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Drop in Calif. real estate licenses continues
2008-05-13 22:27:00
California Department of Real Estate statistics show that the number of real estate licenses has plateaued. But even though the number of licensees has decreased for a fourth consecutive month, the total remains close to record levels. Real estate licenses peaked in November at 549,244. That’s 1.5 licenses for each house sold in the state in all of 2007 by the California Association of Realtors’ count. Licensee numbers have decreased steadily since then, falling to 546,247 in March, the latest DRE number out. California real estate licenses soared during the housing boom, and people continued taking the state license exam in near-record numbers for a year after sales began to slump. Professionals say that their colleagues have now been forced to leave the business in droves, taking full-time jobs elsewhere. But many are keeping their licenses active and staying in local Realtor associations, either working part-time as agents or hoping to return to the business when the ...
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O.C. toll roads traffic falls
2008-05-13 22:26:00
Want to bet the weak O.C. real estate market has something to do with this? To the north, on the 91 Express Lanes, traffic’s off 6 percent in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year through April vs. the previous year. Assuming the trends hold, this will mark the first drop in use since the Orange County Transportation Authority took control in 2003 Head south, and on the Foothill/Eastern tollway, and you find traffic down 3 percent in the same time frame. Previously, the road enjoyed traffic growth ever since it opened in 1993. And near the sea, traffic on the San Joaquin tollway is down 2%, heading toward its second yearly drop in usage since the debut in 1996. The last drop came in 2001 as drivers shunned the road during the dot-com technology bust and ensuing economic turmoil. Today, with gasoline pushing four bucks a gallon, local folks are clearly looking for ways to cut their transportation budgets. Why else would Metrolink train ridership be up 5 percent in the...
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Newer O.C. apartments suffer more vacancies
2008-05-13 15:23:00
REIS Inc. reports that during the first quarter, O.C. apartments built after 1999 had 2.5 times the vacancy rate of the county as a whole. Countywide vacancies were 4% in the 784 O.C. complexes that REIS studied. Units constructed after 1999, however, had a 10% vacancy rate. The oldest apartments — built before 1970 — had the fewest vacancies at 2.8%. Rents made the difference. Apartments built before 1970 rented for $1,359 while those constructed after 1999 went for $2,055. The average county rent was $1,550. Year Built Vacancy Rate Before 1970 2.8% 1970-1979 3.2% 1980-1989 4.2% 1990-1999 3.6% After 1999 10.0% All 4.0% Related items: Investor/attorney sees tough times for landlords Bad O.C. economy hits 1-bedroom apartments Foreclosure refugees head for O.C. apartments O.C.’s high-rent districts suffer higher apartment vacancies

Historic home becomes O.C.’s 4th priciest sale
2008-05-13 03:14:00
A group of investors with “an international perspective” bought the house built by a former Irvine Co. boss on the promontory overlooking the entrance to Newport Bay, listing agent Rob Giem said. Quatre Saisons Real Estate LLC, which lists its address in a Pasadena office building, sees the Corona del Mar home it bought near its $28 million asking price as a bargain investment that will appreciate over time. “They’re very bullish on property in this area,” said Giem, a high-end agent with HÔM Real Estate Group. “They think demand for the best-of-the-best will increase.” Myford Irvine built the 15,000-square-foot “Hale O Pau Hana” house in 1958, intending to use it as his personal estate. Irvine, who ran the Irvine Co. from 1947 to 1959, died shortly before the triangle-shaped residence with a huge great room, 19-foot-high ceiling and spectacular bay views was completed. It has been home to technology executives Wendy and Rick Av...
More About: Home , Sale , Historic

Is O.C. builder Standard Pacific up for sale?
2008-05-13 03:01:00
Standard Pacific Chief Financial Officer Andrew Parnes said during this morning’s first-quarter earnings conference call that the beleaguered Irvine-based homebuilder is exploring several “alternative financial and strategic opportunities.” Among them: “… a merger, business combination or sale of the company.” Parnes and other top Standard Pacific execs immediately moved on to other financial matters without elaborating. Nor did the matter come up during the more than 30-minute question-and-answer period afterward. The company’s 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission contained this comment on Page 47: “As a result of these uncertainties, and to help position the Company to weather the current market downturn and to be prepared to take advantage of market opportunities when the market strengthens, our Board of Directors has initiated a process to examine alternative financial and strategic opportunities available to us...
