How The Property Brothers Built Up A Real-Estate Empire

Think you know everything there is to know about the Property Brothers? Read on to find out if you're as much of an expert on Drew and Jonathan Scott as you thought.

The brothers bought their first house when they were only 17 years
old! In college, they didn’t waste any time before flipping a house for a
$50,000 profit.

They own Scott Brothers Entertainment with their older brother, JD.
When he’s not impressing home buyers with his amazing finds, Drew’s
passionate about directing and producing.

Because of their Scottish heritage, Drew and Jonathan were
competitive bagpipers as children. Jonathan claims to have taken home
all the medals.

We knew they were a hilarious duo on the Property Brothers,
but did you know that Drew and Jonathan Scott have their own sketch
comedy group? If you’re lucky, you might even see them doing stand-up.

They grew up on a ranch in Vancouver, Canada, and started riding horses by the time they were 3 years old.

Drew is in a relationship with Linda Phan, who is Scott Brothers
Entertainment's Creative Director. They recently attended a friend's
wedding...so are they next?

Jonathan fans, you're in luck! The rugged, flannel-shirt-outfitted
half of the Property Brothers duo is currently single. But, he is the
proud papa to two pint-sized dogs, Gracie and Stewie.

Big banks are leaving the building when it comes to the mortgage market

L.A. housing is expensive, sure. But are you paying too much for your rental? 

It would be reasonable to expect that the increases we’ve seen in
rents and purchase prices in recent years would be roughly proportional
throughout Los Angeles, but this is not the case. In actuality, purchase
prices can soar while rents remain stable, and vice versa—even within
the same neighborhood.

We used standard 28 percent "front-end" debt ratios and a 20 percent down payment subtracted from the NAR’s median-home-price data to arrive at our figures. We've incorporated available information on property taxes and homeowner’s insurance costs to more accurately reflect the income needed in a given market. Without a significant ramp-up in new home construction and more homeowners listing their homes for sale, buyers are likely to see little relief in the form of slowing price growth in the months ahead. 

The housing market is overheating and you can sense it when you speak to house humping enthusiast.  The housing market can do no wrong and a correction isn’t even in the realm of possibility according to their views.  But even recently, the National Association of Realtors recognized reality when they stated the obvious: rising home prices with no rise in household incomes is not good.  This is why in California we are facing rental hijacking.  People are now desperate to buy and are getting all kinds of odd mortgages including those that come with zero percent down basically shifting a large part of the risk to the lender.  These mortgages only make sense if you believe housing will never go down.  Many Millennials are still struggling to buy given their weak income growth.


Is the New American Dream to rent?  At least that is what it looks like if we track the home ownership rate over the last decade.  Millennials are moving into their prime house lusting age yet somehow, a flood of buying is simply not happening.  Renting continues to dominate the recent trend of household formation.  It was interesting to see that out of the top 10 metro areas for renters, 6 of them reside here in California.  There is a bit of hope, Poppy-loan is trying to capitalize on the low down payment crowd.  What has become clear is that California is now trending towards renter-heaven.

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Ask The Agent: What Is Your Best Advice For Folks Looking For A New Home?

Pick Your  New Home: here

The real estate market can be difficult to navigate. How can you know if it’s a good time to buy? What should you be looking for in a home? Well, if you’re thinking about buying a home, send me an email.

 “If you find a place that feels like home, buy it without delay. Good homes in good condition are selling quickly, so you want to get your home before someone else does.”

Why Prop 13 is Fair

To understand why Proposition 13 is fair, one must understand how it works. Proposition 13 curbs property taxes by restricting the maximum rate (1%) and, more important, by limiting increases in assessed valuation (2% annually). With the latter provision, it is easy to see how a home’s current value can greatly exceed it’s taxable value over a span of just a few years.
The substantial difference between a property’s actual value and its taxable value disappears when the property changes hands. When this occurs, county assessors reassess the property at full market value. Thus, recent purchasers derive no immediate benefit from the limitation on annual increases in taxable value.

Shortly after Proposition 13’s adoption by the voters in 1978, the California Supreme Court recognized its inherent fairness. Justice Frank K. Richardson, speaking for a nearly unanimous court, concluded that “an acquisition value system…may operate on a fairer basis than a current value approach.”


