Huggins Homes

The that takes effect on August 17th is bad for the consumer. Below is an article with my reasoning as to why. I hope the DOJ steps in soon.

How the NAR Settlement Hurts Consumers | Huggins Homes By Ryan Huggins

I have been voted in as President-Elect of the Conejo Simi Moorpark Association of Realtors for 2025 and will automatically ascend to the position of President in 2026.

I had a great time at the AREAA Ventura County's seminar on Downpayment Assistance Programs for buyers within Ventura and Los Angeles Counties and beyond.

As affordability becomes more and more of an issue and as buyers will soon have to pay their agents directly, working with a real estate Broker who knows where to go and who to talk to to make buying a house easier on your bank account is going to be crucial. One of the speakers told us that on a million dollar property, he was able to secure $150,000 in grant funds for a buyer! That's 15%! Just imagine what your payments could be if you had even a fraction of that available on your last purchase.

Of course, restrictions apply as with anything, but for those struggling to get into an entry-level home this can be a godsend. For those that aren't aware, the median price of a home in Ventura County is in the mid $900,000s. A 10% down loan which traditionally would be needed to avoid PMI, you're looking at $90,000 that you need to come up with.

Home sales may be down, but prices are up and hitting new records!

Ventura: 513 sales, up 18% in the month – slowest March. The median rose 6% in a year to $825,000 (No. 2 price). Equals a $4,312 payment, up 10% in the year to No. 5 highest.

Southern California home price hits record $753,000 as sales drop Second-lowest sales for a March since 1988. Only March 2008, amid a global financial collapse, had fewer purchases.

Another L.A. budget bummer: Residential sewer fees set to double by 2028 The Bureau of Sanitation is seeking the council’s support for seven sewer fee hikes between now and 2028, more than doubling the amount charged to homes and businesses.

Interesting article

Housing Price Growth Expectations Increase; Renters Express Concern for Ability to Own a Home - FEDERAL RESERVE BANK of NEW YORK At the New York Fed, our mission is to make the U.S. economy stronger and the financial system more stable for all segments of society. We do this by executing monetary policy, providing financial services, supervising banks and conducting research and providing expertise on issues that impact the n...

Huggins Homes is proud to present our newest offering: 5856 Logwood in Westlake Village! The gorgeous 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home is fully remodeled and features a family room, a living room, a remodeled kitchen with high-end appliances, a luxurious master suite and en-suite, and a spacious back yard backing the Lake Lindero Golf Course for serenity and privacy.

For more information or to schedule a showing, contact Ryan Huggins at 805.905.4000 today.

#91362

This will further drive out of and further decrease the amount of available for and all.

From the AAGLA:

In October 2023, the L.A. City Council passed two motions, one regarding changing the existing Systematic Code Enforcement Program (SCEP, which conducts proactive inspections of multifamily properties for habitability) and one changing the existing Rent Escrow Account Program (REAP).

These motions were co-authored by all three City Council members who are also Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) members, namely Nithya Raman, Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez and seconded by City Council member Heather Hutt (Hutt is now running for election in November against Grace Yoo, who is far more business friendly).

Your Input is Being Requested: The Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) has been tasked with providing a report back to the City Council with recommended changes and is now accepting suggestions from housing providers. We encourage all AAGLA members with rental properties in the City of Los Angeles to submit their comments for improving these programs to Liseth Romero-Martinez at [email protected] and copy the full L.A. City Council as well (see attached list) no later than close of business on Monday, April 22.

Some of the ideas that will be considered, include:

Creation of a new petition process for renters to have their rents adjusted downward by the City.
Any repairs (not just “primary renovations”) must have a Tenant Habitability Plan (THP) created and filed.
Development of escalated fines imposed on owners.

Some of the comments submitted by AAGLA pertaining to SCEP include:

SCEP inspectors cite property owners for issues that are not related to habitability. In some instances, the behavior of SCEP inspectors borders on harassment of property owners.
If there is an issue between tenant and property owner such as non-payment of rent, tenants will report a problem to LAHD. Sometimes there is no basis for the problem or a tenant will intentionally cause the problem such as by removing smoke detectors or damaging something (window, appliance, etc.).
There is no recourse when tenants falsely report issues or cause the underlying issues. Property owners are the only ones at risk.
SCEP inspectors often prompt tenants leading the tenants to report issues (“Are you sure there are no problems in your unit?”). SCEP inspectors should conduct their own inspection and not solicit tenants’ input as the tenants may have biased views (e.g., they may want their unit to be repainted or want new carpeting).
The late fees ($1,000 per day) are excessive and punitive, particularly since the availability of labor and the substantial losses incurred by housing providers under 4 years of COVID related regulations.
SCEP inspectors should focus solely on habitability issues and not building code issues. They do not have the training for building codes and they do not perform prior research to determine if proper permits already exist.
If tenants refuse an inspection, the SCEP inspectors should accept that and move on, and not bother the tenant.
SCEP inspectors should remove owner-occupied units from their scope. Members report that SCEP inspectors have demanded to see owner-occupied units.
SCEP should provide a detailed checklist so that housing providers can better prepare for the inspections.

