Timely Real Estate News………………………………………………………June 15, 2013
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Pageant of the Masters lives on stage…but lives in our hearts, too
It’s really difficult to describe the Pageant of the Masters if you have not seen this at its home in Laguna Canyon. Started some 80 years ago by a group of art-loving, dedicated residents of Laguna Beach in 1933, the Pageant is a companion feature to the annual Festival of Arts (begun one year earlier), which is located on city-owned grounds, nestled in the lush canyon landscape. What makes the Pageant so unique is that it has achieved world-famed status for the meticulous, almost imperceptible realism given to the ‘living pictures’ of renowned art, from Michelangelo to Andrew Wyeth. The Pageant is a 90-minute stage show of “living pictures”, and anyone can attest with their own description that these human replicas of fine art are an incredibly faithful art re-creations of classical and contemporary works with real people posing to look exactly like their counterparts in the original pieces. And each year, the Pageant is noted for its life-like depiction of the Leonardo de Vinci’s painting of the Last 
Supper.
There is no question when viewing these individual “art scenes” that you are dumbfounded at the authenticity of their artful presentation — you cannot believe this is a not a real painting — but as it sinks into your soul and brain, you realize that they have, indeed, re-created the painting in such detail and realism that you are stunned, emotionally moved to bring a sense of pure joy and excitement into your being. And when you factor in the music, original score, live narration, and sophisticated lighting, you sit back in your chair and realize how privileged you are to witness these collaborative works of so many skilled and expert volunteers who put in over 60,000 hours every season, year after year. It is known as the finest presentation of its kind in the world today.
The 2013 Pageant of the Masters theme salutes the classic art that inspired legendary filmmakers — “Lights, Camera, Inaction”. Reservations are required. Performances start at 8:30 p.m. each night during the months of July and August (last performance is August 31, 2013).
Is it worth the drive? You bet. I have always looked forward to not only the drive down each time I go…. it is just a magical evening to spend at the Pageant and beforehand at the Festival of the Arts, which features some of California’s finest artists. It is something really special to arrive in late afternoon, take some time to browse the many fine artists on display at the Festival, have a wonderful dinner nearby or at the Festival restaurant, and then witness one of the world’s true art treasures….in real, living color.
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Holding steady….real estate volumes and prices are normal…which is a good thing
I don’t know about you, but being “normal” is a good feeling these days, any day actually. We have been on a real estate roller coaster for past six years or so (since the proverbial bubble deflated in 2007), so we are seeing prices and volumes — for the most part — holding steady in the four communities I report on — Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills Post Office, Bel-Air, and 
Brentwood.
Sales volume, which fell a bit in May 2013 compared to volumes through May 2012, has remained a small percentage behind in June 2013 — down 1.6% when measured against volumes through the first six months of 2012. Sales volume for through June 31, 2013, was just over $1.185 billion compared to $1.1164 billion last year at this time. We are seeing strong sales and actually we are seeing more homes sold vs. large estates which greatly affected the sales volume last year and in 2012 when we saw several large transactions over $20 to $85 million that haven’t occurred this year. The diversity of sales prices continues, mostly concentrating in the lower than $3 million level in all of these communities, but Beverly Hills had six sales of $3 million or more, with the highest at $7.6 million; Beverly Hills Post Office had four over $3 million with the highest at $10.5 million; Bel-Air had six over $3 million and had two homes at over $13 million, the highest for the four communities last month. Brentwood had the most sales — 29 transactions closed escrow with nine over $3 million but the highest was $7.3 million.
What I am seeing in my open houses and in discussing trends in my Coldwell Banker Brentwood office is that we are getting many homes with multiple offers (see below). Our communities remain hugely attractive, still, to foreign buyers who, while diminishing to some degree, regard our area as one of the most desirable places to own real estate. Where else?
Median sales prices are moving up….good news
While sales volume is a bit lower than we would like, we are seeing median sales prices in three of our communities are the rise
. Beverly Hills, for example, is up 7% to a MSP of $4.5 million through the first six months of this year. BHPO is up over 8% with a MSP of $2 million; Bel-Air is down 8%, however, with a MSP of $1.835 million. But Brentwood, which had a spectacular June in sales volume, was up 31% to a median sales price of $2.312 million, highest for the year.
