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Have a discussion with a Broker and Realtor(r) about various issues related to real estate. Enjoy Michael's random thoughts about Real Estate and the changing market, or what Michael likes in the Los Angeles area...
Michael works primarily in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, and Simi Valleys and in the West Los Angeles and surrounding area of Los Angeles...
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Missions and Movies in the San Fernando Valley - On the Tarzana Tour
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Is Your Home Ready For Its Close-up?
Posted at 7:26 PM, Jan. 18, 2007
When you make that exciting decision to sell your home, suddenly there are dozens of things on your "To-Do" list. Your Realtor® will talk you through what to expect from listing to settlement, and one of the topics will surely be how to show your home to best advantage.
There are tips galore on getting your home ready to show and you probably know the logical and obvious ones:
· Look at your home through the eyes of a buyer – inside and out
· De-clutter and when you think you've done enough, de-clutter some more (think of it as packing sooner rather than later)
· Make sure everything works – appliances, faucets, light switches, etc.
· Make everything look fresh and clean – paint, replace carpet, clean the windows
· Make your home welcoming when buyers are coming – soft music, scent of cinnamon
In recent years, "Staging" has become a popular means of getting your home ready for its close-up. Staging includes all the things above, and more. A professional stager is able to look at your home from a fresh and unemotional perspective. Using a combination of your furniture and new or rented furniture and accessories, a stager can turn your house into a model home.
We know that first impressions count, and that potential buyers have formed an opinion about each house they see within seconds of approaching the door and going inside. Staging a home is like designing a movie set. You create an environment in which the buyers can visualize themselves living happily ever after. For this reason, staging is especially valuable if you have already moved and the house is empty.
Home staging has been shown to be a good investment - a staged home usually sells faster and at a higher price, regardless of the state of the real estate market in your area. Make the effort to stage, and your home will be ready for its close-up!
Selling Your Home? Know Your Comps!
Posted at 8:21 AM, Jan. 4, 2007
Pricing your house right from the start is always important, especially during a buyer's market. But how do you know what the right price is – that price that will make your house sell quickly and for the best possible price?
One of the things you'll need to know is the comps. Comparable sales of houses in the same area in recent months are one of the factors that your Realtor® will take into account as you work together to set your price. Notice I said "sales" not "houses for sale." The price of other listings only tells you what other owners hope to sell their houses for. Sales tell you where the prices ended up; they tell you what real buyers actually paid.
Comps give you a starting point. Once you know what a house sold for you can look at the features of that house and compare it to yours. Then you make adjustments up and down to come to an approximate equivalent price. For instance, if another house has more square footage that might sell for more than yours, but a new kitchen or deck in your house will give it a higher market value. Again, this is where your Realtor's® experience will be invaluable in setting a price that reflects your home's condition and location.
Where do the comps come from? The data are collected from a variety of sources including the multiple listing service and public records of sales, by professionals who know the neighborhood and the specific market. One place they do not come from is an internet "estimating" site that is not based on solid, proven information. Several sites have sprung up over the last year that promise an estimate of the value of your home and every other one around. So far, they don't have a good record for accuracy or completeness. What they provide is nowhere near a true comp. Their computer data banks simply cannot make the considered judgments that only a human, in this case a Realtor®, can make to recognize the differences in details that lead to differences in pricing.
Comps can be valuable to sellers in setting the price, and also to buyers in understanding the price range in a particular area. But whether buyer or seller, always work with your Realtor® to get the best value.
Comments are welcome.
Thank you.
Michael Trust, Realtor® and Broker
www.MichaelTrustRealty.com
When A Great View Is Not A Great View
Posted at 10:59 AM, Aug. 7, 2006
When A Great View Is Not A Great View
By:
Raynor
House hunting is a game wherein you try to get the most while paying the least. Part of getting the most is often finding a home with a view, but don’t be a sucker.
When A Great View Is Not A Great View
After a hard days work, you come home to your dream home. You change into something comfortable, grab a beverage and head out to the deck. There, you relax and take in your fabulous view. This is the daydream you have while standing in a home for sale that has an incredible view. Yes, it is a nice view. In fact, it may be so nice that you do not really pay attention to the rest of the home. Even if you do, you may be able to overlook some problems that you would not otherwise if there was no view. At the end of the day, you make an offer and the seller accepts.
Sixty days later, you are the owner, moved in, unpacked and enjoying your new property. After a year or so, you come home after a stressful day. You change clothes, grab a beverage and head out to the deck. You are stunned to see a two-story home being built in the middle of your view.
How can this be? This is an outrage! Unfortunately, you probably are out of luck. Depending on your state laws, you may have no way of keeping the other property owner from spoiling your view.
As you might expect, this situation arises more often than people would like to admit. When considering making an offer on a home, one must be very careful when it comes to views. You should never dismiss other problems with the home because you like a view. Further, you should not overvalue the view.
A beautiful view today may just be a view of the side of a home in a year. Investigate local legal regulations regarding new construction in the area, the height homes can be built to and whether pre-existing homes can add second or third floors. If you do not, you run the risk of owning the room without a view.
Article Source http://www.articledashboard.com
Raynor James is with the site - FSBOAmerica.org - http://www.fsboamerica.org/buyer.com
What Should I Look For When I Purchase A New Home?
Posted at 10:50 AM, Aug. 7, 2006
What Should I Look For When I Purchase A New Home?
By: Nocita http://www.articledashboard.com/profile/Nocita/6313
Good question! It’s a good idea to think about what you should look for when you purchase a new home before you actually sign on the dotted line and pay.
Buying a new home can be a rewarding experience if you do it right.
Just make sure you protect yourself from any surprises down the line. You want to know some of the ways you can?
Well, you may want to consider these tips before purchasing your new home:
1) Make sure you select a reputable builder when you purchase your new home! Do your research on the builder to find out about their past work. You can find out the type of work a builder has previously done by getting the names of the home communities established by the builder. Go to those particular communities and ask some of the homeowners if they have had any problems with that particular builder. You can also ask the homeowners what they like about their home builder.
2) Consider getting a home inspection done on your new home by hiring your own independent home inspector. You can find a certified home inspector via the American Society of Home Inspectors(ASHI) www.ashi.org. If the builder of the new home you’re considering to purchase won’t allow an inspection, then you may want to consider moving on to another home builder that will allow you to do this.
3) Investigate and research any easements that may be on the property you’re considering to purchase. This will save you headaches later on! Make sure the easements don’t affect your enjoyment of your property in the future.
4) Consider having a real estate attorney look over the real estate documents for your new home purchase. Especially your closing purchase documents before you sign them at closing.
5) Purchase title insurance! This will protect you when you purchase your home. Title insurance will provide you with protection if someone challenges you about being the property owner of your new home.
6) You may want to consider not purchasing your first new home in a new community that has been developed. Why should you do this you say? Well, for one thing, it’s a test run and all of the kinks may not be worked out yet. You may get stuck with a lemon! It might be better for you to wait until the builder has developed more communities in order for you to consider making a new home purchase.
