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

• LOOKING UP: Aside from banks, no industry was humbled by the recession as much as homebuilders. Now, a number are reporting their first profits in years. (WSJ) MORE HERE!
• LOSSES DOWN: Without a generous federal tax credit, most builders would still have been producing a loss. But by and large, the amount of loss and the amount of asset write-downs appeared to have come to an end. (Seeking Alpha) MORE HERE!
• LESS RED INK: Pulte Homes Inc., the largest U.S. homebuilder, reported its 13th straight quarterly loss. But its net loss in the fourth quarter narrowed to $116.9 million, compared to $338.2 million a year earlier. (Bloomberg) MORE HERE!
• FIGHTING BACK: Competition from cheap foreclosures have cut homebuilders’ share of the U.S. housing market in half. But now they’re fighting back, cutting prices, promising to complete homes faster, and warning about the risks of buying foreclosed property. (WSJ) MORE HERE!
• LUMBER FUTURES: U.S. lumber production fell 23% last year, but lumber futures hit 29-month highs last week as buyers anticipate a strong spring building season. (Seeking Alpha) MORE HERE!
• GAME FACE: What better sign of prosperity than being able to afford a spot during the Super Bowl. Fulton Homes, Arizona’s largest privately owned homebuilder, aired one 30-second spot during the big game and has a second spot slated for broadcast during the 82nd Academy Awards on March 7. (East Valley Living) MORE HERE!

Really? Beleagured builders showing signs of life is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

DataQuick reported recently that 2,448 Orange County homes sold last year at prices of $1 million or more.

That’s down 14.5% from 2008, when 2,862 O.C. homes sold for at least seven figures.

Those figures compare to more than 5,200 million-plus home sales in O.C. in 2007, and more than 7,300 in 2005.

DataQuick attributed the decrease in million-plus sales to “buyer reticence, a difficult mortgage market and several years of price drops that tugged the value of many homes below the million-dollar threshold.”

Among the highlights from DataQuick’s report:

• DataQuick shows an even greater percentage decline than reflected in an earlier report based on figures from the Multiple Listing Service, which showed that million-plus sales had decreased 11%. Unlike the MLS, DataQuick figures reflect all home sales, including newly built homes and those sold outside the MLS.
• While 2009 million-plus home sales fell 14.5%, overall sales in the county jumped 17.1%.
• One out of every 13 homes sold last year went for $1 million or more, compared to one in nine in 2008, one in 5 in 2007 and one in 7 in 2005.
• Statewide, million-plus home sales fell 23.8% in 2009 to one out of 25 homes sold. In Southern California, million-plus sales fell 19.4%
• The biggest drop in the region was in Riverside County, where million-plus sales dropped 48.6%, followed by San Benardino County with a 34.6% drop.
• In Los Angeles County, homes priced at $1 million or more dropped 13.3%, the smallest decline in the region.

About 1,900 of the homes that sold statewide last year for less than $1 million had previously sold for $1 million or more, DataQuick said. The median price for those homes declined by about $420,000, or 35%.

More real estate trends …

$1 million-plus home sales fell 14.5% in ‘09 is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

The folks at Realtor.com compiled a list of the top 10 most popular homes for sale in Orange County from their Web site (reflecting last week).

• These are the listings that online home shoppers check out the most in O.C.
• The homes are tracked within 20% of the median list price for the county, which is $649,999.
• This week, Yorba Linda takes the cake with the most popular home. See photos above. (Click for larger images.)
• Irvine digs frequent the top 10 the most.
• The last time we tracked the county’s hottest homes, an Irvine home graced the top of the list.
• CLICK on address links for photos and additional information.

Real estate outlooks:

Yorba Linda home tops most-viewed list is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Where did our Orange County neighbors and coworkers go?

• Texas, 131 United moves out of 1,153 in 2009.
• Washington, 81
• Florida, 77
• Elsewhere in California, 70
• Illinois, 50
• New York, 47

Where are our new neighbors from?

• Texas, 92 out of 1,102
• Florida, 77
• Illinois, 68
• Elsewhere in California, 67
• Washington, 64
• New Jersey, 64

Clearly, Texas is the moving van’s most popular stop when the business involves Orange County. And one thing we know Texas offers is housing affordability.

