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LA Land

The rapidly changing landscape of the real estate market in Los Angeles and beyond

Price drops for big-name architect homesOctober 25

The "price-reduced" Richard Neutra-designed Kaufmann house in Palm Springs wasn't actually on the market before. It was sold through a much-ballyhooed Christie's auction for $19.1 million in May but the deal fell through. Now it's listed for $12,975,000.

The owners bought the landmark home for about $1.5 million in 1993 and spent mega-bucks -- some $11 million -- bringing the place back to its former glory and purchasing additional land to increase the site to more than 2.5 acres.

Dramatic price drops of more expensive homes may be lagging the rest of the market but, last time I checked, all boats were still rising and falling with the same tide. And classic homes by Modernist architects are experiencing similar fates -- languishing for sale at reduced prices -- in other parts of the country.

Listing agent Crosby Doe is philosophical about the pricing of the sleek 1946 desert house commissioned by Pittsburgh department store magnate Edgar J. Kaufmann.

Leo Nordine's advice: Rent now, buy in 2010October 25

Advice from L.A.'s "king of foreclosures," Hermosa Beach real estate agent Leo Nordine: Now is the time to rent and save your money. The time to buy is 2010.

Check out this excellent profile of Nordine by Ann Brenoff on latimes.com. Nordine, a favorite of this blog for some time, is an unusual figure in L.A.'s real estate world: a soft-spoken, low-key contrarian -- and big wave surfer -- who works in his bare feet, prefers to sell mainly foreclosed houses, and is wildly successful.  Don't let the Zen/surfing vibe fool you; his secret is his work ethic. He has sold 3,500 bank-owned houses over the last two decades. In the attached video, Nordine describes himself as an "atypical" agent:

"Try to find another Realtor who has been telling everybody not to buy. ... For someone out there who's renting, I'd recommend saving as much money as possible. Pay down all your debts as much as possible. And seriously look at buying around 2010."

--Peter Viles

Your thoughts? Comments? E

Why median prices are misleadingOctober 25

We've been down this road so many times together, but let's go down again: median prices present a somewhat misleading picture of the market. In the current market, distressed properties
(think Palmdale and Lancaster) are selling, and homes in established neighborhoods (think Santa Monica, as in the photo) are not.  Median sales prices are thus skewed toward the distress. By how much?

Here's an exercise: In Palmdale, population 140,000, MDA DataQuick counted 319 single-family homes sold in September, or one home for every 438 people. In Lancaster, population 143,000, 366 homes sold -- or one home for every 390 people. But in Santa Monica, population 87,000, only 15 homes sold -- one for every 5,800 people.

There are two headlines here: Palmdale and Lancaster have an outsized influence on Los Angeles County median sales prices. They are weighting the overall county numbers toward lower prices and larger price declines (The median price in the county is now 31% below year-ago levels).  The second headline is worth noting: the residential real estate market in Santa Monica, one of the larger collections of high-priced homes in Los Angeles, was

The unfairness of government-backed mortgage modificationsOctober 25

The L.A. Times today leads the newspaper with a look at Countrywide's plan to modify up to 395,000 mortgages -- 125,000 in California -- to make the mortgages affordable to buyers who are living in houses they otherwise can't afford. In some cases, those modifications will result in borrowers paying just 2.5% interest on their mortgages.

The Federal government took action last summer to encourage mortgage modifications by putting government guarantees behind the new mortgages, but for whatever reason that program doesn't appear to be attractive enough to banks. Pimco's Paul McCulley accurately described the basic unfairness of that effort months ago:

It runs against the streak of basic fairness in a lot of Americans. You’re going to provide a handout to the fool. The fool is going to be rewarded and I, the taxpayer, will be put at risk at the margin for that handout to the fool. When all I did was exactly what I was supposed to do. Where is the fairness here? It’s a hard question to answer.

I've long believed mortgage modifications should be between the lender and the borrower. The lender should be free to do whatever it wants to maximize the value of the loan. If that means foreclosure, foreclose. If that means a genero

Foreclosed? Yes. Grounds for eviction? Not a chance.October 25

Los Angeles landlords love to hate the city’s tough rules governing evictions. Those rules are so strict that even if a landlord loses his house to foreclosure — his or her tenants still may have the right to stay.  City Council President Eric Garcetti will stage a press conference today in front of a foreclosed Echo Park triplex to call on Countrywide Financial to “cease and desist illegal eviction practices.”

Garcetti’s office said Countrywide foreclosed on the landlord, and then tried to illegally pressure the tenants into leaving, offering them $2,000 to go -- which might sound nice but is peanuts compared to the minimum $7,000 fee required by city law.

It’s the second time, Garcetti’s office said, that they have busted Countrywide for trying to get away with not paying the city’s full relocation fee. In July, tenants in South Los Angeles were offered $1,000 to move.

Garcetti’s office also said anyone who thinks they are being illegally pushed out should call the city’s housing department at 1-888-557-RENT.

-- Jessica Garrison

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Photo Credit: L.A. Times