Investigators served a search warrant on Golden State Rentals in early October after an undercover officer posed as a customer to gather intelligence about the business, according to a search warrant return filed in West Orange County Superior Court.

On Oct. 2, officers found Golden State’s Beach Boulevard office abandoned. Police seized customer files left behind, the court document said. The firm apparently shut down in late September.

The Register reported last June that numerous Golden State customers had complained that the company charged them $195 for weekly listings of homes for rent. If they failed to find a home through the service, they’d get their money back, customers said they were told. Instead they got listings for already rented units, listings outside the areas they wanted to move to or listings outside their price range. When they tried to get refunds, they were put on hold for up to an hour or hung up on.

Police were summoned at least 19 times to the business to settle disputes between employees and customers or to receive customer complaints. The state Department of Real Estate filed charges against the firm that could lead to revocation of its rental listing service license. 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 ]

The police report said that during the undercover officer’s visit in September he:

” … noticed the employees engaged in odd behavior for a company doing legitimate business. He noticed a telephone that was ringing over and over again. The male employee not assisting him would pick up the receiver and hang it up without trying to answer it and see who was calling.

“He also observed the female (employee) answer a telephone and heard her say she wasn’t sure if they received paperwork or not. She told the caller to wait a minute while she checked. The female sat at the desk, never got up, never looked through the drawers, or checked on the computer. A few seconds later, she returned to the phone and told the caller they had not received the paperwork.”

Golden State officials couldn’t be reached for comment. In earlier reports, the company’s owner and a worker conceded that mistakes were made, but denied that Golden State had more than the usual number of complaints.

Register staff writer Jon Cassidy contributed to this report.

Other real estate trends:

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

$532,000

$613,000

$1,450,000

First American CoreLogic’s computers say …

• Orange County homes prices, in the year ending September 2010, will appreciate 10.94%. Last month, First American projected a 9.53% annual again for year ending August 2010.
• Orange County homes prices — including distressed sales — declined 6.74% in the year ended in September vs. 7.92% rate of annual decline in August.
• Excluding distressed transactions, Orange County homes prices year-over-year fell 6.14% in September vs. August’s -7.07%.
• California prices? Down 12.16% annually (with distressed); down 6.95% (without.) Forecast? Up 9.36% in a year with distressed included; +8.24% without.
• National home prices — including distressed sales — declined by -9.8% annual rate in September. (Excluding distressed sales, national year-over-year prices declined by 6%.)
• In year ending September 2010, forecast appreciation for national home prices — excluding distressed — is 1.1%.
• When distressed sales were included Nevada (-25.5%) was the nation’s worst for year ended September!

Mark Fleming, chief economist for First American CoreLogic: “While the improvement in the year-over-year decline is encouraging, high foreclosure rates and increasing distressed sales are likely to continue to hold prices down.”

Recent outlooks:

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Real estate news and views from around the globe that make you go, “Really?”

• San Francisco Home Prices Rise, First Time Since ‘07 (Bloomberg)
• San Francisco Bay Area home prices inch toward stability (Los Angeles Times)
• San Francisco area home prices perk up in October (Reuters)
• Silicon Valley real estate turnaround? Prices, sales up in October (San Jose Mercury News)
• California median home price rises (Associated Press)

… Psst! Smallest SoCal home-price loss in 2 years!

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

For her complete comment, check out the video:

The 1.2 million member trade group recently held its annual convention in San Diego starting Friday. At the meeting, Golder also said she that Realtors don’t have to do any soul searching about their role in the housing market bust that triggered the global economic meltdown.

More National Association of Realtors convention news:

• Bubblish! How Realtor sees UCLA bullish outlook
• Realtor: No soul-searching needed
• Realtors ponder bottom, bust and WalMart
• Realtor group says home prices to rise 4% in 2010
• Realtor economist ‘has never been right’
• Homebuyer tax credit extension is boon to sellers
• Survey shows spike in first-time home buyers
• Realtors to push for more credit to commercial property
• Realtor says brokers are busy

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Other highlights of the full report (FULL COPY HERE) …

• Nationally, fewer than half  — 49% –  believe their home’s value decreased over the past 12 months. Actually, 72% went down.
• U.S. homeowners were  more optimistic about the future of their own homes’ values than at any time in the past 6 quarters.
• A full 41% say their own home’s value will increase in the next 6 months. An additional 43% say their home’s value will remain the same, with just 17% saying their home’s value will decrease.

“Consistent with all previous surveys, homeowners also seem to be overly optimistic about future home values,” said said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries. “While we have definitely seen some stabilization in recent months, there is a high likelihood that home values will see further declines driven by an increasing number of foreclosures coming into the market and, possibly, rising interest rates after the first quarter of next year.”

