About Long Beach's Rose Park

Years ago, when I was just starting out in real estate, the very first Long Beach home I sold was also the very skinniest.

Located at 708 Gladys in the Rose Park Historic District of Long Beach, it was just 9 feet wide. Word on the street was that it had been featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. I remember the day after I saw it, I received a call from a potential buyer who told me she was looking for something different, something with character and history for $100,000 or under.

"I have just the home for you," I told her. It was just $99,000. She wrote an offer on the spot.

A few years later, she moved and I sold it again -- and this time, the home was written up in the Los Angeles Times, the Long Beach Press Telgram. I was even interviewed on Good Morning America -- my two minutes of fame, if you will. If you check Skinny House (Long Beach) on Wikipedia, you'll find a brief history of this tiny 1932 Tudor.

It was built by Newton Rummond after he acquired the 500 sq. ft. lot as payment for a $100 debt. Some doubted that he would be able to make something of the space and he proved them wrong with this 860 sq. ft. skinny gem.

But it seems the skinny house of Long Beach is now fat in comparison to what's being built in Poland.

Jakub Szczesy is planning a home with a "wide point" of just four feet. At it's narrowest, it will be just 28 inches wide. Yet, like the skinny house of Long Beach, it will have spaces for sleeping, eating and working.

The place will have off-grid plumbing inspired by boat sewage technology and electricity from a neighbor.

To save space, the entry stairs will fold up with a press of a button and become part of the first floor. Definitely technology that wasn't available in the 1930s when the Long Beach Skinny House was built.

The new model may be skinnier, but I still think the Tudor in Long Beach will retain the honor of being the prettiest skinny house. And besides, it has a rooftop deck that gets lovely ocean breezes -- something the new version in Poland clearly doesn't have.

Long Beach, Ca. As the weather starts to warm a little, home buyers have come out in droves.

Some buyers are hesitating and watching the economic situation a little too closely in that some have decided to hold off. My cautions to all, we have to focus on the positive of our market place and look to the happy side of living in these opportunistic times. Don’t hesitate to purchase a home if you qualify, need a home, and have the ability to make the mortgage payments. Remember, there is a federal tax credit of $8000.00 for first time home buyers that does not have to be paid back!!!

Freddie Mac declared a 4Q net loss of $23.9B, which forced the value of assets below its liabilities. Freddie said that it will need an additional $30.8B in federal aid.

We have already seen Retail Sales and Jobless Claims bounce….just a little. Retails Sales, expected to drop .5%, were “only” down .1% after being up 1.8% last month. In addition, the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose 9,000 last week to 654,000, a shade higher than expected, and the four-week average of new jobless claims rose to 650,000 from 643,250 the week before. (This was the highest reading since October 1982.)

We have seen an up tick in your loan applications. Requests loans raised 11.3 percent in last week, driven by a 13.1 percent growth in refinancing demand, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported. Applications for purchases climbed 7.1 percent. GREAT long-term mortgage rates, which dropped to 4.96 percent, stimulated the market.

Finally, today Mr. Madoff, who made off - no pun intended for the victims, with billions of people's money from the largest ponzi investment scheme to date, said he was sorry and ashamed. Here is the story and link to CNBC article and a number of links of resources that are available for people who have been become victims of this sad situation. http://www.cnbc.com/id/29598454

Kirk Mulhearn, a Long Beach Real Estate Broker co-manages Prudential California Realty, “The Bixby Knolls Office” and a Net Branch of GEM Mortgage, a direct lender specializing in FHA, VA, and Conventional financing. Contact him at: 562-989-4608 ext. 110

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If you live in the Rose Park Neighborhood or are interested in exploring the area and meeting people up there, don't miss this opportunity to mix and mingle -- and eat FREE food:

Rose Park Neighborhood Mixer

When:
6:30-8 p.m.,
Thursday, February 21, 2008

Where:
at Rivera's Mexican Restaurant
(2901 E. 7th Street / 7th at Gladys Avenue)

Join us for a night of free food and fun!

• Meet your neighbors
• Meet the RPNA Board
• Free Mexican food (provided by Rivera's Mexican Restaurant)
• No-host bar (beer/wine)
• Raffle prizes
• "State of the Neighborhood" presentation
• Become a member of the RPNA!

Please RSVP by February 14, 2008 by e-mailing rsvp@rpna.org or calling (562) 368-4877.

Homebuyers looking for affordable homes with architectural charm not too far from the ocean should consider the Rose Park Neighborhood of Long Beach, CA. Most of the homes were built in the 1920s but there are also some earlier examples of Spanish and Craftsman architecture as well as later homes. Walking distance to shops, restaurants and the beach, the Rose Park Neighborhood gets its name for a circular park that sits at the intersection of 8th Street and Orizaba. There are two historic districts contained within the neighborhood, one that lies north of 7th Street and one south of it.

For more information about the area, the neighborhood organization's website is www.rpna.org, although as of this writing, the site is under reconstruction and has temporarily been moved to www.csulb.edu/~dcox/rpna/

If you'd like information about homes that are currently available in the Long Beach area, visit www.ShowMeHome.com or email info@ShowMeHome.com.