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My latest entries:

Zillow Got Better At Zestimates.. So What?:

The Rehabbers Guide to 203K Loans

Our Annual Santa Clarita Schools Report Card

Are Santa Clarita's Bidding Wars Over Yet?

Santa Clarita Really IS The Safest Place To Live

5 Things You Need To Know About the Santa Clarita Real Estate Market Today

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Plains Trains and Restaurants - A Newhall Suggestion Box

Newhall is undergoing a renaissance of sorts with the recent decision to add the Laemmle Theater art film house to the downtown Newhall area. The area has been neglected from the late 70's up until the turn-of-the-century, when new developments began to pop up like weeds. The Santa Clarita City Council is trying to turn those weeds into grass by creating a more cohesive and compelling area for residents to visit for entertainment and arts/culture.

Restaurants like the Newhall Refinery have opened everyone's eyes to the possibilities that the quarter mile stretch of land offers. Even newer restaurants such as Southern Smoke Barbecue and Brew House and the Persia Lounge recently started capitalizing on the trend, adding decidedly different choices to Old Town Newhall. The area has long had great casual eateries such as Egg Plantation, El Trocadero Steakhouse, Jimmy Dean's, Cathy's Deli and The Grand Panda, but new upscale restaurants such as The Social, Bricks and Eat Real Cafe are adding culinary gravitas to this southern section of Santa Clarita. So what's missing?

New residential developments. Newhall is by no means at full capacity, with land between Circle J Ranch and Valle de Oro sitting idly by, as shown in this gorgeous Google picture.

I haven't researched what the growth plans in that area are, but I know development here is needed. I HAVE researched the Old Town Newhall plans, and they were off and running on their plans way back in 2005, describing how they wanted it to look, right down to the species of shrubs to be used in medians...

 

The plans later called for multi-story high density mixed-use projects that feed off the proximity to the Newhall Metrolink station.

I get it; we need housing of all types.

But every new home development in Santa Clarita has been further North, with tightly packed lots, and patio homes selling for prices that make me scratch my head. Where are all of these high paying jobs coming from that supply these buyers?

Are the hipsters quietly moving up here? I know neighborhoods in the San Fernando valley such as Valley Village are out of reach for Millenials, and I sense that Santa Clarita could be attracting all of the non-traditional households out of the valley. Large, extended families have reached out to us to find them the homes they can not afford in the valley, but we have to point them to patio homes?

Active families just getting started also find that they are relegated to a patio home, or worse yet, a townhome, with zero grassy area.

What Newhall needs is development of properties with lots at least 6500 square feet in size, and areas like those I mentioned (from Claibournes Arch south to Valle De Oro) are the perfect place for them.

     While I'm at it, the railroad tracks that divide Newhall in half, have got to go. Underneath, that is... Cities along the Metrolink line in the inland empire have paid to create grade crossings, so that traffic stays at existing height, while the trains intersect underneath. Those cities did this 10 years ago, but the prospect of doing that here would draw curious expressions from city planners. They are costly, at $35 million apiece, but that is what government is for... Not Common Core... But that is another story. The tracks also serve to slice Old Town Newhall in half, with homes east of the tracks considered the scariest at night, while businesses on Mains St. enjoy relatively safe, pedestrian traffic at night.

If quality of life is truly the goal here...if Santa Clarita is all about being Awesome, then homes with actual yards are a necessity. We need streets that don't turn into logjams on the hour, every hour, when freight trains blow their whistles waking the dead at 6 o'clock in the morning. Remember: if there are no crossings... there's no need for horns...We need an Old Town Newhall that is vibrant, but not a congested, overbuilt mess. Plans there call for a 5 story parking garage, with 400 spaces. They also call for 26 new housing units. They've got that corner figured out. Now, they need to zoom out, and look at the BIG PICTURE...

The growth of Disney Studios at Placerita Canyon virtually demands Newhall build TOWARDS the Southern end of town. City planners looked at the highway off-ramp at Newhall Ave. years ago, and called for massive beautification. The spiral cloverleaf leading to the entrance to Newhall from the south is not a thing of beauty. It all starts there, and at the Lyons exit off the 5. Those are the gateways, and both have remained untouched for decades....

We need even newer ideas than the ones currently under consideration, if Newhall is going to compete with Valencia and Stevenson Ranch for tax dollars, and 'quality-of-life' enhancements. 

In short, we need new homes on the plains... less trains.. and even more restaurants.

Real Estate Investment "Gurus" | A List of The Imposters

We work with a few real estate investors, and as any rational person would surmise: Not every single deal is a "Knock It Out Of The Park Home Run".
Investing takes some up-front education, and patience. But what it requires most is time and money. I stumbled upon an excellent resource for real estate investment advice today. John T. Reed has a website that evaluates virtually every single investment guru/real estate investment seminar that's ever existed. He throws several famous "gurus" under the bus, and explains in detail why their methods are shady or to be avoided.

