Grading Westchester Schools

Most of you who are familiar with the LAUSD know that our schools aren’t all ideal places of learning for our youth. In Westchester, the ratings of the elementary schools according to Great Schools are mostly 6′s and 7′s out of 10. (I don’t know about you, but a 6 or 7 isn’t impressive enough to make me want to send my child there. ) The public middle school and high school ratings aren’t even worth mentioning.

Great Schools ranks elementary, middle, and high schools based on how the institution’s California Standard Test (CST) scores compared to that of other schools in the state. The scores are matched by grade level.

For instance, the highest scores of the (non-charter) public schools in the area go to Cowan Avenue Elementary School and Loyola Village Elementary School. Their Academic Performance Index (API) scores, which indicate year-over-year growth, are 821 and 806, respectively. The statewide goal for API scores is 800 and of course, higher API numbers tend to indicate better test scores.

Incidentally, since our schools are already doing so well, schools should be doing much better in the wake of the current budget crisis. (Note the sarcasm.) This is a snippet from The Argonaut.

Despite Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent announcement that he would not be seeking nearly $500 million in funding reductions to school districts throughout California, officials at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are wary that the cutbacks that he and the State Legislature are planning may be almost as drastic.

“The (reductions in the district’s budget) are going to impact us dramatically,” school board member Marlene Canter, who represents Westchester and Venice schools, told The Argonaut.

Despite the fact that Schwarzenegger included an additional $1.8 billion in state education funding, many believe that school districts will face an approximately $350 million deficit due to the budget’s failure to provide a cost-of-living increase.

Beyond our lovely school system, I still think Westchester is a great neighborhood to live. So here are some recently listed places on the market for you all.

6527 W. 81st St./3bd, 2bth/$949,000

8317 Winsford Ave./4bd, 2bth/$599,900

8040 Denrock Ave./4bd, 1.75bth/$849,000

The Case Of The Mysterious Price Increase

There is a home in the Westchester neighborhood that has been on the market well over four months. And recently, it’s gone up in price from $750,000 to $760,000. Now, unless I’m mistaken, it’s a buyer’s market and prices are coming down – not up. The property is 7333 W. 90th St. It’s a three-bedroom, one-bathroom place with 1,590 square feet of space.

It looks all dressed up with recessed lighting, granite countertops, and a Sub-Zero fridge. But has there been any recent work done on the property? Even so, I’d be pretty surprised to see that anyone would put in expensive updates after four + months on the market. Maybe it’s just a ploy to get noticed again after all this time.

In case you’re wondering, there are no other three-bedroom, one-bathroom places that sold in the immediate area (west of Lincoln). I found a few three-bedroom homes with two bathrooms, though. Here’s what they sold for.

8706 Villanova Ave./3bd, 2bth/1,678 square feet/Sold $835,000

7327 W. 85th St./3bd, 2bth/1,589 square feet/Sold $815,000

The Ups And Downs Of LAX Real Estate: Is It Affordable Yet?

I’ve been checking back more frequently with DQNews.com lately. And there has been a lot of movement both upwards and downwards, depending on what happened to sell in the neighborhood. Here’s a quick rundown.

For April, Playa del Rey single-family homes are showing a downward spiral from last year of 34.3%. The median home price? $985,000. Just four homes were sold in April.

In Playa Vista, the condo market went up just a notch, + 1.8% from last year. The median price was $616,000 based on just one sale. (I don’t know about you, but I think that’s just sad.)

Figures for Westchester showed a 7.8% price reduction from April of last year. The median home price is currently at $720,000 based on 22 home sales.

All signs point to an increasing price drop in the LAX area, but are we getting affordable yet? According to this recent article in the Daily Breeze, the answer seems to be yes.

More than one-third of Los Angeles County families could afford buy an entry-level home in the first quarter – 66 percent more than a year earlier – thanks to an epidemic of foreclosures that depressed prices, a trade group said Tuesday.

The latest figures are the highest since the association began tracking housing affordability in 2003, and, experts say, another hopeful sign for Southern California’s troubled real estate market.

Is it a good time to buy? See what Dennis Torres, the director of real estate operations at Pepperdine has to say.

“I would personally wait a year but if you are a buyer this would be a good time to buy a home,” said Dennis Torres, director of real estate operations for Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

So what do you all think? Is now a good time to buy? Or will you wait it out until you think we’ve hit bottom?

Why I’m Not A Motivated Seller And More On Open Houses

They say that one of the things that helps to sell a home is a motivated seller. I guess that’s where I’m faltering. Early on, I had a couple who was interested in making an offer, but I indicated that I felt I priced my house appropriately and then they backed off. More recently, I did actually receive a verbal offer on my home via my realtor. But the offer was so low that I couldn’t bring myself to do much about it. So apparently, I’m not motivated enough.

