Real Estate

Members of Orange County's business community can expect UC Irvine to become a bigger part of the real estate scene if the evolution of the school's Center for Real Estate goes as planned. The center's creation was announced in June. The center is part of UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business, and according to school officials, more than $1.5 million has already been donated to it. One of the center's founding donors is Robert Campbell, president of the Newport Beach-based CT Realty Corp.

Kerry Vandell, an influential professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been appointed executive director of the new Center for Real Estate at UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business. Vandell, who will also serve as a professor of finance, plans to begin his tenure in July 2006. At Wisconsin, he directed the Graaskamp real estate program, one of the most heralded business education programs in the country. As head of the UCI real estate program, he will preside over the training of graduate students preparing for careers in the real estate industry.

I just can't get over the prices that homes are selling for here in the land of opportunity that we call Huntington Beach. If I had told someone living on Main Street fifty years ago that their small house would one day be worth over a million dollars, I would have been hauled off to Fairview State Hospital in a strait jacket. I wonder what some of the early real estate people would think about what our town's homes are selling for today. Back then, agents were selling lots and homes here for a few thousand dollars.

I ran into longtime resident -- and one of our favorite real estate agents of the past -- Pam Cooper at the post office on Olive Avenue. During our conversation, the name of this week's subject came up. This week, we're going back to look at an earlier Huntington Beach real estate agent, Carlos Joseph Reeves. Reeves used to tell people, "I was born the same day as Christopher Columbus, but all he did was discover America while I discovered that Huntington Beach was the best part of America."

The house we bought in Costa Mesa three years ago needed some work, but it was not what a real estate agent would call a fixer-upper. Actually, "fixer-upper" isn't exactly a marketing-friendly term, so in the parlance of a real estate agent, it would be described as a house that "needs tender loving care." Those real estate terms are a hoot. A house with great "curb appeal" means that the kitchen hasn't been upgraded since before Wolfgang Puck was born and that it's heated by a wood-burning stove.

Kenneth Ma HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Instead of competing against each other, 11 local real estate companiesjoined forces to help defeat hunger in Huntington Beach. The Realtors Against Hunger campaign reached its monthlong goal of raising 1 million pounds of food for the needy in Orange County. The announcement was made Monday at a reception at the Waterfront Hilton. "While they remain fierce competitors, they are even more fierce in attacking a common cause," Mayor Dave Garofalo said.

Foreclosure numbers are up over last year for Huntington Beach. But experts and real estate agents don’t think the effect on Huntington Beach is very significant. Huntington Beach ZIP codes had increases in foreclosures ranging from 166% to 1,300% in fourth quarter 2007 over 2006, according to real estate analysts DataQuick. But the raw numbers are all in double digits or fewer, and academics said rates had been so unusually low that it’s not responsible to look at percent increases.

HE IS Helping you sell your house REAL ADVERTISING Bolen is the advertising director at Huntington Beach Realty. He designs and produces ads for real estate agents. The Huntington Beach resident has been working with his dad, Bob Bolen, at the family-owned company for a year. At 20, he's the youngest one in the office, but he doesn't mind. "It's fun working with the older crowd," he jokes, looking over at one of the agents, who peers back over his glasses with a smile . It's not a stuffy place to work, especially with the office decorated like a surf store.

HE IS Helping people meet their dreams EXPERIENCE Mark McGuckin, 59, has worked as a real estate broker with the Brokers Group in Huntington Beach for the past 15 months. He has been in the profession for 26 years. "I was a district manager for the Long Beach Press Telegram but I always liked what my uncle and aunt did . . . they were brokers," McGuckin said. "I just liked the way they helped people to have a nice place to live in." HOME GROWN A resident of Huntington Beach for 31 years, McGuckin started his career with Century 21 in Huntington Beach as a sales agent but said he became a broker because they have more real estate experience and knowledge than sales people.

A short time ago, I received a nice letter from a reader of this column thanking me for writing about our town's history. Marinka Horack of Huntington Beach suggested that I write about a gentleman she had read about who was responsible for saving our beaches for future generations. The man Horack was referring to was forward-looking and accomplished much for Huntington Beach and Orange County. This man was Thomas B. Talbert and, Marinka, this is his story. It all started for Tom on the outskirts of Montecello in Piatt County, Ill., on a small plot of land his father James farmed.

