Local Area Market Report:San Fernando Valley September 2014
Rodeo Realty is proud to welcome, Violetta Hargitay, to our Pacific Palisades office
Syd Leibovitch, President of Rodeo Realty is proud to welcome Violetta Hargitay to our new Pacific Palisades office. For over 23 years, Violetta has built an outstanding record of service to buyers and sellers in Pacific Palisades and surrounding communities. With a solid reputation as a trusted colleague among industry professionals, she is known for exceptional and highly personalized service to clients, and her skills as a negotiator. She has achieved her level of success with hard work and an honest approach to every aspect of the business. She began her career with the Jon Douglas Co. office in Pacific Palisades and has continued to provide exceptional service, discretion, and reliability to all of her clients. An early adapter of technology, she embraced digital photography, internet marketing, online forms, digital signing and all forms of technology that help bring an enhanced experience for clients buying and selling real estate. Well known in the community, Violetta has attracted a client base that includes attorneys, accountants, business managers, investment bankers, and entertainment industry professionals. Her discretion, reliability, and ethics have enabled her to work primarily through referrals from satisfied clients. She enjoys the challenges in our evolving real estate market and feels that with the changes the internet and the media has brought to how consumers approach real estate, it becomes even more important to offer service that clients value and appreciate. Violetta was awarded the Los Angeles Magazine Five Star Professional Realtor Award in both 2013 and 2014 and has consistently achieved award level production throughout her career!
Syd Leibovitch founded Rodeo Realty in 1986 with a specific purpose in mind: to create a real estate firm with all the resources available to the largest companies combined with the hands-on ability of the neighborhood Realtor. Rodeo Realty stands today as one of the largest independent real estate companies in the nation with over 1,200 Realtors selling nearly $5 Billion in Real Estate annually, yet the company still maintains the friendly boutique feeling of a neighborhood REALTOR. Rodeo Realty agents have been carefully selected to ensure that clients are represented by the very best the industry has to offer. Each of our agents is required to know all up-to-date legal, contractual and procedural changes that regularly impact the industry. We offer the latest marketing and advertising techniques, along with Advanced Training and Sure Start new agent training. Rodeo’s commitment to supporting its agents includes a 7,000 square foot agent service center. The agent service center houses a graphic arts division, digital marketing division, website design, and agent advertising. The company also has a full time publicist and PR center. The in house print shop processes all agent and property marketing, and includes a post office/mail room.
839 Via De La Paz • 310.566.4400 • www.RodeoRE.com
Kris Mooney Branch Manager
Syd Leibovitch President
Rodeo Realty Takes the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with over 150 Participants, Owner, Syd Leibovitch, Donates Thousands to ALS Organization
Thank you to everyone who attended and took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with Rodeo Realty.
Our events were a huge success!
Rodeo Realty held 3 events at our Encino, Brentwood, and Pacific Palisades. We had an incredible turnout with over 150 participants who took the challenge. Owner of Rodeo Realty, Syd Leibovtch, donated $50 per participant who took the challenge. We have some amazing footage of each participant taking the challenge and will all be featured on the Rodeo Realty Social Media and the MDA Fighting Muscle Disease as sponsors. The ALS Association is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from people all over the world. We thank you for participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge and for making donations to support our fight against this disease. We thank you for attending our community -wide event and for your participation and support in a cause that is dear to the Rodeo Realty family.
Owner of Rodeo Realty, Syd Leibovitch, donated $50 to ALS organization for each person who took the challenge. This fun-filled double weekend event was catered by local BBQ Los Angeles eatery, Britts BBQ, with live music. We had our videographer who filmed every ice bucket challenge participant and sent it to them share with their social media sphere and challenge their friends.
At Rodeo Realty, we believe in the importance of community involvement for an overall betterment of society. We take pride in building community relationships and encourage our agents to also be involved in the community. Rodeo Realty supports local charity’s, youth groups, schools, and shelters in hope of providing a better future to as many individuals as possible. We hope you join us and volunteer in our many causes we support. Please contact us for more information on getting involved with out current charities we support. Thank you!
Rodeo Realty Takes the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with over 150 Participants, Owner, Syd Leibovitch, Donates Thousands to ALS Organization
Thank you to everyone who attended and took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with Rodeo Realty.
Our events were a huge success!
Rodeo Realty held 3 events at our Encino, Brentwood, and Pacific Palisades. We had an incredible turnout with over 150 participants who took the challenge. Owner of Rodeo Realty, Syd Leibovtch, donated $50 per participant who took the challenge. We have some amazing footage of each participant taking the challenge and will all be featured on the Rodeo Realty Social Media and the MDA Fighting Muscle Disease as sponsors. The ALS Association is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from people all over the world. We thank you for participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge and for making donations to support our fight against this disease. We thank you for attending our community -wide event and for your participation and support in a cause that is dear to the Rodeo Realty family.
