All posts by jd

Real estate broker, civil engineer and general contractor.
Real Estate

Foreign Investors Optimistic About U.S. Real Estate

foreign-investors-in-jacksonville-florida1
Foreign real estate investors expect the U.S. real estate market to recover by the end of the second quarter of 2010, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE).

Survey respondents were optimistic about the prospects for good returns, with more than two-thirds planning to invest in U.S. real estate before the end of the year.

About 31 percent said they were more hopeful now about the health of the U.S. real estate market than they were in January, 16 percent said they were more pessimistic, and 53 percent said their opinion had stayed the same.

The 200 members surveyed predicted that Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco would be the first cities to recover, followed by Boston and Los Angeles.

Source: Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (06/17/2009

Angel's Dog House Listings

Angels Dog House Listings Molly-Shih-Tzu

Louise & Molly
Louise & Molly

My name is Molly, I’m a shih-poo, a cross between a shih-Tzu and poodle, but I just like to say I’m Tibetan and French it sounds better if you know what I mean. I’m still a pup I guess, because that’s what I hear all the time, “oh, how old is she, she acts just like pup.”

I’m looking for a green environmental dog house preferable with solar roofing and bamboo floors. I would like a deck running along the front of the house because I love l to just sit and watch the birds and listen to the crickets. I’m a good watch dog.

In the meantime, I have a really nice house my mom and I live in and I sleep with her every night since I was born, I like it that way.

My mom is a singing teacher; she loves to sing too, my job is to greet all the students at the door and to make them comfortable before they start their lessons. So I jump in their laps and lick their faces. I’m pretty tried by the end of the day.

doggie-dreams-dog-house
Photo courtersy of Doggy Dream Homes
All we need are solar panels on the roof and it’ll be just what Molly wants.

Mom and I are so close that she hardly goes anywhere without me, we have been kicked out of a lot of places.

I love to play tricks on mom and when she is sitting at the computer playing Mafia Wars, on Facebook, I get bored. I start talking to her, I speak englis, she thinks I want to go outside because she isn’t paying attention so she gets up from the computer, but I just want her to chase me around the house and play ball, this always makes her laugh so hard.

My most favorite times ever is when we take our road trips to the town of Sonoma. Boy do I have a ball because dogs are welcome everywhere, I see and do things that I have never seen in my life before. I heard a dog say “being here is just like living in France.” Wow, I was impressed!

Story by Louise DeLucchi

Send us a picture of your dog and a little story and we’ll post on this website. Send your information to: E-mail Angel

If you are looking to buy or sell a home E- Mail John O’Dell

Real Estate

Sued for Fraud – Stewart Title and Heritage Oaks Bank

scammed
Investors have filed a lawsuit against Stewart Title Company and Heritage Oaks Bank (HOB) alleging they aided and abetted or conspired with Hurst Financial Inc. (HFI) in defrauding hundreds of seniors through illegal investment schemes.

According to Cal Coast News

“The suit filed by more than 300 investors against Stewart Title, HOB, and HFI lists eight complaints including conspiracy, fraud, financial elder abuse, and negligence. Investors are seeking punitive as well as compensatory damages.

Late last month, the FBI seized assets of (HFI) President Jay Miller’s home because of allegations of racketeering, money laundering, and wire fraud, according to a seizure warrant. The suit alleges HFI could not have engaged in a “Ponzi scheme” without the “joint effort, cooperation, and planning” of Stewart Title.

San Diego based attorneys Steven Sanchez and David Noonan, of the law firm of Kirby Noonan Lance and Hodge, claim that Stewart Title, working alongside HFI, siphoned money from investor loans to place in the pockets of HFI principles Miller and his daughter Courtney Brard. Sanchez cites examples of the title company creating false escrows, falsely closing active escrows, and illegally filing clean title reports before placing additional loans on already encumbered properties.

In addition, Stewart Title failed to notify investors when they discovered the fraudulent dealings following an internal audit and interviews that were spurred by numerous lawsuits and allegations of illegal activity “

According to the article, more than 1,000 people invested in this scheme, most of them seniors, resulting in over $100 million unaccounted for.

