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Los Angeles, CA Real Estate News

By Michelle Minch, Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
(Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA)
On Thursday, the LA Times Food section had an article titled Want To Dine For Less? Say The Word about a website called BlackboardEats.com. BlackboardEats offers Los Angeles and New York diners discounts to some of LA's & NY's finest and trendiest Restaurants.  Here's how it works: Go to the website and enter your email address to sign up You'll be asked for your name, your email address and your zip code Twice per week you'll receive an email newsletter offering an exclusive dining deal at NY or LA restaurants You have 24 hours to respond to the email, at which time they'll send you a special code You have 30 days during which the code will be valid, to go to the restaurant The past deals looked pretty awesome, and I'm really sorry I missed them. I would have loved to get 30% off at Mo...
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By COMPASS PALM SPRINGS | Stewart Penn, COMPASS Palm Springs - Broker Associate
(COMPASS)
$50 Million Listing in Bel Air - 10664 Bellagio Road, Los Angeles, CA 90077 I enjoy seeing outrageously expensive property listings ... so the most recent mega-million listing in Los Angeles really intrigued me. According to the MLS, this 20,000 sq ft mansion with 8-Beds and 16-Baths boasts a 2000 sq ft master suite, fabulous movie/screening room, resort-like indoor spa & gym, and a car collector's subterranean garage. What really interested me was the listing history of this property: Listed at $30 Million in 2005, the property was eventually sold for $27.5 Million. Now, 5 years later, it's "widowed owner" is asking $50 Million. I can't imagine what was done to the property to substantiate almost doubling the price in just 5 years. This will be interesting to watch .... Listed by Coldw...
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By Dorene Slavitz, Experienced. Ethical. Outstanding Results!
(Residential & Commercial Real Estate)
5 Homebuyer Mistakes 1. Not keeping your emotions in check   While a home purchase can have it's shares of up's and down's for all concerned, you will be in a better negotiating possition of you think of your purchase, as a future investment. Evaluate it based upon that fact..and you will make a better decision. 2.Not using a Realtor   Why would you not want to be represented by a professional during this process? It's well worth every penny you might spend, and it will help you make a better decision and save money in the long run. 3.Not taking your Realtors advice   We have been trained to see "red flags" and we are a neutral third party. If we see things that look suspect, take it seriously. A home with major flaws can become a money pit. 4.Unrealistic expectations   No home is perfe...
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By COMPASS PALM SPRINGS | Stewart Penn, COMPASS Palm Springs - Broker Associate
(COMPASS)
The biggest and most expensive Real Estate purchase for 2010 in Los Angeles, so far, has been concluded by Tom Hanks. The Los Angeles Times reports that Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson have purchasd a contemporary 4-Bed 5-Bath Pacific Palisades home for just over $26 Million. The 14,500 sq ft home was built in 1996 and designed by architects Gwathmey Siegel & Associates.
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By Stewart Penn - BRE# 01339266, Stewart Penn - Associate Broker
(Windermere Real Estate - Palm Springs)
Search The MLS for properties in and around Los Angeles Search The MLS: Stewart Penn - Realtor for homes, condos & lofts in Los Angeles - Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Homby Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, Brentwood, Century City, Westwood, Beverly Center, Miracle Mils, West Hollywood, Sunset Strip, Hollywood, Hollywood Hills,  Hancock Park, Sherman Oaks, Studio City and throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
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By COMPASS PALM SPRINGS | Stewart Penn, COMPASS Palm Springs - Broker Associate
(COMPASS)
Search MLS for properties in and around Los Angeles Search The MLS: Stewart Penn - Realtor for homes, condos & lofts in Los Angeles - Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Homby Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, Brentwood, Century City, Westwood, Beverly Center, Miracle Mils, West Hollywood, Sunset Strip, Hollywood, Hollywood Hills, Hancock Park, Sherman Oaks, Studio City and throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
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By Jane Peters, Los Angeles real estate concierge services
(Home Jane Realty)
  The statistics below cover home sales in  the Westwood - Century City area.  They are taken directly from the MLS and are for single family homes only.  They don't take into consideration condos, income property and private sales. January was an extremely slow month with only 4 homes sold as opposed to December '09 with 16 sold.  The highest price sold was $2,869,000 in Holmby Hills and the lowest $817,000 in the flats near Century City. The median sold price was $1,182,000, down from $1,250,000 in December '09. Sales price received vs. listing price was $98%, up from $97.1% in December. Average days on the market was 24, basically the same as in December. Below is a breakdown of last month's activity in the Westwood area real estate market.          
