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Century City / Westwood, CA Condominium Market Report for February 2011
Century City / Westwood, CA Condominium Market Report for February 2011. As you know I have been a big proponent of Looking at Housing Trends, I find that is the key to getting the correct picture. It is important to look at the Monthly numbers, but we should not be caught up with the Headlines. There have been delays due to Lenders, Appraisers and other unforeseen reasons. Now with that said I am very excited to report that The Active Listings for February have increased month over month from 257 to 271. The larger the selection the more Realistic the Sellers are and the Buyers are more motivated, since they have a selection they can choose from and go to escrow with. At the current expectation that the interest rates did not get raised the buyers decided to continue and purchase properties at a reasonable pace. There were also more properties in Back up Status month over month. During the month of February there were 35 properties vs. 31 the previous month in Back up Status. As the Economic data suggested the economy was improving and it is evidenced by the fact that there were more buyers who have removed their contingencies and were prepared to close escrow in February. In January there were 36 properties pending vs. in February there were 38 properties pending in the Century City/Westwood area. This is great news, because this Trend is an indication that the Housing Market is improving. Now to look at the most important figure the Sold properties fared very well also. Month over Month the increase was quite large, last month we had 16 Sold and this month we had 26 reported Sold transactions. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read moreThe Playa Del Rey, CA Condominium Market Report for February 2011& Economic Commentary by Endre Barath, Jr.
The Playa Del Rey, CA Condominium Market Report for February 2011& Economic Commentary by Endre Barath, Jr. As those of you who read my last month’s commentary you know I was expressing concerns about certain economic and political events. In case you missed it here is the link for you http://actvra.in/4T6 In order that the real estate market could continue in the right direction I put the following contingency in…. The key will be as long as interest rates remain low, you can take advantage of the better affordability of Condominiums as well as Single Family Residences. This of course is beneficial to the buyer as well as the seller who has owned their home for a longer period of time…… As last month’s numbers indicate the Economic Recovery is continuing and the Interest Rates are holding steady. So with that said, for the Month of February there were 51 Active Listings vs. 53 the previous month. This is almost identical for this small beach side community. The Properties which were accepting backup Offers were 8 just as the previous month’s 8. The solid Pending numbers were almost identical as well last month’s 5 vs. this month’s 6. Of course the most interesting and watched number are the SOLD ones interestingly they were almost identical as well. Last month’s sold consisted of 7 vs. this month’s 5. Now with that said I would like to caution every one: Real Estate is becoming globally influenced As we speak the President of the National Association of Realtors is in Singapore and he will be visiting Malaysia next. He understands that the Global agenda impact our bottom line locally. So I will be very interested how the Middle East crisis will affect the Housing Trends for the next few months. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read moreThe Playa Vista Condominium Market Report for the month of February 2011
The Play Vista Condominium Market Report for the month of February 2011 is here. I am here to present you with the numbers as well as some commentary. There were 32 Active Condominiums on the Market. This is an 8.3% drop of the previous month. Generally in this “New Economy” the fewer Listings that are on the market impede the activity. Nowadays buyers are accustomed to a better selection in the inventory and then they can choose. It is best to have a larger inventory then prices remain more realistic. When there are fewer properties to choose from, this situation can create an unusually spike in multiple offers as well as price increases. There were 10 Condominiums accepting back up offers and 14 Condominiums that were solid in Pending Status. This is a huge increase over the 19 from the previous month. Unlike what you have been hearing in the media this is not Distressed Property sales. The demographics are first time buyers that love the Newest Planned Development in Los Angeles since about 40 years ago, which happens to be less than two miles from the Ocean. There were two Condominiums on HOLD Status this generally is an indication of Short Sales last month there was only one with this status. This appears to be a good sign that there are not a large volume of distressed properties on the market in Playa Vista. Sales took a nose dive from 7 the previous month to 2 for the current month. That would be the headline. The reality is Loan Approvals are still taking a while and delays are still rampant hence the more Pending and Fewer Sales. I am a firm believer we need to look at the Trends nowadays in three month increments. The focus being still on month to month, the headline has to be the Three Month Average, and then we will start getting the real picture. My observation up to know for this year there appears to be a return of the consumer confidence; nevertheless it is still a fragile US housing market. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreSurviving my Serengeti: Today is my Basis for my Tomorrow, being a Wildebeest!