Santa Monica is trying to force all homeowners to remove their gas appliances, heaters, water heaters, etc. and replace them with the more costly and less efficient electric units. Tomorrow 4/17 is the time to fight this! See below from the AAGLA:

Tomorrow, April 17th, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, Santa Monica’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment will hold a webinar to further discuss Santa Monica’s move towards mandating ALL-Electric appliances in ALL existing residential buildings. Timelines include full electrification with requirements starting as early as THIS YEAR and many additional ones starting in 2025. We urge all AAGLA members with residential rental properties of any type, including multifamily, single-family, accessory dwelling units and condominiums in Santa Monica to attend the webinar tomorrow and voice your strong opposition to this extremely costly, required transition for property owners and renters to full electrification of existing residential buildings.

The webinar information is as follows: Link to Webinar

Meeting ID: 290 976 167 859, Passcode: NgxaQk
Dial-in by phone: 310-883-7522, phone conference ID: 684 743 439 #


The existing “roadmap” mandates replacements for all natural gas appliances with electric alternatives, including space heaters, water heaters, ranges and cooktops, and clothes dryers. Also included are additional, “other mandatory upgrades,” including weatherization, on-site solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery systems, and smart controls.

According to the roadmap, 72% of single-family properties and 93% of multifamily buildings were built BEFORE 1978. This means that the vast majority of residential housing in Santa Monica would fall under these new mandates and incur substantial costs to comply. Costs would not only include the appliances themselves, but also the required new electrical panels, wiring in walls, reinforcement and patching of roofs (for new heat pumps for space heating and cooling), potentially new or additional ventilation, and repairing of walls and ceilings (e.g., drywall, texture, painting). Implementation of these all-electric requirements would also mean the very real possibility of more owners existing property insurance being cancelled due to major renovations being undertaken and voiding of existing roof warranties.

The roadmap also misstates that costs would only be the burden of owners. As we all know, underlying capital and operating costs play a significant role in determining rental rates. Further, renters will be forced to switch from a much less costly utility in natural gas to a much more expensive utility being electricity generated via renewable or clean energy. This will severely harm low-income renters, in particular, who are already apparently struggling to make ends meet each month in paying their existing utility costs.

The guidelines provide a timeline of 30 years for owners to realize a return on investment (ROI) for potentially being “more cost effective,” which is highly suspect at best and ignores the fact that most renters move every 3-5 years, on average. It also ignores the fact that struggling mom-and-pop owners will be forced to fund these conversion costs, with many forced into selling their buildings due to the sizeable investment required to comply with these new mandates far before any ROI would be realized.

We urge all Santa Monica members to take one-hour tomorrow to protect their investments by attending the webinar and making their opposition heard to these extremely unreasonable mandates to go All-Electric.

RED ALERT!

On April 16th, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will consider two new ordinances that will implement an early decision to create a pro-active rental housing habitability inspection program (“RHHP”) and rent escrow account program (“REAP”). The draft ordinances currently take a severely one-sided approach that is not just extreme, but abusive towards rental housing providers.

We need all rental housing providers with properties in Los Angeles County to contact all five Supervisors and urge them to create an Ad Hoc Committee to develop a more even-handed inspection program that focuses on desired goals for building maintenance rather than the assumption of guilt and severe punishment of owners. While this is starting with the unincorporated areas, the County WILL promote these ordinances to all 88 cities in the County.

It is very likely that if this rolls out in LA County, it could spread to other areas.

