A County Supervisor is hoping to raise the Los Angeles County minimum wage at next weeks board meeting. Minimum wage hike will be asked by a member of the Board of Supervisors, Sheila Kuehl, Tuesday and minimum wage hike would apply to all businesses and nonprofits in the Los Angeles County The plan would not affect businesses and employees in ...

Santa Clarita Real Estate & Market Report: June 12, 2015 – In a relatively light week for economic data, the biggest market moving news seemed to come from international events. Greece, which has long been struggling financially and has been making plans to remove itself from the Eurozone currency, has seemed to relent on that plan for the time being. ...

Santa Clarita Real Estate & Market Report: June 5, 2015 – Application activity is sputtering based upon the Mortgage Bankers Association’s most recent application index for the week ending May 29th. It is not surprising that mortgage applications have slowed given the recent rise in mortgage rates. Applications for purchase loans declined 3.0 percent. Refinances, which are far more interest ...

Santa Clarita Real Estate & Market Report: May 29, 2015 – Housing reports dominated the market this week with the Federal Housing Finance Agency Report kicking things off. The FHFA house price index rose a lower-than-expected 0.3 percent in March. The gain for FHFA is below most analysts’ expectations however the year-on-year rate in at a moderate 5.2 percent higher. ...

Santa Clarita Real Estate & Market Report: May 01, 2015 – Positive news continues to hit the housing market. All indications are that home prices are firming up and even beginning to trend significantly higher. This seems even more apparent especially in markets where there is a significant shortage of homes for sale. On Tuesday the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price ...

By Arif M. Halaby, CEP, Total Financial Solutions Crossing the finish line of any race is often one of the most anticipated events in the race. When we cross the finish line we slow down, stop and begin to reflect on the race we just finished. In retirement, the finish line is the number we need to have saved in our ...

Santa Clarita Real Estate & Market Report: April 17, 2015 – The stock market has been trading in a very narrow range throughout the week. With virtually no major surprises in any of the economic reports, there has been little for investors to trade on. It appears that for the time being many investors are attempting to gauge the direction ...

Santa Clarita Real Estate & Market Report: April 10, 2015 – Since Monday, the stock market has been trading in a relatively narrow range.  “Narrow” is a relative term in that a swing of 100 or 150 points these days does not seem out of the ordinary. In a week of light economic data the only major announcement that could ...

Santa Clarita Real Estate & Market Report: April 3, 2015 – In a week that did not have many major news breaking headlines, investors settled down after their initial enthusiasm on Monday regarding the fact that Fed Chairman Janet Yellen indicated that the economy is showing signs of weakness. Investors took that as another message that the Fed is not ...

Santa Clarita Real Estate & Market Report: March 27, 2015 – Investor concerns about the economy grew significantly this week, especially Monday through Wednesday. The Dow plummeted 476 points in three days with the largest drop of 292 points taking place on Wednesday. As of late, investors have been somewhat cheering the less than stellar economic data reports. It has ...