L.A. real estate news and insights.
Home buyers who paid cash accounted for 32% of home sales in January, marking the highest rate since 2014, the National Association of REALTORS® reports. Many leveraged the equity from a prior home sale.
Only 6% of first-time home buyers made a cash purchase in 2023 compared to 26% of repeat buyers.
There were a total of 10,887 homes on the market in January in LA County. This includes both new listings and homes that remain on the market unsold.
That was 13% below a year earlier, but an improvement from the 26% annual decline recorded in September.
Source: Zillow
According to the Zillow Home Value Index, home values fell in Los Angeles 0.1% between December 2023 and January 2024. Prices going down over the holidays is really no surprise as it tends to happen every year. 0.1% is far less than what I have seen in past holiday seasons.
Year over year LA home values are up 7.4%.
Some real estate experts are predicting home values could go up as much as 5% by the end of 2024.
Millennials are worried they’ll inherit properties in need of major renovations and repairs, which could further hamper affordability, a new survey shows.
Young move-up home buyers are growing increasingly worried that baby boomers, many of whom are staying put in their current home, won’t update their properties and will pass down costly renovations and repairs to the next generation of owners, according to a new study from Morning Consult and Leaf Home, a national home improvement company.
Many baby boomers are choosing not to downsize, with 68% saying they’ve lived in their homes for 30 years or more, the study shows. Many in that group admit they’ve never done renovations or replaced major appliances—and they don’t have any plans to, either.
Researchers say this could become a nightmare scenario for millennials, who may inherit or purchase these “time capsule” homes. Younger buyers’ budgets already are stretched thin by high home prices and mortgage rates. It’s difficult for many to add pricey renovations to their homebuying budget.
Between mid-July and mid-August, about 95% of home sellers made updates or repairs before listing their properties, up from 71% of sellers 6 to 12 months ago, according to Realtor.com. They spent an average of $14,163.
On this episode, I answer the following four real estate questions:
1) At what point during the year are home sales usually the slowest?
2) Now that we found a buyer for my home and we are in escrow, is it safe for us to start moving out?
3) A lot of the homes I am touring are selling for more than the list price. How am I supposed to buy a property if everything I am interested in keeps selling over the asking price?
4) I do not want to spend a dime on staging my home. What other options are out there to make my home look more attractive to buyers?
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The Ennis House just sold for $18,000,000 in the Los Feliz hills.
The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Charles and Mabel Ennis and was built in 1924.
The design of the house was based on the ancient Maya Temples and its notable detail is the relief ornamentation on its 27,000 perforated and patterned decomposed granite blocks.
Filmmakers flocked to its location. The home shot to fame when the exterior façade was used for the House on Haunted Hill in 1958, but it is most known for being in the movie Blade Runner and the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer (one of my favorite shows growing up!).
The house was included as one of the top ten houses of all time in Los Angeles Times, and is a designated California Historical Landmark, and a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.
One in five U.S. homeowners say they feel house rich but cash poor, according to the newly released Hometap Homeownership Study.
With home prices continuing to climb up, nearly 20% of 675 homeowners surveyed classify themselves as feeling “house rich, cash poor” most of the time, according to the study produced by Hometap.
Seventy-three percent of respondents say they feel “house rich, cash poor” at least some of the time.
I bet if they surveyed renters they would find similar numbers.
I believe we all face similar challenges.
After all, I think being worried about how you are going to provide shelter and food for your family is a feeling all humans have had since the cavemen times. @hometap_
This is my 8th real estate transaction over at 4610 Densmore Ave.
The buyers insisted on using their lender to purchase the condo... big mistake!
The lender failed to come through with the loan.
Luckily, I always have a back up plan.
6 offers for my 6th listing at this Encino complex!
The sellers wanted to move the property as quickly as possible, so they took my advice and had the unit painted and staged.
It came out looking like a model unit!
