Having Problems paying your loan? Loan Modifications & Loss Mitigations

What is loan modification?

Changes in your loan by the lender to help you avoid foreclosure
You basically refinance without paying high costs of refinancing…..
Banks do not want to own your home or prospering from your misfortune

I. Introduction to Loss Mitigation/Loan Modification
We all know that life is unpredictable, and that circumstances often arise that can prevent you from making your mortgage payments. Even hard-working people can encounter unforeseen situations which may affect their ability to pay their mortgage in a timely manner. Many issues can be contributing factors such as interest rate adjusting, illness, loss of job, reduced income, failed business, job relocation, death of spouse, divorce, marital separation, or even high medical bills. Just one of these situations can have a direct bearing on making home mortgage payments.
What is a Loan Modification? Loan Modification- This term has been getting a lot of attention lately and rightfully so. With millions of homeowners stuck in toxic adjustable rate mortgages and no ways to refinance out of them, loan modifications may be the only way to assist struggling borrowers. This term is used when your lender modifies your current mortgage (same loan you have, only changes are made to the note) in order to work with you and make your mortgage more affordable. A modification to your rate, balance of loan, delinquent fees owed, term of loan etc. can be made by the Lender. In the past this was only used when a borrower was delinquent but now we will see it being used before someone is delinquent. This will be the hottest term and the best way to help people avoid foreclosure.
Why, you might ask, would any bank be willing to change or even negotiate your loan terms? The reason is because banks already own over $50 billion in foreclosed properties and the last thing they want is more homes for their portfolio. It is in the banks best interest to negotiate the terms of your loan as an alternative to having to pay the high costs associated with the process of foreclosure. A loan modification is the banks best way to ensure they are paid back any money owed for the mortgage plus interest. This is a win/win scenario with the bank avoiding owning another property and potentially suffering huge losses, and more importantly ensuring your family can not only keep your home, but also maintain a mortgage payment you will have the financial capability to afford.
One of the best parts about this service is that you can potentially attain all of the benefits of refinancing without having to pay all the high costs of a refinance. Refinancing can often cost in excess of $10,000 when you take into consideration the appraisal, title, escrow, and loan origination fees. We realize that “value” in business is hard to come by, and the last thing we want to do is put our clients in a bind that could potentially lead to more financial difficulties down the road, which is why we only charge $2,000 for this service. Compare that with the costs of your last refi! Similar companies are charging anywhere from $4,000-$10,000 for this very same service!

Short Sales, Not that Fun

Short sales: A tough road

By Diane Wedner
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

June 15, 2008

RESIDENTIAL short sales sound like a picnic: Owners need to sell their homes for less than they owe, lenders forgive the difference and buyers grab a good deal.

If only. This is one picnic that requires a long wait for dessert. The only “short” thing about short sales, buyers and sellers say, is one’s patience.

“The waiting is torture,” said Mark Shandrow, a Keller Williams Realty agent in Long Beach who specializes in such transactions. “The banks are overwhelmed with short-sale requests, and some make sellers wait five months for an answer.” That answer, in many cases, he added, is “no.”

Yet despite the obstacles to successful short sales — lenders holding the first and second mortgages don’t agree on the terms, buyers often ditch the deal midstream or banks nix the agreement just before escrow closes — they’re on the rise. Countrywide Financial Corp. of Calabasas, the largest U.S. home lender, reports a nearly 60% increase in those transactions nationwide in April, the latest month for which statistics are available, from the same period a year earlier.

In the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys, the number of short sales increased from at least 31 sales from May 2006 to May 2007 to at least 1,956 sales from May 2007 to May of this year, according to the Southland Regional Assn. of Realtors.

The reason for the rise, experts say, is that as more financially strapped homeowners fall behind on their mortgage payments — and see their homes’ values plummet to less than what they owe — they’re turning to short sales as an alternative to foreclosure. Banks, once loath to take on short sales because, among other reasons, they were understaffed for the application onslaught, are tackling them now mainly because they’re more cost-effective than foreclosures.

