Socal Multiunit Real Estate

LOS ANGELES WINS THE ENERGY STAR GREEN PRIZE

LOS ANGELES WINS THE ENERGY STAR GREEN PRIZE

By Jodi Summers

Yeah for us! Los is the most Energy Star efficient city in the United States!

This information comes courtesy of our government. The latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) index of the 25 U.S. cities with the most Energy Star buildings. Los Angeles leads the list with more than 260 buildings encompassing 74 million square feet, or about as much floor space as 27 Empire State buildings.

“We’re setting the green standard in LA. Reducing our carbon footprint by 35 percent below 1990 levels is the most ambitious goal set by a major American city,” stated Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

The goal for the city’s GREEN LA imitative is to reduce Los Angeles’ greenhouse gas emissions by 35 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. This target is greatest reduction target of any large U.S. city. The core of GREEN LA is increasing the city’s use of renewable energy to 35 percent by 2020.

San Francisco, Houston, Washington, DC, and Dallas-Fort Worth round out the top five.

“Energy Star buildings typically use 35 percent less energy and emit 35 percent less greenhouse gases than average buildings,” noted EPA administrator Lisa Jackson. “They are saving energy, saving money and protecting our environment.”

The EPA noted that Energy Star buildings in just the top five cities have saved more than $315 million in energy costs.

The list did have some surprises. Big East Coast hubs did not fare well, with just two — Washington, DC, and Atlanta — placing in the top 10. In fact, the total number of Energy Star buildings in New York (#12), Boston (11), Philadelphia (17) and Miami (23) was less than the number in Los Angeles, EPA reported.

Also being savvy enough to make the list were several smaller, Midwestern cities where energy tends to be cheaper, such as Grand Rapids, MI, and Madison, WI.

Details courtesy of http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=0F9ACA2C00BDA94C9DB4DED0A6B19C9B&ref=100&iid=123&cid=383F14EEE265B182474DA2442BACBBBF

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2007/2007-05-15-01.asp

http://www.daylife.com/topic/Antonio_Villaraigosa

ZIP Codes Where People are Buying Real Estate

ZIP Codes Where People are Buying Real Estate

by Jodi Summers

It was always our theory that this recession would hit bottom by first quarter and then wallow for a while. Well…it looks like things are starting to improve in parts of the country – both locally and beyond. Information compiled for BusinessWeek.com by First American CoreLogic notes that housing sales are improving significantly in key ZIP codes around the country where inventories are shrinking and prices are stabilizing. Here are the top 10 ZIP codes with improved home sales:

1. 94533, Fairfield, Calif. , Fresno,

2. 92376, Rialto, Calif. , Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario,

3. 91342, Slymar, Calif. , Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana,

4. 92126, San Diego, Calif.

5. 33914, Cape Coral, Fla. , Fort Meyers,

6. 93065, Simi Valley, Calif. , Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura,

7. 95123, San Jose, Calif.

8. 85379, Surprise, Ariz. , Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale,

9. 93722, Fresno, Calif. , Madera,

10. 95624, Elks Grove, Calif. , Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville,

Source: BusinessWeek.com, Prashant Gopal

LOS ANGELES IS A BETTER PLACE THAN PARIS TO BUY INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE

LOS ANGELES IS A BETTER PLACE THAN PARIS TO BUY INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE

Sacre bleu! Los Angeles is a better real estate…according to Forbes.com. In a recent top 10 article called World’s Best Places For Real Estate Buys, Ten cities investors will target in 2009 our beloved Los Angeles was #7 – after San Francisco and before Paris.

Washington D.C. topped the list this year, thanks to the proposed $1 trillion swell of government spending. As Forbes notes, “At present, D.C. has the lowest unemployment rate in the country–4.1%, compared to the 7.2% national average. With President Obama’s stimulus package recommending $1 trillion in new spending, it’s unlikely government jobs–and those they support–will be leaving the District anytime soon.”

Not many investors were looking at L.A. in 2008, as we were hammered by the subprime crisis and a massive volume of foreclosures. As we all know, our perceived property poverty curtailed spending and our whole local economy limped along. We were 19^th on the 2008 Forbes World’s Best Places For Real Estate Buys, so this 12-point rise is a huge boost for real estate morale.

“It’s all about perception,” notes a local investor. “If people perceive Los Angeles is a good value, then it becomes a good value, and prices grow strong.”

Good news for local property owners - sales surged 102%in the residential sector, according to Radar Logic, a derivatives firm, and Forbes notes that this wave “has that market hinting at a bottom.”

The 2009 Top 10 Best Places For Real Estate Buys

1. Washington, D.C.

2. London, U.K.

3. New York, N.Y.

4. Tokyo, Japan

5. Shanghai, China

6. San Francisco, Calif.

7. Los Angeles, Calif.

8. Paris, France

9. Houston, Texas

10. Singapore

Please note Forbes’ rankings come from the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, a research association that tracks where member investors are finding the best opportunities around the world.

Get the whole story @ http.//www.forbes.com/2009/01/21/investment-obama-realestate-forbeslife-cx_mw_0121realestate.html?partner=alerts

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BUY WATERGATE – A INFAMOUS NIXON-ERA COMMERCIAL LANDMARK

BUY WATERGATE – A INFAMOUS NIXON-ERA COMMERCIAL LANDMARK

By Jodi Summers

Politicos will be intrigued to learn that the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. is for sale. To rattle your memory, the Watergate is famous for its role in the downfall of former president Richard Nixon, leading to his resignation.

Being offered is a 10-acre, mixed-use development is comprised of three luxury residential towers, two class-A office buildings, a 200-room hotel and a parking garage. The assets have been tentatively valued at north of $100 million.

