Lower Housing Prices Entice Buyers
As prices drop and inventory and foreclosures rise in the San Francisco Bay Area, many buyers feel it’s time to start looking for a bargain and hopefully, their dream house. The debut of bigger government-backed loans and an expected interest rate cut could even ignite home purchases, especially for those previously priced out of the housing boom. Alexandra Whitford, 26, of Walnut Creek recently signed the dotted line on a 1,400-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home in Bay Point with her husband, after looking at properties for two weeks. “Two or three years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to buy anything,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for the younger generation to purchase.” The Whitfords said that with lower interest rates and prices, it seemed like a good time to buy. The couple budgeted $400,000 and started looking. Although Alexandra said she didn’t plan to buy a bank-owned home, she and her husband found one that had been on the market for less than a week, paying $385,000 and 5% down after some negotiation. “It turned out that prices were lower than we expected…It was a nice little surprise,” she said. “A few years ago, $400,000 was the condo next to mine, a one-bedroom, 900-square-foot condo.” (www.mercurynews.com)
Mercury News (2/29/08); Barbara E. Hernandez
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L.A.’s Troubled Watts Neighborhood Is Now Site of Home-Construction Boom
In an improbable place to find a home building boom in the midst of Los Angeles’ sluggish housing market, just three blocks from the Imperial Courts public housing project, along a stretch of dirt once used as a neighborhood dump, 44 homes are rising in Watts within sight of its famous towers. Across the street from bars on their windows and trash in their yards, a developer and a grassroots organization are selling the American dream: two-stories, four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, with master suites and marble countertops — optimistically priced from the mid-$400,000s. It is believed to be the largest development of new homes in Watts in at least three decades, one aimed at teachers, firefighters, nurses and other first-time middle-income buyers, some of whom might qualify for interest-free loans from the city that could shave $75,000 off the cost of 17 of the homes. (www.sfgate.com)
San Francisco Gate (1/27/07); Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times
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Nationwide Housing Slump Hasn’t Hit Albuquerque
The New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority and the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors® say that Albuquerque, N.M. has not suffered the dramatic sell-offs that other cities have, in large part because it has not seen the job layoffs and home price inflation of other communities. Data from RealtyTrak.com, which tracks foreclosures from markets throughout the country, shows New Mexico ranked 32nd in the nation in foreclosure filings for 2007, at 3,893 homes. This was 26% lower than 2006 and 46% lower than 2005. For the nation as a whole, foreclosures were up 75% last year. Michael Sivage, an Albuquerque builder and developer, said building permits are down more than 50% from the boom of 2005, but still more than double the number of 1990, the low point of the last housing market recession. The big question, he said, is “what can we expect in 2008, 2009 and beyond?” National experts expect the housing market for new homes to continue to decline through 2008, he said, “and then we’ll see a modest recovery.” (www.abqtrib.com)
Albuquerque Tribune (2/23/08); Tamara N. Shope
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The Joy of Smoke-Free Apartment Buildings
Residents of San Francisco’s first new apartment building with a smoking ban are celebrating the right to breathe smoke-free air in their homes. Built by Citizens Housing Corp., a nonprofit developer dedicated to preserving and increasing affordable housing for poor residents, Buena Vista Terrace is part of a growing, nationwide movement to ban smoking in privately owned apartments and condominiums. From Michigan’s Kalamazoo County to Carlsbad in San Diego County, more and more landlords, for a variety of reasons, are snuffing out smoking in their buildings. And while one of the last bastions of the smoker is under assault, the thorny, unresolved legal issues make it difficult, if not impossible, for many apartment house dwellers to extricate themselves from a toxic environment. (www.sfgate.com)
San Francisco Gate (1/27/08); Dana Perrigan, special to the San Francisco Chronicle
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Disney Revives ‘House of the Future’
The Walt Disney Co., Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., software maker LifeWare and home builder Taylor Morrison are collaborating to build a new $15 million “House of the Future” in Tomorrowland. Scheduled to open in Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. in May, the 5,000-square-foot home will look like a normal suburban home outside, but inside it will feature hardware, software and touch-screen systems that could simplify everyday living. Lights and thermostats will automatically adjust when people walk into a room. Closets will help pick out the right dress for a party. Countertops will be able to identify groceries set on them and make menu suggestions. The new home will be made of wood and steel and finished in muted browns and beiges, said Sheryl Palmer, president and chief executive of Taylor Morrision in North America. (www.ap.org)
Associated Press (2/13/08); Gillian Flaccus
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Housing Crunch Squeezes Beaver Creek Ski Instructors
Ski instructor Ben Smith, who asked that his real name not be used, has been homeless for several weeks since arriving in Colorado’s Vail Valley in December. He has been an involuntary ski bum — living in his makeshift camper van and moving to different parking lots around town — because finding a place at the height of the ski season is nearly impossible, and he can’t afford the places that are available. “I like the job, and I like working with the kids, but it’s just frustrating how expensive it is to live here, especially starting out at $10 an hour. I had no idea (the cost of living) was this high,” Smith said, “I don’t know how anyone can make it here on that wage.” Smith said that he is more than 60 people down on the waiting list for employee housing, and they do not allow dogs, so he would have to give up his dog Buster. He knows of other instructors looking for housing too, but many already knew people coming here and are “couch surfing.” Vail Resorts provides about 3,000 employee beds, mostly to seasonal workers in entry-level positions, such as ski instructors and lift operators. In the valley, Vail Resorts owns some units and also rents some from the towns. "But this year there has been a shortage,” admits Kelly Ladyga, Vail Resorts’ director of communications. (www.vaildaily.com)
Vail Daily (1/26/08); Melanie Wong
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