This post originally appeared on Mike Lin’s blog and is republished with permission. Find out how to syndicate your content with theBrokerList.
0:00 Do you have any upcoming travel plans?
1:33 New Program to Offer Financial assistance for Retail Landlords in LA County
2:45 How You Could Lower your Property Taxes with Paramount Property Tax Appeal
3:32 Newsom pays tenants’ back rent & stimulus check expansion
4:37 Fast Food Restaurant loyalty program
5:24 Amazon’s checkout-free “just walk out” technology is coming to new Amazon Fresh stores
6:26 Happy 4th of July!
Hello Everyone!
It’s the July 4th holiday coming up this weekend!
If you’re driving, get ready to sit in traffic! AAA predicts that 43 million Americans will hit the road this holiday, which is 5% more than in 2019, pre-COVID.
If you’re flying, be prepared for long lines at the airport. Last week I reported that there’s a labor shortage among lower-wage workers, and the Transportation Security Administration is no exception. In their push to add 6,000 screeners by the end of September, the TSA is offering $1000 bonuses to new employees. Some airports have advised travelers to arrive as early as 3 hours before their flight to get through security.
Fortunately, I’m not traveling this weekend, but my family and I do have a trip planned to Hawaii later this summer.
If you’re planning to get away, also be aware of the cost of rental cars! Last year, many rental cars sold their fleets when they thought the world was ending due to COVID. Now with everyone getting stir crazy and looking to travel again, the rental car agencies can’t buy cars back fast enough because there aren’t enough cars available for purchase, either new or used, due to a global shortage of vehicle microchips. And you know what happens when you have high demand and low supply. Yup, prices go up. On average, rental car prices are double what they were from back in January.
So if you can find a car to rent at all, be prepared to pay for an arm and a leg. Alternatively, you can also try a peer to peer car rental service like Turo.com, which is like Airbnb for cars, where you can rent another person’s car, or even try a service like outdoorsy.com, where you might be able to rent a camper van for less than the price of a car. Good luck and safe travels!
Financial Help for Retail Landlords (Finally!)
Throughout the pandemic, there are programs from local and federal governments to help residential renters and residential landlords. We’ve also seen programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans and grants, that help small businesses. But there’s actually a new program that was specifically created to help tenants and landlords of retail shopping centers.
Last week, the LA County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to support a motion that would help small business owners and set a $10M fund to pay their landlords. One of the board members has said that the county has lost 29% of small businesses since the beginning of the pandemic, many of them mom & pops restaurants and businesses.
The fund will compensate landlords of small businesses who have:
- Nine or fewer full-time equivalent employees;
- Have annual revenues of less than $1 million;
- And can demonstrate a revenue loss of at least 25% during COVID
Priority will be given to minority business owners.
Within 60 days, Los Angeles County will establish a COVID-19 Small Business Rent Relief program and hire an administrator to allocate the funding to qualified businesses and landlords.
Lowering your Property Tax – Sponsored Ad
If you’re interested in lowering your property tax burden, Paramount Property Tax Appeal fights to reduce your property taxes, and their services don’t cost you anything unless they’re successful, since they’re paid a portion of the amount you save. They’ve been around since 2008 and have completed over 20,000 appeals, reducing tax assessments by over $1.5 billion in California.
If you think your property might have lost some of its value in the past few years, you could be eligible for a tax reduction. Hospitality, office, and retail buildings are commonly receiving tax reductions nowadays.
If you’re interested in lowering your taxes, please contact Jon Fleming at Paramount at (858) 245-0949, or email him at [email protected] and tell him that Mike Lin sent you.
Newsom pay renters’ back rent
Renters in California who are behind on their monthly payments will no longer have to worry about eviction, as the state has enacted an eviction moratorium that will extend until the end of September. In addition to the eviction moratorium, more good news for renters and landlords is that a proposed $5.2 billion program would cover 100% of unpaid rents incurred in California during COVID and be financed entirely by the federal government. To qualify, tenants must earn 80% or less of the median income in their area. The state is also proposing to set aside $2 billion for payments on overdue water and electric bills.
California has so much extra cash that in addition to the rent payment program, Newsom wants to send $600 stimulus checks to millions of middle-class Californians who earn up to $75,000 gross income per year per household and an additional $500 to the families with kids or other dependents.
So what’s the reason for the surplus? Silicon Valley tech companies who have done exceptionally well during COVID, the surging stock market, and many middle to upper-class professionals who were able to work remotely during the pandemic are all reasons for the high-income taxes collected by the state.
Fast Food Restaurant Loyalty Programs Coming Soon
Back in my first job out of business school, I was a marketing manager at Nestle, where part of my job was developing strategies for checkout coupons. You get discounts on stuff in exchange for them storing and mining your spending habits.
Fast-food chains are finally getting in on the game and starting their own loyalty programs, to retain the digital customers that they gained during the pandemic. According to research firm NPD group, restaurant digital orders increased 124% for the year ending in March 2021.
McDonald’s will roll out its program nationwide on July 8 and Jack in the Box is launching later this year.
Amazon opened its first Fresh supermarket with checkout-free technology
Amazon introduced “Just walk out” technology in their new full-size Fresh grocery in Bellevue, Washington last June 17. Rather than using the cart scanner, this technology uses overhead cameras and pressure-sensitive shelves to automatically detect what shoppers put in their carts. Take anything that you want and if you change your mind, just put it back, and the system will know. Once you get everything, you can just go and leave, and your Amazon account will get charged automatically. This new store won’t feature the high-tech Dash shopping carts.
Amazon has not stated whether they will bring the new technology to its existing Amazon Fresh in the US but the technology already appears in its Fresh locations in the UK.
Happy 4th of July!
Last year, all of the 4th of July celebrations in the area were canceled due to the pandemic. This year, festivities are back!
Here are a few events that will be held around Southern California:
- There will be a 2-night celebration of fireworks at the Hollywood Bowl on July 3 and 4. The shows will begin at 7:30 pm.
- If you’re in Orange County, check out the fireworks show at Dana Point. The show will be visible at 9 pm from the shore, from the cliffs above Dana Point, and private boats and cruises. Other cities in OC like Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Tustin, and Yorba Linda will have their annual fireworks display.
- In the Inland Empire, all the main fireworks displays such as Corona, Jurupa Valley, Lake Elsinore, and Riverside are back.
Please check out this link for more information on the shows that will be taking place in Southern California.
Have a great holiday weekend and stay safe!
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