SchifferLine 1 June 2012

Timely Real Estate News………………………………………………1 June 2012
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The amazing story of Watts Towers….

This National Historical Landmark, so designated in 1990, represents both the triumph and tragedy of a creative genius named Simon Rodia who suffered great indignities for more than three decades while he constructed what is now a community and national treasure — the famous Watts Towers.  Located in the Watts section of south central Los Angeles, the towers are a testament to the strong will and artistic talents of Rodia who began crafting these unique structures on his property in 1921.  The Watts Towers (or Towers of Simon Rodia) is a collection of 17 interconnected structures, two of which reach heights of over 99 feet.  This Italian immigrant construction worker spent the next 33 years in designing and building these towers from steel pipes and rods, wrapped with wire mesh and coated with mortar.  What makes these structures unique, however, is the way Rodia embedded these towers with all sorts of materials such as porcelain, tile, and multi-color glass.  He used just about everything he could find to ‘adorn’ his beloved tower creations — bed frames, bottles, ceramic tiles, scrap metal and sea shells.  He called ‘his towers’ — Nuestro Pueblo (which means, “our town” in Spanish).  

He built them with no special equipment or predetermined design — whatever came into his head at the time he was working on the towers was the direction he went in.  Not formally trained as an artist, he relied on his own vision, working alone with hand tools and window-washer’s equipment.  He eagerly accepted contributions from neighborhood children who brought him pieces of broken glass and pottery, but most of the decorative material he used came from damaged pieces from the Malibu Pottery or CALCO plants nearby.  The predominant green glass he used was from broken bottles of 7-Up, Squirt, Bubble Up, and Canada Dry — blue glass appears to be from Milk of Magnesia bottles.  

As one might imagine living in the neighborhood where these tall towers sprang up, not all of the neighbors were happy with Rodia.  There were rumors circulating that the towers were antennae for communicating with the Japanese forces during World War II or contained buried treasure — which only caused further suspicion and vandalism.

Depressed and feeling enormous rejection, Rodia gave the property away in 1955, a year after he completed what remains of these towers today.  He retired to Martinez, California and never came back.  He died a decade later.

Not the end of the story……

The property changed hands and Rodia’s home was burned to the ground, and the City of Los Angeles condemned the structures and ordered it razed.  However, others thought differently and through the efforts of an actor (Nicholas King) and film editor (William Cartwright), purchased the property for $3,000 to preserve it.  But the City wasn’t finished, and decided to demolish the towers before the property was transferred.  But by then, the Towers were already famous and the group of citizens led by King and Cartwright negotiated with the City not to tear them down until they surveyed the Towers’ safety.  Tests were held and the Towers withstood severe engineering tests….and today, the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department — in partnership with the LACMA — preserve and operate the site — which is now called the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park.       The towers are one of nine folk art sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

To this day, Simon Rodia is recognized as a pure genius who not only crafted these magnificent towers with little engineering or art experience, but he possessed the innate talents of unique, imaginative creativity of applying simple pieces of our ‘culture’ that were thrown away as trash and creating a national monument, unique in the world today.  This is an attraction you have to see.  It’s well worth the trip!

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You heard it here first…media catches up with my comments six weeks ago!

The media is finally talking about how the real estate market is heating-up.  They are reporting “we are experiencing multiple offers in great numbers” in many areas of Los Angeles County, which is what I have been seeing “in the trenches” for the past several months.

It’s only taken half a decade, but the moribund real estate market is finally starting to show signs of life.  If you were thinking about making a move on a piece of property, right now is possibly the best time. You can still take advantage of low prices in most places around the southland, and mortgage rates are at once-in-a-lifetime record lows: 30- and 15-year fixed mortgages are around 4% and 3%, respectively, and although prices are still near 2003 levels, there are signs that we may experience an impending resurgence, but the vote is still out, given the economic situation in other parts of the world, we may have to wait a while for that to happen.

Nationally, the number of people signing contracts to buy houses rose by 4% in March, according to the National Association of Realtors, and is the highest it’s been in nearly two years.  Many would-be homebuyers are surprised to find that one fixture of the bubble era is back: the bidding war.

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Sellers are beginning to hold firm….    

 I have one client who is looking at homes in Brentwood Park — we’re looking at two houses that have been on the market for over six months — both in the $6 million range.  In the last week, the listing agent has received multiple offers on one house and one offer on the other house, which is an indication that the market may be ‘warming’ — the distinction I use:  Volumes are picking up, and perhaps prices may be solidifying.  

What I can tell you is that these sellers are hanging tough on their price, even though both houses need an extensive amount of work.  What this seems to represent is that sellers are reading the media and believe that they are in a stronger position. Other buyers that I am working with, however, feel that it is going to be a tough summer for sellers — it will still be a buyers’ market and prices will continue to come down, not go up.  

 Bottom line:  You can easily get whip lash by reading the media – the trick is to work with an agent, like myself who is in there every day and knows what is happening in our market, because our market is different and always has been.

 How do I — as a professional in the real estate industry — deal with these conflicts?  I rely on my day-to-day experience in the trenches — that is where the real reality show takes place.  I deal with the reality of real estate transactions every day — every hour.  Each and every day I talk with buyers and sellers.  I know the pulse of the market, and I not only witness firsthand the market trends in the making, I have a plethora of experience in sensing where the market is and where it is going.  

Yes, we have a shortage of quality inventory, and as long as we have a continuing lack of quality homes for sale to meet the demand, we probably will not see home prices surge in our market. Buyers are informed, demanding, knowledgeable, and aggressive.

