Timely Real Estate News………………………………………………….15 August 2013
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The Helmsman — the famous Sculpture in Burton Chace Park
Given its history, it is an ironic twist of fate that the sculpture in our Contest is called The Helmsman — since it is a seafaring 
captain at the helm of his boat. Located in Burton Chace Park, the statue was actually reflecting the iconic hero of The Helms Bakery, which was the official Bread for the 1932 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles. Hence — The Helmsman! The statue was a permanent fixture in front of the Helms Bakery in West Los Angeles from 1931 until 1969 when the bakery closed. It was donated to Los Angeles County in 1971. Carol Romanelli was the sculptor. Incidentally, Helms Bakery provided the “official bread” for Apollo 11 space mission, and was the “first bread on the moon”.Â
The Contest Winner is… Dr. Laurence Rubenstein     CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
The lucky winner is a resident of Bel Air Park, and will receive a $150 Gift Certificate to the Hotel Bel Air. Congratulations on naming and locating The Helmsman!Â
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Marina del Rey — a swamp turned into one of LA County’s most valuable assets.
Few would touch this swampland east of downtown Los Angeles. It was unstable land that could not support traditional housing and it was renown in Prohibition times as being a haven for brothels and gambling dens. Ships would anchor off shore and gamblers would take water taxis to spend their money on, well, you know — gambling and women. The official history says the area, known as Ballona Creek, “was frequented by duck hunters and a ‘few others'”. Burton Chace, a member of the LA County Board of Supervisors referred to it as “mud flats” but today, we call these areas — wetlands. After several false starts in the early 1900s, the area was eventually approved for a marina when President Eisenhower approved Public Law 780 making construction possible….and although it suffered serious damage in the early 1960s, the pleasure harbor was completed in 1965. The total cost for the land, construction, and initial operation was $36 million, a bargain when compared to costs for doing anything in the Coastal Zone in California these days, which of course, could probably be a challenge under current law.
Marina del Rey is the home to approximately 9,000 residents who reside primarily in apartments and condominiums and is also one of the world’s largest private marinas, housing more than 6,500 boats. Their annual Boat Parade is held each December and is a major part of the holiday season.Â
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Sales Volumes, prices strengthen near summer’s end!
We are slowly making progress in our march back to better times in the residential real estate market. Fortunately, we haven’t experienced the tragedies so many areas of the country have gone through since the recession hit in 2007, and while the recovery was officially over in June 2009, we’re not back yet. But we’re getting there. The July stats from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) were gratifying and reflect the first time in two years to the month that we saw that all four areas were up compared to a year ago.Â
Of the four communities I report on — Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills Post Office, Bel-Air, and Brentwood — each area was up substantially for July 2013 compared to July 2012. Brentwood was up the highest – with 54% in median sales price when matched against same period a year ago — at $2.649 million. Brentwood had 10 homes that sold with prices over $3 million with the two highest at $11 million and $13.8 million. Next was Beverly Hills, always performing well (for the most part), which was up 35% for July 2013 compared to July 2012 — at the median sales price of $3.700 million, with 9 homes over $3 million and the highest at $11.8 million.Â
Beverly Hills Post Office came in third for last month — 27% over the median sales price from July 2012, at $2.200
million and had 7 homes over $3 million, with the highest at $12.75 million. And Bel-Air was no slouch, either, with a 15% increase with 6 homes over $3 million, with the highest at $15 million.Â
But as I have said so many times — we look at the Median Sales Price — year-to-date — to really gauge how we are doing: We find that three out of four areas are up for the first seven months of 2013 — with only Bel-Air down. Beverly Hills was up 8% in MSP for this year compared to last year at this time; BHPO was up 13%; Brentwood was up 9%; and Bel-Air was down only 3%. These year-to-date figures give us a better way to measure the trends in these four critical Westside markets — because these #s reflect a longer view than the monthly ‘slice’ of prices that we get each month. We have seen so many times where one community is up one month, down the next, and that’s what we expect in the real estate market in both good and bad times. This is the “NORMAL” that we have come to live with. This has been especially true in these communities where you have homes under $1 million and homes approaching $100 million. But in using the median sales price we tend to throw out the highs and the lows because the median price represents the middle price of all homes sold — half are under that # and half are over it. But what a big sale does reflect is “sales volume”.Â
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Sales Volume increases — as it normally does in the “selling season”
Spring and summer months are “high season” for the real estate selling season. It has changed somewhat over the years, but still for the most part is still considered “high season”. These two seasons reflect what has transpired from late Winter through to even October and November, when homes sold in these two quarters close escrow. Remember, the MLS #s are only sales recorded that have been sold anywhere from 90 to 30 days prior (on the average)….so a home sold in August may not close until November. But regardless, we are witnessing a strong resurgence for this year when sales volume was tepid ….and through July 2013, we have seen a 17.6% increase in sales volume for all four communities I report on — for a total of $1.488 billion. There are not many areas that can claim this level of sales volume.
