Maureen Megowan's Blog

Although these two institutions buy mortgages that normally meet their very conservative guidelines to provide new funds for lenders to make new mortgages, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, unfortunately also invested in riskier "Alt A" loans and derivatives which has led to their current troubles. They are an integral part of the home financing system in this country. Over half of all mortgages in this country are owned by these two companies.

Although they were originally chartered as Federal Government Institutions, they are private organizations, but with the implicit belief by investors that the U.S. Government will support them and not let them fail as they are so important to our country and its economy.  Without these two institutions, there would be almost no funds available for homeowners to obtain mortgages. Therefor, whatever the government needs to do to support Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they need to do.

My husband, Bruce is trying to build up support for a dog park on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. This is because there is nowhere on the Peninsula that a dog owner can legally run their dog off leash. Our dop Pepper is a miniature Austrailian Shepherd, and loves to chase and catch the frisbee. The nearest dog park to us is in Redondo Beach and San Pedro, at least a 20 minute drive, and even the San Pedro dog park is only at a temporary location.

If you live on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and would like to support this effort to have a dog park constructed somewhere on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, send an email to my husband Bruce at bmegowan@cox.net . You should also send an email in support of a dog park on the Peninsula to the city manager and city council of the city that you live in as follows:

Rancho Palos Verdes: citymanager@rpv.com  ; cc@rpv.com

Rolling Hills Estates : DougP@ci.Rolling-Hills-Estates.ca.us  ;

Palos Verdes Estates: jhoefgen@pvestates.org  ; cityclerk@pvestates.org

Rolling Hills: CityManager@cityofrh.net  ; Mayor_CityCouncil@cityofrh.net

I thank you for your support

Francine A. Bradley, Ph.D. UC Davis, in a report to the City of Rancho Palos Verdes on managing peafowl on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, states that the original peacock colony on the Palos Verdes Peninsula was a gift of 16 birds from the daughter of William Wrigley, Jr. to Frank Vanderlip, the original founder of the Palos Verdes Project in the mid 1920's, from Mr. Wrigley's aviary on Catalina Island. These birds were maintained at the Vanderlip Estate in Portuguese Bend. It is suspected that some of the birds were introduced to Palos Verdes Estates by former mayor Fred Roessler sometime in the period from 1960-65. There are now numberous colonies in Rancho Palos Verdes in the Crestridge, Vista Grande, and the Portuguese Bend areas, as well as in the Lunada Bay and Malaga Cove areas of Palos Verdes Estates.

For more secrets and little know facts about the Palos Verdes Peninsula go to my website at http://www.maureenmegowan.com/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1824011&NF=1

I have the only web site information on the exact property tax rates for each of the beach cities in the South Bay Los Angeles and Palos Verdes Peninsula real estate market (including the cities of El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Palos Verde sEstates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, San Pedro, and Lomita. Your property tax rates are a combination of the statutory rate of 1% of the property's original purchase price (increased a maximum of 2% oer year), but also includes additonal taxes for votere approved bonded indebtedness, as well as other voter approved specialty parcvel taxes. If you visit my website at http://www.maureenmegowan.com/Nav.aspx/Page=/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1584411%20 you can get a very close approximation of the property taxes you will pay in each of these cities.

Trying to understand the The California Residential Purchase Agreement (California Association of Realtors form RPA-CA) can be an extremely daunting task, with the average home buyer typically overwhelmed by the legal nature of this document. This is a standard document used in the State of California sponsored by the California Association of Realtors, and is used in the overwhelming majority of residential real estate purchases. If you visit my website at http://www.maureenmegowan.com/Nav.aspx/Page=/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1584411%20 I provide a step by step, paragraph by paragraph explanation of this purchase contract, explaining in plain English what is included in the contract and how to undeerstand its legal provisions.

Staging your home to sell is one of the most important things that you can do to effectively market your home for sale. Staging is simply the process of putting the "best foot forward" in presenting your property for sale. Most of the steps in staging your home can be done relatively inexpensively, but it takes someone, such as me, with a keen eye for design and years of experience to unlock the full potential of your home. If you visit my website at http://www.maureenmegowan.com/Nav.aspx/Page=/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1584411%20 you can discover the steps to effectively stage your home

Home Improvements can significantly increase the market value of your home, but it is important to understand the ratio of increased home value versus the cost of the improvement. Not all home improvements yield the same results in recovering their cost upon the sale of the property. Kitchen upgrades, followed as a close second by bathroom upgrades generally have the best financial returns. If you visit by website at http://www.maureenmegowan.com/Nav.aspx/Page=/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1584411%20 you can learn how each type of home improvement ranks as far as its return on investment. I also have several before and after pictures of effective home improvements, as well as extensive advice on hiring a contractor for your home improvement project.