7) Find out how long it will take you to travel from your home to work. Can you deal with your commute? If so, that’s great! If not, this may end your quest with that particular builder to purchase a new home with them.
Well, get the idea why it’s so important to think about certain things before you consider a new home purchase? Good, then start looking for your new home now with these tips and information to assist you when you’re in the process of considering making your new home purchase.
http://www.articledashboard.com/
Unrepresented Home Buyers Should Take Care
Posted at 10:11 AM, Aug. 7, 2006
Unrepresented Home Buyers Should Take Care
By: Austinrealestateguy
If you plan on buying a home and you plan on representing yourself, think again. Many buyers these days are very internet savvy and do a great deal of research online before contacting anyone about buying a house. However, this may not get you the deal you expect.
A number of people have discovered Zillow, which estimates value of homes. People have also discovered county tax appraisal district sites. County Assessor sites may show the assessed value that the taxing authority puts on a home to assess property taxes. Armed with this information, some buyers think they are pretty prepared to negotiate with a selling agent. What they don’t realize is that these sites are frequently not very accurate compared to the actual market value of a home.
Many unrepresented buyers also assume that a home may have a 5% to 7% selling commission built into the list price, assuming that the buyer’s agent will be paid around half of that to bring a buyer. So unrepresented sellers go to the listing agent and state that they know there may be around a 3% reduction right off the top because they do not have a Buyer’s Agent. This also happens when some unrepresented sellers to straight to a builder’s rep rather than being represented by a Buyer’s Agent. What the unrepresented sellers don’t realize is that many builders don’t negotiate much, if any, regardless of how much they planned on paying out as commission. This is also true of many Listing Agents and sellers.
A Listing Agent negotiates a commission with a seller, not a buyer. There is no way an unrepresented buyer can tell whether or not the Listing Agent chooses to discount his or her commission to the seller. Some Listing Agents will accept a variable rate commission. What this means is that if the house sells to an unrepresented seller, the Listing Agent will actually be paid a rate less than the full commission that was initially to be paid. So the unrepresented seller doesn’t have any benefit at all of a price reduction. The seller simply pays less commission.
With this in mind, the buyer should get representation.
A good Buyer’s Agent will have access to real information about the market value of a property. The Buyer’s Agent does this by comparing the house the buyer is interested to recently sold properties that compare favorably to it. The only accurate way to do this is to search the MLS. A buyer can not do this. A Buyer’s Rep who is a member of that area’s Board of REALTORS® can. A good Buyer’s Rep will also guide the buyers through the process. They will assist in the inspection process; help find a lender and a variety of other things in addition to negotiating the contract. So buyers should beware. If you choose to go it alone, you may not be as prepared as you think.
Learn more about the benefits of working with a Buyer's Agent
http://www.austinrealestateguy.com/Buyers_Agent/page_1024421.html
or read about Austin Real Estate News here http://www.austinrealestateguy.blogspot.com/
Article Source http://www.articledashboard.com
House for Sale? 7 Easy Ideas and Advice for Creating Great Curb Appeal to the Outside of Your Home
Posted at 8:41 AM, Jul. 19, 2006
No matter how beautifully decorated the inside of your home may be, if the outside of the house does not reflect what lies behind the front door, you may easily lose the sale.
Potential homebuyers frequently make a list of homes from various internet sites, advertisement listings or through a realtor that they wish to see and then drive by these homes to get a ‘feel’ for the property and the house. Bottom line, if your home looks unappealing from the outside there is a good possibility your home will be crossed off the list of potential purchases.
Decide to spend a weekend fixing up the outside of your home and stick to a plan.
1) Call two or three local landscapers and ask them to come out for a landscape appraisal but most importantly ‘pick their brain’ for ideas of how best to show your home. Explain that you are selling the home and wish only to make the most of the exterior at minimal cost to you. In some cases, you might be surprised, particularly during slow landscaping seasons that you can afford to have a professional lightly landscape your property or at least modify a portion.
For less than $500, an associate of mine had a local gardener come in and plant 12 tropical plants, 8 large flowered bushes, trim the existing trees to shape, pull the weeds, cut out sod to merge two planting beds, plant 20 small flowering bushes and throw down several bags of mulch in 2 afternoons. She also saved a little more money by having him transplant bushes from another part of the property to the front where she planned to create a more dramatic impact. Further, his price included clean-up and removal of gardening debris, which saved her a lot of time after the work was complete. Her soil was very hard to dig into and it would have taken her twice as long to dig one hole as it did for the gardener to dig several; he was familiar with such difficult work and he had all the right tools to do it quickly. My associate only paid him to service the front beds while she saved money by cleaning up the smaller side beds on the side property by doing it herself. (The gardener even let her borrow his expert tools as long as she promised to return them the following day, which she did.)
You might be surprised at the minimal but well-worth price of hiring a professional gardener, particularly if you find a local, one-woman/man operation with low overhead. Someone starting a new business might also be less expensive in trying to build a clientele while my associate in turn offered to advertise the gardener’s services by keeping business cards on hand during real estate visits.
Consider having him/her do a portion of the work and then do the less difficult areas of your home yourself. Even if you do not have a landscaping budget, call a few local gardeners to come out for a quote just to get some great landscaping ideas you can use yourself. Most are willing to spend a few minutes of their time even if you do not use their services. Take their business card anyway and offer to send them a referral. It is all part of doing business. So consider hiring a professional gardener to add curb appeal to a tired property.
2) Stand at the curb of your property and look the land from the perspective of the drive-by potential buyer. Get in the car and drive down your street and look at the way your property compares to your neighbors. If your neighborhood is well-cared for but your property is not; where the trees are overgrown and the weeds are hiding your front door is a clear indication your home will stick out like a ‘sore thumb’ and you may lose the sale. If you live in a neighborhood where your neighbors’ landscaping is ‘so-so’, this is your opportunity to shine. My associate explained that she once lived in a brand new home in an older neighborhood where few people took the time to landscape nicely so anything she did…add a border, plant a few bushes, and place a park bench near the front driveway with container plants, certainly looked amazingly better than the homes around her property. When the time came to sell this home, she took a ride around the block and took the position of the potential buyer. As a drive-by buyer canvassing her own street, my associate noted that the viewer would see blasé curb-appealed homes and then come upon her own, where the flowers were blooming, the green grass was trimmed, the containers were filled with flowers and the inexpensive park bench at the end of the long driveway looked inviting. So plan your landscape to stand out from the rest and if your budget does not allow for the extras, then the next rule of thumb is to just make the property look ‘neat’….
3) Neatness in landscaping is important. If a property looks tidy, the impression you will give to the drive-by buyer is that the inside is neat and well-cared for as well. Even if you are not a neat person, make an effort to neaten up the exterior. Find someone who has a ‘neat’ eye and ask for their opinion.
