Archive for the 'Apartments/Rents' Category
July 1st, 2009, 11:44 am by Jeff Collins
An Irvine firm that uses investor funds to buy and fix up aging apartment buildings has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a couple lenders went after it for not making its loan payments, according to court documents.
Pacific Property Assets’ financial problems first surfaced in May when the firm skipped about $500,000 in interest payments to about 750 investors who help finance purchase and construction costs through high-interest notes. The firm subsequently defaulted on the June payment as well.
The court filing comes seven weeks after the firm mailed letters to investors vowing that bankruptcy was not being considered.
But some of the investors and two of the firm’s lenders filed lawsuits, forcing Pacific Property Assets to file bankruptcy afterall, said Todd Ringstad, the company’s bankruptcy attorney. Bankruptcy is needed to ensure that all investors are treated equally, he said.
The company owns 49 apartment complexes consisting of nearly 2,400 units in Long Beach, the Inland Empire and Arizona. The company typically refinances its debt to pay off the investors. But because of the downturn, its buildings’ values have plummeted, making it impossible to refinance and pay off investors.
Ringstad said the company hopes that during bankruptcy reorganization, the short-term notes will be converted into long-term investments.
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Irvine landlord skips $500,000 debt payment
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Posted in: Apartments/Rents • Top tale • industry • Pacific Property Assets • troubled | 24 Comments »
June 26th, 2009, 6:01 pm by Staff Writer, the Orange County Register
An Orange County landlord is holding a “renter’s dream” event Saturday, giving tenants up to $5,000 off their rent if they sign a yearlong lease at one of three buildings owned by the company.
The event, sponsored by apartment owner Saywitz Properties of Newport Beach, will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the three complexes (click on photos to enlarge). It will include bounce houses for the children and free burgers, hot dogs, chips and sodas for existing tenants as well as apartment shoppers.
Anyone who signs a lease on the spot will get two months free rent, plus $1,000 in cash as a signing bonus. The $30 credit application fee is being waived, too.
Rising vacancies and falling rents have forced landlords all over Orange County to offer concessions like free rent and movers. But the Saywitz Properties deal may go even further.
“I certainly have not seen anybody do two months (free rent) plus a $1,000 signing bonus,” said Barry Saywitz, managing partner of the firm. “We’re trying to fill some voids in some properties that we have, and we’d rather do that sooner than later.”
And help some struggling tenants in the process, Saywitz added.
The deals are being offered at:
- The Alliance Townhomes, 16501 Alliance Ave., Tustin, with 44 units (top photo).
- The Pomona Townhomes, 1985 Pomona Ave., Costa Mesa, which has 26 units (middle photo).
- The Olinda Courtyard, 3444 Olinda Ln., Anaheim, an 18-unit building (bottom photo).
Monthly rents range from $895 to $2,000 in the three buildings, which have been renovated recently, he said.
Saywitz Properties owns about 500 units in just over 50 buildings, all of them in Orange County, Saywitz said.
The company has seen its vacancy rates edge up from around 1% at the start of the year to around 4% today. The three buildings where the deals are offered have a tenth to a fifth of their units empty as tenants either lost their jobs or moved out because of financial problems, Saywitz said.
“We’re renting these units not only because of the vacancies, but also because of the economy,” he said.
Related news …
Posted in: Apartments/Rents • Top tale • industry • Saywitz | 10 Comments »
June 18th, 2009, 12:01 am by Jon Lansner
 Click to enlarge Renters, rejoice!
Here’s more evidence that local tenants seem to have the upper hand in the housing market: Rent hikes, as measured by the SoCal version of the Consumer Price index, were up at a 2.9% annual rate for May — the lowest in 11 years! Just look at that chart of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “rent of primary residence” data …
Other housing-related SoCal inflation rates, in yearly terms:
- Homeowners’ costs (purchase prices not included): +1.8%
- Household energy: -16.4%
- Household furnishings and operations: +2.6%
- Overall housing costs: + 0.6%
- Total SoCal inflation, all goods and services: -1.6%
Listen to this interview with an Anaheim landlord discussing renter incentives, including two free months by CLICKING HERE!
And vote … Housing stats: Good news or bad?
Other real estate news …
Posted in: Apartments/Rents • Top tale • Bureau of Labor Statistics • cpi | 22 Comments »
June 15th, 2009, 3:00 pm by Jon Lansner
 The Register’s Elysse James reports that the second phase of construction has begun at the Tustin Cottages condo complex at Red Hill Avenue and El Camino Real.
Tustin Cottages decided to lease the condos after it had trouble selling them. The condominiums went on sale in October and were taken off the market by late December. Rents for the two-story townhomes start at $2,400 a month.
To read more, CLICK HERE!
Other rental news …
Posted in: Apartments/Rents • condos • industry • Tustin | 1 Comment »
June 3rd, 2009, 2:20 am by Jeff Collins
A spokesman for the state Department of Real Estate says that consumers who feel cheated by rental listing services need to file a complaint.
