Keyshawn Johnson Re-Lists Calabasas Albatross

SELLER: Keyshawn Johnson
LOCATION: Calabasas, CA
PRICE: $10,500,000
SIZE: 11,746 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 7 full and 2 half bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Yesterday Your Mama discussed the Pacific Palisades mansion that Miami-based professional basketball player Chris Bosh bought late last year for $9.4 million and currently has up for lease at $45,000 per month. Today, much to our own surprise since we're not very athletically inclined, we've decided to continue in the professional athlete real estate vein and discuss the Calabasas, CA estate listed in early December 2012 for $10,500,000 by former professional footballer turned television commentator Keyshawn Johnson.

This isn't, as it turns out, the first time at the real estate rodeo for Mister Johnson and his custom built Calabasas crib. In fact, the Superbowl winning former wide receiver has been trying to unload his real estate albatross in Calabasas since at least March 2011 when it was unsuccessfully heaved on the open market with an asking price of $11,995,000. By late 2011 the price tag had plummeted to $9,500,000 but, alas... In early 2012 the hard-to-sell estate popped back up on the open market with a surprisingly higher $10,995,000 asking price that ten months later was dropped to it's current $10.5 million.

The difficulty Mister Johnson has had selling his big ol' house in the guard-gated Oaks community isn't even the most interesting part of the story though, children. Property records show Mister Johnson purchased the then vacant 1.86 acre property in April—or maybe August—2004 for an undisclosed amount of money. By early 2007, according to online documentation we perused, Mister Johnson had secured at least six million dollars in mortgages against the property, presumably for the construction of the residence.

For reasons Your Mama can't possibly know or fathom, especially since he surely earned many millions during his 11 seasons as a professional pig skinner, by late 2009 Mister Johnson fallen enough behind on his mortgage payment(s) that his lender began the ugly foreclosure process. The property was scheduled to be auctioned on the third of June 2010 but sometime before that happened, Mister Johnson must have made good on mortgage because by late June the foreclosure wolves had been called off with a Notice of Rescission recorded on the tenth of June.

Anyhoo, while Your Mama might describe it in less flattering terms, current listing information describes the 11,746 square foot Richard Landry-designed residence as a "Contemporary, Mediterranean" that was completed in 2011 and includes six bedrooms and seven full and two half bathrooms.

The double-height foyer, study/library and formal living and dining areas are complimented, according to listing information, by less formal family quarters that include a colossal and contemporary double-island kitchen that opens to a spacious family room, a media/game room, home theater/multi-purpose room, a bonus room and a home spa and exercise room set up with sauna.

Additional amenities listed in marketing materials include an elevator, a gated driveway with garage space for four cars, various fruit and shade trees, guest/staff quarters and a whole house sound system.

Steel framed windows and doors connect the luxurious interior spaces to the expansive outdoor entertaining spaces that include a wide terrace that hugs the back of the house, a covered veranda with outdoor fireplace and long views over the surrounding mountains, a broad free-form lawn area, a built-in barbecue center, a lighted sunken basketball court, an extra-long rectangular swimming pool with inset spa and plenty of sunbathing space and and adjacent cabana/gazebo.

Far be it from Your Mama to place any kind of value on a property—all property is worth, of course, as much as someone will pay for it—but a few minutes research on the interweb indicates that Mister Johnson and his extremely successful real estate agent(s) may have a tough time getting someone to cough up more than ten million clams for his Calabasas mansion considering it's current price tag is substantially higher, according to the peeps at Redfin, than any other sale in Calabasas in the last three years.

In the last three years, according to Redin, there are only four recorded sales in Calabasas above six million dollars, all of them in gated enclave known as the Estates at The Oaks where—lucky for him—Mister Johnson's mansion is also located. In July 2010 professional baseball pitcher Jeff Suppan and his wife Dana scooped up a 10,816 square foot faux Italian macmansion with six bedrooms and seven full and two half bathrooms for $6,250,000.

Property records (and previous reports) reveal the following January (2011) chat show host Phil McGraw and wife Robin shelled out $6,575,000 for an 11,127 square foot mansion on more than three acres. So the stories go, the six bedroom and 8.5 bathroom pseudo Tuscan villa was purchased for their television producer son Jay McGraw and his former Playboy Playmate wife Erica Dahm.

In April 2012,18-year old bubble gum pop super star Justin Bieber paid $6.5 million for a very grown up 1.28 acre spread with a 9,214 square foot mansion that includes six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, six fireplaces, two three-car garages, an elevator, a movie theater, a second floor game room, a family room with wet bar and wine cellar—somewhat ironic since he's not even close to being old enough to imbibe booze legally—and a poolside guest casita with outdoor living room and a complete indoor kitchen.

The most recent and most expensive purchase in the Estates at the Oaks enclave occurred just last November (2012) when a wealthy businessman paid an abnormally high $9,200,000 for a single story architectural pastiche of a mansion with seven bedrooms and seven full and two half bathrooms in 11,649 square feet. The seller, according to property records we peeped, was tax consultant Ramin Salari. Mister Salari's name won't ring a bell for most of the children but Los Angeles-based real estate watchers may recall Mister Ramin reportedly paid $185,000 in bribes to L.A. County Tax Assessor John Noguez in exchange for reduced property taxes for his wealthy clients. But that's another sordid real estate story for another blog...

Your Mama, who does not know a pencil from a pinhead, has no idea if Mister Johnson lives in this house or if he ever even intended to occupy the premises. What we do know based upon a care perusal of property record data bases is that he maintains some sort of ownership in at least one other luxurious Los Angeles area residence including a 6,549 square foot house in Tarzana that he bought way back in December 1996 for $1,143,000.

Propety records also reveal that back in December 2004 Mister Johnson sold an 11,206 square foot mansion with six bedrooms and nine bathrooms in the guard-gated Beverly Ridge community for $10,500,000. The modern Mediterranean mansion is currently back on the market for lease at $75,000 per month and for sale at $11,750,000, reduced from $13,750,000. The house was later (and very briefly) owned by Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis and was used as the Esquire House by Esquire magazine. It's also just down the street from the massive mega-mansion recently completed by Showbiz tycoon Tyler Perry.

listing photos: Prudential California Realty

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A Womble Client Alert: A Detailed Analysis of Changes to HIPAA and the Implications for Healthcare Providers and Others in the Healthcare Industry

On Friday, January 25, 2013, the Office for Civil Rights ("OCR") of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") published a final rule modifying the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Enforcement Rules (the "Final Rule") as mandated by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health ("HITECH") Act. Many of these modifications were set forth in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM") dated July 14, 2010, although the Final Rule does not adopt all the proposals as described in the NPRM.

