2009 October | California Real Estate Sales

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Changes to FHA financing 90 day Flip Rule will no longer apply to FHA Financing. Previously, ...

Signs are emerging that a much-feared escalation of California home foreclosures may not happen, as ...

Bank of America said it approved another 24,000 mortgage payment reductions in April, bringing its ...

Final Showing this weekend! April 17 & 18, 2010 Saturday and Sunday 1:00 - 5:pm This exceptionally ...

By NICK TIMIRAOS New data suggest that foreclosures are rising in more expensive housing markets. About 30% ...

Archive for October, 2009

Biggest Celebrity Home Price Cuts

Posted by Lee Williams On October - 22 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS

No one is immune to the affects of the economy on the housing market.Â Here are a few celebrity owned properties that have taken big price cuts.Â Call our office if you want to make an offer on any of these. (310) 882-5428

Courtesy of Luxist
Suzanne Somers

Was: $35 million

Now: $12.9 million

Price Cut: $22.1 million

Les Baux de Palm Springs, a bit of faux Provence tucked into the hills of Palm Springs, California, belongs to Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel and sits on 65 acres of desert land. The couple bought the land way back in 1977 and it came with a small home that the couple eventually enlarged and added to as well as putting in guest houses, an amphitheater and an updated pool on the property. The price was dropped by over 50 percent after the home was on the market for one year.Â More on This House

Nicolas Cage

Was $35 million

Now: $17.5 million

Price cut: $17.5 million

Nicolas Cage has multiple properties on the market including two in New Orleans, and homes in Las Vegas and Rhode Island. The crown jewel is his Los Angeles home. This vintage Tudor is classic old Hollywood and was once home to both Dean Martin and Tom Jones. Cage purchased the home in 1998 from Jones for $6.469 million and has been trying to sell the home off and on since 2006 when it was listed at $35 million. The seven-bedroom home is on an acre of land and has over 11,000 square feet of space with a large theater, game room, wine cellar and rooms of truly epic scale. It is now listed at $17.5 million. He has also cut the prices on some of his other homes including a recent price cut of $3.9 million on his Rhode Island home.

Courtesy of Luxist

Mel Gibson

Was: $39.5 million

Now: $29.5 million

Price cut: $10 million

Mel Gibson first put his Greenwich, Connecticut mansion on the market in 2007 for $39.5 million. His Old Mill Farm is a classic estate that is one of the last manor homes in Greenwich. The home is on 77 acres of land which includes formal gardens, a maze, pool tennis court, greenhouse, stable staff houses, log cabin and a pond. The home itself is an Elizabethan-inspired Tudor mansion of 15,800 square feet and the property has 15 bedrooms and 18 bathrooms total. The great hall has a 40-foot cathedral ceiling with a stone minstrel’s gallery, walk-in fireplace and leaded glass ceilings. More on This House

50 Cent (Curtis Jackson)

Was $18.5 million

Now $10.9 million

Price cut: $7.6 million

Rapper 50 Cent thought he had a steal when he bought Mike Tyson’s former home in Farmington, Connecticut, which he purchased from Tyson’s ex-wife for just $4.1 million (She originally wanted $25 million). 50 Cent spent $6 million on renovations and has been trying to sell the home since 2007, listing the property for $18.5 million. Earlier this year, he settled a lawsuit against an engineering firm that he hired to inspect the 52-room home before he bought it, claiming they underestimated the cost of the repairs needed. At that point, the mansion, which was then listed at $14.5 million, was pulled off the market; it’s now for sale again for $10.9 million. More on This Property

Courtesy of Luxist

Burt Reynolds

Was: $15 million

Now: $8.995 million

Price cut: $6.005 million

Actor Burt Reynolds has been trying to sell his home in Hobe Sound, Florida for a while. The Mediterranean-style home is on over three acres of land and borders a wildlife refuge. The 12,500-square-foot waterfront compound was once listed at $15 million but is now listed at $8.995 million and has been at this price for nearly a year so it may need another price cut to sell. More on This House

