Evening Brief

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Linda
  • The body of a white male, approximately 30 years old, was found in the wash near the 23500 block of Railroad Avenue.  According to Sgt. Darren Harris, the matter may be turned over to the homicide bureau for investigation.  (KHTS)
  • The Santa Clarita City Council last night approved a business partnership with Lewis and Shapell to acquire the Whittaker-Bermite property.  (SIGNAL)
  • Frank Ferry returned to the City Council last night, looking a bit thinner.  Among items covered during the meeting:  Approval of the moniker “Fallen Warriors Memorial Bridge” for the cross valley connector bridge and approval of a ”vehicle overlay zone” prohibiting new car dealerships from doing business outside of the Creekside area.  Also, much discussion was had regarding the imminent demise (if Gov. Brown gets his way) of the enterprise zone and redevelopment agency.  (KHTS) 
  • Yes, your boss can fire you because he doesn’t like your tie.  Just ask John Stone, who wore a Green Bay Packers tie to his job as a car salesman.  (LATIMES)
  • The FDA is investigating a possible link between breast implants and a rare form of cancer.  (DAILY NEWS)
  • Crime reports are now being typed into the computer system at the sheriff’s station in Santa Clarita, which should make keeping track of crime here an easier task.  According to the Signal, 56,000 crime reports are filed in Santa Clarita each year.  That seems an awfully big number for one of America’s “safest cities.”  (SIGNAL)
  • The case of the local fire chief who killed himself in the midst of an investigation over possible wrongdoing has been closed.  According to his family, Timothy Ottman committed no crime.  The questions remains, though, why did he kill himself?  (SIGNAL)
  • The Case-Shiller index is indicating a “double dip” in real estate for nine U.S. cities.  We’re not on that list.  (LATIMES)
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15 Responses to Evening Brief

  1. IHeartSCV says:
    January 26, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    The Signal article you cited left out the critical word “prospective” from the Whitaker-Bermite story; at this point Lewis and Shapell are simply prospective new business partners with the City that people can come meet at an open house in Feb. It’s probably a done-deal, but it’s not officially a done-deal.
    http://apps.santa-clarita.com/agendas/CouncilItemPrint.aspx?ID=5411

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  2. CC says:
    January 26, 2011 at 9:07 pm

    Dang, a homicide? Isn’t that the same area that Jeff took the nose dive off his bike?

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  3. Todd says:
    January 26, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    You’ve confused Darrens… Hernandez is the Deputy City Manager, Harris is the Sherrif’s Dept Sgt.

    Your punishment is that you owe us all a cookie.

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  4. Frank says:
    January 27, 2011 at 5:03 am

    Captain Paul Becker and his team of SCV deputies are returning Santa Clarita to one of the safest places in the USA, 1/25/11 story link in the Daily News.
    http://www.dailynews.com/santaclarita/ci_17196820

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    • Timothy Myers SR says:
      January 27, 2011 at 9:24 am

      Probably more due to the bursting of a demographic “bubble” in 2007 that has left Santa Clarita, as well as a lot of other communities, with significantly less “utes” in the high propensity to property crime 13 to 17 demographic running around. I also like the conflated homicide reduction numbers when applied to the (thankfully) extremely small sample size (going from two to one A 50% REDUCTION!!!!!)

      But give law enforcement their props because they certainly take the heat when the demographics turn against them.

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  5. Timothy Myers SR says:
    January 27, 2011 at 9:17 am

    The report number is actually sensible. In the 2009 FBI reports Santa Clarita reported 7,000 crimes of all types, so for the 56,000 to be true they file of average of 8 documents per crime, which does not seem like an excessive number.

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  6. Petz says:
    January 28, 2011 at 10:21 am

    Petz , a licenced real estate agent in the state of CA , DRE # 00867820, wanted to bring a local perspective to the Case Schilling Index results while paying his MLS dues this morning.

    In November 2009, 156 single family homes closed escrow with an average sales price of $438,880,

    In November 2010 130 single family homes closed escrow with an average sales price of $420,208.

    Year to year, November 2009-November 2010 sales were down seventeen percent, while the average sales price dipped 6 %.

    For this comparison , Santa Clarita was defined as Canyon Country, Saugus, Newhall, Stevenson Ranch, and Valencia. Condominiums were excluded from my analysis.

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    • Linda says:
      January 28, 2011 at 10:45 am

      Thank you for that information, Petz. Keep us advised. I’m seeing a lot of open houses every weekend in our neighborhood.

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    • NickelDime says:
      January 28, 2011 at 1:15 pm

      Thanks Petz.

      What is the situation with distressed inventory? Can you provide some similar stats on that front?

      - Mix of distressed : traditional sales
      - NOD/NTS/REO trends

      We all have anecdotes to share about short sales & walk-aways; it would be really helpful to provide insight on that front.

      Put that discounted ForeclosureRadar.com subscription to good use!

      Thank you sir!

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      • Petz says:
        February 2, 2011 at 1:07 pm

        Petz has approached Jeff about doing a more detailed analysis of the local real estate scene and he cannot post his pretty charts and graphs here. So here is a tease-sorry it took awhile but due to some MLS changes (Tempo to Matrix) the data was a bit difficult to compile. In Santa Clarita-defined as Saugus-Newhall-Canyon Country-Valencia for single family homes the median price dropped from Jan 2010 ($385,000) to $364,500. The range of home sale prices sold in January was from $90,000 for a one bedroom in Newhall to $1,650,000 in Westridge (both were REOs). As a positive harrbinger for 2011, properties “under contact ” surged 60% on a year to year basis (January) from 132 to 211. Petz says it is a good time to buy and sell ! :)

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        • NickelDime says:
          February 3, 2011 at 7:51 am

          Thanks Petz. What is the ratio of distressed:standard listings? Is it going up or down?

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    • navigator says:
      January 28, 2011 at 1:26 pm

      Hey Petz! Seen any 1 story homes in the SCV 3000sq ft or so that would be a good investment?

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