The Final Rule also modifies the Breach Notification Rule, which has been effective as an interim final rule since September 23, 2009. Finally, the Final Rule strengthens privacy protections for certain genetic information under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA").

The Final Rule makes significant changes to HIPAA and the potential penalties for violating HIPAA. The Final Rule also expands the scope of HIPAA, meaning that some businesses that were not subject to HIPAA before the Final Rule now have HIPAA compliance obligations and can be subject to enforcement action for noncompliance. Healthcare providers and others in the healthcare industry should be aware of these changes and how they will apply to their particular business.

The Final Rule is effective on March 26, 2013, and Covered Entities and Business Associates must comply with the Final Rule by September 23, 2013.

Click each subheading below for a detailed summary of some of the key provisions of the Final Rule:

• HIPAA Privacy Rule
• HIPAA Security Rule
• HIPAA Enforcement Rule
• HIPAA Breach Notification Rule
• GINA

If you have any questions about the Final Rule or HIPAA please contact Jill M. Girardeau, the principal drafter of this alert, Sarah B. Crotts, Deonys de Cárdenas, Tracy Field, or any member of Womble Carlyle's Healthcare Industry Team.

For a printer friendly link to this alert, please click here.

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Breaking Down The Federal Reserve Statement (January 2013 Edition)

The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted to maintain the Federal Funds Rate within its current range of zero to 0.25 percent, and to continue its current stimulus program of purchasing $85 billion monthly in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities (MBS).

Citing weather-related events such as Hurricane Sandy and drought in the Midwest, the committee said in its statement that information received since its December 2012 meeting "suggests that growth in economic activity has paused in recent months in large part because of weather-related disruptions and other transitory factors."

Concerns over the then-looming fiscal cliff crisis may have also contributed to the economic contraction during the last quarter of 2012. Positive economic trends observed by the Fed included:

• Improved household spending
• Improving housing markets
• Growth in business fixed investments

The Fed initiated its third round of quantitative easing (QE3) in September as part of an ongoing effort to hold down interest rates and to encourage business spending. The benchmark Federal Funds Rate will remain between zero and.0.25 percent until the unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent and provided that inflation remains stable.

The Fed Funds Rate has stayed near zero since December 2008.

The national unemployment rate was 7.8 percent in December, and Wall Street expects it to be 7.7 percent for January. The Department of Labor will release its monthly jobs report on Friday; this report includes the monthly unemployment rate. Inflation is expected to remain at or below the Fed's target level of 2.0 percent or less for the medium-term.

While noting that "strains on global financial markets have eased somewhat," the FOMC said that it "continues to see downside risks to the economic outlook." Low overall interest rates and gradual inflation work in favor of home buyers as home prices and mortgage rates are likely to rise at a gradual pace.

Mortgage rates in Seattle improved slightly after the FOMC release.

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Professional Hoopster Chris Bosh Puts Pacific Palisades Mansion Up for Lease

OWNER: Chris Bosh
LOCATION: Pacific Palisades
PRICE: $45,000 per month
SIZE: 10,755 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: All the children know that Your Mama don't know a football from a baseball bat. So, when our magnificently prolific informant Yolanda Yakketyak sent over a covert communique to tell us that the resort-like mock-Med mansion in Pacific Palisades, CA that professional basketball player Chris Bosh and his new-ish missus Adrienne quietly purchased late last year for $9,400,000 has popped up for lease at $45,000 per month we said, "Who da hell is Chris Bosh?"

Well, turns out six-foot-eleven inch Mister Bosh is really somebody in the professional basketball world. The native Texan started out his professional hoopster career with the Toronto Raptors back in 2003 but he currently dribbles shoots and passes for the Miami Heat.

The eight-time NBA All-Star is reportedly set to earn $17,545,000 for the 2012/13 season, not counting any endorsements he may have. Well compensated Mister Bosh's annual salary is scheduled to rise to more than $22 million for the 2015-16 season so, make no mistake butter beans, the towering power forward can well afford a nearly $9.5 million dollar house in Pacific Palisades not to mention the very contemporary $12-plus million bay front mansion he already owns in Miami Beach. (More on that manse in a minute.)

Property records reveal the seller, Korean-born steel tycoon Steven Koh, Ph.D., purchased the 1.73 acre knoll-top estate, located at the tail end of a gated cul-de-sac and not very cleverly dubbed Villa Cielo, in September 2005 for $12,500,000. That means, according to the well-worn beads of Your Mama's bejeweled abacus, that Dr. Koh took a punishing $3,100,000 financial gut punch when he sold the lavishly fitted mansion to Mister and Missus Bosh.

Listing information kindly provided by Yolanda shows the two-story, tile-roofed Mediterranean-ish mansion was built in 2001, measures in at a substantial 10,755 square feet and contains a total of six bedrooms and eight full bathrooms, a count that Your Mama thinks but isn't sure encompasses the fully equipped staff quarters.

A double-height rotunda entry with a sweeping, wrap-around staircase leads to the many and various living and entertaining spaces that include a formal living with fireplace, a formal dining room with an upsetting tented ceiling, a sky-lit center island kitchen with all the commercial-style stainless steel appliances money can buy and a large library/office with book shelf flanked fireplace, partially paneled walls and a built in aquarium that surely requires a part-time expert to take care of.

An open-concept built-in wet bar separates the living room from the billiard room and a small but expensively equipped movie theater has a state-of-the-art sound and projection system and plush, burnt caramel-colored leather recliner seats with built-in cup holders.

The master suite takes up the entire second floor, according to listing information, and includes an over-sized bedroom with sitting area and fireplace, dual bathrooms and an exceptionally spacious fitted walk-in closet/dressing rooms, a fully-equipped adjoining gym and both indoor and outdoor spas. The master suite opens to a crescent-shaped private terrace with panoramic views of the mountains and mansion-dotted canyons that tumble down to the glittering Pacific Ocean.