What is encouraging that the sales volumes in all four areas are showing across-the-board strength in terms of home price distribution — meaning that there are no blockbusters that are skewing the market with extraordinarily high sales prices, such as $40 million or $85 million (Anniston’s and Spelling’s) homes that sold two years ago. The homes sold consistently have stayed in the $3-$5 million range, which shows a steady increase in price appreciation.Â
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Yes, that sounds good….but what’s happening in the ‘trenches’?Â
Trust me; I’m in the trenches every day, every evening, too. Even when on ‘vacation’, the real estate business continues to nip at my heels and no day seems complete without my doing real estate work. (I fondly remember my journey to China at these times….)Â
The trenches are doing just fine. Here’s what I’m seeing: We are seeing strong open houses and multiple offers on homes properly priced. It is the same “old thing”… the homes that are properly priced are selling… even in a strong sellers market, the homes that are not properly priced are not selling. The same old adage still holds true, the longer the property stays in the market, the lower the ultimate sales will be.
Because of the lack of inventory, I always keep a “wish list of buyers”… knowing that, when I obtained a listing of one of the smaller homes in Bel Air Crest, I called the clients on that list.  One of them came to see the house, and bought it the first day it was on the market. After we had an accepted offer, we ended up with two back up offers, for more than the accepted offer… so in this case, “the early bird definitely got the worm”! The same thing is happening again, with another smaller home in Bel Air Crest. In this case, the house needs a fair amount of work, so back to the “wish list”, and another buyer on that list submitted an offer that has been verbally accepted by the sellers.
What this tells us is that you — as a buyer — have to be creative and stay in the “game”. This is not the market for low-ball 
offers. Sellers simply are not responding: they don’t have to. What buyers have to do today – besides being financially qualified for a property — they need to emotionally qualify themselves as well….do a “gut check”… “do I really want this house or a house for that matter?”” Do I really want to pay that price”? “ Am I willing to see this process through”? These are questions that you and only can answer. When we were in a different market, the same question held true for sellers.. “am I really a seller”?
Buyers who continually change their minds or play games really burn their real estate agents because the agent is selling their time and expertise and wasting it makes them not to want to work with that particular client any longer. So I urge you to really be clear as to what your intentions are.Â
Are all cash buyers still preferred? Sure… cash is King! But not to the extent that cash buyers are going to get the huge discount they believe they deserve. What an all-cash transaction does is avoid the loan and appraisal contingency as well as the waiting to hear if the buyer is going to get their loan. But at the end of the day, it is the same money to the seller — either from the buyer’s wallet or the bank’s.
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I am always asked, too: Where is the best place to be? “Everywhere” I tell them. They’re all strong. There isn’t a weak area on the Westside. Yes, you’ll find lower-priced homes in Mar Vista and Culver City….but the prices there are rising and for the most part, bargains don’t exist anymore. In every community of the city, we are seeing very strong interest….and the recent article in the Los Angeles Times points out that the beach-area communities continue to attract more demand than supply….prices are rising faster in the coastal communities than anywhere else in California.Â
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Training future leaders as Coldwell Banker
For more than 10 years, I have served as a “trainer” at Coldwell Banker in Brentwood (as one of the Mentors). This has always been a privilege and honor for me because I know the company seeks to provide all its new agents with the best training possible to insure that the company’s standards and values remain intact and are practiced by newly enrolled real estate agents. Selling real estate today is a lot more complicated than it was when I entered the business some 30 years ago 
— laws and practices have dramatically changed the way the real estate business is conducted. And as the largest residential real estate company in the United States, we have built our reputation on quality service that is founded on integrity and trust. Without these qualities in the way we conduct our affairs with our clients, we could not survive.Â
Today, I have one of the largest mentee classes since I have been doing this — teaching 10 agents every week in our office a very precise curriculum that covers every possible subject that our agents will experience. All new agents must go through this training. And what I am proud to say is that I am seeing our new agents graduate faster than ever before — and all 10 of my mentees have either a transaction (sale) in process or managing their own listings. Normally, agents will take six months to a year to complete this mentoring process, but I am seeing this new crop surpassing previous timelines by a substantial margin. Why this is important is that our future depends on
providing the highest level of quality to our clients — and that is provided by our Coldwell Banker agents. By the time you see them, they are trained and “pre-approved”. And I’m proud our company places that much trust in our future and in me.Â
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405 & Sepulveda Pass Construction
10 p.m. is when the bewitching hour comes! Your car will turn into a pumpkin if you don’t get where you’re going in the Sepulveda Pass area if you don’t plan and execute your way home by then — actually 9 p.m. is a better time because they are closing the streets earlier than the posted times.Â
Question… have you noticed that they have reopened the Northbound entry lane to the 405 near the Getty exit???? Do you wonder what is going on???? Here is the scoop… they closed that entry lane as they intended to have the entry on the right hand side of the road, but in their inestimable wisdom did not do the necessary research to see that a private party owned the easement to a portion of that road way, and negotiate tho they might, they were never able to come to a resolution so they had to re- open the entry on the south side of Sepulveda causing those drivers to once again cross over busy Sepulveda Blvd. to get on to the freeway… “Please be careful out there”!