What you get is 2600 Virginia Ave. - a 198,538-square-foot office building; 2500 Virginia Ave. - a 66,034-square-foot retail venue; and a 314-space underground parking facility.

The complex has an occupancy rate that averages in the low 90s, with the office occupied at around 96%. Office tenants include the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, Saul Ewing, the Washington Opera and PNC Bank. The US Postal Service, CVS Pharmacy and Safeway supermarket are among the retail tenants.

The property’s financing is assumable. With a term that ends October 2015, it has an initial blended rate of 5.43%.

The Watergate scandals were a series of American political scandals during the presidency of Richard Nixon that resulted in the indictment of several of Nixon’s closest advisors, and ultimately his resignation on August 9, 1974. The scandals began with the arrest of five men for breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972. The scandal has been immortalized with the trend of adding ‘gate’ to the phrases associated with scandals.

Info courtesy of:

http://www.globest.com/news/1366_1366/washington/177425-1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal

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ECONOMIC STIMULUS FOR SMALL BUSINESS

ECONOMIC STIMULUS FOR SMALL BUSINESS

 by Jodi Summers

Everyone is bitching about how the Economic Stimulus Bill does nothing to benefit small businesses. Okay, so maybe it isn’t everything the Republicans had hoped for, but as BusinessWeek.com astutely points out, President Obama’s bill contains several tax provisions designed to assist small businesses struggling through a tough economic times.

Net operating loss carryback. If your business operated in the red in 2008, but paid taxes on profits in the past five years, you can apply last year’s loss to prior-year taxes—and possibly get a refund on taxes you’ve paid in the past. It’s a bit like reassessing your property value.

 Deduct and depreciate equipment. Companies that bought new equipment in 2008 can treat it as an operating expense and immediately deduct the whole amount up to $250,000, a $117,000 increase over its previously scheduled limit.

 Shorter holding period for S-Corps. “This shortens the period that S-corp assets can be sold without paying taxes on built-in gains,” explains BusinessWeek.com. “A built-in gain is the difference between the fair market value of the assets and their tax basis at the time the company put an S-corp in place. The impact of this is that many business owners will be able to retire earlier without facing two layers of taxation.”

http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009022401?OpenDocument

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LIQUIDATING CORPORATE ASSETS – COMPANIES ARE LOOKING FOR SALE-LEASEBACK TRANSACTION

LIQUIDATING CORPORATE ASSETS – COMPANIES ARE LOOKING FOR SALE-LEASEBACK TRANSACTION

by Jodi Summers

Sale-leaseback transactions are back in vogue. With the tenuous economy, businesses of all types are interested in sale-leasebacks as an avenue to monetize their assets.

In the wake of the lending crisis, banks have sold off their retail branches and office buildings in response to declining capital positions. Locally, Countrywide Home Loans sold the office building at 5220 Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas, CA, to digital technology developer DTS, Inc. for $15.64 million or $182 per square foot. The sale is a partial sale-leaseback; with Countrywide continuing to occupy 59,457 square feet of the 85,948-square-foot building.

CoStar reports that sale-leasebacks were about 2.2% of all closed transactions by dollar volume in third-quarter 2007, totaling about $2.1 billion. During the same quarter last year, those transactions had doubled as a percentage of total sales volume to 4.4%. Notably, third-quarter 2008 was the strongest of the year for sale-leasebacks and among the strongest on record.

“Sale leasebacks are still a bright spot in the real estate market right now,” noted Bruce Westwood-Booth, managing director for Jones Lang LaSalle’s Corporate Capital Markets Group. “Volume was very strong last year and we had another record year in that area. Whether we’re just picking up market share or whether our clients are more interested, it’s hard to say….but pricing has been impacted, so we’re also seeing a rise in cap rates.”

Private investors acquired the industrial buildings at 2255-2267 Agate Court in Simi Valley, CA, from Turbonetics for $5.35 million, or $153 per square foot. The seller, a turbo systems manufacturer, will continue to fully occupy both buildings. The industrial facilities total 34,875 square feet and were constructed in 1985 in the Moorpark/Simi Valley Industrial submarket.

Jay Koster, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Corporate Capital Markets practice, predicts a significant sharpening of the corporate appetite for sale-leasebacks in 2009. He notes that inquiries from the firm’s corporate clients are up by 300% versus 18 months ago.

“Corporations are looking for capital capacity to operate their businesses and position themselves to take advantage of opportunities that will arise through this market cycle,” Koster noted. We expect that appetite will be matched by heightened demand from investors that recognize inherent value in real estate leased to strong-credit corporations.”

JLL predicted an increase in corporate sale-leasebacks last year — “and that trend will absolutely continue [in 2009] as corporations remain challenged in securing new sources of capital,” added Kenneth Rudy, Jones Lang LaSalle’s president /COO. “Investors are more willing to commit capital to acquire companies’ owned assets tied to long-term, credit leases. We also expect to see more corporate dispositions to come from downsizing in 2009 as corporations mark-to-market the value of surplus real estate inherited in acquisitions at market clearing prices.”

All the dirt @

http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=8BF2590E41B392530B05DF90ACC7A547&ref=100&iid=116&cid=383F14EEE265B182474DA2442BACBBBF

http://blog.faircosthousing.com/images/en/260746.jpg

http://firstdtsstudio.hit.bg/images/dts_digitalsurround.jpg

http://my.countrywide.com/

http://www.tcopenhouse.turbonetics-pearco.com/images/TURBONETICS%20TURBOCHARGERS%20copy.jpg

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