There are some wild monthly swings, though — but not alarming. As we have discussed in the past, this always happens. Beverly Hills’ median sales price for June 2013 vs. June 2012 was down 34%, which — we have learned — can change on a dime (and it does so practically every month). BHPO had ‘zero’ change comparing June 2013 vs. June 2012. Bel-Air was up 11% for the same comparison months; and Brentwood, again, was up a whopping 45% in median sales prices when compared to a year ago. Please remember that these numbers that I am sharing with you are from the multiple listing service only.
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Challenges buyers face…..it sometimes feel like “war” out there….scrambling for a ‘deal’
The battle rages on — everyday. No rest for the holidays. Yup, I thought I was going to escape to my home in Coronado for the 
4th of July holiday and what happens? Everything! No rest for real estate agents it seems. I ended up negotiating several transactions over the holiday, closing one transaction actually on July 4th and am still in negotiation on several others as I write this. Every day was filled with calls from buyers, sellers, and agents (my favorite people)….and agents in my office are seeing the flurry of offers on homes that surely point to an intense competition on just about every home that hits the market. The challenge, of course, is that we are low on quality inventory so when a great property hits the market (or before it hits), it’s gone in hours, not days or months. One house in Westwood sold last week with 19 offers in two hours! Yes, 2 hours!!! With interest rates creeping upward, and with school around the corner, there is a lot of competition for good homes in good neighborhoods.
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Everyone is taking notice….reports from the ‘front’ roll in
The media is not leaving the real estate market alone — and why should they? The heartbeat of the America’s real estate market is monitored by everyone and it is what is making news these days. For many months now, U.S. home prices have risen to new highs as the housing market recovers from one of the worst crashes in recent history. The rebound comes as more Americans find jobs and as homebuyers work their way through the remaining housing inventory following years of lackluster construction. Just before mortgage rates began their march upward, prices in 20 U.S. cities climbed 12% in April from a year earlier — the biggest gain since early 2006 when home values began to level off before the market collapsed, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday. Some of the hardest-hit markets during the recession saw the biggest one-year jump, with prices in Atlanta, Detroit, and Las Vegas each rising about 20%. In Los Angeles, prices rose 19%, while prices in Boston, Chicago, and Denver increased almost 10%.
I don’t normally report on national stories, but I also know you are seeing these online and on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. What happens in Las Vegas, however, is not what is trending in Beverly
Hills or Bel-Air. What is driving prices higher, however, is the demand from large investors who bought foreclosed properties in bulk at deep discounts. These properties, fortunately, have dwindled and therefore, prices are beginning to rise again. And investors are not seeing as many bargains as before.
But the elephant in the room are the rising mortgage rates. Rate increases of more than one percentage point could have an impact on the market, especially marginal buyers who were stretching to get into the market and had enough problems and challenges in qualifying for a loan before this jump, but now cannot qualify as easily any more. Also, just a friendly reminder, if you are getting a new loan or re financing, please do not make any credit purchases while you are in escrow with the loan. Lenders are checking the credit scores before they fund loans, and if they see any changes in the score, which a credit purchase can do, they will pull their loan approval and not fund the loan.
What I am seeing are more homeowners who are thinking about putting their homes on the market. For example, in a May survey by Fannie Mae, the share of respondents who say now is a good time to sell a home reached a record high of 40%, compared to 30% in April and 16% a year earlier. We are also seeing a gradual rise in homes on the market when inventory bottomed out in January but has risen 6.1% since (May 2013) by 128,000 homes (national). What they are all saying is that while prices and volumes have not gotten around to 2007 levels, we are seeing a housing recovery that is still growing, still strong.
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Interest rates are affecting the way homebuyers are approaching the market
Customers touring homes and making offers declined in both May and the first part of June of this year, but picked up at the end of June, as they say “go figure” “are the changes in interest rates negatively impacting the market”… I don’t see that.. in fact it 
could speed it up more as people want to get in before interest rates go up even more!. Yes, we are seeing our volumes and prices holding steady, but remember, we are working with less inventory and competition has increased — the ol’law of “supply and demand” is at work.
John Ciolino of First Capital Mortgage — a consultant to Coldwell Banker — reported the most likely reason for the decrease in demand is a sudden rise in interest rates. What we are seeing are two kinds of reactions among homebuyers.
#1 — The first group consists of homebuyers just getting started in the process of purchasing a home. This group seemed to step back, which accounts for the decline in tours and offers in the first few weeks of June.
