New Laws Affecting California Real Estate Starting in 2022

Naples Canal

Every year many new bills are signed into California law, and this year is no exception.  Not all have to do directly with real estate, but here are some of the ones that do:

AB 468 concerns emotional support animals (which are not the same as service animals).  While landlords must provide reasonable accommodation concerning emotional support animals per current federal or state law, there are now restrictions on how health providers may provide documentation, requiring specific language, in order to reduce emotional support animal fraud.  To read more about service animals vs. emotional support animals, go to Emotional Support Animal Fraud.

AB 491 Fair Housing Equal Access, a new law which states that in "mixed-income multifamily structures, all occupants must have equal access to common entrances, areas, and amenities as the occupants of market-rate housing units." (California Association of Realtors).  The purpose of this bill is to eliminate the "poor door" for certain occupants of designated affordable housing units who in some instances were not allowed to use certain entrances or common area features.

AB 938 Appraisal Discrimination: To combat this problem which has existed in some geographic areas (nationwide) , after July 1, 2022, Realtor contracts in California which also require the delivery of a Seller's Transfer Disclosure Statement (TDS), must contain specific language concerning unbiased valuation of properties which cannot be influenced by race, religion, marital status, pregnancy, and 13 other categories.

SB 392 Homeowner associations must "communicate with homeowners via email if that is the homeowner's preferred method of communication (for notices that are required to be delivered individually under the Davis-Sterling Act)." (California Association of Realtors). This is a time saver and a money saver for associations which may be spending hundreds of dollars annually on mailing costs for multi-page documents that are required by law to be sent to HOA members. The annual budget report, annual policy statements and notices regarding assessments or delinquencies, among others, are notices that must be delivered "individually," and thus, the homeowner may now require that they receive these notices via email.

SB 9 governing lot splits in otherwise single SFR zoned areas, is lengthy and should require in depth study by the interested party:

"This law requires a city or county to ministerially approve either or both of the following, (subject to exceptions and conditions):  a) A housing development of no more than two units in a single-family zone ("duplex").  b) The subdivision of a parcel zoned for residential use, into two approximately equal parcels ("lot split")." (California Association of Realtors).

Existing law governing zoning of units and/or Accessory Dwelling Units may help the end user achieve his/her housing dream, and in spite of media coverage on how SB9 will chop up neighborhoods, there are many requirements to be consulted with, so long term affect may ultimately be seen as one more tool for increasing housing, rather than a huge overwhelming impact on neighborhoods.

 Further laws concern redaction and disclosure (if known by the Realtor) of restrictive covenants AB 1466;  SB 60 governing short term rentals; Revocable transfer on death deeds (avoiding probate) SB 315;

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996

The Shape of the Housing Market to Come

According to Tian Liu, Chief Economist at Enact, remote work is still driving the housing market buyer preferances.  COVID-19 has shaped the choices and home desires, and will continue to do so well into the future.  Homes are the complete center of people's lives as they assume the roles of work center, recreation center as well as family living center. According to a recent survey of 1000 Americans, 44% want to work from home without venturing elsewhere. Rental homes fall into the same category:  "According to Invitation Homes, a major single-family rental company, rents for new leases grew by 13.8% year over year in second-quarter 2021, while rents for renewals grew by 5.8% year over year. These figures represent significant increases in the value that people place on single-family homes." 

For younger buyers, when to buy is a timely question--for each of the past five years, 5.5 million people reach their 33rd birthday--peak homebuying years. Historically low interest rates have helped to push many of these people into the buyers market, rising last year from 2.65% to 3%. The higher rates anticipated this year may bring a correction to prices, or at least a slowing. 

Rapid home price growth has also been fueled by the lag in new home construction. Many homes for which permits have been issued are anticipated to be completed in 2022, growing the inventory significantly and impacting the sellers market into a more balanced one.  Buyers are cautioned to be realistic in their home appreciation expectations if they buy now--historically homes have provided modest appreciation in value.  Like many other investments, they should look to the long term.

https://www.scotsmanguide.com/browse/content/the-pandemic-continues-to-shape-the-housing-market

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996

Long Beach End of Year Housing Stats

Willmore, Long Beach

Best wishes for a Happy New Year!

In spite of the lowest inventory ever (at end of November Long Beach was at .8 months, meaning inventory had about 3 weeks of life at that point), 2021 saw more sales in houses and condos in Long Beach than 2020 did, as of December 31, 2021.

2020 = 2,073 SFR sold; 1,027 condos sold. (CRMLS sales)

2021 =2,281 SFR sold; 1,320 condos sold. (CRMLS sales) 

 (These figures do not account for the off-MLS sales, many of which have been later flipped for sale on the MLS, or have sold as "pocket listings" (a practice addressed under the Clear Cooperation Policy of National Association of Realtors), however, the vast majority of residential sales are recorded in one of the nation's approximately 500 MLS systems of which REALTORS are members.)  