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O.C. price record set for near-ocean home
2008-05-12 19:06:00
A Corona del Mar home has been sold for what’s reportedly the highest price for “an off water property in Orange County,” according to Rob Giem of HÔM Real Estate Group. The home, known as “Hale O Pau Hana,” is located at 411 Avocado Avenue in Corona del Mar. Giem would only say that it had an asking price of $28 million. Giem’s people would not give a firm sales price, though the Wall Street Journal quoted “local brokers” (and Giem represented both sides of the deal) saying “about $28 million.” Giem described the house as … A long private drive serves as the entrance to the 1.4-acre landmark estate that extends to a bluff overlooking Newport Harbor. The main living areas comprise 15,000 square feet on one level and are designed around the estate’s centerpiece–an open-air palm-lined pool court with a free-form infinity-edge pool and spa surrounded by palms. Vast banks of glass doors surround the entire p...
More About: Home , Ocean , Price , Record

Standard Pacific loses $216 million, stock drops
2008-05-12 15:52:00
In the first three months of 2008, Irvine-based homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp. reported this morning before markets opened that it boosted its cash supply and paid down its debt in the face of a $216.4 million first-quarter loss. The average price of homes the company sold in Southern California fell 10% in a year to $629,000, according to the company press release. In the first 45 minutes of stock trading this morning, Standard Pacific shares fell 21% to $2.99, a low not seen since January. Why the squeamish investors? A quarterly net loss that was up 431% from the $41 million it posted in red ink for the first quarter a year ago. “Impairments,” or losses due to the declining value of land and homes the company owns, totaled $192.3 million before taxes. Homebuilding revenues were little better than half of the amount generated in the first quarter last year. Closed escrows fell 38% from the year-ago period to 1,036. New sales contracts fell 30% to 1,245 new home o...
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Half of 2005-07 O.C. buyers owe more than home’s value
2008-05-12 02:00:00
Online market tracker Zillow reported that roughly half of O.C. homeowners who bought their residence in 2005 through 2007 owe more for their mortgage than their home is now worth. Buyers who purchased in 2005 and 2006 were in the worst shape, figures by Zillow.com figures show. They bought at the peak of the market, and their median down payment was just 10% of their home’s value, hence they had less equity to begin with. (Equity is the amount of a home’s value above the amount owed.) More than 56% of ‘05 buyers were upside down during the first quarter this year. For ‘06 buyers, the number increased to 71%, and 48% of those who bought a home in 2007 were upside down. Here is Zillow’s breakdown of equity numbers for Orange County homeowners in Q1 2008: Purchase Year Median Owner Equity Pct. Upside Down Down Payment 2003 55.9% 0.4% 20.0% 2004 18.9% 18.8% 19.7% 2005 -3.2% 56.3% 10.0% 2006 -11.5% 70.7% 10.0% 2007 0.7% 48.1% 15.0% Read t...
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Real estate skeptic helps stop Michael Jackson ranch foreclosure
2008-05-12 01:45:00
Long-term readers of this blog will recall much discussion two years ago or so about investor Tom Barrack’s late 2005 interview with Forbes magazine. In the piece, he thought real estate was pretty much toast, saying, “There’s too much money chasing too few good deals, with too much debt and too few brains.”) Well, guess who’s back dabbling in high-profile, California property? Read this press release … Michael Jackson today announced that the foreclosure sale of his Neverland Ranch property scheduled for this week has been cancelled by Colony Capital, LLC, which just acquired the existing loan on Neverland Ranch from an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group. Mr. Jackson said, “I am pleased with recent developments involving Neverland Ranch and I am in discussions with Colony and Tom Barrack with regard to the Ranch and other matters that would allow me to focus on the future.” Need background on the...
