A Slice of So Cal Real Estate

What used to be the realtor’s advertising mainstay (newspapers) is losing a lot of it’s clientele to online websites and of course, classified advertising sites such as Craig’s List.  I might add that some advantages of an online presence is that customers can usually view the site 24/7, can leave comments with the advertiser and websites allow tracking tools that newspapers don’t otherwise have.

Real estate advertising will become less prevalent in newspapers as it shifts to the Web, where online home buyers are actively searching for properties, analysts say.

Currently about 15 to 20 percent of real estate advertising is online, but Mike Simonton, media industry analyst for Fitch Ratings credit analysis service, says it is poised to go higher for a number of reasons.

Suzy Antal, director of marketing for Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, a unit of Prudential Financial Inc., said many Prudential practitioners have been pulling back on advertising during the current downturn, but as they return, they’re shifting ad budgets to their own Web sites, creating blogs, and taking different approaches beyond newspapers.

“Is newspaper a high priority? No,” Antal says. “I don’t believe my buyers and sellers are going to be in that market.

It’s not surprising while the real estate market may be slowing in various areas, its red hot on cable TV channels.  There has been a rise of various real estate related cable TV shows in the recent past that has viewers glued to their TVs and watching programs that are more interesting to watch than your regular TV fare.

Among the hot programs: “Bought & Sold,” about real estate agents in Essex County, N.J., started this spring on HGTV. “Real Estate Pros,” following the adventures of South Carolina real estate developer Richard Davis, premiered April 21 on TLC. “Flip This House,” now in its third season on A&E, documents the efforts of real estate developers in three cities. And “Property Ladder,” in which novice house flippers try to get rich quick, will begin a third season July 14 on TLC.

And there are others: “Flip That House,” “Buy Me,” “Fantasy Open House,” “House Hunters,” “House Hunters International,” “Sell This House” and “My House Is Worth What?”

Why do they thrive?

“At the end of the day, real estate is the American dream,” says Davis of “Real Estate Pros.”

Viewers — especially those who work in the real estate industry — might wonder if the situations featured in the episodes are made for TV. After all, they seem lots more exciting than the daily business of most real estate practitioners. But Davis says absolutely not. ” My show is never scripted and never will be,” he says.

Source: McClatchy Newspapers, Robert Trussell (07/07/2007)

Love her or hate her, the home style maven, Martha Stewart Home designs are a big winner.  According to this article excerpt, Martha Stewart’s designs are very popular in Southern California’s inland empire and throughout the nation and demand continues to grow. 

KB Homes, the country’s seventh largest builder, is enjoying big success with homes designed in part by Martha Stewart and plans to extend the Martha brand to 36 new markets.

Gregory Duriez, KB’s Atlanta division president, says he is struggling to keep up with demand. “My problem isn’t how can I sell more Martha homes. It’s how can I get more lots in front of me,” he says.

Martha homes are moneymakers in other ways. KB’s CEO Jeffery Mezger says buyers of Martha Stewart homes spend on average 50 percent more on options than buyers of non-Martha homes. In the hot, arid climate of California’s inland empire, 85 percent of Martha home buyers installed a fireplace that was featured in Martha’s model home.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Michael Corkery (07/11/2007)

Just when you think you are done with the rockin’ and rollin’ , the entertainment continues into the evening, with the Movies Under The Stars series. The series offers family friendly, rated “PG” movies that begin at dusk or 8:30 p.m. following the concert performance every Wednesday evening.

Admission to the concerts and movies are free and open to the public. Free parking and handicapped accessible shuttle service is available to and from the Diamond Bar Golf Course parking lot and Sycamore Canyon Park, beginning at 5:30 p.m.  Sycamore Canyon Park is located at  22930 Golden Springs Drive in Diamond Bar.

Diamond Bar recreation services encourages you to bring a blanket or lawn chair for seating on the grass.  You can bring your own food for a picnic under the stars or purchase food and refreshments from the community non-profit organizations at the concert.

The following is the schedule for this summer’s Diamond Bar “Movies Under The Stars” schedule.

Movies Under the Stars

July 11^th  - Charlotte’s Web

July 18^th  - Happy Feet

July 25^th -  Peter Pan

August 1^st – Open Season

August 8^th – Zoom

August 15^th – Over the Hedge

August 22^nd – Madagacar

For more information contact the City’s Recreation Services Division at (909) 839-7070.

The Diamond Bar summer Concerts in the Park series takes place on seven consecutive Wednesday evenings during the summer beginning in late June and ending mid August at Sycamore Canyon Park. Concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. The entertainment continues into the evening, with the Movies Under The Stars series, read our following post for details. The series offers family friendly, rated “PG” movies that begin at dusk or 8:30 p.m. following the concert performance every Wednesday evening.

Admission to the concerts and movies are free and open to the public. Free parking and handicapped accessible shuttle service is available to and from the Diamond Bar Golf Course parking lot and Sycamore Canyon Park, beginning at 5:30 p.m.  Sycamore Canyon Park is located at  22930 Golden Springs Drive in Diamond Bar.

Diamond Bar recreation services encourages you to bring a blanket or lawn chair for seating on the grass.  You can bring your own food for a picnic under the stars or purchase food and refreshments from the community non-profit organizations at the concert.

This year’s schedule (2007)  begins July 11^th thru August 22^nd.

