FULL COVERAGE: SOUTHLAND HOUSING MARKET

10:56 PM PST, February 1, 2010

California sex offender residency restrictions upheld

The California Supreme Court upheld residency restrictions for sex offenders Monday, ruling that thousands may be barred from living near schools and parks even if their sex crimes were committed years before the restrictions became law.

7:38 AM PST, January 27, 2010

New home sales fall 7.6 pct in December

WASHINGTON -- New home sales unexpectedly fell 7.6 percent last month, capping the industry's weakest year on record.

January 27, 2010

Outlook for housing market is muddied by minuscule rise in prices

Home prices inched up in November, a closely watched national index released Tuesday showed, but the monthly increase was so small that it shed little light on whether the U.S. housing market was headed for a full recovery or another dip.

January 26, 2010

REAL ESTATE

U.S. home resales drop almost 17% in December

Sales of previously owned homes nationwide plunged steeply in December, raising concerns that the housing recovery could lose steam after government policies intended to support it expire in the spring.

January 24, 2010

OBITUARY

Bessie Mae Berger dies at 97; homeless woman's plight reported in The Times

Bessie Mae Berger, a 97-year-old woman who was living in a battered 1973 Chevrolet Suburban until strangers rallied to get her off the street, has died.

January 23, 2010

Housing bust keeps consuming California jobs

California employers cut more workers in December, capping a dismal year in which the state lost more than half a million jobs.

January 22, 2010

REAL ESTATE

California home prices rise in December

California home prices ticked up 1.1% in December from the previous month, continuing a slow but steady improvement for the state's housing market, according to data released Thursday.

January 10, 2010

REAL ESTATE

Going to sell the house? Don't wait for 'spring' in February

It's nearly spring -- at least that's the case in the parallel, slightly weird universe of real estate.

January 6, 2010

November pending home sales index tumbles

The number of homes placed under sales contracts tumbled in November from the previous month, presenting fresh evidence that the nascent housing recovery could be poised for a dip in the new year.

8:12 AM PST, January 5, 2010

Pending home sales fall 16 percent in Nov

WASHINGTON -- The number of buyers who agreed to purchase previously occupied homes fell sharply in November, a sign sales will fall this winter, undermining last summer's recovery.

December 30, 2009

REAL ESTATE

U.S. home prices are flat, with Bay Area showing most improvement

San Francisco and Tampa, Fla., sit at opposite corners of the country and at opposite ends of the housing recovery.

6:33 AM PST, December 29, 2009

Home prices rise again in October

NEW YORK -- Home prices rise for the fifth month in a row in October, but the recovery continues to be uneven with only 11 of the 20 metros tracked showing gains.

10:13 AM PST, December 22, 2009

U.S. sales of existing homes soar 7.4%

Sales of previously owned homes soared 7.4% in the traditionally slow month of November as buyers looked to take advantage of a tax credit for first-time purchases, an industry group said this morning.

7:38 AM PST, December 22, 2009

November home sales soar 7.4%

Home resales surged last month to the highest level in nearly three years, reflecting an extraordinary level of federal support that has pulled the housing market back from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

December 22, 2009

PROMISE AND PERIL IN SOUTH L.A.

A good move for South L.A. neighborhood

Los Angeles officials are close to completing a deal that would relocate a metal finishing company that has long been the bane of a poor neighborhood -- the final piece of an ambitious quarter-billion-dollar plan to bring affordable housing to a pocket of South L.A.

December 14, 2009

COLUMN ONE

One man's war zone is another's paradise

Bob and Carol Dawson love living in Baja California, but the region's violent reputation has put them on the defensive. They have been called delusional and reckless -- all because they choose to live in an oceanfront gated community about 30 or 40 miles and a world away from the U.S. border.

March 28, 2009

Opinion

California housing may have a new foundation

Other than perhaps McDonald's hamburgers, what is selling better today than it did a year ago? Resale homes in California.

December 13, 2008

Union-founded nonprofit spent zero on its charitable purpose in two years

A nonprofit organization founded by California's largest union local reported spending nothing on its charitable purpose -- to develop housing for low-income workers -- during at least two of the four years it has been operating, federal records show.

November 24, 2008

Blowback

Bring your latte and join us in the 'hood

In response to Matthew DeBord's Nov. Nov. 16 Op-Ed article on moving to Glassell Park, "The gang’s all here,” I'd like to say to him: Yes! The gang is all here! So far, DeBord and his family have had the luxury, but perhaps lonely experience, of dealing with the conditions of Glassell Park only with humor.

