As one of the premier resorts in the United States, the La Costa Resort put about $50M in renovations into the property in 2011 to ensure that they continue to offer the best amenities available!

With upgraded rooms, improvements to the pool, kids’ club, the spa, and the golf course, La Costa Resort has focused on remaining a top notch family destination – some times even being a local hang out for La Costa family staycations!

Due to the economy, and increased vacancies in high end hotels, this might be a great time to treat your family to a weekend of luxury – in your own back yard!  They are offering specials with some packages being as low as $325/night – including up to $280 in resort credits!!!!

For more information, visit The La Costa Resort.

Home Amenities:

• 3684 square feet
• 5 Bedrooms
• Bonus Room
• 4.5 Baths
• Outdoor Courtyard and Deck
• 3 Car Garage
• Front and back yard landscaping included (NOT typical in new construction)
• Upgraded wood flooring
• Gourmet kitchen with granite counter tops, and Bosch stainless steel appliances
• Access to La Costa Oaks amenities (clubhouse, two pools, fitness center, playgrounds)
• Encinitas and San Dieguito school districts

If you or someone you know may be looking for a fabulous home in La Costa Oaks, contact us!

On Thursday, January 26th at 6:30pm, there will be a City Wide Trails Presentation in the clubhouse.  Liz Katabian, Park Planner with the City of Carlsbad will be talking about the walking trails in the La Costa Oaks neighborhood as well as the citywide trail system in Carlsbad.

Maps of the trails will be shared at the meeting and they are available in the recreation office also.

This is a great opportunity to hear more about what is happening in your neighborhood, but also to meet your neighbors!  We’re hoping to attend on Thursday night, and hope to see you there too!

This year, we met up with some friends, and went down to Flemings in La Jolla at the Aventine.  It was FABULOUS!  The food was wonderful, and the ambiance was heavenly.

San Diego Restaurant Week started a few years ago as a once a year event designed to bring extra traffic in during the slowest times of the year for restaurants.  It has now expanded to a three times a year event – with many restaurants now making it Restaurant (Two) Weeks.  The next San Diego Restaurant Week continues through Friday, January 27th.

For those of you who have never tried it – I can’t recommend it enough. Select San Diego restaurants create a special three course menu – with their meal being either $20, $30, or $40 for your appetizer, entree, and dessert.  You always end up overeating – but you try so many things you might not have otherwise!

For a complete list, visit the San Diego Restaurant Week website.  Reservations are strongly encouraged, as many restaurants are full well in advance – especially some of the San Diego premier restaurants such as Mille Fleurs, Marine Room, and Bertrand at Mister A’s!

Even if you aren’t running in the Tri City Medical Center Carlsbad Marathon and Half Marathon, you might want to be aware of the event, and avoid certain parts of town.  Please click here for a complete list of road closures for Sunday.

The marathon starts at Plaza Camino Real on Sunday, January 22nd at 6 am, and the Carlsbad Half Marathon starts at 7:30 am in the same location – Westfield Plaza Camino Real.  The Health and Lifestyle Expo will be running from 7 am to 12 pm.  This is always a fun event – especially if the weather is good!

The La Costa Greens Presidio Club House
Tennis Courts
A Luxury Fitness Facility
A Competition Swimming Pool
Community Playgrounds
Community Walking Trails
Community Grills

In addition to all of these community amenities, Viridian at La Costa Greens is also on the La Costa golf course.

Viridian homes are between 2,800 and 4,200 square feet, starting with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 baths (with the three bedroom homes having either a bonus room or an optional fourth bedroom), going as high as five bedrooms, with a cabana for private living.

The Viridian at La Costa Greens homes are part of the prestigious, high ranking Carlsbad Union School District, going to Poinsettia Elementary School and Carlsbad High School.

Living in La Costa Greens will give you access to  some of the premier shopping, restaurants, fitness centers, and entertainment.

If you are interested in buying or selling a La Costa Home, contact The Mewborn Team.  We are experienced, full time agents, that live in La Costa and are La Costa area experts.

Crust doesn’t deliver yet, but it is supposedly in their plans.  Crust Pizzeria is located at 3263 Camino De Los Coches, in the Henry’s Shopping Center, near Stagecoach Park.  Their food is good, with upscale, gourmet pizza.  They are still working out some of the service kinks, but we’d still strongly recommend giving them a try.  If their worst problem is that they have been so successful and popular that they can’t always manage the busyness, that only speaks to the popularity of the restaurant!  We LOVE the Ana and the Monique (two of their red pizzas).

They host Happy/”Social” hour on Monday through Friday from 4-6 pm with food and beverage discounts.

As of right now, according to the Union Tribune, the district currently has a shortfall of about $7.8 million, down from over $11 million earlier this year.  The previous cuts came from reductions in administrative jobs, as well as travel and conference costs.  The school board is also looking at reductions in employee salaries, with negotiations beginning last month.  But it seems that there just aren’t enough reduction options.

So, the Carlsbad Unified school board is looking at potentially closing two schools – Carlsbad Village Academy and Buena Vista Elementary School.  These two schools spend between $2,350 and $2,500 per student per year – this is over $900 more than Carlsbad High School.  Currently there are about 470 students that would have to be redistricted to other schools.

The board believes that by closing the schools, the district would save at least $1 million in the 2012 school year.  How will this affect you?  It may affect you in a number of ways.  First, if your child currently attends one of those schools, they would be redistricted to another local school.  If your child does not attend either Buena Vista Elementary or Carlsbad Village Academy, but one of the other Carlsbad schools, a school closure will likely mean larger class sizes in the remaining schools.

Ultimately, the school district will have to make a tough decision – how to balance a budget with declining revenues.  If you would like to know more, there will be a school board meeting on January 11th at 6 pm at City Hall at 1200 Carlsbad Village Drive to discuss creating a panel to investigate the possible Carlsbad school closures.

If you have any questions on how this may affect your property values, please feel free to contact The Mewborn Team.

Catch opened in Carlsbad Village in November, and is already becoming a community favorite hang out.  With a cool, sleek, aquarium like decor, it has a bit of a different feel than the dark, heavy, warm feel of Paon.  However, they brought one of their best features – great wine – with all glasses being $7 and all bottles being $24.

Catch features a sushi bar, a full dinner menu – complete with steak, fresh seafood cooked in a variety of ways, clams, mussels, and more!

If you happen to be looking for one of the hot new places – try Catch!  It’s a great addition to the Carlsbad Village restaurant scene!

As of the end of October, the median San Diego home price was down to about $357,000 from $364,000 in September. Overall, San Diego home prices are down about 7.1% since last October.

As most home owners are seeing in their neighborhoods, the largest single influence in our prices right now are due to distressed sales. Any time a home goes into a short sale or foreclosure, those homes tend to sell at a lower price, ultimately bringing all of our home values down.

Foreclosures in particular tend to drastically lower prices – with many foreclosures selling for a full 10-20% less than its non-foreclosed upon neighbor.

As less distressed properties hit the market, we will start to return to more normal sale prices – and that is when home values will start to rebound. If you, or someone you know, owns a home that you are not able to continue making payments on, please contact us to discuss a short sale. A short sale will look more favorably on your credit report, as well as your neighbors’ home values.