Burbank City's Response

In response to my query about the monster-sized house (see post below), here's the response I received from Burbank city senior planner Patrick Prescott: "I did not receive the photos you attached, but I have spoken with Tom Zartl and reviewed the plans for 1053 East Elmwood. The home in question is built at a four foot side yard setback. This setback meets the minimum requirement for side yards, which is 10% of the width of the lot. The average width of the lot is 45 feet; therefore, the required side yard setback is four feet. The lot size is 12,940 square feet and the floor area (including the 34 square foot portion of the garage over 600 square feet) is 5,162 square feet. The floor area ratio for this property is 40%, which is the maximum lot coverage allowed. The maximum height in the R1 zone is 30 feet. The highest point of the home at 1053 East Elmwood is 29’-10”, which complies with code." I still say this violates the spirit, if not the letter, of the anti-mansionization codes.

Just in Time for Halloween: a Monster (-Sized) House!

It's a Walmart!...It's an apartment building!...no, it's the side and front views of a single family home being built smack in the middle of a residential street in Burbank. How did something this big make it past Burbank City's Planning Department or the permitting people? And what's become of our vaunted anti-mansionization laws? How'd the builder manage to encroach on the neighbor's property? Are Burbank lots subdividable after all? If you know the answers to any of these questions, please blog back.

Housing Price Article (I'm Quoted) From Burbank Leader

This appeared in the Burbank Leader on 10/20/07. A disclaimer about the stats: I read these off the mls, and encouraged the reporter to check them with Dataquick, the data service for the real estate industry. I don't think he did. Even though this is for Burbank, it pretty much reflects what we're seeing all over L.A.
Housing prices take a fall
Average price of a single-family home in Burbank in September was $658,000, compared with $692,000 in August.
By Jeremy ObersteinBURBANK — The average price for a single-family home in Burbank dropped almost 5% from August to September, and the number of residences listed on the open market in the same period increased almost 50%, according to the National Assn. of Realtors.“There’s a decline, no doubt about it,” said Judy Graff, a broker in Burbank.The average asking price for a single-family home in August was about $692,000 and about $658,000 in September, she said.In August, 229 properties were listed on the open market, while 336 homes and condos were listed by Sept. 30, she said.Graff tied the decrease in housing prices and increase in homes for sale to the credit crunch by which many Americans have felt squeezed.
“There’s a credit crisis in this country,” she said. “Up to 40% of people who were able to get loans back in July can’t get loans anymore.”The robust housing market of the 1990s and early 2000s, in which potential home buyers could easily secure a loan, seem to be a distant memory, said Ken Fears, an economist with the National Assn. of Realtors.“The housing boom [lasted] from 1998 to spring 2005,” he said. “The housing market has been slowing down since then and, since July 2007, home sale prices have sharply decreased.”That has directly affected Burbank residents, Graff said.“It used to be that if you could fog a mirror, you could get a loan,” she said. “Now, lenders want to see a 10% down payment and excellent credit scores. If the median price of a single-family home is $700,000, you would need to have $70,000 sitting in the bank. How many young couples have that kind of money?”The decrease in sales can be tied to the fallout in the mortgage-backed securities market, which specifically affects Burbank, Fears said.“What hurts Burbank is the lack of financing in the jumbo market, defined as any loan over $417,000,” he said. “Mortgage-backed securities stopped buying jumbo market loans, driving prices up and causing more homes to be listed on the open market.”As a result of loan defaults, many homes are staying on the market longer than anticipated, Graff said.“We have 11 months’ worth of inventory on the market,” she said. “Homes are staying on the market for a much longer period of time. What it comes down to is, there are less transactions now.”However, Fears does not expect the damaged jumbo market to be down for too long, nor does he believe the credit crunch will drive a national recession.“In terms of the jumbo market, it could be back within months. I’m not too worried,” he said. “The underlying economy is doing very well. Now, the [lending problem] is caused by increased interest rates. It’s a good economic backdrop for this painful housing market.”The problem remains prevalent in Burbank but may not be an impediment to ownership for all, Burbank Assistant City Manager Mike Flad said.“Cost of housing is one of our largest obstacles,” he said. “But the cooling-off is a plus for some who can enter the market with lower prices.”
 JEREMY OBERSTEIN covers City Hall and public safety. He may be reached at (818) 637-3242 or by e-mail at jeremy.oberstein@latimes.com.

