Props 98 is Great. Unless you are a city or mega developer.

With the upcoming election I would like to recommend that everyone take a look at the article in CityWatch

http://www.citywatchla.com/content/view/1282/

I urge a Yes on 98 and a
very big No on 99.



remember using:
98 is Great
99 is Lying

Neighborhood Associations and Community/Neighborhood Councils

I believe that Community starts at the most local level.

• Caring about the neighbors;
• taking care of a Cat or Dog while they are away.
• helping out in some small way like rolling in the trash cans.
• About all the folks on your street;
• becoming a Block Captain.
• going out front to look when a car or house alarm goes off.
• participating in (or running) a Block Party
• Blocks around your home;
• joining in to better a local elementary school.
• joining in a Neighborhood Association. (ie Ven-MarNA)
• Helping your community at large;
• participating in the local city government agencies...
• local councils for Venice or Mar Vista.
• helping in the homeless programs.
• City wide;
• CD 11 - Bill Rosendahl's office
  and the upcoming city elections or re-election campaigns etc.
• or with party politics on a County or State level.

PURPOSE OF NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS
by the CITY CHARTER voted into Law 1999 by the City Council:
"To promote more citizen participation in government and make government more responsive to local needs, a citywide system of neighborhood councils, and a Department of Neighborhood Empowerment is created. Neighborhood councils shall include representatives of the many diverse interests in communities and shall have an advisory role on issues of concern to the neighborhood."

I have filed for re-election as the Zone 6 Director of Mar Vista Community Council. I have diligently attended the board meetings and been a participant of many of the committee meetings of the board. This does not leave a lot of time left over to be a leader in the Ven-Mar NA organization but I will continue to be a big booster for the group. I have set up the web sites and started (their) message board. I have been the editor for the last two newsletters.

I urge all of you to participate as you can at all of the local levels you can. That is what makes a community like ours extra special and a rewarding part of living here in Mar Vista. Most of you are Stakeholders in Venice or Mar Vista. Please come out and vote when that election comes up.

Sincerely, Your Neighbor,

Keith Lambert
Zone 6 Director for MVCC

As posted on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VenMar/

Hot Martgage information

March Real Estate News Clip

"The California housing market in March continued to deal with problems in the real estate finance arena, rising numbers of defaults and foreclosures, and concerns about the economy. Sales of detached existing homes fell 24.5 percent from 422,300 homes in March 2007 to 318,830 homes in March 2008. Sales bucked a 4-month trend of increasing monthly sales, falling 6.4 percent compared to the February sales figure of 340,580 homes. The median price also continued its decline against prior month and prior year figures. The March median was $413,980, down a record-setting 29.0 percent from the median of $582,930 a year earlier."

Some of this may be the lower end stuff selling to developer/flipper types. The well off and well maintained property may not be in the sales volume right now. The ones I see actually selling are the better priced homes. The "deals" that are priced right. That may be adding to the heady news above.

On today’s Tuesday caravan there were two items that stood out. One a 1 bedroom Condo for 280,000 and then in Santa Monica a nice owner user type house with units. Or the other item I reviewed (not on Caravan), 40 units with a big price reduction to a 5.4% Cap Rate and good old days GRM or 11.6.

Call me to ask for details if you are interested.

Keith L.
310-391-0821