The back of the house opens up to deep shaded verandas, at least one of which has an outdoor fireplace. The various verandas and tented pavilions ring a gigantic infinity-edged free-form resort style swimming pool complete with a sunken palapa-covered swim up bar, a super-sized circular spa and a sunken banquette-surrounded fire pit set in the middle of the pool. There's also an outdoor shower and a large outdoor eating area with full outdoor kitchen with pizza oven.

We're not sure why Mister and Missus Bosh would spend nearly ten million bucks on a fancy mansion in Pacific Palisades only to turn around and try to lease it out for $45,000 per month, but if Your Mama has said it once we've said it ten thousand times: It's generally frustrating and futile operation to try and makes sense of the wacky real estate ways of the rich and famous.

Presumably Mister and Missus Bosh live primarily in Miami Beach where in September 2010 they coughed up $12,333,000 for a gated and glassy 12,368 square foot modern mansion (above) with—according to old marketing materials still available online—seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a water-side negative edge swimming pool, a spa with adjacent outdoor fireplace, a pool side pavilion with built-in outdoor kitchen and a private dock for parking the water craft.

listing photos (Pacific Palisades): Sotheby's International Realty
listing photos (Miami Beach): London Realty Group (via Zillow)

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How To Paint Your Home's Exterior Walls

When preparing to sell a home, few things improve its curb appeal more than a fresh coat of exterior paint.  

Many people are intimidated by the thought of painting their home's exterior, and choose to hire a third-party to handle the work. But, you can do it yourself, with these easy steps.

First, before starting, you'll want to inspect your home. Examine all walls, look under the eaves, and pay attention to door frames and windows.  Be on the lookout for peeling paint, mildew and rough surfaces and make a note of them.

Next, gather the tools you'll need to do the job. These include :

• A power washer
• A 2-3” inch putty knife
• A 2-3” inch pull scraper
• A wire brush
• A sander
• Chlorine bleach

Then, to create a clean surface on which to paint, power-wash the walls with plain water. Detergents are not needed, and may not work as well as plain water, anyway.

Follow-up your wash with the putty knife and wire brush to remove the remaining paint. Note where paint has peeled, blistered or wrinkled. Avoid gouging the surface by holding the putty knife perpendicular to the wall, and by using moderate force.

For areas that won't easily clean, use your pull scraper. It's used the same way as the putty knife, but it has a sharp blade attached that quickly works through old paint.

Next, sand your home's exterior smooth using a piece of sandpaper wrapped around a sanding block. An electric sander may be more effective for large areas; it'll save you time and energy.

If during the cleaning process, you find mildew, be sure to remove it. A simple mix of chlorine bleach will do the job. Mildew will show through the new coat(s) of paint, so be sure to be rid of it before beginning.

Lastly, with your home cleaned and primed for paint, wait for "good painting weather" and get started. Soon you'll be ready to list your Kent home for sale.

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Irving Azoff Shakes Up Real Estate Portfolio

A well-connected real estate canary we'll call Aston Martin recently sent Your Mama a covert communique to let us know that word on the Platinum Triangle real estate street is that music industry veteran Irving Azoff and his missus Shelli are in the mood to shake up their extensive property portfolio.

In case any of y'all don't know, Mister Azoff was named by the folks at Billboard as the most powerful person in the music industry for 2012. Not only has he represented the professional interests of an almost endless list of high profile recording artists and groups such as Christina Aguilera, Guns N' Roses, Morrissey the Eagles, Seal, Van Halen, Neil Diamond and New Kids on the Block, until the end of 2012 he was the Executive Chairman of the music industry juggernaut now known as Live Nation Entertainment.

Mister and Missus Azoffs recently sold an ocean front house on swanky Carbon Beach for $10,000,000 to an obviously very successful attorney and now—according to our Mister Martin—the couple are seriously considering coughing up around $16,000,000 to acquire a one story contemporary villa next door to the Playboy Mansion in the hoity toity Holmby Hills 'hood. The property is currently listed at $18,500,000.

The reason for the purchase, according to our Mister Martin, is that the pecunious pair need a plush place to temporarily reside while their posh primary residence—a hulking, 12,600-plus square foot Tudor-style pile in Beverly Hills*—gets a multi-year make over.

Listing information shows the 9,632 square foot contemporary Mediterranean villa the Azoff's are thinking of acquiring was originally built in 1932, sits on 1.49 meticulously manicured acres and has five bedrooms and seven bathrooms including a master suite with dual bathrooms. Listing information goes on to indicate there's a staff suite and an attached wing that contains a family room, office and three more guest bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. The property also has a full-sized gym with bathroom, swimming pool with pool house and a separate guest house with living room and kitchen.

Property records reveal the seller is businessman John Pourmoradi who earned his fortune primarily distributing wholesale merchandise to discount, drug and dollar stores and purchased the property way back in August 1998 for $4,000,000.

A little peeping and poking around various property record data bases shows that in addition to their 1932 Tudor in Beverly Hills Mister and Missus Azoff's fat property portfolio still includes—but is not limited to—a 12-plus acre spread in the mountains above Malibu, a couple of houses in La Quinta, CA including a recently erected 17,000-plus square foot residence on 1.52 golf course fronting acres in the guard gated Madison Club community in La Quinta, CA and a ski chalet on six-or-so acres in Snowmass, CO.

Now children, use yer noggins. We haven't any reason to doubt the intel provided by Aston Martin but for now this ain't nuthin' but some high-priced conjecture and rumor at this point, okay?

*Fun but useless real estate tidbit: It was at Mister and Missus Azoff's Beverly Hills estate where Khloe Kardashian wed L.A. Laker Lamar Odom in September 2009.

listing photos: Coldwell Banker

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Peter Morton Does It In Trousdale Estates

BUYER: Peter Morton
LOCATION: Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: $9,800,000
SIZE: 5,367 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms

NOTE FROM YOUR MAMA (01-03-13): Your Mama posted this a week or so ago but we mistakenly deleted it. Here it is again in case anyone was missing it.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Property gossips around the globe went hog wild in October 2012 when a single story French Regency meets mid-century modern style residence high in the terrifically trendy Trousdale Estates 'hood in Beverly Hills hit the open market with at asking price of $12,995,000.