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By COMPASS PALM SPRINGS | Stewart Penn, COMPASS Palm Springs - Broker Associate
(COMPASS)
I recently blogged about Donald Trump's over simplistic statement disputing Global Warming (aka Climate Change). Trump's reference to the coldest winter on record and the recent heavy snowstorms has to do with the weather, not the climate. NASA explains the difference between weather and climate as follows: "Weather" is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short periof of time. "Climate"is how the atmosphere behaves over relatively long periods of time. "When we talk about climate change, we talk about changes in long-term averages of daily weather" - NASA I would have thought a "sophisticate" like Trump would have known better ....
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By Andrew Jones, LA Beach Cities Homes 310-399-3740
(Horizon Pacific Realty )
There's strong interest in high-end properties in Los Angeles right now if the number of visits that I've been getting on the L.A. Estates & Luxury Homes page of my website are any indicator. This second in a series of articles is an overview of where you can find the finest homes for sale in Los Angeles. Most of Los Angeles' great estates are found in or near the Hollywood Hills, from Griffith Park to the ocean, an area which includes Beverly Hills, Bel Air and many grand old Hollywood estates. However, the coastal hills of Malibu and Santa Monica Mountains at the north end of Santa Monica Bay have become home to a new brand of rural estates, sprawling sea ranches, and dramatic shoreline mansions in the last thirty years. Malibu alone now has more celebrities per square foot than the C...
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By COMPASS PALM SPRINGS | Stewart Penn, COMPASS Palm Springs - Broker Associate
(COMPASS)
Glenn Beck does some crazy and bizarre things on his show. He's cried fake tears .... scribbled wildly on a white-board .... and he's even played with dolls. This week he confirmed that he's quite insane .... barking like a mad dog on the air! Politics aside, Glenn Beck appears on a leading "News Network" (if one can seriously refer to Fox News as a news network). How infantile does he think his audience is? How stupid is his audience to stay tuned to his show? What about the children of his audience that may be exposed to his outrageous behavior? Is this what parents want their kids to see while watching a supposedly serious news program? .... I think not!
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By Andrew Jones, LA Beach Cities Homes 310-399-3740
(Horizon Pacific Realty )
There seems to be growing international interest in Los Angeles' luxury real estate market right now if the number of visits to the L.A. Estates & Luxury Homes page of my website are any indicator. This isn't surprising since asking prices have declined significantly since last year and many prospective buyers may have only heard of the famous communities like Hollywood, Beverly Hills, or Malibu that they're considering making their new home. This first in a series of articles is an overview of where you can find the finest homes for sale in Los Angeles. When it comes to finding estates and luxury homes in Los Angeles, the old real estate cliche in the title holds true. While you'll certainly find extraordinary luxury homes in all of the areas that will be discussed here, you can also f...
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By Jane Peters, Los Angeles real estate concierge services
(Home Jane Realty)
The statistics below cover home sales in the Palms and Mar Vista areas of Los Angeles, are taken directly from the MLS and are for single family homes. They do not take into consideration condos, income property and private sales. There were 10 sales in the month of January, against 21 in December '09.  The highest price sold was $1,340,000 in Palms and the lowest $535,000 in Mar Vista. January is usually a slow month for home sales, thus the drop. The median sales price was $787,988, an increase over $750,000 in December. Average days was 70, an increase over 34 in December, again not an alarming figure due to typically slow sales in January. Below is a breakdown of last month's housing activity in Palms and Mar Vista.
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By Lupe Soto-Realtor, Listing, Selling Burbank, San Fernando Valley LA
(Premier Realty Assoc)
If you are a Bank of America BofA homeowner struggling to make your mortgage payments, please contact Bank of America and ask for help, be aware of foreclosure rescue scams help is FREE!  posted by Lupe Soto, Short Sale Agent in Burbank, CA, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California (HABLO ESPANOL) If you are a spanish speaking homeowner and need help, I will guide you to FREE bilingual resources. SI USTED ES UNA DUENO DE CASA Y TIENE DIFICULTADES PARA HACER SU PAGOS DE CASA, llame o envieme un email CONTACT LUPE para mas ayuda. La ayuda es GRATIS More than 12,700 Bank of America customers now have a permanent loan modification under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), according to the bank's monthly report to the Department of the Treasury. Up from 3,200 completed modif...
