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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- How California’s SB 868 could change solar access for condo owners and renters
- Why skipped SB 326 balcony inspections can create major mortgage problems
- Why a low HOA fee could signal bigger financial problems for condo buyers
- How pre-IPO tech wealth is fueling more cash buyers in San Francisco
- Strategies buyers can use to compete with cash offers
- Why wildlife and neighborhood conditions can become disclosure issues
- What Apple’s new Culver City campus could mean for the local housing market
In this episode with Fred Glick
What if the biggest risks in buying a California home are the ones you never see during a showing?
In this episode, Fred Glick of Arrivva breaks down the California real estate changes and market shifts buyers need to understand, from condo balcony laws and HOA reserves to San Francisco’s growing cash-buyer market. He also explains how buyers can compete with cash offers, what wildlife disclosures can mean for sellers and buyers, and how Apple’s new Culver City campus could impact the local housing market.
Resources mentioned in this episode
Drew Hendricks (00:36)
Welcome to the latest episode of We Fixed Real Estate. Fred Glick, Drew Hendricks, talking about plug and solar. How’s it going, Fred?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (00:45)
Hey there. I hope we got our fancy music done. I’ve trying to remember to ask you on our pre-meeting. Okay. So
Drew Hendricks (00:51)
It’s it’s in the it’s in the edit studio. We it it’s it’s gonna be rolled out momentarily.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (00:56)
okay. That’ll be cool to hear.
anyway, yeah, so
if you own a condo or in an apartment in California, you’re probably paying the utility company whatever they feel like charging you and
I love I get these things. well, you’re gonna get a rebate because of this law and whatever. Anyway, here’s fifty-two cents to do something with.
but kind of sweeping across the nation has been this thing about plug-in solar, meaning you put a solar panel on your balcony and you plug it into an outlet, and it reverse pulls in that solar and reduces.
Drew Hendricks (01:36)
Actually works that way? I didn’t think you could
do that.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (01:40)
I don’t know the science. Okay. I’m I’m just the messenger here. But the bottom line is
Drew Hendricks (01:44)
I mean that would be fantastic.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (01:46)
it’s gonna reduce your electric bill. And you can plug in a couple different ones and more details will come. The companies will start coming out and selling them. it it’s been in a bunch of states around the country.
And so the whole thing went through the Senate and and the House. So it’s SB eight sixty-eight, if you are playing at home, or on the poly market with it. It’s on the governor’s desk. It was passed by everybody on August twenty-sixth, so the governor has until September thirtieth to act on the bill.
Hopefully it’s gonna sign. I don’t know why he wouldn’t sign it. We’re a pretty progressive state here. And it makes a lot of sense because there’s a lot of sunshine.
Drew Hendricks (02:38)
yeah.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (02:39)
you know, except when we have hurricanes coming and the water in San Diego’s 80 degrees, but other than that, it’s pretty cool. Yeah, so hopefully that comes back and gets passed. So it’ll be a really cool thing. Just just wanted to mention that off the top.
Drew Hendricks (02:58)
Yeah, that’s gonna
be fantastic, especially for condo owners and renters who may not have the ability to put solar panels on the roof.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (03:07)
Yeah.
So so let’s keep talking about
condo owners and this is for
Every condominium that is run internally that you have no outside effects of a property manager or anyone else to tell you what goes on and what to do. I’ve now come across not one but two properties for a client in the past couple of weeks where the the association has not even started doing anything when it comes to the SB326.
Balcony inspection. So some of you will remember all that.
It was supposed to be done by December 31st, 2024. We are in September of 2026. So what happens is you can get a mortgage.
but you can’t get a good mortgage.
Mortgage rates now, 30-year fix, it’s at the highest it’s been in a long time. It’s hovering near seven. It’s it’s ridiculously high because of many factors, which we won’t go into. but now because the condo association didn’t do this stuff, you have to go to
What I used to call or I c still call subprime lenders, but they now call them non-qualified mortgage lenders, non QM, which you’re gonna pay about an extra point to point and a half in rate just because they didn’t do it. But
Drew Hendricks (04:45)
Mm-hmm.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (04:46)
you still have the liability of the problems once you’re in there. So it’s crazy. If you’re Okay.