November 16, 2008

Catastrophic fires blaze a path of destruction through Southland

In a swiftly moving catastrophe that seemed as familiar as it was shocking, Southern California once again was besieged by flame Saturday, from Orange County to Santa Barbara, with hundreds of homes consumed by three major wind-driven fires, including one of the most devastating blazes ever to strike the city of Los Angeles.

October 18, 2008

TRENDS

Modernist architecture: feeling the pinch too?

CLASSIC houses by Modernist architects -- once relatively immune to swings in the real estate market -- are no longer able to fetch the premiums they once commanded, if recent prices are any indication.

October 2, 2008

Editorial

Yes on California bonds

Prop. 1a: High-speed rail line

September 6, 2008

Compton probes sale of land to group tied to embattled SEIU local

The Compton city attorney's office is investigating a $1-per-lot sale of government land to a housing corporation that failed to receive the tax-exempt status it sought and is associated with a Los Angeles labor union mired in a spending scandal.

June 12, 2008

THE SCOUT

Close-out sale at Silho Furniture

Silho Furniture, known for its organic modernist style and solid wood construction, is closing its retail location June 20 to focus on online sales of its home furnishing designs. Until then, the store will offer floor models and other merchandise with reductions of up to 50%. Highlights include hand-crafted salvaged wood stools by Samuel Moyer, reduced 25%, and Silho's line of upholstered seating, including this 7 1/2 foot Winslow sofa, now $1,707.50 -- half of its original price. Custom orders from the Silho collection placed during the sale (and online through July) will be discounted 10%. 142 N. La Brea Ave. (323) 935-9955; www.silhofurniture.com.

June 6, 2008

OUT THERE

Housing downturn is a jolt to upscale Temecula

For almost 20 years, they've been painting the town red in Temecula.

January 28, 2008

USC off-campus housing suit settled

Conquest Student Housing, a firm accused of using intimidation and fraud against rival developers of off-campus student housing near USC, has agreed to stop challenging any competitors' projects within two miles of the school.

December 28, 2007

THE BIG FIX

Realty reality: Housing prices are headed way down

In 2002, the median price of a single-family home in Los Angeles was $270,000 and the median homeowner's income was $65,000. With a $50,000 down payment, the annual cost of that house (taxes, insurance and payment on a 30-year fixed-rate conventional mortgage) would add up to about 33% of the median household's income -- just under the 35% mark that the Federal Housing Administration calls the upper limit of "affordable."

December 18, 2007

MORTGAGE MELTDOWN

On a Palmdale street, foreclosure is in the air

The Bush administration's plan to slow the mortgage meltdown gave a lift to Wall Street. But on Hoss Ghitkammanee's street, the signs of hope are harder to find.

December 5, 2007

THE ECONOMY

Mortgage fallout felt by GOP

The Bush administration's newly aggressive effort to help people facing foreclosure and shore up the troubled mortgage industry was sparked by growing concerns of an election-year recession, and the political damage that would cause, analysts said Tuesday.

November 29, 2007

LOANS

U.S. investigates Countrywide fees

Countrywide Financial Corp. is the target of a multi-state federal investigation aimed at determining whether the Calabasas-based lender has been levying unjustified fees on consumers going through bankruptcy.

November 28, 2007

L.A., O.C. home prices decline sharply

U.S. home prices continued to fall at a record pace, and price declines in Los Angeles and Orange counties outpaced other major metropolitan areas in September, according to a national index released Tuesday.

November 27, 2007

Homeowners' big question: How low will prices go?

Eric S. Broida wants to trade up. He has been eyeing a multimillion-dollar house near his Pacific Palisades home and thinks it might be a bargain. Eventually, that is.

November 22, 2007

Groups protest Countrywide actions

Consumer advocates, minority groups and homeowners -- some chanting "Save our homes, fix our loans!" -- staged a demonstration outside Countrywide Financial Corp. offices Wednesday, part of a campaign to press the nation's largest mortgage lender to do more to help borrowers in danger of foreclosure.

At last, their first

By Diane Wedner, Times Staff Writer

October 17, 2007

Southland home sales and prices plummet

Home sales in Southern California plummeted in September to a two-decade low, and a rash of grim housing-market assessments Tuesday suggested the worst is yet to come.

October 14, 2007

REAL ESTATE

Stuck in a housing glut

Are you a homeowner who is having trouble selling your house? National housing experts say you can heap some of the blame on those big builders with their much-ballyhooed sales and the banks that have put too many foreclosed homes on the market.