Check out this new listing we took in the Chatsworth area. We put together this very cool slideshow, as we usually do for all of our listings. The great thing though is that each slideshow is different. Let us know what you think about this home that we listed in one of Chatsworth's best neighborhoods. This home is upgraded to no end! It also has a pool, RV/Boat parking, 3 car garage…and the list goes on.

Call The Robert and Brian Team for all of your Chatsworth Real Estate needs. Reach us @ 661-964-1760, or visit us at The Robert and Brian Team website.

We were in Chatsworth today, checking out a home that we are going to have for sale in the coming week or two. This house is shaping up to be super nice. It's currently being renovated. There are quite a few upgrades that have been made, such as new flooring, new windows, new paint, new kitchen granite counters, new cabinetry, bathroom remodels, new doors, new landscaping, pool renovation,…the works! Usually we're selling Santa Clarita homes @ The Robert and Brian Team, but this house called our name, so we headed south, for this one.

This home is located on a beautiful cul-de-sac street in Chatsworth…just south of the 118 freeway. The pride of ownership in this neighborhood is off the charts! Great curb appeal everywhere you turn. Listen is, as Brian talks a bit about our new listing that will be hitting the market soon in the Chatsworth Real Estate market. be sure to check out our Santa Clarita real estate website for details on this home once it's available (including the price).

Contact The Robert and Brian Team to help find your dream home in the Santa Clarita Valley, or San Fernando Valley. Our team is here working 7 days a week to make it all possible.

The Southern California Home Buyer's Fair is right around the corner, on March 13, and March 14 of 2010. If you're about to buy a Santa Clarita home, or in any other area of Southern California, it's a great idea to attend…especially if you're a first time home buyer. This is a FREE seminar, and there is lots to learn from the seminars being held. Listen in as Brian from the Robert and Brian Team tell you about the Southern California Home Buyer's Fair, and the freebies being given away. This fair for home buyers is being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. To learn more about real estate in Santa Clarita, visit Robert and Brian @ TheScvAgents.com. Or just call them @ 661-964-1760.

Check out this new listing of ours that will be hitting the market next week! It is located in Porter Ranch. This Porter Ranch Home, will be for sale in the low $500's approx. Exact price and details will be released next week. It offers 3 bedrooms, in approx 1,500 sq ft, and has a view of the San Fernando Valley that is incredible!

This single story home is updated, upgraded, and ready to sell. If you're looking for a prime Porter Ranch community to buy a home in, this may just be the deal for you! View View View! Watch as Robert, from The Robert and Brian Team narrates this video of this home's lovely view. Sorry, no night time city light shots….yet.

Roughly 100,000 Homes As Part Of Shadow Inventory In Los Angeles County:

At least that's what the analysis is of whoever runs the Dr. Housing Bubble Blog.

The numbers they lay out are quite compelling. Pretty scary in fact. All the evidence points to a larger inventory of homes for sale, at some point in the near future. But when exactly? No one really knows. It depends on how quickly these banks can get to actually foreclosing on homeowners who are already in default. No one really knows why it's taking them so long to do so, but one could speculate a number of theories. I won't do that here.

Currently in the Santa Clarita real estate market, there is an abnormally low inventory of homes for sale. We could definitely use more homes for sale, in order to meet the demand of all the buyers that are out there. But is there enough buyers out there, for this shadow inventory of homes that have yet to be foreclosed on, or yet to reach the market? I don't think there is, if it hit all at once. But, it won't likely all hit at once – the banks aren't that coordinated or efficient. So that leaves me questioning how bad any shadow inventory may be. If rates stay low, home values stay where they are, job losses stagnate or if we even see job growth, and a stock market that starts gaining…people may start to become optimistic and start buying homes in even greater numbers than they are now (despite this looming fear of a shadow inventory).

Whatever happens, I just hope it's for the best. I want buyers to get good deals, and homeowners to stop losing so much money. A utopia, I know. The good thing is this….if this shadow inventory story comes to fruition, we should start seeing early signs of it before the momentum starts to build in the supposed inventory number increase, months and months in advance. How will that help you? I don't know. Perhaps you will hold off your home purchase several more months…if you knew more inventory and options were on the way?

As always, we'll do our best to give you our local perspective, here at the SCREF. In the meantime, go check out this blog post over at Dr Housing Bubble Blog.

Thank you to the LA Times “LA Land” blog post today, for providing these figures today on the best and the worst of Los Angeles County zip codes, with respect to home value appreciation (remember what that is?), and depreciation.