Owner of Rodeo Realty, Syd Leibovitch, donated $50 to ALS organization for each person who took the challenge. This fun-filled double weekend event was catered by local BBQ Los Angeles eatery, Britts BBQ, with live music. We had our videographer who filmed every ice bucket challenge participant and sent it to them share with their social media sphere and challenge their friends.
At Rodeo Realty, we believe in the importance of community involvement for an overall betterment of society. We take pride in building community relationships and encourage our agents to also be involved in the community. Rodeo Realty supports local charity’s, youth groups, schools, and shelters in hope of providing a better future to as many individuals as possible. We hope you join us and volunteer in our many causes we support. Please contact us for more information on getting involved with out current charities we support. Thank you!
Economic Update 9/5/2014
Economic Update 9/5/14
August Job gains slip to 142,000, fewest of 2014. Job reports for August came out this week with some disappointing number. U.S. employers added 142,000 jobs in August as payroll growth slowed significantly after six months of strong gains, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate, which is calculated from a different survey, fell to 6.1% from 6.2% in July, the Labor Department said. Until August, employers had added 200,000-plus jobs for six straight months — the longest stretch since 1997. Last month, businesses added 134,000 jobs, with professional and business services and healthcare driving the increase. Federal, state and local governments added 8,000. Job gains for June and July were revised down by a total 28,000. June’s was revised to 267,000 from 298,000 and July’s to 212,000 from 209,000.While the August tally was disappointing, it could get revised upward in future months’ reports.
Average Mortgage Rates Hold Steady this week at 15 month lows. The average 30-year U.S. mortgage rate last week remained at a 52-week low of 4.10 percent for the third straight week. Mortgage company Freddie Mac also said Thursday the average for a 15-year mortgage, a popular choice for people who are refinancing, slipped to 3.24 percent from 3.25 percent last week. At its 52-week low of 4.10 percent, the rate on a 30-year mortgage is down from 4.53 percent at the start of the year. Rates have fallen even though the Federal Reserve has been trimming its monthly bond purchases, which are intended to keep long-term borrowing rates low. The purchases are set to end in October. The average fee for a 30-year mortgage was 0.5 point, unchanged from last week. The fee for a 15-year mortgage fell to 0.5 point from 0.6 point. The average rate on a five-year adjustable-rate mortgage was stable at 2.97 percent. The fee stayed at 0.5 point. For a one-year ARM, the average rate edged up to 2.40 percent from 2.39 percent. The fee dipped to 0.4 point from 0.5 point.
The average rate for a standard 30-year fixed loan with a 20% down payment has not been above 4.15% since mid-June. Mortgage professionals said solid borrowers who are willing to pay 1% of the loan amount in upfront discount points can lock in 30-year fixed rates for less than 4%. The low rates and higher home prices have made it easier for some homeowners who missed the sub-4% rates in 2012 and early 2013 to refinance their home loans now.
Mortgage applications increased slightly from a week earlier, as refinances hit their highest level since March. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s weekly composite index found that mortgage loan application volume rose 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the period ending Aug. 29. The week before, the index was up 2.8%. Refinance activity increased 1% week over week and now represents 57% of total applications. Meanwhile, the purchase index decreased 2% on a weekly basis and accounts for 35% of all application volume. The other 8% of total applications were adjustable-rate mortgages.
The Benchmark US 10 year Treasury Note yield edged up slightly to close the week at 2.46% it was 2.35% last Friday.
The Dow closed higher this week at 17,137.36, up from last Friday’s close of 17,098.45. The S&P closed at a record high for the year at 2,007.71, up from last Friday’s close of 2,003.37. The Nasdaq finishes strong this week closing at 4,582.90, up from last Friday’s close of 4,580.27.
Case-Shiller Redo Shows Less Severe U.S. Home-Price Slump. The collapse in U.S. home prices that stoked the worst recession since the Great Depression wasn’t quite as severe as initially estimated, according to data from S&P/Case-Shiller. Property values nationally fell 26 percent from the February 2007 peak to the December 2011 trough, not 34 percent as previously reported, revised data showed last week. The index will now be issued monthly rather than quarterly. Nationally, home values have climbed 19.4 percent since touching bottom almost three years ago, the new data show. They’re now 11.6 percent off the prior peak, compared with a previously estimated shortfall of 18.6 percent through the first quarter.
The Federal Reserve Beige Book was released September 3. It showed that the economy expanded in all districts across the nation from the previous period. Consumer spending rose in all districts from slight to moderate. Real Estate sales held steady or expanded throughout the nation. Loan demand rose in 8 districts and held steady in 1. This was all positive news.
