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9 markets with rising real estate values

Metro areas off the beaten path, like Oklahoma's Tulsa and Oklahoma City, bucked national trends to win a place on a top list of markets with the greatest year-over-year median home-value increases from October 2010 to October 2011, based on data compiled by Zillow. None of the top 20 U.S. metro areas by population size cracked this list.
 
The Tulsa metro area topped the chart at a 6.2 percent median home value increase to $101,000 -- the lowest value among the nine markets -- in that one-year timespan, followed by Oklahoma City's metro area at a 3.1 percent bump.
 
Metropolitan Pittsburgh, at No. 22 in U.S. metro population size with 2.35 million people in 2010, according to U.S. Census data, was the most populated metro area in this list, coming in at No. 8, with a slight median home-value increase of 0.4 percent, and, interestingly, the only metro area on the list to experience a population dip from 2000 to 2010.
 
Source: Inman.com
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Rate on 30-year mortgage down to record 3.88%

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell again this week to a record low. The eighth record low in a year is attracting few takers because most who can afford to buy or refinance have already done so.
 
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage dipped to 3.88 percent this week, down from the old record of 3.89 percent one week ago.
 
The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked up to 3.17 percent from 3.16 percent, which was also a record low. Records for mortgage rates date back to the 1950s.
 
Mortgage rates tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell below 1.9 percent this week.
 
For the past three months, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has hovered near 4 percent. Yet cheap rates on the most popular mortgage option have done little to boost home sales.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Tenant can't just cancel his decision to move out

A renter gave written notice that he would vacate, then changed his mind. What are the landlord's rights?
 
Question: I own a four-plex in an area where rental rates have recently begun to increase. I had not raised the rents on my property in several years, so I recently gave a 30-day notice of an 8% increase to my tenants. One told me he could not afford the increase and gave me a written 30-day notice that he was vacating. About a week later he told me he changed his mind and decided to stay and accept the increase.
 
This tenant has been occasionally late paying his rent in the past, and I am worried that he really won't be able to afford the additional rental rate. Now that he has canceled his notice of termination, what are my options? I am thinking about requiring him to agree to a new credit check so I can tell whether he will be able to pay the new rental amount. Can I do that?
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Initial foreclosure filings fall 11.9% in fourth quarter

Fewer California borrowers entered foreclosure during the final three months of the year, according to new data. But the holiday respite, coming after a sharp summer increase in new defaults, may not last.
 
The number of California homes entering foreclosure in the fourth quarter fell 11.9% from the same period in 2010 to the second-lowest level over the last four years, said DataQuick, a real estate information firm in San Diego. A total of 61,517 notices of default, which are filed to initiate foreclosures, were recorded on California properties during the fourth quarter. That was a 13.7% drop from the third quarter of 2011.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Two Obama initiatives to address foreclosure crisis face hurdles

The president's proposals include an expanded refinancing plan for struggling homeowners and a new, aggressive probe of financial firms' mortgage practices.
 
Two new initiatives from President Obama to address the foreclosure crisis — more help for struggling homeowners and aggressive investigations of financial firms — face significant hurdles as the nation's real estate troubles linger in a volatile election year.
 
A new refinancing plan that expands on an existing initiative would allow homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments to retool their loans and save as much as $3,000 a year on payments. This expansion would be paid for by a new tax on large banks that Obama originally proposed in 2010 that has gone nowhere in Congress — and is unlikely to be approved by Republicans facing reelection in the fall.
 
Source:Latimes.com
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Investors flood Southern California housing market in December

A record number of investors and second-home buyers flooded the Southern California real estate market in December, though not enough to give sales in the region a bump over the same month a year earlier.
 
With the investor dominance, low-cost homes reigned. That helped push the region’s median home price back down to its lowest level in 12 months, according to San Diego real estate firm DataQuick.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Southern California Home Sales Surge 14% on Investor Purchases

House and condominium sales in Southern California rose 14 percent in December from the previous month as investors and second-home buyers made a record share of purchases, DataQuick said.
 
A total of 19,247 homes sold last month in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties, the San Diego-based data seller said today in a statement. Investors and second-home buyers accounted for 26.4 percent of transactions, up from 25.1 percent in November and matching a February 2011 peak.
 
The regional housing market in 2012 “might offer the ‘rock bottom’ for pricing that many buyers and sellers have been waiting for,” DataQuick President John Walsh said in the statement. Foreclosures and short sales, where a home is sold for less than the amount owed, accounted for more than half of Southern California sales, pushing values down.
 
Source: Businessweek.com
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Number of 'Improving' Housing Markets Nearly Doubles

The number of housing markets showing measurable improvement nearly doubled in January, with the addition of 40 new metros to the Improving Markets Index put out by First American and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

The index tracks housing markets that are showing signs of improving economic health based on three independent datasets – employment growth from the Labor Department, home price appreciation from Freddie Mac, and single-family housing permits from the Census Bureau.
 
The index identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in employment, home prices, and housing permits for at least six consecutive months.
 
Source: Dsnews.com
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Voters Oppose Policies That Threaten American Homeownership

A group convened on the steps of the South Carolina State House Thursday to express their support of homeownership and their opposition to policy changes that might threaten American homeownership.
 
The group – consisting of Realtors, housing industry professionals, politicians, business leaders, and community leaders – assembled to encourage elected officials “to protect homeownership from threats including scaling back or eliminating the mortgage interest deduction, reducing access to affordable mortgages and loans for home buyers and small businesses, and the foreclosure crisis,” according to an announcement on the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) website.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Housing looms as strong voting issue in presidential election

Although fixing the sagging economy is the biggest concern for potential voters, four national surveys undertaken by real estate organizations indicate that housing is also a major issue. 
 
At no time in memory has housing been a major issue in a presidential election. Some years, the topic garners hardly more than a passing mention in the planks of either political party.
 
Right now, housing is not a front-and-center issue for President Obama or any of the Republican presidential hopefuls. But no fewer than four recent national surveys indicate that the issue is a top-of-mind topic among potential voters.
 
Granted, all four were undertaken by real estate organizations — Realtor.com, HouseLogic, Yahoo Real Estate and Trulia. But the unanimity of their findings underscores just how worried current and future owners are about their homes.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Landlords in California aren't required to provide refrigerators

Unlike basic plumbing, heating, electricity and other required conditions, appliances such as a refrigerator are considered amenities
 
Question: When I moved into my apartment, I knew the refrigerator was old. One weekend I filled it with food for a family barbecue and it broke down. I was at work all day and didn't realize this until a number of hours later. I called my property manager but it was the weekend and a new unit wasn't installed for two more days. By then, the food was ruined. I have asked the manager to pay the cost of the lost food, but she has refused. I was thinking about deducting the cost from next month's rent, but I don't want to get into trouble. Can I deduct my losses?
 
Answer: It may not make sense, but providing a tenant with a working refrigerator is not required by the California laws on habitability. Unlike basic plumbing, heating, electricity and other required conditions, appliances such as a refrigerator are considered amenities.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Mixed-use project to get underway this month in downtown L.A.

The $160-million One Santa Fe complex will consist of apartments, offices, shops and public outdoor spaces on Santa Fe Avenue between 1st and 4th streets.
 
Construction will begin this month on One Santa Fe, a long-anticipated $160-million apartment, office and retail development in the arts district of downtown Los Angeles.
 
The 790,000-square-foot complex will rise on four acres of land on Santa Fe Avenue between 1st and 4th streets that was leased from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
 
Plans by Los Angeles architect Michael Maltzan call for 438 apartments and 78,620 square feet of office and retail space, along with nearly 50,000 square feet of public outdoor space. When completed in 2014, it is to have an outdoor terrace, a grocery store, art gallery, a theater and a garden.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Put conditions in writing when letting tenant alter property

Taking steps such as having the tenants and landlord sign an agreement regarding the proposed work, and getting the proper permits for the job, can avert disputes and headaches down the road.
 
Question: I own a second home that I rent to a couple. They have lived there for eight months. Recently, the wife told me they would like to install a 220-volt electrical outlet in the garage so that they can use a heavy-duty washer/dryer combo. I trust them, but I still want to check whether I am required to allow them to make this alteration and, if so, what my rights are if something goes wrong.
 
Answer: Hopefully, you have a carefully drafted rental agreement that precludes any physical alterations to the rental unit without your permission. This type of clause should be in every rental agreement to establish a landlord's right to control this type of request.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Pending home sales hit highest level in 18 months

An index of pending purchases rose to 100.1 last month, up 7.3% from October, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. But many potential buyers are canceling deals before the sale goes through.
 
The most Americans in more than 18 months signed contracts in November to buy homes, raising hopes that a boost in sales will follow, a real estate industry group reported Thursday.
 
An index of pending purchase agreements rose to 100.1 last month, up 7.3% from October, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. The reading is the highest since the gauge spiked to 111.5 in April 2010, when buyers rushed to take advantage of an expiring federal tax credit. The November increase followed a 10.4% gain from September to October.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Existing-Home Sales Rise in November

Existing-home sales rose again last month, according to data released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
 
That assessment, however, is coming off of lower sales numbers than previously thought, reflecting revisions to NAR’s data going back to 2007. The trade group has adjusted sales and inventory figures for the last four years downward by 14.3 percent, signaling the housing crisis has run even deeper that earlier assumptions.
 
NAR’s latest monthly report shows sales of previously owned homes increased 4.0 percent to an annual rate of 4.42 million in November from 4.25 million in October, and are 12.2 percent above the 3.94 million-unit pace in November 2010.
 
Total housing inventory at the end of November fell 5.8 percent to 2.58 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 7.0-month supply at the current sales pace, down from a 7.7-month supply in October.
 
Source: Dsnews.com
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Dreaming of a white Christmas at former Bing Crosby estate

The former home of Bing Crosby is sold for $4.02 million. Crosby lived on the Toluca Lake property from 1936 until early January 1943, when the 20-room house there was gutted in a Christmas tree fire.
 
A Toluca Lake home still referred to as the Bing Crosby Estate despite a succession of other entertainment industry owners has sold for $4.02 million.
 
The singer and actor lived on the property from 1936 until early January 1943, when the 20-room house there was gutted in a Christmas tree fire, according to Times archives. Crosby was out at the time of the fire. His wife, Dixie Lee, and their four sons escaped injury.
 
The damage to the structure and its contents was estimated at $200,000, and the family's cocker spaniel, a complete collection of Crosby's recordings, his golf trophies and his pipe collection were lost. Among items recovered from the ruins was $2,000 cash in the pocket of one of Crosby's coats.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Rose McGowan is charmed by Hollywood Hills home

Former "Charmed" star Rose McGowan pays about $1.39 million for a nearly 3,000-square-foot midcentury modern house.
 
Actress Rose McGowan has purchased a Hollywood Hills area home for about $1.39 million, Trulia.com reports.
 
Public records confirm the recent sale of the nearly 3,000-square-foot midcentury modern house to the former "Charmed" star. Features include a two-story glass entry, four bedrooms and 31/2 bathrooms. An outdoor living area includes a fireplace.
 
McGowan, 38, sold her Los Feliz home earlier this year for $1.775 million. She starred as a villainess in this summer's "Conan the Barbarian." Upcoming parts include starring roles in the 2012 films "Napa" "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Bell Jar."
 
Source: Latimes.com
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U.S. housing starts jump in November

In an upbeat sign for the real estate market, construction of new homes and apartments climbs 9.3% from October and 20.1% compared with November 2010.
 
New construction on homes and apartments increased sharply in November, a bright spot for the beleaguered U.S. real estate market.
 
Housing starts last month rose 9.3% from a revised October estimate and were 20.1% above those in November 2010. Homes and apartments were built at a rate last month that would produce 685,000 new units this year, when adjusted for seasonal variations, according to the Commerce Department.
 
The gains were largely driven by the volatile apartment sector, meaning the uptick could reverse itself. Single-family housing starts in November were up 2.3% from October though down 1.5% compared with November 2010. Homes were built last month at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 447,000 units.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott sell their Encino home for $2.5 million

The six-bedroom, 6,718-square-foot Tuscan-style villa features a silver-leafed coffered ceiling in the dining room, an office, a den and a master bedroom suite with a sitting area, a fireplace and a balcony.
 
Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott have sold their Encino home for $2.5 million.
 
The six-bedroom, 61/2 -bathroom Tuscan-style villa, built in 2001, sits behind gates on a tree-lined street. The 6,718-square-foot home features a two-story entry, a silver-leafed coffered ceiling in the dining room, an office, a den and a master bedroom suite with a sitting area, a fireplace and a balcony. The kitchen opens to a family room. French doors from the public rooms lead to landscaped grounds with a saline pool and spa.
 
The house was featured in their reality show, "Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood" (2007-11).
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Scheduled foreclosure auctions soar in California

Banks set the clock for forced sales of more than 26,000 homes in the state in November, a 63% increase from October. Overall foreclosure notices nationwide fell last month.
 
Banks in November scheduled more than 26,000 homes to be sold at California foreclosure auctions, a 63% increase from October and a sign that a surge in discounted, bank-owned properties is on track to hit the market next year.
 
The uptick in scheduled auctions follows an increase last summer in homes entering the foreclosure process by receiving default notices and was largely driven by Bank of America. It appears that many of those homes are now quickly working their way through the process, said Daren Blomquist, a spokesman for RealtyTrac of Irvine, a data tracker that published the November data.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Homeowners association can't charge for finding documents

Those requesting copies of homeowner association budgets and meeting minutes can be charged only for time involved in redacting the documents as well as copying and mailing them, up to certain limits.
 
Question: I requested copies of our budgets and minutes for several years back. The association's attorney wrote me: "The costs for copying and providing the pro forma operating budgets for 2008-11 and minutes of annual meetings of members and open board meetings for those years is twelve cents ($0.12) per page and $55 per hour to locate and copy the documents requested plus postage, unless you wish to pick up the documents at management. Management estimates copying charges of $40 and clerical charges of two hours or $110 to provide these documents." These costs sound steep. Are they correct?
 
Answer: There is nothing in the statute about charging the homeowner for "locating and copying the documents." This appears to be an association tactic to deter owners from accessing documents.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Howie Mandel is ready to deal — for $7.25 million

Former "Deal or No Deal" host Howie Mandel has listed his Malibu home. The Cape Cod-inspired house, built in 2008-09, sits on more than an acre with ocean views, an expansive lawn and a swimming pool with spa. 
 
Howie Mandel is ready to deal. His Malibu place is listed for sale at $7.25 million.
 
The 5,936 square feet of living space includes an office, a theater, a gym, a breakfast area, a den and a library. Along with the guesthouse are six bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
 
"Deal or No Deal" was canceled last year. Mandel, 56, is now an "America's Got Talent" judge. He was the voice of Bobby on the animated series "Bobby's World" (1990-98) and was on "St. Elsewhere" (1982-88).
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Southland home sales rise 4.2% in November from a year earlier

Low prices for starter homes spur some bargain hunting among home shoppers in Southern California in November. Home sales rose 0.3% from October and 4.2% from November 2010.
 
Low prices for starter homes spurred some bargain hunting among home shoppers in Southern California last month, sending sales slightly higher.
 
November sales rose 0.3% from October and 4.2% from November 2010 with 16,884 homes bought across the region, according to real estate research firm DataQuick of San Diego. Sales of newly built homes suffered, declining 15.2% from a year earlier and falling to the lowest level on record for a November.
 
"Lower prices and amazingly low mortgage rates tempted those with the confidence to buy and the ability to qualify for a loan, or to pay cash," DataQuick President John Walsh said. "But these sales levels remain subpar, with new-home sales stuck at record lows."
 
Source: Latimes.com
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October Pending Home Sales Up Significantly

In what might finally be a sign that home sales are poised for a turnaround, NAR’s forward-looking pending home sales index jumped 10.4 percent in October from the previous month and is also up significantly on a year-over-year basis. Although it’s too soon to tell whether the gain will be sustained, there are trends berewing in the market that suggest it will be.
 
For one thing, rental rates are increasing. Historically, there’s typically been a strong correlation between rising rental rates and rising home prices. That relationship has broken down in the past few years because of the severity of the downturn in the housing market. But with rental rates now well into long-term gains, pressure is mounting for renters to jump to home ownership if only because it’s becoming cheaper to buy than to rent in a lot of markets and at a lot of price points. Of course, the hurdles to obtaining financing remain a big stumbling block, and in fact that might be a good part of the reason there’s been so much divergence between NAR’s pending sales index and actual closings.
 
Source: Speakingofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org
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Lower credit scores slow housing recovery by thwarting sales

Many Americans' credit scores have fallen because of economic distress in the last few years. It's probably affecting their ability to get a new mortgage or buy a house.
 
How big a whack did your credit scores take during the grim years of economic distress after the housing bust? Was it 20 points, 50 points, 100 points — or maybe no drop at all?
 
These are key questions for millions of potential home buyers who hope to qualify for mortgages and current owners looking to refinance. New research from a major credit-risk evaluation company suggests that the drop in huge numbers of Americans' scores was dramatic.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Can landlord kick out adults who are not on the lease?

The landlord says: 'I know that I am not allowed to discriminate based on familial status. Will I be guilty of discrimination if I take action to remove these strangers?'
 
Question: I am leasing a house to a family. I thought there were just two parents and two children, but when I was in the house fixing the stove recently I saw two other adults living there. I have no idea who they are. My lease precludes the signatory tenants from allowing any other adults to live in the property who are not on the lease, but I have been uncertain about whether I can take action. I know that I am not allowed to discriminate based on familial status. Will I be guilty of discrimination if I take action to remove these strangers?
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Occupy movement moves into neighborhoods

The Occupy movement stages demonstrations at foreclosed homes in nearly two dozen states. In California, protesters help families move back into their seized houses.
 
The Occupy Wall Street campaign is moving from downtown to the suburbs.
 
Chased from their encampments on Wall Street, Los Angeles City Hall and elsewhere, protesters are now taking their push for financial democracy to neighborhoods around the country. On Tuesday, they staged demonstrations at foreclosed homes in nearly two dozen states to draw attention to the effect of the housing collapse on American families.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Fashion exec, producer put Sunset Strip home on market

Mandana Dayani of "The Rachel Zoe Project" and her husband, TV producer Peter Traugott, are listing their 1952 home at $1.549 million.
 
Fashion executive and attorney Mandana Dayani and her husband, TV producer Peter Traugott, have listed their Sunset Strip area house for sale at $1.549 million.
 
The two-story traditional, built in 1952, is designed for indoor-outdoor entertaining. The living room opens to a deck with city views on the main level and the lower level opens to a swimming pool and spa area. The master bedroom includes two walk-in closets, an office or den and a bathroom for a total of three bedrooms and 21/2 bathrooms in the 2,240-square-foot house.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Sales of new homes edge up in October

U.S. says new-home sales rose to an annual rate of 307,000 in October, seasonally adjusted, up from 303,000 the previous month. The median sale price, hurt by weak demand, fell to $212,300.
 
Sales of new single-family homes were barely changed in October and there was little evidence of any improvement in the slumping U.S. housing market.
 
The U.S. government said new-home sales edged up to an annual rate of 307,000 in October, seasonally adjusted. Sales for September were revised down to 303,000 from an original reading of 313,000.
 
Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast new-home sales to rise to 320,000 in October. In a healthy market, sales are typically two to three times that level.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Another 'Friend' is ready to sever a tie

David Schwimmer puts his Hancock Park house on the market for $10.7 million. Other former "Friends" cast mates also have sold homes this year.
 
It has been a busy real estate year for former "Friends" cast mates. Actors Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry have both sold places. Now actor-director David Schwimmer has put his home in Hancock Park on the market at $10.7 million.
 
The roughly 11,000-square-foot gated Mediterranean sits on slightly more than an acre. The house was built in 1926 by architectural firm Koerner & Gage, which also contributed to the design of Beverly Hills City Hall.
 
The restored main home features nine bedrooms, six bathrooms, a wood-paneled library, a den, a state-of-the-art screening room, a formal dining room, two powder rooms, five fireplaces and a butler area.
 
The backyard includes a swimming pool, spa, north/south tennis court and a pavilion. The detached loft-style guesthouse contains a bedroom, living room, bathroom and kitchen.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Fred Couples home comes with — what else? — community golf course

The professional golfer's Spanish-style villa in La Quinta has a courtyard with a fountain, mountain views and a swimming pool.
 
Professional golfer Fred Couples has listed his second home in La Quinta at $4.195 million.
 
The Spanish-style villa has a courtyard with a fountain. The nearly half-acre site has mountain views, a swimming pool with a spa and a fire pit. Interior features include limestone and wood floors, arched windows, a great room with an oversized stone fireplace, a wine room and two master suites with stone fireplaces and terraces. There are four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms. The approximately 5,200-square-foot house is being sold furnished.
 
Among community amenities are two fitness centers, a swimming pool and a private golf course designed by Tom Fazio.
 
Couples, 52, uses the house as a place to relax at the end of the golf season. He joined the PGA Tour in 1982 and the Champions Tour last year. Among his wins are the 1992 Masters Tournament and this year's Senior Players Championship.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Home built by director Frank Lloyd is sold

The nine-acre Topanga compound, built in the early 1930s by Oscar-winning film director Frank Lloyd, has sold for $3.85 million. Lloyd, who died at 74 in 1960, was a founder and president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
 
A Topanga compound built in the early 1930s by Oscar-winning film director Frank Lloyd has sold for $3.85 million.
 
The nine-acre property includes the original main house, a carriage house and a guesthouse. The main house features seven wood-burning fireplaces, a billiards room, a library and a walk-in refrigerator. There are four bedrooms, five bathrooms and about 4,900 square feet of living space.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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A new scene for 'Twilight' stars?

The Westside compound leased by "Twilight's" Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart is for sale.
 
A Westside compound that "Twilight" stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart have been leasing for the last several months has come on the market for sale at $5.995 million.
 
Built in the 1990s, the west-facing property sits on almost half an acre and overlooks Stone Canyon Reservoir and Bel-Air.
 
The main house features an open-plan living and dining room, a den, four bedrooms and 31/2 bathrooms. The recently renovated guesthouse contains another bedroom and 11/2 bathrooms. Outdoors is a pool, a spa and a dining pavilion.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Hot Property: Actor-director David Schwimmer lists Hancock Park home

The roughly 11,000-square-foot gated Mediterranean, listed for $10.7 million, features nine bedrooms, six bathrooms, a wood-paneled library and a state-of-the-art screening room. The house was built in 1926.
 
Actor-director David Schwimmer has put his home in Hancock Park on the market at $10.7 million.
 
The roughly 11,000-square-foot gated Mediterranean sits on slightly more than an acre. The house was built in 1926 by architectural firm Koerner & Gage. Along with John Austin and Frederick M. Ashley, they also designed Beverly Hills City Hall.
 
The restored main home features nine bedrooms, six bathrooms, a wood-paneled library, a den, a state-of-the-art screening room, a formal dining room, two powder rooms, five fireplaces and a butler area.
 
The backyard includes a swimming pool, spa, north/south tennis court and a pavilion. The detached loft-style guesthouse contains a bedroom, living room, bathroom and kitchen.
 
Schwimmer, 45, played Ross Geller on the comedy series "Friends" (1994-2004). Last year, he directed the movie "Trust."
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Higher FHA loan limits reinstated for high-cost housing markets

President Obama signs a bill that restores FHA-backed loan limits in expensive housing areas such as L.A. and Orange counties to $729,750. The limit had dropped Oct. 1 to $625,500.
 
Uncle Sam has thrown California and other high-priced housing markets a lifeline.
 
President Obama on Friday signed into law a bill that reinstates higher limits for Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages in high-cost areas. In expensive housing areas such as Los Angeles and Orange counties, the limit for these FHA-backed loans had dropped to $625,500 from $729,750 on Oct. 1. The change became effective Friday.
 
Similar ceilings applying to loans that can be backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not increase. The California Assn. of Realtors and its larger national partner association had lobbied for all of the loan limits to be reinstated.
 
The group is "pleased the Senate and House were able to come to a reasonable compromise," LeFrancis Arnold, president of the group, said in a statement Friday. "However, we are disappointed that the Senate and House could not agree on increasing the loan limits for Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-insured loans."
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Botched appraisals could torpedo real estate transactions

Agents, builders and sellers say market conditions, plus changes in federal rules that encourage banks to use in-house or affiliated appraisal management companies, are magnifying disagreements over real estate values.
 
How do you fight back when an appraiser — often from another city working for a low fee on behalf of a big bank — wrecks your sale, purchase or refinancing with a low-ball valuation?
 
It's a serious problem in markets across the country. For example:
 
• William Maxwell, a business school professor at Southern Methodist University, had his four-bedroom Dallas home appraised at $790,000 for a refinancing last year. But when he went to sell it this year, the appraisal came in at $730,000. Maxwell said the appraiser, who was not from the immediate area, "had never walked into a single house in this neighborhood" and knew little about local pricing trends. Maxwell pulled his house off the market.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Brooke Mueller, Charlie Sheen's ex-wife, sells Los Feliz home

The buyer is actor Simon Helberg of 'The Big Bang Theory.' The price is not disclosed.
 
Television personality Brooke Mueller has sold the gated Los Feliz home she once shared with her ex-husband, Charlie Sheen, for an undisclosed amount.
 
The buyer is actor Simon Helberg of "The Big Bang Theory."
 
The restored 4,179-square-foot villa has four bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms. A fountain stands in the tiled front courtyard of the Mediterranean-style home, built in 1927. Inside, the dramatic two-story entry has wood floors and a vaulted ceiling. The step-down living room features a fireplace and wood-beamed ceiling.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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More homes sell in October than expected

Existing-home sales rise 1.4% from the previous month and 13.5% from the same month a year earlier. U.S. housing inventory falls 2.2% to 3.33 million previously owned homes available for sale.
 
More people closed deals on home purchases in October than economists expected, driving down the number of homes available for sale to an eight-month supply.
 
Existing-home sales rose 1.4% from the previous month and were 13.5% above the same month a year earlier. Each month, the National Assn. of Realtors reports the figures in the form of an annual sales pace adjusted for seasonal variations. Last month's pace was 4.97 million, the group reported.
 
Regionally, sales were up 4.4% in the West over the previous month, up 2.1% in the South, up 2.8% in the Midwest and down 5.1% in the Northeast.
 
With the increase in sales last month, the number of homes on the market continued to decrease. Real estate agents view that as a positive sign for their business because fewer homes on the market drives up prices and increases commissions. Less supply, however, also means fewer options and increased competition for consumers looking to buy a property.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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More problems are found with home buyer tax credits

An audit shows the IRS has been sending notices to taxpayers that either inform them they owe no repayments on their credits when they actually do, or demand repayments from recipients who legally owe nothing.
 
Remember the federal tax credit programs offering $7,500 and later $8,000 to first-time home buyers? The credits were designed to deliver a jolt to the reeling housing industry, and they did: More than 4 million people applied for and have received nearly $30 billion worth of credits.
 
Most went to people who legitimately qualified for the credits, according to the Internal Revenue Service, the federal agency that administers them. But a series of audits by the Treasury's inspector general for tax administration has documented foul-ups by the IRS, including credits granted to prison inmates and dead people, fraud schemes involving claimants who never bought a house and even credits for alleged home purchases by teenagers and children as young as 3.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Pop star Rihanna lists Bev Hills home at $4.5 million

The listing, asking far less than what the Grammy winner paid, describes the house as a 'major fixer' with 'damage from moisture and water intrusion.'
 
Pop star Rihanna has listed a Beverly Hills Post Office-area home at $4.5 million, substantially less than the $6.9 million she paid two years ago.
 
The listing describes the house as a "major fixer" with "extensive damage from moisture and water intrusion" at the roof, windows, doors and balconies. The property will not qualify for bank financing, according to the listing, so potential buyers will need cash, a contractor and perhaps an umbrella, to borrow the title of one of Rihanna's early hits.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Factoring energy efficiency into a home's value

Under the SAVE (Sensible Accounting to Value Energy) Act, estimated energy-consumption expenses for a house would be included as a mandatory new underwriting factor.
 
When you apply for a mortgage to buy a house, how often does the lender ask detailed questions about monthly energy costs or tell the appraiser to factor in the energy-efficiency features of the house when coming up with a value?
 
Hardly ever. That's because the big three mortgage players — Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration, which together account for more than 90% of all loan volume — typically don't consider energy costs in underwriting. Yet utility bills can be larger annual cash drains than property taxes or insurance — key factors in standard underwriting — and can seriously affect a family's ability to afford a house.
 
A new bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill could change all this dramatically and for the first time put energy costs and savings squarely into standard mortgage underwriting equations. A bill introduced Oct. 20 would force the three mortgage giants to take account of energy costs in every loan they insure, guarantee or buy. It would also require them to instruct appraisers to adjust their property valuations upward when accurate data on energy efficiency savings are available.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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California October Home Sales

An estimated 34,087 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month. That was down 3.7 percent from 35,404 in September, and up 4.3 percent from 32,669 for October 2010. California sales for the month of October have varied from a low of 25,832 in 2007 to a high of 70,152 in 2003, while the average is 43,528. DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.
 
The median price paid for a home last month was $240,000, down 3.6 percent from $249,000 in September, and down 6.3 percent from $256,000 for October a year ago. The median has decreased on a year-over-year basis for the last thirteen months. The bottom of the current cycle was $221,000 in April 2009, while the peak was at $484,000 in early 2007.
 
Distressed property sales – the combination of foreclosure resales and “short sales” – continued to make up more than half of California’s resale market.
 
Of the existing homes sold last month, 34.1 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That was up from 33.8 percent in September but down from 36.7 percent in October a year ago. The all-time high was in February 2009 at 58.5 percent.....
 
Source: Dqnews.com
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California Foreclosure Activity Back Up

After dropping to a three-year low in the second quarter of this year, the number of California homeowners being pulled into the foreclosure process snapped back to prior levels over the last three months, a real estate information service reported.
 
A total of 71,275 Notices of Default (NoDs) were recorded at county recorders offices during the third quarter. That was up 25.9 percent from 56,633 for the prior three months, and down 14.4 percent from 83,261 in third-quarter 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.
 
Last quarter's 71,275 NoDs, which mark the first step in the formal foreclosure process, jumped back to levels seen earlier this year and late last year. Lenders filed 68,239 NoDs during first-quarter 2011 and 69,799 in fourth-quarter 2010. NoDs peaked in first-quarter 2009 at 135,431.
 
"Figuring out what's actually going on when it comes to foreclosures can be a logistical nightmare. In each case there are at least six or seven different legal entities contending with each other, each with a different agenda and timeline: The original lender, the homeowner, the current owner or owners of the loan, the servicing institution, the outfit doing the actual foreclosing, and the county recorder's office," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.
 
Source: Dqnews.com
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Younger Boomers Trading Up, Older Boomers Staying Put

It's not your grandma's housing market anymore -- a fact that baby boomers are dealing with in very different ways, according to a new report. Coldwell Banker released a survey that throws a wrench in the notion that all boomers belong to one homogeneous group. The results show that younger baby boomers are far more keen on buying up than their older peers. HuffPost 50 reports:
 
The survey's findings present a much more dynamic picture of the current real estate market when the general term "boomer" was divided into "Younger Baby Boomers" aged 47-55 and "Older Baby Boomers" aged 56-64.
 
According to the survey's results, Younger Boomers are both more likely to be interested in purchasing a second home and seeking out a single family home over older boomers. The most staggering divide between young and older boomers can be seen in those looking for a larger home, where 31 percent of respondents say younger boomer clients are selling their current home and looking for more space, compared to just 6 percent of agents who report older boomers are looking to do the same.
 
Source: Realestate.aol.com
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Sales of new homes top expectations

Sales of new U.S. homes rose by 5.7% in September — the first increase in four months — as builders cut prices to the lowest level in nearly a year.
 
