Little grill fun at Boneheads

Our Independence Day tradition! The 4th edition of July 4 secrets to maximizing the return on investment you’ve made on a backyard: Grilling tips. This year, we’ve checked in with Morgan Smith of Boneheads restaurant in Lake Forest to ponder the art of grilling fish ….

General tips …

• For most foods, surface temperature should be between 450 and 500 degrees.
• Cooking on a grill that is too hot will not cook the food faster, it will only burn it faster.
• When oil smokes excessively or catches on fire when applied to the surface of the grill, it is too hot!
• Grill must be oiled before placing the food on the grill.
• Do not excessively oil. It will impart a burnt flavor to the food.
• Oiling (olive oil or Pam) the food will help any seasoning stick to the food rather than the grill.
• Season the food lightly on both sides, keeping in mind that some seasoning will stick or burn off on the grill.
• Cook the food about 65% of the way through before flipping.
• Never use tongs on cooked fish as you can damage the items instead, use a spatula.
• Flip the food onto a clean oiled part of the grill surface.
• Before turning the grill off, surface should be thoroughly cleaned and oiled.  This will prepare the surface for the next use and protect the metal.

As for the fish itself …

• Fish is always placed on the grill meat side down (or blood line up).
• Thin pieces of fish should be cooked on the cooler parts of the grill.
• Mahi and salmon is done when it is firm to the touch (using tongs).
• Snapper and tilapia are done when the flake apart easily.
• Fish should never be burned, dry looking, or cracked; this means it is over cooked.
• Thin pieces of fish cook in 5-7 minutes. Thick pieces? 8-10 minutes.

And a secret recipe … for pineapple salsa!

• Ingredients: Chopped pineapple, 4 cups; chopped roasted red pepper, 1 cup; chopped red onion, 1 cup; minced garlic, 1/4 cup; Thai chili sauce, 1/2 cup; chopped cilantro, 1/2 cup; chopped green onions, 1/2 cup.
• Procedure: (1) Using a rubber spatula combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. (2) Transfer to serving dish. (3) Refrigerate until chilled!
• Note … Shelf Life: 3 days; yield: 8 cups

Previous grilling tips our red-white-and-blue blog tradition: July 4th outdoor cooking tips …

• 2008: Don’t get ‘chicken’ about backyard grilling
• 2007: Barbecue tips from South (America)
  
• 2006: Backyard cooking tips, including lamb chop recipe

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

For the 22 business days ending June 10 – DataQuick’s latest homebuying report — Orange County saw …

• $420,500 median selling price in mid-June. Last time higher? September 2008.
• $420,500  is -12.2% vs. a year ago and -35% below June 2007’s peak of $645,000. Prices have been falling on a year-over-year basis since Sept. 2007 with the worst at -31.5% in August 2008.
• Single-family homes sell for 35% less than their peak pricing (June ‘07) while condos sell 38% below their peak in March 2006. Builder prices for new homes are 38% below their February ‘05 top.
• In this most recent period, O.C. shoppers bought 2,915 residences — that is +14.3% vs. year-ago buying actvity. (From 1997-2006, monthly sales averaged 4,304 per month.)
• May was the 11th straight month of sales gains vs. the year-ago period. That follows 33 consecutive months where sales failed to beat the previous year’s pace.

How did your neighborhood fare? Check our ZIP-by-ZIP data HERE!

Lansner on Real Estate’s most-popular June postings …

1. ‘Real Housewives’ Coto home in default
2. “Real Housewife’ saves Coto home from foreclosure
3. St. Regis resort reportedly near foreclosure
4. Developer of OC high-rise condos ponders bankrupt
5. Mall getting $100 million makeover
6. Surf City rental service draws police complaints
7. St. Regis owners, lenders face big losses
8. Chain with 10 o.c. hotels in bankruptcy
9. Distressed property cuts other calif. prices
10. 179,000 OC homes won’t see taxes go up
11. Hear why Chapman sees no big OC housing revival
12. Humble Anaheim home draws 63 offers

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

• 9 of O.C.’s 83 ZIP codes had gains in their respective median selling price. (Highlighted in green below!) Overall, prices were -12.2% vs. a year ago.
• 5 of O.C. ZIPs had median sales prices above $1 million in the period vs. 11 million-dollar ZIPs when the county median price peaked in June 2007. Since that pricing pinnacle, there’s been a -35% drop in the countywide median price!
• 50 of O.C. ZIPs had year-over-year sales gains in the period. Overall, sales were +14.3% vs. a year ago.
• 6 of O.C. ZIPs has sales gains of 100% or more in the period.
• For a detailed report on the price moves, CLICK HERE!

