Timely Real Estate News……………………………………………………………………..1 September 2012
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Frank Lloyd Wright’s influence on Los Angeles remains….still a “hot property”
Hollywood and Los Angeles has always had — and still has — a love affair with on of America’s most famous architects, Frank Lloyd Wright. He spent a good part of three decades on projects in the designing and building homes (and one minor commercial project) that today have withstood the test of time, weather, and earthquakes only to remain at the top of “hot properties” in Los A
ngeles. A popular 1949 movie, “The Fountainhead” starring Gary Cooper, was supposedly based on Wright’s early life — it wasn’t. But the movie seemed to have cemented Wright’s love affair with Hollywood.
Wright was in mid-career when he first came to Los Angeles to design his first home for Scottish accountant George S. Stewart and his family in Montecito in 1909 and was completed in 1910 — it was modeled after his already famous Prairie-style architecture, and it wasn’t until 1917 that Wright began a series of unique textile block-style houses that were scattered around Los Angeles, Brentwood, and Pasadena.
Perhaps his most ambitious and signature home is the Ennis House, designed for Mabel and Charles Ennis in 
1923 and completed in 1925. After passing through several owners, the Ennis House was purchased by Augustus Oliver Brown who lived in the house for many years, opened it for tours, and donated it for public use — and for a time, it was known as the Ennis-Brown House. Situated on a hillside overlooking Los Angeles, the House still commands attention today from Wright lovers, and it has been featured in many movies including Blade Runner, Black Rain and The House on Haunted Hill.
Measuring over 6,200 square feet, the Ennis House was restored with the help of federal grants, and now has a new owner who is committed to its restoration after a number of site problems caused by slippage and earthquakes, and it will again be open to the public for a minimum of 12 days per year. Wright’s one commercial venture in Los Angeles was Anderton Court, a three-story commercial complex that has been somewhat modified, although it maintains Wright’s signature ‘steeple’ design. It was designed and built in 1959. ….. I know where it is located… .do you??? Please shoot me an email at carole@caroleschiffer.com and let me know if you recognize it and know where it is!
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We had a sizzling summer, and real estate remains ‘steady’, but not hot!
Traditionally, families start looking seriously in the spring so that they can be settled by summer’s end. As a result, we have seen sales volumes in the four communities I cover — Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills Post Office, Bel-Air, and Brentwood — up slightly over last year at this time of year by 4% to a total of $1.298 billion through July 2012 compared to $1.246 billion through July 2011. What we are seeing is that sales volume, while it is not robust in July 2012, overall we are holding our own for this year. Within these four communities, we had a total of $144, 810,325 in sales for July 2012 vs. $202,645,599 for July 2011, down some 40%.
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Year-to-date median sales prices — a mixed blessing
I don’t want to sound like a broken record (oh, I guess I do….) but as I have said over and over since I started writing the SchifferLine, it’s important to remember a month’s stats do not make the year. As we now have seven months under our belt for 2012, we see volumes are ahead of last year (good), and median sales prices for two areas are up; two are down: Beverly Hills leads the pack with a $4.025 million median sales price through July 2012 vs. $2.903 million through 2011 same period, a 38%
increase; BHPO — is down 19%, going from $2.300 million to $1.852 million; Bel-Air is up by 24% for the year — from $$1.550 million in 2011 to $1.925 million in 2012; and Brentwood, while having a stellar July in total sales, the median sales price through
July 2012 is off 17%, from $2.052 million in July 2011 to $1.727 million through July 2012.
Just for old time’s sake, I compared Days on Market and # of homes sold between July 2011 and July 2012, and remarkably, we
sold 51 homes in each period in these four communities in July 2012 and 2011, yet volumes were down by 24% this year, not
unusual. The average Days on Market for July 2012 was 101, while it was 118 for July 2011.
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Looking back – remember the good ol’days? Volumes were up; prices about even
The curious sort that I am, I wanted to look back at the pre-recession periods of 2005 and 2007 (the recession officially ended in June 2009, remember?) to see how much different we fared when compared to where we are now. And it is not surprising to see the these differences in the four communities I report on – Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills Post Office, Bel-Air, and Brentwood – were primarily focused on larger sales volumes in 2005 and 2007.
