A New Proposed California State law Compels cities: Build more, or we’ll do it for you

Every California city is required to build a certain amount of housing to meet the state goals, and many cities are ignoring it. The new law proposed in Sacramento would force cities to comply, or the state will push the projects forward. It is SB 35 and if passed then each city may be forced to fast track building projects. This takes control from the local level to the state. Most cities don’t like such bullying. It has not been written fully just yet, but it has been proposed by new state senator Scott Wiener. Other similar proposals sank in the senate. Initially the proposed law will allow control locally, but it may be more how a city will comply and not whether they comply. A San Francisco housing initiative pushed for 3,600 new homes every year through 2020. Other San Francisco Bay Area districts will create 160k new homes in the same period. We don’t have the figures for Los Angeles County, but the push from Sacramento is build, build, build regardless of location.

Getting Water from Air. An Antelope Valley Water Solution

A company has come up with a solution to the lack of water in the Valley. No well needed. The following is under development by VIVI-Labas and UC Berkeley. The following is from their website. The Water Seer device is planted six or more feet into the ground, and soil is then packed around its metal neck. The top of the Water Seer holds a vertical wind turbine, which spins internal fan blades to draw air into the subterranean chamber. Because the underground chamber portion of the Water Seer is cooled by the surrounding earth, water condenses in the reservoir to create a sort of an artificial well, from which people can draw clean, safe drinking water around the clock. It can draw up to 825 gallons of water from the air daily. The cost is projected to be under $200.The low-cost device was developed by VICI-Labs, in partnership with UC Berkeley and the National Peace Corps Association, as a possible solution for the 2.3 million people on the planet who lack regular access to safe drinking water. A single Water Seer device can collect up to 11 gallons of clean water every day with no external power supply required, and a collection of several devices can provide enough water to support a small village. The not-for-profit company will match US purchases of each unit by donating a Water Seer collection device to those in need living in developing countries or in arid climates. Water Seer launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise $77,000 to build “orchards” of water collection devices around the world. The device has already been tested as a prototype, and the latest model was finalized in August 2016 and will undergo field tests with the National Peace Corps Association once the crowdfunding campaign closes.

How to Donate Land to a Charity for a Deduction

A person can donate land for a charity to build on, or for the charity to sell and create revenue. Providing tax-exempt organization with a sale-able asset and staying within the Internal Revenue Service's rules and limitations, then donating can be a good alternative if you can’t sell the parcel, or an investor is just looking for the deduction The donation has to be to a real IRS charity. One that has filed the proper forms and is in good standing. Also your deduction can capped at either 50 or 30 percent of your adjusted gross income per year. If you’re over the cap then the deduction may flow over to the following year. If your income exceeds $250-$300k then itemized deductions can be reduced 80%. If may also depend if you file married or single. The issue with donating land and real estate is that the charity will then own it and have to pay state property taxes. If the land is not widely sought after then it may be difficult even for the charity to sell it and fund there goals. Other charities are real estate specific. Housing, conservation and environmental organizations are the big three. They may wish to conserve the land for endangered species, or they will later use it and never to develop land. Firms often buy land to donate to environmental groups in exchange for developing another area. A seller who wishes to donate land will still likely have to go through escrow, since the charity will wish to have clear title on the parcel without debts, and encumbrances. If there is a mortgage then that will need to be paid off and a re-conveyance filed and recorded. After you have picked the charity and made the donation then you or your accountant will need to mark it on Schedule A of at 1040 tax return. There is a form 8283, which is where the IRS has you detail your non-cash contributions. This option is a great way to get the deduction on land that you invested in some time ago, but are not reaping any rewards.

Medical Hubs to Spur Valley's Growth

Courtesy: Jim Skeen AVPress Nov 10 2016 LANCASTER - A plan to turn the area around Antelope Valley Hospital into a "Medical Main Street" will help keep talent from leaving the region and will spur economic development, city officials said Wednesday. The city wants to create a medical and healthy lifestyle hub on roughly 360 acres around the hospital. The area includes about 100 vacant acres, of which roughly 40% are owned by the hospital, which is partnering with the city on the effort. During a presentation before the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, Councilman Raj Mahli talked about how area students leave the valley to attend college and do not return. As an example, Mahli said two of his high school friends left the valley and became doctors and never returned. Medical Main Street will create a desirable area that will give students a reason to return after college, he said. "My high school buddies aren't coming here," Mahli said. "What I really hope is when my son and his friends graduate from high school and go away that they will come back and work in this community." The area the city is looking at stretches from 20th Street West to east of 12th Street West at Avenue J, and from north of Avenue J to the shopping center on 15th Street West north of Avenue K that contains offices of High Desert Medical Group. "Today the hospital is very isolated," said Chenin Dow, a management analyst with the city. "We would like to bring dining opportunities, shopping opportunities and also housing opportunities for the doctors and nurses." The city has approximately $13 million in grant funding secured for the initial improvements to the area. Sargent Town Planning, a Los Angeles-based firm that specializes in urban planning and designs that emphasize pedestrian- and transit-oriented neighborhoods, has been hired to prepare a master plan and environmental impact report for the project. The planning work is about 40% complete and will take about a year to 18 months to finish, said Vern Lawson Jr., Lancaster's economic development director. Sargent will also prepare an economic analysis for the project. The hospital already employs about 2,500 workers, Lawson said. "I would expect to double that," Lawson said. "We certainly have room to grow. We've always been the center of medical in the Antelope Valley and we want to make sure we continue that and that we shift with the times. I think this plan does that."

