Sorry, I have no answer for you. Just the same question for a different area: Fairfield County, CT...

We just sold in LA, and although we lowered our list price quite a bit to sell, it was still an astronomical sale price. And yes, banks are requiring 20% down these days for LA county...they're afraid of a crash too.

The thing is, the LA market is extremely "local." What happens in Westchester is very different from West Hollywood, etc. You have to take each section of town as it comes...

Good luck!

Deb

This is the same EVERYWHERE I have looked at listings and that includes MICHIGAN which is supposedly giving away homes. Not.

There are homes in my Atlanta suburb neighborhood that have been on the market for greater than 6 months, that is typical for here. The prices have not been slashed, the builders are also not lowing prices on new construction, they are just throwing in a lot of crap with it.

I think this is just hype. Nothing has crashed yet. I don't know if it will but it's got a long way to go before it does. And some analysts on TV are forcasting an improvement in the market in 2009.

Thank you for your comments. This is a topic that is just churning inside of me right now because of our pending return to LA. I love to hear other people's thoughts because we are in the boonies right now and don't hear alot of "the outside world". LOL.

Just my guess, but I think the reason prices haven't dropped yet much is because the people selling right now are the people who feel they should, and are trying to get as much as they can (either to retire or get away with as much cash as they can because they're greedy, and they're selling about 2 years too late), or to break even for what they bought for. Hence, the prices aren't dropping much, especially because of the latter reason...people can't drop, because they'll lose money.

Foreclosures in my area (Orange County) are craaaazy, and those houses that are foreclosures that are entering the market are coming in at a steal -- there's a house around the corner from me that's basically the same house as mine. It's up for sale for $100k less than I paid for mine 2 years ago (ouch!). As more and more foreclosures enter the market, I do wonder what it's going to do to things overall...

"Are sellers refusing to lower prices and buyers refusing to buy? And, with the redefinition of mortgage terms, how are people really going to afford to buy property? Any thoughts on this?"

Here is more food for thought.

A link that might be useful:
California home prices drop nearly 15 percent
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22712082/

I don't know about LA but in the DC area, prices shot up tremendously from 2005 and THEN in 2007 started to come down. So prices may be at the 2005 levels (which were up a lot from 2002 prices) even though people are saying the market is "crashing".

In my old neighborhood, townhouses sold for $265-$300k in 2005 and $340-$350K in 2006. The market peaked late 2006 and started to slide a bit so some townhouses sold for $325K in early 2007. But prices are nowhere near $295k, a price last seen in 2005. These were units that sold for under $200k in 2003.

Money is all relative, I guess. When I think of a crash, I think of the return of almost affordable housing coming on the market. I'm still not seeing that. I bought a condo in West LA for $257K in Feb of 2003. 2+2 condos in West LA are still over $400K. In 2003, I could have purchased a home "South of Ventura Boulevard" in Encino for $400K. This is a very desirable area in The Valley. Prices for homes in that area are still lingering around $800K depending upon ammenities. Cheap money and creative lending led to the spike in prices. But, oh how I LONG for "the good ole' days"!

Prices going down only affect houses that are for sale. People who do not need to move, stay where they are. Maybe they remodel. So you have less houses on the market that are discretionary moves. In LA, and especially in the Beach suburbs, the prices go down, then they go back up again maybe in 5 years. Its been happening that way for the past century my Mom tells me. You have to live somewhere, and if you can afford your mortgage there is no problem. Maybe you can get your property tax reduced if you bought recently.

Reporting in from coastal L.A. metro area. We are not crashing so far. Los Angeles county has not been hit like Riverside and San Diego counties because there were no big developments built here like is those areas, inundating those areas with excess inventory and hurting existing home sales.

Area by area you will see some differences. But as long as new immigrants and their money keeps pouring in, Los Angeles will be relatively stable. January is very slow of course, and there is little activity going on as people sit and wait.

I see some significant price dropping on the lowest end -- older condos in less desireable areas (next to a freeway for example). I'm eyeballing these as potential rental properties. I would NOT recommend buying these to live in, as they keep coming down and like I said - bad location in an area where location, location, location is key.

On the high end, nice properties are holding or increasing their value. Old pieces of crap that need lots of work? Those are starting to come down, as they should.

To answer your specific questions:

"I heard that, unless you have 20% down, you won't be getting a loan anytime soon."

This may be true, start calling the banks to see what they say.

" I also heard that properties are staying on the market longer but eventually do sell and price is dependent upon how "desperate" the sellers are."

See my notice about old pieces of crap. If you can do any re-habbing yourself - this is your time to buy in desireable areas, as older owners finally decide to cash out and move to Florida or AZ, or have died and their homes are sold. I've looked at almost everything on the market in my area under a million dollars and guess what? They are small, gross tear-downs. If you can handle at least carpeting or other flooring, painting, tiling, minor repairs and replacements, these will be your best bets.

"Are sellers refusing to lower prices and buyers refusing to buy?"

Yes, there's a lot of stalemating going on. But those who have to move will have to keep dropping prices. You will need to work with a local agent to find the motivated sellers for you as soon as they hit the market.