The Commerce Department said new single-family home sales climbed to an annual pace of 313,000 in September from August's slightly revised level of 296,000. The numbers are seasonally adjusted.
 
Economists polled by MarketWatch had forecast new home sales to rise to 300,000.
 
Buyers were attracted by lower mortgage rates and falling home prices. The median selling price of new homes, for instance, fell more than 10% year-over-year to $204,400 — a 3.1% decline compared with the previous month — marking the lowest level since last October.
 
The median price has fallen three straight months after hitting a nine-month high of $240,200 in June.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Mortgage refinancing to get easier under revised U.S. program

The plan could help 1 million to 2 million people get significantly lower monthly payments in hopes of stabilizing the real estate market.
 
The Obama administration is launching yet another high-profile campaign to shore up the housing market -- and with it, the economy -- by making it easier for some struggling homeowners to refinance underwater mortgage loans at today's ultra-low interest rates.
 
The federal government's new rules will encourage borrowers to secure new loans no matter how much value their homes have lost during the nation's housing crisis, with the hitch that they can't have missed any mortgage payments for the last six months.
 
The plan could help 1 million to 2 million people get significantly lower monthly payments in hopes of stabilizing the real estate market. On top of that, it would boost the economy by putting about $2,500 more in a typical homeowner's pocket each year, administration officials said.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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State agency foreclosing on borrowers who rent out their homes

Some 200 borrowers are current on their payments but don't live in the homes, violating California regulations. Their mortgages come from the state agency.
 
A state agency that provides low-interest mortgages to first-time home buyers is foreclosing on a small number of clients, even though the borrowers are current on their monthly payments, according to a state Senate watchdog group.
 
The California Housing Finance Agency has initiated or threatened foreclosure on about 200 borrowers because they are no longer living in the homes as required by state regulations. Some of them have rented out their homes to cover the mortgage payments and moved to more affordable quarters, mainly because of financial hardship or changes in their jobs or personal lives, the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes said Monday.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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'Psycho' actress Janet Leigh's one-time home is for sale

The one-time Beverly Hills-area home of actress Janet Leigh is on the market at $3.75 million.
 
Built in 1976, the modern traditional-style home is set on a promontory of more than half an acre with a swimming pool and tennis court. The 4,432-square-foot ocean-view house features high ceilings, four bedrooms and five bathrooms.
 
Leigh, who died in 2004 at age 77, starred in "Touch of Evil" (1958) and "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) but is perhaps best remembered in film for her murder in the shower scene of "Psycho" (1960).
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Foolish board decisions can cost everyone

Question: Our homeowners association was sued when a slate of board directors misused its authority. The directors embarked on projects that only they wanted. They hired different lawyers for each director personally and other attorneys for the association and board, paying exorbitant fees to push their projects onto owners. They were determined to amend our covenants, conditions and restrictions to prevent owners from renting out their units. The board directors' actions were eventually deemed illegal, but not until they had incurred at least $100,000 in association debt not covered by insurance. To keep our insurance, the premiums were raised substantially, and the lawsuits affected unit sales. The director who started the campaign to stop rentals moved and rented his unit out. In addition to higher monthly fees, owners will suffer otherwise unnecessary special assessments for years to come. As an owner, I was powerless to prevent this. Can I sue this one director to return the money I was forced to expend because of his illicit actions?
 
Source: Latimes.com
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New FHA certification rules hamper condo sales, refinancings

The rule revisions, aimed at averting losses from delinquencies and foreclosures, have led to thousands of common-interest developments becoming ineligible for FHA mortgages.
 
Is a little-publicized switch in federal mortgage policy causing huge problems for condominium sellers, buyers and homeowner association boards across the country — even depressing prices and blocking refinancings?
 
Individual owners and realty agents are emphatic that the answer is yes. They say a series of rule revisions by the Federal Housing Administration has caused thousands of common-interest developments to become ineligible for FHA mortgages. This has abruptly shut off loan money for would-be buyers and refinancers, forcing them to pursue conventional bank loans requiring much higher down payments — sometimes 20% or higher versus the FHA's 3.5% minimum — that they often cannot afford.
 
For its part, FHA says the rule changes it has adopted, which focus on budgets, insurance and financial reserves, have been prudent and are designed to avert losses from delinquencies and foreclosures. But the agency confirms that thousands of developments have failed to obtain or apply for required recertifications under the new rules. Out of approximately 25,000 common-interest developments nationwide with expiration dates for FHA eligibility between last December and Sept. 30 of this year, only 2,100 — just 8.4% — have been approved or recertified by the agency, according to Lemar Wooley, an agency spokesman.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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New home construction jumps 15% in September

New residential construction jumped 15% in September, turning in its best performance in 17 months, though economists warned that a housing recovery has yet to take hold.
 
While new construction is key to getting the economy going, much of the new building came from the apartment sector, which can be volatile. Many economists also noted that permits pulled for new construction, also an important measure of builders' plans for the future, declined in September.
 
Nevertheless, the news of the increase cheered investors on Wall Street as well as several housing analysts who follow the numbers.
 
"A strong residential construction number is a welcome relief for an economy struggling to hang on to expansion and a hopeful harbinger of better days to come," Celia Chen, a housing economist with Moody's Analytics, wrote in a research note Wednesday. "Caution, however, needs to be taken in interpreting the surprisingly strong top-line housing starts for September."
 
Builders started new residential units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 658,000 in September, a 15% increase over the prior month and up 10.2% from the same month last year, according to the Commerce Department.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Real Estate Outlook: Builder Confidence Rises

Builder confidence is up for the month of October thanks to renewed buyer interest in select markets. This is the largest one-month gain since April 2010 when renewed confidence from the home buyer tax credit was in full swing.
 
"This latest boost in builder confidence is a good sign that some pockets of recovery are starting to emerge across the country as extremely favorable interest rates and prices catch consumers' attention," said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "However, it's worth noting that while some builders have shifted their assessment of market conditions from 'poor' to 'fair,' relatively few have shifted their assessments from 'fair' to 'good.' One reason is that builders are facing downward pricing pressures from foreclosed homes at the same time that building materials costs are rising, and this is further squeezing already tight margins."
 
Regionally, it was the West that led the way in builder confidence, posting a 9 point gain on the HMI scale. The only region that didn't post a gain was the Northeast, which was unchanged from the month prior.
 
Source: Realtytimes.com
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Multifamily Sector Shows Positive Movement

While the homeownership rate falls, rental demand rises bringing rental rates up and apartment vacancies down – all of which has led Freddie Mac’s chief economist to label the multifamily sector “a positive signal for the U.S. housing industry.”
 
“The improvement in the economics of apartment management has prompted an increase in structure values, property sales, and new construction for larger buildings,” states Freddie Mac’s chief economist Frank Nothaft in his October U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook.
 
After a 32 percent drop from 2008 to 2009, the’ U.S. apartment values rose 18 percent in the first quarter of this year, Nothaft reports, referencing the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries apartment value index.
 
This rise is a result of the fact that many newly-formed households are choosing to rent rather than own in the current, unstable economy, according to Nothaft.
 
From June 2010 to June 2011, the number of households renting rose 4 percent with an additional 1.4 million households moving into rental units, according to the Census Bureau. At the same time, the homeownership rate fell by 1.5 percent to 65.9 percent, according to the Bureau.
 
Source: Dsnews.com
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Home Closing Timelines Increase, Especially in Distressed Market

Refinance applications and appraisal complications are holding up home sale closings, according to the Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse survey released last Monday.
 
According to the report, the normal timeline for a closing is about 30 days. However, the recent HousingPulse survey found the timeline to be between 45 and 60 days.
 
The delay is exacerbated among short sales and sales of foreclosed homes – which according to HousingPulse made up 44.4 percent of the market in September, down from 45.9 percent in August.
 
The survey of 2,500 real estate agents found that one major source of delays among short sales is mortgage origination preapprovals, which sometimes expire before all interested parties agree.
 
Sales of foreclosed homes are encountering delays when property damage complicates the appraisal process.
 
Source: Dsnews.com
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HARP's Rep and Warranty Waiver: Will It Spark a Refinancing Frenzy?

With the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) retooling of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), one change in particular may hold the answer to just how much of an impact the initiative will have – FHFA’s decision to waive certain representations and warranties on loans refinanced through the program.
 
The debate has already begun about whether such a move will indeed persuade lenders to utilize the program more freely.
 
Generally when a mortgage is refinanced, any representations and warranties that are attached to the original loan – such as assurance of a clean title – are carried over to the originator of the new refinanced loan. The new lender can be held responsible by the investor – in this case, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – and be forced to buy back the loan as a result of an earlier defect overlooked by the original lender.
 
Source: Dsnews.com
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Case-Shiller Continues to Record Improvements in Annual Price Changes

The annual rate of change in home prices continues to show improvement, according to Standard & Poor’s.
 
Data released Tuesday by the agency show the 20-city composite and 10-city composite readings of the S&P/Case-Shiller index for August came in below their year-ago levels by 3.8 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. The previous month, S&P reported a 4.1 percent and 3.7 percent annual decline.
 
Sixteen of the 20 cities covered by the index posted improved annual returns compared to July’s data. Los Angeles and Miami saw no change, while Atlanta and Las Vegas saw their annual rates of change fall deeper into negative territory.
 
At -8.5 percent, Minneapolis posted the lowest year-over-year return, but has improved in each of the last three months. Detroit and Washington D.C. were the only two cities to see positive annual returns of +2.7 percent and +0.3 percent, respectively.
 
Source: Dsnews.com
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The Joys of Homeownership

Today's experts spout off the latest statistics about long-term wealth, home values, and interest rates, yet there's a much more sentimental side to homeownership. In fact, many home buyers are drawn to homeownership for these warm and fuzzy reasons.
 
Owning a home allows you to put down roots, both figuratively and literally. On one hand you become part of a neighborhood and community. When you rent, neighbors come and go as quickly as leases renew. Homeowners, however, tend to stay put longer.
What does this mean for you? You can develop, many times, lifelong relationships. This also means your home will see you through many of life's important milestones.
 
Source: Realtytimes.com
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Bill would remove penalty for tapping 401(k) to avoid foreclosure

The proposed legislation would amend the tax code to allow homeowners who have 401(k) retirement plans to pull out money to save their houses from foreclosure without the usual tax penalties.
 
With hundreds of thousands of homeowners facing imminent foreclosure and estimates of 2 million or more in the wings, are there any financial tools available to distressed borrowers that haven't been tried yet? And is there a way to help owners that won't rack up huge federal expenditures and add to the deficit?
 
The Obama administration has been exploring options — including a new refinancing program expected this month — but a concept has surfaced on Capitol Hill that might offer modest help with no revenue cost to the government: Amend the tax code to allow homeowners who have 401(k) retirement plans to pull out money to save their houses from foreclosure without the usual tax penalties.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Meet the home sellers: Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor

Comic actor Ben Stiller and his actress wife, Christine Taylor, have sold part of their compound in the Hollywood Hills for $7,325,000, public records show.
 
The entire property, listed at $12.5 million two years ago, included two houses and a one-bedroom guesthouse for a total of 10 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms on nearly an acre.
 
The couple have sold a gated 1929 Spanish-style house of 5,334 square feet that had been restored and updated. Its outdoor courtyard and living areas, as well as the lushly landscaped pool area, are decorated with terra-cotta tiles and colorful inlays...
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Bill would encourage foreigners to buy U.S. homes

The bipartisan Senate bill would allow foreigners who spend at least $500,000 on a residential property to obtain visas allowing them to live in the United States.
 
Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles— American consumers and the federal government haven't been able to bail out the sinking U.S. real estate market. Now wealthy Chinese, Canadians and other foreign buyers could get their chance.
 
Two U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would allow foreigners who spend at least $500,000 on residential property to obtain visas allowing them to live in the United States.
 
The plan could be a boon to California, which has become a popular real estate market for foreigners, particularly those from China.
 
Nationwide, residential sales to foreigners and recent immigrants totaled $82 billion in the 12-month period ended March 31, up from $66 billion the previous year, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. California accounted for 12% of those sales, second only to Florida.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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New addendum could help appraisers give credit for green features

The three-page Appraisal Institute form should guarantee at the minimum that an appraiser will take notice of a home's energy improvements and seek to come up with a value adjustment for local market conditions.
 
Here's some good news for homeowners who've installed energy-saving features but haven't been sure appraisers will credit them with higher valuations: Thanks to a new industry-issued appraisal addendum, the odds have improved that such upgrades get the fairer market value they're due.
 
The Appraisal Institute, the country's largest and most influential association in its field, published the long-awaited addendum late last month. It's designed to be attached to any standard appraisal report covering a property with significant green features. Owners, sellers, buyers, refinancers and realty agents don't have to wait for an appraiser to use it. They can download it at no cost and ask that it be made part of the appraisal submitted to the lender.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Ellen DeGeneres offering estate for $49 million

The price for the Beverly Hills property is revealed in the Multiple Listing Service. The four-structure compound features a 9,200-square-foot main house, two guesthouses and a three-bedroom house that can be used as office space or staff quarters.
 
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has revealed the price of her Beverly Hills estate in the Multiple Listing Service as $49 million. The property had been marketed since June on the Westside Estate Agency website as price "available upon request."
 
The four-structure compound was formed starting in 2007 through three property purchases on the same street. Among the sellers was Max Mutchnick, co-creator of the TV series "Will & Grace" (1998-2006), who sold his house for $29 million.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Survey: Most Real Estate Investors Expanding Portfolios

Over eight in 10 U.S. real estate investors are making moves to shore up their portfolios even as talk of a double-dip recession persists, according to a recent survey. More shocking: most of the survey respondents parted ways with Americans at large by agreeing that the economy is headed in a northerly direction.
 
Conducting the survey in early August, Colliers International deployed the 2011 Colliers International Global Investor Sentiment Survey as a way to measure investor appetite for risk and optimism.
 
It measured investor sentiment on a clock, with 6 o’clock signifying feelings toward a rock-bottom market, 12 o’clock a market at peak, and 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock a market on the upswing and downswing, respectively....
 
Source: Themreport.com
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Buying a home a safer bet than buying gold (INFOGRAPHIC)

Survey: 401(k) ranks near homeownership as favored long-term investment
 
The results of a biannual survey, released this week by real estate search and marketing portal Trulia, found that 80 percent of homeowners plan to buy another home, and that most survey participants view home ownership, and placing money in a 401(k) or other retirement account, as the best long-term investments. Market research firm Harris Interactive conducted the survey, which drew responses from 1,392 homeowners and 758 renters, from Aug. 30, 2011, to Sept. 1, 2011.
 
80% of current homeowners plan to buy another home in the future...
 
Source: Inman.com
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Her basic instinct? Sell

Sharon Stone lists her Beverly Hills area estate for just under $9 million.
 
Actress Sharon Stone has listed her Beverly Hills area compound for sale at $8,995,000.
 
The walled and gated Mediterranean estate sits at the end of a private road on five acres with pathways, bridges, waterfalls, fruit trees, a meditation garden, a swimming pool and a tennis court with viewing pavilion.
 
The main house, built in 1991, includes a paneled library with a fireplace and an oversized living room with a wet bar. The master suite has a fireplace, dual bathrooms, dual dressing rooms and a terrace. The guest house contains a media room, a gym and two bedrooms, for a total of seven bedrooms and 71/2 bathrooms. There is covered parking for about 14 cars.
 
Stone, 53, starred in the '90s films "Total Recall," "Basic Instinct" and "Casino," for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. More recent work includes "The Burma Conspiracy" (2011) and several appearances on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2010).
 
Source: Latimes.com
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How to stop board directors from acting beyond their authority

Stopping the installation of common hallways carpeting not approved by owners may require hiring an attorney quickly and getting the court to issue an injunction preventing the board from continuing the unlawful actions.
 
Question: A specific carpet choice for the common hallways was approved by homeowner majority vote and purchased. I later attended a board meeting and learned directors took it upon themselves to change the carpet that was already purchased, approved and voted on by the owners and instead buy a more expensive carpet without owner vote or approval. There are over 23 floors to carpet, and the board's choice raised the carpet price by $3 a yard. The burden of paying this overage is on each owner.
 
I asked for receipts of expenditures and the treasurer told me there is no central file for receipts on the money spent. Directors are moving forward with the more expensive carpet. What recourse do owners have against this board?
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Most homeowners still faring well, with positive equity

Nearly half of all owners with mortgages have at least 25% equity stakes in their properties, and about a quarter of owners with mortgages have more than 50% equity, a new study shows.
 
Reporting from Washington— Negative equity and underwater homeowners are frequently in the headlines, but what about positive equity in Americans' homes?
 
Is there much of it left after the wealth-killing recession and real estate bust? Where is it? Who's got equity? You might be surprised.
 
A new study, conducted by mortgage and real estate data firm CoreLogic for this column, found that there are substantial reserves of positive equity across the country. CoreLogic maintains the largest database on home loans — 42 million active accounts, more than 80% of all existing mortgages — with information supplied regularly by lenders and servicers.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Survey: Home Prices Expected to Increase 1.1% Over Next Five Years

Home prices are expected to grow at an average annual rate of just 1.1 percent through 2015, according to a survey released Wednesday by New Jersey-based MacroMarkets LLC.
 
The Home Price Expectations Survey, conducted by Pulsenomics LLC on behalf of MacroMarkets, is based on the S&P/Case-Shiller index over the next five years.Pulsenomics surveyed 111 individuals, ranging from economists and real estate experts to investment and market strategists.
 
“Expectations for home price performance in 2011 has become somewhat less negative,” commented Robert Shiller, MacroMarkets cofounder and Yale University professor of economics. “Unfortunately, the average projection is somewhat more negative for each of the following four years.”
 
Source: Dsnews.com
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California home sales up in August, but calendar may get credit

Sales statewide rose 8.8% in August over July and were up 10.2% compared with the same month a year earlier. But the state's median home price dropped year-over-year for the 11th consecutive month.
 
California home sales jumped in August, but that was mostly due to a quirk in the calendar providing more business days than usual. The state's median home price dropped year-over-year for the 11th consecutive month.
 
Sales of so-called distressed properties — homes where the borrower was in default or where the property was in foreclosure — continued to make up more than half of California's market for previously owned homes, according to a report by the real estate information firm DataQuick of San Diego.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Actor Mark Wahlberg puts Beverly Hills home on the market

Mark Wahlberg's property, listed at $14 million, has a main house, a guesthouse and a gym where he trained for 'The Fighter.' Also, Walt Disney's former home is sold, and 'Let's Make a Deal' host Wayne Brady and reality TV star Lauren Conrad have listed their homes.
 
The contemporary Mediterranean, built in 1985, has been updated throughout. In addition to the main house with a two-bathroom master suite and four other bedroom suites, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom guesthouse and a 2,500-square-foot detached gym with a boxing ring are on the property. The actor trained there for his starring role in "The Fighter" (2010).
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Landlords are forbidden to discriminate against the unemployed

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act prohibits discrimination based on a rental applicant's source of income, as long as the applicant can demonstrate the ability to financially qualify.
 
Question: I have been looking for a new apartment to rent. I found a studio apartment listed on Craigslist that sounded great, although the ad said applicants must "be employed." I am unemployed, but I receive Social Security and pension retirement payments. I told the owner that I did not have a job, but that my retirement benefits amounted to more than three times the $900 rent. He said he would rent only to a tenant who was employed.
 
He then explained that he was having financial troubles and could not afford to lose money on this property. He told me he knew my Social Security and pension benefits could not be garnished if I failed to pay rent. I thought landlords must accept non-employment income. Is there some exception if the landlord is experiencing financial difficulties?
 
Source: Latimes.com
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U.S. home sales jump 7.7% in August

The number of Americans who bought previously occupied homes rose in August. But sales were driven by an increase in foreclosures, a sign that home prices could fall further next year and slow a housing recovery.
 
The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that home sales rose 7.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.03 million homes. That's below the 6 million that economists say is consistent with a healthy housing market.
 
Last month's pace was slightly ahead of the 4.91 million sold in 2010, the worst sales level in 13 years.
 
Homes at risk of foreclosure made up 31 percent of sales. That's up from 29 percent in July. Many are being bought by investors.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Southland August Home Sales Climb, Median Price Falls Again

Southern California home sales rose last month above the July and year-earlier level, the result of seasonal forces, a relatively high number of business days this August and continued robust bottom-feeding. Prices appeared to be trending sideways to downward, with the region’s overall median sale price dipping below a year earlier for the sixth consecutive month, a real estate information service reported.
 
A total of 19,654 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in August. That was up 8.6 percent from 18,090 in July and up 6.0 percent from 18,541 in August 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.
 
On average, sales between July and August have risen 3.4 percent since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin. August sales have varied from a low of 16,379 in 1992 to a high of 39,562 in 2003. Last month’s sales count was 26.6 percent below the August average of 26,761 sales since 1988.
 
Source: DQnews.com
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Buyers should inspect new homes carefully for defects

Experts say shoddy workmanship is rampant as builders struggle to cut construction costs to the bone.
 
You won't believe the stuff that Jay Markanich has seen on his rounds as a home inspector in northern Virginia.
 
Among other things: exhaust fans that vent to nowhere, faulty drain line connections, drywall screws used for everything but their intended purpose, insulation thrown into wall cavities but not stapled to the studs, decks so riddled with nails shot from power guns that they cause the wood to split.
 
The kicker? This is new construction. Not remodeling projects but brand-new houses that have never been lived in.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Home of the Week: Contemporary Eagle Rock house has garage on top

Accessed by a driveway bridge, this downtown-close contemporary was constructed on a lot previously considered unbuildable because of the steep grade. The newly built house is recessed into the site and designed with the garage on top to minimize obstruction of the neighbors' views. Existing walnut and oak trees create privacy.
 
Location: 4865 Mount Royal Drive, Eagle Rock 90041
Asking price: $669,000 or for lease at $3,500 a month
Year built: 2011
Architect: Christopher Griffin
House size: Three bedrooms, four bathrooms, 2,117 square feet
Lot size: 0.28 of an acre..........
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Obama Jobs Plan Includes Real Estate Effort

The $447 billion jobs initiative President Obama introduced last night, called “The American Jobs Act,” contains some pieces that aim to boost home mortgage refinancing, rehab homes, cut taxes for small businesses, boost road, bridges, and other public-works spending, in part through an infrastructure bank, and otherwise inject momentum into the stalled economic recovery. Many of the specifics are still to come, and his plan raises questions about where real estate industry priorities like extending existing conforming mortgage loan limits and expiring flood insurance fit in. Here’s a thumbnail summary of the key provisions provided by the White House:

1. Cut in half the taxes paid by businesses on their first $5 million in payroll, targeting the benefit to the 98 percent of firms that have payroll below this threshold.
2. Give a payroll tax holiday for adding workers or increasing wages. The benefit is capped at the first $50 million in payroll increases........

Source: Speakingofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org
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Congress Urged to Restore Home Buyer Tax Credit

The National Mortgage Complaint Center, a consumer advocacy group, is asking Congress to introduce legislation to restore the federal tax credit for home buyers in order to “rescue the U.S. residential real estate markets” and prevent home prices from dropping any further.
 
The group is asking the tax credit be increased to $15,000 and be available to every qualified home buyer, including investors, first-time buyers, and repeat buyers.
 
"With the enormous devaluations we have seen in most U.S. residential markets, we need to stop the hemorrhaging, and do something meaningful to stabilize one of the most vital aspects to the U.S. economy — our residential real estate markets,” the National Mortgage Complaint Center said in a statement.
 
Last year, Congress offered a home buyer tax credit for first-time and repeat buyers to help spur home buying. The maximum allowable credit for first-time buyers was $8,000 and $6,500 for repeat buyers. Congress is not currently considering any new legislation to expand the home buyer tax credit.
 
Source: Sfgate.com
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Walt Disney home sale tops list price

Update: A gated home in Los Feliz once owned by Walt Disney has sold for $3.7 million, which is $50,000 more than its list price.
 
The two-story French Normandy house, built in 1932, was on the market for 12 days before entering escrow, and it closed in about a month.
 
Original features include the stained leaded-glass windows, two bars and a Juliet balcony overlooking the two-story living room. The house has four bedrooms and five bathrooms in about 6,000 square feet.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Veterans Affairs mortgage program goes against the grain but works:

Most borrowers make zero down payments even on jumbo loans and the VA imposes no minimum credit score, yet originations are up and the delinquency and foreclosure rates are low.
 
Picture a mortgage program that seems to defy many of the lessons of the housing bust:
 
• 91% of its borrowers make zero down payments.
• Loan amounts go well into the jumbo range — to $1 million and sometimes above, even with little or nothing down.
• Credit standards are flexible and generous. Underwriting rules encourage loan officers to look for ways to approve applications rather than to reject them.
• Mortgage origination are up — almost triple what they were just three years ago and on track this year to exceed 2010's volume. The rest of the loan industry, by contrast, is down 25% to 30%.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Hot Property: Singing over a 'bird street' sale

Christina Aguilera has sold her Sunset Strip-area house for $4,653,815.
 
The Midcentury Modern, built in 1960, is in the celebrity-populated "bird streets." The 6,500-square-foot post-and-beam house has a recording studio, a screening room and walls of glass opening to a pool, a 12-person spa and a fireplace. There are four bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
 
"It's a very specific house — really stylish, but needs work," said Peter Lavin of Links Real Estate, Hollywood. He represented buyer Carsten Fischer, a director and corporate senior executive officer for Tokyo-based Shiseido. Fischer offered $4.7 million for the house, and the sales price reflects discounts for repair credits.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Home prices notch third straight monthly gain

A key index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas rose 1.1% from May to June. Real estate experts say the improvement is seasonal and that prices could fall again as sales slow in the fall and winter.
 
With an uptick in June, home prices in major U.S. cities have recorded three consecutive months of gains. But the glimmer of improvement is almost certainly seasonal in nature, real estate experts said, and prices could begin to fall again when the slower sales season begins.
 
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas rose 1.1% from May to June when left unadjusted for seasonal variations. Prices fell 4.5% from June 2010.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Bank of America puts Countrywide lending unit up for sale

Bank of America is looking to rid itself of a low-margin Countrywide unit that buys loans from smaller mortgage companies. Hundreds of jobs could be at stake.
 
Bank of America Corp. plans to jettison another piece of the troubled Countrywide mortgage empire — a lending arm that buys home loans from smaller institutions to then package into mortgage-backed securities on Wall Street.
 
The beleaguered banking giant has shopped the business around and is in serious talks with one potential acquirer, according to spokesman Dan Frahm. If it can't strike a deal, Bank of America would shut down the business, jeopardizing 1,400 jobs, including 700 in Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Bel-Air estate was a nature sanctuary – amid mansions

Once upon a time, nature conservation was a serious commitment for the rich and famous.
 
Imagine it is Labor Day 1924. You've just finished dinner on the porch, the kids are playing next door and the radio just tuned in: "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Today's story is about bestselling author Gene Stratton-Porter. At this very moment she's building a castle in Bel-Air and making her garden a bird and wildflower sanctuary."
 
Today it's hard to imagine native bird Paris Hilton tending buttercups at her family's Bel-Air manse, but a century ago, before the Westside development was paved and clipped, nature conservation was a serious commitment for the rich and famous.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Energy-efficient homes seem to sell faster, fetch higher prices

Some research projects in California, Oregon and Washington offer hints that energy efficiency and sustainability certifications for homes may result in easier sales and higher prices.
 
Home energy efficiency and sustainability have been major policy priorities for the Obama administration, but lurking in the background are two consistent questions: Beyond the documentable savings on utility bills, do such steps add to the resale value of a home? And do they make it easier or faster to sell your property?
 
Housing groups and housing officials say that definitive statistical data covering multiple regions of the country are scarce. But some localized research projects in Oregon, Washington and California offer promising hints.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Freddie Mac alerts real estate agents to rising short sale fraud

Freddie Mac recently began reaching out to real estate associations and fielded more calls on a rising rate of fraudulent short sales.

With foreclosure delays and procedural problems still weighing on a housing recovery, servicers boosted short sales to 25% of all liquidations by the middle of 2011, up from 8% two years ago.

Freddie completed 21,515 short sales in the first half, up 31% from the same period last year, according to its second-quarter financial filing. These transactions accounted for 14% of all completed workouts in 2010, up from 4% in 2000.

Shelley Poland, a vice president at Freddie, and Robert Hagberg, the associate director of fraud investigations, said in a blog post Monday the mortgage giant sees short sale fraud on the rise as well - especially when real estate agents fail to disclose other parties involved in the transaction, who will rig sales at a low price and hide better offers from Freddie and the distressed homeowner.
 
Source: Trulia.com
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Mortgage rates set fresh record low, Freddie Mac says

Mortgage rates tumbled to the lowest level in the history of Freddie Mac's weekly survey, with 30-year fixed-rate home loans being offered this week at an average 4.15%, down from last week's 4.32%.

Freddie Mac said in its weekly report that loans with variable interest rates also hit record lows, as did shorter-term fixed-rate loans. The 15-year fixed-rate loan, a popular choice with people refinancing their homes, was being offered at an average rate of 3.36%, down from 3.50% last week, Freddie Mac said.

The survey includes loans made with minimal payments of fees and points to lenders. The borrowers getting 30-year loans this week would have paid 0.7% of the loan amount in upfront fees and discount points, and borrowers would have paid 0.6% of the loan amount for the 15-year fixed loans, Freddie Mac said.

Source: Latimes.com
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State sues lawyers who, it says, defrauded troubled homeowners

California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris has sued four Southern California lawyers and their associates, accusing them of defrauding distressed homeowners at their most vulnerable moment by deceiving them into thinking they would receive relief on their troubled home loans.

Harris said the attorneys, their law firms and 14 other individuals and companies listed as defendants had worked together to lure borrowers into paying $4,000 to $10,000 each to be added as plaintiffs in lawsuits against banks.

The alleged victims lived in 17 states, including California, where at least 2,500 homeowners were involved, she said.

She said she is seeking "tens of millions of dollars" in damages and fines on behalf of the homeowners who signed up to participate in the suits, then typically had only cursory conversations about their situations with participants in the alleged scheme who weren't even lawyers.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Firm's database helps keep Americans in homes

Consumers can't access MortgageKeeper Referral Services directly, but lenders and others can connect clients to its database for help on a variety of issues, including house payments and food assistance.
 
Reporting From Washington—
Last winter, Consumer Credit Counseling Service of San Francisco helped a Dayton, Ohio, housekeeper catch up on her mortgage payments and utility bills, find food assistance and get her property taxes lowered.
 
But how does a Northern California-based counseling agency know whom to call to get local help for a struggling homeowner living halfway across the country? By tapping into a national database of community resources operated by MortgageKeeper Referral Services Inc.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Home of the Week: Hollywood version of Greek Revival in Los Feliz

The multilevel house, an L.A. historic-cultural monument, was built in 1930 by filmmaker Dorothy Arzner.
 
Technically, this multilevel house in the Los Feliz hills falls into the design category of Greek Revival, but just barely.
 
"The architecture didn't feel to me like a Greek Revival house in the classic sense," says co-owner Ilene Kurtz-Kretzschmar, who has lived in the house for almost four years. "Those are so much more formal. This feels more like a Hollywood version."
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Landlords can't make safety rules only for children

Fair housing laws prohibit treating families with children differently from other residents. Limiting these families to certain parts of a rental community is not allowed.
 
Question: I recently stopped at a rental property to apply for a two-bedroom apartment. I had my two young children with me at the time. When I spoke to the on-site rental agent, she told me the available unit was on the second floor. She said I could not apply for that unit because they did not rent second-floor units to families with young children. She said the owner had nothing against children, but the units have open balconies. The owner felt there was too much danger of small children being injured by falling off the balconies. Is it legal for the owner to exclude me from the second floor?
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Hot Property: Orson Welles' former home, 'Parks and Rec's' Michael Schur

You might expect this summer's real estate scene to be slow, but the season has delivered two super-quick deals of note.
 