Here is the draft of the RHHP program:https://mcusercontent.com/85e51946ff4f8ae5c77d1c1ce/files/7bdf6d8d-b9a6-c82f-8fe0-72f7de19ce29/LA_COUNTY_draft_rental_housing_habitability_ordinance.pdf

Here is the draft of the associated escrow account program: https://mcusercontent.com/85e51946ff4f8ae5c77d1c1ce/files/d41f2f7b-dd8d-03db-8d62-e3ccd1aaa074/draft_rent_escrow_account_program_ordinance.pdf

We support jurisdictions in their efforts to provide safe and habitable rental properties to their citizens, but these rules need to:
1) Realize that the overwhelming majority of landlords provide safe and compliant rental units
2) Due process and our protections under the law against false and retaliatory accusations need to be upheld
3) Landlords have come out of several years of unconstitutional laws prohibiting rent increases and evictions for non-payment and many are still struggling to get on their feet. Fees should not be so large that they put an undue burden on landlords and prevent them from being able to make repairs.

mcusercontent.com

California's Public Utilities Commission is proposing up to a $128 fixed charge being added to your monthly electricity bill, based on area and income level. Lower income levels in San Diego may see a $76 dollar monthly surcharge.

18 of our state's congress are thankfully opposing this.

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2024/03/27/californians-could-see-up-to-128-fixed-charge-added-to-their-monthly-electric-bill/

Californians could see up to $128 fixed charge added to their monthly electric bill The monthly charge would be assessed regardless of any energy conservation efforts or solar production at home. Eighteen California Congressional representatives wrote a letter to the Public Utilit…

In a further erosion of your private property rights:

Per the AAGLA:

At the West Hollywood City Council meeting on Monday, March 18th, the Council voted unanimously to increase the minimum lease term for single-family and condominium rentals from 31 days to one (1) full year (Agenda Item 3A).

In a clear showing of just how radical and extreme the current City Council members view housing issues, the full City Council went far above and beyond recommendations made by the City’s staff and Planning Commission that would have only increased the minimum lease term from 31 days to 60 days, but instead catapulted the minimum lease term requirements into the stratosphere at one full year. Now homeowners with single family properties or condominiums are in the same “boat” as multi-family owners that are already required to provide a minimum, one-year lease. This is clear and convincing evidence that it is not just multi-family owners that are under attack by tenant activists and their far-left legislators, but ALL residential property owners.

Once again AAGLA was the sole representative organization to speak out against this wrongful taking over control by the City Council of private property rights. We argued that shorter lease terms should be allowed for owners that are trying to pay mortgages while they are out of town on business, such as owners in the entertainment industry required to leave on shoots. We also argued that renters needed shorter term options in West Hollywood especially when loved ones are receiving needed medical care at nearby hospitals such as Cedars-Sinai. Although the staff report acknowledged that the average stay at Cedars-Sinai is currently 25 days, the City Council ignored this fact. To force a family to commit to a rental far longer than necessary will make staying nearby cost prohibitive. Unfortunately these arguments fell on deaf ears as City Council members were already fixated on striping private property rights away from owners rather than balancing the interests of all community members.

Unfortunately, no homeowners or condominium owners turned out either in-person or via Zoom to speak up for themselves to protect and preserve their property rights. This gave the City Council a clear green light to go as extreme as they wanted to, which resulted in the expansion from one month to one year as a required minimum lease term.

If owners do not get directly involved in preserving their rights by attending and sharing their personal stories, then the City Council will continue to take their silence as consent and go as extreme as their far-left fantasies take them. We urge all AAGLA members to spread the word to homeowners that their rights are under attack and they need to join AAGLA, as members and partners, to push back against the City Council turning their private residential property into public housing/social housing.

At the Oxnard City Council meeting on Tuesday, March 19th, the Council will consider increasing trash hauling fees by a whopping 54% to 59% for ALL residential customers, including rental housing providers with 4 or fewer units starting July 1, 2024 (Agenda Item M1). A second increase of 10% is planned for July 1, 2025 for both residential and commercial owners (including multi-family properties with 5 or more units) starting the following year on July 1, 2025.

These are incredibly huge increases, especially for mom-and-pop owners, after years of unpaid back rent that is still owed as a result of government mandates. We need all rental housing providers in Oxnard to immediately email or call the full City Council in Oxnard and urge them to delay these increases until later years or evenly distribute the increases throughout the next 5 years rather than front loading the lion’s share of the increase for July 1, 2024 and 2025. We also need owners to show up In-Person or via Zoom at the meeting on Tuesday night to show that property owners care about these increases, strongly oppose the timing of this huge increase and share their stories as to how such an increase would be financially devastating for them.

FYI - West Hollywood's City Council is looking to require a 60 day minimum rental term for all homes and condos. They will be discussing it at the city council meeting on the 18th.

If you own or operate any rentals out there, or know anyone who owns a home, tell them to call or send in a letter in opposition. According to what I read from the AAGLA, 53% of the citizens DO NOT want this to pass, but the council is still pursuing it. This will impact your rights as property owners should it pass.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/16/business/real-estate-commission-settlement-slash-prices/index.html

This article makes the incorrect assumption that commission amounts are linked to prices. They are not and never have been. Real estate is not like a grocery store where we get your house wholesale, add our commission to the top, and then put it on the shelves. That is not how it works.

