By Alan Nevin Dear Mr. Obama, I was a little disappointed when I never received a reply from the letter I wrote you last year, but I think I’ll try again. It is fairly obvious that the economy has stalled out and that nobody is doing anything creative to get us back into a more [...]
by Nathan Moeder The fall of housing values over the past couple of years has spurred the debate over which is the better investment: stocks or housing? With each article that is published, I find myself confused or just not getting the whole — analytical — story. It’s easy to make an argument that since [...]
by Gary H. London In my postapocalyptic musing about recovery from our economic collapse, I have envisioned that the source of our resuscitation might be the much-vaunted technology sector, what with its growing importance as well as the competitive advantage it offers the U.S. Knowing the construction and housing sector — which has brought us [...]
There is a decided — and quite unexpected — glow in the real estate capital markets, according to a consensus of the major debt and equity funders operating in the United States. At a conclave in New York City recently, I witnessed near unanimity on the outlook of real estate investment. There is a lot [...]
by Gary H. London There are three San Diego-based REITs eyeing the real estate market here and abroad. There are also many REITs that are located elsewhere but invest in San Diego. Many of the more than 200 listed REITs do business in San Diego. While they control big money — their total investments are [...]
Two prominent real estate strategic consultation firms with an alliance have formed a new brokerage venture focusing on hotel transactions. R. A. Rauch & Associates and The London Group Realty Advisors have formed Hospitality Advisory Services, offering unique hotel and transient commercial brokerage services. It’s not a new alliance, just an affirmation of what they [...]
by Gary H. London The recent Case-Shiller housing price index shows that prices fell in the first quarter to the lowest levels since the crash began. The drop of 4.2 percent, on top of last quarter’s 3.6 percent drop caused Standard & Poor’s, the owner of the index, to label this a “double dip” drop [...]
Sometimes such a great idea is foisted upon us that one feels terrible that you didn’t think of it first. The Idea District is imaginative nomenclature for an 80-block area of downtown San Diego’s East Village roughly bounded by City College to the north, Market Street to the south, 11th Avenue to the west and Interstate 5 to the east. This area so far has not especially benefited from the largess of downtown redevelopment momentum.
The economy has turned, certainly statistically, and perhaps even emotionally. The unemployment rate has come down nationally (to 8.9%) and, while a good sign, portends years of recovery in front of us before unemployment levels again reach 5%. There are lots of other indicators demonstrating economic growth. However, the question remains, is it “on the ground” yet? The answer would be “yes” if we saw
The recent San Diego Superior Court decision (Community Youth Athletic Center v. City of National City, et al.) to reverse the City of National City’s redevelopment plan amendment is more than meets the eye. Touted as a victory for land owners not desirous of being paid “just compensation” for the taking of their property when, in fact, they want to keep their property (in this case an “at-risk” youth boxing club), the decision has the potential to form the basis for new law or interpretations on how eminent domain is administered by every city in the state. Local land surveyor, planner and engineer Michael Pallamary, who represented the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice (which provided attorneys for the youth athletic center) as an expert witness called it “arguably one of the most important land use cases to be decided in years.”