Yes, it can be very, very frustrating….and I realize that many of you out there are facing challenges getting around, even during the day….but when night falls, it just seems to get worse. Please check your routes before leaving your house:Â
Around 4:00 every day, they post the changes, closures, etc.. so please go to: http://www.metro.net/projects/I-405/construction-info/ so that you don’t get caught in a mess as I have a few times. One Saturday a few weeks ago, it took me two hours to get from Century City home!!!..There was nowhere to go to get out of the mess!
These notices are usually the only accurate information available to residents and visitors — and while they experiences changes, I have found the site fairly reliable. Good Luck!
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Labor Day. Is it really the lat day of summer?
Not officially. Summer isn’t officially get over until September 20, 2013….but when the kids are back in school….when the freeways and roadways get jammed on the way to work…when the beaches are deserted….you get
the message. Summer is history. I love summer and the Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. We do have four seasons in Los Angeles…..you only have to look at the mountains during Winter to see snow…or drive to desert to see the Spring flowers….or drive through Malibu or Topanga Canyon to see the Fall colors…..we have it all here. I personally have particularly enjoyed the cooler summer we have had thus far, even though the thought that it is because of the Green House Effect is very troubling. We have had a great summer so far…..and we still have two weeks left (actually, we have a whole month!).Â
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It’s Fire Prevention time…..clean up, be aware.
Every year at this time we only have to see/hear the news to remind us that it is fire season. And your friends’ back East always seem to point out that at least they don’t have to put up with fires and earthquakes. They’re right — they only have their own ‘issues’ to deal with flooding, hurricanes, snow and ice.Â
The Los Angeles County Fire Department, which is responsible for much of the Santa Monica Mountains along with the City of Los Angeles for LA City areas, are reminding everyone to do the following:
 * Remove all brush and scrub from around your house;
 * Trim all of the landscaping that encroaches on your property near your home or garage or any other structure;
 * Clean out your gutters and roof tops of extra branches that can attract embers from nearby fires;
*Â Conduct a safety check of your home utilities (gas, water, water heater, electricity) and ensure all is intact and up to date;
*Â Have an “escape route” planned and ready to execute if you have to be evacuated;
*Â Keep your flashlights, radio (yes), and other communication devices charged and with extra batteries;
*Â Keep an earthquake and emergency supplies in your primary vehicle at all times;
*Â Be alert for notices on your television or radio;
In other words, it’s Fire Season and it’s time to be on the alert and prepare for the worse. We have had some close calls during the past few years right here in Sepulveda Pass and around the Getty Center — but with the diligent and excellent performance by our County and Fire Departments — we have escaped any serious damage.Â
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As you can tell from my stories earlier in this issue, I am and have been quite busy… My lot listing in Bel Air Crest has been generating a good deal of interest, and we have in fact had two offers in the last week, and there is a possibility of another one in the near future. Unfortunately the two offers we had were not acceptable to the seller, but the fact that there are building/construction buyers out there again is very encouraging in itself! I am always on the quest for more good, solid clients both buyers and sellers and am here to assist you with any of your real estate needs. Please do not forget that I am here for you.
One of my mentees calls me this… what do you think?Â
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