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Jake Olson is the latest addition to the team at Vars Real Estate. Jake earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Finance from California State University, Fresno in 2013. He went on to serve in the California National Guard as an Aviation Officer attending U.S. Army flight school and was rated in the Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters. After serving overseas in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, Jake began his career in commercial real estate in Northern California where he negotiated 25...
While the price of homes I Culver City has skyrocketed in recent years business properties are also keeping up with the increase in value. Redcar Properties has acquired the Westside Jefferson Business Park in Culver City. The new owners plan to expand the campus' total space. The firm purchased the three-building property for $73.5 million in an off-market transaction. The business park was owned by Lionstone Group, which purchased the property for $26.5 million in 2014. The business park is...
Some colleges and universities consider a parent’s home-equity when doling out loans or grants for incoming students, but others don’t even ask. DEAR DAVE: Our son is a senior in high school and plans to go to college next fall. We don’t earn a lot of money, but our home is worth about $170,000 more than we paid for it five years ago. Will the equity that we have in our home affect his ability to get financial aid? ANSWER: It largely depends on which college or university that your son plans...
Retiring overseas is a dream that many Americans share, but living well on less is a constant in retirement planning. If life in the U.S. seems as if it would overstretch your assets, you might want to consider moving abroad. Moving overseas takes planning and research, a report by news network CNBC.com says, but several places in other nations may beckon you. You'll want to check visa and residency requirements, and health-care access. Remember, too, that you'll likely still be taxed as a U.S. citizen by Uncle Sam. International Living, which...
An increasing number of my clients have asked whether the real estate market is still rising and if we are still in a Seller’s Market and if so how long before we might see a correction? Many people have heard nation or local chatter about slowing of the market and have notice inventory sitting for longer or have been watching interest rates tick up. Naturally, there is concern in the air especially after we have seen a bull run for the last 6 years unlike anything we have seen before which has exceeded almost everyone’s expectations. How...
DEAR DAVE: Is the house that was the setting for “The Amityville Horror” movie still standing? ANSWER: Yes, the three-story Dutch Colonial is still standing in the village of Amityville in the southern part of New York’s Long Island. The Amityville House, of course, is known as the home where 23-year-old Ronald DeFeo Jr. went on his renowned killing spree in 1974 after claiming he was urged to commit the murders of his six family members by disembodied voices. The really strange stuff, thoug...
Millennials Prefer Homes Over Marriage First comes the house and then maybe marriage or children, according to surveyed millennials detailed in Bank of America’s 2018 Homebuyer Insights Report, which was culled from 2,000 consumer responses. The new survey finds that 23- to 40-year-olds value homeownership above nearly everything else: 72 percent call it a “top priority” compared to 50 percent who say getting married or 44 percent who say having children are their top priorities. “Being able to retire,” at 80 percent, was the only goal to t...
DEAR DAVE: I live in Orange County but read your newspaper on the internet. I put a large American flag on my front-lawn earlier this month to mark Columbus Day but was soon issued a citation from our local Sherriff’s Department that ordered me to remove it because my flag “exceeds local limits.” Isn’t that a violation of my Constitutional Rights of “Freedom of Speech”? ANSWER: Maybe yes, but maybe no. You can probably fly your U.S flag, as I do, on your front lawn or on a metal holder that...
A combination of high home prices and eroding affordability is expected to cut into housing demand and contribute to a weaker housing market in 2019, and 2018 home sales will end this year by registering lower for the first time in four years, according to a housing and economic forecast released last week by the California Association of Realtors. CAR’s “2019 California Housing Market Forecast” sees a modest decline in existing single-family home sales of 3.3 percent next year, to 396,800 units, down from the projected 2018 statewide sales...
Homeowners who want to sell quickly and for top-dollar should first clean up their house, a survey says. Other big turnoffs include uncontrolled animals and odors from last night’s dinner. DEAR DAVE: We have been looking to buy our first home. Some of these homes are pig sties! We’ve been to open houses that had dirty dishes in the sink, dogs running loose inside the home and even a pile of soiled baby diapers. If these homeowners really want to sell, they should “clean up” their act! ANSWER:...
Mortgage Rates Jump to 7-Year High Freddie Mac, the quasi-government agency that helps to provide home-byers and refinancers with the cash they need to get new loans, said on Oct. 11 that its weekly poll of lenders shows that mortgage rates have risen to their highest level in seven years. Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief economist, says, “In this week’s survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped 19 basis points to 4.90 percent. Rates are now at their highest level since the week of April 14, 2011. “Rising rates, paired with high and esc...
Real Estate Corner Tips for Owners with Loved One Afflicted by Dementia By David W. Myers DEAR DAVE: I quit my full-time office job last year and started working from home so I could care for my mom, who has been diagnosed with dementia. Everything had mostly gone OK until recently, when I started to find her walking around the house, garage or even lawn while I was working in my home-office and couldn’t hear her get up from her bed or chair. What can I do? I am afraid that she might get hurt, b...
