
Author: Robert Webmaster


Sleeping in Vehicle Enforcement – Map of Toluca Lake
Sleeping overnight in cars in LA will be enforced starting today.
For more information see la.curbed.com/2017/2/6/14522644/l…
If you have any questions reach out to our Sr. Lead Officer, John Antonioli (36968@lapd.online) or Diego H. Edber, Deputy City Attorney and Neighborhood Prosecutor, North Hollywood Division (Diego.Edber@lacity.org)

Commemoration of the Treaty of Cahuenga – Campo De Cahuenga
Start: 01/15/2017 1:00 pm
End: 01/15/2017 2:30 pm
Annual Reenactment of the Signing of the Articles of Capitulation
1 p.m – 2:30 p.m.
Free event; everyone welcome.
Campo de Cahuenga
3919 Lankershim Blvd.
North Hollywood 91601
Time-travel back to 1847 for this momentous Living History event. Witness the proceedings “in the moment” in the surroundings of the very place where General Andres Pico and Lt. Colonel John C. Fremont placed their signatures on the document ending hostilities and bringing peace with honor between the American forces and Californios under Mexican Rule. Imagine the future, as Manifest Destiny was realized, California quickly gained statehood and all local peoples united as fellow Americans because of this momentous signing. On this spot, Butterfield Stagecoaches would soon stop, Civil War soldiers would later encamp and subsequent generations would have a front row seat for a burgeoning entertainment industry.

Toluca Lake rings in the season with Annual Holiday Open House street party
Up and down Riverside Dr., holiday music could be heard in front
of the many shops, including a 20-piece ukulele ensemble.

This is 30
For REALTORS®, the 30-year-old buyer is an important one to pay attention to. According to recent National Association of REALTORS® statistics, 30-year-olds are big: The average age of first-time buyers is 31, and the average age of millennials is 30—and they make up the largest generational category of buyers by a large amount. Thirty-five percent of buyers are millennials, while the next-biggest generation, Gen X, is only 26 percent.
But—and we’re sure you’ve heard this before—these 30-year-olds are different than previous generations. The U.S. Census Bureau just released a comparison of lifestyle factors for the average 30-year-old in 1975 compared to the average 30-year-old today, and there are some big differences: Today’s 30-year-old is far less likely to be married or have children, but is more likely to have a college degree and be active in the labor force.
Characteristics of Young Adults (percent of 30-year-olds) |
||||||
1975 | 2015 | |||||
Not enrolled in school | 99% | 92% | ||||
Living on their own | 90% | 70% | ||||
Ever married | 89% | 57% | ||||
Lives with a child | 76% | 47% | ||||
At least a high school diploma | 80% | 90% | ||||
In the labor force | 71% | 81% | ||||
Moderate income | 71% | 55% | ||||
Homeowner | 56% | 33% |

Will 2017 be a buyer’s market or a seller’s market?
Four economists weigh in on what the next year has in store for each group.
by Amber Taufen
Key Takeaways
- Next year will likely remain a seller’s market in most markets, but buyers might have their day in 2018 or 2019.
- Future buyers will be “less white and a little younger.”
In some years and some markets, the answer is obvious — in 2016, Denver was a seller’s market, and San Francisco’s been one for quite a stretch.
But sometimes, it’s not so clear, and with mortgage rates on the up-and-up and robust plans for the economy ahead, all the plans for 2017 seem to be out the window.
Here’s what four economists had to say about whether 2017 is leaning toward buyers or sellers.
The consensus is?
Most economists we talked to said that overall, they thought 2017 was going to continue to be a strong market for sellers — for now.
“While I expect inventory levels to rise in 2017, it will likely remain a seller’s market,” said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere. “New construction will pick up steam in 2017, but not to levels that will provide sufficient support to a stretched housing market. Sellers will likely find that it will take a little longer to sell, but demand will still outstrip supply on the back of a job market that continues to tighten.”
Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Zillow, opined that “2017 is probably going to skew more toward the seller’s market — most markets will skew more toward seller’s markets, and even in the Midwest there are probably more seller’s markets than buyer’s markets compared to their own history.”
Geography does play a role, however, said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at realtor.com.
“Ultimately, I do think it depends on where you are in the country — and not even at a market level,” Smoke said. “We’re seeing some clear patterns emerge within markets — one might be slowing down and cooling off where another part is really heating up. Real estate is so local that I would argue that a neighborhood view is really where you can see the differences and disparities and changes that are occurring around the country.”
Smoke noted that first-time buyers have been most successful in the Midwest this year, whereas markets in the West have seen the most significant price appreciation, making it difficult for first-time buyers to find success.
“We tend to have markets that are either above average in price expectation or sales expectation, and there aren’t many markets that have above-average expectations in both — supply constraint is driving the price movement in the strongest price markets, seller’s markets, but the buyer’s markets where buyers are getting a really affordable home, as a result, those markets are seeing a greater growth in sales,” Smoke explained.
“Either one is good for real estate,” he concluded.
Will we see a shift?
Gudell said that Zillow had just asked a panel of experts — more than 100 economists — “what they thought was going to happen to the tradeoff between buyers versus sellers.”
She said that among the economists surveyed, the most popular belief was that in 2018 or 2019, the bulk of markets will begin to shift from seller’s markets to buyer’s markets.
“In some markets, it’ll start to turn already in 2017, where demand isn’t quite so high and you get a little more inventory in and you have buyers better able to negotiate,” Gudell added.
What does the future buyer look like?
Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American, said that, “assuming an environment with modestly and predictably rising mortgage rates, it becomes a first-time homebuyer purchase-oriented marketplace.
“The question as a real estate agent is, how do you find and market to that first-time homebuyer?” asked Fleming. “Because that first-time homebuyer is going to be a young, technologically savvy millennial — and even more importantly, ethnically diverse. The demand for first-time housing is going to come from a different kind of individual than we’ve traditionally seen: Young, diverse, technologically savvy and much more likely to be college-educated.”
“The homeownership rate will grow, and they’ll be less white and a little younger,” said Gudell.
“Unfortunately, I think all of us will be spending more time in the car as more people have to look for more housing outside the city center as homes become much more expensive in the urban area,” she added. “During the recovery, it’s really picked up and the urban centers have appreciated much faster than the outerlying areas.”
“The potential is there for the market to have the most first-time buyers — certainly on an absolute volume basis, but also on a shared transactions perspective,” said Smoke.
“For the industry, this is the biggest shift we need to be able to contend with because it likely means elongated length of time that people are spending in that journey, especially the first-time buyer, but it potentially also means higher cancellation rates and lower conversion rates. You’re going to have more challenges with people contending with needing to qualify for and buy a home in the environment we’re in now than in the environment we were in the last two years.
“Highly qualified pent-up demand has been driving the market — now, it’s more organic activity at a time when interest rates are on the move-up,” he added. “The potential is there for an even bigger year than we’re forecasting, but it comes with challenges and that’s why we’re expecting only moderate growth instead of huge growth.”
“The thing about housing is that everybody needs it and you can’t outsource it,” said Fleming.

