This weekend: A flurry of condo and townhome auctions

Still sorting out your weekend plans? Maybe it’s time to snap up that discounted downtown loft.

Beverly Hills-based auction company Kennedy Wilson is closing out 55 units in the Market Lofts building with a session Saturday. The auction is part of a trend playing out across the region as fancy edifices put up during the boom years are now sitting vacant.

From The Times’ May 18 story on the subject:

Across Southern California, projects conceived during the housing boom, but completed after the bust, are sitting largely vacant. Developers are desperate to unload these units, but they face some particular challenges. Banks often won't provide mortgages to buyers in buildings that are less than 50% occupied, reducing the pool of eligible purchasers. Converting the projects to rentals means even steeper losses because the cash flow often won't cover a developer's construction costs.

The one- and two-bedroom lofts on sale this weekend are on West 9th Street and South Flower Street and are built in typical Brooklyn style with exposed, 9-foot ceilings. The lofts are constructed above a series of retail shops including Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Cold Stone Creamery and Quiznos Subs and a Ralphs grocery store.

Other amenities include a furnished lobby with three elevators, a landscaped deck, a swimming pool, a spa, a 20-seat screening room and a fitness center. Starting bids will run from $140,000 to $295,000 for properties previously priced from $438,500 to $888,761.

Check out the full details here. Those who want to register can still do so.

If downtown isn't your style, then 14 luxury townhomes are also on the block this Sunday at Hansen Villas in Pacoima. The auction will be at the Airtel Plaza Hotel in Van Nuys. More information is here.

And speaking of condominiums, the Evo condominium building threw itself a party Thursday night for residents on its sixth-floor pool terrace. The developers were celebrating their 200th condo sold. The 24-story tower is at West 12th Street and Grand Avenue downtown.

-- Alejandro Lazo

Photo: The Market Lofts in downtown L.A. Credit: Kennedy Wilson

O.C. developer throws in the towel and will auction his mansions

Two years ago, spec developer Larry Igarashi started building this 16,500-square-foot house in Coto de Caza, figuring he could get about $10 million for it. So did the bank that lent him the money. Construction was completed this year, and you can guess what happened. There just aren't many people out there ready to drop 10 mil on a house, even one with a 4,000-square-foot climate-controlled garage and wine storage for 1,400 bottles.

Igarashi also has another house nearby that sat vacant on the market for two years, listed for $5.75 million. Igarashi said he turned down a few offers for that one, a more modest 10,500-square-foot "villa" -- decisions he now regrets. 

He's auctioning the houses Saturday. The larger one has an opening bid of $5.99 million, and the less-large one opens at $2.799 million. 

You may see more of these multimillion-dollar home auctions as builders decide it's finally time to cut their losses -- or their lenders decide for them. Or maybe not. In December, an auction of five Manhattan Beach houses priced over $1 million yielded no buyers.

Details of the Coto de Caza auction are at this site.

-- Peter Y. Hong
 

Downtown developer sells 77 units in one day at auction

Los Angeles developer Sonny Astani, who is fighting a weak housing market and a struggling bank in his final push to bring his $300-million downtown condominium project called Concerto to market, sold 77 units at auction on Saturday. 

The loft-style units in the six-story building sold for about $400,000, or $375 per square foot, well below the $650 a square foot he expected to get a few years ago when the project on Figueroa and Ninth streets got started, Astani said. By selling all 77 units in the six-story loft building he hopes to raise enough money to finish Concerto's adjacent 30-story condo tower if he needs it.

The tower is 95% complete, Astani said, but he may not get final construction loans from his lender Corus Bank. The Chicago bank announced this year that it was undercapitalized and in danger of being taken over by federal regulators. His first construction lender, Fremont Investment & Loan, bailed out of commercial real estate lending under pressure from federal regulators, which led him to Corus.

"I'm battling the economy and I'm battling the banks," Astani said.

