ShandrowGroup.com » Mortgages

Is the Home Buyers Tax Credit Extension Good News?

Mark Shandrow — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:31:18 +0000

Last Friday, President Obama signed a bill to extend the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers from November 30th to March 31st, 2010 and added a provision that will extend the credit to more potential buyers.

Originally slated as a credit only for first-time homeowners, the government has now extended the credit to home buyers who have owned a home for under 5 years and are looking to purchase another home before March 31st.

It sounds like good news to a lot of buyers who were rushing to buy homes before the November deadline.

But Why Did They Extend the Home-Buyer Tax Credit Another 4 Months?

To stimulate the spring housing market in 2010 and help homeowners who may be heading toward foreclosure right now.

The idea is to give first-time home-buyers a boost and strengthen the weak economy. If they give first-time, qualified buyers a big enough tax break, they’ll buy now, clean up some of the ghost town neighborhoods, and improve their own lives and long-range financial prospects. And it might help current homeowners in financial trouble to start the short sale process to eliminate their underwater mortgages and purchase homes with the help of stronger financing.

First-time home buyers are eligible for up to $8,000 on the tax credit, which is the same as the current credit. The new version of the bill creates adds a credit of up to $6,500 for homeowners who have lived in their homes for less than five years. But the new homeowner provision starts on Dec. 1, 2009.

What’s the Deadline to Apply for the Tax Credit?

The tax credits expire on April 30, 2010, but home buyers under contract by April 30 will be able to qualify as long as they complete the sale within 60 days and close on July 1, 2010.

Realistically, this is the third iteration of the home buyer tax credit in place since mid-2008. And it’s likely the last time it will be extended before it finally expires next spring. About 1.4 million first-time home-buyers have qualified for the credit through Mid-October, and the National Association of Realtors estimates 350,000 of them wouldn’t have purchased their homes without the credit.

Will the Tax Credit Help Home-Buyers in the High-End of the California Housing Market?

Not likely. The tax credit phases out for home buyers with incomes above $125,000 for single filers and $225,000 for married couples. Also, homes that cost more than $800,000 aren’t eligible for the credit.If you’re in this tax bracket and you’re looking to buy a home over $500,000, a $6,500 tax credit probably won’t make much a difference in your home buying decision anyway.

Overall, the tax credit is likely to generate only a modest further increase in home sales as only 5% of home-buyers have made use of the new tax credit to date.

If you would like to see how this tax credit will benefit you, just click on the link below and download the pdf:

2009-NAR-Issue-Brief-Homebuyer-Tax-Credit-Changes-1104-1107.pdf

If you are you interested in getting new listing information before everyone else, just sign-up for my VIP list right here.

Sincerely,

Mark Shandrow
REO Broker-Associate
Shandrow Group
shandrowgroup.com

What is FNMA’s HomePath Financing Program?

Mark Shandrow — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:49:06 +0000

Here’s a short video I put together with my brother, Adam Shandrow.

In it, he explains why purchasing a Fannie Mae home is different than purchasing any other seller or Bank Owned property.

FNMA HomePath® Mortgage Financing Program

We’ve also listed the main points here, just in case didn’t catch it all in the video.

Many times the homes are move-in ready.
You get a 97% Loan to Value Ratio.
You don’t have to pay for mortgage insurance.
There is no appraisal required, which expedites the closing of escrow.
The properties are already in lendable condition.
Though your interest payments might be higher, your PMI is waived.
You can save hundreds of dollars a month in fees and mortgage payments.

When buying a Fannie Mae-owned home, you know the condition of the property, the cost of any needed repairs, and the steps in the loan qualification and closing process before you enter into a purchase and sales agreement.

Though Fannie Mae does make some repairs to properties to increase its marketability, other repairs may still be needed after you purchase the property. Even if the house has fresh paint, new carpet, new appliances, possibly even a new roof or siding, it doesn’t mean everything in the house is new, or works as it should.

I would suggest hiring an independent home inspection professional if you’re at all concerned about it. Fannie Mae recommends you do this as well.