Brian Bosworth

Was: $11.9 million

Now $6.9 million

Price cut: $5 million

Former football player and sometimes actor Brian Bosworth first tried to sell his Malibu home back in 2007 when he was listed as his own real estate agent. Back then this seven-bedroom home was listed at $11.9 million and didn’t sell. The home had a starring role in the television show “The O.C.” as the home of Caleb Nichol and Julie Cooper. Bosworth must be a motivated seller because the home is back on the market with a lowered price of $6.9 million. More on This Property

Diane Keaton

Was $12.95 million

Now $11.95 million

Price cut: $1 million

Oscar-winning actress Diane Keaton has dropped the price on her meticulously-restored Beverly Hills Spanish Colonial Revival mansion. It was first listed at $12.95 million in March and is now on the market for $11.995 million. Built in 1927 by architect Ralph Flewelling, the seven-bedroom home features arches in the living and dining rooms, a movie star-worthy pool, and a garden with olive tree-lined walkways. More on This Property

Christina Aguilera

Was $7.995 million

Now $6.995 million

Price cut: $1 million

Christina Aguilera first put her architecturally splendid West Hollywood home on the market in April after she and her husband bought the Beverly Hills home of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. The four-bedroom home was listed for $7.995 million but she has cut the price to $6.995 million. More on This Property

Courtesy of Luxist

Britney Spears

Was: $7.9 million

Now: $6.499 million

Price cut: $1.401 million

Britney Spears has been trying to sell her home in the Summit community of Beverly Hills nearly since she bought the home on what appears to have been a quick impulse back in 2007 during her more manic days . The home has been listed as high as $7.9 million last fall but now the six-bedroom villa is at a more realistic $6.499 million. Spears meanwhile has decamped to Calabasas when she’s not on tour. The new price means that she will likely lose money on the deal, Spears bought for $6.75 million when it was on the market for $7.2 million. More on This House

Courtesy of Luxist

Lance Armstrong

Was: $12 million

Now: $10.5 million

Price cut: $1.5 million

Lance Armstrong recently twittered the birth of his fourth child which perhaps has made him more motivated to sell his expansive retreat near Dripping Springs, Texas. The 447-acre property was our estate of the day back in January. The ranch includes ownership in Deadman’s Hole, a beautiful swimming hole that has a giant waterfall. The ranch includes a four-bedroom main house built in 2003 as well as a one bedroom guest house. The main house has great views of the surrounding countryside. There is also a pool and a spa and the acreage includes seven miles of bike trails. More on This House

Kimora Lee Simmons

Was: $7.75 million

Now: $5.9 million

Price cut: $1.85 million

Model, designer and professional diva, Kimora Lee Simmons has put her home in the Beverly Hills Post Office area on the market.The former wife of rap mogul Russell Simmons paid the $5.9 million asking price for the home just a couple of years ago. The “country English” style home has five bedrooms and a casually luxe feel. The home was originally on the market last summer for $7.75 million but is now listed at $5.9 million. More on This Property

Courtesy of Luxist

Rupert Murdoch

Was: $14.8 million

Now: $12.8 million

Price cut: $2 million

Proving that even moguls aren’t immune to the real estate crisis, Rupert Murdoch has been trying to sell his Centre Island, New York home off and on for the last couple of years. The classic Colonial was built in 1900 and has been nicely redone and updated. The home has five acres that include a pool, tennis courts, a cabana and a sandy beach. This home was recently rented by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie while Jolie was filming a movie in the area. More on This House

Courtesy of Luxist

Dan Marino

Was: $15.9 million

Now: $13.5 million

Price cut: $2.4 million

Football player Dan Marino has had his Weston, Florida compound on the market for around three years. In addition to the price cut the famous quarterback will throw in $1.5 million worth of designer furniture and a signed football, too. Marino and his wife Claire are looking to downsize but it has been slow going. The Mediterranean-style villa is on a four-acre spot in the Windmill Ranch Estates community. It is surrounded by a lake with fresh bass. The home’s large pool area connects the main house with other areas. The property has two guest houses, staff quarters, an exercise room and a wine cellar. There are ten bedrooms total. More on This House