The hoopla and hoo-ha wasn't just because the gated residence occupies a highly desirable 1.18 acre lot on what is arguably one of the better streets in Trousdale Estates where some of the other homes are owned by folks like celebrity photographer Steven Meisel but rather because the house is loosely known in real estate circles as the west coast Graceland. That's right, back in 1967—the year they were married—hip-swiveling music industry icon Elvis Presley and his then new bride Priscilla purchased the house for $400,000.

Property records shows the old Presley pad was sold in mid-December 2012 to a corporate entity for $9,800,000. Everybody Your Mama talked to—including our well-informed confreres Yolanda Yakketyak and Helen A. Hightower—snitched that the buyer was high-end property flipping former restaurateur and hotelier Peter Morton.

Mister Peter Morton—not to be confused with his prolific property flipping restaurateur son Harry who owns the lewdly named Pink Taco eateries in L.A.—made the bulk of his (estimated) half billion dollar fortune in 1995 when he sold his co-founding interest in the Hard Rock Cafe chain for $410 million and in 2006 when he sold the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas for $770 million to boutique hotel magnate Ian Schrager's Morgans Hotel Group.

Your Mama does not have any idea how long The King and his bouffant-haired bride Priscilla owned the house in Trousdale Estates but we do know that for many years—and even still—fans and fanatics alike scrawled and scribbled messages to their rock-n-roll idol on the mini-estate's front gate (above). We can only hope that Mister Morton preserves the front gate for posterity or donates it to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame or something like that.

Anyhoo, listing information shows the existing, single-story residence was originally built in 1958 and includes four bedrooms and five bathroom in 5,367 square feet of interior space, plus an attached guest house with additional private bathroom.

The low-slung sprawler, recently upgraded and renovated according to listing information, contains a spacious formal living room with fireplace, a formal dining room, family room, office, media room and a newly installed eat-in kitchen that looks to Your Mama like it belongs in an upscale but uninspired suburban mini-mansion.

Floor to ceiling windows and sliders throughout flood the house with natural light and allow for long vistas down the canyons and—on a clear day—over the glittering lights of Los Angeles all the way to the Pacific Ocean. The walls of windows seamlessly integrate the inside and the outside living spaces that include various terraces and patios, a flat patch of grass for the pooches and a free-form swimming pool and spa. Out front, there's a gated motor court and a four-car car port

Your Mama's been told by someone in a position to know that the house remains remarkably intact from the time Mister Presley and Miss Priscilla owned it in the mid- to late-sixties but that's probably no matter since the scuttlebutt on the Trousdale real estate street is that Mister Morton plans to raze the existing residence to make way for an all new house that he'll no doubt sell at an enviably enormous profit.

Certainly buying, knocking down and building anew seems to be the growing trend on this particular cul-de-sac. Back in August (2012), budding real estate baller—and mid-priced handbag purveyor—Bruce Makowsky quietly paid $12,650,000 for an almost 7,000 square foot house directly across from the old Presley pad that's he's already razed in preparation for what will surely be a bigger and sleeker new house that Your Mama imagines will eventually wind up on the market with a fat eight figure asking price. Next door to the house Mister Makowsky recently tore down movie producer turned property developer Nile Niami paid Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown, Shampoo, Mission Impossible franchise) $9,800,000 for a nearly six thousand square foot house that rumor has it he too will tear down to make way for a bigger and slicker house that will also—no doubt—eventually turn up for sale with an eye-popping eight figure asking price.

Mister Morton has bought and sold more pricey properties in some of the more expensive zip codes of Los Angeles that Your Mama cares to count, including a hulking Tudor style pile on 4.1 private acres in Beverly Hills that he bought in 2006 for $18,500,000, never lived in and sold—at a substantial loss—in the spring of 2011 for $16,190,000 to property-collecting Oscar-winning superstar actress Sandra Bullock.

As far as Your Mama knows—and we really don't know a ham from a gold fish—since the mid 1990s Mister Morton's primary residence in Tinseltown has been a 13,000- plus square foot mansion on 1.3-plus gated and landscaped acres in a particularly plum section of the Holmby Hills that he bought from entertainment industry executive Robert A. Daly for $9,250,000.

Mister Morton also maintains an elegantly contemporary Richard Meier-designed mini-compound with a total of seven bedrooms and seven full and two half bathrooms on two—or maybe three—prime ocean front lots on Carbon Beach, Malibu's most expensive stretch of sand where some of the other homeowners include endlessly rich trophy property amassing titans of industry like David Geffen, Michael Milken, Paul Allen, Eli Broad and Larry Ellison.

listing photos: Coldwell Banker

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Pending Home Sales Post 20th Consecutive Month Of Annual Gains

The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) reports that the Pending Home Sales Index fell 4.3 percent in December as compared to the month prior. The index now reads 101.7.

The Pending Home Sales Index measures the number of U.S. homes that have gone "into contract", but have not yet closed. The report is based on data collected from local real estate associations, and from national brokers.

Despite December's drop, however, the annual rate at which contracts for a home purchase were drawn increased 6.9 percent from one year ago, and marked the 20th consecutive month of annual purchase contract gains.

NAR reports that 80% of homes under contract are closed with 60 days, with the majority of the remained homes "sold" within months 3 and 4.

Analysts believe that December's Pending Home Sales Index drop is not a result of a weakening housing market. Rather, it's a function of a falling national home supply; in particular, a shortage of homes in the West Region offered a prices under $100,000.

The national housing inventory is currently at an 11-year low. However, regionally, results varied :

• Northwest : -5.4 percent from November; +8.4 percent from one year ago
• Midwest : +0.9 percent from November; +14.4 percent from one year ago
• South : -4.5 percent from November; +10.1 percent from one year ago
• West: -8.2 percent from November; -5.3 percent from one year ago

Although December's Pending Home Sales Index dropped as compared to November, the year-to-year growth of pending home sales suggests a broader improvement in the U.S. housing market. Furthermore, the index is a strong indicator of existing home sales, which means that this season's home sales should outpace those from 2012.

The Pending Home Sales Index is bench-marked to 100, the value from 2001, which was the index's first year of existence. 2001 was considered a strong year for the housing market so last month's 101.7 is considered a positive measure for the housing market.

Analysts project a strong Spring market in Renton and nationwide.

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Your Mama Hears...

...from Bob N. Weave, a well-connected real estate tattle tale who has provided us with accurate intel in the past, that tool and die tycoon Eric Smidt and wife Susan are fixin' to hoist their big ol' compound-like estate (above) in the garishly swanky guard-gated Beverly Park community on the market with an asking price somewhere in the neighborhood of $40,000,000.

