One in a series of columns on boards, homeowners, managers, vendors and HOA lawyers.The client is the HOA corporation, not the president or any individual director. Make sure you know whether the person instructing you or your staff is authorized to speak on behalf of the HOA.Your contract should st

With a career spanning decades from the 1930s to the 1970s, Robert Byrd built some of L.A.’s most influential homes, working in a very characteristic style that combined a farmhouse aesthetic, heavily timbered and woodsy, with carpenter interior details and extravagant brickwork. Unlike the classic

A Los Angeles-based real estate firm that has spent the past 15 years focused on residential projects is re-entering the retail sector with the purchase of what is said to be an extremely healthy shopping center in Mira Mesa.Thursday, Decron Properties announced that it purchased the 238,747-square-

The long-awaited overhaul of Mira Mesa Community Park will begin this summer, promising to deliver in two years time an aquatic center, a skate park, a renovated recreation building and substantial infrastructure upgrades. Monday, San Diego City Council members unanimously OK’d a $43.3 million contr

Southern California home prices may seem insanely high, but two yardsticks of their underlying values suggest they’re not as crazy as elsewhere in the nation.Let’s be clear. These measurements don’t say local homes are affordable. Nor does this math conclude what buyers are paying is normal. Rather,

One in a series of columns on boards, homeowners, managers, vendors and HOA lawyers.Managers are the HOA’s most important service providers. HOAs don’t work well without competent and trustworthy managers.Managers are increasingly vital for the HOA housing model as it continues to grow. About 30 per

There’s a long tradition of Modernist extravagance in Palm Springs, dating back to the 1950s, of architectural minimalism overlaid with the inescapable influence of Hollywood Regency. In 2012, Sean Lockyer, AIA of Studio AR&D Architects created this extraordinary residence, one of his first desert p

The San Diego City Council voted last week to replace its existing neighborhood group in the Uptown area with a new group that describes itself as younger, more renter-focused and less resistant to development.It’s expected the move could ultimately pave the way for more high-rises and dense develop

San Diego County’s median home price growth showed no signs of abating in April as another record was hit. The median price was $880,000, up from a revised record high of $860,000 the previous month, CoreLogic data revealed Thursday. The county’s median, which includes newly built homes, resale home

San Diego had the fastest rising home prices in the nation for a fourth month — an increase of nearly double the U.S. average. The San Diego metropolitan area’s annual home price increased 11.1 percent annually in March, according to the S&P Case-Shiller Indices report released Tuesday. It was follo

Chula Vista’s latest residential development, which has some of the lowest prices for new homes in the region, was only possible after a zoning change.There are 718 homes at Sunbow, a new project from Miami-based Lennar in Chula Vista’s Otay Ranch. It is a mix of townhouses and condos, ranging from

The stock market’s venerable yardstick, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, recently made history — crossing 40,000 for the first time.Yes, this milestone set on May 16, is only a brief emotional victory for shareholders. Yet it can be seen as a historical milepost for the broader business climate, es

One in a series of columns on boards, homeowners, managers, vendors and HOA lawyers.HOA living involves a trade-off of independence in exchange for the benefits the HOA provides. Someone unwilling to trust others to make decisions and who must personally make all decisions is probably not cut out fo

San Diego’s world-renowned life science cluster broke a new record at the start of the year: The vacancy rate for lab and office spaces hit 14 percent — an all-time high.Three years ago, businesses were fighting for space in San Diego’s main life science hubs like Sorrento Valley, La Jolla and Del M

One of San Diego’s flagship shopping destinations is stepping into the next generation of retail with plans to remake an anchor space into an upscale apartment community.Simon Property Group announced earlier this week that it will redo the west end of Fashion Valley with 850 luxury residential unit

The San Diego City Council recently voted to raise developer fees to cover additional city workers, new technology and other efforts.Critics argued the fees would only make housing less affordable and complained permitting has long delays, as well as suggesting the increased fees should come with in

San Diego’s elected leaders agreed Wednesday that the city should move toward securing a formal agreement with local developer Chelsea Investment Corp. to build more than 400 units of affordable housing on an East Village block once destined for a luxury hotel.Members of the City Council’s Economic

Eager to exit its failing downtown operations building, the city of San Diego has agreed to lease the entirety of an empty office building in Mission Valley and will move a portion of its development services department to the facility later this year.Monday, San Diego City Councilmembers voted 8-1

This is the first of five installments that will address boards, homeowners, managers, vendors and HOA lawyers.Governance1. HOA governance is a team sport. It’s different from our career jobs because the board legally controls the HOA, not the president. The president is not the boss but mainly is t

An ambitious plan by a local affordable housing developer to build more than 400 low-income units in downtown San Diego has reached a key milestone that will allow the city to start negotiating terms for redeveloping a site once intended for a five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel.The city’s Economic Develop