California Insider

Some California luxury homes are drawing offers far above asking. Why do buyers compete so hard for some homes and pass on others?

In this episode, we spoke with Marcy Weinstein, an Orange County agent with Compass, and Matt McCormick, a Coldwell Banker Realty broker working in Northern and Southern California. They explained what sets those homes apart and why demand can look so different within the same market.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

California residents pay into local and state budgets expecting the money to be spent the way it was promised. In public spending, finding a problem is a separate step from addressing it.

Former California state Sen. John Moorlach and Orange County Auditor-Controller Andrew Hamilton examine how public spending gets checked and what happens when problems are found.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

In California, keeping a home cool can put substantial pressure on household budgets. In Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley, one resident received a combined bill of $3,322 for water and power, plus sewer and sanitation services from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

He said he had already made improvements intended to reduce his home’s energy use. That points to a larger concern in hotter neighborhoods: how much control households have over their bills when keeping cool requires more electricity.

Micah Reed, the Valley resident who started a petition after receiving that bill, describes his search for answers.

Johnny Graham, CEO of Pacific United Power, draws on the residential bills he reviews across Southern California to discuss the pressures facing households and what meaningful relief would require.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

For many people, a car is their largest purchase after a home. In California, the advertised price can be thousands of dollars below the final bill.

New state rules now govern what a dealer must include in the advertised price.

Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars explains what the new rules change in a car deal and what determines the final bill.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

For many California households, wildfire shows up in monthly electricity bills and the cost of insuring a home, even far from the fire line.

For survivors of recent fires, the pressure is more direct as they work to rebuild what they lost. How wildfire costs get paid is part of that rebuilding challenge.

Jeff Ball, president and CEO of the Orange County Business Council, draws on his banking background to explain where he believes the conversation should begin.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

In California, renters outnumber homeowners until age 47—about a decade later than in the rest of the country. For many middle-class families with steady jobs, the step from paying rent to owning a home keeps moving further away.

Saving for a down payment is one barrier. Another concerns what kind of housing gets built in California and who it’s built for.

Bob Hertzberg is a former California Senate majority leader and assembly speaker—and the author of Proposition 37, the middle-class homeownership measure on the Nov. 3 ballot. He makes his case for how the proposal addresses the barriers facing both buyers and builders, and what putting it into practice would require.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

California cities must plan for more housing, and proposals for new homes often bring worries about traffic and strained local services. In Irvine, many police officers and teachers who serve the city live far away because they cannot afford a home nearby.

Meeting those requirements means deciding where growth can fit and how a community will support it. The next round of housing targets is already being set.

James Mai, vice mayor of Irvine, discusses those decisions through the lens of his city’s experience. Irvine’s assigned target of about 23,000 homes turned into a plan with room for more than 50,000.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

For most California homeowners, the house is the largest asset they own. Some owners learn something is wrong only when a foreclosure notice arrives on a loan they never took out.

Jay Hibert spent 25 years in commercial banking and now consults for title insurers and lenders through JBH Real Estate Experts when these cases reach litigation. He joins us to explain why paying off a home does not remove the risk of title fraud.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

Santa Monica is known around the world for its beaches and downtown shopping, yet safety on its streets has become a concern for residents and local businesses. What can the city do when its response to homelessness depends partly on decisions made outside its borders?

We sit down with Santa Monica City councilmember and former mayor Lana Negrete to discuss how she sees the region’s role in Santa Monica’s homelessness challenges and what the city can change for the people who live and work there.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.

Southern California businesses have arranged hotel-style maternity stays for women traveling from China to give birth in the United States. Clients from China have also hired American surrogates, some of whom entered those arrangements believing they were helping someone build a family. In one case, a surrogate learned that the intended father was a billionaire in China who allegedly has dozens of children born the same way.

Some children born through these arrangements leave California as infants and grow up in China. If they return as adults, they do so as U.S. citizens. The years between birth and return have become part of a national-security debate.

Joshua Philipp, senior reporter at The Epoch Times, draws on years of reporting about Chinese Communist Party networks in the United States. He distinguishes between the ruling communist regime and the Chinese people as he examines who may become vulnerable when the CCP’s reach extends outside China.

*Views expressed in this video/article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of California Insider.