Trim the grass and if you have spotted, brown grass, invest in a bag of grass seed and water frequently to encourage growth. Baby-sit the seeds and if necessary, place a barrier around the area to keep children and pets from stomping on them. Cover new grass-seeded areas with hay or grass clippings to prevent blowing away, from birds eating the seeds and to keep moisture in. Water newly seeded areas daily.
If you have time before you place your home up for sale, fertilize your lawn…it can make a huge difference in how healthy and green the lawn shows from the street. If you do not have grass, then create areas with grass. Consider removing areas covered in stone or weeds and planting with either seeds or sod. It is a big project if you have little or no front lawn so elicit help from friends and neighbors if needed. Having some kind of greenery in the form of grass makes a huge difference to a buyer. Grass is a great canvas to making other areas of your property stand out and grass appeals to many who grew up with front lawns or always wished they had one. If you live in areas where it is impossible to grow grass, adding stone is another possibility however, be sure that stone works in that area of the country in which you are selling. Stone lawns usually fit in better in coastal properties where sand is the foundation and the cost of carting in topsoil is enormous. I often feel that all-stone frontage looks out of place in neighborhoods where lawns are more prevalent and gives the impression the homeowner really cannot be bothered to maintain a lawn. I feel that stone is not a warm product if used in large areas and should be contained in smaller garden beds if possible.
4) Once you have the grass, fix up the existing beds. (If you do not have any beds in your property, this would be an entirely different article. This article deals with homes, which have garden beds already in place that need sprucing up.)
Garden beds help soften the hard lines of sidewalks, walkways, and the rigid angle of homes. Once you have weeded these beds, ask yourself, “Does the design of the current beds allow them to be connected in some way across the front of the home? Do my beds flow?” The reason that I bring this question forward in a Curb Appeal article is that my associate explained to me that she used to have to separate garden beds in front of her home; one ran right across the front left-side of the home and the other ran down the side of the driveway. Both beds were disconnected from each other separated by a walkway. This separated design made the frontage look severed and harsh. So she cut out the sod from the bed in front of the house, around the walkway and made a connection to the bed nearest the driveway. It looked like one continuous snake-like bed and once planted with similar foliage the entire property looked really ‘pulled together’. In doing this she accomplished two things: 1) Softening the hard angles of the walkway, which did not have a garden bed in front of it and, 2) the property had the look of what my colleague refers to as ‘fluid design’. The eye now followed a soft flow from one end of the house where the bed began to the end of the driveway where the bed ended. And…there was a small surprise at the end of that bed too, which made the design interesting and appealing.
At the end of the driveway, which is ordinarily dull space, the garden bed ended in a circular shape and she planted just a few extra eye-catching flowers there; just a nice little touch and the colors were appealing. The path up the driveway, followed around the walkway toward the entrance of the home was entirely landscaped and pulled together with like-flowers and shrubs. Not a whole lot, but it was consistent and it was neat.
5) Another lawn tip from my associate…she did not have time for grass to grow in some ugly, brown and bare spots on her front lawn and in some cases, the grass just never grew back at all. She cut around the bad areas and made a teardrop-shaped cut out on that spot and filled it in with a few container plants she had growing in the yard. My colleague arranged the containers on 3 different levels…small, medium and large and then filled around the containers with mulch to even things out. The arrangement looked very nice. One of her empty containers (she often picks them up in the dollar store or finds disposed of in construction sites), she cut in half and placed it cut-side down on the bare spot on the lawn in front of the 3 flower-filled containers. She filled the cut container with soil and threw in a handful herb seeds, namely dill and in about 2 weeks; the container flowed with pretty green herbs and ‘spilled out’ the container onto the ground covering the area cut out from the lawn. It made a nice presentation and was not too ‘much’ and at the same time hid the very worse part of our property. My friend noticed that even after I sold the home, the new owners still kept the container area as it was when she had the home for sale.
6) Another consideration when taking control of curb appeal when selling your home is to remove or trim down those trees and bushes which hide the beauty of your home. So often buyers look at photos of homes, which show a huge tree in front of the house that hides any view from the inside to the street. If you cannot see the home in a photo or in a drive-by viewing, this again reduces the chances that a potential buyer may be interested in your home. No one wants to ‘guess’ what a home really looks like and if there are overgrown bushes and trees hiding the house, potential buyers do not want to envision having to clear the property themselves. So be bold and trim the bushes down and if necessary, remove whatever seriously blocks viewing the home’s charm and character from the street.
7) Along the lines of seeing a home from the street is the inability to do so if you have cars parked in front that do not always need to be there. Granted, we need to park our cars but if you have the opportunity to take your car to the street or to the furthest end of your property for a few hours on the weekends or, if you have a large driveway and can move the car away from the front of the home, then take the time to do this. Buyers need to visualize the home as it would be if they lived there and anything which detracts from this thought is a non-plus for you as the seller. Weekends are usually the busiest times for drive-by house viewing so if you can move your car to a neighbor’s driveway or off your own driveway for a few hours, do so. It may make a difference in the curb appeal of your home.
Also, as a reminder, if you have any cars, boats or trailers parked in front of your home, which really do not need to be there…a car you were going to work on or an inoperable vehicle without any registration and kept putting off paying to be towed away, make a decision as whether it really needs to be there or not. Call a charity to have it towed away and donate it. Put an ad in the paper or on craigslist for a free boat or project car, but by all means, remove any unnecessary vehicles, which really take away curb appeal and make the property look more like a car dealership or a parking lot than a home.
So the main items to consider when creating curb appeal are to:
- Plant grass or sod wherever possible – if not possible, hide bad spots with container gardens.
- Trim and cut away trees and shrubbery which prevent drive-by buyers from seeing your property and the home to its fullest.
- Remove cars on higher drive-by traffic days and permanently remove any cars, boats or trailers, which will not be sold with the home.
- Call a landscaper for his/her opinion and talk about a quote for neatening up the property. See if you can afford at least a portion of it to be professionally ‘neatened’ and if not; get ideas from a professional that you can use later on your own.
Woodland Hills - Relocation Information and Area Map
Posted at 12:46 PM, Jul. 11, 2006
Woodland Hills
Woodland Hills is a community within the City of Los Angeles. It is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, northeast of Calabasas and west of Tarzana. To the north Woodland Hills is bordered by West Hills, Canoga Park, and Winnetka. Running east-west through the community is U.S. Route 101 (Ventura Freeway) and Ventura Boulevard, which starts in Woodland Hills.
History
Victor Girard Kleinberger (later known as simply Victor Girard) bought 2,886 acres (12 km²) in the area and founded Girard in 1922. He sought to attract residents and businesses by developing the land, advertising in newspapers, and planting 120,000 trees. Although much of his development provided a dubious facade of economic activity in Girard (local lore has it that in order to attract development he erected false store fronts on Ventura Blvd., for which he spent time in jail), the Girard Golf Course completed in 1925 continues to operate today as the Woodland Hills Country Club, and his scheme was successful in attracting interest in the community.
