Remodeling Magazine provides a quantitative breakout in its Cost vs. Value Report for 2009-2010.  The report analyzes regions and subsets of the housing market.

21 home improvement projects were analyzed, ranging in value from $1.2K to $156K for the mid-range residential market.  All but one project – installing a steel entry door – are losing propositions, in terms of investment merit.

For instance, a $28.4K home office remodel will only add $13.6K to your home, while converting your attic into a bedroom will return 83.1% of costs.

As you would expect in a recession, cost recapture values are decreasing relative to last year. Only 4 of the 21 mid-range projects analyzed increased recapture values from the previous year, with the rest losing ground.

There are two important reasons you might still consider making capital improvements:

• You are preparing to sell your property in a competitive location.  In some markets even small improvements can tip the scale in favor of a buyer purchasing your property versus your neighbors.
• The improvements are meant for you to enjoy.  This puts the improvement in the “consumption item” category.

Note that capital improvements can be added to the cost basis for your property, meaning they will reduce capital gains tax liability.  On this basis, the costs of improvements should be adjusted to reflect tax savings.

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In A Short Sale May Not Mean You’re Home Free the Wall Street Journal highlights that lenders are increasingly seeking deficiency judgments against distressed borrowers who walk away from their homes in short sales.

Deficiency judgments are court remedies awarded to lenders to help their recuperate losses from short sales.  If a homeowner owes more than his property is worth and is able to negotiate a short sale with his lender he may find himself stuck owing part of the negative equity balance .

The good news for California homeowners is that all purchase-money loans for 1-4 unit residential properties are except from deficiency judgment.  This means that for most homeowners their first mortgages are safe from lenders pursuing further claims.

The catch for many homeowners is that hard money second mortgages are not except, and lenders are increasingly pursuing court judgments to recoup losses.  Borrowers usually need to file bankruptcy to expunge these debts, or pursue another type of debt settlement.

The takeaway is that things are rarely as easy as they seem, despite emphatic salespeople who might lead you to believe otherwise.  Nonetheless, you do have options and all economic hardships can be overcome.  Do your research, consult an attorney or a real estate professional.

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With lenders issuing nearly 63,000 notices of default to Southern California  homeowners in the 3rd quarter of 2009 (up 18.7% year-over-year), short sale vultures are increasingly on the prowl for quick profits.

A short sale occurs when a lender agrees to  sell a property for which it holds a mortgage note for less than is owed. This makes sense for lenders when distressed homeowners have little chance of meeting debt obligations.  A defaulting homeowner could cost a lender far in excess of what they could immediately recoup from a short sale.  Short sale investors are stepping in to fill the void, picking up properties at discounts to market value.

Real estate certainly has its vultures, most of whom are simply shrewd business people, but there are those who follow unethical, sometimes illegal practices.  Lenders are stepping up efforts to prevent the unethical behavior, while lawmakers are scrambling to pass regulations to prevent fraud.  If you are one of the tens of thousands of new short sale investors entering the business it is important to keep in mind that sound, ethical business is far more profitable in the long run.

Here are 3 tips for running an ethical, legally compliant short sale business:

1. Divest conflicts of interest from all parties:  Use an independent real estate professional to construct your Broker’s Pricing Opinion (BPO).  This mainly holds for short sale teams that fail to disclose that the BPO  originating real estate agent is, in fact, part of the short sale team.  Lenders are increasingly sensitive to the practice of real estate agents submitting bogus BPO’s that understate real market value.  Avoid the temptation to misrepresent a property’s value-this can be viewed as fraudulent, particularly when you immediately turn around and resell the property for more.
2. Invest in repairs, reconstruction, and aesthetic upgrades.  Few lenders could find fault with an investor earning a spread on a property after it has been refurbished.  It’s the practice of immediately flipping properties without adding any value that is under legal and ethical scrutiny.
3. Hold properties for at least 90 days.  Lenders and lawmakers are targeting flippers who structure double escrows to immediately unload properties, earning a spread without creating additional value (other than finding a separate buyer).  Holding onto properties for at least 90 days satisfies FHA seasoning requirements, which enables buyers to use FHA-sponsored debt sources, and affords investors the opportunity to make capital improvements to the property.

Following these 3 guidelines will keep you in the good graces of lenders and regulators, a position in which any long-term oriented business person would hope to remain.  Profit may be the bottom line indication of business success, but creating value and improving society should be the ultimate consequence.

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The end of the year has seen a rebound in residential home sales volume and prices.  Given continued decline in the overall market value of transactions it is still too early to determine whether or not we have seen a bottom to prices, or if this is merely a bear market rally.

Overall coastal cities South Bay real estate prices are down 6.3% year-over-year with the average number homes remain on market increasing to 76 from a historical average of 34.  Transaction numbers are down 12.4%, and total market value of sales (average sales prices times monthly number of sales) is down 37% from historical monthly averages.

Trend lines drawn through 3-Month average sales prices and transaction market value graphs illustrate the deflationary characteristics of our local market.  Despite the overall market trend to be down, there are pockets of strength in parts of the South Bay.

Manhattan Beach is the only city that has seen an increase in year-over-year prices with a modest gain of 4.4%.  Despite sales price recovery, the Manhattan Beach real estate market remains troubled with significant increase in the number of days properties remain on the market (DOM)-88 DOM versus a long-term average of 39 DOM. Also troubling is the drastic reduction in final sales prices versus original list prices, which has dropped to 82.4% from a long-term average of 91.3%. An increase in sales volume due to marked price reductions from listing values does not a recovery make.

Hermosa Beach prices are deteriorating at an alarming rate (37.5%) with transactional volume moderately trailing its long-term average.  Homes remain on the market for an average of 92 days, up from an historical average of 39 DOM. Despite falling prices and extended periods for properties remaining on the market, final sales prices are only modestly off from both original and final list values, 90.5% and 95.0%, respectively.  Another positive sign for the Hermosa Beach real estate market is that the market value of transactions is well above the downward sloping regression trend line.

The Redondo Beach real estate market is the most vibrant of the coastal South Bay area, with 3-month average sales prices clearly trending upward from a low in March of this year.  With overall market transactional values well above the regression line, persistently higher price movements could indicate we have seen the bottom in this market.  It is still premature to declare such a condition, particularly as year-over-year sales prices are down 8.5% and average DOM is just over twice the historical average.

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