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Below is the Westside Market Report for December 2014 detailing local real estate market statistics and including year-over-year data:

Dear Ken Davis,

My name is Clifford Reh, Administrator for the property at 5748 Le Sage Avenue, Woodland Hills, California. The passing of my mother was traumatic and the decision of what to do with her home was very stressful. I had daily telephone calls from realtors wanting to list her house. My wife and I choose Mike Ace. It took us 18 months to decide what to do with the house.
Mike was excellent in knowing the probate process and very hands on with all the parties that were involved. He daily kept us up to date on the listing and made sure that we were getting the best offer for the sale. In only 11 days he got the house sold and for the full price that we all agreed on.

Mike is definitely an asset to Rodeo Realty and I will certainly recommend him to any of my friends and relatives that need a realtor in Southern California. The real estate business certainly could use more people like Mike.

Sincerely,

Clifford P. Reh

Below is the Westside Market Report for November 2014 detailing local real estate market statistics and including year-over-year data:

Below is the San Fernando Valley Market Report for November 2014 detailing local real estate market statistics and including year-over-year data:

Below is the Conejo Valley Market Report for November 2014 detailing local real estate market statistics and including year-over-year data:

My name’s Seth Matlins, and on December 23rd, I closed escrow on a home (2230 Banyan Drive) because of Judy and Warren Handler. I thought you should know.

I first met the Handlers in 2001 when they were representing the seller of the home (2220 Banyan Drive) that has been mine since then. Despite our being on “opposite sides” of this first transaction, the Handlers never made me feel that our interests diverged, and we found a way to work together. Because of this, 14 years later, when I heard 2230 was going on the market, Warren and Judy were my only call.

30 minutes after our first conversation, Warren had already sent me area comps, and provided me with estimates on the value of the new property. From here, which was before the house was officially on the market, he and Judy walked us through bid strategy, inspections, discussions, and communication with the other broker, with the estate itself. They managed coordinating all inspections while I traveled with my family…and set the strategy for how we evaluated and deployed the information that came up during the inspections. In short, we were one of 4 buyers who came in over ask in the first week. We were, however, the only ones to get the house.

And, I have no doubt, we got it because of Warren and Judy…and that we wouldn’t have, but for them.

They’ve sold me one house and helped me buy another. I am wildly grateful to them and think their caring, market knowledge, savvy, and personal touch and professional ways have been the difference twice. And I thought you should know that I think they are absolutely amazing.

Best regards,
Seth Matlins

I had an excellent experience working with Philip! I met him at an open house in Thousand Oaks, and he made a great first impression. He really listened when I told him what I wanted in a home and sent me the current listings matching my criteria. He was always available when I had questions and was able to coordinate visits to the homes I wanted to see (even if it meant going back a second and third time). He was very thorough and transparent and made my first-time home buying experience easy and understandable. He is a kind-hearted, down to earth man and I really appreciated all of his knowledge and professionalism. He was able to get me a great deal on a home and we are so thankful!

– Jenny & Matt Cooper

Hi Syd,

You gave a great meeting today, as usual, featuring a lot of information in a dynamic presentation. Need I say this was a welcome breath of fresh air for me.

I wanted to let you know that one of my goals at the start of this year (apart from the unrealistic one of removing all the clutter in my home) was to fine tune my social media platform. To that end I made contact with Zoe at the Rodeo party at the Sheraton Universal last month, and we set up a strategy to meet at the beginning of this year. We had that appointment this afternoon after the Beverly Hills meeting. I know from your comments at the meeting that you are proud of Zoe from your perspective, but from mine, I’d like to reinforce that.

I was the recipient of a very welcome one-two punch of getting the things on my agenda in order. Zoe and Terry both took time from their schedules to co-ordinate with each other and me, and see what they could do to advance my marketing strategy. The time was well spent. Terry and Zoe both worked with me on improving my Rodeo website with a new photo, and profile, and Terry set up a business page for Facebook and is working on getting a profile to Rodeo’s affiliate alliances. This was time well spent for me. I hope to cover all bases.

I met with Zoe alone after the joint session with her and Terry, we worked on the finer points of Twitter and how to make it work effectively. She provided me with lots of good input, and a few tricks of the trade. I had a twitter account and followers from high sources, however, did not fully understand the whole program. We posted a couple of things and also referenced Rodeo Realty in a tweet. This was a great one-on-one educational exercise.

Upon leaving the office I had a brief chat with the young man at the front desk who was interested in what I was doing. The great thing about the whole afternoon was, there was a lot of give and take. I was the recipient of valuable knowledge and service, and also happened to be able to extend a bit of knowledge and information that seemed to be useful to the staff as well.

My time was spent mostly with Zoe and Terry, I am pleased to say to you that they, as well as other personnel I met today were all worthy of your brand, and you should be proud of them. Everyone was helpful, pleasant, (even cheerful). I received a few email messages later in the afternoon from Zoe to be sure we were on the same page, and asking if I had any other issues to address. That is great follow-up.

