Santa Monica Property Blog

SAVE CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS – A LEGACY ASSET ISSUE WITH POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

SAVE CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS – A LEGACY ASSET ISSUE WITH POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

This post is inspired by an excerpt from a post from the National Trust for Historic Preservation titled “In California, ‘Fantastic’ State Parks News Doesn’t Hold Up to Scrutiny” written by Anthony Veerkamp @

http://blogs.nationaltrust.org/preservationnation/?p=6415

Last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a press release concerning the fate of California’s state parks. Judging by most of the media coverage that ensued, you’d think that parks advocates had scored a major victory.

Alas, what the Governor called “fantastic news for all Californians” turns out on closer reading to be just a fantasy….By redefining what it means to close a park, it turns out that closures can be avoided. This game of semantics may have bought the Governor a couple days of positive media, but did nothing to address the $14.2 million hole in this year’s parks budget. In fact, the Governor’s plan bears out what the National Trust for Historic Preservation has been saying all along: that closing parks doesn’t really save money. In fact, all of the contemplated closures—err, service cuts—are projected to save just $2.1 million. The real savings are found the old fashioned way: $12.1 million is saved by reducing ongoing maintenance and eliminating all major equipment purchases.

Which takes us back to the crux of the matter. When the National Trust included California State Parks on our 2008 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, we highlighted years of chronic underfunding and deferred maintenance as the primary threat to the vast array of historic and cultural resources in California’s state park system. The Governor’s “budget solution” is just the latest chapter in a tragic saga of running the country’s best state parks system into the ground.

For the whole story, please go to

http://blogs.nationaltrust.org/preservationnation/?p=6415

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Addendum:

The underfunding, and eroding of our state parks, is the issue that exists with many of our legacy assets. There has got to be another way… Many city and state historic properties sit in blighted condition.

http://www.santamonicapropertyblog.com/?page_id=1347

The state of California could generate revenue for the parks if they sold off some of their blighted legacy assets to individuals and corporations that would care for the properties. Monies raised from property sales and annual taxes could go toward maintaining our parks.

WHAT WE SPEND ON HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION

By Jodi Summers

Secretary Shaun Donovan U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently presented a report called “Livable Communities, Transit Oriented Development, and Incorporating Green Building Practices into Federal Housing and Transportation Policy” to the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations United States House of Representatives. We thought you’d enjoy these statistics that were presented by Secretary Donovan:

“The average American household now spends 34 percent of their annual budget on housing and 18 percent on transportation - the combined total of 52 percent of their budgets wrapped up in these two largest expenses. For low-income working families, the impact is more serious - with transportation representing almost a third of their costs. The extremes can be eye-opening - the average Houston-area household spends over $11,000 per year on transportation. For these families, the expense of transportation poses a particular burden, inhibiting wealth creation, hindering home ownership and pushing family budgets closer to the brink. In some metropolitan areas, working families are spending more on transportation than on housing. The recent housing downturn has shown that auto-dependent houses are more vulnerable to price devaluation, as homes in distant neighborhoods declined in value more than regional averages, while some centrally-located homes held or increased their value. For lower-income households who hold much of their savings in their home equity, these declines can seriously undermine or eliminate their tenuous financial security. While housing costs in distant suburban locations may be lower, transportation costs are higher, and the combination of housing and transportation costs now averages 57 percent of income for working families in metropolitan areas.

http://www.hud.gov/offices/cir/test090318.cfm

http://www.inman.com/news/2009/03/19/partnership-targets-affordability-transportation

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/bottleneck/images/2008/06/10/phase2map.jpg

http://metroriderla.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/expophase2.jpg

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/bottleneck/images/2008/06/10/phase2map.jpg

http://la.curbed.com/uploads/2008-03-metro-plans.jpg

http://www.cooltownstudios.com/images/fr-strasbourg-transit.jpg

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/1lrt0625.jpg

TO LIVE AND BUY IN THE CITIES – URBAN DEVELOPMENT IS A NATIONAL REAL ESTATE TREND

By Jodi Summers

The Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed that the inner city is making a comeback.

The EPA analyzed residential building permit trends in the nation’s 50 largest metro regions from 1990 to 2007, offers quantitative evidence that city neighborhoods are growing in popularity.

“We’ve had anecdotal evidence for a while about successful infill projects, but we were curious to see how they fit into the big picture,” notes John Thomas, an EPA policy analyst and author of the report. “The big question was whether those examples added up to a fundamental shift in the geography of residential construction.”

Think of the development of the downtown L.A. loft district and consider that in Los Angeles, the number of housing permits issued for city lots jumped from 19% to 37% during the 18-year study period. More impressively (or because of less space) inner city redevelopment now accounts for more than half of residential new construction in New York, up from just 15% in the early 1990s. In Chicago, urban core redevelopment now accounts for 40% of all residential building permits in the region, up from 7% in the early 1990s.