Toluca Lake Holiday Open House Photos

Toluca Lake Holiday Open House – Friday, December 2nd

LA City Council approves $1.4-billion plan to fix crumbling sidewalks
By Dana Bartholomew, Los Angeles Daily News

It could take up to 30 years for Los?Angeles to fix its backlog of buckled and broken sidewalks, according to a $1.4 billion repair program approved Wednesday.
But for homeowners and businesses who can’t wait, the city will now offer thousands of dollars in construction rebates to help pay for out-front sidewalk makeovers.
“This sidewalk repair program will change our neighborhoods for generations to come,” said Councilman Paul?Krekorian, who chairs a city budget committee and represents a southeast San Fernando?Valley district lined with crumbling sidewalks. “In every respect, this is an enormous step forward.
“We committed today to inject more than $1?billion into the economy for decades to come in order to solve this intractable problem.”

The so-called Safe?Sidewalks?L.A. program, unanimously approved Wednesday, comes after 10,750 miles of cracked, broken and buckled sections of sidewalk piled up over the past four decades.
It also comes after disability-rights groups won a settlement from the city.
Under the city’s first sidewalk repair program in 40?years, Los Angeles will spend up to $30 million a year for the next three decades to make the repairs. The plan is under environmental review.
Sidewalk repairs are underway around public parks, police stations libraries and city centers.
The next step will focus on repair requests by residents with disabilities.
And starting now, the city will offer cost-sharing rebates to eligible property owners willing to fix their own sidewalks. Homeowners can receive up to $2,000; businesses up to $4,000. The rebates will be available for three?years.
The estimated cost for replacing a 5-by-10 foot section of damaged sidewalk and one tree, according to one city rebate estimate, is $850. A 45-foot section and one tree might cost $2,500.
For information about Safe?Sidewalks?L.A., rebates or to report a broken sidewalk, go to www.sidewalks.lacity.org, or call 3-1-1.
“I encourage all Angelenos to take advantage of this historic program,” Mayor?Eric?Garcetti said in a statement. “Together we are going to improve access and safety, boost property values and give people across Los?Angeles reason to feel good about our public walkways.”
By the middle of the century, however, it’ll be up to property owners to foot the bill for further repairs.
Homeowners will then have a 20-year “warranty” in which to get their sidewalks repaired — just once — by the city. Commercial property owners will have five?years.
If property owners fail to maintain their sidewalks after the warranty expires, the city will fix the sidewalk and send the owner the bill.
The new sidewalk plan reverses a long-standing city ordinance that required Los?Angeles to fix its jagged walkways. Under state law, property owners must pay for sidewalk repairs. But a law passed in 1973 put Los?Angeles on the hook for sidewalks damaged by tree roots.
Then decades ago, the city failed to make the repairs, which led to a vast crumbling infrastructure and millions of dollars paid out after trip-and-fall lawsuits.
The comprehensive sidewalk repair plan forged out of the disability lawsuit settlement follows three years of debate and a score of public meetings across Los?Angeles.
For every tree removed during repairs, two must be planted. In addition, the rebate will pay up to $500 for a replacement.
“We have seen sidewalks in our city that are embarrassing,” said Councilman Joe?Buscaino, a major advocate of the plan. “We will fix them for future generations.”
View more photos and related articles on Los Angeles Daily News