One sale in the works involves the former Sunset Strip-area home of legendary film director Orson Welles. The gated compound came on the market at $1,285,000 late last month and in less than two weeks a sale was pending.
 
With its crown molding and wainscoting, the 1921 main house is the picture of Southern Colonial style. The property, one third of an acre, also has a guesthouse and a swimming pool.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Foreclosure reforms may be coming to a head

Getting banks, investors and borrowers together to work out a solution that benefits them all is the most promising idea to emerge since the housing market first crashed.
 
We are now in the fifth year of a housing crisis in which more than 3 million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure, with millions more still at risk.
 
Every initiative — government or private — to stem the tide of misery has fallen leagues short in the face of continued economic gloom and the intransigence of lenders.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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July home sales in Southern California fall 4.5% from a year earlier

The number of transactions is the lowest for a July in four years. Also, the median price drops 4% from July 2010 to $283,000.
 
Home sales in Southern California fell to the lowest level for a July in four years as some key economic indicators turned downbeat and congressional budget wrangling took the country to the brink of financial default.
 
The median price was also down, falling 4% from a year earlier to $283,000, San Diego real estate information service DataQuick said. That's the fifth straight month of year-over-year decline. 
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Homeowner mortgage write-off may be in jeopardy

Decisions in coming weeks by the 12-member bipartisan congressional committee tasked with reducing the federal deficit could affect mortgage interest deductions.
 
If you take mortgage interest tax deductions, the next 100 days could have significant financial implications for you because of Congress' new federal debt ceiling plan.
 
Although the compromise legislation itself involved no new taxes, it created an unusual mechanism — an evenly split, 12-member bipartisan super-committee that could call for major cutbacks on real estate write-offs by Thanksgiving.
 
Source: Latimes.com
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Los Angeles Market Trends

The median sales price for homes in Los Angeles CA for May 11 to Jul 11 was $299,500. This represents a decline of 0.2%, or $500, compared to the prior quarter and a decrease of 5.7% compared to the prior year. Sales prices have depreciated 45.5% over the last 5 years in Los Angeles. The average listing price for Los Angeles homes for sale on Trulia was $970,090 for the week ending Aug 10, which represents a decline of 0.9%, or $8,839, compared to the prior week and a decline of 1.7%, or $17,089, compared to the week ending Jul 20. Average price per square foot for Los Angeles CA was $270, a decrease of 3.6% compared to the same period last year. Popular neighborhoods in Los Angeles include Hollywood Hills, Bel Air, Silver Lake, Westwood, Mid City, and Brentwood.
 
Source: Trulia.com 

Ocwen Financial expanding program for underwater borrowers

The Ocwen Financial program restores some equity in the borrowers' property, which helps motivate them to stay current on their modified loan payments and avoid foreclosure.
 
Reporting from Washington—
 
If you give millions of seriously underwater homeowners a new equity position in their properties by reducing their principal mortgage debt, will they keep paying on their loans and avoid foreclosure?
Call it a pipe dream or a significant model for other lenders and investors, but one company says it has found an important combination: Modify underwater borrowers' loans so that their payments are reduced to a manageable amount and cut their principal debt over time, but make the deal dependent on their scrupulous on-time monthly payments of the new amount plus sharing of a portion of any future profit they make on the house sale.
 
Source: Latimes.com

Real estate deal points to Hollywood's comeback

CIM Group has purchased the former Old Spaghetti Factory building at Sunset Boulevard and Gordon Street. It plans to build the retail, office and residential project approved for previous owners

A historic Sunset Boulevard property approved for high-rise construction has been purchased by Hollywood's largest commercial landlord — the latest sign of the neighborhood's economic comeback.

CIM Group bought the former Old Spaghetti Factory building, recognizable by its row of Greek columns, on 1.7 acres at Sunset and Gordon Street. The company said it plans to build the retail, office and residential project approved by the city for previous owners.

Source: Latimes.com

Landlords can't make safety rules only for children

I recently stopped at a rental property to apply for a two-bedroom apartment. I had my two young children with me at the time. When I spoke to the on-site rental agent, she told me the available unit was on the second floor. She said I could not apply for that unit because they did not rent second-floor units to families with young children. She said the owner had nothing against children, but the units have open balconies. The owner felt there was too much danger of small children being injured by falling off the balconies. Is it legal for the owner to exclude me from the second floor?

Answer: Families with one or more children under age 18 living in the household are protected from discrimination by fair housing laws. This "familial status" discrimination applies to refusals to rent or sell to families with children. It also prohibits treating families with children differently from other residents in the terms and conditions of housing. Limiting these families to certain parts of a rental community, or certain floors in a building, are included in the prohibited discriminatory practices.

 
 

Source - latimes.com

Hot Property: Orson Welles' former home, 'Parks and Rec's' Michael Schur

You might expect this summer's real estate scene to be slow, but the season has delivered two super-quick deals of note.

One sale in the works involves the former Sunset Strip-area home of legendary film director Orson Welles. The gated compound came on the market at $1,285,000 late last month and in less than two weeks a sale was pending.

With its crown molding and wainscoting, the 1921 main house is the picture of Southern Colonial style. The property, one third of an acre, also has a guesthouse and a swimming pool.

Welles, who died at 70 in 1985, gained recognition in 1938 with his panic-inducing "The War of the Worlds" radio drama about a Martian invasion. His film masterpiece, "Citizen Kane," was released 70 years ago.

 
Source - latimes.com 

Homeowners who want to trade up are stuck waiting

Back in the frothy days of 2007, Luciano Mor needed only a weekend and a Craigslist ad to find a buyer for his two-bedroom starter home.
 
The split-level house, on a quiet Silver Lake street, sold for $749,000, commanding nearly twice what he paid in 2002 and about $50,000 more than a real estate agent had suggested as a listing price. Mor, who works for Vans' apparel division, had planned on taking the gains and snapping up a place closer to his job in Cypress with enough room to accommodate an expanding family.
 
It was the kind of life progression that traditionally fuels a healthy housing market. Then prices started to drop. Nearly four years later, Mor is still looking for the right deal.

"I just feel like the longer I hold off, the better I will be," Mor said, sitting in the living room of the Long Beach home he and his wife rent. "It's almost like getting a new car — you just know it's best to hold on to your old car as long as possible."
 
 
Source - latimes.com 

Take a business model approach to renting out units

Question: I own three apartments and allowed a young woman to move in without giving me a security deposit or the first month's rent. I felt sorry for her because she told me that she had just left an abusive relationship. For the first couple of months she was late with the rent but she eventually caught up. In the last several months she has not paid at all. Every time I ask her for the rent, she promises to pay but doesn't. Lately she just ducks me altogether. What can I do?

Answer: You need to apply a business model approach to your decision to rent to new tenants. In this case it appears that you allowed your sympathies to overrule your business sense. A business approach means screening tenants in advance to ensure their financial capacity to pay rent and collecting the first month's rent and the maximum security deposit of two month's additional rent before allowing a move-in. Market conditions may not permit you to impose strict financial obligations, but whenever possible you should require them. A tenant who is unable to meet these initial financial requirements is a strong candidate to leave you in the situation you are currently experiencing.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/

Hot Property: Brooke Burke, David Charvet list in Malibu

Designed to evoke the south of France, where Charvet was born, the chateau-style home is in the Serra Retreat neighborhood. An 18th century fountain and sculpture courtyard sit outside the 6,769-square-foot house, which is reached from a gated stone driveway. More than three-quarters of an acre includes extensive lawns, a 200-bush rose garden, an orchard, a pool and a cabana.
 
 
Hand-plastered walls, hand-carved limestone and walnut flooring, imported French fireplaces and sculpted doors are among the details in the five-bedroom, 41/2-bathroom house. A hidden screening room, a 4,000-bottle wine cellar, a wood-paneled office and lower-level bonus room complete the residence.
 
 
Source - latimes.com 

June home prices rise 0.7% from May but fall 6.8% from June 2010

U.S. home prices rose 0.7% in June from May, according to a home price index released Wednesday, although some of that increase is probably the result of seasonal variations. 

The home price index, which includes so-called distressed properties, fell by 6.8% in June when compared with the same month last year, according to Santa Ana research firm CoreLogic.

Excluding foreclosures and other distressed properties, prices were up 1.5% in June over May. They fell 1.1% when compared with June 2010. Distressed sales include foreclosure properties as well as short sales, a transaction in which the bank allows a property to be sold for less than the outstanding debt on the property.
 
 
Source - latimes.com 

Los Angeles Market Trends

The median sales price for homes in Los Angeles CA for Apr 11 to Jun 11 was $300,000. This represents an increase of 0%, or $0, compared to the prior quarter and a decrease of 4.8% compared to the prior year. Sales prices have depreciated 44.3% over the last 5 years in Los Angeles. The average listing price for Los Angeles homes for sale on Trulia was $982,984 for the week ending Jul 27, which represents a decline of 0.4%, or $4,195, compared to the prior week and an increase of 0.5%, or $4,932, compared to the week ending Jul 06. Average price per square foot for Los Angeles CA was $267, a decrease of 2.9% compared to the same period last year. Popular neighborhoods in Los Angeles include Hollywood Hills, Bel Air, Westwood, Silver Lake, Mid City, and West Los Angeles.
 
 
Source - trulia.com 

Home prices rise again, but experts are unimpressed

Home prices in major U.S. cities increased in May for the second consecutive month, according to a closely watched index, although experts dismissed the uptick as seasonal while separate reports provided fresh evidence of a weak housing market.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas rose 1% from April to May when left unadjusted for seasonal variations.

Prices often rise in spring because of changes in the types of homes selling: Foreclosures make up a higher proportion of sales during the winter as families take a break from home shopping and cash-rich investors dominate the market. Higher sales volumes in spring also push up prices.

But compared with May 2010, home prices slid 4.5%, according to the index released Tuesday.
 
 
Source - latimes.com 
 
 
 

3rd Home lets owners exchange vacation properties

If there is one drawback above all others about owning a vacation home, it's that you're stuck going to the same place year after year. Well, "stuck" may be too strong a word. But you are limited. Unless you have the wherewithal to travel at will anywhere you like, you are pretty much restricted to that one spot.Or at least you were until 18 months ago, when a fledgling exchange service for second-home owners called 3rd Home opened for business in Nashville.
A Web-based company, 3rdHome.com is in its infancy. At last count it had just 300 members who had listed 400 properties. But what properties they are. 
 
 
Source - latimes.com

More home buyers are walking away from signed contracts

Are home buyers walking away in droves from the contracts they've signed? Or are they essentially fouling out of the game, unable to close deals because of financing and credit issues?

Whatever the answer, this much appears to be certain: Exceptionally large numbers of signed real estate contracts fell apart last month, failing to close escrow. According to the National Assn. of Realtors, 1 in 6 realty agents polled in June reported having signed contracts canceled before closing, up from just 1 in 25 the month before.
 
Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the realty association, says the sudden increase is surprising and worrisome, and there are no hard statistics available on the causes. The most likely suspects, Yun says, are low-ball appraisals and tough mortgage underwriting rules that knock buyers out of contracts through mortgage contingency clauses. 
 
Source - latimes.com 

Homeowners deserve more than halfhearted mortgage relief

Almost anywhere you look, assessments of the state of the economic recovery are muddled — job growth is positive but fading, consumer spending ebbs and flows, corporate profits are surging but corporate spending is not. The exception is housing, on which everyone agrees.
 
The latest national Case-Shiller index of home prices fell again in April from a year earlier. It was up modestly from March, but since that month marked a new recession low, pushing average prices back to levels not seen since 2002, at best we're bumping along the bottom. About 4.5% of all mortgages are still in foreclosure, more than four times the historical average, creating an overhang of 3 million homes lost since mid-2007. Delinquencies, which mean at least one missed monthly payment, still afflict more than 8% of all mortgages. 
 
 
Source - latimes.com 

Petra Ecclestone buys Spelling mansion for $85 million

The biggest home in Los Angeles County is ready for a new nickname: The 56,500-square-foot Manor, dubbed Candyland after owner Candy Spelling, has been sold to another wealthy socialite, British heiress Petra Ecclestone, in an all-cash deal for $85 million.

As steep as that price is, it's not a record or even close to what Spelling was asking. The priciest Southland home transaction was the 2000 sale of an 8-acre estate in Bel-Air to financial executive Gary Winnick in a deal that included the trade of other land, for a total value of about $94 million. A $100-million sale in the Silicon Valley this year is believed to have set a U.S. record.
 
Source - latimes.com

Litigation gauges banks' ability to cut home-equity credit lines

Picture this nightmare financial scenario: You've taken out a $150,000 home-equity credit line to remodel your house, you've already pulled out thousands of dollars to pay contractors and owe thousands more, when suddenly you get a curt letter from the bank. Effective yesterday, it says, we've shut down access to your credit line. Although we haven't physically appraised your property, an automated valuation indicates it is worth significantly less than when we approved your application. If you wish to hire an appraiser, chosen by us but at your own expense, you can appeal our decision. You're in shock. You can't pay bills you've already contracted for. You can't touch the money you confidently believed you had. Plus you know that house prices in your area have been relatively stable since you took out the credit line. How could a bank effectively devalue your real estate using nothing more than a computer program? Welcome to the world of what class-action attorneys estimate to be massive numbers of homeowners — 1 million customers at one national bank alone — who had their credit lines reduced, frozen or canceled without appraisals during 2009 in the tense months following the near-collapse of the capital marketplace.

 Source - latimes.com

Southland Home Sales Quicken, Median Price Highest This Year

La Jolla, CA---Southern California home sales last month shot up more than usual from May to the highest level for any month since June 2010, when the market got its last big boost from homebuyer tax credits. Sales of lower-cost homes, driven by investors and first-time buyers, and even high-end sales continued to outshine traditional move-up activity in middle price ranges, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 20,532 new and resale houses and condos sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties in June. That was up 11.6 percent from 18,394 in May but down 14.0 percent from 23,871 in June 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

On average, sales between May and June have risen 6.2 percent since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin. June sales have varied from a low of 18,032 in 2008 to a high of 40,156 in 2005. Last month’s sales count was 26.1 percent below the June average of 27,772. Among all months, June has had the highest number of sales most often – in eight of the past 23 years.

 
Source - dqnews.com 

Golden State Mortgage Defaults Drop to Four-Year Low

La Jolla, CA.--The number of California homes that went into foreclosure fell to a four-year low last quarter, the result of a more stable housing market as well as policy changes in the mortgage servicing industry, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 56,633 Notices of Default (NoDs) were recorded at county recorders offices during the April-to-June period. That was down 17.0 percent from 68,239 for the prior quarter, and down 19.2 percent from 70,051 in second-quarter 2010, according to San Diego-based DataQuick.

Last quarter's activity was the lowest for any quarter since 53,493 NoDs were recorded in the second quarter of 2007. It was well below half the record 135,431 default notices recorded in the first quarter of 2009.

"A lot of theories are being floated as to why the numbers are down. Bank policy changes. Legal challenges. Politics. Holding back temporarily so as not to flood the market. The fact of the matter is that no one really knows, outside of lending and servicing industry insiders. One thing is certain: Homeowner distress spreads fastest when home price declines are steepest. And it now appears likely that, barring some new economic shock, the worst of the price declines are behind us," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

The statewide median sales price was $250,000 in the second quarter this year, down 7.4 percent from $260,000 a year earlier. In first-quarter 2009, when foreclosure activity peaked, the $227,000 median was down 39.5 percent from $375,000 a year earlier. The latter decline reflected not only steep home-price depreciation but very weak high-end sales amid robust sales of low-cost inland foreclosures.

 
Source - DQNews.com 

The Week that Was: Real Estate News Roundup

Move Trends presents our top Real Estate stories for this week:

House Prices Are Up: According to the latest House Price Index (PDF) from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, house prices rose 0.4 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from April to May. For the 12 months ending in May, home prices fell 6.3 percent.  The U.S. index is 19.6 percent below its April 2007 peak and roughly the same as the January 2004 index level.

Slight Boost in Mortgage Rates: The latest Primary Mortgage Market Survey released by Freddie Mac shows that while 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased  to 4.52 percent, 15-year fixed-rate mortgages went up to 3.66 percent.

Increment in Mortgage and Refinance Applications: The housing market is experiencing an increase in mortgage and refinance applications, as shown by the latest Mortgage Bankers Association Weekly Survey. While mortgage applications increased 15.5 percent, refinance activity increased to 70.1 percent of total applications from 65.6 percent the previous week, reaching its highest level since January, 2011.

 
Source - move.com 

Banks gearing up to fill looming gap in jumbo loans

FANNIE MAE, FREDDIE MAC AND THE FHA ARE FACING AN UPCOMING CUTBACK IN MORTGAGE LIMITS, BUT BANKS SAY THEY'RE PLANNING TO EXPAND THEIR JUMBO LOAN BUSINESS IN HIGH-COST HOUSING MARKETS.

How big a deal is the upcoming cutback in mortgage limits for Fannie MaeFreddie Mac and theFederal Housing Administration? Will buyers and sellers who depend on jumbo-sized loans find themselves in a financing squeeze after Oct. 1, when the limits plunge in key markets around the country?

Housing and realty lobbies are pushing hard on Capitol Hill for a continuation of the $729,750 high-cost area maximum, but one industry is delighted by the prospect and is gearing up to fill the gap.
 
 
Source - latimes.com 

Katy Perry, Russell Brand buy compound in Sunset Strip area

Singer Katy Perry and comic actor Russell Brand have bought a Sunset Strip-area compound from former National Lampoon Chief Executive Daniel Laikin for $6.5 million, the Multiple Listing Service shows. Perry and Brand are in the process of selling their Los Feliz compound, a $3,395,000 listing that was on the market in May for just nine days before entering escrow.

The gated Mediterranean-style house they acquired was built in 1925 and sits on nearly 3 acres with a guesthouse and swimming pool. It features a baronial stone foyer with sweeping staircase, stained-glass windows and a carved fireplace mantel in the living room, a pub, a study and a media room. Including a four-room master suite, two guest suites and staff quarters, the house has seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms.
 
Source - latimes.com 

5 Questions to Ask Your Home's Inspector

Most home buyers feel like they are bona fide real estate experts after all the studying up on loans and neighborhoods, online house hunting and open house visiting it takes just to get into contract on a home these days. But for all but the most handy of house hunters, getting into contract and starting the home inspection process only surfaces how little you actually know about the nuts and bolts and brick and mortar of the massive investment you’re about to make: a home!  

So, you hire a home inspector, but it seems like they’re speaking an entirely different language - riddled with terms like “serviceable condition” and “conducive to deterioration” - about your dream home!  Here are 5 questions you can use to decode your home inspector’s findings into knowledge you can use to make smart decisions as a homebuyer - and homeowner.
 
Source - trulia.com 

The writing is on the wall – 10 signs your home is overpriced

10. You priced along with other homes listed for sale, rather than homes that had actually sold.

9. Despite the fact values have fallen all over town and continue to decline, you believe this doesn’t apply to your home.

8. You priced your home based on how much you spent improving it.

7. You priced your home based on an appraisal from well over 3 months ago.

6. You believe your house is “unique” and different from all other homes, despite its similarities in size, age, condition and location to other homes. You believe your homes “uniqueness”  warrants a higher price than all those other homes.

5. You sincerely believe that if you just stay on the market for long enough,  eventually that one “right” buyer will come along, fall in love with your house and pay whatever you’re asking.

4. Despite many showings, no one has made an offer on your home.

3. Your home has been on the market for a very long time..6 months..12 even.

2. Your Realtor didn’t agree with your pricing, or worse -  the original Realtor wouldn’t list your home at “your” price so you had to search for someone else who would.

1. You are getting NO SHOWINGS. This is the number one sign that your home is overpriced. If its been marketed, but no one is interested in coming inside the market has already rejected your home at its current price.

 
Source - trulia.com 

Report: Delays in bank processing push likely US foreclosures until 2012, stalling recovery

Banks seized 421,212 homes in the first six months of the year, down from 529,633 between January and June last year, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

The decline reflects lenders taking longer to move against homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments. The banks are working through foreclosure documentation problems that first surfaced last fall and an ensuing logjam in some state courts. Lenders also have put off on taking action against delinquent borrowers as U.S. home sales have slowed this year.

As the processing delays mount, however, so has the backlog of potential foreclosures _ homes that otherwise would have been repossessed by lenders this year.

RealtyTrac estimates that 1 million foreclosure-related notices that should have been filed by banks this year will be pushed to next year. The filings include notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions _ warnings that can lead to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.

 
Source - newser.com 

House of the Day: A Psychedelic Mushroom in the Woods

Straight out of "Alice in Wonderland," the "Mushroom House" of Perinton, N.Y., is your well-heeled bohemian's dream home. Listed at $1.1 million, the home lifts its inhabitants halfway into the surrounding canopy of trees via five concrete, column-supported pods, which are actually modeled after stems of Queen Anne's Lace, not toadstools.

Designated a Town of Perinton Landmark in 1989, the psychedelic dwelling nestles in woodland adjacent to Powder Mill Park, and above a waterfall, stream and field of flowers. James H. Johnson designed the home in the early 1970s after a local artist asked him to fashion something "groovy," "open" and "full of nature," according to listing agent Rich Testa. (He describes himself as not your "typical agent," and the $1,000 that Testa's pledged to donate to Habitat for Humanity upon sale of the home seems to support his claim.) 
 
Source - aol.com 

Singer Carnie Wilson Could Lose House to Foreclosure

Well we know where Carnie Wilson's check for a cameo role in the hit "Bridesmaids" didn't go: to pay her mortgage. Wilson has until July 21 before the bank sells her Los Angeles home out from under her, according to public records. She owes $1.6 million on her property plus late fees and penalties.
 
The Wilson Phillips singer is Beach Boy Brian Wilson's daughter and a favorite target of talk show loudmouth Howard Stern, primarily over her fight with obesity. Wilson had a much publicized to-do when as a spokeswoman for Fresh Diet she actually gained weight. The company said that she failed to follow the diet as directed.
 
Wilson Phillips, which recently performed during the wedding scene in "Bridesmaids," sold more than 10 million albums before they broke up in 1993.

The 4,500-square-foot Tarzana home she defaulted on was originally purchased by Wilson and her husband, Robert Bonfiglio, in January 2004. A notice of default against the property was issued on Jan. 28 of this year and the notice of trustee's sale recorded on April 29. Public records show it was for sale at about $1.5 million last year, and at one point had a buyer on the hook and was seeking a back up offer.
 
Source - aol.com 

Sales of $20-million-plus L.A. homes are rising

Real estate experts and agents say the uptick in mega-estate sales may portend a turnaround in the broader housing market.

A diamond-encrusted lining is emerging in Southern California's cloudy real estate market.
luxury home
At least a half-dozen Westside mega-estates have sold for more than $20 million so far this year — creating a deafening buzz in local realty circles. Only a few home sales in other Southland counties have surpassed the $20-million mark.

On the horizon is the close of Candy Spelling's larger-than-White-House-sized "Manor," which has reigned supreme from its $150-million listing price perch in Holmby Hills for more than two years and is expected to eclipse last year's record $50-million Bel-Air sale by a wide margin. A $100-million home sale this spring in the Silicon Valley is believed to have set a U.S. record.
 
Source - latimes.com 

Candy Spelling reportedly sells Holmby Hills estate

Candy Spelling's sprawling estate in Holmby Hills, which has bragging rights as the most expensive residential listing in the U.S., reportedly has been sold to a 22-year-old British heiress.

Spelling, widow of legendary TV producer Aaron Spelling, put the 4.7-acre residence up for sale more than two years ago at $150 million, and she held firm to that price despite one of the worst real estate downturns in generations.
 
Now, Petra Ecclestone, the daughter of British billionaire and Formula One Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone, is in escrow to buy the property, according to the Wall Street Journal.
 
Source - latimes.com 

Why It's Time To Buy

Back in June 2006, when the housing market peaked, the prospect of a five-year national housing bust seemed unimaginable to most people. And yet here we are, with the latest Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller index showing that prices hit new bear-market lows, falling back to 2002 levels nationally and to 1990s levels in some battered regions.
 
Source - wsj.com 

May sales show surprising strength

Annualized rate of home sales increases from 4.730 million in April 2011to 4.860 million in May 2011.  Average prices of homes sold increased 1.5 percent from April 2011 to May 2011.

June 8, 2011 – The REAL Trends Housing Market Report showed that the combination of new and existing home sales in May 2011 increased from 4.730 million to 4.860 million despite unfavorable news in general economy.  On a year over year basis May 2011 home sales declined 8.6 percent compared to May 2010 rate of 5.318 million.

The average price of homes sold continued to increase in May 2011 with a 1.5 percent increase measured on a year over year basis.  This follows an increase of 1.2 percent in average home sales price in March of 2011 over the same period the year before and represents three consecutive months of increases in the average prices of homes sold.
 
Source - trulia.com 

Bankrate: Long-term mortgage interest rates at 'ultra-low levels'

Mortgage rates remained mostly unchanged this past week, with the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage remaining 4.5% for a second week.

Even still, disappointing economic news kept rates well below 5% and significantly lower than the 6% mark that defined more stable economic times. The U.S. has not seen mortgage rates higher than 6% since late 2008.

Freddie Mac said the 15-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.69% this past week from 3.67% a week earlier, but down from 4.13% a year earlier.

In addition, the five-year, Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.25%, down from 3.27% a week earlier and the 5-year ARM averaged 3.84%. The one-year, Treasury-indexed ARM hit 2.99% this past week, up from 2.97% a week earlier.

Bankrate said the traditional 30-year mortgage fell to 4.66% from 4.71% the prior week. Meanwhile, the 15-year, fixed-rate home loan slipped to 3.83% from 3.86%, and the Jumbo 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage edged up to 5.23%. Adjustable-rate mortgages were also mixed with the average five-year ARM falling to 3.36% and the seven-year ARM growing to 3.65%.

"Disappointing economic news, such as continued weak housing numbers, and ongoing nervousness about Greece led government bond yields and mortgage rates lower," Bankrate said. "Mortgage rates are closely related to yields on long-term government debt. Although Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke confirmed that bond purchases known as QE2 will end as scheduled this month, long-term interest rates remain at ultra-low levels due to the economic softness and overseas debt concerns."

 
Source - trulia.com 

US home prices show positive results in April: FNC

Home prices in the U.S. rose 0.5% in the month of April, according to the FNC Residential Price Index.

The index increased for the first time since the withdrawal of the homebuyer tax credit in April 2010, despite nation's economic malaise. Prices in April shrugged off downward pressure from a continued high number of foreclosures.

The FNC 10-MSA composite showed a 0.4% increase from March. The 30-MSA increased 0.6% in April. Home prices nationwide remained 6.4% lower than one year ago.

These results are contrary to what others may believe are continued price deteriorations, FNC analysts said. Listing activities increased more than 65% with the arrival of the summer home-buying season. The difference between the initial listing price and the final sales price dropped 4% in the first quarter of 2011 from a 6.7% difference at the end of 2010.

The amount of time these distressed properties spent on the market dropped to 2.5 months in April from four months in October 2010.

Home prices in 17 markets went up at an average rate of 2.5%.

"Despite downward price pressure from high volumes of foreclosure sales, home prices continue to gain traction in April after remaining relatively unchanged in March," FNC said.

 
Source - trulia.com 

INTERESTING!: Investors Moving Foreclosures Faster Than Banks Along West Coast

Third-party investors are reselling foreclosure properties they’ve scooped up at auction at a rapid pace in states along the country’s Western seaboard. In fact, they’re moving distressed homes faster than lenders, according to a local tracking firm.


ForeclosureRadar, based out of Discovery Bay, California, keeps tabs on every foreclosure and provides daily auction updates for its coverage area, which encompasses Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

The company says the one consistent market statistic in all five states during the month of May was a drop in how long it’s taking foreclosure auction investors to offload properties.

“While we believe this is partially due to finally seeing some spring selling activity, we think it has more to do with an overall lack of quality, affordable homes for sale,” said Sean O’Toole, CEO of ForeclosureRadar.

Based on the firm’s market data, the average number of days between an investor’s purchase of the property at foreclosure auction in Arizona, and when the property was resold, was 95 days in May. That’s a drop of more than 10 percent from the month before, and contrasts with the average resell timeline of 150 days for banks.

In California, investors are offloading foreclosed homes in 134 days on average, versus 227 for banks.

In the foreclosure hotbed of Nevada, it’s taking investors an average of 102 days to resell homes, while banks are holding onto a property for 177 days before it sells.

In Oregon, time-to-resell is 122 days for foreclosure investors, compared to 208 days for banks.

Washington saw a similar divergence, though its investor timeline was the longest of all five states. There, investors are able to turn around and sell foreclosure properties in 164 days on average, versus 212 days for banks.

Looking at ForeclosureRadar’s historical data, the resell timelines for investors and banks were separated by fewer than 8 days as recently as February in Washington and Oregon, and fewer than 20 days in Nevada as recently as January.

According to O’Toole, investors have become better at turning a foreclosure into a marketable property that attracts buyer interest. He also points to the fact that delays in the foreclosure process from recent robo-signing reviews and moratoriums have left fewer affordable homes available for sale.

“Foreclosure investors may be the only winner so far,” O’Toole said, “benefitting by being able to resell homes purchased at foreclosure auction a little more quickly.”

Overall foreclosure filing activity along the West Coast was down in May, according to ForeclosureRadar.

The company tracked fewer filings in all states except California, where there was an increase in notices of trustee sale and likely signals more foreclosure sales in the state in the months ahead.

Activity on the courthouse steps was mixed, with California the only state to have increases in foreclosure sales both back to the bank and sold to third-party investors.

After recording a jump in foreclosure cancellations across the board in April, ForeclosureRadar says there was a reversal of this trend in May. Cancellations dropped significantly last month in California, Nevada, and Washington. They declined moderately declined in Arizona, and increased in Oregon.

Time-to-foreclose set a record in California last month, taking an average of 344 days. However the length of the foreclosure process declined in Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, and was up just two days in Arizona.

 
Source - trulia.com 

Trend: Working with Investors

Are you focusing any of your business on working with investors? It’s time to take a close look at this viable niche. According to a recent survey, real estate investors will be more active in their local markets compared to typical homebuyers in the next 24 months; and 69 percent of investors say it’ll be easier to find properties in the near future.

The Move Inc. Investor survey, which surveyed real estate investors, suggests that local markets will be heating up with renewed investor interest and activity. Compared to a year ago, 62 percent of investors are paying more attention to home values in their local markets—only 43.5 percent say it will be harder to find bargains and 41.5 percent expect it to be easier to sell their properties in the next six months.

Meanwhile, 22 percent of investors are bullish and expect prices to rise in the next six to 12 months, and 53.5 percent expect prices to remain relatively the same. Twenty-three percent expect prices to fall in the next six to 12 months.

The Move Investor survey also found that investors are prepared to compete vigorously with traditional first-time homebuyers for hot deals. Two-thirds of investors (65.5 percent) said they expect that first-time buyers’ problems getting a mortgage will make it easier for investors to compete for properties. One in five investors (18.5 percent) say they’ll be cash-only buyers, a strategy that’s out of reach for most first-time buyers. Eight out of 10 (80.5 percent) expect cash discounts from sellers.

Today’s investors – not stereotypical, deal-driven flippers

Contrary to the tactics used by “flippers,” 50 percent of today’s real estate investors plan to hold their properties for five-plus years. Only 11 percent expect to sell within 12 months of purchase. Two-thirds (67.5 percent) say they’re investing for the long term.

