Gallup Poll

The Gallup Organization released a report this week summarizing the results of a survey they conducted in early April 2009. One of the survey questions asked of the American public was "For people in general, do you think now is a GOOD time or a BAD time to buy a house?" Seventy-one percent (71%) of those surveyed believed that now is a good time to buy a house.Americans were also asked, "Which of the following do you think is the best long term investment- bonds, real estate, stocks, savings accounts, CD's or mutual funds?" The results showed that Americans felt that savings accounts and real estate were the best long term investments, with far fewer choosing stocks, bonds and mutual funds.

Looks like the 710 is going underground

A of yesterday the California Senate sent the Assembly a measure by Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) mandating that any extension of Interstate 710 from its current ending at the Los Angeles city line to connect with Interstate 210 in Pasadena be built by tunnel. "Removing the surface route option will protect homes and keep neighborhoods in tact," said Cedillo, author of SB 545.

Have we hit bottom?

According to Inman on 5-18-09 practitioners are optimistic that home prices will hit bottom in the next six months, according to surveys from www.HomeGain.com that were just released. At least in my market I've noticed the strongest surge in buyer interest than in the past few years. My phone is ringing off the hook, and I just lost out on a house that had 25 offers and is selling for over $100,000 over the asking price. It's a 3+2 house on Wapello in Altadena. Seems like 2005 all over again.

Home Affordability Hits 18-Year High

Housing affordability is reaching record levels with nearly 73 percent of all homes sold in the first three months of 2009 considered affordable. That’s the highest percentage ever reported by the 18-year-old, quarterly Housing Opportunity Index, compiled by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo. To be considered affordable, a family making the national median household income of $64,000 must be able to devote no more than 28 percent of their income toward housing costs. Source: Realtor Magazine 5-22-09

Loss Leader

What's a loss leader? It's something that leads in a loss. I'll give an excellent real estate example. I just sold a condo in a building that had only one sale in the past 18 months. Very desirable building. No one really wants to sell. At the height of the market is was worth %$500,000. It took 7 months to sell and closed escrow a week ago for $301,000. No one really knew how much values fell, and the only way to know was on a closed sale, hence, it's now the loss leader, unfortunately. By the way, don't get mad at your neighbor that sells too low, it's not their fault, unless they have a stupid or lazy agent. Most of the time it's just the market and you can't control the market.

Fast Facts for May 2008

Calif. median home price - March 09: $253,040 (Source: C.A.R.)
Mortgage rates - week ending 5/14/09 30-yr. fixed: 4.86% Fees/points: 0.6% 15-yr. fixed: 4.52% Fees/points: 0.6% 1-yr. adjustable: 4.71% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)

Staging is important.....

In the past few years the big brokerages and their top agents have been promoting another service to their sellers: staging. The good agents will give advice on colors, clutter, decor, furniture placements, etc. to help win the listing, and sell the house faster and at a higher price. Make sure your agent does this.

Yeah, I can see this..

People say it's a bad market, a buyers market, a sellers market. Did you read the LA Times article about the under $500k properties that routinely get 10+ offers if they're priced right, and because of the internet it's practically impossible to steal a property, especially in a good area? "Don't wait for the market to come to you, it's impossible to time the bottom. Go after the market, because there are so many great deals out there and somebody else is going to do it today if you wait for tomorrow." Here's that article: http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/la-fi-cover3-2009may03,0,7623052.story

Will it be a V, U, L, W, or a D?

As interesting article in the WSJ from David Wessel. Excerpts: The U.S. led the world into the abyss, and it will lead the world economy out of it. But how fast and when? The alphabet can help to imagine the possibilities and the path of the economy. There's the letter V: the kind of quick rebound that usually follows a deep recession. Or U: a longer recession and slow recovery. There is L: years of painfully slow growth (a long slog). And W: a temporary upturn as the economy feels the jolt of fiscal stimulus that quickly wears off. Finally, there's the big D, not the shape but another Great Depression. Here's the last sentence of the article, after he discussed numerous surveys of forecasters: The odds favor a long slog.

When was the peak in Los Angeles?

The housing peak in terms of prices in Los Angeles was August 2007 where the medium house price was $605,300. In March 2009 it was at $295,100, a 51.2% drop.

Affordability has about TRIPLED, check this out...

The Housing Affordability Index (HAI) in LA County went from 11% in the Q4 2005 to 30% in Q4 2008 (and has probably increased when Q1 2009 data is published). HAI measures the percentage of households that can afford to purchase the median priced home, and is regarded as the most fundamental measure of housing well-being. Shoot me an email and I can get you the most recent stats.

Pirate in Pasadena

There are pirates in Pasadena. I was with clients last week, in the backyard where the buyer wanted to open a big old tool shed. He struggled with the handle, and boom, the door flew open and out came a pretty big guy with a sword yelling at us, all the while he was tapping his sword on his shoulder asking if we "want some of this". Everyone froze. We were in a really nice neighborhood, but I knew this was real, knew that freezing wasn't an option, and yelled
we're walking away", and we did. The agent decided not to call the police. Well, I found out later that the guy lives in the toolshed in the back of the yard and dresses as a pirate as a side job. But no one told me, and it was scary as hell. Arrrrr, thare be pirates in Pasadena.