Surviving my Serengeti: Today is my Basis for my Tomorrow, being a Wildebeest! Surviving my Serengeti: Today is my Basis for my Tomorrow, being a Wildebeest! Last night I stumbled upon a Blog on Active Rain that referenced Surviving your Serengeti by Stefan Swanepoel. (http://activerain.com/blogsview/2138795/surviving-your-serengeti-an-activerain-challenge) My interest was immediately peaked, since I have known Stefan thru the Real Estate world via the Internet World (linkedin-, facebook-, plaxo-, twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/Swanepoel) friend ships) and we have communicated about various topics, so I knew there was going to be something of interest to me. Then there was a link to Two Chapters of his upcoming book (http://www.serengetibook.com/) and a link to a quiz (http://www.serengetibook.com/your-safari/what-animal-am-i/quiz/), since it was around 12:30am I decided to take the quiz NOW and READ the chapters tomorrow. After I discovered that I was “The Enduring Wildebeest“, I was intrigued. After all today was my tomorrow already. As some of you know I just went thru a sad event, (the passing of my father), hence I have had a tidal wave of emotions which I have been trying to manage. Some days I managed with better results than other days. Then add to that the Down turn of the Economy… Not only did I enjoy reading the two chapters of the story and the parallels, more importantly reading it reenergized me. I wish I had a Galley Edition, and then I would have kept on reading. (Well maybe it was good that I did not have one, otherwise I would be exhausted today) Not wanting to be a spoiler of a Book, I will only quote one sentence from it and you tell me if you are not hooked. …..People who exhibit single minded determination understand that it’s often not the fastest or the strongest ones that wins the race-it’s the one that stays the course and goes the full distance…. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read moreFood Trucks, what’s the Buzz? Comfort Food or Gourmet Food?
Food Trucks, what’s the Buzz? It was not that many years ago when you wanted to eat from a Food Truck it was considered “not cool”, “gross”, “tacky” and many other negative descriptions that were correlated to eating from a Food Truck. Wow, we have a come a long way in a short amount of time. Now food trucks a Tricked-out, colorful Marketing Billboards and mobile source of good food. The Trendiest Restaurants have caught on to this new way to capture the Cool, Trendy and Hungry citizenry. Now there is Quality, variety and limitless choices. New York City lists their favorite 25 Trucks, Los Angeles brags about their top 7 Trucks. Everyone is catching on thanks to http://www.Twitter.com/ and the World Wide Web One night I was watching on one of the Food Networks a show about “unusual eats” and they mentioned the Grilled Cheese Truck in Los Angeles. So with that said I had to find out what this buzz was all about. Since Diane & I love a good Grilled Cheese Sandwich we had to try out the http://www.thegrilledcheesetruck.com/ Now with that said I started searching for the Grilled Cheese Truck. Next thing you know Saturday night after coming back from a Book Signing we found out that the Truck was going to be in Culver City (which in only a few miles from our home in Marina Del Rey) so we had a date with destiny. Now keep in mind you need to plan for about a 30-45 minute wait in line to take your order and another 10-15 minutes for a meal you will inhale in less than 5 minutes. The Reward: “the Cheesy-Mac-And-Rib” which consists of: Macaroni-and-cheese, BBQ pork and caramelized onion in a sandwich. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read moreIf anyone is interested in getting International Clients at no cost let me know.
If anyone is interested in getting International Clients at no cost let me know. Those of you, who know me, are aware that I have a large base of international clients. Some of you have asked me privately: How do I find them? I am not giving away any big secrets here, I speak German and I get German Clients because of my Marketing about German Speaking Realtor in the Greater Los Angeles area. Some of you know that I am also fluent in Hungarian and I market to Hungarian speaking buyers and sellers of real estate. The Hungarian buyer and seller find me thru my marketing. In addition I have a large client base of Italians and French buyers and sellers of Real Estate. How do I get them? I do not speak, read or write neither Italian nor French. If I peaked your interest and you would like to tap into the international market at no cost, just like on Active Rain, you are here mostly as none paying or on minimum investment plans, to generate maximum business. I have a ground floor opportunity at No out of pocket outlay to you. Let me know either by commenting here to this post or send me a private e-mail and I will let you know. ...
read moreThe 2011 ACATEMY Awards Are being Held in Westwood,CA! Do not miss it!
