South Bay Homes and Real Estate

Local newspaper columnist John Bogert’s article in today’s Daily Breeze touched me and my family. I learned about a group of kind folks based right here in the South Bay dedicated to helping children: 

“I am talking about the all-volunteer, no salaries, run-on-donations-and-kind-hearts Redondo Beach-based charity started more than two decades ago by the late, great Pam Edwards. Pam, thousands will attest, was a saint who – unable to have children of her own – dedicated her life to helping others with her homegrown, all-South Bay charity.” 

Cheer for Children sounds like an amazing organization. I include their contact information here and encourage everyone who is financially able give significantly to the poor this holiday season. 

These are strange economic times and everyday the forecast seems to get worse. Long gone are the days of cheap, easy financing and 30% yearly property inflation! My own industry has suffered terribly and I am under the impression that 30-50% of my colleagues are (for all intents and purposes) out of business. Add to that the thousands of South Bay residents who made their living in construction, remodelling, flooring, plumbing, painting, yard work and insurance.

I feel blessed that my father & I continue to make ends meet in our business. But speaking for myself, I have been forced to make changes. Last year my wife and I sold our home, a condo in Rancho Palos Verdes, because we could no longer make the payments – our financial safety net being long depleted. We found ourselves in an increasingly common situation, owing more on our home that it was worth. We had to ’short sale’ our home (pre-foreclosure) with the bank taking a $95,000 loss. Obviously, it was a very big deal for our family. 

The silver lining I found: 

1. We now rent a home in Torrance with a real yard for our 2-year old son! 
2. Our monthly payment is 30% less
3. I’m out of the housing market for now
4. I became a Short Sale / Foreclosure Specialist and have helped many many South Bay families move past complete financial devastation and sell their over-borrowed homes. 

Obviously we are heading into a challenging period as a region, a nation and possibly worldwide. My analysis of home sale prices, home inventory, unemployment trends and foreclosure notices indicate that the real estate market will continue to decline dramatically (possibly catastrophically) before it stabilizes. 

My strategy is to make changes in my own life rapidly as the situation changes. After all, no government bailout is on the way for ordinary folks. We have to fend for ourselves. But I believe there are new opportunities in every setback and blessings abound if we are brave enough to see and acknowledge them. 

But enough about me! 

What are your thoughts and experiences? How are you dealing with changes? Where do you think South Bay housevalues will wind up? Please use the COMMENT feature below to leave your thoughts and experiences.

And once again, please remember that many folks would love to have your financial problems (or mine!). And many families will go without what most of us would consider basic food stuffs this holiday. Please give to charity whatever you can. Here is the contact info: 

For more information, go to www.cheerforchildren.net. Send e-mail to cheerforchildren@mac.com. To speak to a human, call 310-540-2494. Or, if you like, send a tax-deductible donation to PMB 280, P.O. Box 7000, Redondo Beach, CA 90277.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ryan “Rocky” Rockwood

I can’t help feeling a little smug… Robin Hood style…about short sales!

For the past eighteen months I have helped homeowners sell their homes “short”…for less than they owe. So many stories have circulated about how foolhardy these borrowers were to get into loans they cannot afford. I am shocked at the level of naiveté in this attitude as the vast majority of my clients are anything but foolhardy. In fact, many of them are truly heroic – trying hard to achieve a level of “success” that home ownership conveys. Many of them leaving the home as soon as they can no longer make the payments…and leaving it in wonderful condition.

I have developed a bit of a Robin Hood ‘tude towards these deals…taking from the rich and giving to the poor.  The poor are current first-time home buyers. For the past decade these fine folks have been out of the market in the South Bay. Either by choice or because of the high prices, they have not bought a home. Now, with Torrance prices falling over 20% and so many foreclosures throughout the South Bay, it’s a great time for them. And the loans that these buyers are getting are nothing short of phenomenal…many with 3% or 5% down.

Yes, short sales are lengthy and messy and many fail to materialize. But, they cannot be overlooked for buyers seeking great home values in the South Bay!

Rocky Rockwood is the father/son real estate team of Mike & Ryan Rockwood. South Bay home buyers and home sellers can reach the Rocky Rockwood team at 310-809-0203 or ryanrockwood@kw.com. 

Listing your home with a realtor is just one step to making sure your house sells. Show off your Torrance home with photos of your property and home interior!

While listing your home with a local Torrance real estate agent is a great way to make sure you get the best price for your home, Torrance home values can be hard to prove to people who don’t already live here. Here are just a few reasons your real estate listing should include photos.

1. You are far more likely to get bids on your home when your listing includes photos. The fact is that even a simple exterior photo of your home will increase the likelihood of someone making an appointment to view your property.

