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Monday Morning Quarterback
(Monday, December 11, 2023)
For the true Christmas experience, take a reindeer ride through Santa Claus Village. By the way, Santa Claus Village is in Rovaniemi Finland, right at the Artic Circle. The tour is ideal for those who want to combine the traditional sleigh ride experience with a day visit to Santa Claus Village. In Santa Claus Reindeer resort (Joulumaantie 13), you can join three different length reindeer sleigh rides; one hour, two hours, or three hours. The reindeer rides are available (weather permitting) from 15th of November through the end of February. The shorter rides (Reindeer Path and Forest Path) are running non-stop throughout the day and do not require prebooking. The 3-kilometer-long Winter Adventure is recommended to be booked in advance on their website. This 3-kilometer-long reindeer sleigh ride takes you through a deep, snowy forest, where you can not only admire the beauty of the Lappish nature, but also see other reindeer pasturing in the wild, as well as hares, squirrels and other forest animals along the route. In case you need to wait for your tour to start, you can warm up by a nearby open fire, watch the flickering flames and enjoy the Christmassy atmosphere all around you. Despite having the authentic reindeer hides in the sleighs to keep you warm, they recommend you wear warm winter clothing, including your favorite Finnish beanie, warm gloves and a scarf for your tour. BTW, Santa Claus wants to ensure that each and every visitor can effortlessly experience all of the traditional activities while visiting the world-famous Santa Claus Village, located right at the Arctic Circle, Rovaniemi. Since one of the most well-known experiences are the traditional reindeer sleigh rides, Santa has brought his beloved reindeer right to the backyard of Santa Claus’ Office. After the ride your group will grill sausages and have some “hot juice” at a nearby campfire while enjoying the enchanting atmosphere of the Santa Claus Village. As a souvenir of this unforgettable experience you will receive a Reindeer Driving License and a Certificate of Crossing the Artic Circle. Make your reservation at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. In other investor news, let’s hook our sleigh to the stars…
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How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney? How does a presumably slightly overweight Santa get down the chimney? There are, of course, a lot of possibilities. "Does he cinch up his belt? Or shrink himself down to the size of a mouse? Or stretch out like taffy and step in one leg at a time?" Mac Barnett hypothesizes in his aptly titled new children's book, “How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?” The book is illustrated by Barnett's frequent collaborator, Jon Klassen. "We know a lot about Santa," says Barnett. "We know where he lives. We know where he works on his presents, we know how he gets to the houses — the flying reindeer, but how in the heck does he get down the chimney." As fans of the postal system will know, it's the last leg of the journey that is the most difficult. "This is a classic last-mile problem," Barnett, who is a fan of the postal system, says smiling. "It's strange that there's no definitive answer to this," adds Klassen, "considering this is a guy who does this impossible task every year." Instead of answers, Barnett and Klassen offer an abundance of theories. Maybe the reindeer give Santa a little shove down the chimney? For apartments, maybe Santa uses the spare key and walks through the front door. A lot of the illustrations in How Does Santa Come Down The Chimney are Santa just standing there. Staring at the chimney, scratching his head. "Those moments of him just staring at his predicament were the funniest for me," says Klassen. In this book, Santa gets flattened, squished, kicked, and even liquified to slide down the chimney. Luckily you can do almost anything to the big guy in the red hat with the white beard and still tell he's Santa. If you think about it, a book about Santa creeping into your home in the middle of the night is a little scary. The Envelope Method is Barnett's personal favorite solution. "If you've got a mail slot, I bet Santa folds up like a letter and has a reindeer pop him through," writes Barnett. Barnett says he wanted the ending to his book to capture how magical Santa really is. "Actually, I think we don't really want to know how he does it," he says. "The mystery, the wonder, the impossibility is the point."