Courtesy of Luxist

Curt Schilling

Was: $8 million

Now: $5 million

Price cut: $3 million

Baseball pitcher Curt Schilling’s grand home in Medfield, Massachusetts is one amazing property with almost twenty-six acres on the lot and 11,000 square feet of house. The expansive lot includes a pool, batting cage and a triple-purpose court for tennis, basketball or ice-skating. Inside you’ll find a library, game room, movie theater, a three-story spiral staircase and a 4,000+ square foot finished, walk-out basement. There are seven bedrooms, six full and two half baths not to mention a gourmet kitchen and eight-car garage. More on This House

Courtesy of Luxist

Elle Macpherson

Was: Â£9.5 million ($15.493 million)

Now: Â£7.5 million ($12.231 million)

Price cut: Â£2 million ($3.262 million)

Model Elle Macpherson is the latest celebrity to drop the price of her home more than once. The Australian supermodel first put her London home on the market for Â£9.5 million last summer. The seven-story, Grade II-listed property is located in the Notting Hill area. Macpherson dropped the price to Â£8.95 million a while back but now she has switched agencies and dropped the price to Â£7.5 million. She bought the home in November 2006 after her break-up with multi-millionaire Arpad Busson, the father of her two children. The Victorian property was built in the 1850s and has six bedrooms. It has been redone in a modern style and includes a large kitchen with multiple islands. More on This House

Courtesy of Luxist

Dylan McDermott

Was: $11 million

Now: $6.9 million

Price cut: $4.1 million

Actor Dylan McDermott purchased his home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles back in 1999 from Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas for $3.94 million and they had bought it in 1997 from Michelle Pfeiffer and David E. Kelly (the creator of “The Practice” and other shows). The 1920 Spanish style hacienda in Brentwood has four bedrooms, a two-story vaulted living room with a carved balcony, a den, and the “magical muse room.” The small lot has a pool/spa area that overlooks the Riviera hills, a courtyard and fountain, and a beautiful 250-year-old oak tree, It was first listed at $11 million last August. More on This House

Alex Rodriguez

Was $14.876 million

Now: $9.999 million

Price cut: $4.877 million

After cutting the price, New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez sold his New York City apartment (pictured) but his Coral Gables, Florida home remains on the market. The price has dropped from $14.876 million all the way down to $9.999 million for the waterfront mansion far under the $12 million he paid for the property in 2005. More on This Property

Featured, Market News

1800 Pelican Ave, San Pedro, CA 90732

Posted by Lee Williams On October - 21 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS

Listing Price: $775,000 Reduced to $729,000

1800 Pelican Ave, San Pedro CA, 90732 ~ Ocean/Catalina View – This Upper South Shores home is fitted with special solar panels that create electricity for the home. New double paned and glazed windows, updated floor plan, fireplace, remodeled kitchen, tile and bamboo flooring. Skylight and recessed ceiling lights. 3 bedrooms with new, mirrored closets and 2 remodeled baths – one with a large spa tub. Office and laundry. The main living area is wired with surround sound and special double TV antennas for international viewing. Paneled solid oak doors. Back patio has a retractable awning. Enjoy the ocean and Catalina view from the rooftop deck or relax and listen to the stereo in the extra large, deep spa tub fully enclosed in a gazebo for year-round use. Easily maintained yard w/ terraced area for a large vegetable and flower-cutting garden. 2-car garage and a separate hobby/work shed. Walk to Friendship Park or five minute drive to Trump National Golf Course or the new Terranea Resort.

Ocean/Catalina View
Solar panels that create electricity for the home.
New double paned and glazed windows
Updated floor plan, fireplace, remodeled kitchen, tile and bamboo flooring.
Skylight and recessed ceiling lights.
3 bedrooms with new, mirrored closets
2 remodeled baths – one with a large spa tub.
Office and laundry.
The main living area is wired with surround sound and special double TV antennas for international viewing.
Extra large, deep spa tub fully enclosed in a gazebo for year-round use.
Easily maintained yard w/ terraced area for a large vegetable and flower-cutting garden.
2-car garage and a separate hobby/work shed.
Walk to Friendship Park or five minute drive to Trump National Golf Course or the new Terranea Resort.

