Where is the center of Los Angeles? Maybe in its town square. All you need to do is find it.

No matter how big your city is, every city needs a town square, even especially Los Angeles. What should a premier open space in Downtown Los Angeles look like? Maybe it should be classy, classic, timeless, inviting, people-friendly and just somewhere you want to be.

Look New York City's Bryant Park, Madrid's Plaza Mayor (heck, the entire city really), Rome's Piazza Navona, San Antonio's Riverwalk, and more and more. A sense of place matters. People demand it and literally vote with their feet. That, and it may help sell homes too.

Check out this amazing video prepared by the creative folks at Gensler Los Angeles on re-envisioning Pershing Square in Downtown LA. Today it looks like a rejected soundstage from the Willy Wonka movie. Soon, Pershing Square could be a place that really matters.





Shout out to LA Observed for keeping tracking of these things. Add it to your bookmarks!

Empty nesters moving to Palm Springs? Seniors ready to downgrade your home for a new life in Indian Wells? There's a big tax break coming your way!

The South Bay Association of REALTORS® applauds the Riverside County Board of Supervisors for unanimously reinstating property tax incentives under Proposition 90, providing needed tax relief to homebuyers age 55 and older who are selling their prior home and want to relocate to that County.

Riverside County is one of just nine counties in California participating in Proposition 90 tax programs. Los Angeles County also has a Proposition 90 ordinance, which provides this tax relief to buyers 55 and over who are moving to Los Angeles County from another county.

"The Riverside County Board of Supervisors did the right thing by reinstating this critical tax relief for seniors considering a home purchase,” said Sheri Fejeran, president of the South Bay Association of REALTORS®. “Prop 90 tax incentives make homebuying easier for seniors who otherwise may not have the necessary financial resources available to them.”

Proposition 90 allows buyers 55 and over to transfer their prior home’s base year value to their new home when it is of equal or lesser value. This provides important tax relief to seniors who may want to move to a smaller home, move closer to family members, or who are obligated to move due to disability.

For more information on Proposition 90 provisions for assessment of sold property, see the California State Board of Equalization website.

Should Prop 90 tax relief be available to seniors in your county? Contact your Board of Supervisors and tell them to pass a law!

This Just In: Rent Control Doesn't Work! So why is it coming to an apartment building near you?

Rent control doesn't work. It doesn't make affordable housing more available and it doesn't make available housing more affordable. It traps people in their homes and discourages property managers from maintaining the building.

As if we needed additional proof that rent control doesn't work, Sacramento is pushing AB 1229 (Atkins), a bill that would dramatically weaken the rent control limitations contained in the landmark Costa-Hawkins Act of 1995.

California REALTORS! Check your email today for an action alert from the California Association of REALTORS® asking you to call your Senator right away and ask him or her to oppose AB 1229.

AB 1229 would allow local governments in rent control jurisdictions to impose inclusionary zoning on newly constructed rental housing developments, thus effectively repealing that part of the Costa-Hawkins Act that exempts new construction from rent control. AB 1229 could be considered by the full Senate as early as this Thursday.

Call your Senator today! Remember, it just doesn't work.

Feds to Eminent Domain Abusers: Drop Dead

In a welcome move, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released a statement yesterday affirming what we already know: Using eminent domain to seize "underwater" mortgages ("underwater" is used loosely here; more below) is an outrageous and inappropriate use of the government's power to seize private property.

The FHFA has threatened to sue local municipalities and private investors who look to eminent domain to grab mortgages, sell them back to homeowners at a reduced rate and run away with spectacular profits. This use of eminent domain would in all likelihood dry up most housing finance in the future. Now that the FHFA is backing away from eminent domain, mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac in those cities - including Richmond., Calif. and El Monte, Calif. - threatening to use eminent domain may be at further risk.

Really? We are having enough trouble already with the PATH Act, federal legislation impacting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Just when the housing market is starting to improve - and the economy along with it - it is remarkably unwise to scare away funding for those families who are qualified to purchase a home. Both the PATH Act and the improper use of eminent domain risk driving the housing market right back down. For this reason we applaud the FHFA's action and we only hope that Congress will also show its support of the housing recovery by voting down the flawed PATH Act.

And what does "underwater" mean? We've seen elsewhere that the proposal to use eminent domain to seize mortgages has poorly defined criteria, or criteria that enables those investors to cherry pick the loans they like the best. Richmond, El Monte and other cities take note. If it looks like the deal is too good to be true, it's because it is.