The chart at right shows the Texas results from the third-quarter study by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo Bank of what they call “housing opportunity” — comparing median selling price; the “opportunity index” showing what share of homes bought in a quarter would be “affordable” to the typical local household; regional median household income; and national rank by “opportunity index” out of 232 towns followed. This chart is ranked by affordability index — and you can see where Orange County falls! (Psst! Scroll down!)

Now, Texas isn’t for everybody, but it certainly works for some ex-Orange Countians. Your thoughts?

Demographic trends:

Would you relocate to Texas? is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

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

• Canada’s competition czar targets real estate fees (Reuters)
• Cut foreclosures by slicing real estate fees (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Virginia city debates eliminating stormwater utility fee? (WTVR)
• Hawaiian lawmakers target higher real estate tax (Pacific Business News)
• Real-estate tax reform in Philly? It’s no laughing matter (Philadelphia Daily News)

Really? Real estate fees in the spotlight is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

One stat that caught my eye was that sales momentum was broader than I’d thought “as year-over-year gains were found in 72 of Orange County’s 83 ZIP codes. So the excitement wasn’t just bargain hunters fishing at the low end of the housing pond.”

What do you think?

Most-read stories from the blog from 2009  …

1. ‘Real Housewife’ takes OC house off market
2. Tiger Woods’ Newport Beach pad
3. ‘Real Housewife’ saves Coto home from foreclosure
4. ‘Real Housewives’ Coto home in default
5. ‘Housewives’ Ladera home on market as short sale
6. ‘OC Housewives’ Ladera short sale in escrow
7. Top agent loses $75 million OC listing
8. ‘Housewives’ Coto home listed for $5.5 million
9. Lender takes over St. Regis Resort
10. Broke actor’s OC cottage unsold at half off
11. ‘Housewives of OC’ star’s Ladera home for sale
12. Calif. to take housing debacle’s worst fall
13. OC furniture mall loses $63 million in value
14. Foreclosed house draws 135 offers
15. St. Regis resort reportedly near foreclosure

Does sales burst confirm housing bottom? is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

The U.S. construction industry’s unemployment rate hit 24.7% in January as another 75,000 American construction workers lost their jobs.

The Associated General Contractors of America noted that excluding construction job losses, American employment rose in January for the second time in three months. Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist: “Unlike the rest of the economy, the construction industry continues to shed jobs at virtually the same rate in January as it has for the past twelve months. The stimulus appears to be the only bright spot for an industry suffering from depression-era unemployment levels.”

Also, Simonson adds:

• Heavy and civil engineering construction employment, which includes highway construction, was unchanged for the month of January.  He suggested that stimulus-funded construction activity was helping keep employment stable in that one industry category.
• 926,000 construction workers their jobs since January 2009, a 14.1% drop.
• Construction accounted for 23% all job losses in the past 12 months even though the industry employs only 4.3% of all nonfarm payroll employees (5.6 million out of 129.5 million).

Orange County doesn’t get the exact same stats. But according to the state Employment Development Dept.’s latest math — December 2009’s report — there were 75,100 people employed in the local construction trades. That’s just 300 more than the end of the 1990s — and 35,300 Orange County construction-crew positions (32%) below the past boom’s construction crew peak workforce.

Real estate trends:

1-in-4 U.S. construction workers jobless is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

• The “hardest” O.C. town to find a home to buy in terms of “market time” (supply of homes for sale vs. new purchase deals inked in past month) is Portola Hills at 0.8 months (yes, 24 DAYS) to theoretically sell all for-sale homes at the current buying pace. A year ago, this town was at 2.0 months.
• The 5 “hardest to buy” markets combined have a market time of 1.2 months and comprised 6% of the supply of homes for sale.
• “Hardest” market to sell a home in, based on the same math, is Villa Park with market time at 13.0 months to theoretically sells all for-sale homes at the current buying pace. A year ago, this town was at 16.5 months.
• The 5 “hardest to sell” markets have a combined market time of 7.7 months and were 15% of the supply of homes for sale.
• All told, countywide market time was 2.4 months last week.
• Interesting: 45% of the communities tracked by Thomas had “market times” less than 2 months, a clear sellers’ market. Four weeks ago? 18% – and it was 0% a year ago.
• Chart at right looks at the 5 hottest and 5 coldest markets in O.C. as of last Thursday (supply for sale; new deals made; market time in months vs. a year ago and average listing price) by Thomas’ market time math:
• More stats from Altera Real Estate HERE!