“Banks aren’t happy about short sales,” said Sherri Frost, a senior loan officer with Sherman Oaks-based Metrocities Mortgage, “but they have few options.”

Unlike a foreclosure, in which the lender takes ownership of a property after a borrower misses several payments, a short sale is a transaction in which the owners, not the bank, sell the home; they receive no proceeds from the sale. In a foreclosure, the defaulting owner may receive sales proceeds once the lender has been paid, if the amount exceeds that of the outstanding loan.

If a short-sale borrower owes $500,000 on a home, the bank may accept a payoff amount of $450,000, the amount a buyer has offered to pay. The sellers need not be in default — meaning they stopped making mortgage payments — in order for a lender to consider a short sale, but they must be able to show a real hardship to receive the debt forgiveness, which may have tax consequences.

Then there’s the wait

It sounds straightforward, but the short-sale road is a long one. Once sellers have an offer, they must assemble a package to present to the bank, including a “hardship letter” explaining why they had to put the house up for sale — loss of employment, a spousal death, a divorce, a disability or a mortgage resetting, for example — and asking the bank to accept a short sale, according to a Countrywide spokeswoman.

The sellers also must provide income verification, their most recent bank and income-tax statements, the listing history of the house and other documentation. Then comes the wait. And frequent follow-up calls to the bank to make sure the file isn’t buried.

“Banks won’t grant face-to-face interviews because of the volume of short sales and foreclosures,” said Mary Ebersole, a Re/Max Realty Specialists agent in Long Beach. Even if the seller gets approval, she added, “there’s only room for cautious optimism.”

That’s because impatient buyers sometimes head elsewhere while the bank’s loss-mitigation officer, or negotiator, sifts through the pile of short-sale packages. Or buyers put offers on five or six other properties to see which comes through first.

Sometimes, while awaiting a bank’s decision, interest rates go up and buyers no longer qualify for a previously approved loan because their lock-in rates expired. Worse yet, a seller may get an initial approval from the bank, but in the eleventh hour the bank adds a contingency that skewers the deal, or pulls the plug without explanation, agents say.

Second and third mortgages and even home equity loans can further complicate matters. Last fall, Pam Kennedy, a Coldwell Banker Ambassador agent in Whittier, was disheartened when her short-sale client’s lender demanded, after a long wait and with a buyer already on board, that the seller sign a promissory note for $15,000, which would be interest-free and amortized over 10 years. The seller had taken out a second mortgage awhile back to buy a recreational vehicle for $25,000 and pay off some debt. The lender wanted to recoup some of the loss it was absorbing.

The seller was going through a divorce, starting a new job and was afraid she couldn’t make the payments. Also, despite months of effort, she couldn’t sell the RV — an asset, in the bank’s opinion. The deal fell through and the bank foreclosed on the property. The experience left a bitter taste in Kennedy’s mouth.

“I avoid short sales and advise buyers to avoid them,” Kennedy said. “They are miserable.”

Sticking it out

True, most participants say, but some eventually have happy endings.

Mari and Joe Abrams found the house of their dreams in Porter Ranch in December. They got quick loan approval to buy the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home, and feeling optimistic about the new purchase, they put their Encino home on the market.

The couple offered $650,000 for the new house, which had been listed earlier in the $699,000 to $749,000 range. They paid a $10,000 good-faith deposit, agreed to pay all of the escrow fees (which usually are split between seller and buyer) and agreed to buy the property as is.

They expected the bank to quickly counter-offer. For one thing, the seller’s second-mortgage holder already had agreed to the sale, a major hurdle in short-sale transactions. But without the first bank’s approval, the deal stalled. (Both the first and second mortgage holders must settle to complete a short sale.)

The couple’s own house sold three months into the process, so they moved, with their toddler, Daniel, and 50-pound dog into Mari’s mother’s condo.

By April, Mari, 32, started peppering the first lender with daily phone calls, seeking a response to their offer. As the deal dragged, the Abramses extended the escrow. It closed, finally, on May 2. The family plans to move in later this month.