#2 — The second group of buyers, already further along in the home buying process, tended to accelerate in an effort to lock in a still historically low rate. As a result, offers were up by 1.2 percent in the final week of June.
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Buyers Looking at Properties for Sale
The number of customers touring homes fell 1.9% from May to June, compared to a 1.5% increase between May and June in 2012; home offers decreased 5.0% from May to June, a slightly larger decline than last year’s 3.2% drop, and during the last week of June, home tours were down 2.7% week over week, compared to a 2.3% increase in the last week of June 2012.
The report also noted that during the last week of June, home offers increased 1.2% week over week, compared to a 2.3% week-over-week increase during the same period last year.
So, as we look at specifically what is happening in your neighborhood, you should review your options if you want to put your home on the market now. This is a good time — the market remains fairly strong during the Summer months….and buyers are scrambling out there — the multiple offers shows a pent-up demand for quality properties. I suggest you give me a call to discuss possible scenarios for your home if you’re contemplating selling. I can tell you this, however: Properly priced homes are what sell quickly and presentation and home condition remain high priorities to all buyers these days.
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Join the fun….guess the Westside landmark and location…win $150 to Hotel Bel Air
Here’s your chance to win a $150 gift certificate to the fabulous Hotel Bel Air — scrumptious options exist at this one-of-a-kind experience….breakfast, lunch, or dinner….spa day….or just casual drinks around the pool. All you have to do is guess where this landmark sculpture is located and its name. It’s on the Westside, and it’s pretty obvious if you know your ‘landmarks’. It’s a popular location and hints really aren’t needed, are they?
Send me your entry: Name, email address, and name the sculpture and location. That’s all you have to do. Multiple entries results in a ‘blind’ drawing for the winner. Deadline is August 1. Email entries to: ceschiffer@aol.com. No phone or snail mail entries PLEASE. The lucky winner will be announced on August 5, 2013.
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There’s more to bananas than just the fruit
There are so many products familiar to us that we tend to just see a single use for. The banana tree is an incredible plant with many applications. For most of us, our only familiarity with bananas is the fruit we buy at the supermarket. Bananas are a healthy food (eaten in moderation of course), containing potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C and vitamin B6. They are low in fat and contain complex carbohydrates.
Native to tropical South and Southeast Asia, today they are cultivated in plantations throughout the tropics. From an environmental viewpoint, banana plantations have their negative and positive attributes. The negative side of things is given 
the type of conditions needed to grow bananas, it usually means rainforest is needed to be cleared to establish them. Improper use of pesticides on banana crops may also leach into waterways and surrounding areas.
Those issues aside, banana plantations seem to be very sustainable in themselves once up and running and an amazing aspect is just about every part of the banana tree can be used, for example:
• Banana hearts are used as a vegetable in Asian cuisine
• The leaves are often used as plates or wrapping for grilling food
• The core of the trunk can also be eaten
• Banana leaves, shoots and trunk can produce fiber suitable for making textile products such as rugs and clothing
• The bark, stem and fruits can be used to make paper
• Skin can be used for dyeing
• Sap can be utilized as marking ink
• Banana tree roots and other parts of the plant are used in alternative medicine
One of the great things about bananas is they come in their own environmentally friendly biodegradable packaging – the peel. When you’re done with eating a banana, instead of throwing the peel away, consider some of these other uses:
• Compost or use as mulch
• Add banana peels to your worm farm – it seems worms love them
• Cut up the peel and place it just under the surface near plants to deter aphids
• De-string the inside of the peel and use the remaining peel for shining leather or silverware
• Banana peel vinegar
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What’s happening in my Real Estate world today? I have a new listing in Bel Air Crest that will be coming on the market in about a week after we put the finishing touches to it (no showings until next week), the price is $1,525,000 (it is a modified Getty floor plan with 2 bedrooms, office and den and is in wonderful condition. I have another canyon home that may be coming on the market in late August or Sept, and that price will be a little higher as it is a little bigger and has a sensational view! My condo in the Wilshire on the corridor that looks like a New York loft is still available at $1,575,000. If you are not familiar with this fabulous building, it is a treat to not only see the unit itself, but the building as well. Please let me know how I might assist you or someone you know with any of your real estate needs. I am here for you! I look forward to receiving your entries in the contest.
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