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More millennials are moving into the real estate market. About 65 percent of people ages 25 to 34 years old surveyed by Realtor in mid-June said they plan to buy in the next three months.But buying is not always the best option. When deciding one of the biggest financial decisions of your life, keep these things in mind to see if you're better off buying or renting.Here's where it makes sense to rent:You have limited funds. If you don't have the money for a down payment and additional costs of owning a home, renting is the best option. Use rent-versus-buy calculators at Trulia or Bankrate to see what you can afford.You are uncertain about your employment. If you are unsure about your job situation or living paycheck to paycheck, focus on conserving cash for future living expenses and building up your emergency fund, said Evelyn Zohlen, a certified financial planner and president of Inspired Financial in Huntington Beach, California.You have a short-term time horizon. If you are on a work assignment that lasts two years or less, it makes more sense to rent rather than taking on the high transaction costs of purchasing a home. Same goes if you plan to move in the to start a family in a few years. On a similar note, if you are going through a significant life transition, like divorce or loss of a spouse, renting is a better idea while you get a little better footing.want next couple of years orBut you are better off buying if:You can cover the additional costs of owning. Make sure you can pay the down payment and closing costs before buying a home. "Most banks still want a 20 percent down payment," said Ryan Severino, a senior economist and director of research at commercial real estate data provider REIS. So if you are purchasing a $250,000 home, a 20 percent down payment would be $50,000. That's in addition to a typical 5 to 6 percent in commissions plus another 1 percent in closing costs. Maintenance costs are also a big factor to budget for.You plan to stay in the home at least five years. It's best to buy when you have the "long-term horizon," Zohlen said. Staying in a house that you buy for five years or more means you are more likely to recoup what you paid in transaction costs and generate a return on your investment.You want to reap the financial benefits of homeownership. Low interest rates make homeownership attractive because it decreases the amount borrowers pay on their loans. Mortgage rates remain near record lows after the 2008 financial crisis. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.9 percent, according to Bankrate. If you itemize your federal return and don't qualify for the alternative minimum tax, you can deduct your mortgage interest and property taxes from your tax obligations. And most importantly, you can build equity in your home, something that isn't possible with a rent payment.Source: [http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/04/what-to-know-about-renting-versus-buying-a-home.html]

The fun thing about a silly question like this is it only takes one example to disprove it.“Morons” rarely commit murder and responsible American media generally tries to stick to known facts.After all this isn’t Russia, Breitbart isn’t considered responsible media, and Limbaugh isn’t a real journalist.Honeymoon Killer Gets Life Sentence : Penalty for Murder of Wife on Cruise Ship Exceeds GuidelinesOctober 3, 1989 | HENRY WEINSTEIN, Times Staff WriterIn an unusual move, a federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday sentenced a Santa Monica chiropractor to life in prison for strangling his wife and throwing her overboard on the last night of their honeymoon cruise to Mexico. "This is one of the cruelest murders I've ever seen," said U.S. District Judge James A.Authorities Again Search Home of Bruce KoklichAugust 19, 2003 | From a Times Staff WriterInvestigators served a search warrant Monday night on the Lakewood home of Bruce Koklich, who faces a second trial next month on charges that he murdered his wife, the daughter of the late state Sen. Paul Carpenter. Koklich, 44, who is free on $1-million bail, allowed sheriff's homicide and crime-scene investigators inside the home on Fairway Drive, Lt. Ray Peavy said. They planned to look for potential evidence in the case, Peavy said, but he did not specify what.O.C. man is guilty of murderSeptember 19, 2008 | Christopher Goffard, Times Staff WriterAn Orange County jury Thursday convicted a 23-year-old Huntington Beach man of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his girlfriend's mother. Ian W. Allen faces 25 years to life in prison. Barbara Mullenix, 56, was stabbed and slashed more than 50 times when her then 17-year-old daughter, Rachael Mullenix, conspiring with Allen, attacked her in her Huntington Beach bedroom on Sept. 13, 2006. The daughter was convicted of first-degree murder in July.Sex offenders charged with rape, murder of four Orange County womenApril 14, 2014 | By Adolfo FloresMurder and rape charges were filed Monday against two registered sex offenders accused of killing four women who vanished from the streets of Orange County. Franc Cano, 27, and Steven Dean Gordon, 45, were formally charged Monday with murder in the commission of rape and lying in wait, accusations that would make them subject to the death penalty. Both have prior convictions, and have done time in prison for sex crimes against a child under the age of 14. The two transients were arrested Friday in an industrial area of Anaheim, not far from the trash-sorting facility where the body of 21-year-old Jarrae Nykkole Estepp was found last month on a conveyor belt.