Fifty-nine percent (59 percent) told Move they’re new to real estate investing, with 33.5 percent considering their first investment purchase and 8.5 percent in the process of buying and selling their first investment property. Another 17 percent said they just completed their first transaction and plan to make more. Only 36.5 percent have experience in more than one property transaction.

When it comes to repairs and maintenance, 56.5 percent of investors say the repair and maintenance of investment property has not been difficult. Moving forward, 42 percent plan to invest their own time and energy to improve, repair and maintain their properties. The rest said they’d hire a contractor for repairs (29.5 percent) or purchase move-in-ready properties (28 percent). The majority (65.7 percent), don’t expect repair costs to exceed 20 percent of the property’s purchase price.

“This data suggests today’s climate is hot for investing and is attracting a lot of new people that don’t fit the stereotypical deal-driven flippers that buy and sell properties quickly,” said Move, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Berkowitz.

Investors combine cash and credit to snap up properties

While cash is king in many circles, 75.5 percent plan to combine cash and credit to purchase properties as they build their real estate portfolio. In fact, 59.5 percent plan to put less than half down on their next property purchase and they’ll finance the rest. Those planning to use more than 50 percent cash and finance the remainder account for 16 percent of today’s investors. Investors told Move the second most difficult challenge has been finding financing (57 percent).

“The fact that most real estate investors plan on combing cash and credit for their purchases goes against the conventional wisdom that investor transactions today are mostly cash-only sales,” says Berkowitz. “We were surprised to learn that 75 percent of investors are financing portions of their purchases. This suggests they’re seeing tremendous or once in a lifetime opportunities and may be tapping into credit or taking out second trusts on existing properties. The data also shows they’re expecting high returns to match the level of investment they’re making in an arena that is new to many investors.”

High risk leads to high ROI expectations

Based on the investments they’re making in today’s environment, real estate investors clearly expect high yield returns. Nearly half (48 percent) expect a profit of 20 percent or more from their property investments, a 4 percent annual rate of return over five years. Another 40 percent expect a profit of 10 percent, and only 6.5 percent expect a 5 percent or less return on investment. Half (50 percent) of today’s real estate investors plan to hold their properties for five-plus years.

Property investments gateway to homeownership for many

While the survey shows investors will outnumber traditional homebuyers three to one, nearly half (49 percent) plan to live in their investment property until it’s sold or turned into a rental property. Slightly more than half (56.5 percent) will put their investments to work as rental properties, and 28 percent plan to purchase vacation property that they’ll eventually sell. The Move Investor survey also found 30 percent of real estate investors are interested in buying retirement property as an investment.

“The survey suggests some first-time buyers may be looking at investing as a strategy to becoming homeowners,” Berkowitz said. “While today’s market is tough for some, it’s also motivating millions to take an unconventional approach and creatively search for new ways of entering the housing market.” 

Source - trulia.com 

Westside Los Angeles Foreclosure Analysis

Nationally, foreclosures represented 28% of sales in the first quarter of 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal.  How did our area fare?

google map to real pro systemsAs we look at the above table, we notice that only 6% of sold properties were foreclosures during Q1 on the Westside.  In a nation where the statistic shows almost 1 out of 3 homes sells in foreclosure, it is important to see that foreclosure sales only represent 1 out of 20 homes sold in Westside Los Angeles communities!  While national trends are important indicators, real estate is largely local. 

The Westside of LA is considered very desirable and has a much stronger market than much of the nation.  Click here to read the rest of this article.

Source - trulia.com 
 
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Westside Los Angeles Foreclosure Analysis

Nationally, foreclosures represented 28% of sales in the first quarter of 2011, according to the Wall Street Journal.  How did our area fare?

google map to real pro systemsAs we look at the above table, we notice that only 6% of sold properties were foreclosures during Q1 on the Westside.  In a nation where the statistic shows almost 1 out of 3 homes sells in foreclosure, it is important to see that foreclosure sales only represent 1 out of 20 homes sold in Westside Los Angeles communities!  While national trends are important indicators, real estate is largely local. 

The Westside of LA is considered very desirable and has a much stronger market than much of the nation.  Click here to read the rest of this article
 
Source - trulia.com 

I love this!: Investors ready to heat up the housing market

More investors are bullish about home prices in the coming year and are beginning to aggressively hunt for residential real estate investments in their own backyards, according to a new survey conducted by Move Inc.

The firm's real estate investor survey found 22% of investors are bullish about home prices going up in the next six to 12 months, a slight uptick from prior periods. About 53.5% expect home prices to remain relatively the same.

However 22% is a much higher share of the market than expected, prompting Move Inc. to conclude in its survey report that "local markets may be heating up with renewed investor interest and activity."

Based on survey results, Move concluded 69% of investors believe they'll have an easier time finding investment properties in the future, while 43.5% believe it may be harder. Some 62% are paying more attention to local home values, with the expectation that it may be time to jump off the sidelines.

Even though first-time homebuyers are often considered the ones to watch when it comes to jump-starting a lagging housing market, 65.5% of the investors who responded to the Move survey said they expect first-time homebuyers to have trouble qualifying for mortgages in an era of heightened underwriting, making it easier for them to nab good deals.

About 18.5% expect to invest using cash-only, and 80.5% expect to receive cash discounts from sellers.

Source - trulia.com 

America Ferrera is Selling her L.A. Home for $1.4 Million

Life has been low key of late for the young and beautiful America Ferrera. Since the cancellation of her hit show, Ugly Betty, for which Ferrera won both a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy Award, the 27 year old has decided to ditch her L.A. digs and, though she has some projects in the works, ShowbizSpy reports that the star can often be found riding her bicycle around New York City. 

Ferrera acquired her Los Angeles pad in 2008 for just over $1.415 million, and just as Betty transformed from an ugly ducking into a swan, under America’s watchful eye the home transformed from eye-sore to I-like. (Compare the photos taken before the purchase over on the Real Estalker’s Blog to the pics below and you be the judge.) And after all the work Ferrara has put into the place, she’s now asking $1.395 million for the space. 

The home is 3,427 square feet and features 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, a lovely kitchen, library, media room, and a gym. The master suite inhabits the entire second floor and includes an adjoining office, a fireplace, and a balcony that affords city views. A charming pool and patio occupy the backyard.
 
Source - trulia.com 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Feds announce partial settlement with 'robo signing' servicers

In a partial settlement addressing so-called "robo-signing" foreclosure practices, the nation's largest loan servicers have agreed to hire outside consultants to review foreclosures initiated in 2009 and 2010, and to compensate homeowners who should not have been foreclosed on.

Consent agreements announced by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve, and the Office of Thrift Supervision also prohibit loan servicers from foreclosing on homeowners who have been approved for loan modifications.

Federal regulators said they will assess fines against loan servicers separately, and that state attorneys general who are conducting their own joint investigation into the handling of foreclosure paperwork will continue to have the right to take additional enforcement actions.

Critics said that the failure of federal regulators and state attorneys general to forge a universal settlement agreement with loan servicers raises the likelihood that the impacts of the robo-signing controversy will drag on.

Foreclosure-related filings slowed during the first quarter, to their lowest level in two years, as loan servicers reviewed their procedures, buying additional time for some borrowers but creating uncertainty in housing markets.

When drafts of the proposed consent orders were leaked to the media, consumer advocates said they did not go far enough in holding loan servicers accountable for illegal practices.

The proposed consent orders "permit the perpetrators of these abuses to design a plan to comply with existing laws and contracts," groups including the Center for Responsible Lending, the NAACP, and the National Fair Housing Alliance said in an April 6 letter to regulators.

"This is insufficient to halt the abuses. Specific and protective measures regarding loss mitigation, account management and documentation must be included in any settlement, as well as an appropriate penalty for past illegalities," the groups charged.

The Mortgage Bankers Association issued a statement supporting the consent agreements as "welcome progress on these difficult and critical issues.
There is nothing more important than getting the housing market back on the road to recovery, which is in the best interest of borrowers, lenders, servicers and the nation as a whole."

The OCC announced agreements with Bank of America, Citibank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, MetLife Bank, PNC, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Lender Processing Services, and MERSCORP and its subsidiary, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc.

The Federal Reserve announced agreements with several of those companies, plus MetLife Inc., PNC Financial Services Group Inc., and SunTrust Banks Inc.

The OTS issued enforcement orders against four servicers supervised by the agency: Aurora Bank, Ever Bank, OneWest Bank and Sovereign Bank.
 
Source -  trulia.com

3 Income Property Concepts For The New Investor

If you’re just getting started in the world of income producing property, here are 3 investment concepts you must become familiar with.  

The first is NOI or Net Operating Income. NOI is the amount of net income (after expenses) the property is producing on an annual basis. NOI is calculated by taking the gross rental income and subtracting the property’s annual operating cost. The gross income is the total rents collected plus any other income from laundry, parking, storage or other misc. sources. Your expenses are all the cost associated with maintaining the property on an annual basis, including taxes and insurance. Your mortgage payments (principal and interest) are not included as expenses in the NOI formula. Your mortgage payments are known as “debt service” and will change from investor to investor due to differing down payment amounts, interest rates, and loan terms.     

Understanding your property’s NOI is crucial to the calculation of your next investment term, the “cap rate”.  Cap-rates are used to determine the value of income producing property and are found by dividing the net operating income by the property’s cost. The cap rate is great for comparing the value of one income property to another.  

Typically any cap rate above 7 percent is considered a good investment, but obviously the higher the rate the better. As an interested buyer searching for properties, you should set a cap rate minimum based on what’s typically achieved for your area. Generally, the riskier the investments the higher the expected return …or rate. Higher cap rates are expected on older home and in less desirable areas.

 

ROI (return on investment) measures the annual return on the initial capital you invested. Your initial investment includes your down payment, closing cost, initial improvements and any other initial out of pocket cost associated with the property purchase. The calculation of ROI is slightly more complex than other financial measures and should be calculated using a reliable computer program or financial calculator.  ROI allows you to compare income producing property to other investment assets (stocks, bond, or alternative investments) and determine whether your money is invested in its highest and best use.  

Mortgage Loan Basics – Appraisal

Once you have made your offer to purchase and had it accepted, completed your home inspections, you are ready for the appraisal process.

The reason the lender requires an appraisal is that you may think a home is worth more money than it really is – leading you to make an offer that may be too high. If the appraiser leads the lender to believe the home is overvalued, the lender may feel this is a risk and may not grant you a mortgage.

Basically, lenders want to protect themselves by ensuring the property you are considering buying with a loan from their institution is worth its market value. The appraisal helps ensure that you the buyer do not end up having negative equity on a home.

What is an Appraisal?
A real estate appraisal is a defensible and supportable estimate or opinion of market value as of a given date, performed by a licensed real estate appraiser.

Who pays for the Appraisal?
In general, a home appraisal is organized by your lender and is paid by the buyer (Cost $ 400 and up). All mortgage loans require an independent appraisal.

What is market value?
Estimating the market value of a property is usually the goal of an appraisal. There are numerous technical definitions of the term market value, but in layman's terms, Market Value is usually defined as the most probable price which a property should bring in a competitive and open market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale. It is assumed that the buyer and seller are typically motivated, well informed or well advised and each acting in their own best interest.

Is an appraisal similar to a home inspection?
Absolutely not. Home inspectors are highly skilled individuals who are licensed and regulated by the state. Appraisers are legally prohibited from doing Home Inspections unless they are licensed by the state to do so. The two functions are quite different. The appraiser is skilled at estimating the value of a property. The licensed inspector is skilled at determining the overall condition of the property. The appraiser assumes the individual elements that comprise the subject property to be fundamentally sound and in good working condition. References to property condition are based on superficial observations and are for comparison purposes only.
 
Source - trulia.com

Mortgage Rates Hold Steady

Mortgage rates changed little in the past week, snapping a streak of weekly declines that had taken fixed rates to the lowest points of 2011, according to the latest survey from Freddie Mac.

While the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate ticked up to 4.50% in the week ended Thursday from 4.49% last week, still well below last year's 4.75% average, rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages ticked down to 3.67% from 3.68% the previous week and 4.20% a year earlier.

Mortgage rates generally track Treasury yields, which move inversely to Treasury prices. Rates have slumped for months as yields on Treasurys slid amid economic uncertainty.

Freddie Chief Economist Frank Nothaft said mortgage rates held relatively steady after market participants shrugged off recent reports that inflation was picking up because the increases have been in line with expectations.

Home mortgage debt has been declining, especially through second mortgages, according to the Federal Reserve. Household mortgage balances fell by more than $930 billion from the March 2008 peak through this past March, with second mortgages accounting for $820 billion of that.

Meantime, the Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday said the volume of mortgage applications jumped a seasonally adjusted 13% last week from the previous week. Refinancing activity jumped nearly 17%, according to the weekly survey, which covers more than half of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications. Purchasing activity rose 4.5% in the week ended last Friday.

In the latest week, five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 3.27% from 3.28% last week and 3.89% a year earlier. One-year Treasury-indexed ARM rates rose to 2.97% from 2.95% the prior week but still down from 3.82% a year earlier.

To obtain the rates, fixed-rate borrowers required an average payment of 0.7 point. The five-year hybrid adjustable rate mortgages required a 0.6-point payment, while one-year adjustable-rate mortgages required a 0.5-point payment. A point is 1% of the mortgage amount, charged as prepaid interest.

 

Source - wsjdn.wsj.com

 

Short sales may be targeted for fraud

Are banks and distressed home sellers getting rooked on a massive scale in the booming short-sale arena — leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table for white-collar criminals?

 

A comprehensive new study estimates that they will lose more than $375 million this year when they sell undervalued houses to tag teams consisting of realty agents and investors. Worse yet, the trend appears to be growing at the rate of 25% a year.

CoreLogic, a large real estate and mortgage data research firm in Santa Ana, studied 450,000 short-sale transactions across the country during the last two years and offered these examples of how lenders are losing big bucks:

• A house in Kings Beach, Calif., was purchased near the height of the boom in 2005 for $530,000. On Oct. 28, 2009, it was sold for $247,500 to an investment group in a short sale — an arrangement in which the lender allows the delinquent owner to avoid foreclosure by selling to a third party at a price lower than the loan balance. Later that same day, the investors resold the house to a non-investor purchaser for $375,000. This produced a quick $127,500 profit — a 52% gain for the investment group in a matter of hours.

• A house in Gilbert, Ariz., sold for $400,000 in 2006. On March 2, 2010, it was bought in a short sale by investors for $220,000 and resold the same day for $267,500 — a gain of $47,500.

How do investors manage to turn such quick profits? Are they just super-sharp shoppers or is there something else going on? Law enforcement and banking industry experts say it's frequently fraud, and it works like this: Local real estate agents partner with investor groups. The agent's job is to spot borrowers in financial distress — usually people who are underwater on their mortgages, meaning they owe more than their homes are worth. They persuade the homeowners to sell to investors in a short sale at a low price. Then they contact the bank with the investors' short-sale offer.

Meanwhile, the agent finds legitimate buyers who are willing to pay more for the property, but the agent never presents their offers to the bank. To back up the investors' lowball offer, the realty agent produces an appraisal or a "BPO" — a broker price opinion of the distressed home's value that confirms the low valuation. The bank then sells to the investment group. After the closing, the investors sell the house to the legitimate purchasers at the higher price, and the realty agent and the investors split the profits.

According to the CoreLogic study, 65% of short sales that are resold within six months for profits of 40% or higher are "suspicious" — with a significant possibility the lender accepted a low payoff. Most of these transactions go undetected by the banks being defrauded, but some lead to prosecutions and convictions.

For example, Connecticut real estate agents Anna McElaney and Sergio Natera are awaiting sentencing hearings in July and October in connection with guilty pleas in federal court to short-sale bank fraud. According to the U.S. attorney's office in Connecticut, McElaney and Natera participated in a scheme in which Regions Bank, headquartered in Alabama, agreed to a $102,375 short sale on a house it financed in Bridgeport, Conn. The buyer was BOS Asset Management, an investment company controlled by Natera. Unknown to Regions Bank, however, listing agent McElaney had earlier received a signed purchase contract from a private buyer for $132,500. After closing at the lower price, BOS resold the property to the private buyer, yielding Natera and McElaney a fast $30,125 profit.

The original federal charges against the two agents alleged short-sale frauds on three other houses, including properties financed by Wells Fargo Bank and a mortgage unit of the global financial services firm Credit Suisse. The guilty pleas, however, solely involved the Regions Bank house in Bridgeport.

Though banks are the primary victims in short-sale scams, homeowners can be hurt as well. When distressed owners are pressured to sell to investor groups for less than the highest offer available, they can end up deeper in debt to the lender. In the majority of states where banks can pursue borrowers for mortgage balance deficiencies after foreclosure or short sale, homeowners may be subject to debt collection actions by banks. California does not permit lenders to demand payment of deficiencies from borrowers on mortgages used to acquire residences. However, refinancings may not be protected, according to legal experts.

But the bottom line here, as seen in the Connecticut guilty pleas, is that short-sale thievery is federal bank fraud. Realty agents and investors who participate in these schemes risk prison terms of up to 30 years, big fines plus restitution of the funds they stole.

 

Source - latimes.com

Home of the Week: Portuguese Bend hilltop 'cottage'

New York banker Frank Vanderlip was so captivated by the Palos Verdes Peninsula that he formed a syndicate of millionaires to buy up 16,000 acres of one of the original California ranchos in 1913 — sight unseen. The idea was to develop exclusive residences at Portuguese Bend with a country club, golf course, tennis courts, polo grounds and other luxurious touches on a coastline he knew was ripe for development.Vanderlip had another, more personal vision too. He felt that a hilltop at Portuguese Bend, which reminded him of the Italian coast, would be the perfect spot to build an estate for his family, one that would be copied from an ancient Roman villa.
By 1916, Vanderlip had completed just one home that "stood as the only visible fruition of the Palos Verdes Project," Augusta Fink writes in "Palos Verdes Peninsula: Time and the Terraced Land." The Cottage, as it came to be nicknamed, served as an occasional summer house for Vanderlip and his wife, Narcissa, and their six children. Positioned for views of Catalina Island and the coastline below, it's easy to see why Vanderlip chose this spot to build.
FOR THE RECORD:Real estate: The Home of the Week feature in the June 5 Business section said Suzanne Vanderlip was the widow of Frank Vanderlip Jr. She was the widow of John Vanderlip. —
The deep front yard with neatly trimmed hedges and walled gardens is fitted with a semicircle of columns that hark back to his Roman dream. But the ancient style ends there. The black-and-white façade of the sturdy, two-story Cottage with a wide covered porch suggests East Coast rather than Amalfi Coast. (Vanderlip's more famous summer estate, Beechwood, sits on New York's.)
Inside, the Cottage still has a period feel. Fireplaces in just about every room of the house serve as a reminder of a time when a wood-burning fire was the sole source of heating. The long living room has dark wood built-in bookcases that flank a brick fireplace on one wall. On the opposite side, windows and doors lead to the porch and wide ocean views. Valances, a built-in cabinet and portable screen, also original, reflect an Asian motif in deep reddish lacquered wood.
Off the living room is the dining area, a light-filled room with a ceiling of recessed white beams and doors that open out to the porch. The rest of the first floor includes a kitchen, pantry, a small maid's quarters and a family room that was added later.Upstairs, the master bedroom suite has a large sitting area, a double bathroom, a fireplace and a large outdoor balcony that faces the ocean. Two smaller bedrooms joined by a bathroom are the only other rooms on the second floor.Vanderlip's ambitious plans — both for the surrounding communities and his own villa — didn't play out exactly as planned during his lifetime. He died in 1937, but his heirs and business partners remained active in the development and history of the peninsula in the last century.And the Cottage stands as his first venture into life on the hill.Suzanne Vanderlip, widow of the youngest son, Frank Vanderlip Jr., lived in the Cottage from the 1970s until her death in November. She, too, adored the home that had been the passion of the man nicknamed "the father of the Palos Verdes Peninsula."

Source: latimes.com

Unsecure Market, Safe Bet to Quickly Selling Your Home: How Homeowner Warranties Can Help You Sell Your Home More Quickly

In our current economic situation, it is most certainly a buyer’s market when it comes to real estate sales. Just the same, it is taking home sellers an increasingly long time to sell their homes. Sellers have the pick of the crop, so to speak, when it comes to choosing homes in a glutted market. How can you ensure your home will sell in a timely fashion when a buyer has so many options from which to choose?

Familiarize yourself with the concept of a homeowner warranty. Savvy sellers use homeowner warranties, also known as simply a home warranty, to benefit them and get buyers to purchase their homes. A guarantee that the home they’re considering purchasing is in good shape is exactly what a buyers want. Buyers will alternatively want a guarantee that the previous owner is willing to fix any defects that later happen to occur within the first year of the home being purchased. You as a buyer will ultimately end up with a quicker sale since a homeowner warranty offers the assurances most buyers want.

Is the cost of a homeowner warranty imposed on the buyer or the seller? Sometimes local customs dictate, but ultimately each state has their own general policies. It makes sense that a seller would pay for the warranty in many locales, because selling the house more quickly as a result is a benefit the seller receives. It stands to reason that there’s less inclination for a buyer to require the seller to fix something that subsequently breaks if the buyer didn’t have to pay for the warranty in the first place.

The cost for a homeowner warranty is also relatively minimal. A typical warranty usually ranges from $250 to $400, depending again on your location, as well as what specifically is covered under the policy. The policies must be prepaid one year in advance. They can expire at the end of that term but also can be renewed on an annual basis.

There are limits to what a homeowner warranty covers, despite a seller’s initial leeriness about offering too much coverage for too long of a time period after the sale of the home. Not every plan pays for indoor appliances, and most outdoor items like sprinklers, spas and pools are not covered unless a buyer specifically requests coverage. In the event that a buyer has improperly installed or maintained something, has violated a code or creates unusual wear and tear, coverage can also be denied.

A seller often has great control over the terms of a homeowner warranty, even though the buyer may dictate its existence. There’s really no reason not to take advantage of a homeowner warranty, since it has the dual function of putting a buyer at ease and helping a seller’s home sell more quickly.

Planning to move or relocate in Colorado? Receive helpful information about Boulder real estate or real estate in Golden. Also, find detailed MLS real estate data on specific homes or properties for sale and receive help from real estate agents.

New-home sales rise 7.3% in April

U.S. sales of new homes posted their second solid monthly gain in April after hitting extremely low levels in February, according to data released Tuesday by the Commerce Department.
 
In April, sales rose 7.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 323,000 after an 8.3% increase in March, the Commerce Department reported.
The increase surprised economists, who had forecast a slight decline to 295,000, according to a MarketWatch survey.
 
Sales gains took place in all four regions. Sales rose 15.1% in the West, 7.7% in the Northeast, 4.9% in the Midwest and 4.3% in the South.
 
Those gains followed February's steep drop to a 278,000-unit pace. Analysts had attributed that weakness in part to winter storms that depressed figures in the East and the Midwest as well as a California tax credit that has expired.
 
Economists were cautious about reading too much into the increase in April new-home sales, as the level of sales remains very depressed and not too far above record lows.
 
"Is it a rebound that is for real? At least it's a start toward one," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at FAO Economics.
 
Compared with April 2010, last month's sales were down 23.1%.
 
On a three-month moving average — which reduces the month-to-month variance in the hugely volatile release — sales rose to a 300,000 rate from 296,000.
 
Economists at Barclays Capital noted that new-home sales have ranged from 275,000 to 310,000 since May 2010, when the effects of the federal tax break for home buyers began to wane.
 
By comparison, monthly new-home sales averaged a 1.05 million pace in 2006, just when the housing bubble was beginning to collapse.
 
In April, the number of unsold new homes on the market slipped 2.8% to a record-low 175,000. That represented a 6.5-month supply at the April sales pace, the leanest inventory since April 2010. This is down from a peak of 12.2 months in January 2009.
 
Source - latimes.com

California Creating Mortgage Fraud Task Force

California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, saying that years of unscrupulous lending still haunts the state, is creating a 25-person task force to target mortgage fraud of any size — from small operations that preyed on troubled borrowers to corporations that sold risky loans as safe investments.

The team of 17 lawyers and eight special agents from the state Department of Justice will pursue three major areas, Harris said in an interview:

•Corporate fraud, including instances in which bundled mortgages were sold as securities to the state or its pension funds under false pretenses. Harris said her office plans to prosecute some cases under California's False Claims Act, which she described as "one of those very powerful tools that California uniquely has … to pursue, in essence, what are false claims that are submitted to the state."

•Scams, including instances in which consultants, lawyers and others took fees from people in foreclosure, saying they would help the homeowners get loan modifications or other remedies, but delivered nothing.

•Fraudulent lending practices, including deceptive marketing, failure to fully disclose loan terms and qualifying people for loans who couldn't afford the terms.

Harris said the mortgage fraud that ultimately led to the housing crash continues to be a drag on the state, causing huge losses in jobs, property values and state revenues.

"We are looking at a situation of up to $640 billion in wealth having been lost because of this wave of foreclosures that has hit the state," Harris said, referring to the decline in homeowner equity. "There is a direct connection" between mortgage fraud "and the issue that we are challenged with in terms of our state budget crisis."

Creation of the state's Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, which Harris will announce at a news conference Monday in Los Angeles with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, comes as other states turn up the heat on the lending industry.

New York Atty. Gen. Eric Schneiderman is seeking records from three major Wall Street banks as part of a broad investigation into the mortgage crisis. Also, a months-long investigation by all 50 state attorneys general into the foreclosure practices of the nation's five largest mortgage servicers is continuing.

Harris said her initiative was distinct from the multistate investigation because it would go after all aspects of the mortgage-lending business. Harris, formerly San Francisco's district attorney, made a campaign promise last year when running for attorney general that she would crack down on mortgage fraud.

Many Wall Street financial institutions — private equity firms, hedge funds and banks — bundled often poor-quality mortgage loans into securities during the boom years and sold them to major investors, including pension funds. That resulted in billions of dollars in losses when borrowers defaulted on the loans, triggering the financial crisis.

Harris said that although successful prosecutions of major players in the mortgage meltdown have been difficult, the severity of the crisis called for a tough-minded approach to mortgage fraud, one that could target executives of major financial institutions.

"If the evidence leads us there, no case will be too big or too small to pursue," Harris said. "There remain millions of people affected by the mortgage crisis."

Angelo R. Mozilo, whose Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp. was a major underwriter of risky subprime loans, agreed to a $67.5-million civil settlement with federal regulators but was not prosecuted criminally, despite a nearly three-year investigation by the Justice Department. Countrywide was acquired by Bank of America Corp. in 2008.

Harris' office reached a $6.5-million settlement this year with Mozilo and another former executive of Countrywide who the state had accused of predatory lending. Consumer advocates decried that settlement as far too small to be meaningful.

"The burden of proof in a criminal case is very high," Los Angeles defense attorney Jan Handzlik said. "It would be necessary for the AG to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the mortgage executives had knowledge of the fraud and acted with a criminal intent."

Handzlik added that such proof is difficult "when those executives are relying on the representation of numerous other institutions such as the ratings agencies, the lenders who gave out the mortgages in the first place, the insurance companies that backed these securities and so forth."

William K. Black, a University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor and an aggressive regulator of the savings and loan industry after its crisis in the 1980s, said the state prosecutors could be successful if they carefully chose their targets.

Black asserted that the federal government has the means to pursue these cases but hasn't shown the will.

"The success rate in the savings and loan cases, despite the fact that they were more complex … was 90%, and this was against the best criminal defense attorneys in America," Black said.

Source: latimes.com

2010 Housing Market Recap & 2011 Outlook

2010 Market Recap

As you prepare for the year ahead, it is important to revisit what transpired in the housing market in 2010 in order to help determine what can be anticipated in the coming year.  It is evident that 2010 has been a year of transition toward stability in the housing market when looking at three main housing indicators:  median price, sales and unsold inventory.

The state median price, at $296,820 in November, experienced its first year-over-year decline after 12 consecutive months of gains.  With a 21 percent rise above the February 2009 trough of $245,230, the median price in California could be an indication of the beginning of stability in the housing market.

Year-to-date sales dropped 9.8 percent in November, consistent with our forecast of a 10 percent annual decrease.  The seasonally adjusted sales in November were up 93 percent from the trough of 254,650 three years ago, and were 19 percent above the long run annual average over the past 39 years.  Despite the year-to-date drop, sales figures are faring reasonably well when historical data is taken into consideration.

The unsold inventory index is a good indicator of home prices; when the housing supply falls below seven months, it usually leads to price appreciation.  The November unsold inventory index was 6.2 months, indicating the length of time necessary to sell the entire, current housing supply.  This figure is 13 percent below the long-run average of 7.1 months and 63 percent below the recent peak in January 2008 at 16.6 months.  Because this index has maintained a relatively healthy range in 2010, between 4.6 and 6.6 months, it is another indication of the beginning of stability in the California housing market.

In addition to these three main housing indicators, it is necessary to also examine other factors affecting the state of the housing market, such as the type of sales, size of downpayments and types of mortgages.

Other Indicators of Stability – Annual Housing Market Survey

The breakdown of type of sales from C.A.R.’s 2010 Annual Housing Market Survey helps to paint a more accurate picture of overall market conditions.  More specifically, the number of distressed sales compared to overall sales is particularly important in determining the health of the real estate market.  For the past few years, we have seen significant numbers of distressed properties on the market.  In 2010, the share of distressed sales relative to all sales declined to 41 percent from 46 percent in 2009.  Although there are still many distressed properties on the market, this reduction is a good sign that the housing market is heading in the right direction.

When comparing the various components of distressed sales, there are some noteworthy distinctions.  While the percentage of foreclosures and REOs declined since last year, the percentage of short sales increased from 14 percent in 2009 to 22 percent in 2010.  Short sales also tend to be higher priced and to stay on the market and in escrow longer than REOs and foreclosures.  They are also in better condition because they are typically occupied and maintained during the short sale process, unlike foreclosures and REOs.  Because short sales are more favorable financially for banks and we are seeing them in higher frequencies, this could lead to improvement in lending conditions, which would be favorable for the housing market.

After shrinking consecutively over the past four years, the median downpayment increased 25 percent from $40,000 in 2009 to $50,000 in 2010.  More buyers are now putting down the recommended 20 percent of the purchase price, compared to only putting down 12 percent in 2006.  The percentage of buyers with zero downpayment has declined to 4.8 percent of buyers, compared to 21 percent of buyers in 2006.  Buyers also turned to their savings, rather than creative loan products, for their downpayments in 2010.  These are all indicators of a healthier environment for recovery.

There has been a significant change in the distribution of loan products in the last several years of the housing market cycle; the gap between FRM, ARM and other loan products was smaller between 2004 and 2006 for new first mortgages.  That gap has widened tremendously with FRMs now consisting of 97 percent of all new first mortgages.  The share of first time buyers who used an ARM declined from 53 percent in 2005 to only two percent in 2010, with repeat buyers following that same trend.  The proportion of transactions with second mortgages has also diminished since 2006.  Consistent with the trends in types of sales and sizes of downpayments, mortgages also exhibited signs of increasing solidity.

With the tightening of credit standards, FHA loans have risen in popularity and made up 29 percent of all loans in 2010, compared to only one percent in 2006 and 2007.

2011 Forecast

Now that the government incentives that stimulated the housing market, such as the first time buyer tax credit, have run their course, the market must operate on its own moving forward.  While we still anticipate 2011 to be a transition year, as 2010 has been, it will continue moving further toward stabilization.  We expect the annual sales and median price to increase two percent to 502,000 and $312,500, respectively.

