L.A. Times Hot Property: ‘Buffy’s’ David Greenwalt sells Pacific Palisades home for $2,958,000

Ultimately, timing the market may be neither possible nor advisable. “Timing matters a lot less if you are buying a home you are going to live in for seven or 10 years,” he adds. “For buyers who adopt a long-term strategy, it may make sense to go ahead and buy when they find a home that both meets their needs and is affordable, because it might not be available six months from now.”

                                       Palisadian Post

                           Thursday, November 2, 2006

                                  Pacific Palisades, CA.

                       “Insulated,” Though Not “Isolated”

                                     by Michael Edlen

“I have two concerns. We plan to sell our home when I retire in two years, but are afraid of losing a huge amount of equity because of all the news about prices expected to fall. Ironically, our daughter is afraid that if she and her family don’t buy a home soon, higher interest rates may prevent them from purchasing. What are your views about these issues in thePalisades?”                                                           - A long-time homeowner

I think this may be a great opportunity for both of you! Although prices are softer now, you could still sell very close to the all-time high point and perhaps lease a place for two years. Your daughter’s family could negotiate an excellent purchase now, have the more affordable monthly payments, and enjoy a place of their own as well as tax benefits much sooner.

A continuing slow-down in buyer demand and increase in home inventories for sale has made it more challenging for homeowners wanting to sell. In many other areas there are now 30-60% more homes available than there were in the Fall 2005, and the sales rates are 20-50% lower. But Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, and much of Santa Monica are experiencing much less of an impact from the over-all drop-off in buyer demand. Although house hunters are much far more selective, and often adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude, sellers who are realistic in their price expectations are still able to attract buyers successfully.

The law of supply and demand ultimately results in price changes. While local sales rates are off by about 18% from last year at this time, there are still about 23 homes sold each month in the Palisades alone. Also, the inventory level has only increased here by 11% since last year.

Because our area is a “destination neighborhood,” it is relatively more attractive to a larger proportion of prospective buyers. More than 20% of the local sales are to people who already live in the Palisades, and more than 30% are to Santa Monica residents. This factor of high desirability is insulating the Palisades to a fair extent from the market forces that have begun to affect the housing markets in most areas.

We have a wonderful village atmosphere, moderate climate, highly-regarded schools, casual lifestyle and natural beauty with several recreational areas. And for the same reasons there are not as many owners who would want to leave such a desirable community, so the inventory growth has been more gradual than in most other areas that experienced rapid appreciation over the last several years.

Your daughter may find this a good time to buy, before probate interest rates increases next year offset the likely small price declines. They will be deferring their enjoyment of the new home for a long while if they decide to continue to wait. They have a lot to gain and nothing to lose by at least making an offer when an ideal home has been found!

Homeowners who really do want to sell today will have the greatest success by carefully interviewing before hiring an agent. In this cooling-off market, a home must be priced competitively and marketed effectively. When an offer is received, flexibility and willingness to make compromises may make all the difference.

If historical patterns repeat, prices in this area may dip 4-8% over the next year. Beyond that time it is difficult to guess where the market might trend. However, the Palisades usually out-performs other areas due to its unique blend of positive attributes.

“Working with an out-of-area agent”

Oakland, CA.

September 7, 2006

By Diane Hymer

Maybe you've been looking at open houses for months, but you haven't hooked up with an agent yet because you're not sure you're really going to follow through and buy a home.

Then one Sunday afternoon you find a home that changes your motivational level-it has everything you'd hoped to find in a home. But, you're not alone. The open house is buzzing with activity. You're sure the listing will sell fast.

You call a friend who's a real estate agent and ask him to represent you. There's just one hitch. He's a real estate broker from another part of the state. Although it's perfectly legal for your friend to represent you, is it a good idea?

Recently, a couple tried to buy a home in Oakland, California. Their brother, a broker in Southern California, represented them in a multiple offer competition. They didn't get the property; their offer wasn't competitive with the other five offers.

The out-of-area agent couldn't counsel his clients about what price to offer because he knew nothing about local property values. The agent also didn't know local custom regarding closing costs.

The City of Oakland imposes a transfer tax of 1.5 percent of the purchase price. Normally, this is split 50-50 between the buyer and seller. The out-of-area agent's offer asked the seller to pay the entire tax. This amounted to thousands of dollars.

In Southern California, sellers usually pay for the title insurance and escrow fees. The Southern California agent wrote his clients' offer according to local custom in his area. In Oakland, however, the buyers usually pay these fees, which also amount to thousands of dollars.