The town suffered through the Great Depression yet survived. In 1941, the community was renamed Woodland Hills, an appropriate name owing to all the trees that Girard had planted years earlier. Harry Warner came along in the 1940s and bought 1,100 acres (4.5 km²) in the area for a horse ranch. The modern Warner Center commercial zone is named for Harry and features several high-rise buildings, hotels, and shopping centers in Woodland Hills. A major transit hub — the western end of the Orange Line — opened here in October 2005.
The population living in Woodland Hills nears 70,000.
Education
Schools serving Woodland Hills are operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District. The schools include Lockhurst Elementary School, Woodlake Elementary School, Woodland Hills Elementary School, Calabash St. Elementary School, Hale Middle School, Parkman Middle School, and Louisville High School (on the Calabasas border). El Camino Real High School and William Howard Taft High School are multiple United States Academic Decathlon winners.
Los Angeles Pierce College is also located in Woodland Hills.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 61,092 people. 74.8% White, 3.4% African American, 7.2% Hispanic/Latino, 5.9% Asian, and 6.8% Two or more races. Median age: 40.8 Average household size: 2.66 Median household income (1999): $70,411
Famous Residents
Born and raised in Woodland Hills:
Ted Cassidy, actor who played Lurch on The Addams Family lived here until he died in 1979 (his ashes were supposedly buried in his yard)
Lisa Kudrow, actress on Friends graduated from William Howard Taft High School
Paige Hurd, actress who played Vanessa in Beauty Shop
Sara Paxton, actress
Will Smith, actor, R&B singer
Xzibit, hip-hop artist
Noel Webb, violinist and composer.
Val Lauren, Actor.
Businesses
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Fry's Electronics (store #8)
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Health Net, Inc. headquarters
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Information Technology Channel main office
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Panavision headquarters
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United Online headquarters
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Westfield Shoppingtown Promenade
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Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga Plaza (borders Canoga Park)
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21st Century Insurance is headquartered in Woodland Hills.
The information herein was complied using sources deemed reliable (as noted throughout this book under “source”), including the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and Wikipedia. However, the information in this book is not guaranteed, and all users are advised to research any questions or concerns independently. Michael Trust Realty, its employees, assigns, Broker, or any others, assume no responsibility nor any liability for any inaccuracies contained herein.
Tarzana - Relocation Information and Area Map
Posted at 8:35 AM, Jul. 11, 2006
Tarzana
Location
It is surrounded by Reseda to the north, Woodland Hills to the west, Encino to the east, and the Santa Monica Mountains to the south. Major thoroughfares include Reseda Boulevard, Tampa Avenue, Wilbur Avenue, Burbank Boulevard and the commercial backbone of the south San Fernando Valley, Ventura Boulevard.
Most of Tarzana's inhabitants live in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains south of Ventura Blvd. North of Ventura, there is a uniquely designed area meant to emulate a more rural setting called Melody Acres. Tarzana contains two country clubs (with golf courses) nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains: El Caballero Country Club and Braemar Country Club. At the remote southern end of Reseda Blvd., there are a number of luxurious gated communities, including Mulholland Park, Silverhawk Ridge, Monte Verde and Braemar Estates.
North of the Boulevard, where a smaller portion of the population lives, there are fewer houses and more apartment buildings. Tarzana extends to Victory Boulevard, though only a small percentage of the population lives in the area.
Residents
There are approximately 28,484 residents. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the racial composition was predominantly White (78.9%), followed by Asian (5.6%), and Black or African American (3.8%).
American Indian or Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander each constituted less than one percent (0.3% and 0.1% respectively) of the population. 13.1% identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino. About 35.2% of the population in 2000 was foreign-born, including 21.9% that were born in Iran and 10.6% in Mexico.
Tarzana features a burgeoning Iranian-American population, and the community is well known for its Persian restaurants, booksellers, and language training institutes.
A thriving and long-established Jewish community attends four synagogues and provides the customer base for the first and only branch of the Hebrew language bookseller Steimatzky constructed outside of Israel. A number of popular and well-regarded delicatessens can be found in Tarzana, such as the Tarzana Armenian Grocery and Mort's Deli.
Notable residents include comedian Jeremy Hotz, actor Jamie Foxx, actor Chuck Norris, filmmaker John-Erik Jordan, KROQ's Kevin, Bon Jovi gutairist Richie Sambora his wife, actress Heather Locklear and frequent Star Trek guest star Hana Hatae.
Early History
The area now known as Tarzana was originally part of the San Fernando Mission, which was established in 1797 by Spanish settlers and missionaries, who eventually displaced the indigenous population. Later on the area was seized by Mexico and then sometime afterwards, the United States, at which point the area came to be part of a sequential order of large cattle ranches owned by the wealthy and powerful local elites. Beginning in the 1870s, the area was purchased by investors who transformed it into a large-scale wheat farm operation.
In 1909 the surrounding area was purchased by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company. General Harrison Gray Otis, founder and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, had invested in the company, while also purchasing 550 acres in the center of modern-day Tarzana. Another investor established a small town called Runnymede in the general vicinity and allocated the surrounding land for small poultry ranches and berry farms.
In 1915 Edgar Rice Burroughs, best known as the author of the Tarzan stories, purchased Otis’ land upon which he built a large home, and renamed the property, Tarzana Ranch. Burroughs subdivided and sold the land for residential development, while the neighboring small farms were also converted to residential areas. In 1927, local residents renamed the town Tarzana in honor of Burroughs and his famous literary character.
Trivia
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Portola Middle School in Tarzana was used as a location for the movie Thirteen.
- In the Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia , Tom Cruise's character, Frank T.J. Mackey, was born and raised in Tarzana. The climactic scene from that same movie occurs on the intersection of Reseda Boulevard and Sherman Way, a locus for many P.T. Anderson scenes.
The information herein was complied using sources deemed reliable (as noted throughout this book under “source”), including the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and Wikipedia. However, the information in this book is not guaranteed, and all users are advised to research any questions or concerns independently. Michael Trust Realty, its employees, assigns, Broker, or any others, assume no responsibility nor any liability for any inaccuracies contained herein.
Encino - Relocation Information and Area Map
Posted at 7:47 AM, Jul. 11, 2006
Encino
Encino is a district of Los Angeles, California, located in the central portion of the southern San Fernando Valley. It derives its name from the Rancho Los Encinos (Ranch of the Oaks), a parcel of land given to three Mission Indians by the Spanish government following its abandonment of the California missions in the early 1800s.
Geography
Encino is bordered by Tarzana on the west, the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area on the north, Sherman Oaks on the east, and the Encino Reservoir of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on the south. The district's boundaries are roughly Mulholland Drive on the south, Lindley Avenue on the west, Victory Boulevard on the north, and the San Diego Freeway on the east. Major thoroughfares include Ventura, Magnolia, and Burbank Boulevards, as well as Balboa Boulevard, Hayvenhurst Avenue, and Haskell Avenue.
