HouseOnTheHills.com

For over 70 years the 20 square block area of downtown Los Angeles was the center of business, shopping, and society for the city. Over the years urban spread moved those activities from downtown to other newer areas: Hancock Park, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and the San Fernando Valley. This led to a migration out of downtown and changed how people shopped and lived. Urban life became more suburban and downtown businesses, shops, and restaurants closed. The last of the grand mansions that once typified the wealthy residents of the city were torn down on Bunker Hill. For many years downtown was only a daytime business center and almost completely dead at night.

While boasting a daytime population of almost 500,000, by 1998 the full time resident population was down to just over 18,000. During the past ten years that course has dramatically changed. Begun and led by the artist who reclaimed the empty factories and warehouses, it spread to young urban pioneers who loved the bohemian energy and edgy artistcness of the new scene.

Around 2000, the classic old building in the Historic Core around Spring Street began to be bought and refurbished by developers who saw a petential future in saving the grand old 1920’s and 1930’s building. Gradually the development gathered more and more interest and the revitalization spread to other areas of downtown.

When the architecturally significant Eastern Columbian Building of South Broadway was bought and refurbished by the Kor Group, it gave a credibility to a whole new segment of upwardly mobile young people with money who wanted a new expreience, and gave a new credibility to the idea of urban, downtown living in Los Angeles.

Transformation of empty office and bank buildings into housing started happening rapidly. Renovation and conversion of the Biscuit Lofts and Toy Lofts in the eastern district warehouse area pused out the preceived acceptable boundaries. While both of the projects have sold out, the Barker Block (also by the Kor Group) has been very successful in selling their project of the old Barker Brothers Furniture factory turned lofts of 297 units.

Architects and developers looked at the opportunity and began rethinking how these interesting and beautiful ofld buildings could be used. The Hellman, The Continental, The San Fernando all had been office buildings and found new life as housing. The Higgins building, a 135 unit building on 2nd St became condos, as did the historic Douglas Building on S. Spring with 50 condo units. The mid-century Gas Company building on Flower was converted to 251 loft apartments, moving the new residential area to the western side of downtown.

1. Housing Affordability is at Record High Levels
Each month the National Association of Realtors issues it’s “Housing Affordability Index,” which measure the ability of the average family to afford the average home.
In November 2009, the national affordability index was 167.7. This means that if a family with the median income wanted to purchase a median-priced existing single-family home (with a 20% down payment of $34,380), they would have 167.7% of the qualifying income needed to purchase that home.
2. Intereste Rates are at Historic Lows
In the 1990s rates were higher than 10%. This look back through time makes it easy to see that today’s mortgage rates are relatively low.
3. Tax Credits Available for a Limited Time
- First-time homebuyers have until April 30, 2010, to take advantage of the federal tax credit of up to $8,000.
- Repeat Homebuyers have until April 30, 2010, to take advantage of the federal tax credit up to $6,500.
- Renovations: Buying ahome that needs a new roof, windows, or insulation? Qualified homeowners may receive a tax credit for 30% of renovation costs, up to a maximum of $1,500, for energy-efficient improvements to thier current primary residence.
4. Inventory of foreclosure and short sale properties
Alos called real-estate owned for REO, lender-mediated, lender-owned, or not-traditional, these properties may appeal to bargain hunters looking for that hidden gem.
5. Inventory of homes overall is at a 7-month supply nationally. It is a buyer’s market!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales of previously owned U.S. homes rose in October at a faster-than-expected pace to the highest in more than 2-1/2 years as buyers rushed to take advantage of a popular tax credit, a survey showed on Monday.

The National Association of Realtors said sales surged a record 10.1 percent month-over-month to an annual rate of 6.10 million units, the highest since February 2007, from a downwardly revised 5.54 million-unit pace in September.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected October sales to jump to a 5.70 million-unit pace from the previously reported 5.57 million units in September. Compared to October last year, home sales were up by a record 23.5 percent.

U.S. stock indexes extended gains on the data, while Treasury debt prices were little changed.

“Many buyers have been rushing to beat the deadline for first-time buyer credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of this month, and similarly robust sales may be occurring in November,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

Distressed transactions accounted for 30 percent of sales last month and continued to weigh on house prices. First-time buyers made up a third of sales in October.

The national median home price fell 7.1 percent from October last year, the smallest decline in over a year, to $173,100. Homes in foreclosure typically sell for 15 to 20 percent less than traditional homes.

“Existing home sales have already bottomed. Home prices are almost there. We are seeing a less of a decline in house values,” said Yun.

The housing market is slowly mending after a three-year decline, which contributed to tipping the U.S. economy into its worst recession in seven decades. Housing construction contributed to economic growth in the third quarter for the first time since 2005.

Recovery is being supported by the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers, low mortgage rates and falling house prices. The government this month extended the incentive into next year and added a $6,500 credit for home owners buying a new residence. It had been due to expire on November 30.

“The tax benefits going into the housing market are working, and that’s a relief,” said William Larkin, portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management in Boston. “Everything is about housing and jobs right now.”

The improvement in October sales was broad-based, with sales of single-family homes, the biggest segment of the market, rising 9.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.33 million units, while condominium and co-ops increased 13.2 percent to a 770,000-unit rate.

Sales were up in all four regions of the country. Prices rose 1.1 percent in the Midwest, which didn’t see the same boom as the rest of the country, while declining in the other three. The rise in the Midwest was the first price increase in any region since November 2008.

Analysts are cautiously hoping a sustained housing market recovery will help to improve the psychology of households, which has been shaken by rising unemployment.

While the economy resumed growing in the July-September period after four quarters of decline, sluggish consumer spending is seen slowing the momentum.

The inventory of existing homes for sale in October fell 3.7 percent to 3.57 million units from the previous month, NAR said. At October’s sales pace, that represented a supply of 7.0 months, the lowest in 2-1/2 years, from September’s revised 8.0 months.

(Additional reporting by Corbett B. Daly; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

By Olsen Ebright, NBCSanDiego.com
10/27/09

It was 1991. The nation was still healing from the Milli Vanilli lip-synching scandal, U.S. troops were in Iraq and the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup.

And Time magazine thought the California Dream was on its deathbed.

Now it’s 2009. The nation is still healing from the Ashlee Simpson lip-synching scandal, U.S. troops are in Iraq and the Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup.

The only real change in the last 18 years (besides, obviously, the invention of McDonald’s Big N’ Tasty) is that now Time magazine thinks the California Dream is alive and well.

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