 
Concerts in the Park

July 11^th  - Ravelers ~ Classic Rock

July 18^th  - Chico ~ Latin

July 25^th -  Kindread ~ Caribbean

August 1^st – Cold Duck ~ 70’s and Top 40

August 8^th – Christian Simmons & Broken Arrow Band ~ Country

August 15^th – Rodeo Drive ~ Broadway

August 22^nd – Gregory Wolfe – Rod Stewart Tribute

For more information contact the City’s Recreation Services Division at (909) 839-7070.

With the current subprime loan fiasco, it’s going to be difficult for homeowners to find investigators available to check out evidence of fraud as according to the following excerpt many of these agents have been re-assigned to other duties.

The Mortgage Bankers Association says the FBI simply does not have enough bodies to handle a fraud epidemic in the mortgage industry, which reportedly lost more than $4 billion in 2006 alone as a result of the problem.

Efforts by banks to get the federal agency to investigate cases of fraud are largely futile, according to MBA lobbyist Corey Carlisle, who says “you’re hearing banks talk about ‘marketing your cases’ to law enforcement.”

Some 2,500 FBI agents, many of them specializing in finance, have been reassigned to focus on terrorism, and the White House never budgeted in funding to replace those agents.

 

[Source: Seattle-Post Intelligencer]

When a simple barbecue grill and a couple of lawn chairs just won’t do any longer, Americans are spending greater amounts of money in remodeling their outdoor living areas according to this Bankrate online article. 

According to the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, outdoor living in the 21st century means bringing all the comforts of the indoors outdoors. In order to bring the indoors out, homeowners need a cooking appliance, a table and chairs for dining and a hearth product to extend the season.

This entire “leisure lifestyle” industry is now a $6.2 billion industry, up 5.4 percent compared to 2002. According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2005, one-third of nearly $150 billion on home remodeling went towards outdoor living areas.

In spite of the nations problems with subprime lending, California home prices are defying all logical downward forecasts. It seems that the experts can’t seem to agree on what’s fueling the increase. According to a Realtor online article…

“Despite increasing mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates in California, the state’s median home price shot up 4.8 percent to $591,180 during the year-over-year period ended in May, according to the California Association of Realtors®.

University of California-Los Angeles Anderson Forecast economist Ryan Ratcliff believes job gains in the professional services sector could prevent a recession, provided that the state — which the California Association of Mortgage Brokers says accounts for 48 percent of home loans nationwide — is not hit too hard by problems in the subprime market.”

Either you are downsizing, relocating to another city or just ready to move out of your parent’s home and you’ve realized that saving solely for the apartment deposit and credit check fee isn’t going to allow you to rent that trendy apartment you have been eyeing online. That’s usually because first time renters have concentrated solely on the apartment rental expense and do not realize that there are many first-time costs they haven’t calculated in their apartment search budget. While some items may vary, depending on the city and regional area you have chosen, the following worksheet lists some of the most common up-front costs.

Up-Front Expenses

Credit Check fee for apartment application $_____

Deposit for apartment $_____

Deposit for pets (if any) $_____

Deposit for electric service $_____

Deposit for gas service $_____

Deposit for telephone service $_____

Installation fee for cable TV or internet service $_____

First month’s rent on apartment $_____

Moving Costs $_____

Total Up-front Expenses $_____

While these up-front costs will cover getting you into the apartment, you will need to also come up with some money to equip your apartment with the furniture, household items and food staples that will make living in your new place possible–especially if the apartment is unfurnished. Sleeping on the floor, eating fast food on paper plates and having no place to sit will get old very fast!

To reduce your expenses, you might want to consider buying used furniture at thrift stores or yard sales or maybe getting a few furniture donations from relatives. If you have the financial resources, then estimate what you will be spending on furniture for each room.

The following worksheet, will help calculate your furnishing costs.

Furniture for 1 or 2 bedroom apartment $______

Small kitchen appliances (blender,microwave, etc.) $______

Dishes, pots and pans, flatware $______

Household items (bedspread, towels, rugs) $______

Kitchen paper goods and toiletries $______

Cleaning supplies (mop, broom, household cleaners) $______

Food (including first-time staples & condiments) $______

Total Move-in Expenses $______

You will need to add both totals to get a clear picture of what your expenses will be. Some of those expenses can be spread out over a few months; however, you should be aware of what to expect. If you spend the time planning ahead, it will pay off with a much more realistic picture of what your budget can handle, no “sticker shock” worries and enjoying your new place.

With all the emphasis on changing the visual appearance of the home through staging and other de-cluttering methods, many homeowners do not realize the negative impact odors in the home have with potential buyers.  A homeowner should ask a third party to let them know if there is any perceptible odor in the home.  The following excerpt addresses this important problem and details what the major offenders usually are.

Sales associates polled informally by REALTOR® Magazine Online a few years ago said the lingering presence of pets, tobacco, mildew, and decay in the air are major deal-breakers.

Given that not everyone smells the same odors and that people can become accustomed to a particular smell over time, it is important for property sellers to have their sales associates or another objective party inform them about unpleasant scents in their homes.

…The smell of cat urine is especially difficult to remove, with Chris Coffin of the Alexandria, Va.-based branch of the cleaning company ServiceMaster estimating that spot-cleaning carpets and replacing the carpet pad would cost home buyers upwards of $400; removing and replacing saturated floors would cost much more. Coffin adds that it often takes three cleanings to remove nicotine odors from walls, and some cases involve the replacement of insulation.

Experts urge home buyers to be wary of air fresheners, candles, and other scents when touring homes, as they could be used to conceal offensive odors. A better solution for sellers, they say, is to clean drapes, sheets, and pet bedding as well as to air out the house.

Source: Washington Post, Dina ElBoghdady (06/23/07)