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By Jane Peters, Los Angeles real estate concierge services
(Home Jane Realty)
  The statistics below cover home sales in the major Echo Park area (90026), are taken directly from the MLS and are for single family homes.  They also don't take into consideration condos, income property and private sales.   There were 13 sales in the month of January '10, 1 more than in December '09. The most expensive home sold was $712,000 and the least expensive $100,000. The median sales price was $325,000, no real change from December '09. Average days on the market for sold properties was 95, up from 37 in December. There were 41 active listings, 6 in escrow.  There were 4 expired listings. December '09 also had 41 active listings, none in escrow and 10 expireds. Below is a breakdown of last month's activity in the Echo Park area of Los Angeles:  
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By COMPASS PALM SPRINGS | Stewart Penn, COMPASS Palm Springs - Broker Associate
(COMPASS)
In 2009 Architectural Digest and Maserati held a competition for the finest architectural garages. The winner of the competition for the Best Existing Garage was Holger Schubert who lives in Brentwood, Los Angeles. According to Schubert: "This garage was designed with two main objectives in mind: to create a pure and restrained minimalist environment that allows one to focus on the car as a piece of art and to create the ultimate experience for the driver to arrive at home". Schubert has been parking his 1984 Ferrari 512BBi in his living room. But City Planners have recently withdrawn permission for the proud car-owner to use a bridge that he had constructed connecting his living room to the street.  The homeowner believes that neighbors complained to the City about his "bridge" becaus...
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By COMPASS PALM SPRINGS | Stewart Penn, COMPASS Palm Springs - Broker Associate
(COMPASS)
Los Angeles Homes - Median Prices & Number of Homes Sold The CLAW MLS published the following two graphs which indicate a positive trend developing in the Los Angeles area from Downtown to the Ocean. Median Prices appear to have bottomed in the first quarter of 2009 and have gradually increased through to the fourth quarter of 2009. While this trend-line is good news for homeowners it clearly shows that the Median Home Prices are still way off the peak reached in the second quarter of 2007. The Number of Homes Sold also appears to be trending upwards, indicating increased activity in the market This is encouraging for Realtors and Brokers who witnessed sharply lower activity in the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008. It will be significant to see if these trends contin...
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By Jane Peters, Los Angeles real estate concierge services
(Home Jane Realty)
Brentwood home sales statistics are taken directly from the MLS and are for single family homes.  They do not take into consideration condos, income property or private sales.   There were 14 homes sold, 7 more than in January '09, and 10 less than December '09. The most expensive home sold was $4,400,000 and the least expensive $920,000. The median sales price was $1,826,250, up from $1,715,000 in January '09, and $1,767,500 in December '09. Sales price received versus listing price was 90.1%, down from 92.1% in January '09, and 92.4% in December '09. Average days on the market for sold properties was 126, 54 days longer than January '09, 61 longer than December '09. Below is the breakdown of last month's activity in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles.  
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By Michelle Minch, Home Staging Los Angeles and Orange County, CA
(Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, Pasadena, CA)
Gong Xi Fa Cai! (Mandarin) Gung Hei Fat Choy! (Cantonese) Happy Lunar New Year to all my Chinese friends & clients While most of the Western World is celebrating Valentines Day today, Chinese people the world over are celebrating the Year of the Tiger. Chinese New Year, also know as Lunar New Year or Spring Festival is the most important traditional Chinese holiday. Regional customs and family traditions vary widely for the celebration of the Chinese New Year. Traditionally, every family thoroughly cleans their home to sweep away any bad fortune. This makes way for good luck to come in.  Windows are opened and rooms are aired out. Brooms and cleaning rags are thrown away and trash is emptied so that no dirt of misfortune is carried into the New Year. Starting today, Chinese all over th...
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By COMPASS PALM SPRINGS | Stewart Penn, COMPASS Palm Springs - Broker Associate
(COMPASS)
The Hollywood Sign - Saturday 2/13/2010 Search The MLS for homes in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Santa Monica, Malibu, Brentwood, Century City, Westwood, Beverly Center, Miracle Mile, West Hollywood, Sunset Strip, Hollywood Hills, Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Studio City and elsewhere in the greater Los Angeles area.
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By Endre Barath, Jr., Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002
(Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties)
Breaking News the Hollywood sign has disappeared!  Breaking News, the Hollywood sign has disappeared! The Iconic Historic Landmark has been taken over. Reuters, LA Times, and NYDailyNews.com every one has been covering it. In the shadow of the Winter Olympics quietly the Hollywood Sign has been hijacked. Look at the pictures before and after!  So what is going on?  A picture is worth a thousand words has been said many time. In this case you need a thousand words to clarify it. There is a lot of what I consider marketing gimmicks going on.   After Photo: Today the sign says "Save the Peak" The "Trust for Public Land" is trying to do a grassroots effort to raise millions of dollars so they can buy the 138 acre ridge which is behind the Iconic Hollywood Sign. They took out an option to bu...
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