Timely Real Estate News…………………………………………….1 September 2009
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Fires and housing make the headlines….taking it all in stride
First of all, any ‘tried/true Californian’ knows this is fire season. And even though the fires are to the north of us and slowly moving across thousands of un-populated acres in the San Gabriel Mountains, the tragedy of losing homes and the lives of two dedicated fire fighters reminds each of us how dangerous it can be when fire comes to our front door.
We have been fortunate this past year in missing the ‘fire bullet’ — once in October 2008, when fire broke out just across the street from Bel Air Crest and below Mountaingate, and this past July 8, when fire erupted just north and west of the Getty Center, forcing its evacuation as well as Mount St. Mary’s College at the top of Bundy in Brentwood. In both of these fires, no homes or lives were lost. Thanks to the quick and efficient action of the Los Angeles City and County Fire Departments in both situations, we were able to put these fires out relatively quickly.
Fire prevention is critical to all of us living in the mountains above Los Angeles — it comes with this beautiful territory. Here are the things you can do to protect your home and property as recommended by the Los Angeles Fire Department:
1) Eaves must be enclosed and materials must be ignition resistant; 2) Install dual-pane windows — at least one must be tempered glass;3) Deck supports must be enclosed to within six inches of the ground; must be of ignition-resistant material;4) Roof fascia and sheeting must be fire resistant; and 5) Defensible space must be free of brush or debris and must extend 100 feet or to the property line; 6) Purchase some of the gels that are available to be sprayed on your home if there is a fire in the area, and there is approximately one hour before it would reach your property. There are a few products on the market that do this as well as a few insurance companies that offer this service, I personally have Barricade Gel which can be purchased through their website…. Barricadegel.com.
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Secondly, housing prices rise, assessed valuations fall…..so what’s new?
A lot has happened in the two weeks since the last SchifferLine. Recent articles in the Los Angeles Times have pointed to the rising home prices (“we have turned the corner…..”), the economy is on a rebound, the stock market is up, and all economic indicators are positive. That’s the good news. The bad news is
1) foreclosures are going to increase as that pipeline is about to be cleaned out, and it will have a negative effect on home prices everywhere, and 2) overall assessed valuation in California for all real estate declined 2.6%, and that includes not just residential housing but commercial, industrial and farm land as well. So, if you’re reading the headlines, you are going to get confused, it confuses me and I am in the middle of it!
I don’t want to be a broken record, but…..
Again, you have to look at ‘your neighborhood’ — not a neighborhood three counties or even three communities away. And I am very upbeat about is happening on the Westside. For example, there was a three-bedroom, two-bath house on a busy street, that came on the for $739,000…., it was a sweet little house, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, and needed work, but there were 27 offers and it sold in one day. That is a Wow! in real estate these days or any day for that matter. We don’t know yet what it sold for, but the guesses in my office are in the mid to high $800,000 range! I will let you know when it closes what it sold for. Another example of how things are going….another house came on the market in the same general neighborhood, between Westwood Blvd and Veteran, south of Santa Monica. In this case, some one had purchased a home on the corner of a very busy street, torn the old house down, changed the address from the busy street, to the quieter street address, and built a ‘really great house that everyone that I know who saw it loved. It was listed for $1,150,000 and again sold in one day with five offers (even on a busy street)! Generally houses on the market in the range between $700,000 and $2 million, if priced well are moving quickly, but as you move up the price ladder, it weakens. Over the $5 million market, it is very soft now. Again, pricing your home to (really) sell is the key.
The two examples above reflect smart pricing that enabled the sellers to get the prices they wanted and quickly. Overpricing, as I have said so many times before, can kill you in this market. Buyers are still in the ‘buyers-market-mindset’ — they believe they have the control and they do. When homes are strategically priced to the local neighborhood, they sell quickly. Sellers have to be “real”. Recently I sold some long standing clients of mine a great house in Westwood. It had just come on the market and was a “hot” house. We wrote a strong, CLEAN offer, and with a few minor points had an accepted offer before it was on broker’s caravan or a Sunday open which was our goal. Unfortunately it went down hill from there. In the course of attempting to do our due diligence (inspections), the seller received a back up offer for $30,000 more, and made it very difficult for my clients to determine if the house had a sewer line problem. So after some hard thinking as they really loved the house, they walked away, and then the back up buyer walked away also… so now the seller has the house “back on the market”, and who knows if he will get the same kind of offer that he threw away!
