Timely Real Estate News………………………………………….. 15 December 2009
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
Happy Holidays. . . .With this last issue of the SchifferLine for 2009, I want to wish you all a very Happy Holidays. For all of us, it has been a challenging year, to say the least, and I know a number of people are very glad to see it drawing to a close. This is a really special time of year for all of us. We have finally had our “rain”, and boy, was it a rain and wind storm. They are predicting a rainy winter for us, so I hope the hillside and foothill communities where we have had recent fires do not suffer from any devastation in the predictable aftermath of floods and mudslides. But, we are also very fortunate to enjoy the sun once again. I do hope the Holidays bring something especially wonderful to your home and family….and to our solders fighting far from home and hearth, all over the world.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
I wanted also to share with you a really special place for me, too — the Hotel del Coronado.
There is nothing more special than to visit the Del during the holidays. It is a special place for me, since I have been going to there since I was a little girl. It is truly an amazing sight to walk into the lobby of the hotel and see the wonderful tree they put up every year.
And then there is the special ice skating rink on the back lawn which becomes a skating rink “by the sea”.
The Hotel del Coronado (also known as the The Del to local residents, which I am fortunate enough to be part of the year, is a beachfront luxur hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay in San Diego. It is one of the few surviving examples of an American architectural genre: the wooden Victorian beach resort. It is one of the oldest and largest all-wooden buildings in California and was designated a National Historical Landmark in 1972.
When it opened in 1888, it was the largest resort hotel in the world and the first to use electrical lighting. It has hosted presidents, royalty, and celebrities throughout the years. The hotel has been featured in numerous movies and books, and even has it own “friendly resident ghost”. One of the more prominent movies made there was “Some Like It Hot”, featuring Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis, a former neighbor of mine. The old boat house in the movie is today one of the top restaurants in town.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
Slowly but surely….sales show improvement. . . .November was one of the best months for Westside real estate, with more than $1.315 billion sold in single-family homes during the past month, compared to $1,401 billion, down just 6% from the previous years. Why is this good news? Because the market is inching its way back to at least be even with the previous year, where we have lagged as much as 40% down in sales volume. Every month, we are seeing more and more buyers in the market. There is “life” out there.
With respect to home prices, again we are seeing wide fluctuations in the median sales price. For example, Beverly Hills, which has consistently performed well during the past year, was off by 58% when you compare November 2008 to November 2009. Beverly Hills Post Office was down 39%, Bel-Air was off by 35%, but Brentwood was 96% ahead of last year at this time. Go figure. And we have. The wide swings represent typical market anomalies — last year in Beverly Hills, the median sales price was $4,525 million when it has averaged just $3,502 million in November 2008. There are one-time, large estates sold in each of the areas I report about every month, and this skews the statistics, as is the case in all of the communities at one time or another.
The median sales price for the year, however, is consistent with previous months: Beverly Hills was off 14% from year-to-date figures for 2009 (compared to 2008); Beverly Hills Post Office was off 16%, and Bel-Air was off by 21%. But Brentwood, which recorded a big jump in MSP for November, was actually up 4% for the year. We’ll see what December brings when I report these figures in my 15 January 2010 SchifferLine.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
Comparing selling price to original selling price. . . .It is always important to see the trends in how home pricing affects the market. The MLS keeps track of the comparison between the original sales price vs. the selling price. For example, in Beverly Hills for the month of November 2009, the homes sold at 88.57% of their original sales price; Beverly Hills Post Office sold at 89.62%; Bel-Air was at 76.51%; and Brentwood was at 87.29%. What this shows is that after the house sits on the market for an extended period of time (the average days on market for all four areas was 111 days), the selling price decreases. If the house is not property priced at the outset, it can sit and sit and sit, bringing the eventual sales price lower by as much as 12% to 24%, as was the case with Bel-Air. So, please, when you are considering selling your home, remember the days where “everyone” got multiple offers are over. Yes, some still do get multiple offers, but these are the exception, not the rule. I just closed escrow on a very “sweet” house in Beverly Hills where there were 17 offers!!!