Six people, including a Laguna Beach woman and men from Huntington Beach and Irvine, have been charged by federal prosecutors with participating in a fraudulent real estate scheme. The defendants are accused of selling bank-owned properties for as much as $45,000 and telling buyers they could be resold for profit within a year. The victims were promised that the properties had "clean" titles, property management services and guaranteed rentals for the first three months, according to the indictment, which was returned by a federal grand jury on April 18. The buyers allegedly found that the properties were condemned, were encumbered by tax liens or other burdens, or even did not exist, according to a release from Thom Mrozek, a public affairs officer for the United States Attorney's Office.

The angst experienced by financially well-off Caucasian young adults living in big cities as they search for love and romance seems to be a bottomless well of inspiration for television and film writers. “Friends,” “Seinfeld,” and certainly “Sex and the City” have all been wildly successful documenting the lives of people with no real problems other than those they create themselves. “He’s Just Not That Into You” is the latest venture to follow this well-worn path.

A Huntington Beach real estate investment firm under scrutiny by state and federal agencies for the alleged destruction of wetlands on a mobile home park is shutting down its main offices, representatives said Tuesday. That firm, Mills Land & Water Co., announced the retirement of its 25-year president at the same time. Mills President Robert Moore Jr. has retired as of April 8, spokeswoman Marice White said Tuesday. The company shuttered its offices in Huntington Beach — there are no others — as of the same date, she said.

Foreclosure numbers are up over last year for Huntington Beach. But experts and real estate agents don’t think the effect on Huntington Beach is very significant. Huntington Beach ZIP codes had increases in foreclosures ranging from 166% to 1,300% in fourth quarter 2007 over 2006, according to real estate analysts DataQuick. But the raw numbers are all in double digits or fewer, and academics said rates had been so unusually low that it’s not responsible to look at percent increases.

On Wednesday, we celebrated the birthday of freedom for our nation. For Huntington Beach, the date has held a special meaning throughout its long history, and for one man, this date held an even more special meaning. Frank Bundy was born in Ames, Iowa in the 1870s, at a time when the West was still a wild frontier. When Frank was a boy, his father Nathan decided to bring his family West. On April 30, 1876, Frank, his mother, father and brother arrived in Santa Monica. Frank's father went into the real estate business, selling land in both Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

A City Council study session this week on future uses of Measure M transportation funds drew a number of community members concerned about a county study on a light-rail line in Huntington Beach. About 30 Huntington Beach real estate agents and residents told council members they strongly opposed any use of an old rail right-of-way south of Ellis Avenue and Gothard Street for transit. They asked for assurances the area would be stricken from a future Orange County Transportation Authority-funded study of routes for a possible transit line from Huntington Beach to the Anaheim Metrolink Station, continuing on to Disneyland, as part of its Go Local program.

A short time ago, I received a nice letter from a reader of this column thanking me for writing about our town's history. Marinka Horack of Huntington Beach suggested that I write about a gentleman she had read about who was responsible for saving our beaches for future generations. The man Horack was referring to was forward-looking and accomplished much for Huntington Beach and Orange County. This man was Thomas B. Talbert and, Marinka, this is his story. It all started for Tom on the outskirts of Montecello in Piatt County, Ill., on a small plot of land his father James farmed.

I just can't get over the prices that homes are selling for here in the land of opportunity that we call Huntington Beach. If I had told someone living on Main Street fifty years ago that their small house would one day be worth over a million dollars, I would have been hauled off to Fairview State Hospital in a strait jacket. I wonder what some of the early real estate people would think about what our town's homes are selling for today. Back then, agents were selling lots and homes here for a few thousand dollars.

Members of Orange County's business community can expect UC Irvine to become a bigger part of the real estate scene if the evolution of the school's Center for Real Estate goes as planned. The center's creation was announced in June. The center is part of UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business, and according to school officials, more than $1.5 million has already been donated to it. One of the center's founding donors is Robert Campbell, president of the Newport Beach-based CT Realty Corp.

Kerry Vandell, an influential professor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been appointed executive director of the new Center for Real Estate at UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business. Vandell, who will also serve as a professor of finance, plans to begin his tenure in July 2006. At Wisconsin, he directed the Graaskamp real estate program, one of the most heralded business education programs in the country. As head of the UCI real estate program, he will preside over the training of graduate students preparing for careers in the real estate industry.