Right now, condominiums represent a strong buying opportunity for first time buyers--in Long Beach active condo listings have a median price of $482,444, and an average list price at $679,259; single family homes in Long Beach have a median price of $929,990 and an average list price at $1,358,262.

For more information about 2021 buyers and sellers, see NAR's annual report summary.

Where did sellers move to in 2021?  Top destination states were Florida and Billings, Montana, while California fell into the outflow category, except for the City of Beverly Hills, which was the fourth highest city in the country ranked for inflow of residents (and the only city in California), according to the migration report at MoveBuddha.

For more information about current market listings, whether you're a buyer looking for a property to buy, or you would like to know more about market selling prices in your area, please contact me or visit my website at www.juliahuntsman.com for the ability to search for all listings on the MLS--updated daily.

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996

December Housing Prices in the Local Long Beach Area

First, the inventory for single family homes and condominiums remains low, but now it's "extremely" low.

Long Beach November stats-2021

 In November, the inventory for houses decreased  33% compared to one year ago, 181 homes for sale compared to 272 one year ago; inventory for condos in Long Beach decreased 51% from the prior year, from 276 to 134.  The average sales price for a house in Long Beach was $951,203, and the average price for a condo was $552,356.  Compared to November 2020, prices increased 9% for SFRs, and 17% for condos.  And, it's also obvious that listings do not spend much time on the market before selling. And, over the last 12 months, in spite of decreasing inventory, the sales volume in both categories is up.  (Information data per CRMLS as of December 5th, 2021.)

 Currently, as of December 15th, in Long Beach there are 182 houses and condos listed actively or "coming soon" for sale in the MLS, with 75 of those being condos, or 41% of the current listings in Long Beach are condos--the lowest price condo is a studio listed at $205,000 featuring 343 sq.ft, the highest price condo is $2.699 million (11 Temple Ave) featuring 4300 sq. ft, so a huge price range, but the graph indicates more the condo price norm in Long Beach.  

Overall, the market is still reflecting the price surge that took place after the start of the pandemic, both locallly and nationally.  Nationally, 2021 is the best sales year since 2006.  The conventional and FHA loans amounts have been (or with FHA, will be soon) increased to meet the higher prices in the West.  If you want to sell, where can you move to?  The southern states and cities of Tucson, and Dallas area are two cities that are predicted to be active in the 2022 market, and other  regions in the southern half of the country. The national price increase may rise about 5%, and interest rate hikes may occur 1 or 2 times, per National Association of Realtors. 

If you would like information on where you can fit into the current market, please contact me, and remember you can always search for listed properties on my website listed below.

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996

Some California Real Estate Laws for 2022

Every year a plethora of new laws comes into effect, the following are some of them which should be of interest to the consumer and professional in the real estate industry:

Appraisals -      After July 1, 2022, every contract for sale of real property shall contain a notice that all appraisals shall be unbiased, objective, and not influenced by any illegal considerations, including "race, color, religion (including religious dress, grooming practices, or both), gender (including, but not limited to, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and related conditions, and gender identity and gender expression), sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin (including language use and possession of a driver’s license issued to persons unable to prove their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law), source of income, ancestry, disability (mental and physical, including, but not limited to, HIV/AIDS status, cancer diagnosis, and genetic characteristics), genetic information, or age."  https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB948

 Restrictive Covenants - Per California Association of Realtors, this law requires real estate brokers or agents, who have actual knowledge of possible unlawfully restrictive covenants in a declaration, governing document or deed that is being directly delivered must notify the owner or buyer of such and the ability of the owner or buyer to have it removed through the Restrictive Covenant Modification process.  https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1466

Home Inspectors - A plumbing contractor may inspect a sewer lateral pipe connecting a residence or business to a sewer system and also offer to or perform repairs if the consumer is provided a specified disclosure before authorizing the home inspection. SB484

Duplexes and Lot Splits in Single Family Zoning - Many city and/or county rules affect this new law, but two units in a single family zone may be permitted, and subdivision into two parcels.   SB9

Emotional Support Animals - Per California Association of Realtors,  AB 468 requires a person that provides an emotional support dog to give notice to the recipient or buyer that the dog does not have the special training required to be a guide, signal or service dog; and requires a person that provides a certificate, tag, vest, leash or harness for an emotional support dog to give notice to the buyer that the material does not entitle an emotional support dog to the rights and privileges afforded to a guide, signal or service dog.  