Here’s a look at the 83 ZIPs and how they fared in terms of median selling price and total sales for this period:

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Let me present — drumroll, please — Lansner on Real Estate’s most-popular “Blue Ribbon” postings, so to speak …

1. ‘Real Housewives’ Coto home in default
2. “Real Housewife’ saves Coto home from foreclosure
3. St. Regis resort reportedly near foreclosure
4. Developer of OC high-rise condos ponders bankrupt
5. Mall getting $100 million makeover
6. Surf City rental service draws police complaints
7. St. Regis owners, lenders face big losses
8. Chain with 10 o.c. hotels in bankruptcy
9. Distressed property cuts other calif. prices
10. 179,000 OC homes won’t see taxes go up
11. Hear why Chapman sees no big OC housing revival
12. Humble Anaheim home draws 63 offers

By the way, this list doesn’t include two posts from our new “sOCial sunday” collection of social networking news and views! The post “How we got 2.2 million internet links … temporarily” explains — to the best of our best abilities — how a hacker redirected Web links to our earlier post, “Hashtag? How to join those twitter ‘#chats’!”

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Michael Schwartz is CEO of Strategic Storage Trust in Ladera Ranch. He explains to ocregister.com in a podcast interview why the self-storage storage business — while not “recession proof” — tends to do better than other real estate assets in economc downturns.

To hear our full interview, CLICK HERE !

CLICK

FOR MORE HOUSING!

Check out your blogger’s previous podcasts:

• Chapman U. thinks hosuings’ recovery will be modest
• Cities, not suburbia, best shot at full housing recovery!
• It will be a renters’ market for some time to come
• Why builders eye simpler, smaller homes
• Why you should have earthquake insurance
• ZipRealty sees possible housing bottom forming
• Renters feel cheated by financial bailouts
• PMI economist says job losses smack housing
• Century 21 CEO think West will lead housing’s recovery
• Consultant Duffy says builders must wait until 2012
• Adviser Rother says depressed home prices creates opportunity
• Trulia exec says new home information will change the game

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

• The mortgage was assigned to “special service” on June 25. That’s an official designation of trouble.
• At year-end 2008, Kaleidoscope’s “debt service coverage ratio” was 1.09 — or loosely, it had $1.09 of cash flow for every $1 in mortgage payments due.
• At year’s end, reported occupancy was at 78% vs. to 85.5% at issuance.
• Borrower told lenders that occupancy has since dropped to 60%, primarily due to the vacancy of two major tenants, representing a combined 24.6% of the space, which vacated prior to their respective lease expirations. There are reportedly prospects for some of the vacant space.
• Five leases — about 10.7% of the rentable area — will expire in 2009, or are month-to-month.

Kaleidoscope — a “grocery anchored, retail/entertainment center” — was built in 1988 at a cost of $60 million. The center struggled from the start due to its awkward location and odd structure. It was sold for $28 million in 1991. A Securities and Exchange Commission filing made in 2005, when the mall’s loan was sold to investors, notes that $36 million was borrowed against the property as a refinance at the time by Jong Yong Lee and Ji Hee Lee who “report a net worth in excess of $40 million. Their real estate portfolio consists of shopping centers, apartment buildings and office buildings. More specifically, the sponsors own 22.5% of two partnerships which own a combined 12 apartment buildings totaling 2,300 units in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Virginia and North Carolina.”

Earlier this year, one of the mall’s anchors, Bristol Farms, said it was closing its supermarket there.

No immediate response was available from the mall’s management company on the default news.

Other troubled commercial properties …

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Click to enlarge

This Sunday in the dead-tree edition of The Register, it’s time for our latest Orange County economic snapshot: The Big Orange index!

To whet the appetite, here’s a snapshot from the upcoming second quarter report: Yearly change in the Big O’s Property Index — one of six local markers (tracking key Orange County industries) that comprise the overall index.

As you can see in this accompanying chart, the Big O Property Index agrees with what other reports are saying: We’re experiencing a moderation in losses in overall Orange County real estate economics. It’s sort of your choice to hang on to this benchmark’s lowest reading in nearly 9 years — or take comfort in its smallest loss in 15 months.

Please note: Mortgage lending and homebuying are up in this town.

The rest of real estate? In the dumps!

Previous Big Orange reports …

• 2006’s 4th quarter: Tug of War
• 2007’s 2nd quarter: Stuck in neutral
• 2007’s 3rd quarter: Don’t bank on it
• 2007’s 4th quarter: Boarded up
• 2008’s 1st quarter: Sandwiched
• 2008’s 2nd quarter: Out of gas
• 2008’s 3rd quarter: Little to cheer
• 2008’s 4th quarter: Storm of discounts
• 2009’s 1st quarter: Doesn’t fully compute

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Opus West, a pioneer in Orange County’s condo-tower experiment, announced today that it will file Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization sometime this month. An East Coast affiliate filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy, saying it intends to liquidate.

The commercial and multi-family developer blamed “steep and pervasive declines” in commercial real estate values and a tight credit market for hampering the company’s fortunes. Said Mark Rauenhorst, chairman and CEO of parent company Opus Corp.:

“Declining real estate values and tight credit markets continue to impede the refinancing of assets and restructuring of lending agreements. We are taking the actions announced today to liquidate Opus East’s portfolio and allow for the restructuring of Opus West’s operations. We regret that this action has proven to be necessary despite the efforts of so many. A court-supervised process and transfer of distressed assets will assist Opus in reorganizing and focus on the future.”

