Tracy’s LA Real Estate

I’m studying for my continuing education for my real estate license and I came across this paragraph:

Prior to listing the property for sale, it may be advisable for the seller to hire an independent home inspector to examine the property and prepare a report on the property. This will give the seller the advantage of correcting identified problems prior to an offer on the property which, if discovered by a buyer, might become an obstacle in the negotiation process. If problems are corrected by the seller prior to marketing the property, they should not become an issue during the sale process. However, the seller should disclose to the buyer any repairs. The seller’s inspection report can also be used as a basis to complete the RETDS.
In the previous hot market, I had sellers who would take this advice. For $350 or so, you could have an inspection report that buyers could view and make an informed decision about what condition the house was actually in and how to position the price they offered. Sometimes the inspection revealed problems that the seller was unaware of and was able to either disclose it and/or repair it with a lot less drama than it would have been in escrow. I had fewer escrows fall out and much less concern over inspection negotiations. Now, with prices down and sellers feeling very poor, almost no one has an inspection before going on the market. One of the two times this year that we had an inspection done, the buyers felt that our inspection didn’t turn up nearly the issues their own inspection did and asked for quite a lot. The other time we had 80 offers and a cash deal and almost no issues and we did sell for a lot more than asking–in fact, $181,000 more.
A few thoughts on all this:
1. You could have 10 inspections and each one would turn up something different.
2. The fact that the seller is willing to pay for an inspection up front should tell the buyer that the seller is not trying to hide anything.
3. Especially if a seller has lived in a house for a long period of time, many things can fall into disrepair without being noticed.
Bottom line, there is no perfect way to sell a home. After all, we are dealing with human beings who are different from each other. We are dealing with what is often the largest investment of a person’s life. We are dealing with an incredible amount of fear, opinion, innuendo, myth, fable, and fear (I said it twice, I know) on the part of everyone even barely involved in the transaction. Every listing that is signed in the state of California comes with a Seller’s Advisory that discusses the idea that a pre-listing inspection is a good idea. Almost no one in our area is doing this. If you are considering selling your house, you should consider having an inspection. It’s a small expense that could save you some headaches. Even if you have no intention of selling, it’s a good idea to have an inspection every few years just so you can make sure you have no issues that have come up.
And now I can go back to my continuing education…

I love cemeteries, and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is in my top 4 along with Pere Lechaise (Paris), Forest Lawn (both Hollywood and Glendale), and Mountain View (Altadena). The story of Hollywood Forever is a great one in itself, but you can read about that elsewhere ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Forever_Cemetery) . You may not agree with what Tyler Cassity and his family and friends have done with the cemetery business, but I think several of his accomplishments and innovations have been laudably noteworthy. Did you know that the television show 6 Feet Under was based on the Cassity family and their business? Tyler Cassity served as a consultant on the show. But the most important accomplishment in my opinion is that he rescued an amazing historic resource from decay and obscurity and has restored it to its former glory. Hollywood Forever is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Innovations in the funeral business have included the videography of lives that can now be preserved on the website, virtual memorial services so friends and family from all over the world can attend, and a new technology that inscribes photos on the tombstones of the dear departed.
As a way to fund the huge cost of the restoration of the 62-acre park, Hollywood Forever hosted Cinespia, John Wyatt’s screenings of movies on a mausoleum wall on summer nights. Thousands of people have attended over the last few years, bringing blankets, picnics and drinks to enjoy outdoor entertainment in a fabulous, but slightly creepy, venue. The last screening of this season was the appropriately spooky Rosemary’s Baby.
I heard about the dawn Bon Iver cemetery concert on public radio KCRW and immediately went online to buy tickets. This was no simple concert to welcome the sunrise, like a traditional Easter service, no. The gates opened at midnight and concertgoers were welcome to bring sleeping bags, blankets, snacks and drinks and spend the night. Included were two sets of recorded music with playlists created by the leader of Bon Iver, Justin Vernon. There were screenings of Bottle Rocket and the documentary Planet Earth. Free coffee and pastries were served to the crowd. Then came our favorite part, the blessing of the audience and stage by Buddhist monks. In the dark came flickers of light as candles were lit onstage and then the most haunting deep bass chants from the monks swept across the crowd. Finally, as the sky lightened and the mist began to clear, Bon Iver came on and gave a stirring performance. The crowd was enthusiastic and made this final performance of their two-year tour everything the band could have dreamed of, I’m sure.
This was a sold-out event at $25 a ticket and we guessed 2,000 people showed up, but somewhere I saw that 1200 was capacity. I had never heard of Bon Iver, I went because the idea of spending the night at the cemetery and greeting the dawn there appealed to me. But imagine the possibilities of future events—a concert of Buddhist chants, or New Age composers like Philip Glass or Brian Eno, or Tuvan throat singers. The mind opens at the possibilities…