Mister and Missus Smidt's sprawling two-parcel compound comprises more than six acres and, as best as we can tell from a perusal of various property record data bases, the couple picked up the first of their two Beverly Park parcels July 1995 from ice hockey honcho Wayne Gretzky for an undisclosed amount of dough. They subsequently scooped up the the adjacent parcel, in November 1999, for just over three million smackers.

The L.A. County Tax Man indicates the seven bedroom and ten bathroom multi-winged main mansion was built in the late 1990s and, at 11,204 square feet, is actually quite modest by the famously steroidal standards of Beverly Park where a fair number of the super-sized single family abodes top 25,000 square feet. Property records also show the compound includes at least one other secondary structure with an additional two bedrooms and five bathrooms in 3,863 square feet of interior space.

That Mister and Missus Smidt would like to unload their custom-built compound in Beverly Park should come as no surprise to Platinum Triangle property watchers who are well aware the lavish living couple also own The Knoll, the storied Beverly Hills mega-estate they bought from oil baron turned Showbiz tycoon Marvin Davis in February 2005 for—according to the folks at Blockshopper—$39,352,500.

The L.A. County Tax Man shows Mister and Missus Smidt—who spent years and Lord only knowns how many millions on a soup-to-nuts renovation that reportedly changed the original 25,000-plus square foot Georgian mega-mansion into an even larger white brick Regency style pile—shelled out $472,540 and eighteen cents in property taxes in 2010.

The Knoll, one of Los Angeles' most illustrious homes was originally built in the 1950s for Lucy Doheny Batson—the wealthy widow of oil heir Ned Doheny—and was later owned by Italian-born movie producer Dino De Laurentiis who sold it to country music king Kenny Rogers in 1980 for $14,500,000. It was Mister Rogers who sold The Knoll to Marvin and Barbara Davis in 1984 for $20,250,000.

Mister and Missus Smidt also maintain an ocean front residence a few doors down for Pierce Brosnan on Malibu's quickly disappearing Broad Beach that they snatched up in early 2003 for $14,950,000.

Now children, keep in mind that at this poing this is all just just high-priced real estate rumor and gossip; We're just passing along a tidbit we heard from someone who plays in the same sandbox as all the Platinum Triangle real estate big mommas and mack-daddies. We wouldn't bet money on it but for all Your Mama really knows Mister and Missus Smidt plan to keep their Bev Park property to house their domestic staff.

aerial photo: Google

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Jude Law Lists in London's Maida Vale

SELLER: Jude Law
LOCATION: London (Maida Vaile), U.K.
PRICE: £4,350,000
SIZE: 4-5 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms*

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: About two years ago, two-time Oscar nominated British actor Jude Law and his on-again/off-again/on-again gal-pal Siena Miller picked up a £7-plus million property in North London's hoity-toity and star-studded Highgate neighborhood.

We don't know when or if Mister Law (and Miss Miller) moved into their big new house in Highgate  where some of the neighboring residences are owned by folks like supermodel Kate Moss, actor Clive Owens, pop star George Michael and veteran rock star Sting and wife Trudy Styler but thanks to an English informant we'll call Bree Tish we've learned that Mister Law has listed his four-floor, Grade II listed Georgian style house on the border between London's natty Maida Vale nabe and the even more posh St. John's Wood 'hood.

Online listings forwarded by Miss Tish show the asking price set at £4,350,000. A few quick clicks on Your Mama's trusty currency conversion contraption shows that equals $6,869,910 (U.S.) at today's rates.

According to Miss Tish, Mister Law's walled and gated residence sits on a very busy thoroughfare across from a high-rise social housing complex. Not the most elegant location but as anyone who'se ever lived in a major metropolitan area, urban living sometimes pushes the privileged up against the less financially fortunate.

Anyhoo, a good-sized gated and graveled motor court with what appears to be a single car garage in front provides enviably generous off-street parking and the rear garden extends a unusually deep 144-feet.

Listing information indicates the raised main floor contains an entrance hall with powder pooper and a double reception room, both filled with all sorts of interesting unusual objects like an over-sized Pez dispenser, an under-sized Foosball machine, a classic Eames lounger, lots of artwork both on the walls and leaning against the walls and scores of books stacked on just about every flat surface. The children will note that the decidedly eclectic decorative chaos is cleverly balanced by matching circular mirrors mounted above the simple fireboxes that anchor the outer wall of each room.

As best as Your Mama can tell from listing information, the partially subterranean lower ground floor contains a guest/staff bedroom, utility rooms, a family room with blood red walls and an all-glass garden view conservatory-style dining room furnished a giant farmhouse table. Also on the lower ground floor—we think—is a U-shaped kitchen with a country house meets city living vibe that's expensively outfitted with slate tile floors, crisp white Shaker style cabinetry, gleaming black granite counter tops, a white porcelain farmhouse style sink and high-grade stainless steel appliances. Regrettably the cabinets stop just shy of the ceiling, a ugly situation that creates a hard-to clean space ripe for growing buffalo sized dust bunnies.

Marketing materials and listing photographs suggest there are two guest/family bedrooms that share a bathroom/shower room plus a master suite with attached dressing room and en suite facility. It's not the low ceilings or the deep burgundy-colored walls in the master bedroom that make Your Mama most squeamish but rather all that stuff tucked up under the bed. If there's anything we loathe more than a lethal-looking pot rack in the kitchen it's a bunch of visible shit shoved up underneath a bed.

The affluent and centrally located Maida Vale neighborhood has long attracted high-profile Showbizzers. Some of the past and present residents with recognizable names include actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Victoria Secret bra and panty model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, wacky Icelandic singer Björk, brilliant comedienne Jennifer Saunders, The Cure's lipstick wearing front man Robert Smith and iconic actor John Inman.

*We're not 100% sure the actual count is four-to-five bedrooms and three-point-five bathrooms. We've come up with that number based on a careful parse of somewhat vague online marketing materials which aren't—as it turns our—terribly specific abotu such things.

listing photos: Ian Green Residential

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What's Ahead For Mortgage Rates This Week : January 28, 2013

Mortgage rates rose last week as investors gained confidence in the global economy. China and Europe posted better-than-expected manufacturing rates, U.S. Jobless Claims fell for the second straight week, and the worst of the European debt crisis appears to have passed.

