Los Angeles Real Estate Insider Today

Top producing Los Angeles real estate agents are defined as those “with at least 40 closed escrow sales or a minimum sales volume of $18 million in the previous year.” They are also the realtors with whom every Los Angeles real estate buyer wants to work.

In an attempt to understand why these Los Angeles real estate agents are as popular and successful as they are, the California Association of Realtors designed a survey to gauge just what it is they are doing so very right. Not surprisingly, the top Los Angeles real estate agents love their jobs and place a lot of emphasis on client satisfaction, spending 76 percent of their time working with sellers.

Consistent marketing also helps keep the crème de la crème on top, and unlike many technology inept realtors, they have focused 22% of their marketing strategy on the internet.

This past year, the Los Angeles real estate market has witnessed something "highly unusual." Prices have weakened even though the economy remains strong. This makes gauging consumer confidence tricky as job growth is still strong but the Los Angeles real estate market is weakening. Both of these factors play an important role in the resulting level of consumer confidence, so it’s anyone’s guess whether consumer confidence will increase or decrease.

One thing is certain, if Los Angeles real estate prices level off or rise only slightly, homeowners may feel less wealthy, even though they have not lost money. When homeowners feel less wealthy, they are less likely to spend or even consider making large investments. Therefore, if prices lag and consumer confidence decreases, we could see yet another drag on Los Angeles real estate demand.

In October, KB Home introduced its new urban division to the Los Angeles real estate market. The division, called KB Urban, is focusing on mid- and high-rise, high-density, mixed-use Los Angeles real estate.

Up to now, KB has been known for its single-family Los Angeles real estate developments, but the company believes nowadays opportunity within the Southern California region lies in mixed-use projects. KB claims that there is an obvious demand for condos and an urban lifestyle among young and single professionals, the company’s target market.

KB’s target buyers want to live close to work and play and would, therefore, appreciate Los Angeles real estate that offers shops and offices on lower floors and residential housing on upper floors. Plus, developers and politicians favor these projects "as a partial solution to traffic congestion."

Mold is just one more threat to tack onto the lit of issues Los Angeles homeowners now have to worry about. But don’t hit the panic button just yet! Unless you’ve had unexplained, prolonged health problems, there’s no need to suspect mold growth in Los Angeles homes. Mold needs humidity to thrive, so most Los Angeles homes are only at risk when there has been flooding.

When flooding of Los Angeles homes is very severe, it is generally best to throw out all furniture that has been soaked and remove all affected Sheetrock and insulation. If, however, your walls and furniture seem salvageable, it is important to treat them with a commercial mildewcide as soon as possible. It is also recommended that after a flood the heat should run in Los Angeles homes for approximately four hours, then the air conditioning for the same amount of time. Repeating the cycle several times "will draw the moisture out of the walls, carpet and furniture" and remove it. A dehumidifier that discharges outside of Los Angeles homes can also be helpful.

Los Angeles real estate is some of the most sought after in the world, and a good portion of the $400 to $500 billion that foreign investors have poured into mortgage-backed securities since 2000 have greatly benefited the L.A. area. These investors chose to invest so heavily in mortgage-backed securities because over the past five years they’ve been a safe and attractive investments. However, as mortgage rates increase and the Los Angeles real estate market turns sluggish, there is a danger of those foreign dollars going elsewhere.

Less foreign investing and fewer locals interested in purchasing Los Angeles real estate could cripple the local market and economy. Demand is slowly dampening, and prices could weaken, making, job loss in Los Angeles real estate construction a near certainty.

Even though the high cost of Los Angeles housing and mortgages are pricing many homebuyers out of the market, homebuilders are still optimistic. They say that even if demand lowers, they still have a "backlog of unfilled orders" for new Los Angeles homes.

Regardless of how much work homebuilders have, affordability is becoming a big problem in the Los Angeles housing market. A 13 percent drop in affordability has diminished demand and decreased the bidding wars that "helped drive big price leaps in some areas."

The perfect example of how affordability erodes as interest rates increase is a potential "buyer with an income of $100,000 and a $40,000 downpayment." With a 30-year mortgage at a fixed rate of 5 percent, he or she could afford to buy a $421,000 Los Angeles home. "At a 6% mortgage, that falls to $390,000," and at 7 percent, the buyer would only be able to afford Los Angeles housing that’s $360,500 or cheaper.

Even though Los Angeles real estate prices continued gaining throughout the fall, signs that the market was softening persisted. Price gains weren’t as large as they were last year, homes were taking longer to sell, and the amount of Los Angeles real estate inventory increased.

The median price of a Los Angeles County home "jumped 22.3 percent from a year earlier," but slipped 0.6 percent from the summer. However, a Los Angeles real estate price decline between summer and fall is considered typical. Plus, "there was no change in the trend of bigger appreciation rates for entry level and move-up homes than for high-end homes."

Predictions of a softening Los Angeles real estate market started over the summer and are reaching their climax now with the continued rise of mortgage rates, but regardless of softening, "both prices and sales remain on track for a record year."