Mission Hills Beauty $725,000 3Br/2Ba

By californiadon on | Leave a comment

This home is realistically priced at $725,000. It is truly and really amazing, spectacular and just a wonderful starter home in Mission Hills.

Take a moment and imagine great curb appeal with your own gourmet kitchen that offers a commercial style range (stainless) and cathedral ceilings and skylights!!!! Yes this home has that hard to find large spacious en suite master bedroom! Amazing you also have remodeled (and upgraded) bathrooms, wood styled floors (no carpeting here) plus 2 additional bedrooms.

The rear yard has a covered patio and grass area to play/picnic or sink your toes in! An attached two car garage and a place for your RV/work vehicle or additional off street parking!. What’s more amazing, the seller what this sold. FHA / VA, conventional or even cash. Schedule an appointment and see this beautiful home ASAP. This is not perfect yet the perfect one for you!

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“Uncle Bernie”. A third party run would be a disaster!

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Imagine a president no one voted for.
 
While Bernie Sanders has rebuffed all questions about whether he will try an independent run at the White House, his stance may be softening as the Vermont senator now appears open to the idea of bucking the Democratic Party and going it alone in his bid to win in November.
 
“Uncle Bernie” has been steadfast in his stance that keeping Donald Trump out of the White House is his top goal, and had used that justification against the possibility of a third-party run this fall. Sanders said he would refuse to play the spoiler, potentially splitting the left-leaning vote and allowing Trump to win.
 
Yet last night while watching his “concession” speech, it dawned on me he is unhappy that he was slapped down badly in California and his ego (pride) has been damaged / hurt. Many of his followers are rabid (to say the least) and also some …let me tread carefully here may have a delusional disorder thinking the “democrats” system of nominating is rigged. Here is a short history of the “super delegate” (thank you msnbc).
 
To understand why superdelegates exist at all, it helps to go all the way back to the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, at which the party establishment chose Vice President Hubert Humphrey as the nominee, angering grassroots activists who felt they’d been shut out of the process, and fatally splitting the party. In response, Democrats opened up the primary process in the early ’70s, requiring all delegates to be chosen by voters, not party leaders. That’s when the modern primary system came about.
 
But by the early ’80s, there was a feeling that the cure had been worse than the disease. In the two elections after the reforms were put in place, Democrats nominated insurgent candidates—George McGovern in 1972 and Jimmy Carter in 1976. McGovern suffered a landslide defeat. Carter beat a weak President Ford, then, after four mostly unsuccessful years in the White House, was crushed by Ronald Reagan in 1980, leaving him a deeply unpopular figure in the party.
 
So in 1982, the Democratic National Committee created superdelegates, with the primary goal of handing a bit more control of the nominating process to party insiders. From now on, sitting Democratic members of Congress, governors, big city mayors and a few other party bigwigs, including the president, if he or she was a Democrat, would all be delegates, meaning they would get a vote at the convention for who should be the party’s presidential nominee. The new rules, reported the New York Times in 1981, “seemed infused with a desire to deny future nominations to political reincarnations of the Jimmy Carter of 1976.”
 
In the 1984 election, superdelegates helped put the establishment candidate, Walter Mondale, over the top. But Mondale, like Clinton this year, had more pledged delegates—that is, delegates elected by voters—than either of his rivals, Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson Jr. Virtually any broadly democratic system would have given him the nomination.
 
It wasn’t until 2008 that the issue of superdelegates arose again. In the winter and early spring of that year, as Clinton and Barack Obama were battling it out, it looked possible that superdelegates, most of whom at the time favored Clinton, might tip the scales in her favor. But as it became clear that Obama was going to win more pledged delegates than Clinton, the superdelegates responded by gradually moving into his camp. They appear to have recognized that it would be disastrous for party insiders to be seen to be taking the nomination away from the candidate who was the choice of the party’s voters.
 
That truly will leave a mathematical opening for Trump. Although a majority of the US voting population have an unfavorable opinion of him, if 30% of Sanders’ supporters don’t back Clinton, Trump won’t need the backing of a majority of Americans. With a republican house and senate imagine that no candidate gets 270 electoral votes! This is something that happens after every presidential election and if neither candidate has the required 270 electoral votes the constitution gives the authority to select the new President of the United States to the US House of Representatives if there is an electoral tie. Wow.
 
