Archive for September, 2008
September 30, 2008
I included this house in a post I wrote in June about a nearby Sweetzer abode that finally sold following several large price drops. It’s at 321 N. Sweetzer Ave. in the Beverly Grove area, and it originally landed on the market in February at a price of $1,165,000. Three months ago, the price had come down to a more reasonable, but still high, $1,049,000.
The place finally sold, but for much less than asking: $965,000. It has three bedrooms and two baths in 1,916 square feet and was built in 1929.
There are of course other nearby homes for sale, but what’s most relevant in this market is what has actually sold.
In light of the current economic meltdown, it’s evident that some people are not being affected at all, judging by the high prices at which most of these homes are selling.
317 N. Kings Road
Sold for $1,150,000 on 6/13/08
2BR/2B/1,676 square feet
113 N. La Jolla Ave.
Sold for $1,115,500 on 7/15/08
3BR/2B/1,481 square feet
461 N. Harper Ave.
Sold for $675,000 on 8/22/08
2BR/1B/1,257 square feet
122 N. Kilkea Dr.
Sold for $1,800,000 on 8/26/08
3BR/2B/1,977 square feet
September 30, 2008
In today’s news, it’s all too common to see features about green (environmentally friendly) housing, green products, and green ways of living. But what I really like to see is ways folks can go green and save money, too. After all, with the high cost of home ownership, every little bit helps. And if you’re saving for a down payment, changing a few things in your lifestyle that can save you thousands over the next few years is a good thing.
I spotted this article on Yahoo! recently. It’s got some good tips in there. And most of them are things that we can easily do. I’ll give a recap of four of my favorite tips and just how much you can save in five years. But do take a look at the original list for the full story.
1. What you can do: Keep up with your regular car maintenance.
How much it costs: $130 for every 15,000 miles
How much you’ll save in five years: $1,186.52
2. What you can do: Keep your foot off the accelerator. (Speeds over 60 mph and frequent braking and accelerating blow your gas mileage.)
How much it costs: Not a cent
How much you’ll save in five years: $2,236
3. What you can do: Keep the hot water at 120 degrees F.
How much it costs: Nothing
How much you’ll save in five years: $2,242
4. What you can do: Keep the thermostat low during wintertime and high during summertime.
How much it costs: Nothing
How much you’ll save in five years: $1,200
September 29, 2008
Affordable housing and Los Angeles are about as closely associated as “Mad Men” and feminism. But Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is determined to address the city’s lack of affordable housing, even though plenty of people are saying his plan won’t work. From the L.A. Times:
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday will unveil a $5-billion, five-year plan to build housing for the poor and middle class. The blueprint, which calls for thousands of new homes along subway and bus lines, and developments with people of all incomes living together, would, according to the mayor’s deputies, alter the look and feel of the city forever.
But the plan, which many City Council members and business and housing groups said they had not yet seen, is being released while the housing market is a shambles, the state is facing a massive budget shortfall and the economy is teetering — challenges that lead some to wonder whether it is feasible.
There’s no time like the present to introduce an affordable-housing plan for L.A. The lack of one has gone on for far too long. And with the economy the way it is, people need it more than ever.
A while back, I posted about the dire consequences of L.A.’s lack of affordable housing, as outlined in a study by the Los Angeles Business Council. The bottom line is, L.A. County has added tons of population and jobs but hardly any affordable housing over the last two decades, which has forced people to spend a huge chunk of their income on housing or move far away and commute.
Los Angeles was designated the least affordable metropolitan area in the country last year, according to the Business Council report, because so many people pay so much of their incomes for housing. The city also has the largest homeless population in the nation. In addition, although private developers have built many high-end apartment units and condos over the last few years, there has not been a similar increase for households earning less than $75,000 per year.
L.A. increasingly is the land of the haves and the have-nots. Wealthy Westside residents have opposed the idea of a subway running under Wilshire Boulevard, which would do wonders to relieve traffic congestion. Even people who make a pretty good living have a hard time affording a decent house in L.A.
Anita Chabria, our downtown L.A. blogger, includes more details about the mayor’s housing plan in this post. Whether it will fly remains to be seen. But for the city’s sake, the needs of the less-well-off need to prevail this time.
Recent Redfin posts:
$1.2 Million Toluca Lake House Goes to Producer/Director
Are Short Sales an Illusion?
WaMu Owns 25% of Current Glendale Defaults
Travel & Leisure Finds the Real L.A.
September 29, 2008
Anyone ever travel out to Toluca Lake? An old college friend of mine lived there years ago and I went to go visit her home once or twice. Toluca Lake sits on the southeastern part of the San Fernando Valley. Other than visiting my friend, I never really had much reason to go there. But Toluca Lake is central to some great places of exploration like Warner Brothers Studios, Universal Studios, and Griffith Park.