In total, more than half of the markets in the study saw a dramatic shift away from exurban greenfield development and an uptick in urban core redevelopment over an 18-year period. In 15 of those markets, the central city more than doubled its share of housing permits, with the most accelerated spikes occurring in the past five years…

Among the cities posting notable downtown growth are Miami, Atlanta, Seattle, San Diego, Denver, Portland, Ore., Sacramento, and Milwaukee.

The study attributes these trends in reverse migration to continue to baby boomers and echo boomers – who are driving housing preferences. Additional factors weighing heavily on the shape and location of housing include increased immigration, smaller households, concerns over energy usage and climate change, and downsized consumer expectations in the wake of the current recession.

“…What you’re seeing now is the result of pent-up demand for mixed-use, urban housing near jobs, and transit. The market pendulum is swinging from drivable suburbanism to walkable urbanism,” observes Ed McMahon, a specialist on sustainable development at the Urban Land Institute.

The trend may be far more expansive than the EPA study, which is limited to new construction and does not include housing created through the rehabilitation or adaptive reuse of existing structures.

“There are deep expectations among Americans that this volatility [in fuel prices] will continue,” shares David Goldberg, communications director for Smart Growth America. “Combine that with an aging population and a drop in household size, and all signs point to a desire for more convenient locations with transportation options.”

http://www.builderonline.com/infill-development/housing-migrates-back-to-cities.aspx?cid=BLDR090319002

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/new-york/new-york-city/images/new-york-city.jpg

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/motorhead/epa.jpg

http://www.uoregonlaw.com/s/293/images/editor/PortlandOregon.jpg

http://www.neosmartgrowth.org/

MORE SANTA MONICA PIER FIREWORKS PHOTOS

Daniel Beaman took these fantastic photos with his fabulous equipment.

Do check out his work @ http://www.DanielBeamanPhotography.com or

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/daniel_beaman_photography

SANTA MONICA PIER FIREWORKS

We had fun!

SANTA MONICA PIER CENTENNIAL TONIGHT! CELEBRATE WITH US

PIER CENTENNIAL TONIGHT! CELEBRATE WITH US

shared by Jodi Summers

Come one come all, Santa Monica’s throwing yet another party… The Santa Monica Pier celebrates its Centennial with the festivities starting at 6 PM tonight on the Pier.

The festivities include -

A Reopening, followed by a reenactment of the famous photo of civicleaders celebrating the Pier Sign with “fanfares and flourishes” played bythe Los Angeles Brass ensemble. The party continues with musical acts,Vybration, Big Bamboo Steel Band and Dick Dale, the king of surf guitar.Celebrity hosts include Joan Baez + Robert Redford.

FIREWORKS START AT AROUND 8:45PM AND WILL BE THE BIGGEST IN THE LAST TWENTY YEARS. Best viewing is from the beach on either side of the Pier. Come early and stake out your spot for the show!

A note on parking - Santa Monica parking garages expect a big crowd and willRAISE THE FEE FROM $3 TO $15 TONIGHT ONLY FOR PARKING AFTER 6PM!

For the history of the pier check out:

http://www.santamonicalandmarks.com/landmk32.html

http://www.santamonicapropertyblog.com/?p=287

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Ocean Park Association Home Page: http://opa-sm.org

SANTA MONICA PROPERTY SNAPSHOT – SEPTEMBER 2009

By Jodi Summers

The rest of Los Angeles is on fire, and we are fortunate to be comfortable here at the beach, that’s why we love Santa Monica – every day is a holiday. Searching for recent Santa Monica sales statistics for you, and we notice that each sources offers a different set of numbers. Clarus Marketmetrics is the only out with August stats, so we’ll share those with you today.

SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCES

Check the charts – From August 2008 – August 2009 prices in August were down 28% in Santa Monica - August 2008 the median price of the 25 units that sold was $ 2,250,000. In August 2009 we had 22 homes selling for a median price of $1,620,000-> a drop of 28%

Meantime, it’s still a buyer’s market, as you can see by the supply + demand chart.

The median time it’s taking for a house to sell is 80 days, and inventory is way down, mostly because only people who have to sell are selling.

“The smart speculators are renting out their properties while the market stabilizes,” states one savvy investor.

CONDOS

It’s a wait and hold philosophy in the Santa Monica condo market. The median sold price is down 17% -> going from $756,000 August 2008 to $625,000 in August 2009. To add insult to injury, the volume of sales is down 38% from 29 units in Aug ’08, to 24 units last month.

Supply is up, demand is down.

Looking for some specific details? Would you like to be our client – we’ll take good care of you. Contact the SoCal Investment Group through Jodi Summers, Jodi@jodisummers.com.

Disclaimer:

Clarus REsource® is a set of market-oriented tools designed specifically for the real estate professional who wants to better understand what is happening in the market and communicate that insight to clients.

http://www.clarusresource.com/