July 3, 2009
Actress Brynn Thayer and her husband, award-winning manager-writer-producer David Steinberg, have sold their longtime Pacific Palisades home for $2,995,000.
The 3,300-square-foot post-and-beam house, built in 1972, has four bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms and sits on a heavily treed lot of about a half-acre.
The couple's 90272 ZIP Code saw 32 single-family home sales in the first quarter at a median price of $2,025,000 ($753 per square foot), according to MDA DataQuick, a drop of 5.8% from the first quarter of 2008.
– Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Photo: A terrace and patios off the back of the four-story house. Credit: Stephen Moritz
Originally posted here.
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July 2, 2009
The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Ennis House in Los Feliz has landed on the Multiple Listing Service at $15 million.
The 1924 concrete-block structure has four bedrooms and 4 1/2 bathrooms in about 6,000 square feet. The Mayan-inspired California landmark — it is a state landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places — sits on about three-quarters of an acre with city, canyon and ocean views.
The seller is the Ennis House Foundation, a nonprofit that has spent about $6.5 million to restore the earthquake- and water-damaged estate. The house "needs more stewardship at this point than a small nonprofit can sustain," the foundation states on its website.
It is estimated it will take an additional$5 million to $7 million complete the restoration. Deep pockets, anyone?
– Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Photo: Architectural details include high, wood-beamed ceilings, art-glass windows, a window-lined loggia looking onto the pool, and a glass mosaic-tile fireplace in the living room. More photos are at latimes.com. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times
Originally posted here.
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July 2, 2009
A local company is among the targets of a Federal Trade Commission crackdown on consumer fraud. From The Times' Jim Puzzanghera:
One of the FTC's new cases alleged that five Van Nuys companies had bilked consumers out of about $300 million by selling fraudulent programs related to real estate or online businesses.
The companies — John Beck Amazing Profits, John Alexander, Jeff Paul, Mentoring of America and Family Products — and five people who had founded or run those companies were accused of violating federal laws related to telemarketing and consumer fraud.
The FTC accuses the companies of making "false and unsubstantiated claims about potential earnings" that customers could make by following their advice in books, CDs and DVDs titled "John Beck's Free & Clear Real Estate System," "John Alexander's Real Estate Riches in 14 Days" and "Jeff Paul's Shortcuts to Internet Millions," which were sold for $39.95 each.
People who purchased the programs, advertised through infomercials, unknowingly were signed up for additional monthly charges of $39.95 and offered "personal coaching services" that cost several thousand dollars.
Messages left at the companies' offices were not returned Wednesday.
Anyone in L.A. Land have any first-hand experience with any of these outfits? By the way, the FTC is calling this push "Operation Short Change."
– Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Originally posted here.
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July 1, 2009
The Palm Springs home owned for decades by Oscar-winning composer Frederick Loewe and the place where he wrote the score for "Camelot" is on the market for $5.95 million.
The one-story, ranch-style house, built in 1956, has four bedrooms and three bathrooms in 4,369 square feet and sits on nearly 3 acres. In the master bedroom, Loewe put the bed and nightstand on a turntable of sorts so he could take in different views of the backyard — a feature that remains. The house was put on the market the year after his 1988 death at $4.5 million.
See more photos at latimes.com.
– Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Photo: There are terraced gardens, a tennis court, a swimming pool with spa and a putting green. The home has glass walls, stone floors, a step-down living room and three fireplaces. Credit: Lance Gerber
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July 1, 2009
A reduction in average mortgage rates last week didn't stop the decline in applications
for home loans, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. reported this morning.
The refinance boom continued to fizzle out, with applications down 30% from the previous
week, to the lowest level since November. Purchase applications
fell by 4.5%, according to the report, which you can read at the website below.
http://www.mbaa.org/NewsandMedia/PressCenter/69498.htm
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate home loans decreased to 5.34%
from 5.44% a week earlier. For 15-year fixed loans, the rate averaged 4.81%, down from
4.93%. Points, including the origination fee, edged up to just over 1% of the loan amount
from just a hair under 1%, the trade group said.
The 30-year fixed rate bottomed out at 4.61% at the end of March, the lowest level since
the Mortgage Bankers Assn. started keeping track in 1990.
Many economists believe the economy overall may shift back into growth mode later this
year. But despite some encouraging signs, a solid recovery in housing is likely to take much longer.
That is in part because of the rate trends, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen said in a speech Tuesday.
"Even though house prices are continuing to fall in most markets, housing sales and new
construction appear to have stabilized," Yellen said in her speech, posted online at
http://www.frbsf.org/news/speeches/2009/0630.html
But she added: "I am concerned that mortgage rates, which have risen of late, could place
a drag on a still very sick housing market, potentially driving home prices still lower
and pushing more borrowers into foreclosure."
— E. Scott Reckard
Originally posted here.
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June 30, 2009
Here's a look at where online house shoppers were searching in Riverside and San Bernardino counties last week, according to Realtor.com. These properties received the most hits in searches for homes within 20% of the median list price of $229,500:
1. 4197 Hidatsa St., Riverside, CA 92507
The 2002 Mediterranean has three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,254 square feet.
Listed at $185,000.
2. 1347 Orange Grove Circle, Corona, CA 92879
The 1998 house has four bedrooms and three bathrooms in 1,937 square feet.