Real estate is more like when you sell a collectible baseball card. It's worth what it is worth and the shop selling it takes a cut off the top. Just because you find a shop that will take less off the top, doesn't make your rookie Mickey Mantle card any less valuable. The same goes for a house. A house's value is what a buyer and seller are willing to agree to.

What will happen is that the seller's commissions MAY decrease and the buyers will now have to start paying their agents a commission. This will only increase the cost of home ownership for buyers, especially first time home buyers and those using grant money to afford the downpayment. The only way it may cost less for home buyers is if they work directly with the listing agent.

The NAR settlement could slash home prices for many Americans | CNN Business The entire US housing market is about to get remodeled and the end product could come with a big perk: cheaper home prices.

FYI - https://www.housingwire.com/articles/first-american-is-the-latest-cybersecurity-attack-victim/

First American has taken down their email system, so be vigilant about any emails coming to/from them.

First American is the latest cybersecurity attack victim First American suffers cybersecurity attack less than a month after the firm agreed to pay New York $1 million in cybersecurity settlement.

It is official. Starting January 1st I will be a Director for the California Association of Realtors and a member of the following committees:
1) MLS Policy
2) Investment Housing
3) Transaction and Regulatory

I'm looking forward to an exciting year serving in these roles (along with being a Director of my local association and, you know, selling real estate).

I'm liking KTLA today. Not only is Ventura County the safest county in the state, but the homes in Oxnard and Thousand Oaks are expected to soar 18% next year! Plus we're the second largest expected increase IN THE COUNTRY, per Realtor dot com!

Home sales are expected to soar in these California cities next year With mortgage rates finally easing, many California cities are expected to see home sales rebound significantly next year, according to a new forecast from Realtor.com. Five metro areas are predict…

Congratulations Ventura County! Safest county in all of California!

This is the safest of California’s 16 largest counties With a 59% decrease in the overall crime rate over the last 28 years, according to a recent report, Ventura County has been named the safest large county in all of California.   The 2023 State…

Help fight against the latest attack against Prop 13. All you need to do is fill out a form and it will automatically email your representatives.

Fight for Prop 13 We need your help telling legislators we simply cannot afford higher property taxes and higher costs for the goods and services we buy.

A great free family-friendly event coming in September.

One month in, the results of LA City's "mansion tax" are the opposite of what the city expected.

L.A.'s 'Mansion Tax' A Complete Flop After One Month Measure ULA, a tax on high-end properties passed by Los Angeles voters in 2022, has flopped after just one month in operation.

In honor of this weekend's Army/Navy game, a throwback to when our Broker Ron was the Navy's preferred real estate partner for Eastern Ventura County.

We are proud to announce that our listings 3964 Celia and 700 Zinnia are now in escrow! Two listings under contract in two days. Not a bad start to the weekend!

Some really interesting info on the real estate market in Ventura County, from the St. Louis FED (which tracks this stuff). Almost 200 more active listings this month than last. New listings are up. Pending listings are down slightly. That drop likely is attributed to the rising interest and fuel rates, plus the slew of graduations and large events, runs and music festivals happening across the county.

Interesting read. Too bad they didn't go into 3 and 4 bedroom homes, which make up the majority of home rentals out here.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/04/04/report-rent-prices-across-u-s-skyrocket-98-increase-for-1-bedroom-100-for-2-bedroom/

Rents Soar Across U.S. — Up 98% for 1 bedroom, 100% for 2 bedroom The rental prices for a single-family homes are at an all-time high, increasing an average of 7.8 percent in 2021.

Now this is interesting. One thing to note, there is a local ordinance in the city in question which allows for this. That may not be the case in your city.

https://journal.firsttuesday.us/does-a-property-owner-have-the-right-to-remove-a-neighbors-tree-that-is-a-nuisance-to-the-property-owner/81857/

Have a spare $60 million laying about? This Connecticut castle could be yours!

https://www.redfin.com/CT/Woodstock/450-Brickyard-Rd-06281/home/53652974

450 Brickyard Rd, Woodstock, CT 06281 - 9 beds/10 baths (Smart MLS) For Sale: 9 beds, 10 baths ∙ 18777 sq. ft. ∙ 450 Brickyard Rd, Woodstock, CT 06281 ∙ $60,000,000 ∙ MLS # 170450498 ∙ Stunning one of a kind property built to amaze and capture the imagination of the...