Some benefits that we didn’t mention in the video:

Low down payment and flexible mortgage terms (fixed-rate, adjustable-rate, or interest-only)
You may qualify even if your credit is less than perfect
Available to both owner occupiers and investors
Down payment (at least 3 percent) can be funded by your own savings; a gift; a grant; or a loan from a nonprofit organization, state or local government, or employer
HomePath Mortgage financing is available from a variety of lenders – both local and national.

You can check out the full details here: www.homepath.com

If you’re interested in a Fannie Mae property, you must work with a real estate sales firm, such as Shandrow Group, and have us submit an offer on your behalf.

Let us know if you have any questions,

Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
Shandrow Group

Another Onslaught of Foreclosures About to Explode

Mark Shandrow — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:52:53 +0000

Get ready! We’re not even close to seeing even an inkling of a slowdown in the onslaught of foreclosures. This just in from Los Angeles Times real estate writer Don Lee:

“Mortgage defaults have surged to record levels amid rising unemployment and falling home prices. Lenders are expected to move quickly to clear up backlogs as moratoriums on foreclosures expire.

Reporting from Washington — Just as the nation’s housing market has begun showing signs of stabilizing, another wave of foreclosures is poised to strike, possibly as early as this summer, inflicting new punishment on families, communities and the still-troubled national economy.

Amid rising unemployment and falling home prices, mortgage defaults have surged to record levels this year. Until recently, many banks have put off launching foreclosure action on the troubled properties, in part because they had signed up for the Obama administration’s home-stability plan, which required them to consider the alternative of modifying loans to make it easier for borrowers to make payments.

Just how big the foreclosure wave will be is unclear. But loan defaults are up sharply. And with many government and banks’ self-imposed foreclosure moratoriums expiring, the biggest lenders indicate that they are likely to move more aggressively to clear up a backlog of troubled mortgages.

Nationally, home sales have been steadying, thanks largely to an abundance of cheap foreclosed properties, government incentives and record low mortgage rates. Housing construction starts have flattened out, helping to bring supply into balance with demand. The rate of housing price declines has slowed as well, even turning up in some communities.

But rising foreclosures will depress home values, pushing more homeowners underwater. Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com estimates that 15.4 million homeowners — or about 1 in 5 of those with first mortgages — owe more on their homes than they are worth.

Also, consumer confidence is already exceedingly low, and another jolt to the housing market could further crimp spending, which has been pummeled by the deep recession and persistent weakness in the job market. The latest unemployment rate, for June, rose to 9.5%, and many analysts predict that it will keep rising until the middle of next year.

The rapid pace of layoffs is of particular concern. Employers shed nearly a half-million jobs in June. Homeowners who are out of work have little chance of having their mortgages modified. That puts many homeowners on a collision course with banks that are preparing to take a more aggressive stance.

“Absolutely,” Chase Bank spokesman Tom Kelly said when asked about an impending surge in foreclosures. Since April 6, Chase has approved modifying 138,000 loans under Obama’s program. But an undisclosed number of other Chase borrowers didn’t meet modification eligibility, and many of those homeowners face possible foreclosure.

Separate from that group, Kelly said, Chase is proceeding to deal with an additional 80,000 borrowers in default whose foreclosure process had been voluntarily halted by the lender starting late last year.

Bank of America, the nation’s largest servicer of home mortgages, also did not release the volume of likely foreclosures. The bank said it had extended offers to modify loans to more than 45,000 borrowers under the Obama plan. Bank of America spokesman Dan Frahm said the company was projecting a “slow increase” in the number of monthly foreclosures, potentially reaching 30% above previous normal levels.

Much will depend on how quickly lenders can push the process along. It generally takes three months to a year from the time a borrower receives a notice of default to a foreclosure sale, in which case the lender usually takes title to the property.

Government and company reports show that the number of completed foreclosures nationwide slowed sharply late last year and into early this year, largely because of various moratoriums in effect during much of the first quarter.

But anecdotal reports indicate that foreclosure sales have started to climb again in the second quarter. And the pipeline is clearly getting fuller.

