The South Coast is the only area in the state to report a drop in the median home price for September compared to a year ago, leading some real estate experts to say that the market is cooling.
The area posted a median price of $949,000, compared with $950,000 12 months earlier, according to the monthly report from the California Association of Realtors. While the median price flattened, sales picked up considerably in September from the month before, rising from 97 homes to 117.
And September marked the first time this year that year-over price gains have not shown a double-digit hike on the South Coast.
A 2004 American Community Survey sponsored by NAR and Smart Growth America shows that a commute time of 45 minutes or less is a top priority for 79 percent of Americans when deciding where to live. Other important decision-making criteria include easy access to highways (75 percent) and having sidewalks and places to walk (72 percent).
When asked to choose between two communities, six in 10 respondents chose a neighborhood that offered a shorter commute, sidewalks and amenities like shops, restaurants, libraries, schools and public transportation within walking distance over a sprawling community with larger lots, limited options for walking and a longer commute.
The survey also found that minorities are more likely than other Americans to choose a neighborhood that has a shorter commute, with 59 percent of women, 57 percent of Hispanics and 78 percent of African Americans selecting such communities over those with bigger lots and longer commute times.
This week's Casa Article is all about a phenomenon that has been around for a while, but I haven't writte about it so what the heck!!
For a lot of people a cool thing to do is invite some friends over and play cards or other games. The newer version of that is to invite a bunch of friends over bringing their laptop or desktop computers and have a LAN (Local Area Network) based gaming session.
For more on the Games Afoot click here.
According to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday, the United States now has 73.8 million homeowners -- a historical high. This is approximately 1.6 million more homeowners than recorded one year ago. The Census also reported the rate of homeownership increased 0.6 percent to 69 percent in the third quarter of 2004 compared with the same period one year ago but remained unchanged from second quarter 2004.
During the third quarter of 2004, homeownership rates by region were highest in the Midwest and South, at 73.8 percent and 71.0 percent, respectively. The Northeast recorded a homeownership rate of 64.4 percent, while the West experienced a similar rate of 64.7 percent.
The Census also reported an all-time high of 15.2 million minority homeowners, though the homeownership rate among minorities continues to be lower than that of non-Hispanic whites. In addition to the 73.8 million housing units occupied by homeowners, there were 33.1 million housing units occupied by renters during third quarter 2004.
"These numbers combined with news that sales of previously owned homes jumped 3.1 percent in September, show that housing continues to lead the way in our rapidly recovering economy," said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson.
The owner of two Isla Vista rentals gave up his fight with the county over their safety and said he's cutting back the buildings that now stand empty at the edge of an eroding cliff.
James Gelb withdrew his appeal of the county's August order to vacate his two duplexes on Del Playa Drive. Although he did not concede that the buildings were unsafe, he said Monday that he plans to cut them back by 30 feet, demolishing rooms nearest the cliffs to convert the structures into single houses.
After years watching morning traffic increase and commercial buildings sprout where homes once stood along Lillie Avenue, residents of Summerland have begun voicing their dreams for an eclectic downtown.
Last week at a workshop in the town church, about 30 residents compiled a wish list of priorities for the strip, presently lined with antique stores, restaurants, cafes, day spas, shops and the occasional home.
It's also lined with bumper-to-bumper traffic most weekday mornings as northbound Highway 101 commuters look for relief.
Lillie Avenue was once predominantly residential, but became the default main street when the original business district along Wallace Avenue was wiped out in 1951 to make way for the freeway.
With several new commercial projects already approved or under construction, and several more potential developments on the horizon, residents say now is the time to make their desires known.
The finished wish list was presented at a county Board of Architectural Review meeting. The board, along with the county Planning Commission, makes decisions on the projects that get built in the town of 1,500 people.
Well it's the big guys birthday. Yup, 54 years on this earth. It's hard to believe but true. I'll be celebrating at the Four Season Biltmore today at noon along with my darling bride Laury as well as Jim Fox and the beautiful Mrs. Fox, Meg. Ya'll come.
The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications, a measure of mortgage loan applications, stood at 709.9 for the week ending Oct. 15, an increase of 7.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 658.2 one week earlier, according to a report released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 2.8 percent for the week ending Oct. 15 compared with the previous week but was up 8.4 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 45.6 percent of total applications for the week ending Oct. 15 from 44.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 34.8 percent of total applications for the week ending Oct. 15 from 34.9 percent the previous week, according to the report.
