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March 27, 2001 The median price of a San Diego home in February was $285,920, up 16.3 percent from February 2000 and 1.3 percent from January. Sales activity decreased 19.4 percent from February 2000, and was down 1 percent from January.
Those figures were presented in a monthly report by the California Association of Realtors and Real Estate Solutions. Sales of existing homes in California in February fell 13.3 percent and the median home price rose 8.1 percent compared to the same period a year ago, the report says.
"Home prices continued to increase in February from a year ago, and were virtually unchanged compared to January," says CAR President Gary Thomas. "Despite consumers' concerns about the direction of the economy, the housing market in California continues to hold steady."
Closed escrow sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled 486,370 in February at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, according to information collected by CAR from more than 90 Multiple Listing Services statewide.
Statewide home resale activity decreased 13.3 percent from the 560,700 sales pace recorded in February 2000, and resale activity posted a decrease of 4.3 percent in February compared to January.
The statewide sales figure represents what the total number of homes sold during 2001 would be if sales maintained the February pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically influence home sales.
The median price of an existing, single-family detached home in California during February 2001 was $245,560, compared with $227,160 median for February 2000, CAR reported.
"Sales declined in February due in part to a combination of mixed signals on the national economic front, including a fairly dramatic decrease in consumer confidence," says Leslie Appleton-Young, CAR's v.p. and chief economist. "However, the February 2000 sales volume was one of the highest on record, so it’s not surprising that sales fell this year in comparison."
Among the highlights of the February localized data collected by CAR and Real Estate Solutions:
• Statewide, the 10 cities and communities with the highest median home prices in California during February 2001 were: Malibu, $1,149,000; Beverly Hills, $1,085,000; Pacific Palisades, $776,000; La Jolla, $741,500; Manhattan Beach, $680,000; Palos Verdes Estates, $660,000; Carmel/Pebble Beach, $656,250; Moraga, $655,000; Coronado, $632,750; Orinda, $622,500.
• Statewide, the 10 cities and communities with the greatest median home price increases in February 2001 compared to the same period a year ago were: Malibu, Yucca Valley, Fallbrook, Imperial Beach, Marina, Ojai, Brea, Palmdale, Lawndale and Lemon Grove.
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Hughes Network Systems in Sorrento Mesa is completing tests for an overseas satellite phone network that is scheduled to be in operation beginning in April, says Jim Gandolfi, v.p. and g.m. of HNS' San Diego Division.
Gandolfi says HNS engineers in San Diego developed a satellite phone handset on behalf of Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co., based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
HNS is under contract to deliver more than 200,000 satellite phones to Thuraya in 2001, Gandolfi says.
The phone will offer voice, fax, data, messaging and location determination through a regional coverage area spanning Europe, North and Central Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.
HNS' satellite phone measures 5 inches tall, 2 inches wide and .083 inches deep and weighs only 4.7 ounces with a standard lithium ion battery.
Features include built-in speakerphone, headset adapter for hands-free operation and an internal modem capability for PC data and fax services plus browser capability which supports Internet-based information services.
Talk time capabilities are up to four hours or up to 220 hours of stand-by time.
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San Diego State University's Entrepreneurial Management Center has added two new awards to this year’s Venture Challenge business plan competition.
The Golden Phone award will be given to the student team with the best "telephone pitch" to investors, and the Craig P. Dunn award will be awarded to the team with the most social innovation in entrepreneurship.
The Golden Phone Award honors one team from each of the Venture Challenge's five different tracks of competition, and requires the student CEO or lead team member to provide a "telephone pitch" to investors and entrepreneurs.
One team from each track is selected to receive the award based on the ability of the team's representative to convey a focused explanation and justification for the business and why it is worthy of an investment of private equity.
The five teams that "convey" the worthiness of the venture will be awarded $1,000 and a golden phone trophy that symbolizes their telephone pitching success.
This year’s judges include: Leslie DeBauge, v.p. of Greenbridge Capital; Darius Sankey, partner, Zone Ventures; Jonathan Huberman, general partner, Idanta Partners Ltd.; Robert Mills, partner from The Egan Group; and Arther Klausner, partner, Domain Associates LLC.
The Craig P. Dunn Award for social innovation in entrepreneurship recognizes the business plan that best incorporates the consideration of human, societal and/or environmental impacts as an part of their business strategy.
Sponsored by Craig P. Dunn, an associate professor at SDSU's College of Business Administration, this $1,000 award honors the plan that addresses the issue of social justice by providing documented benefit(s) to the least-advantaged organizations.