On a negative note, wages that have shown to be flat for the last 3 years adjusted for inflation from 3 years ago, actually dropped in all income levels except the top 10% income levels. At the median household levels wages actually dropped 4%.
We are seeing increased activity this week after a slower week or so at the end of August. It seems like now that people have returned from vacation and school has started, open escrows have increased!
Rodeo Realty is proud to welcome, Violetta Hargitay, to our Pacific Palisades office
Syd Leibovitch, President of Rodeo Realty is proud to welcome Violetta Hargitay to our new Pacific Palisades office. For over 23 years, Violetta has built an outstanding record of service to buyers and sellers in Pacific Palisades and surrounding communities. With a solid reputation as a trusted colleague among industry professionals, she is known for exceptional and highly personalized service to clients, and her skills as a negotiator. She has achieved her level of success with hard work and an honest approach to every aspect of the business. She began her career with the Jon Douglas Co. office in Pacific Palisades and has continued to provide exceptional service, discretion, and reliability to all of her clients. An early adapter of technology, she embraced digital photography, internet marketing, online forms, digital signing and all forms of technology that help bring an enhanced experience for clients buying and selling real estate. Well known in the community, Violetta has attracted a client base that includes attorneys, accountants, business managers, investment bankers, and entertainment industry professionals. Her discretion, reliability, and ethics have enabled her to work primarily through referrals from satisfied clients. She enjoys the challenges in our evolving real estate market and feels that with the changes the internet and the media has brought to how consumers approach real estate, it becomes even more important to offer service that clients value and appreciate. Violetta was awarded the Los Angeles Magazine Five Star Professional Realtor Award in both 2013 and 2014 and has consistently achieved award level production throughout her career!
Syd Leibovitch founded Rodeo Realty in 1986 with a specific purpose in mind: to create a real estate firm with all the resources available to the largest companies combined with the hands-on ability of the neighborhood Realtor. Rodeo Realty stands today as one of the largest independent real estate companies in the nation with over 1,200 Realtors selling nearly $5 Billion in Real Estate annually, yet the company still maintains the friendly boutique feeling of a neighborhood REALTOR. Rodeo Realty agents have been carefully selected to ensure that clients are represented by the very best the industry has to offer. Each of our agents is required to know all up-to-date legal, contractual and procedural changes that regularly impact the industry. We offer the latest marketing and advertising techniques, along with Advanced Training and Sure Start new agent training. Rodeo’s commitment to supporting its agents includes a 7,000 square foot agent service center. The agent service center houses a graphic arts division, digital marketing division, website design, and agent advertising. The company also has a full time publicist and PR center. The in house print shop processes all agent and property marketing, and includes a post office/mail room.
839 Via De La Paz • 310.566.4400 • www.RodeoRE.com
Kris Mooney Branch Manager
Syd Leibovitch President
Rodeo Realty Quoted In LA Times Article on Home Price Stablization
The real estate market is always changing. Right now the data seems to indicate that we are entering a time of market stablization (something Rodeo Realty president Syd Leibovitch began to predict late last year). The rapid growth of home prices has slowed and inventory still remains tight. Home sellers are testing the market and seeing multiple offers but the feeding frenzy of last year seems to have abated a bit. DataQuick’s latest numbers showed that the median price in Los Angeles County rose 10% in May to $450,000 from $410,000 a year earlier. This is significant but still lower than the big price jumps we were seeing last year.
In an article on this phenomenon, Los Angeles Times reporter Tim Logan interviewed Mona Cohen of Rodeo Realty Brentwood for her hands-on view of the local market. Mona explained that she often has to explain to sellers that they need to be realistic about pricing.
“They still think they’re in that little bubble of 2013, where you’d put it on the market and have 15 offers,” Mona told the Times. “That still happens in pockets. But buyers have become a lot more savvy.”
Rodeo Realty's Ron Maman Quoted In Article On Anti-Mansionization Rules
As home prices rise and the economy recovers, there is an increased interest in having larger homes. However Los Angeles restricts the size of new and renovated homes. This has resulted in some tensions between property owners, builders, and local politicians. Ron Maman of Rodeo Realty Sherman Oaks was part of a Los Angeles Times feature on anti-mansionization rules and their impact on local neighborhoods. He moved from Beverly Grove to Encino in order to have more room for his family. Maman pointed out that tighter restrictions on home sizes can impact home values. “You’re putting a ceiling on what people can do with their properties,” he said in the article. Read the full article on the LA Times website.
Rodeo Realty Local Market Report–San Fernando Valley–March 2014
Below is the local market report for the San Fernando Valley for March 2014. The report details real estate market statistics with year-over-year data on median price and days on market.