Census data
As of the 2000 Census, the population of Encino was 40,946, with a population density 3,864.9 per square mile. 18.25% of the population was under 18, and 20.08% was over 64. The district contained 18,159 housing units in a land area of 10.59 square miles (27.44 square kilometers). Water covers 0.13 square miles (0.33 square kilometers) of the district.
Encino in popular culture
It is the setting of the 1992 comedy, Encino Man,
Encino is mentioned in Frank Zappa's 1982 hit song, "Valley Girl."
"The Point" from Fast Times at Ridgemont High was located in Encino (Encino Little League Field).
Encino was where Ali's family lived (Elisabeth Shue) in the movie "The Karate Kid". Their country club was Encino Oaks and lived on Alonzo Avenue.
Encino is where specials on the popular cartoon SpongeBob Square Pants takes place.
Encino is the setting of the first half of Chilean author Alberto Fuguet's novel Las películas de mi vida (The Movies Of My Life).
Encino is where, according to a recurring on-air gag, Match Game panelist Brett Somers would take host Gene Rayburn to a nice hotel after the show if she were "feeling frisky."
The Jackson Family have owned a mansion here since the 1970's, with all their children including Michael and Janet growing up there. Parents Joe and Katherine still live in the gated mansion on Hayvenhurst Ave in Encino.
Notable attractions
The Encino Velodrome has provided an outdoor oval bicycle racing track since 1963.
The information herein was complied using sources deemed reliable (as noted throughout this book under “source”), including the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and Wikipedia. However, the information in this book is not guaranteed, and all users are advised to research any questions or concerns independently. Michael Trust Realty, its employees, assigns, Broker, or any others, assume no responsibility nor any liability for any inaccuracies contained herein.
Sherman Oaks Relocation Information and Area Map
Posted at 12:16 PM, Jul. 10, 2006
Sherman Oaks
Sherman Oaks is a 8.1-square-mile district of Los Angeles in the southern San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by Studio City to the east, Van Nuys to the north, Encino to the west and the Santa Monica Mountains to the south.
Sherman Oaks is part of the city of Los Angeles attractions
Sherman Oaks' main claim to fame is as home of the Sherman Oaks Galleria, a shopping mall identified as a meet-up place for the Valley girls, a 1980s cultural label which became widely known because of the 1983 movie Valley Girl and a song of the same name by Frank Zappa. As time went on though, the Galleria became less prominent, and was closed in 2002 to be re-developed into an office complex. Today, many go shop at two other malls in the area, including the Westfield Fashion Square, as well as an assortment of boutiques and restaurants located throughout Ventura Boulevard.
Economy
Many financial corporations, including banks and brokerage houses, are located in the area.
History
Sherman Oaks was one of the first Valley communities to experience intensive real estate development.
Notable residents
Over the years, many notable people have lived in Sherman Oaks, including:• actress Jennifer Aniston
• actress Natalie Wood
• actress Marsha Hunt
• actress Lily Tomlin
• actress Marilyn Monroe
• actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
• actor David Sherrill
• actress Jillian Barberie
• actor James Dean
• actor John Ritter
• actor Matthew McGrory
• actor Hector Elizondo
• actor David Caruso
• comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• comedian Lou Costello
• singer/choreographer Paula Abdul
• singer P!nk
• musician Dave Navarro
• actress Rachel Bilson
• actress Kirsten Dunst
• actor Jerry Mathers - Beaver in Leave It to Beaver
• actress Michelle Trachtenberg
• bassist Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue
• political pundit Michael Reagan
• poker player Steve Badger
• novelist Bret Easton Ellis
• actor Tony Danza
• pianist Ruby Fradkin
• singer Katharine McPhee
Trivia
• Sherman Oaks is home to Fire Station #88, the first Urban Search and Rescue Task Force to respond following the September 11, 2001 attacks
• Marilyn Monroe's first home as a 16-year-old newly-wed was on Vista del Monte
• Liberace lived on Valley Vista Boulevard and had a piano-shaped pool complete with black keys
• The term "Valley Girls" was popularized by musician Frank Zappa and his daughter, Moon Unit, and was inspired by Moon's dinner table mocking of schoolmates' syntax and incessant shopping at the Sherman Oaks Galleria shopping center.
Sherman Oaks is a fairly affluent area, with several high-end fashion boutiques in the area, and features many upscale houses and restaurants.
Sunkist Growers, one of the country's oldest and largest agricultural cooperatives, has been rooted in Sherman Oaks for almost 30 years.
Anticipating the development of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, Los Angeles Suburban Homes Co. purchased 47,500 acres (192 km²) of the southeast Valley in 1910. In 1911, a subdivision map called Tract 1000 was filed with Los Angeles County. From that parcel, one of the partners in the company,
General Moses Hazeltine Sherman, bought 1,000 acres (4 km²) for himself. In 1927, Sherman subdivided the property and sold the land for $780 an acre ($0.19/m²).
Actress Lisa Rinna and her husband, actor Harry Hamlin, own a clothing boutique on Ventura Boulevard called "Belle Gray" and are also residents of the neighborhood.
The information herein was complied using sources deemed reliable (as noted throughout this book under “source”), including the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and Wikipedia. However, the information in this book is not guaranteed, and all users are advised to research any questions or concerns independently. Michael Trust Realty, its employees, assigns, Broker, or any others, assume no responsibility nor any liability for any inaccuracies contained herein.
Ask a Realtor Day
Posted at 12:27 PM, Jul. 6, 2006
Hello Friends, Clients, Colleagues, and Associates,
My Team and I will be hosting an "Ask the Realtor Day" in Simi Valley on Friday, July 14t, 2006 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. This event is being hosted by Apollo Lodi of Downey Savings, and will give you the opportunity to ask a loan officer and a Realtor(r) any real estate questions - investment, residential, exchange, refinance, etc.
For more information, please contact me and it would be my pleasure to provide it.
Thank you.
Staging a Home for Sale – 10 More Ideas You CAN Use Part II
Posted at 12:21 PM, Jun. 30, 2006
Staging a Home for Sale – 10 More Ideas You CAN Use.
Part II
If you have gathered all your personal items into storage boxes and removed bulky furniture to create good traffic flow throughout the home, here are some additional tips to complete the Staging-For-Sale process.
1) Buyers like neutral walls, so cover any walls which do not look fresh and clean or those with loud or pastel colors, with beige or off-white paint. Freshly painted walls are by far the most effective change you can make when selling your home. Years of dirty marks from moving furniture, children’s dirty handprints and high traffic dirty areas particularly around light switches) are covered instantly with a fresh coat of paint. Hire a local teenager to help you out. Remember to tackle painting only one room at a time as painting walls can be, well, boring, messy and quite physical.
2) Once painting is completed, stand in the entrance to each room and quickly focus on the first place your eyes take you when you are looking in.
- Are you looking at a window?
- Are you looking at a niche in the wall?