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Retiring Jewelry Store Owners Give Loyal Employees Their Business. Continuing in the holiday spirit, here’s the feel-good story of 2023. The owners of an East Coast luxury jewelry store chain are passing up the opportunity to sell their family business and instead giving it to their longtime employees for FREE (otherwise worth over $3 million). Yes, after more than six decades, Harvey and Maddy Rovinsky, the owners of Bernie Robbins Jewelers, are giving up the business, to their staff. With stores located in Philadelphia and New Jersey, the business, which first opened in 1962, has been "carrying the world’s most prestigious timepieces, an unparalleled diamond selection and universally celebrated designers" for the last several decades. "My wife and I are not kids anymore," Harvey told Fox News Digital about the transition. "We don't have any family in the business, and we kind of need a path for succession. "We've been looking for a way to keep it going, to keep really great people continually employed. Many of them have been with us 30 years, 25, 20 years. So these are long-term people, they're like family," he added of those who will take over the business next year. The pair felt that none of the interested buyers were "qualified to continue the legacy" of the original founder, Bernie Robbins. The legacy of Robbins, Rovinsky's father-in-law, is something the couple have worked to continue throughout the years and eventually came to the conclusion that giving the business to current employees would be best to continue that legacy. Rovinsky said the future owners of the jewelry store chain "love the business" and that there's "not a doubt that they will continue this and do it successfully." Rovinsky, who was asked by the future owners to continue working with the business, will serve as CEO once the transition is made official. "I'm flattered and honored that they've asked me to stay on, which I will be happy to do until I annoy them enough and they fire me," he quipped.
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Low Inventory Driving Home Prices Up. U.S. house prices rallied again in the third quarter of 2023. In fact, home prices rose 2.1% quarter-over-quarter and 5.5% year-over-year in Q3, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”) House Price Index. Month-over-month, the FHFA’s seasonally adjusted monthly index ticked up 0.6% in September. “House prices rose in the third quarter in all census divisions and are higher than one year ago, driven primarily by a low supply of homes for sale.” Home prices appreciated in almost all 50 states year-over-year. Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and New Jersey recorded the highest annual appreciation rates, posting +11.8%, +11.1%, +10.3%, +9.9% and +8.7% in home-price gains, respectively. In contrast, the two areas with the most significant annual price depreciation were Hawaii and the District of Columbia, posting negative rates of appreciation, -0.9% and -0.8%. Zooming in on metropolitan areas, home prices rose in 93 of the top 100 largest metropolitan areas. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York, ranked first, posting the biggest annual appreciation rate at +12.4%. “Home prices are feeling the weight of high mortgage rates which will slow the rate of price growth in the coming months,” CoreLogic Chief Economist Selma Hepp said in a statement.
FHA & FHFA Announce Higher Conforming Loan Limits for 2024. Conforming loan limits are rising in the new year to keep up with escalating home prices, both the Federal Housing Administration and Federal Housing Finance Agency announced last Tuesday. The new conforming loan limit set by the FHFA for 2024 is $766,550 (a hike of $40,350 compared to 2023’s baseline amount of $726,200). FHFA is the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For FHA, the new conforming loan limit for 2024 is $498,257, marking a $60,000 increase over last year’s baseline. FHA loans have lower minimum credit score and down payment requirements and are popular among first-time home buyers. The conforming loan limits set by FHA and FHFA represent the baseline values that will be guaranteed by the federal government in 2024. However, more expensive areas can have higher limits, depending on the average prices in their markets. For example, in California (including Los Angeles County), New York, the District of Columbia, Hawaii and other pricey markets, the limit for FHFA conforming loans in 2024 will be set at $1,149,825. For Ventura County, the loan limit will be slightly lower at $954,500. Federal law requires FHFA and FHA to adjust their conforming loan limit values yearly to reflect changes in U.S. home prices. According to FHFA’s House Price Index, home prices rose 5.6%, on average, between the third quarters of 2022 and 2023.
