Malibu Canyon Ideal

I really love this place. It's specific to a particular lifestyle appreciated by a hardy band with pioneer spirit. Listed at $1,497,000, It's only 3 Br and 3 BA, 2000 sq. ft. But it's in a sweet part of Malibu Canyon walking distance to the Saddle Peak Lodge. But not everyone appreciates being close to nature. So close, in fact, that every 36 months or so, Nature tries to do you in , either by fire , flood, or other comparable disaster. This home has been here, along with many others in the small community known as Monte Nido, since 1959. So it has seen all the big fires, floods, earthquakes, rockslides, tunnel collapses,pestilence,and all the other plagues of Egypt visited upon this lovely landscape, and emerged unscathed. This home is a wonderful mid century design lovingly sited in this small draw. In case you're wondering, this is how I roll. Were I to obtain funds enough to purchase in this price range, this is what I'd buy. Maybe I'm so comfortable out here because I've been running these hills as long as I can remember. Hey, I got my first moving violation right there at the corner where Piuma meets Malibu Canyon. The Highway Patrolman told me "that was a picture perfect California stop". About five blocks East of there, lies this home. I love native vegetation. That White Oak is probably 200 years old,and is native to the area.All the oaks are.


Great horse property. Riding around here is epic. I've been doing it for years. The Santa Monica Mountains Park system features the Backbone Trail, which basically runs from Will Rogers State Park to Leo Carillo. There are feeder trails that start above Simi Valley and run through Malibu Canyon.

In Southern California, you gotta have a pool. This one is awesome.

And of course an awesome patio to go with the awesome pool in the land of awesome.

Inside, a classic beam ceiling , with windows to the outdoors.

Check out that classic old-school fireplace.

I could go on, but I hope someone shares my taste among the readership. This home, if you're country-oriented, horse riding, lots of property and open spaces kind of folk, this place is for you. Let me know if you'd like to see it. Be forewarned, I might be bidding on it too.

A Frank Lloyd Wright for 279,000!

This historic residence in Valley is bank owned. Cute as heck, it's in Reseda on a huge(for Reseda)12,625 sq. ft. lot. It was executed by Lloyd Wright, Frank's son, using a design by his father.
I'm totally charmed by this. It's 2 BR 1 BA but the cachet of owning a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house cannot be denied! If you're a regular reader you know I'm a sucker for architectural pieces (scroll down for my piece on Eichler homes in Thousand Oaks) This is akin to finding a dusty '54 Ferrari in a barn. The possibilities are endless

To preview this unique property, call me @ 805-907-5211

Internet Bargain ( or maybe not)

ONLINE

I found this, or rather, one of my clients found it, which brought it to my attention. I'm always amazed at what my clients find searching our ZIP Realty Website. The market is currently chock full of opportunity, and interest rates haven't been this low since post war America, and by that I mean post WW1!
So, back to this place: looks pretty neat, huh? The price is 50k under the market in that neighborhood. I get pretty excited. Then I visit there. Ho-ly shit. I'm not sure what kind of filter the guy that took these pictures used, but I want one. The place was a hodgepodge of poorly done and mismatched improvements, the floor reminiscent of the haunted miners shack in Knotts Berry Farm. There were roaches and spiders scurrying everywhere. That garage looking thing back there? Bootleg guesthouse. The bones of this house are 1941 vintage, but I suspect it was more of a bunkhouse back then; there were several large ranches it could have been a part of in that era. The exterior paint was amateur and the wood peeling everywhere. Major termite damage was visible just upon casual inspection. I told my client who was looking at it (her hands were drawn up tightly together at her chest, body language tells all!)that it would never do for her. There's another guest unit behind the bootleg one, which purports to be permitted. So there's kind of upside if you can save that roof, bring back the garage and get rid of all the termite infested siding. In the home, you'd better plan on jackhammering the slab, and repouring it. While you're at it, add on another bedroom/bath. The tab for all this would probably be about 50k. That makes it even with the neighborhood comps, and you could probably use it as income property.
But the condition in person vs the photo online was like night and day. I imagine internet dating is a lot like this.
The moral of this tale? BUYER BEWARE! ALWAYS SEE THINGS IN PERSON.
REALITY

Santa Monica, walk to beach, Seller problems, = way under market!

This 4 BR 6 BA 3000 sq.ft. plus guest house home is up a canyon not far from one of my favorite stretches of coastline. You literally can walk down to the beach, it's about four blocks by my estimation. The Seller was re-doing and during the course of remodeling, became severely ill and must now live elsewhere.

It's almost done, so you can still pick your own appliances and floor treatments.
I love the beach here, it's long and sandy and used to be a favorite surfing spot of mine back in the day. We called it Chautauqua after a signalized street nearby and it used to have a great point break similar to Malibu. Sometimes the waves got huge- over 20 feet, as it was a south facing beach. They still get huge, but not like back then. A monster storm in '69 completely obliterated most of the point, and the beach bottom took on way more sand, so giant waves so longer break here. But the canyons still have the ancient Sycamores and Oaks. This home is built around one. Looks like it's priced around 700k under the market per the seller's broker, and I agree.
$ 2,499,000. Call me to view this home or other coastal properties.
Skylights, lots of them!You can get a glimpse of the ancient Sycamore through that window

The Tax Credit Makes a Comeback

Call it the temporary tax credit that just won’t end.

Congress approved late Wednesday an extension to the June 30 closing deadline for the home buyer tax credit, hours before it was set to expire. The move will give would-be buyers who signed a purchase agreement by April 30 more time to close on those deals and receive the credit that is worth up to $8,000. The new deadline is Sept. 30.

The Senate approved the measure unanimously on Wednesday, one day after the provision sailed through the House of Representatives with little opposition. The President is expected to sign the measure soon.

The Senate had failed to pass the provision last week when it was included in a bigger package that would have extended jobless benefits, among other measures. On Wednesday, an effort to reinstate unemployment insurance failed, and the Senate opted to pass the tax credit provision by itself.

In recent weeks, lenders and real-estate companies have warned of bottlenecks that could lead thousands of potential buyers to miss out on the credit that they thought they were getting. The probably is particularly acute for short sales, where a lender allows a home to sell for less than the amount owed. Banks and the federal government have stepped up efforts to encourage short sales as an alternative to foreclosure, but the deals take longer to approve because they require noteholders to reconcile losses.

Congress first created a tax credit for homeowners in 2008. It was extended and expanded twice during 2009. The last extension, approved last fall, said that house purchase contracts would have to be signed by April 30, and home buyers would have until June 30 to close on those sales. The extension is only good for those buyers who were under contract by April 30. Someone who signed a contract after April 30 and buys a home by Sept. 30 isn’t eligible for the tax credit.

The Senate also passed an extension of the federal flood insurance program until Sept. 30. The change is retroactive to June 1, when the program had lapsed.

Mortgage rates sink to record all-time low

Via Associated Press today:

Mortgage rates sink to record low
National average for a 30-year fixed loan dips to 4.69 percent


Mortgage Rates fell this week to the lowest level on record, giving consumers added incentive to lock in low payments on home purchases and refinancings.

Mortgage Company Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for 30-year fixed loans sank to 4.69 percent, from 4.75 percent last week.



That's the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971. The previous record of 4.71 percent was set in December. Rates for 15-year and five-year mortgages also hit lows.

Mortgage rates have fallen over the past two months. Investors wary of the European debt crisis and the turbulent stock market have shifted money into the safety of Treasury bonds, driving down yields. Mortgage rates tend to track the yields on long-term Treasury debt.

Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to an average of 4.13 percent, the lowest on records dating to September 1991 and down from 4.2 percent a week earlier.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.84 percent, down from 3.89 percent a week earlier. That was also the lowest on Freddie Mac's records, which only date back to January 2005.

Average rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages fell to 3.77 percent from 3.82 percent. That was the lowest average since May 2004.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount.

The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 a point for 30-year, 5-year and 1-year loans. The average fee for 15-year loans was 0.6 of a point.

WOW!

Steal this Ranch- Bank Owned Horse property-559k

Off the Ojai Road, about fifteen minutes out from Ojai, about as far out of Santa Paula as you can be and still have a Santa Paula Address lies this two and a half acre ranch with barn, greenhouses, groves and a 2400 sq ft 3/3 home. I love the country up here, you're in avocado and lemon country and the fragrant blossoms perfume the air this time of year. In the winter, you can expect snow. The trails go on forever, and at night you can actually see the stars- all of them. The house needs some work (of course), but come on, where's your cowboy spirit?

I think if I owned this I'd raise baby greens, chickens, and rotate some hops and timothy grass on an acre! And plant some Syrah grapes! Oh, and there's plenty of room for Alpacas! Plus some goats for goat cheese! Plenty of chores to do as you can see.


See this and other equestrian-oriented bargains- give me a call!