Angelyne’s Hideous Hot Pink Condo Actually Sells

CurbedLA recently caught hold of a shocking listing in Malibu – the three-story, unimaginably vulgar, hot-pink decorated condo belonging to beloved Los Angeles icon Angelyne.

If you’ve never heard of her, she’s basically the patron saint of the “famous for nothing” (think Paris Hilton, Camille Grammer, etc).  She rose to “fame” in the 80s and 90s, when billboards and murals began popping up and showcasing her, um, “charms”.

Kudos to Angelyne for making a name for herself (probably not her real name, though). It’s really too bad, though, that when she made her deal with the Devil she let the Devil keep the decorating skills. Take a peek:

It’s upsetting, no?

There is, however, a silver lining (NOT a hot pink lining):

1. This place actually sold for $25K above its listing price. (Um, what? Yeah.)

2. The RealEstalker article about this place when it first went on the market back in November ’10 is ab.so.lute.ly. fab.ul.ous. We always enjoy catching up with the RealEstalker, but this article is particularly enjoyable. Behold, an excerpt:

Listing photos show that at least one of the three guest bedrooms was worked over and put through the wringer of Angelyne’s one-noted and all pink decorative sensibility and includes cotton candy colored walls, matching deep shag carpeting, and a molded plastic bed frame, end tables and dresser set in the shiniest of hot pink a person should never see. Where does a person even buy furniture like that? Seriously, folks, where? Really turning the decorative piss into vinegar is that tawdry, gauzy and two-toned wannabe baldachin that is only made more heart wrenching when seen in conjunction with the pink heart-shaped pillow and pile of discarded clothes on the floor around the bed.

If horrific decorating provides the impetus behind unparalleled pseudo-celeb real estate prose like that, we have to say that we’re fans.

 

Despite Foreclosures, Low Prices, San Francisco Market Sees Some Improvement

Prices are still low and foreclosures are still up, but word on Market street is that the San Francisco housing market is slowly starting to come back.

According to Debi DiCello, a real estate expert recently quoted in the Chronicle:

“Foreclosures in San Francisco went up in 2010 and the median sales price of homes here remains low,” she says, “but we still have one of California’s lowest foreclosure rates and the number of home sales has been rising recently. December 2010 saw a 4.4 percent increase in sales activity and there were more home sales in 2010 than 2009.

4.4% isn’t a wild, crazy boom, but it’s a respectable year-over-year increase these days.

The short-term picture for Bay Area real estate isn’t quite as rosy – more than half of the existing Bay Area homes sold in the past month were foreclosure. That’s a staggering percentage anywhere, and it’s certainly significant for an upscale city like San Francisco.

Still, foreclosures or no, homes are selling in the Bay Area, which is more than can be said for many parts of SoCal. Prices of homes in Southern California and Orange County in particular have dropped to all-time lows, while prices in San Francisco might actually stand a chance of stabilizing in the foreseeable future. Viva San Francisco!

 

California Association of Realtors Voices Objections to the End of Fannie and Freddie

There’s been a lot of talk across the real estate interwebs regarding the impending extinction of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Experts have speculated that the loss of government support could mean the end of the 30-year-mortgage, make loans impossible to obtain, or put home-ownership out of reach for many lower and lower-middle income families.

So far, however, most of these objections have remained theoretical. It’s not known, of course, how dramatic an effect Fannie and Freddie’s absence may have – and even if the changes are pretty intense, they won’t go into affect for a few years at least.

The California Association of Realtors, however, is taking a stand right this minute. C.A.R. has come right out and said what a lot of people are thinking – that private lenders just don’t have the same incentives to promote home-ownership for the average Californian:

“A reduced government presence in the mortgage market will raise the cost of homeownership and make mortgages less available,” said C.A.R. President Beth L. Peerce.  “Moreover, Congress needs to understand that during economic downturns, the housing market needs government involvement to ensure capital stability.  History has shown the private market is incapable and unwilling to step in during the hardest of times and meet the demands of the nation’s home buyers.”

To see C.A.R.’s whole report, click here.

 

Home Prices in SoCal are the Lowest in Years

As we all know, the housing market in California has been struggling for a while – particularly in Southern California, where a large portion ofthe local economy is driven by construction and real estate related activity.

But it seems that, according to the real estate section of the LA Times, SoCal home prices are the lowest they’ve been since 2009. The median price of a Southern California home is now $270,000.  The raw number of sales is down, too, dropping 5.9% compared to January 2010.

Of course this isn’t the end of the world,  and unusually bad winter weather can realistically explain quite a bit of the drop. 

“It is very hard to tell a trend from January, but I think we are experiencing a market that has not yet found its forward momentum,” said Edward Leamer, director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. “You can’t have a healthy housing market without a healthy job market.”

 This, of course, makes perfect sense. But it’s still disappointing news for those who predicted that 2011 will be the year that the housing market picks itself up and dusts itself off.

Who isn’t disappointed? Well, homebuyers, obviously. This is the cheapest homes in Southern California have been in years. This might very well be the “double-dip”/”rock-bottom” that everyone’s been talking about. And given the upcoming changes in the mortgage industry, this might be the homebuyer’s magic moment.

New Homes-Sweet-Homes

According to the Los Angeles Times, sales of new homes within California actually rose during the month of December- by a nice healthy margin of 17.5%.  Not bad, particularly considering that the end of the year is often a slow time for real estate sales.

What does this mean?  Well, it’s great news for builders and the construction industry, for sure.  For quite a while now new homes have had a tough time competing with the low prices on existing homes.  Foreclosures and short sales, despite their risks and red tape, have proved more attractive to buyers than shelling out for a brand-new place.

The trend may be related to the fact that foreclosures appear to be slowing down in the Golden State – although whether that’s a substantial fact or a result of shadow inventory remains to be seen.

Legally Buying A Home in California

As a potential homebuyer, you may have checked out a few resources regarding the various fees, paperwork, and roadblocks that you may encounter when buying a home, and hopefully your realtor has helped you understand the process in full; but what if you are relocating to California? Buying a home in California comes with a few special mandates of which buyers may not be aware. 

Below are a few key points you should keep in mind when buying specifically in California, included in the real estate subdivision of the website Lawyers.com:

• Sellers of property must provide the buyer with a Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement, which is a printed form that lists the features or conditions of the home, the land, and area the home is located. They must also list any possible or known problems that may affect the buyer’s willingness to purchase the home, likes structural defects, heating, plumbing, mechanical and electrical issues.
• The seller must complete a disclosure form found in the “The Homeowner’s Guide to Earthquake Safety” and make potential buyers aware of their property’s earthquake readiness.
• Condominium sellers must provide the buyer with copies of the homeowners’ association bylaws, financial statements, and other documents, as well as disclose the amount they owe for any unpaid assessments.
• The seller must disclose the operating conditions of items on the property like appliances, water heaters, or burglar alarm, as well as the existence of any environmental hazards or neighborhood noise.
• The seller must disclose whether they have knowledge of any lead-based paint in or on the property, depending on its age.
• The buyer must also be made aware of any deaths—and the circumstances of those deaths—that occur on the property within three years of the sale.

 

As edicts and mandates change every year, it may be beneficial to consult a real estate lawyer along with your real estate agent to ensure that your California home purchase is perfectly legal. If there is any lapse in following regulation, typically the buyer pays the price in the long run, so be sure to prepare for every eventuality.