2. Photos are the best way to show off the features that you are highlighting in your Torrance real estate listing. Are you proud of your well manicured lawns? Include a photo!

3. Photos also provide proof of the work you’ve had done on the home—especially if you have “before” shots to show to prospective buyers. When you repair, renovate or remodel your home, your Torrance home values rise.

4. Photos help you sort out the people who are truly interested in your property from those that were simply intrigued by your listing. You would be surprised at how many people make an appointment to view a home only to leave within the first five minutes because they had something else in mind. Photos give potential buyers an idea of what to expect when they arrive.

Torrance real estate is a growing market and nobody knows this better than the Torrance real estate agents at Rocky Rockwood. These experienced Torrance realtors know how to make sure that your real estate listing gets noticed! Call them at 310-809-0203 or e-mail ryanrockwood@kw.com to set up a free real estate consultation!

By now, you’ve probably heard all about flipping real estate for a profit, but have you considered other ways of using real estate investing to make money?  Here are five South Bay real estate investment methods that can also make you quite a bit of money.

#1:  Buy a large piece of not yet developed South Bay Real Estate, split it into lots and sell it.

This method will earn you an extremely large return on your original investment.  The downside is that it can take quite a bit of time to sell off each of the lots.  This means your capital can get tied up for quite a bit of time.

#2:  Turn a larger house into a into a boarding house.

Boarding houses can earn you quite a bit of money because you are renting out individual rooms instead of renting the whole property to a single person or company.  The downside is that you might end up losing money during down time when the boarding house isn’t full.

#3:  Invest in Torrance Commercial real estate.

The longer term triple net leases mean that you won’t have to do a lot of site management and will provide you with a larger return on your original investment.  The problem is that commercial real estate can be a tough market to get started in, and you can lose quite a bit of money while you wait for someone to lease your storefront.

#4:  Purchase a Torrance home, live in it and then sell it.

The biggest advantage to this is that when you actually live in the home before you sell it, you won’t have to pay as many taxes on your profits.  The downside to this South Bay real estate investing method is that you will have to move quite a bit and that can be rough on you and your family.

#5:  Purchase an outer lying piece of South Bay real estate and then sit on it.

Eventually the property values on the land you have purchased will go up and you can make quite a large return on your original investment.  The problem is that the market isn’t predictable and you could end up sitting on a vacant lot for quite a long time before you can make a profit. 

Flipping houses is one of the best way to make a profit in Torrance real estate. The Rocky Rockwood team has experience in real estate investing and is happy help you decide which method is best suited to your financial situation. For a free and complete financial consultation, call 310-809-0203 or e-mail ryanrockwood@kw.com to set up your appointment.

“Liars can figure and…

…figures can lie!” With these words I opened our annual corporate planning meetings for many years. Smart, well-trained and ambitious marketers from each division would vie for corporate dollars

to fund their pet acquisitions or expansions. The caution was a reminder that numbers can be manipulated to support whatever argument you are making and to let the numbers guide your thinking, not the other way around.

Nowhere has the phrase been more apropos than in the current South Bay Real Estate downturn. Just for fun, I just tried to “torture numbers” to confess to contradictory results. For instance - home prices on the Palos Verdes Peninsula have already stopped declining and are heading upward -  for homes over $2.5MM, sales in Q3 2008 averaged 11% more per s.f. and took 22% less time to sell. Conversely, homes prices on the Palos Verdes Peninsula continued their decline in Q3 - homes with 3BR dropping a full 6% from prior year and taking 21% longer to sell than just 12 months ago . See what I mean?

How about Torrance? Sales have increased by 9% Q3 ‘08 vs. Q3 ‘07, but the slide continues as prices are off by 17% and Notices of Default have tripled in 90505 in that same period!

So let the numbers guide your thinking and don’t be fooled! That’s called “street smarts”.

Real Estate Investing in the South Bay Area through Wholesaling

New and inexperienced investors in the South Bay real estate market experience some confusion on where to start with their business. Two areas of the real estate field can generate good profit and produce adequate income each year. These two areas are the fields of rehabbing and wholesaling. Another area is that of the property owner who rents out real estate property.

Renting out a South Bay property can provide a continuous flow of cash for its owner. On the other hand, wholesaling and rehabbing generate substantial amounts of money, albeit irregularly. Actually, you can picture the South Bay real estate investing market as a triangle. The wholesale business can be considered the triangle’s base. The other fields or real estate — rehabbing and renting — can be considered as the two other legs.

Read Also: Torrance Home Values Ripple Effect Renters

The wholesale business is considered the base of the triangle because it generates a substantial income for the investor at intervals. It further infuses money into his capital. This can consequently increase the investor’s capacity for business. If you are a new South Baby real estate investor, it is a good idea to start with wholesaling. Not only does wholesaling have the potential to cause significant capital enlargement, it also enhances your confidence as an investor.