" And, with the redefinition of mortgage terms, how are people really going to afford to buy property?"

Again, see my notice about wealthy immigrants. There are a lot of wealthy folks here, period. Twenty-somethings will continue renting unless wealthy parents help them out. My neighbor's 4 grown children have all left the state.

Tell us what area you're moving to and I can give you more specific info.

Thanks, Gina W, for the great information. We are looking at 3 different areas: Palos Verdes (dream area because of public schools), Encino (South of the Blvd) & Agoura Hills as far as Thousand Oaks. I realize those areas don't have much in common but we will be working out of our home & in the Westwood area so all are acceptable. We aren't moving until April and are searching internet & Craigslist to see what's going on out there. BTW...a real estate investor I know said that people who list on Craigslist are desperate. Do you find this to be the case?

BTW...a real estate investor I know said that people who list on Craigslist are desperate. Do you find this to be the case?

I work for a real estate virtual tour company -- a significant number of our customers advertise on craigslist. It's free, after all. In general, most of the realtors we work with seem to feel that the more places a listing gets out and in front of possible buyers, the better. I wouldn't call that desperation...more like common sense.

From what we are noting in our area (Capital district of NY) the prices here are still rising, although the market has slowed down somewhat. Our prices here are nowhere near what they are in California nor the other hot spots that are now in trouble. We are always slower to catch up here. Having the state government located here is a stabilizer and there are some new hi-tech jobs coming into the area from the state and local government trying to encourage growth here upstate.

Not sure how the market will be when we put our home up for sale this coming spring, though, but we will soon find out. We are one of those who aren't going to be desperate to sell at least not yet.

Tulips, I am in the PV area, and this is a great time to buy something "on the hill". The pieces of crap I mentioned are the cheapest homes in PV. Last year you could not find one PV home for under a million dollars, and now there are many.

Granted the homes under a mil are the ones in bad shape and old, small, probates, etc. But how handy are you?

Agoura/Thousand Oaks is very nice, and newer than PV, with homes on larger lots. If I had children, I'd choose that area.

Gina W, a few months ago we were looking at a lot in the PV area "on the hill" but decided against going forward with it. I have a bit of experience with the City of RPV and I know that obtaining the proper permits can tie one up for years. The owner said he was "weeks away" from getting a permit but the city said otherwise. And, the owner wanted close to $1M just for a lot that was partially buildable. Oy veh! Building is usually less expensive than buying existing but all that work is not for the faint-hearted.

We are a lot more handy now since living in the midwest than we were in Los Angeles! We bought a house that was functionally well but asthetically needing some updates. The house has been a money pit for us so far with no end in sight. In defence of the house, it is, as I mentioned, totally functional so I guess it's our standards that are causing the money pit.

We have very good friends in the Thousand Oaks area and that is probably where we will end up. My husband is a free diver so prefers RVP but, we'll see.

What do you think of the new development by The Donald's place? Do you think that will increase property values or not?

Hard to say. Desireable properties in this area (PV, Torrance, Redondo Beach) that have ocean views, are newer or remodeled nicely, etc, are holding their value better. That old "Location, location, location" - is even more important in times like this I guess.

My 2cents...
As ginaw said, good locations are holding their prices. I've lived in Agoura Hills and now live in the South Bay, personally I'd pick RVP, but Las Virgenes are top schools.
I hear the talk about CA crashing, but certainly don't see it. I invest in RE and search for "deals", good property sellers are not desperate. Bad for a buyer, but for an owner, they do hold their value. Because of the market, there are not many good listings, I see good teardowns being snapped up, Strand properties selling for top dollar.
I don't know RPV well, I stick the small area of ManhattanB, HermosaB, and RedondoB.
The problem houses I see are the average and tired ones, they don't have any redeeming value, so they languish.
I bet the TO area is seeing more stress, there are more developments in that area, more room for desperate competing sellers. RPV is just a smaller market.
Best wishes for your move.

I'm bringing this back up again because I have noticed some significant movement downward over the past few weeks on housing prices in Los Angeles - especially in The Valley. We have 2 realestate "experts" in our lives that have opposing viewpoints...#1 We have not seen the bottom yet; foreclosures will continue to rise creating a glut of available properties in LA, #2 We will not see a bottom because the Feds are dropping the interest rates again making money easier to manage. New money is always arriving in LA and the buyers will keep pace with the inventory.
If you'd care to discuss this, I'm interested in what you have to say. Thanks!

I sold my mother's home in East L.A. in 2006 -- the market was staring to go down, but it sure was lucky for me.
Of course, that is not a particularly desirable location, but there was plenty of interest in the property. Most of the offers I saw involved no down payment. And that is how the buyer did purchase this home -- an 80/20 loan & I paid $9,000 closing costs.
So I was probably very lucky to get the deal done at that time. I believe that in this particular location, the big problem for buyers & sellers will be that the buyers can't get financing and that there will be loads of inventory & bank-owned homes.
I'm sure that the desirable areas will fare much better.
Susan