"These two new opportunities allow us to reward the teams that excel in specific areas of new venture creation," says Sanford Ehrlich, executive director of the EMC. "The Golden Phone Award puts the contestants in a real world situation, while the Craig P. Dunn Award shows that this competition has support not only from the local and regional high-tech, bio-tech and professional services communities, but also educational and social institutions as well."
Student teams consisting of MBA students from universities worldwide will present their business plans from April 10 through April 13 at the Hilton San Diego Mission Valley.
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Just because some of the top bicycle track racers in the U.S. will be competing at the American Velodrome Challenge at the San Diego Velodrome doesn’t mean local riders will be left out.
Josiah Ng, the Malaysia National Sprint Champion who lives in Oceanside, is looking forward to the challenge. "There are a lot of good track racers coming, but I still think I have a good chance at winning."
The 21-year old Ng who began racing when he was 15, will be competing full-time this year, sponsored by the Malaysia government. "It’s a big honor,” he says. “My goal is to compete in the 2004 Olympics."
Another local rider who hopes to do well is Lt. Martha Dunne, a 30-year old Navy helicopter pilot. In 2000, Dunne was named Navy Woman Athlete of the Year.
"I don’t like to make predictions," she says of her racing. "I just try to ride the best I can." Dunne will be competing in both the match sprints and the 500 meter time trial, for which she is the current California State Champion.
Other local rides to watch are:
• Stan Bunn - U.S. Masters National Madison Champion.
• Peter Coulson - Australian Junior National Champion who lives in Carlsbad.
• Sarah Hammer - 17 years old who lives in Temecula but trains at the San Diego Velodrome. Sarah is a multi-U.S. National Champion as well as a World Championships medalist.
• Steve Hegg - 1984 Olympic Champion and multi-U.S. National Champion.
• Angela Martorell - 18 years old from Bonita who is Mexico National Champion.
• Shaun Wallace - World record holder and three-time Olympian .
The challenge is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 31 and at 11 a.m. April 1. The velodrome is in Morley Field at Balboa Park. Admission is free.
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Ramesh Jain, CEO of Praja, is making an expanded essay he wrote for the March issue of Communications of the ACM available online along with a next-generation search software demo.
In the publication, more than 50 essays were authored by thought leaders ranging from Ray Kurzweil and Ann Winblad to Robert Cringley.
Both the demo and Jain's article can be viewed from the Praja Web site at www.praja.com/experience.
His piece, "Digital Experience" discussed the evolution of the Internet, culminating in his vision of the future, as the Web becomes a mechanism for immersive, digital experiences.
"In my essay, I examine the evolution of human communication from spoken languages to the Internet and explain the certain developments that will move us into true virtual reality, then beyond into 'real reality,'” he says “The video game market gets a lot of credit for creating virtual entertainment environments. Slowly, the infrastructure that will help create true immersive virtual realities is being put into place. We’ve made great progress with powerful computers, enhanced bandwidth, force-feedback devices, imaging software and graphics acceleration hardware. Soon, we’ll see consumer technology that will help us jump to the next phase.
Jain is a world-renowned pioneer in multimedia information systems, image databases, machine vision, and intelligent systems. An entrepreneur and a research scientist, he founded Virage, a San Mateo-based company developing video search and media management solutions.
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Talk.com, a communications provider that offers all-in-one telecom services, has begun providing San Diego residents with fixed-price packages of local and long-distance telephone service including unlimited features such as call waiting and voice mail.
The service is part of the company’s California marks the 13th state where Talk.com offers local and long distance to residents and small businesses, complementing millions who already use Talk's established nationwide long distance network.
Now, Pacific Bell customers can choose their phone service. Here’s a pricing comparison:
Pacific Bell Simple Solutions
Unlimited Local — $39.95
Expanded Toll Calling — $24.95
Unlimited Features — Included
Voicemail — Included
200 Min. LD — $14
Total: $78.90
TALK.com
Unlimited Local — $58.95
Expanded Toll Calling — Included
Unlimited Features — Included
Voicemail — Included
200 Min. LD — Included
Total: $58.95
Pacific Bell does not currently offer long-distance service, Talk.com includes long distance in its bundled offer. LD is calculated at 7 cents per minute for like comparison. Based on prices as of yesterday for California consumers.
"We are simplifying phone service at every stage of the process, from seamless signup, to 'one-stop-shop' services and customer support around the clock," says Gabe Battista, chairman and CEO of Talk.com. “Talk.com gives consumers a smarter alternative to the competition's 'one size fits all' approach by accommodating customers' calling needs at exceptional savings and value without sacrificing reliability and quality."