Yet Proposition 13 has been mostly fair to homeowners, though inequities have crept up in the commercial property market and the resulting tax structure has become increasingly vulnerable to ups and downs in the economy, resulting in the yearly deep budget deficits we have seen over the last several years.

But looking strictly at homeowners, Proposition 13 has worked pretty well for two main reasons: one, the short-term inequities of neighbors paying different property tax bills even out over time as taxpayers move around and, two, it gives taxpayers certainty, the key to fair taxation.


I was in middle school in VUSD when Prop. 13 passed and remember the quality of the schools I attended somehow eroding after that (obviously due to a lot more than just Prop. 13). At the same time, I appreciate that many members of my family have been able to retire in the homes they purchased before Prop. 13 due to affordable property taxes. I also appreciate that Prop. 13 has helped commercial property owners stay in business. For me, however, Prop. 13 means that my generation is paying far more in property taxes for homes smaller than older property owners living in larger houses.

As voters, we have passed a lot of propositions that sound good when we vote for them, but when you put them all together later they appear to have tied the hands of legislators to do their primary job—draw up a reasonable spending plan every year for the state.

Are You Creditworthy?

The notion "creditworthiness" can be defined as a presumed ability to meet agreed deadlines related to repaying the credit and the interest accrued without affecting the vitality of the borrower, i.e. the repayment process should be based on the income received in the process of the borrower's usual activity, without affecting adversely his/her financial situation or financial results as well as other business entities.
An important point in conducting the credit activity is the thorough analysis of the
business activity and the income received in this business activity is taken as a fulcrum. It
is necessary that a number of conditions be observed, namely:

• The credit extended as an absolute value should meet the real needs of the borrower;

• ƒThe credit period should correspond exactly to the circulation speed of the resources

for the securing of which it has been extended;

• ƒThe profitability of the borrower's business activity should entirely cover the credit

amount, the interest rate, the charges and the risks, calculated in the credit analysis.


Alternative types of credit scoring have been around for years,
taking into account factors not always captured by traditional scores,
such as whether borrowers pay their cellphone bills promptly. They've
been used to assess the creditworthiness of consumers with little or no
traditional credit history, including those in developing countries.

Lenders are trying to use vast troves of data, financial and otherwise, as a modern replacement for the gut
feeling a banker might have had about a potential borrower a generation or two ago.


Experian is examining social media data to provide credit scores for
businesses too young or small to have a credit history, said Eric
Haller, executive vice president of research unit Experian Data Labs in
San Diego.

What to do with Retirement Dollars

Personal retirement funds, like those held in self-directed IRAs, are an often overlooked source of capital because most investors (and real estate pros) do not know it’s possible to invest IRA funds beyond stocks, bonds and mutual funds. But self-directed IRAs give account owners control over choosing their investments and they can use IRA funds to participate in almost any form of real estate investment -- from condominiums and office complexes to REITs or tax liens.
Using an IRA to invest in real estate provides the added benefit of investing with tax-advantaged dollars.

When a real estate investor uses retirement dollars, in most, if not all cases, capital gains are avoided and taxes on income from return on investment are deferred until it's time to take distributions.
There are also certain regulations that you need to be aware of when it comes to investing in real estate with a self-directed IRA. One example is that self-directed IRAs are prohibited from holding any assets that are used for the owner’s personal benefit – so you cannot buy a home with IRA funds and then live in it.

Understanding how investors can use self-directed IRAs to invest in real estate can help you get a leg up on the competition.

California Real Estate License Number: Mandatory

California Senate Bill No. 1461 is effective as of July 1, 2009 and it has real estate agents scrambling to comply. This Bill amends Section 10140.6 of the Business and Professions Code. As of July 1st, it requires a real estate "...licensee to include his or her license identification number on specified solicitation materials, as defined, and on real property purchase agreements when acting as an agent in those transactions.What is covered? The Business and Professions code states:
A real estate licensee shall also disclose his or her license identification number on all solicitation materials intended to be the first point of contact with consumers and on real property purchase agreements when acting as an agent in those transactions... For purposes of this section, “solicitation materials intended to be the first point of contact with consumers” includes business cards, stationery, advertising fliers, and other materials designed to solicit the creation of a professional relationship between the licensee and a consumer, and excludes an advertisement in print or electronic media and “for sale” signs.