Even though I live in Los Angeles, I no longer invest here due to one of the most important property market considerations that I will share in a sec.

I am nonetheless always interested in knowing what's going on in real estate, especially in my own backyard, so on Saturday I went to a real estate symposium  about the Revitalization of Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA). 

DTLA has really flourished and changed over the past 18 years from when I first moved to LA and worked Downtown to today.  

Back in 2000 when I first moved to this city, Downtown was a no man's land.  People would drive in to work and there would be activity in DTLA from 8 am to 6 pm or so.  As soon as 6 pm hit the city would completely empty out (well except for lawyers like me working insane hours and the homeless who called those streets home).  

Due in large part to the opening of the Staples Center, which hosts 4 sports teams and 300 events per year and functions as the major anchor, and a series of concerted effort...