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Insider Q&A hears of tough times for landlords
2008-05-10 09:05:00
Stephen C. Duringer at Duringer Law Group PLC in Anaheim is a longtime attorney who specializes in landlord tenant law. He also owns residential and commercial rental properties throughout California. He is past president of the Apartment Association of Orange County and serves as a Superior Court judge pro tem. With dueling pro- and anti-rent control measures on the next state ballot, expensive rents and a slowing economy, Duringer provided this take on the state of the apartment biz …  Us: What are some of the changes you’ve seen in the apartment industry since you started? Duringer: The rental housing industry has experienced strong and sustained growth over the past 20 years. Even with the current revaluation cycle, multifamily properties have maintained their values. Throughout the state we’ve seen troubling increases in governmental oversight of housing, expansion of rent control jurisdictions and eviction controls. These cities quickly become stagnant, e...
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Homebody’s décor fix for your weekend
2008-05-10 05:01:00
The Register’s ace home design and gardening guru Cindy McNatt, author of the ‘Homebody’ blog (CLICK HERE), joins us with must-read ideas for those destined for a weekend fixing up the house … Rent like you really mean it Art and other hang ups Love red? Click here New DIY drapery store in Costa Mesa Mixed up flooring materials
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Home/condo rentals not hurting apartment rentals
2008-05-09 21:00:00
The National Multi Housing Council says large apartment complexes aren’t seeing a lot of competition from condos and homes now coming onto the rental market. “Even though there has been an increase in the number of condo and single-family rentals, these properties do not typically compete for the same renters as professionally-managed apartments,” says Mark Obrinsky, NMHC’s chief economist. “In fact, professionally-managed properties may become even more desirable in the current market as renters of many of these individually-owned condos and houses find themselves without housing because the owners of these properties have lost the property to foreclosure.” The mortgage meltdtown also appears to have put the brakes on tenants moving out to buy homes. Thirty-one percent of apartment industry executives surveyed nationwide said they have seen a big decrease in the number of renters leaving to become homeowners. That compares to 22% six months ago....
More About: Home , Condo , Rentals

Late April’s homebuying dip smallest since July
2008-05-09 09:01:00
Late April stats from DataQuick show a modest slowing in the depth of O.C.’s homebuying slump. Completed sales activity was down 31% vs. a year ago for the 22 business days ended April 22. If that holds, it’ll mean April had O.C.’s slowest rate of sales decline since July , just before the credit crunch zapped the ability to get easy mortgages. But just 10 of 83 O.C. ZIP codes had year-over-year sales gains. (ZIP-by-ZIP data IS HERE!) Plus, April will certainly be the 31st straight month where O.C.’s buying pace failed to meet last year’s activity levels. (See chart of the losing streak above of how April would shape up, if trend holds for full month.) Do note, though, the latest inventory stats from Steve Thomas of Re/Max that show O.C.’s pending deals rising in recent months to a level just below 2006’s buying patterns. That’s a hint that when many of these pending deals close in the coming months, O.C.’s homebuying losing stre...
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Webb out as CEO at Laing Homes
2008-05-09 02:31:00
Emaar, the real estate giant from Dubai, is replacing veteran local builder Larry Webb as CEO at John Laing Homes in Newport Beach. Webb and an investor group made a well-timed sale of Laing to Emaar near the home market’s peak in mid-2006. A company statement says …. Symbolizing John Laing Homes’ ongoing commitment to growth in the United States, Robert Booth will assume the position of Chief Executive Officer of John Laing Homes effective May 21st. Larry Webb, who has served as CEO of John Laing Homes since 1995, will remain with the company to help with the leadership transition through late May. “Larry’s leadership and passion have helped make John Laing Homes an industry leader and laid the foundation for future growth,” said Robert Booth, who is also Managing Director of Emaar Canada. “We’re grateful for all of Larry’s contributions, and excited to pursue new opportunities for growth.” The transition to new leadership will take the partnership ...

O.C. builder sees slump persisting to 2009
2008-05-08 21:30:00
California Coastal Communities Inc., the developer of the shore-view homes overlooking the Bolsa Chica wetlands, said in its latest earnings report today it expects the housing downturn to continue “throughout the remainder of 2008 and into 2009.” The forecast comes amid mixed news. On the one hand, the Irvine-based company continues to slash prices for homes it’s building in Lancaster and the Inland Empire, according to a company press release. It’s available supply of cash has dwindled to $1.2 million during the first three months of the year, down from $24.3 million in the same quarter of 2007. But nine homes in the company’s Brightwater project in Huntington Beach’s Bolsa Chica preserve (see photo) went into escrow in March with an average sales price of $1.8 million. The company maintains it has low carrying costs for the project and expects profit margins of 30% to 40% on those homes once the market turns around. But that turnaround remains ...