In the first quarter, some 1.8 million homeowners nationwide fell behind on their loans by 60 to 90 days, a 15% increase from the prior quarter, according to Moody’s Economy.com. The research firm said that loan defaults rose sharply as well, to 844,000 in the first three months of this year.

California accounts for an outsized share of mortgage loan defaults. A stunning 135,431 homeowners in the state were hit with notices of default in the first quarter, an increase of 11% from the earlier peak in the second quarter of 2008, according to real estate information service MDA DataQuick. Foreclosure sales in the state have been moderating after averaging a high of 26,500 a month last summer.

In some communities such as Stockton, Calif., where the real estate market has been among the hardest hit in the nation with home prices plunging 60% in the last two years, many people are expecting a large increase in foreclosures.

Sales of foreclosed houses soared last year as investors and first-time home buyers swarmed over what were considered bargain houses. This year it’s been unusually quiet, says Jerry Abbott, a broker and co-owner of Grupe Real Estate in Stockton. That doesn’t make sense, he said, because he sees many houses in foreclosure in the city.

But just recently, said the 37-year real estate veteran, there’s been a surge of requests for so-called broker price opinions, or appraisals that lenders often ask brokers to provide just before they put a foreclosed property on the market.

“I think it’s going to be a very big wave,” he said. “Just like what we saw through 2008.”

The effect on prices won’t be as severe, Abbott said, because values already have plunged and there’s hearty demand for such properties.

Still, he said, “It will keep prices low. . . . It’ll just slow the recovery down in general.”

Michael Chee, 43, of Burbank is among those worried about what a rise in foreclosures could mean for his home.

Chee was laid off from a healthcare consulting firm in March. With jobless benefits, he figures he will be able to hold on until he finds a new job. His three-bedroom house, though down 20% to 30% in value, isn’t underwater — for the present.

“We’re OK right now,” he said, noting that his brother’s home in Montebello is in foreclosure. “But going forward, who knows? The way things are going. . . .”

The Obama administration is racing to avert as many foreclosures as possible. So far, more than 240,000 distressed borrowers have been approved on a trial basis under the Home Affordable Modification Program, in which their loans are being reworked so monthly payments are targeted at 31% of their gross income, said Seth Wheeler, a senior advisor to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.

Wheeler said the program’s goal was to prevent as many as 4 million borrowers from losing their houses over the next 3 1/2 years. And in August, Treasury officials hope to bolster those efforts with guidelines that could encourage banks to allow more borrowers to sell their properties in a short sale, in which the lender averts a foreclosure by accepting less than the balance of the mortgage.

“We’re very unlikely to implement another moratorium,” Wheeler said. But he noted that Treasury would closely monitor how many foreclosed homes were dumped onto the market, suggesting that officials could take other steps to prevent a flood of lender-owned properties.

Few people would venture a guess on the magnitude of foreclosure increases. Part of that will be driven by the job market and the financial condition of so-called prime borrowers and homeowners holding adjustable-rate mortgages, both of which are showing more stress.

Even as defaults among subprime borrowers have trended lower this year, newly initiated foreclosures involving prime mortgage loans saw a significant increase in the first quarter, jumping 21.5% from the fourth quarter, according to a government report of loan data from national banks and federally regulated thrifts.”

10 Great Reasons to Choose Shandrow Group Today

Mark Shandrow — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Here are 10 Great Reasons to Choose Shandrow Group for your real estate needs:

1. We’re a No-Hassle Turn-Key Solution. We take you from start to finish, no matter what type of property you’re in the market for. Our goal is to provide our clients with personalized, professional, honest hard work. We truly desire to match you with the property of your dreams, a solid investment for years to come. Click here to search our properties now.

2. Proven, Local Experience. Together, we have 40-plus years of combined successful experience in the Southern California real estate market. Our top-selling agents truly know how to get the job done in what is essentially our back yard. Click here to meet them all.

3. We Live Here. So we’re in touch with the local market better than anyone. We’re proud to say our children go to school right here and we do the majority of our personal and professional business in this community. It doesn’t get more local than that.

4. Incredible Property Selection. We have dozens of amazing properties to choose from, from traditional home sales to bank-owned foreclosures, from raw land to luxury homes to beachfront condos and everything in between. You name it, chances are we have it. If not, we’ll get it for you in short order.