Talk.com has added local service to its offerings, after 10 years as a long distance provider, serving up to 1.5 million customers nationwide.
Services include unlimited local and regional calling, 200 free minutes of standard long distance each month and unlimited features such as call waiting, caller ID and voice mail.
Customers are able to log on to Talk.com and view billing information within one hour of making a call.
For more information, visit the company online at: www.talk.com.
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The UC Planning Group and the Golden Triangle Chamber present “Government is Your Business,” a seminar on April 6 that will cover traffic, medians, trolley and Coaster issues and community projects including the library and future of Doyle Park.
Councilman Scott Peters is the guest master of ceremony. Hosts are Alice Tana, chair of the University City Planning Group, and Mike Sedloff, president of the Chamber. Invited speakers include: Steve Celniker, city of San Diego traffic engineer; Mark Thompson, Metropolitan Transit Development Board; Steve Yates, city of San Diego landscape maintenance; Sonya Chambers-Ollison, city parks and recreation.
The seminar is from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, 4126 Executive Drive. RSVP by April 1 to Patty Colburn at (858) 458-8364 or e-mail ucpg@hotmail.com.
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Qualcomm Inc. announced that 3G Investments (Australia) Pty Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm, has been awarded 2x10 MHz licenses in the Australian third-generation wireless spectrum auctions.
Qualcomm plans to immediately begin preparations to deploy cdma2000 1x/1xEV networks with commercial 3G service expected in 2002.
Qualcomm won the licenses at the Australian Communications Authority-set minimum reserve price of A$159 million (US$79 million). The licenses cover a total of 12.3 million potential customers (POPs) in the eight major Capital City markets, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra.
"Qualcomm is a strong believer in the growth prospects of CDMA in the Australian market and entered the latest auctions committed to acquiring appropriate spectrum to support a high-quality, high-capacity cdma2000 1x/1xEV system," says Irwin Mark Jacobs, chairman and CEO, Qualcomm. "cdma2000 1x and 1xEV combine time-to-market and cost advantages with the highest performance and quality for voice and broadband data. With strong demand for mobile and Internet services, the Australian market presents a significant opportunity for early deployment of 3G high-speed wireless, always-on Internet services. QUALCOMM's successful participation in numerous spectrum auctions in the past has resulted in nationwide CDMA networks being deployed in other countries, such as Mexico, Chile and Brazil."
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SVI Holdings Inc. (AMEX: SVI) has changed its name to SVI Solutions Inc. and reincorporated in Delaware.
The company’s board and its shareholders have approved the changes.
“The name SVI Solutions more accurately reflects the value that SVI brings to its customers,” says Tom Dorosewicz, SVI’s CEO. “At one time we were a holding company — building our organization through strategic acquisitions. We are now integrating these acquired companies into one cohesive organization. Through this new entity, we are providing a range of technology solutions to retailers. SVI Solutions is a name which better represents what we are doing today and also positions us for the future.”
SVI Solutions has two subsidiaries, SVI Retail Inc. and SVI Training Products Inc. Headquartered in San Diego, the company maintains offices in the United States, The United Kingdom and Australia.
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The National Multiple Sclerosis Society's fund-raising 5K and 10K MS WALKS, with Carlsbad-based PinnFund USA as the title sponsor for the fourth consecutive year, will proceed as scheduled this weekend, despite last week's complaint of securities fraud filed against Michael J. Fanghella, PinnFund's founder, by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC, according to U.S. District Court documents, is alleging that Fanghella misappropriated millions of dollars from investors for his lavish lifestyle, which included spending about $10 million on a onetime girlfriend who previously appeared in pornographic movies.
Since 1993, PinnFund, through various funding entities, raised $276 million from at least 166 investors using unregistered securities and false information, court filings contend.
Allan Shaw, president and CEO of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, San Diego Area Chapter, says that PinnFund's $40,000 donation to the MS Society already has been received, and that PinnFund, a wholesale mortgage lender, is one of more than 80 sponsors for the upcoming MS WALKS to begin at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, Mar. 31 at the Carlsbad Flower Fields and Sunday, April 1 at Embarcadero Marina Park, next to Seaport Village.
About 8,000 people are hoping to raise more than $1 million ($949,000 was raised last year). The San Diego Metropolitan, Daily Business Report, North Park News, Uptown Examiner and sandiego360.magazine are a major sponsor of the MS WALKS.
Shaw also says he anticipates this weekend's MS WALKS will be PinnFund's final year as title sponsor.
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