- Are you looking at an archway over a window?
There must be something in the room, where your eyes naturally travel and focus. Even if the room is bare-bones and has only 4 walls and window, the window will be the focus. (If the room has only four walls and no focus area, we will cover in another staging article how to create a focus space from that which does not exist.)
Whatever section of the room your eyes will focus upon will be used to accentuate that particular space. Creating a focus area in the room creates a memory of that space, evokes an emotion (nice, comfortable, bright, cheery, etc.); all of which we plan will be a positive emotion the buyer will remember! Thus, helping to sell your home!
3) If you have blinds on the windows, remove them even though it may mean a few months of losing some privacy while the home is being sold. (At night, just thumbtack a sheet over the window for temporary privacy and take it down in the morning before buyers come through the home. (There will be some amount of inconvenience in staging a home, but again, it is the final sale price that will make you realize, “The inconvenience was well-worth it!”) The use of natural light in any room makes the space appear larger and offers a positive psychological affect of being ‘bright’ and ‘cheery’….all emotions that buyers need to visualize when making a home purchase. Remember, the price of the home could be well within the means of the buyer, but if the home shows as ‘dreary’ or ‘dark’, you may not get your sale price.
4) Add attractive window coverings:
Hang a simple rod across the window and drape decorative handkerchiefs or colorful cloth napkins from the rod to make a colorful valance. If you decide to hang a curtain be sure to pull the sides together with a ribbon, a piece of raffia or a napkin ring. I have even used a braided piece of old rags, colorful yarn and hemp string as ties for curtains. (Pre-teens and teenagers love to spend hours braiding, so ask them to do it!)
5) If the view from the window is not so appealing and the sight is something you wish to downplay, then add a shear curtain to that rod and hang the cloth napkins over the top. The main focus is to offer as much natural light to the room and to ‘neaten-up’ the window taking away the harder edges of the sill and the window frame. Be sure to repair any screens before exposing the outside through the window. If you do not have time to repair the screens, just pop them out for the staging but remember the screen is missing if you decide to open that window.
6) If you have a bad view from a particular room and you are on the first floor, consider placing a few potted plants outside that window to block the view. This tip will add a little greenery to the view but still permit light into the room. I have even attached a few inexpensive flower boxes to the outside of ground floor windows, planted a few inexpensive flowers in the boxes, which also serves the purposes of blocking a bad view from inside the room, allowing light through a window while offering a little instant outside landscape for the buyer to see when inspecting the perimeter of the property.
7) Once the window has been made a focal point of the room, pull together a seating area. The same formula holds true…two chairs, one table, a lamp and small bouquet of flowers. If you do not have a spare table, consider using a cooler, a sturdy box, an ottoman, or a large stereo speaker and cover with linen table cloth. I happen to keep a supply of table cloths handy that have been handed down to me, even if they have stains on them, but if you do not have an extra (it has to be a cloth table cloth; not paper and not plastic) table cloth, I have used a spare folded curtain, a round of extra cloth purchased for a dollar at the dollar store or an old skirt draped over the box, the latter of which was allowed to flow down the box or table and then cover the waist hole of the skirt with a plate or a bowl filled with fruit. No one knows the table covering is a skirt when they come through to view your home.
8) If your room does not permit room for two chairs, move the bed up against the windowed wall and into a corner. Position pillows up against the wall and around the corner to create a pseudo-couch or seating area, even though the bed is just a bed. In stead of folding the sheets down on the top of the bed, as you would to make the bed, spread the entire bed with one colorful blanket and tuck the edges under as best you can. If the bed is covered in one colored blanket or sheet, it will look more like a couch than a bed. Take that same hemp string, ribbon or long strings of braided yarn used on the curtains to wrap around the base of the bed allowing the sheet or blanket to pucker around the base of the bed. Instant couch with a neat covering! Add a rug in front of the bed and try to move the furniture around to allow for a small seating area. You will need to decide if you can move out a dresser or a desk in a room to make it less cluttered and keeps traffic flowing. (See Part I, about storing extra furniture in a pod container.)
9) If the room has a high ceiling, this is a nice feature buyers often look for in newer homes. Ceiling fans in high ceilings offer an easy and economical way to add decorative touch to the room while offering better air circulation. If you do not have a ceiling fan, check with your local home improvement store in the clearance section. I have found open box ceiling fans in perfect condition for under $20.00. Be sure it has a light kit if the overhead light is the only light switch in the room. If you see a brown ceiling fan, it only takes a few minutes to paint it white to match the room. Look at something not as what it is, but what it can be with a few changes. Most staged items can be purchased at the dollar store or on clearance shelves so be sure to visit these areas when doing your regular shopping.
10) Rugs are useful to define space. Rugs placed next to the two-chair formula used throughout these articles encloses the space, adds color and style to a room as well as defines that this is a sitting area. Rooms need to be what they are to the buyer…a bedroom needs to be a bedroom and not bedroom-slash-office. But a bedroom can show ‘more’ in the way of relaxation (not work!) by adding the two-chair formula to any room and add a nice seating area. Rugs help to define and open up those spaces.
Here are some ways to make rugs and use them for the staging.
Go to the rug store and ask them for a stack of square rug samples they no longer use. Bring them home and use carpet tape to tape them together on the bottom of the samples. I also like to run a line of hot glue between the rug samples before taping to add extra tightness to the joints. Arrange the colors so they compliment something in the room where the rug will be placed. Too many colors and it will look too busy, too few colors and it becomes boring. So the general rule is to use ‘three’…three of everything. Three colored rug squares and then pick up those colors or shades of chosen rug colors in the pillows and any decorative pieces in the room. Tying in colors from the bouquet you will place in each room (See Part I), is also a nice way to make the room look ‘together’.
Staging a Home for Sale – 10 Easy Ideas You CAN Use - Part I
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Staging a Home for Sale – 10 Easy Ideas You CAN Use
Part I
Staging a home for sale means just that…setting the stage so that your home may sell faster and often times closer to the listing price than if it were not staged.
Staging allows the home to be presented as a canvas and allow the buyer to paint a picture for them; visualizing what the space will look like if they moved in with their items. But that does not mean showing an empty home; rather staging accentuates spaces within the home by creating vignettes, which enhance positive space while downplaying negative areas within the house.
You could hire a professional stager for about $400 for a consultation and then shell out another $100 per hour for the stager to do the packing and the redecorating, OR you can do it yourself, keep the savings and put it into staging the home if you do-it-yourself.
In order to create the staging scene, understand that for the next 30-90 days, while the house is for sale, you will need to have removed personal items, collections and clutter, (and keep them ‘gone’ until you have a signed contract). Your home may lose its personal style and warmth, but that will be one of the small sacrifices you will need to make to maximize profit from the sale of your house.