Today's Casa article is all about the T-Mobile Sidekick. T-Mobiles original Sidekick was the first consumer oriented mobile device that combined PDA and phone features with e-mail and instant messaging. Now they have released the Sidekick II, manufactured by Sharp that adds a built-in camera while enhancing e-mail, IM, calendar, and phone capabilities.
For more on the new Sidekick please click here
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) rose five points to 72 in October to its highest level this year, according to a National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) report released this week. Analysts credited robust buyer demand brought on by improving economic conditions, low mortgage rates, and strong house-price performance for the five point jump in October, compared with the previous month.
Home builders are asked to rate current sales of single-family homes, and prospects for sales activity in the next six months, as "good," "fair," or "poor," where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.
"Another factor that's undeniably contributing to builder optimism is the large turnout of prospective buyers at model homes and sales offices," said NAHB Chief Economist David Seiders. "The HMI component gauging traffic of prospective buyers has remained above 50 since May, which is a strong run for that index and a positive sign for potential sales activity."
Each of the HMI's component indexes rose in October, with the largest gains registered for current sales activity (up five points to 78) and expected sales in the next six months (up a remarkable nine points to 84). The component gauging traffic of prospective buyers rose two points to 54.
The Goleta City Council has approved a combination hotel and condo project for a prominent property along Hollister Avenue -- a major step toward rehabilitating the blighted stretch in a city founded on a slow-growth platform.
In a 4-0 vote, council members late Monday gave their final OK to the Old Town Inn and Village at 5665 Hollister near Highway 217 -- by far the largest of a handful of projects they have approved since Goleta incorporated in early 2002.
"We've got a long way to go to get the project permitted and ultimately built, and sold and put into operation," Santa Barbara architect-developer Detlev Peikert said Tuesday. "But we feel optimistic."
He said a ceremonial groundbreaking could happen in a month. Construction on the 98-room, three-story Hampton Inn and 37-condo complex could start in April and finish in spring 2006.
If Santa Barbara County voters approve a north vs. south divorce in two years, divvying up the finances and debt will be no easy task.
Figuring out an equitable way to do that is one of the most difficult tasks facing the Mission County Formation Review Commission.
Now in its sixth month of study, the commission must figure out how the North County and the remaining South Coast will fare if voters approve a split in June 2006.
During its Monday meeting, the commission pondered those financial divisions, and also considered the intricate details of setting an appropriate government spending limit for the new county.
Commissioner Jack Boysen has lobbied for the South Coast to make payments to the new county because of the number of government buildings already located in the south, and partially paid for by all county residents.
Commission Chairman Ted Tedesco said the split shouldn't be viewed as a marriage but as a business relationship, with assets split according to who paid into the purchase.
Santa Barbara is looking to lend a hand to the Faulding Hotel on Haley Street.
Citing concerns about the safety of the four-story building that houses low-income people and the working poor, the city is looking to invest redevelopment money into the hotel.
"The Faulding is in big trouble," said City Councilman Brian Barnwell, a real estate appraiser, referring to the building. "The electrical is dreadful. We need to step in and do something right away."
The 81-room hotel at 15 E. Haley St. was built in 1923. Originally, the building was owned by the Faulding Family, headed by Dwight and Etta Faulding. Over the years, the hotel has undergone several transformations. At one time it was called the Old Town Inn before it was purchased in the mid-1980s by the Santa Barbara Community Housing Corporation.
Following an outbreak of graffiti on the vacant Carrows Restaurant and other empty commercial buildings in Carpinteria, the city will now require property owners to clean up the mess in 10 days instead of 30.
Since the early 1990s, Carpinteria has required property owners to clean up graffiti within 30 days of being notified by the city. By shortening the time frame, city officials aim to discourage taggers by limiting their exposure, a known deterrent, said Paul Kermoyan, the city's director of community development.
He said other cities, such as Oxnard and San Diego, have a 10-day limit. The city of Santa Barbara is considering an abatement ordinance that would require property owners to remove graffiti within three days.
Santa Barbara's water division spent $22,499 remodeling a top official's office, including $3,942 on furniture, according to a report prepared by the City Administrator's Office.
Concerns about the expenditures were raised after a resident sent a complaint to the Santa Barbara County civil grand jury and Mayor Marty Blum.
Mrs. Blum referred the matter to City Administrator Jim Armstrong. After reviewing purchase orders, Marcelo Lopez, Mr. Armstrong's executive assistant, determined that the cost of the office furniture was about $2,500 higher than estimated earlier in the week.
