Happy Fall. My favorite time of yearā¦there is no question that weāre absolutely blessed to
believing where we do, in beautiful, sunny Southern California, especially this time of year.
We are blessed also that we are not enduring the terrible pain and suffering of those in the
Carolinas, still reeling from the damaging floods. Our hearts and prayers go out to them in
the South East.
As we enter the final quarter of 2018, we continue to see a strong economy, with unemployment at
record lows and while interest rates were hiked by .025% by the Federal Reserve last week, it was expected and economists (and the market) are not panicking, saying the economy is in good shape. So much so, the new Fed position is that the economy can āforge ahead on its own with less help from the monetary side.ā The Fed rate increased for the third time this year, and the eighth in the current hiking cycle, which began in 2015, and it is expected to be increased again. While the rate has been increased we all need to remember that rates are still quite low.
On the real estate front, we are also continuing to see price increases with inventory increasing as well. The numbers for sales from July, show an increase also. The activity at open houses has increased with the major difference I can see is that buyers are a little more cautious perhaps taking time to make those all-important offers. There is still a great deal of all cash transactions being made, as well as that ever-popular bankā¦. Bank of Mom & Dad.
How is the great neighborhood of Brentwood Circle doing? In a comparison of this past quarter vs. the third quarter of last year, it is slightly different. Currently there are no properties for sale, vs. 2 last year, as for escrows, there are 2, and last year there was 1, and closed escrows, a huge difference, 1 this past quarter, and 7 last year! I believe this difference is reflected by the number of homes that were new or totally remodeled in the community. You might be interesting in either knowing about or attending the community hearing being held on Tue the 9th of October at Skirball at 7:00 pm on the proposed creation of the park in Mission Canyon in the Sepulveda Pass. Should this and the Berggruen Institute both come to pass, the traffic in our area will certainly be impacted, which I personally am not in favor of nor looking forward to. I am planning on attending and will keep you posted.
Please check out my appā¦ carole schiffer. Just go to your friendly app store, type in my name and Voila, you are in!