Market snapshot: Brokers' caravan in Burbank

I hitched a ride this morning on the Brokers' Caravan in Burbank with Judy Graff, who comments here as sfvrealestate, which is also the name of her blog. I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. She does not drive a Mercedes. She drives a Toyota Prius.

Here's what we saw, most of it new on the market:

1100 and 1100 1/2 N. Buena Vista Street 91505 (pictured): $658,000 for two legal residences totalling 1,600 square feet -- a 2 plus 1 main house plus a one-bedroom guest house/carriage house, plus a small standalone office.  Nice, old-school Spanish revival with lots of original detailing. If you are into trees, the property has a massive eucalyptus tree in the back yard.

3022 N. Lamer Street 91504: On the market since last summer, reduced from $1.2 million to $999,999. An airy, 2,300-square-foot, 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath home with a heated, kidney-shaped pool and sweeping Valley views from the Burbank Hills. A handsome house with large public rooms, but no yard to speak of.

2223 N. Lamer 91504: $699,000 for a 2,122 square foot, 4-bedroom, 2-bath house that will have to find a very specific buyer. As in, a buyer who doesn't want much grass to maintain, because this house has a paved front yard and a pool in back. The marble floors are not for everyone, either.

2304 N. Sparks 91504: Reduced, from $699,000 to $575,000, this is a short sale, and a house with a sad story to tell. The previous occupants clearly left in a hurry -- children's toys are strewn about, and his-and-hers college diplomas are still framed and mounted on one wall. Judy blogs about it here. UPDATE: The listing agent informs the owners are still in the process of moving out. So scratch the sad story and the leaving in a hurry -- it's the opposite. They're leaving slowly.

824 N. Parish Place 91056: $774,999 for a 2,012 square-foot, 4-bedroom, 2 3/4 bath home, half a block from the Chandler Bikeway.  Unremarkable.

1430 W. Valleyheart 91506: $1.65 million for an unusual house -- a horse-lover's paradise, zoned for five horses, and beautifully redone -- so unusual that I gave it a separate post.

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo credit: Nick Tatone

Comments

[lefty]

guys, if you want great returns you need to spend more for location! burbank is all right; don't be fooled by 'cheap' stuff, because amazing metro L.A. is where it's at!! make some offers today and have a pink lemonade!

[jbunniii]

These prices are still totally ludicrous. Most of Burbank was going for $200k to $300k ten years ago, and will be again five years from now.

[Cal]

Judy seems to be obsessed with the multiple offer phenomenon, like somehow the fact that a house gets a couple of offers means the heyday is back.

The difference between now and then is that back then the offers were over list, now the offers are under list. But both have the same effect, leading the market in the direction it should go based on current market conditions.

The market has never been worse in SRAR history in January and it clear with that fact, combined with the huge temporary 30 yr fixed rate drop right after MLK that February would be a better month than January. But the issue is that the market is still at historic lows and will remain so for quite some time. Until sellers get realistic and realtors do their job of finding and making a market volume will remain extremely low.

March 1st is a big date for many mortgage insurance guideline tightening. June 1st Freddie adds a new 30 bps delivery fee to loans. And daily we see lenders cutting maximum LTV they will lend to. Credit continues to tighten and realtors and sellers are still in denial failing to grasp the reality of 6 months ago let alone today. Single Family Home sales for February should rebound from 323 in January to between 390 and 435 (depends of fallout of the pendings) , even at 435 its the 7th worst month in SRAR history.

The good thing is the servicers and asset managers are emotionless and just make business decisions and smartly move their inventory. Sales will still get done but fewer and fewer of homeowners will realize significant profits from those sales. It will all be the banks choosing to loose less by selling at market prices NOW rather than lower prices later.

[Uncle Billy]

Those poor appraisers. First it was "bump my value or I'll work with someone else." Now it's probably "please, please find some more value or neither of us will make any money."

[E]

Hey Pete...

just out of curiosity...I've read your blog for a while and understand that you are new(er) to Los Angeles...pricing aside, what is it that you are looking for in a home? What are your location constraints? What floats your boat? Is it a hillside view? A house in the flats with a yard/streets with sidewalks/pool? One in the 90210 so your kids can go to BH schools?

Is Burbank your dream location?

Maybe you could make a post listing what you like...homestyle etc. and all the bloggers can give you redfin links to homes that we think fit your description and try to "sell you" on why we think the home is the one.

