CALIFORNIA TOPS MOST-EXPENSIVE REAL ESTATE MARKETS.Byline: GREGORY J. WILCOX Real Estate Mention this bustling metropolitan paradise and right away the thought ``a pretty expensive place to live'' springs to mind. Well, would you believe that Honolulu doesn't even make the top 10 on some lists that rank the most expensive markets in the country when it comes to residential real estate? At least, that is the conclusion of Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp. The Parsippany, N.J.-based company's 1999 Home Price Comparison Index is heavily weighted toward California and the Northeast as the least affordable markets. In fact, the Golden State dominates the list, as it is home to the top four spots and seven of the top 10. In the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. area, the north and south sections of Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. came in second and third, respectively, and Palos Verdes Palos Verdes is often used to refer to a group of coastal cities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the Los Angeles/South Bay area of California. This affluent bedroom community is known for its dramatic views, good schools [1] extensive horse trails [2] came in 10th. The study evaluated 350 markets across the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (pwār`tō rē`kō), island (2005 est. pop. 3,917,000), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. and some overseas markets. It focused on the average price of a 2,200-square-foot home with four bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, a family room and two-car garage in a neighborhood where a middle-level manager might live. Once again San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , which likes to bill itself as the tony capital of California, gets dissed: It's only good for fourth place. The most expensive market in the Golden State, says Coldwell Banker, is Palo Alto Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , with an average home price of $843,500. In Honolulu, the average price is $409,125. That's still pretty expensive, but not as bad as $537,750, which is what the average house in Palos Verdes costs. OK, what about a home in Glendale, Burbank, Van Nuys, Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. or Valencia? Well, it's possible to find out what your own house would fetch in any of the surveyed markets if you have a computer with Internet access See how to access the Internet. . For the first time, Coldwell Banker's Web site provides an online index calculator which will do the math to figure out your home's replacement value, should you get a new job in one of these markets. Just go to www.coldwellbanker.com and click on the information booth, then follow the prompts. Basically, it works like this: Say someone who lives in a $115,000 house in Houston is being transferred to Los Angeles and wants to live in the Hollywood Hills. Multiply the value of your current home ($115,000) by the index for Hollywood Hills (229). Take that number and divide it by the index number closest to the value of your home (in this example 50) and it works out to you having to spend $526,700 to get a comparable home here. No wonder they call this the Golden State. And there is a good reason for picking Houston as an example. Coldwell Banker says that half of the country's most affordable markets are in the Lone Star state. ``The study demonstrates the economic diversity in home values across the country as well as the overall increase in average sales prices during 1998,'' said Alex Perriello, president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker. BROKER BUZZ Seth Dudley has been appointed to the board of directors of Julien J. Studley Inc., a Los Angeles commercial real estate firm. Dudley has worked at Studley for 22 years. Internet service provider Internet service provider (ISP) Company that provides Internet connections and services to individuals and organizations. For a monthly fee, ISPs provide computer users with a connection to their site (see data transmission), as well as a log-in name and password. NetZero Inc. has leased a 49,000-square-foot office building in Westlake Village for its corporate headquarters. The 10-year lease is valued at $13 million. The company has already moved into the building at 2555 Townsgate Road. Tom Festa and Gary DeFevere of Grubb & Ellis represented NetZero. Tony Principe of Westcord Financial represented the building owner, Arden Realty of West Los Angeles
MiniMed Inc. has leased a 50,620-square-foot industrial building in Chatsworth. The maker of monitors and products for diabetics will use the facility in the 20000 block of Nordhoff Street to house its kidney dialysis Dialysis, Kidney Definition Dialysis treatment replaces the function of the kidneys, which normally serve as the body's natural filtration system. center until the Sylmar-based company completes its new corporate headquarters in Northridge. The three-year lease is valued at $1.18 million. Tim Foutz of Capital Commercial/NAI represented the building owner, Parker Industrial Properties. Margaret Fichter of Cushman & Wakefield represented MiniMed. |
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