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By Ryan Rockwood

Yet another spooky P.O.S. foreclosure in Rancho Palos Verdes went on the chopping block today. 26715 Menomine, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA didn’t have any takers though so it’s now the fabulous new property of SunTrust Mortgage!

RPV foreclosure does have nice view

A Troubled Property

Don’t believe me? Well then move your family right on into 26715 Menomine. I predict your life heads straight down the toilet.

I don’t consider myself superstitious. But I do believe in bad houses. And this is one of them.Watch for these characteristics:

1. Several 1/2 finished and ill conceived remodeling projects.
2. Long narrow crummy driveway.
3. House orientation rotated 90-degrees off everything else on the block.
4. An over-the-garage addition.
5. Lousy everything else.
6. A clearly unsanitary ’swimming pool’

But none of these get at the heart of the matter which is the generally creepy ax-murder style vibe of some homes. Also, creepy owners/residents don’t hurt.

Last week I was at this house in my never-ending quest to bring foreclosure solutions (and joy and hope) to distressed Palos Verdes homeowners.

The door is open so I knock.

“Hello,” I announce myself.

“Come in,” says a friendly voice who follows that with “…I think.”

But by then I was already well inside the vestibule. Next, a pretty good size guy (250 lbs) rushes out and blocks me. He comes at me WAY too fast and he comes WAY to close. I need my personal space, you know? This guy obviously does not want me to see what he is doing in the other room. Creepy, right? Anyway, he makes a halfhearted attempt to pretend he is shaking my hand as he throws me out the front door.

Outside I brush myself off and question my career choice. Whatever, like I care whose body he’s busy dismembering.

Anyhoo, back to the Real Estate part of the story. I think it’s safe to assume the tax records are wrong in this case. Nobody would have lent $2.4 million on this property. So let us assume it’s $1-million off. What’s $1-million among friends anyway, right? $1.4 seems reasonable to me, at one time. Now everything is gone but the 1st lien which is around $1-million bucks. At the auction they were ready to let it go for $920k and change. But it is going to take more than that these days.

Look for this home soon as an REO. I call it a good buy for $750,000. Bring your tools and your fav exorcist.

Help fund the continued creation of fine literature on this blog by Buying / Selling a house with me. Seriously, call me at 310-809-0203. And for goodness sake, subscribe to this blog already!

“Honey, I think we are going to be short on our mortgage payment by $165,858.”

– Imagined dinner conversation of Bob Lowe, chairman and chief executive of Lowe Enterprises, The Terrenea Resort’s principal owner.

Oh snap!

Terranea fixtures for sale?

Gosh, maybe they’ll let it slide? …Turns out they just might! As always, it’s great to be rich. And it’s even greater to be uber rich. Check out this quote from the L.A. Times:

“Lenders are loath to take these properties back, especially something as management-intensive as hotels,” Reay said. “Foreclosure is the last resort on a resort hotel.”

So I guess the lesson here is…

…. wait there is no lesson here. It’s just lame. And so is the Terranea resort, in this writer’s ever so humble opinion. Every time I drive by I wonder, ‘Who the heck would come here?’ Also, how are they going to get here, the 110 South to Gaffey and through San Pedro? Wow, that route is going to make folks feel special – that is if they are into driving through poverty and gangland to arrive at Disneyland-style largess in the middle of nowhere. To me, it’s about as attractive as a long weekend in Haiti. Just stay inside the compound and you’ll have a lovely time.

Anyhoo, time for some fun math!

The Terranea Resort was built for a jaw-dropping $480-million. (Brief pause here so you, dear reader, may swallow the little bit of vomit that just bubbled up your throat).  So since everything else around is here down by 20-33 %, where does that put the value of Terranea? Well, take the land value and add the replacement construction cost and factor in the 50% drop in tourism of late and factor in the pledged millions of tax dollars…now calculate that and arrive at: $%@!!!^@!!

Terranea to Trump: Save me!

In layman’s terms, that basically equals whatever the heck Donald Trump is willing to pay for it.

Why that’s ridiculous, we are just snazzy!