***********************************************************************************************************************************************
Recycling your Christmas Tree
Before you toss that tree into the nearest garbage bin, remember that recycling your tree is so easy in the U.S. that Americans recycle an impressive 93 percent of them every year through the nation’s 4,000 available recycling programs.
To get into the true Christmas spirit and recycle your own tree this year, just complete these three easy steps.
First, remove all of the tree’s accessories, including the stand, lights, tinsel and ornaments. If these items are left on, they could contaminate the recycling process.
Second, check out the collection and drop-off dates for tree recycling in your area so that you don’t miss the deadline. A simple web search with “Christmas tree recycling” and the name of your town should do the trick.
Third, don’t put your Christmas tree in a plastic bag for recycling. Instead, to avoid getting pine needles everywhere, simply wrap the tree in a blanket for temporary transport to the nearest recycling drop-off.
We have a few choices for the recycling of our trees. We can call 1800 773-2489 for the City of Los Angeles Curbside pick up. They will come and pick up any bulky items you might have including your tree, or you can bring it to Fire Station # 108 at 12520 Mulholland or #71 at 107 S. Beverly Glen.
In addition, a handful of community groups, such as the Boy Scouts of America, will deliver your tree to the recycling center for a small donation.
So what happens to your tree once you recycle it? Well, a lot of things, actually!
Though recycled Christmas trees are often ground up for mulch and used for landscaping purposes, in recent years many communities, governmental organizations, businesses and nonprofits have come up with a number of other ways to creatively reuse or recycle your old tree.
Here are just a few of the ways that recycled trees have been put to good use, courtesy of the National Christmas Tree Association:
Dune restoration
When Hurricane Ivan hit Alabama’s Gulf Coast in September 2004, the pounding waves of the hurricane pulled sand away from the beaches and destroyed dunes that are home to a number of animal populations.
To rebuild the dunes and restore the fragile ecosystem, volunteers put up more than 3,000 feet of sand fencing with a Christmas tree at the base of each fence. A local tree farmer donated the Christmas trees after the hurricane wiped out his crop.
Rebuilding coastlines
Each year, Louisiana loses 25 to 35 square miles of coastal wetlands, which protect the area against hurricane surges, provide natural treatment for storm water and provide a rich nursery ground for fisheries. To help fight against the encroaching ocean, nearly 1.5 million Christmas trees have been used as tree fences to combat erosion and slow wave action since 1986.
Since its inception, the program has created 8 miles worth of tree fences and restored 250 to 300 acres of marshland. The trees even helped protect the shoreline during Hurricane Katrina.
Heron homes
Herons and egrets began to overcrowd the Baker’s Lake Nature Reserve, owned by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, after being forced out of their native habitats by development. In the process, the birds also destroyed much of the natural vegetation at the nesting site.
To recreate a home for the birds, the District, in cooperation with the Citizens for Conservation, uses Christmas Trees to create nesting structures that attract hundreds of pairs of great blue herons, great egrets, cormorants and black-crowned night herons to the rookery.
Free mulch
San Diego’s tree mulching program provides free fertile mulch to residents throughout the year. The program, which has been offered since 1973, allows city residents to drop off their Christmas Trees at 18 locations or leave them outside for curbside collection. All trees are then recycled into high-quality mulch and compost, which is then made available to residents.
“By recycling your Christmas tree, you are doing your part to reduce the amount of material in the landfill and help the environment by giving your holiday tree a second life as compost, mulch or wood chips,” said Elmer L. Heap Jr., director of Environmental Services Department.
Biofuel
Each year, Packaging Corporation of America hires a contractor to grind up Christmas trees dropped off at a yard waste site by citizens of Tomahawk, Wisconsin. Once completed, the materials are loaded up and taken straight to the company’s environmentally friendly mill.
“We use it as a boiler fuel to power our pulp and paper mill plant,” says John Piotrowski, environmental manager at PCA, which manufactures containerboard and corrugated packaging.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************
Have a wonderful, happy holiday celebration with your family and friends. See you next year. Enjoy!!!