“Our hearts sank a hundred times,” Mari said. “It was a roller coaster.”

“If we didn’t like the house so much, we wouldn’t have hung on that long,” Joe, 37, added. In the end, however, they’re glad they stuck it out. It is, Mari says, just what they wanted. Even if they didn’t get the “deal of the century,” Joe said.

Bargain bins

Lenders will not accept short-sale offers that are far below market value. To the contrary, many banks “net about 90% of the current market value” on many of these sales, agent Shandrow said. Also, the homes usually are sold as is, which sometimes can mean a missing kitchen sink, ripped-out bathroom fixtures and stained carpets.

Marty Rodriguez, a Century 21 agent in Glendora, says she won’t take a short-sale offer to the bank unless it’s reasonable. “The negotiator doesn’t want to look at 12 offers,” Rodriguez said. “He wants the best, highest and the most qualified ones.”

Buyers looking for bargains should wait until short-sale and foreclosure prices are down about 35% from the peak market in their search area, said James Joseph, owner of Century 21 Ambassador in Brea and Whittier.

“Short sales and foreclosures are the nails in the floor of the market,” Joseph said. “That’s where the bargains are.”

diane.wedner@latimes.com

Home Will Sell if the Price is Right

To sell home, make sure the pricing is right

By Lew Sichelman
United Feature Syndicate

June 15, 2008

WASHINGTON — You can spruce up the outside of your house to the point where it stops passersby in their tracks. You can “stage” the inside so it looks roomy and brand-spanking new. You can give away a car or vacation to your eventual buyer. You can even offer a cash bonus to the selling agent.

But in today’s market, if your place isn’t priced correctly, it probably isn’t going to sell. More than likely, it will languish on the list of unsold inventory until the market adjusts back up to your asking price. And that could be months — or even years in some places.

A far better plan is to adjust your price to local market conditions, and let the market come to you.

“I have learned that a great strategy for sellers who are serious about getting their homes sold is to price the property ahead of the market,” said Michael Selvaggio, president of the Council of Residential Specialists and a broker in Townsend, Del.

In a seller’s market, Selvaggio said, there’s nothing wrong with setting your price a little higher than the last one because prices are steadily rising. But in a flat or declining market, your price should be a little lower than the last comparable sale.

And not just a few percentage points lower, either.

“When was the last time you rushed out to the mall to take advantage of a 2% sale?” asked the 32-year real estate veteran. “You need to have a real sale, so how about 5% to 10% off, for starters?”

Price adjustments

Owners instinctively know, perhaps with a little prodding from their agents, that they’ll have to adjust their price if their homes are not in great condition. Ditto for houses that are not in the greatest locations. But many sellers today are reluctant to trim their asking numbers in a “challenging” market, clinging unflinchingly to the notion that their homes are worth what they paid for them — and then some.

Sellers who have the best results realize the logic and marketing advantage behind placing a realistic price on their homes, Selvaggio said. “Make no mistake about it — price sells.”

If some sellers haven’t yet gotten this message, some real estate agents haven’t either. There are plenty of agents who continue to accept overpriced listings on the theory that if you throw enough mud against the wall, some should stick.

But according to Robert Jenson of the Jenson Group, a luxury Las Vegas real estate agency, an overpriced house will wither on the listing vine, putting it at a strategic disadvantage to other, newer listings.

Ultimately, Jenson said, the owner of an overpriced property is often forced to accept less than what he might have sold it for had he been more realistic in the first place.

Market controls

Howard Brinton, a sales trainer from Boulder, Colo., said too many agents let the market control them, instead of the other way around. An agent, he says, needs to be a counselor and educator as well as a salesperson.

“Pricing, specifically correct pricing, is the only answer for today’s changing market and the most important thing a Realtor can do for his client,” Brinton said.

To price your home properly and achieve a prompt sale, you need to anticipate the market and get in front of it. “You never want to get caught chasing the market down,” the realty educator said. “You want to get ahead of it.”

