Masters of the American West - 2015

As we approach the first weekend in February, everyone knows that we are all preparing for The Big Event!  Of course, I am talking about the Autry National Center's Masters of the American West.

The Masters of the American West is the premiere annual Western art show, featuring more than 75 of the top, nationally recognized contemporary Western painters and sculptors.

The Masters of the American West is the brainchild of John Geraghty, famed collector of Western art and "Special Master" of the Masters event.  The event is also supported by Jay Grodin, long time Chairman of the event along with the Masters Committee whose members sponsor the event year after year.

Howard Terpning
The Patrol - 1877
Oil, 50" x 52"

The show opens on Saturday, January 31, 2015 with an artist's presentation by the phenomenal wildelife sculptor Walter Matia at 10:30 a.m.,  the Chuck Wagon Luncheon and Award Presentation at noon and a presentation by Amy Scott, Chief Curator and Marilyn B. and Calvin B. Gross Curator of Visual Arts who will moderate a discussion on collecting at 2:00.

Award Winners from 2012 Masters of the American West
Front: Tammy Garcia, Special Master John Geraghty, Howard Terpning, Kyle Polzin
Back: Dean Mitchell, George Carlson, Tucker Smith, Masters Chairman Jay Grodin, Bill Anton & Gerald Balciar

At 5:30, the doors open for the evening's cocktail reception and Fine Art Sale.  Those attending this gala event each have special tickets that can be used to indicate their interest in purchasing any of the artworks for sale.  Interested collectors sign their ticket for the specific artwork and place the ticket in a box next to the work of art.  At the appointed hour of 7:30 p.m., a horn is blown and attendants open up each of the boxes and draw out three tickets.  The names of the purchasers are written on a board next to the work in the order that they were drawn from the box.  Purchasers then have 20 minutes to claim their purchase (yes, they can pass on the purchase) and if they fail to do so, the right to purchase the work will fall to the next purchaser.

Known as the "draw box method", a couple of million dollars in artwork will be sold in a couple of hours that evening.  Combining those sales with the select works that are auctioned off to the sponsors of the event at Friday night's Artists' Dinner, total sales generally exceed $4,000,000.  A portion of each sale is retained by the museum and the Masters event is one of the Autry's most important fundraising events.

To see the event photos from last year's Masters of the American West, go to:
http://autry.zenfolio.com/masters2014
If requested, enter the password masters2014.

If you would like to know more about the Masters of the American West, its artists, their work or the schedule of events, please visit:
http://theautry.org/masters-of-the-american-west/masters-of-the-american-west

The Masters of the American West stays on exhibit at the Autry National Center through March 8, 2015 and is well worth your visit to see it.


TinyURL for this post is: http://tinyurl.com/jimrea-masters-2015

My pledge to you is to professionally handle all of your real estate needs whether it is searching for a new home or property, selling one that you already have or helping you address your real estate needs anywhere in the world. My goal is to make your real estate experience pleasant, productive, focused and hassle free.

I would love to discuss any real estate needs that you may have.  Please give me a call at any time.

Jim Rea, Realtor
Sotheby's International Realty - Pacific Palisades 
(424) 354-0790
Jim@JimRea.com

LA Area Real Estate Sales - 4th Quarter Report

Happy New Year to everyone.  As we kick off 2015, it is always informative to take a quick look back at the 4th Quarter of last year and see how the local real estate business did in comparison to 2013.  Sotheby's International Realty recently released their Greater Los Angeles Market Update - Fourth Quarter 2014.

 

The report covers a wide number of local communities in the Los Angeles area as revealed by looking over the table of contents.  I am trying to track down similar reports for some areas in the Valley and Glendale/Pasadena areas and if I am successful in locating them, I will update this report.  

Generally, prices are up in most areas and in some areas they are up considerably.  When prices are down they tend to be in the relatively low perentage levels.  The report breaks out both Single Family Homes and Condominium Sales for each area.

As for the areas along the coast on the west side of Los Angeles, the table below shows the 4th Quarter Average Sale Price along with the percentage change from the 4th Quarter of 2013.

Allow me to give you an overview of how the reports work for each individual market area in the report.  Each area features two pages: one for Single Family Residences and one for Condos.  Let's take a look at the page for Single Family Residences for Pacific Palisades.

There are three sections on each page.  The top section is for Oct-Dec 2014, the middle section is for Oct-Dec 2013 and the bottom section shows the percentage change between 2013 and 2014.  Each section has four columns that break out the sale by dollar amount of the sale.  The first column presents total sales, the second column shows properties of less than $1 million (none of those in Pacific Palisades), the third column is for sales in the $1 - $3 million range and the fourth column is for properties over $3 million.

Last but not least, let's take a look at the detailed line items in each group.  They are:

• Average List Price
• Average List Price per Square Foot
• Average Sold Price
• Average Sold Price per Square Foot
• Total SFH Properties Sold
• Total SFH Properties for Sale at the End of the Period
• Average Monthly Supply of Inventory
• Average Sold Price / Average List Price (Ratio)

So now that you have the big picture on this informative report, if you are ready to climb into the data, you can download it here: Los Angeles Area Real Estate Sales - 4th Quarter Report

TinyURL for this post is: http://tinyurl.com/jimrea-4q-2014

My pledge to you is to professionally handle all of your real estate needs whether it is searching for a new home or property, selling one that you already have or helping you address your real estate needs anywhere in the world. My goal is to make your real estate experience pleasant, productive, focused and hassle free.

I would love to discuss any real estate needs that you may have.  Please give me a call at any time.

Jim Rea, Realtor
Sotheby's International Realty - Pacific Palisades 
(424) 354-0790
Jim@JimRea.com