My house in Westchester has been on the market a while now. I’m embarrassed to say it’s nearing the 90-day mark (gasp!). My realtor is gently nudging me along to do a price reduction. And admittedly, one is in order. But before I do the price drop, I just had to make sure that I checked every avenue of improving the chances of selling my home.

So naturally, any article about what does or doesn’t help to sell a home catches my eye. I wrote a post about the value (or lack of value) of holding an open house way back when and I think this LA Times article confirms it for me. I’m skipping the open house. That’s not to say that open houses don’t have their place – they’re just not the most effective tool in the current market, according to what I gather. Here’s a look into what the article says:

But according to the National Assn. of Realtors’ latest profile of buyers and sellers, only 7% of all buyers visited open houses as a first step in their safari for a new house. Most people start their hunt on the Internet.

That’s not to say that open houses don’t work. They do, but not necessarily for the house in question. Rather, they help turn up new clients for your agent in the form of possible sellers of other houses. They also produce potential buyers of other houses that also are listed for sale.

But as a true selling tool? According to the association, few buyers found the place they bought at an open house.

Of course, that’s not always the case. Over the last two years, Carrie Georgitsis of Re/Max Signature in Chicago has sold maybe eight houses to buyers who first saw the homes at open houses.

By the way, I’m sure most of you are aware that we have open house tags on the Redfin map. But just in case you weren’t, check it out to see where you can do a little browsing at upcoming open houses on the market. I’ve included a few in the LAX area for curious home shoppers.

6906 W. 84th Place./3bd, 1bth/$748,000/Open House: Sunday, May 25, 2:30pm – 5pm

13075 Pacific Promenade, #401/2bd, 2bth/$599,999/Open House: Sunday, May, 25 2pm – 4pm

6220 Pacific Ave., #101/3bd, 3bth/$1,050,000/Open House: Sunday, May 25, 12pm – 4pm

Home Renovations: What Project Is Actually Worth the Expense?

People will remodel their homes for various reasons. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few. These include:

1. Upgrading to have that kitchen you’ve always wanted.

2. Adding to accommodate a growing family.

3. Updating a home prior to sale.

I know I’ve thought about how much work I wanted to do on my house right before I put it on the market. (Not much.) My home got painted, soundproofed (since it’s near LAX), a few new fixtures, new flowers, and a thorough cleaning.

I did think about seeing if HGTV’s “Designed To Sell” would be interested in doing a remodel on my home. (The producer was willing to take a look at the house to see if it would work for the show. But a commitment of 3-4 weeks of filming and not being able to show my home during that time made me think twice about that idea.)

Weighing in on adding value versus dishing out cash, I was curious to see how much return on investment you get on some common renovations. So I checked out CNNMoney.com’s page, “Will this renovation project pay off?“. They let you look up what common projects cost on average and how much of that you can expect to get back in terms of the value of your home.

Some of the top ROI categories included the following:

Upscale Siding Replacement/Average Cost: $13,149/% Cost Recovered: 88.00%/Value At Sale: $11,573

Minor Kitchen Remodel/Average Cost: $17,928/% Cost Recovered: 85.20%/Value At Sale: $15,278

Vinyl Window Replacement/Average Cost: $13,120/% Cost Recovered: 84.70%/Value At Sale: $11,109

Bathroom Remodel/Average Cost: $12,918/% Cost Recovered: 84.90%/Value At Sale: $10,970

Some projects that showed the least value included a home office remodel (63.4% cost recovered) and a sunroom addition (66.30% cost recovered).

Does anyone have any remodel stories they want to share? What did or didn’t you do before you sold your home?

What’s The Word On Condos In Playa Del Rey?

I found a few updates in my inbox for condos in Playa del Rey. For anyone shopping for one out here, you might be interested in what’s going on with these.

First on my list is 8601 Falmouth Ave. #215. This one is a just-listed FSBO that’s going for $579,000. You get two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 1,143 square feet of space. The new beige paint dresses up the place a bit and for dog lovers, you get a built-in doggy door from the bedroom to the patio. (It’s a nice sized 40′x17′.)

Just around the bend is another just-listed FSBO. This one is on 8180 Manitoba, D128. It’s another two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo with slightly more square footage – 1,390. This one has a price tag of $597,654. Sounds like they put in some nice finishes – granite countertops, cherry wood cabinets, and new wood floors. The paint looks snazzy, but that warm yellow tone may not for everyone.

And then, I have another property that’s also got the 8180 Manitoba address. This one is #303 and it has just dropped down from $590,000 to $575,000. Just like the others, it has two bedrooms and two bathrooms. You get more square footage here – 1,684, according to the listing. This one has two levels, so it’s more of a townhome. If you look at the pics, you’ll see this property has got a lot of marble and a whole lot of crown molding detail.

Playa del Rey is a little short on similar sales, but 8160 Manitoba, #111 sold for $424,000 in April of this year. It’s another two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo with 1,197 square feet. From a purely price per square footage point of view, it looks like #303 is more right on in terms of pricing than either of the FSBO’s.