Drew Hendricks (04:53)
Refresh our memory on this balcony issue.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (04:57)
it started in Florida where there’s this collapse of balconies and it killed a whole bunch of people. So everybody got freaked out. So Fannie Mae finally instituted a thing that says you have to have these balconies checked and you have to have certain reserves and blah blah blah blah blah. Separately, state of California passed SBE 326, which said these balconies have to be inspected, certain, you know, qualified person, the repairs have to be done, blah, blah, blah.
So the lenders picked up on it, especially Fannie Mae, and said, Yeah, everything’s got to be done. And now that it’s almost two years since you were supposed to have it done.
You’re paying the price. So anybody trying to sell their condo is going to have less buyers. So your price is going to go down because of that. And someone’s going to pay a higher interest rate and then come to you and say, I want the property, but I got to pay a point and a half more. And over 10 years, that’s you know $50,000 in interest. So I want a reduction in the price. So you’re so smart, you’re stupid. I’m sorry. So you you guys are trying to run condos all by yourself.
In the state of California. And I understand where you’re coming from. You don’t want to pay anybody, but that’s fine. You know, write an agent on Claude to say, I’m a condominium owner and I need to know absolutely everything about this building and what are the laws and what do we have to do? You know, yeah, you don’t have to hire the property manager to tell that. But stay up to date, do it right.
Drew Hendricks (06:34)
So if one one balcony is bad, the whole
complex is ding.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (06:40)
Pretty much. These these non-QM lenders, you know, you can kind of make deals with them. Hey, this was in building one, everything’s fine where my that person’s property is, and but building seven’s got an issue. Okay. You know, different that may be different story, but that’s an exception, and that’s still with a subprime lender.
So, you know, keep an eye, keep an eye on that for you people, especially real estate agents. You know, ask the questions of the HOA. Make sure
Drew Hendricks (07:11)
Uh-huh.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (07:12)
you go through a checklist of absolutely everything. Do they have 15% of their budget set aside for reserves? Do they have a reserve study done in the last three years? You know, everybody always says, I got this cheap condo fee. This is great. Or people, my the buyers say, well, I don’t want to buy that.
That’s got a too high a condo fee. It’s the other way around. It should be buy the one with the lower with the higher condo fee because it’s a better condo. It’s they got more reserves.
Drew Hendricks (07:44)
That’s true.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (07:46)
I mean they got their you know their stuff together. So it’s a much better
Drew Hendricks (07:49)
Where
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (07:50)
deal that way usually.
Drew Hendricks (07:51)
where in the buying process do you find out if the balcony’s binding?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (07:58)
Good question. I mean, you literally could find it up front in the description in the property. It could say SB three twenty-six.
Balcony is not finished yet, or something like that,
Drew Hendricks (08:08)
Okay.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (08:08)
or they don’t do anything. Or if it’s in Southern California where these agents don’t understand or don’t care, you find out after you go under contract. Which is ridiculous.
Drew Hendricks (08:19)
no.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (08:21)
Or the appraiser goes out and asks the condo association if it’s been done, and they say, no. So
Drew Hendricks (08:28)
Then does that have to go
in the listing? Because it’s in the disclosure.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (08:31)
You have to disclose it, yeah. But you don’t have to
put it in the listing, you just have to put it in the disclosures. That’s the key thing.
Drew Hendricks (08:37)
In the the c disclosure.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (08:40)
And it when those disclosures come to you, should be up front, but it’s usually, especially in SoCal, after.
Drew Hendricks (08:51)
Now condo what about homeowner associations? Are th are those subject to the same reserves?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (08:56)
Also known as PUDs, planned unit developments. No, they’re fee simple houses, fee simple ownership with the requirement of being part of an association. You could have a PUD like that that just pays for landscaping or just pays for road maintenance. Nothing. You own your house. You have to take care of your house. So no. But
What they could have done is said anybody with a balcony needs to have this done. I mean that would have
Drew Hendricks (09:27)
Okay.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (09:27)
drove e everybody out of their minds, but you know.
Drew Hendricks (09:31)
Are there any
pitfalls to watch out for for puts?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (09:36)
no, I mean it’s just getting a good home inspection and just making sure the balconies are good. That’s that’s probably the best thing you can do.
Drew Hendricks (09:44)
Shifting topics. So two weeks ago we talked about open AI and how it’s allowing is dramatically shifting the San Francisco housing market. And now aren’t we hearing something similar from Anthropic up there as well?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (09:59)
Atropic is considering letting existing shareholders sell some stock before the IPO. So, and they probably took the same idea that OpenAI did like hey, why don’t we you know let people sell the stock so that our IPO price can be higher? So
Drew Hendricks (10:22)
Makes sense. They’re gonna
wanna sell it anyways.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (10:25)
Yeah, exactly.