To price their homes properly, sellers need to know how fast properties in their specific market segment are being sold. You also need to know how much competition you have for today’s skittish buyers, most of whom are worried about jumping into the ocean while the tide is still going out.

And you need to know market statistics such as absorption rates (the number of homes sold in any given time frame), inventory (the number of unsold houses) and days on the market (how quickly or slowly houses are selling).

Of course, it is difficult, if not impossible, for sellers to perform this kind of research on their own. And if your agent can’t do it for you, find one who can.

Above all, heed Brinton’s final bit of advice: Selling houses is like standing in line at the grocery store. Eventually, you are going to get to the cashier. But if someone breaks in line with a more competitively priced property, you are going to have to wait longer.

Lew Sichelman can be reached at lsichelman@aol.com.

Will Rogers State Park Saved!

In an article on Wednesday plans to close to state parks was abolished.  Read below:

If state’s numbers don’t come up, bet on a sales tax hike

By Evan Halper and Jordan Rau
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

May 14, 2008

SACRAMENTO — In his latest plan for closing a budget shortfall now estimated at $17.2 billion, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose giving voters a choice between borrowing against the state lottery and paying more sales tax.

The sales tax proposal is a turnabout by Schwarzenegger, who came to office as an anti-tax crusader and throughout his tenure has steadfastly insisted he would never consent to new taxes. In recent days, the administration repeatedly denied reports that it has been laying the groundwork for a sales-tax increase.

Deep cuts in services would still be needed to balance the budget. According to advocates and lobbyists briefed by the administration, Schwarzenegger will propose reducing health services for the poor even further than he had suggested in January, in his initial spending plan.

At the same time, he is walking away from some cuts he proposed then that triggered loud howls of protest.

Schwarzenegger Communications Director Matt David said the latest proposal restores billions of dollars in school spending and abandons plans to close 48 state parks and release tens of thousands of prisoners early.

The governor’s new plan, to be released today, has already drawn resistance from GOP lawmakers, who have pledged to vote against any new taxes.

The lottery proposal, according to David, would come before voters as early as November and hinges on administration estimates that California could borrow against future profits to generate as much as $15 billion over three years.

The governor also will propose changes to the lottery intended to lure more gamblers, such as increasing payouts and updating the games offered by the state to include blackjack and poker themes.

Under the plan, if voters rejected the borrowing, or if the proposal fell through for any other reason — such as lawsuits or lack of a viable lender — state sales taxes would automatically increase by 1 cent to cover the loss.

The sales tax increase would stay in effect until the state’s finances were out of the red, for up to three years. A 1-cent sales tax increase would generate roughly $6 billion per year, according to state statistics.

Republican lawmakers, who support squeezing more cash from the lottery to help close the budget gap, said the governor’s plan to link it to a sales tax is a deal breaker.

“This is not something we can support,” said Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines of Clovis. “The lottery is a great asset that we can use to pay down debt, but tying that to a tax increase is fundamentally the wrong way to go.”

The tax trigger would not go before voters but would need approval by two-thirds of the Legislature, requiring the support of at least eight Republicans.

Administration officials defend their plan as a responsible way to bring long-term balance to state finances.

They note it includes spending restraints, which would also go before voters, that would force the state to put billions of dollars into a rainy-day fund. It also would refund some of the new sales taxes if the state began generating budget surpluses.

Democrats say they will keep an open mind. State Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said the state will need even more new revenue than Schwarzenegger is proposing.

“But we may not have the luxury of discounting any potential source of revenue to avoid devastating cuts,” Steinberg said.

A similar plan was enacted under former Gov. George Duekmejian in the early 1980s. But voters never had to pay the tax because revenues picked up and the state made its way out of the red before the 1-cent sales tax kicked in.

Schwarzenegger’s proposal may be more likely to hit voters in the wallet.

It is linked to changes to the lottery that could run into legal trouble and resistance from well-funded gambling interests that could finance a significant campaign against competition from an expanded lottery.

