Land Grabs in Rancho Santa Fe

The relatively good land deals that could be had in upscale Rancho Santa Fe last year are fast disappearing.

That’s the word from area real estate agents and brokers, who say the price of land in the Ranch has gone up dramatically in the last six months.

The average lot there is selling for $411,000 and the average home is priced at $1.1 million, according to George Thomas, a broker with Willis Allen.

Thomas said he sold a four-acre site recently for more than $900,000 and a three-acre parcel for $550,000. Six months ago, those sites “would not have sold,” he said.

The connection between lots and homes in Rancho Santa Fe follows a “step ladder escalation of prices,” said Thomas. Lot prices rise, then home prices follow, the lot prices increase again to match the house gains.

“What we’re seeing is a start of a trend . . . hopefully, it’s the start of a whole sequence again,” he said.

“We think prices will increase at least 8% this year,” echoed Steve Bottfeld, president of Insites, which surveys every tract development in Southern California each month. “What’s happening is that we have demand and low interest rates, and as demand accelerates, you’ll end up with higher prices.”

Whirlwind World Tour

Dan Derbes, Allied Signal International’s president and chief executive officer, leaves later this month for a 40-day whirlwind world tour with his boss, Allied Signal Chairman Edward Hennessey Jr.

Derbes will oversee the official opening of Allied-Signal International’s China office and visit India, Indonesia, Japan and several European countries where the La Jolla-based subsidiary of Allied-Signal either conducts business or hopes to.

Travel will be strictly first class, but not commercial.

Derbes and his eight-member party will fly on the company’s fully equipped twin-engine Gulfstream 3 fanjet.

Travel arrangements were made long before the U.S. attacks on Libya and the accompanying security worries at overseas airports, although travel in a private plane enhances security, according to Derbes.

“Security is a key concern,” he said. “We’re not responding to the Libya situation . . . but a private jet certainly increases the (security) and comfort level of senior management.”

High-Flying News

PSA, moving more seriously into the cargo business, last Wednesday broke the record for most cargo hauled on an MD Super 80. Flight 51 from Los Angeles to San Francisco took off at 11:55 p.m. with 48 passengers on board and 17,508 pounds of cargo stored below--69 pounds more than the previous record, according to PSA officials.

The precious cargo: 8,754 first-run editions of The Times’ Thursday paper, breaking the previous record set earlier this year--also by The Times.