Santa Monica Property Blog

BUY SOON - REAL ESTATE SALES ARE STARTING TO RISE IN LAS VEGAS + OTHER PLACES

BUY SOON - REAL ESTATE SALES ARE STARTING TO RISE IN LAS VEGAS + OTHER PLACES

Las Vegas real estate properties are down 28 percent in price, but sales of homes are up 15 percent.

Motivated buyers accounted for 64 percent of Las Vegas sales in October, says Radar Logic, a derivatives firm. That’s the highest rate in the country.

“There’s a pretty active housing market, it’s simply at a lower-priced inventory,” says Michael Feder, chief executive of Radar Logic. “And there are now bidding wars taking place over homes in foreclosure.”

Phoenix and San Diego are reporting similar experiences.

“We’re clearing out the bad news,” says Kiva Patten, a director at Merrill Lynch specializing in housing derivatives.

“By the end of 2010 – that’s where we’re calling the bottom in the forward market. You’re going to get a small price appreciation in 2011,” says Patten. “It’s not like the turn is 10 percent per year, it’ll be something like 3 percent or 4 percent.”

Here are the cities where experts say it makes the most sense to buy now.

1.    Las Vegas

2.    Sacramento, Calif.

3.    San Diego, Calif.

4.    Los Angeles

5.    Detroit

6.    Phoenix

7.    San Francisco

8.    Washington, D.C.

9.    San Jose

10. Atlanta

All the dirt @ http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009011602?OpenDocument

http://www.lvabj.org/LasVegasSign.jpg

REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT BUYING AND SELLING CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE IN 2009

REASONS TO BE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT BUYING AND SELLING CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE IN 2009

Bet you’ve already realized that the housing market is way down. 31.7% in 2008, according to the year-end statistics from the California Association of Realtors, and they predict a drop of 6% in 2009.

6%…guess we’re hitting the bottom…that’s the nice thing about deflated housing markets like Arizona, California, Florida, and Nebraska, they’ve fallen so low that they’re starting to rebound. Analysts have noted that prices have fallen to the point that those with average salaries can afford to buy once again.

“The buyers are returning,” says Lawrence Yun, National Association of Realtors chief economist. “And in such a strong way that, now, we are hearing in some cases there is multiple bidding, which hints that maybe pricing is reaching a bottom point. But inventory remains high.”

http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2008121602?OpenDocument

http://www.inman.com/news/2008/12/18/california-sales-spike-reflects-distress

WAYS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL BUILD A GREEN ECONOMIC SECTOR

WAYS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL BUILD A GREEN ECONOMIC SECTOR

Allow us to share with you a collection of green initiatives proposed by President-elect Barack Obama. The quotes come from the President-elect’s website @

www.barackobama.com and information has yet to be offered as to how these initiatives will be implemented and funded. Nonetheless, we like to concept.

BUILDING EFFICIENCY

* Weatherize 1 million homes annually. “Obama will make a national commitment to weatherize at least one million low-income homes each year for the next decade, which can reduce energy usage across the economy and help moderate energy prices for all.”

* Set building efficiency goals. “Obama will establish a goal of making all new buildings carbon neutral, or produce zero emissions, by 2030. He’ll also establish a national goal of improving new building efficiency by 50 percent and existing building efficiency by 25 percent over the next decade to help us meet the 2030 goal.”

* Establish a grant program for early adopters. “Obama will create a competitive grant program to award those states and localities that take the first steps in implementing new building codes that prioritize energy efficiency, and provide a federal match for those states with leading-edge public benefits funds that support energy efficiency retrofits of existing buildings.”

* Expand federal efficiency grants. “Obama will also expand federal grant programs to help states and localities build more efficient public buildings, including libraries, schools, and police stations that adopt aggressive green building provisions like those provided by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program of the U.S. Green Buildings Council.”

UTILITIES AND ELECTRIC GRID

* Flip incentives to energy utilities. “An Obama administration will ‘flip’ incentives to utility companies by requiring states to conduct proceedings to implement incentive changes and offering them targeted technical assistance. These measures will benefit utilities for improving energy efficiency, rather than just from supporting higher energy consumption. This ‘regulatory equity’ starts with the decoupling of profits from increased energy usage, which will incentivize utilities to partner with consumers and the federal and state governments to reduce monthly energy bills for families and businesses.”

APPLIANCE/PRODUCT EFFICIENCY

* Overhaul federal efficiency standards. “The current Department of Energy has missed 34 deadlines for setting updated appliance efficiency standards, which has cost American consumers millions of dollars in unrealized energy savings. Obama will overhaul this process for appliances and provide more resources to his Department of Energy so it implements regular updates for efficiency standards. He will also work with Congress to ensure that it continues to play a key role in improving our national efficiency codes.”

* Phase out incandescents. “Obama supports the effort led by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) to update federal lighting efficiency standards to ensure that new lighting technologies are phased into the marketplace. As president, Obama will implement legislation that phases out traditional incandescent light bulbs by 2014.”

RENEWABLE ENERGY

* Increase share of government electricity from renewable sources. “As president, Obama will ensure that at least 30 percent of the federal government’s electricity comes from renewable sources by 2020.”

* Require 25% of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2025. “Obama will establish a 25 percent federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to require that 25 percent of electricity consumed in the U.S. is derived from clean, sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind, and geothermal by 2025.”

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

* Build neighborhoods around alternative transportation. “Obama believes that we must devote substantial resources to repairing our roads and bridges. He also believes that we must devote significantly more attention to investments that will make it easier for us to walk, bicycle, and access other transportation alternatives. Obama is committed to reforming the federal transportation funding and leveling employer incentives for driving and public transit.”

CARBON EMISSIONS

* Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050. “Obama’s cap-and-trade policy will require all pollution credits to be auctioned, and proceeds will go to investments in a clean energy future, habitat protections, and rebates and other transition relief for families.”

GREEN JOBS

* Invest in clean energy. “The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will help create 5 million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next 10 years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.”

Info courtesy of

http://www.barackobama.com

http://www.ecohomemagazine.com/news/obama-wins-green-movement-wins.aspx

LOS ANGELES HAS MORE PEOPLE THAN MICHIGAN

State Population Estimates

The Economic Data Global Express offers statistics from the California Department of Finance (DoF) report on 2008 population for the state and its counties and  the U.S. Census Bureau estimates as of July 1, 2008 for the states.  Comparisons of the two are interesting.

The DoF reported that California added 435,905 residents between 2007 and 2008, pushing the July 1 population count to 38,148,493 persons.  The Census Bureau estimated that the state added 379,132 residents over that time frame and placed the July 1, 2008 count at 36,756,666 persons.

If it were a separate state, Los Angeles County (July 1, 2008 estimate of 10,347,437 according to DoF) would rank 8th in the nation, ahead of Michigan (July 1, 2008 population 10,003,422).  (Jack Kyser)

PR: http://www.census.gov/

http://laedc.org/eedge/index.html#2

THE FIVE PRICIPLES OF SMART GROWTH

THE FIVE PRICIPLES OF SMART GROWTH

1. Make a commitment to housing opportunity and choice, a wide range of urban, suburban, and rural homes at all price levels for a diverse population.   

2. Build better communities with good schools, low crime, quality public services, efficient transportation systems, ample recreation areas, open space, a strong employment base, and a viable commercial sector.   

3. Protect the environment by controlling pollution and encouraging preservation of natural resources and properties of historic significance.   

4. At the same time, respect our Constitutional rights to freely own, use, and transfer real property.   

5. Implement fair and reasonable public sector fiscal measures to ensure that the cost of new infrastructure is shared proportionally among those served.