Some of the biggest new cuts in the governor’s budget are aimed at Medi-Cal, which provides healthcare for the impoverished, including people receiving in-home support services.

The January version of the budget had $4.7 billion in healthcare cuts, including termination of Medi-Cal coverage for dental work and optometry, and increases in premiums for the state’s Healthy Families program.

Healthy Families provides medical care for about 800,000 children whose parents earn more than the poverty level but still are low-income.

The changes restrict eligibility for these programs. But defenders of in-home supportive services, which the governor has selected for cuts in the past, have noted that it is far cheaper to care for ailing people in their own homes than to put them in nursing homes.

The administration sought to brace healthcare advocates in a private briefing Tuesday. Aides to the governor said they have not given up trying to expand healthcare in California — the goal of a $14-billion Schwarzenegger proposal that the state Senate rejected in January — but it would have to wait at least until next year, according to people at the meeting.

Healthcare advocates said they were not assuaged and plan to loudly criticize Schwarzenegger’s proposal when it is formally released.

Schwarzenegger’s decision to drop his prisoner release plan will allow him to avoid continued protest against it. The proposal infuriated law enforcement and victims’ groups, and no state legislator has agreed to sponsor it in the nearly five months since he offered the idea.

Matthew Cate, Schwarzenegger’s newly appointed secretary of corrections, said projections for the state prison and parole population had fallen enough that the early release plan was no longer needed to save money.

“We agreed the first thing we’ve got to do is take the early release off the table,” Cate said. “We’ve got a golden opportunity here to do that, and that’s what we’ve done.”

Since January, the state has cut its projection for the prison population next year from 177,000 to nearly 171,000, and the estimated number of those on parole was cut from 133,000 to 123,000.

evan.halper@latimes.com

jordan.rau@latimes.com

Times staff writer Michael Rothfeld contributed to this report.

10 Tips to Sell A House Faster This Spring in LA

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is never more true than when purchasing a home.

No one needs to remind sellers that today’s market is a challenging one. In fact, there are on average more than 11 months of inventory on the market at any given time.

So it is vitally important that you make sure all of your listings stand out above the others that are competing for the buyer’s attention.

Here are some very basic pointers you can print out and share with home sellers to help get them headed in the right direction:

1. De-Clutter: This one is simple. De-clutter everywhere; inside and outside. If it’s taking up space it is a potential candidate to be thrown out. The sellers need to make that all important mental conversion from “home to live in” to “house for sale.” Personal things are a big distraction as you want the buyers to be able to visualize their own belonging in the house.

2. Repair: Buyers want everything working so don’t disappoint them - dripping faucets, broken windows, leaking roofs, damaged walls and doors, etc, beg the question in the buyer’s mind…What else is broken or doesn’t work?

3. Lots of Light: The last thing home buyers want to see is a dark home with all of the doors and windows covered. Let the light in and open some windows to let in some fresh air. Room deodorizers leave the impression of covering something up as does a window that has the blinds drawn.

4. Clean Windows: Buyers want to know and see the view they will have from every room - don’t make them look through dirty windows. If they do, the impression of a having great view is literally going “out the window.”

5. Kitchen and Bathrooms: Two of the most important rooms in the house. They must be spotless and first class. Just cleaning up isn’t going to be good enough - you need to “deep clean” all counters, floors, cabinets and all the fixtures in the bathrooms. In the bathrooms consider new fixtures or countertops and perhaps redoing the shower and tub enclosures. If new fixtures are not in the budget you may want to consider having them refinished. Think about having all the tile steam cleaned and make sure all grout is free from grease and dirt.

6. Odors: Absolute deal killers are cigarette or pet odors. If this is a problem - have the drapes, carpets and furniture professionally cleaned and please…”no smoking” in the house. Also, cooking odors are not a good thing. The best bet is to always for plan fresh air. Often a little lemon oil mixed with water in a spray bottle used lightly used will add just a bit of freshness without overpowering the house.

