Homes Sold in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica & others in Feb 2012

Homes SOLD in BEVERLY HILLS 90210 in Feb as of Feb 26

31 Homes NOW PENDING in 90210 as of Feb 26

56 Beverly Park Dr., 260 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 21,750,000. Originally Listed At: $25,000,000

1041 Summit Dr., 75 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 7,650,000. Originally Listed At: $8,495,000

617 N Alpine Dr., 112 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 7,250,000. Originally Listed At: $7,995,000

1235 Tower Rd., 21 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 6,750,000. Originally Listed At: $7,295,000

9380 Monte Leon Ln., 116 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,700,000. Originally Listed At: $3,799,000

2554 Hutton Dr., 61 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,100,000. Originally Listed At: $2,250,000

10111 Angelo View Dr., 83 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 1,850,000. Originally Listed At: $1,999,000

9364 Hazen Dr., 80 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 1,810,255. Originally Listed At: $1,950,000

1721 Benedict Cyn Dr., 411 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 1,100,000. Originally Listed At: $1,275,000

2341 Coldwater Cyn Dr., 141 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 955,000. Originally Listed At: $1,099,000

Homes SOLD in SANTA MONICA in Feb as of Feb 26

11 Homes NOW PENDING in 90402 as of Feb 26

1105 Georgina Ave., 11 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 3,105,000. Originally Listed At: $3,250,000

680 San Lorenzo St., 15 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,997,000. Originally Listed At: $2,795,000

438 Sycamore Rd., 2 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,000,000. Originally Listed At: $2,625,000

733 20th St., 26 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 1,950,000. Originally Listed At: $1,950,000

Homes SOLD in BRENTWOOD in Feb as of Feb 26

22 Homes NOW PENDING as of Feb 26

321 S Bristol Ave., 49 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 9,000,000. Originally Listed At: $9,495,000

1030 Gretna Green Wy., 40 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 3,230,000. Originally Listed At: $3,145,000

919 S Gretna Green Wy., 69 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 3,000,000. Originally Listed At: $3,195,000

2232 Westridge Rd., 100 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,665,000. Originally Listed At: $2,900,000

312 S. Carmelina Ave., 18 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,650,000. Originally Listed At: $2,695,000

12608 Promontory Rd., 195 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,200,000. Originally Listed At: $2,695,000

1200 N Tigertail Rd., 46 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,175,000. Originally Listed At: $2,299,000

326 N Bonhill Rd., 105 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,100,000. Originally Listed At: $3,095,000

708 Moreno Ave., 17 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,050,000. Originally Listed At: $2,095,000

300 N Bundy, 267 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 1,345,000. Originally Listed At: $1,475,000

4010 Mandeville Cyn Dr., 201 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 1,055,000. Originally Listed At: $1,199,000

12542 The Vista., 157 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 990,000. Originally Listed At: $1,100,000

Homes SOLD in CHEVIOT HILLS in Feb as of Feb 26

5 Homes NOW PENDING as of Feb 26

2877 Forrester Dr., 170 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 2,000,000. Originally Listed At: $2,695,000

10596 Cushdon Ave., 147 Days On The Market, SOLD At: $ 850,000. Originally Listed At: $949,000

Home Sales in Los Angeles comparing 2010 to 2009 and the peak in 2007!

Statistics taken from the Multiple Listing Service (MLS):

Comparing the Number of Home Sales between 1-3 million in Los Angeles cities: Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Bel Air, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades during jan-nov 22:
Sales of homes 1-3 million in 2007 in those cities= 682
Sales of homes 1-3 million in 2010 in those cities= 629
Sales of homes 1-3 million in 2008 in those cities= 464
Sales of homes 1-3 million in 2009 in those cities= 497
Current sales volume is almost as strong as the peak in 2007!
And Sales of homes 1-3 million from 2009 to 2010 shows a big increase!

Reasons For Jump In 2010 in Home Sales 1-3 Million:
Pent up demand from buyers
Sellers pricing homes more aggressively
Low rates & low home prices
In Los Angeles- we have seen stablity in the housing market for months

Sales of homes in the high-end 3-10 million in Los Angeles cities: Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Bel Air, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades are the following from jan-nov 22:
Number of sales Jan-Nov 22 2010 = 216
Number of sales Jan-Nov 22 2009 = 185
Number of sales Jan-Nov 22 2008 = 245
Number of sales Jan-Nov 22 2007 = 325

Harvard Study Addresses The State Of The American Housing Market

Hello Friends,

I read this and thought you might find it interesting. Keep in mind real estate is local so your situation may be better than this article states. For market information more specific to your neighborhood, give me a call. Connie

Harvard study addresses the state of the American housing market
By Annie Lowrey 6/15/10

Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies released its 2010 report on the state of the American housing market yesterday. The verdict? Not good, if stable.
The bottom line: The nation has not faced housing problems of this magnitude since the Great Depression. Heavy job losses and lingering high unemployment rates have increased housing insecurity for millions of families. The share of U.S. households with severe housing cost burdens reached a record high in 2008 and may have climbed again in 2009. Although households have switched from net spenders to savers, their balance sheets have still not recovered for the boom years.

