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LA TIMES REALTY NEWS


L.A. Times - Real Estate News

Sellers should ensure that condo projects are on approved list for FHA mortgages
Condominium owners who are trying to sell in today's agonizingly slow housing market should make sure that their community is on the Federal Housing Administration's approved list. Ditto for someone who is thinking about refinancing a condo.




Mortgage defaults in California at 3-year low
The number of default notices in the second quarter falls 43.8% compared with the same period in 2009. Meanwhile, banks step up repossession of foreclosed homes.

The number of Californians entering foreclosure slid dramatically in the second quarter to a three-year low as the fallout from the worst of the housing crisis continued to abate.




Credit rescoring can help you qualify for a mortgage
Rapid rescorings by independent, legitimate firms use procedures approved by the three major credit bureaus. They can help correct errors or omissions that are dragging down your scores.

Call it the great real estate disconnect of 2010: Mortgage rates have been at half-century lows and home prices have stabilized, but applications for mortgages to buy houses have declined most weeks during the last three months, as measured by the Mortgage Bankers Assn.




Home prices tick up 1.3% in May
It was the second straight monthly increase, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index of 20 U.S. cities, but experts warn it is not likely to last. Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco are among the gainers.

Home prices posted strong gains in May as a federal stimulus program boosted sales. But many experts predict the housing market to soften this year as the effects of government support wane.




Special emergency assessment may be illegal
An association's board approved a levy of $9,000 per unit to repair dry rot and water damage to all balconies. Its CC&Rs probably required a vote of the entire membership.

Question: Our board of directors began building renovations several months ago using money the association was awarded in a lawsuit. They found severe dry rot and water damage to nearly all balconies. The board has approved a special emergency assessment of about $9,000 for each unit. This year I was laid off and have been unable to find a job. I wrote the board informing them that I wouldn't be able to pay the assessment until I found work. Their only reply was that I could take advantage of the 15-year loan option other owners were given. Unemployment benefits barely cover my mortgage payment, and I can't take out a personal loan without a job, so I don't see how I can pay the board's loan option. Does the board have to offer me hardship relief? Do I have any options or is my only choice to let the board put a lien on my home?




New home sales bounce back in June
The number of newly built houses purchased nationwide jumps 23.6% from May but is 16.7% below the June 2009 level. Sales dropped 6.6% in the West but were up in the three other regions.

Sales of newly built houses in the U.S. rebounded overall in June from May's record low but still continued to drop in the West.




Hot Property: Cheryl Hines lists Brentwood home at $4,249,000
Plus the VH1 'Ochocinco' estate, Shabby Chic's Rachel Ashwell, Canadian actress Estella Warren, rapper-actor Alvin 'Xzibit' Joiner

Try not to get too excited, but "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Cheryl Hines and her husband, producer Paul Young , have put their gated Brentwood home on the market at $4,249,000.




Offices at the top are going empty
Penthouse floors are vacant in some of the best office buildings in Los Angeles County, a sign of the troubled economic times and the gulf between asking prices and what tenants are willing to pay.

The chief executives at Atlantic Richfield Co., the oil company once based in Los Angeles, ran their international empire from some of the most regal corporate offices ever created in Southern California.




New residential construction drops in June
Housing starts fall 5% overall from May, single-family home construction is down 0.7% and apartment construction declines nearly 20%, the government says. It's the latest sign of trouble in the housing market.

New residential construction dropped in June, another indication that the U.S. housing market is struggling.





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