Peter Viles over at LA Land recently reported on an interesting item – it seems foreclosure rates in California are dropping rapidly because of a new law that requires lenders to actually contact homeowners before preceding with foreclosure filings. He cites data from another website, Foreclosure Radar, showing the effect this new law is having:… Read More
The New York Times has a very depressing article today on the continuing fall of housing prices, and the very real possibility that we are nowhere near the bottom. The article predicts continued declines trhough next year, and maybe longer in places like LA where housing is still relatively expensive compared to rents and incomes…. Read More
The money-plagued Grand Avenue project in downtown LA, across from the Disney Concert Hall, just got a Korean fairy godmother…with $100 million dollars. The LA Times reports that the Honua Group will drop the cash into the project’s long-awaited first phase. As the real estate market has continued its downward slide, the project’s developers have… Read More
Mortgage rates slipped below 6% percent today—posting their first decline in more than 3 weeks. Analysts say the dip came as investors turned to the safety of Treasury bonds. The increase in investments there caused yields to fall on that debt, which in turn helped lower mortgage rates, which are often tied to related indexes…. Read More
The financial markets may be in turmoil and the real estate market in the doldrums, but houses are still being listed for sale. Here’s a round-up of what’s new on the market this week on the Eastside: Here’s a bold for-sale-by-owner (although there is also a listing agent mentioned) in Eagle Rock/Pasadena. It’s a 4/2 mid-century… Read More
Looks like I’m not the only one who has noticed how many birds are dying and sick in Echo Park Lake. Chicken Corner, an Echo Park blog, wrote this week about the problem, with lots of locals weighing in as well. The blog’s author, Jenny Burman, apparently spoke to a Parks & Rec worker who… Read More
The Los Feliz Ledger reports this month that a traffic light has been approved for Silver Lake Boulevard at Earl Street (I’d post the article, but for some reason the Ledger’s website is always a month behind their print edition!). While not all residents are happy about it, I think it’s a much-needed safety measure… Read More
Property Shark released another foreclosure report, and despite a slow down last time around, this time it looks like the numbers are going up. Los Angeles leads in the metropolitan areas the report looks at (New York, Miami, and Seattle being the others) with a 196% increase compared to Q3 of 2007 in foreclosures. Ouch.Those… Read More
The Los Angeles Times has an interesting piece today about an abandoned loft project in Eagle Rock on Colorado boulevard that local residents say is an eyesore and danger, and that the article’s author is using as an icon of the recent real estate bust. The 17-loft project was started on a triangle of land… Read More
Lauren Beale of L.A. Land over at the L.A. Times blogged recently about an interesting finding buried way down in the recent UCLA Anderson Forecast on the California economy — that short sales, despite how many there are on the market right now, are really a false barometer of current market values because they aren’t… Read More