Timely Real Estate News………………………………………15 March 2012
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March is Women’s History Month — honoring their contributions
If you ever wondered why football players always say “Hi, Mom” when they’re on camera during a game, you get the idea: Women — and more precisely, Moms, play pivotal roles in all of our lives. And so it is natural to have a month-long celebration honoring the contributions of women who have helped move civilization forward in so many fields of endeavor or just life in general. Women have always struggled to get recognized for their importance and contributions to society, and it wasn’t even until 1920 when women in the United States gained the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment.
Women’s History Month was actually inspired by a school district in Sonoma, California, in 1978, when it declared the week around March 8 as Women’s History Week. March 8 was already recognized as International Women’s Day. And when the event became so popular with other schools around the country, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) cosponsored the first Joint Congressional Resolution proclaiming Women’s History Weekā¦.and of course, this was so well received by various celebrations around the US, in 1987, Congress expanded the focus to a whole month.
The focus has always been on contributions of women who have “made a difference” — including a long line of distinguished first ladies from Dolly Madison, Eleanor Roosevelt to Michelle Obama to our first women Secretaries of State — Madeline Albright to Condoleezza Rice to Hillary Clinton. The list is endless, and so it is this month, we can think about the great women in our own lives who have been there for us, including my ownā¦”Hi, Momā¦”
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2012 gets off to fast start
The ‘hummmm” in the office is stronger, more vibrant than we have seen in a while.Ā Sales volume for the four communities I report on — Beverly Hills, Beverly Hills Post Office, Bel-Air, and Brentwood — are all showing up and because of some large sales, theĀ median sales prices for February 2012 compared to 2011 is up a little. Sales volume for these four communities was $176 million vs. $170 million in 2011. Notably, sales volumes were up in three of the four areas — Beverly Hills, BHPO, and Brentwood. Only Bel-Air suffered a volume decline this year vs. February 2011.
As always, influencing the median sales price, which I believe is the fairest way to average out actual prices sold in single family homes were large sales of over $10 million — Beverly Hills Post Office recorded a sale of $21.750 million in February and had another sale of $6.750 million as well last month. Beverly Hills had two sales over $7 million; Bel-Air had a sale of $10.175 million; and Brentwood had three sales over $3 million — two in the $3 million range and one for $9 million.
There were a total of 30 sales for the month, and the average sales price vs. average listing price (always a strong gauge of market strength) was led by Brentwood at 95.5%; Bel-Air at 91.6%; Beverly Hills at 90.4%; and Beverly Hills Post Office at 89.7%. In other words, the average price reduction from the listing price to actual sales price is still hovering around 10% reduction.
This is not a seller’s marketā¦.yet. But we are continuing to see multiple offers on homes that are priced right.
The average days on market (DOM) is still over 100 days, with Beverly Hills at 96 DOM; Brentwood at 100 DOM; Bel-Air at 124 DOM; and Beverly Hills Post Office at 143 DOM.
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Rolling Spring break for schools eases congestionā¦.what to do? where to go?
Perhaps I’m getting oldā¦.I never heard of “rolling Spring breaks” when I was growing up — maybe that’s because when I grew up we didn’t need them: There wereĀ less people living in Southern California when I had a Spring Vacation in school. But with millions more living here in our Golden State, school districts have instituted the rolling vacation schedule — where schools are staggering their Spring breaks to ease crowding at popular resort towns (like Balboa, San Diego, Palm Springs) and make it easier for families to get around to popular attractions without the huge crowds all coming at once. The problem is if the kids go to different schools and each school has a different schedule, it makes it difficult to schedule something for the entire family to do together at the same time.Ā Did you know that nearly 80% of all domestic person-trips are taken by car, truck or RV? And that’s up 11% from 1994ā¦and what that means is that most of us who are taking time off this spring will be going by automobile? And with gasoline prices going through the roof, you might want to consider some of the close by choices suggested by the Southern California Automobile Club in their monthly magazine, Westways. Given the price of gas today,Ā Ā I thought it might be fun to give you some suggestions for day trips rather then ātripsā. The obvious choices for day trips, of course, are the famous Southern California theme parks — Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Sea World, Magic Mountain, and Universal Studios — but there is a world of other free (or almost free attractions) that can appeal to the whole family as well — including the Getty Center, Getty Villa (Malibu), and a variety of nature and mountain walks in the nearby mountains. Different communities have wonderful venues that can entertain you and your family for a day, like Pasadena with the Gamble House, the Norton Simon & Huntington Museums, and a delightful tea at the beautiful Langham Hotel. Or how about the new exhibit Levitated Mass at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art?Ā They are in the process of putting it together, but should be most interesting when it is done. Museums abound in our area, all within easy driving distance –the Hammer (Westwood) to the Gene Autry Museum. One of my favorite places, of course, is San Diego and all of its famous attractions including the Gaslight District, USS Midway, San Diego Zoo or Legoland and Wild Animal Park.
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College debt can be a challenge for first-time home buyersā¦.check it out
If you or someone you know is planning to buy their first home, you will have to consider the debt issues of your college loan if you have one. Many first-time borrowers have too much debt from college loans and as a result, either opt out of buying or they seek help from their parents — who sometimes co-signed for their childrenās indebtedness. There are some sobering statistics to note: one in four college borrowers are carrying past-due student loan debts,Ā there is a higher delinquency rate than previously thought. About 167,000 former students are carrying more than $200,000 in loan debt, or about one-half of 1% of all student-loan borrowers. The average balance per borrower is $23,300. According to some experts, this is a “ticking time bomb” — a looming crisis threatening young adults, their families and the broader economy. There are some 37 million borrowers with student loans, of which 5.4 million had at least one past-due student loan account.