5. VIP Access to the Latest Foreclosure Listings. Click here, sign up in seconds and we’ll send weekly hot foreclosure listings from Los Angeles and Orange Counties directly to your email inbox. It’s that easy! We receive nearly one foreclosed home to sell EACH AND EVERY DAY from our fast-growing list of local and national list of bank and financial institution clients. Shandrow Group’s foreclosure inventory is literally multiplying on a daily basis. As of this blog posting, we have more than 60 properties in various stages of sale from Pasadena to Foothill Ranch.

6. We Truly Understand the Local Investment Market. Several Shandrow Group Realtors own their own investment properties right here in Long Beach and in the outlying areas, and they’re happy to share their first-hand insider market expertise directly with you.

7 . Convenient Bixby Knolls Offices and around-the-clock availability. To better serve you, whenever you need us. Call us at 562.364.9505, ext. 800 or feel free to drop by our offices (located at 3970 Atlantic Ave. in Long Beach, CA 90807) today! Here’s a map.

8. Honest, Sincere Testimonials. Don’t take our word for it. Take a listen for yourself and find out what Shandrow Group clients are saying about us. Click here for a video or here for our latest written testimonial.

9. We Build Lasting Relationships. We’re more than just your neighborhood real estate agents. Our wealth of successful partnerships is backed by our uncompromising integrity, honesty and respect—100 percent of the time.

10. We Value Diversity and Culture. We’re an incredibly diverse team of young, extremely motivated and energetic Realtors and administrators. Together we represent all walks of Southern California lifestyles and cultures. Plus, most of us are bilingual, some of us from birth. The ever-increasing list of languages spoken fluenty by our agents includes: English, Spanish, Tagalog, Illicano and Khmer.

Each of us possesses an intimate knowledge of Greater Long Beach’s historic neighborhoods. More importantly, we maintain meaningful, real-life personal connections to many of the very residents and legislative leaders who bring our city’s rich, diverse cultural character and identity to life. We’re proud to be a part of Long Beach’s vast multicultural fabric.

The next time you’re in Bixby Knolls, please feel free to drop by and meet our talented team. We’d love to show you around our newly expanded offices.

Warm regards,

Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
Shandrow Group Owner
562.364.9505, ext. 800

California’s 90-day foreclosure moratorium starts, sort of

Mark Shandrow — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:07:48 +0000

This is a great post from Mathew Padilla of OCRegister.com discussing the new foreclosure moratorium in California.

A state law halting home foreclosures for 90 days begins today, but companies can earn an exemption by showing they are already busy modifying loans.

The California Foreclosure Prevention Act, or Assembly Bill X2 7, which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed in February, is meant to push banks and loan servicers into lowering mortgage payments of homeowners in financial trouble. It reflects a similar federal plan.

Several companies have already applied for exemptions, said Mark Leyes, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Corporations. The department must grant or refuse an exemption within 30 days, during which companies need not comply with the moratorium. The law impacts loans made from 2003 to 2007.

A lender or servicer gets an exemption by demonstrating it already has a loan modification program in place, including lowering owner payments to a target of 38 percent of their income going to housing. Methods of choice are lowering the loan’s interest rate or extending its term to 40 years.

The bill, however, seems to lack teeth. The 38 percent debt-to-income ratio is merely a target.

And the bill says it does not require a servicer to violate contracts for “investor-owned loans.” The most troubled loans are generally those investment banks packaged and sold, and if the servicing contract says foreclosure is preferable to a loan modification, nothing in the law stops foreclosure.

The law also says it does not require a bank to “provide a modification to a borrower who is not willing or able to pay under the modification.” I am not sure what “able to pay” means if the target debt-to-income ratio is 38 percent? Maybe if borrowers have to make other hefty payments — on cars, credit cards etc. — then they are out of luck.

Read the full text of the bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), HERE

Best,

Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
Shandrow Group
mark@shandrowgroup.com

Will Shadow Inventory Hurt U.S. Housing Market?

