The Claptrap Behind the Minimum Wage Debate – By Bill Bonner, Chairman, Bonner & Partners

New York seems to have more than its fair share of knuckleheads. Paul Krugman and Tom Friedman are both stalwart columnists in The New York Times. And there’s staff writer James Surowiecki at the New Yorker magazine. More about that in a minute… [First] we return to wondering about money. Not that we care especially…

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Something to Think About #14- Measures of Value – By Klarise Yahya, Commercial Loan Broker, DRE: 00957107 MLO: 249261

Value means different things to different people. To a banker, loan value is determined by whether or not the building is likely to generate enough income to pay its expenses and meet debt coverage ratio (DCR) guidelines. It meets value or it doesn’t. An investor might have additional perspectives. While any mortgaged investment must first…

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Gauging Your Liability in Case of Tenant Injury or Death in an Earthquake – By Peter Reitz and Lee Kanon Alpert, Attorney at Law

On April 9, 2013, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance making it mandatory to seismically retrofit approximately 2,800 soft-story buildings, those defined as wood-frame residential structures with five or more units and three or more stories with weak first stories. There are roughly 4,300 such buildings. Owners are required to pay a…

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Legal Q & A – By Richard Beckman, Attorney

Question 1:     What are the requirements for when and where to install CO detectors in two-story units? Answer 1:  In 2010,California enacted the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act. Among other things, it requires the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in “in each existing  dwelling unit having a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, fireplace,…

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