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‘the law of the land’

A Buyer wanted to purchase vacant land that could be subdivided (split) to build two houses. The Buyers agent, found a vacant lot in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) described as “all usable 2.62 acres, county states 1 acre min. lot size could be split”

The Buyers agent confirmed with the Sellers agent that the lot could be split. The purchase contract gave the Buyers the right to investigate and inspect the vacant lot within 21 days of acceptance. After the sale closed, the Buyers learned from their civil engineer that the lot could not be split because the county had designated it ‘impact sensitive’ requiring a 4-acre minimum lot size. The Buyer sued the Sellers agent for intentional misrepresentation.

At trial, the Sellers agent argued that the Buyer had ample opportunity to inspect and investigate the requirements for Lot Splitting before the sale closed. He also testified he had talked on the telephone “to the county” and was assured the lot could be split. The Buyers made it known to their agent and the Sellers agent that they wanted to purchase a vacant lot that could be subdivided so as to build two houses.

Though the sales contract had an exculpatory clause that said the Sellers did not guarantee the condition of the property, the judge said, the MLS Listing and the Sellers agents statements led the Buyers to believe that the lot could be divided. The fact the Buyers had 21 days to investigate and inspect the property to verify whether it could be divided did not create a legal obligation to do so, the judge emphasized. The evidence presented at trial indicates the Sellers agent intentionally misrepresented the vacant lot, he noted. Therefore, the exculpatory clause in the sales contract does not protect the Sellers agent from liability for deceit, and the Buyers may proceed with their lawsuit for damages.

I have been a realtor and real estate land specialist in Los Angeles for the past 15 years, creating opportunities for land-owners and Buyers by brokering vacant land throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. I can be contacted at sales (at) westsideland (dot) com and information can be obtained from www.westsideland.com.

‘land value created over time’

Summertime! A time to execute the meandering and wandering that you have been planning. It is peak season to be out and about and taking in the season of the sun. After all, should a balmy summer’s night not be savored with good company?

While summer is tops for warmer days, leisure and relaxation, taking time out to map your future is always a very wise move. In planning for what is ahead, you can give yourself (and loved ones) the gift of comfort and security for years to come.

Land Banking is just one of those smart ways to plan for the future. Strategically located raw land hardly requires maintenance in order for its value to increase. Historically, land appreciates over time and may be a very good speculative investment for those who wish to purchase and hold it for a number of years. And since land is a fixed commodity, its value continues to rise with population increases in the area. Detroit can build more cars, Wall Street can float more stock issues, but there is only so much land.

Whether you are new to the concept of Land Banking or a seasoned speculative investor, an individual or group considering raw land as part of your portfolio, owning the right piece of dirt can provide a handsome return on one’s investment.

I have been a realtor and real estate land specialist in Los Angeles for the past 15 years, creating opportunities for land-owners and Buyers by brokering vacant land throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. I can be contacted at sales (at) westsideland (dot) com and information can be obtained from www.westsideland.com

By Robert Frank CNBC – Tuesday, October 1st, 2013.

As the wealthy get wealthier, they are putting more of it into land.

America’s 100 largest individual landowners added 700,000 acres to their landholdings last year, according to the Land Report 100, put out by the www.landreport.com and www.fayranches.com. Those 100 individuals or families now control more than 30 million acres, or 2 percent of America’s entire land mass.

Ranches and farmland have become a popular investment for the wealthy, who are looking for more stable and tangible stores of wealth. Many of the largest landowners also generate income from their land, from sustainable timber and agriculture.

“Significant properties are a finite commodity and have repeatedly shown over time to be resistant to our most challenging economic times”, said Greg Fay of Fay Ranches, the ranch brokerage firm.

Topping the list again this year is John Malone, with 2.2 million acres. The cable titan added to his landholdings this year, with the purchase of two properties in the posh horse country of Wellington, Fla., totaling more than 120 acres.

Ted Turner ranked second again with 2 million acres-making Malone and Turner the Gates/Buffett of landholdings.

Most of the top landholders are families that either own or owned timber companies, like the Emmerson family and Irving family.

But big changes in the list were further down the ranks, with Stan Kroenke the real estate and sports magnate vaulting from No.10 to No.8. He purchased the Broken O Ranch last November, giving him an additional 125,000 acres and bringing his total to 848,571 acres.