Sellers are obviously looking for the best price. But, aside from price, there's another issue with an offer that's written contrary to local custom. It causes the sellers and their agent to wonder what else the out-of-area doesn't know about local real estate that might adversely effect the transaction.

Also, buyers can gain a competitive edge by having their agent present their offer in person to the listing agent and/or the sellers. An out-of-area agent usually faxes the offer to the listing office.

FIRST-TIME TIP: You might wonder why a buyer would be so foolish as to allow an out-of-area agent represent him or her--particularly if it diminishes the chances of successfully negotiating a purchase. Sometimes, buyers do it because their agent friend promises to kick back part of the commission to them.

It's natural to want to save money. But, it becomes foolhardy if it jeopardizes the purchase, or results in a shoddy real estate deal. If your agent isn't local, you must hope that the seller and the seller's agent are especially diligent.

Who is going to look out for your best interests? Who'll tell you about local soils conditions, slide areas or toxic waste dumps? State laws differ on how much sellers are required to disclose. Regardless of what the law requires, to be protected, you'll need to do research to make sure you discover all the conditions that might effect your decision to buy the home.

Good agents have a wealth of information about local conditions and property values. They also know the best inspectors, title and escrow officers, loan brokers, insurance agents, and contractors who can give estimates. An out-of-area agent isn't likely to have this type of information.

THE CLOSING: Rather than work with an out-of-area agent, have that agent find out who would be the best local agent for you, and refer you to him or her.

Los Angeles Times, January 27, 2008

by Lew Sichelman

"The Team Approach Scores Points with Realty Agents"

Many real estate agents these days have personal assistants. But the better agents have moved on to whole groups of assistants known as real-estate teams.

The team approach isn’t new. Surgeons have teams. Lawyers have them, and so do accountants. But it is relatively new to the real estate business, where the majority of agents still try to do everything themselves – advertising and marketing, chasing down documents and following up on loan applications.

That is changing, though, as more agents see the value of delegating these and the numerous other behind-the-scenes tasks so they can concentrate on listing and showing houses.

“You just can’t operate as a single practitioner anymore without a team,” said Ralph Roberts, a top-selling Detroit area agent and coauthor of “Power Teams,” a new guide to building and managing groups of assistants. Roberts and his coauthor, John Featherston of RIS Media, a real estate publishing company, believe the team approach is the wave of the future. So does Ashley Leigh of the Ashley Leigh Team, which works out of Linton Hall Realtors in Gainesville, Va.

Leigh, a top-selling broker in the 12,000-member Northern Virginia Assn. of Realtors in 2004 and 2006, maintains that the team concept is already changing the brokerage business.

“All you have to do is look at who is No. 1 in your marketplace,” he said. “I would bet for the majority of markets, the No. 1 agent is backed by a significantly accomplished team.”

Chip Neumann, who operates the Chip Neumann Team in Ridgefield, Conn., has been a top agent in his town of 21,000 for 20-plus years. But until he put together his three-person team a dozen years ago, he had “zero life.”

“I was pretty stubborn,” Neumann said. “I thought I could do it all. But I learned there are people who can do some things far better than I can.”

Neumann’s team consists of himself and two full-time, licensed support staff – a client-care manager who is “hands-on” with buyers and sellers and a marketing director who places advertising, follows up on all showings and handles much of what Neumann called “background stuff.”

Leigh’s team has 20 members, all full time, with the majority being licensed agents. But Leigh said his big-team approach is measured in production, not staff. With a volume of $185 million at the height of the real estate market, he said he was doing eight times the business he had been doing by himself.

Roberts stumbled upon the team concept nearly 30 years ago. “It happened to me by accident,” said the man Time magazine once hailed as “the bestselling Realtor in America.” “I cannot spell. So I had to hire a co-op student to take messages. It wasn’t a business plan; it was out of necessity.”

Now he is the owner-broker of his own company, which he operates as a team with a handful of full- and part-time assistants who help him with all the back-office chores while he acts as a “rainmaker,” talking to consumers, getting his brand known and bringing in new business.

For their book, authors Roberts and Featherston interviewed more than 200 teams, ranging in size from two people to more than 30. They suggest that potential clients thinking about signing up with an agent who is backed by a team should look for experience.

They may go by different titles, but the team should include a closing person, a customer-service person and a marketing person.

The closing assistant should be “dedicated to making sure all the paperwork is in order so there are no bumps in the road,” Roberts said.

The customer-service assistant should follow up with every agent who shows the house and provide the seller and seller’s agent with feedback. The marketing assistant will “get the house out there” in all possible media so it can be seen by millions of eyes.