Although foreclosures appear to be on the decline during the second half of 2010, they are expected to remain high in 2011 as foreclosure filings rise, employment statistics remain weak and the economy continues its struggle to emerge from the recession.  The November REO inventory of 112,000, according to Foreclosure Radar, translates approximately to an additional 2.4 months on the Unsold Inventory Index (UII); coupled with the 6.5 month MLS listings figure, the total UII would be about nine months. While this is above the 7 month long run average, it is well below peak levels that would trigger a significant decline in prices.  This inventory is unlikely to worsen in the long run, according to the trend that we’ve seen over the past year.  This means that overall, with notices of default decreasing while REOs are increasing, the market is showing continued signs of stabilization with respect to the “shadow inventory”.

There are some wildcards that will prevent the housing market from reaching a full recovery in the near term: the possibility of another recession, Federal economic policies, negative equity homeowners and shadow inventory.  Despite these uncertainties, there will be some tremendous opportunities in the housing market for first-time buyers, investors, long time owners and international buyers.  These opportunities will pave the way to recovery in 2012 and beyond.

 

Source: car.org

New consumer bureau proposes simplified mortgage disclosure forms

The blizzard of complex disclosure forms required in getting a mortgage soon could ease a bit as a new federal agency tries to streamline and simplify an important part of the process.

In its first major move, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released two prototypes of shorter and easier-to-understand disclosure forms that lenders must give home buyers when they apply for a mortgage.

The goal is to help consumers better comprehend the terms of the loans and compare them with mortgages available from other banks, Elizabeth Warren, the special White House and Treasury Department advisor helping to launch the consumer bureau, said Wednesday.

"With a clear, simple form, consumers can better answer two basic questions: Can I afford this mortgage, and can I get a better deal someplace else?" she said, stressing that the agency wants public feedback to help make the forms as understandable as possible. "That's good for American families and good for the markets they depend on."

The prototypes have simpler language and use highlighted terms, arrows and "yes or no" graphics to provide key details about a loan. Those include whether the mortgage terms can change, projected monthly payments for different years and a new piece of information — how much of the loan would be paid off in five years.

Seven banking executives saw the prototypes Tuesday and liked them, said Bob Davis, executive vice president of mortgage finance for the American Bankers Assn.

"Our bankers felt this type of proposal was an improvement and a simplification, and we're happy to see it," Davis said.

Some mortgage industry leaders have supported simplified disclosures but have warned about the costs of the changes and possible new legal liability.

The bureau said the prototypes would be merged into one two-page form after it solicits extensive public feedback through its website, consumerfinance.gov, and interviews with consumers and industry representatives in Los Angeles, Chicago and four other cities.

The new form would replace two slightly longer mortgage disclosures that many home buyers complain are duplicative and difficult to understand.

"They're complicated and convoluted," said Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. "Simplifying them is a good thing, but it's actually a very difficult thing to do because mortgages are just complicated."

Created in great part because of regulatory failures leading up to the subprime mortgage meltdown, the consumer bureau is making simplified mortgage disclosures a priority as it prepares to start operations in July.

Changing the disclosure forms is the first of several ways the agency will become a key player in mortgage regulation. For instance, it also will set new standards for how companies service home loans.

"This isn't just about giving consumers information in a clearer way," said Travis Plunkett, legislative director for the Consumer Federation of America. "It's about changing the way that lenders offer information to consumers to make sure they're not being deceptive and they're not low-balling financial risk."

The financial reform law enacted last year created the consumer bureau and directed it to develop a "single, integrated disclosure for mortgage loan transactions" by July 2012.

Lenders are required to provide two forms to a consumer within three days after he or she applies for a mortgage. The forms outline the loan's interest rate, initial monthly payment and other features.

One form is a two-page Truth-in-Lending-Act mortgage disclosure statement. The other is a three-page "good faith estimate" required by the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.

"They are intended to convey the basic facts about home loans to help consumers comparison-shop … but these forms have overlapping information and complicated terms that can be difficult to understand," Warren said.

In a poll last fall by Consumer Reports magazine, 84% of respondents who had applied for a loan or credit card recently said they had some difficulty understanding the financial disclosures.

The consumer bureau released the forms as part of its "Know Before You Owe" project to get feedback from the public, consumer groups and the mortgage industry.

Over the next four months, the agency will conduct interviews about the forms with consumers and mortgage industry officials in six cities — Los Angeles, Chicago, Albuquerque, Baltimore, Birmingham, Ala., and Springfield, Mass.

After settling on a single prototype, the consumer bureau will start a formal federal rule-making procedure, which also requires public comment. Such comment is crucial because providing new information, such as how much of the mortgage would be paid off after five years, could backfire by overloading consumers, USC's Green said.

"A lot of people when confronted with all those numbers just kind of panic," he said. "I think testing is a really great idea. If you give people a form and ask them about it and they seem to know what's going on, that's a good sign."

Source: latimes.com

Many homeowners are refinancing their mortgages to shorter terms


These may sound suspiciously like teaser quotes with tricks in the fine print, but they are in fact signs of an important shift underway among American homeowners: Not only have they been refinancing at a robust pace in recent weeks, but they're dialing down on the remaining number of years they plan to pay on their mortgages.



Freddie Mac

chief economist Frank Nothaft calls the shift to shorter terms "a very strong trend." In his company's latest quarterly survey of refinancers, more than 1 in 3 borrowers who ditched their 30-year fixed-rate loans opted to replace them with 15-year or 20-year mortgages at near-record low rates.



Among community banks and lending institutions that originate mortgages to retain for their own portfolios, the trend is toward even shorter maturities. Jeff Lipes, president of the Connecticut Mortgage Bankers Assn. and senior vice president of Family Choice Mortgage near

Hartford

, Conn., says some institutions are dangling fixed rates just under 3% to refinancers who want to compress their terms to as little as seven years and are willing to set up automatic payment withdrawal accounts.



"It can make a lot of sense if you can do it," he said — especially for baby boomers in their 50s who want to be mortgage-free by the time they hit retirement.



Obviously you'd need to have the income or financial reserves sufficient to pay the extra money each month. Plus you'd need to be able to qualify for a refi in the first place under today's toughened underwriting standards.



Paul Skeens, chief executive of Colonial Mortgage in Waldorf, Md., said shifting to shorter-term debt "is a great move" — he's refinancing his own home to a 10-year term right now — "but do you have the appraisal to support it? Do you have the credit scores you need?"



With short sales and bank foreclosures still a heavy drag on market values, getting an appraisal high enough for a refi "can be almost impossible in some areas," Skeens said.



For some low-cost refi programs, lenders want to see at least 25% equity in the house. Higher FICO credit score requirements by

Fannie Mae

and Freddie Mac are another big impediment; both companies reserve their best rates for borrowers with FICO scores of 740 and higher.



The shift to shorter-term loans is part of an even broader trend among consumers emerging from the scary moments of the recession and global financial crisis: de-leveraging, reducing long-term household debt burdens and getting out of adjustable-rate loans. According to Freddie Mac data, "cash-out" refinancings, where homeowners increase their mortgage debt by more than 5%, accounted for just 25% of refinancings in the latest quarter, compared with 80% and higher during the boom years.



In the first quarter of 2011, 84% of homeowners who refinanced hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages switched to fixed-rate replacement loans ranging from 15-year to 30-year terms, Nothaft says. Part of the reason, he believes, is that today's rock-bottom fixed rates — with conventional 15-year rates in the upper 3% range and 30-year loans averaging just above 4.6% — are exceptionally attractive.



Plus, Nothaft said, "there's a lot of chatter about the [

Federal Reserve

] pushing rates up" in the coming months, so many homeowners are checking out their options on locking in rates that may well be the best they will ever see. Freddie Mac's own forecasts put 30-year fixed rates at 5.25% by the final quarter of this year.



The takeaway here: Even if you've already got a low mortgage rate, consider going shorter term, lowering your rate even further and owning your home debt-free sooner.



Source- Los Angeles Times

Home Sales May Grow Thanks To Affordable Housing

Even without a homebuyer tax credit, home sales are on track to outperform last year's rate. Being credited are the improving job market, sustained economic growth, and, of course, superior housing affordability conditions. Experts are predicting home sales to reach higher than 5 million for this year–up about 7-10 percent over last year.
 

Currently unemployment stands at about 9 percent, but more than 100,000 jobs are created monthly and nationally that could mean 1.5 million new jobs in 2011, according to the National Association of Realtor's (NAR) Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun.

Painting an even more optimistic picture, Frank Nothaft, Chief Economist for Freddie Mac (secondary mortgage market company), expects more job growth–nearing the 2-million mark. However this will only make a dent in the unemployment rate.

Approximately 2 million jobs were lost in the recession (2008-2009) and an expected 2-million new incoming job entrants from college, etc. will continue the unemployment gap. However, experts say the unemployment rate should fall to 8.8 percent in 2011, 8.6 percent the following year, and then drop to 6 percent, a more normal level, around 2015. Yun also expects the Gross Domestic Product to grow 2.5 percent in 2011 and in 2012, 2.7 percent.

Still, housing prices are the most affordable ever which means that, based on NAR's Affordability Index, those who earn the national median income have 170 percent of the income needed to purchase a home priced at the national median. Marking four solid years of little price change, Yun expects the median existing-home price to stay at approximately $170,000 for the next couple of years.

What are helping make these homes so affordable are the low interest rates. Couple that with the surplus of inventory of distressed homes where homeowners are "under water" (owing more than the value of the home) and it's understandable why the market is so affordable.

But despite the low rates and affordable housing, experts say, the lending conditions are not quite ripe for increasing home sales even though lenders are now in a position (with plenty of cash) to make loans to qualified buyers. What some call the new "overly" strict lending standards are being blamed for the present lack of more robust housing sales.

So what's the best position for a homebuyer? Cash, of course, works great in any market conditions. All-cash buyers represent 40 percent of the market. This type of buyer typically isn't a first-time buyer. Instead these are usually investors who either believe they'll get a better return on their money by investing in real estate or they can't get mortgage financing. And a recent NAR study found that 59 percent of investors paid all cash. According to past surveys, that figure is significantly higher than the 32 percent and 17 percent in 2006 and 2004, respectively. Hot cash markets included Florida, California, and Arizona. Meanwhile, experts say refinancing may only produce half the activity it did last year which could create reason for banks to be more willing to lend to home buyers again.

Source- RealtyTimes

Mortgage rates fall to lowest level of 2011

Fixed-rate mortgages are at their lowest point of the year, Freddie Mac says.

The widely watched weekly survey, released Thursday, showed mortgage rates declining for the fifth consecutive week amid mixed economic and housing data. The 30-year fixed-rate loans averaged 4.61% and the 15-year, 3.80%. Borrowers would have paid 0.7% of the loan amount in upfront lender fees to obtain the rate, Freddie Mac said.

Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.84%, according to Freddie Mac, which surveys rates lenders are offering to well-qualified borrowers who make down payments of at least 20% or have that much equity in their homes if they are refinancing.

As rates fall, applications for home loans have risen. The Mortgage Bankers Assn. said Wednesday that applications for new loans last week were 7.8% higher than in the previous week.

 

Source- Los Angeles Times

10 top turnaround towns- Los Angeles

Median home price: $350,000
1-Year change through 2010: 0.2%

Sure, L.A. was a boom town last decade but it was not necessarily a bubble, like Phoenix, Las Vegas and the cities in California's Central Valley. In those places, speculation drove much of the home price increases and the bust has had a devastating impact on the local economies.



The huge Los Angeles metro area, the second largest in the United States, has an extremely diverse economy, which protects it from the cyclical ravages experienced by more one-dimensional cities. The population continues to grow, which ultimately supports prices.



Home prices rose 0.2% in 2010, according to Fiserv, but many sellers are still keeping their asking prices low, hoping for a quick sale. They dropped 8% in March, compared with 12 months earlier, according to Move.com, but appear to have stabilized.



The big positive indicator for the housing market is that, once put on the market, homes, especially well-priced foreclosures, don't sit. They sell in a median of only 79 days, one of the main reasons for Move's positive forecast.



As the foreclosure pipeline dries up and more conventional sales start to claim higher market share, the home price numbers should start to improve as well.



Source- CNNMoney

Latest Tips On Hints On Advantages Of Sell My House Fast

Generally speaking, the real estate market is on a downward shift at the moment. Owning a house is part of the American dream and letting go of a place that a renter was finally able to call their own can be difficult. Yet with the current state of the market, making a decision to say sell my house fast could be the best and only option. This is especially in a situation where a home owner is facing imminent foreclosure.

The economic downturn means most people cannot afford to buy a home so those trying to sell are having a hard time finding buyers. For a homeowner facing foreclosure, this may be the only way out. For one, selling directly to another buyer which is called a short sale even if the offer price is not very good could cut ones losses in the long term.

A direct sale, also called a short sale could cut the losses might incur while waiting for a better offer. It will take time for there to be a vibrant economy and viable real estate market again. Experts say there will be a wait of at least two years before this happens. Meanwhile, the value of properties will continue to drop and refusing to sell until a good offer comes along could mean eventually having to sell a house for even less.

Another benefit of a short sale is that one can cash in on the buyers market. It would be possible to get a house that is worth a lot that the owner also needs to dispose off fast. When things begin to look up, the house bought for a low price could then be sold for what it is worth which would mean making a good amount of money.

A direct sale will also see the cost of selling come down significantly compared to a sale that is made through a bank. No surveys fees, realtors fees and their commissions and other costs such as evaluation fees or costs of closing a sale will have to be paid. Instead, a buyer and seller agree on a price directly and will only need to pay a lawyer to draw up a sale agreement and change the name on the deed of the house.

Selling directly means incurring only the cost of having the sale formalized through a lawyer and having the ownership deed changed to the name of the new owner. Perhaps the other cost that will be paid is the cost of advertising the property. This can be done most affordably on the internet where at least 80 percent of potential buyers go to look for available property.

A short sale, as its name suggests, is also a good option for the short time it takes to execute. It can take as little as two to three weeks for a short sale to be completed compared to a bank or realtors sale. A long process could cost a home owner more as homes continue to drop in value.

Avoiding foreclosure would also mean avoiding a bad credit history and poor credit rating. Taking care and clearing smaller loans like student loans or credit card debt could bring a rating up. With a loan as big as the one taken for a home, it could take a long time to delete this dark mark. One could be unable to ever qualify for a home loan in future.

Are you saying “I wish I could sell my house fast today?” If you are, we can show you sell my house Portland and help you out.. Free reprint available from: Latest Tips On Hints On Advantages Of Sell My House Fast.

Los Angeles Real Estate Rebounds

Beverly Hills CA apartments attract wealthy investors

The Platinum Triangle

Beverly Hills, the California City in a City (Los Angeles) Is known for Rodeo Drive, and celebrity residents is attracting wealthy individuals seeking real estate investments, and driving up prices for its Trophy apartment buildings.

This March a 24 Unit multifamily complex, located one block from the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, sold for US$7.5M, giving its buyer a lower return than similar buildings in the USA.

High net worth buyers are accepting lower and lower cap rates, a measure of yield in the real estate industry, for rental apartments in the Los Angeles area’s wealthiest neighborhoods. The cap rate is a property’s annual income divided by the purchase price.

The Beverly Hills investor accepted an annual cap rate of 4.5%, more than 2 percentage points below the national average, said a Managing Director at Los Angeles-based real estate firm Charles Dunn.

Nationwide, the average cap rate for apartment buildings slipped to 6.6% in 2-H of Y 2010 from 6.9% in the 1-H of the year, according to New York-based research company Real Capital Analytics Inc.

A 29 Unit apartment building in Bel Air, part of the Platinum Triangle of wealthy neighborhoods along with Beverly Hills and Holmby Hills, sold in March for US$7.2M.

Giving it a cap rate of 4.6%, the average rate in the Los Angeles area’s richest neighborhoods slipped to about 4% during Q-1 Y 2011 from 5% in mid-Y 2010.

Multifamily property prices have risen as much as 30% in the most affluent parts of Los Angeles over the past 18 months. Values have risen even as California’s jobless rate stood at 12% in March, higher than the US average of 8.8%. The state’s credit rating from Standard & Poor’s is the lowest in the USA, and Governor Jerry Brown is working hard to close a US$15B budget deficit.

Values in Highend neighborhoods are being driven by demand for multifamily properties priced at US$20M or more. The USD volume of such transactions rose 202% last year in Los Angeles County, more than the nationwide increase of 179%.

Building tenants in wealthy neighborhoods “are the so- called echo boomers, the children of rich baby boomers, combine them with a affluent growing immigrant population, and you have set the stage for a tremendous run in the apartment business.

US apartment vacancies declined to the lowest in almost 3 yrs in Q-1 Y 2011, as the weak home buying market fueled rental demand.

Cap rates for apartment buildings also are dropping in Manhattan and Connecticut, including such wealthy areas as Greenwich. In those areas, they declined to 6.7% in Q-1 from 6.9% in Q-2 2010.

In Southern California, the search for safe investments is driving wealthy individuals to buy multifamily properties in upscale neighborhoods. The interest in these areas is less driven by the valuations, which in fact are high, but investors are excited by the yields relative to fixed income, and they are focused on the tax advantages. Plus they can walk down the street and point at it

Buying apartment buildings in affluent neighborhoods is a great investment strategy for those that have patient capital.

A rebound in the real estate market may boost buyer confidence and inspire investors to focus less on wealthy neighborhoods and more on “class B assets or mid-tier areas, as the economic recovery will lead to price appreciation due to diminishing demand.

Source- Live Trading News

Pace of foreclosures slowed further in April

LOS ANGELES—Fewer Americans had their homes repossessed by banks or were put on notice for being behind on their mortgage payments in April compared to a year ago.

That would ordinarily suggest improving fortunes for U.S. homeowners, but the decline had less to do with any turnaround in the housing market than with foreclosure processing delays that appear to be getting worse. That is threatening to drag out a housing recovery, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

It's taking longer for lenders to move against homeowners who have stopped paying their mortgage and to take back homes already in some stage of the foreclosure process. In states like New York, for example, it now takes an average of more than two years for a home to go from the initial stage of foreclosure to being repossessed by a bank, the firm said.

Those delays, partly due to banks working through foreclosure documentation problems that came to light last fall, means it could take many more years for lenders to deal with a backlog of seriously delinquent properties, which numbers up to 3.7 million, by some estimates.

"It's going to take between three to four years just to get those loans into foreclosure at our current pace," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac. "And that doesn't spell good news for the housing market."

Banks repossessed 69,532 homes last month, down 5 percent from March and down 25 percent compared with April of

last year, according to RealtyTrac, which tracks warnings sent to homeowners throughout the foreclosure process.

The number of properties receiving an initial notice of default fell to 63,422, down 14 percent from March and down 39 percent from April, 2010.

Homes scheduled for auction for the first time also declined in April, falling to 86,304. That's down 7 percent from March and 37 percent below April of last year.

A weak housing market, sliding home prices and pressure on lenders to give troubled homeowners more time to work out new payment arrangements or loan terms have all contributed to the longer time frame for foreclosures.

Many banks also have taken steps to revisit thousands of foreclosure cases since last fall, delaying the processing of new foreclosures. The logjam has been compounded by court delays in states like Florida, New York and New Jersey, where foreclosures must be approved by a judge.

In the first three months of this year, it took an average of 400 days for a U.S. home to go from receiving an initial notice of default to being foreclosed on, RealtyTrac said.

That's up from an average of 340 days in the same period last year and more than double the 151-day average in the first quarter of 2007.

The delays are even lengthier at the state level. In New York and New Jersey, the foreclosure process took more than 900 days, on average, to run its course in the first quarter—more than three times the average length of time in the first quarter of 2007 for both states.

In Florida, one of the states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, the process took an average of 619 days in the first quarter, up from 470 days a year earlier. In the first quarter of 2007, it took an average of 169 days for the process to play out, RealtyTrac said.

Barring a pickup in the pace of foreclosures, it is likely fewer homes will be repossessed this year than in 2010, when lenders took back more than a million, Sharga said.

Despite the drop in foreclosure activity last month, several states continue to have outsized foreclosure rates.

Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, with one in every 97 households receiving a foreclosure notice in April. It also bucked the overall national trend, as bank repossessions jumped 23 percent from March and climbed 12 percent from April of last year, RealtyTrac said.

Lenders may have elected to pick up the pace of foreclosures in Nevada to take advantage of brisk foreclosure sales in Las Vegas. In March, sales of previously occupied homes in Las Vegas hit a five-year high, with distressed properties accounting for 69 percent of sales, according to DataQuick.

Source- Daily News

FHA and Fannie Mae offer loans for home energy improvements

If you've been looking for a way to pay for energy improvements to your house, two little-publicized new mortgage programs could provide the cash you need.


Both the

Federal Housing Administration

and mortgage investor

Fannie Mae

recently have launched options in the energy conservation arena. Here's a quick overview, with some pros and cons:

The FHA's PowerSaver program allows eligible owners to borrow up to $25,000 at fixed rates between 5% and 7% for as long as 20 years to finance high-efficiency windows and doors, heating and ventilating systems, solar panels, geothermal systems, insulation and duct sealing, among other retrofits.

Although PowerSaver is officially a pilot program, Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, estimates that 30,000 such loans will be closed in the next two years. It eventually could become a major national program for residential energy upgrades, with total loans extending into the millions, he said.

One important element in the program is energy audits. Although they won't be mandatory, most participating lenders are expected to encourage owners to sign up for an energy efficiency analysis by a certified specialist. The audit should pinpoint where your house is leaky or otherwise inefficient in energy use, and should recommend the specific types of upgrades or additions that could help cut your bills and reduce greenhouse emissions.

The FHA will insure loans to cover the improvements up to the $25,000 maximum under the following guidelines:

•The house must be your principal residence, detached and single-family only. No rentals, no investor homes, no second homes.

•You'll need to demonstrate that you are a solid credit risk. Minimum FICO credit scores of 660 are required, plus your total household monthly debt-to-income ratio cannot exceed 45%.

•Houses with negative equity will not qualify. You'll need some level of equity in the property; there is no mandatory minimum stake, but the combined primary mortgage debt plus the PowerSaver second lien cannot exceed 100% of the appraised market value of the house. You could, for example, have a 10% equity position in a $200,000 home, and still qualify for up to $20,000 in a PowerSaver.

•Lenders are likely to take an extra hard look at all your income and asset documentation because, unlike other FHA-insured mortgages, PowerSaver will cover only 90% of the lender's loss or insurance claim in the event of a default.

Eighteen lenders around the country have signed up so far to participate, including giant Quicken Loans — a Top 10 national mortgage originator — and local players such as California-based Sun West Mortgage, Seattle's HomeStreet Bank, the Bank of Colorado, Stonegate Mortgage in the Midwest, Pennsylvania-based AFC First Financial Corp. and the University of Virginia Community Credit Union. A spokesman for Quicken Loans said the company hoped to offer PowerSaver in as many as 34 states during the pilot period.

Some pros and cons of PowerSaver: The biggest plus is its low fixed interest rate and long term — especially in comparison with most homeowners' alternative options such as bank home equity loans and lines of credit, which typically cost more and may have less favorable payback terms.

The main potential drawbacks center on the program permitting total household mortgage debt loads of up to 100% of market value. Some borrowers could encounter payment problems if they experience even slight income declines. If property values in the area decrease, the loans could put owners into negative equity territory.

Fannie Mae's "energy improvement" mortgage add-on program is significantly different from the FHA's. Rather than a separate loan to finance the energy retrofits, Fannie folds the cost of the improvements — capped at up to 10% of the estimated market value of the home following the energy-efficiency enhancements — into the mortgage amount itself.

In effect, Fannie's program, which is available through participating lenders nationwide, allows you to buy an existing house and improve its energy usage significantly with one mortgage at current market rates. Most single-family properties are eligible for the program, except for manufactured houses and cooperative units.

Be aware that Fannie requires an audit by a certified Home Energy Rating Systems expert upfront to justify the proposed modifications to the house as truly cost-efficient. The audit must be paid for by the borrower, but Fannie will credit an extra $250 through the lenders to partially defray this expense.

 

Source- Los Angales Times

Mortgage rates drift lower, Freddie Mac says

Here's a bit of good news for anyone still thinking about refinancing a home loan -- mortgage rates have once again drifted lower for well-qualified buyers.

A Freddie Mac report on Thursday said the lenders it surveys were offering 30-year fixed-rate mortgages at an average rate of 4.71% early this week, compared with 4.78% the week before.

Rates for 15-year fixed loans, a popular option for homeowners looking to refinance mortgages, averaged 3.89%, down from 3.97%.

Buyers would have paid 0.7% of the loan amount upfront to the lenders to obtain the rates, according to Freddie Mac, the government-controlled home finance giant. Borrowers typically owe significant additional fees to third parties such as appraisers, and can "buy down" rates by paying lenders more initially.

The initial rates for floating-rate mortgages fell as well, Freddie Mac said.

Fixed mortgage rates tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which has fallen recently on weaker economic data. Laguna Niguel mortgage broker Jeff Lazerson said rates of 4.375% were available to some people with good credit this week because of the trend.

Freddie Mac conducts one of the most widely watched surveys of home loans, asking lenders across the country what rates they are offering to borrowers with solid credit who have at least a 20% down payment or equivalent equity in their homes if they are refinancing.

Source- Los Angeles Times

Trulia Rent vs. Buy Q2 2011

We just released our Q2 2 Rent vs. Buy Index, which found that buying a home has become more affordable than renting in nearly 80% of major U.S. cities since last quarter. Find out how things have changed in your neighborhood with our interactive rent vs. buy map and let your buyers know whether it's smarter for them to rent or buy in your area

Click to view the Rent VS. Buy map now

Source: Trulia.com

Big Jump Expected in New U.S. Households

Millions of young adults are beginning to move out of their parents’ homes and create new households at the fastest rate since 2007. Some housing experts are predicting these young adults may provide a major jump to U.S. housing starts--possibly by more than 50 percent, even by next year--and increase housing consumption at a rate nearly double that of the past two years, Bloomberg News reports.

In 2011, between 750,000 and 1 million new households are expected to be created, says UBS Securities LLC’s Maury Harris and IHS Global Insight’s Patrick Newport. In the year ended March 2010, new households stood at 357,000--the lowest on record, according to U.S. Census data. The “depressed rate” in new household formation has continued to jeopardize the housing market’s recovery, experts say.

But as the employment picture continues to improve, more young adults are leaving Mom and Dad’s house and making a new home for themselves. The “moving-back-in-with-Mom-and-Dad phenomenon” had caused a backlog of pent-up households, Charles Lieberman, chief investment officer with Advisors Capital Management LLC in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., told Bloomberg News. “Improved economic conditions” will “enable these households to split up and resume living in their own residences.”

Housing starts are expected to get a boost to about 648,000 this year and near 900,000 in 2012 (it stood at 586,800 last year), says Brad Hunter, chief economist and national director of consulting for Metrostudy. The increase in housing starts, he says, reflects a “shadow demand” for new homes among family members who have moved in together because of economic conditions.

“The demographic component of housing demand is strong," he says. "It’s just the economic and psychological components that are holding things back."

Source- REALTOR

The Week That Was: Real Estate News Roundup

Move Trends presents our top Real Estate stories for the past week:

Pending Homer Sales Rise, Again: Based on numbers released by the National Association of Realtors, March saw another increase in pending home sales. The Pending Home Sales Index rose 5.1 percent, from 89.5 in February to 94.1 in March. However, the index is 11.4 percent below 106.2 from March last year.

30-Year Mortgages Fall: Fixed-mortgage rates for 30-year loans have declined this week to 4.78 percent (from 4.8 percent last week), while 15-year loans slipped to 3.97 percent (from 4.02 percent), reported Freddie Mac on its Weekly Primary Mortgage Markey Survey.

Mortgages Scarce for Minorities: Funds for refinancing mortgages were more available to white people in major U.S. cities than minorities, according to the study “Paying More for the American Dream V” (conducted by a coalition of nonprofit organizations). The study also found that lenders were more than twice as likely to deny refinancing applications in minority communities than in white neighborhoods.

Delinquency Continues to Decline: The Fannie Mae Monthly Summary indicates that delinquency is still decreasing. While conventional single-family delinquency dropped from 4.45 to 4.44 percent, the multifamily delinquency rate declined from 0.69 to 0.65 percent.

Source- Move trends

Jennifer Aniston Buys West Village Penthouse for $5.9 Million

While her masterpiece home “Ohana” still sits on the Beverly Hills real estate market, actress Jennifer Aniston has purchased a penthouse in New York City for $5.9 million.

Although luxurious, the West Village condo is totally different vibe from the “Friends” star’s custom estate in Los Angeles. The 18th-floor pad, built in 1958, is in a coveted prewar Bing & Bing building. The one-bedroom, one-bath home has original hardwood floors, sweeping views of the skyline — from New York Harbor to the Empire State Building — and an updated gourmet kitchen. A private 900-square-foot terrace wraps around three sides of the penthouse and is perfect for outdoor entertaining. A one-bedroom, one-bath apartment may sound small for a celebrity pad, but this penthouse is a generous 1,477 square feet — fairly roomy for New York real estate. Besides, according to the NY Daily News, Aniston also purchased the unit below the penthouse, another one-bedroom, one-bath unit. Reportedly she plans to turn the two floors into a duplex.

Aniston purchased her Beverly Hills home in 2006 for $13.5 million, a year after her much-publicized divorce with Brad Pitt, and threw herself completely into renovating the mid-century property, adding 10,000 square feet as well as turning it to a completely private and eco-friendly home. Upon its completion, she christened the estate “Ohana” and described the home as a place that “vibrates with the love that created it” in a March 2010 Architectural Digest article.

Despite the effort she put into building her dream home, Aniston told “Good Morning America” recently that it was too much and she was looking to return to New York City:

I grew up here. I miss it. There’s nothing like being in the city…[it's] the city of every man. It’s all walks and I love that.”

Her Beverly Hills home is being sold through as a $42 million pocket listing by real estate agent Jade Mills.

Source- Zillow.com

Most Landlords Say They Would Rent to People Who Lost Homes to Foreclosure, The National Association of Independent Landlords Finds

LOS ANGELES, CA -- More than three-quarters (82%) of independent landlords say they would rent to someone who lost a home in foreclosure, assuming the applicant traditionally had good credit, according to a survey released today by The National Association of Independent Landlords.



"Landlords typically won't rent to applicants with poor credit--and a foreclosure will absolutely slam someone's scores. The exception is when they see people who have paid their bills their whole life, but lost their job, can't meet their mortgage and must hand their keys back to the bank," said Tracey Benson, president of The National Association of Independent Landlords.



Despite recent credit problems, Benson said, applicants with a foreclosure can prove good risks, chiefly because they did once own their own home: "These people are used to taking pride in where they live. Often, they lost their jobs and homes through no fault of their own."



Increasingly, mortgage defaults stem more from lost jobs than ill-equipped borrowers who lost homes they never should have bought, Benson said. A thorough background check, like one conducted by The National Association of Independent Landlords, will indicate into which category an applicant falls--and whether financial woes are part of a recent spate of bad luck or a life-long trend.



"Because of this abundance of defaults, there is a greater need for rental property, so landlords should carefully vet applicants," Benson said.



The National Association of Independent Landlords polled 563 members from March 21 through March 25, 2011.

 


Source: thecreativeinvestor.com

Paul Williams-Designed Beverly Hills Home For $7.75 Million

Another Paul Williams home has hit the market in Beverly Hills, this time with a price tag of $7.75 million. As we've mentioned before, Williams was the first African-American architect recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He designed countless other homes around Los Angeles as well as city landmarks like the Beverly Hills Hotel and Los Angeles International Airport. He designed this particular home in 1924.

This house has since been updated and expanded to 6,001 square feet, and now boasts four bedrooms, five bathrooms, and an office and maids' room. The master bedroom has two dual marble bathrooms and walk-in closets that are as big as bedrooms themselves. Outside the home, the .45 acre property boasts private lawns, patios, a pool, and a tennis court. See this place for yourself by taking a peek at the slideshow below.


