Homeless encampments and crime grow after businesses close in Los Angeles
REAL ESTATE NEWS
After 20 years of uplifting renaissance, Downtown Los Angeles may be hitting a plateau, or worse — slipping into a sh!thole abyss. With more vacant commercial locations, dropping home prices and unfinished construction now a plague of the city center, DTLA sees exploding tent cities, trash and crime. #losangeles #realestate #homeprices
Has Downtown stopped rising? Another indication may be that the once-popular DTLA Rising website has dropped in popularity, and now has been completely down for a number of days.
Downtown loft and condo prices have dropped 3% to 7% over the last 12 months. That is for sold prices, so the L.A. Loft Blog asked a big question in a recent post: “Are rents falling in Downtown Los Angeles? Below is a long answer to that question. | VIDEO
Because homeless citizens are not receiving the level of law enforcement service that they need, homeless are being neglected and victimized by crime at a growing rate. The overall crime rate in Downtown is 38% higher than the national average. For every 100,000 people, there are 9.72 daily crimes that occur in Downtown. Crimes against homeless people increased by 24% in 2019. The Los Angeles Police Department policy now tends to ignore most petty crimes involving homeless, which increases the chances of more serious crimes in the future. Additionally, LAPD usually fails to promptly dispatch police units to help prevent crime when citizens call to report potentially dangerous situations. A recent report of a man wielding an 18 inch machete at Elysian Park took more than 45 minutes for police arrival on the scene.
Pit bull threats are up. Several small dogs and people have been injured in Downtown and Lincoln Heights over the last two years. Leashless packs of pit bulls now regularly roam downtown parks from the Arts District to the lawn of LAPD headquarters, attacking other dogs, causing canine screams of pain, as permanently injured human victims watch in horror. More recently, a homeless couple living in a motorhome in Lincoln Heights near Downtown Los Angeles asked that the owner of a small dog to go away to avoid the pit bull, strongly suggesting that he cross the street. When the local resident suggested that the aggressive pittbull should be wearing a muzzle, the homeless man threatened to feed the small dog to the pit bull “for breakfast”.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES RENT PRICES: UP OR DOWN?
Downtown rents are stable. Rent prices stayed about the same as last year. That’s good news for renters, but real estate investors profits are now beginning to get squeezed. More have moved into lofts, condos and apartments for lease as 472 rentals have been filled in the last six months, up by 22 over the same period in the previous year. That increase is tiny, however, compared to the large number of new rentals that have been constructed. The average price per square foot dropped by 18 cents, whereas landlords and investors were hoping for an increase. It look about 3 days longer to rent out each place, which costs landlords about $275 more to rent out each place on average.
As 24% of Californians have seriously considered moving out of the state, Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association says that Californians are nearing another California tax revolt.
It’s certainly not all bad news; Row DTLA shopping center is booming, as are many other businesses. The new Apple store under construction on Broadway is achieving slow, steady progress. At least Downtown has not experienced any kind of major exodus. Downtown residents are staying put longer. More people moved into Downtown in the more recent 6 months than in the same period the previous year. If and when L.A. Downtowners and Californians decide to gain control of the tent city trouble, conquer crime and figure out how to deliver more effective government at a lower cost, then Downtown L.A. will continue to thrive with an extremely bright future.
Get a cash offer within 24 hours for your loft, condo or house. Fill out the online form:
Happy New Year 2020Corey Chambers SoCal Home Newsletter New Year 2020
The SoCal Home — More Than Real Estate News
And The New Year’s Resolution is…
Round about this time of year most begin to make resolutions. I think the idea is to resolve to be better, do better or accomplish something grander in the NEW year than in the previous year. However, for whatever reason most fall short of keeping a resolution let alone achieving it! I for one have been guilty of it. #happynewyear #2020
How about you?
There’s a great book that helped me and my team dramatically improve our follow through on achieving important goals and I want to share it with you – as sort of a Happy New Year After Christmas Gift. Before I share the book details, here is my TWO PART resolution to you and anyone you know considering selling the place they call home!
