Wonderful Traditional home with a pool in this Sherman Oaks, Hidden Woods neighborhood. Double door entry leads to a stunning 2 story foyer. Open and bright formal dining room and living room with recessed lighting and hardwood floors. Separate family room with hardwood floors, fireplace and wet bar with Granite counters. Open kitchen with Granite counter tops, built-ins and breakfast nook. 1 spacious bedroom downstairs and 3 large bedrooms upstairs including a tranquil master suite with walk-in closet and private bathroom plus a separate private office with walk-in closet (could be 5th bedroom). The private back yard features a gated pool and grassy yard with plenty of room to play. 2 car attached garage with direct access.

Wonderful South of the Boulevard entertainers’ paradise with incredible panoramic jetliner Valley and Mountain views from almost every room. Doubledoor entry leads to this magnificent home. The main floor features an open and bright living room with high exposed beam ceilings, wood floors, wood burning fireplace and French sliding doors to one of the many balconies. The recently remolded chef’s kitchen features stainless steel appliances, granite counter-tops, breakfast bar, eating area, travertine floors and French sliding doors to yet another balcony. The family room has built-ins and a bay window. The formal dining area features wood floors and views. The second floor has 3 bedrooms including the master suite with double walk-in closets, a private balcony and a bathroom with double sinks and separate tub and shower. The lower level has a large game/gym/workout room, and an indoor spa room with Jacuzzi and shower. On this level there is a bedroom with plenty of closet and storage space and a bonus room that would make a great office or den. The lush back yard has fruit trees and is a perfect place to start a garden with lots of tiered levels on this large street to street lot.Wonderful South of the Boulevard entertainers’ paradise with incredible panoramic jetliner Valley and Mountain views from almost every room. Double door entry leads to this magnificent home. The main floor features an open and bright living room with high exposed beam ceilings, wood floors, wood burning fireplace and French sliding doors to one of the many balconies. The recently remolded chef’s kitchen features stainless steel appliances, granite counter-tops, breakfast bar, eating area, travertine floors and French sliding doors to yet another balcony. The family room has built-ins and a bay window. The formal dining area features wood floors and views. The second floor has 3 bedrooms including the master suite with double walk-in closets, a private balcony and a bathroom with double sinks and separate tub and shower. The lower level has a large game/gym/workout room, and an indoor spa room with Jacuzzi and shower. On this level there is a bedroom with plenty of closet and storage space and a bonus room that would make a great office or den. The lush back yard has fruit trees and is a perfect place to start a garden with lots of tiered levels on this large street to street lot.

Gated and recently updated. This immaculately maintained traditional home is conveniently located in one of the most desired Sherman Oaks south of the boulevard neighborhoods. Close to the boulevard’s many shops, restaurants and entertainment. The gated and grassy front yard boasts a soothing fountain and a marble tiled path that leads to this remarkable home. Some of the features include; hardwood floors throughout, newer top of the line appliances, roof and air conditioning. The living and dining rooms are open and inviting with smooth ceilings and recessed lighting plus a hidden flat screen television. The true cooks’ kitchen features a large center island with sink and microwave, lots of storage with pull out shelving and soft close drawers and a breakfast nook plus a laundry room that could be a walk-in pantry and an office. The bedrooms are all good size with plenty of closet space, the master bedroom has a walk in closet, full bath with large luxury bath with double shower and separate tub. The garage has been tastefully converted to an office/playroom, but can still be used as a garage. The entertainers’ back yard has a custom built natural gas fire pit, Viking gas grill and a large grassy yard.

Below is a comparison chart for both single family homes and Condo’s.  You will see that in a lot of the categories the amount of units that sold in 2011 went down compared to 2010.  

Since interest rates came way down a few years ago, a lot of buyers that where on the fence came out and bought properties.  Because of this the inventory of properties that were on the market in 2011 were a lot lower than the previous years.

                                                                                   Home Sales

My prediction is that for the next few years we will continue to have a relatively flat but stable market. 

Happy New Year.

Any questions of comments please contact Matt Epstein @ Prudential California Realty @ somatt@aol.com or (818) 789-7408.  Matt Epstein is considered the expert for real estate sales in the South/East San Fernando Valley.

The simple answer is that a short sale is when a bank allows the sale of a property that they hold the mortgage on… to be sold for less than what they are owed.

Let me give an example: Let’s say that you bought your home in 2005 and you paid $800,000 for the house. You put down 10% and your first mortgage was $700,000. Then in 2006 you refinanced your house and got a new first for $800,000 basically getting your down payment back. Then the bank was so nice to you that they gave you a home equity loan for $100,000. Well as we all know the market changed, and started going down in this area in late 2006. Many home owners just sat still waiting for their h home values to stop going down, but we all know that they didn’t. It is now 2011 and the home that you bought for $800,000 in 2005 is now worth approximately 30% less than you paid, it’s worth $560,000….but you owe $900,000.00. If you sold your house for $560,000 after all closing costs you would be left with about $520,000 to pay off loans of around $900,000. In other words you would need to come up with around $380,000 of your own money just to sell your house. This is called being “upside down” on your home.
With this example the bank recognizes that values have come down from where they were. They would rather that you put your house on the market with a “reputable real estate agent” that has an arm’s length relationship with the seller. The banks then prefer to have the real estate agent market the property and get the “highest” price possible. The banks would rather do this compared to foreclosing on you. Why? Two simple reasons. First you are living in the house paying the utilities, and the upkeep on the house, and it should show better than an empty house. Secondly it takes the banks a lot longer to go through the foreclosure process. Short sales take time but they provide the owner with more exit stability.

This entire short sale process needs to be an arms length transaction. This means that you or a family member or a friend cannot be purchasing this property. There are some people and some real estate agents that have gotten involved in this illegal process… If the transaction is not an arms length transaction then the government can go after all parties involved and they are. This is considered lender fraud and is prosecuted as a felony. Some people have told me that it is only the banks that are getting hurt. That is wrong. It is a felony and this type of fraud also lowers the values of properties in a neighborhood and that lowers everyone’s values.

Why would a homeowner want to go down this path? A short sale on your credit is a lot less points taken off your credit report when you compare it to a foreclosure. Also a short sale allows you to stay in your property until the bank approves it and then the new loan is funded. You will have a better idea when you would need to leave the property.

There are a lot of factors that go into doing a short sale and there are a lot of people that are giving advice that do not know how to do this the right way. If you are in a position where you are considering doing a short sale on a property that you own, make sure that you speak to someone who has successfully completed many transactions.

Any questions of comments please contact Matt Epstein @ Prudential California Realty @ somatt@aol.com or (818) 789-7408. Matt Epstein is considered the expert for real estate sales in the South/East San Fernando Valley.