7. Paint: A fresh coat of paint on the outside or inside is an excellent way of freshening up your home. Be sure to use neutral colors and avoid accent painting. Don’t try and guess what a potential buyer will like. In most cases they should use a professional painter because it’s always a bigger job than most people think.

8. Yard Work: Deal with overgrown bushes, shrubs and trees. Everything in the yard needs to be trimmed, watered, manicured and “living.” Remove everything lying around the yard including sports equipment, boats, trailers, toys, etc. You may also add some color by placing some annuals in planters in the back as well as in the front. Curb appeal makes that all important “first impression.”

9. Furniture: The bottom line… less is best. If it’s old, worn or dated, you should put it in storage. Remember that you are setting a stage and the actor needs to be the house - not their furniture.

10. Hardwood Floors: Hardwood floors can be a huge plus for buyers unless they look like a 20 year old basketball court. It may be a great investment to have them all refinished - but keep in mind that it’s not a simple weekend project. 

Changing “lived in homes” into “houses for sale” is what it’s all about.

Don’t Be left in the Dark

Don’t be left in the dark: Locate utility off/on valves

Culver City is the hottest market in Los Angeles right now!

Cultivating Culver City

By Martha Groves
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

April 7, 2008

Factories, oil derricks and houses were sprouting all over Southern California in 1913 when Harry H. Culver outlined his plan for a city midway between Los Angeles and Abbot Kinney’s seaside resort. “If you draw a straight line from [downtown’s] Story building to the oceanfront at Venice,” he told the gentlemen of the private California Club, “at the halfway mark you will find three intersecting electric lines — the logical center for . . . a town site.”

His Culver Investment Co. bused potential lot buyers to free picnics, awarded parcels to the parents of pretty babies and placed newspaper ads reading “All roads lead to Culver City.”

Nearly a century later, the electric rail lines are long gone, but Culver City, denigrated in years past as a backwater on the Westside, is starting to live up to its founder’s hype.

In recent years, dozens of galleries, design houses and architecture firms have moved in. Wine bars and upscale eateries — many with alfresco dining — are garnering raves, and more restaurants are in the works.

Young families and singles are replacing retirees, and developers are demolishing duplexes to build condos. Rising office rents reflect the discovery by high-tech, media and creative employers — Symantec, National Public Radio, the Tennis Channel, Ogilvy & Mather — of a well-situated alternative to pricier Santa Monica or Beverly Hills.

City officials and many residents cheer the cultural and culinary renaissance in the city’s downtown and the ongoing commercial revival there and in other pockets. But detractors contend that the once sleepy hamlet is paying a steep price in increased traffic, congestion and competition for parking spots that not long ago seemed plentiful. Downtown businesses are clamoring for a valet parking plan.

“We’ve become a victim of our own success,” said Andrew Weissman, a Culver City planning commissioner who is among nine candidates vying in Tuesday’s election for three City Council seats.

Density and traffic

As in much of the region, the overriding issues on the minds of Culver City voters are development, density and traffic — the slow midday crawl on Sepulveda Boulevard or the weekend evening jam-ups where what is purported to be the world’s shortest Main Street joins Culver and Washington boulevards in the city’s core. Commuter cut-through traffic compounds the woes.

“What’s been happening in Culver City is an enormous amount of development,” said Judith Miller, a resident battling a developer’s plan for 26 condos and office space with below-ground parking next to her Spanish colonial revival house, a city-designated landmark near City Hall. “The council members also make up the redevelopment agency and have been historically predisposed to development without being responsive to the community’s concerns.”

One redevelopment official countered that the new businesses provide much-needed revenue and a sense of vitality at a time when Sacramento is threatening to cut funding to cities.

“It’s been fascinating to see the evolution from having no identity, to struggling to achieve an identity, and now we’ve achieved it and are struggling to deal with that identity,” said Todd Tipton, redevelopment administrator. “It’s taking some effort to come to terms with this as [the city] grows and prospers.”