Part one: The Guarantee! – I will guarantee, in writing, the sell of your home for 100% of Asking Price or I’ll Pay the Difference.*
Part two: The Give Back! – Just like last year, we are on a mission to raise $25,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. We do this by donating to them a portion of our income from homes we sell. As you know Children’s Hospital Los Angeles does awesome work in helping kids fight through and survive nasty life threatening diseases like cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia and others. They also lead the way in early diagnosis of Autism and rapid recovery from spinal cord injuries. Most don’t know though that Children’s is a non-profit, so they depend on sponsorships and donations to provide their world class care and keep costs for families of these beautiful kids to a minimum. So when you or anyone you know does business with is, not only do we deliver on our award-winning service, you can rest assured a very worthy cause benefits as well. #chla | VIDEO
The book I mentioned is The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World by A. J. Baime. We’ve heard lots of news about presidents lately. We think that we have tough decisions to make — well imagine being the one who had to make all of the most critical decisions about the Great Depression, Hitler, Stalin, Roosevelt and the atom bomb! Look at this very entertaining book!
In This Issue Vol 5, Issue 1 January 2020
—Your New Year’s Resolution, maybe
—The NEW Year and Your Friends
—How Your Referrals Help the Children
—And Much More
For the month of January, anyone you know wanting to sell their loft, condo or house, I will guarantee the sale of their home for 100% of Market Value or I’ll Pay the Difference.*
They outline the goals, I agree to deliver, if I don’t, I pay the penalty. Who do you know considering selling their home that would benefit from that kind of peace of mind? Just let me know and we’ll give them a call!
AND REMEMBER… YOUR referrals help the Kids…
Just like last year, we are on a mission to raise $25,000 for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. We do this by donating a portion of our income from homes we sell. As you know Children’s Hospital Los Angeles does great work in helping kids fight through and survive nasty life threatening diseases like cancer, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, leukemia and others. They also lead the way in helping kids come back from spinal cord injuries as well as early diagnosis of autism. Last year alone Children’s helped over 1,000,000 kids right here in Greater Los Angeles.
BUT, Children’s relies on Sponsorships and Donations to provide their elite level care and keep families expenses to a minimum. So YOUR REFERRALS REALLY DO HELP THE KIDS…
Who do you know considering buying or selling a home you could refer to my real estate sales team?
Not only will they benefit from our award-winning service, you can rest assured we are also donating to a very worthy cause.
I want to make it easy to refer your friends, neighbors, associates or family members considering making a move, so here are your options:
2. You can go towww.ReferralsHelpKids.com and enter their contact info on line or forward the link to who you know considering a move.
3. Of course you can always call me direct as well at 213-880-9910.
Over the last decade of helping thousands of people sell, buy or lease the place they call home, we have met some wonderful, loving, caring people. People like you! And any one considering a move you send our way, you can rest assured that not only will they get the award winning service we are known for but a very worthy cause will benefit as well.
Thanks again and Happy New Year!
Corey Chambers, Broker Associate – Realty Source, Inc.
P.S. The story of this young person enclosed may cause you to look at your loved ones differently. It did me. Check it out.
Over the last two decades of helping thousands of families sell their home and/or buy another, we have met some wonderful, loving, caring people. People like you! So your referrals, those you know considering a move, that we help – you can rest assured that not only will they get the award winning service we are known for and the guarantee to back it up, but that a solid portion of the income we receive from the transaction will go toward a very worthy cause.
Again, it’s easy to refer your friends, neighbors, associates or family members considering making a move:
2. You can go to www.ReferralsHelpKids.comandenter their contact info on line or forward the link to who you know considering a move.
3. Of course you can always call me direct as well at 213-880-9910.
IMPACTFUL REAL ESTATE NEWS
Why I Support Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
I grew up right here in Los Angeles. Born right nearby at St. Francis Hospital. I remember when I first heard about a young person close to our family suffering from a nasty disease and getting treated for that at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. It was then that I began to pay closer attention to the work they do at that hospital. Since then, I have learned that it is a collection of hard working health care professionals, most making their home right here in the Los Angeles area, all coming together for a common cause. That cause is to help young people over come unfortunate health issues that life sometimes throws our way. Being a Los Angeles area, California native, I take pride in supporting in any way that I can the good work these people do at Children’s. My team rallys around our annual goal of raising money and donating portions of our income to help Children’s in their quest to heal young people when they need healing. My team and I are committed to providing outstanding results for buyers and sellers referred to us by our past clients. I have discovered that Children’s Hospital Los Angeles shares similar commitments to their patients. And since their services survive on sponsorships and donations we are happy to contribute and proud to support them.
Sincerely,
Corey Chambers 213-880-9910
Built to Last
Imagine back pain so debilitating you can’t even get out of bed. For 18-year-old Eric, an innovative surgery finally provided relief and the chance to pursue his dreams. By Eunice Oh
It’s a phrase every athlete fears—three words that can end a season or even a career.
“You need surgery.”
This is what 18-year-old baseball player Eric heard last year. For the pitcher and catcher it was crushing news. Eric worried that he’d let his team down. And he wondered: How long would it take to recover? Would he ever return to the field?