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Sales Volumes for 2005 and 2007 —– the combined sales volumes for the four communities were substantially ahead of 2012. For 2005, total sales volume from January to July 2005 was $1.456 billion; for 2007 combined sales volume for the same seven months was $1.554 billion. These two #s compared to our current year-to-date sales volume of $1.298 billion through July 2012, represents a 10.8% drop when measured against 2005; and a 16% drop with 2007. This was expected because we have seen a decrease for the past four years in the number of homes sold….
but we appear to be climbing back – slowly, but back none the less.
What does this mean? It means we’re still in the middle of this recovery. Beverly Hills is unique among communities in the world today – and they have their own niche and homeowners there appear to be slightly less worried about the economy and home prices than anywhere else. The city’s incredible community assets of schools, shopping, dining, and beautiful neighborhoods augur well for a sustained and stable residential market.
Not far behind, though, are Bel-Air, Beverly Hills Post Office, and Brentwood, which have, over the years, demonstrated resiliency in maintaining their property values. And let’s not forget the vagaries of our market and economy. Some months, we have done better and some worse.
Here are the MLS stats for the four communities I report on for July period – 2005, 2007, and 2012:
July 2005 – Beverly Hills – Number of sales – 14; homes sold over $3 million – 6; Average sales price – $3,100,642; Beverly Hills Post Office – Number of sales 23; homes sold over $3 million – 8; Average sales price $2,886,050; Bel-Air – Number of sales – 20; homes sold over $3 million – 9; average sales price $3,253,000; Brentwood – Number of sales – 22; homes over $3 million – 5; average sales price – $2,619.433
July 2007 – Beverly Hills – number of sales – 12; homes sold over $3 million – 8; average sales price – $4,884,958; Beverly Hills Post Office – number of sales – 16; homes sold over $3 million; average sales price – $2,876,406; Bel-Air – number of sales – 11; homes over $3 million– 2; average sales price – $2,045,383; Brentwood – number of sales – 32; homes over $3 million – 10; – average sales price – $3,625,212.
July 2012 – Beverly Hills – number of sales – 10, over $3 million – 3, average sales price – $3,199,650 – Beverly Hills Post Office – number of sales – 11 – over $3 million – 1; average sales price – $2,033,557 – Bel-Air – number of sales – 8; over $3 million – 1, average sales price – $2,110,625; Brentwood – number of sales – 22; over $3 million – 7 (1 over $18,000,000); average sales price – $3,343,622.
If you’re confused by all of this — and you want an explanation (or better yet, a free appraisal of your home), call me. I have aspirin and I listen well — Call me at 310-442-1384. Anytime.
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Foreclosures just got easier….new regulations streamline prevention program
Not any of us look forward to the prospect of foreclosure, but this has become a national problem of huge proportions. We are facing more than 2 million homes in the foreclosure pipeline, but worse, there are an estimated 11 million Americans homes worth less than the value of their mortgage, according to Core Logic.
The new guidelines from the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac streamlined one of their foreclosure prevention programs in order to make it easier for troubled homeowners to sell their homes for less than what they owe the banks. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will now be required to consolidate their so-called “short sale” programs into one, which would make it easier for banks to quickly qualify eligible borrowers for a short sale, where lenders, both banks and private lenders, including home owners associations agree to accept less than the balance owed on the their lien.
Mortgage services will now be allowed to process a short sale faster for homeowners facing certain hardships, such as death, divorce, disability without additional approval from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This will provide banks and borrowers clarity on processing a short sale and will be effective by November.
The one caution here is that if short sales increase in any substantial volumes, experts say, it could depress home values with the onslaught of below-market home prices. But there are many other benefits according the National Association of Realtors in that a more streamlined short sale process will avoid foreclosures and long vacancy periods that result in declines in home values.
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Existing home sales prices rise again for fourth straight month…..good news
This is good news — on a national scale…..Sales of existing homes rose in July even with constraints of affordable inventory, and the national median price is showing five consecutive months of year-over-year increases, according to the National Association of Realtors monthly sales rose in every region but the West, where inventory is very tight.
