Housing advocates and developers are warily watching California’s intensifying drought and what it may mean for the state. Millions more homes are needed to house residents, yet 85% of California is experiencing extreme drought conditions. Already the need for housing is colliding with the water shortage in the coastal area of Marin County (north of […]
UPDATE: Eviction Moratorium Extensions; Options When Moratoriums End
Update June 29 – Supreme Court Ruling – The U.S. Supreme Court refused to lift a ban on evictions for tenants who have failed to pay all or some rent during the coronavirus pandemic. By a 5-4 vote, the court left in place the nationwide moratorium on evictions issued by the CDC. The Alabama Association […]
Hurdles to Turning Shuttered Malls Into Housing
Above, closed Sears in Buena Park California state lawmakers are grappling with what to do with the growing number of shopping malls and big-box retail stores left empty by consumers shifting their purchases to the web. A possible answer in crowded California cities is to build housing on these sites, which already have ample parking […]
Sorry Dorothy, There’s No Place for Home
More Southern California cities than ever before are fighting to have their allocations of new homes rolled back. No one denies the region needs more homes in general, and there’s been a specific push to get housing for low-income families built across the region. But some city leaders say the 1.34 million new units assigned […]
5 Takeaways: What Rent Hike Law Means for Real Estate
State legislators passed AB 1482, a bill from Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco), which limits annual rent increases to 5% plus the rate of inflation (typically 2%-3%). Modeled after a first-in-the-nation Oregon measure adopted earlier this year, the bill also requires landlords to provide a “just cause” for evicting tenants and, in some circumstances, pay for […]
Politics Getting in the Way of Housing Legislation
In the first half of 2019, members of the California Legislature introduced roughly 200 bills that addressed the state’s worsening housing crisis. By the end of May, most of them had been nixed by the Byzantine nature of California politics. So why can’t California pass real housing reform? Among members of the Bay Area caucus, […]
Housing Battle’s Home Front
Driven by an explosion in new jobs alongside a lack of sufficient home building to accommodate workers moving into the city, Palo Alto is dealing with a dilemma also faced by other tech hubs across California. Sen. Scott Wiener’s Senate Bill 50 (which C.A.R. supports) aims to spur home building by requiring local governments to […]
Appraisers React to Decision
NAR and the Appraiser Qualification Board have reported a “fix” for the appraiser shortage. But veteran appraisers are indicating that it ignores issues with Appraisal Management Companies, that appraisers say are partly to blame for the dwindling supply. “At a time when the average age of today’s residential appraiser is in the late 50s and […]
Can Your Clients Afford to Buy?
More Californians could afford to purchase a home in the fourth quarter of 2017, up a percentage point to 29% from the third quarter, a positive report from the California Association of REALTORS® this month in its Traditional Housing Affordability Index. This means a minimum annual income of $111,260 was needed to qualify for the […]
Housing Affordability Driving African-American Population
Forbes An estimated 6 million blacks headed north and west to cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and St. Louis in the early 20th century. But now the tide is reversing, with the African-American population dropping in the latter three over the past six years. In some cases it’s clear that blacks are […]