Well, 2010 looks like many changes are ahead for Malibu and southern California.
With the real estate market turning around, lawmakers have been busy making improvements to codes and tidying up general legislation to ensure better control over the real estate industry – but the changes are not just there!
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed 696 bills into law last year, 73% of the legislation that reached his desk. Some have already taken effect and others are coming soon.
Of course, much of lawmakers’ time in 2009 was spent dealing with budget issues but there were some great pieces of legislation to come out of the year, including a conservation mandate that will not take effect until next month. It requires city water retailers to develop plans by next year that would reduce urban water consumption by 10% by 2015 and by 20% a decade later.
Laws which pertain particularly to real estate include a new regulation change for the mortgage business – creating a new offense, “mortgage fraud,” punishable by up to a year in prison. Such crimes are defined as those in which someone makes “any misstatement, misrepresentation or omission during the mortgage lending process with the intention that it be relied on by a mortgage lender, borrower, or any other party to the mortgage lending process.”
Also with regards to fire safety there is a new regulation on fire prevention requiring government officials to improve guidelines for protecting property from wildfires, including larger brush-clearance zones and better access roads in regions vulnerable to such fires.
Something also dear to Malibu is a new regulation for Papparazzi which allows celebrities and others to sue for up to $50,000 when someone takes and sells their pictures without permission while they are engaging in “personal or familial activity,” such as taking their children to school.
Don’t forget of course on a Federal level we have the federal tax credits ending in several weeks time and more FHA changes coming!
If you are interested in purchasing a property or selling a property in Malibu, Pacific Palisades or the surrounding Beverly Hills/southern California area then please contact Judy Kunisaki for professional real estate advice in the Westside Los Angeles area, on 310-317-8396 or via her online contact form on her website.
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Judy Kunisaki – CA DRE license 00963582
