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“Buy land, they’re not making it anymore.” – Mark Twain In a year distinguished by pandemic and economic issues, the residential market continued to trend high according to PropertyShark, a research source for real estate professionals and homebuyers across the U.S. The organization compiled its information by calculating median home sale prices to ensure an accurate picture of market conditions, as opposed to listing prices that reflect sellers’ wishes. Its expertise in the technolog...
Dear Editor, I am writing in support of the actions being considered by some of our City Council members to modernize housing policy in Culver City. I have heard the arguments that some in this community have made against the proposed zoning changes, characterized as eliminating single family zoning. I find these arguments to be disingenuous, and I feel that they have intentionally created fear and confusion about an important issue that we all need to be invested in solving. Here’s why… On a s...
When Culver City residents cast their ballots in the next two weeks, they will also decide the fate of Measure RE, which would increase the city's real estate transfer tax (RETT) for sales above $1.5 million. If approved, Measure RE would generate approximately $6 million per year by establishing a marginal tax rate with four brackets, based on sales price. The tax measure would also shore up the city's financial state which has been "slammed by the pandemic-induced recession," city officials said. Opponents of this measure have labeled it...
City Council this week approved the "fine-tuned" resolution to place an initiative on the November 3 ballot to increase the city's real property transfer tax (RETT) for sales above $1.5 million. The tax measure was initially discussed by the Council last week in its effort to shore up the city's financial state "slammed by the pandemic induced recession." During a special meeting, Councilmembers expressed their support for the measure but also directed an ad hoc subcommittee to come up with tax...
According to business media, the U.S. will soon be the world’s number 2 oil exporter. Why are we sending oil overseas when we need to lower gas prices here? Has it really been 46 years since the pentagon removed the last combat troops from South Vietnam, thus ending America’s military involvement in the Vietnam War? The date was March 29, 1973. Sherburne County in Minnesota has agreed to give a property tax break for Google to help bring a new $600 million data center to the City of Becker. Now...
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...
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...
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...
Sometime in Mid-September Culver City is planning to put out an Oil and Gas Drilling Regulations Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Public to review and comment on, Citizen Activists have been proposing the City require a surety book of one billion dollars to deal with damages if the oil company has a blowout similar to Porter Ranch or if it causes an explosion like the San Bruno, California fire that destroyed 38 homes. At the current price of Culver City real estate if the City...
Dear Editor, As many residents learned last week the new operator of the Inglewood Oil Field, Sentinel Peak Resources, dropped its request that Culver City delay its release of the draft Oil Drilling Regulations, Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report. Further, SPR declared that they would no longer negotiate during meetings that included our city staff, consultants and the two-member Culver City City Council subcommittee that focuses on oil drilling. With each passing day during the...
Are developers causing trouble for Fox Hills? Could greedy developers be behind the large group of youths causing trouble at the Fox Hills Mall and in Fox Hills? Are the developers secretly using social media to target youths in South Central Los Angeles, getting them to travel by bus all the way over to Fox Hills and cause mayhem? Are these developers using rowdy youths to drive down the cost of the Fox Hills Plaza and other real estate in Fox Hills by creating fear and causing owners to sell and sell low? Currently, Fox Hills real estate is...
Are developers causing trouble for Fox Hills? Could greedy developers be behind the large group of youths causing trouble at the Westfield Culver City and in Fox Hills? Are the developers secretly using social media to target youths in South Central Los Angeles, getting them to travel by bus all the way over to Fox Hills and cause mayhem? Are these developers using rowdy youths to drive down the cost of the Fox Hills Plaza and other real estate in Fox Hills by creating fear and causing owners...
The last bastion of segregation in Los Angeles County . . . Some time ago in the late ‘ 60s, a young white couple moved into the lowlands (the non-Fox Hills area) of Culver City, and they were told by the real estate agent, “Don’ t worry, those Negroes won’ t be moving down here from Fox Hills. We are keeping them in their place.” This statement was made before the current laws prohibiting such statements from real estate agents. Who could have ever dreamed that the once predominantly black are...
Kim Nguyen is running for Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Office 158. Kim placed first in the June primary election, and is now facing off against the second place finisher. Currently, Kim is a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice. During her more than 16-year legal career Kim has handled complex civil matters in the state and federal courts and argued before the California Supreme Court. Theodorsia and I are proud to support her for her ability, experience,...
The City of Los Angeles has in recent years lined the edges of Culver City with large projects dwarfing over the 40 foot height limit imposed by Culver City voters decades ago. Now comes a project so massive it could easily destroy the "small town" feel of Culver City. Crenshaw Subway Coalition and Friends of the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative have filed suit against San Francisco Bay Area real estate developer (CP V Cumulus) a subsidary of Carmel Partners and the Los Angeles City Council to...
By Neil Rubenstein Observer Columnist The Mayor and the Police Chief should be on the Culver City television station talking about procedures with choke holds, tasers, shoot-to-kill policy, etc., etc., etc. Because of all the police allegedly murdering Afro-Americans we need cop cams to protect good cops and help get rid of the bad guys. Los Angeles and New York City are starting pilot programs. How many of us remember the Rodney King fiasco when all those law enforcement people beat the...
I’m not a computer whiz kid as many of us know, but I have been reading about this new malware and I am very concerned. It seems this advanced malware was used to spy on private companies, governments, research institutes and individuals in 10 countries. Symantec, the maker of Norton anti-virus software, said its research showed a “nation-state” was the likely developer. Because Russia and Saudi Arabia have been hit the most, the bad guy just might be North Korea, Iran or China. Do you reali...
Single Family Homes As the market rages on all over the country (Click here see Case Shiller index here) , the local real estate activity continues to amaze even the more experienced realtors among us. For the first time ever, Culver City home prices averaged $1M in April. This number was helped by one sale at $2M on Mentone Ave, but this lofty level of pricing will clearly become the norm here shortly. For a more in depth look at the causes and effects of local market, take a look at the video....
Single-Family Homes Seems that every month I repeat the same thing, Culver City real estate prices hit new highs. For all current homeowners out there it's nothing but good news. Homebuyers, on the other hand, are becoming increasingly anxious as multiple offers and many all cash offers abound. New listings are under contract within a week or two of hitting the market, and buyers’ agents are working overtime to get their clients offer accepted. For all the numbers on last month’s activity wat...
Since time immemorial, the conundrum for potential homebuyers, is WHEN to buy. Culver City real estate prices have risen significantly in the last two years. Single-family home prices have already exceeded their prior high in 2007, and I predict that 2014 will be the year that the condominium market in Culver City will break new highs. How will a rise in home mortgage interest rates effect buyers potential purchasing power? Given that there appears to be no signs in the general economy of...
Buyers Find Less On The Market Culver City is one of the most desirable places to live in the greater Los Angeles area. But is it currently difficult to buy a home here? That may depend on the buyers and what they want. Julio Leyva, an agent with Cavanaugh Realty, told the Observer that, “Statistically, prices and sales are both up from the previous year. “I usually keep track of the market and Culver City in 2012, at least in the areas I surveyed, was ahead by about $35,000 compared to 201...
Cheryl Giraud Special to the Observer Founded by Harry Culver in 1924, the iconic triangle-shape property located in the heart of downtown, the historic Culver Hotel recently went through a massive multi-million dollar makeover, which was completed at the end of 2011. New kid on the block of just six months, General Manager Seth Horowitz, formerly of Luxe Worldwide Hotels, who, for five years was vice president of operations and prior to that, was vice president of the Oceana Hotel Group, the...
