Decades before the “starchitects” and their mega-mansion projects in Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, iconic Mid-Century Modern architects such as  Richard Neutra, John Lautner, A. Quincy Jones, Craig Ellwood, and Edward Fickett were designing timeless homes around Southern California. Their Modernism styles, noted for walls of glass, open floor plans, and post and beam construction, captured

Few Hollywood stars achieved the stature of Bette Davis. With a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits, she was noted for playing unsympathetic characters and was famous for her performances in a range of films. A recipient of two Oscars, she was the first actor to be nominated ten times. Her career went through

California is extremely challenged by the nation’s ongoing housing crisis. Developers there are pressured by these challenges, so are coming up with innovative ideas that can go to scale, reducing the need in California and beyond. One such solution also is one of this year’s finalists in Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards for Spaces,

Following the latest Centers of Disease Control guidance, mass confusion reigns about the role of mask-wearing. As summer seasonal activity opens up after a full year in limbo, and as corporate and commercial America take on the challenge of rebooting normalized workplaces as an anchor of economic dynamism in the period known as “learning to

As the nation struggles with slowing vaccinations, confusing mask guidance, and the long-term economic implications of Covid-19, the future of cities’ central business districts (CBDs) remains unclear.  Will they return to normal, with office workers going back in larger numbers?  Or has there been a permanent change in office work that will require permanent changes in how

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zoned Properties, Inc., a strategic real estate development firm. Across the United States, hundreds of cities, towns and counties are discussing and deciding the fate of local planning and regulatory code for the emerging cannabis industry. The results of those conversations will have a tremendous effect on billions of dollars in

Jonathan Keyser is the founder of Keyser, the largest occupier services commercial real estate brokerage firm in Arizona.  A major question facing today’s business leaders is “How should my company operate on the other side of this pandemic?” Over the past year, companies have been working remotely out of necessity. While it may have been uncomfortable

Founder and CEO of The Raisner Group (formerly Proteus Capital Management), a private real estate investment firm in New York City.  New York City has suffered deeply from Covid-19. Its economy was destroyed, people fled in droves and the population registered over 30,000 deaths. Nevertheless, the Big Apple is beginning to make a strong comeback: A large

Broker Associate at LIV | Sotheby’s International Realty based in Breckenridge, Colorado. On March 10, 2021, Freddie Mac and Fannie May announced that they will buy fewer second-home and investment mortgages. Although the news did not set the real estate market into a downward spiral, it is now raising concerns for consumers as well as for real estate

An earlier post made clear this economy’s powerful near-term growth momentum. It also warned about longer-term economic risks, especially given Washington’s efforts to hype the economy. Against this background of conjoined economic optimism and worry (common enough in almost all economic analyses) the expansion in residential real estate seems so far to rest on a remarkably

Pedestrians walk past signage for SoftBank Group outside a store in Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 29, 2018. Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images Digital mortgage lender Better.com announced Tuesday that it will make its market debut by merging with Aurora Acquisition Corp., valuing Better at $7.7 billion. The company, ranked No. 15 on last year’s CNBC Disruptor 50

Real estate agents leave a home for sale during a broker open house in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images A brief drop in mortgage interest rates sent some borrowers rushing to their lenders to see if they could get any savings. That sent total mortgage application volume up 2.1% last week from

Akapong Osotsil / EyeEm | EyeEm | Getty Images Consumer debt edged higher during the first three months of 2021, due primarily to a jump in mortgages and auto loans, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. Total household debt balances rose by $85 billion in the first quarter, a 0.6% increase that brought the total level

From gas and groceries to computers, cars and clothing, Americans are already paying more for everyday expenses.   As the economy reopens in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, consumers are putting their stimulus checks, enhanced unemployment benefits and stashed cash to work. Yet all that spending — coupled with supply chain setbacks — is