-- Roger Vincent

Photo: Sonny Astani in front of Concerto's condo tower in April. Credit: Christina House / For the Los Angeles Times

Auction action: luxury homes in Lake Las Vegas

Far afield but worth noting: The auction house J.P. King is auctioning off new luxury homes, condos and a few home sites in the troubled Lake Las Vegas development outside Las Vegas. The auction is scheduled for Sept. 13 in Henderson, Nev. More info here.

Those readers with good memories will recall that the Lake Las Vegas resort filed for bankruptcy in July in what the local newspaper reported as potentially one of the largest bankruptcies in Nevada history.

The auction website does not give the usual estimates of the homes' previous "value" and the opening bids. That said, these homes are on the pricey side of today's auction scene. Take 46 Grand Miramar, a 4-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath, 4,100-square-foot Mediterranean-style home valued by Zillow at $1.2 million.

-- Peter Viles

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to Peter Viles.
Photo: Associated Press

For auction: One Vienna palace

Palace, anyone?

There's nothing like a little looky-looing to set the tone for a long weekend. But if your schedule won't allow for a jaunt to Vienna, then take a quick peek here at the 300-year-old Palais Auersperg.

Located in the middle of town, the Baroque palace is near museums and the opera, has a view of the Parliament building and includes its own park.

A picture being worth a thousand words, on amenities let's just say: yes. No firm price is set, but 33 million euros is suggested as a point of reference. A quick conversion on a calculator clocks that at more than $48 million.

In a buying mood? Don't worry about getting the paperwork from afar and translating forms. According to Stiller & Hohla Immobilien -- Real Estate, "a precisely structured bidding process" will put investors around the world on equal footing to snap it up.

Let the bidding begin.

-- Lauren Beale

Your thoughts? Comments?

Photos: Courtesy of Stiller & Hohla Immobilien --Real Estate

L.A. Times Media Group in new foreclosure auction venture

Interesting item in today's L.A. Times: "Searching for new sources of revenue, Los Angeles Times Media Group is getting into the real estate business."

More: "On Monday, Times Media Group and other partners will launch ZetaBid, a business that will auction foreclosed homes and other properties. The company would also run a website where the properties could be viewed.  The other partners are London-based GoIndustry-DoveBid, an auction specialist, and CataList Homes of Hermosa Beach, a real estate brokerage. The partners will share fees paid by the buyer on each home sold."

More: "The Los Angeles Times is part of Times Media Group but has no connection to the new venture, said Times Editor Russ Stanton.  'We will treat ZetaBid like any other real estate entity from a coverage standpoint,'" Stanton said.

The ZetaBid website, which lists some of the properties for sale, says the first foreclosure auction event will be Sept. 27 and Sept 28 in Ontario. As with most foreclosure auctions, ZetaBid will charge buyers a 5% "buyer's premium," and sales will be subject to meeting a hidden reserve price on each home; in other words, the winning bidder does not always get the property.

--Peter Viles
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to Peter Viles

No more denial in Long Beach

Various economists say Los Angeles-area home prices need to fall 40% to 50% from their peak to match area incomes. Except for foreclosed houses in the deep inland markets, few properties are for sale at those levels.

But developers of a new Long Beach condominium building a block from the ocean have decided to take a leap forward. On August 24, 39 units will be up for auction at West Ocean Two, with opening bids set about 40% to 50% below earlier list prices.

Only 20 units in the 114-unit building have sold thus far. Units to be auctioned include a one-bedroom with an opening bid of $275,000, which the developer, Citi Property Investors, said was previously listed for $541,000.

Higher on the price scale, there's a three-bedroom with an opening bid of $795,000, which had once been listed at $1.492 million, according to the developers. Of course, frenzied bidders could drive prices up, as at any auction. Or maybe they won't.

David Parsky, director of Citi Property Investors, was unusually direct for a property seller in acknowledging the state of the real estate market, and the decision to hold the auction. "People who don't have to buy won't do so unless they have a reason," he said. "We're trying to create demand by offering extraordinary pricing."