So which means more competition of cash buyers in San Francisco, and the prices are going to continue to go up and get cuckoo.
Drew Hendricks (10:35)
It’s also cash
buyers without the s I’m not saying it’s easy money, but that it’s not like they scrape together for ten years to get a deposit.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (10:44)
Yeah.
It’s like you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul kind of thing. Okay, they just deposited ten million dollars into my Robin Hood account. Let me take five of it and buy a house in San Francisco. Close in seven days. No contingencies. You know, million dollars over asking. And yeah it’s all the c i it’s it’s it’s just crazy up there.
Drew Hendricks (11:09)
Yeah,
I I c I can easily see how that would be. Especially if the five million is only a certain small percentage of their total new net worth.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (11:18)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And they don’t have to sell all of their shares, I w would think, so
Anyway.
Drew Hendricks (11:27)
So any advice for a normal person buying a house in San Francisco that’s doesn’t have IPO money?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (11:32)
You mean you mean the buyers
that I have that are trying that are frustrated? Well,
Drew Hendricks (11:35)
Yeah.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (11:37)
yeah, one thing I’ve been telling people is look, you have to become a cash buyer.
‘Cause that elevates you up higher. And we have that cash buyer program.
If you have a fully underwritten pre approval, we take that to a lender that we deal with. They they say, Okay, we know you can refinance this loan you know after the close of escrow with Wells or whomever.
So we’ll lend you the money, close in ten days. We’ll guarantee to the seller that if you don’t close, they will, which is really awesome. And that helps you ’cause
No you know, cash buyer can’t do that. They don’t have anybody else to go by. This is an institution. you know, and you’re waving everything. I
Drew Hendricks (12:23)
Mm-hmm.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (12:23)
mean i if
Besides the cash thing, if you have problems with the property, you need to get your answers before you put the offers in. So you might have to hire an inspector or an engineer to come in, pay them to tell you, hey, the property’s fine. or to say, nope, it’s going to be a nightmare and take, you know, 50 grand. So don’t depend 100% on AI to tell you perfectly what things are going to cost. Although it’s getting
Drew Hendricks (12:53)
Mm-hmm.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (12:53)
better, it ain’t perfect yet. So
So that’s
Drew Hendricks (12:58)
about the what about
like the are people looking towards the outlying areas like daily city where they’re just San Francisco adjacent?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (13:04)
Well my yeah, my whole
thing I think the future is Daily City, South San Francisco, Brisbane.
You know, it’s it’s like being in LA and living in Playa del Rey and dealing with the and and El Segundo dealing with the planes. You know, it it’s just hey, you deal with the planes. those are gonna be the single family hotspots, so the schools will be getting better there because more people be moving in and you know, that’s
And it’s a short commute to San Francisco. You can cycle there. So you know, and San Francisco’s got many neighborhoods and you know, you still got all that crazy stuff down at Hunter’s Point. Maybe that turns into things, even those are smaller houses.
Just don’t know. It’s it’s in in in you know, the usual places, the Noe valleys and you know i i that’s where the craziness is. The beautiful houses, expensive, people have money, boom.
Drew Hendricks (14:09)
I’ve always I mean, I’ve always wondered about Daily City. It’s been a few years since I’ve been up there, but as you’re driving out from, you know, Ocean Beach and you’re on the hills where they built all those World War Two homes for everyone coming
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (14:20)
Mm.
Drew Hendricks (14:20)
back from the war, those were never designed to last a hundred years. What what’s happening there?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (14:24)
No, no.
I don’t have direct knowledge, but case to case basis, you know, you fix it up, you tear it down. I mean
Drew Hendricks (14:34)
Yeah, I guess so.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (14:36)
it’s pretty much it. I mean a lot of apartments in Daly City. You know, it’s it’s it’s not the prettiest place in the world. But you’re in, you know you’re near San Francisco.
Drew Hendricks (14:49)
Mm-hmm.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (14:49)
I mean that’s that’s gonna make it nicer. And there’s still views of the water from the high points both directions, the the ocean and the bay.
Drew Hendricks (14:58)
Yeah, back in the back in the day when I lived there in the nineties, it was referred to as the home by the newlywed or nearly dead.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (15:09)
Okay.
Drew Hendricks (15:09)
But
that’s that was thirty years ago.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (15:12)
Yeah, I guess that’s where the starter homes are now. Allegedly. Starter conda.