Staging will require some planning as you will pack away items, which you may have kept handy just for the sake of a convenience (i.e., refrigerator door space used as a bulletin board for ‘to-do lists,’ coupons, family photos and calendars, etc.) or items which may have been left plugged (indefinitely) into electrical outlets for convenience, such a shavers and hair dryers in the bathroom; all of which add clutter to the home.
If you stage your home for sale on your own, here are 10 easy tips to remember:
1) Make a list of all the spaces, choose one room at a time and tackle each individually. You will be overwhelmed if you choose to do ‘the whole house’ in one afternoon. Start with the bathroom(s) and the kitchen and then move to the common rooms and finally the bedrooms. Basements, hallways and attics are last. Check off each room on your list as you go helping to make you feel as if you have made some accomplishment. Understand that packing up clutter is ‘work’ and it is time-consuming (that is why there is a $100 an hour price tag on the hiring a professional), but remember always that the savings outweighs the hard work. By all means, ask family members to pitch-in. Even children can pack away their toys and older children can clean a dirty shower. Plug in the Ipod or put on a CD to help the time pass a little more pleasantly.
2) Evaluate the colors of each room individually. Pastel colors do not sell well. Baby blue and princess pink are often gender-inspired colors, which are a huge turn-off for potential buyers. Even if the buyers have children and will use the baby blue room for their own baby, they may or may not like that particular shade or, in fact may wish to use yellow or green, often considered colors, which can traditionally be used for both boys and girls. Play it safe and simply paint over the pastels with a neutral color like beige or off-white. Any wallpaper should be removed or painted over if possible.
3) Go to your neighborhood grocery store and ask them for empty boxes from produce as these usually have side cut-outs for easy grabbing. Start storing empty boxes in a place for easy access a few weeks before you begin to stage. You will need the boxes and having them handy will keep the packing momentum moving along.
4) As you go from room to room, remove family pictures from the walls and replace them with used art from a thrift store or simply purchase framed prints from a local dollar store. Pack away all collections including children’s Hot Wheels, baseball cap collections and any other really personal collections you and your family may be fond of. You may leave out neutral items for decorating such as pricey crystal, Lladro, colorful depression glassware to fill in those spaces left behind when the spoon collections, baseball card collections and Formula 1 car collections come off the fireplace mantle and shelves. This may be ‘painful’ but consider that in 30-90 days you will be able to unpack these items in your new home and enjoy them again.
5) Consider at this point whether you will need to rent storage space or whether a neighbor or a friend will allow you to store these items in their home as filled boxes will accumulate quickly. A new storage idea has streamlined storage space in recent years, whereas you rent a container or a pod and store the items in this portable space for as long as you need to. If you should rent this container space, do not store the entire container on your own property. Ask a friend or a neighbor if you can store it there or ask the container company if you can store at their own facility. You do not want to make your home look like a warehouse. Also, do not consider storing any packed items in a spare bedroom or in the basement of your own home as you would simply be de-cluttering one room and cluttering another. All rooms should be clear of storage boxes, afterall you are selling a home and not a storage space.
6) Clean, clean, clean….particularly bathrooms and kitchens. No home will sell especially well with grit, mold, dirty tiles and floors. For as much as you will stage each room, the buyers’ eyes will focus on the dirt and not on the hard work you put into staging. People remember dirt and grime and it would only remind them how much more work they would have to do when they moved in themselves. If you need to re-grout a dirty tub, then you will need to make that effort.
7) Buyers make a determination of a home within 20 seconds of walking through the front door. Make that experience memorable within that short period of time. If you have an entryway, set up a table, with flowers, a small attractive bowl of expensive mints and add some potpourri somewhere in the area. Scented candles offer a nice smell when you first walk in, so I use them often. I often purchase scented candles at the dollar store or the day after a holiday when the retailers slash holiday item prices. An expensive red Christmas candle can be picked up for half price the day after the holiday season and no one would know it was a holiday candle. The same for Halloween…often orange, black, yellow and green scented candles go on sale after this event, so I stock up at that time and use those candles throughout the year.
If you have an entryway, open all the doors off the entry to make the space appear larger and brighter.
8) Go from room-to-room and pack- up clutter. Leave a small basket under the counter or in a closet with items you will need to use while you are still living there. The only items on a bathroom counter should be a small bouquet of flowers, a bar of clean decorative soap in a clean soap dish and a clean hand towel. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, shaving cream, medications and hair products should all be packed away under the counters or in places, which are not noticeable.
9) Go to the supermarket and purchase an inexpensive bouquet of either daisies or carnations. You get many more flowers to work with in these arrangements than you would if you opted to spend money on roses or more expensive flowers. Arrange the flowers in whiskey snifters, small vases, or, if you do not have either take a better drinking glass from your kitchen, tie a small ribbon around the base and fill that with water and a few daisies. Use these arrangements randomly around the home but be sure to place at least one in each room. Change flowers as needed but the daisies and carnations seem to last a long time even if you forget to add more water! Dying flowers MUST be thrown out immediately; they make bad impression to visitors to your home.
10) Move out the bulky furniture and create little seating venues in your home with small tables and chairs. For example, you normally have a large sectional in your TV room with a cocktail table and two side tables…however, you may also have a large window facing the backyard that is blocked by the sectional. Remove pieces of the sectional to make the space appear larger. Place the cocktail table and one end table near the sectional. Find two chairs, which do not always have to match and place the other end table in front of the window with the 2nd end table in between the chairs. Add your bouquet of flowers, a small lamp and you have another seating area in the room. Pull your curtains away from the window, tie back with decorative rope or ribbon and let the light shine in the room. Add a bowl of lemons (I also like to use colored peppers) to the cocktail table for added color. Find two pillows that DO match and place them on the chairs in front of the window to tie the room together. If you do not have matching pillows, take two unmatching pillows and wrap matching pillow cases around the pills and knot in the center with a piece of ribbon. This is an easy formula to pull together a room which works in every bedroom and common area in the home.
If you do not have a window to showcase, you may use a blank wall and situate the furniture as indicated above, adding two or three framed prints between the chairs and slightly overlapping the seating space to bring the eye toward the seating venue.
What Is a 1031 Exchange?
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Many people who sell an investment property believe that federal capital gains from that sale must always be handed over to the IRS. This is not always the case. IRS Code Section 1031 offers investors the opportunity to reinvest federal capital gains from a sale if you swap that property for another…and it does not always have to be for ‘like property’ either! Instead, as an investor, you could have that money work for you rather than end up in the hands of the IRS. Further, you do not have to sell your property for the exact same type of property either!
The 1031 Code indicates that no gains or losses will be recognized on the exchange of any type of business use or investment property for any other business use or investment property.
So what does this mean? How can this help you?
If you own a business or an investment property you should consider a 1031 exchange. You would be able to defer 100% of both federal and state capital gains tax. 1031 Exchanges in essence become interest free loans; where the principal may increase through future exchanges allowing the Exchanger to never pay back, if the transactions are planned well. Along with the guidance of an experienced realtor, www.michaeltrustrealty.com this can be one of the most profitable ventures you will ever enter into.
