Timely Real Estate News……………………………………………… 2 May 2008
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Are we living on the housing fault line? Depends on where you live.
Associated Press reported last week: “… Sales of new homes (US) plunged in March to the slowest pace in 16 ½ years as a two-year housing downturn extended into the start of another spring sales season. The median price of a new home in March compared to a year ago fell at the fastest clip in 38 years.” File that away, if you’re interested in new home sales statistics.
With few new homes under construction and no large tracks of new housing underway on the Westside, we take a jaundiced view of these statistics that seem to roll off the presses (and your computer) every week. When will the news get better, you ask? It seems that any and all real estate news affects us – certainly Realtors who specialize in the Westside. And April was no exception.
So, here goes: There was good news in Beverly Hills and Bel Air where the median sales price for April 2008 (vs. April 2007) was up 32% and 60% respectively… However, if you lived down the street and your address was Brentwood or Beverly Hills Post Office – it was a different story:
BHPO was down 23% vs. a year ago, and Brentwood was not far behind with -19%.
Good news, not so good news. This has been the theme of the Schiffer Line for the past year as we have slid into a near recession mode (but escaped this first quarter 2008, thank you). Some neighborhoods do well for several months, then slide the next. What is disturbing overall in these four communities is that sales volume, year to date, is off by more than 51% — a staggering # if you like to follow these numbers – and Realtors do, by the way. Median sales price can be skewed by an occasional anomaly – a house on the market in Beverly Hills in November sold for $17 million. But it came back on the market in March 2008 for 17 million, and it sold – but the MLS recorded the sale for only $10! Of course, no one believes that…but that is how MLS stats can be deceiving. After talking with the title company, we discover that the house actually sold for $17 million in April 2008—which would jump the city’s average from $3.8 million to $5.6 million for the eight homes closing escrow this month.
As a dear friend reminded me the other day – statistics form the MLS can play tricks on the actual state of affairs in a community – especially when large sales can skew the month-end results. The MLS has moved to clean this up, and they’re doing a great job – but there are still glitches (like the $10 recorded sale in Beverly Hills).
We’re concerned for the short term about the lower sales volumes – while we have seen our prices on the Westside hold against the low tide elsewhere, it also means that sales of existing homes have dramatically slowed down. – but NOT if your home is priced right. Remember, even in tough times, a home that is priced correctly, will sell – many times with multiple offers (yes, that is still happening today) there recently was a home on North Beverly Glen that received 22 offers the first day it was on the market! Those statistics in our market prove that. Do we live on a fault line? Are we sinking into the Pacific Ocean? Not yet. Stay tuned.
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Now for the Green news…. As an homage to April being “Earth Month”, I have a little more tips than usual.. I hope you like them!! I hope you like them!!
Greening your swimming pool
By green I don’t mean the color of the water in your swimming pool I am referring to lessening the environment impact.
If you’re a pool owner, here’s some issues to take into consideration and ideas to help lessen the impact your pool has on the environment – and the one major green step you can take is to use a
pool cover.
Evaporation
It’s just not the amount of water that initially is put in a pool that’s a problem, an uncovered pool with dimensions of 18 feet X 36 feet can lose around 7,000 gallons of water a year just through evaporation depending on where you live. To put that into perspective, that’s enough water to sustain a human for 29 years.
A pool cover/blanket can reduce evaporation by a massive 90-95% and they are quite inexpensive to buy. While most pool blankets are made from plastics, it’s a case of the lesser of the two evils.
Leaks
I’ve read that up to 1 in 5 swimming pools leak. A small leak in a pool can cause the loss of 700 gallons of water per day. If your pool is losing over a quarter inch of water every 24 hours (or half an inch in particularly hot , dry regions), it’s a good indication you may have a leak.
By addressing leaks and evaporation, you’ll not only save precious potable water, you’ll likely save a ton of money as well.
Chemicals
Chorine can be nasty and a recent study drew a possible link between chlorinated pools and asthma in children. Draining pools and discharging backwash can cause problems to waterways if it’s not done correctly. If you do need to use chlorine in your pool and find the occasion to drain it, avoid adding chlorine for a full week before emptying the pool
Again a pool cover/blanket can reduce chemical use by up to 50%. Evaporative pool chemicals contribute to the production of greenhouse gases; so you’ll be doing good there as well in chemical reduction.
Some alternatives to chlorine include copper ionization and oxygen systems, ultraviolet (UV) sanitization system or possibly salt, although I believe with the latter, other chemicals also need to be added.
Energy/Heating
If you heat your pool you’re in a for a nasty shock when it comes time to pay your utility bill.. Building on the pool blanket idea, you can buy bubble covers that are basically a solar energy collector, increasing your pool temperature substantially and helping to lock the heat in. Apparently clear blankets are the best option
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Once again, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me for any of your real estate needs,
I look forward to hearing from you.