-- Peter Y. Hong 

New wrinkle in courthouse foreclosure auctions

Interesting story over at Calculated Risk about a possible trend in foreclosure auctions: In a few recent cases, banks are showing signs that they don't want to take possession of foreclosed houses.

It's a bit complicated. There are two kinds of foreclosure "auctions." The first, which usually take place on courthouse steps, are usually uneventful. Say the homeowner has defaulted on a $500,000 mortgage; the opening bid at the courthouse auction is set at $500,000, and usually nobody bids because the house is worth quite a bit less than $500,000. So the house goes back to the lender. (Calculated Risk has a nice short video of this process -- it lasts about 37 seconds, it's a real courthouse auction, nobody bids).

The second kind of "auction" is when an auction company, working with Realtors and banks, rounds up a bunch of foreclosed houses already repossessed by lenders, rents a hotel ballroom, advertises for a few weeks to build a crowd of bidders, and auctions them off one at a time to the highest bidder.

The Calculated Risk post -- actually a link to a post on Jim Klinge's San Diego real estate blog -- is about a possible trend in courthouse auctions. CR reports that, in a few notable cases, banks have been setting the opening bids in courthouse auctions at less than the amount of the loan -- essentially inviting investors to buy foreclosed houses before the bank ever gets its hands on them.

As I say, not yet a trend, but something to watch.

--Peter Viles

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

Auction action: New units in Redondo Beach, San Pedro

More straight-to-auction new construction to report, and these units are closer to the beach than your typical auction fare.

From auctioneer Kennedy Wilson: "Starting bid prices for the 3 exquisite, Mediterranean styled townhomes (pictured) in Redondo Beach are just $975,000 -- a significant savings on homes previously priced at up to $1,690,000. These 3 townhomes are offered subject to an unpublished seller's reserve price."

More: "Even greater savings are on offer at the 12 luxury condos at Grand View in San Pedro, with minimum bids of $260,000 to $295,000 on homes previously priced from $503,900 to $598,900 respectively."

The auction is scheduled for Aug. 3.

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.

Photo: Kennedy Wilson

Foreclosure auction ads are deceptive, suit alleges

A lawsuit to watch, from Inman News: "A lawsuit filed in California Superior Court challenges real estate auction practices, charging that some auction companies engage in deceptive advertising and violate provisions of federal law related to real estate closing services."

More: "'Many modern real estate auctions are nothing more than a bait-and-switch scheme to lure hopeful buyers to submit offers that can later be accepted or rejected by the lenders/sellers, despite the general public's perception that once the auctioneer declares, 'Sold,' the property is in fact sold,' the lawsuit charges. ... Filed June 12 on behalf of three individuals who attended a real estate auction event in Southern California -- including one individual who is a RE/MAX real estate broker -- the lawsuit also charges that auction companies 'direct and require the use of their settlement service providers and shift the cost of sales, including commissions, from the lenders/sellers to the consumers' in auction event signing rooms."

The lawyer who filed the suit, Shawn M. Olson of Spainhour Law Group, told L.A. Land that one of the plaintiffs, Laura Torres, was the winning bidder on a Corona house, bidding $153,000 for a home listed with a minimum bid of $95,000.  "So she signs all the contracts, opens escrow, gets an appraisal, gets inspections, and 29 days later, when she thinks escrow is going to close the following day, on the 30th day, Countrywide calls and says they need $50,000 more -- on a $153,000 home," Olson said.

The lawsuit names as defendants Countrywide Home Loans Inc., GMAC Mortgage LLC, Real Estate Disposition Corp. and DoveBid Inc., which partners with the brokerage company CataList Homes. Inman quotes CataList president Michael Davin saying, "I can't comment specifically on the case as I haven't read the documents. However, we will stand firm and defend our auction practices as the reserve auction method is an effective and fully legal sales process utilized for hundreds of years in the sale of many types of assets."

Inman further reports that GMAC had no immediate comment and that representatives for REDC and Countrywide could not immediately be reached for comment.

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.