Drew Hendricks (15:17)
Talking about people talking
about people looking for starting homes and disclosures. We we’ve got a bear story. Not duh bears, but some bears.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (15:26)
So these people bought this house in Los Angeles.
And the problem is there’s three bears. I guess mama, papa, and baby bear love their swimming pool. They’re in there. They can’t get rid of them. It’s it’s just they’re so cute. And they’re, you know, they’re just partying.
It’s like you got bears, you got coyotes everywhere. I mean, the coyote population is just growing and growing and growing.
So be careful. Don’t feed them. Read how to get it or use AI or Google or whatever to read what to do if you see a coyote. They’re not interested in you, but they’re salivating over your cat. Okay. And
Drew Hendricks (16:15)
And our dogs. Yeah.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (16:16)
they’re small dogs especially. Some of the bigger dogs
are kind of their equals.
Drew Hendricks (16:22)
Mm-hmm.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (16:22)
So they’re crazy enough to run with these lunatics, but you know, they’re desperate for food. That’s what it’s all about. So they’re hungry. And when you’re hungry, do something different.
Drew Hendricks (16:32)
Now do you discl do
did the pr people have to disclose that they’ve seen bears in their pool?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (16:39)
Yeah, I mean i there are two forms, the TDS and the SPQ, and I forget w which one you fill it in on. But if you know anything about the neighborhood, if you have a barking dog across the street and it doesn’t shut up, you have to disclose it.
So if you have bears in your pool, you have to disclose it.
Drew Hendricks (17:00)
Or bears have been seen
around the property. Bears in the area.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (17:03)
Yeah, I mean wildlife, you
know, describe the wildlife because, you know, somebody’s got little kids and they’re scared of bears and coyotes and they’re not gonna buy the properties. So you know. The bottom line is disclose, disclose, disclose, disclose, disclose.
Drew Hendricks (17:21)
Mm-hmm.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (17:22)
you know, some of these sellers try to get away with I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. Yeah, really, dude. I
Drew Hendricks (17:27)
Yeah.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (17:28)
I I have one that said to me,
You know, the seller didn’t even fill out the disclosure form because he’s owned it for forty years, but he’s never seen the property. It’s been a rental property. It’s like, come on. Yeah, exactly. So he’s just trying to pretend he’s I know nothing. I seen nothing. Is the Sergeant Schultz defense.
Drew Hendricks (17:50)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (17:52)
Look it up, kids. But yeah, it’s just you know, just keep disclosing. It’s the bottom line.
Drew Hendricks (18:01)
Gonna come out anyway.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (18:02)
Exactly, exactly. And there are some mean, nasty, evil, rich, smart attorneys out there. They’re gonna get you. You’re going to lose if you don’t disclose. It’s just just a fact.
Drew Hendricks (18:19)
That’s true. Well, not no no real way to segue into this. except for
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (18:25)
No, no, no, no.
Drew Hendricks (18:26)
entertainment. Bears are entertainment. Apple’s setting up an entertainment location.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (18:32)
That is a great way to put it. So Apple is coming to Culver City. They’re building a giant thingy dinghy. And here’s the r and the beautiful thing it
Drew Hendricks (18:43)
Five hundred and thirty
six thousand square feet. It’s a giant thingamading.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (18:47)
Two buildings, yep. They’re not gonna be building iPhones there. And they didn’t randomly pick this, you know, just because, hey, it’s a cool place. You gotta remember Sony, Amazon, MGM, HBO, they’re all right around there. and you already have
you know, apartments, restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, retail, all that kind of stuff in Culver City. And they knew what they were doing. They’re gonna be bringing people in, tying it into Apple TV, Apple Music, Software Engine, you know, all that kind of stuff that works for the production studios. So it’s like, you know, Apple up north is the consumer brand, the Apple of Southern California location, which is gonna have about
2100 employees currently and they’re thinking it probably eventually get to three thousand. it’s it’s quite a commitment and Google already has they’re expanded into Playa Vista. That’s where YouTube is. I forgot Netflix, obviously.
you know, there’s a big entertainment real commitment to Southern California that they’re making and they’re putting everything in one place. So there’s not like you can do six things down there and they still have to do four things in Cupertino. So this is Culver City’s the Cupertino of the South. It’s Covertino.