If you have been toying with the idea of real estate investment, let me offer you 2 absolute truths:
1.) Start small. A $150,000 single family residence rental can teach you more than half of everything you'll need to know. Don't lose your life savings going big, or you won't be able to go home.
2.) Ask yourself if the advice you are hearing seems plausible. If you have to "reach" for a reason to buy into an idea, you are setting yourself up for failure. Many MILLIONS of people have been duped by these infomercial nimrods promising that their brand-new methods will make you a millionaire in just a year or two.

Reed's exhaustive list of the scumbags who've bilked Americans out of millions is frighteningly long, and sometimes contested by those same guru's. They claim Reed just wants to sell his own ideas. Regardless of who is right or wrong, if you are serious about investing, head over to that list of dirtballs, and see if he has a take on one of them. He seems to have a great deal of insight, not to mention, clout.

Real Estate: Trust But Verify

When I try to summarize what makes Santa Clarita..... "Santa Clarita," I would think I can count on 2 things: facts are facts, and opinions are opinions. Take the population figures, for example. We can all agree that the 2010 US census should be a good source, and anyone telling you about the SCV online would use those figures in their research.

So, what is the population of Santa Clarita as of 2010?

Answer: 176,320 people living on 52.71 square miles.

Unless you are Local.niche.com  (177,366 people living on 53 sq. mi.)

Or are the City of Santa Clarita (210,000 and 64.41 square miles)

Or are a California-Demographics site (181,557)

    Okay, no big deal. These figures get us into the ballpark of what size our town is. But the point here is, this should be a piece of data that is not subject to interpretation. The number was 176,320 five years ago. We appear to be growing at a rate of 1.6%, so the 2014 population by MY estimate, is 187,878. Yes, I too am jumping into this game of wild speculation, and that is the takeaway.

    When it comes to real estate, ALL the numbers you see that are NOT on a contract are subject to interpretation, or data gathering error. The only ones you can count on, are on a buyer's agreement. Even something seemingly cut and dry, such as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms a home has, are up for grabs on an MLS. So too, are the numbers of stories, with some realtors listing a home as "single story with loft...." and listing it in the MLS as a one story.

w about square feet in the home? This stat will change over the years as things are done to a property, and it is up to the buyer to compare what they are seeing with what is on the page.

    As an aficionado of statistics and general rock-solid number gathering, I like using numbers to tell a story. But earlier I mentioned there is one other method to tell someone what's what: State an opinion. Yelp, Trulia, Zillow and the gang all print out people's opinions about anything you can imagine, including opinions about laws, rules, ethics, expectations, and more. Too often, people rely on the reviews they see. Remember that old adage about how one favorable review is relayed to one other person, but a bad review is relayed to 10? That gets amplified online, where there are a lot of curmudgeons who are messing up my love of statistics telling a story. Thank God, the reviews of our services are all positive on these sites, but I worry about the power of one annoyed client. 

    The big takeaway here: Trust but verify. Everything. I mean everything. The entire real estate business is predicated on every single person doing what they are supposed to do: buyers, sellers, realtors, inspectors, lenders, appraisers, contractors, escrow agents, brokers, movers, landscapers, attorneys, mortgage brokers.. etc etc... If one person lets something slip, the entire process often comes to a grinding halt.

Pictured at left: 1 Bedroom with loft.

Investors: Throw Your Money A Lifeline

Investors who are under age 50, and are looking for a little more oomph in their portfolio might want to take a second look (or first look, for that matter) at small-market real estate investments. They don't have to be big splashy multi-million dollar properties, to generate some very useful income. One example: parents of students going away to college would do well to buy a multi-unit investment property with 2-4 unit, and have their child live in one of them. Another example: buying a duplex in a smaller town than the one you are in, and seeing immediate cash flow, plus equity building.

I am having great success in several markets. Two different investors are making their 3rd and 8th purchases with me, respectively. The world of investment property can be high risk/high reward... But it can also be low-risk/high reward. That's where I come in.

Give me a call to talk about strategies, and what you are trying to achieve.

The stock market is not a sure thing, and frankly many sectors are overpriced. Real estate? We're just getting started! No bubbles on the horizon here.

Passive income is a beautiful thing, as long as it is as passive as possible...

Call us for a no-obligation chit-chat. (818) 261-8306.

