Glendale does have a couple local Farmer's Markets already- one on Brand on Thursdays (odd day for this type of event) and we also have one down the street on Sunday's at Atwater Village. But Caruso likes to do things big, so I'm really looking forward to this one.

More about the great food heading our way, hot off the press:

Dominick is very excited to announce that Domenico's Artisanal Foods has
been hand-selected by Rick Caruso to participate in the highly anticipated
Gigi's Farmer's Market at the Americana in Glendale!

Inclusion in this market is based on the quality of products, and his
entire product line -- fresh pastas, sauces, tapenades, stuffed peppers,
ready-to-go meals and of course, sun dried tomatoes will be available.

When: Starting this Saturday, April 18th from 10am - 2pm

Where: 889 Americana Way Glendale CA 91210

This place is always busy, but they got it down, and their system works the crowd through in no time flat. Great Cuban sandwiches, potato balls, and meat pastries to die for. Desserts are awesome, too.

Here's the scoop:

http://www.latimes.com/theguide/events-and-festivals/la-et-neighborhood31-2009mar31,0,5817831.story

The main thing you want to keep in mind on what you see here, is that this is pre-tax benefits! AND...pre-tax stimulus money, making your monthly payments much lower!

But hey, that’s the whole point of our seminar, to show you what the numbers really work out to on your monthly payment. Side note: Countrywide did these numbers for us, and sometime in April, Countrywide becomes Bank of America. It will be business as usual- without the funny stuff.

Check out these rates!!

FHA with just 3.5 % down

10% down

Now for our shameless plug: (seriously, unless you enjoy flushing money down the toilet, lighting $100 bills on fire, or tossing handfuls of money onto the freeway during rush hour, you do not want to miss this!):

When: Saturday, March 28th from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Where:THE WORKLOUNGE, located at 6600 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood 90028, at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Seward St., upstairs through the metal doors (Inside the 2-story Spanish Building on the SW corner).

Map it!

Plenty of free parking on the west side of the building in the empty lot.

Seating is limited, please RSVP with Stephanie Perales at 323-962-1000 ext. 220 or email us here.

But wait! Now, let’s take into account your tax benefits of home ownership (around $5,000 for most people), this would come to around $416.00 per month savings, so your average monthly payment would actually be reduced to about $1384.00. Yep, you could actually own one of our homes for roughly $1384.00 per month!

Keep in mind your monthly commitment will still be around $1800.00 per month, this is just your average monthly when you look at what you paid for housing during a one year period. Still waaaaaay better than renting.

Now, throw in the $8,000.00 first-time homebuyer rebate and it gets even sweeter!

When I get the actual numbers, I’ll post scenerios for both our one bedroom condos and one bedroom + loft townhomes.

Rose will also explain this further at the fantastically fun, fact-filled seminar on Saturday!! Be there, or be square!

When: Saturday, March 28th from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Where:THE WORKLOUNGE, located at 6600 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood 90028, at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Seward St., upstairs through the metal doors (Inside the 2-story Spanish Building on the SW corner).

Map it!

Plenty of free parking on the west side of the building in the empty lot.

Seating is limited, please RSVP with Stephanie Perales at 323-962-1000 ext. 220 or email us here.

The new numbers breaking down what a loan would be for one of our homes should be posted on the website by tomorrow. And they are extremely attractive, if I do say so myself!

Rates could actually fall below 4.5%, but who knows for sure. All things considered, even at just under 6%, we had a good thing going. At this NEW rate, our one-bedroom condominium would be around $1600.00 per month including principle, interest, property taxes and monthly HOA dues (Yep, HOA dues are still just $99.00 per month!). The one bedroom + loft townhome around $2300.00. All this with just 10% down!

Keep in mind these are pre-tax benefit numbers!! That makes it even less!!

If your rent is from $1000 to $1700 a month or more, then this is right up your alley. On a straight 30 year fixed loan, most of your payments for the first few years goes towards the interest on the loan. So the good news is that you get to write this off along with the property taxes, too!

Rosemary will demonstrate to you how much of a savings you rake in on tax returns- before and after purchasing a home.

Who's Rosemary? See below- she's the guru tax preparer who's going to facilitate this seminar.

You can even arrange to have her show you the difference on your actual tax return. Doesn't get any more real than that!

Real estate controls our economy, and the Gov. wants to pay you to buy a home to get things moving again. It's as simple as that.

When: Saturday, March 28th from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Where:THE WORKLOUNGE, located at 6600 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood 90028, at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Seward St., upstairs through the metal doors (Inside the 2-story Spanish Building on the SW corner).

Map it!

Plenty of free parking on the west side of the building in the empty lot.

Seating is limited, please RSVP with Stephanie Perales at 323-962-1000 ext. 220 or email us here.

Only 5 days

Today I bring GREAT news to those who have already filed their 2008 tax returns, but really want all that free stimulus money now. Well, if you're able to close in the next couple months, you can actually have H&R Block file an amendment for you for $99.00 (sounds like our incredibly low HOA dues) and you'll receive the money in 4-6 weeks...so I'm told!

