Long Beach Home and Income Property Tax Pending

Long Beach Home and Income Property Tax Pending

Just in from the Pacific West Board of Realtors:

The Long Beach City Council will consider placing a Parcel Tax on the November 2008 ballot this Tuesday, July 22nd at 5:00 p.m. at City Hall.

Guide to Long Beach City Government

The proposed Parcel Tax is $120 annually per residential parcel and $120 annually per unit for apartment buildings.

We encourage you to attend this council meeting if possible.

City of Long Beach
333 W. Ocean Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90802
Tel: (562) 570-6555

Why is this important to you?

If you are the owner of a single family home this will cost you an extra $120 per year. Not a lot by anybodys standards and won't exactly break the bank.

If you are the owner of apartment buildings this parcel tax will be per unit. Own a lot of units? OUCH! This breaks down to about $10 per month per apartment.

If you are a renter, plan on having that included in your next rent increase!

Posted on July 21, 2008 02:58:44 by Laurie.Manny

Space Saving Ideas for your Long Beach Homes

Small Living Space Soutions for Long Beach Homes

Space Savers or Hidden Secrets?

Down here at the beach we trade square footage for beach living and ocean breezes.  But what do we do with all of our stuff?  Lifetime collections of photos, books and other treasured belongings, that we are just not prepared to part with, need a place in our new homes as well. 

Small spaces are a challenge when we downsize our lives.  Creative use of our space without feeling cluttered and oppressive becomes a mission.  Creative Home Engineering, a Tempe Arizona company specializing in hidden passageways may have solved some of these issues. 

Read more »

Posted on July 15, 2008 02:48:03 by Laurie.Manny

Long Beach Mortgage Rates Report - July 14, 2008

Mortgage rates in Long Beach, California  for July 14, 2008.  Loan amounts up to $417,000:

3/1 ARM              5.125%
5/1 ARM              5.250%

7/1 ARM              5.625%

10/1 ARM            5.750%

30 Yr Fixed          6.000%

All rates offered to the borrower with 1 point cost.  Rate quotes assume a purchase transaction with a 20% down payment, 720 credit score, and full income qualification.  Rates are subject to fluctuation.  Custom rate quotes and rate lock advice are available by calling at the number below..

LONG BEACH CALIFORNIA  MORTGAGE RATE TREND:

Next 7 days:       Neutral 

Next 30 days:      Higher 

Next 3 months:    Higher

Last week was a scary one if you've been following the mortgage industry:

Senator Schumer (NY) caused an old-fashioned bank run when he wrote a letter to the San Francisco Fed President concerned about IndyMac Bank's ability to weather the storm....then, he made that letter public. IndyMac Bank ceased new loan operations, in an effort to manage the loans they have on their books, on Monday. On Friday, the Feds closed IndyMac Bank down.

This was political grandstanding at its worst:

Sen. Schumer rejected that, saying that, while banking regulators do their work in private, lawmakers typically do theirs in public. Sen. Schumer, the head of Senate Democrats' re-election effort, threw in a political jab as well. "Clearly what was happened here was the OTS, having the second-biggest bank failure on their watch, sought to blame the messenger. In sum, it's sort of classically what this administration does. Blame the fire on the guy who called 911."

The New York Times asked if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were insolvent and Wall Street went nuts.  Treasury Secretary Paulson stepped in and offered government support SHOULD the big mortgage guarantors fail.  Are Fannie and Freddie too big to fail?  Well, they insure almost half of this nation's $12 trillion worth of mortgage debt.  A failure would be a major disruption to housing capital and drive mortgage rates to the a MUCH higher level.

Read more »

Posted on July 14, 2008 16:47:37 by Laurie.Manny

Feng Shui Influences How Bay Area Houses Are Priced

Feng Shui Influences How Bay Area Houses Are Priced

The Long Beach Real Estate Home Blog is pleased to welcome guest author, San Mateo California Realtor, Leonore Wilkas of The Wilkas Group. 

Living on the San Francisco Peninsula as I do, with our large Asian population, we find all kinds of Asian influences creeping into our daily lives. One of the biggest is Feng Shui, a Chinese mysticism of sorts, where it is believed that your life can improve by doing little things within your living environment through the placement of furniture, artwork, or even the front door of a house. It's a serious business around here with many experts helping Realtors and non-Asians prepare their houses for sale so that the house will sell quickly.