‘Run-down things’

In years past, residents of Culver City, population 40,000, might have welcomed packed sidewalks and thoroughfares.

“When I moved there in 1993, there wasn’t a restaurant to be had,” said Laura Stuart, a resident of the Sunkist Park neighborhood near the 405-90 freeway interchange in southwestern Culver City. “Downtown was pool halls and run-down things.”

It wasn’t always that way. Founder Harry Culver had emphasized the need for a solid economic base. The motion picture industry, which in the 1920s and ’30s found the city’s wide-open spaces ideal for back lots and filming, was a boon.

Enticed by Culver, Thomas Ince had built the town’s first studio, Ince/Triangle Studios — later Goldwyn Studios and then Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. (Since 1990, the lot has been the headquarters of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which employs 3,300 people in or near Culver City.)

Hal Roach Studios filmed Laurel and Hardy silent comedies around town. Other movies filmed there include “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “Citizen Kane,” “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

But by the early 1990s the city had lost most of the military, aviation and entertainment jobs that had created a strong local economy, if not a scintillating social scene. Much of the city became blighted.

In 1992, “other managers told me our basic job was to slow the rate of decline,” said Mark Winogrond, then the director of community development who was later credited with implementing the downtown revitalization. “I viewed Culver City as a town trapped in 1958 trying desperately to get into the 1970s.”

Even though Culver City’s motto continued to be “The Heart of Screenland,” Winogrond said, some residents had grown distant from the city’s rich history as a production hub for motion pictures and television.

The revival plan aimed to celebrate that connection. It called for downtown to be bookended on one end by Sony and the Kirk Douglas Theatre (a lovingly refurbished former movie palace) and on the other by Culver Studios and the Actors’ Gang Ivy Substation. Movie theaters, long absent, would help lure patrons, for whom public garages would provide ample free parking.

With the city providing incentives, such as helping to negotiate favorable leases and pay for remodeling, businesses gradually repopulated the area.

Meanwhile, developers Frederick and Laurie Samitaur Smith were revamping the Hayden Tract, the largely abandoned industrial sector along National Boulevard just east of downtown. Architect Eric Owen Moss’ futuristic designs for what the Smiths call Conjunctive Points attracted postproduction companies and Internet-related firms. More recently, the captive audience of office workers, as well as the prospect that the light-rail Expo Line could soon be transporting commuters along National, has helped spur the opening of trendy cafes.

Rules revised

Redevelopment officials also have their sights on the area near Westfield Fox Hills, a shopping center in southern Culver City that’s undergoing a $160-million face-lift. Nearby, developer Robert Champion floated ideas for building a massive mixed-use project on an arguably underused stretch of Sepulveda that features tire shops, banks and other businesses.

Leery of traffic, neighbors revolted and Champion backed off. Sensitive to the opposition, the City Council revised a mixed-use ordinance to scale back the allowable heights and densities.

Bonnie Zucker and her husband, Eric Magnuson, who moved to Culver City five years ago, say they enjoy the downtown’s new walkability and hope that the metamorphosis continues.

“Clearly, Culver City is on the rise and will continue to be,” said Zucker, a UCLA psychologist.

For Akasha Richmond, who recently opened her namesake restaurant in a landmark brick building downtown, Culver City sparks comparisons that would have been unthinkable in Harry Culver’s day.

“I feel the collective energy of all the creative people in the area,” Richmond said, “just like in New York.”

martha.groves@latimes.com

Feds Meeting Last Week. Leave Fed Rates Unchanged?