Sign of the times:

5603 Sea View Dr. Malibu CA 90265
List Price: $3,900,000
MLS # P679808 ** Buyer backed out- Short sale- Lender is ready**

Panoramic sunset views and great surf at the world famous Zuma Beach. This spectacular home is situated in the exclusive gated community of “Sea View Estates”. It features great whitewater views from the infinity gym pool area (5mile/h) to the terrace and from many rooms inside the house. Security camera. highend upgrades. 7,260 sqft.
But if you’d like to make an offer, call me, I would be happy to represent you!

Here we are in the ninth month of the year, 13 weeks from November 30, and buyers are realizing that they had better buy now if they want to get that $8,000 first-time-buyer credit. Remember that you have to close escrow on your home purchase by November 30 to qualify for that credit.
I’ve talked to a lot of buyers recently who have been drifting along with their Realtor of choice, often a “discount” broker who has promised to rebate them part of their commission, many other times a relative, or a friend of a friend. They’ve made a number of offers that haven’t gone anywhere. They are frustrated. They are anxious. They are ready to actually buy a house, even if it doesn’t have every single thing they want.
Unfortunately, there aren’t very many houses on the market. Today, Tuesday, September 1, 2009, there are 23 active listings on the market in the Eagle Rock 90041 zip code. That’s fewer than there were in the Spring of 2005, or in 2006, the pinnacle of the hot Seller’s market.
Prices, however, are about 20% less. Wow, Buyers, do you wonder why these sellers don’t want to go on the market right now?
I have also been talking with a number of sellers who are considering selling. I would love to put these buyers and sellers together, but there’s a problem. It seems to be about a $50,000 to $300,000 problem.
First-time buyers in my area who are pre-approved for a loan seem to be generally in the $300,000 to $600,000 price range, with most people solidly under $500,000. They are generally FHA buyers, which means they have maybe the minimum 3.5% down plus closing costs, though a few have 20 to 30% down.
Let’s look at some of the properties that have actually sold in the $300k to $500k price range in Eagle Rock:

In retrospect, I’ll bet you think some of those people got some pretty good deals compared to what is available today.
Yet, we have to be realistic about our prices. A seller who wants “x” for their house first has to have a buyer who is willing to pay that, and then they have to have a lender who is willing to lend at that price. So if you bought your house for $720,000 in 2007 and you need to sell it now, if you can get anything over $580,000 today, you are doing well. Can you do that?
Here’s one fudge factor for you: just because prices went down 20% doesn’t necessarily mean that your own particular house did. It might have, or it might not have, or it might have gone down more. We are looking at an average of prices and general trends. There are always exceptions. Did you do a bunch of work to it? Is it in the very best location in your zip code? Every case is individual, especially in such a diverse area as northeast Los Angeles, Glendale, Pasadena, Altadena, South Pasadena, where we don’t have a lot of tract homes, where most are custom-built. But you, the homeowner, are not always the best judge of how unique and valuable your house is. I could show you another list of all the homes that did not sell this year, even though they tried. Or the ones that were on the market on and off at ever lower prices until they sold. That is why you work with a professional Realtor who is experienced in this market and whom you can trust to give you an honest objective view of where your individual home fits in this confusing grid of trends and averages.