L-R President Pat, Bob Novell, Imy Dulake, Bob Novell

Bob Novell opened the presentation by saying,  “the world is living on the edge….political, economic and military tensions are high.  All of these things effect the economy. “  Things we should be watching are: Interest rates—would expect interest rates to head higher; U.S. Dollar—unclear for 2019. It has been strong for a number of years, but has been going sideways in 2018; Commodity prices—if they go higher, so will interest rates; Federal Government , Unusual President and 2020 election—nothing more needs to be said here.  All these things affect the economy; Recession—economies all over the world  have slowed down which could impact not only those countries but also the US economy.

Bob Hoffman talked about the stock market and how everyone was waiting for the shoe to drop and it did starting in October 2018.  It has been a roller coaster ever since. He talked about how a number of the larger companies like Apple are seeing  their earnings slowing down, so now may be a good time to dip your toe in the stock market if you are interested in investing.  Many other things are affecting the stock market, like the changes in the trade rules with China, oil prices dropping, tech stocks going down and employment rate is going up.  He ended by showing us a chart of “asset class returns for the last 14 years and it seems to be a crap shoot on whether to invest in commodities, cash or equity funds.  Bob’s advice-diversify!

Imy ended the presentation with a look at the hottest real estate markets in the world, Southern California and in the Arcadia area.  The number one most desirable real estate right now is London followed by New York, Tokyo, Sydney and Paris.  The top 3 sales in So Cal in 2018 were a single family home in Malibu for $110m, a home in Bel Air for $85m and a home in the Hollywood Hills for $77m!

The highest price per square foot in this area is Bradbury at $745 per square foot, followed by Sierra Madre at $591 per square foot and Arcadia at $586 per square foot.  In spite of Arcadia being lower than Sierra Madre and Bradbury, the average price is nothing to sneeze at–$2.4m!  The average time a  house is on the market in Arcadia is 122 days, the homes are selling at 94% of list price and all cash sales are up.  There is no shortage of people who see Arcadia as a desirable place to raise a family and make a long term investment.