Then Eric felt yet another bout of excruciating pain in his back. A brace and physical therapy hadn’t provided relief in months, and he was desperate. Surgery wasn’t just the best option, it was his only one.
Eric had a spinal condition called spondylolisthesis. One of his lower vertebrae had slipped onto the bone beneath it and was pressing on some nerves, which was triggering the unbearable stabbing sensations. An initial MRI also revealed a highly complex fracture.
“One of his spine bones was shattered into multiple pieces, kind of like sand in your eye,” says David L. Skaggs, MD, MMM, Chief of the Children’s Orthopaedic Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “His case was complicated because it not only required a repair of the fracture itself but also the removal of these tiny fracture fragments.”
‘The worst pain’
March 2018 was the first time Eric noticed some discomfort in his back. He didn’t think much of it initially. As an active teen, he had pulled muscles before and figured he just needed some rest to let the strain heal. But then the throbbing intensified and soon became constant and debilitating.
“I’ve broken bones before,” says Eric, “but this was the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
“I remember waking up one day, and I couldn’t even get out of my bed,” he adds. “I called my mom who was out of town with my dad at the time and told her she needed to call my school because there was no way I could make it. That’s when I realized, OK, I need to go see a doctor because something really isn’t right.”
The doctor who performed the initial MRI eventually referred Eric’s family to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles due to the severity of his case. At his first appointment with Dr. Skaggs, Eric remembers being told he would be back on the mound in 90 days.
“I was skeptical at first,” Eric admits. “I didn’t think my body would heal that quickly after such a major surgery. But Dr. Skaggs made me feel at ease. He was so confident that I would be able to do everything I wanted to do.”
A back that’s ‘built to last’
For adults, spondylolisthesis can be treated with posterior spinal fusion surgery. Research conducted by the Children’s Orthopaedic Center at Children’s L.A., however, has shown that this approach doesn’t quite work for children or adolescents. In fact, one of the team’s multicenter studies found that 40% of pediatric patients who underwent traditional surgery for spondylolisthesis experienced complications that required a subsequent operation.
“As surgeons, we always aim to do the least invasive procedure,” says Dr. Skaggs. “For this condition, though, the data was clear. Kids were returning and needing to undergo surgery again.”
Together with colleagues at other top institutions across the country, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles orthopaedic surgeons designed a better surgical method for young patients with spondylolisthesis: circumferentially securing the spine by going through the back—as well as the front.
In Eric’s case, the nearly eight-hour procedure began with Dr. Skaggs performing spinal fusion with two titanium rods and two screws to hold them in place. Then, surgeon Jim Stein, MD, MSc, FACS, FFAP, who also serves as CHLA’s Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, went through Eric’s stomach to replace the disc in between the two vertebrae that had been causing the pain.
With this two-step process, “We’re making sure that a patient’s new back is built to stand up to the demands of being an elite athlete and built to last,” says Dr. Skaggs.
Since adopting this new method in 2017, 100% of patients have had a successful fusion.
From fighting pain to fighting fires
Much to Eric’s surprise, his recovery was a speedy one. Just two days after surgery, he returned home. Two weeks later, he was back at school. By the fourth week, he was running two miles around his neighborhood.
At his three-month check-up, Eric was cleared to return to baseball, just as Dr. Skaggs had promised. He wrapped up the season with a 6-0 record, pitching 36 innings and striking out 43 batters. Eric also hit .370 and had 19 runs batted in, earning him the MVP award for his team and the league.
These astonishing stats were unthinkable just a few weeks prior. Pain had crippled nearly every part of Eric’s life and getting back in the game wasn’t his main priority. He just wanted to be healthy and enjoy simple activities like joining his family at the dinner table and hanging out with friends without wincing in pain.
That made competing during his senior year in high school even more of a “bonus,” especially since Eric knew there was a chance he might never play again. But perhaps the best outcome has been the chance to pursue a career he’s passionate about, one that would be impossible if he still had back pain. Today, he’s attending Mt. San Antonio College with hopes of joining the fire academy.
“Children’s Hospital means everything to me,” says Eric. “They have the best staff there, and everyone from the doctors to the nurses is there to help you and get you back to health. They are the reason why I can become a firefighter one day.”
“They gave me my normal life back,” he adds. “I feel free again.”
How you can help:
Refer your friends, neighbors, associates or family members considering making a move: www.ReferralsHelpKids.com or call us at 213-880-9910.
Refer a friend who’s making move. Fill out my online form:
