Living in Long Beach Blog

Foreclosures - LET'S GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT !!

We hear it Every Day !!!  We seem to meet many of them - people losing their homes to the bank. Newspapers, television, magazines - all of them telling us the bad news: The economy looks grim and this is a real sad time for real estate.  Did you ever wonder what the numbers really mean? 

Here are the facts:

         30% of all homes in America have no mortgage - That means they are owned free and clear.

         20% of all homes in America are owned by investors and are rented out.

         50% of all homes in America have a mortgage.   .05% of these homes are in foreclosure !!       75% of these foreclosures are found in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas.

Wow!  If you listen to CNN, it sounds like 1 out of 2 homes are being repossessed when in actuality, 1 out of every 400 homes are in foreclosure.

I urge you to consider these facts the next time you see, hear or read the next news of doom and gloom in real estate.  Or, you can call me at (562) 248-0154 and we can discuss your concerns.

Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Saving Time begins March 9 and we “spring forward” – that is, turn our clocks ahead one hour.

It’s also the perfect time to replace the batteries in your smoke detectors.  Though seven out of eight homes have smoke detectors, one-fourth of them don’t work due to dead or missing batteries.  Don’t be part of that statistic.  Dead batteries can’t save lives!

LONG BEACH''S BEST KEPT SECRET: Lakewood Country Club

     When McDonald Douglas and Boeing were in Long Beach, the higher echelons in these companies used to schedule their lunches around their golf games.  Rumor has it that many ideas regarding plane safety, structure and the like were formulated over a round of golf at Lakewood Country Club!!!

A block west of Lakewood Blvd on Carson Street, Lakewood Golf Course is a regular 18-hole Par 72 championship course that features 11 acres of lakes with a 72.9 rating and 113 slope.  the facilities inclue a pro shop, a driving range, two putting greens, practice area as well as three room banquet facilities, a coffee shop and cocktail lounge.

This course was built in 1933 and has since been redesigned.  it is considered to be the second most difficult course in Long Beach.  it is currently managed by the American Golf Corporation. There are two on site pros available. To locate a map or check out the facilities, go to www.lakewood.americangolf.com.

                                                                                                              If you work in Long Beach or Lakewood, you can access any of the seven golf courses in the area.  Living in Long Beach has its amenities.  Long Beach residents who are also golf fanatics manage to catch a round of golf  after work and it still make it home in time for dinner!

                                                                

  Right beside the  golf course are championship tennis courts that provide a great outlet for tennis lovers in the area as well as a driving range to practice your golf swings. 

On A CLear Day .. You CAN See !!

After 1.75 inches of rain, we experienced one of the most beautiful days ever!  It is so rare that the air is so clean and clear in Los Angeles County.  Up at the highest peak in the Long Beach area, Signal Hill was teeming with onlookers and photographers.  You could see all of Los Angeles and Orange County. 

A collection of photos are in my photo album called Scenes from Long Beach.  : My Photo Album  I suggest you enlarge them to enjoy them better.

California Fires

It happened again and it is finally over.  Residents of California can finally breathe.  Ashes and the smell of barbecue filled our lungs for two weeks.  Some of us who love to take walks, jog, or exercise outdoors found ourselves indoors for over a week.  My dog refused to go out for our daily walk because it was hard to breathe.

We are so thankful that the damage was somewhat controlled.  Although we have lost hundreds of homes, we know that without our wonderful firefighters who have worked tirelessly for the last two weeks, we escaped even more disastrous damage.  Thank God we have a governor that understood that this was a serious matter that needed his immediate action.  Thank God that we had assistance from firefighters from out of state and outside our counties.  Thank God that there were very few lives taken.  Napoleon Hill says that "Adversity has in it an equivalent or greater benefit."  Let us hope that this does work out for the best for all the families that were affected.  Our prayers are with them.

Here are some stunning photos from the fire.  They show how close our firefighters were and how they staked their life for every minute that they were out there protecting us.  Click the photo to enlarge or check it out in my photo album.  These photos have been circulating the internet.  They were probably taken by the reporters.  I have some photos in the album that were taken by residents of the affected areas.

Woof!! Woof! Dog Park, Dog Park in Long Beach

Long Beach, CA is one of the few beach cities that has created a designated beach area where dogs can run around un-leashed!  Just bring a plastic bag to scoop up those accidents.  Watch and see how Fido has a great time running around, kicking up some sand!  Compliments of youtube.com and Justin Rudd.

Currently there are many many homes for sale available in Long Beach. To get a FREE list of homes through our HomeFinder Service, register at www.GreatHousesinLongBeach.com.

Give Something Back!!! Our Food Drive for Long Beach!

Last April, I was privileged to be part of a group of people that raised over a thousand pounds of food for the San Diego Food Bank.  Here is Maureen of the San Diego Fund Raising thanking the group.

