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Are you familiar with the latest $150 Fire Prevention Fee in CA?
Are you familiar with the latest $150 Fire Prevention Fee that home owners will be assessed in CA? Did you know that effective August 13th you might be receiving a $150 Fire Prevention Fee in your mail box? Owners of California real property located in a state fire responsibility area & wild land fire zone (“SRA”) that have been assessed a fee of $150.00 per habitable structure . You should expect to receive a bill from the Board of Equalization (BOE) before the end of this year. Governor Brown of California signed AB 29 of the First Extraordinary Session (“ABX1 29”) into law on July 7, 2011. ABX1 29 imposes a $150.00 annual fire prevention fee for each habitable structure for property owners in State Responsible Areas (SRA). SRA lands cover about 31 million acres in 56 counties, and include an estimated 1.1 million to 1.5 million individual parcels, and approximately 800,000 habitable structures. Public Resources Code Section 4210 provides a legislative finding and declaration that the presence of structures within SRA can pose an increased risk of fire ignition and an increased potential for fire damage within the state’s wild lands and watersheds and that the costs of fire prevention activities should be borne by the owners of these structures. The Board of Equalization (BOE) is required to annually assess and collect the fee from property owners on behalf of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) in accordance with the Fee Collection Procedures Law. CDF is responsible for providing the BOE with a list of property owners who are liable for the fire prevention fee and the amount to be assessed. For additional information about this issue please click on the enclosed link http://www.boe.ca.gov/abx129.htm On a side note if you are considering selling a property which falls into the SRA I would think you might want to disclose this annual fee so the buyer does not get surprised. My understanding is that there are some Natural Hazard Disclosure companies that add this disclosure into their packages. My advice is make sure it is in there! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreEndre Barath,Jr. of Active Rain reached a Milestone! 519,000 points !
Well I have never written a post about where I stand, how I compare to my fellow Active Rainers. I have been meaning to write a post when I reached the 500,000, mark but got busy….. so long and behold today I turned on the computer and dropped in to see where things were on Active Rain and I saw this. I had to share. If this was money not points I could buy a small Condominium in Marina Del Rey, CA:)) eventhough it is not, it is still worth sharing. 519,000 points endre (131 Associations)NameEndre Barath,Jr. Realtor Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002CompanyBeverly Hills,CA. Prudential California RealtyE-mailContact Endre Barath,Jr. Realtor Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002 (Beverly Hills,CA. Prudential California Realty)Websitehttps://www.endrebarath.comOffice Phone(310) 486-1002Cell Phone(310) 486-1002Fax(310) 306-3714AddressAttn: Endre Barath,Jr., 9696 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA, 90210DescriptionEndre represents buyers & sellers in the greater Los Angeles, he is a relocation expert,fluent in German & Hungarian, luxury homes & oceanview condominium are also his specialty. He is a land...
read moreSambazon Acai Cafe’ in Balboa Peninsula of Newport Beach!
Sambazon Acai Café at Balboa Peninsula of Newport Beach! Sambazon Café became a reality opening in Cardiff by the Sea in sunny southern California. If you’re driving down PCH stop in and get a taste of what it’s all about. As of June 2012, they decided to paint the world purple with their newest café in Newport Beach, CA. They are on the Peninsula and stoked to have you drop on by and share in the addiction. Well we did we decided to stop in to the Balboa Peninsula and we were looking for a place to get a cup of coffee/late/cappuccino any thing and we were pleasantly surprised. The SAMBAZON Açaí Café was designed in collaboration with eVocal, a community of local artists who specialize in eco design, apparel production, and environment revitalization. They continue to seek out innovative products, sustainable materials and energy efficient resources, and are firm in their commitment to better social and environmental practices in every area of the business they touch. Some of their efforts include: · Furniture and fixtures fabricated from reclaimed and salvaged metal, wood, fabrics and hardware. · Counter front and wood interiors from rescued Acacia wood. · Lighting crafted from recycled glass and found elements. · Energy saving light bulbs. · Water-based non-toxic paints, stains, glues and finishes So not only did we get an environmentally friendly coffee shop, but we got an awesome latte tooJ So if you are in Cardiff by the Sea or in the Balboa Peninsula you owe it to yourself to check out this great place. http://www.sambazon.com/cafe check out their website! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations ...