California realtors and related professionals will gather for their statewide convention from Oct. 9 through Oct. 11 at the Long Beach Convention Center. The annual show is the largest real estate convention in the state. It is organized by the California Association of Realtors (www.car,org). Previously known as California Realtor Expo, it has been re-engineered and rebranded this year as “REimagine!” In addition to its vast showroom, the convention offers several seminars, learning experiences and networking opportunities for realtors and...
DEAR DAVE: We received a letter from the company that provides our homeowners insurance policy, urging us to upgrade our current “actual cash value” coverage to something called “replacement cost” coverage. The letter doesn’t make much sense, and our insurance broker hasn’t returned the three calls that we have made to explain the difference. Can you? ANSWER: Sure. But first, you should seriously consider looking for a new agent. If he or she won’t return repeated telephone calls to answer a b...
With Autumn almost here, homeowners should act now to make sure that their property is ready to “weather” the rain that (hopefully) lies soon ahead. DEAR DAVE: I recently noticed that the paint is blistering on one of my home’s exterior walls. What causes this? ANSWER: Blistering or bubbling is triggered when the paint’s adhesive qualities begin to deteriorate, causing the paint to separate from the wood or other type of construction material that it’s covering. I’m glad that you found the b...
The powerful California Association of Realtors is stepping-up its campaign for voters to approve Prop. 5 on the statewide November ballot but reject Prop. 10. The upcoming election is “critical to addressing California’s housing crisis through the protection of homeownership and private property rights across the state,” the realty trade group said in a written statement. CAR is backing Prop. 5, the “Property Tax Fairness Initiative,” which it says would create new homeownership opportunities by generating more sales of single-fa...
DEAR DAVE: My husband and I are getting divorced. He has a good job and wants to keep our house, so he says that he’ll make all of the future mortgage payments if I agree to sign a “quitclaim deed” that would give my half-interest in the home to him. This seems OK to me, but what do you think? ANSWER: I don’t know how much you trust your husband, nor the future of his job that would be needed to make the payments on the house. For legal purposes, though, the lender on the home that you and your...
In a major lawsuit that has started in New York but could spread all the way to Culver City, Airbnb is suing the city of New York over a new law that allows local officials to collect data on Airbnb hosts, including names and addresses. Airbnb claims such an ordinance violates users’ constitutional rights. The law, which aims to institute stricter checks and balances on short-term rentals in the city, is set to take effect this winter. “The ordinance is an unlawful end-run around established restraints on governmental action and violates cor...
Thousands of wildfire survivors face a long road recovering from the devastating fires that have destroyed or damaged thousand of homes in California. But now, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is warning against a new threat: Unlicensed contractors and scam artists trolling those areas. "A wildfire leaves more than burned homes and uprooted lives in its wake," Jones said. "These catastrophes also can blow in fly-by-night unlicensed contractors and door-to-door scam artists eager to capitalize on the misfortunes of innocent and traumatized...
DEAR DAVE: My employer was nice enough to give me a full year off of work when my husband and I had our first baby in April of last year. Now I am back at work and we want to buy our first home, but the bank is giving us a hard time because I was out of the workforce for an entire year. I explained to the loan officer the reason for my absence, but he won’t approve the mortgage unless I put the whole thing in writing and also obtain a letter documenting my situation from my supervisor. Is this t...
DEAR DAVE: How much can I sue a real estate contractor or other person for in Small Claims Court? ANSWER: Limits vary from one state to the next. In California, it’s generally capped at $10,000 but there are lots of technicalities and exceptions. For example, the $10,000-limit generally applies—but only if you have not filed a suit of more than $2,500 more than twice a year. Additional limitations are placed on government entities and businesses that want to sue a homeowner or other ind...
Home prices in Culver City and across some other parts of the Golden State keep rising, the California Association of Realtors reports, but sales are slowing as mortgage-rates rise and more potential homebuyers are knocked-out by those climbing prices because they can no longer afford to get a mortgage. The statewide median home price in June, the latest reported by the state’s Realtor trade group, hit a record $602,760. That was up 8.5-percent from last year, nearly three times more than the nation’s overall inflation rate. Yet, sales in Cal...
The median price of a single-family home in the state reached a record $600,860 in May, the California Association of Realtors said last week, while prices in Culver City and the rest of the Los Angeles Metro Area jumped 2.9 percent from the previous month and a whopping 9.3 percent from a year earlier. Separately, though, figures published by real estate web site Zillow.com this week suggest that many of the houses and condos that are currently for sale in Culver City are already in the...
By David W. Myers Managing Editor With Independence Day around the corner, it’s interesting to look at the way that U.S. real estate has evolved since 1776. DEAR DAVE: How was property bought and sold in the U.S. during the 1600s and 1700s, before America declared its independence from England? ANSWER: Frankly, there wasn’t much buying or selling for several decades after the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620. But with July 4th just a few days away, I’m devoting this entire column to answ...
On Wednesday, April 22, 50 local REALTORS, including Culver City's Dannie Cavanaugh of Cavanaugh REALTORS®, joined with almost 2,500 REALTORS from across the state to meet with their representatives in the Senate and Assembly in Sacramento. It was part of the Annual California Association of REALTORS Legislative Day. Cavanaugh met with Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, 54th Assembly District, and Senator Holly Mitchel, 30th Senatorial District. REALTORS® from Beverly Hills/Greater...