My mentor Joe Stumpf started this Food Drive as part of his seminars.  We would like to feed 1,000 meals this Thanksgiving.  There is a list of food needed or you can contribute funds by clicking the attached link.

Long Beach's CSULB Expansion !!

Orange County Register reported on August 31st that Cal State Long Beach will buy five acres now occupied by Brooks College and turn the site into desperately needed student housing. Long Beach State is the second largest campus in the California State University system and is the third largest in terms of enrollment.  Despite of that, CSULB is only able to house fewer than half the freshmen who arrive each fall.  By fall 2009, the campus expects to be able to house 700 more students each year at the Brooks College site, after the private vocational college closes in summer 2009.  Some 200 CSULB students already live in the dorms at Brooks College. While the university will honor the college's lease, which expires in 2009, as dorm rooms become available, university students will be allowed to move into them.

Adding the soon-to-be-closed campus's residence halls to Long Beach State would bring to a total of 2,700 campus housing beds available for students.

Brooks College is well-known for offering courses in fashion design, fashion merchandising and computer animation.  They are have not been accepting new enrollees.  Their lease will expire in 2009.

"We are not buying the entity called Brooks College, we are just buying the land and buildings," said Robyn Mack, associate vice president div of admin and finance for Long Beach State.

"We have a tremendous waiting list of students who want to live on campus," CSULB President F. King Alexander said. "We have to improve that opportunity for them. 

That is good news to California residents who may have children planning to enroll in SCULB in the next few years.  More than half of the new Cal State students come from southern California.

Coming Soon !!! Costco in the City of Lakewood

Come Fall 2008, Lakewood's Shopping Mall will introduce its newest anchor store.  With 159,000-square-feet and a gas station, this Costco will be the first in Southern California attached to a shopping mall.  The existing space has been vacant since the 2005 merger of Robinsons -May and Macy's.

In recent consumer surveys, it was found that about 30 percent of Lakewood families shop at Costco.  The demeographics show that the typical Costco customer is a business owner.  They are usually homeowners with annual incomes of over $100,000 who shops an average of 20to 50 times a year at Costco.

The arrival of Costco to Lakewood Center reflects the changes that are occurring in the retail industry.  the consolidation of department stores have created major retail gaps, prompting mall owner to consider new uses of the empty spaces.  While some mall owners hav filled this gaps with entertainment and dining spaces, others have chosen to entertain unlikely partners such as Target and Costco.

As expected, news about Costco's upcoming arrival has generated excitement among the over 100 retailers.  The news is also good for Lakewood shoppers, who will now have the opportunity to experience the full range in their shopping experience.

The State of Real Estate in Long Beach, California

Life is No Longer a Beach in Long Beach California Real Estate by Roy Primm

Like many urban areas across the county real estate in Long Beach, Californian is not booming like it was a year ago. That is unless you're a buyer. If you're a selling your probably thinking of reducing your price if you haven't already. Why? Because most of the other homes in your neighborhood have already reduced their prices - maybe more than once.

Your forced to go way beyond what you would even imagine doing to sell your home a year ago. Your forced to consider paying the buyers closing cost, throwing in your new furniture or even paying for a 7 day Baja cruise.

Because many experts predict real estate to sputter for at least the next year, many sellers are simply taking their homes off the market ... if they can. And for those who have to sell many have written their homes off and glad to get out whatever the cost.

Banks and other mortgage lenders are feeling the pressure in the Los Angeles, Long Beach area and have started to tighten lending policies. Couples who could have easily qualified for a loan a year ago find themselves turned down swiftly. And for those who do qualify, you must make a larger down payment to close the deal.

With home For Sale signs flopping in the wind and buyers forced tow and thinner line to get a loan the experts sit scratching their heads in wonder. What do they wonder? Where and when will it all end.

The questions are starting to pile up in people's minds. Will the Government step in and do something or will they continue to wait it out to see if the market corrects itself. When will the local Long Beach real estate market start to affect other markets? After all if people stop buying homes carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other construction jobs suffer.

When people stop buying homes for long periods of time hundreds of industries could suffer, like a domino affect. Furniture retailers, flooring contractors, gardeners, even cable TV and satellite companies feel the pinch after a while.

If the government does step in with programs and new policies with they help or hurt the market in the long run? These are the questions many people in and out of the real estate industries are asking in Long Beach, California.

For the first time in recent memory many homes are declining in value as much as 8% from a year ago. But the median home in Long Beach is still $480,000 still high by national standards. It's estimated the average household needs an annual income of over $104,000 to afford an average home in Long Beach, California.

Despite the sluggish real estate market affordable homes in Long Beach is still beyond the range of the average income of most salaried people, don't even think about those people on fixed incomes.

Nevertheless you still see people hear with smiles on their faces. You see strangers waving hello to you on the street . And you can still enjoy the weather. Because even with a slumping real estate market, when you live hear Life's always a Beach!