Listed at $199,950,
3. 1033 Queenspark Road, Corona, CA 92880
The 2006 home has three bedrooms and three bathrooms in 2,040 square feet.
Range-priced from $199,000 to $239,000.
4. 6245 Halstead Ave., Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91737
This 1962 ranch has four bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,862 square feet.
Listed at $275,000.
5. 32765 Castana Drive, Temecula, CA 92592
The 2001 two-story has four bedrooms and three bathrooms 2,100 square feet.
Listed at $199,900.
By comparison, a public records search shows house No. 1 sold for $175,500 in 2002 and No. 2 sold for $166,000 in 1998. Neither is that far off today's prices.
– Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Photo: The most-searched home in Riverside County last week at Realtor.com was this three-bedroom home at 4197 Hidatsa St. in Riverside. Credit: Lonnie Maples
Originally posted here.
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June 30, 2009
"Gossip Girl" executive producer Bob Levy has purchased a Hollywood Hills-area home for $1,005,000.
The updated 1965 house has two bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms in about 1,620 square feet. The two-story house previously sold for $759,000 in 2004. Asking price was $1,125,000. The listing agent was Crystal Heatherly of Deasy/Penner & Partners, Beverly Hills. Konstantine Valissarakos of Sotheby’s International Realty, Los Feliz, represented the buyer.
The 90068 ZIP Code had 13 single-family home sales in May at a median price of $670,000, down 34.8% from the same month in 2008, according to MDA DataQuick. That worked out to $542 per square foot.
– Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Photo: The listing described the house as a "modern reinterpretation" design by L.A.-based architect Chet Callahan. Credit: Brian Thomas Jones
Originally posted here.
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June 30, 2009
The Case-Shiller home price index, which tracks repeat sales of single-family homes, is out today. Home prices in April for the composite of 20 U.S. metro areas fell 18% from a year earlier. The L.A. area, which includes Orange County, was down 21%. The Times story is here.
Since January, the index has broken its established pattern of record-breaking declines, which had been the case for all of 2008. The current declines still are practically the same as the record 19% January year-to-year drop for the 20-city index, however. The Los Angeles area decline is down from a 25% year-to-year decline in January.
Phoenix and Las Vegas continue to post year-to-year declines greater than 30%. Phoenix prices were down 35% in April, Las Vegas prices were off 32%. San Francisco prices in April were 28% below year-ago levels.
In the Los Angeles area, there's a substantial gap in price declines by market segment. The lowest-priced third of homes sold in April was down 54% from the peak. The highest-priced third of homes was down 31%, while mid-tier prices fell 42% from peak levels.
Low-end prices were inflated to a greater degree during the bubble, and thus had more room to fall. High-end prices didn't rise as much, and were slower to fall due to fewer subprime loans and wealthier homeowners being able to hold out longer. Now, high-end price have taken a pretty healthy hit.
But in the real world, the picture may differ from what the data shows. High-end sales volumes in the L.A. area are tiny, so while the home price index for that segment might be down 31%, relatively few houses are selling at those prices.
Those of you tracking or shopping for high-end homes may not find many homes on the market priced at 31% below peak levels. That's likely slowing the correction at the higher end, while foreclosures have put many lower-priced homes on the market at prices 50% below peak levels.
— Peter Y. Hong
Originally posted here.
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June 29, 2009
When I was in Washington, D.C., last week, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and a couple of other politicians addressed a group of journalists gathered on Capitol Hill to cover the administration's overhaul of finance rules. I hesitated to blog on it because have you ever heard the man speak? It's a stream of mumbling.
With that caveat, he said a couple of discernible things worth recounting.
No. 1: "The notion that homeownership is a universal goal is greatly flawed," Frank said. There are people "for whom rental housing is ideal." His point: Homeownership society thinking contributed to the housing bubble.
No. 2: "The ability to securitize 100% of loans caused the bubble," he said. One of the critical changes going forward is that lenders keep some "skin in the game," he said, and retain at least a 5% stake in the loans they make.
I agree on No. 1 and, as for No. 2, I think a 5% stake is better than nothing, but I have no idea if it's enough.
And while we're talking about having skin in the game, he concluded with this idea: When home prices appreciate, a lot of problems can go unchecked and unnoticed. "But when the tide goes out," he said, "you can see who has been swimming naked."
– Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Photo: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) says lenders need to retain at least a 5% stake in the loans they make. Credit: Brendan Smialowski / Bloomberg News
Originally posted here.
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June 27, 2009
A debt-forgiveness plan being floated by the Milken Institute in Santa Monica is the subject of Tom Petruno's column today. Here's how it would work:
Say an owner's mortgage is worth $400,000 but his house is valued at $300,000. The government would refinance the $400,000 loan with two new loans. Fannie Mae, the mortgage financier now under government control, would provide a first loan for the market value of the house, in this case $300,000. The Treasury would issue the second loan, in this case for $100,000.
The Treasury loan would be interest-only and would provide the vesting part of the program. For each year that the homeowner keeps up payments on both loans, one-fifth of the Treasury loan would be forgiven.
The Milken folks say the cost to taxpayers to save 1.5 million homes from foreclosure — or people walking away — would be in the $75-billion to $100-billion range. And, if I'm reading it correctly, this could spare lenders from having to take "haircuts on their loans." Anybody have a problem with that?
– Lauren Beale
Thoughts? Comments?
Originally posted here.
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