Opus West has retained counsel to explore restructuring options, the company said. It will maintain its headquarters in Phoenix and a modest presence in both California and Texas to focus primarily on asset sales.

In April, Opus South, which builds in the southeastern U.S., filed bankruptcy.

Opus West has developed more than 52.7 million square feet of space since starting operations in 1979, including the Plaza condo towers in Irvine. At one point, developers planned to build more than 50 condo towers in Orange County. But after an initial flurry of buyer interest, the experiment in high-rise living in suburban O.C. floundered and most of those projects were put on hold.

To read the company press release, CLICK HERE!

Related articles:

• Developer of O.C. high-rise condos ponders bankruptcy
• Another Irvine condo tower readies for residents
• O.C.-based apartment owner files for bankruptcy
• O.C. offices cost investor $40 million loss
• Need search help in this bleak job market?
• Distressed property cuts other Calif. prices
• $75 million for Aliso Viejo luxury complex
• O.C. builder kills projects, loses $69 million

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

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.

Related news …

Irvine landlord skips $500,000 debt payment

Real estate trends …

New real estate sales efforts …

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

Watts

Real estate prognosticator Gary Watts, who earned a reputation in recent years for making rosy forecasts, is now delivering his gloomiest outlook since Realtors called him “Scary Gary” because of his dire predictions two decades ago.

In a recent address to members of the Orange County Association of Realtors, Watts said:

“The recession has gone on so long and has been so crippling that any small piece of economic data that comes out favorably leads one to think that things are finally going to get better. Unfortunately, this is not so!

“Housing has low prices and extremely low mortgage rates. This should have been enough to turn us around. However, when you balance this against shrinking access to credit, instability of American workers to receive higher wages and crippling unemployment, the outlook is not good.”

Watts earned the nickname “Scary Gary” when he forecast the housing slump of the early 1990s.

In recent years, however, he called himself an evangelist of real estate optimism, forecasting rising prices long after the market had tipped into a steep slump. After three years of predicting price gains that never materialized, Watts had issued an apology.

Now, he told local Realtors:

• “This year is the 20th anniversary of my Dr. Doom and Gloom talk. Unfortunately, the (down) cycle’s back, and we’re going to be in it for awhile.”
• Since 2008, the U.S. government has engaged in a series of “botched” efforts to rescue the housing market.
• The core problem in local real estate is a lack of move-up buyers.
• While demand for homes selling for under $500,000 is hot, sellers of those homes no longer have any equity. They end up with nothing to invest in a bigger house. As a result, sales of homes for more than $500,000 are “dead in the water.”
• Foreclosures and “short sales” — sales of homes for less than is owed on the mortgage — continue to dominate. Other homes must compete with those properties by lowering their prices.
• High unemployment, tight credit and a new wave of foreclosures on Option ARMs and other creative loans likewise are combining to depress the market.

Watts has seen his own share of bad luck this year. The Mission Viejo broker defaulted on a loan for a rental home he owned and ended up putting it on the market as a short sale. In his latest outlook, he said:

“To add to the housing woes, the Treasury is issuing a lot of money. The market is beginning to wonder who is going to buy all these notes and bonds. This will force interest rates upwards, putting more pressure on our already weak housing market.”

Other trends …

New real estate sales efforts …

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

For example, Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index for LA/OC shows that values in the region for April …

• Fell 0.9% March to April – smallest monthly loss since July 2007.
• Fell 21.3% year ended in April – smallest year-over-year loss since February 2008.
• Still, LA/OC is off -41.8% from the peak of September 2006.
• Last time pricing was this cheap? July 2003!

Looking at the 20 cities nationwide tracked by this index math, S&P’s David Blitzer notes: “The pace of decline in residential real estate slowed in April … In addition to the 10-city and 20-city (composite indices,) 13 of the 20 metro areas also saw improvement in their annual return compared to that of March. Furthermore, every metro area, except for Charlotte, recorded an improvement in monthly returns over March. While one month’s data cannot determine if a turnaround has begun; it seems that some stabilization may be appearing in some of the regions. We are entering the seasonally strong period in the housing market, so it will take some time to determine if a recovery is really here. The stock market bottomed in March and measures of consumer confidence have turned upward. This report shows that these better spirits are also appearing in the housing market.”

Other trends …

New real estate sales efforts …

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate

“We’re in a process where we may be seeing some bottoming. Certainly mortgage rates being down where they were, was helpful.”

We’ve seen other suggestions with the same logic recently …

• Home Prices Continue To Fall, Decline May Be Slowing
• KB Home chief says prices are stabilizing in some parts of the US
• Housing Data: The Slow Healing Process Has Begun
• Searching for a bottom in the housing market
• Home Prices Rise in California Again
• How To Play The Real Estate Recovery
• Japan REIT market hits 8-month high, more gains seen
• Can You Find the Bottom In Real Estate funds?

Other real estate trends …

And some industry news …

Post from: Lansner on Real Estate