News and Events

Soon Your Building Might Have A COVID-19 Safety Rating

The International WELL Building Institute has launched a new standard to rate how well a building protects its occupants from the transmission of the novel coronavirus. Dubbed the WELL Health-Safety Rating, it can be used to rate most property types, including offices, retail, restaurants, schools and hotels, as people begin to return to work and otherwise go out again. The standard will also examine building sanitation, which in a post-pandemic context includes cleaning and touchless surfaces, water quality, waste disposal and other factors. Read more..

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Multifamily Rentals Continue Slide in May

By Patrick Smith In what is normally considered prime leasing season, rents declined nationally by .3% month over month, with the largest drops in gateway markets, according to Yardi Matrix. In what is normally considered prime leasing season, rents declined nationally by .3% month over month, with the largest drops in gateway markets that were the first to implement pandemic- inspired lockdowns, according to a report released by commercial real estate data and research company Yardi Matrix. Read More..

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California Bill to Extend Ban on Renter Evictions in Pandemic Spurs Landlord Concerns

Legislation Would Prohibit 'Unlawful Detainer' Court Actions to Evict Residential Tenants. [caption id="attachment_8924" align="aligncenter" width="1800"] A newly-erected fence blocks the front of a vacant home that Moms 4 Housing activists occupied during a months-long protest which ended in a court ordered eviction, in Oakland, California on January 28, 2020. - According to city officials, an estimated 4,071 people were living on the street, in shelters or in their cars in 2019 in Oakland, a 47 percent increase in two years. Activists, however, estimate the number is probably higher than 6,000, as many people in the city that has a population of 425,000 sleep on someone's couch or in a hotel and are not included in the official count. (Photo by Philip Pacheco / AFP) (Photo by PHILIP PACHECO/AFP via Getty Images)[/caption] read more. . .

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Soon Your Building Might Have A COVID-19 Safety Rating

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FREE – LIVE WEBINAR: TUESDAY, JUNE 9 @ 1PM: Will the CARES Act Reduce My Tax Liability?

Rsvp here: https://bit.ly/3eD2hfr FREE - LIVE WEBINAR: TUESDAY, JUNE 9 @ 1PM Wondering what tax implications it will have on your situation? In this exciting webinar, Tony Watson of Robert Hall & Associates will help you understand what actions you can take now, as well as real life tried-and-true tax strategies used in the real estate industry. Whether you’re an investor, agent, or lender, you will be able to use these tips and tricks to navigate through the 2020 tax year and retain more of your real estate wealth into the next decade! Topics To Be Discussed

• Covid-19 Changes
• PPP & EIDL (Loan programs)
• Qualified Business Income deduction
• How to save on pass-though income
• Can I rent back my home office to myself?
• Mortgage interest deduction
• State & local income tax

About the Speaker - Tony Watson- Robert Hall & Associates Tony Watson services a full roster of clients and has taken on the official role of public speaker for Robert Hall & Associates. He has spoken for over a hundred different trade organizations throughout the state of California. Tony is a federally licensed tax practitioner who can advise, represent, and prepare tax returns for individuals, partnerships, corporations and any other entity with tax-reporting requirements.

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Bill Allowing Commercial Tenants to Renegotiate, Break Lease Deals Advances in Calif.

BY GREG CORNFIELD The state’s Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill on Friday that would allow small businesses — like cafes, restaurants and bars — to renegotiate and modify lease deals if they have been impacted by shelter-in-place orders and economic shutdowns. Commercial landlords and property owners across California may need to get a lot of Wite-Out ready. The state’s Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill on Friday that would allow small businesses — like cafes, restaurants and bars — to renegotiate and modify lease deals if they have been impacted by shelter-in-place orders and economic shutdowns. If an agreement isn’t reached after 30 days of negotiations, the tenant can break the lease with no penalty. Read More..

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Proposed California Bill Would Allow Retail Tenants To Break Leases With Little Penalty

A proposed bill circulating in California's Legislature would allow a commercial tenant to terminate its lease with a landlord if a resolution taking into account the economic effects of the coronavirus isn't met. If passed, the legislation, Senate Bill 939, would allow a tenant struggling because of state or city shelter-in-place orders to negotiate in good faith with its landlord. But if neither can find a resolution, "the commercial tenant may terminate the lease without any liability for future rent, fees, or costs that otherwise may have been due under the lease by providing written notification to the landlord." SB 939 is backed by California Sens. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, and Lena Gonzalez, a Democrat from Long Beach, and it has finished its third revision. The bill, introduced in March, initially placed a moratorium on commercial evictions for the duration of the coronavirus health emergency. Read more. .

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California Rent-Cutting Bill Postponed

via Connect Media California AB 828, a bill that would authorize the California courts to cut rents by 25%, won’t get a hearing until at least the summer. The bill landed in the Senate Rules Committee last week, which means any possibility of a hearing will be postponed for several weeks. The California Apartment Association led a grassroots campaign to defeat the measure. In recent weeks, more than 55,000 messages opposing the bill have flooded lawmakers’ inboxes. Read more. .

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COVID-19: How the Southland’s Top Property Managers are Working to Get Ready to Exit the Crisis – Will Business Be Different?

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Fed is Deploying It’s “Full Range of Tools” and Challenges Washington To Follow Suit

  Today’s Fed meeting and subsequent press conference by Fed Chair Powell was like no other in history. First off, Powell said, “We are going to see economic data for the 2nd quarter that is worse than any data we have ever seen”, this after the 1 quarter GDP contracted at a 4.8% annualized rate, the worst reading since 2008.  Also, Powell’s speech and Q&A was virtual, with reporter questions being asked via a webinar. He expressed some hope for a significant bounce back in the 3rd quarter as stay at home measures are gradually rolled back. Of course, so much is dependent on the virus. Markets rallied significantly today on positive news regarding a potential treatment.Full Range of Tools: The Fed Funds rate will remain at near zero for a while (possibly for 2-3 years) and the Fed continues to purchase about $10-15 billion per day in Treasuries and $8 billion in mortgage bonds, daily injections of capital into the repo markets. Up next: A Main Street Lending Program will provide 4 year loans to businesses too large to benefit from the PPP program and more purchases of corporate debt. But, Powell noted that the Fed is authorized to “provide loans not grants” and the most vulnerable American individuals and businesses are not in a position to pay back loans as they have been hit so hard by this crisis. “This is the time to use the great fiscal power of the United States to do what we can to support the economy and try to get through this with as little damage to the longer-run productive capacity of the economy as possible”.  Powell declared in a direct message to Congress to provide this aid. He is implying that the fiscal policy so far is good but not enough and he is continuing to push monetary policy to the limit. Focus on central banks continues tomorrow with the ECB’s policy announcement. Bank of Japan opened the week on Monday pledging unlimited bond buying, as the international adoption of Modern Monetary Theory continues. Stay tuned.

Phone: 310.867.2976 Email: dpascale@gspartners.com Twitter: @Pascale_of_GSP DRE License: 01749437

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