Are you apprehensive about the 1031 Exchanges? Here are some interesting facts, which will make the decision easier.
1) At one time, exchanges were only done to switch like investment properties to the same person swapping for your own, but this is not the case anymore. In fact, you can sell your own property to someone who does not have a relationship to the person from whom they are purchasing the replacement property.
2) It is important to know that like-properties once met the same, condo for condo, empty lot for empty lot but that is also no longer the case. If you have invested your money in an empty lot but wish to exchange for an apartment building, this too is possible and again, no taxes would be paid for the sale of the vacant land when following the guidelines of the 1031 exchange. In fact, the owner of the empty lot can even sell that one lot and then purchase several others or just buy one and then sell others. Note, 1031 Exchanges only apply to investment properties and not residences.
3) Many believe only investors of large commercial properties can utilize a 1031. One of the greatest features about a 1031 Exchange is that it applies to all investment properties, large and very small. 1031 Exchange works the same way for a corporation selling a large shopping mall as it would for an individual selling a single-family property used for rental or held for investment in a resort area.
4) Many believe 1031 Exchanges are very complicated and not worth investigating. Consider working with a qualified Realtor and Broker who can offer you professional advice and direction. 1031 Exchanges is a relatively smooth process and definitely worth considering but sound advice from an experienced realtor is the key to profitability.
5) The Exchanger can acquire a replacement property with greater income potential. For example, raw land can be sold to acquire income-producing property or a larger or more ideally located property. A duplex rental property can be exchanged for a 4-family investment property offering greater income.
Should you wish to increase your buying flow due to greater cash flow, exchange investment or rental property for that with a greater income, acquire investment property that is easier to finance, or should you have the need to relocate or the desire to increase your current business or investment space for a larger area, the 1031 Exchange can accomplish any or all of these goals.
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Michael Trust is a native Angeleno having been born, raised, and educated in Los Angeles. A homeowner himself, Michael is familiar with the challenges of buying, selling and owning real estate in the Greater Los Angeles area.
His background is unusual in Realtor® circles. With a baccalaureate degree from California State University, Long Beach, and a Master’s Degree in Management from the University of Southern California (USC), Michael offers 15-years of corporate management experience in Fortune 500 organizations, Michael Trust can help you look at your real estate transaction from a broader business perspective.
Not only is Michael a Realtor® but he is also a California Real Estate Broker/Officer. Many Realtors® work under the umbrella of a large real estate organization and are obliged to follow the dictates of that organization. As a Real Estate Broker, Michael does not have to answer to a large corporation. He is free to make decisions based entirely on your best interests.
As a member of the National Association of Realtors®, the California Association of Realtors®, the Southland Regional Association of Realtors® (CRISNET Multiple Listing Service), and the Simi Valley/Moorpark Association of Realtors®, as well as the Combined Los Angeles/Westside Multiple Listing Service, he keeps abreast of legal and market changes through daily communications from these organizations. Michael fully subscribes to and abides by the high ethical standards required of their members. Michael is also a volunteer member of the Southland Regional Association's Multiple Listing Service Committee, and Regional User's Group Committee.
Michael and his Team specialize in residential, residential income, and commercial sale and lease properties. Michael and his Team are well versed in 1031 Exchanges as well. Michael and his Team are backed up by a staff of assistants with specialties in marketing, transaction management, and general administrative support so that you can receive the best possible service. Michael Trust Realty uses technology to the fullest to make your experience a smooth one. For more information, please contact Michael through www.michaeltrustrealty.com
Update on the status of the real estate market
Posted at 11:10 AM, Jun. 14, 2006
Dear Friends,
As we now move into the middle of June and the traditionally "hot" (figuratively and literally) summer months, this is a good time to evaluate the current market conditions in the Los Angeles area.
New statistics show that home prices increased yet again last month, but sales are way down. Sales are down about 20%. To me, this portends a softening of the market in terms of price. The $64,000 question is by how much.
In our area, the reality is that we have demand almost all of the time for housing. Our area's demographics are such that we have a high percentage of divorced and single people, each of whom need housing; in addition, immigration and migration trends to our state are holding steady or are on the upswing. These folks need places to live as well. Our climate and diverse economy helps to drive this of course.
So, my take on this summer's real estate market is that we will continue to see more inventory, and we'll continue to see slight to moderate increases in price appreciation, but nothing stratospheric.
Of course, interest rates will play a key role in the demand side of the equation. Long term mortgage rates are holding steady at this time, which is good.
I look forward to your comments and questions.
Michael Trust
http://www.michaeltrustrealty.com/
About Michael Trust Realty
Posted at 4:28 PM, Jun. 8, 2006
Michael Trust Realty is a Realtor®. Any real estate agent in California can sell real estate. Not all agents, however, are Realtors®. By being a Realtor®, Michael Trust Realty has subscribed to the Realtor® Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. More information about how Realtors® are different than agents who are not Realtors® may be found here. Our focus is always on you - our client.
As Realtors®, we are pleased to be able to offer you the following services:
For Sellers
We research your property and give you a realistic expectation of the probable market price of your property. We work with you to establish the best price, terms, and conditions of sale of your property. We work with you to analyze and explain various terms and conditions contained in offers and how they might affect the sale of your property.
We provide you with realistic expectations about all aspects of your transaction and work with you during the entire transaction (and if necessary, even after the transaction) to ensure a smooth sale.
We manage all details of the sale of your house, including all legal requirements, disclosures, etc. This saves you time and reduces your stress.
We manage all details of the purchase of your new house if you're purchasing a new home.
At all times, we look out for you and protect your interests. Always. Unconditionally.
For Buyers
We work with you and with our trusted lenders to determine how much home you can afford and how much you're comfortable spending. We will always be sensitive to your concerns, needs, and wants. We know that this is a big purchase and want to do everything possible to make it as comfortable and as easy as we can for you: our most valued resource - our client.
We can help you with various ways to structure a purchase, even if you have very little or no money down.
We will work to familiarize you with current real estate pricing trends, regulations, zoning, etc. so that you can make the most informed decisions possible.
Researching homes on the market and areas where more home may become available so that we can pinpoint homes that meet your specific needs. We can do this for you if you're in the local area or relocating from anywhere in the United States or around the world.
We will show you homes that meet your needs (including accessibility to schools, transportation, shopping, employment, etc.).
We will show you how to improve your home's value once you move in. Many inexpensive things can do wonders for your home's value and of course, for your enjoyment of your home.
We will help you negotiate the best price, terms, and conditions of purchase.
We provide you with realistic expectations about all aspects of your transaction and work with you during the entire transaction (and if necessary, even after the transaction) to ensure a smooth purchase.
We manage all details of the purchase of your house, including all legal requirements, disclosures, etc. This saves you time and reduces your stress.
We manage all details of the sale of your current house if you're purchasing a new home.
At all times, we look out for you and protect your interests. Always. Unconditionally
http://www.michaeltrustrealty.com/
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