Listed by Al D’Amico, MLS#MRM-V09069885
Broker/Owner, #1385864
Keller Williams Palos Verdes
www.aldamico.com

Buyers interested in this propery should contact
Lee Williams
Buyer’s Agent #01726182
Keller Williams Palos Verdes
(310) 882-5428
LeeWilliams@KW.com

The accuracy of all information, regardless of source, including but not limited to square footages and lot sizes, is deemed reliable but not guaranteed and should be personally verified through personal inspection by and/or with the appropriate professionals.

Featured, Open House

California Foreclosure Flood Reduced to Trickle

Posted by Lee Williams On October - 21 - 2009 2 COMMENTS

Signs are emerging that a much-feared escalation of California home foreclosures may not happen, as banks respond to government pressure and scale back their repossessions of troubled properties.

Statewide, the number of homes taken back by lenders dropped sharply in the three months ended Sept. 30, falling 37% over the same period a year earlier, when foreclosures were at an all-time high.

If the trend continues, it will give momentum to the fledgling recovery in the housing market. Although home prices appear to have bottomed out in much of the state, industry analysts have cautioned that a glut of foreclosed properties coming on the market could send values plunging again.

“I certainly don’t think there’s going to be a deluge, or second wave of foreclosures,” said UC Berkeley economist Kenneth Rosen, who believes federal officials will do whatever it takes to see the backlog of foreclosures clear gradually. “There’s now an appetite to make sure we get this right.”

Hundreds of thousands of Californians remain at risk of foreclosure because they can’t make the payments on their homes. Yet lenders are now more willing to give borrowers time to catch up with their payments, partly out of concern that more foreclosures will further depress the housing market — and the value of their inventory.

“It’s not out of the goodness of their hearts,” John Walsh, president of MDA DataQuick, which provides real estate research, said of lenders’ reluctance to foreclose. “It’s because they’ve concluded that flooding the market with cheap foreclosures in this economic environment may not be in their best financial interest.”

Bank of America Corp., one of the nation’s biggest lenders, said the slowdown in foreclosures could be attributed to efforts to “exhaust every possible option” to keep borrowers in their homes.

“We do not hold foreclosed properties off the market,” the bank said in a statement. “We have an obligation . . . to prepare foreclosed properties for market and sell them as efficiently as possible.”

Others believe that big lenders and government officials are operating under a tacit agreement: Keep a lid on foreclosures.

“I don’t think people are saying it to each other, but they’re seeing it’s in nobody’s interest to have mass foreclosures,” said Richard Green, director of USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate.

Banks pushed to the brink of collapse in 2007-08 by the explosion in loan defaults have been continue reading at LA Times

Featured, Foreclosure

Default Notices Drop by 10 Percent in California

Posted by Lee Williams On October - 21 - 2009 1 COMMENT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mortgage default notices against California homeowners dropped during the past quarter, as lenders modified more loans and took other steps to limit foreclosures, a real estate tracking firm said Tuesday.

Nearly 112,000 foreclosure-related notices were filed during the July-September period, a 10 percent drop from the second quarter of 2009, San Diego-based MDA DataQuick said.

Lenders might be slowing the pace of formal foreclosure proceedings intentionally, said DataQuick President John Walsh. ”If so, it’s not out of the goodness of their hearts,” he said. ”It’s because they’ve concluded that flooding the market with cheap foreclosures in this economic environment may not be in their best financial interest.”

A better tactic could be to encourage employed borrowers to stay in their homes, Walsh said.

The latest figures marked a 19 percent increase from the nearly 92,000 default notices recorded in the year-ago period, when a new state law required lenders to meet with borrowers to discuss possible remedies 30 days before beginning the foreclosure process.

The current figures were down sharply from a record high of more than 135,000 notices during the first quarter of 2009.

Notices of default are the first step in the formal foreclosure process.