Now that I have some new tools, it is up to me to take advantage of my Rodeo Realty social media boot camp and be everywhere all the time.

I am very happy at your company, and tell everyone I know how great it is.

Thank you,

Marcy Braiker

By: Tim Logan

In more than two decades as a real estate agent, Marc Tahler has seen his client base of would-be buyers shift.

He used to see a lot of younger couples, married, maybe with a kid in tow or one on the way.

Lately, though, his buyers are trending a little older, and, kid or no, a lot fewer of them sport a wedding ring.

“I’m seeing more people who aren’t married,” said the agent with Rodeo Realty in Woodland Hills. “Sometimes, it’s a couple where both have been divorced, buying as partners. Or one buys and the other puts some money in. It’s all becoming more common.”

A generation of young people who are getting married later — or not at all — are also taking a different approach to one of the biggest financial decisions most of them will ever make. They no longer see marriage as a prerequisite to a mortgage.

Is there a correlation?

“These key life-stage things impact when we buy, what we buy and where we buy,” said Mollie Carmichael, a principal at John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine. “But … young people today aren’t living by the same rules as 20 or 30 years ago.”

Unmarried couples, same-sex partners, even pairs of roommates going halvesies make up a much bigger chunk of the housing market than they did a generation ago, said Rachel Drew, a researcher at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

“The decline in married couples, among younger buyers, is almost entirely offset by growth in unmarried couples. You’re not actually seeing a decline in two-adult households,” she said. “[Unmarried couples] are much more likely than a single person to buy a home. They’re acting like married couples.”

That’s what Krystle Mangaccat is doing. She and her boyfriend closed this week on a house in Northridge, a single-family home with three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and plenty of room for their dogs — and maybe someday their kids.

They’re not married yet, but after four apartments in three years, they were ready to settle in a place of their own, Mangaccat said. And, she said, the choice between using their savings on a down payment or a wedding was kind of a no-brainer.

“We’re practical people,” she said. “A house is a long-term thing. We’d rather spend our money on that than on throwing a big party.”

That’s a choice more couples are making lately, according to a study last year by real estate website Redfin, which notes that the average wedding and honeymoon costs about $35,000, enough for a down payment for many home buyers.

Other would-be house hunters plan to buy regardless of their marital status, like Yvonne Carrasco. The 33-year-old public relations professional has been saving up a down payment for years now. She figures she’s a year or so away, and hopes to buy something in 2016.

These key life-stage things impact when we buy, what we buy and where we buy. But … young people today aren’t living by the same rules as 20 or 30 years ago.

– Mollie Carmichael, a principal at John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine
A house will be something of her own that she could bring to a marriage someday, or an asset for herself.

“I think a lot of people my age have come to the realization that marriage is almost like a bonus. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, great,” she said. “But it’s important to put yourself in the situation to feel safe and secure.”

And for some, the outlook is that homeownership remains a long way off, marriage aside.

Carlos Garcia is a 31-year-old law student at Santa Clara University. He and his girlfriend are thinking about whether to move back to their native Southern California or stay in the Bay Area after they graduate in 2016.

Either way, Garcia notes, they’re looking at “literally the two most expensive parts of the country.”

With six-figure law school debt and sky-high home prices, he worries that even two attorneys’ salaries may not qualify them for a mortgage in a neighborhood where they want to live.

“I really have no reasonable aspirations of being able to buy a house for probably 10 years,” Garcia said. “It’s disheartening.”

Whatever the reason — fewer marriages or more challenging finances — younger buyers are waiting longer to buy homes. That helped slow the housing market in 2014.

In Southern California, the number of homes sold through November was down 9.8% for the year, to its lowest level since 2011, and well below long-term averages. That’s despite near-record-low interest rates and an improving economy.

Though unmarried couples may be more willing to buy houses together, some still see a marriage as a key driver of homeownership.

“It’s a pretty straightforward link,” said Richard Green, director of USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate. “Married people buy houses. Single people rent.”

New home loan helps lower-income borrowers build equity quickly
New home loan helps lower-income borrowers build equity quickly
Just 48.7% of California households were headed by married couples in 2013, according to Census Bureau figures, down from 51.1% in 2000, a difference of more than 300,000 households. And those married couples are far more likely to own their house — more than two-thirds do, compared with about 40% of non-married households.

That’s partly a matter of money, he notes. A married couple with two incomes is far better equipped to buy a home in Southern California at a time when the median-priced home in Los Angeles County costs nearly nine times what the average job pays in a year. Marriage makes the math work.

The math can work just as well for unmarried couples, but many continue to grapple with employment and income uncertainty, said Daniel Sanchez, a real estate agent with Partners Trust in Beverly Hills.

Sanchez works with a lot of 30-something buyers who are trying to sort out life changes, moves and jobs that they’re not so sure will last forever. They’re establishing careers later, getting married later, buying houses later.