Forecast for the Week

The economic calendar is a heavyweight this week, loaded with news of Housing, Retail Sales and Manufacturing…but one of the most important releases will be the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation on the consumer level. Simply said - how much more are we as consumers paying for goods and services than we were last month, and last year? With the Fed’s elevated concerns over inflation, this report could pack an extra punch. The Personal Consumption Expenditure index recently measured year-over-year core inflation at 2.4%. And while the Consumer Price Index has a slightly different inflation-measuring formula, the read last month was at a beefy 2.7%. The Fed wants core inflation under 2% - thus why these numbers are concerning. Watch to see how the year-over-year CPI numbers come out - if they show a level under 2.7%, this should be good news for Bonds and home loan rates, as the market will want to feel inflation is at least trending in the right direction. But if the number sticks at that 2.7% range - or moves higher - hold onto your hats, as home loan rates could pop higher on the news. Chart: Fannie Mae 5.5% Mortgage Bond (Friday Apr 13, 2007)

The Mortgage Market View…

PLEASE MISTER POSTMAN, LOOK AND SEE…IF THERE’S A LETTER, A LETTER FOR ME… Perhaps the reason neither the Beatles nor the Marvelettes hadn’t received that important letter was simply incorrect postage. And with the postage increases that seem to come more and more frequently, it’s not a crazy assumption to make. So here it comes again - starting May 14th, new higher postal rates will go into effect. If you don’t want your loved ones - not to mention your creditors - waiting by the mailbox, now is the time to prepare. The cost of postage for a standard one ounce first class letter is increasing from 39 cents up to 41 cents. And you know the drill - each time the post office bumps up the rates by a penny or two, it requires an annoying trip to the post office to purchase a book of one or two cent stamps. But now - you can wave goodbye to those pesky one and two cent stamps that clutter up your desk or your wallet…the post office has finally created a stamp that will last “FOREVER”. The new stamp is called the “Forever” stamp and was created to do just what the title states….last forever. Once the stamp is purchased, the stamp can be used forever to mail one-ounce First-Class letters anytime in the future regardless of postage increases. The current price of each Forever stamp is 41 cents, and you can buy Forever stamps at that rate until the next postage increase. When the postal rates increase in the future, new Forever stamps sold at that time will go up in price too - but you can use up all your previously purchased Forever stamps without having to deal with buying and using the inconvenient make-up stamps for the difference. Forever stamps can now be purchased online at www.usps.com or at post offices nationwide.

The Week’s Economic Indicator Calendar

Information on Decline in Value Reassessments

Information on Decline in Value Reassessments

It has been widely reported that the property values of single-family homes and condominiums throughout most of the State have been declining. While the declines in Los Angeles County have not been as dramatic as those in other parts of the State, property values have dropped in some areas of Los Angeles County.

How does this impact your property taxes? In 1978, California voters passed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that allows a temporary reduction in assessed value when a property suffers a “decline-in-value.” A decline-in-value occurs when the current market value of your property is less than the assessed value as of January 1.

Typically, an application is required to initiate a review of your property’s value by the Assessor. However, in 2008 the Los Angeles County Assessor’s Office will be proactive in reviewing those single-family homes and condominiums that were purchased between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2007. We will look at sales of comparable properties that sold near the lien date, January 1, 2008. If the market value is less than the assessed value indicated on your 2007-08 tax bill, the assessed value will be reduced accordingly. An application will not be necessary.

We will complete this review by June 1, 2008 and will notify in writing those property owners who qualify for a reduction in the assessed value of their property. Applications will be accepted prior to June 1, 2008, but if you purchased your home between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2007, we urge you to wait for notification from our office before filing. Should it be necessary, you will have until December 31, 2008 to file an application for review.

If the sale date of your property is not within the dates noted or is other than a single family home or condominium, it will not be included in the review. However, if you believe the assessed value of the property shown on the 2007-08 tax bill is more than the fair market value as of January 1, 2008, you may file an application at any time through December 31, 2008.

Solicitations of this type may not be illegal, but property owners should be aware that the Assessor’s Office provides a simple filing process for a reduction in their property taxes at no charge.

Market for Green Homes Rising

In the [Green] News…

Market for Green Homes Rising
“According to the latest Green Homeowner SmartMarket Report, the market for green homes is about to boom. The market for green homes is expected to rise from the current $2 billion to $20 billion over the next five years.” http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/news/sbnews.cfm?id=14514