read moreThe USS Iowa (BB-61)’s new home is San Pedro, Los Angeles, CA
The USS Iowa (BB-61)’s new home is San Pedro, Los Angeles, CA I would like to give you a little History of the USS Iowa in case you are not familiar with this famous battleship. The USS Iowa was the lead ship of her class of Battleships. She was built in 1940 and was nicknamed “the Battleship of Presidents” She carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a famous meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of England and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. This meeting was held in 1943 in Casablanca. The ship was modified for President Roosevelt, what we would call today as Handicapped Accessible an elevator between to get him from one deck to another. One if the biggest attraction on the ship for the visitors is Roosevelt’s Bathroom since they installed a bathtub for him because showers were not an option for him. Sadly in spite of her famous history and her numerous participation in memorable events, most people will remember the tragic explosion of Gun #2 in 1989 which caused the death of 47 soldiers. Sadly this was the biggest peace time death count in the US Navy’s history. In 2011, the USS Iowa was donated to the Los Angeles-based non-profit Pacific Battleship Center and was permanently moved to the Port of Los Angeles at Berth 87 and was opened to the public on 7 July 2012 to serve as a museum and memorial to battleships. So we decided to check it out after about two plus weeks, we figured, the big rush would ebb, since the Olympics were going on there would be fewer visitors and more enjoyable for us. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreHow many of you watch Jay Leno? Jill & Douggy watch Leno all the time!
How many of you watch Jay Leno? Jill & Douggy watch Leno all the time! Ok In all fairness, Diane is usually asleep already when Leno comes on. Well this evening we were both up late. Interestingly Jay Leno had an animal person on and looks at what Jill & Douggy were doing. Obviously they are Jay Leno fans! Let me know who your cats are watching late at night! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue...
read moreThe Summer Olympics of 2012 Started in London Today!
The Summer Olympics of 2012 Started in London Today! As most of you know the Summer Olympics started today. Times like this I reflect and remember how my parents used to get the TV Guide Magazine with the ’ insert’ listing all the events with dates and times. In those days we did not know it was a Spread Sheet. How fun it was to schedule our lives to the events that we wanted to see and enjoy. We planned everything outside of sleeping, working and school to these events. Well if you would like to do the same. I got my hands on a similar version from one of the Title Reps who help us out in the Beverly Hills Prudential Office. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreAR & HomeFinder.com help to reflect,analyze in a business makeover!
Active Rain & HomeFinder.com help to reflect, analyze in a business makeover for many real estate agents and members. This post was inspired by my fellow AR Members to reflect, analyze and create a road map how to make over my own Business. I have been reading a great many blog posts from agents on Active Rain reflecting, analyzing and telling us how they plan on doing a Make Over of their Business. These are all wonderful and interesting posts to read. I found it even more interesting as to how they plan on achieving their goals. Overall I must give them kudos for sharing their internal observations of their short comings and how they plan on rectifying them. Their sharing has encouraged me to reflect as well. Even though, I continuously reflect daily, nightly, weekly and monthly as to where I need changes. This made me revisit some of my current routines. I have already made a great many tweaking of how I have been conducting my business over the past few years. In fairness to disclosure, I was not motivated by a contest on Active Rain nor was it done due to some altruistic reasons. Rather I was forced to make the changes, by our challenging downturn of our economy in the past few years. The last three years have been challenging at best, so Perseverance has been my motto to live by daily, nightly and weekly. To be able to get up every day with a fresh, new and positive outlook was one of the hardest challenges that I achieved and managed not only to survive but grow. The results of my tweaks of the past few years resulted in the following: to sum it up, I have now one of the most up-to-date home business equipment rivaling many Brokerages’ office equipment. In spite of that, I am missing a dedicated scanner, (since the last one clonked out). So that is priority number one for my make over. The goal is to achieve this from the proceeds of my next sale. I will provide myself with the latest top of the top of the line dedicated Scanner. I could use some improvements on my on line presence by having a few more landing pages and switching to a WordPress based blog & website to mention a few internet make over goals. This I still have a long road ahead because I need to be able to block time off and focus and dedicate to this enormous challenge. The result will generate huge benefits, I will be more efficient in delivering documents to my clients and I will be able to have my information out on the Internet to more potential buyers and sellers in the greater Los Angeles area from the Hollywood Hills to Malibu, who could use my skills. Well I could go on and on but this would bore everyone to tears, hence I will stop here. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at...
