Monday Morning Quarterback

Monday Morning Quarterback

(Monday, December 15, 2025)

America’s Ghost Town. Looking to buy a fixer-upper in California? How about 110 fixer-uppers? Now part of Bodie State Historic Park, the ghost town of Bodie, California, was once a gold-mining destination with around 2,000 structures and a population of about 8,000 people. The town gets its name from W.S. Body, who discovered small amounts of gold in the hills of nearby Mono Lake in 1859. The discovery of a rich vein of ore in the 1870s created a gold rush and the population shot up from a few dozen to over 10,000 over the course of a decade. The last mine closed in 1942, due to War Production order L-208, shutting down all non-essential gold mines in the United States during World War II. Mining never resumed after the war. Bodie was first described as a "ghost town" in 1915. In a time when auto travel was on the rise, many travelers reached Bodie via automobiles. In the 1940s, the threat of vandalism faced the ghost town. The Cain family, who owned much of the land, hired caretakers to protect and to maintain the town's structures. But today, Bodie is a true ghost town. It is about 75 miles southeast of Lake Tahoe, and 353 miles northeast of Los Angeles, at an elevation of 8,379 feet. The town went into decline in the subsequent decades and came to be described as a ghost town by 1915 (110 years ago). The U.S. Department of the Interior recognizes the designated “Bodie Historic District” as a National Historic Landmark. Also registered as a California Historical Landmark, the ghost town officially was established as Bodie State Historic Park in 1962. It receives about 200,000 visitors yearly. A total of 170 buildings remained, some of which are for sale. Bodie has been named California's official state gold rush ghost town. Today, Bodie is preserved in a state of arrested decay. Only a small part of the town survived including one of many once operational gold mills. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once was a bustling area of activity. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. In 2009 and again in 2010, Bodie was scheduled to be closed. But the California state legislature worked out a budget compromise that enabled the state's Parks Closure Commission to keep it open through the Bodie Foundation. In other real estate investor news, let’s run it up the flagpole and see who salutes…

Contempt-Of-Court Hearing Begins Over LA's Homelessness Response. A downtown hearing continues this week during which a federal judge will consider holding the city of Los Angeles in contempt of court. The hearing is the latest step in a long-running legal saga regarding the city's response to the region’s homelessness crisis. The hearing was ordered by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter (pictured below walking around skid row), who has been overseeing a settlement in a lawsuit brought against the city by the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, a group of downtown business and property owners. L.A. Alliance sued the city, and county, in 2020 for failing to adequately address homelessness. Several witnesses are expected to testify during the contempt-of-court hearing, including Gita O’Neill, the new head of the region’s top homeless services agency, and Matt Szabo, the L.A. city administrative officer. Judge Carter said in court documents that he’s concerned “the city has demonstrated a continuous pattern of delay” in meeting its obligations under court orders. During a hearing last week, the judge pointed to several delays, including recently reported issues related to data and interviewing city employees. The judge noted that similar concerns have come up at previous hearings. Judge Carter told attorneys for the city in March 2024 that he “indicated to the mayor that I’ve already reached the decision that the plaintiffs were misled” and “this is bad faith,” according to court transcripts. The judge said in a November 14 order that he’s concerned the “delay continues to this day.” The contempt hearing is expected to cover whether the city has complied with court orders and provided regular updates to the court under the settlement agreement. Attorneys for the city have pushed back against the hearing, filing objections with the judge and making an unsuccessful emergency request with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to block it from happening.

5 Lessons from a House That Generates More Energy than it Uses. With utility bills rising faster than inflation, a house that produces more energy than it consumes sounds appealing. Robert Fortunato's "Green Idea House” has been doing that for over a decade. He remodeled his family's 1959 house into a 2,150-square-foot environmentally friendly home, and he says he did it for less than the cost of a traditional remodel. "It's one of the first net-zero energy, zero carbon case study houses that was built for less cost than standard construction," he says, and the remodel involved "standard construction materials and off-the-shelf technologies that anyone can use." But shepherding such a project requires a lot of time and energy from the homeowner. There are research and planning, some stubbornness when it comes to working with contractors and suppliers, and now some updates for a climate that's warming faster than expected. Still, Fortunato's family ended up with a stylish, contemporary, four-bedroom, two-bath home. While a project like this is not for everyone, Fortunato hopes others will learn from his family's experience and take on similar projects. In that spirit, here are five lessons from the Green Idea House. In planning for the remodel, Fortunato wanted to stop using climate-warming fossil fuels as much as possible. Disconnecting from the local gas company saved some money during the remodel because he didn't have to reinstall gas pipes throughout the house. And in replacing appliances they chose electric ones, including an induction stove. To replace gas and to supply electricity in his home, Fortunato got into the power generation business. He installed 26 solar panels on the roof that generate all the electricity the house uses, plus enough for two electric cars. He did have to pay $18,000 upfront to install the panels. He estimates his family saves about $4,800 a year in utility bills, so it took four years to recover that initial expense before the electricity became almost free. (There are still utility connection charges, since he remains connected to the grid.)