Lansner on Real Estate’s most-popular posts in January …

1. $19.8 million sale a Newport Coast record
2. OC Housewife lynne avoids eviction
3. OC Housewife lynne to bankruptcy court?
4. Irvine Co.: 400 buyers lined up for new project
5. Laguna home fetches OC’s 4th-highest sale
6. OC rents fall 6.7% to mid-2006 level
7. Hear why home prices won’t surge
8. 2-in-3 landlords cutting rent
9. Irvine home tops most-viewed list
10. Home sales, prices seen falling in 2011
11. “Million Dollar Listing” slashed
12. Really? New San Diego resort shuts

Portola Hills hardest town to buy homes is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

“There is a lot of confusion about the housing market because there are really three markets: less than $750,000, $750,000 to $1.5 million, and $1.5 million plus. For all homes less than $750,000, the market is ON FIRE with multiple offers and sales prices above the list prices. When the expected market time drops below two months, the market is crazy with a lot of competition. The $750,000 to $1.5 million range is getting hotter and many are experiencing multiple offers. There are more jumbo loan products available with much more attractive rates. For homes above $1.5 million, the market is as cold as ice, the higher the range, the colder the market.”

Thomas calculates a “market time” benchmark tracking how many months it theoretically takes to sell all the homes-for-sale inventory in local brokers’ MLS listings at the current pace of pending Orange County deals being made. By this Thomas logic, it would take:

• 2.42 months for buyers to gobble up all Orange County homes for sale at the current pace vs. 3.02 months two weeks vs. 4.31 months a year ago vs. 9.73 two years ago.
• Homes listed for under a million bucks have a market time of 2.00 months vs. 8.40 months for homes listed for more than $1 million.
• Coverage of other data reports from Altera ARE HERE!

Here’s the data, as of last Thursday, for listings; deals pending; market time in months; last Thursday vs. 2 weeks ago, a year ago and 2 years ago (Note: k=thousand; m=million) …

Lansner on Real Estate’s most-popular posts in January …

1. $19.8 million sale a Newport Coast record
2. OC Housewife lynne avoids eviction
3. OC Housewife lynne to bankruptcy court?
4. Irvine Co.: 400 buyers lined up for new project
5. Laguna home fetches OC’s 4th-highest sale
6. OC rents fall 6.7% to mid-2006 level
7. Hear why home prices won’t surge
8. 2-in-3 landlords cutting rent
9. Irvine home tops most-viewed list
10. Home sales, prices seen falling in 2011
11. “Million Dollar Listing” slashed
12. Really? New San Diego resort shuts

Best start for O.C. home market in 5 years is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Click to enlarge

The latest Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast Commercial Real Estate Survey of big landlords ad property owners shows a burgeoning optimism that a revival is somewhat near for much of Southern California. Well, the caveat being — eh, Orange County. Jerry Nickelsburg, UCLA senior economist, says of the region in a press release: “As the recovery from this deep recession takes hold, investors in commercial real estate are increasingly of the view that 2012 is going to represent an improvement over today.”
Yet the report says of Orange County:

“For some time we have been saying that the Orange County office market is a 2013 or 2014 recovery. The loss of finance and real estate jobs created a huge hole in demand which is not easily filled. Our panel is also more optimistic about Orange County than they were six months ago, but the optimism seems to be based more on the transfer of buildings to new owners at lower capital costs and on the decline of rents to levels which are sustainable in today’s market. In other words, the panel expects markets to equilibrate and market conditions to improve, but not to the extent of Los Angeles or San Diego. So, opportunities are going to exist in this very tough market, but not in the creation of new floor space for lease.”

Lansner on Real Estate’s most-popular post in January …

1. $19.8 million sale a Newport Coast record
2. OC Housewife lynne avoids eviction
3. OC Housewife lynne to bankruptcy court?
4. Irvine Co.: 400 buyers lined up for new project
5. Laguna home fetches OC’s 4th-highest sale
6. OC rents fall 6.7% to mid-2006 level
7. Hear why home prices won’t surge
8. 2-in-3 landlords cutting rent
9. Irvine home tops most-viewed list
10. Home sales, prices seen falling in 2011
11. “Million Dollar Listing” slashed
12. Really? New San Diego resort shuts