Additionally, AB468 prohibits a health care practitioner from providing documentation relating to an individual’s need for an emotional support dog unless the health care practitioner complies with specified requirements, including: 1. Holding a valid license; 2. Establishing a client-provider relationship with the individual for at least 30 days prior to providing the documentation, and, 3. Completing a clinical evaluation of the individual regarding the need for an emotional support dog.

Revocable Transfer on Death Deed - extended to 2032.  This deed may allow avoidance of probate, and allows a homeowner to transfer to a named beneficiary 1-4 residential unit property upon the owner's death without a probate proceeding. Two witnesses are now required to sign the deed. Stock cooperatives are excluded from the types of property that may be transferred via RTODD but agricultural land with up to four residential dwelling units are now included. The user is advised to seek legal advice before utilizing this deed.  SB315

These are just some of the real estate-related laws  coming into effect, more concern updates to Proposition 19 (exemptions on property tax reassessment), penalties on property tax ,  PACE liens and seniors, fire hazard zones and home hardening update, foreclosure sales and owner occupants, delivery of notices in homeowner associations, plus more.  For more complete information on these new laws, please contact me for a separate obtaining of informational printouts.

 

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996

Loan Limits Have Increased!

 “With California’s home prices climbing so significantly during the pandemic, C.A.R. (California Association of Realtors) commends the FHFA (Federal Housing Finance Agency) for recognizing the record-setting home price increases and raising maximum conforming loan limits in high-cost markets to $970,800,” said 2022 C.A.R. President Otto Catrina. “Conforming loans provide safe and affordable mortgages to California’s homebuyers across the state. If loan limits were not allowed to increase every year to keep up with home prices, first-time and moderate-income  homebuyers across the state would not have access to affordable mortgage capital, which reduces homeownership opportunities for those who need it the most.”

California Association of Realtors reminds us that "The conforming loan limit determines the maximum size of a mortgage that government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy or “guarantee.” Non-conforming or “jumbo loans” typically have tighter underwriting standards and sometimes carry higher mortgage interest rates than conforming loans, increasing monthly payments and hampering the ability of families in California to purchase homes by making them less affordable."

The Long Beach average home price in November was $951,203.

 

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996

November Active Listings Report in Five So Cal Counties

No housing market crash for 2022, at least not in terms of price (believe it or not!).

But there is a huge continuing problem between supply and demand-- very limited supply and huge demand brought on by very low interest rates. In beginning of 2019 there were the most homes (40,000 homes) on market since 2012, but lowered interest rates that year started off low inventory in 2020 (29,000 homes) with a big dip after the pandemic, and then the lowest inventory in years in 2021 (17,000 homes), and will continue this way into 2022.  We should have more than double the inventory we have right now, per last year's inventory levels.  The five counties in Southern California are all down in total home inventory between 3% and 5%, with Orange County at its lowest inventory ever (just over 1700 homes on market right now--on (l1/12/221)**

(Julia's Update Note:  Active listings in the MLS on 11/15/21:  San Bernardino County:  2515 single family homes; San Diego: 1550 single family homes; Orange County: 1182 homes; Los Angeles County: 5000+ homes; Riverside County: 2856 homes.)

Interest rates will probably stay under 3.5%, and it will still be a seller's market.  As long as rates stay low, the market will favor sellers, a trend that may well continue all through 2022.  Home values will continue to rise. And see the CAR 2022 Market Report Summary, an upward increase of 5.2% is predicted with total downward trend in number of sales for next year.

Calif Assoc of Realtors 2022 Market Report

 

** Information thanks to Steven Thomas and his weekly Facebook streaming Market Report every Friday)

 

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996

Buying Another Home? Have You Calculated All Potential Monthly Costs?

If you're currently thinking of buying, you're probably think a lot about the current interest rates and your monthly mortgage bill.

But there's more.

It's realistic in the Long Beach area market to consider at least a purchase price of $600,000, so for this post I'll assume the buyer has an approval for this price.  The figure at the right assumes a  down payment of 20% and a loan term of 30 years, interest rate at 3.16%.  As shown, the monthly principal and interest is $2065.35 every month.  

Since this buyer is putting down 20%, the lender usually allows property taxes to be paid directly by the homeowner, not paid into an escrow account.  

Closing costs and the expenditures associated with moving into a new property are not included in these amounts, but buyers must at least consider the total cost of closing escrow. Your lender will be including that in estimates so they should not be a surprise.

So looking at other costs associated with being a homeowner, which the buyer should pay attention to before signing a contract with a seller, there are property taxes, home insurance, and "other costs".  It's the "other costs" that often the homeowner does not calculate directly, or even deal with until it's time to leave the home.  That can often lead to what's known as deferred maintenance, something to be avoided. Because as the deferred maintenance piles up, it leads to faster deterioration.

