Monthly Archives: February 2012

Tight home inventory may get Worse

The Los Angeles home market is tight. Right now there aren’t very many properties available to first-time and move-up buyers. This is a result condition of low priced homes and the difficulty getting loans for fixers.

A new pilot program by Fannie Mae will sell foreclosed properties to investors and non-profits as rentals. This seems to be a good idea, because it will get vacant units filled. The problem is that there are plenty of rental units currently available, but there are few affordable homes available for first-time buyers.

Policies like these are short-sighted because they focus on the wrong thing. They are focused on filling vacant units that are foreclosed, but they actually take demand away from other rental units. The real concern should be to make funding available for people to fix up a home so they can buy it. There are programs available for fixers, but they are nearly impossible to get and therefore are underutilized.

Talk to your representatives about making policies that make sense and aren’t short sighted.

San Francisco doing what the Fed hasn’t been able to do

The federal government has repeated stated that there needs to be investigations of bank that have foreclosed on homes. This is due to the complaints about fraud in the foreclosure process. The federal government hasn’t been able to get a grasp on how big the problem is because they claim that it is not easy to measure.

San Francisco’s assessor decided that it was worth studying and found the money to audit the files of a handful of properties that had been foreclosed upon. The audit included 382 homes and resulted in some fairly shocking findings.

The audit found that 99% of the loans had one or more irregularities. Additionally, there were clear violations of the law in 84% of the loans. If these are the results from a small scale audit, I can only imagine the number of people who have be impacted by the activities of banks.

I think it is time for policy-makers to get tough with banks and not just pay lip-service to the appease their constituents. 

There is an Upside to Lower Home Prices

Normally people accept the idea that lower home prices are bad because people who already own homes may have lost value in their home. However, there is an upside to lower prices. The upside is that more people can afford to by homes or can buy homes that are nicer or better located.

A recent report on the affordability of homes in California was released and shows that more people can now afford to buy a home. Affordability has to do with the price of homes available and the interest rates that people can get on home loans. We are now at the record level for affordability that was seen in 2009.

Existing home owners should also be happy that affordability is up, because it means that more people can afford to buy. Hopefully this will lead to fewer properties on the market and fewer vacant units. More people in homes means better neighborhoods. So, in the long-run the current low prices will rebound and more homes will be occupied.

Lowest Priced SFR in Granada Hills (Feb 12, 2012)

The last lowest priced single-family residence (SFR) in Granada Hills was on Lahey and was listed for $219,000. It is now showing as pending, meaning that it is in escrow. We will have to wait and see how much it actually sells for.

The new lowest priced SFR in Granada Hills, is on Chatsworth St. near Haskell. The listing states that it legally has two bedrooms, but it has an additional bedroom that is not permitted and a guest house.

This may be a good property for an investor who is willing to upgrade things and get permits in order.

Offset Tile Flooring is IN!

Square tiles in an offset pattern.

Traditionally, 12 inch square tiles are set in a grid pattern. It is also common to see rectangular tiles in a brick, or offset, pattern. A design that is becoming more common, and a nice diversion from the traditional, is using square tiles in an offset pattern.

We used this offset pattern in the Northridge remodel we are working on. It turned out very nice and, I think, provides a more interesting look than the traditional square tile in a grid pattern. This image shows the offset tile and the replacement sliding window in the background. More about the replacing windows later.

New Cost vs. Value Report

The new report is out showing the improvements that provide the highest return. The winner this year is a new steel front door. Check out the full report before you take on a home improvement project. Keep in mind that the most important thing to consider when doing a remodel for yourself is doing something that makes you happy. The return on the investment should be a consideration, but should secondary to what makes you happy.

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