Wholesaling goes by another name: flipping. It’s an excellent means for you to gain significant capital growth within a time frame of 30 to 45 days. This capacity for fast and significant capital growth is what makes the wholesale real estate business very interesting and exciting for some investors.

How to Start in Wholesaling: A Form of Real Estate Investing

So how do you go about wholesaling? Once you have gathered several investors who can assist you in financing your endeavor, you can then buy a house in the South Bay area at a low and bargain price. You then resell the house to buyers for a cash price. This whole process typically lasts between 15 and 20 days.

Read Also: Finding a Good Real Estate Lawyer for Your South Bay Real Estate Business

Wholesaling properties in the South Bay area is thus an easy way to make significant and substantial profit with less time and with less effort. This is true especially when compared to the business of repairing properties in the Beach Cities or Palos Verdes Peninsula prior to putting them up for sale.

When you sell a South Bay property to a buyer who does not pay in cash but needs financing, the whole process can take up even less time. Should the financing require certification, you may need to get an appraisal prior to proceeding with the sale.

Read Also: Will a Second South Bay Home be in your future?

The basic difference between wholesaling and rehabbing South Bay properties is that in wholesaling, you simply have to figure out the best method of selling off the property in the shortest time while yielding good profit. On the other hand, in rehabbing, you spend a lot of time and money in repairing the house, and as some investors see it, money just keeps going out of the pocket before the sale. Therefore, most investors choose to go with the wholesale business.

Read Also: Turn your Torrance Second Home into a Vacation Rental

Perhaps you are a person who is thinking about acquiring a loan to purchase a Torrance home. You may be considering requesting the loan from a traditional bank, or maybe a smaller mortgage company. However, receiving a loan is not an easy process and can take a significant amount of time. Torrance Lenders want to be sure they are giving their money to someone who is likely to repay the debt.

Read Also: Credit Rating and The FCRA: How They Affect Torrance Real Estate Mortgages

Ideally, a Torrance lender would want to meet and know the borrowers before giving any money to purchase a Torrance home for sale because the potential for inadequate payments and loan defaulting exists. This is why credit reports were created. A credit report is a record of present and past loans, frequency of bill payments, credit card accounts, and unpaid balances.

What is a Credit Rating?

Credit reports factor into your credit rating, which lenders seriously consider when reviewing your application. The reports are distributed by consumer reporting agencies, which are offices that collect the proper facts and make sure the information is available to appropriate parties. These reports are not publicly available, as that would violate federal privacy laws.

To improve your chances of receiving a loan, your credit rating and report should be positive, especially as of late. The reporting agency does not approve or deny you for the loan; they provide the facts and the lender decides. The agencies are essentially the middleman

In a standard credit report, it usually has credit information, public records, and background identification on the consumer. Identification encompasses facts such as work history, name, address, etc. Credit information relates to all credit accounts, paid and unpaid bills, and credit restrictions. Public records are files that anyone has access to, and inquiries are the organizations that have requested viewing your report during the last year.

Read Also: Torrance Home Values Ripple Affect To Renters

How does one start?

To create a Torrance lender-friendly report, keep these pieces in mind, as they show your financial well-being. The sections should work well with each other and paint a picture of a trustworthy potential buyer who deserves a loan. Any discrepancies could lead to a denial of your application

In the identification portion, your work history will be analyzed, and constant job changing will be viewed as a negative. Say with a position for several years before switching to another job. The companies for which you have worked will be examined, along with your standing within these companies.

In relation to credit information, which is the largest factor in the decision process, ensure that you are paying all required bills in full and on time. Unpaid bills are a huge red flag for lenders, including other loans with late payments. If your report shows that you are responsible with your money, you are much more likely to receive a larger amount.

Public records are included to show your standing on tax payments. This is another method of showing responsibility. This will inform the companies of any bankruptcies or other financial problems.

Your home deed (used as collateral) may not be enough in some cases. Certain lenders want to know whether or not you are likely to repay their investment and if you can handle your personal budget. If your credit history and report is sound, a loan is fairly simple to receive. From a young age it is crucial to make smart decisions, as they could greatly affect you down the road.

Having a Good Real Estate Lawyer Pays When You’re In the Torrance Real Estate Business

If you are in the business of real estate in the Torrance area, it presupposes that you have at your service an all-around California real estate lawyer who is good and flexible enough to make any situation to work for you. Your real estate lawyer not only craftily troubleshoots any of your business problems but also perfectly handles the myriad needs of property owners and tenants. After all, his responsibilities extend to as far as attending to the rudiments required when your Torrance properties are damaged or when ill-fortuned events occur on someone’s property.