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Appraisals – The Continuing Saga
As we have discussed in the past, one of the most painful portions of the sales process today, deals with the appraisals. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, business section this week, borrowers are being advised to appeal the appraisal if they and their agents feel that it is not appropriate to the property. Homeowners can ask their lenders for a more thorough evaluation of their property, or they can do more research, and that my friends, is where I come in. Doing the research to assure a property is properly appraised, is where an experience real estate agent such as myself shines. I try to nip the problem in the bud before we have a problem, because I “know the market” and generally can help avoid a problem.
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Update on Reversible Lane Project and 405 Widening
A contractor has been selected for the Reversible Lane project and he will require three to four months lead time to obtain the equipment needed to work on the tunnel, which means that work will not start until February or March, 2010. Please remember that the reverse lane will only be in the vicinity of the Sepulveda Tunnel, and not the entire street as originally thought. In preparation for the widening of the 405 for the car pool lanes, Cal Trans is currently doing some engineering and soils testing on Sepulveda. Also there are proposed phases for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Department of Transportation to work together to put utilities underground. The first phase will start in front of Skirball Cultural Center and go to Mountaingate entrance, and the second phase will go from Mountaingate to the entrance to the 405 south at Getty Center Drive According to my sources, with the exception of the current engineering work being done currently, none of the plans for the remainder of the work has not been finalized.
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What difference a summer makes….Morgan returns for her junior year!
She left in May a young girl and returns in August a young woman. Wow! What a difference a summer makes. Morgan, my niece from Vancouver, British Columbia, arrived last week to move into her new ‘digs’ at USC to begin her junior year (already?). She arrived smartly dressed, self assured, and focused. She was all business when she moved into her new two-bedroom apartment near campus with two other roommates. And then she announced she is going into ‘Rush’, and I thought, oh, boy, that’s a switch for a gal who wasn’t particularly diving into the social world of USC. She just called….she is now officially a Pledge for Gamma Phi Beta, and Auntie Carole couldn’t be happier or more proud!. I don’t know what happened over the summer in Vancouver….maybe it was the water (they have a lot of it up there). But whatever, it’s great to have her back in town, even though she goes to that ‘evil’ school across town. Ha! is all I have to say!.
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Digging the Garden Contest
Congratulations to Larry Rubenstein and his daughter Julie in Bel Air Park for winning the contest! Not only did they get them all correct, but they did it the hard way without having the answers and matching them up. Congratulations Larry and Julie – I hope you enjoy using your Whole Foods gift certificate!
The correct answers are: 1 – Los Angeles County Arboretum (Catawampus) in the Pasadena area, #2 – Los Angeles County – USC Rose Garden in Exposition Park, #3 Descanco Gardens – Pasadena area, #4 Getty Center – Central Gardens – Brentwood, #5 – UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Gardens – Chalon in Bel Air, #6 – Huntington Botanical Gardens ) San Marino, #7 – Madame Ganna Walska’s Lotusland – Montecito/Santa Barbara, #8 – UCLA Murphy Sculpture Garden – UCLA campus
Not sure when the next contest will be, but it will be coming up in the next few months? A question, I did not get as many responses to this one as I did to the architects contest.. Was this one too difficult? Please let me know your thoughts? It matters
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Its All in the Bag!
Do you have and or use reusable bags when you do shopping? And I don’t only mean going to the grocery store? This is serious stuff. We all should be using good quality reusable bags for ALL of our shopping. I keep my in the back of my car so that I don’t forget them whenever I go into any kind of store, even Neiman Marcus!.
Did you know that Americans throw away 100 billion plastic bags a year? Plastic bags degrade slowly. Most do not biodegrade, they photo degrade, and over time they break down into smaller toxic petro-polymers which eventually contaminate soils and waterways. Are paper bags better? Not much. Although 20% of paper bags are recycled, it takes less energy to recycle a plastic bag than a paper one.
Some interesting facts…… if just 1 out of 5 people in the U.S used one cloth bag a week instead of plastic, we would keep from using 1,330,560,000 plastic bags in our lifetime! Wow. Ireland imposed a plastic bag tax, the Plas Tax. Individuals pay .15 per plastic bag… the results consumption dropped by 90%. That is approximately 1 billion fewer bags annually. They raised $9.6 million in the first year. Just imagine what would happen to our national deficit if we had a similar plan
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Listing Review
Do you know anyone that wants to live at the beach? I just listed a really beautiful home at 129 Ketch Mall for $1,985,000. It is a block away from the sand, 4 bedrooms, 4/5 baths, roof deck with ocean view, and really lovely. I also have a lease listing coming up in the Marina (my old stomping grounds). If you want any information on any of my listings, or want to see what they look like, please go to my web site…. Caroleschiffer.com