What’s worse, is that only 40% to 50% of students at the California State University system, for example, end up completing their degrees. And sadly, many scholars believe that America’s declining or stagnant college graduation rates have become an Achilles’ heel in the competitive global economy. The report issued by the New York Federal Reserve concluded that there are far-reaching consequences of these loan failures, which force students to make decisions that greatly affect their careers and the outcomes for their families and parents. And here’s one last statistic to sober you up: The latest outstanding student loan balance is $870 billion, which is nearly $200 billion more than the total credit card debt in the US.
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Foreign buyers focus on individual homesā¦.
Now that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have left a trail of broken dreams because of the housing market meltdown, foreign clients are storming US shores with pockets full of money to pick up hundreds of thousands homes throughout the country. According the National Association of Realtors, foreign clients have purchased $41 billion worth of houses and apartments during the 12-month period ending March 2011 — that is roughly the same amount purchased in the previous period of 2010. And there are no signs this trend is abating.
While most of these are investments are via the rental market, there is another $41 billion spent by immigrants who moved here within the last two years and individuals with visas of more than six months — bringing the total to $82 billion worth of US residential real estate that was taken off the market by international buyers, up from $66 billion the year before according the NAR.
When a similar trend occurred in the early 1980s with Japanese buyers, there was a huge outcry that we were selling off America. Not so this time. The foreign share of the domestic housing market is a “small sliver” of the $1.07 trillion pie. And in today’s times, local economies are welcoming with open arms anyone who is moving into the neighborhood with money to spend. The most popular places for foreigners? California (of course), Florida, Texas, and Arizona.
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Top 10 overlooked personal tax deductionsā¦.
Here are some handy tax tips for you to considerā¦..1. Dependent parents. More and more often, middle-aged people take care of their aging parents, including paying some or all of their medical expenses. If you’re providing more than 50 percent of your parents’ financial support, and their expenses exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income, you may qualify for a big deduction. 2. Mortgage loan discount and origination fees. If you bought a house in 2011, make sure you check your Good Faith Statement and deduct any mortgage origination fees or discount points that you paid. The IRS considers all of these expenses prepaid mortgage interest, and mortgage interest is always deductible for primary residences. 3. Sales tax on a new vehicle.Ā This deduction comes with a lot of restrictions and stipulationsābuying a used car doesn’t count, for exampleābut if you purchased a new car in 2011, you may be able to deduct the sales tax on the purchase, even if you don’t itemize your deductions. Depending on your filing status (i.e. single, married filing jointly versus married filing separately) and income, your deduction might be a little lower, and if you make more than $135,000, this deduction is not applicable. 4. Home energy efficiency improvements. If you make qualifying energy-efficient home improvements to your primary residence, like installing doors, windows, a water heater, furnace, or air conditioner, you may be able to deduct up to $1,500 off your 2011 tax bill. For more information, see this list of green energy tax credits.Ā 5. Mileage for volunteer work. If you travel a long way to volunteer for a charity, you can deduct the IRS-determined mileage allowance for your commute back and forth. While the reimbursement rate fell a bit for business expenses last year, fortunately the 14 cents per mile for charity-related travel held steady. 6. Childcare
expenses when volunteering. If you paid a babysitter to watch the kids while you volunteered for your church or other non-profit organization, you can deduct that expense on your taxes.Ā 7. Expenses for mentoring programs. Many volunteers for programs such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Young Life, and youth groups end up spending a lot of their own funds on children by paying for meals and event tickets. You can’t deduct the money you spent on yourself, but you can deduct the cash spent on the child. 8. Continuing education deductions. If you itemize your deductions, don’t miss out on these miscellaneous itemized tax deductions: Subscriptions to professional publications, dues paid to professional associations, investment advisory fees, costs of a safety deposit box, and tax-preparation fees (even if you used online tax preparation software like TurboTax).Ā 9. Jury duty pay. If you received jury duty pay, the IRS considers it like any other taxable income. But if you had to return jury duty compensation because you still had a salary from your employer while at jury duty, then you can deduct the pay from your tax return.
You don’t have to be a CPA or a math whiz to figure out that many activities, tasks, and everyday situations can be money-saving tax deductions. But of course fine print can always get in the way, so if you’re unsure about itemizing or taking certain deductions, consult a tax professional. The last thing you want to do is claim a deduction and pay it back later on during an audit.
Aren’t taxes fun?
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Light Rail Expo coming to the Westside.
We all complain about the horrible traffic on the Westside, I know I sure doā¦ Expo is coming to the rescue.Ā As we have read and heard recently, the Expo stations connecting Downtown to the Sea is in the works with some stations already completed and in the final testing stations.Ā Here is the phone number to call for more information of the stations and the route (213 922-3976). Jim Kennedy is the Community Relations Manager for the project and his direct # is 310 500-1787, and email address; jimkennedy2@skanska.comĀ I would provide you with the link, but apparently is it full of virusā and I donāt want to contaminate anyoneās computer.Ā According to a presentation I recently attended, there will be parking areas for us to leave our beloved cars and get around the city.Ā They are working with community groups (called stake holders) to assure their concerns are addressed.Ā .Ā As we are seeing with the construction for the widening of the 405, there are going to be some miserable days ahead of u, but hopefully in the end it will lighten the traffic gridlock that we all experience here.
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As for me, I am very busy, hold open houses most Sundays on one of my listings in Mountaingate, including my new listing at The Ridge, and/or working with some of my many buyers including selling homes in Brentwood and Bel Air, and condos in Santa Monica, Venice and the South Bay.