But still...wait for the firesales...this is gonna take a few years to unwind.

[Steve]

Still over priced. Where I live in CO you can buy a 5000 sq ft mini mansion new on a golf course and do not have to worry about being shot at for $500K. The reality now is at a certian level dumps like Burbank are now competing against this as more families move away. What a rip. As far as metro LA, I lived in OC for 40 years of my life and went to that hell hole twice when I was forced to.

[Susan]

I certainly hope the L.A. Times is collecting an advertising fee for the houses you listed here on the blog, Peter.

Asset markets almost never go straight down, they get little bounces here and there during the trip down. And during those bounces, you'll see some behavior that mirrors the bubble heyday.

Multiple offers mean nothing - it just means that buyers will bid prices up to a certain limit, which is a limit lower than what they bid to in 2006. At some point people will feel priced out again, they'll stop buying again .... and the cycle will repeat.

[chris]

Steve- Let me guess. You are a white guy late 40-mid 50's. Probably an attorney or Financial guy. Wife couple of kids in college, nice pension. GET REAL!!!!. Its not everyone's dream to sip scotch at the country club all day. Some of us love this city and all of its diversity and culture. I would much rather live in lively Burbank than some boring ass golf course community. There are hundreds of places in the USA just like the one you describe and I would rather throw up in my mouth than live in any of them. LA is a unique, dynamic place whch most of us would pay more and work harder to live here for. Go get in your Land Rover,drink your latte and shut the hell up. I seem to remember a shooting in a school in lovely whitebread,CO a few years back. And by the way, this isn't the OC paper jack ass. Your opinion matter very little in this forum.

[QuasiX]

Way to go, Judy... driving a Prius instead of a huge, gas-guzzling SUV. In addition to being real estate savvy, you're environmentally conscious. Will you marry me?

[CD]

Peter, we already have the real estate section on saturday and sunday which at this point is funnier than a comic strip....Massive bank failures on the horizon, insane inflation, the one with cash will get the great house in a year or so, so why buy now.... Did you meet Lefty under cover after work and drank Koolaid? Is it a case of invasion of the body snatchers? I am worried now....

[ajax]

like I said before 90% drop all around and we will be ready to rebuild, I remember when in 1998 you could buy a house in BH, not a mansion, a nice 3 bedroom house for 200k

but of course you could only get a 15 year loan back then....

[ajax]

like I said before 90% drop all around and we will be ready to rebuild, I remember when in 1998 you could buy a house in BH, not a mansion, a nice 3 bedroom house for 200k

but of course you could only get a 15 year loan back then....

btw the wallstreeters have a new slogan

Bumping at the Bottom

now that is pretty scary.....

I wonder if they will put out a novelty song with that title in the next few months

[seattlesnoop]

Steve,
You can have Colorado. My sister lives in Denver near Washington Park and Cherry Creek. Big deal. Denver is still a little western town trying to grow-up and find it's idenity. Good place for someone from OC.
Give me Los Angeles and Seattle any day over the prairie dogs and major weather swings.

[areles]

yeah, ajax, i heard that too. except it's 'bumping ALONG the bottom'.

i counted no less than six mentions of that silly, stupid phrase within a five-minute timespan on squawk on the street this morning. they LOVE it. it's so clever!

[peteviiles]

E wrote, "Hey Pete...just out of curiosity...I've read your blog for a while and understand that you are new(er) to Los Angeles...pricing aside, what is it that you are looking for in a home?"

E, thanks for asking. Maybe I threw you a curveball by writing about open houses in Burbank -- my intent was to inform readers about the kind of stuff coming onto the market, and what listing prices are like. I was certainly not looking for a home to buy.

Here's the deal: We're not looking to buy at the moment. We're happy in our rented house. If a time comes when all the financial planets come into alignment and we're looking to buy, I'm pretty certain it would be inappropriate to broadcast my hopes and desires on the blog. I may be wrong about that -- it seems all is fair in blogging -- but I think it would be inappropriate.

Pete

[RichW]

It amazed me a year ago to see people buying at the bubble peak. Of course there was no shortage of denial back then.

It amazes me more today to see the knife-catchers lining up to buy these homes despite all the news coverage of the current market condition. Do these buyers have their head buried in the sand ???

And Pete, glad to hear you are renting, beats being a knife catcher :)

[liz]

ajax,

what the hell are you talking about you couldn't buy a house(SFR) in Beverly Hills in '98 for $200K. No way. The lowest was maybe $450K and that was in the ghetto of B.H.