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Builders gets 24% less in March deals for new homes
2008-05-08 14:28:00
Hanley Wood Market Intelligence reports that O.C.’s median selling prices fell at a 24% annual rate for all types of new home contracts signed in March . The median price for townhomes and small complexes of one-to-four units fell the most, declining 16.5% from contracts signed the same month in 2007, the real estate research firm reported. The single-family home median fell 11.4% and the median price for contracts to buy new condos declined 5.2%. Overall, the median price paid for a new Orange County home declined 24% to $553,000, Costa Mesa-based Hanley Wood reported. Many of these contracts won’t complete escrow and close in the three-to-six months it typically takes to finish a new-home deal. Hanley Wood says the cancellation rate in March was 18.4%, up from 16.8% in March 2007. The numbers provide more insight into the latest DataQuick figures that showed declining new-home prices, confirming that the declines aren’t due merely to a change in the mix of sales t...
More About: New Homes , Builders , Homes

Do staged homes sell five times faster?
2008-05-08 03:45:00
Twenty-seven home-staging students descended on a Dove Canyon house last week to put into practice the theories they’d been learning in their classroom. Their challenge was to stage the two-story home in one hour. The exercise was the culmination of a three-day course taught by staging guru Barb Schwarz, founder of StagedHomes .com, who claims that professionally staged homes are on the market an average of 33 days vs. 161 days for non-staged homes. Pandemonium erupted as students fanned through the house while its owners were away, going through closets and drawers, rearranging their most personal keepsakes, according to a recent Register story: The movers are sweating, their blue United Van Lines shirts soaked through as they lug furniture downstairs. A wall of family photos is cleared. Personal items are a big no-no in staging since you want to draw attention to the house, not its occupants. Carole Sikora of Clarksville, Md., directs her team as she moves the queen-size...
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Realtors moan about loan shortage, after opposing new lenders
2008-05-07 21:01:00
Richard Gaylord, a broker with RE/MAX Real Estate Specialists in Long Beach and this year’s National Association of Realtor president, says today: “Our members are telling us that more buyers are looking at homes but are slow in signing contracts, and that’s contributing to the weakness in pending home sales … In many cases buyers are waiting for greater access to affordable credit, especially in higher cost areas, but some are disappointed with what appears to be unnecessarily restrictive lending requirements. The good news this week is there is some discussion toward relaxing some of the burdensome lending practices.” Maybe in the next cycle, NAR shouldn’t oppose “relaxing some of the burdensome lending practices” with its own repeated opposition to allowing certain corporations from entering the lending game. These well-known, consumer-friendly brands might want to be, say, long-term mortgage players vs. the here-today, gone-tomorr...
More About: Realtors , Loan , Lenders

What niche will be real estate’s star?
2008-05-07 09:05:00
The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts reports that self-storage REITs remain the place to put your money this year. For the first four months of 2008, self-storage REIT stocks are up 23.83%. That should come as good news to investors who saw their self-storage REIT stocks plunge by an almost equal amount — 24.82% — last year. Among the other top-performing REITs through April 30 of this year: Apartments: 14.87% Shopping centers: 10.14% Regional mall: 9.39% Mortgage REITs continue stuck in the basement this year. Home financing REITs dropped 15.04% and commercial financing is down 10.01%. Overall stock REITs are up 7.34% so far this year. (CLICK HERE to view the full report or CLICK HERE for an earlier story on REITs.) What REIT category will be this year's best performer? Self storage Apartments Shopping centers Regional malls View Results
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Lyon Homes prices fall 19% in Q1
2008-05-07 04:00:00
Average selling price for Newport Beach homebuilder William Lyon Homes was $372,000 during the first three months of the year, down 19% from the average price reported in the first quarter of ‘07. The company, which builds homes in California, Arizona and Nevada, cited declining home values accounted for part that drop. A change in the mix of homes sold also lowered the average price, according to the company’s news release out today. The price decrease fits the overall trend of declining home prices, particularly in the new home category. New home prices in Orange County, for example, were down 21.2% in the latest DataQuick report for the 22 business days ended April 14. Lyon Homes posted a net loss of $806,000 in the first quarter, although the red ink was less than in past earnings reports. Lyon Homes lost $26.6 million in the first quarter of 2007, for example. Sales, closings, revenues and profit margins all were down. Orders fell to 371 in the first quarter, down 4...