Mark Shandrow — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:12:37 +0000

Will the ‘shadow inventory’ stunt a housing recovery?

Source: — Tom Petruno, Los Angeles Times

After every bear market on Wall Street, some investors are reluctant to buy because they believe many other investors will be anxious to sell into any rebound, swamping the market and stunting any recovery.

And yet, bull markets get going anyway.

Now the same issue is dogging the housing market.

A new Zillow.com survey of 1,266 homeowners nationwide asks, “If you saw signs of a real estate market turnaround in the next 12 months, how likely would you be to put your home up for sale?”

Twelve percent of homeowners said they’d be “very likely” to try to sell into an improving market, 8% said they’d be “likely” to do so and another 12% said they’d be “somewhat likely.”

Zillow refers to that total of 32% as the “shadow inventory” of homes.

“With almost a third of homeowners poised to jump into the market at the first sign of stabilization, this could create a steady stream of new inventory adding to already record-high inventory levels, thus keeping downward pressure on home prices,” said Stan Humphries, Zillow’s vice president of data and analytics.

By region, just 7% of survey respondents in the West said they were “very likely” to try to sell their homes into an improving market, compared with 10% for the South, 12% for the Midwest and 20% for the Northeast.

Despite the low number for the West, I’ve often wondered through this housing crash whether California would be particularly vulnerable to a supply overhang — in large part because of the number of aging California baby boomers whose retirement plan had consisted of eventually selling their home (at a big profit) and leaving for a lower-cost state.

For a summary of the Zillow survey, which also delves into home-price expectations and other market issues, go here. A link to the full report is here.

Read Mark Shandrow’s recent comments about the impending flood of Southern California shadow inventory expected to hit the market here, as told to a German TV reporter and camera crew on-set at the Shandrow Group offices in Long Beach.

Shandrow Group Featured in German Documentary on California Foreclosure Market

Kim Lachance — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:45:01 +0000

Shandrow Group Goes International!

We’re proud to announce that Shandrow Group will soon be making its European television debut in a German “60 Minutes”-style documentary on the booming California foreclosure market.

We were honored to have Munich-based FOCUS TV Produktions GmbH along for the ride for an entire day last week as editor Kirsten Moser and her camera crew shadowed Shandrow Group broker-owner Mark Shandrow while he went about his business day. The video shoot included visits to:

Several bank-owned/REO properties currently under Shandrow Group asset management contracts
A Shandrow Group-listed foreclosure duplex in Compton
A single family residence foreclosure currently for sale by Shandrow Group in Long Beach’s historic Wrigley neighborhood
An upscale lender-owned condominium in Manhattan Beach (which is now in ESCROW!) and several other exclusive Shandrow Group properties featured on our popular VIP Foreclosure List.

The 20-minute FOCUS TV California foreclosure market documentary segment also features a San Diego sheriff performing officer eviction lockouts and a work crew in Perris painting brown grass green, a common instant front yard “face lift” in a foreclosure-blighted neighborhood.

Mark expressed his experienced, informed perspective on what the future holds for the local and national foreclosure market on-camera, specifically regarding the American real estate industry’s emergent shadow inventory phenomenon.

He explained that approximately one-third of Southern California foreclosures are now in what’s called shadow or “limbo” territory. That is to say that they are not registering in county records as having been resold.

Banks throughout California and the rest of the country are “sitting on hundreds of thousands of foreclosed homes that they have not resold or listed for sale.” When those shadow inventory properties flood the market–and they will–home values will dramatically drop in response, Mark told German FOCUS TV reporters.

With so many bank repossession and default notices expected to explode onto the market in the coming weeks and months, Mark doesn’t foresee the foreclosures trend slowing down any time soon.

“This is just the beginning of the foreclosure market,” Mark commented. “Coupled with property depreciation in California, in the coming years, we can expect this situation to continue to greatly impact the domestic and global economies.”

“On a brighter note, we will eventually see the real estate market come back into balance,” Mark said. “However, it will definitely take plenty of time. Unfortunately, this is the way a free market works. The real estate market became incredibly inflated, and in turn inflated people’s expectations, and it just has to level out at some point.”