The number of homes actually seized by banks reached 50,000 during the most recent quarter, up almost 10 percent from the prior quarter but down about 37 percent from a record of nearly 80,000 during the year-ago period.

Read Full Article

Featured, Foreclosure

Push on to expand $8,000 tax credit

Posted by Lee Williams On October - 19 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS

Some want to expand the tax credit for homebuyers. Supporters say it could stem price declines. Critics say it would just be a costly, temporary fix.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com, Author Jeanne Sahadi) — Congress is considering proposals to greatly expand a soon-to-expire $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers — potentially applying it to all but the wealthiest homebuyers.

Supporters say doing so would further boost home sales, stabilize housing prices and generate jobs. Opponents say extending and expanding the credit would be a waste of money and only temporarily stave off further price declines.

The credit now can be claimed by anyone buying a home who has not owned one for three years and who closes the deal by Nov. 30.

Beyond extending that deadline, some lawmakers want to make the credit available to all homebuyers who meet income eligibility requirements. And some want to increase the amount of the credit from $8,000 to $15,000.

Currently the first-time home buyer credit is available in full to those buying their primary residence who make $75,000 or less ($150,000 for joint filers). A partial credit is available to those making between $75,000 and $95,000 ($150,000 to $170,000 for joint filers).

The case for expanding the credit
Through mid-September, 1.4 million tax returns had qualified for the credit, according to the IRS.

Some portion of those returns, which the IRS couldn’t specify, represents buyers who took advantage of an earlier version of the tax credit, which was only worth $7,500 and has to be repaid over time.

By the end of November, the credit will have been used by 1.8 million homebuyers, at least 355,000 of whom would not have bought a house without the tax break, according to estimates by the National Association of Realtors.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of MoodysEconomy.com, favors extending the current credit until June 1, 2010, and making it available to all home buyers regardless of income or at least to everyone except those at the highest end of the income scale. He estimates the cost of doing so wouldn’t exceed $30 billion over 10 years.

Zandi’s reasoning: Foreclosures are expected to rise next year because of rising unemployment, and that will drag home prices down further. Extending and expanding the credit will help mute that decline. And by June, there’s a chance the job market will have stabilized.

“The most fundamental argument for the credit is that nothing works in the economy if housing is falling — it hurts household wealth and credit becomes tight,” Zandi said. “[The credit] is a good insurance policy. It’s vital to stem the housing price declines.”

To kick start economic activity, Zandi believes lawmakers should set aside an amount of money for an extended credit and tell potential home buyers “first come first served.”

The National Association of Home Builders would like the credit extended for all of 2010.

Read Full Article at CNNMoney.com

Buyers, Featured

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Jump 23% to Record in Third Quarter

Posted by Lee Williams On October - 16 - 2009 ADD COMMENTS

By Dan Levy

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — U.S. foreclosure filings climbed to a record in the third quarter as lenders seized more properties from delinquent borrowers, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

A total of 937,840 homes received a default or auction notice or were repossessed by banks, a 23 percent increase from a year earlier, the Irvine, California-based seller of default data said today in a report. One out of every 136 U.S. households received a filing, the highest quarterly rate in records dating to January 2005.

â€œThe problem is prime loans going into foreclosure and people being underwater and losing their jobs,â€ Richard Green, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said in an interview. â€œItâ€™s a really bad number.â€

Mounting foreclosures mean U.S. home prices probably will resume falling, analysts from Amherst Securities Group LP in New York said Sept. 23. A â€œshadow inventoryâ€ of 7 million properties are in the foreclosure process or likely to be seized, up from 1.27 million in 2005, they said.

The pace of prime and so-called alt-A loan defaults is accelerating as subprime defaults slow, Standard & Poorâ€™s analysts led by Diane Westerback said yesterday in a report. Prime loans are those made to borrowers with the best credit records while alt-A loans are considered riskier because they were often granted without documenting the borrowerâ€™s income.

Securities Losses

More than $400 billion in U.S. home mortgages that were packaged into securities and sold by companies other than government-supported Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in default and may be foreclosed on, S&P said. Those defaults may depress home prices for years, the analysts said.

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Featured, Foreclosure