Let’s take our own poll.

Other tales by Marilyn Kalfus:

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Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Local renters’ costs fell 0.1% last month vs. October 2008. Last such SoCal decline? A similar size drop in November 1995.

Renters weren’t the only housing winners in the CPI report:

• Homeowners equivalent inflation rate (purchase costs not included), fell at an 0.7% annual rate in October. That’s biggest SoCal drop since June 1995.
• Household energy costs in SoCal fell at an 0.7% annual rate in October.Actually, that’s the smallest drop in a string of declines that dates to last November.
• Household furnishings and operations fell at an 2.5% annual rate in October. That’s biggest SoCal drop since April 2008.
• Overall, SoCal housing inflation fell at an 0.6% annual rate in October — fourth consecutive drop and biggest since June 1983.
• As for the big picture, SoCal total inflation rate for all goods and services fell at an 0.4% annual rate in October. It’s the eighth consecutive drop — but that smallest in that string.

Rental trends:

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Financially troubled actor Nicolas Cage’s 1913 cottage — just steps from the Newport Pier on the Balboa Peninsula — has been pulled off the market after he dropped the price three times, down from $1.9 million to $995,000.

Cage’s real estate trust paid $1.7 million for the home in December 2006, county records show.

The most recent price cut occurred Nov. 12, according to Redfin. Less than one week later, however, one of the home’s listing agents said that the house was off the market because it had been rented out. A neighbor said the home was still vacant on Wednesday.

click to enlarge

The actor’s late father, literature professor August Coppola, had been living in the home. Coppola, brother of “Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola, died three weeks ago in Newport Beach of a heart attack. The home’s neighbor said he moved out sometime since the house went on the market in July.

According to the property listing, the one-story cottage, located about six doors from the sand, has 1,500 square feet, with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, “high-vaulted ceilings, a granite kitchen with maple cabinetry, all the best appliances … beautifully tiled bathrooms, attached to each of the three bedrooms (and) bamboo and tile flooring throughout.”

The front porch is adorned with saloon-style doors, stain-glass with artificial bunches of grapes suspended from the rafters.

• Click on photos above to enlarge. For interior photos, CLICK HERE!

The listing described the home this way:

“Beautifully remodeled beach house close to the pier, restaurants and Ferry to Balboa. … all the fun the peninsula has to offer.”

The property officially is owned by Cage’s Hancock Park Real Estate Trust, county records show. That’s the same trust that owned Cage’s waterfront Bay Shore Drive home, which he sold for a record $35 million in January 2008.

Cage currently is suing one of the Hancock Park trustees, former business advisor Samuel Levin, accusing him of sending him “down a path toward financial ruin” by placing Cage “in numerous highly speculative and risky real estate investments.” He is selling off homes around the globe, many at a loss, and lost two homes in New Orleans to foreclosure.

Levin fired back in a countersuit on Wednesday arguing that Cage brought about his own financial ruin with a spending spree that included two castles, 15 palatial homes, a flotilla of yachts (including one in Newport Beach) and a fleet of Rolls Royces.

While the value of Cage’s Balboa Peninsula cottage has dropped 41%, he did much better on his Bay Shore Drive home. He paid $25 million for it in 2005, then sold it for $10 million gross profit 2 1/2 years later.

See map showing Orange County’s priciest homes: HERE!

More on high-end homes …

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Real estate news and views from around the globe that make you go, “Really?”

• SUNNY SIDE: Real estate group looks on bright side (SignOnSanDiego) MORE HERE!
• RECOVERY: Home Sales Expected To Increase In 2010 (NuWire) MORE HERE!
• BOOST: Tax credit extension likely to spur sales of more expensive homes (Washington Examiner) MORE HERE!
• CITY WATCH: The Hot Real Estate Spots For 2010 (BiggerPockets) MORE HERE!
• CROSS THE POND: UK real estate giants optimistic on outlook (Interactive Investor) MORE HERE!
• UP NORTH: Canadian home resales hit record high in October (Reuters) MORE HERE!

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

LA Land has moved to a bigger, brighter, newer home. You can now find it in our Money & Company blog. You will still be able to find all the real estate news, foreclosures, and Hot Property pieces, but now in our uber-business blog.

• Says my old pal, Russ Stanton, editor of the Los Angeles Times …

We aren’t killing it, we’re merging with other business-related blogs. It’s a strategy that we have had a great deal of success with, gang blogging (see LA Now, Fabulous Forum or Hero Complex, named best blog at Online News Association this year). Three years ago, with a bunch of single-author blogs, only 4% of our site traffic came from our blogosphere. Today, it’s 20%.