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Smaller O.C. homes taking harshest price hits
2008-05-06 15:00:00
Online property tracker Zillow offers up yet another report showing that smaller, lower-priced homes in Orange County have seen the biggest price drops. Zillow estimates for O.C. small houses fell 25% in the first quarter of the year from the same quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, the estimated value — or “Zestimates” in Zillow-speak — fell just 13.3% for larger homes. Same trend for O.C. condominiums: Zestimates fell 22.5% for small condos, but just 9.3% for large condos, Zillow figures show. (Seller’s recent asking prices suggest a similar trend. SEE HERE!) Some folks question Zillow’s math, which estimates the value of every home in a region. But unlike other indexes based on what housing sells, this benchmark is based on value changes of all residences. CLICK HERE to see how other indexes value O.C. homes. Overall, the median Zestimate (or “Zindex”) for all housing types in Orange County was $533,474 in the January-through-March period, ...
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Emblem of O.C.’s $600,0000 home market, now a short sale
2008-05-06 01:54:00
The Costa Mesa home of Sergio and Monica Anaya became the poster child for Orange County’s galloping real estate market in June 2005, when they bought it for $600,000. It was the first month that the local median home price, as measured by DataQuick, reached that lofty threshold. Now, they no longer can afford the home they bought with two loans and no money down. It’s back on the market as what industry insiders call a “short sale.” The couple is asking between $439,000 to $479,000 for their three-bedroom, two-bathroom house near the 405 and 55 freeways. If the lender approves their short sale — that’s a sale below the total owed for the mortgage — in that pricing range the loss, before expenses, will run between 20% and 27%. A photo of the just-sold $600,000 house ran on Page 1 of the Register on July 19, 2005 (pictured here) with a story noting a new high in pricing. (An interview with local expert who that same day gave an upbeat — and incorre...
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Reporter faces angst of a home appraisal
2008-05-06 01:00:00
Register reporter Marla Fisher details on the Register’s new Mom’s Blog the emotional twists of a recent home appraisal … “… at the conclusion of this ordeal, the appraiser was kind enough to tell me, in so many words, the gist of which was how my house was a complete dump and not worthy of top dollar. Like, the kitchen was remodeled before I bought it, but they put in regular appliances instead of stainless steel and formica countertops instead of granite. This apparently is enough to put me into the homeowners Hall of Shame.”    To read the rest of Marla’s tale, CLICK HERE!
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Could foreclosures help increase affordable rental stock?
2008-05-05 21:00:00
Harvard housing researchers think the foreclosure crisis provides a good opportunity for the federal government to add to the stock of low-income rental properties. A new report by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies argues that the nation’s policy on low-income housing got out of whack when the federal government placed its emphasis on homeownership over increasing the supply of affordable rental properties. As a result, as low-income homeownership rose, the availability of Section 8 and other affordable rentals shrank. But they think the foreclosure crisis could help remedy that. Among their suggestions: On the financing side, one strategy would be to perfect pooled approaches to acquire several properties with a single financial transaction. On the equity side, new types of real estate investment trusts could be designed to raise capital from private investors to invest in smaller apartment projects. This funding would breathe new life back into ...
More About: Foreclosures , Rental , Stock

Demand for O.C. homes nears ‘06 levels
2008-05-05 09:01:00
The math of Steve Thomas at Re/Max Real Estate Services in Aliso Viejo says demand for O.C. housing continues to grow. As of last Thursday, 2,540 existing homes and condos had been placed into escrow in the past 30 days, a 677 gain vs. a year ago and just 161 homes short of this late April reading in 2006. It’s a strong hint that when these deals-in-the-works are completed in the next two months we’ll see an end of the county’s homebuying losing streak — per DataQuick’s tracking of closed deals — that’s run 31 months back to September 2005. Also, Thomas calculates a “market time” benchmark tracking how many months it theoretically takes to sell all the inventory in the local MLS for-sale listings at the current pace of pending deals being made. By this logic, it would take 6.08 months for buyers to gobble up all homes for sale at the current pace vs. 6.55 months two weeks earlier and below 8.33 months a year ago. Thomas notes:...