What Will a Real Estate Lawyer Do for You?

Your California real estate lawyer is the person behind the scene whenever a mortgage company is to be put on sale, sold, and the terms agreed on by the parties involved. When somebody wants to have a lien released or you want to free yourself from a signed contract, it is your real estate lawyer’s expertise that clears out the picture. In the same way, if a property owner in Redondo Beach, for instance, wants to have payment terms increased even before the agreed upon period, your real estate lawyer haggles with the tenant on the new terms and avoids putting you as owner under bad light.

Likewise, your real estate lawyer frees you from a lease contract’s fine prints. One very interesting case of these contractual hazards involves dividing properties during divorce cases. Your real estate lawyer becomes an ubiquitous fixture in almost all the agreement proceedings: making sure that all the required documents have been prepared and processed so that the right Torrance properties get to the right person and everybody’s happy getting their share of the bounty.

Read Also: Torrance House Values Affect Divorce Rate

The real estate lawyer arbiters when clashes of interest arise, too, like when one pushes for a sale while the other sticks to holding the owning rights. For such instances, the one pushing for the sale usually pays the other who stands firm on having the rights to own.

Your real estate lawyer attests to the agreement in the same manner as when he middlepersons when damages or disputes suddenly arise when everything was clear during the time of sale. As your real estate lawyer proves that sellers knew of damages or possible problems surrounding the Torrance property, you are saved from impending capital losses, deafening complaints from tenants, and the terrible hassles of facilitating unnecessary repairs, not to mention the costs involved.

Your well-rounded California real estate lawyer assures you get your money back plus from any transaction, whether from sellers, tenants, or damages. Any clever real estate lawyer can prove such things as unmentioned damages during the time of purchase, valid insurance claims, and arranges that you get your claims well and on time. Thus, your California real estate lawyer then is not only your best defense but also your best dispute-handler, especially during insurance claims.

As often happens, insurance companies hold suspect any insurance claimants-until the best Torrance real estate lawyer in your service steps forward for you.

Every Torrance homeowner knows a quick glance at today’s news will often result in some sort of information on the recent real estate crash.

Although some areas have avoided direct effects from the housing crash, the vast majority of locations have been affected in some way. Consequently, almost all homeowners have been hurt in some way from the collapse. Continuing with basic ways of life is becoming more of an issue due to the market fall. Specifically, many more couples are getting divorces as a result of the problems with the housing market.

In Torrance and elsewhere, it has become commonplace for divorcing couples to place their home on the market, split the proceeds, and begin their new lives alone. The problem is that with a huge supply and not much demand, these divorcees are having great difficulty selling their properties. If the house remains unsold, it greatly affects the couple’s income. Certain areas, such as child support, are influenced by the home. Additionally, an unsold home can dictate where a divorcee is able to live, even after the divorce is final.

Resulting from this situation, post-marital cohabitation has become more popular. I know of several Torrance home owner couples that continue to live together despite the end of their marriage. Some are trying to sell while others have simply given up and are resigned to cohabitation. Though in past times, couples would never consider living together after divorce, in many cases it is now necessary because of economic situations. Essentially, the couple does not have the money to live anywhere until they have the money from their home sale.

As the time it takes for the majority of properties to sell increases, a large number of divorced couples must stay together, under the same roof, for sometimes over a year. Older people who must make due with a fixed income, along with couples that have young children are often the ones that face this situation the most. For families with more than two members, often the only affordable option is too small for the family.

Some cases may force couples to stay with other members of their families if they simply cannot stay with one another.

Regardless of the specific case, the majority of divorced couples are discovering they have limited options available before they sell their homes. A decision must be reached regarding whether it is best to stay together and ride out the market, or sell quickly and separate as soon as possible. Some families are experiencing foreclosure because they cannot afford mortgage payments.

Arguments regarding the best decision for the house has become so heated in many situations that judges have often been forced to intervene. This usually occurs when one person wishes to stay and wait for the market to rebound, while the other person wants to sell quickly and separate. Most judges do not want to give a selling order, because they do not want to see a huge loss for the couple, when a rebound may be right around the corner.

Sometimes a bad situation seems to snowball out of control. If you are Torrance homeowner in the divorce process and you want to get rid of your property the situation is not hopeless. But the situation does require a totally honest self assessment. Call me immediately at 310-809-02032 if you would appreciate some straightforward help.

Additional Reading:

Torrance Real Estate: Waiting out the 2008 Real Estate Crash
Why One Redondo Beach Homeowner DIDN’T Hire Me To Be Her Real Estate Agent
Someone Died in the House, What Now?
San Pedro forum more heat than light