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Dispute Over Who Inherits Millions After Sale of T-Rex Remains. OK, here’s a test. Can you think like an attorney? How would you decide the following scenario? In 1990, fossil hunters discovered a perfectly preserved T-Rex skeleton buried on property owned by Maurice and Darlene Williams that sits on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. Because of the location on the reservation, the discovery led to years of court battles over ownership rights. Eventually, the couple was able to claim the rights, and they were paid $7.6 million from the auction of the massive dinosaur skeleton, now known as “Sue,” and on display at Chicago’s Field Museum. The museum’s website says that at more than 40 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hip, Sue is the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever discovered and the most complete. But Sue is now at the center of a bitter legal battle. Maurice Williams died in 2011. Darlene Williams later moved to Sioux Falls, S.D., where she died in December 2020. The couple had four children. The siblings are now suing each other in a legal dispute over the estate. The latest dispute involves who inherits what’s left of the money created from the sale of Sue. At the center of the dispute: Darlene Williams had two wills, according to records filed in Lincoln County, S.D. The first one, signed in 2017, included all of her children and grandchildren, and listed eldest daughter Sandra Williams Luther as the executor in charge of settling the estate and making sure the will was carried out. But a second will dated Nov. 25, 2020 (less than three weeks before Williams died) designated Luther as the sole heir and executor. The document also cited Darlene Williams as saying that she had lived with her children at odds for too long, and she hoped that in her death they would find peace and become a family again. In the court battle, the youngest daughter, Jacqueline Schwartz, questions whether the second will is legal. She says her mother was critically ill and in hospice care when she signed the document without witnesses in the room due to COVID-19 restrictions. Schwartz also contests the sale of her mother’s home in Spearfish, S.D., two weeks before her death. Suspiciously, Court records show that $225,000 in proceeds went to Darlene Williams’ only son, Carson Williams. No trial date has been set. How should the court rule? And what more would you want to know before deciding? Would you rather represent Jacqueline Schwartz? Or Sandra Williams Luther? Or maybe Carson Williams? Or Sue?
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Which California Cities are the Most Fun? Fun isn’t something you can scientifically measure, but that hasn’t stopped researchers at WalletHub from trying. The personal finance website just released a list of the “Most Fun Cities in America,” and three of our California cities (San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles) made the top 20. WalletHub ranked more than 180 cities on 65 factors including the number of attractions, restaurant diversity, bars per capita, the number of amusement parks and sports venues and costs. Cities were then scored on a 100-point scale. As you would expect, Las Vegas ranked #1 with a score of 71.38. “Sin City is known for partying, and it’s one of the only cities in our study where public drinking is allowed in most or all places – whether that’s a plus or not will depend on your personality, though,” WalletHub said in its report. “When it comes to activities, Vegas unsurprisingly has the largest number of casinos in the country. But it’s also renowned for its performers, especially when it comes to music. The city has a very high number of music festivals and music venues.” Las Vegas is followed by Orlando (62.42), Miami (55.91) and Atlanta (55.73). San Francisco landed at number five with 53.35 points. San Diego (48.33) was 16th and our very own Los Angeles (47.01) was 20th. Nevertheless, Los Angeles ranked first in restaurants per capita and number of attractions but received lower marks for other metrics like festivals per capita, playgrounds per capita and average beer price. Apparently they forgot to consider traffic. Los Angeles rankings in each category:
· 1st – Restaurants per Capita
· 37th – Playgrounds per Capita
· 25th – Parkland Acres per Capita
· 6th – Dance Clubs per Capita
· 1st – Number of Attractions
· 80th – Avg. Beer Price
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However, one Southern California city landed near the bottom of the list. With a score of just 20.20, Oxnard ranked 180th out of 182. It seems beautiful coastlines were not heavily weighted as WalletHub ranked Pearl City, Hawaii (18.51) dead last at 182nd.
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The Hollywood Sign Turns 100. It’s just nine letters, cut from corrugated steel, each 45-feet high. But together they spell out the most famous word in billboard history. The Hollywood sign turns 100 this month and year, and while it’s suffered its fair share of indignities over the decades (it’s been destroyed on film by lava, robots and sharknadoes) it remains to this day the single most recognizable landmark in Los Angeles, as iconic to our city as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris or the Statue of Liberty is to New York. Appropriately for L.A., its beginnings were humble. It was erected in 1923 as an advertisement for the Hollywoodland housing tract, a Spanish colonial revival neighborhood built by early 20th century land developer M.H. Sherman. The land around it would change hands multiple times over the years (at one point Howard Hughes owned it) but through it all the sign remained standing, mostly. Eventually, as it fell into disrepair, it became such an eyesore (the electric bulbs that originally lit up around the edges burnt out and were never replaced, bits of the sheet metal began to flake off, including nearly all of the “H”) that by 1949 the locals were demanding it be torn down. Somehow, though, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce dug up $5,000 to repair the old relic, which was just enough to cover the “Hollywood” part. The “Land,” like so many words written in this town, got left on the cutting room floor. By 1973, the sign was designated a Los Angles Historic-Cultural Monument, although by then it had slipped into disrepair again, with that troublesome “H” falling down once more. In 1978, Playboy editor and publisher Hugh Hefner spearheaded a campaign to rebuild it, hosting a gala at his mansion to raise $250,000 for the refurbishment project. Rock star Alice Cooper paid $27,777 for the “O.” Singing cowboy Gene Autry ponied up for the “L.” Hefner himself, surrounded by Bunnies, naturally, pledged the money for the “Y.” Hefner would come to its rescue again 30 years later, in 2008, when another developer (this one from Chicago) purchased the land around the sign and threatened to build houses right next to it. This time, Hef convinced Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and a slew of others (including CBS, Fox, Warner and Disney) to donate enough money to enable the Trust for Public Land to purchase the land and keep it undeveloped.
