shopping that day at that store. On New Years Eve, in the middle of the day, the REI store on Copley Drive drew so many buyers that the check out line stretched around the store and held steady under the kayak section  and into the shoe section. The estimated wait time to reach a cashier was 35 to 40 minutes. On New Years Day, the Hotel del Coronado was not serving meals to non-guests. “We are not accepting walk-ins,” announced the hostess at the 1500 Ocean restaurant, “Only guests of the hotel are being served.”  These are all signs of consumption by consumers with confidence. Of course, this bodes well for how we perceive the economy and thus how we spend our money. In real estate, inventory is low in most neighborhoods. Along with interest rates at the lowest they  have ever been, this points to an improved value for existing homeowners.  For starters, 2012 bodes well.

Four years is a long time to wait for a home.  Neighbors of mine began the house search with me in 2007, initially focused in Coronado because of the excellent school system. Their adorable daughter referred to our house hunting  as “looking for a yard house”, because she was born & raised in a condominium.  After a 6-month search, they concluded Coronado inventory was too limited for what they needed. The next step was to sell their existing property, a luxury 3 bedroom condo on the 18th floor at Renaissance in downtown San Diego’s Marina District. The condo was completely remodeled in 2004 and offered views of the Pacific Ocean, San Diego Bay, Coronado, Point Loma & the downtown skyline. In the winter, snow-capped Cuyamaca Peak in the Laguna Mountains was clearly visible. Problem is, the market was soft back then for luxury property. To add insult to injury, the Renaissance filed a construction defect lawsuit against the developer, as is customary within the 10-year statute of limitations; Renaissance was built in 2002.  So, with a soft market, a lawsuit, plus time off the market for a 2nd baby, and time off the market during the holidays, we sold the condo in March of this year.  Now it was crunch time – with vigor we searched resale homes in Mission Hills, Point Loma, Carmel Valley & Del Mar, and then brand new construction in Del Sur and 4S Ranch. The resale's were attractive because they were move in ready. Brand new construction was essentially a customized home.  Despite a 9-month construction timeline, which meant they would have to rent a home until the new one was built, that is the path they chose. Del Sur’s highly-prized school system was the icing on the cake. So, four years later, we closed escrow on their beautiful “yard home”.  Thus begins an exciting  chapter for this young family in a brand new home in time for the holidays.

I recently took a trip up the coast of California and on the way, stopped and visited each of the 21 Missions.  The history of California is evident at each of the Missions, which provided people with much more than religion and worship; indeed, they acted as outposts for food in a remote land, which ran parallel in time with the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Most of these structures have been extensively rebuilt or remodeled . It is not a surprise, then,  to learn that the Vatican has established a new commission to evaluate and approve the construction of Roman Catholic churches.  Prompted by a large number of garage-style churches and other boldly-shaped structures that have little resemblance to a church, the commission’s goal will be to promote spaces that elicit an emotional response. Not unlike homes, where nurture, comfort and warmth are readily provided, churches are places of worship that should call out to the congregation, beckoning and welcoming with a strong sense of familiarity. The commission will be in charge of evaluating construction projects for churches of various dioceses. Regulations will be drafted and offer precise instructions to these dioceses.  The architecture will reflect the purpose of the Catholic Mass, so a cookie cutter approach to design is not the goal. Raising the bar on architecture is a noble call.

I’ve just returned from a road trip that took me through almost all of California, and here are a couple quick observations:

A small sports car is more fun to drive on tight, curvy roads like the Big Sur coast than driving an SUV (or help me, a minivan).

Don’t buy a business alongside a highway in a remote area, especially a restaurant, because there are a lot of long-vacant and decaying structures that appeared to have housed a business in a remote area, right alongside a highway.

Starbucks is the universal symbol of life, almost like a mirage in the desert. Your eyes get trained to seek out the Starbucks green logo wherever you go.

San Diego, L.A., Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Carmel, San Francisco, Marin, Napa, Yosemite – all these places are thriving, with people spending money seemingly without concern. After speaking with REALTORS in these areas, and reviewing real estate pricing and advertising, it appears these are all healthy and many have held strong at the luxury end of the spectrum. Parts of the central valley, as well as the far east bay, appear to be wilting in their business districts – a likely sign that too many strip malls and too many shopping centers were built during the boom years, and offered too little diversity from mall to mall. These wilting areas also have a significant amount of land and open space to build upon yet. It is true about location….

For buyers on the sidelines, weighing concerns about the economy, Wall Street, the Euro and beyond, please consider the following facts:

Return on Investment from January 1, 2000 through May 1, 2011 has been 17% positive in the Dow, -2.2% negative in the S&P, -27.1 % negative in NASDAQ, and a whopping 55.1% positive return on investment in San Diego Real Estate. (sourcing: Case Shiller, MSN Money.com)

Here ye, here ye! 

The national economy continues to gurgle and wallow in less than absolute terms.  Media talking heads and would-be politicos jockeying for survival keep shouting the story over and over. Who is to blame? Certainly heads should roll, our leaders run out from office, & company CEO’s kicked out of the boardroom for such dismal whining and hedging.  But why does it seem such a different story at the local level – why are the restaurants packed with happy smiley people, and the stores, (especially TARGET), bustling with cars and people there to spend, spend, spend?  I think it’s because we have conformed to a new reality of what the economy is all about. There are enough employed folks, in the ranks out there working harder and longer as ever, because the corporate model has figured out what works beautifully for them. But, not so great for the individual worker and definitely not encouraging when talking about the Unemployment Rate.  Here is the new reality:  you are working a job that should be employing 2, maybe even 3, different people.  Profits are fabulous, all that cash is SO GREEN, and the corporations are strong and solid.  Here is my suggestion to create jobs and see a huge reduction in the unemployment rate: 

American Corporations, please Hire American workers. 

Not to create jobs for jobs sake, but, to allow your existing brain trust, your current staff and workforce, to more efficiently and accurately handle their jobs, rather than downsize and allow attrition to make 2 former positions in to 1 position.   That’s my solution. This weeks announcement that BofA will operate with 30,000 less workers only means one thing:  get ready for additional work, stress and unhappiness remaining BofA employees.  Sorry to say.

Do the right thing Corporate!  Hire, hire, hire! And then, hire some more. Help build this country up again!