Sold For Over A Million In Playa Vista

It seems like it’s been a while since I’ve taken a look at the real estate in Playa Vista. So for today’s post, I thought we could see what higher end property has sold in the area. 6632 Para Way, #25 sold for $1,130,000 in February of this year. It’s hard to tell by the aerial map, exactly where the home is located.

So, I thought I’d check with the Playa Vista Guest House to see which development this one belongs to. Apparently, it’s a Matisse, which starts in the low million-dollar range. This Para Way property (newly built in 2006) is middle of the road in terms of square footage among its counterparts. This one has 2,310 square feet of space with two bedrooms and four bathrooms. The Matisse homes range from 2,100 to 2,700 square feet. They also have floor plans with up to four bedrooms.

Incidentally, the rest of Playa Vista hasn’t seen much action in terms of sales since my April 10th post. I found just one property has sold in the last month. (It’s 5800 Sea Walk Drive, #8 and it sold for $658,750, in case you were wondering.) The current average days on the market is 69. Redfin currently shows 14 properties listed for sale in Playa Vista.

Home Sales Are On The Rise In Los Angeles

But, prices are still falling. (Yeah, I know. That’s no surprise.)

The Los Angeles Business Journal cites April sales increased 15% from the previous month. At the same time, the median price dropped 2% to $456,000. So apparently, we’re starting to get back on track in terms of serious homebuyers.

That increase is more typical of spring sales volume than what occurred a year ago as the region’s housing boom began to sputter: March-to-April 2007 sales fell nearly 4 percent.

There’s also more good news for prospective homebuyers. And bad news for prospective homesellers.

Cal Poly Pomona finance and real estate professor Michael Carney said he is worried about the sharp drop in prices, especially when compared to the last real estate bubble that burst in the early 1990s. He believes it may mean the bottom is even further off than most people expect.

“That prices are falling faster than sales is not a good sign in terms that the bottom is near,” said Carney, noting that in the 1990s housing bust it took almost six years for prices to drop 20 percent. “You’ll start seeing year-to-year sales volume pick up long before we see a turnaround in prices.”

For a median price in the mid-400,000s, you could buy a single-family residence in neighborhoods such as Alhambra, Baldwin Park, and La Mirada. In the LAX area that I cover, you could manage to find a decent two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in Playa del Rey.

More Under $600,000 In Westchester

With the prices of some homes falling in Westchester, I thought I’d take a look at more properties under the $600,000 mark.

First on my list is 5601 W. 78th St., which is right at the top of the 6K cutoff, with an asking price of $599,900. There are three bedrooms and one and three-quarter baths. This REO is kind of interesting because it has a 1,456 square foot home on a 12,400+ square foot lot (11,796 square foot according to Property Shark). It looks like you can easily fit an NBA-sized basketball court there (94′x50′) next to the house. You can add on and make the home bigger. Or perhaps you could check with the building department to see if the lot could get split in two. Incidentally, this home has dropped in price since its last appearance as a “More For Your Money” home back in April.

Here are a few others:

8934 Fleetwing is a cute-looking (at least from the outside) three-bedroom, one-bathroom starter with 1,149 square feet. This one has a price tag of $575,000.

8436 Belford needs some effort – like putting in a complete kitchen and some flooring. You do have 1,675 square feet of space to start with and a decent-sized 6,206 square foot lot. There are four bedrooms and two bathrooms and it’s going for $559,900.

Can It Be?? Westchester Homes Are On The Rise

Because I’m selling my home (still), I thought it was time to perform a little market investigation on how the overall Westchester market was doing on the home-selling front. And lo and behold, I could hardly believe my eyes. Westchester single-family home sales have actually increased in price from March 2007 to March 2008, according to DQNews.com. Here, in a sea of housing prices going down, Westchester – just north of the Los Angeles International Airport, has gone up 2.3% in median price since last year. A handful of other Los Angeles neighborhoods have gone up, including Bell (anyone actually been out there?), the 91741 zip code of Glendora, Ladera Heights, Rancho Park, and Westwood. Incidentally, Marina del Rey went up a whopping 47.4%.

Surely there must be an explanation for the mini-jump in Westchester prices. I’ve seen an increase in homes going for under $600,000 in the area, whereas mid last year, there were none on the market. And as more than one of our blog readers have commented – what the heck is so special about Westchester? Well, I personally love this little residential, family-friendly neighborhood, but I suspect that the construction and sales of the fancy residences at One Westbluff by Standard Pacific Homes may have something to do with the increase. After all, the Morea collection starts at the low $1,800,000′s and the Ariel collection starts at the upper $2,400,000′s. That’s over two and three times the current median price of Westchester homes, respectively. In case you were wondering, the median price is currently at $754,500 according to Redfin.

If any of you think you have a better answer as to why the prices have gone up, I’m happy to hear your comments.