Endre Barath,Jr.

As I indicated in my other Market Reports, I have noticed a large increase in Activity, from traffic at Open Houses to Offers being written. There seemed to be activity of the caliber, what we were used to as Realtors in previous years. I am referring to the 2001 to 2002 timeline. When buyers were looking for "good deals" and writing offers on properties that seem to be listed 15-20% below market.

The Active Condominium listings have dropped from the month before to 184 for the snapshot of May 31, 2009. The least expensive listing is a one bed room one bath Condominium in the Marina City Club at a list price of $329,900.00. The most expensive listing is located on Ocean Front and the asking price is $5,400,000.00 this is a four bedroom four and a half bath home waiting for a discriminating buyer who wants to live in the Marina and price is not an issue.

There are 23 properties that are accepting Backup Offers, where the buyers have not removed their contingencies. In addition there are 21 properties that are Pending. So basically there are 45 properties in Escrow.

The Sold statistic is quite impressive as well. For the month of May there were 18 Condominiums that closed in Marina Del Rey, CA. I have indicated that the buyers are stepping into the RE Market, because of the historically low interest rates, as well as they want to take advantage of the Tax incentives offered by the Federal Government as well as the State of California. In addition the buyers realize this period of uncertainty will not last, hence they want to take advantage of the buyers market.

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 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of my websites at http://www.endrebarath.com

For those of my readers who are not familiar with Playa Vista, CA, please visit my blog post of earlier (http://activerain.com/blogsview/775995/playa-vista-ca-parks-part-1), This is one of newest planed development in Los Angeles, CA in the past fifty years. Well designed, lots of thought went into the planning and the result a "resounding success".

What is Playa Vista? By definition it is a mixed development of Luxury Condominiums, Luxury Town homes, Luxury Rentals an affluent blend of young, successful and hip residents. It is a mini city within Los Angeles, less then two miles from the Ocean. This development took twenty years in the making, some of the challenges: Coastal Commission, Nature Preservation Activists, Wetland issues...you get the picture.

Currently there are 50 Active Listings from a low of $355,000.00 for a one bedroom one bath condominium and a high of $1,119,191.00 for a three bedroom two and a half bath.

Pending home sales increase for the third consecutive month. 13 Accepting Backup Offers and 12 are solidly Pending, for a total of 25 units. This is a direct result of the record low mortgage interest rates as well as some benefit now from the first-time buyer tax credit.

We only had 2 Sold units. This is a very interesting number, since there are numerous Units inside the Playa Vista Community that sold directly from the developers; hence the Re-sale Units are competing with the Developers who are offering incentives unheard before.It also shows that Lenders are taking longer to provide loans. Last month there were 7 Pending units, hence five actually did not close.We will see next month there will be obviously more then five 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 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of my websites at http://www.endrebarath.com

Here we are the month of May just flown by for me. Even though there were thirty one days in the month I could have used a few extra. The activity has picked up not just for other Realtors, but for me as well. I have been fielding calls, showing properties, and writing offers and found my self in multiple offer situations more then five times this month. I am confident, based on my activities that the numbers will be better compared to the previous month.

Now let us look at the actual Condominium Activities for the month of May in Century City, CA.

As of 5/31/2009 there were 315 Condominiums on the Market within a broad range of prices. Least expensive Condominium for sale was listed at:

•1. A Single for $275,000.00 (this reminds me of 2001 when the last time I remember a Condominium in Century City starting with a list price in the 2's.

•2. A One Bedroom for $349,000.00 ( again the year 2001 keeps coming back to me)

The most expensive Condominium has a list price of $15,250,000.00 this property went up in stature only because the other three higher priced Condominiums are In Escrow already.

•1. a Penthouse Unit listed at $27,000,000.00 is in Escrow

•2. another Penthouse Unit listed at $24,500,000.00 is also in Escrow

Hence the above mentioned takes the pole position, if you were wondering I have written about this Luxury Condominium Complex before.( http://activerain.com/blogsview/795366/do-you-think-the-real-estate-market-is-bad-look-at-the-century-in-century-city-ca- ) The complex is still unfinished and the prime units are quietly going into escrow, without much fanfare from the media, unlike the first one.

Now let us look at the statistics for Accepting Back Up Offers and Pending:

There are currently 38 Condominiums where the buyers have not removed their contingencies yet.

There are 54 Condominiums where on the other hand the buyers have removed their contingencies.

I am still yet to hear from the Media what I have been saying since November 2008. The activity has been increasing month over month as well as the Sales.

So with that let me introduce to you the Sold Statistics for the months of May 2009 were:

27 Condominiums that Sold.

I find these numbers quite impressive, especially where we were in the beginning of the year from an activity stand point and where we are now. Please visit my previous month's statistics and see for yourself. I have been telling anyone who was willing to hear me out, next year(2010) you will be coming to me and will tell me ‘...yes you were right I should have bought in 2009 when it was at the bottom...' by the way it is not too late.

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 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of my websites at http://www.endrebarath.com

The other day I was at the Airport that is LAX in Los Angeles, waiting for one of my clients flying in to buy property in Malibu. The plane was late and I saw this Magazine called LAX. Interestingly there was an article about Gladstone's of Malibu. They opened a Restaurant in LAX.

My first reaction, WOW what a great idea, after all, most people have to be early at the Airport for Security Reasons and they have all this time to wait around. Second, most people are at best apprehensive what if any food there will be on their flight, hence they rather pick and choose what they might eat before they get on their flight. What is better then a local flavor in the airport.

Having fresh-fish, food made from scratch, not prepared food warmed up, how about that. Shrimp cocktail or Salmon Blue Wave salad for the health-conscious. Then again the Fish and Chips, not bad I could almost list the Menu hear, but the bottom line is now there is quality food at the Los Angeles Air Port. How about that, what a great way to start your trip by having a Taste of Malibu on your way out and looking forward to coming back to Los Angeles.

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 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of my websites at http://www.endrebarath.com

Playa Vista,CA Market Report for April 2009

Here we are April has come and gone. Let's look at the statistics. I have a little gait in my step, since this is the third area which I have been monitoring very closely and I have good news to report.

Since January every month I had good news to share with you. These are not imaginary numbers to believe, rather they are actual hard numbers taken form the Multiple Listing Service for the month of April.

There are 58 Active listings in the MLS as of May 1^st, 2009 compared to last month it is virtually identical. There were 60 active listings in March.

Currently, there are 7 Escrows that are accepting back up offers vs. 5 last month. These are small increases, nevertheless reassuring. There are 8 properties that are pending also a small increase over last month's 7 pending properties.

The Sales I am excited to report showed a dramatic increase, in spite of Lenders continuing to tighten the purses via appraisals and credit verifications. We had 7 properties that Sold in April compared to the 4 which sold in March.

I am leading a crusade here to set the record straight, as you all have seen me write many times, that Real Estate is Local and not National. We have micro markets even on the West Side of Los Angeles. As you can see this little micro market of Los Angeles, known as Playa Vista has shown steady improvement since January of this year.

Should you like sales information/data about any other part of Los Angeles, please feel free to contact me directly.

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 (USA) or email me at EndreBarath@TheMLS.Com or visit one of my websites at http://www.endrebarath.com