However, I can share with you that as the economy improves — and it will, but we just don’t know when — there will be an increasing number of quality listings coming into the market as sellers (who own these homes) feel more confident in getting the price they feel that their home deserves.  In the meantime, we will continue to see the media offering conflicting stories about our markets on a national basis.  But here in the communities I report on — Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills Post Office, Brentwood, and Bel-Air — our reality is not shown on national TV or in the news.  It’s right here in the trenches I command every day!

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405 Construction — the Saga continues

Have you ever been stuck in traffic and wish you had a motorcycle or jet pack? With a motorcycle you can squiggle through the traffic or if you can afford a jet pack, you can just ‘lift off’ and fly over the traffic to your destination.  And if you’re like most of us, the incessant traffic jams can really get to you.  I can’t tell you how many times I wished I had a car like the Jetsons and that all I had to do was push a button and get airborne.  

In the next few months, however, we are going to have to put up with the lane closures and on/ramp closures on Wilshire Boulevard to the 405 and Sepulveda Boulevard beginning June 29.  Skirball and Mulholland bridges are going to be closed in alternate periods as well as Mulholland itself.  There will be times when we are all going to be wishing we were living someplace else.  

The Wilshire off/on ramp closures will take approximately eight months, but the closures will not occur at the same time.  Needless to say, this part of the overall 405 Widening/Sepulveda Pass construction project will present challenges on cross-town traveling for all.  Advice from our City Fathers — “plan ahead.  Give yourself more travel time.”  Or….buy a motorcycle or that jet pack!

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Mom hits 90…..congratulations!

The Schiffer/Sims family met in Seattle, WA, a few weekends ago to celebrate my Mom’s 90th birthday.  We had an incredible time.  Notwithstanding the rain, Seattle is one of the most creative cities I have been in — exciting art and architecture abound, combined with the ever-growing studio glass movement started by Dale Chihuly, among others. We spent some time visiting the Glass Museum in Tacoma and then the next day were able to be there for the opening day of the Glass Pavilion Exhibit at the Space Park in the middle of Seattle.. What a treat!! And the hotel went out of its way to make it special for us also… one of the things they did was to bring two trays to the room  with 90 of each of three different kinds of candy in a lovely pattern!  Happy Birthday Mom!

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CFL disposal and recycling

As we all know, we can no longer purchase incandescent light bulbs. So now a new predicament faces us – what to do with the bulb once it’s completed its useful life. I’ve had several emails on this topic. It’s been great to see environmentally conscious people thinking past the purchase! Thankfully, CFL’s last for a very long time – 2-5 years. I’ve had some bulbs last well beyond that. Given the new law, it does mean we are faced with hundreds millions of spent CFL’s needing to be responsibly disposed of or preferably recycled annually.

Don’t bin your CFL’s

Throwing CFL’s in the recycle bin isn’t a good idea. Aside from the waste of materials, there is one rather unsettling issue with compact fluorescent lamps – they contain a small amount of mercury; approximately 3-5 milligrams. It’s a tiny amount, about the size of the very tip a ballpoint pen and far less than what is present in a watch battery. Still, a hundred million of these small amounts does become a significant issue. There has been quite a bit of panic about mercury in CFL’s.

CFL mercury levels are less than the additional mercury emissions involved in powering a comparable incandescent globe over the same period of a CFL’s lifespan. Additionally, at the end of a CFL bulb’s life, little of the mercury remains in its most toxic form. Regardless, given the fragility of the bulbs; caution is necessary and mercury shouldn’t wind up in landfill at any time and at any level. Mercury is a powerful toxin that contaminates earth, air and water and accumulates in animal tissue.

How to dispose of CFL’s

The best way to find out how you can recycle or safely dispose of CFL’s is to check the City of Los Angeles’ web site for their requirements.
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What if you break a CFL?

– Open windows in the room to air out of 15 minutes before cleaning up
– Don’t use a vacuum as this could spread mercury into the air
– Wear gloves when cleaning up
– Use a disposable brush to gently sweep up fragments
– Use a moist paper towel to help pick up remaining tiny fragments
– Wrap the pieces up in layers of newspaper and place in a sturdy sealable bag or container along with anything used to clean up the mess.

The advice is then to place the container or bag in your rubbish bin, but I feel that perhaps it should be treated as hazardous chemical waste; i.e. stored safely until such time that it can be taken to a hazardous chemical disposal facility like the one at UCLA.

If the idea of using anything containing mercury really bothers you or you don’t particularly like CFL’s for other reasons, perhaps consider LED lighting as a mercury-free alternative. LED’s are even more energy efficient and have a longer lifespan than compact fluorescent lamps. Other alternatives are halogen or xenon hybrid bulbs. If you previously used incandescent bulbs for heat applications, there are heat bulbs available that are more efficient.

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The Primary Election

Please don’t forget to vote on Tues the 5th!!

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My Real Estate World

You know what they about pictures telling a 1000 words?!?  Well, this picture says it all!

I am very happy to report that I am busier than I have been in while.. Currently I have seven (7) listings in Bel Air Crest, Mountaingate, Bel Air Park and Brentwood  . At the moment I have two offers on two of the seven properties, an escrow in The Ridge in, Mountaingate that is schedule to close this coming week, and am working with about 7 buyers, some of which are potential sellers also.  WOW.. it  makes me tired just reading this.  

I cannot tell you how grateful I am for all of the business and confidence in me that this business reflects.  THANK YOU VERY MUCH