Santa Clarita May 2015 Home Sales Data Shows Selling Season is Here

June 13,2015

The home buying season is definitely under way in Santa Clarita with over 400 SINGLE FAMILY homes sold last month. Stevenson Ranch remained the most expensive market with median sale prices at $660,000 while Castaic was the value leader with median sale prices at just $407,000. 47.8% of all homes sold for at least the listing price in May, declining from 49.5% in April.

City-wide, the average house took 69 days on the market before it registered as sold, down from 97 in April.

NEWHALL had 36 new listings and 33 sales in May. The median sale price was $337,000. Asking prices are currently much higher, as the chart above, from Altos Research shows wildly different numbers than the data provided by the California MLS. Still getting to the bottom of those figures......

CANYON COUNTRY had 89 new listings and 66 sales in May. The median sale price was $408,600.

STEVENSON RANCH had 27 new listings and 21 sales in May. The median sale price was $660,000.

CASTAIC had 27 new listings and 22 sales in May. The median sale price was $407,000.

VALENCIA had 116 new listings and 86 sales in May. The median sale price was $452,000.

SANTA CLARITA as a whole had 411 new listings and 309 sales in May. The median sale price was $435,000.

Nothing To Do in Santa Clarita?

I get around... I hear things... I am.. in the loop! (For an over 50 year old, that is...)

So it comes to me as a surprise when I keep reading posts on various websites from alleged Santa Clarita residents bemoaning how little there is to do here... It's getting old.

Older than me, in fact.

Perhaps it's still cool to be jaded and withdrawn from the place you live, but life's too short to gripe about how awful the town you live in is... I love Santa Clarita. I can't seem to convince any of my old friends that it's great enough to MOVE here, but I'll keep trying. For the rest of those who happen upon my ramblings: A LIST OF STUFF TO DO IN SANTA CLARITA, in no particular preference:

Hurricane Harbor, The Aquatic Center (with Dive-in Movies), Frisbee Ultimate at Central Park on Saturday mornings, the Skatepark, the dog park, Vasquez Rocks, Mountasia, Gibbon Conservation Center, Art Slam, Thursdays in Newhall (themed street festivals with a band and food trucks), awesome hiking trails in ALL directions, just pick one. Paintball USA. Lake Castaic. Indoor Go Karts just southeast of the 5 and 14 intersection. Saturday Saugus Swap Meet. Frisbee golf in Central Park. Vista Valencia Golf Course (9 and 18 holes). Robinson Ranch Golf Course.. 
Greg Bratton's answer, while pithy, is short-sighted... IF all of these are unappealing, there are still church-organized activities, summer concerts, Friday outdoor concerts at the big box shopping center in Stevenson Ranch.
Magic Mountain, Comedy Club at Marie Callendars, beach volleyball at SC Sports Complex..
I truly could go on, and on... but I invite you to add to the list, in case I've forgotten something more obvious!

SLOW DOWN, Santa Clarita!

2 Words: Slow Growth,
Wait: Make that 3 words: Managed Slow Growth.
Now that the media has decided that the economy is back in gear (and I can't fathom why it would be, with almost all new jobs produced being low-wage or part-time work) builders and Santa Clarita planners seem to be in lock-step with the goal of building out Santa Clarita as soon as possible.

What's the rush?
1.) Where's the water?
2.) Where's the infrastructure? The existing roads need fixing, along with needed new roads.
3.) Where's that damn bullet train actually going to go?
4. Will the vilified Cemex mining operation actually start?

Plans are in the offing for huge developments in Eastern Santa Clarita over the next decade, and they all but ignore these 4 questions. Let the buyers beware: Do you want to live in a new home and choke cement dust, only to get in the car and sit in traffic behind a dump truck while you watch the "high speed" train lumber by at about 35 mph in Santa Clarita?

Both the builders and planners cite needed jobs and housing, and I agree with that part. But building with so many intangibles left unsettled is absolutely crazy, and anyone who buys a home in eastern Canyon Country in the next 5 years is asking for trouble.

The list of new development is lengthy and unmanageable as it currently stands:

The Five Knolls project at Golden Valley Road/Newhall Ranch Road adds 500 homes.

The Skyline Ranch project to be built between Whites Canyon Road and Sierra Highway south of Vasquez Canyon Road will add 1,260 more homes.

The Vista Canyon Ranch proposal, an 1,100 home project located across the Santa Clara River from Canyon Country Park.

River Village still has 400 more homes slated for building in western Canyon Country/Saugus.

Trestles, hiding in the shadow of Via Princessa, by the train tracks somehow adds 137 more units.

Working for a Realtor, you'd think this would be great news to me, but I've seen what uncontrolled growth does to an area (cough, San Fernando Valley, cough). Oh well, Santa Clarita, it was "awesome" while it lasted.

It ain't pretty.

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