FULL COVERAGE: SOUTHLAND HOUSING MARKET

February 12, 2010

HOT PROPERTY

Biggest home sales of 2009 in the L.A. area?

It's not always easy to pinpoint the biggest sale of the year. Mega-million-dollar transactions can take place outside of the Multiple Listing Service, with the homes marketed by agents as "pocket listings." Other times, the buyer and seller work through lawyers, and a transaction is discovered only when the sale is recorded with the county.

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.

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.