Los Angeles’ One Weird Trick to Build Affordable Housing at No Public Cost. The seven-story apartment building planned for West Court Street on the south side of Los Angeles’s Echo Park neighborhood doesn’t make sense, not if you know anything about affordable housing in California. All 190 of the proposed units will be reserved for people making under $100,000, which in Los Angeles makes this an “affordable housing” project. But unlike the vast majority of affordable developments that have been proposed in California in recent memory, no taxpayer dollars are allotted to build the thing. Especially in the state’s expensive coastal cities, the term “unsubsidized 100% affordable project” is an oxymoron. But Los Angeles is now approving them by the hundreds. That’s thanks to an executive order Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, signed in December 2022, shortly after being sworn into office. In the year and change since, the city’s planning department has received plans for more than 13,770 affordable units, according to data provided by the city’s planning department. That’s just shy of the total number of approved affordable units in Los Angeles in 2020, 2021 and 2022 combined. The city has also been the subject of at least two lawsuits and a multi-front political battle over whether and how to turn the mayoral decree (which is only in effect as long as Bass wants it to be and barring a court’s decision to end it) into a permanent fixture of Los Angeles housing policy. The policy was designed to fast-track the approval process for 100% affordable projects. What it perhaps was not designed to do (but has done at a scale that few anticipated) is allow private developers, who rarely dabble in affordable housing (and simply look to make as much money as humanly possible from building new homes), to take a second look at a set of state laws that give added benefits to entirely affordable projects. Throw those two policies together and building new apartments for working class Angelenos is suddenly a booming business.

Bear Crashes Gatlinburg Christmas Parade. A black bear became the unintentional star of the Gatlinburg Fantasy of Lights Christmas parade on the evening of Dec. 8. Believe it or not, a black bear strode through the streets of the city during the festivities. Between marching bands, floats, firetrucks and all the parade festivities, the black bear meandered down the street. While bystanders watched in shock, a video from Haley McGowan captures the moment the bear entered the parade route. In the video, bystanders fill both sides of downtown Gatlinburg Street, most not flinching as the bear passes by. Instead grabbing their phones to record. After a few moments, the bear safely exits the street, cutting between the cheerful crowds. “The bear wandered between two buildings and went across the street safely back into the woods,” McGowan told local media. The bear did not cause any harm at the parade, and no frantic stampedes. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will not pursue catching or killing that bear, according to Matt Cameron, TWRA spokesperson. Bears in Tennessee never truly hibernate. They den instead. During the winter months, bears in the Great Smoky Mountains will enter long periods of sleep. They will leave the den for short periods, however, "if disturbed or during brief warming trends," according to the national park. This bear must have awoken and probably wondered what all the noise was about. Denning can begin as early as November for bears in the Great Smoky Mountains and can end as late as May, according to TWRA. While black bears appear cute and cuddly, they're wild animals. Humans should avoid interactions with animals to avoid conflict. Black bears are rarely aggressive towards people, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency. However, "occasional interactions will be unavoidable" if humans seek out bears, according to TWRA. Black bears are a common sight across East Tennessee, but especially in Sevierville, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and areas surrounding the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Just not at parades. The Smokies are one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States, where black bears can live in wild, natural surroundings, according to the National Park. About 1,900 bears live in the national park, and at least 5,500 bears live across East Tennessee, according to TWRA's bear program leader, Dan Gibbs. Next year the bear will ride in a float.

"Hot Investing Trends for 2026" is our first event of the new year. On Thursday night, January 8, 2026, 6:30 to 9:30 pm, we have a panel discussion featuring four real estate all-stars discussing trends for 2026. Join us for our first meeting and vendor expo of 2026. Iman Cultural Center, 3376 Motor Avenue, Culver City. Free admission. Valet parking. RSVP: www.LARealEstateInvestors.com.

This Week. Looking ahead, investors will continue to monitor comments from Fed officials for hints about monetary policy next year. With the end of the shutdown, the schedule for the release of delayed government economic reports continues to be gradually updated. Tuesday will be the big day next week with the key Employment report, Retail Sales, Housing Starts, and Import Prices scheduled to be released. The Employment report reveals figures on the number of jobs, the unemployment rate, and wage inflation which are always closely watched. The Consumer Price Index (“CPI”), a widely followed monthly inflation indicator that looks at the price changes for a broad range of goods and services, will come out on Thursday. Existing Home Sales will be released on Friday.

Weekly Changes:

10-Year Treasuries: Rose 005 bps

Dow Jones Average: Rose 800 points

NASDAQ: Fell 100 points

Calendar:

Tuesday (12/16): Employment

Tuesday (12/16): Retail Sales

Thursday (12/18): Consumer Price Index

Friday (12/19): Existing Home Sales

For further information, comments, and questions:

Lloyd Segal

President

Los Angeles County Real Estate Investors Association

Lloyd@LARealEstateInvestors.com

www.LARealEstateInvestors.com

310-792-6404