Source: huffingtonpost.com

California Mortgage Defaults Drop Again

LA JOLLA, Calif. (DQNews) -- The number of financially distressed California homeowners who were dragged into the formal foreclosure process declined again last quarter, the result of turmoil and policy changes within the mortgage industry as well as shifts in the economy, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 68,239 Notices of Default (NoDs) were recorded at county recorders offices during the January-to-March period. That was down 2.2% from 69,799 for the prior quarter, and down 15.8% from 81,054 in first-quarter 2010, according to DataQuick. The San Diego firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

Last quarter's activity was the lowest since 53,493 NoDs were recorded in the second quarter of 2007. It was just over half the record 135,431 default notices recorded in the first quarter of 2009.

"Lenders and servicers have put various temporary holds on foreclosure filings while they work on procedural issues and respond to regulatory and legal challenges. It's unclear how much of last quarter's decline can be attributed to market factors and strategic decisions, and how much can be attributed to the formalities of the foreclosure process," said John Walsh, DataQuick president.

Most of the loans going into default are from the 2005-2007 period: the median origination quarter for defaulted loans is still third-quarter 2006. That has been the case for two years, indicating that weak underwriting standards peaked then.

Most of the loans made in 2006 are owned and/or serviced by institutions other than those that made the loans.

The most active "beneficiaries" in the formal foreclosure process last quarter were JPMorgan Chase (JPM_)(9,634), Wells Fargo(WFC_) (8,329) and Bank of America (BAC_) (7,158).

The "servicers" (or the Trustees in the formal foreclosure process) that pursued the highest number of defaults last quarter were ReconTrust Co (mostly for Bank of America and MERS), Quality Loan Service Corp (Bank of America), California Reconveyance Co (JPMorgan Chase), NDEx West (Wells Fargo) and Cal-Western Reconveyance Corp (Wells Fargo).

California's priciest zip codes collectively saw mortgage defaults buck the market-wide trend again and rise slightly quarter-to-quarter, while their defaults fell less on a year-over-year basis than in the overall market. The state's 80 zip codes with median sale prices of $800,000 or more last quarter posted a 5.8% quarter-to-quarter increase in default notices and a 4.7% year-over-year decline.

Source- The Street

Jack Nicholson selling $4.25M Malibu home?

Jack Nicholson, who turned 74 on Friday, April 22, is reportedly selling his Malibu home, which has an asking price of $4.25 million, according to real estate listings.

He has not commented on the reports, including one published in the Los Angeles Times. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch-style home sits on about 70 acres of land and the property itself is comprised of 2,313 square feet.

It was built in 1966 and includes a pool, spa, putting green, cabana, tennis court, a bar and a guest house. The home has been on the market for at least three weeks.

Nicholson is known for films such as "The Shining" and "Chinatown," and won Oscars for his role in the movies "As Good As It Gets," "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and "Terms of Endearment."

Nicholson also owns a house on the famed Mulholland Drive, as well as homes elsewhere in the Hollywood Hills and in Hawaii, Venice, California and Aspen, Colorado, according to the Real Estalker blog, which tracks celebrity property sales.


Source: hottorhottmess.blogspot.com

It's a seller's market for celebrity real estate

It may be a buyer's market in the housing industry, but in celebrity real estate, it's the sellers that are making out best.

According to Zillow.com, many Hollywood actors and actresses stand to gain millions of dollars more than they paid before moving into their residence, even after cutting the initial asking price. The star-studded list with new-found wealth includes Charlize Theron, Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, Diane Keaton, Jennifer Aniston and Dennis Quaid.

Zillow.com reports that some of the celebrities' homes have yet to be sold, however, because they put so much work into renovating their properties, there is high potential for significant profit. For instance, Zillow.com reports Jennifer Aniston bought her Beverly Hills estate for $13.5 million, but after modernizing the home, she stands to earn $28.5 million. Others have already seen more green. The website reports Uma Thurman sold her property for $12 million after purchasing it for $9.5 million, a profit of $2.5 million.

This may not be the norm, however, as findings from a Trulia.com report indicate sellers have cut $24 billion in potential home equity over the past year.
 

Source: upack.com

Fewer California homeowners received default notices in first quarter

The state's foreclosure crisis abated during the first three months of the year as lenders pushed the lowest number of Californians into the formal repossession process since the second quarter of 2007.

The number of Golden State residents who entered foreclosure in the first quarter declined 2.2% from the prior quarter and 15.8% from the same period in 2010. A total of 68,239 notices of default -- the first stage of foreclosure -- were filed on homes during the first three months of the year, according to San Diego research firm DataQuick.

That was the lowest level since 53,493 default notices were recorded in the second quarter of 2007 and is just over half the record 135,431 default notices recorded in the first quarter of 2009.

Banks did step up the number of homes they took back from defaulting borrowers already in foreclosure. A total of 43,052 trustees deeds were filed in county offices in the first quarter, a 21.5% increase over the prior quarter and up 0.5% from the first quarter of 2010.

Citing "pervasive" misconduct in foreclosures, federal banking regulators last week ordered the nation's biggest banks to overhaul their procedures and compensate borrowers. A wider-ranging investigation conducted by a coalition of state attorneys general and other federal agencies, including the departments of Justice, Treasury and Housing and the Federal Trade Commission is ongoing.

The degree to which the foreclosure slowdown in California has to do with these changes and how much the drop can be attributed to changes in the state's economic landscape is unclear. A significant number of homes in the Golden State are underwater, meaning that more is owed on the properties than they are worth. The unemployment rate remains high at 12%. Experts view both factors as a major contributor to foreclosures.

 

Source: latimes.com

Ryan Murphy sells home in Sunset Strip area

"Glee" mastermind Ryan Murphy has sold a Sunset Strip-area home for $2,775,000, the Multiple Listing Service shows.

The Carl Maston-designed Midcentury Modern was built in 1947 and restored. Wood-framed glass walls open to a swimming pool, lawn and outdoor entertaining space, which includes a barbecue and fire pit. The 3,210-square-foot gated house has a library/office, an eat-in kitchen, three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

 

Source: latimes.com

Real Estate Outlook: Jobs and Housing | Hancock Park, Hollywood Hills Real Estate,Hollywood Hills Homes For Sale, Outpost Estates, Hollywood hills Properties

Housing and the economy are interrelated. One’s successes and defeats affect the other. And that’s just what then National Association of Home Builders want you to know.

NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen, a home builder from Reno, Nevada, says, “Home building is a key driver of the American economy. By generating economic activity including new income and jobs, purchases of goods and services, and revenue for local governments, housing—which has historically accounted for around 17 percent of the GDP—can put America back to work.”

And right now, we need it. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor & Statistics, the unemployment rate is around 8.8 percent, down 1.0 percent from November.

 

The NAHB says that income made from construction activity is then spent in the local economy. New houses earn local taxes. New taxes pay for teachers, police, and other services. It’s an all around great scenario.

“The gap between actual home starts and what is required to fulfill America’s future housing needs represents more than 3 million jobs,” said Nielsen. “Restoring the health of the housing industry is a crucial first step in stabilizing our country’s path to economic recovery.”

For now, however, the housing market is still experiencing difficulties. The volume of foreclosures was down 13.86 percent in February from the month before, but it still makes up a large percentage of housing sales. Where are the hardest hit areas? The top foreclosure cities, according to RealtyTrac.com, are: Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Sacramento. And foreclosed properties average just $165,903 at closing.

It doesn’t help that consumer confidence declined again in March. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® found that “the sharp decline in confidence was prompted by a sharp decline in expectations. Consumers’ inflation expectations rose significantly in March and their income expectations soured, a combination that will likely impact spending decisions. On the other hand, consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved, indicating that while the short-term future may be uncertain, the economy continues to expand.”

The job market was still on their minds, however. And it’s no wonder why. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate was highest for teenagers — at a staggering 24.5 percent. Blacks had the next highest rate, at a high 15.5 percent.

But there is a silver lining. It seems that 15.1 percent of those surveyed felt that business conditions are “good”. This is up almost 3 percent. And job growth was seen in the health care sector, which has added 283,000 jobs in the last year.

Time will tell whether a housing or jobs recovery comes first, but either way, one will help the other.

 

Source: hollywoodhillseastmls.com

5 Steps to Deciding How Much to Offer – or Ask – for Your Home

One of the hardest, most important decisions homebuyers face is how much to offer for their home. And the glut of information on the web about real estate only makes buyers even crazier than the decision itself does. Supply, demand, foreclosure rates, mortgage rates – buyers think they need to run spreadsheets and do fancy math to make a smart offer. And THAT can be super intimidating.

But the fact is, there is a pretty short list of steps you need to take to make a smart offer – one that gets you a great value, but is also likely to be successful at getting the property. (A low offer does not make for a great deal if you don’t get the house!) And most of the same steps apply to sellers trying to set the list price that will lure the most buyers (and net them the most cash)!

Step 1: What do the “comps” say? First things first. When it comes to pricing a home, or making an offer to buy one, the ‘first thing” is the home’s fair market value. Both buyers and sellers should work with an experienced, local agent to understand what the home’s value is. Most agents will do this by offering you a look back at similar properties that have recently sold in the neighborhood – i.e., the comparable sales, or comps.

HINT: You can also find comps for a home listed on Trulia by scrolling down to the section labeled Sold Homes near 1234 Merriweather Lane on the property's Trulia listing page.

Ideally, look for comparables that are very recent sales (3 months or less before you’re listing or buying), very similar properties (i.e., same number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage; and similar style, condition and amenities). If you do get into contract, these may be the same comparables which will be considered by the appraiser, so looking at them before making an offer can:

(a) provide factual support for a lower-than-asking offer or for the asking price, in a negotiation, and

(b) result in a sale price at which the property will actually appraise, later on - avoiding the common glitch of the deal falling through because the appraisal comes in way below the agreed-upon price.

Also, looking at comps is the first step for locating a home’s seller and prospective buyer in the reality-based universe of current home values. The fact that you bought or refinanced the place at a given value 5 or 6 years ago is entirely irrelevant to what it’s worth today, as is the buyer’s belief that the place was worth $100K less at the trough of the market, in 2009.

Step 2: What can you afford? This step is much more critical for buyers than for sellers. (Unfortunately, sellers, the facts that you need to net a particular amount to buy your next home or pay your existing mortgages or credit card bills off has no relationship whatsoever to the price at which you should list or will sell your home.)

Buyers – it’s a must to make sure that your offer price for any given home falls within the range of what is affordable for you. This includes offering a price within the range for which your mortgage was preapproved, but also includes making sure that the monthly payment and cash you’ll need to close the deal (down payment + closing costs) are affordable in light of the particular house. If, for example, the property will require repairs for which you’ll need to conserve cash, or has HOA dues you hadn’t planned on, you may need to rejigger your offer accordingly.

Step 3: What’s your competition? (And what’s theirs?) This is another step at which it’s critical to check in with your agent. You need to know what level of competition you’ll face – whether you are a buyer, or a seller. As a seller, you can find this out by looking at things like how many comparable homes are listed in your town or your neighborhood in your general price range (your agent will brief you on this). Sellers should also consider what type of transactions their home will be up against – the more distressed properties (foreclosed homes and short sales) with which your home must compete, the more aggressive you must be with your pricing to get your home sold.

The more competition you have, as a seller, the lower you should tweak your list price to attract buyers to come see your home. (And the more buyers come to see your home, the more likely you are to get an offer!)

Buyers should also be cognizant of the competition level they will face for homes. Believe it or not, even on today’s market there are properties and neighborhoods in which multiple offers are the name of the game. Work with your agent to understand the list price-to-sale price (LP:SP) ratio , which lets you know how much under or over the asking price properties are selling for in your target home’s neighborhood; the higher the LP:SP ratio, generally speaking, the less competition there is among buyers.

Your agent can also brief you on:

(1)The number of offers – if any - that have been presented on “your” property (which the listing agent will usually, gladly tell). If there are other offers, you’ll want to make a higher offer to compete successfully against them; and

(2)The number of days the home has been on the market, relative to how long an average home stays on the market before it sells – the longer it has, the more pressure is on the seller, price-wise, and the less competition the buyer is likely to have. (One exception is the sweet spot scenario, when a property that has been on the market for a long time has a price reduction and gets a bunch of offers as a result! )

4.How much do they need to sell (or buy) it? Buyers: Has the listing in which you’re interested been reduced at all? By how much? Has the listing agent informed you that her clients are highly motivated, flexible or have an urgent need to sell?

Sellers – most buyers are not in a high state of urgency to buy these days, given the long-term, high affordability of homes and interest rates, except when they have an urgent personal reason for moving, e.g., buyers who are relocating for work. Of course, all of real estate is hyperlocal, so it’s important to understand how motivated buyers are in your local market, generally speaking, before you set your list price.

Trulia’s new, interactive Price Reductions Map offers a number of clues to critical indicators of buyer and seller motivations in your home’s town and zip code, in just a click on the map - including:

·how many homes in your target property’s area have had at least one price reduction,

·how likely a home in the area is to have multiple price reductions.

The higher these numbers are, the stronger of a buyer’s market it is, and the more bargaining power buyers likely have. And if you’re the seller, the higher these numbers are for your area, the lower you may need to price your home to be successful at getting it sold.

5. How much do you want to buy, or sell, the place? Step #4 was about taking the motivations of the folks on the other side of the bargaining table into account when formulating your offer and your list price. This step is all about you – what’s your level of motivation? Now, buyers, you certainly shouldn’t offer a price way above what the place is worth (see Step #1) just because you really, really want it, unless you have the cash to throw around. But within the range of the home’s fair market value, it may make sense to move higher within that range if you are highly motivated to get that particular property.

Sellers: think of your list price as the most powerful marketing tool at your disposal. if you really want or need to sell, get aggressive about setting your price as low as makes sense for your your home's value and local market dynamics to attract qualified buyers and help your home stand out against all the competition.

Source- trulia.com

Confidence in value of homeownership persists through bust, survey shows

The real estate bust appears to have done little to alter Americans' confidence in the investment value of homeownership.

A robust 81% of adults said buying a home is the best long-term investment a person can make, according to a national survey by the Pew Research Center in Washington.

"Owning a home is really a part of the American dream, and that is just part of the American psyche and something that people aspire to," said Kim Parker, associate director for the center and one of the study's authors.

The study's results were unexpected, given the deep plunge in home prices and the fallout from the mortgage crisis, she said. Homeownership topped the list of long-term financial goals for Americans, according to the study; respondents rated homeownership, as well as living comfortably in retirement, more important than sending children to college or leaving offspring an inheritance.

The public's faith in real estate has been bruised since the last time a comparable survey asked people about the wisdom of investing in real estate. A total of 37% of respondents said they "strongly agree" that homeownership is the best investment a person can make while 44% said they "somewhat agree." The same question was asked by a CBS News/New York Times survey in 1991, and at that time 49% "strongly agreed" and 35% "somewhat agreed."

"The study results are surprising in that so many households still believe that homeownership is a good investment, even after the plunge in home values that has occurred over the past couple of years," said Celia Chen, a housing economist for Moody's Economy.com. "The preference for homeownership has deep roots in the history of this nation, and apparently even a severe correction in house prices can shake American's belief in homeownership only slightly."

The telephone survey was comprised of a nationally representative sample of 2,142 adults conducted from March 15 to March 29 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Interviews were done in English and Spanish. The margin of sampling error for the data is plus or minus 2.7%.

While home prices have entered a renewed decline after showing some improvements last year, many economists believe that the worst of the housing crisis is probably over. That sentiment could help to explain the resiliency in Americans' optimism.

"People may have the feeling that the worst is behind us," Parker said.

Though other investments such as stocks tend to produce a better return, the housing market has generally avoided the wild swings that the stock market has over time, potentially helping to explain real estate's lasting allure, Parker added.

Homeowners in the surveywere more positive about the financial wisdom of owning a home than were renters. But even among renters, the desire for homeownership remains strong, according to the survey's findings. Just 24% of renters surveyed said they rent out of choice and 81% said they would like to buy.

The decline in values has struck a wide swath of Americans. About half, or 47%, of homeowners said their property is now worth less than when the recession began, and 31% said the value of their home has not improved. Just 17% said their home is worth more than before the recession.

Of those who said their properties have lost value, 86% said they expect it to take at least three years for values to recover, 42% said at least six years and 10% said they expect a recovery in 10 years or more.

Despite those sentiments, 82% of homeowners who indicated their home is worth less than before the recession said homeownership is the best long-term investment a person can make.


Source: Latimes.com

Southern California rents are likely to remain flat, study says

Southern California's apartment dwellers probably won't face big rent increases any time soon, but the steep declines seen in recent years are beginning to ebb as the economy improves, a new study says.

Rents are predicted to remain largely flat for Southern California's market through 2012, according to a forecast by USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate. Rents changed little across Southern California in 2010 — ranging from a 1% increase in the Inland Empire to a 0.2% decline in San Diego County.

From landlords' perspective, the region continues to lag behind the rest of the nation, where overall rents increased 2.3% last year. But that might change if California's economy continues to pick up. Nearly 100,000 net new jobs were added in the Golden State in February, and that kind of pace could help strengthen the rental market.

"The economic improvement in the last couple months could definitely lead to a faster recovery than we are anticipating right now," said Tracey Seslen, a professor at the USC Lusk Center who co-wrote the study. "The jobs number for the last two months showed really nice growth."

Factors potentially keeping the lid on rents include decreased demand for rentals as people look to buy homes, lured by skyrocketing affordability. In addition, investors are increasing the supply of single-family homes for rent by purchasing foreclosures and converting them to rentals. High gasoline prices also could drive down rents in far-flung areas by encouraging employees to move closer to their jobs.

The rental study was based on rental data for apartment buildings of five units or more from the research firm MPF Research. It does not include rental data on single-family homes, which have been putting pressure on the traditional rental market since the housing bubble burst and foreclosures hit the market.

"Single-family homes that are being rented out compete with traditional multifamily product — high-rises or garden apartments," Seslen said. "That supply is very hard to calculate."

Mia Melle, president at RentToday.us, a company that manages rental homes for investors throughout Southern California, said that the rental market had been saturated with investor-owned properties and that prices of these homes continued to decline, particularly in low-income areas.

"A company or a hedge fund that just bought 100 houses, they have the ability to offer more affordable rents, which lowers the rental market as a whole," she said. "The bigger guys are not going to haggle. They just want to get them rented."

The economy continues to take its toll on the rental market, Melle said, with people who have experienced reduced hours, layoffs or furloughs struggling to make their rental payments.

"On the flip side, things are leasing very quickly for us," she said. "If it is priced right, it is leasing within days, meaning that there are a lot of tenants out there."

Southern California's rental market has been good to Adam Cohen, 28, the president of Inland Empire Recycling, a scrap metal yard.

Cohen has been renting a four-bedroom, 21/2-bathroom home in Rancho Cucamonga with a big backyard with a koi fishpond for the last three years with his wife, Selina, 28, three daughters and son. The family pays $1,750 a month, and Cohen said his landlords had not raised the rent on him much.

Although Cohen said he viewed renting positively, he hopes to become a homeowner this year.

"The housing market is in a great spot right now for buyers," he said. "I would like to get in while the getting is good."

Along with an improving economy, some other factors may work to increase rents in Southern California, according to USC's rental study. They include a squeeze on the supply of apartment buildings because construction of apartment buildings slowed during the real estate downturn.

Separately, data for the first three months of the year show that rents in Southern California have increased little compared with the rest of the nation, according to Reis Inc., a real estate information firm. Los Angeles rents rose 0.2% from a year earlier while the U.S. as a whole increased 1.9% from a year earlier, Reis said.

 

Source: LAtimes.com

Rules limit size of Los Angeles hillside homes

Los Angeles officials took a stand Wednesday against sprawling, soaring homes in foothill communities as they enacted a new city ordinance that limits building sizes on hillside lots.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said before signing the so-called Hillside Mansionization Ordinance that it would make construction standards more safety conscious in the landslide-prone areas and maintain the hillside neighborhoods’ rustic character.

“Part of what makes LA unique and attractive are our hillsides,’’ he said. “There’s nothing more upsetting for those of us who lived in the hillsides than to see the beautiful landscapes disturbed by a big box.’’

Officials passed a similar ordinance in 2008 for the city’s flatlands, but the hillside ordinance took more work because the steepness of some terrain made it harder to calculate allowable home sizes.

The new rules, which the City Council passed in March and will formally go into effect on May 9, use a formula that takes into account parcel size, steepness of slopes and other factors. The rules also increase the amount of analysis and monitoring that must take place when hilly terrain is graded so homes can be built.

Ron Ziff, who lives in a hilly part of the Sherman Oaks neighborhood, said a handful of massive villa-like homes with Spanish-tile roofs and stucco walls — some sprawling over 7,000 square feet — have sprouted in his neighborhood of 2,000- to 2,500-square-foot houses in recent years.

“There were huge mansions being built, property-line to property-line,’’ he said. “They are completely out of character with this community.’’

City officials and residents said most of the construction had taken place during the mid-2000s’ housing boom, when sale prices for homes made hillside construction projects worthwhile, despite their expense and complexity.

The ordinance will have little immediate impact, since construction has tapered off considerably, but the wealthy home seekers who flock to Los Angeles’ foothills will likely start looking for places to build luxurious new houses for themselves once the economy recovers, said Stuart Gabriel, who directs the Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“Clearly it may be less relevant to the current depressed state of homebuilding, but that doesn’t mean that it will be irrelevant in the future market,’’ he said. “Los Angeles will continue to be a very dynamic city with a very significant global profile and there will continue to be a demand for high-end housing.’’

Gabriel predicted that some high-end property shoppers will begin skipping over Los Angeles, choosing instead to buy parcels in nearby cities with less restrictive construction ordinances so they can live in bigger homes. The consequence of that could be decreased property tax revenue, he said.

But Councilman Paul Koretz, whose west Los Angeles district includes several foothill neighborhoods, said the stiffer regulations were necessary.

“We need to preserve the character and integrity of our hillsides and their communities, and those efforts are evermore vital,’’ he said.

 

Source: Boston.com

O.C. Real Housewives’ Vicki Gunvalson Selling Home for $2.7 Million

The longest-lasting “Housewife” on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Orange County” is ready to sell her home. Original cast member Vicki Gunvalson has put her house on the Coto de Caza real estate market for $2,695,000.

The decision to sell was no secret; Gunvalson discussed selling the luxurious home in a recent episode. Reportedly, she and husband Donn Gunvalson, also are in the midst of a divorce.

Many of the “Housewives” have had issues with keeping up on payments on lavish homes, and a few have come close to foreclosure, including Tamra Barney who sold her O.C. home as a short sale. Gunvalson, however, is selling her 5-bed, 6-bath home the regular way. Real estate agent Laura Simmons told the Wall Street Journal “she’s hoping for quick sale.”

Despite a premier location in a gated community — often favored by celebrities, athletes and doctors — a sale may not be as quick as the agent hopes. According to Zillow data, median Coto de Caza home values have fallen 5.4 percent year-over-year.

That’s not to say that the Gunvalsons’ estate isn’t lavish. The property is located on a full acre in the “woods” of Coto de Caza. High ceilings are featured throughout the 5,400 sq ft home, complete with “oversized” rooms and luxury details. The newly renovated downstairs level includes a suite and brand-new hardwood floors. The family room has a full wet bar overlooking the $500,000 “resort-style” pool and additional swim-up bar. A full outdoor kitchen has a built-in barbecue, mini-fridge, and “recessed” grotto including a TV and full-sized bath. The pool area also features a stone fireplace and gas ambient heaters.

The home is being listed by Laura Simmons of Weichert Realtors.

The King's L.A. pad leased for $20,000 a month

A gated Beverly Hills, Calif., compound that was once home to Elvis Presley and wife Priscilla has been leased out for $20,000 a month.

The French Regency-style estate, built in 1958, sits on 1.18 acres in the Trousdale Estates area of Los Angeles. Recently remodeled, the 5,367-square-foot house has new flooring, a new kitchen and laundry room, and a resurfaced pool and spa.

A guesthouse is attached to the four-bedroom, five-bathroom main home.

The property had been listed for lease at $25,000 a month.

Source- HeraldNet

Real estate: It's time to buy again

Forget stocks. Don't bet on gold. After four years of plunging home prices, the most attractive asset class in America is housing.

From his wide-rimmed cowboy hat to his roper boots, Mike Castleman fits moviedom's image of the lanky Texas rancher. On a recent March evening, Castleman is feeding cattle biscuits to his two pet longhorn steers, Big Buddy and Little Buddy, on his 460-acre Bar Ten Creek Ranch in Dripping Springs, a hamlet outside Austin in the Texas Hill Country. The spread is a medley of meandering streams, craggy cliffs, and centuries-old oaks. But even in this pastoral setting, his mind keeps returning to a subject he knows as well as any expert around: the housing market. "I'm a dirt-road economist who sees what's happening on the ground, and in 35 years I've never seen a shortage of new construction like the one I'm seeing today," declares Castleman, 70, now offering a biscuit to his miniature donkey Thumper. "The talking heads who are down on real estate will hate to hear this, but America needs to build a lot more houses. And in most markets the price of new homes is fixin' to rise, not fall."

Castleman is in a unique position to know. As the founder and CEO of a company called Metrostudy, he's spent more than three decades tracking real-time data on the country's inventory of new homes. Each quarter he dispatches 500 inspectors to literally drive through 45,000 subdivisions from Baltimore to Sacramento. The inspectors examine 5 million finished lots, one at a time, and record whether they contain a house that's under construction, one that's finished and for sale, or a home that's sold. Metrostudy covers 19 states, or around 65% of the U.S. housing market, including all the ones hardest hit by the crash: Florida, California, Arizona, and Nevada. The company's client list includes virtually every major homebuilder and bank -- from Pulte (PHM) and KB Home (KBH) to Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

The key figures that Metrostudy collects, and that those clients prize, are the number of homes that are vacant and for sale in each city, and the number of months it takes to sell all of them. Together those figures measure inventory -- the key metric in determining whether a market has a surplus or a shortage of new housing.

Today Castleman is witnessing an extraordinary reversal of the new-home glut that helped sink prices just a few years ago. In the 41 cities Metrostudy covers, a total of 78,000 houses are now either vacant and for sale, or under construction. That's less than one-fourth of the 343,000 units in those two categories at the peak of the frenzy in mid-2006, and well below the level of a decade ago. "If we had anything like normal levels of buying, those houses would sell in 2½ months," says Castleman. "We'd see an incredible shortage. And that's where we're heading."

If all the noise you're hearing about housing has you totally confused, join the crowd. One day you'll read that owning a home has never been more affordable. The next day you'll see news that housing starts have plunged to nearly their lowest level in half a century, as headlines announced in March. After four years of falling prices and surging foreclosures, it's hard to know what to think. Even Robert Shiller and Karl Case can't agree. The two economists, who together created the widely followed S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price indices, are right now offering sharply contrasting views of housing's future. Shiller recently warned that the chances were high for a further double-digit drop in U.S. home prices. But in an interview with Fortune, Case took a far brighter view: "The lack of new home building is a huge help that a lot of people are ignoring," says Case. "People think I'm crazy to be optimistic, but housing is looking like the little engine that could."

To see where real estate is truly headed, it's critical to keep your eye firmly on the fundamentals that, over time, always determine the course of prices and construction. During the last decade's historic run-up in prices, Fortune repeatedly warned that things were moving too fast. In a cover story titled "Is the Housing Boom Over?," this writer's analysis found that the basic forces that govern the market -- the cost of owning vs. renting and the level of new construction -- were in bubble territory. Eventually reality set in, and prices plummeted. Our current view focuses on those same fundamentals -- only now they're pointing in the opposite direction.

So let's state it simply and forcibly: Housing is back.

Two basic factors are laying the foundation for dramatic recovery in residential real estate. The first is the historic drop in new construction that so amazes Castleman. The second is a steep decline in prices, on the order of 30% nationwide since 2006, and as much as 55% in the hardest-hit markets. The story of this downturn has been an astonishing flight from the traditional American approach of buying new houses to an embrace of renting. But the new affordability will gradually lure Americans back to buying homes. And the return of the homeowner will start raising prices in many markets this year.

Of course, home prices are low and home construction is weak for a reason: incredibly low demand. For our scenario to play out, America will need a decent economy, with job creation and consumer confidence continuing to claw their way back to normal.

One big fear is that today's tight credit standards will chill the market. But we're really returning to the standards that prevailed before the craze, and those requirements didn't stop prices and homebuilding from rising in a good economy. "The credit standards are now at about historical levels, excluding the bubble period," says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics. "We saw prices rising with fundamentals in those periods, and it will happen again."

To see why, let's examine the remarkable shift in home affordability. A new study by Deutsche Bank measures affordability in two ways: first, the share of income Americans are paying to own a home. And second, the cost of owning vs. renting. On the first metric, the analysis finds that homeowners now pay just 9.8% of their income in after-tax mortgage, tax, and insurance payments. That's down from 17.2% at the bubble's peak in 2007, and by far the lowest number in the Deutsche Bank database, going back to 1999. The second measure, the cost of owning compared with renting, should also inspire potential buyers. In 28 out of 54 major markets, it's now cheaper to pay a mortgage and other major costs than to rent the same house. What's most compelling is that in all of the distressed markets, owning now wins by a wide margin -- a stunning reversal from four years ago. It now costs 34% less than renting in Atlanta. In Miami the average rent is now $1,031 a month, vs. the $856 it costs to carry a ranch house or stucco cottage as an owner. (For more, see The top 10 cities for home buyers)

Not all markets will bounce back equally, of course. Housing resembles the weather: The exact conditions are different in every city. But in general the big U.S. markets fall into two different climate zones right now. We'll call them the "nondistressed markets" and the "foreclosure markets." A more detailed look shows why the forecast for both is favorable.

Nondistressed markets: Ready for launch

No cities went untouched by the collapse in prices over the past few years. But markets such as Northern Virginia, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, San Diego, the San Francisco suburbs, and virtually all of Texas held up reasonably well. In those areas prices spiked far less than in bubble cities -- the foreclosure markets we'll get to shortly -- chiefly because they didn't get nearly as many speculators who thought they could flip the homes or rent them to snowbirds.

The nondistressed markets will be able to get prices rising and construction growing far faster than the harder-hit areas for a simple reason: Although some of these markets are still suffering from foreclosures, they don't need to work through the big overhang haunting a Las Vegas or a Phoenix. The number of new homes for sale or in the pipeline is extraordinarily low in nondistressed markets. San Diego is typical. It has just 921 freestanding homes for sale or under construction, compared with 4,425 in late 2005. The challenge for these cities is to generate enough demand to reduce inventories of existing, or resale, homes. In the entire country the resale supply stands at 3.5 million houses and condos. That's a fairly high number, since it would take more than eight months to sell those properties; seven months or below is the threshold for a strong market.

But in the nondistressed cities, the existing home inventory is lower, closer to seven months on average. So a modest increase in demand will translate into strong gains in both prices and new construction. That should happen quickly, because most of those markets -- including Silicon Valley, Northern Virginia, and Texas -- are now showing good job growth.

Zandi of Moody's Analytics expects that prices will rise three to four points faster than inflation for the next few years in virtually all of the nondistressed markets. His view is that prices will increase in line with rents, which are now growing briskly because apartments are in short supply. Those higher rents will encourage buyers to cross the street from an apartment to a home of their own.

In Northern Virginia, Chris Bratz, an engineer, and his wife, Amy DiElsi, a publicist, are planning to leave their rental apartment and become homeowners for the first time. The main reason? Buying has simply become a far better deal than renting. "The market got completely inflated, then it crashed, so prices are coming back to where they should be," says Chris. As the couple have watched prices fall, they have also watched the rent on their apartment spiral upward, reaching $2,700 a month. They calculate that they should be able to purchase a townhouse for between $400,000 and $500,000 and pay less per month for a mortgage.

