Hector My Realtor Blog Page

  Not to fan the flames of any stoner stereotypes, but munchies are a very real thing. And if State Representative Matt Haney (D) has his way, they might finally get curbed. He wants the state’s cannabis cafe locations to serve food prepared onsite. It doesn’t seem like a particularly controversial take. In fact, his Assembly Bill 1775 just cleared California’s Assembly with a deafening 58 to 6 vote in its favor. But when you consider that Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar cannabis cafe bill submitted by Haney last year, the cannabis cafe crowd may be left high and dry.  August 2024 – Update: AB 1775 has passed its next major hurdle, making it through its second reading in the Senate. It will still need to pass a third and final reading, then pass an Assembly vote before it becomes law. This Isn’t Really a Bill About Cannabis Photo credit: Envato In California, the term “cannabis cafe” could set you up for a bit of disappointment. Sure, they sell cannabis...

  Featured image credit: Eric T. Gunther Jagged, snow-ravaged peaks scrape frosty clouds; a steel gray contrast overpowering blue skies. Blankets of deceptively powdery snow, punctuated by puma prints, blanket thick, unyielding slabs of ice. Silence is broken by the cascading rustle of falling ice shards and frozen boulders gaining shudder-inducing inertia. No, we’re not in Nepal. Nor the snow-saturated peaks of Pakistan or China. We’re just over 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles. It’s the tallest peak in LA county, towering above the rest of the San Gabriel Mountains. And while its official name is Mount San Antonio, it’s been colloquially referred to as Mt. Baldy for as long as most of us can remember. Mt. Baldy is synonymous with day trips for adventurous Angelenos. It’s also been the site of over 100 search and rescue missions since 2020. And sadly, not all of them have been successful. Now, at the tail end of a particularly chilly winter, rescue crews are hoping...

  Featured image: Soake Pools Everyone wants a home with a swimming pool. It’s one of the most commonly coveted features of prospective homebuyers entering the market. But even in a city with the unparalleled urban sprawl of Los Angeles, yard space can be a hot commodity. If you can fit a swimming pool in your backyard, you might not have any yard left. But a new trend is giving new life to the backyard pool fantasy. They’re high-quality, low-cost mini pools, commonly referred to as plunge pools.  A Pool for Virtually Any Backyard Photo credit: Plungie What are plunge pools? It’s a surprisingly complex answer, so we’ll start with the short version. Plunge pools are simply pools that are more space-efficient than traditional backyard swimming pools. Because of this compact design, plunge pools aren’t really ideal for swimming laps or doing cannonballs. Yet, though they may be better suited for cooling off after a long day, these compact pools can be used for e...

  We know we’ve got nothing but law-abiding citizens reading the JohnHart blog… riiiight? Well, what about the laws you don’t know about? Now, before you get defensive, hear us out: who here actually knows (and follows) LA’s composting law? You know, the reason you have that green trash bin? It’s not just for yard waste if that’s what you’re thinking. As of 2023, Angelenos have been required by law to compost their “green waste”; basically food scraps, yard waste, and the like. Just to clarify, this law applies to the city of Los Angeles. Other municipalities (and the state as a whole) have their own composting laws. In fact, California was the second state (after Vermont) to pass such a law. Now, let’s take a closer look at the city of LA’s green waste law if, for no other reason, than it could save you from a hefty fine!  Ever Heard of Organics LA? Perhaps Organics LA could use a marketing push. That’s the name of a program meant to prioritize the collectio...

  Featured image credit: Dave Proffer We’ve all heard horror stories of homeownership woe. A flooding upstairs bathroom crashing down into a home’s lower level. The spark of electrical wiring burning down a dream. Unseen black mold contaminating everything it touches. But you’ve heard of nothing quite like what’s happening right now in the coastal community of Rancho Palos Verdes. Once a bastion of multi-million dollar seaside properties, heightened landslide activity means Rancho Palos Verdes is threatening to slide away. Southern California Edison (SCE) is cutting power… in some cases, indefinitely. Los Angeles is throwing money at the problem. And Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency. As residents continue to dig in and fight for their beachfront homes, the awkward question remains: when do we declare Rancho Palos Verdes uninhabitable?  Not Exactly a Recent Problem Photo credit: Lizzie McVeigh The volatility of Rancho Palos Verdes’s land i...

        Featured image credit: Mountain High Fighting fire with fire sounds great in the climax of a movie script. But in practice? Not such a hot idea. Just ask any of the countless firefighters battling blazes around Southern California as the 2024 wildfire season begins with a bang. Homes have already been lost; acres of precious forest have been charred to a crisp. And, for one night, it seemed that the cherished Mountain High Resort, a ski refuge for Angelenos, was one of the casualties. And while tragedy continues to burn bright at the heart of area wildfires, the story of Mountain High gives us an exceedingly rare happy ending. Because they didn’t choose to fight fire with fire. They opted for snow cannons. An Unsettling Introduction to 2024’s Wildfire Season Photo credit: Angeles National Forest A little good news goes a long way in Southern California’s wildfire season. And this year’s is shaping up to be brutal with several notable blazes in...