Dr. Phil Buys in Beverly Hills For $29.5 Million

Dr. Phil buys an estate in Beverly Hills, Calif., for $29.5 million. Plus, a Forbes family ranch in Wyoming hits the market.
By: CANDACE JACKSON: wsj.com
Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, has bought an estate in Beverly Hills, Calif., for $29.5 million. Earlier this month, he listed his Beverly Hills home for $16.5 million.

The estate he purchased, which was unlisted, is a Mediterranean-style villa on three acres that has a 14,000-square-foot main house with five bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. There's also a guesthouse and a pool. The house has sweeping views of Century City.

Mr. McGraw's current home is also a Mediterranean-style house on just under an acre. It has eight bedrooms and seven bathrooms as well as an in-home theater, gym, billiard room and an outdoor dining room. The property is walled and gated and has a two-bedroom detached guest house.

Known for his syndicated, daily advice talk show, Mr. McGraw first rose to fame when he appeared regularly on the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in the late 1990s. He has also written several best-selling books. Through a representative, he declined to comment.

Jana Jones-Duffy and Fred Holley of Coldwell Banker Previews International represented the home Mr. McGraw purchased. Billy Dolan, a broker with Hilton & Hyland in Los Angeles, has Mr. McGraw's listing for the $16.5 million property that's currently on the market.

Forbes Wyoming Ranch Goes On the Market
A ranch owned by the family of Malcolm Forbes, the late chairman and editor in chief of Forbes magazine, has hit the market in Jackson Hole, Wyo., for $12 million.

The 85-acre ranch sits along the Snake River and borders Teton National Park. A 4,100-square-foot main lodge has a two-story great room, two kitchens, five bedrooms and four bathrooms. There are also six guest cabins and caretaker's quarters.

Malcolm and Roberta Forbes purchased a roughly 150-acre ranch in 1979. Mr. Forbes died in 1990 and Ms. Forbes in 1992. The 85 acres that are for sale are owned by Moira Mumma, their daughter. Ms. Mumma's brother Tim Forbes still owns his portion of the family's ranch, which is adjacent.

David Viehman, a co-owner of Jackson Hole Real Estate Associates, a Christie Great Estates affiliate, has the listing. He said Ms. Mumma and her husband are selling because they no longer use it enough to justify keeping it.

Real-estate investor Michele Hughes will auction off a seven-acre oceanfront estate on Kauai's Anini Beach next month. Also available is her 40-acre unlisted beachfront property in Kauai's Kilauea for $40 million.

The auction includes a property with a three-bedroom main home on 1.3 acres overlooking the ocean. It was previously listed for $9.8 million. The opening bid for the sale is $3.8 million. An adjacent 1.67-acre lot has an opening bid of $1.5 million.

Ms. Hughes's Kilauea estate, along Secret Beach, has about 40 acres of land, beachfront access and an organic farm and nursery. There is a 3,000-square-foot main house, a swimming pool and two guest houses. The property can be divided into four separate parcels.

Concierge Auctions is handling the sale, which will take place on site on Aug. 23, along with Neal Norman of Koa Properties. The Secret Beach estate is available from the Michele Hughes Company.
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Home Prices Gain in 100 U.S. Cities in Second Quarter

Home prices rose in 100 U.S. cities in the second quarter as a buyer tax credit boosted demand and distressed properties made up a smaller portion of sales.
By: Kathleen M. Howley: Bloomberg.com
The median price of a single-family home sold in Akron, Ohio, climbed 36 percent from a year earlier to $119,700, the biggest rise of 155 cities measured, the National Association of Realtors said in a report today. Prices in San Jose, California, gained 26 percent to $630,000 and San Francisco added 25 percent to $591,200. The median U.S. price rose 1.5 percent to $176,900.

A federal tax credit of as much as $8,000 underpinned second-quarter real estate demand, boosting sales to an annual pace of 5.61 million homes, according to the Realtors group. The effect is waning, said Richard DeKaser, chief economist at Woodley Park Research in Washington. Transactions probably will fall to a 4.55 million pace in the three months ending in September, the NAR said in a forecast posted on its website.

“Throwing a sale price on housing stimulated demand, but there is no doubt it’s been a largely temporary effect,” DeKaser said in a telephone interview. “The level of housing activity, whether one is talking about sales or construction activity, is abysmally low.”

The median price of a single-family home in the New York metropolitan area rose 3.7 percent to $393,900 in the second quarter. The Edison, New Jersey, region had a 4.3 percent gain to $345,800 and prices in the Boston metropolitan area increased 7.2 percent to $360,200.

