Los Angeles Gas Prices – Seriously?!

01. May 2011 · 3 comments · Categories: Auto, Cost of Living, Living in California Southbay, Moving to California

Not to keep quoting the Economist but… it had a recent article about healthcare and why competition hasn’t driven down prices (hence making the case for government backed healthcare), and it cited gas prices as evidence that competition in some cases only sets market price to see how much consumers can bear, without necessarily driving it *down*.

Well, come to California and you’ll see that The Economist is yet again, correct. The Shell station at the corner of Prospect and Beryl has one of the highest prices in the neighborhood and it’s still in business, so someone’s buying.

And I don’t want to hear Europeans talking about how Americans are just paying what everyone else has been paying… we are comparing our gas prices today to our gas prices in the past, we’re not interested in comparing our gas prices to your gas prices.

Cultural faux pas in Los Angeles

01. May 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Moving to California

Question on Quora about some “cultural faux pas” in L.A.!
Answers from Jane Chin, Nicolas Berube, David Mickler, Lisa Borodkin, Joseph Kim, Matt Schiavenza, Jeremy Miles, and Colin Jensen.

A faux-pas would be asking, “hey are those real?”
[if they don't slug you, the follow-up would be, "who did you go to and can I have his/her name."]

Another one is name-dropping, “oh yea, {hot shot star} lives on my block and our kids go to the same school (or date the same nannies).”

Finally, “lemme guess, you’re an actor/screenwriter/model?” (then giving a lousy tip!)

More Southern California topics on Quora

Good Time to Refinance? Not For Jumbo Loans!

01. June 2008 · Write a comment · Categories: Banking in California Southbay, Cost of Living, Living in California Southbay, Moving to California, Real Estate

The feds cutting interest rates can mean only one thing: mortgage lenders are jumping at the opportunity to persuade you to refinance your loan!

There’s just one catch: if you happen to be a responsible and conscientious borrower who locked in a jumbo loan at a 30-year fixed rate mortgage, your rates are probably better than what is being offered right now on the market.

At least, that’s what I’ve found: our jumbo loan 30 year fixed rate is 6.0% and as of today, most of the interest rates for jumbo loans hover in the low 6% but generally above 6.0%. I’ve seen some as high as over 7%! It is the non-jumbo 30 year fixed rate mortgages that have the attractive high 5% rates.

Unless you’ve lived in California for decades or traded “up” a house using the equity of your first house during the housing boom, you’re likely to be paying a jumbo mortgage, which is a loan exceeding $417,000.

SoCal Home Sales Continue to Plunge

31. October 2007 · Write a comment · Categories: Cost of Living, Current Events, Living in California Southbay, Moving to California, Real Estate

From Reuters: “Sales of houses and condominiums in the most populous Southern California counties fell 29.9 percent from the previous month and 48.5 percent from a year earlier, DataQuick Information Systems said on Tuesday.

The report covers the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura and showed a total of 12,455 new and existing homes and condos sold in September, the lowest since the company began recording the data in 1988.”

Mortgage Defaults Rise in California

24. July 2007 · Write a comment · Categories: Banking in California Southbay, Cost of Living, Living in California Southbay, Moving to California, Real Estate

On the one hand, Countrywide Financial Corp. sees its second-quarter profit affected by mortgage delinquencies and defaults even among the borrowers with good credit, and the company prepares for even more people defaulting on their mortgage payments as time goes on. On the other hand, DataQuick Information Systems in La Jolla is reporting that lenders are filing over 50,000 notices of default during a 2 month period between April 2007 and June 2007 – staggering increase in 158% compared to the second quarter in 2006.

It looks like the current trend of increasing foreclosures and mortgage defaults is only going to continue – maybe even get worse.

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