This whole real estate bubble is a bunch of b/s. I was starting to buy into it but in the areas I want to be in it's still expensive and people have money...

the areas with all these foreclosures and short sales I don't want to live there.

There are about 8 streets or so in l.a. that I would live in. Fortunately I'm living on one of them.

[liz]

ajax,

what the hell are you talking about you couldn't buy a house(SFR) in Beverly Hills in '98 for $200K. No way. The lowest was maybe $450K and that was in the ghetto of B.H.

This whole real estate bubble is a bunch of b/s. I was starting to buy into it but in the areas I want to be in it's still expensive and people have money...

the areas with all these foreclosures and short sales I don't want to live there.

There are about 8 streets or so in l.a. that I would live in. Fortunately I'm living on one of them.

[IToldu2CashOut]

Liz, Congrats you r obviously super smart saying theres no real estate bubble. How bout we check back in next year this time.

Only 8 streets in LA worth living on? Lets think about that a minute, because that must mean LA is such a hell hole that the whole city isn't worth living in. Which is not the case. To bad with all your money to live on one of those 8 streets you couldn't buy yourself some IQ points.

[sfvrealestate]

Peter and all readers, here's an update and correction on the listing at 2304 N. Sparks. Listing agent Tricia Ebert has left me a voicemail berating me for my lack of professionalism in blogging about this house at sfvrealestate.blogspot.com. Obviously, she and I have different opinions regarding the home and also what blogging is about. At any rate, here's a correction: she told me that the owners are in the process of moving out, and have not left their children's toys or their diplomas behind.

[bottom line]

Jeez, I don't know about Tricia's clients on the listing, but my diplomas and a couple of my guns would have to be the first packed. Glad I don't have to move, since free and clear on nice investment property since '82, and primary since '95.

Oh, & Steve, enjoy those Colorado folks. Weren't you from Orange Co. Might be a perfect fit, lol.

Bottom line, Paulson and Bernanke are no friends to the United States, although I had a semblence of hope for Ben.

Middle class vanishing before our eyes. Cheerleaders on the news and PBS Nightly Business Report every night. EXCEPT TONIGHT!! Anybody that wants to log on to pbs.org could find Paul Kangas' interview at the close of the show. It's a WHOPPER. The guy has been shorting major indexes (hey, I'm not that knowledgable, but I know what that means, & I'm gonna revisit the interview online) since last fall!

Sorry about the exclamation point, I'm left handed, but I'm not lefty. Anyhow, his picks were up in the 24%-18% range. Really, don't most of us know where 7 years of the shrub's economic fantasies are taking us?

Tax cuts in a time of TWO WARS? Rape America's infastructure, close schools, cities on the verge of bankruptcy? How's Herr Gropeinator working out for you folks?

If I ever did have to pack, as referrenced above, the last item I leave with is the Colt .45, I trust almost everybody, except a bushie, down on his/her luck, crazed, and looking for a handout from anywhere they can steal it.

[with ajax]

i'm with ajax. can't verify 200K sfr in BH, but certainly in Beverlywood. i think the in-crowd of bubble sitters on LA Land are actually behind the curve (Laker actually expressed shock at the recent reports in decline percentage and I don't think it's that shocking and feel that report is just the beginning of the downturn -- i mean, look at the HAIRPIN turn and straight drop for LA in the most recent Case-Shiller - and the higher end is just starting this descent.) I don't mean to insult any of the in-crowd as most comments are thoughtful, and show a high level of financial market understanding. however ajax, with his more agressive estimations of downfall is the first one to put the stake in the ground and publically state what my gut tells me is the 'new new paradigm' aka the post-new paradignm. in Depression-Era-II America. 90% drop. I second the motion.

[liz]

Itoldutocashout,

I'm a little bored this morning so I will respond to your idiotic posting.

Read more carefully and stop inferring. I don't think l.a. is a hell whole. I like L.A., I grew up in this town.

We all have certain neighborhoods/streets that we really like in this town and if you don't then most likely you are not that familiar with l.a. or you just don't care about your environment as much as others do.

I'm not seeing prices dropping to 2000 levels. In order for their to be a real bubble burst I would need to see r.e. prices drop to those levels in the proper neighborhoods. There is a price correction happening, but a correction from what point???

IQ points---that's cute!