The Central Valley’s Water Problem is not a Drought but Politically Created Disaster

A number of California's largest reservoirs are full, but this allows water agencies to release the overflow into the ocean. This could easily be avoiding if it was not for Environmental politics. The I-5 San Joaquin Valley corridor is marked with signs begging Nancy Pelosi to turn the water back on. But instead of flowing it to farmers they send it down the drain. The Environmentalists say that pumping water via the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Delta to farmers is damaging to salmon and Delta smelt. It is estimated that 2/3rds of the state’s population and farmland relies on this water. California is essentially dumping a trillion gallons of fresh water in the ocean every year. Liberals say it is a drought, while farmers and Republican politicians claim the shortage is all about saving a non-endangered bait fish (a minnow). The San Joaquin Valley is being transformed into a dust bowl because of the politics of water. Hundreds of thousands of acres are fallow, because water is restricted. This affects many many farmers and even more so the farm workers. It appears environmental and endangered species laws are being used to force a political agenda, and in the process, doing severe damage to our country. California’s Central Valley from Sacramento to Kern County is having an Erin Brockovich moment. There is a film/video about the subject. Here is a link to Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nowaternofarmernofood/ or you can type No water, no farmer, no food into Youtube, Bing, or Google search. President elect Trump indicated while campaigning that he will do something about it. Let us see

Title Insurance and Why a Property Needs it When Buying Land or Real Estate

Title insurance is indemnity insurance. It essentially is a backup plan in the event there is an issue the ownership of the real property you are buying. It protects the buyer against financial loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity or unenforceable mortgage liens. Most home purchases have had debts on them. A buyer needs to ensure those debts to a bank or mortgage lien holder has been released. It is also meant to protect the current property owner's and or the lenders on the property their financial interest in the real property. This protects both the buyer, seller and lender against loss due to title defects, liens or other matters. Notwithstanding it will also defend against a lawsuit. Virtually everyone gets title insurance on a home when the sale is between strangers. Not everyone gets title insurance when the quit claim on real property between family members, joint tenants, and married couples. What we have found is many land parcels transactions and even home sales is where one spouse quit claims on a property to the other spouse. Years in the future that spouse retaining title sells the property. The title shows that a prior spouse quit claimed on the property without title insurance. In many cases there is an unrecorded quit claim deed. This recorded or unrecorded quit claim will create a cloud on title. A new title insurance company will require that the prior spouse sign a new quit claim deed. In many cases that prior spouse can’t be found is deceased, or is out of the country. The seller may have great difficulty in selling the home. Another major issue are deeds of trust. This is where one party buys land with a debt on the property. The buyer paid off the debt, but there was not a re-conveyance deed recorded showing the debt was cured. We have seen this a lot in many cases where the deed was paid off even decades ago. In this case the seller of the property must find the prior owner and get them to sign a re-conveyance, or if a seller is lucky the new title company will approve the sale, but will be held harmless if the old property owner shows up asking for the old debt to be paid off if it hasn’t. This clearly demonstrates that selling property with past debt can tangle up the sale of that property in the future. Occasionally, a seller may have to bond around an old deed of trust. This is where a seller pays a bonding company to protect the new buyer against an old debtor coming forward and requesting the old debt to be paid. This bonding process protects the title insurance company against such an occurrence, and places the responsibility on the seller with that prior debt to pay off that debt. The bonding process will not work for a foreign seller though. If a foreign seller has a deed of trust (debt) on a parcel that doesn’t show a re-conveyance then a bonding company will not allow a bond unless the foreign seller has other US real estate that the bonding company can attach the bond to. The bonding company needs some protection in the event the debtor wants a debt paid, but the prior seller is foreign. In such a case a foreign seller can’t sell the real estate until they can show a re-conveyance or demonstrate to a title insurance company that the debt was fully paid. In 98% of cases the title company will want the re-conveyance recorded. Buyer and seller beware of deeds of trust and quit claims.

LA County San Andreas Fault Earthquake Imminent?

200 small earthquakes hit Bombay Bay in the Salton Sea this week. This area is at the southern tip of the San Andreas Fault. There has not been a large earthquake here since 1680, or 330 years ago according to scientists who spoke to the LA Times. According to the LA Times and U.S. Geological Survey, as of Tuesday, the chances of a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake being triggered on the southern San Andreas Fault over the next seven days were as high as 1 in 100 and as low as 1 in 3,000. Without the swarm, the average chance for such an earthquake striking on any given week is 1 in 6,000. The earthquakes hit in a sparsely populated area, less than four miles from Bombay Beach in the Sonoran Desert. Historically just 12 hours after a 6.3 earthquake hit south of the Salton Sea in 1987, an even larger temblor, a 6.6, ruptured six miles away. Seismologists say the could be the first domino off on the San Andreas fault, unzipping the fault from Imperial County through Los Angeles County, spreading devastating shaking waves throughout the southern half of California in a monster 7.8 earthquake. Their ShakeOut simulation says it’s possible that hundreds of brick and concrete buildings could fall, and even a few fairly new high-rise steel buildings. The death toll could climb to 1,800 people, and such an earthquake could cause 50,000 injuries and $200 billion in damage. Let’s hope this doesn’t occur, but the next several days will tell the tale or no tale at all.