Having harmony in life promotes wealth, prosperity, good health, and chi - the movement of the air around you. The Chinese are superstitious people. If they believe the Feng Shui is bad at a property, they will not look at it, or seriously consider buying it unless they think the bad Feng Shui can be over come.

Numbers play a big influence in Feng Shui

Certain numbers can prevent someone from even considering a property unless they can have a Feng Shui master come and correct the chi of the house. In our area, the number 8, believed to mean wealth, is often seen within the listing price of a home. Asians believe that numbers can create harmony within the house. If the price of the home reflects certain numbers such as 1, 6, or 8, it is considered to be positive so it's very common to price homes with the number 8 somewhere in the price, for example you might see a house listed at $618,988, $888,888 or $1,886,688. The worst numbers to use are 2 and 5 and if I, as an agent, want to attract a buyer who follows Feng Shui, I will avoid them, if I can.

But, that's only part of the issue with numbers. What do you do if the house number is considered bad Feng Shui? What if the numbers are really bad like 4, 13, 24, or 104? You can't exactly change them, can you? No, not if you're trying to sell the house, so you must use little Feng Shui tricks to provide protection to the property.

Have you ever noticed houses with two large lion-type animals sitting at the front entrance to a house in your neighborhood or city? These are called Foo dogs and they're placed there to protect the house from bad chi.

If you're unlucky enough to have house numbers that are considered bad chi you place a circle around your house numbers and protect the chi.

When you see wind chimes anywhere near the entrance of a house, it is considered good luck. Is there a birdbath or water feature somewhere in the front or back yard? They may be trying to improve the chi, or energy, of the house.

The power of Feng Shui is believed in by a whole lot of people on this planet. Many other cultures have similar beliefs. The Japanese and Indians also look at numerology in their daily lives. Japanese like odd numbers like 3, 5 and 7. The Indians believe in a Destiny number that is the total number for your birthday. If you were born on March 1^st, 1968, the numbers would be written out like this: 03.01.68 = 18, 1+8 = 9, and 9 would be your Destiny number. Numerology has been around for thousands of years and is believed by millions of people.

What are the lucky numbers for Feng Shui?

Read more »

Posted on July 13, 2008 00:45:00 by Laurie.Manny

Southern California Living - Long Beach and Pasadena

The Long Beach Real Estate Home Blog is pleased to welcome guest author, Pasadena California Realtor, Irina Netchaev.

Southern California Living - Long Beach and Pasadena

Many home buyers are looking to relocate and move to Southern California to enjoy our beautiful year-round sunny weather and be close to both snow and ocean. 

The hardest question of all is whether to buy a home in a beach community like Long Beach or to find a home in a foothills city like Pasadena.

Both, Long Beach and Pasadena are excellent places to live.  Long Beach, California has a beautiful selection of homes for sale in wonderful neighborhoods like Belmont Heights where you can buy a home for around $800,000 and be a few short blocks away from the beach.

For city living at its best, but still close to the beach, then a Downtown Long Beach Condo is waiting for you.  Downtown Long Beach has gone through extensive revitalization and there are many high and low-rise condos and lofts with spectacular views which can be purchased for as little as $69,990, or for as much as $2,699,999; many of which are high rise luxury condos on the waterfront (prices based on 2 and 2+ bedroom units).  Downtown neighborhoods vary greatly in price.    

Of course, Long Beach wouldn't be Long Beach without the Queen Mary, the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, East Village Arts District, Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach Museum of Art, and you're just a ferry away from Catalina Island and the Port of Long Beach where all the wonderful cruise ships are waiting to take you to romantic destinations.

Long Beach is also 35^th largest city in the nation and the 5^th largest city in California.

Pasadena California is about 35 miles away from the beach, but is nestled in the San Gabriel Foothills.  If you decide to buy a home in Pasadena, you'll be minutes from hiking trails and a short drive to the mountains where you can enjoy winter skiing.

Old Town Pasadena has also undergone an extensive revitalization over the last 10 years.  Beautiful live-work lofts are being built, as well as a nice selection of condos and townhomes are available for sale ranging anywhere between $600,000 to over $1,000,000.  Pasadena's business center is located in the South Lake District where you can buy a 1 bedroom condo for as little as $400,000 and be steps away from great restaurants and boutiques.

Pasadena is full of historic neighborhoods and has many historically designated landmark districts like; Historic Highlands , Bungalow Heaven and Madison Heights.  Homes for sale in Pasadena are available starting at $500,000, but average closer to $955,000. 

Read more »

Posted on July 11, 2008 21:49:56 by Laurie.Manny