At least 1% of home's value should be included on an annual basis for such things as roof repair, termite or pest control, paint or stucco repair, fence repair, garage door servicing, to name a few.  If the home predates 1932, foundation or retrofit may come up (home before then were not required to be bolted to the foundation). 

Although used in this scenario, a 20% down payment is not required to buy a home, FHA loans only require 3.5% down payment.

To discover different scenarios, go to the Calculator link for all types of calculations, not just real estate, and read the notes below--they are very informative.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also a useful source to consult.

For more information about buying a home, please contact me.  I have over 25 years of experience helping clients make home decisions.

 

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996

There's More to Buying and Selling Than the Click of a Button on Spreadsheets: Zillow

The real estate industry news has lately had quite a few stories about Zillow's "pause" in buying homes.  As the days went by, the "pause" was just another word for Zillow's decision to stop buying homes--why? because it made too many bad decisions about pricing, the market, and a third reason, what I consider to be its faulty reliance on its own automated valuation tool.  Zillow only recently became a real estate brokerage (in 2021) after many years of being a third party data aggregator, showing listings online in the way many companies did by obtaining permission from the various MLS's across the country, and by then offering advertising of these listings to the Realtors who listed them in the first place (for a price of course)  so that prospective buyers and sellers would have another portal by which to find listings and possibly a future agent.  You've probably heard of "Zestimates", their early automated valuation tool which was typically inaccurate, for various reasons.  One of the major reasons was that, as a non-broker, Zillow was not using the full information gained by subscribers to the Realtor MLS, but drawing from the "bare bones" information of the public property tax records.  Value of a property can be in the subjective eyes of the beholder, aside from the schooled requirements and standards used in the professional appraisal industry, and this intuitive factor was quite elusive to Zillow's valuation tools.  

And it continued along this same path after becoming a licensed brokerage (something it used to claim would never happen) and Zillow proceeded to buy, buy, and buy more properties with the intention of "buy, fix and sell".  Until in recent weeks it hit the "pause" button, and now its leadership says:

“We’ve determined the unpredictability in forecasting home prices far exceeds what we anticipated, and continuing to scale Zillow Offers would result in too much earnings and balance-sheet volatility,” CEO Rich Barton said in a statement.

Barton said that Zillow will instead focus on “creating an integrated and digital real estate transaction that solves the pain points of buyers and sellers while serving a wider audience.” (Quote from Realtor Magazine, Nov. 3, 2021, their sources from “Zillow Stock Dives After Analyst Highlights Two-Thirds of Homes Bought Are Underwater,” MarketWatch (Nov. 1, 2021); “Zillow Quits iBuying, Will Lay Off 25% of Staff,” The Real Deal (Nov. 2, 2021) and “Zillow Quits Home-Flipping Business, Cites Inability to Forecast Prices,” The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 2, 2021) [Log-in required.])

Ultimately, I think that the reference to "the pain points of buyers and sellers" is an acknowledgement that the purchase and sale of homes is indeed a human process, one that is full of an unfolding series of steps connected to what can be quite emotional associations and psychological
factors whether one is acquiring a home, or leaving it after many years.  

Make no mistake, automated valuation tools are widely used, not just by Zillow, and have been for a number of years.  But some can be much more accurate, especially when used in conjunction with market knowledge that comes from experience, "feet on the ground", and solid professional knowledge connected to working people.

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996

Average Selling Prices for Long Beach, Lakewood, Cerritos, Huntington Beach plus 4 Counties, October 2021

 All these average prices are for single family homes for the month of October, 2021, based on data from CRMLS Infosparks:

Graph also includes Riverside County.  As the market moves increasingly towards the "luxury" market (home prices over $1,000,000), what will happen to average prices in the lower priced areas?  Already San Bernardino has risen from an average price of about $350,000 in 2019 to over $500,000--the average home price for Los Angeles County as a whole exceeds the average for the entire local MLS system (CRMLS).  Average days on market is well under 30 days for these figures.

October, 2021

Long Beach
 $926,773                 Avg Days on Market :20

Lakewood
$774,909                  Avg Days on Market :14

Cerritos
$1,034,148               Avg Days on Market :15

Huntington Beach
$1,372,754               Avg Days on Market :18

Cypress

$1,026,296               Avg Days on Market: 12

Los Alamitos

$1,129,167               Avg Days on Market: 14 

 

Los Angeles County
$1,309,422 (4th highest average price in last 5 years, all in 2021)

San Bernardino County
$529,915   (2nd highest average price in last 5 years)

Orange County
$1,518,637 (2nd highest average price in last 5 years)

 

 For a market evaluation of your property (house, condo, multiple units), please contact me or go directly to my website for your own automated estimate delivered directly to your inbox.

Julia Huntsman, REALTOR, Broker | www.juliahuntsman.com | 562-896-2609 | California Lic. #01188996