Refi Info & Taxes

From Peter Viles' LA Land, the L.A. Times real estate blog:
A question about refinancing
This is one of those posts where we seek your wisdom and guidance, so pay attention, please.
We were reading the transcript of the President's news conference today, and noticed this quote: "...we need to change the tax laws. You're disadvantaged if you refinance your home. It creates a tax liability. And if we want people staying in their homes, then it seems like to me we got to change the tax code. That's why I talked to Senator Stabenow the other day and thanked her for her sponsorship of an important piece of tax legislation that will enable people to more likely stay in their homes."
Our first, knee-jerk response was this: The president is more clueless than ever -- There's no tax disadvantage in refinancing! What's he talking about? And doesn't he know that the Stabenow tax relief bill is not about keeping your house? It's about selling it at a loss and not owing income tax on the amount of your loan that is forgiven? This is about avoiding taxes on short sales; it's about selling your house, not keeping it.
But then we looked at the Stabenow proposal, and found that the President might be right. In some cases, it would help homeowners avoid owing taxes when they refinance -- in a scenario we haven't heard much about: "... if a family owns a home with a $100,000 mortgage and can’t afford to make their payments, the bank can step in and refinance the house at a lower value to better reflect the decreased market value. Under current law, if the bank values the home at $80,000, the family would have to pay taxes on the $20,000 difference between the new and the original mortgages."
I echo what Peter had to say. It is not well known (because it hasn't happened in years) that refi-ing for a lower rate (as if the banks will jump on this as a solution) creates a "debt forgiveness" for the homeowner.

More Bubble News & Local Stuff, too

For those of you who are interested in news and stats about declining r.e. prices (and who isn't?), here's another blog: Bubbletracking.com. This is great for the blog roll, too. Anecdotal flipside: I've heard about two multiple offer situations in the last three days. Apparently, both properties were really terrific and really well priced for the current market.

NBC

Okay, so it's true, but not so bad. We've got 'em for 3 more years. And the property is to be sold to media companies. For a second, I was worried that there might be a huge expansion of Forest Lawn or another Grove-type mall coming to those 34 acres.

OMG! IS NBC LEAVING BURBANK? SAY IT AIN'T SO!

From La.Curbed.com, 10/10/07:
Rumor Mill: NBC Going to NOHO???
Wednesday, October 10, 2007, by jwilliams
We're just saying. An insider emails: "The NBC studios in Burbank will be relocating to NOHO and their studios' site will be placed on the market." Rumor confirmation and development ideas for the soon to be vacant Burbank studios welcome.
UPDATE, 4:19 PM PST: A second trusted insider emails us confirming the rumor: "It's true." Good news for Los Angeles and all the tax revenue to be generated. Maybe the City can finally afford to build some more subways and stuff.
UPDATE, 5:26 PM PST: More info on where in NOHO/Universal City the NBC project will go here.

Pirates of the Burbankean

Aaargh! And you thought Burbank was dull. Here are shots of a full-scale pirate ship that a local property owner (Captain Hook? Captain Jack Sparrow?) on Angeleno has built in his backyard. The pictures barely capture the amazing detail. This was built probably to plunder other ships from the Burbank Maritime Provinces. Thanks, Lily, Mark and Sue!

Smokey the Burbank Bear

Among Burbank's other distinctive architecture: here's a picture of a bear statute in front of a house on Tufts. The house is very nice and very lodge-y; kudos go to the owners for anti-suburbia style. Plus, I'll bet the bear keeps the local deer from eating the plants!

Aroma in Studio City gets even more kudos

Aroma, that fab Studio City coffee house and cafe where husband Steve hangs out every day, has received even more kudos. Check out the review in herfablife.com.

Fannie Mae to increase limits?

This article from September 21's L.A. Times Business section is great. This could be HUGE for the local lending markets, as most Southern California loans are "jumbo" loans. Right now, the conforming loan limit is $417,000.
Regulators cautious on housing fix
They acknowledge potential benefits of letting Fannie and Freddie buy bigger loans but also urge restraint.
From Reuters
September 21, 2007
WASHINGTON -- -- The top two U.S. economic policymakers told a House panel on Thursday that allowing the biggest home finance companies to buy larger loans could ease mortgage market strains but the move should be coupled with tighter regulation of the firms.Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. dropped some of their resistance to expanding the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and said the companies could help restore funding for the largest home loans, which has dried up.Paulson told the House Financial Services Committee that he could support letting the two government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, temporarily invest in so-called jumbo loans, or those above their current $417,000 limit, as part of a broader regulatory overhaul."There is little question that allowing the GSEs to securitize jumbo mortgages would give a short-term lift, which would be helpful to a segment of the housing market," he said.Rising defaults on sub-prime mortgages that had been extended to risky U.S. borrowers have set off a global chain reaction of tightening credit, and jumbo mortgages, even to prime borrowers, have been among the casualties....The chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have the support of numerous congressional allies, also appeared before the committee and repeated their calls for more freedom to invest in jumbo loans. Rates on new jumbo mortgages have risen sharply in recent weeks as lenders have found few investors willing to take them off their hands...Fannie and Freddie's regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, on Wednesday loosened some limits on the companies' investment holdings in the hope they could do more to provide liquidity in the sub-prime market...Frank and the companies' other supporters on Capitol Hill have suggested that lifting the cap on GSE investment holdings and raising the loan limit size could ease market strains.