From the DAILY BREEZE...Redondo Beach voters can replace power plant with development through new AES planThe AES power plant in Redondo Beach could be torn down for good if voters approve a measure to rezone the area for mixed-use and residential development instead. View from the Hermosa Beach pier, Tuesday, July 22, 2014, Hermosa Beach, CA.By Carley Dryden, Daily BreezeAES unveiled plans Tuesday to get rid of its oceanfront Redondo Beach power plant for good if voters approve a measure that would allow mixed-use development, a hotel and park space in its place.The power company will begin collecting signatures later this week for a March 2015 ballot initiative that, if approved, would shut down the existing plant by 2020 and rezone the site for mixed-use retail and office space, low-density residential units and acres of park land.“This is groundbreaking,” Mayor Steve Aspel said. “This is the only surefire way to get rid of the power plant.”AES, which until now has been pursuing plans to replace the hulking former Southern California Edison Co. structure with a smaller, more efficient plant, must gather signatures from 15 percent of registered voters to place the measure on the ballot.“In the event that voters don’t support our proposed plan, we would continue pursuing the power plant at the Redondo site,” said AES spokesman Eric Pendergraft. “It could certainly meet our future needs.”The company submitted plans in November 2012 to construct a new natural-gas, air-cooled facility occupying 13 acres of the 50-acre site. The current facility — which generates 1,310 megawatts, enough to power 2 million homes — was built 60 years ago, although a plant has occupied the property since the 1890s. Because new state regulations ban the use of ocean water to cool steam turbines, the current plant must be retired or rebuilt by 2020.The power plant, which is situated on the Redondo Beach border with Hermosa Beach, has polarized the community for decades. Critics claim the plant is not only an eyesore along the coast but an air polluter, while the pro-plant faction argues that the facility is vital to provide the densely populated area with reliable power.However, that might not be the case, even by AES’ own recent admission.“New power plants are definitely needed, but there are more locations in the region that can meet those needs,” Pendergraft said Tuesday in a nod to AES’ Long Beach and Huntington Beach plants. “Subject to a favorable vote, we are focusing our efforts on developing new power plants on our other two sites.”Pendergraft said the company has long shown an interest in looking for alternative uses for the Redondo Beach property.“(Uses) that would allow us to be kept whole economically but result in a future vision for the waterfront that doesn’t have a power plant on it,” he said. “That’s what we’ve come up with with this proposed zoning.”The so-called Harbor Village Initiative would create new zoning and land use designations for the property on Harbor Drive. However, future specific projects would be subject to City Council and state Coastal Commission approval and an environmental review process, he said.“It would be similar to the CenterCal process,” he said. “Measure G (in 2010) was the public vote that established the zoning designation for the pier area. Now, the CenterCal project is the specific development being proposed inside that zoning designation.”The measure would limit overall development on the site to 600 residences, 250 hotel rooms and 85,000 square feet of commercial space, leaving a minimum of 10 acres of open space.“By removing the old power plant, views of the harbor and coast would be enhanced and surrounding property values would increase,” Pendergraft said. “This initiative would give Redondo Beach the opportunity to transform the site into a vibrant part of the waterfront, providing jobs, healthy economic growth and new revenue for city services.”The proposed initiative also would require the creation of a new pedestrian esplanade/public plaza fronting Harbor Drive; continuation of Veterans Parkway, or the greenbelt in neighboring Hermosa Beach, to the coast; a new tree-lined pedestrian promenade along Herondo Street; and four acres of additional open space to be used for a neighborhood park or recreational areas.“It’s a win-win for everybody,” Pendergraft said. “We get fairly compensated. The city gets a lot of benefits. The residents get a new waterfront with no power plant that’s existed for over a century.”Aspel called the plan a “smart, responsible proposal that provides enormous benefits.”The city already has spent $450,000 to formally intervene with AES’ proposal for a new plant on the property, he said.“We’ve been trying to get rid of that power plant for years,” he said. “This is going to avoid costly legal battles.”Aspel said the plant’s fate now lies in the hands of voters.“You’ll have a choice of having a power plant for the next century, or (a mixed-use development),” he said. “It’s a compromise.”About the Authorhttp://...Reach the author at [email protected] or follow Carley on Twitter: carleydryden.