We love Southern California, we love real estate, and we also love to write. So we’ve been writing about the Southern California real estate market since 1980. Through this blog we can now deliver our thoughts, perspective, and insights at the speed of light. Even better, now you can add your thoughts, insights and questions too.
Who are we? Well, we’re both native Southern Californians, SoCal homeowners, and Realtors ™ who have also served as professional educators.
Dave Emerson, the lead writer, grew up in Lakewood, CA, graduated from UCLA back when their football teams didn’t routinely lose to unranked teams, and currently live in Los Alamitos. He’s an investor who owns dozens of local rental units, primarily in Long Beach, and he’s been #1 in sales out of 500 agents in his company seven different years and has been elected “Agent of the Year” by his peers 4 times.
Blair Newman has the perspective of a younger generation. He has helped dozens of his friends and clients buy and sell property, and is a member of Prudential California’s “Cutting Edge Society,” putting him in the top 15% of all agents. He graduated from Biola University in La Mirada, then lived in Anaheim until buying his present home in Lakewood.
Over the years, we’ve sold homes everywhere from the San Fernando Valley to Orange County. We specialize in Southeast Los Angeles County (Long Beach, Lakewood, Norwalk, etc.) and West Orange County (Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Cypress, Garden Grove, etc.).
Over the years we’ve developed contacts in most So Cal areas we don’t service ourselves. We’re excited about finding this fast, interactive way to share our perspective on what we see going on every day in the So Cal Real Estate Market.
We’ll also use the expertise of others we know in real estate and related fields, from finance to property management. And we’ll gain the expertise of our readers as well, as you choose to contribute.
Our non-blog website, which features a direct link into the SoCal Multiple Listing Service and more info about us, including brief resumes. We can be contacted directly by phone, 562.822.7653, and we also respond promptly to all comments and questions left on this blog.
Thanks for visiting.
3 responses so far ↓
Gary Kruger // October 18, 2007 at 9:34 pm |
Dave and Blair,
Congratulations on your new site and blog. I look forward to following it and contributing. I have enjoyed working with you both when you sent referrals “east” of your territory. All those that you sent to me (and those I sent to you) were always pleased with your services.
Gary Kruger
Re/Max
note from Dave: Gary is a long time friend and colleague who has always met the needs of clients we have sent his way. We’ve used him repeatedly when our sellers were moving into his market area.
If every real estate agent and mortgage broker were 1/4th as honest, caring, and competent as Gary, we wouldn’t have a subprime mortgage or foreclosure crises today. (And I say that in spite of the fact that he continued to believe Gary Watts for at least 6 months longer than I did.) Thanks for your kind words, Gary!
Sarah Sasser // October 19, 2007 at 10:23 am |
Where can you buy an affordable starter home in So Cal? Thanks!
Semi-brief answer from Dave & Blair: Starter homes throughout Southern California have become much more affordable since 2005. Prices are down, and starter homes are down way more than those “median price” numbers indicate. Most experts think prices and possibly interest rates will keep dropping through the winter at least.
All the starter neighborhoods are affected, & there are basically 4 types of starter communities:
1. Lower income “urban” locations like Santa Ana.
2. Older suburbs like Norwalk, Lakewood, Stanton or the San Fernando Valley.
3. Outlying suburbs where there’s been lots of starter building going on, like the Inland Empire (Riverside & San Bernardino Counties) & the Antelope Valley (Palmdale, Lancaster)
4. Starter condos, lofts, and townhomes throughout Southern California.
For example, we have just listed a great loft in The Wilmore, a classic Long Beach building about 4 blocks from the water. A similar unit sold a year ago for $475,000, this one’s $337,000! Here’s a link to the listing: http://www.realtor.com/Prop/1088361497
We’ve also got a couple of three bedroom homes in Lakewood which will hit the market soon under $450,000. That’s $100,000 off peak prices. The Inland Empire is crawling with homes at a fraction of these prices, if you don’t mind the commute & the weather.
We hope to have links up shortly which will take you directly to most Southern California Multiple Listing Services without the ads or filters of most property searches. Stay tuned.
Bottom line: Starter homes continue getting more affordable throughout Southern California by the week. It’s a good time to look, or to save your down & get your credit scores up (because the no-down, lousy credit loan is history). Nobody knows for sure what the future holds. As the saying goes, “They don’t ring a bell to let you know when the market hits bottom.”
David // December 3, 2007 at 6:35 pm |
We have referred several clients who decided to sell their property to Dave & Blair, and they have been all very satisfied with the exceptional service and attention to detail that they received. Thanks guys for taking care of our past clients!