Palos Verdes Real Estate

The Thing About Loans

I'm sure anyone who has tried to get a real estate loan during the past 6 months knows this, but for the rest, it's a lot like going to see your proctologist and about as pleasant. All the old rules are out and the primary hiring criterion for underwriters appears to be that they must have been diagnosed with a severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Want a second opinion? OK, they don't get out much either. To be fair, the...Continue Reading!

World War II Detention Camps

While the commonly held public view of the Government "relocation" of those of Japanese ancestry in the early months of WW 2 is that it was a "disgrace" and "a stain on our national history", there is another side to this that most Americans don't know: While classified information for 50 years following the end of WW 2, it is now commonly known that, in the months leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, US cryptanalysts had been working feverishly on...Continue Reading!

Around and Around We Go

Do you remember the old carnival ride where you climbed into a big 30 foot diameter cylinder and stood against the wall?  The thing began rotating, pressing you against the wall, and then some nutcase removed the floor from beneath your feet.  However, you were held in place by centrifugal force, which was clear when you looked across the cylinder at the other riders stuck to the wall.  What would have happened if someone had tripped over the cord and...Continue Reading!

All Is Not What It Seems

Apologies to Gilbert & Sullivan.  Real estate price declines have been all over the news during the past few months, with stomach-churning numbers up to 41% decline fairly common. There is no doubt that, overall, prices have declined from their 2007 peaks, but there is an interesting phenomenon afoot below the surface that is fooling those coming up with these numbers: The lower end of the market (under about $750,000) is currently hotter than a 1951 Crosley with a bad thermostat.  One...Continue Reading!