Again, from the LA Times article:

The hotel is 100% booked for Saturday night, and as many as 200 rooms have been rented on weekdays, Lowe said. Three weddings will be celebrated at Terranea this weekend.

My bad. Silly me. Here I was thinking all these negative thoughts without noting the resort was full on Saturday. I guess having 100% occupancy on the busiest hotel night of the week must be the yardstick for success in that industry. Don’t get me wrong, 3 weddings is great. But unless they can charge $60K a piece it’s still going to be tough to make those monthlies. (Actually, they probably CAN charge that much)!

My hidden agenda:  The Terranea Website autoplays annoying music.

Recently my wife and I celebrated our 1-year wedding anniversary. (See adorable photos posted on this very Website). She was gunning for a couple nights at Terranea and I was modestly interested in making her dream a reality. So we get online and do the usually clicking around, and so on.

The cheapest ocean view room is $360/night. That means, of course, a 2 night stay is going to set you back a cool grand – and that’s assuming you don’t pickup the phone or even look at the minibar.

So I’m soon contemplating that expense as a percentage of my yearly income. And suddenly this ‘little local getaway weekend’ is anything but.

‘Gosh, that’s a ton of money,’ I think. ’Or maybe not. Maybe I’m just really poor.’

But then again, consider the average income of Americans …. once again, I’m back to, ‘Gosh that’s expensive.’

I start to think about other uses for that money. How could I make the money / the stay / the fun stretch? Is there somewhere we could fly, visit and stay for 3x as long for the same amount?

Then it occurs to me. And I’m soon Google-ing: “Travel deals to Haiti.’

Terranea Alternatives

For more information on the Terranea Resort please contact someone who cares. But for an unorthodox, dry and generally funny (but sometimes annoying) take on Real Estate in Palos Verdes Peninsula call me right away! I’m at 310-809-0203. And for goodness sake, subscribe to the blog already.

The Harder They Come, The Harder They Fall?

Rolling Hills Foreclosure

By Ryan Rockwood

….If so there must have been a thunderous crash recently when 10 Poppy Trail, Rolling Hills, CA went on the auction block.

It appears the minimum bid was $2,880,000 which sounds steep until you compare it the properties recent list price of $9,990,00. Holy Cow.

So what went wrong here? Why didn’t the owners just sell for $2,880,000 last fall? Great question, I’m glad you asked! I would love to know myself. So if you are privy to inside info please comment below!

But we do know that the recent foreclosure killed about $2-million worth of other mortgages on the property. So it would have been impossible to have sold the home for much less than a cool $5-million!

For more information on this or any other Palos Verdes Peninsula Peninsula. Call me at 310-809-0203 right away!

30203 Kingsridge Dr, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

….is one of our area’s most recent foreclosures. This is a large and very nice home located on the East side of Rancho Palos Verdes (off Miraleste).

Recently this well kept home went up for foreclosure auction – but no takers at $1-million! No wonder, too. Today you can get on ‘the good’ side of the Palos Verdes Peninsula for that $$$.

Even now that almost $400,000 in liens have been removed this is still going to be a VERY short sale.

As of today, I put the market value of this home at about $750,000-$800,000. Ouch!

I have a nearby short sale listing in a similar price tier. It’s taken the bank 18-months to finally admit that home prices are in the toilet – and their ‘investment’ is nothing but a liability.

Thanks for reading,

Ryan Rockwood

Do you like this article? Would you like to know this sort of info? Well for goodness sake, get on my mailing list right this second! Subscribe (upper left). Better yet call me at 310-809-0203.

30934 Rue De La Pierre

Recorded on August 12, 2009 this home was purchased at Trustee Auction recently.

Details are sketchy but it appears the sale was for approx $1million and change. The new owner is listed simply as a Trust and the mailing address an escrow business in Signal Hill.

All that plus the consumer-style lockbox on the front door lead me to believe the property will soon be available for sale.

At $1million this is obviously a very good buy. But exactly how much this home can command is up to debate.