It's been said that the movie doesn't start until the lights go down. So, wouldn't it be cool to just hit one button and have all your lights dim just as you start to roll the opening credits on your DVD?
The old faithful of home automation is the X10, which dates to the late 1970s; its products can be found at Radio Shack and www.x10.com. X10 technology sends power pulses from a switch over your household current to a device. Maybe 95 times out of 100 times, half a second after you press the button, you get the desired results. Besides wall plugs for lights (dimmable) and appliances (switchable) there are X10 wall switches and even drapery pulls, thermostats, and lawn-sprinkler switches.
For more on Home Automation click here
Santa Barbara city officials are reviewing the $19,000 remodeling of an office in the Public Works Department -- along with the purchase of a $5,000 50-inch flat-screen television -- after the county's civil grand jury and the mayor received a complaint from a private citizen.
The dustup centers around the office of the city's water distribution superintendent and a recent installation of cutting-edge technology that allows the city to control its water-distribution system from one central location.
The plasma screen was part of a $98,000 project to track water supply, flow, distribution and other technical matters. The remodeling of the office -- called "elaborate" by the complaining citizen -- came from a separate city service fund, which included a new ceiling, new lights, a $1,300 conference table and two $200 chairs.
Casting strong doubt on future housing at the Bishop Ranch, the Goleta City Council has decided to keep the large vacant tract zoned for agriculture.
In a 4-0 vote on Monday, the council, acting as the Planning Agency, sounded what could be a death knell for the proposed development on the urban South Coast's largest chunk of land where homes can still be built.
The council vote means agriculture will be the preferred use for the property when the city's emerging general plan -- a state-mandated blueprint for noise, traffic and land-use rules -- undergoes a required environmental impact review, most likely next year. It suggests any new Goleta housing will likely be concentrated elsewhere.
UCSB professor Finn E. Kydland was named the winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in economics on Monday, less than a week after another campus professor won the honor in physics.
The award to Mr. Kydland, who joined the UCSB Economics Department on July 1, marked the fifth time a UCSB academic has been tapped for a Nobel in six years.
He was named along with Edward C. Prescott, a co-researcher and professor at Arizona State University who was a visiting professor at UCSB last year. They will share the $1.3 million prize.
SANTA CLARA (Oct. 6) – The median price of a single-family home in California will again increase by double-digits next year, reaching $522,930, while sales will decrease slightly from this year's pace to the second best year on record in 2005, according to the California Association of REALTORS® "2005 Housing Market Forecast" released today.
The median home price in California will increase 15 percent to $522,930 in 2005 compared with a projected median of $454,720 this year, while sales for 2005 are projected to reach 603,700 units, falling 2.5 percent compared with 2004. The double-digit gain in the median price of a home, which California has experienced for most of the past four years, will again be fueled by the continuing shortage of housing across much of the state, according to C.A.R. economists. California typically gains nearly 250,000 new households, yet only will build about 200,000 new housing units this year, creating a shortfall of about 50,000 units.
"Homebuyers next year will face slightly higher mortgage interest rates, approaching 7 percent by year's end, which will make it more difficult for many families in California to be able to afford a home," said C.A.R. President Ann Pettijohn. "Coupled with rising home prices, affordability in California will fall to an all-time annual low of 16 percent next year."
"We expect the economy in 2005 to generate modest growth in jobs both nationally and here in California, while productivity gains and competition will likely keep inflation in check next year, " said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. "While the increase in interest rates will be enough to moderate the pace of home sales in 2005, population and household growth will continue to put pressure on home prices, resulting in greater price appreciation in California compared with the nation."
Home sales for California in 2004 are expected to reach a record 619,300 units, surpassing the prior sales record of 601,770 set in 2003, according to C.A.R. economists.
"Regionally, the areas with the greatest potential for home sales growth are the inland regions of the state -- the Central Valley and the Inland Empire region in Southern California, which have experienced significant population gains in recent years as well as robust new home-building activity," said Appleton-Young.
"The Southern California housing market in 2005 is likely to slow from the torrid pace of sales and rapid price appreciation that we experienced throughout most of this year," she said. "The San Francisco Bay Area housing market, which advanced at a more measured pace than other regions in the state this year, is likely to see less slowing in 2005 compared with other areas of the state."
Appleton-Young will deliver her highly anticipated forecast today during C.A.R.'s California REALTOR® EXPO 2004 in Santa Clara, Calif. The convention and trade show attracts more than 7,500 attendees.
