l.a. times appraisal1

POWERSTRUGGLE

A three-way race for Warner Bros.’ top job hasled to distrust and disharmony at the studio

Two years ago Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes

created an Office of the President to inspire three ambitious executives into collegial competition for the

top job at Warner Bros., Hollywood’s largest film and television studio. ¶ “These three will work as a unit,”

Bewkes declared. ¶ But the effort has inspired distrust and disharmony inside Warner Bros., the studio

known for Batman, Bugs Bunny and “The Big Bang Theory” as well as for its decades of management sta-

bility. ¶ The three competing candidates — Television Group President Bruce Rosenblum, Motion Pic-

tures Group President Jeff Robinov and Home Entertainment Group President Kevin Tsujihara — do not

work as a unit. They rarely meet as a trio or get involved in one another’s businesses, according to several

people associated with the studio who were not authorized to speak publicly. ¶ And although Bewkes said

anyone jockeying or politicking for the job of Warner Bros.’ chairman would [See Warner Bros., B8]

BY BEN FRITZ AND MEG JAMES >>>

Daniel Hertzberg For The Times

HOME OF THE WEEKA HISTORIC BLEND OF GLASS, CONCRETE AND WOOD IN LA JOLLAPAGE 10

BuSINESSS U N DAY , N OV E M B E R 11, 2 012 :: L AT I M E S . C O M / B U S I N E S S

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Real Estate: New short-sale program offers relief. 9HOW I MADE IT 2 :: THE FIVE 2 :: MONEY TALK 3 :: ASSOCIATIONS 11 :: HOUSING SCENE 12

Although a traditional-style estate may not seem toblend with Adam Levine’spop rock persona, the Ma-roon 5 frontman and coachon “The Voice” has boughtone in the Beverly Crestarea for $4.83 million.

The single-level ranchhouse, white with long blackshutters and built in 1940, isset on a secluded 3.6 acres atthe end of a long brick drive-way in a gated community.The main home and guest-house have a combined sixbedrooms, seven bath-

rooms and 6,539 square feetof living space. There is aswimming pool and a tenniscourt.

Levine, 33, is the leadsinger and guitarist for theGrammy-winning Maroon5. He has worked with Kanye West, Natasha Be-dingfield and 50 Cent,among others.

The singer-songwriterhas been a coach on “TheVoice” since 2011.

Josh Flagg of RodeoRealty was the listing agent.Julie Jones of Sotheby’sInternational Realty’s

HOT PROPERTY

Traditional style resonateswith musician Adam Levine

Carlo Allegri Associated Press

ADAM LEVINE hasbought a ranch house inthe Beverly Crest areafor $4.83 million. [See Hot property, B9]

LAUREN BEALE

Michael HiltzikHis column does notappear today.

SALES IN THE LAST 90 DAYS vs. THE SAME PERIOD IN 2011

CURRENT HOME SALES

14.7+ %

THEPARTNERSTRUST.COM

SAN MARINO

*2011/2012 Info provided by MLS iTech

Joanna Zimring Townethought refinancing her Al-tadena home would be sim-ple.

When Zimring Towneand husband AndrewTowne, a 48-year-old televi-sion lighting technician,bought the two-bedroomhome for $535,000 in 2006,the appraiser valued it atabout $600,000.

During the November2011 inspection, Townewalked around the propertywith the appraiser. The cou-ple were being charged $500by the management com-pany that employed the ap-praiser, but they consideredit a minor sacrifice, hopingto reduce their mortgagerate to 3.25% from 6.9%.

Then the valuation re-port arrived a few days later,and hope turned to anger.

“The appraiser spentabout 10 minutes in thehouse, didn’t take photosand gave us an appraisal of$350,000,” said ZimringTowne, 37, director of the ca-reer services center at LosAngeles’ Pierce College. Nottaken into account, she said,was that “in this area, wehave tremendous [price]variability within a mile ra-dius.”

The appraisal processhas become a headache forhomeowners looking to se-cure historically low interestrates and buyers and sellershoping to reach propertydeals.

More than a third of realestate agents say they’ve re-cently seen lower-than-ex-pected appraisals hold backhome sales, even thoughbuyers and sellers hadreached agreement on price,according to a survey by theNational Assn. of Realtors.

Of the agents surveyed,11% said a contract was can-celed and 9% said a contractwas delayed because of a lowvaluation, the associationsaid. And 15% said they had acontract renegotiated to alower sale price because of alow appraisal valuation.

“The combined issues ofstringent mortgage lendingrequirements and appraisalfrictions are hamperingotherwise qualified buyersfrom purchasing a home in atimely fashion and in somecases are preventing themfrom buying at all,” Law-rence Yun, the Realtors

Homevaluecan nixa dealSome potential buyersand refinancers arestymied by lower-thanexpected appraisals.

By Michelle Hofmann

[See Appraisals, B8]

LABroadsheet_ 11-11-2012_ B_ 1_ B1_ LA_ 1_CMYKTSet: 11-09-2012 21:04