Munich-based Focus TV, a spin-off of the internationally read Focus Magazine, is broadcast throughout Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

All of us at the Shandrow Group truly appreciated and enjoyed the up-close-and-personal opportunity to play a direct role in educating an international audience on the fast-paced, ever-evolving Los Angeles and Orange County area foreclosure climate, and, more specifically, Southern California’s unprecedented shadow inventory, which you’ll definitely be hearing about in the headlines very soon.

When we receive a video link to the segment, you’ll be the first to know!

As always, stay tuned for more exciting Shandrow Group development news.

To contact the Shandrow Group today, call 562.364.9505, ext. 800, or connect with one of our agents via our About Us page.

Fresh on Market: Affordable Junipero Heights Condo For Sale

Kim Lachance — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 19:59:36 +0000

What do we mean by “affordable”? Try $137,000!

Great deal for roommates and local college students.

Short walk from Long Beach City College South Campus.

Attractive Junipero Heights Location.

Convenient Access to Public Transit and Freeways.

PRICE: $137,000

HOA: $240

ADDRESS: 2343 E. 17^th St., Unit #201, Long Beach, CA 90804-8415

CROSS STREETS: Pacific Coast Highway, Cherry Avenue

NEIGHBORHOOD: Junipero Heights in Long Beach’s bustling Eastside Circle area

TYPE OF RESIDENCE: 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom condominium, featuring optimal floor plan for roommate living

YEAR BUILT: 1986

UNIT SIZE: 842 Square Feet, three (or more) levels

VIEWS: Nearby Signal Hill and downtown Long Beach city lights

INTERIOR AMENITIES:

Generous master bedroom suite
Two upscale bathrooms, great for roommate/shared living situations
Comfortable, inviting formal dining room
Enhanced privacy (unit only has one shared wall)
Partial carpet floors
In-unit laundry
Heating

EXTERIOR AMENITIES:

Patio for ease of entertaining
Secure subterranean parking

COMMUNITY PERKS:

Perfectly situated between to several popular, fitness-ready parks and activity centers, including: California Recreation Center, MLK Park, Orizaba Park, Signal Hill Park, Chittick Field Park, MacArthur Park and Stearns Champions Park.
Convenient for students: Walking distance to Long Beach City College’s South Campus and botanical garden

SCHOOL DISTRICT: Nationally-Renowned Long Beach Unified School District

This roommate-ready, PRICED TO SELL property is zoned for several of Long Beach Unified School District’s highest ranking schools, from elementary to high school, including the prestigious Long Beach Polytechnic High School (aka Poly).

The city’s nationally recognized school district is slated to receive some $56 million throughout the next two years as part of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion federal economic stimulus package. The LBUSD was one of the top five finalists for the 2008 Broad Prize for Urban Education, recognizing America’s best urban school system for increasing student achievement. The district was the national Broad Prize winner for the 2003-04 school year.

Contact the Shandrow Group’s experienced, helpful real estate team today at 562.364.9505 for more information on this exclusive property and dozens of other downtown Long Beach condos and townhomes for sale, including foreclosures, short sales and REO/lender-owned units.

Sincerely,

Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker, Owner
Shandrow Group
562.364.9505

Kelly Tap, Realtor

Mark Shandrow — Sat, 02 May 2009 23:19:04 +0000

t 562-364-9505, ext. 101
f 562-364-9506
">Kelly@ShandrowGroup.com

You could say sharp real estate instincts run strong in Kelly Tap’s lineage. The 2008 Keller Williams Rising Star Award winner paid close attention throughout her Southern California upbringing while her father and other close relatives carefully invested in local neighborhood income properties.

“It didn’t take me long to see how exciting, lucrative and enriching real estate investing could be,” the Long Beach native says, recalling being along for the ride during several nearby real estate prospecting trips. Her early passion for real estate investing eventually led her to pursue her California real estate license and what is now a vibrant, thriving career in the industry.