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Vendors Expo Returns! Our world-famous "Vendors Expo" returns on Thursday night, December 14, 2023. The Vendor Expo opens at 6:30 pm. We'll have 40+ of the finest vendors featuring real estate products and services you will want to utilize as a successful investor. Our Vendor Expo will be held at the Iman Cultural Center, 3376 Motor Avenue (between National and Palms), Los Angeles, CA 90034. FREE Admission. Metered and free street parking. Please RSVP at www.LARealEstateInvestors.com.
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Out-of-State Summit. For our annual Summit, LAC-REIA has identified the four strongest cities in the USA that have dynamic job and population growth, along with affordability, landlord-friendly laws, renter desirability, and positive cash flow. We then identified the most professional turnkey operators in each of these cities and invited them to speak at our Out-of-State Summit: Michael Drew (Indianapolis, IN), Emily Nesselroad (Montgomery, AL), Michael Scher (Little Rock, AK), and Phil Alexander (Baltimore, MD). Thursday night, December 14, 2023, 6:30 to 9:30 pm, Iman Cultural Center, 3376 Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90034 (Culver City). RSVP: www.LARealEstateInvestrors.com.
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Basic Training Boot Camp. Your first resolution for the New Year should be to start buying properties. No more excuses! No more delays! No more procrastination! And the best way to get started is to attend our semi-annual Basic Training Real Estate Boot Camp. Saturday, January 27, 2024, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Everything you ever wanted to know about real estate investing but were afraid to ask. Iman Cultural Center, South Hall, 3376 Motor Avenue (between National and Palms), Los Angeles, 90034.The cost of the Boot Camp is $149.00 if paid before January 20th. After January 20th, the price is $249.00 per person. So don’t wait to register. (Gold Members and former Boot Campers can attend for FREE, but still need to register.) You can register at LARealEstateInvestors.com.
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“LARealEstateInvestors.com” Podcast. We are so very excited about our podcast, "LARealEstateInvestors.com" (cleverly named after our domain) hosted by our very own Bill Gross. Bill has been a Realtor, broker and real estate investor since the Ice Age! No one is more experienced in local Southern California real estate than Bill Gross. Each week, Bill interviews real estate professionals sharing their insights and advice. Every Tuesday at 3:00 pm, and anytime thereafter on YouTube, Facebook, and Google.
This Week. For economic reports, the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) will be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday. CPI is a widely followed monthly inflation indicator that looks at the price changes for a broad range of goods and services. The next Federal Open Market Committee meeting will take place on Wednesday. No change in rates is expected, and investors will focus on the latest set of forecasts from officials. This will be followed by the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday. Retail Sales will also come out on Thursday from the Census Bureau. Since consumer spending accounts for over two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, the retail sales data is a key measure of the health of the economy.
Weekly Changes:
10-Year Treasuries: Flat 000 bps
Dow Jones Average: Rose 100 points
NASDAQ: Rose 100 points
Calendar:
Tuesday (12/12): Consumer Price Index
Wednesday (12/13): Fed Meeting
Thursday (12/14): Retail Sales
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For further information, comments, and questions
Lloyd Segal
President
Los Angeles County Real Estate Investors Association, LLC
www.LARealEstateInvestors.com
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
310-409-8310
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