The 2011 ACATEMY Awards are being Held in Westwood,CA!Do not miss it! “The” Cat Adoption Event of the Year! Meet Colin Purrth, Nicole Kitman, Kat Winslet and other stars at an unforgettable Hollywood event. The stars will shine in their classic tuxedos or elegant black, white, orange (the in-color this season), muted grey or striped ensembles. Also closely watched this year are feline favorites up for Best Motion Picture including “True Kitt”, and “The Kitties Are All Right” Best Friends Animal Society ( http://www.bestfriends.org ) invites all of you to the Red Carpet this Sunday Saturday, February 19th, 11am-6pm Hotel Palomar-Westwood ( http://www.hotelpalomar-lawestwood.com) 10740 Wilshire Blvd at the Corner of Selby Avenue Meet over 200 adoptable VIP cats and kittens from LA Animal Services ( http://www.laanimalservices.com )and LA County Animal Care & Control( http://animalcare.lacounty.gov ) shelters. All will be spayed/neutered, vaccinated, micro chipped and ready to go home! After you have found your fabulous feline forever friend stop by the “gifting lounge” to check out and pick up your swag bag of gifts, including ACATEMY Award statuette. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read moreIn Case you have not heard Borders is Reorganizing via Chapter 11!
In Case you have not heard Borders is Reorganizing via Chapter 11! In Case you have not heard Borders is Reorganizing via Chapter 11. I just received an email from Mike Edwards, President and CEO of Borders Inc. (www.borders.com) He blames or should I say references the ongoing impact of the difficult US economy in conjunction with the rapidly changing book selling environment. As some of you know I am an avid book reader as well as book collector. Two weeks ago one of my all time favorite independent bookstores closed their doors forever (The Mystery Book Store in Westwood outside UCLA) I did not blog about it I was just too sad about the turn of events. Borders on the other hand have been struggling for the past two years and it was just a matter of time when this was going to happen. I have been watching them closing one store after another. The Santa Monica Borders on the Third Street Promenade was one of my favorite stores. Now I get this email and I am even sadder than before. If you would like more information, please visit http://www.bordersreorganization.com or contact them at ccare@borders.com Sadly I think that the electronic reading devices have had a lot to do with this. As far as I am concerned and I hope the other book sellers manage to survive and prosper. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read moreThe buyer is cancelling Escrow can I keep the deposit?
The buyer is cancelling Escrow can I keep the deposit? The buyer is cancelling Escrow can I keep the deposit? One of my sellers asked me this question. I always wonder when this question is raised: 1. did my seller not read the Purchase Agreement, 2. did they not remember when we discussed “the liquidated damages clause” and the “buyer’s investigation clause”, or 3. are they just trying to be difficult out of frustrations that the buyers changed their mind about their property? My answer is very cut and dry: 1. the buyer has the right during the investigation period to walk away without risking their Good Faith Deposit, (which here in California is, generally 3 per cent), 2. As long as Escrow is not cancelled the seller cannot sell the property to anyone else, hence the buyer will not sign cancellation until he or she is assured that she will get her money back, 3. Also by not returning the Good Faith Deposit the Seller is in violation of his/her contractual obligation and needs to be prepared that the buyer will take legal action. Therefore to avoid unnecessary drama, complication I recommend that cancellation be signed quickly so we could move on and sell the property to a willing buyer. On a side note, generally the longer the property was in Escrow the more likely the Escrow Company will charge the buyer handling/cancellation fees from the Good Faith Deposit. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read moreHave you noticed the changes? Old Jack in the Box vs. New Jack in the box?
Have you noticed the changes? Old Jack in the Box vs. New Jack in the box? Well for some of my readers the answer is yes others might be wondering what is Jack in the Box? Well for those who are not local. Jack in the Box competes primarily with fast-food chains such as McDonald’s, KFC and Taco Bell. They have a larger variety on their menu: for example egg-rolls, tacos, breakfast burritos and ciabatta burgers. Then they have seasonal items such as Philly Cheese steaks, teriyaki chicken and rice bowls. Anyway about half the country is familiar with Jack in the Box since they have a presence in about 20 states. (http://www.jckinthebox.com) They are primarily on the West Coast. Robert O. Peterson started the Restaurant in San Diego as a Drive-In in 1941. It was known as Topsy’s Drive-In. Ultimately in 1951 he opened another similar restaurant in Long Beach on PCH (the Pacific Coast Highway) with a giant clown’s head atop the building and called in the Jack in the Box. Next thing you know all his restaurants were named Jack in the Box. Fast forward in time to around the 1980’s the company has changed hands and difficult times were had. The Parent Company decided to alter the marketing strategy and direction by changing the symbol as well as their customer base. So fast forward in time again after many changes including directions just look at the pictures. Jack in the Box is entering into new markets as well as returning to markets where it had a previous presence. They remind me of Real Estate Practitioners changing and reinventing themselves to keep up with the times. At the same time going back to proven & tested ideas. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
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