According to the NRA, total existing home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, grew 2.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.47 million in July from 4.37 million in June, and are 10.4 percent above the 4.05 million-unit pace in July 2011.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said “….housing affordability conditions are very good. Mortgage interest rates have been at record lows this year while rents have been rising at faster rates. Combined, these factors are helping to unleash a pent-up demand,” he said. “However, the market is constrained by unnecessarily tight lending standards and shrinking inventory supplies, so housing could easily be much stronger without these abnormal frictions.”
NAR is asking the government to expeditiously release the foreclosed properties it owns in inventory-constrained markets.” Fewer sales in the lower price ranges are contributing to stronger increases in the median price, but all of the home price measures now are showing positive movement and that is building confidence in the market,” Yun said. “Furthermore, the higher median price naturally means more housing contribution to economic growth.”
First-time buyers accounted for 34 percent of purchasers in July, up from 32 percent in June; they were also 32 percent in July 2011. Under normal conditions, entry-level buyers account for four out of 10 purchases. All-cash sales slipped to 27 percent of transactions in July from 29 percent in June; they were 29 percent in July 2011. Investors, who account for the bulk of cash sales, purchased 16 percent of homes in July, down from 19 percent in June; they were 18 percent in July 2011.Single-family home sales increased 2.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98 million in July from 3.90 million in June, and are 9.9 percent above the 3.62 million-unit level in July 2011. The median existing single-family home price was $188,100 in July, up 9.6 percent from a year ago.
So, there appears good news from around the US — and we just have to stay focused on our communities, and that’s my job. I’ll be here for you!
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Stevia – the great sugar substitute
The demand for cane sugar has seen vast swathes of land degraded over centuries. For most people, it’s health and dieting issues lead them to use sugar alternatives; and the products most often turned to are aspartame and saccharin. Aspartame is the chemical most widely used now, present in large quantities in diet soda and many other processed foods.
There are many more natural alternatives to cane sugar including Brazzein, Curculin, Erythritol, Fructose, Glycyrrhizin, Glycerol, Isomalt, Lactitol, Mabinlin, Maltitol, Mannitol, Miraculin, Monellin , Pentadin, Sorbitol, Stevia, Tagatose, Thaumatin and Xylitol. Most of the names of those sound fairly frightening, but many are derived from fruit and plants, including Stevia.
Stevia, which is also known as sweet leaf, honey leaf or sugar leaf is a herb from South America that is said to be a couple of 
hundred times sweeter weight for weight compared with cane sugar. To put that into context, a teaspoon of refined Stevia powder is about the same as a cup of sugar in terms of sweetening ability. It contains no calories and refined Stevia products have no bitter after-taste.
Stevia is not a new discovery. It’s been in use by the Guaraní Indians of Paraguay for medicinal and sweetening purposes for 1500 years and has been used extensively for decades in Japan. Stevia is available as whole leaf, ground leaf, powders or a liquid extract; but in regards to the powder/liquid form; check the ingredients – sometimes other nasty chemicals can accompany it and to create liquid extract I understand to be quite an energy intensive process. The liquid and powder forms are the most potent, but even whole Stevia leaves are 20 to 30 times sweeter than cane sugar (but these may have somewhat of a licorice or slightly bitter after-taste)
Unlike aspartame, Stevia is stable when heated, so it can be used in a wide range of recipes requiring cooking and baking. Stevia is a member of the chrysanthemum family and a herb that can grow in poor soils. Stevia is a subtropical perennial and is a little water intensive, but given its potency it may be a plant that could be well suited to your own garden. Imagine having your “sugar” hit growing out in your back yard! Stevia plants have also been observed to have insect repelling tendencies – so it could be a perfect companion plant for an organic garden.
So there you have it – a seemingly healthier and more environmentally friendly solution for your sweet tooth that can also assist with pest control in your garden! Oh, and it’s nice to be able to finally state that it tastes great!
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Lately, my business has expanded in a very interesting way. I am currently representing buyers who are purchasing a home in Westchester, and then we will be selling their condo in the Marina, and I am also working with another client selling her Santa Monica condo while we are in the hunt for a bigger one, also in Santa Monica. I also have some great listings in Mountaingate both for sale and lease as well as some listings come up soon in Bel Air Crest. Please let me know how I might assist you with any of your real estate needs.
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