Filming in Toluca Lake?

Does anybody know what was being filmed in Toluca Lake around Forman last week? Lotsa big production trucks.

How Bad Is the Real Estate Market, Really?

Well, it's not good now here in Burbank, Toluca Lake, Studio City, et al. Buyers are waiting it out on the sidelines. It was a bad August and it's a bad September -- showings are way down (like, to zero on some properties), sales are non-existent and jumbo loans are hard to come by. I have been educated and entertained by the comments on the L.A. Times real estate blog, L.A. Land, and highly recommend it for a pulse-taking of what buyers (or at least buyer-bloggers) are thinking. But all real estate is local, and just as we think we've got it figured out, it changes. "Inventory" (homes coming on the market) has begun to shorten. The Fed just reduced rates. And there's talk on Capitol Hill about letting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy up jumbo loans. So stay tuned, folks -- October should bring yet more shadings and changes.

Cool, new gossipy real estate blog

I've just discovered Realestalker. It's been out there in the blogosphere, for, like, two years. I know I'm late to the party, but this is Burbank, after all. It's wonderfully gossipy about your favorite celebs and their real estate.

Today's L.A. Times Headline

Okay, about today's LAT article: the graphic doesn't match the text. The article talks about August's slow sales and dropping prices, but the graphic actually shows several areas that have had dramatic price increases. If I had to sum it up, I'd say that the outlying areas of the county are dropping, but the wealthier areas at the core are not. Yet. Or another way to look at it: there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Two more reasons to feel smug...

Here are two more reasons we Burbankians have to feel we've got it all over city folks (okay, I'm reaching): 1. We didn't lose power during the recent Labor Day weekend heat wave. Check out Steve Lopez's LAT column or Here inVanNuys to see how bad it got. 2. My new fave neighborhood place, Krust, bakes it's own croissants. Every day. Along with all sorts of other stuff that's delicious, too. And you can park your car close to the door. It's on Verdugo. Take that, westsiders.

More on Evergreen and Magnolia; Meeting on the 25th

Friend-and-Evergreen-resident Ellen writes about the Evergreen burger stand: "FYI they shot on Tuesday at the burger stand and were so very informative and respectful of our neighborhood as they crammed up the street with all kinds of trucks and cars and trailers! I came home at 7:30 and it felt like they had SWEPT the street!! I guess word around town is that Evergreen is not a neighborhood to mess with!!! We've won small concessions, I guess. BUT, if the amount of traffic for ONE day of shooting is anything like the construction crews to dig out _3_ levels of underground parking for months on end....YIKES!!! And you KNOW they'll be twice as many vehicles...I imagine our little street littered and battered every day of the week once that [building] starts...We've got a city council meeting on the 25th to see if the council will restrict the construction worker's parking along our little street...pray we succeed!!"

Make Burgers, Not Buildings

Those of you who have been following the progress of the building plans for the Evergreen and Magnolia lot may have been delighted to see a burger stand going up instead. We certainly were -- Keller Burgers (could that be the Keller, as in Thomas Keller fame?) is being constructed on that very controversial spot.

Alas, however, it was too good to be true. It's a set for an HBO show (don't know which one). Thanks, friend Ellen, for dashing our dreams. However, Ellen tells us that she's heard that the building the Burbank City Council approved may be too expensive to build anyway. Has anybody else heard anything?

Price drop already?!

Regarding The Collection, la.curbed.com reports that prices have dropped already and are now slightly under $700,000.

Breed restrictions!?

I forgot to mention in the previous post about the Burbank Collection, the new loft complex going in across from the AMCs: they allow pets. Up to 70 lbs. But they have breed restrictions in their CCRS and don't allow either pit bulls or rottweilers. I haven't encountered this restriction before, but it certainly makes sense.