“The dynamics have completely changed,” said Sanchez, who at 35 is himself a renter and in “no rush” to buy. “Buying a home makes sense if you know you’re going to stay put, but we’re in a totally different time.”

For some, it makes sense whether they’re married or not — though negotiations over whether the house or the ring comes first can be tricky, real estate agent Tahler said.

He knows from personal experience, having just bought a house with his girlfriend of six years. They have a son together and wanted more space. But she hesitated.

“It became a little heated. She almost didn’t want to, specifically because we weren’t married,” Tahler said. “She settled — for the moment. She’s still pushing the marriage, though.”

 

By Victoria Talbot

 

Beverly Hills recorded the highest-priced sale in its history Thursday at $70 million for an 8-bedroom, 15-bath home in Trousdale Estates. Congratulations go to Branden Williams and his wife-and-partner Rayni at Hilton & Hyland. The buyer was represented by Sally Forster Jones, president of Aaroe International Luxury Properties and Katia De Los Reyes of John Aaroe Group.

Purchased by Markus “Notch” Persson, creator of the Minecraft game, interested parties included Beyoncé and Jay-Z, but the Swedish billionaire won the bidding war. Escrow closed in six days.

The just-completed, wrap-around, steel-and-glass, home represents every modern amenity including the exceptional hi-tech appointments that make a home. For Persson, who programmed his father’s home computer at the age of seven and created his first game at eight, this property must be a dream.

John Aaroe said, “I have been in this market for over 30 years and have never seen the level of growth that the luxury market has experienced in the past year, with no end in sight.”

“This was a great product and it’s in the best City in the world, Beverly Hills,” said Branden Williams. “Cool architecture with a 360-degree view of all of downtown and the ocean . . . “

Williams said the product was so good it practically sold itself.

“People come to Beverly Hills and they would like to see something magnificent,” he said. This house is magnificent. According to his standards, Williams says that the indoor-outdoor feel, the stainless steel-frame, glass and hi-tech appointments are what his overseas clients imagine in Beverly Hills. They are looking for the high-end top-of-the food chain architecture personified by this Trousdale home.

This home was unique. In addition to all the architectural features, the 90210-zip code and the Trousdale location, this one has the 360-degree view, which cannot be beat.

“This house was 23,000 square feet with beautiful views, bedrooms and amenities. There is not a lot of inventory like that,” said Williams.

Just completed, the residence’s architect was Bruce Makowsky, he of the famed handbag line sold on QVC.

Located at 1181 Hillcrest Drive, the house is certainly in a good neighborhood. Area residents include Jennifer Anniston, Ringo Star and when he was alive, Elvis, said Williams.

Among the legendary features toilets (15) at $5,600 each; an 18-seat screening room with lizard-skin walls, a wall of onyx, iPad controlled fountains and a 54-foot curved-glass wall that slides open to an infinity pool that drops off into the L.A. Basin. Williams calls the mirrored subterranean garage a “garage-majal.” One room features a wall made of every kind of candy in dispensers floor-to-ceiling, a sweet way to charm one’s guests.

“Its the perfect 23,000 square foot bachelor pad,” said Sally Forster Jones.

Peerson has a twit-pic making the internet rounds of someone’s feet, presumably his, resting on the divan in what appears to be the house.

“He’s a really sweet guy,” said Forster. She confirmed that all the furniture is one-of-a-kind, custom-built for the house, including the “Bentley chairs” for the living room.

“The house just has a lot of ‘wow’ factors.”

Makowsky took a risk, and it paid off. The property was bought just prior to the real estate spike, at $12.8 million and developed on spec. It is now worth between $3-4,000 a square foot.

What a gamble. “That’s the highest price per square foot, not only in California, but in the entire country,” said Williams.

The $70 million sale was listed by Ben Bacal of Rodeo Realty. Bacal sold the property to Bruce Makowsky during the market downturn for $12.8 million, but was convinced, he said, that the property was worth more. He represented both the buyer and the seller at the time.

“Now the lot alone would be worth $37 million,” said Bacal. I predicted that it was going to be worth a lot more.”

“Makowsky has a vision to create the ultimate turn-key mega mansions for the 4,000 or so billionaires in the world who want the best contemporary view properties in Los Angeles.” Bacal says that these properties are undervalued compared to comparable  properties elsewhere in the world, a view shared by many.

“This is the last promontory view property to buy in Trousdale,” he pointed out. That is what made it so valuable. “There aren’t that many. There’s not a lot of great land left anywhere in the Golden Triangle. It is significantly undervalued to live in the most incredible place in the world.” He sees values rising to $4-5-6,000 per square foot among those lots.

Makowsky has big plans, said Ben. Currently he is developing three more properties, including two in Beverly Hills at 80,000 and 70,000 square feet each. The third is in Bel Air and is 40,000 square feet. “These will top $150 million,” he said.

“He personally finances all of his developments,” said Bacal, who expects to list these properties with Ben Bacal.

When the home was purchased, the Minecraft creator also purchased all of the furniture for $6 million.