So “Uncle Bernie” please do not run third party, suggest or encourage your supporters to petition for you to get on the ballot (in states where the deadline has not passed) or write you in. If we think the candidates we have are bad, imagine a president no one voted for.
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Great day to “Coast” here at the beach!

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Today, my neighborhood and a few streets in Santa Monica were transformed, with no automobile traffic!!!

With the city’s first open streets festival the was called “Coast”, a play on our location on the Pacific Ocean and cruising on your bicycle. There were many neighbors out and of course new visiting friends all enjoyed (in the thousands) bicycling, walking, skateboarding and scooter through the performance art, music groups, dancing, food, and politicians visiting (damn you Bernie for coming to the pier and interrupting an otherwise fun day).

The amazing part this afternoon was that it was just beautiful and the temperature was in the mid to high 60 degrees, a bit cooler for the season, but made it even more fun watching the Samba dancers, the musicians, a few talented artists and more important the hot women of our city.

 

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California Real Estate – 33% of home sales have been “All Cash” buyers in the first quarter!

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During the first three months of 2014, the local Southern California Real Estate market has seemingly flattened out as far as appreciation yet “All Cash” purchases are increasing.  

Many of these all cash buyers have been institutional or smaller investors either looking for long term rentals or short term “flips” along with many foreigners from Asia who maybe seeking a second home and/or stability for the cash here in Southern California real estate.   

The low inventory also is causing a frenzy in the hotter more desirable markets on the westside (Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and Bel Air).  Even sellers of condos, town-homes and COOPs are finding frenzy buyers in the coastal areas around Venice (Abbott Kinney), Marina Del Rey, Ocean Park and the North of Wilshire area of Santa Monica.  

 

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How is the Real Estate market doing….

By californiadon on | Leave a comment

Why is it that the mass has a tendency  to naturally be followers?  Of course when our economy was in the gutter (so to speak) the media and many buyers belief was the sky (market) was falling to depths way beyond repair.  That a multi million dollar home in pacific palisades or Brentwood would sell for 500~700k and condos in Santa Monica (close to the beach) would drop to below 200k!!

Of course there were a few exceptions to any rule.  The 2br condo I sold on Franklin near Broadway as an REO for 259k was a unique deal in 2008 or the 2br fixer upper / tear down in the bluffs on swarthmore for 900k ….

The market is healthy is what my normal answer is.  Yet there will always be a buyer for every property, usually when they are following the media hype, especially since I just saw a home in echo park sell for 750k on. a flip that was just bought 8 months earlier for 350k….and a home in watts that was flipped for 300k after selling for 105!

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Looks like rain ….

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While Los Angles is really a desert, without natural/local fresh water rain is a badly needed commodity here in the City of Angels… Yet with every rain drop seems to come traffic tie up, fender benders and even once in a while an overturned truck. 

Maybe the absense of rain and the dust is why our freeways like the 405,101,5 and 210  have so many cars sliding into one another… Perhaps drivers training should have a mandatory rain day lesson?

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11th Annual NFL All Access – Rose Bowl

By californiadon on | 1 Comment

Yesterday evening, the NFL hosted an All Access event at the Grand Daddy of all “The Rose Bowl” in Pasadena!

It was a pleasure yesterday to see/meet head coach Bruce Arians  (of the Arizona Cardinals)  and Mike McCoy of the San Diego Chargers!  As a lifelong NFL fan/season seat holder (Cardinals/Raiders) getting to finally see Andrea Kremer in person and to say hello to the beautiful and talented Amy Trask (former executive with the “Raiders”) was pure heaven.

Bill Romanowski and Mark Sanchez along with Jay Glazer also made the event a lot of fun too.  They all were panelists, along with Mike Perierra (ex NFL referree/Fox Analyst).

The evening event was presented by the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, took place on the field….which was another joy to walk on the grass then to be able to throw footballs (5,10,20 yards) on the Rose Bowl field.

The locker room tour was great (except for the fact it was a “UCLA Bruin” locker room) to meet Gordon “Red” Batty who is a 20+ year equipment manager for the Green Bay Packers who showed us how to Suit Up Like a Pro!

To talk hockey with him, a true Montreal Canadian fan, was fun too!!!

The food was great, Catered by Wolfgang Puck, the atmosphere was pleasant, also meeting a few cheerleaders from the Cardinals,Raiders and Chargers was fun had by all!!! Yes this fan is looking forward to 2013 Football Season!!!NFL Access Rose Bowl July 2013 016

Posted in: Los Angeles, Sports, Things to do!