Distressed Sales

Distressed homes, which typically sell at a discount, accounted for 32 percent of sales in the second quarter, down from 36 percent a year earlier, according to Chicago-based NAR. The category includes foreclosed homes, those where the owners have fallen behind on payments and so-called short sales, in which a lender agrees to sell a property for less than the value of its mortgage.

The worst-performing markets included Cumberland, Maryland, with a price decline of 15 percent; and Tucson, Arizona, down 14 percent. Prices in Lansing, Michigan; Ocala, Florida; Beaumont, Texas; and Boise City, Idaho, all fell 13 percent.

In a separate report today, NAR said U.S. sales rose 9.1 percent from the first quarter’s 5.14 million annual pace. North Dakota led the nation, with transactions climbing 52 percent. Sales increased 39 percent in Hawaii and 37 percent in Washington, D.C.

The average U.S. rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage tumbled to 4.49 percent this month, the lowest on record, after reaching a 2010 high of 5.21 percent in the week ended April 8, according to Freddie Mac, the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage buyer. The decline shaved about $130 off a monthly payment on a $300,000 home loan.

The federal homebuyer tax credit required people to sign contracts by the end of April. Those buyers had until June 30 to close their sales. Congress extended the deadline through September.
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L.A. Home Prices Stay Flat as Sales Inch Up in July

Figures seen as possible sign of strength after June decline.
By: David Haldane: labusinessjournal.com
Home prices in Los Angeles County held steady in July for the fourth consecutive month, as sales began creeping back from a dip early in the summer.

The median price of a home remained at $350,000, its high point since the market began recovering in spring 2009. Meanwhile, home sales rose 3 percent on a year-over-year basis to 4,498 units, according to data provided by HomeData of Hicksville, N.Y.

Year-over-year sales had dropped in June due largely, analysts said, to the expiration of an $8,000 federal tax credit requiring buyers to enter escrow by April 30.

The new figures suggest that the housing market, at least in the county, may be more robust than some economists believe. A survey in July of economists conducted by MacroMarkets LLC found that on average they project nationwide prices will drop more than 1 percent this year.

Christopher Thornberg, a principle of Beacon Economics, a West L.A. consulting firm specializing in real estate, warned against reading too much into the numbers.

“For a while they managed to get a bounce out of the market because of interest rates and tax credits, but that has come to an end,” he said. “As a result, things have gotten flat and I would expect them to remain soft for the rest of the year.”

Among the neighborhoods in which prices were flat was the 90049 ZIP code in Brentwood, where 16 homes sold for a median price of $1.53 million, virtually the same as last year.

But not every area shared in the flat trend, with some of the most dramatic shifts occurring at the higher end. For example, 32 homes were sold in Manhattan Beach’s 90266 ZIP code at a median price of $1.67 million, a 28 percent jump compared with last year.

Conversely, 21 homes were sold in the 90068 ZIP code in the Hollywood Hills at a median price of $698,000, a 34 percent drop from 2009.

The median price of a condo also remained flat countywide in July at $305,000 for the second month in a row. Sales volume was 1,634 units, a 1 percent increase over last year.
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Geithner Defends Plan to Let Tax Cuts for Wealthy Expire

US. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will Wednesday continue to defend the White House plan to let tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire at the end of the year, arguing that extending them would imperil the fragile economic recovery.
By: VICTORIA MCGRANE: wsj.com
"Borrowing to finance tax cuts for the top 2% would be a $700 billion fiscal mistake. It's not the prescription the economy needs right now, and the country can't afford it," Mr. Geithner will say, according to an excerpt from his speech provided by Treasury. Mr. Geithner will deliver the remarks Wednesday afternoon at the left-leaning Center for American Progress.

Mr. Geithner's argument stands in direct contrast to Republicans and some congressional Democrats who argue that letting taxes increase even for the richest Americans will hurt the economy at this crucial time.

More broadly, Mr. Geithner's speech will focus on tax and fiscal policy. According to other excerpts from the speech, Mr. Geithner will say that "ultimately, fiscal policy is about getting the conditions right for economic growth, prosperity, and job creation.

Over the past two decades, Washington ran an experiment on that front. In the 1990s, the government put an end to budget deficits, and America enjoyed a period of growth led by the private sector where prosperity was widely shared and job creation was robust. Over the next decade, Washington tried a new path, running up huge debts, while incomes for most Americans stagnated and job creation was anemic. We are living today with the damage that misguided policy caused.

The speech continues: "So, as we look to a new decade, there's some empirical evidence around what works and what doesn't. Rather than recreating a false prosperity fueled by debt and passing the bills on to the next generation, we need to restore America to a pro-growth tax and fiscal policy, where the middle class once again has a chance to prosper."

After delivering his remarks, Mr. Geithner will participate in a debate with the center's president and CEO John Podesta, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the right-leaning American Action Forum, and others.
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