“These folks need to file their complaints with us so we can investigate,” said department spokesman Tom Pool. “We want those complaints if they’re not providing refunds in accordance with their contracts and the law. That could be grounds for taking their license away.”
- The issue arose last week when customers complained that a Huntington Beach rental listing service was providing flawed lists of units for rent, then refusing to return their money as promised …
- Coincidentally, the state filed a complaint against the firm, Golden State Rentals, accusing it of the same practices back in 2007 and 2008 when it was located in Los Angeles County.
- Under state law, a rental listing service must include refund provisions in its contracts, Pool said.
- Golden State’s contract promises to refund a customer’s full fee if they’re not provided at least three suitable listings within five days.
- Many customers maintain they never got any suitable listings from the business. When they asked for a refund, they were told they’d have to wait 90 days and would only get a portion of their money back.
- Golden State officials denied that their listings are flawed.
If you want to file a complaint with the state Real Estate Department:
- Obtain a complaint form from the department’s Web site HERE!
- Mail or deliver the completed complaint to one of the department’s offices. The nearest is the Los Angeles office at 320 W. 4th St., Ste. 350, 90013.
- Verify that a rental service has a “prepaid rental listing service” license at the department’s Web site.
- In Orange County, there are four licensed services operating here: Golden State, NextRent.com, Rentagent Services and Westside Rentals.
- To see a list of licensed services, click HERE!
- To see a list of businesses that have received “desist and refrain” refrain orders to stop selling rental listings, click HERE!
There is one caveat: The Department of Real Estate has a long backlog of complaints. For example, the complaint filed Friday against Golden State stems from incidents that occurred one to two years ago.
More on Golden State Rentals:
More business news:
Posted in: Apartments/Rents • Legal issues • Policy, politics & regulation • Top tale • industry • rental listing services | Post a Comment »
June 2nd, 2009, 5:44 pm by Jon Lansner
 The real estate crash has thrown a curve to Anaheim’s grand plans for its Platinum Triangle community — and the developers who bet there.
Big landlord Archstone is rolling out its 884-unit Gateway complex (520 already built) in the Triangle area near the baseball stadium. And Archstone’s Bill Seward tells ocregister.com that it’s a very competitive market niche with a slew of new apartments for rent in a broader economy battered by job loess.
In the podcast interview, Seward says the typical new one-year lease in the neighborhood comes with two months free — and it should be a renter’s market well into 2010!
To hear our interview with Seward, CLICK HERE!
Check out your blogger’s previous podcasts:
Posted in: Apartments/Rents • Anaheim • Archstone • podcast | 15 Comments »
June 2nd, 2009, 1:04 am by Jeff Collins
 Golden State Rentals did business out of this Beach Blvd. office-shopping complex, but planned to move on Sunday. The California Department of Real Estate formally accused the owner of a Huntington Beach rental listing service of fraud, an action that could lead to the suspension or revocation of the business’ license.
The administrative action, filed Friday by the department’s Los Angeles office, was made against Diana Marie Pitts, owner of Golden State Rentals on Beach Boulevard. The complaint cites five cases that allegedly occurred in 2007 and 2008 in Los Angeles County before the rental service moved to Huntington Beach. A copy was faxed to the Register after 6 p.m. Monday.
The filing comes as a mounting number of customers complain that Golden State Rentals gave them flawed rental listings, placed them on hold when they called to complain and refused to give them promised refunds.
Police logs show also that officers have been summoned to Golden State’s offices at least 19 times in the past 10 months to hear complaints or quell fights between staff and customers. The Better Business Bureau has given the company — which has moved at least five times in the past two years — an F rating.
[MORE: COMPLAINTS | POLICE LOGS | RENTAL FIRM'S DEFENSE]
Golden State Rentals, which is a state-licensed prepaid rental listing service, charges home hunters $195 in exchange for three months worth of listings showing apartments and houses for rent. Its contract promises to refund at least $145 if tenants can’t find a home.
Company officials couldn’t be reached to comment on the department’s accusation. But Pitts and an employee have said that while mistakes were made, the majority of their customers are satisfied.
In all five cases mentioned in the department’s complaint, prospective tenants paid for rental listings, but received listings that were unsuitable, already rented, not on the market or contained fictitious addresses, the accusation says. Some of the property owners told tenants that Golden State was not authorized to list their rentals.
None of the five customers received their requested refunds because the company moved without leaving a forwarding address or phone number, the department alleged. The accusation states:
“The conduct, acts and/or omissions of (Pitts) as set forth above constitutes fraud or dishonest dealing and/or negligence and is grounds to revoke or suspend (her) PRLS license.”
The accusations are similar to ones voiced recently by a handful of customers who have spoken to or e-mailed the Register.
In e-mails and interviews, Golden State officials said they were moving last weekend because of complaints by neighboring tenants in their Beach Boulevard building over a commotion caused when 10 customers confronted staff and demanded refunds.
E-mails sent to customers said the firm was relocating Sunday to a building next door.
Register contributing writer Kristal Seeden contributed to this report..
In other real estate news …
In other business news …
Posted in: Apartments/Rents • Top tale • industry • rental listing services | 6 Comments »
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