read moreDid you hear we had a 3.7 & 2.4 magnitude earthquake in Marina Del Rey
Did you hear we had a 3.7 & a 2.4 earthquake yesterday in Marina Del Rey? I know to most of you it is no big deal, for those of us who live in Southern California, earthquakes are part of life. I was jolted awake from a deep sleep around 3:19am yesterday by a 3.7 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was about 1.5 miles from Marina Del Rey, where we live. Two of our cats did not even get fazed by it and our third one looked at me sort of inquisitively. Diane slept thru the event. Keep in mind it lasted less than five seconds. Since there was no damage even the picture frames remained in their normal position I was appreciative and rolled over and continued sleeping. Needless to say the following morning, when I had time, I checked and discovered that around 5:27am there was also a 2.4 earthquake. Lucky for all of us there were no injuries or damage reported. Times like this we need to review our own readiness for disaster. As most of us fall into the habit of not having our “ducks in a row”, this should be a good reminder to have our Travel Bags with supplies packed and ready to go with our important documents. Especially, since when disaster strikes we do not have precious time to pack and organize things. For those of us who have pets we should have to have a plan to take them and have supplies for them as well. So with that note, I will be periodically posting what we should be doing on an ongoing basis. For now I am just very grateful that we dogged a serious disaster this time. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreWhat does the Olympic Flame and Real Estate have in common?
What does the Olympic Flame and Real Estate have in common? As you know The XXX Olympiad will begin in London England this coming Friday. This reminded me of the question I raised above. I still remember going to the 1972 Olympiad in Munich Germany like yesterday. Sadly it was marred with Tragedy. I also wish that everyone should be able to go to one Summer or Winter Olympics in their life time. Not necessarily as a participant but at least as a spectator. I was lucky that my parents sacrificed from their wants and needs so I could go. So now back to my question, what does the Olympic flame and Real Estate have in common? Three hollowed word that is spoken in Real Estate: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! So here is the common connection: Legend has it that the ancient games were dedicated to the goddess of Hestia and they maintained a continuous flame. It was believed that at some point in time the fire was stolen from the gods by Prometheus. Hence the fire was also present at many locations in Olympia, Greece. The Olympic Games were to honor Zeus and additional fires were lit at his temple and at that of his wife, Hera. Hence the ceremonial flame is always lit in front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece! This tradition is to symbolize the connection between the ancient and the modern Olympic Games, the LOCATION! So the next time you see the Olympic Flame please remember that there is a Real Estate Connection! If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
read moreHome Ownership Made Easy in Los Angeles or anywhere else!
Home Ownership Made Easy in Los Angeles or anywhere else: Advice to first time home buyers. When considering buying a home for the first time in Los Angeles or anywhere else, you need to answer these questions. I have noticed that many people have been inundated with dubious or bad information. Ironically this is not just coming from the media, but relatives and friends as well. So how do you make heads and tails of all the misinformation out there? Are you aware that Fannie Mae did a National housing survey in 2011 and discovered that the four biggest reasons why people buy a home, has nothing to do with money: 1. they want a place where they can raise their family and feel safe, 2. they want plenty of living space, 3. They want to have control of their space and 4. They want a place where they can raise their children and family. To help you, I would recommend ask yourself this one important question: Does buying really make better sense, rather than renting? My advice is forgetting the financial benefits for a moment, focus on: Why did you first begin to consider purchasing a home? I will give you an example: My father was renting most of his life. As he was getting different landlords certain things started to annoy him. These were some of the landlord complaints that started to get to him “why do you always laugh so much?”, “no you are not allowed to put holes in the wall to hang paintings”, “your son should not be typing after 10pm it is disturbing us”, “No you cannot put an Air-conditioning in the window” Anyway you get the picture, he got fed up of following various rules and policies, so he decided he wanted to be the one making the rules. Getting the right answer is easy: Search your soul and find out what your long term goals are. Then take the answers, review and analyze and sleep on your decision. Once you did all that, you will know that you have the right answer for your situation. Then you are ready to buy and you will know why you want to buy a home. Then and only then, get a seasoned knowledgeable Realtor and discuss your situation on how to achieve your goal of home ownership. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Playa Vista, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of my commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations...
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