Big landlords hope? O.C. recovery in 2013 is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

1. “An easy program that tracks all of my social media accounts and allows me to stay up-to-date without having to visit multiple sites. There are apps out there that promise this, but I’ve yet to find one that is both intuitive and works seamlessly.” – Bryan Howland, Maples Communications
2. “A social rating system for YouTube videos. I’d like to know which videos my friends think are good/bad so I know what I should bother watching when a link comes my way.” – Donald Patterson, quub.com
3. “Mobile based Web conferencing and work collaboration software. Combining Webex, Google Wave and Skype, only operated from mobile access.” — Chip Ahlswede, RegalStrategies.com
4. “A social media metrics tool that helped you to measure social media engagement from the strategy phase through to the engagement and onto the sales funnel.  The tool would then track the lifetime of that customer helping to show long-tail return on investment.” – Justin Levy, New Marketing Labs
5. “An app that let’s me know where the conversation is happening with my friends, across any platform, site or otherwise. If 20 friends RSVP for the same event I want to know about it, etc. These tools are built to bring people together, let’s make them so you know when people are coming together without you having to find it yourself.” – Morgan Brown, TurnHere
6. “A mobile device that allows people to work, learn, recreate and entertain with just one device. Imagine communicating, learning and playing without having to transition to different tools and platforms. I also would build an App to enhance citizen engagement, combat crime and hunger and bring peace to the world. One can only dream, right?” — Ted Nguyen, Orange County Transportation Authority
7. “Since I am not that much of a geek I would have to say - build an app to find my future husband.” – Gretchen Benes, gretchenbenes.com

Did you miss …

[ Want social media tips by email? CLICK HERE! ]

7 social media apps we’d like to see built is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate

sOCial sunday tracks Social Media because it’s real business — notably, a hot marketing tool. Orange County marketer Morgan Brown (@morganb) tells us how online video can be powerful sales tool for small business …

Statistics show that video improves visibility and drives more customer action online than plain web sites. For example, according to TurnHere and industry research, viewers engage more after watching a video, with clicks for more information increasing by 30% to 40% and phone inquiries by 16% to 20%. You don’t need the budget of Scorsese to make video work either. And for the aspiring filmmaker in each of us new classes of video cameras (such as the popular Flip or Kodak Z-series) make it easy to shoot and share.

And whether you choose to do-it-yourself or hire a pro, marketing your business with online video doesn’t end with the production. Remember, videos need to be seen. Here are a few tips to help you make the most out of your video marketing:

1. Aim for authentic, actionable content: Be authentic. Be personal. After all, this is your chance to tell your business’s story and show what really makes you different. Keep the video short and informational in nature — since customers are jaded by typical sales pitches. Creating authentic video that captures the human element behind any business allows customers to connect on a personal level. And don’t forget to incorporate a call to action. Build trust and then give viewers a reason and a way to call you, visit your website, or stop by your store. Be sure to include some measurable action path — for example, a unique URL, discount code, or phone number to call. You’ll encourage viewers to engage with you, and be able to measure the results of your video.

2. Optimize it for Google search: Search engines now display more videos, images, blogs, maps, and news in their results. These changes favor video, giving you a great opportunity to increase your ranking in search results (and even achieve that coveted first page ranking on Google). In fact, a Forrester Research experiment discovered that videos have a 50 times better chance than an ordinary web site for getting to the top of search rankings. Add keywords into the filenames of your video. Include keyword-rich descriptions and tags and put your video on keyword-rich web pages.

3. Add it to your Facebook page: On Facebook, use video to show the human side of your company. Think fun and creative. Show a ‘behind the scenes’ peak at your office or shop. Use video to announce a new products or specials. Post video highlights of past events, customer testimonials and more.

4. Put it on YouTube and other video sites: Video sites are great ways to reach potential new customers. Create a branded YouTube channel and host your videos for free. And don’t worry — you don’t need the next viral sensation to find success on YouTube. Small businesses can build sales without generating a million views.

5. Add it to your Google Local Business listing: By adding video to your business listing on Google Local, you’ll be able to tell your story and connect with those people who are looking for your products or services, at the very point in time when they’re actively researching or ready to buy. An engaging video brings your listing to life and sets you apart from the crowd.

[ Want social media tips by email? CLICK HERE! ]

5 ways to sell more with videos is a post from: Lansner on Real Estate