Last week's economic news provided further evidence of a strengthening U.S. economy.

The National Association of REALTORS® released its Existing Home Sales report, which indicates that existing home sales improved by 13 percent on a year-over-year basis and are now at their highest point since 2007. The group expects sales of existing homes to increase by 9 percent in 2013.

The Commerce Department released its monthly New Home Sales report; while new home sales for December fell short of Wall Street's expectations, sales of new homes are almost 20 percent higher than they were one year ago.

Growing demand for homes coupled with lower inventories of available homes suggests that the days of rock-bottom home prices and low mortgage rates are dwindling.

According to Freddie Mac, the average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed rate loan was 3.42 percent with borrowers paying 0.7 percent in discount points plus closing costs. The average rate for a 15- year fixed rate mortgage was 2.71 percent with borrowers paying 0.7 percent in discount points plus closing costs.

While slight, the week-over-week increase in mortgage rates in Seattle could become a trend.

Weekly Jobless Claims fell below Wall Street forecasts for the second week in a row. 330,000 new jobless claims were filed; far fewer new claims were filed than the 360,000 new jobless claims expected by investors. New jobless claims also fell below the prior week's 335,000 new jobless claims. Fewer jobless claims are a sign of a stabilizing economy.

Mortgage rates typically rise as investors gain confidence in the economy and financial markets.

This week's economic news calendar is jam-packed.

Investors await the outcome of the  Federal Open Market Committee's first scheduled meeting of 2013, treasury auctions are scheduled for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and the Pending Home Sales Index will be released.

Plus, the Department of Labor's Non-farm Payrolls Report and Unemployment Report will be released Friday morning.

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Big Time Banker John J. Mack Lists Duplex Penthouse

SELLER: John J. and Christy Mack
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $22,500,000
SIZE: 3,650 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms (plus a staff suite)

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Back in the fall of 2009, former Morgan Stanley CEO John J. Mack and his wife Christy (reportedly and allegedly) coughed up $13,500,000 for a tired but still stunning 33-foot wide Beaux Arts style carriage house with private garage on the Upper East Side owned by high society horticulturist Bunny Mellon who used the 100-plus year old building as a storage facility for her pricey gew-gaws and doo-dads.

Whatever upgrades and renovations Westchester County-based Mister and Missus Mack made to the comely carriage house must be complete—or nearly complete—because they've recently tossed their duplex penthouse pied-a-terre atop an historic pre-war condo building on East 63rd Street on the market with an asking price of $22,500,000.*

The floor plan included with online marketing materials shows the approximately 3,650 square foot penthouse has four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, plus a prison cell-sized staff room with attached bathroom.

The main living spaces are on the lower level and include a 26-foot long room with fireplace that Mister and Missus Mack use as a living/dining room combination. The original dining room is set up in listing photos as a library/den that connects directly through to narrow but recently renovated kitchen.

A long corridor off the entrance hall connects to a small guest/family bedroom with large private bathroom and a large master bedroom with decorative fireplace, three closets and a bidet-equipped bathroom.

Upstairs there are two more guest/family bedrooms, both with two closets and private—not to mention properly windowed—en suite bathrooms. Also upstairs are laundry facilities, a 27-plus foot long all-glass solarium with city views and built-in wet bar and an approximately 625 square foot private terrace furnished with what appears to be a whole lotta high-priced patio furniture designed by Richard Schultz.

Listing information suggests the Mack's duplex spread was decorated "in the spirit of" the very proper and 5-star Dorchester Hotel in London. As far as we can tell that means it's all a bit frou-frou, decidedly traditional and a wee bit stuffy but very correct if not exactly exciting.

Property records show Mister and Missus Mack's property portfolio also includes an 8,512 square foot house on 3-plus acres in Rye, NY, at least five bay and ocean properties—three with houses, two vacant—in the upscale seaside community of Wilmington, NC.

*For the record, property records show this penthouse owned by a corporate entity that links directly back to a residential address in Rye, NY owned, according to property records, by Mister and Missus Mack.

exterior photo: Nicholas Strini for Property Shark
(interior) listing photos and floor plan: Sotheby's International Realty

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Real Estate Updates: What’s Up, What’s Down?

We are constantly being reminded about the condition of the real estate market, both nationally and locally. No matter which media outlet you choose to ingest, you are most likely seeing, hearing and wondering what is up and what is down, and more importantly, what it means for you. Here is a brief recap of some figures to keep in mind.

What’s Up:

We have heard this for the last few months of 2012 and will continue to hear that home building is on the uptick. Up almost 40% from the previous year, home start are on the rise. At the most recent InternationalHome Builders Show in Las Vegas, the National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist, David Crowe said, “Nearly every measure of housing market strength – sales, starts, permits,  and builder confidence – all have been trending upward in recent months and we expect to see steady growth to continue in 2013.”

Home prices also continue to rise. On a national level, we ended up with a 5.6% increase from last year. At a local level, Tampa, Florida has experienced a hefty 22% increase in homes median sales price, while the average price per square foot edged up almost 50%! If prices are up, one can imagine that more home owners are finally willing to sell. The home purchase index was 26% higher last week compared to this time last year. Tampa has seen some of the largest gains in the past year as home prices, home sales, and home building all continue the upward trend.

What’s Down:

The reason for some of the increases mentioned above are partly due to the very low home inventory both nationally and right here in our Tampa market. Home inventory is down 17% from this time last year! The national home inventory level currently shows a decrease of 26.6%. This creates multiple offer scenarios and allows sellers to hold a bidding war, which is the type of war they sure do appreciate waging.

Florida felt the brunt of the bubble burst and since then has had a high volume of short sales, REO’s and foreclosures. Luckily for both homes sellers and buyers, the time it takes to complete a short sale is getting shorter and shorter. Freddie Mac now estimates that the time to complete a short sale will decrease by 50% to 75% as a result of steps the government enterprise has implemented in order to speed it up. This also means a diminishing rate of foreclosures which will keep adding to the value of homes.

SI Real Estateoffers highly personalized, multilingual, full-spectrum real estate purchase and sales services. We are a boutique for sophisticated investors, select owners or renters who may be upgrading locally, or those making traditional relocations. We also provide turnkey landlord and tenant management. Blending comprehensive insight into the Tampa Bay area with international perspectives for a worldwide clientele, we like to think that “SI Real Estate is Global Real Estate in Every Way!” 

