Interest Rates Resume Rapid Rise

After a steep decline in mortgage interest rates from November through the end of January, rates have quickly returned to the up-side in February with the 10-year treasury yield rising over 50 basis points during that time. Following this rise in treasury yields, the average 30-year fixed conforming loan rate …

Drop in Interest Rates Spurs Market Enthusiasm

The Playa Vista real estate market has rebounded from a dreadful second half of 2018 and a lukewarm first couple of months of 2019 to become red hot in late March and early April. While some of this may be attributable to the finally dry weather conditions, this seems mainly …

Stock Market Implosion Threatens Real Estate Values

In recent weeks, major U.S. stock markets have lost between 16-26% of their value. A 20% loss in value is considered a bear market, so we have now entered that territory in the NASDAQ and are close with the Dow Jones and S&P 500. After nearly 10 years of a …

The Santa Slump – Why December Should be the Best Month to Buy a Property

After participating in a few slow open houses in Playa Vista this weekend, it got me thinking, why isn’t home buying more popular in December? While there are obvious reasons why it could be inconvenient to buy in December – shorter days, worse weather, shopping and social obligations, or waiting …

Is it a Good Time to Buy in Playa Vista? The Objective Case that it is.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you might have noticed that I sometimes take contrarian positions, which in a hot real estate market, might appear negative. Being negative is not the point. The point is to challenge group think that often occurs in real estate markets and to introduce new …

This is Not Your Mother’s Real Estate Market

I admit it. It has been pretty easy to sell real estate in Playa Vista from 2011 to 2017. There are things I would do to prepare properties to show better, create the best leverage, negotiate the best deal, and create the best experience for my clients, but honestly, some sales that were layups …

The Effect of Rising Interest Rates on the Playa Vista Market

This week the federal reserve raised the Fed Funds interest rate by a quarter point (.25%) for the sixth time since the financial crisis. They signaled that they expect to raise rates another two times this year and three times next year. The Fed Funds rate is the rate at …

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