Public Policy "NEWS"

OWNING VS. RENTING Our goals are simple -- to ensure that you're happy with the home you buy and that you get the best deal you can. This describes why owning should be less expensive than renting. OWNING SHOULD BE LESS EXPENSIVE THAN RENTING Here's a guideline that may change the way you view your seemingly cheap monthly rent. In order for you to see how expensive a home you could afford to buy while having the same approximate monthly cost as your current rent, simply do the following calculation: Take your monthly rent, multiply by 200 = purchase price of home Example: $ 750 x 200 = $150,000 So, in the preceding example, if you were paying rent of $750 per month, you would pay approximately the same amount per month to own a $150,000 home (factoring in tax savings). Now your monthly rent doesn't sound quite so cheap compared to the cost of buying a home, does it? Even more important than the cost today of buying versus renting, what about the cost in the fut

REASONS TO SELL Our goal is to help you make the right decision about whether to sell your house. When you do, we want to make sure that you get the best possible price. People's reasons for wanting to sell their houses are almost as varied as the houses themselves. People's reasons for wanting to sell their houses are almost as varied as the houses themselves. Here are some of the common, not-so common, and downright bizarre reasons that have prompted sellers we've known over the years to put their houses on the market: School district Neighborhood Better job opportunities elsewhere Recent marriage or divorce Recent death of spouse Additional debt burden due to layoff, medical expenses, disability, or overspending Serious house defects that they don't want to fix Increased space desires for expanding family Diminished space requirements now that kids are grown Noisy neighborhood Unfriendly neighbors Neighborhood shopping Climate

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