The real estate market is clearly making a turn for the positive. Call us today to discuss how you can keep up with the changes and maximize your real estate potential. 

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Reasons To Attend Your Own Home Inspection

As a home buyer in Renton , you can get a feel for whether a home's systems and appliances are in working order. However, you can't know for certain until after the home's been inspected.

This is why real estate agents recommend that buyers hire a licensed home inspectors immediately after going into contract. It's the best way to really know the home which you're buying. 

By definition, a home inspection is a top-to-bottom check-up of a home's physical condition and systems, including a review of the structure, and its plumbing and electrical systems. Home inspections are not the same as a home appraisal, which is a valuation of the property.

When you commission a home inspection, you should be present for it. Here are 3 reasons why :

Seeing For Yourself
There's a big difference between reading a report and seeing "live" what may be right or wrong with a home. With first-hand knowledge of a potential issue, you'll be in a better position to determine whether a problem warrants contract cancellation, or whether it's an additional negotiation point. 

Discovering The Home
Via a home inspection, you will learn where the systems reside within a home (e.g.; boiler room, garage), and how to operate them. This is a valuable educational opportunity and most inspectors are happy to share what they know. It's also a chance to ask questions about maintenance and upkeep.

Better Understanding
A home inspector's job is to review and disclose the condition of the home. The inspector's report, however, is just a summary on paper. In being present for the inspection, a buyer will be able to visualize and understand the report's conclusions more clearly. This can make for more effective re-negotiations with the seller, in the event that damage or distress is identified.

So, what should you do during the home inspection? Your primary tasks are to watch, listen, learn and ask questions. A professional home inspector will welcome your participation in the process.

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Texas Businessman Tom Hicks Puts $135M Price Tag on Vast Dallas Estate

SELLER: Tom and Cinda Hicks
LOCATION: Dallas, TX
PRICE: $135,000,000
SIZE: 28,996 square feet

NOTE: For heaps and piles of photos of every corner of this house, guesthouse, pool house and grounds, head on over here.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: They say everything is bigger in Texas and when it comes to the sprawling estate owned by financier turned professional sport team titan Tom Hicks and his wife Cinda the adage certainly holds true, especially when it comes to the gargantuan $135,000,000 asking price they're rumored and reported by Candy Evans at Candy's DIrt to have quietly slapped on their epic, 25 acre estate in the fancy-schmancy Mayflower Estates 'hood in Dallas.

Mister Hicks made a mountain of money in the leveraged buy out and private equity industries before he started buying up professional sports teams. At various times he's owned the Mesquite Championship Rodeo, fifty-percent of the Liverpool FC (soccer), the Dallas Stars (hockey) and the Texas Rangers (baseball), which he sold in 2010 for around $590 million. Many reports indicate Mister Hicks has lost a significant amount of his net worth over the last few years but make no mistake he and the missus remain filthy rich and financially able to live in whatever manner they choose. Their decision to sell their vast Dallas estate likely has less to do with their declining but still substantial wealth and far more to do with the fact that they're empty nesters rambling around in a house more than ten times the size of the average American home.

According to Miz Evans' thorough discussion, the Hicks' humongous, compound-like estate includes a titanic, chateau-style 28,996 square foot main house, a matching 6,300 square foot guest house and a 7,200 square foot pool house, plus additional outbuildings.

The stately and downright imposing main manse was originally designed in 1939 for Italian count Pio Crespi and his American wife Florence by distinguished high society architect Maurice Fatio and acquired by Mister and Missus Hicks about 16 years ago for an unknown amount of dough. The Hicks spent 5-10 years and—according to Candy's canaries—close to $100,000,000 on a soup-to-nuts renovation, restoration and expansion headed up by motorcycle riding and leather gear loving New York City-based architect Peter Marino.

We're not sure exactly how many bedrooms and bathrooms are in the main house and/or on the property but Your Mama thinks it's probably safe to say there's plenty to room to comfortably house several families.

The grounds are a studied mix of manicured and rustic and include meadow-like rolling lawns, long allees of mature trees, a spring-fed creek criss-crossed by stone bridges, rose and vegetable gardens, several ponds and water features and dense forests woven with quiet pathways. There's also a resort-scaled swimming pool, and adjacent a pool house with recreation facilities and movie theater, a tennis court and second guest house.

The next owner of the Hicks' estate may want to know that maintaining the vast estate will require an astonishing amount of water. Even with a private well Mister and Missus Hicks consistently rank among the highest users of water in a state regularly racked by drought. In August 2011 reports numerous multiple media outlets in the Dallas/Houston/Fort Worth area reported that Mister and Missus Hicks used 1.35 million gallons of public water for the month of June alone and in July 2012 the Dallas Morning News reported they consumed a total of 12,315,020 gallons of public water in 2011.

Like we usually do when it comes to dissin' and discussin' high-priced real estate in Dallas Your Mama gave the deliciously dishy Dallas-based property gossip Candy Evans a ringy-dingy and asked if she thought there was much of a market for a $135,000,000 house in Dallas. She told us, "It is likely there is not a market in Dallas for a $135 million estate but I have no doubt there will be offers because where else can you have 25 acres and horses and be 8 miles from downtown? But then, never underestimate the power of oil money. One local tyke owns a home on Turtle Creek Blvd. plus a home in nearby Highland Park just because he likes to have Sunday picnics on the creek. Rich people are nine kinds of odd ducks so maybe some billionaire oil tyke will indeed thinks it's worth it to cough up $100 million plus for 25 acres to ramble around in?" Well, stranger things have happened, haven't they?

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A Very Big Deal Goes Quietly Down in the Bay Area

It seems the global economy isn't suffering much if you're among the super-rich of the world.

Thanks to the fine folks at SF Luxe, Your Mama has learned that a sprawling Silicon Valley estate in hoity-toity Woodside, CA just sold for—buckle your real estate safety belts, butter beans—a mind-numbing and record-breaking $117,500,000.

The seller, according to previous reports and property records we peeped, was San Francisco-based financier Tully Friedman. The deep-pocketed buyer, shielded behind a mysterious limited liability company, has yet to be revealed but Your Mama hears through the Silicon Valley real estate gossip grapevine that the buyer might be a Korean banker who—so the story goes—bought the property as a summer getaway for his wife—or maybe his mistress—who may want to embark on some sort of remodel.

Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Bueller?

The Neoclassical main mansion, according to noted classical architect Allen Greenberg's website, occupies "an elaborate hilltop garden" and reflects a "strong Palladian tradition" that's " planned around hyphens and dependencies and features a double volume, elliptical garden room." We don't really know what an architectural hyphen or dependency is but it certainly sounds high fallutin' don't it? The San Mateo County Tax Man shows the house measures 8,930 square feet and contains just four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms but we really can't vouch for the accuracy of those numbers.

The nearly nine acre gated estate also includes acres of elaborate and meticulously maintained formal gardens, at least one reflecting pool, broad expanses of painstakingly manicured lawns, lots and lots of parking and a swimming pool complex with spa and a pool house Your Mama would bet is twice the size of our own house.

The super-sized transaction, which went down very quietly in late November (2012), makes it the most expensive private residence in California and it's likely to be the second or third highest price ever paid for a private home in the United States. Chicago hedge fund fat cat Ken Griffin and wife Anne Dias-Griffin allegedly and possibly coughed up $130 million for a quartet of contiguous properties in Palm Beach late in 2012 and the 124,000 acre Broken O Ranch in Montana—last listed for $132,500,000—was acquired late last year by multi-billionaire businessman Stan Kroenke and wife Ann for an undisclosed amount believed to be in the nine figures. Ann (Walton) Kroenke, for the record, is the daughter of Wal-Mart co-founder Bud Walton.

The wily SF Luxe folks dug up a small cache photos of the property and is it ever a doozy worth having a look-see at. Run don't walk before they're forced by an angry army of attorneys to take them down!

NOTE FROM YOUR MAMA (01-01-13): The Los Angeles Times subsequently suggested the buyer may be Masayoshi San, the CEO of SoftBank and one of Japan's richest men with a fortune in the eight billion dollar range.

aerial images: Google

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Hollywood Hot Shot Barry Levinson Shakes Up East Coast Property Portfolio

BUYER: Barry Levinson
LOCATION: New York City, NY
PRICE: $5,650,000
SIZE: 3,049 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Looks like Emmy and Oscar winning screenwriter, director, producer and occasional actor Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Oz, Diner, Toys, Sleepers, Good Morning, Vietnam) is in the mood to shake up his real estate portfolio, selling in Connecticut and buying in New York City.

Last September Your Mama discussed Mister Levinson's sprawling, compound in upscale and semi-rural Redding, CT that was, at the time, listed on the open market with an asking price of $12,900,000. Property records reveal that the 40-plus acre spread with it's 17-room shingled mansion was sold last December to an unknown buyer for a total of $11,850,000, slightly more than the $11,250,000 he and The Missus paid for the place in the early Aughts.

Now comes word via the New York Post that Mister and Missus Levinson have spent $5,650,000 to scoop up a classic loft condo-loft in a quintessential late 19th century cast iron building designed by highly regarded architects Theodore De Lemos and A.W. Cordes in the geographical heart of the SoHo shopping district in New York City.

Listing information shows the 3,049 square foot loft has direct access through a key-lock elevator, soaring 13-foot ceilings, over-sized 10-foot tall windows with custom fitted wood shutters, wood floors and exposed wood beams and cast iron columns.

The open-concept main living area measures more than 30 feet wide and almost 39 feet long with a gas fireplace and an all-white kitchen with commercial-style stainless steel appliances, slab counter tops of unknown but unquestionably high quality material, shimmery stainless steel back splashes, an over-sized pantry area and a bulky center work island with breakfast bar. The Ingo Maurer paper chandelier is icing on the style cake and we can only hope Mister and Missus Levinson negotiated that fine fixture into the deal. An unusually spacious and separate laundry room with slop sink completes the service areas.

The three bedrooms all open off a zig-zagging corridor behind the kitchen. The two guest/family bedrooms share a pair of hall bathrooms and the master suite is complete with three closets, a nearly 20-foot square bedroom with two east facing windows and an attached (windowless) bathroom fitted with twin sinks, soaking tub and separate shower and finished with a lot of mirrors and stone tile work.

The $4,209 per month real estate taxes and common charges help pay for the boutique-sized building's doorman services and downstairs storage room.

As far as Your Mama knows Mister and Missus Levinson's property portfolio still includes a 1,887 square foot pied-a-terre in the Westwood area of Los Angeles and a three-story creek-front residence in Annapolis, MD purchased—as far as we can tell—way back in February 2002 for $2,262,500.

exterior photo: Nicholas Strini for Property Shark

listing photos and floor plan: Citi-Habitats

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Existing Homes For Sale At Lowest Point In 11 Years

Home sales dropped last month, but not because demand was lacking. There are fewer homes for sale than at any time in the last 11 years.

According to the National Association of REALTORS®, Existing Home Sales for December 2012 fell to a seasonally-adjusted, annualized rate of 4.94 million homes from November's tally of 4.99 million existing homes.

The Existing Home Sales report is based on the number of closings for previously-owned, single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops. It's estimated that existing homes account for 85 to 90 percent of all home sales nationwide.

2012 was a good year for housing. Sales of existing homes climbed 12.8 percent as compared to the December 2011 tally, which may be a strong indicator of future mortgage originations and short-term demand for home-related goods.

Based on preliminary sales figures, the number of home resales in 2012 grew 9.2 percent to 4.65 million homes as compared to 4.26 million homes sold during 2011. This marks the highest number of home resales sold in 5 years -- a time which predates the recession of last decade.

In addition, the median price of a homes resale read $180,800 in December, which is a 11.5 percent increase as compared to December 2011, and the tenth consecutive month of year-over-year median price growth.

Not since November 2005 has the median home resale price climbed this quickly

Furthermore, the supply of existing homes fell to 4.4 months in December, down 0.4 months from November. At the current pace of sales, the national home resale inventory will be sold by June. This is an important statistic because home supply of less than 6.0-months is thought to represent a "seller's market".

There are also just 1.82 million existing homes for sale nationwide -- the fewest since January 2001, and a 22 percent reduction from one year ago. With buyer demand high and home inventory down, home prices are likely to rise in Seattle and nationwide throughout 2013.

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