Here is a look at the Hot and Cold Zips:

Hottest
Area/zip                          % change   Oct. 07 median sales price
Beverly Hills/90210          192%         $3.65 million
Beverly Hills/90212          71.8%        $2.19 million
Sherman Oaks/91403       66.7%        $1.27 million
Pacific Palisades/90272    41.8%        $2.69 million
LA/Brentwood/90049       32.4%        $2.25 million
LA/Rancho Park/90064     31.0%        $1.31 million
LA/90027                         30.7%        $1.24 million
Palos Verdes/90274           24.8%        $1.50 million
Rowland Heights/91748    22.6%         $650,000
Manhattan Beach/90266    16.4%         $1.66 million

Coldest
Tujunga/91402                 -37.2%          $386,000
Malibu/90265                   -34.9%          $1.59 million
Palmdale/903550             -29.9%           $235,000
Downey/90240                 -26.8%           $504,000
Encino/91316                   -25.9%          $515,000
Lancaster/93534              -25.0%           $224,000
Lancaster/93535              -24.1%           $239,000
LA/Windsor Hills/90043    -23.9%          $415,000
LA/Firestone Park/90001  -23.9%          $350,000
Downey/90242                 -23.0%          $423,000

The LA Times “LA Land Blog” retreived this information from Dataquick’s October 2007 Sales Report, and from that, they only looked at zip codes that had at least 10 or more sales in October, to give a more accurate picture of fluctuating home values. These numbers are the difference between median sales prices between October 2006 through October 2007. In general, looking at these numbers, it pays to own a home over $1.2 million! I guess there is something to that line, ” The rich keep getting richer.”

Dataquick announced that resale, and new home sales in Los Angeles County, dropped 48% from year ago levels. An even more bleak figure, due to the larger number, was the fact that we are 68% lower that the sales level for Los Angeles County reached back in October 2003. Dataquick said that sales levels are at their lowest levels in more than two years, and that approximately two years of median sales price gains had been erased, rolling back to 2005 levels.

Some areas hit harder than others: Riverside County, clocked in at a 15.1% drop in median sales price from a year ago. The figure went from $412,136, down to $350,000.

Locally: Santa Clarita home sales by contrast (just resale homes), in September 07, were off 51.8% from September 06 home sale levels.

Bottom-line: Over the next few months, home sales will stay flat, or decrease even further, as we are all inundated with the holiday season fast approaching. By late January, and early February, we will see a return to an increasing inventory of homes for sale in Santa Clarita, and Los Angeles County as a whole. Whether home sales pick up or not, will depend a lot on the overall economy, and the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. Median home prices will continue to modestly down in Southern California if there is not a sizable gain on home sales versus inventory increases. As soon as sellers catch wind that home sales are picking up, and buyers are coming out of their cocoons in greater numbers, the sellers on the market will start to ease their price reductions amounts, and some will simply stop. But until then, hang on homeowners, it’s a Buyer’s Market! 

Did you know that can submit an application for a temporary reduction in assessed property value when your home has experienced a “decline-in-value”.

Whatever your properties current assessed value was as of January 1, 2007, if you can show the Los Angeles County Assessor that your home is actually worth less (lower market value), as of March 31, 2007, then you may qualify for this temporary reduction in assessed value, which will of course lower your following property tax bill!

Why pay higher property taxes off a home value the Los Angeles County assessor says your home is worth, when you can’t in fact sell your home for that figure today!

Thanks to Proposition 8, which is authorized under section 51 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, many Los Angeles County home owners should, and I expect will, be taking advantage of this! The deadline to file is December 31, 2007, applications for this “Decline-in-value” reassessment received after that date will not be processed. There is an Assessment Appeals Board if you disagree with the county’s findings.

The single page form they provide for this request, can be found at their website, click here for “Decline In Value Reassessment Form”

Or, just Download the form direct from this blog here: Los Angeles County Decline In Value Reassessment Form Request

Contact me at 661-373-2374 if you would like assistance in determining your home’s current market value.

Remember…when buying or selling Santa Clarita real estate, call me 1st.

Robert Mickalson, Realtor

Vintage Sotheby’s International Realty

661.219.2260 or 661.373.2374

Search the Santa Clarita MLS like a pro @ www.TheScvAgent.com

Search the UP-To-Date Santa Clarita Tract Directory! Go to www.TractDirectory.com

With all the turmoil in the real estate market, its hard to believe that this is the first time the Los Angeles County median home sales pricehas declined since July 2007 when it dropped just $5,000 to $545,000. Now, Septemeber’s numbers are out, and Dataquick is reporting that the median sales price for Los Angeles County has tumbled $25,000! This larger than normal drop is widely attributed to the increasingly difficult task home buyers are having with qualifying for jumbo loan mortgages – those loans for over $417,000. With credit much more restricted, lenders are looking at loan applications with a much more fine comb than they have in the past, that, in order to sell the loan off into the secondary market where investors in mortgage backed securities are a bit more cautious about the loans they are buying, than they have been in times past.

As we approach into the slow months of fall and winter, this number will likely decrease a bit more, especially as some of the more desperate sellers out there, continue to lower their home price in order to attract a buyer. Stay tuned for a detailed summary of specific Santa Clarita home sales numbers in an upcoming post here at the www.SantaClaritaRealEstateForum.com.

Take a look at Dataquick’s September Los Angeles County Sales and comparable figures by looking at the Los Angeles Times Blog.

Remember…when buying or selling Santa Clarita real estate, call me 1st.

Robert Mickalson, Realtor

Vintage Sotheby’s International Realty

661.219.2260 or 661.373.2374

Search the Santa Clarita MLS like a pro @ www.TheScvAgent.com

Search the UP-To-Date Santa Clarita Tract Directory! Go to www.TractDirectory.com