Recently, the LA Times Hot Property Blog reported that Producer/Director David Barrett bought a traditional two-story home there for 1.2 mil. The home comes with 2, 530 square feet, four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a small saltwater pool. The home was formerly owned by Toluca Lake Tennis Club owner, Randy Landsberger. Barrett’s credits include “Cold Case”, “The Bionic Woman”, and “Smallville”.
Homes can range from $223,950 for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo to 7.8 million for a six-bedroom, nine-bathroom sprawling resort of a mansion (13,000 square feet) on an acre of land. Single-family homes average $509 a square foot with a median price of $949,000. Condos average $342 a square foot with a median price of $494,900.
Now, I’ll leave you with my Toluca Lake real estate picks for this week.
More For Your Money: 10757 Hortense St., #107/3bd, 3bth/1,141 square feet/$245 a square foot/$280,000
Price Drop Alert: 4944 Ledge Ave./4bth, 2bth/2,407 sq. ft./$875,000 to $849,900
New Market Listing: 10635 Landale St./2bd, 3bth/1,758 sq. ft./$509,000
September 27, 2008
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 selling. Banks are simply not moving fast enough to make these realistic opportunities — what buyer wants to wait 2 months to find out if their offer was accepted? So they sit on the MLS listings and give an unrealistic view of what buyers should expect to pay. Here’s an excerpt (the “he” is Ryan Ratcliff, forecast scholar and assistant professor at the University of San Diego):
An admittedly imperfect parsing of 2008 MLS data for San Diego County supported (this) observation: short sales accounted for 36% of listings but only 12% of sales. “The short sale listing and its attractive price were essentially just an illusion,” he writes.
The home shopper-economist also found that the time between listing and closing was almost six weeks longer for a short sale and that such listings are largely in the bottom half of the home price spectrum.
As short sales relate to the question of a housing rebound, he concludes, that they “have temporarily hijacked the market mechanism” and that “the near-term course of the housing market will be determined more by the procedural timelines of foreclosures and short sale approvals than any notions of a magic price that will clear existing inventory.”
Here’s some local (90039) short sales and foreclosures. Another thing I’m really noticing is that in the better areas (like Silver Lake and Los Feliz), the high-end houses aren’t in default. I’m seeing more low-end, starter homes in questionable locations that are falling into trouble. I think there are deals out there, but fewer that recent news accounts would have buyers believe.
- 2706 Newell St: This 1/.75 with 598 is a short-sale, listed at $392,000. But that’s still $656 a square foot!
- 3465 Perlita: This Atwater 2/2 has 1,285 square feet and is bank-owned.
- 3837 Brunswick: A2/1 with 1,128 square feet, another REO for $415,500.
September 26, 2008
Goodbye, Washington Mutual. I’m not sure how long we’ll hear the name of this bank in the news. As of late this week, it had the distinction of being the largest U.S. bank ever to fail, but these days status like that can be eclipsed quickly.
The bank will continue to appear in fine print for quite some time to come, though. When I checked Property Shark today, I found that five of the 20 Glendale properties currently in receipt of default notices show “Beneficiary: Washington Mutual Bank”, bringing WaMu’s share here to 25% of current delinquencies. (Six properties listed Countrywide.) As LA Land observed about some of the properties WaMu financed, this is why it failed.
I could not find any current foreclosure sales listing WaMu as beneficiary; a backlog, perhaps?
There were six Glendale foreclosures scheduled for sale next week. Here are two at the far corners of the city:
1744 W. Kenneth Road - 2 bed/1 bath, 1,037 sq.ft., sale date: 9/29/08. Redfin’s record shows it was last sold in May 2002 for $347,500. The outstanding loan amount (listed on Property Shark) is $470,000; the minimum bid is $490,090. (Beneficiary: Wells Fargo Bank)
4320 Dunsmore Avenue – 3 bed/2 bath, 1,620 sq.ft., sale date: 9/30/08. This was last sold in 1996 for $245,000. The outstanding loan amount is $654,400; minimum bid is $740,224. (Beneficiary: Countrywide)
September 26, 2008
Travel + Leisure Magazine has a big article this month on the “real” Los Angeles by writer M.G. Lord — and Eastsiders will be happy to learn that 90% of what real in this town is on their turf. She spends a lot of time waxing poetic about downtown, Echo Park and Silver Lake:
Downtown, where I live, I like the way the flashy curves of Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall underscore the elegant functionality of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion across the street. Long home to the Oscars, and now to the L.A. Opera, the Midcentury treasure was designed by iconic L.A. architect Welton Becket, who created both Hollywood’s cylindrical Capitol Records building and its geodesic Cinerama Dome.