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O.C. property pioneer returns for once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
2008-05-05 00:01:00
Tony Thompson, who pioneered “tenant-in-common” commercial real estate investing, has launched a new company, Thompson National Properties LLC, which will provide investment opportunities and asset management “to high net worth domestic, foreign and institutional investors.” Thompson (pictured right) said in an email that the new firm will add value to investment properties by increasing rents and occupancy. And in a recent online interview, said he bolted from the newly merged Grubb & Ellis/NNN Realty Advisors firm he was heading to take advantage of “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” bargains in the current market. Thompson will be joined in his new venture by Triple Net Properties co-founder Jack Maurer (vice-chairman, partner and founding member) and by former NFL quarterback Cade McNown (senior vice president, investor development), who has worked both as an investor and developer since retiring from football. Thompson co-founded Triple Net...
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Pimco star tells Insider Q&A Fed was ‘too late’
2008-05-03 13:01:00
Mohamed El-Erian is co-CEO and co-chief investment office at bond-trading giant Pimco that manages $800 billion in fixed-income assets. He returned to Pimco’s Newport Beach trading room this year after spending two years running Harvard U.’s massive endowment. In his current role, El-Erian joins Pimco CEO Bill Thompson and chief guru Bill Gross on Pimco’s senior management team. In addition, he’s just finished up a rotation on the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee that every quarter gives U.S. Treasury officials expert input on the economic picture and the Treasury’s borrowing plans. So, we figured Mohamed could help us understand the crazy global markets … Us: Quite a year to return, no? Mohamed: It is a very interesting time to return to O.C.; and one that speaks directly to PIMCO’s strengths as reflected in my colleagues’ ability to dissect market and policy developments; the firm’s solid secular anchoring; the investmen...
More About: Star , Late , Tells , Insider

Homebody’s top gardening tips for your weekend
2008-05-03 06:00:00
The Register’s ace home design and gardening guru Cindy McNatt, author of the ‘Homebody’ blog (CLICK HERE), joins us with must-read tips for those destined for a weekend in the yard … Gloomy weather is perfect for gardening A must-get rose Hard to get color: lime green How to acquire European style on the cheap Consider environmentally friendly decomposed granite Up with strawberries
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Realtors forecast 24% price drop for California houses
2008-05-03 01:04:00
(Update: New chart and more comments added.) The California Association of Realtors is forecasting that the median price of a California house will fall 24% this year to $424,000 — a price not seen since 2003. In March, CAR was forecasting a 9.5% price drop statewide, to $505,100. The median price of an existing single-family house in California has been above $500,000 since 2005. “This 24% decline just has no precedent,” said CAR Deputy Chief Economist Robert Kleinhenz, who delivered CAR’s latest forecast today at the annual expo at the Disney Hotel by the Pacific West Association of Realtors. He said afterward that association economists still are unsure how much the median home price will fall this year. The 24% drop is CAR’s best figure at this point, he said. Here are CAR’s median price figures for existing single-family homes: Year Price Vs. 06 2000 $241,350 11.0% 2001 $262,350 8.7% 2002 $316,130 20.5% 2003 $372,700 17.9% 2004 $4...
More About: Houses , Drop

It’s ‘Year of the flush’ for Realtors
2008-05-02 20:56:00
At the Pacific West Association of Realtors expo in Anaheim today, staff wore lifeguard T-shirts. Nancy Gilmore, CEO of the Anaheim-based group, said the association won’t perform CPR on any agents whose careers are on life support, but thought the metaphor apt. “They come to us because we rescue them,” Gilmore said, explaining that Realtors are looking for tools and education about surviving tough times. “When times get bad, they come to the association.” This year’s expo (an event at the Disney Hotel that drew nearly 2,000 agents, brokers and mortgage brokers from throughout the region) started off with motivational real estate coach Tom Ferry of Newport Beach, who told agents, “There’s no question this market is going to remain the same for a long time.” He added: “It’s the year of the flush. Either your hand is on the lever or it’s on the bowl, and you’re going down.” (more…)
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