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More often than not when people say "Los Angeles" they are referring to the entire Greater Los Angeles area, which is enormous (L.A. County alone covers 4,751 square miles). It would be a mistake to lump every city, suburb, district, and ...

For a moment, let’s pretend there are only two kinds of people in the world: beach people and hill people. If you love panoramic views and being surrounded by nature, you’re probably a hill person. And if you’re a hill person ...

Santa Monica’s quality of life ranks high, making it one of Southern California’s most coveted places to live. People live here to be close to the beach, to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle, and to take advantage of all the first-rate ...

Beachwood Canyon is wedged into the eastern portion of the Santa Monica Mountains and sits directly below the iconic Hollywood Sign. It is home to one of the original Hollywood Hills neighborhoods, Hollywoodland, perched on the southern facing ...

What is a California Jumbo Loan? California houses come in all shapes and sizes. Depending on the amount you need to borrow and the property location, you may need to finance your home with a jumbo loan. A jumbo loan in California is mortgage that ...

What is Fannie Mae HomePath? The banking crisis and ensuing real estate market collapse of 2008 made it very difficult for many borrowers to continue making their mortgage payments. A big increase in real estate owned (REO) properties followed....

Beverly Hills is clearly the most famous area in Los Angeles County and perhaps Southern California. It is both a place (a stand-alone municipality within Los Angeles) and a symbol (the embodiment of the entertainment industry, fame, and wealth....

If you drove through Los Feliz without knowing its history, you’d hardly be able to tell the significant role the neighborhood and its residents played in the early days of the motion picture industry. There are no shrines, statues or ...

Echo Park is one of the best neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Echo Park borders Silver Lake, Chinatown and Downtown Los Angeles. It occupies 2.4 square miles of Central Los Angeles, with Echo Park Lake sitting in the middle. It has a population of ...

There are six distinct phases of the mortgage loan process: pre-approval, house shopping; mortgage application; loan processing; underwriting and closing. Here's what you need to know about each step. 1. Mortgage Pre-Approval Mortgage ...

“Active Under Contract” is a real estate term that indicates the status of real property (single family home, condo, townhome, etc.) that has been put up for sale wherein a seller has accepted an offer from a buyer, but the deal has not ...

If you ask an Angelino about the best neighborhoods in Los Angeles, you might get 4 million different answers. Some folks love to live near the beach. Some choose a neighborhood based how far it is from their workplace. Others seek the right ...

Thinking of moving to Los Angeles? If the city's population is any measure of how much people like it, then there's substantial evidence that living in Los Angeles is pretty great. It's home to 3.9 million people, and 18.7 million people reside in ...

Have you ever asked yourself, “What credit score is needed to buy a house?” The short answer is: Lenders typically want to see a minimum FICO score of 620. The long answer is: It depends. Lenders weigh more than just your credit score ...

If you’re a home shopper who’s made your way to this article, there’s a good chance you’ve already been pre-approved for a loan, searched houses online, viewed a few in-person, and narrowed down your choice to the home you ...

Realtors get paid on a commission basis, usually 5 to 6 percent of a home’s sales price, which is split between the listing broker and buyer's agent. Fees typically come out of the sellers’ proceeds while buyers generally pay nothing to ...

Real Estate FAQs As you might imagine, real estate agents field quite a few questions every day. People are naturally curious, and it’s an agent’s job to guide folks through the often-complex world of home buying and selling. You might ...

What is Fannie Mae HomeReady? Fannie Mae HomeReady is a low down payment mortgage for creditworthy, low to moderate-income borrowers. Down payments can be as low as 3%. Both first-time or repeat home buyers are eligible. In late ...

First Time Homebuyer Programs in California The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) was established in 1975 to help low and moderate income Californians get safe and affordable housing. CalHFA's programs are particularly helpful to home ...