Coastline Realty Advisors

A Personal Perspective On the Kaufmann House In Palm Springs

November 04 2020

Many people are familiar with this famous photo, titled “Poolside Gossip” by photographer Slim Aarons in 1970. The property pictured is the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, commissioned by department store magnate Edgar Kaufmann and designed by Richard Neutra in 1946. Many are also familiar with another famous home owned by Kaufmann – “Fallingwater” … Continue reading A Personal Perspective On the Kaufmann House In Palm Springs →

Has The Appraisal Been Hijacked By The Report?

May 27 2020

I’ve reviewed a lot of appraisal reports over my nearly four decades in practice. What I’m increasingly aware of over the years is that the appraisal report has taken over the valuation process – the cart before the horse, so to speak. The Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) has two standards that govern … Continue reading Has The Appraisal Been Hijacked By The Report? →

Commercial Real Estate in the Age of Coronavirus: Investor Sentiment Update by PwC

April 15 2020

Last week PricewaterhouseCoopers published a special update to their quarterly Real Estate Investor Survey, looking at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial real estate, specifically the retail, office, industrial and apartment sectors of the market. The results reflect considerable uncertainty in the market, but not surprisingly vary by property sector. With much of … Continue reading Commercial Real Estate in the Age of Coronavirus: Investor Sentiment Update by PwC →

Container Housing

December 27 2019

Are Recycled Shipping Containers the Answer to Affordable Housing? I recently reposted an article from the Long Beach Business Journal about CRATE Modular, a company that repurposes shipping containers for habitable use. A specific project mentioned was Potters Lane, a 16-unit apartment development for homeless veterans in Orange County, constructed entirely from recycled shipping containers. … Continue reading Container Housing →

Inglewood: A Case Study of Home Prices

December 06 2019

Residential price trends are often reported for large geographical areas, like MSA’s and counties; a popular index tracks the six-county Southern California market, an area of more than 20 million people. But while macro-economic factors have a broad market impact, submarkets are strongly influenced by local issues. These issues often have minimal impact on local … Continue reading Inglewood: A Case Study of Home Prices →

The Future of Transportation?

November 16 2019

What on earth does the decidedly ordinary-looking home in the photo have to do with the future of transportation, you might ask. In 2016, Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, was stuck in traffic and decided to start digging – tunnels – to offer yet another transportation alternative. The Boring Company thus … Continue reading The Future of Transportation? →

Home Sharing: A Tale of Conflicting Interests

September 04 2019

Manhattan Beach has an ordinance banning short-term rentals for less than 30 days in residential zones. The photo above is a property whose owner apparently didn’t get the memo, generating complaints from the neighbors, and a $4,000 fine by the city. The subsequent paint job in a nice shade of Pepto-Bismol pink, complete with huge … Continue reading Home Sharing: A Tale of Conflicting Interests →

Appraisals Under Assault (again)

August 07 2019

Appraisers have been in the crosshairs of the lending industry and regulators for decades – licensing, de minimis thresholds, HVCC and Appraisal Management Companies (AMC’s), Automated Valuation Models (AVM’s), Collateral Underwriter, evaluations, appraisal waivers and hybrid appraisals. Now a working paper titled “Appraising Home Purchase Appraisals” published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in … Continue reading Appraisals Under Assault (again) →

Remembering 9/11

May 27 2019

Most of us remember where we were when life-changing world events happened. I’m old enough to remember being on an elementary school playground when a voice over the loudspeaker announced the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. And I’m certain most of us remember where we were and what we were doing when news broke … Continue reading Remembering 9/11 →

Christ Cathedral fka Crystal Cathedral

April 23 2019

Late last year I had the opportunity to tour this amazing property with Laguna Friends of Architecture, a non-profit group dedicated to the appreciation and understanding of fine architecture and design. We often take our local architectural landmarks for granted, since we see them all the time, and this 34-acre campus encompassing some 320,000 square … Continue reading Christ Cathedral fka Crystal Cathedral →

Let’s Preserve the Integrity of Sports

January 29 2019

I normally write about stuff related to real estate, however remote the connection might be. I suppose this is about real property in a sense – the 160-foot wide area inside the 13-yard line at the Superdome in New Orleans (about 6,200 square feet). But more specifically, it’s about sports, and the integrity of our … Continue reading Let’s Preserve the Integrity of Sports →

Brady Bunch House Sells for $3.5 Million

October 17 2018

The recent sale of the Brady Bunch house in Studio City is an interesting study in the disconnect that sometimes happens between price and value (at least value as it relates to the market). As stated so eloquently by Warren Buffet, “price is what you pay, value is what you get.” For those old enough … Continue reading Brady Bunch House Sells for $3.5 Million →