All the leaves are brown and the sky is gray, I’ve been for a walk on a winter day
I’d be safe and warm if I was in LA, California Dreamin’ on such a winter’s day
the Mamas and the Papas, 1965
If you are my generation, you are smiling. If you are young, you have no idea what I am talking about. So if you are lost right now, I will wait a few minutes while you “Google” the song “California Dreamin”.
Okay, are you back? This song was written by John Phillips who was a struggling writer/musician in New York yearning for the warmth of Southern California. It was an inspiration for millions of East Coast kids like me. Along with the Beach Boys, an image was created of a lifestyle that brought warm weather, beaches, bikinis and opportunity for everyone. Hordes of us left the frigid East and headed West, and most of us found what we were looking for.
Boy have things changed!
In the past few years, one friend left for Idaho, another for Montana, and yet another for Florida. I hear others talking about relocating to North Carolina, Tennessee or Texas. What happened? What is going on in the Golden Land of Opportunity?
How about this? California is the most populous sate in the country with almost 40 million people. Yet, in 2020, we lost 182,000+ people net – the first reported annual population loss since 1850 ( US Census). Between 2009 and 2016 13,000 businesses left our state; 765 more in 2018 and 2019. Charles Schwab left San Francisco in 2020.
According to the Tax Foundation and the 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index – statetaxindex.org- California ranks 46th in corporate taxes, 49th in individual taxes, 47th in state taxes, 14th in property taxes and 23rd in unemployment insurance taxes. We are 50th in cost of doing business, 50th in business friendliness and 48th in regulatory burdens. I won’t trouble you with crime stats, homeless tents on streets and overpasses, and other social issues.
Meanwhile, if you watched the Super Bowl this past Sunday, you saw camera shots of some of LA’s finest elites, politicians and NFL honchos all ignoring the Covid rules they have helped promulgate for the rest of us. Now, on February 14, 2022 the Los Angeles Real Estate Investors Club published its Economic Update. Here is a highlight – lowlight?
Football Has Sent Inglewood Home Prices and Rents Skyrocketing
The NFL approved plans for the Rams to relocate in 2016. At that time, Inglewood was one of the most affordable places to buy a home in LA County, and roughly 2/3 of its 108,000 residents were renters. According to Zillow, the median home sales price was $402, 271. Currently, the median has climbed to $739, 254. A one bedroom apartment in 2016 rented for $1100 – today it is $1750 – a $650 increase compared to $335 for other LA communities. now, the LA Clippers will be erecting a new arena just south of Sofi stadium. The report states that residents now fear that the new stadiums and other developments will make Inglewood too expensive to live in, and will increase gentrification. According to the local MLS, the priciest home in Inglewood history sold this past September one mile from SoFi stadium for $1.351 million. It last sold in 2014 for $424, 900!
If you are leaving California and hold a note here, call me and let us get you some pricing. If you hold a note in any other state and have been presented an opportunity that requires cash, let us give you an option to consider – selling your note. We will do our best.
