My new email is Jason@LaWestsideRealEstate.com
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
For Renters, buying a home pays off in 3 years on average
The company, which lists for-sale and for-rent information on its site, has released a new analysis of what it calls the "break-even horizon," comparing what it would cost to buy or rent the same home in a number of U.S. markets over time.
The rent-or-buy calculus varies widely depending on where you live.
In the combined Los Angeles and Orange counties, the magic number is 4.3 years, assuming the buyer has made a 20% down payment. Buying wins out after only 1.6 year in the desert community of Banning. But Newport Beach residents must wait 14 years for buying to make more financial sense than renting.
The analysis takes into account a host of factors potential buyers should think about when considering the leap, including the down payment, mortgage and rental payments, buying and selling costs, property taxes, utilities, maintenance costs and tax deductions. The analysis adjusts for inflation and forecasts home value and rental price appreciation.
Zillow senior economist Svenja Gudell said the data should help homeowners get a rough and immediate sense of whether buying makes sense in a particular area in relation to their financial situation.
"For a home buyer out there, it is really tough to get a good grip on the buy-versus-rent decision," Gudell said. Although buying a home is a deeply personal decision, she said, the analysis gives consumers "a sense for 'Am I ready to make this decision?'"
The new take on the classic rent-versus-buy debate comes at a tenuous moment for the housing market. Many analysts believe that a housing bottom has been reached but don't expect a return to the heady days of the real estate bubble. There is already some concern about the strength of the recovery, with home sales slowing in June as inventory remained tight and buyers paid higher prices.
At the same time, rents are rising, housing affordability is at record levels, and mortgage interest rates remain very low. These factors are prompting many renters to consider homeownership.
Stuart Gabriel, director of UCLA's Ziman Center for Real Estate, noted that the main lesson from the subprime mortgage debacle and the housing bust was that homeownership shouldn't be pushed at all costs. Federal policy has been adjusted to support this new point of view.
"One of the things we have learned in recent years is, obviously, house prices don't always go up, and even over the very long term in certain markets homeownership may only offer a minimal return," Gabriel said.
"What we have all learned is to treat homeownership as a bit of a dangerous animal. You know it's not always good, and it's not good for everyone."
Things to consider when buying, particularly in an slowly appreciating market, include how mobile will you be, your financial situation, marital status, career goals and personality, Gabriel said.
Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, added that in many regions buying has become increasingly attractive compared with renting. There are also non-financial reasons for buying.
"I can enjoy living in this house for the rest of my life, and nobody can throw me out of it," he said. "You are consuming something, and you have control over it, and control has some value."
Zillow's analysis, which covered more than 200 metropolitan areas and 7,500 U.S. cities, found that buying is a better financial decision than renting in the Riverside-San Bernardino area if you live in the home for at least two years. That rises to 3.2 years in the area including Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Ventura.
The San Francisco metropolitan area's break-even score of 5.9 years encompasses a range from two years to 24.3 years.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Jason Cook for your Real Estate Needs
I specialize in the Los Angeles Miracle Mile area. I would love to work with you to fulfill your Real Estate Needs.
Jason Cook
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
323-380-0995 (Office)
661-317-6900 (Cell)
JasonRCook@sbcglobal.net (Email)
I look forward to hearing from you.
April 2012 Sales Statistics for Miracle Mile/Beverly Center
APRIL 2012 SALES INFO
CONDOS/TOWNHOMES
Number Sold 2
Average Price $501,400
Average Days on Market 68
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
Number Sold 22
Average Price $866,483
Average Days on Market 49
May # Homes on Market
CONDO/TOWNHOMES
Active Listings 17
Back Up Listings 11
Pending Listings 7
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
Active Listings 48
Back Up Listings 18
Pending Listings 18
Sales Statistics for Miracle Mile/Beverly Center Feb 2012
CONDOS/TOWNHOMES
Number Sold 6
Average Price $412,417
Average Days on Market 25
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
Number Sold 11
Average Price $822,359
Average Days on Market 23
Homes On The Market in March 2012
CONDO/TOWNHOMES
Active Listings 25
Back Up Listings 7
Pending Listings 9
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
Active Listings 57
Back Up Listings 28
Pending Listings 14
History of Miracle Mile, Los Angeles
Developer A. W. Ross saw potential for the area, and developed Wilshire as a commercial district to rival downtown Los Angeles. Ross's insight was that the form and scale of his Wilshire strip should attract and serve automobile traffic rather than pedestrian shoppers. He applied this design both to the street itself and to the buildings lining it. Ross gave Wilshire various "firsts", including dedicated left-turn lanes and the first timed traffic lights in the United States; he also required merchants to provide automobile parking lots, all to aid traffic flow. Major retailers such as Desmonds, Silverwood's, May Co., Coulter's, Mullen & Bluett, Myer Siegel, and Seibu eventually spread across Wilshire Boulevard from Fairfax to La Brea. Ross ordered that all building facades along Wilshire be engineered so as to be best seen through a windshield. This meant larger, bolder, simpler signage; longer buildings in a larger scale, oriented toward the boulevard; and architectural ornament and massing perceptible at 30 MPH (50 km/h) instead of at walking speed. These simplified building forms were driven by practical requirements, but contributed to the stylistic language of Art Deco and Streamline Moderne.
Ross's moves were unprecedented, a huge commercial success, and proved historically influential. Ross had invented the car-oriented urban form—what Reyner Banham called "the linear downtown" model later adopted across the United States. The moves also contributed to Los Angeles' reputation as a city dominated by the car. A sculptural bust of Ross stands at 5800 Wilshire, with the inscription, "A. W. Ross, founder and developer of the Miracle Mile. Vision to see, wisdom to know, courage to do."
As wealth and newcomers poured into the fast-growing city, Ross' parcel became one of Los Angeles's most desirable areas. Acclaimed as "America's Champs-Élysées."this stretch of Wilshire near the La Brea Tar Pits was named "Miracle Mile" for its improbable rise to prominence. Although the preponderance of shopping malls and the development in the 1960s of financial and business districts in downtown and Century City lessened the Miracle Mile's importance as a retail and business center, the area has retained its vitality thanks to the addition of several museums and commercial high-rises. The Petersen Automotive Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), A+D Museum, and La Brea Tar Pits museums, among others, positioned "Museum Row" on the Miracle Mile as a rival to Exposition Park.
The Art Deco bank recently joined an elite group of local buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by the architecture firm of Morgan, Walls & Clements, which did the Wiltern Theatre, the El Capitan, and many other notable Los Angeles buildings; 5209 Wilshire was built in 1929.
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