• One comment on the final LA Land post seemed most special:

I’ll miss you LALand. You were a great blog and I’ll definitely miss the musings of Pete, Pete, Lauren, Beef, Nelciso,Cal, and even Lefty. It is funny how, just like real folks during the recession, LALand is going to be bunking with friends (Petruno) to cut costs. Farewell.

• We’ll also note a story at LAObserved:

The latest Los Angeles Times blog to fade away is L.A. Land, which never seemed to quite recover its mojo from last year’s departure of originator Peter Viles. When real estate reporter Peter Hong left the paper last month on a buyout, the blog became less necessary. Now what’s left of the real estate news and observations has been folded into Money and Company, the main blog produced by the paper’s business writers. … Back in April, based on these stats, L.A. Land was doing way better than most Times blogs.

Just so you know, we at The Register are still very committed to real estate blogging. Outside of this one, have you checked out our portfolio recently?

Mortgage Insider by Matt Padilla:

Huntington Homes by Marilyn Kalfus:

South Coast Homes by Kelli Hart:

Irvine Homes by Erika Chavez:

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

The survey by the online property listing service Move.com said the lure of lower prices and foreclosure bargains were chief reasons for the growing interest.

click to enlarge

The survey by Move.com also found:

• Of those expressing interest in investing in homes, 25.3% were interested in buying foreclosed homes.
• 42% of potential foreclosure buyers are looking for an investment, while 57.6% are looking for a home to live in.
• Of those planning to buy a home in the near future, 48.3% are first-time buyers.
• Of the foreclosure investors, 13.2% intend to rent the home out; 11.3% plan to fix them up for resale; while 17.4% plan to have relatives live in the home until it can be sold at a profit.
• 58% of foreclosure buyers expect to find a home at no more than 20% below market value; 38.5% expect a discount of 25% or more.
• 73% expect properties to appreciate by 10% or more in five years; 28% believe values will go up 20% or more.
• 48.2% expressed dissatisfaction with the federal government’s efforts to stabilize the housing market in October vs. 42.2% in March.

The poll was Move.com’s fifth quarterly Homeownership Survey. The latest sampling resulted from 1,002 interviews from Oct. 16-18. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3%. Move Inc. operates several online real estate listing services, include the National Association of Realtors’ Realtor.com. Chief Revenue Officer Errol Samuelson said the survey …

“… validates what many had hoped to see in the housing markets — affordable prices and ample inventories are restoring the appeal of real estate to investors while providing opportunities for first-time homebuyers to enter the market.”

Read more about the survey: HERE!

Our poll!

Real estate outlooks:

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Karevoll tells ocregister.com in a podcast interview that the worst may be behind us — but the debacle has plenty of blame to share for many parties (and numerous lessons to be learned, too!) Bottom line, in his words: Years from now we’ll realize that 2009 was likely the bottom.

• To listen to our full interview, CLICK HERE!

Check out your blogger’s previous podcasts:

• How this guy called the housing crash
• Personal debt woes will linger
• Pain won’t end soon for big landlords
• Housing recovery may be short-lived!
• Credit unions think Calif. housing near bottom
• Why life remains tough for buyers and borrowers
• Rebound in 2010? Listen to why!
• No stabilization in foreclosures yet
• Why apartment rents will continue to stay low
• Self-storage yards do well in downturns
• Chapman U. thinks housing’s recovery will be modest
• Cities, not suburbia, best shot at full housing recovery!
• It will be a renters’ market for some time to come

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

How to sell the $9.5 million — oops, now $6.7  million — waterfront Corona del Mar house seen Monday night on Bravo TV’s “Million Dollar Listing”?

Those of us who watched the show observed some remodeling, $30,000 worth of home staging, a $2,000 brokers’ open/champagne bash, and a big cake decorated with an image of  the house and celebrity Realtor Chad Rogers.

“I spent $700 on my cake,” said Rogers, who lopped off his head and ate it. ”But only time will tell if my investment pays off.”

Rogers

Tick, tick, tick.

The house, at 2717 Shell St., is approaching a year on the market.

That’s no surprise. Demand for homes in Corona del Mar is at 10.7 months, meaning it theoretically would take that long to sell every home on the market there now, based on pending sales. But a year ago, that number was double that — 20.11 months, according to Realtor Steve Thomas at Altera Realty in Aliso Viejo, who does a bi-weekly analysis of the Orange County market.

The house also falls into the $4 million-plus market, which wouldn’t be depleted for 44.5 months, Thomas says.

The 2717 Shell St. home started at $9.5 million and several discounts later is at $6.7 million. What do you think it will go for?

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Post from: Lansner on Real Estate