Her take on LA is relentlessly hip — sort of a “we’re as cool as New York, I swear it,” approach — that’s not a criticism. She definitely knows the area and picks up on a lot of great places, but they all fall under that hipster umbrella. She plugs lots of gems like R-23, The Edison, and Dave Eggers shop/non-profit Time Travel Mart in Echo Park. Here’s the LA guide included in the article.
It’s a good article about the non-Hollywood side of LA, but there is one point I don’t agree with her on — she argues that the Eastside “rebound” has been driven by first-time home buyers that couldn’t afford the westside:
Since 2000, most of the city’s famously disconnected and derelict neighborhoods not only have rebounded, they have begun to cohere—with the millennium real estate bubble providing an unlikely glue. (Never mind that it has since popped.) Because many first-time home buyers could not afford West L.A.—often the place where they grew up—they turned east, resurrecting houses with “good bones” in Hollywood, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and Echo Park. Many of my friends—to say nothing of L.A.’s closest culture watchers—were either party or witness to this. They lived next to different types of people and usually figured out how to get along. Home ownership changed these buyers, even the jaded ones who planned merely to flip. They learned respect for craftsmanship and hands-on work…
No doubt there are many of those types of Eastsiders around, driving their BMWs and Priuses through Silver Lake, drinking $8 La Mill coffees, continually in awe of the area’s diversity and their liberal ability to embrace it. But I would argue that there are a lot of us who didn’t want to live on the westside, and who didn’t need to cross La Cienega to realize not everyone in the world looks or acts the same. My husband and I bought in 2000 and could have afforded Culver City, Palms, Mar Vista, and the like. But we didn’t want the west side. We wanted a mixed neighborhood where people could and did walk and mingle, where you weren’t surrounded by Hummers and personal assistants, and where you could find a sense of neighborhood. In other words, we choose the east side, we weren’t forced here — and we came to join an existing community, not pretend we were pioneers out to unite the masses….OK, enough ranting. Just a reminder that the eastside was doing fine even without a slew of wine bars and boutiques.
For those of you who are looking on the eastside, here’s a sample of what $600,000 gets you in downtown, Echo Park and Silver Lake:
- Downtown: This loft has a bit over 1,400 square feet and all the usual granite, stainless steel bells and whistles. It’s listed at$635,000.
- Echo Park: This cute mid-century 2/1.5 has been reduced by $50 grand to $629,000.
- Silver Lake: $600 is still a tougher price point in Silver Lake. Here’s a 3/3 townhouse on Griffith Park Blvd that shows what’s out there…it’s bank-owned and is listed for $562,500.
September 26, 2008
Open House Date and Time:
Sunday, September 28th, 1-4pm
2305 Effie St
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Seller Comments
Coffee Shop of Choice:
Intelligensia for a quick cup or LA Mill for a leisurely sit-down breakfast or brunch.
Favorite Restaurant in the Area:
Gingergrass is great Vietnamese cuisine. Tantawan delivers and serves excellent vegan Thai. We also love the patio and the bar at Edendale and Stella for great wine and perfect ambiance! Oh, and the Alcove in nearby Los Feliz anytime!!
Favorite Places to Go:
The many staircases hidden throughout the hills in Silverlake. especially the ones off of Silverwood Terrace. The path around the Silver Lake Reservoir. The Vista Theater for movies. Sunset Junction and Vermont Street for shopping.
Favorite Room:
The upstairs has beautiful light all day and lovely sunset colors throughout at dusk. It great for entertaining guests!
Best Features of Your Home:
VIEW, VIEW, VIEW. This home has beautiful views from every room. It feels like being outdoors, perched high on the hill. The open floor plan and windows make the home feel very spacious and light.
Any Remodeling Since Last Sale Price?:
There’s a brand new kitchen – all new cabinets and center island as well as an Electrolux refrigerator and gas cook top and a GE Profile convection oven. New hardwood floors. Updates in both bathrooms. Lots of new landscaping including a grassy patio area by a restored outdoor fireplace. Fresh paint throughout.
Most Romantic Spot:
There’s a brand new kitchen – all new cabinets and center island as well as an Electrolux refrigerator and gas cook top and a GE Profile convection oven. New hardwood floors. Updates in both bathrooms. Lots of new landscaping including a grassy patio area by a restored outdoor fireplace. Fresh paint throughout.
What’s in the neighborhood?:
There’s a brand new kitchen – all new cabinets and center island as well as an Electrolux refrigerator and gas cook top and a GE Profile convection oven. New hardwood floors. Updates in both bathrooms. Lots of new landscaping including a grassy patio area by a restored outdoor fireplace. Fresh paint throughout.