We’re proud to have Kelly aboard the Shandrow Group team as an upbeat and accomplished Realtor specializing in Los Angeles and Orange County home sales. Having grown up right here in Long Beach and Lakewood, Kelly brings to our organization an intimate, up-close-and-personal knowledge of the area’s historic neighborhoods and, more importantly, meaningful connections to many of the very residents and legislative leaders who bring our city’s rich, diverse cultural character and identity to life.

The areas and neighborhoods Kelly serves Shandrow Group clients in (but are not limited to) include: Bixby Knolls, Wrigley and Westside Long Beach, as well as throughout Orange County.

“I love it here because there’s so much to do,” Kelly says of Southern California, her stomping grounds. “The entertainment and active lifestyle options here are endless. Plus, Long Beach is optimally central. It’s perfectly located between Los Angeles and Orange Counties, so you could practically never run out of fun things to do.”

Kelly earned her Associate’s Degree at nearby Cypress College and later her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Social Behaviors from the University of California, Irvine. The Princeton Review this year named UCI the “Best College in the Western Region.”

Kelly is also an alumnus of Long Beach Polytechnic High School—a historic Long Beach institution that consistently ranks among the top 100 schools in U.S. News and World Report’s annual “Best High Schools” list. There Kelly was active in student government and founded Never Go Hungry, a well-known hunger awareness charity that remains active today.

Kelly’s desire to help people overcome challenges and actualize their dreams eventually led her to pursue legislative work in Washington, D.C., where she rose to the position of Congressional Researcher for the Library of Congress. Juanita Millender-McDonald, Long Beach’s late Congresswoman (representing California’s 37th District), personally appointed Kelly to the prestigious post.

Together in our nation’s Capital, they rallied support and critical funds for the recent and successful three-year renovation of Long Beach’s Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA). The high-profile project added a sculpture garden and 40,000 square feet of stunning exhibition space to the nationally acclaimed art venue.

While in Washington, D.C. Kelly also personally assisted Congresswoman Millender-McDonald in elevating Teen Abuse Awareness Week to a nationally observed event. National Teen Abuse Awareness Week is now celebrated throughout the country from Feb. 4-9 every year.

It was in the halls of our nation’s foreign affairs chambers that Kelly lent her proud Cambodian-American roots and heritage to planning and organizing a large-scale, Washington, D.C.-area Cambodian New Year (Chol Chnam Thmey) celebration. Kelly, fluent in Khmer (the official language of Cambodia), is proud to be an active member of Long Beach’s vital Cambodian community. With an estimated 50,000 Cambodian Americans living and thriving in the Greater Long Beach area, Kelly points out, our city is home to the second largest population of Cambodians outside of Southeast Asia.

Upon her return to Long Beach from the nation’s Capital, Kelly pursued work as a behavioral and educational therapist for autistic children, all while aggressively pursuing her dreams in Southern California real estate sales, which she continues to realize today!

You can contact Kelly by calling her at 562.562-364-9505, ext. 101, or by emailing her at Kelly@ShandrowGroup.com.

One West Ocean: Long Beach’s Hottest Condo Tower

Kim Lachance — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:10:15 +0000

PRIME HIGH-RISE CONDOS.
METICULOUS DETAILS.
PRICELESS AUTHENTICITY.

One West Ocean, Long Beach’s tallest and fastest-selling residential tower, offers four exceptional, private luxury condos per floor. The commanding, 59-story ocean and city view condominium tower is perfectly positioned in the heart of downtown Long Beach. This full-time doorman designer skyscraper features beautifully tailored, expansive interiors that create the perfect canvas for urban living at its most luxurious.

ADDRESS: 400 West Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90802, between Chestnut and Magnolia

STORIES: 29 stories reaching high above the Pacific Ocean

TYPES OF UNITS: Remarkably large floor plans, 2 and 3 bedroom units

UNIT SIZE RANGE: Uncommonly large for urban condos, 1,443 to 1,735 sq. ft.