Rosemary will bring coupons to the seminar so you can cash in- literally. She will also explain the whole process and cover all the NEW benefits of homeownership, so you really don't want to miss this event.

Who's Rosemary? See below...

When: Saturday, March 28th from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Where: THE WORKLOUNGE, located at 6600 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood 90028, at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Seward St., upstairs through the metal doors (Inside the 2-story Spanish Building on the SW corner).

Map it!

Plenty of free parking on the west side of the building in the empty lot.

Seating is limited, please RSVP with Stephanie Perales at 323-962-1000 ext. 220 or email us here.

Hey, you deserve this. AND IT'S FREE!

It's become the perfect storm, interest rates so low it boggles the mind, and free money for first-time homebuyers who close in 2009. Lots of it. Throw in the everyday tax benefits of homeownership (writing off interest and property taxes) and owning at the Hudson becomes way cheaper than renting.

If you want YOUR bailout money too, then you cannot afford to miss this free, informative event!

When: Saturday, March 28th from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Where: THE WORKLOUNGE, located at 6600 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood 90028, at the corner of Sunset Blvd. and Seward St., upstairs through the metal doors (Inside the 2-story Spanish Building on the SW corner).

Map it!

Plenty of free parking on the west side of the building in the empty lot.

Seating is limited, please RSVP with Stephanie Perales at 323-962-1000 ext. 220 or email us here.

With Halloween lurking just around the corner, I thought now would be the appropriate time to mention all the celebrities near Adams Hill- at Forest lawn Mortuary. Or as I like to say, "our quiet neighbors on the other side of the hill."

To mention a few of the dearly departed: ClarkGable, CaroleLombard, JimmyStewart, JeanHarlow, HumphreyBogart, MaryPickford, ErrolFlynn, SpencerTracy, George Burns & Gracie Allen, W.C. Fields, Tom Mix, SammyDavis Jr., Walt Disney, Red Skelton, Robert Young, Lon Chaney, Ethel Waters, and Alan Ladd. The list goes on and on.

This place is over 300 acres, so finding these guys might not be that easy, but there are other things to do inside the iron gates...the rumor mill sez they have a great art gallery and a killer flower shop (are we having fun yet?).

I found a great website that will fill you in on all the greatest and the "late- est." OK, I'll stop now.

Go here if you dare! wooOOOOooo

 Mary Pickford living large even in death!

So who's buying over here? The Hudson is steadily becoming an amazing eclectic community of industry people, folks in the health and medical profession and everything in between (hope that was vague enough). Point is, we are located near all the major film and TV studios, and just a short 20 minute drive to downtown- without ever getting onto a freeway! With Glendale Memorial Hospital just down the street and other major hospitals just up the road off Sunset, choosing The Hudson's a no-brainer....a short commute to work and easy living.

First the broad strokes-

A) The good news is that The Hudson is only about 5 minutes from this gargantuan Mecca for food, fun and entertainment.

B) The better news is that we are about 5 minutes AWAY from this gargantuan Mecca for food, fun and entertainment.

Okay, let’s first visit item A. It’s great being this close to shops, restaurants and theatres. Now onto item B. Would you really want to live in all the density? The key here is the word “away.” Hanging at The Hudson is serene, peaceful, uber low density. Lost on the hill, in the middle of a great neighborhood. Away from it all.

Right now, it’s kind of like Disneyland- all that magic mixed with all that traffic and congestion. In fact they seem to be replacing the grass constantly from the daily stampede that treks through. But I digress…

This place brings an amazing vibe and sense of place to downtown Glendale. This is definitely the better downtown. 

First, the parking. Normally, my parking philosophy is all about the escape. I like to park far away and walk, so I can get out quick and easy. But for this excursion, I drove into the belly of the beast, and spiraled my way to the top of the parking lot. By the way, I like parking on the top level- easy as pie and the walk to the elevator is still the same distance as it is on the lower levels. Think about that next time you block all the traffic on level 2, waiting for someone to pull out of a space.

Each level tells you how many spaces are left at that givenlevel, so those days of guessing while aimlessly driving around is history. I’m not sure how they actually keep count; maybe they recycled those flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz.? Hey, in Caruso-land (the developer), anything is possible. Again, I digress…

So what exactly is the Americana? It’s a park, fountains, a crazy gold god, and an outdoor shopping and dining experience. It’s also a condominium project where there smallest unit starts at more than twice the price of a townhome at The Hudson. Granted, no one brings your car around for you here, but a small price to pay for living with less than 10 times the density.

I took the elevator down, complete with a real live elevator butler (is that what they’re called?) who looked like he could be Vin Diesel’s uncle. He was actually entertaining, even sounded like him. I'll bet he has his SAG card.

So, after a little exploration, I hit Katsuya for some sushi. An excellent place. Designed by internationally known maestro Philippe Starck, this place has the vibe to match the food. I highly recommend those little ice cream puff balls for dessert- or whatever they're called.

They also have those shops we all know and love- The Coffee Bean, Jamba Juice, and what’s a Caruso project (The same developer who brought us The Grove) without a Cheesecake Factory? The park in the middle of the mall has events all summer- you can visit their website and click on the Entertainment link.