What I Will Miss the Most:
Coffee in the morning looking out over the hills. Eating cherry tomatoes off the vine. Having drinks by the fire at night.
September 26, 2008
An Associated Press story out this week delves into the high percentage of Americans’ monthly income sucked away by the house payment. It starts with the story of a Davie, Florida, resident:
Al Ray is so strapped for cash, the only time he eats out is on Wednesday or Sunday, when the local McDonald’s sells hamburgers for 49 cents.
Ray lost his engineering job last November, and has been working as high school tutor, scratching out about $1,000 a month — if he’s lucky. He struggled to make his $1,400 monthly mortgage payment and $330 monthly homeowners’ association fee until May, when he stopped paying.
Ray is one of more than 7.5 million people — almost 15 percent of American homeowners with a mortgage — who are spending half of their income or more on housing costs, according to 2007 data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That is up from nearly 7.1 million the year before.
According to Bankrate.com, your monthly mortgage payment — including principal, interest, taxes, and insurance — should not exceed 28 percent of your gross monthly income. That means that if your household brings home $10,000 per month before taxes, your mortgage payment should be $2,800 per month. That equates to a mortgage amount of about $340,000 based on a 30-year loan at today’s interest rates.
The fact is that many household incomes in Los Angeles are under six figures, and a decent home in a decent neighborhood costs far more than $330,000. Clearly, something has to give. But Angelinos are not alone.
Traditionally, the government and most lenders consider a homeowner spending 30 percent or more of their income on housing costs to be financially burdened. But that definition now covers almost 38 percent of American homeowners with a mortgage — 19 million of them.
In San Francisco, more than one out of five homeowners with a mortgage spends half or more of their income on housing.
That’s also true in 13 more of the largest 100 metro areas analyzed by the Associated Press. Other places include California metro areas of Stockton, Los Angeles, Riverside, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, San Francisco, and San Diego. Also in the top 10 are the Fort Myers, Sarasota and Orlando metro areas in Florida, and New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island.
In the wake of the economic meltdown, it’s going to be vital for Americans to learn and practice fiscal conservatism. And stricter lending standards would be a nice safeguard against the temptation to overextend.
Downsizing expectations and/or living with roommates or other family members may be necessary to make a house payment manageable. Owning a house is great if it makes sense financially. With prices likely to remain flat for some time, buyers should look at a house as a place to live, not necessarily as an investment. After all, you have to live somewhere. Compare the cost of buying vs. renting and see what makes more sense.
Recent Redfin posts:
Open House: 1-Bedroom, 2-Bath Los Angeles Home
DQ Stats for August: A Look at the Valley
Echo Park Lake: Neighborhood Ashtray?
$700 Billion or No Deal? Home Loans Still Available!
September 25, 2008
One of my favorite resources for what’s going on in the market (beside Redfin) is DataQuick. It’s where I go to see the monthly reports on how many properties sold in a month, for how much, and whether the market is up or down from last year.
So now, the results for August are in. So I thought it would be a good time to look at how the various markets in the Valley were doing overall. Here’s the snapshot of single-family homes that sold.
Calabasas home prices are down 28.8% year-over-year for the month of August. Seven homes sold with a median price of $1,155,000. The median price per square foot came out to be $320.
In Encino, there’s a huge disparity between the 91316 and the 91436 zip codes. In the 91316 zip code, where the homes tend to be north of the Boulevard, 21 homes sold with a median price of $627,000. Prices dropped 7.5% from last year, bringing the median price per square foot to $394. The pricier 91436 zip code came down 16% from last year with a median price of $1,050,000. There were 14 homes that sold with a median price per square foot of $372.
Moving east in the Valley, we get to Sherman Oaks. The 91403 zip code, which lies mostly just east of the 405, dropped 23.8% from 2007. There were 11 homes that sold at a median price of $738,000 and a median of $470 a square foot. Moving still further east to the 91423 zip code, the median price goes up to $968,000. And the year-over-year actually went up 8.2% while the median cost per square foot was $385.
Studio City budged very slightly from last year. The median price moved up .5% to $1,025,000. There were 20 homes that sold at a median cost per square foot of $473.
Want a little more value for your dollar? Then head back west over to Woodland Hills. The overall price difference between zip codes north and south of the Boulevard have become less so. Interestingly enough, there were 20 homes that sold in the 91364 zip code (south of the Boulevard) and the median price ended up at $593,000. August prices dropped 23.4% from last year with a median price per square foot of $324. The 91367 zip code (north of the Boulevard) dropped 21.4% to a median price of $570,000. There were 23 homes that sold with a median price per square foot of $302.