IMPRESSIVE VIEWS: Sweeping Pacific Ocean and downtown city light vistas

THE ULTIMATE IN INTERIOR STYLING
* Entry gallery/art walls
* Solid-core entry doors w/birch veneer finish
* Lush carpeted living rooms, bedrooms, tech areas, hallways, closets
* Tile flooring at entries, kitchens, master baths, secondary baths, powder rooms
* Incandescent recessed can lighting at entries, hallways and tech areas
* Fluorescent recessed can lighting in kitchens
* Track lighting-illuminated formal dining rooms

GOURMET KITCHENS
* KitchenAid stainless steel 36″ 5-burner gas cooktops
* Whirlpool stainless steel microwave ovens
* Whirlpool stainless steel self-clean ovens
* Whirlpool stainless steel refrigerators
* Whirlpool stainless steel dishwashers
* Granite countertops & splashes (full height at cooktops)
* Stainless steel sinks
* Kohler plumbing fixtures
* Maple cabinetry w/concealed hinges
* Drawers w/Blum glides

MASTER BEDROOM SUITES
* Granite countertops & splashes
* Kohler plumbing fixtures
* Maple cabinetry w/concealed hinges
* Drawers w/metal Blum glides

GUEST BATHROOMS
* Granite countertops & splashes
* Kohler plumbing fixtures
* Maple cabinetry w/concealed hinges
* Drawers w/metal Blum guides
* Tub/Shower combo with tile borders

ADDITIONAL RESIDENCE FEATURES
* Air conditioning
* Whirlpool washers and dryers
* Phone outlets in all bedrooms, dens, living rooms & tech areas
* Cable TV in all bedrooms, dens, living rooms & tech areas
* Decora white switches
* Smoke detectors
* Sprinkler systems

DELUXE INDOOR AMENITIES (resident facilities & services):
* Lush contemporary lobby
* Concierge/security 24/7
* Five-star exercise studio
* Swimming pool w/spa
* Media/club room
* Wine storage room
* Game Room
* Guest suite
* Conference/meeting area

TOP-NOTCH OUTDOOR AMENITIES:
* Upscale outdoor entertainment area
* Private barbecue area
* Outdoor dining area
* Dramatic landscape lighting
* Common area alarm/monitoring system
* Metal slab, fire-rate doors at garage elevator, garage exit and stairwell
* Ample fluorescent lighting throughout community areas, parking structure, stairwells, elevator lobbies, etc.
* Walking-distance beach access
* Located on the threshold of the Pike and Rainbow Harbor, walking distance from 2nd Street/Belmont Shore entertainment, business and culture districts

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DRAMATICALLY REDUCED CONDO PRICES
Dozens of beachfront (and inland) Long Beach condominiums and townhomes—including several inside One West Ocean—are experiencing dramatic price drops between 30 and 50%. There’s never been a better time than now to get a great deal on your dream downtown Long Beach condo. With prices lower than they’ve been in years, plus historically low interest rates, now is an opportune time to buy. To learn more, call the Shandrow Group today at 562.364.9505.

CONVENIENT ACCESS TO PUBLIC TRANSIT
The One West Ocean condominiums at 400 West Ocean Blvd. are a short walk from a wide range of high-convenience public transit choices.

Of those, residents can choose from: Passport A & D buses (rides west of Alamitos Avenue in downtown Long Beach are free); Passport B bus (The East Village Tour free shuttle that travels throughout the emerging art neighborhoods of East Village and West Gateway); Passport C bus (The Pine Avenue Link route, serving Pine Avenue, Shoreline Drive, Pine Avenue Circle, The Queen Mary and the Aquarium); Long Beach Transit “Regular Service” buses; the 22-mile light rail transit MTA Blue Line (runs from 7th Street in Downtown L.A., through the communities of Vernon, Huntington Park, South Gate, Watts, Compton, Carson, finally ending in downtown Long Beach).

For car commuters, this prime location offers quick, convenient access to the 710, 405 and 110 Freeways. Plus, One West Ocean is situated only 5 miles from the Long Beach Airport and only 6 miles from Orange County.

Call the Shandrow Group’s downtown condo team today at 562.364.9505 for more information on luxury units for sale inside One West Ocean. Downtown Long Beach condos and townhomes sell extremely quickly, so count on us to keep you in-the-know the minute available units arrive on the market.

Sincerely,
Mark Shandrow
Real Estate Broker
Shandrow Group
562.364.9505
markshandrow.com