Century City, CA

Westwood- Century City Condominium Market Report for December 2011

As we closed this challenging year in Real Estate and in the overall Economy, I am truly glad we can start a New Year. So let’s review, we had the fear of a double dip recession, European crisis in Italy, Greece, Portugal to name a few. Then we had the Japanese Tsunami and the various other catastrophes around the world. All this has impacted the housing market. Let’s keep in mind that the debt crisis at home and in Europe will continue to linger on in 2012. Ironically this volatile economic environment will push investors into the Real Estate Market. I anticipate this migration to the “safety” of “Real Estate Investments” in the coming year of 2012.

The good news Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac will continue to guarantee new mortgages on the conforming loans, what I call the “fuel” of the real estate recovery. The other great news is that nearly all of the economic data that was released in the 4^th Quarter of 2011 point to improvements, which is a recipe for a stronger housing market activity! THE BEST NEWS: consumer confidence has improved, which translates to increase in spending in all areas, including housing.

Now with that said let’s look how the Real Estate activity fared for the month of December.

There were 247 Active listings on the Market waiting for buyer in Westwood-Century City. There were 24 Properties Accepting Backup Offers and 2 on Hold (an indication of Short Sale) and there were 24 Properties Pending waiting for Escrow to Close. There were 43 Sold Condominiums for the month of December in Westwood – Century City. I would like to let everyone know, that in the past five days I have seen a great deal of activity in all price points, hence the delay of this report. I anticipate a very strong and much improved 2012.

If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at310.486.1002 email me athomes@endrebarath.comor visit one of my websites athttp://www.endrebarath.comYour Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations.

Century City Condominium Market Report for the month of November 2011

Here we are, the last month of the year is just buzzing by. So let’s look how the November real estate activity fared comparatively. The month has been quite mixed with good news and bad news. Every time I looked on the internet I either saw that there was bad economic news in Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal or there was good news that Germany will help out the European Financial Crisis. This roller coaster good news, bad news in my opinion is manipulating the World Economy… Sadly not in a good way… this is creating insecurities all over the Globe. The Stock Market responds to the headlines instead to the “researched facts”. This volatility is affecting the housing market as well.

I have noticed that only the savvy buyers are actually purchasing. The novice buyers are asking people for advice, but they are mostly family, friends and acquaintances, not Realtors, Mortgage Lenders or people who have a pulse on the Market, hence some have good information others do not. This in effect is keeping many buyers on the proverbial fence.

Last month I have seen the lowest interest rates in 60 years. The price of homes in the greater Los Angeles area are hovering around 2002/2003 prices. This should create a massive activity, but I do not see it. This I also attribute to the fact, that the inventory is shrinking out there, hence buyers have fewer properties to choose from, then previous months and some are waiting for a large selection.

The Active listings dropped from last month to 300 this month, this is 3.2% contraction. The condominiums which are in Escrow and are waiting for Back up offers have decreased from the previous month’s 20 to 15, this month. The ones on Hold status are unchanged 2 the previous month and 2 this month. Now let’s look at the Pending, this number has increased from last month’s 19 to a current of 45. This is a huge increase. Now the Sold Status has decreased from 29 to 2. This could be from a combination of the fact that Thanksgiving Week has slowed the Lenders and the Escrow Companies with timely closings and an indication of the large Pending Status as well as the analysis I provided in the beginning.

If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at http://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations.

The Century City Condominium Market Report for the Month of October 2011

The Global Economic volatility continues and Europe’s problems are visiting every part of the world. The roller coaster ride of will China bail out Europe or not and will Greece take the offer of saving their as well as the rest of the Global economies or will they turn it down? It was a busy month for all. Hence if you are an investor would you want to invest in Europe and specifically Greece? The answer is clear to me, if you are an investor you need to do your homework, since there is a very fertile ground right now for the Bernie Madoff’s style Ponzi schemes.

Once you do your Homework, the answer will be clear and you will discover that this is a good time to buy Real Estate in the greater Los Angeles area. Investors need to look at fixed assets such as homes, condominiums and investment land vs. the pie in the sky profits offered by “free lunch” and or “free dinner” seminars

Rental Demand is an all time high, since many of the regular buyers are sitting on the sidelines instead of taking advantage of the lower prices, all time low interest rates and nervous sellers. Therefore it is clear to me that it does not matter if you buy a single-family home or a condominium for the purpose of renting out you will do well. Hence it does not matter if you are a small or a large investor the opportunities are out there. Once you read in the Media Portals that this is the way to go you missed out on the best window of opportunity.

As long as there is such a large percent of buyers sitting on the fence Rental demand will be high and as we all know “supply & demand” side economics will assure you a good return on your investment.

Now with that said let’s look at how the Condominium activity turned out for the month of October in Century City, CA.

There were 310 Active listings for sale in the Westwood/Century City inventory. There were 20 properties in Back-up Status which was 25% increase from the previous month. There were 2 Condominiums on Hold Status (generally an indication of Short Sales) there were 19 Pending waiting to close. This was a 62% drop from the previous month. Interestingly with numbers like this I would anticipate a huge drop in the Sold category. Ironically that was not the case instead the Sold numbers increased from the previous month. September there were 29 Sold Condominiums and for the month of October there were 35 Sold Condominiums which translates to a moderate increase.

This to me is a very interesting number, with all the turbulence occurring there is still a steady activity of sales occurring in the Century City/Westwood Condominium sales.

If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at http://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations.

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