First posting

Welcome to the Valley Real Estate and Money blog. My intention is to provide news, comments, thoughts and guidance on issues related to real estate in the San Fernando Valley and financial issues anywhere in the country.

I think it is vital that you know something about someone who professes to know about the topic upon which they write:

My name is Rennie Gabriel and I have been a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) and book publisher with about 80 titles published and in distribution on consumer education in real estate and finance. (www.GabrielBooks). Since 1996 I have taught an extension course at UCLA based on my own book, Wealth On Any Income. Locally, I own and manage several apartment buildings through various corporations and limited partnerships, so my comments should be appropriate for those who own or invest in real estate, and for those who live in it.

When it comes to financial issues, I have been broke. I had been divorced twice and had to start over again financially for the second (and last) time in 1998. I know what it is like to have no money to buy groceries for the family, have creditors want money from me that I did not have, and I also know what it is like to have vast sums of money at my disposal and feel secure in my net worth.

Personally, I am married for the last time to an amazing woman, Dianne Merryl. She has a daughter who is now 17. Oh joy! (Please insert sarcastic feelings here.) Dianne is a wonderful human being and a top producing real estate agent with Prudential Realty in Encino. Her and her partner's website is www.RobertandDianne.com As an example of her wonderful nature, her partner Robert is her ex-husband, and they are still able to work together. That also says a lot about Robert as well. He is a wonderful man and we all get along very well. So well in fact that the three of us invest in real estate together.

My own children, Ryan and Davida are grown, very successful in their own lives and have their own families. I have three grandsons, two from my daughter and one from my son. I could spend a lot of time here bragging about my children, their spouses and my grandchildren, but this is not the format for that.

For many years I provided financial coaching through my company, The Financial Coach, Inc, (www.financial-coach.com) and supported individuals to achieve their personal goals and I coached other financial professionals, like CPAs, insurance agents and financial planners to achieve their pesonal and business goals. I had several financial planning firms and construction companies as my coaching clients. I still do some work in this area, but on a very limited and selective basis.

I hope you enjoy my future postings, find value in the comments, and can take action on my suggestions. They will lead to your personal feelings of wealth and satisfaction.