General Topics affecting / related to the 1-4 unit Residential Real Estate Market

Great blog post on DoctorHousingBubble.com recently discussing the true cost of commuting long distances to work:

 There is a lot more than just price of gas at hand:

 

  • Maintenance
  • Insurance
  • Car Payments
  • Parking
  • Express Lane/Toll Road charges
  • Opportunity cost of Time Involved (post brings up that people commuting far distances i.e.- travelling from outlying areas like lancaster, palmdale, san bernardino, riverside are essentially using an extra 8 hour day/week driving that they don't get paid for
  • This is time that could be spent with family, friends, exercising, doing your hobby or actually working for pay
  I focus on selling city of Los Angeles Real Estate in the area from Hyde Park to Mount Washington, specifically these 11 zip…

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(article via California Association of Realtors Newsline) 

 

Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief extended


Late Tuesday night (1/1/2013), Congress reached a settlement in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations.  As a result, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act has been extended for another year.  The measure will continue to exempt from taxation mortgage debt that is forgiven when homeowners and their mortgage lenders negotiate a short sale, loan modification (including any principal reduction), or foreclosure. 

C.A.R. would like to thank the 26,296 California REALTORS® who sent messages to their members of Congress and made 1,862 calls in response to C.A.R.’s Call-for-Action.

Also under the agreement, so called “Pease Limitations” that reduce the value of…

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ATTN: Low Interest (2%) Loans available to Los Angeles County homeowners to make simple home energy efficient improvements are going to be discontinued December 31st 2012!!

  follow these links for more details  http://ow.ly/fGUbr http://ow.ly/d/VCZ     If you have ever considered doing any upgrading of your home you should take advantage of these loans that go up to $50k   Your property has to be enrolled in specific energy upgrade programs.  If you need more information on how to get your property enrolled contact me via e-mail (do not call office).  
 

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WHAT IS RENT CONTROL?

Rent control, or rent stabilization, is much more than the 4% maximum increase to which people refer. It is a collection of laws that regulate how much a landlord can raise (or must reduce) the rent, limit the reasons for eviction, and more.

 

 

ARE YOU UNDER LOS ANGELES’ RENT CONTROL?

the City of Los Angeles itself is a huge area covering neighborhoods we know by name, which are so large that we think of them as cities. See the Map to be sure. (http://www.caltenantlaw.com/LAcommunities.htm)

IS YOUR UNIT EXEMPT? Next, you need to know if your unit is under rent control. Rent control covers all residential units EXCEPT those fitting specified categories. The two biggest exemptions are (1) single family dwellings and (2) units…

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Interesting Takeaways from "Should A Borrower With An Underwater Mortgage Strategically Default?" by Evan Nemeroff
  • 31% (15.3 million) of U.S. homeowners who have a mortgage underwater
  • nearly three-quarters have properties that are 40% below their buying cost
  • When homeowners were asked in the survey why they would not choose to strategically default, 37% cited moral reasons, while 35% indicated it didn’t make sense since they intend to live in that house for an extended period of time.
  • The most common reason for avoiding strategic default cited by homeowners was that it is a moral issue.
  • Even though one out of every three homeowners with a mortgage is underwater today, Zillow said 90.8% of these homeowners are current on their mortgage and…

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This is why the current political administration making the housing industry out to be the culprits for the country's financial meltdown in 2007 and over regulating the industry as a response makes no sense.  Especially in an economy where we need to be allowing industry opportunities to grow and flourish.  What happened to going in and making "change" with a scapel as opposed to a "cleaver" Mr. President?

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The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.

 

-Sun Tzu     

Who has time to spend all day in their temple making calculations? ...especially when American Idol is about to start? right!!!

 

Thats where the smart general brings IET Real Estate into the picture.  We will furiously calculate Los Angeles Residential Real Estate Market Data for you, so you can see how hard Simon disses someone this week and still end up victorious in your Los Angeles Real Estate transaction battles.

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