Ron Domke of Casa Latino

Just in case you missed it, the L.A. Times did an analysis of coastal zipcodes in southern California. Excluding super exclusive areas such as Malibu and the Newport Coast, it concludes that prices have been holding steady. Breaking down the 18 selected areas, including Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica and Long Beach...

"In eight beach ZIP Codes, homes were selling for less in February than a year earlier. An additional seven ZIP Codes showed price increases over the year."

While there are many factors contributing, among them the smaller percentage of sub-prime loans, the overall demand for beach locations, and lack of overbuilding compared to inland communities, it's still a light through an otherwise dark tunnel of recent foreclosure news.

Confirming the same trend, also by using a neat little widget provided by the L.A. Times, by searching foreclosures in zipcodes for the first quarter of this year compared to last, some areas have seen no increase in activity. And some like Venice Beach have even gone downward.

Admittedly, the news is mixed, yet considerably better than any of the hand wringing going on in the Sunday papers.

There's nothing like a party to kick off a Grand Opening.

Casa Latino San Pedro opened its doors to the public yesterday. In conjunction with Cinco De Mayo, we served fresh tacos and cold drinks and had music and traditional dancing (by Louise Kawamoto of Keller Williams)and balloons for the kids.

Aside from some neighbors and many passersby, we met some great folks looking for help either finding a home, refinancing their current situation or thinking of selling. We also were happy to feed the local skateboard kids, who always look a little hungry.

Again, we just put ourselves out there to the community, prepared to serve their needs and people are slowly responding. We've signed up one new agent, Juliann Pedersen, and are recruiting more.

I'm also grateful to the staff for all their help and hard work for pulling this together. I couldn't have done it without you.

Now the work will be done as the 5^th celebrations continue!

The real investors are coming back to L.A.

What we've had for the last several years are the speculators. The ones with no money down. Little credit discipline. Big dreams of getting rich quick. Not all but some time flippers who slapdash lipstick on a pig and call it a filet mignon. Some succeeded. For those that didn't, it will absolutely take time thinning out supply through short sales or foreclosures. But those days are here.

I'm seeing multi unit residential properties dropping off their peaks. And as demand for affordable housing still continues, savvy, long term investors are inquiring. And why not when over the last 15 or so years, rents in Los Angeles County have consistently risen on average 3% per year? Look at this nugget from CAR:

"Year-to-year, asking rents for Class A & B apartments in Los Angeles County rose 5.1% from the 4^th QTR 2007."

Almost 4% this year according to Commercial Property News:

"The metro areas showing the greatest growth in residential rents are unsurprising: San Francisco (up 14.6 percent, to a median of $1,850 for a two-bedroom apartment), Seattle (up 10.3 percent, to $1,250), New York (up 9.0 percent, to $1,800), Washington (up 4.9 percent, to $1,900), and Los Angeles (up 3.8 percent, to $1.795)."

Add that to the tax benefits of depreciation and long term appreciation, then for the financially prudent investors the clouds are breaking. The rain is gone.

And for us, the ActiveRain continues.

Tomorrow: Service is Joy