A plan to combat violations of the county's affordable-housing rules may get a boost Tuesday if officials approve spending $37,000 to monitor the compliance of residents living in the subsidized units.
The money would allow the Housing and Community Development Department to implement an enforcement policy it enacted earlier this year but discontinued because of funding shortages.
A rancher and a community activist have wildly different visions of a new Mission County: One welcomes job-producing oil development projects, while the other shudders at the thought of a bankrupt government and farmland replaced by housing.
In the first debate Friday over the county split, the two North County women sparred during a gathering of the Santa Barbara Industrial Association, bringing to the fore the growing divisiveness over the proposed split.
Santa Ynez Valley rancher Nancy Crawford-Hall favors an immediate secession of the north, while Joyce Howerton, spokeswoman for the Coalition Against the County Split, wants the county to remain united.
When you've got a pretty large music collection the problem becomes where are my tunes when I want them? Music Catalogue Master 4 helps you organize and maintain even the largest music collections by seamlessly integrating local and online resources.
For more on Music Catalogue Master 4 Click Here!
A contested housing project on the edge of More Mesa cleared a county planning panel Wednesday after the builder agreed to reduce the size of the four proposed homes.
Seeking to minimize the effects of the large structures on the sprawling, 300-acre expanse, the Planning Commission unanimously approved a plan that would drop two of the 21-foot-tall homes to one story.
The 3.5-acre property holds a degraded wetland and one single-story home. Under the revised plan, Mr. Maxwell must designate the wetland for third-party conservation and pledge not to build additional homes beyond the four already approved.
UCSB professor David Gross was named a winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in physics for his discoveries about a force that binds particles in the nucleus of an atom.
Friends and colleagues gave him a standing ovation at a gathering on campus Tuesday to announce the honor -- the fourth time a UCSB scientist has been named a Nobel laureate in six years.
Mr. Gross, director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB, will share the $1.3 million prize -- which a colleague called the Olympic gold medal of science -- with his former colleague Frank Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and David Politzer of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who worked independently.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined again in September, the second consecutive monthly dip, and now stands at 96.8 (1985=100), down from 98.7 in August. The Present Situation Index fell to 95.5 from 100.7 in August.
Consumers' assessment of overall present-day conditions was mixed, with those saying business conditions are "good" rising to 23.6 percent in September from 23.0 percent the previous month. Those claiming conditions are "bad" remained flat at 20.3 percent, compared with 20.2 percent last month. The job situation was less favorable than in August, with consumers saying jobs are "plentiful" declining to 16.8 percent in September from 18.4 percent the previous month. Those claiming jobs are "hard to get" rose to 28.3 percent from 26.0 percent in August.
The Market Composite Index of mortgage loan applications, a measure of mortgage loan applications, was 724.7 for the week ending Sept. 24, an increase of 4.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis compared with 690.7 one week earlier, according to a report released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased by 4.6 percent for the week ending Sept. 24, compared with the previous week and was up 2.1 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.
The refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 45.9 percent of total applications for the week ending Sept. 24 from 44.5 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 32.5 percent of total applications for the week ending Sept. 24 compared with 33.1 percent the previous week, according to the report.
Even as enrollment plummets at Santa Barbara's regular elementary schools, numbers are up at the district's three public charter schools, where test scores range from exemplary to poor.
While the 13-school district appears to have lost about 290 students since last fall -- the largest drop in a quarter century -- the charter schools have posted a net gain of about 50 kids.
The trend is happening despite the bad press that has buffeted charter schools, from federal data indicating that performance is lagging at many of them, to the state-mandated closure of 60 California Charter Academy campuses.
Goleta can block the construction of The Residences at Sandpiper, according to a ruling in a $32 million lawsuit against the city.
Although the developers can appeal the decision, this could be the death knell for what would have been 87 market-rate and 22 affordable homes on 14.5 acres along Hollister Avenue.
The unanimous decision in Goleta's favor, issued late Thursday by a three-member panel of justices at the 2nd Appellate District Court in Ventura, reverses an earlier Santa Barbara Superior Court decision that would have forced officials to allow the project.
The biggest hit to come out of Apple Computers in years is the audio player called the iPod. These devices have become so popular that some automobile manufacturers are making them part of their options packages. BMW for example gives you the option of incorporating iPods directly into your car's sound system. And a new product from audio company Alpine will soon let even more of you hit the open road with your iPod connected to your car stereo.
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