The nondistressed markets will also lead the way in construction. Zandi predicts that for the nation as a whole, single-family housing "starts" -- measured when a builder pours a foundation for a new home -- will rise from 470,000 in 2010 to as much as 700,000 this year. A large portion of that activity will happen in nondistressed markets where a tightening supply of resale houses will start making new homes look like a good deal. "Our main competition is from resales," says Jeff Mezger, CEO of KB Home. "The prices of those homes have stayed so low, because of low demand, that it's hampered the ability of builders to sell new houses."

But many would-be buyers simply prefer a brand-new house. Eventually they'll move from renters to buyers, and the trend will accelerate now that prices are no longer dropping. In Minneapolis, Yuan Qu and her husband, Xiang Chen, a researcher at the University of Minnesota, just moved from a two-bedroom rental to a new light-blue four-bedroom ranch with a chocolate-colored roof on a spacious corner lot. They paid $400,000, a bargain price compared with a few years ago. The couple, both in their early thirties, moved to Minnesota from China six years ago. "We wanted to buy a house, and we've been waiting and waiting and waiting," says Qu. "The prices went down for so long, we finally thought they couldn't keep falling." For Qu the only choice was new construction. "We're not very handy people," she admits.

Foreclosure markets: The outlook is brightening

The true disaster areas for housing since the bubble burst have been Sunbelt cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Miami -- places that boasted great job and population growth in the mid-2000s, only to suffer a housing crash that swamped them with empty homes and condos and crushed their economies. But people always want to live in those sunny locales, and their job markets are starting to recover, albeit slowly. In foreclosure markets the inventory problem is far greater because it includes not just traditional resale homes but millions of distressed properties. Fortunately those houses are now such a screaming deal that investors, including lots of mom-and-pop buyers, are purchasing them at a rapid pace. To be sure, some foreclosure markets won't rebound for years because they're both vastly overbuilt and far from big job centers; a prime example is California's Inland Empire, a real estate disaster zone 80 miles east of Los Angeles.

But the outlook is brightening for Phoenix, Las Vegas, Miami, and parts of Northern California. A big positive is the tiny supply of new homes entering the market. Phoenix, for example, has a total of just 8,100 new homes that are either for sale or under construction, down from 53,000 in mid-2006. The big test in these cities is absorbing the steady stream of distressed properties. The foreclosures put downward pressure on the market far out of proportion to their numbers because of markdown pricing. "We had levels of inventory even higher than this in 1990 and 1991," says MIT economist William Wheaton. "But they were traditional listings, not foreclosures, so they didn't create the big discounts you get with foreclosures."

Wheaton reckons that we'll see a flow of around 1 million foreclosures a year, at a fairly even pace, from now through 2013. That figure is frequently cited as evidence that the market is doomed for years in most foreclosure markets. Not so. The reason is that the vast bulk of those units, probably over 600,000, according to Gleb Nechayev, an economist with real estate firm CB Richard Ellis (CBG), are being converted to rentals either by investors or their current owners. Those properties are finding plenty of renters, since the rental market is still extremely strong across the country. Remember, the millions who lost their homes to foreclosure still need somewhere to live.

A typical investor is Alex Barbalat, a Russian immigrant who's purchased seven homes east of San Francisco in the towns of Bay Point, Antioch, and Pittsburg. His average purchase price is around $100,000 for homes that once sold for between $300,000 and $500,000. But he has no trouble finding renters, since his tenants can commute to jobs in San Francisco on the BART transit system. Barbalat is pocketing rental yields on the prices he paid of around 12%, and he's in no hurry to sell. "I'm holding them until prices drastically rise," he says.

Investment funds are also entering the game. Dotan Y. Melech looks for bargains in Las Vegas for UnitedAMS, a firm he co-founded that manages apartments and other real estate investments. The firm has raised more than $20 million from outside investors to purchase distressed properties. So far, Melech has bought around 300 houses and plans to purchase another 200 this year. He has no trouble renting the houses he buys, since, he estimates, occupancy rates in Las Vegas are touching 95%. The "cap rate," or return on investment after all expenses, is between 8% and 10% -- twice the rate on 10-year Treasuries. Melech rents to people who lost their homes but are reliable renters. "A lot of people can't be buyers because their credit got hurt," he says.

Even with investors jumping in, buying activity in foreclosure markets hasn't yet increased enough to bring inventories down. It will soon. Zandi thinks prices will fall a couple of percentage points lower in the distressed markets in the short run. "But that will be overshooting," he says. "It's like an elastic band. If prices do drop this year, they will need to bounce back because they'll be far too low compared with rents and replacement cost." Renters will come off the sidelines to purchase homes in the years ahead, precisely the opposite trend of the past few years.

Consider the example of Michael Dynda, a retired Air Force avionics technician who now works for a government contractor in Las Vegas. Dynda, 49, is a first-time buyer who put off purchasing for years, in part because prices were falling so rapidly in Las Vegas, with no bottom in sight. But last year the combination of bargain prices and low mortgage rates became too good to resist. He ended up purchasing a 2,300-square-foot stucco home for $240,000, or about half what it would have fetched in 2007. Dynda got a 4.38% home loan, and pays the same amount on his mortgage as on the rent on the house he left to become a homeowner. "The timing was about as good as it could get," says Dynda.
Back on the ranch, Mike Castleman is lounging in his creek-front mansion, built from "a hundred tons of fine central Texas limestone." As he shows off his collection of custom-made guitars, including one crafted to resemble the skin of a rattlesnake, the homespun housing guru once again returns to his favorite topic.

Castleman claims that this recovery will look like all the others: It will bring a severe shortage of housing. He invokes the livestock business to explain. "It takes three years between the time a bull mates with a cow and when you get a calf ready for market," he says. "That's how it is in housing too. We'll get a big surge in demand and the drywall companies will take a long time to ramp up, and it will take years to get new lots approved. Buyers will show up looking for a house in a subdivision, and all the houses will be sold. The builders will tell them it will take six months to deliver a house." But those folks, says Castleman, will be set on buying a place. "And they'll want it so bad they'll bid the prices up!" In other words: Beat the crowd.

Source- CNNMoney.com

Modern Skyscraper Housing L.A. LIVE's Hotels and Residences Earns Silver LEED Designation from the U.S. Green Building Council

With More than 60 percent of L.A. LIVE Homes in Escrow, Nation's Leading Hotel
and Residential Tower Takes Home Another Prestigious Industry Accolade

LOS ANGELES — The award-winning Hotels and Residences at L.A. LIVE have earned the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the AEG development's strategic, sustainable design and green innovation.

This prominent distinction recognizes the landmark L.A. LIVE 54-story high-rise tower, housing The Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. LIVE, The Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles, and the JW Marriott Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE, as an environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy place to live and work. Designed by California-based architecture firm Gensler, the residential tower spans a total two million square feet on 2.5 acres of land and contains more than 1,000 hotel rooms and 224 first-class private residences.

"This innovative building represents what is great about Los Angeles today, and also provides a view of the city's blueprint for tomorrow," said Lance Williams, Executive Director of USGBC-LA, the organization that awarded the residential tower the Silver LEED distinction. "It's the perfect intersection of sophistication and sustainability."

In addition to its convenient proximity to several city transit stations, other strategic features that qualified The Hotels and Residences at L.A. LIVE for the Silver LEED distinction include:

* Energy-efficient windows, designed to maximize daylight
* Water-saving plumbing fixtures and filtering of storm water runoff, keeping waterways clean
* Cool roof installation, covered parking and water-efficient rooftop landscaping, reducing heat island effects
* Use of low-volatile organic compound materials to minimize in-air toxins
* Offering a wide range of alternative transportation opportunities, including bicycle support, discounted parking for low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles, carpools and vanpools, an employee rideshare program, and extensive public transportation within walking distance
* Use of recycled materials throughout the building, in addition to the major use of recycled steel in the building's overall construction
* Recycling areas on every floor of the tower and at the building's main loading dock

"L.A. LIVE is all about providing the best in entertainment, accommodations and services through its first-class hotel, residences and restaurants," said Timothy J. Leiweke, president and CEO of AEG, developer of L.A. LIVE. "As we have demonstrated with the STAPLES Center and L.A. LIVE, AEG is committed to building the most environmentally sustainable venues, an effort further underscored by our newest development earning this prestigious distinction."

The recent completion of The Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. LIVE achieved developer AEG's original vision for the project and downtown Los Angeles. The Residences have experienced tremendous sales success, with its first residents moved in, and more than 60 percent of its 224 residences in escrow.

The Silver LEED certification represents AEG's ongoing commitment to sustainability as part of the AEG 1EARTH program and adds to L.A. LIVE's myriad awards and accolades received within the past six months by industry leaders. The project's distinctions include the Urban Land Institute's "Global Award for Excellence," Luxury Real Estate's "Best New Community," Americas Lodging Investment Summit's "2010 Development of the Year" award, and most recently, "Building of the Year," by Downtown News.

About The Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. LIVE

The Ritz-Carlton Residences at L.A. LIVE is one of the first luxury-branded residences in Los Angeles, offering exclusive "All-Access Living" in the heart of the exciting new sports and entertainment district L.A. LIVE. Residents enjoy privileged access to five-star lifestyle experiences, including services of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, such as a dedicated residential concierge/doorman, valet parking and VIP status with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel guest relations.

For residents, just an elevator ride away are unparalleled amenities, including a world-class restaurant, residential sky lobby with landscaped terrace, private heated rooftop pool, state-of-the-art spa and fitness center, and exclusive residential lounge, with private board room and media room.

Source- allaccessliving.com

Christina Aguilera is selling her Beverly Hills mansion

Christina Aguilera has put her 11,500-square-foot gated mansion in Beverly Hills on the market at $13.5 million.

Set on nearly two-thirds of an acre, the Mediterranean-style home has a grand foyer with a sweeping staircase, a fanciful children's room, a gym, a game room, a gift-wrapping area, a movie room, a beauty salon, a guesthouse with a recording studio, and a total of six bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The master bedroom suite contains a lounge, a fireplace and dual bathrooms and closets. Outdoor entertaining areas include a pagoda and a swimming pool with a waterslide and grotto spa.

Aguilera, 30, will be a judge on NBC's upcoming singing competition show "The Voice," in which blind selections will be made solely on a contestant's audition sound. She has won Grammys for hits including "Ain't No Other Man" and "Candyman" and she starred with Cher in "Burlesque" (2010).

The property was purchased from Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne in 2007 for $11.5 million, according to public records.

Brooke Kaufman of Hilton & Hyland, Beverly Hills, is the listing agent.

'Not too much fuss' in Los Feliz

Actress Ashley Jensen and her husband, actor Terence Beesley, have listed their Los Feliz-area home for sale at $1,999,000.

Jensen, who is from Scotland, and Beesley, from England, have used the midcentury house to host visitors from Britain and to entertain.

"We wanted a house that we knew we were in L.A.," Jensen said. "There's an amazing view of not only the cityscape, but you can also see the sea on certain days."

The 2,404-square-foot home incorporates steel, tile and glass in a minimalist approach. "It's not too much fuss," she said. There are three bedrooms and 21/2 bathrooms.

Jensen liked living near the studios when shooting her scenes as seamstress Christina on "Ugly Betty" (2006-10). "Yet you feel like you are in the middle of the countryside and you have deer and skunks," she said. "You are in among nature, yet you can walk to the grocery, bars, restaurants and can even walk to the farmers market."

The pair put in an infinity pool that has a view of Hollywood, and Beesley designed the terrace and exterior space. "We tried to make it … David Hockney," Jensen said of the pool. "On bright shiny days it's very blue."

They are selling because they would like a house that is more toddler-friendly with a flat lawn.

Jensen was in the recently released "Gnomeo & Juliet" and is working on other animated projects while splitting her time between L.A. and London. Beesley is writing a pilot.

Public records show the property was purchased in 2007 for $1.65 million.

Jacqueline Gowers of Sotheby's International Realty, Los Feliz, is the listing agent.

It's not 'The O.C.,' it's the BHPO

Actress and model Mischa Barton has her Beverly Hills Post Office area compound for sale at $8,695,000 or for lease at $30,000 a month.

The main house and three guesthouses have a total of eight bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and six fireplaces in nearly 9,800 square feet of living space. The 1.2 acres include a swimming pool and spa.

Barton, 25, starred in "The Beautiful Life" (2009) and "The O.C." (2003-06).

Ginger Glass of Coldwell Banker, Beverly Hills North, has the listing.

Fit for the king of the forest

A Beverly Hills home originally built for Bert Lahr, who played the cowardly lion on "The Wizard of Oz," is on the market at $28.5 million.

Designed by Paul R. Williams in 1941, the gated estate sits on 1.3 park-like acres. The 12,000-square-foot main house includes a media room with wet bar, a wine cellar and tasting room, six bedrooms, seven bathrooms and three half-baths. A 3,000-square-foot secondary house, with its own driveway, has two bedrooms and 21/2 bathrooms. A third newly built structure contains a two-lane bowling alley, game room, bar and half-bath.

Among other celebrities who have called the compound home were actress Betty Grable, band leader Harry James and actress Melanie Griffith.

Lahr, who died in 1967 at 72, was an actor and a comedian. He won a Tony for his role in the musical "Foxy" in 1964.

Before its current renovation and expansion, the property sold in 1999 for $2.55 million, according to public records.

Joe Babajian and Michelle Ficarra of Rodeo Realty, Beverly Hills, are the listing agents.

A steal in Manhattan Beach

Update: Former Laker Chris Mihm has sold his Manhattan Beach house for $2.07 million.

The custom Mediterranean, built in 2002, has a 25-foot-high entry, a coved ceiling in the formal dining room, a game room, 8-foot-high doors and an island with seating in the kitchen. The villa, more than 4,300 square feet, includes five bedrooms and 51/2 bathrooms.

Mihm, 31, played for the Lakers from 2004 until 2009, before he went to the Memphis Grizzlies and was sidelined by an injury.

He bought the property in 2004 for $2.16 million.

Chad Fahlbusch of Northwest Realty, Manhattan Beach, was the listing agent.

Monrovia house has novel history

The house that social reformer and novelist Upton Sinclair lived in during the 1940s through the '60s is for sale in Monrovia at $1.5 million.

Built in 1923, the Spanish Colonial Revival-style residence is listed on the National Register of Historical Places and is a National Historic Landmark. High arched windows, Mission Revival roof parapets and an ornate arched doorway are among the original features. French doors open off the living room and formal dining room to a covered side patio. A grand staircase leads to the three bedrooms, and both bathrooms have Batchelder tile. A guesthouse sits in the backyard.

The 2,380-square-foot house last changed hands in 2002 for $725,000.

Sinclair, who died in 1968 at 90, rose to fame for his novel "The Jungle" (1906), which looked at meat packing industry conditions. He won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for "Dragon's Teeth" (1942).

Cecilia Farnum of Century 21 Adams & Barnes is the listing agent.

Source- Los Angeles Times

Builders, banks offer free job-loss insurance to home buyers

The insurance programs would make borrowers' mortgage payments for up to six months if they become unemployed during the coverage period.

Insurance programs that make borrowers' mortgage payments for up to six months if they lose their jobs during an initial one- to two-year coverage period are gaining popularity. Home builders are offering it to new buyers, and some of the country's largest banks and mortgage lenders think it's a win-win idea for shaky economic times.

Better yet, the bank, builder or other sponsor of the plan typically provides it free — no direct, out-of-pocket cost to the consumer — as part of its marketing package. Most programs come with specific dollar ceilings on coverage, often ranging from $2,000 to $2,500 a month. Some limit the amount they'll pay to principal and interest only. Others cover principal, interest, property taxes and homeowners insurance up to a specific amount.

Although there are no hard statistics on the number of such plans in the marketplace, Teri Cooper, executive vice president of Mortgage Payment Protection Inc. of Heathrow, Fla., one of the largest providers of "involuntary unemployment" policies, estimates that as many as 200,000 buyers are covered by her firm's Mortgage Guardian programs alone.

Bank of America, which operates a "borrower protection plan" that the bank funds itself, says it has covered thousands of new mortgages — limited to those with initial principal balances less than $500,000. Terry H. Francisco, a spokesman for the bank, said the plan has covered $110 million in monthly payments for unemployed borrowers during the last two years. During 2010, the bank provided 156,000 purchasers with its protection program; as of last December, mortgages covered by the plan totaled $36 billion in loan balances.

In the Seattle-Puget Sound market, Quadrant Homes, a subsidiary of Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Co., recently began offering an insurance plan as a way to reassure buyers that they'd be able to withstand an unexpected job loss.

With unemployment figures scarily high, said Ken Krivanec, Quadrant's president, "we wanted to give our buyers a little of the confidence they might need" to move ahead with a purchase.

Virtually all involuntary unemployment programs charge borrowers nothing for the coverage directly, but there's often plenty of fine print that limits payouts under certain circumstances.

Here's a look at some of the features that buyers and borrowers should focus on when they're offered free job-loss mortgage insurance.

•Obviously, nothing is truly free. The lender or builder typically is paying a wholesale insurance premium to obtain the coverage, and rolls that into the deal somewhere. In the case of Mortgage Guardian's programs, premiums range from $200 to $300 and up per policy, depending on the expected volume of insurance, the length of the coverage and the size of the insured monthly payment.

•Not all unemployment events are equal. Under most plans, you need to be eligible under state law for unemployment benefits, and you need to successfully apply for them. Also, the layoff or plant closing or other event cannot have been known to you in advance of the mortgage closing. Firings and dismissals for cause are not covered.

•Not all employment is equal either. For example, if you are self-employed, or are a temporary or seasonal worker, you probably won't be eligible for benefits.

•Once you've closed escrow, there's a 60-day vesting period in the Mortgage Guardian program. Then insurance payments can't flow until 30 days after unemployment begins.

•For virtually all programs, once the initial period of coverage is up, homeowners are expected to either pay premiums on their own or look elsewhere for insurance. Bank of America's plan, for instance, is free for the first year. After that, extended coverage is available at the rate of 7.5% of the monthly principal and interest due, Francisco said. In Quadrant's program, "coverage ends 24 months after the closing date and cannot be extended by the buyer or Quadrant Homes."

Another key fact to keep in mind about job loss insurance for mortgages: It is generally not available direct to the consumer. Cooper says her firm works only through participating lenders, builders, mortgage insurers and some state housing agencies that can create the volume of business needed to make the insurance risk-pooling feasible.

Bottom line: If you understand the limitations and read the fine print, job loss coverage can be a "why not?" proposition. The builder or lender offering it is paying premiums at rates unavailable to individual consumers, and the coverage — if you qualify — is for real if you suddenly find yourself without employment.

Source- Los Angeles Times

KB Home to test demand for solar power

Ten of the builder's new Southern California developments will have solar panels incorporated as a standard feature on each house.

In a nod to the growing popularity of sun-powered houses, Los Angeles-based KB Home said it was rolling out 10 new Southern California developments that would have solar panels incorporated as a standard feature for each property.

The homes will be outfitted with six-panel photovoltaic solar systems built by SunPower Corp. The standard system will be capable of producing about 30% of daily energy use for an 1,800- to 2,000-square-foot home, said Steve Ruffner, president of KB Home's Southern California division. Potential buyers will have the option of upgrading to systems as large as 14 panels, which could cut electricity bills to zero, he said.

Although the solar panel industry has grown rapidly in recent years, particularly in California, the move to incorporate solar panels as part of a development was noteworthy because the market for newly built homes remains dismal, analysts said.

"It's definitely meaningful that they are doing this and particularly meaningful because there hasn't been a lot of home construction," said Shayle Kann, managing director of solar research for GTM Research. "To do something that adds up-front costs to a new home, but saves it money over the long-term by ways of lower electrical costs, is an important step."

KB Home has provided solar power systems as an option for buyers in the past, but this will be the first series of developments with solar energy systems as standard. The company is testing the waters for the popularity of these developments and may expand beyond the Southland if successful.

"The reason we're are trying it here is because there is a great interest in solar power, because of the amount of sunshine we get per day," Ruffner of KB Home said. "We will see how it performs and what the customer demand is."

The 10 new developments will be rolled out this year and in early 2012. The developments are being built in Eastvale, Chula Vista, Temecula, Lancaster, Santa Clarita, Chino, Valencia and Lake Forest. The homes will sell at a premium to new homes without solar systems, but Ruffner said the energy cost savings of having the panels incorporated in the design made them worth it.

Source- Los Angeles Times

30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Drops Amid Japan Crisis

McLean, VA – Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), which shows the 30-year fixed-rate dropping to 4.76 percent while the 15-year fixed-rate hit its lowest rate at 3.97 percent since December 2010.

30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.76 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending March 17, 2011, down from last week when it averaged 4.88 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.96 percent.

15-year FRM this week averaged 3.97 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.15 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.33 percent.

5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.57 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.73 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.09 percent.

1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.17 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.21 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.12 percent.

Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac, reports, "With the crisis in Japan, investors rushed to buy the security of U.S. Treasury bonds , which lowered its yields and other interest rates as well. This allowed fixed mortgage rates to drift lower this week."

"In aggregate, families have been strengthening their balance sheets. In the fourth quarter of 2010, household net worth rose by $2.1 trillion, boosted by gains in the stock market. This helped lower their financial obligation ratio (debt payments relative to disposable income) to the lowest level since the first quarter of 1995." Today's Local Market Conditions Report

Source- Yahoo Real Estate

Is quake insurance worth the cost?

Earthquake insurance is expensive and limited, but standard California coverage would pay for a no-frills shelter should a temblor damage your home.

Japan's massive earthquake has created a surge of interest in quake insurance in a place more than 5,000 miles away — California.

"Earthquakes are clearly on the top of people's minds," said Glenn Pomeroy, chief executive of the California Earthquake Authority, a nonprofit group designed to make quake coverage available to any Californian who wants it.

"The images coming out of Japan are surreal, and the news just keeps getting worse and worse. This has riveted people's attention like no event I can remember."

Only about 12% of Californians with home insurance have quake coverage. And the percentage of people who buy quake insurance in other states — including those with active faults — is far lower.

Should you buy quake coverage?

There's no clear answer. The problem is that quake coverage is costly and limited. Experts say that it takes careful analysis to decide whether the expense is worth the potential benefits.

Although coverage varies state by state — and sometimes from one insurer to the next — it's important to look at what the coverage costs, covers and excludes. Let's take a close look at California's standard earthquake policies to see how dramatically this coverage differs from standard home insurance.

Cost

The only thing you can say for sure about earthquake coverage is that it's expensive.

But the price can vary depending on a number of factors. Quake coverage is generally priced at the higher end for older homes, homes made of masonry or brick, homes that have multiple stories, and homes that sit on sandy alluvial soil that's less stable than clay or rock.

Consider the costs for a policy overseen by the California Earthquake Authority. A $500,000 policy for a one-story home in Beverly Hills would cost $648 if the home had been recently constructed of wood. But the same policy would cost more than three times as much — $1,962 — if the home was constructed of masonry or brick.

There's an online calculator on the California Earthquake Authority site (www.earthquakeauthority.com) that can be used to help estimate the cost of a policy, depending on various factors.

Deductibles

A fire or home insurance policy usually sets the deductible at a dollar amount. But the deductible on a quake policy is usually by percentage — typically 10% or 15% of the structure's replacement cost. So, if you buy a $500,000 policy, it would not begin paying until your covered losses exceeded $50,000 for a 10% deductible policy or $75,000 on a 15% deductible.

Coverage

The purpose of most earthquake coverage is to get a roof over your head, Pomeroy said. It isn't aimed at getting your home back to the same shape it was in before the disaster.

Although the structure of a home and attached garage would generally be covered, after deductible, the walkways, driveways, decks and patios would be covered only to the extent that they provide safe passage into or out of your home. Swimming pools and landscaping would not be covered.

Decorative brick and masonry would not be covered. The policy would pay to button up the structure with stucco or wood to keep out the cold, but you would be on your own if you wanted to replace the decorative stonework that made your home more elegant.

Likewise, the policy would pay to replace a stained-glass window in the bathroom or foyer door, but only with an ordinary window.

If your home is made of plaster, the policy would repair the plaster on the outside, but it would pay only for drywall for the inside walls. The policy also excludes coverage for detached structures, such as guesthouses and pool houses. If your chimney falls down, the policy would pay $5,000 to repair it. If it costs more, the additional cost is yours alone.

The contents of your home are covered to the limits of your policy, but again, there are numerous exclusions — such as china and crystal and many other items that are likely to break.

"What we try to do is make sure that people will have shelter," Pomeroy said, "but the policy is not the Cadillac of all Cadillacs."

Source- Los Angeles Times

SoCal Close-ups: A walk around Los Angeles' park neighborhoods

It's no easy job, being the lungs of Los Angeles.

But Griffith Park, the foremost green space in a city notorious for meager parkland and abundant smog, endures bravely, maybe even heroically. Venture into the park, or nearby Elysian Park, or one of the creative neighborhoods in between, and you'll find not only beloved landmarks such as Griffith Observatory and Dodger Stadium, but also happy surprises, such as the time-travel supply shop, or the cafe where cops dine daily to the sound of echoing gunfire, or the Korean greetings that echo at dawn every day atop Mt. Hollywood.

The more time you spend in these occasionally gritty, mostly gentrified neighborhoods around the park — Silver Lake, Los Feliz and Echo Park — the more you realize that they're incubators of American pop culture. Thousands who live here work onstage and off in movies and TV, make music, art and theater, keep up with the interwebs and savor all things ironic (including the nonword "interwebs," a.k.a. the Internet to the rest of us). Yes, Hollywood is glitzier and Beverly Hills is richer. But who's cooler? These 10 micro-itineraries, the third in a series that concentrates on Los Angeles and Orange counties, might help you decide.

And while you're at it, maybe you can decide what to call these people. Many call themselves Eastsiders, which sounds great but annoys people who live east of the Los Angeles River in the area long known as East L.A. Maybe we should call this the Near East instead. Or maybe, given that Griffith Park, Echo Park, Elysian Park and the Dodgers' ballpark all rub against one another, these people are Parksiders.

From the ferns to the stars. In 1896, mining magnate Griffith J. Griffith donated 3,015 hilly acres that became L.A's biggest park. Later he put up the money for Griffith Observatory and the Greek Theatre. And in between donations, the hard-drinking Griffith shot his wife in the face (it wasn't fatal) and served two years in prison. But you're here to hike, not judge. Drive to the shady corner of Griffith Park known as Ferndell (or Fern Dell, depending on the source), park by the Trails Café, then head uphill. Yes, on foot. Follow the West Observatory Trail for about a mile up the scrubby hills until — voilà! — three domes and a flawless lawn appear. That's Griffith Observatory, the city's hood ornament. It opens at 10 a.m. on weekends, noon on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Browse the wonders of science within the 1935 building, which reopened in 2006 after a dramatic addition, mostly underground, that added dozens of exhibits and a cafe. Though shows in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium cost $3-$7 a person, most of the building is free. Outside again, savor one of the city's best views. Check out the bust of James Dean. (His 1955 movie "Rebel Without a Cause" includes scenes here.) Then head back down the hill to the Trails Café and its outdoor picnic tables, avocado sandwiches, vegan chili and homemade baked goods. Your kids — the same kids who begged you to carry them down the hill — will soon be hopping among the stumps and hay bales.

Modernism, murder and "Snow White." Silver Lake, a series of hills surrounding a scenic pair of reservoirs five miles northwest of downtown L.A., is where many of America's leading Modernist architects first made their marks from the 1930s to the '60s, working on sloping lots because they were cheaper. Walt Disney built his first studio and made "Snow White" at 2725 Hyperion Ave. (now occupied by a Gelson's supermarket). And in 1969, Charles Manson and followers drove here and killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home on Waverly Drive. For more on Disney and Manson, and much more on the architectural legacy of Richard Neutra, Rudolf Schindler and others, sign on for a two-to-three-hour tour from Laura Massino Smith, founder of Architecture Tours L.A. After a cup at LAMILL Coffee Boutique (1636 Silver Lake Blvd.) and a stroll along the east or west reservoir footpaths, you meet Massino Smith, who wheels you through the hills in her minivan, spinning the stories behind the dozens of homes whose open floor plans, big windows and spare geometry were revolutionary in their time. In the 2300 block of Silver Lake Boulevard, you go pedestrian to explore a colony of Neutra buildings (including his former home, which is open for tours 11 a.m.-3 p.m. most Saturdays). Atop Micheltorena Street, you glimpse the craziest tennis court ever, cantilevered from a hilltop as part of the Silvertop estate designed by John Lautner.

Cops and Dodgers. Elysian Park, near downtown, is home to Dodger Stadium. But first, take Stadium Way or Echo Park Avenue to Academy Road. And pretty soon — boom! — you're at the Los Angeles Police Academy, where you're likely to hear shots from the nearby firing range. Show up between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. on a weekday, and you can eat at the L.A. Police Academy Revolver & Athletic Club's café, where the 9mm burger is a bargain at $5.95. Don't miss the old photos, nightsticks, handcuffs, brass knuckles and true-crime magazines on the walls. If you get a chance, thank a cop. The city's crime rate has been dropping since the early 1990s, and homicides happen about as often as they did in 1967, when the population was far smaller and Don Drysdale was pitching in the nearby stadium. Speaking of which: The Dodgers play 81 home games a year in Dodger Stadium (which dates to 1962), and if you can afford it (remember, you're paying the many divorce lawyers of owners Frank and Jamie McCourt), see one. But whether you do or not, consider a nightcap at the Short Stop on Sunset in Echo Park. For decades it was a cop bar, and it has a police patch collection by the pool table and a set of lockers where officers used to lock up their guns. The cops stopped coming a decade ago, and a younger, shaggier set has claimed the place. There's a jukebox, a batch of old Dodger pictures, a mirror ball hanging over the dance floor and a vintage photo booth. Mug shots, three bucks.

To the top of Hollywood. Rise before dawn. Get to the Griffith Observatory parking lot (which is free but fills fast). Start at the Charlie Turner Trailhead, just north of the lot, and hike uphill. You're climbing Mt. Hollywood, whose peak (1,625 feet) offers staggering views. It's a three-mile round trip through scrub and chaparral, the pines of Berlin Forest and the shady oasis of Dante's View. From the mountaintop on a clear day, you can see the sun rise to the east and a sliver of Pacific to the west. Almost every day, you'll get an eyeful of the Los Angeles basin, the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Mountains and the Hollywood sign on nearby Mt. Lee. (There's no hike to the Hollywood sign, and no access to it. Do this instead.) As the mist lifts from the ridges, listen to the birdsong — and the Koreans. Dozens of Korean Americans like to begin their days with hikes here. So does City Councilman Tom LaBonge, who hollers greetings in their language and carries a football on his dawn hikes. He's been on this trail daily since 1978.

The village of Los Feliz. Do happy people live in Los Feliz? Well, some. But the area got its name from José Vicente Feliz, an 18th century settler who received this real estate through a Spanish land grant. The Greek Theatre, home to many summer concerts, is a few blocks north of the commercial district on Vermont and Hillhurst avenues. Barnsdall Art Park (including Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House and a picnic-ready grassy knoll at 4800 Hollywood Blvd.) is a few blocks south. Once you snag a parking spot (or arrive at the Sunset-Vermont Metro stop), walk Vermont between Franklin and Prospect avenues. Begin with people watching and caffeination in a sidewalk seat at Figaro (1802 N. Vermont Ave.), which carefully cultivates its French flavor, or Fred 62 (1850 Vermont Ave.), a 24-hour retro-kitsch diner with lime-green walls. Both draw celebrities and often show up on TV, and among customers at either, you may encounter attitude. (For larger outdoor dining areas and more people-watching, there's also Alcove Café at 1929 Hillhurst Ave. and Home restaurant at 1760 Hillhurst Ave.) Browse Skylight Books (1818 N. Vermont Ave.), and check this week's T-shirts at Y-Que Trading Post (1770 N. Vermont Ave.), where today's news is tomorrow's silk-screen theme. (Recent inspirations: the fragile states of Egypt and Charlie Sheen.) If you stay on the block for dinner or drinks, the dull façade of Dresden Restaurant (1760 Vermont Ave.; since 1954) conceals a neighborhood treasure: the lounge act of Marty and Elayne, who have been playing and singing, Tuesdays through Saturdays, sometimes in matching caftans, for nearly 30 years.

