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Posts Tagged ‘foreclosures’

818: The History Of The San Fernando Valley

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

The Tataviam, also known as the Fernandeo, tribe of Indians and the Tongva had inhabited the valley for at least 6,000 years before the Spanish built the San Fernando Mission in 1797. The official first rancho and adobe settlement in the southeast part of the San Fernando Valley was occupied by the Reyes family, in what is now Encino, California. Another rancho settlement in the northeast part of the San Fernando Valley was occupied by the Cota Family, near the mission at San Fernando, California. The treaty ending the Mexican-American War in California was signed near the mouth of the Cahuenga Pass (at the southeast corner of San Fernando Valley) at an adobe owned by The Verdugo Family at Campo de Cahuenga in 1847.

Prior to development, before the arrival of the Los Angeles Owens Valley Aqueduct water, the valley was a bleak semi-desert, too dry for extensive agriculture over more than a small part of the valley. The water brought farming with some major crops including corn, cotton, persimmons, lemons, oranges, and walnuts. The advent of three new industries - motion picture, automobile, and aircraft - spurred urbanization and population growth. World War II and a subsequent post war boom accelerated this growth so that by 1960, the valley had a population of well over one million.

After the construction of the Owens Valley-Los Angeles Aqueduct, the mostly rural area was annexed by the city of Los Angeles in 1915, more than doubling the size of the city. A highly fictionalized story based on these events is told in the film Chinatown (1974). Los Angeles continued to consolidate its territories in the San Fernando Valley by annexing Laurel Canyon (1923), Lankershim (1923), Sunland (1926), La Tuna Canyon (1926), the incorporated city of Tujunga (1932), and Porter Ranch (1965). The additions expanded the Los Angeles portion of San Fernando Valley from the original 169 square miles (438 km2) to 224 square miles (580 km2) today. Six cities incorporated independent from Los Angeles: Glendale (1906), Burbank (1911), San Fernando (1911) Hidden Hills (1961), Calabasas (1991). Universal City is an unincorporated enclave that is home to Universal Studios theme park and Universal CityWalk.

The largest cities located entirely in the valley are Glendale and Burbank. The most populous districts of Los Angeles in the valley are North Hollywood and Van Nuys. Each of the two cities and the two districts named has more than 100,000 residents. Despite the San Fernando Valley’s reputation for sprawling, low-density development, the valley communities of Panorama City, North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Reseda, Canoga Park, and Northridge, all in Los Angeles, have numerous apartment complexes and contain some of the densest census tracts in Los Angeles. Poverty rates in the San Fernando Valley are lower than the rest of the county (15.3% compared to 17.9%). Nevertheless, in eight San Fernando Valley communities, at least one in five residents lives in poverty. The Pacoima district of Los Angeles is widely known in the region as a hub of suburban blight. Other San Fernando Valley communities, such as the Los Angeles sections of Mission Hills, Arleta, and Sylmar, have poverty rates well below the regional average. Many wealthy families live in the hills south of Ventura Boulevard, and along the hills to the north of the 118 freeway.

Communities in the San Fernando Valley are: Arleta, Cahuenga Pass, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Colfax Meadows, Encino, Granada Hills, Kagel Canyon, Knollwood, Lake View Terrace, Lake Balboa, La Tuna Canyon, Mission Hills, NoHo Arts District, North Hills, North Hollywood, Northridge, Pacoima, Panorama City, Porter Ranch, Reseda, Shadow Hills, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Sun Valley, Sunland, Sylmar, Tarzana, Toluca Lake, Toluca Woods, Tujunga, Valley Glen, Valley Village, Van Nuys,Ventura Business District, West Hills, West Toluca, Winnetka, Woodland Hills

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What You Should Know About Phoenix Housing

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Wondering what the deal is with Phoenix housing? What once was a hot market turned cold, and now seems to be in demand again.

What you need to know is what is going on with foreclosures and short sales. Both can be great bargains if you know what you are looking for. And if you have done your homework.

The majority of houses for sale in Phoenix fall in to one of these categories. But there is a huge difference in how the sale of each is handled.

Bank owned homes are called foreclosures, where the bank took ownership of the home after the previous owner failed to make the required monthly payments. Since the bank is in the business of lending money and not in owning homes, they want to sell the home as quickly as possible.

Homes for sale with a current mortgage on them that are worth less than what is owed are called short sales. The sale of the home will require the mortgage holder to approve the sale, which they usually do not start to consider until such time as somebody has made an offer to buy the house. The bank uses many varying criteria for determining if they will approve the sale, these criteria seems to change often to nobody seems to be able to tell exactly what they are looking for.

Foreclosures are easier to buy of the two types of homes for sale because the bank is motivated to sell. In a short sale, the mortgage holder is being asked to take a loss and they may not want to do that. Short sales approvals are hard to predict.

Your best chance of finding a great deal is to look at foreclosure houses in Phoenix first, and if you do not find anything, try foreclosures. With hard work and patience you should be able to get a nice deal on a great home at a stupendous price.

For more assistance with buying a Phoenix house for sale, be sure to check out Alfred’s site www.realestatehelpsite.com. There you can find valuable tips on how to buy a house in Phoenix for the first time home buyer.

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Short Sales May Stop Some Foreclosures According to St Louis Mortgage and Lending Experts

Saturday, February 13th, 2010