Before remodel

Kitchen after remodel    

The media has been pounding us over the head with doom and gloom reports of the real estate market. It is true that most of the markets nationally, and many in Southern California, have been significantly impacted, however the story in the South Bay of Los Angeles is much different. Although sales volume has plummeted, home prices in the South Bay, particularly the more expensive markets of the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Manhattan Beach/Hermosa Beach, have not been nearly as severely affected. For instance, it was widely reported that the Median Sales price of homes sold in Southern California plunged 27% compared to a year ago. The median price, which means that half of the homes sold for more than this price, and half for less, can be extremely distorted based on the mix of homes sold. For instance, if more smaller homes are sold than larger/more improved homes, the median price will be distorted downward. Average price per square foot tends to be less affected by the mix of homes sold. The average price per sq. ft. for homes sold in the second quarter 2008 compared to the 2007 second quarter has only fallen modestly in the South Bay beach cities.

Inventory - The average number of days on the market for properties sold in the second quarter of 2008 in the South Bay has increased to approx. 65 days, an increase from approx. 50 days a year ago.  We have about a 7 month inventory at this time for the Palos Verdes Peninsula. For most of the last 2 decades, Los Angeles County has averaged an 8 month inventory.

123 single family residences were sold during the second quarter of 2008 on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, compared to 158 during 2007 ( a 22% decrease). The inventory of homes as of 6/30/08 has increased 34% from this time last year on the Palos Verdes Peninsula to 270 homes. This equates to a little more than a 7 month supply.

Palos Verdes Peninsula- During  the second Quarter of 2008 the average price per sq. ft. of homes sold showed a decrease of approx. 5% over the comparable period of 2007 (to an average price per sq. ft. of $571), but a decrease of approx. 7% from the peak during the third and fourth quarters of 2007.

Home prices for sold properties, on average in the South Bay, have been approx. 95% of the list price during the 2nd quarter of 2008.

For a complete market report on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the South Bay of Los Angeles, go to my website at http://www.maureenmegowan.com/Nav.aspx/Page=/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=987437%20

When Marineland closed in December1986,Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, which owned Sea World in San Diego, purchased Marineland, ostensibly to continue to operate it. Their intent, however, was to purchase Marineland solely to acquire Corky and Orky, a successful breeding pair of killer whales. Harcourt was in the process of rapidly expanding the Sea World enterprise throughout the nation, and was in desperate need of proven, successful breeding pairs of killer whales in order to supply their new Sea World locations with their headline act, "Shamu, the killer whale".
 
Orky, the larger male, at Marineland show

Harcourt had been denied a permit to capture additional killer whales in the wild and was therefor limited to acquiring killer whales already in captivity. They therefor purchased the park, and within a few weeks after the purchase, moved Corky and Orky to their Sea World Park in San Diego in the middle of the night without any prior notice to the public, and closed Marineland claiming that the park was going to cost more money to renovate than they originally estimated.  They had planned to sell the land to an Arizona developer from the beginning, and quickly did so after closing the park. Unfortunately, Orky, the male, died two years later in 1988, however Corky is still alive (she is now believed to be about 40 years old and the oldest of the seven killer whales in San Diego) and performing daily at Sea World in San Diego. She gave birth to seven calves, however all died soon after birth, with the oldest living only for 46 days.

For more history of Marineland, go to my website at http://www.maureenmegowan.com/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1471638&NF=1

From 1955 to 1974, a Nike Missile battery was located at the site of the current Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall. The City Hall for Rancho Palos Verdes was relocated to the administration buildings of the former Nike missile site in 1975, shortly after the City of Rancho Palos Verdes was incorporated in 1973.

Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall circa 1975

For more informatio about the history of Rancho Palos Verdes, go to my website at http://www.maureenmegowan.com/PageManager/Default.aspx/PageID=1824011&NF=1