Drew Hendricks (20:25)
Covertino. You
you heard it here first.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (20:28)
Yeah, heard it here first, call call for Tina. So I I have a website, Silicon Beach. It’s the dot ch. So hopefully we’ll talk about doing something with that and getting you more information about this. But remember, all these people have to live somewhere. So guess what? The real estate is gonna go up. And they like living near the community and biking and they’re young and they want, you know, coffee shops and restaurants and blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Blah blah. So it
Drew Hendricks (21:00)
So a continue
vi continued vitalization of Culver City area.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (21:04)
Exactly.
Which can g you know, Culver City’s kind of weirdly shaped and all over the place. You know. It it’s really interesting ’cause it kinda goes from Santa Monica down to the airport-ish and
Drew Hendricks (21:18)
Mm-hmm.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (21:18)
out towards mid-city. So it’s it’s you know, people aren’t gonna live live right there, but schools there are fantastic. So it’s like the Pasadena of the West Side. in that sense. So
it’s it’s just
gonna keep going.
So lastly is this.
What is this you say?
Drew Hendricks (21:47)
Green trees.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (21:48)
I got this listing on Bainbridge Island in in Seattle, which is about a 30-minute ferry ride. F-E-R-R-Y, not F-U-R-R-Y.
and
Drew Hendricks (22:05)
A I R Y?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (22:07)
no, not that either.
But this place is unbelievable. It’s a habitat. Trees are amazing. The whole ecology system there is amazing. And these sellers have done unbelievable stuff with. They have three different artesian, three different wells systems. they we’ve taken lots of video and I interviewed the seller. And here’s the strangest thing I’m doing.
I am letting the seller do the open house
because
Drew Hendricks (22:42)
yeah.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (22:43)
they built this property, they know this property inside and out, and they can answer every single question. And by the way, we’re not there to find new buyers like every other real estate broker is. Okay. And and which brings me to another question.
If you’re using the listing that you got to find other buyers, it’s sad that you
The seller is not allowed to be paid a referral fee if you get a buyer out of their house.
Drew Hendricks (23:13)
Mm-hmm.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (23:16)
There’s gotta be a better system because that’s what they’re using it for. They could that’s why, especially some of these big companies, they do five-hour open houses. Why?
I mean, my whole idea is no more than an hour because I just want the interested people who are gonna buy the property and they’ll work it, they’ll get there. They’ll call me, my God, we really wanna see it, be a half hour late, can you stay? So
That’s a whole different discussion. But anyway, very cool property. We’ve done a lot of video.
We will make this
actually into a separate podcast for the property. lots of videos, drone videos, pictures, 3Ds, you know, the usual stuff. But yeah, the interview with this guy was a it blew my mind. Absolutely
Drew Hendricks (24:03)
Well.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (24:03)
blew my mind. Yeah. So this should be fun.
and it’s since it’s in the Northwest MLS, there is no or there used to be no system to talk about things before they come onto the market because of the new law in Washington State that says basically you gotta tell everybody in the public what’s available. There’s no no more compass listings that are hidden.
it’s called they now have a thing called first look and you’re allowed to put it on for 21 days. The public will see it, it’ll syndicate in the MLS. They will be allowed to show it and sell it before it comes as a quote unquote live listing. So
Drew Hendricks (24:47)
Semi private?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (24:48)
I whatever, I I don’t know. But you know, a lot of the Seattle area has started to slow down. so it’s not gonna matter if you do a pre-listing like this, except if it’s a unique property or something in a very desirable place. Like Bellevue gorgeous houses are still f rocking and rolling. but yeah, it’s it’s a little slower up there for sure.
Drew Hendricks (25:13)
So the twenty one day just so I understand the twenty one days means that you can you’re still publicly declaring it to all real estate agents, but the general public just doesn’t see it for the first twenty one days.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (25:22)
No, the d the
general public can’t see these first look things. In some
Drew Hendricks (25:26)
And what’s the difference between that and a regular one?
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (25:29)
because maybe you’re preparing the property I
Drew Hendricks (25:34)
Okay.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (25:36)
I don’t know. It’s also ridiculous it’s coming soon. What are you supposed to do with it? You just wait and then everybody sees it at the same time.
Drew Hendricks (25:44)
it’s fascinating. I got I got a little preview of it and this is truly an amazing house.
Fred Glick CADRE#01507615 (25:48)
Yeah. Insane. Anyway, all right, I think that pretty much wraps it up.
Drew Hendricks (25:54)
This has been the latest episode of We Fixed Real Estate.