It will likely take years for the fallout from the Great Recession to abate. The 2000s ended on a sour note, with real household incomes lower than where they had started the decade and the shares of housing cost-burdened households at record highs. With federal budget deficits looming, the resources necessary to make a noticeable dent in the nation’s widespread housing affordability problems are unlikely to appear anytime soon. The share of cost-burdened homeowners may, however, ease as some stressed households default on their loans and become renters, or as others qualify for federal loan modification programs. Tighter underwriting standards and lower home prices will also keep more home buyers from taking on excessive cost burdens right from the start.

And the biggest threat to the nascent housing recovery, or at least the bottoming-out and stabilization? Joblessness. The 15 million unemployed Americans are not purchasing homes — and many are desperately trying to sell.

After following a classic pattern of improving exactly two quarters before growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) turns up — and within two to three quarters of renewed employment growth — new home sales sputtered in the final quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010.

Despite strong new home sales gains in March and April 2010, the durability of the housing recovery is still at risk. In addition to the expiration of the home buyer tax credit program, which may have temporarily jacked up home sales, the market faces threats from the severe overhang of vacant units, still high unemployment, and record numbers of owners with homes worth less than the amount owed on their mortgages.

Demand has been so weak that vacancies hit record levels despite draconian production cuts. The number of vacancies exploded from 2006 through 2008 before growth slowed in 2009. For-sale vacancies finally eased last year, perhaps aided by the first-time home buyer tax credit. But increases in for-rent vacancies more than offset the reduction, suggesting that some owners may have shifted their empty for-sale units to the rental market. Worse, the surge in foreclosures pushed the number of excess vacant homes in the “held off market” category some 745,000 units above normal levels, rivaling the total number of excess vacant units that are for sale and for rent.

There continue to be real problems caused by the number of underwater homeowners — people who owe more on their mortgage than their house is worth, meaning that they would still owe the bank if they sold their home. Some of those most underwater choose to walk away — defaulting or “strategically defaulting,” leaving their home in the bank’s hands and taking the hit to their credit scores. “Cramdown” or principal reduction programs would have prevented the rising tide of strategic default, which remains a threat to banks’ bottom lines and housing prices.
That said, the report notes, there is some hope that the significant drop in home prices will once again make homes realistically affordable for first-time buyers — rather than leveraging themselves, they can, if employed, save a deposit and obtain a good mortgage.

According to the broad S&P/Case-Shiller index, prices for low-end homes in most metropolitan areas registered the largest drops. On average, the declines at the low end of the market were more than 50 percent greater than those at the high end. This disproportionate loss of housing wealth has added to the pressures on low-income homeowners faced with job losses and heavy debt loads.

When nominal prices are rising, owners who get into trouble making payments or need to move can simply sell their homes for a nominal gain and pay off their mortgages. But when nominal prices fall, owners whose homes are worth less than their mortgages cannot sell at a gain. This impedes repeat sales and increases the likelihood of defaults. According to First American CoreLogic, roughly one-quarter of American homeowners with mortgages were underwater in the first quarter of 2010. Some 40 percent of these 11.2 million distressed owners are located in California and Florida. Nevada has the highest incidence of the problem, affecting 70 percent of homeowners with mortgages.

At the same time, though, steep price declines also bring critical improvements in first-time home buyer affordability that will help to fuel recovery. Nationwide, the median sales price dropped from 4.7 times the median household income in 2005 to 3.4 times in 2009. When combined with low interest rates, this puts mortgage payments on the median priced home closer to median gross rents than at anytime since 1980. Among the 92 metropolitan areas consistently covered by NAR since 1989, price-to-income ratios in 21 are now below their long-run averages — some significantly so.
Still, there is little hope for a strong housing rebound — not with the sky-high unemployment rate and generally sluggish economy.

National Pending Home Sales Up 5.3% in March 2010

Pending home sales index rose a seasonally adjusted 5.3% in March, and was up 21.1% compared with a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.
In February, the index rose 8.3%, compared with an earlier estimate of an 8.2% gain.