Some other big landowners include Jeff Bezos, with 290,000 acres, the Koch family with 239,000 acres and hedge fund titan Louis Moore Bacon, with 215,990 acres.

Here is the full list of the top 10:

1. John Malone, 2.2 million acres
2. Ted Turner, 2 million acres
3. The Emmerson family,1.86 million acres
4. Brad Kelley, 1.5 million acres
5. The Irving Family, 1.25 million acres
6. The Singleton Family, 1.1 million acres
7. The heirs of King Ranch, 911,000 acres
8. Stan Kroenke, 848,571 acres
9. The heirs of Pingree lumber and wood-products company, 830,000 acres
10. The Reed family, 730,000 acres.

I have been a realtor and real estate land specialist in Los Angeles for more than 15 years creating opportunities for land-owners and Buyers brokering vacant land throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. I can be contacted at sales (at) westsideland (dot) com and information can be obtained www.westsideland.com

‘building green’

USGBC

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.

What is LEED?

LEED is an internationally recognized green building program. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based, market-driven program that provides third-party verification of green buildings. From individual buildings and homes, to entire neighborhoods and communities, LEED is transforming the way built environments are designed, constructed, and operated. Comprehensive and flexible, LEED addresses the entire lifecycle of a building.

Participation in the voluntary LEED process demonstrates leadership, innovation, environmental stewardship and social responsibility. LEED provides building owners and operators the tools they need to immediately impact their building’s performance and bottom line, while providing healthy indoor spaces for a buildings occupants.

LEED projects have been successfully established in 135 countries. International projects, those outside the United State, make up more than 50% of the total LEED registered square footage. LEED unites us in a single global community and provides regional solutions, while recognizing local realities.

How it Works

For commercial buildings and neighborhoods, to earn LEED certification, a project must satisfy all LEED pre-requisites and earn a minimum 40 points on a 110 point LEED rating system scale. Homes must earn a minimum of 45 points on a 136-point scale.

Learn about LEED

LEED is developed, implemented and maintained with the help of the LEED Committees. Focusing more on the application of LEED, the LEED International Round Table identifies ways LEED can better meet the needs of global users. Together, these groups include representation from a variety of industries across the country and around the globe.

USGBC is your source for up-to-date, high quality education on the rating systems. Visit www.USGBC.org

I have been a realtor and real estate land specialist in Los Angeles for more than 15 years creating opportunities for land-owners and Buyers brokering vacant land throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. I can be contacted at sales (at) westsideland (dot) com and information can be obtained from www.westsideland.com

“less is more”

In 2014 the Los Angeles City Council instructed the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to prepare and present an Ordinance to amend the Baseline Mansionization Ordinance (2008) and the Baseline Hillside Ordinance (2011) in order to “stabilize the conflict” of out-of-scale homes that continued to grow rapidly in Los Angeles neighborhoods.

Effective March 17, 2017 pursuant to a new Ordinance Number: 184,802 the provisions governing development of single-family (RA,RE,RS R11) residential zoned properties citywide, are now modified to establish new regulations regarding the size and bulk of new and or enlarged homes, and to further regulate grading and earth import/export in designated Hillside areas.

Although more restrictive than the ordinances passed in 2008 and 2011respectively, Buyers of Residential Properties in the City of Los Angeles whether it be vacant land or a house, need no longer be concerned as to what they can or cannot build on their property as the New Ordinance (#184, 802) is now settled law.

I have been a realtor and real estate land specialist in Los Angeles for more than 15 years creating opportunities for land-owners and Buyers, brokering vacant land throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. I can be contacted at sales (@) westsideland (dot) com and information from www.westsideland.com.

When ’scouting vacant land’ and you are bitten by a rattler, the key is to act fast in order to provide the best treatment and reduce the risk of venom reaching other parts of your body.

Call for help: Quickly make a 9-1-1 call or arrange for someone to take you to the emergency room.

Keep calm: While it is important for the person helping you remain calm, it’s even more important than you avoid getting frantic and panicky. If your heart starts to beat faster, this could increase the rate at which the venom will spread through your body.