Cowboys, Indians, gorillas and elephants. The Los Angeles Zoo can't match San Diego's, but it's cheaper ($14 an adult), and it's right in Griffith Park. A new Asian elephant area opened in December, but the best entertainment is still the Campo Gorilla Reserve, where your kids might get within inches of a gorilla's nose (with a thick viewing window in between). Their near-human attributes (we mean the gorillas) are endlessly absorbing. If you're more interested in human doings, the Autry National Center's Museum of the American West, just across the street, may surprise you. It covers not only Indians, cowboys and other newcomers but also pop culture's portrayal of them. And it has a great gift shop full of books, art, music, blankets and belt buckles.

Tchotchkes and tiki. You owe somebody a gift, right? Perhaps a grown-up pop-culture sort of gift, not necessarily in good taste? Step into the vast and semi-subversive retail wonderland known as Soap Plant / Wacko and the Luz de Jesus Gallery (all at 4633 Hollywood Blvd.) in Los Feliz. Tiki tchotchkes, concert posters, Beatles lunchboxes, Bozo kazoos, rubber frog handbags — they're all here in a former post office building, along with many picture books not suitable for children. After shopping, get a bite at Umami Burger (4655 Hollywood Blvd.), a block to the northwest. And then it's time to catch a movie at the Vista Theatre (4473 Sunset Drive; Spanish on the outside, Egyptian on the inside). Or maybe you'd rather head for a drink at Tiki Ti, three blocks southeast at 4427 Sunset. No beer, no wine, no credit cards. What you get are tiki drinks, about 90 of them, served since 1961 in a tiny, 12-stool space that fills up quickly. Important note: Smoking is allowed inside because all bar employees are part of the Buhen family, which owns the place. The Ti is usually open Wednesday nights through Saturdays, but every three months, the Buhens take three or four weeks off. So check before showing up. And once you're inside, certain drink orders will cause everyone around you to start yelling "Ooga-Booga!" Act as though you expected it.

Sunset Junction. Remember that weird spark Melrose Avenue had in the 1980s? Something like that is happening now at Sunset Junction, the stretch of Sunset Boulevard storefronts near Sanborn Avenue in Silver Lake. Slouching twentysomethings with high cheekbones and thrift-shop wardrobes. Budding authors and auteurs, poised over their MacBooks by the blue-and-white Nicaraguan tile work in Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea (3922 Sunset Blvd.) or listening to Jacques Brel under the parasols at the Casbah Cafe (3900 Sunset Blvd.). Now's your chance to inspect the 300 artisanal cheeses at the Cheese Store of Silverlake (3926-28 Sunset Blvd.), the 24 flavors of ice cream made from scratch at Pazzo Gelato (3827 Sunset Blvd.), the eight kinds of currywurst cooked at Berlin Currywurst (also at 3827 Sunset; opened in February). To soak it all up, find street parking (arrive early) or grab a spot in the little lot on Sanborn just west of Sunset. Lunch at Forage (3823 Sunset Blvd.). Listen for stray solos outside the Silver Lake Conservatory of Music (3920 Sunset Blvd., co-founded by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea). Browse the $12 shadow puppets at ReForm School (3902 Sunset Blvd.), the comic books at Secret Headquarters (3817 Sunset Blvd.), the music at Vacation Vinyl (3815 Sunset Blvd.), the mixological marvels at Bar Keeper (3910 Sunset Blvd.). You get extra points for coming on a Saturday morning, when the Silver Lake Farmers' Market sets up near Sunset and Edgecliff Drive. You lose those points if you show up unaware on the summer weekend of the annual Sunset Junction Street Fair (Aug. 27 and 28 this year), when live bands and vendor stalls take over the streets and as many as 75,000 revelers (paying $15-$20 each) crowd in.

The lake, the ladies, Taix and time itself. Echo Park, a blue-collar Latino neighborhood for decades, keeps getting trendier and more affluent. Start with a stroll around the Echo Park Lake — if there's water in it. (City officials plan to drain it for repairs, perhaps as soon next month.) Cruise the aged ladies of Carroll Avenue — that is, drive past the greatest concentration of well-tended Victorian homes in Los Angeles, seven blocks south of Sunset by way of Douglas Street. And walk Sunset between Echo Park Boulevard (where a striking Ricardo Mendoza mural wraps around a clinic building) and Taix (pronounced "tex"), the long-enduring French restaurant (1911 Sunset Blvd.) where Park Avenue comes to an end. You'll find stalwarts such as the Echo Park Pawn Shop (1702 Sunset Blvd.) and Pescado Mojado seafood (1701 Sunset Blvd.) jostled by newcomers such as the bookshop-café Stories (1716 Sunset Blvd.). The Echo and its downstairs sibling the Echoplex (1822 Sunset Blvd. and 1154 Glendale Blvd., respectively) are two of the city's leading venues for live rock music. El Prado (1805 Sunset Blvd.), once a dive bar, is now downright genteel (and plays mostly old vinyl on its sound system). On Thursday nights, the nonprofit Echo Park Film Center (1200 N. Alvarado St.) screens alternative and/or documentary films, asking only a $5 donation. But before the day gets away, you need to hit the storefront labeled Echo Park Time Travel Mart (1714 Sunset Blvd.) In the rooms behind, tutors from the 826LA organization (another nonprofit, part of a national network founded by author Dave Eggers) offer free academic help and writing workshops for students ages 6 to 18. Upfront, the outfit raises funds by selling supplies for time-travelers — like robot milk ($19.99 a bottle) and centurion helmets ($99.99 each). If you pretend this is all normal, the clerk at the counter will too.

By hoof and rail. Got kids? Proceed to the ponies near the southeast entrance of Griffith Park at Los Feliz Boulevard and Riverside Drive. There, Tuesdays through Sundays, your child (age 1 or older) can sit on a tethered pony (which will make eight circles for $3) or ride two laps, untethered, on a larger oval track (also $3). On weekends, the scaled-down Griffith Park & Southern Railroad carries children and parents for $2.50 a ride, and more trains await in Travel Town and at L.A. Live Steamers at the north end of the park. The park's biggest playground, Shane's Inspiration, is a short drive from the ponies, and along the way there's a spot to rent bikes and a historic merry-go-round that's open weekends all year and every day in summer. Show up around noon on a Sunday and between carousel tunes you'll hear a strange throbbing in the air. That's the Griffith Park drum circle, always free, frequently fascinating.

Source- Los Angeles Times

Home of the Week: Contemporary Hollywood Hills space

Designer Angie Thornbury remakes a Hollywood Hills ranch home with panoramic views into a trendy, modern space almost three times its original size.

Don't let the dance pole and two-story bar fool you. Although most of the Hollywood Hills homes designed by Angie Thornbury have been sold to bachelors, there's something for everyone in this house above the Sunset Strip.

Thornbury began renovating what was then a 2,400-square-foot ranch house three years ago, transforming the former tract home in the prestigious "bird streets" area of the Hollywood Hills into a trendy, modern space nearly three times its original size. She designed the house around the views that span from downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean and San Nicolas Island. The windows facing south and east take in unobstructed vistas, and even the mirrors in the living room are angled to reflect the views.

It's the fourth multimillion-dollar Hollywood Hills home that Thornbury and her son, real estate agent Cory Sheldon, teamed up to build and market.

"We do everything from start to finish," said Thornbury, whose other children also have a hand in the family business. Her daughter Liberté Chan, a KTLA-TV Channel 5 reporter, shoots video for marketing materials; her other son Randy Sheldon is a computer technician and informal consultant for all things related to computer integration technology, including how to adjust blinds, shades and lights from an iPad.

"Who else can you call at 3 a.m.?" Thornbury said about the perks of working with her children.

With high ceilings, gallery walls and French oak floors, the house is clean and contemporary without being cold. The ground floor was designed to emphasize open space, and the living room, dining room and game area are all connected as part of a "great room." Natural light pours in from seven skylights in the great room, and sidelights are strategically placed so not a single room in the house needs artificial light during the day.

The ground floor, which is actually the top floor, has square glass floor panels that offer a peek of the sleek two-story bar and lounge below. Dubbed the "white bar" for its white marble counters, white tile floors and white walls, the bar also has a full kitchen. A true entertainment home, the house also includes a two-story theater that seats 20 and has a balcony lounge, and a studio spa room with a whirlpool tub and massage table.

Thornbury relied on classic European styling but used materials that were manufactured locally. She used a circle motif because the shape, she said, has a completeness to it. Accordingly, curved lines make their way into many design elements, from the walls of the entryway to circular additions to the exterior roof.

Los Angeles Times

Keeping Your House Hunting on Track

The process of buying a home can be overwhelming–from the growing paperwork to the house-hunting search for a home, buyers sometimes feel a little intimidated.

But today, searching for your perfect home is easier than ever. There are many real estate agents to choose from, a large inventory of homes in many areas, and technology that makes checking out a home as easy as clicking on a few Internet sites. Of course, that's just for a quick look. Getting in the car with an agent and exploring the properties in person will give you better ideas of what you want and, perhaps more importantly, what you don't want.

Now, there are even apps designed to help you keep track of the homes you visit. And there are many to choose from. Take for instance, CrumbTracks, a free app designed by a husband-wife team (Bobby and Eileen Beckmann). It's an iPhone app aimed at helping you stay organized while viewing many different homes. The couple built the app based on their own need to keep information all in one place while house hunting.

"I was looking for an app that would allow me to record things in different homes that I liked and kind of keep a journal," says Eileen.

The app has four different icons that offer a variety of features to assist you with your real estate search. One is a wish list. It lets buyers create a list of what they're looking for in a home. They can choose from items on the list or add their own. The design gallery allows the app to take pictures or video of the home and store it in their design gallery. "They can also share their videos ... via email," says Beckmann. My listing allows buyers to store the physical address and its specifics about the home. The fourth section houses a mortgage calculator to help buyers calculate the cost of buying a home.

Because the market for apps can be stiff competition, the couple decided to offer their app for free to gain consumer interest as they continue to enhance it. "We want to try to get some Realtors involved with it," says Beckmann.

Realtor.com introduced its app, Home Search, earlier this year. The app takes data from about 933 of the nation's Multiple Listing Services, updating the content rapidly for the app. It allows you to make notes inside the app and even give a home you see a "star rating." It then saves the home so that you can refer to it again.

Apps have been around for quite a while now; Trulia launched a real estate app back in 2008 and there are so many more today. Do a search, just on the iPhone, and you'll find plenty.

Beckmann sees the apps as critical to helping with the long, and sometimes tedious, process of finding that perfect home. "It's nice to be able to have a tool to store information in one spot and communicate it with others," says Beckmann.

The average house-hunting process takes about 12 weeks and buyers visit sometimes 20 homes or more before deciding which one is "just right".

Source- Realty Times

Foreclosure activity drops sharply nationwide

Big banks put the brakes on foreclosure activity last month as the American foreclosure system faced a major overhaul and homeowners challenged their lenders in court.

The decline in foreclosure actions — from default notices to bank repossessions — dropped the most in states where a court order is required to take back a home; such so-called judicial states do not include California.

Nationally, foreclosure activity fell 14% from January and 27% from February 2010, according to RealtyTrac. That is the largest year-over-year decline since the Irvine data firm began keeping statistics in 2005.

Evidence of a foreclosure slowdown comes as state attorneys general and federal regulators push the banks to revise the way they service loans, consider troubled borrowers for potential mortgage relief and conduct their foreclosure proceedings. Officials last week sent the nation's biggest mortgage servicers a 27-page list of terms outlining these demands.

"The foreclosure process is stalled, and the seemingly impending settlement is delaying foreclosures," said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com. "The whole process is slowing down because of these issues."

Negotiations involve the five largest providers of home loans. They include the arms of four national banks: Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. Also part of the talks is Ally Financial Inc., the former GMAC, which services loans through its GMAC Mortgage unit.

The wrangling began last year after revelations that some of the nation's largest financial institutions relied on "robo-signers," people who signed key court documents used in thousands of foreclosure cases across the country without reading or understanding them. The revelations led several banks to issue foreclosure moratoriums and lawmakers to question the integrity of the entire foreclosure system.

The February decline was probably related, in part, to banks resubmitting foreclosure filings that had been found to be faulty, said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac senior vice president. About 70,000 foreclosure filings were resubmitted nationally last month, a number RealtyTrac did not include in its February estimates.

Courts have also delivered setbacks to some of the nation's largest lenders in recent months, ruling on behalf of homeowners in key foreclosure cases. This increased scrutiny is probably leading banks to be more cautious with the way they conduct repossession proceedings, said Walter Hackett, an attorney who represents Inland Empire homeowners.

In seeking a global settlement, government agencies have proposed penalties against banks ranging from $5 billion to $20 billion. That money would be used to fund principal write-downs, officials have said.

But bank executives and Republicans this week began publicly pushing back. "We've got to be very careful that we don't create an environment where we encourage people not to pay, and that's the danger you have when you get into broad-based principal forgiveness," Charlie Scharf, chief executive of retail financial services for J.P. Morgan Chase, said in a CNBC interview Wednesday.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) also on Wednesday blasted efforts by the state attorneys general and the Obama administration, calling them a "regulatory shakedown."

House Republicans sent Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner a letter asking him to explain the government's legal justification for trying to impose sweeping changes on the way banks process problem loans, the Associated Press reported.

A total of 225,101 properties received a foreclosure filing last month, according to RealtyTrac, meaning 1 in every 577 homes was caught in some stage of the process. Big banks took back 64,643 properties, a 17% decline from January and an 18% drop from February 2010.

In California, 56,229 properties received filings, a 16% decline from January and an 18% decline from February 2010. Banks took back 12,734 properties, a 20% drop from January but a 1% increase from February 2010.

Source- Los Angeles Times

Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates little changed this week

Mortgage rates held steady this week, with lenders offering 30-year fixed-rate loans at 4.88% on average and 15-year fixed loans at 4.15%, Freddie Mac reported in its latest weekly survey.

The borrowers would have paid 0.7% of the loan balance in upfront lender fees and discount points to obtain the rates, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

In Freddie's survey a week earlier, the 30-year was being offered at 4.87% and the 15-year at 4.15%. Start rates on adjustable loans were nearly unchanged as well, the survey showed.

The 30-year mortgage rate, which twice dipped to less than 4.2% last fall in the Freddie survey, climbed back above 5% in mid-February before again dropping below 5%.

Freddie, the giant loan buyer and issuer of mortgage bonds, nearly collapsed during the financial crisis. It was made a ward of the government to support the housing markets, and loans backed by Freddie, government-controlled Fannie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration now make up 95% of the mortgage business.

The Freddie Mac survey is conducted each Monday through Wednesday. It asks lenders to report popular combinations of rates and fees on loans of up to $417,000 that they are offering to borrowers with good credit, a 20% down payment or 20% home equity, and enough provable income to make the loan payments.

Well-qualified borrowers who shop around often find slightly better deals, and it's possible to pay more upfront to get a lower rate.

Source- Los Angeles Times

California Realtors push for easier short sales

Even as home seizures stall nationally with big banks facing a potential overhaul of the foreclosure system, California’s real estate agents want to see an alternative to foreclosure made simpler.

The short sale, in which a lender allows a borrower to sell their property for less than what is owed, remains doggedly difficult to do, the California Assn. of Realtors contends in an open letter published Thursday in seven major California newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times.

The real estate group is pushing for banks to approve more short sales and for regulators to streamline the process. The real estate agents argue that short sales are better for consumers and banks.

“We’re focusing the spotlight on short sales and calling on regulators, elected officials, nonprofits, business organizations, companies and individuals with a stake in California’s economic future to resolve this issue and others that get in the way of a recovery,” Beth L. Peerce, president of the Realtors group, wrote in the letter.

For a deeper look at some of the issues dogging short sales, take a look at this Times article on the subject published last year.

Source- Los Angeles Times

Bank of America offers mortgage relief for military

Bank of America, the nation's largest bank, announced new initiatives Thursday intended to keep military families from losing their homes to foreclosure.

The new programs come as big banks face national scrutiny over their foreclosure practices and a potential overhaul of the foreclosure system looms. The bank said its new programs would offer mortgage principal reductions for some military borrowers who have fallen behind on their payments.

The plans also call for a reduced 4% interest rate on mortgages for those eligible under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The bank also said it would create a mortgage unit dedicated to servicing military members.

The housing crisis has hit military families particularly hard. Many who bought during the boom and now must relocate because of fresh orders are faced with selling their homes at a big loss. With few buyers and renters, particularly in hard-hit markets, they also are faced with options that include renting at a loss, separation from their loved ones or, in some cases, foreclosure.

Big banks reportedly have foreclosed on military family members in violation of a law meant to protect them. (Take a look a this article by the New York Times and this article by U.S. Banker.)

Bank of America is rolling out the program only to loans owned and serviced by the bank. Some loans that the bank services are owned by outside investors, and the bank said it is negotiating with those investors to see if it can expand the program to include all of its military customers.

The principal reduction component of the plan announced by Bank of America would be significant, lowering the amounts raised on some mortgages to as low as the current market value of those homes. The bank said it would offer interest rate reductions on top of principal reductions as needed and when possible.

The plan to write down principal comes as Bank of America’s own chief executive this week pushed back on writing down loans for troubled borrowers. In seeking a global settlement, government agencies have proposed penalties against banks ranging from $5 billion to $20 billion. That money would be used to fund principal write-downs, officials have said.

"There’s a core problem that if you start to help certain people and don’t help other people, it’s going to be very hard to explain the difference," Moynihan said earlier this week, according to the New York Times. "Our duty is to have a fair modification process."

Pricing a Home to Sell

The most popular real estate slogan has always been "location, location, location." Well, folks, there's a new slogan in town, and his name is "price, price, price." You can have the most fabulous Malibu beach house, but if you are overpriced, you won't sell in today's market.

How do you know where to price your house? How do you know that your real estate agent has priced accurately to sell?

Here are a few tips to steer you in the right direction.

Appraisals: Your real estate agent or brokerage will have a list of local appraisers. You can also visit The Appraisal Institute online at appraisalinstitute.org. Simply click on "find an appraiser". An appraisal costs just a few hundred dollars, but it affords you a clear idea of the amount for which a buyer can be approved.

Comparables: What are homes like yours selling for? Comparables can be found by analyzing homes in your neighborhood, or in nearby neighborhoods, that have similar square footage, upgrades, and amenities. If a comparable home sold for $150,00, there's little chance you'll find a buyer willing to pay $180,000 for your overpriced home. You always want to be the least expensive home in the neighborhood, when it comes to selling, not the most! Everybody loves a deal.

Be Competitive: Underpricing a home is a strategy that some agents employ to garner interest and to create a bidding war through multiple offers. A well-priced home is sure to get more showings than a home that costs more than the competition. More showings mean more exposure, which ups the chances of you receiving an offer.

Lender Communication: Lenders will only allow a buyer to borrow up to the amount a home appraises for. That means if you are overpriced, even an eager buyer may hit a lending road block.

Consider Leasing: If you've been caught in a depreciating market, you may have more money in your home than you can sell it for at this time. A reasonable option is to lease your home. Your real estate agent should be able to work out the specifics of any contract for you.

How Bad You Need to Sell: This is the real kicker. Some homeowners want to sell, but they don't need to. That means they can wait out a down market, or even wait for the "perfect" buyer. If, however, you find yourself needing to move across town, or across the state, then you will have to be more willing in today's market to compromise. And compromise is all about price when it comes to real estate.

Buyers are savvy. Technology allows them to search the local MLS, research the latest trends, and even see how your neighborhood's prices have changed over the last 30 days. They will know if your home is overpriced. It is best to error on the side of too little than too much in this numbers game. If you price your home right, however, you're sure to find a ready and willing buyer.

Source- Realty Times

Green Living: What to Recycle

It can be a little confusing. Do I recycle this carton, but not that box? Do I need to rinse this out before I toss it? How does one know what is acceptable for recycling and what isn't? Here is a very rudimentary cheat sheet for you to use! Let's break it down into categories.

Paper:

1. Corrugated cardboard. This means moving boxes, shipping boxes, and product boxes can all be recycled!

2. Office Paper. Most offices go through a lot of paper. From faxes, to memos, to old projects -- recycling paper is a great way to save a tree!

3. Junk Mail. Yes, even after email, we still get tons of snail-mail junk mail. If you are unable to opt-out of receiving this deluge, then at least recycle the weekly ads. And you can shred and recycle credit card offers and other mail!

4. Phone books. See the comments for junk mail above!

5. Gable-top cartons. Milk cartons and orange juice containers can also be sent to the recycle center.

6. Magazines. You may find some recycling programs still don't accept "glossy paper." But, in all actuality, glossy paper can be easily recycled using today's modern technologies.

Metal:

1. Soup and Coffee Cans.

2. Aluminum Foil.

3. Soda Cans. To be really proactive, set up a collection bin at your office to collect post-snack and post-lunch cans.

Glass:

Glass takes a long time to decompose. It takes longer than your lifetime and mine added together, multiplied by 100 and ... you get the idea. There are certain types of glass you cannot recycle, however. You CANNOT recycle: light bulbs, TV tubes, Pyrex dishes, mirrors, windows, or ceramics.

Plastic:

Plastic must be clean! So wash it out and send it on its way. Most plastic has a recycling code on the bottom. Codes 3, 6, and 7 are less likely to be accepted.

And no plastic shopping bags, unfortunately. Now is the time to buy some reusable bags!

Electronics:

From televisions, cell phones, VCRs, printers, and fax machines can all be recycled! The bad news? Microwaves, smoke alarms, and your old fridge need to disposed of in other ways.

Batteries:

You may already know that your car battery can be recycled, but did you know that those run-down AA, AAA, and other household batteries can also be recycled?

Why recycle? Recycled paper requires only 60% of the energy needed to make new paper. And that's just the tip of the recycling iceberg. It really is a no brainer. So, make a little extra effort at your office and home to save the planet, one glass bottle or pop can at a time.

Source- Realty times

30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgage Drops for Third Consecutive Week

McLean, VA – Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), which shows a drop in long-term fixed rates for the third consecutive week.

30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 4.87 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending March 3, 2011, down from last week when it averaged 4.95 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.97 percent.

15-year FRM this week averaged 4.15 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 4.22 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.33 percent.

5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.72 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.8 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 4.11 percent.

1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 3.23 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.4 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 4.27 percent.

Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist at Freddie Mac, reports, "Mortgage rates saw an overall improvement this week. Interest rates for 30-year fixed mortgages were almost 0.2 percentage points below this year's high set just three weeks ago. This means that homebuyers could now expect to pay $263 less per year on a $200,000 loan."

"However, housing demand still remains weak. New home sales in January were near record lows dating back to 1963 when the data began, according to the Census Bureau . Similarly, pending sales of existing homes fell for the second consecutive month in January, according to the National Association of Realtors® ."

Source- Realty Times

Record Portion of California Homes Bought With Cash

The share of Golden State homes purchased with cash rose to a record level last month as investors and others took advantage of lower prices and less competition during the market's winter doldrums, a real estate information services reported.

Last month 30.9 percent of all new and resale houses and condos sold statewide were bought without a mortgage - the highest level in at least 23 years, according to San Diego-based DataQuick Information Systems, whose statistics go back to 1988. Last month's cash figure was up from 28.9 percent of sales in December and 28.5 percent a year earlier.

January's high point follows a record year for cash deals in California. Last year cash buyers purchased 27.8 percent of all homes sold, up from 26.0 percent in 2009, which was the prior annual peak.

The trend extends well beyond California. For last month and for all of last year, the portion of homes bought with cash climbed to peak levels in DataQuick's statistics across much of the West, including the Phoenix, Las Vegas, Reno, Denver, Portland and Seattle regions.

The all-cash deals were transactions where there was no indication in the public record of a purchase mortgage recorded at the time of sale. Some of these "cash" buyers could have used alternative financing arrangements outside of a typical, recorded purchase mortgage. Also, in some cases cash buyers might be taking out mortgages after their purchases.

Over the past decade, cash buyers purchased a monthly average of 13.9 percent of the homes sold in California, though since November 2008 the cash level has been above 20 percent.

For the past couple of years all-cash deals have become far more common in lower-cost markets where prices have dropped sharply, luring investors and other buyers who either can't qualify for a traditional mortgage, or who simply view housing as a relatively attractive place to park their money. Moreover, using cash can get you to the head of the line if there are multiple offers on a property, given sellers favor the relative speed and certainty of all-cash transactions.

Last month 51.9 percent of those paying cash were absentee buyers, meaning their property tax bills will be sent to a different address. In most cases this indicates the buyer is an investor, though in vacation markets a fair number would be second-home purchasers. Of the cash buyers who appear to be owner occupants, it can't be determined from public records what percentage bought for purely investment reasons, perhaps with a plan to sell after prices start rising again.

Foreclosures are a big target for cash buyers, but not the only target. About 52 percent of the homes purchased with cash in January had been foreclosed on in the prior 18 months.

The median price paid for a Golden State home purchased with cash last month was $160,000, down from $175,000 in December and $164,000 a year earlier. That compares with a median of $239,000 last month for all homes sold statewide.

The median-size of a California home purchased with cash last month was 1,344 square feet, with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The median size of resale single-family detached houses bought with cash was 1,443 square feet, while for resale condos it was 1,050 square feet.

Last month resale houses made up 75.3 percent of the cash sales, while resale condos were 22.2 percent and all newly built homes just 2.5 percent.

The median age of existing single-family houses bought with cash last month was 41 years, while it was 29 years for existing condos.

Of the 247 California zip codes that logged at least 10 cash sales last month, 60 saw cash buyers purchase more than half of all homes sold. Of those 60 zip codes, 25 were in Riverside, San Bernardino and Sacramento counties.

Some of the larger counties that saw a record share of sales go to cash buyers last month were Contra Costa, Fresno, Orange, Sacramento, Santa Clara and Solano counties. Although most of the state's 58 counties did not see a record level of homes purchased with cash last month, enough of the larger ones saw a record or a near-record level to pull the entire state up to its highest point for any month since at least 1988. (Many of the state's large counties did see a record portion of homes bought with cash in all of 2010, compared with all other years back to 1988).

Source- DQNews

REAL ESTATE TREND: URBAN CENTERS

Urban centers are the hot thing now for shopping, entertainment and recreation. Coastal cities such as Vancouver and Boston are viewed as very attractive markets. They're considered some of the most dependable markets since their home prices don't change much.

Elizabeth Marquart, Real Estate Emissary in Los Angeles, believes that the biggest trend is people no longer wanting large homes! In the last ten years, the trend was “bigger is better” with people building gigantic houses. Some would have no yard and have as much house as they could. Buyers of today are going the complete opposite direction. There are the baby boomers who are downsizing now because their kids are gone. Those kids are buying houses, and these are people who want to be closer to the city and they want smaller houses that cost less to maintain. A lot of them are looking for homes that are eco-friendly that they are able to put solar panels on or have a vegetable garden in. Because of that we’re going to start seeing a lot of those huge homes on the market that aren’t selling.

Since the holidays more of us are feeling confident. We are being told that we might not want to count on prices dropping any further. The advice: take a risk and write the offer! If you see a house out there that you like that’s a little bit out of your budget, and if it’s been on the market for more than 60 days, write your offer. Get the seller to come down on price – don’t wait for it to get reduced. Everybody waits, and a lot of times when it does get reduced, multiple people write offers. Just got for it. The worst they could do is say no.

With regards to selling, make your house look like a model home – it is key. A lot of buyers don’t have vision, and they can’t imagine what the house would look like without all your stuff in it. Box all your things like collections and family photos, anything personal. If the house is vacant, you want to rent furniture, this is called staging. Let people see how it should be decorated. A vacant house will not sell for the majority of buyers out there.

Good news for Canada: the Canadian real estate market is set for higher than expected growth in 2011.

In the United States, three of the top ten real estate markets expected to do well in 2011 are: San Antonio, San Francisco and Salt Lake City.

Source- Hollywood trend report

Obama officials, attorneys general closer to possible deal with banks in foreclosure mess

Senior Obama administration officials, newly joined by state attorneys general, were on the brink Thursday of finalizing major elements of a possible settlement with large U.S. banks accused of flawed and fraudulent foreclosure practices, sources familiar with the discussions said.

But absent from this otherwise united government front, which is preparing to submit a proposed settlement to financial firms within days, is the regulator of the nation's largest banks, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The OCC has raised concerns that the firms might be required to pay too large a fine - $20 billion or more - and adopt mortgage procedures that the agency doesn't think make financial sense.

The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because the terms of the discussions weren't finalized.

This split within the federal government echoes previous disagreements among regulators over how to respond to the financial crisis. The OCC and other bank regulators have been accused of coddling the firms they are supposed to be overseeing while agencies that have advocated a get-tough approach have been criticized for trying to gum up the financial machinery that makes the U.S. economy hum.

The nation's foreclosure crisis remains one of the drags on the U.S. economic recovery, and Obama administration officials are under pressure to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

Even as officials neared consensus over the changes they would require banks to make in foreclosure practices, there was still no decision about how large a penalty banks should face and whether they should pay a fine or devote the sum to helping rework mortgages for distressed borrowers. Officials have told banks they would like the industry to help avert 1.5 million new foreclosures, sources said.

On Thursday, senior officials from the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development discussed finalization of these terms. These discussions occurred as the Justice Department,, which has been coordinating the efforts, prepared to approach banks with a potential settlement.

One person close to the discussions said that a final round of face-to-face negotiations with banks would be held in the coming days, probably in Washington.

If the settlements are finalized, they could resolve a range of allegations that go beyond the flawed foreclosure practices, which came to light in the fall. The alleged infractions include that the banks failed to comply with federal rules requiring mortgage modifications, broke state laws when foreclosing on borrowers and lied to federal housing programs.

Last fall, the nation's largest banks were forced to freeze tens of thousands of foreclosures after widespread reports of problems with documents. After months of investigation by federal and state officials, the Justice Department has been holding discussions with representatives of banks in Washington about a potential settlement, sources said.

In recent days, federal officials have coalesced around proposed changes in bank practices aimed at safeguarding the mortgage modification and foreclosures processes, sources said.

Source- The Washington Post

F.H.A. to Raise Insurance Premiums

FEDERAL Housing Administration mortgages, the government-insured loans that have surged in popularity in recent years, will be getting slightly more expensive this spring.

The F.H.A. announced this month that it was raising the annual mortgage insurance premium for borrowers by a quarter of a percentage point — to 1.1 or 1.15 percent of the loan amount for 30-year fixed-rate loans, and 0.25 or 0.50 for 15-year or shorter-term loans.

The higher premium applies to F.H.A. loans taken out on or after April 18.

The agency called the change a “marginal increase” that would be “affordable for almost all home buyers who would qualify for a new loan.” But industry experts say that some consumers, especially those considered marginal borrowers, may now be prevented from buying or refinancing a property.

The annual premium for 30-year loans was already changed in November, to 0.85 percent or 0.9 percent; the level used to be 0.50 percent or 0.55 percent. (The annual premium for 15-year or shorter-term loans, previously zero to 0.25 percent, did not change at that time.)

“It’s going to make fewer people qualify” for the loans, said Michael Moskowitz, the president o