The Tax Credit is now gone and housing may slow a bit but in time natural forces will start moving the market forward. Lawrence Yun of the NAR expects things to pick up second half of 2010. The housing market will indeed need time to recover and the recovery will be tied closely to jobs, the deficit, taxes and productivity in the U.S.

Thoughts on owning a home and investing in Real Estate:

1. The lesson to take from the housing collapse is not that real estate or home ownership is a bad investment but that buying and selling real estate should be taken seriously and should be done with knowledge and with preparation for long-term ownership.
2. It is a long-term investment that for many, over the long-term, has provided a wealth or higher standard of living they could not have achieved by working in their field.
3. Putting money in the bank as Warren Buffet stated, "is a poor investment". Some day inflation will return and real estate prices will go up- equity will be earned and those homeowners can then take that equity and invest it or use it to MOVE UP to a bigger home or one in a better location.
4. You need a place to live so this investment offers something most other investments do not offer- no matter what happens in the market, that property will still exist.
5. The majority of homeowners with a loan WERE RESPONSIBLE and needed no assistance.
6. If regulations better limit borrowers perhaps this will never happen again... if not.... we will see something like this down the road.

The Tax Credit for Home Buyers Expires TODAY

Yesterday I spoke with Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business show "CAVUTO" about the expiration of the tax credit. I went on the record saying that the tax credit was necessary to get buyers off the fence at a time there was so much fear in the marketplace. The tax credit targeted low-end housing (where the most distressed appeared) and first-time home buyers. At one point 50 percent of the buyers were first-time buyers so this tax credit worked. Latest reports now show that investors were responsible for 19 percent of the transactions in March. Most of these investors are not motivated by the tax credit or interest rates since a large number purchase with all cash. I stressed that it is the price that has brought investors back into the marketplace: therefore, we do not to give a tax credit when buyers are now buying in all price ranges because of attractive prices that exist today.

Consumer confidence is also much higher-in April it measured at 57.9 percent. February pending home sales are up and the number of homes sold nationally have been up year over year for the last 9 months. New home sales were up in March (and beat estimates) and the stock market has come back giving many the feeling of being wealthier than a year ago. This also could be one reason housing has shown strength.

Warren Buffet said the he does not agree that "cash is king" as he thinks cash is a poor investment. So if investing is the smart thing to do then buying real estate at a time when rates and prices are low is the way many people are moving. Almost anyone can understand how to buy and sell homes but investing the same amount in stocks is something most would need a far greater amount of knowledge and time to properly manage long-term.

CALL FOR A FREE CONSULTATION BEFORE SELLING OR BUYING

Most people call me for a consultation because they want to know the value of their home and how I would price and promote their property. Nevertheless, I have also been called to help a homeowner prepare their home for the market, advise them on improvements that will add value to their home and to offer advice as to whether they should even sell or buy based on their current set of circumstances.

Whatever your need is, I promise to give you an honest answer and to support my opinion with data or written materials from industry insiders whenever possible. There is NO CHARGE FOR A CONSULTATION if you are in the Los Angeles area. You are also under NO OBLIGATION to work with me but I certainly hope that will be your decision!

To Make An Appointment:

Ph 310 913-1184
Email: connie@conniedegroot.com

http://www.conniedegroot.com/
http://www.whatsupinsantamonica.com/

All FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS MUST READ THIS

Buying a home for the first time is exciting but it can also be very scary. In working with first-time buyers I have found that by explaining the entire process and by giving buyers a timeline of what and when they can expect things to occur, tensions are greatly reduced and the joy of buying a home remains most prominent.

In today's market we have further challenges that have caused many buyers to be unsuccessful. Careful preparation needs to begin long before house hunting. A buyer today must have excellent credit and the resources for a reasonable down payment. I also encourage buyers not to spend at their uppermost limit as banks sometimes change their demands at the last minute asking the borrower to come up with a larger down payment. If this should happen after all contingencies have been removed, the buyer could have his 3percent deposit at risk.

These surprises can take all the joy out of buying but with careful planning at the beginning, and having an experienced, well respected advisor, you will give yourself the best chance to be successful buying or selling.

If you would like more information, or if you would like for me to help you find excellent representation in your area of interest, just give me a call. You may also contact me to get up-to-the-minute mortgage info, tax benefits,and incentives being offered to first-time home buyers!


You May Reach Connie De Groot at: Ph 310 913-1184
You May Email Connie Directly at: connie@conniedegroot.com

Connie's Websites:
www.ConnieDeGroot.com
www.WhatsUpInSantaMonica.com