Wash the bite: Use soap and water to throughly clean the site of the snakebite. This will wash away any venom left on your skin and reduce the risk of infection. If you have a snakebite kit with you, now is the time to get it out and follow the instructions provided.

Remove clothes and jewelry: It’s important to remove any tight fitting clothing or jewelry around the snakebite. This could restrict blood flow to certain body parts if swelling should develop around the bitten area. Items like rings and watches, which are usually fitted snugly to the skin, must be removed as soon as possible.

Immobilize the area: Keep the area as still as possible. If you can, make sure that the bitten area is kept at level that is lower than your heart. This restricts blood flow and keeps the venom from spreading quickly.

Apply a bandage: Wrap the area that is a few inches above the snakebite and not the bitten area itself. This will also help slow down the venom. Be sure the bandage is not too tight – you should be able to slip your finger under it.

Monitor vital signs: Watch for significant changes in your pulse rate and or breathing patterns, and be sure to report these symptoms to medical help.

I have been a realtor and a real estate land specialist in Los Angeles for more than 15 years creating opportunities for land-owners and Buyers, brokering vacant land through the Great Los Angeles area. I can be contacted at sales@westsideland (dot) com and information from westsideland.com.

‘sink or swim’

Whether purchasing an existing home, a fixer-upper or tear-down, the component that often gets most overlooked and/or understated in a general inspection is usually the existing swimming pool on the subject property.

One major issue that a buyer can encounter, is copper plumbing on these existing swimming pools. This can be observed as it exits the ground in the pool equipment room/area. Copper on house plumbing is a good thing; copper on pool plumbing is a fragile ticking time bomb. To replace it, the surrounding pool decks must be demolished, then removed for the re-plumb to take place. Copper plumbing on swimming pools was the material of choice up until the early 1970’s. After that era, builders switched to white plastic schedule 40 PVC. Swimming pool chemistry often gets out of the ideal ranges especially if maintained by a non professional or by the homeowner who has very little knowledge of knowing how to maintain a swimming pool professionally. The Ph of a swimming pool is the measurement of acid verses a base present in the water. If a swimming pool gets too acidic, it will “strip” or eat the interior wall of the copper plumbing. Copper, compared to other metals, is so soft it does not resist corrosive acid. A pool with copper plumbing that was constructed in, say 1970 or before, could have been dangerously acidic 20 times in its life or more. Pool service people often just “splash and dash” without careful testing and calculating the quantities of acid required to correct the basic nature of pool plaster. If they add too much acid, small amounts of the wall thickness of the copper pipe is removed when the acidic water is circulated. The copper can also be stripped if a pool pump was installed that is over sized and hydraulically moves too much water through these pipes. The friction created by fast moving water carved the Grand Canyon, and will certainly remove the interior walls of the copper pipes just as easily. Swimming pool contractors should make it a policy not to re-plaster a pool or pour new concrete surrounding the pool without total revision of the plumbing system. Because, if a freshly plastered pool starts to leak, then the pool owner will question the plaster’s integrity and its ability to hold the water, and the contractor will claim the copper plumbing failed, resulting in a dispute that will cost both parties unnecessary time and money. Or worse yet, the plumbing leaks two years after the contractor has gone out of business. Other areas of concern on these older swimming pools are cracks inside the plastic skimmer area. The skimmer area is under the circular deck lid on the pool deck which is a common area for leakage.

Home Warranty policies offered by Insurance Companies can give a Buyer a false sense of security, because like most Home Insurance policies, it will only cover simple fixes. Note that most Home Warranty policies exclude any below ground swimming pool repairs. A point of interest is that many insurance companies unfairly deny claims from pool owners on the basis of dirty filters, rodent chewed wires, rodent droppings, et al, which they consider “lack of maintenance” by pool owners. So, pool owners may want to “tidy up” so-to-speak and photograph for their records their pool equipment room/area before calling the pool repair person. More importantly, the best route for a Buyer interested in upgrading or keeping an existing swimming pool, is to consult with a licensed swimming pool professional before moving forward with the purchase of the property.

I have been a realtor and real estate land specialist in Los Angeles for the past 15 years creating opportunities for land-owners and Buyers brokering vacant land throughout the Greater Los Angeles area. I can be contacted at sales (at) westsideland (dot) com and information can be obtained from www.westsideland.com