Homes on this street have sold in the past for about $1.3million, including a sale one year ago. But that home was on the other side of the street – the ‘good’ side. And these days 1-year ago is ancient history.

Recently I sold a home not 600 yards from this property. It was quite a property at 3000+ sqft. In many ways it was much more desireable than this property. But in regards to the ocean views very few homes will compare to the homes on Rue De La Pierre.

Best,

Ryan Rockwood

Do you like this article? Would you like to know this sort of info? Well for goodness sake, get on my mailing list right this second! Subscribe (upper left). Better yet call me at 310-809-0203.

…Another in a real-time series of correspondence regarding all aspects of interesting real estate tidbits. If you would like to be considered for this or similar deals be sure you are on my email list. Better yet, give me a phone call at 310-809-0203:

Via email:

Dear *** ;

If you are interested in going outside the S. Bay (I know it’s not your first choice) I’ve got a possibility for you – Beaumont!

I have a client who wants to dump **** **** **, Beaumont, CA. I don’t have pics but I’m sending some comps from the same street. It’s 4/3 1970 sqft / 6900 sqft, 2002 built.

It is a short sale. (Offer now…go see the home and decide whether to commit in a couple months if I can negotiate a deal with the bank).

You could get it for $150,000 – $200,000. It would probably be immediately cashflow neutral/positive. Good property to hold forever as a monthly income machine. Property Mgt is 50% of 1st month and 20% thereafter. Rent approx $2,000/mo. Figure 1/mo yrly vacancy and 5% repairs yrly. Not a bad hands-free investment for 20% down.

Have a great day, Ryan

Visit www.RockysMLS.com for interesting real estate info and every home listing in the South Bay.

Rancho Palos Verdes home lost to foreclosure auction today.

My longtime clients know that I am particularly interested and involved in the Palos Verdes Peninsula ‘foreclosure scene’.

Foremost, my mission is to help PV homeowners continueto be PV homeowners. So I hold seminars and private meetings and teleseminars – whatever I can to educate folks about their options.

Most people have far more options than they realize, of course.

I also find good deals for buyers.

Today a Palos Verdes dream dies

25 Rockinghorse, RPV was lost at foreclosure auction today. This home was last sold at the height of the market – Dec. 2005 for $1,125,000. The stats: 3/2 1700sqft interior, 27,000 sqft lot with a huge SP Harbor view.

Buyers: Expect to see this home on the market soon. Please email for additional pics and details. Now that the secondary liens have been eliminated the remaining lienholder has just $880,000 on the property. I believe this will be a very good buy at $950,000 while market value is probably closer to $1 million. Contact me immediately for more information.

-Ryan Rockwood

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April 10, 2009

For Immediate Release

I have been talking a lot about foreclosure lately on this site. But the conversation tends to dwell mostly on the implications for real estate values. The truth is most of my experience with foreclosure is much more personal. I work with people, after all. And people have hopes, dreams, fears – and most importantly – they have families.

Often, the level of trust and emotional intimacy between the homeowner and myself is extraordinary. Truth is it’s pretty hard to put that into words. And I have been especially concerned lately about the most innocent victims of the housing meltdown – children. 

I have seen this firsthand. And last year I read a study estimating that an enormous number of children would be directly affected by foreclosure.     

So that is the background behind a new book I wrote called, Mia’s Home. It is an illustrated book for parents to read with their children. The book is designed to encourage families to discuss tough topics like foreclosure, short sales, distressed home sales and so on.

My plans for the book are simply to give it away to families facing foreclosure that I meet. I’m not an author and I have never done anything like this before. But no one else seemed to be doing it, so I got up the courage to give it a shot! After writing the book I got back in touch with a college friend who is an artist. I was extremely lucky to convince him to illustrate the book. 

The book will be self-published and available on Amazon (and to all retailers) in approximately one month. If you know someone who would benefit from this book please contact me right away. 

 An electronic copy of the book is below. Please leave your comments. I want to get a list of testimonials to add to the front of the book in it’s next update. 

Mia’s Home:

A read together book for parents and children during foreclosure or economic crisis