In the San Fernando Valley, Elvis lives

OK, maybe the King himself never actually lived in this home in Northridge, but Elvis impersonator Danny Uwnawich did, and he rebuilt the 1957 house into a scaled-down version of Graceland. Along with a few other websites, the home can be viewed at LALife, which has the apt motto “Every address tells a story.” (Yes, there appears to be a guitar hanging on a kitchen wall.)

The Times’ archives indicate the home was reconstructed by Danny U, as the Elvis-ite was known, after the Northridge quake. He opened it to the public on the anniversary of Elvis’ death for years, although the current owner did not continue that practice, according to listing agent Allen Brodetsky, owner of Tarzana-based ASB Capital Group. Property records show that Uwnawich parted with the home in 2002.

Although it may fall short of the grander Georgian-style in Memphis, Tenn., it does include a heart-shaped swimming pool and an upstairs ballroom. The three-bedroom, 6,310-square-foot replica has been listed at $999,000.

Danny U is now in escrow to buy the home back, Brodetsky said. All of the furniture that was in the home under Uwnawich’s ownership is still in the home, which appears to be in the exact condition in which he left it. Maybe some people can go home again.

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Lauren Beale

Bush’s first Texas home for sale

The Countdown to Crawford blog reports that the Midland, Texas, home once owned by George W. and Laura Bush is for sale, listed for $239,000. Three bedrooms, two baths, 2,406 square feet.

“An enterprising Realtor in Midland, Texas, has come up with a new way to advertise a listing in West Texas.

“She’s letting prospective customers know that the property for sale was the first home of Laura and George Bush, where the couple started their married life together. Listed for $239,900, the home at 1405 W. Golf Course Road has 2,406 square feet and was built in 1976, one year before the Bushes moved in.

“With light, airy spaces and a mostly concrete back patio (‘low maintenance yard’ is how Realtor Ruth Young puts it), the home is where the couple had their daughters (1981) and the future president ran for Congress, and lost, in 1978. It still boasts Laura Bush’s original drapes, and offers buyers a chance to cook on Laura Bush’s original cooktop stove.”

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Peter Viles

Group sees L.A. housing crisis

The Los Angeles Business Council says Los Angeles is being squeezed by an “unprecedented housing crisis” that is hurting the region’s economy.

The council’s “Workforce Housing Scorecard” contends that the gap between wages and housing prices in Southern California is the largest in the country and “has caused many middle-income workers to move farther away from job centers, enduring longer and more arduous commutes or forcing them to leave the region altogether.”

More: “According to the Scorecard, nearly two decades of rising housing costs have squeezed low- and middle-income residents, causing many to sink an increasingly large share of their income into their place of residence. In 2007, a family earning the countywide median income of $53,000 per year spent more than 50% of their earnings to purchase a home in Los Angeles County – far greater than the 30% recommended by experts.”

Analysis/bloviation: The controversy, if there is one, in the report is that it blames the region’s high housing costs not on the recent housing bubble but on a lack of new housing supply. New construction, the report asserts, has not kept pace with population growth and job creation in the region. The council: “For example, between 1990 and 2007, Los Angeles County reported a net gain of 1,433,531 new residents but added only 194,554 housing units – a sevenfold differential.”

The business council generally supports the development of more housing in Los Angeles, which is a tough sell right now, given the weakness of the housing market and in particular the market for newly built homes. It’s hard to convince financial institutions that this is a good time to lend money to home builders.

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Peter Viles

Report suggests bottom is far off

A new Credit Suisse research report titled “House Prices: A Lot Done, More to Go,” suggests that nationwide housing prices are likely to continue to decline until late in 2009 or early 2010.

The report, using two separate methods of predicting home price trends, says both methods “point to home prices moving back in line with past historical ‘equilibrium’ levels in 12 to 18 months.”

The report notes that housing prices could “overshoot” their equilibrium levels and fall for even longer than 12 to 18 months, in which case, ” ‘cheap’ housing is still about two years away.”

Credit Suisse charted two “valuation metrics,” one of which is tracking the ratio of median single-family-home prices to median family income. That ratio held in a narrow range from 1981 through 2000 but then “exploded upward” and kept rising for five years, peaking in October 2005. (That, folks, is a housing price bubble.) Credit Suisse projections indicate that metric will return to the upper end of its previous range in September 2009 and the lower end of that range, if the decline continues, in April 2010.

The other “valuation metric” applies a price-to-earnings ratio for America’s residential housing stock, with “price” being the total value of residential real estate and “earnings” being the sum total of rents and imputed rents paid by homeowners. That metric also held fairly constant from 1981 to 2000 and then shot higher, also peaking in the third quarter of 2005.

Credit Suisse’s analysis shows it returning to the upper end of its previous range in the third quarter of 2009 and the lower end of that range, if the decline continues, in the first quarter of 2011.

Relatedly: As reported in Tom Petruno’s Money & Co. blog, the chief executive of Home Depot on Wednesday offered a more optimistic forecast, saying, “We’re getting awfully close to the bottom.”

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Peter Viles