Public Policy "NEWS"

Should you prepay your mortgage? Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage Early? Pay  a little more each month. You can get all the benefits of an  early payoff  without the extra costs of a refinance by  paying  more each month. Divide your monthly principal and interest by 12 and add that amount to your monthly  payment  for a year. In other words, you wouldn’t want to pay down a mortgage at 4% APR when you can earn a greater return by investing in stocks and bonds through a brokerage account or bumping up your retirement contributions. Add in the  home mortgage interest deduction  you can take on your federal taxes and, they say, you would be silly to prepay your mortgage and miss out on those perks. When it comes to people who see the mortgage prepayment issue in black and white, the question is just about math. After all, why would you prepay a loan at 3% or 4% and lose out on part of a valuable tax deduction when you could invest that money instead and earn considerably

Pro Open houses are a great way to get buyers through your home. You never know when the right person is going to walk through the door and fall in love with your home. Your neighbors will more than likely stop in and they are a great source of word of mouth advertising. It's worth the inconvenience of having to be gone for a couple of hours! I send out a list of open houses in the MLS to the buyers that I am working with each Friday. I've sold several homes to buyers that have seen them at an open house. Once every 30 to 45 days works well for me and hold them open from 1 to 3 Con Open houses are successful only in certain markets. For example, San Francisco buyers know that the open house is their best ticket into homes. In places like St. Louis, Nashville and Charlotte, an open house is a way for an agent to generate buyers for other homes and allow for the neighbors to see the house. Nationally, less than 0.05% of all homes are sold at open houses. If you don'

The well-maintained estate was built for Fletcher Dobyns, a critic and writer, and his wife Winifred Starr Dobyns, a landscape architect who authored books on the subject. The property sits on almost an acre of land dotted with mature trees and gardens. Loggias and covered patios offer great posts from which to enjoy the landscape.

  If you're apartment hunting, you know how hard it can be to find a quality option for a reasonable price. So what does the low-end rent on a rental in Los Angeles look like these days--and what might you get for the price. The rental database finds that the median price for a two-bedroom apartment in the city of LA is $1,730—unchanged in the last two months. The price of a one-bedroom did rise a bit in February; it’s now $1,350, a $10 bump over the month before. The general trend is still upward though. Prices are 3.8 percent higher now than they were one year ago. Need a budget-friendly new spot? Though apartment hunting can be challenging, don't despair just yet--there are deals to be had. So what does the low-end pricing on a rental in Los Angeles look like these days--and what might you get for your money? We took a look at local listings for studios and 1-bedroom apartments in Los Angeles via rental site Zumper to find out what budge

  The plans unveiled a week ago call for 146 individual projects in and around the river, including new trails, parks, crossings, and more. Among those proposals are seven “signature projects” that have been analyzed in greater detail. They include: Development of new green space, public art displays, and affordable housing around Cudahy Park Addition of park space, trails, and a dirt bike facility around the Atlantic Boulevard crossing in Vernon A trio of park-topped bridges, new landscaping, and a band shell at the Rio Hondo confluence in the city of South Gate Floating boardwalks above the soft-bottomed portion of the river that flows through Long Beach and new access to the levee at Willow Street Pathways, recreation areas, and links to existing bike trails at the stretch of river between Greenleaf and Del Amo boulevards New crossings, rest areas, public art space, and a nature overlook at Compton Creek A new park, expanded wetlands, new stormwater capture fac

Are You Ready To Buy Your First Home? Are you ready to purchase your first property? Do you want to start building equity? Whether you’re a beginner investor or first time home-buyer, follow along to determine if you are ready to make an offer today: Why should intention matter in real estate? It's a material transaction, right? Bucks for bricks. And yet, what you're looking for in those bricks, what they mean to you, makes all the difference. Ask yourself these 10 questions to discover whether or not you are ready to invest in you first home: What is your current credit score? What is the extent of your current debt? Why do you want to become a homeowner? How long do you plan to live in your new home? How secure is your current income? How do you plan to pay for home repairs and upkeep? Have you visited your local mortgage banker?  Do you have enough money to make a down payment? What do you understand least about home ownership? How do

  The bank reported earnings of $1.oo per share, higher than the $0.97 that analysts were expecting. Additionally, the bank said it generated revenue of $22.0 billion, just below analysts' projections of $22.3 billion. CFO John Shewsberry said in a press release accompanying earnings that the results were driven primarily by improved loan quality and a lower tax bill. "Expenses were elevated compared with last quarter, driven by typically-higher first quarter personnel-related expenses," Shewsberry said. "Credit results improved, with lower net charge-offs and nonaccrual loans, and we benefited from lower income tax expense." The bank said that consumer loans declined by $5.7 billion compared to the same quarter last year and commercial and industrial loans - essentially loans made to businesses - were down by $1.6 billion compared to the previous quarter, but were up $16.8 billion against the same quarter last year. The bank also said ther