Glendale, CA

As I predicted the other day, our holiday fundraiser party exceeded expectations, raising awareness and money for the charitable cause, "Glendale Healthy Kids.” Many community leaders and city officials, campaign supporters, my clients and friends, neighbors and yes, even Realtors were in attendance and a great time was had by all. I believe we had around 250 people in attendance. The unique demographics of the holiday party that my husband, Glendale City Councilman Bob Yousefian and I host is something that always makes me feel proud. The multi-cultural event was attended by young and old, rich and not so rich, men & women, democrats, republicans, and people of Hispanic, Armenian, Asian and Caucasian origin. One party attendee was a woman nearly 100 years old named Rosa Johnson from Altadena. There were also several young children in attendance. The entertainment provided by Crescenta Valley High School carolers was excellent and they provided a festive atmosphere to the occasion. I believe we raised nearly $6000 for the cause. We had our newly elected California State Senator Carol Liu in attendance as well as the former Mayor of Pasadena, Joyce Streator. We had coverage in the Glendale Newspress as well. All of the preparation and planning and cleaning and shopping was well worth it. I invited a number of new friends who have been recent clients and some of them met each other and that was a nice feeling as well. For those of you who attended, Bob and I wish to express our sincere thanks for your support. All in all, it was a night to remember. For those who would like to read the article in the Newspress and see pix click the link below. http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2008/12/12/news/gnp-kids12.txt

Mac tricks: I take the Mac to open house and use the photo booth with the built in i-sight camera to take pix of visitors to the open house. I set up the computer with a sign that says, "picture yourself living here". I get their email and send them the pix. A fun and very unique way to get attention.

I also use i-tunes to make playlists for open houses and "stage" the house with music. I had a cool mid-century modern listing last Christmas so I download a bunch of "rat pack" (Sinatra, Sammy Davis, etc. xmas tunes and played them at the broker open) I staged a French Normandy Revival home with french music downloaded from i-tunes.

Please check back to see what other tricks I might come up with when using my mac computer.

Market Index A market index of above 1.20 is a seller’s market, between 0.80 to 1.20 is a balanced market, and below 0.80 is a buyer’s market.

The Market Index struggled back up two points to 0.32 compared to 0.30 for September.

New Listings - Fifty-three new listings in November, compared to 88 listings in October, versus 81 November.

New Pending Listings - Forty-two listings entered escrow, the same as October, compared to 25 in November, 2007.

Pending Ratio – 0.79, up from 0.48 in September. A year ago it was 0.31.

Listing Inventory – Two hundred ninety-five listings, down from 324 homes In October. In November 2007 we had 463 listings.

Sold Listings – Forty-three homes sold, compared to 63 in October and 47 last year.

Average Sale Price - Declined to $572,013 down 15.1% from November 2007.

Price Per Square Foot - Up from October to $361.12, down 12.2% from November 2007. Although the Average Sale Price declined this month, it is still above the low in September $343.60. The average living square area declined from 1891 (Oct.) to 1584 (Nov.), so the net result is that overall values appear to have bottomed out in September.

Conclusions For buyers waiting for the best time to buy, it looks like September might have been “it”. However, interest rates are declining so now might be the best time. Inventory is DOWN, and prices appear to be headed UP. For those timing the market, I would not hesitate to move forward. For a consultation or questions feel free to call.

Hoover High School's 51 st Annual Tour of Homes is Saturday, December 13th from 10am-5pm. The Tour is a fundraiser that benefits Hoover students. This year the Tour is showcasing four very distinctive homes each featuring is a special feature. The award winning Hoover Jazz Ensemble will be performing at 1661 Valley View Rd., The Hoover Chorale will be performing at 863 E. Mountain St., there will be a Country Kitchen selling wonderful sweet treats at 319 E. Randolph St., and at 1415 Royal Blvd. there will be a Complementary Tea with area dignitaries serving.

Advance purchase tickets are available for $20 and will be $25 the day of the Tour at any one of the four homes on the Tour.

For more information go to HooverTOH@yahoo.com to request tickets.

as the process continues to allude those in need. Is this another Bait/Switch???, Smoke/Mirrors??? or other type of scheme that produces none, if any results for those who could geniunely benefit from the program???

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