It’s amazing how investors get involved in schemes which promise a high return. The higher the interest rate that you are promised, the more risk that you are taking. When times are good and everyone seems to be getting rich, people want to get into the action.

The lesson here is as before, check very carefully before you invest your money. Remember, If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Nevada County Information, Recreation

Ed Scofield Inducted into Hall of Fame

Ed Scofield
Ed Scofield

Ed Scofield has been named as the 2009 inductee into the Nevada County Fair’s Hall of Fame. The Fair’s Board of Directors chose Ed for this honor because of his support, dedication and commitment, which is evident throughout the Fairgrounds today.

Scofield retired at the end of 2008 after serving as the CEO of the Fairgrounds for 26 years. During his tenure, he helped the Fairgrounds become visible as one of the top ten outstanding rural fairs in America, oversaw the formation of the Draft Horse Classic and the Country Christmas Faire, and fostered the partnership with Music in the Mountains and their concert seasons at the Fairgrounds. Within the Fair industry he has served as Past President of the Western Fairs Association and was elected to the Western Fair’s prestigious Hall of Fame for contributions to the Fair industry.

“Ed has provided vision and leadership to the Fairgrounds, and he has been instrumental in creating the venues that we all enjoy today,” said CEO Sandy Woods. “He is admired and respected by many and it is a well-deserved honor for Ed to be named to the Hall of Fame.”
A native in Nevada County, Ed has been active in the community from an early age, starting in leadership roles in 4H.

Most recently, he was elected to the Nevada County Board of Supervisors. He has also served his community as a big brother in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program; Past President of the Grass Valley/Nevada County Chamber of Commerce; Past President of Grass Valley Rotary; and as a former Grass Valley City Council member.

Ed will be formally inducted into the Hall of Fame at opening day ceremonies on Wednesday, August 12. In addition to access to the Fair and its many activities, he will receive a portrait donated by Schaffers Originals.

For more information about the Nevada County Fair, August 12 – 16, call 273-6217 or visit Nevada County Fair

Real Estate

Frank Sinatra’s Resort in Foreclosure

Cal-Neva Lodge & Casino
Cal-Neva Lodge & Casino

Having gone a few times to the Cal-Neva Resort, owned by Frank Sinatra for three years in the 1960’s, it’s sad to see the historic resort in foreclosure. Unique in that part of the resort is in Nevada and part in California, you could jump in their swimming pool which has the state line bisecting the pool in two. You could swim from California to Nevada in just a few strokes!

The resort was up for auction and the result—zero bids. The recession is taking a big bite out of tourism around Lake Tahoe. Indian gaming in California is keeping day trippers closer to home. And Ezri Namvar, the hotel’s most recent ex-owner, was forced into bankruptcy amid several dozen lawsuits, many from the tight-knit Iranian Jewish community in Los Angeles, which alleges that he ran a $500 million real estate fraud.

Marcil’s company, National Hospitality Holdings, specializes in turning around hotels in trouble. It was hired by Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, the Los Angeles company that foreclosed on the Cal Neva.

Canyon officials said their April 8 auction flopped because of the resort’s unique location: The border between California and Nevada splits the property. “It’s the only place,” Sinatra joked, “where you walk across the lobby — and get locked up for violating the Mann Act” (which bans interstate transportation of women for immoral purposes).

The odd division required simultaneous auctions in Reno, Nev., and in Roseville. The complicated process “masked” the resort’s real value, a Canyon spokesman said.

The resort was once a watering hole for elite seekers of quickie Nevada divorces.

Over the years, it was raided by Prohibition agents and shuttered by the IRS. Today, the property once known as the “Lady of the Lake” is showing her age.

In 1983, Ron Cloud, a Fresno, Calif., plumbing contractor who had acquired the Cal Neva, lost his license for allegedly rigging the slot machines and strong-arming debtors

Source Steve Chawkins Los Angeles Times

Business

What about Health Care for the Entrepreneur?

mountain-climber

There was a fascinating story on NPR the other day about entrepreneurs. The person being interviewed felt that entrepreneurs could be the way out of the recession, but because of a few factors most people who could or want to start a business don’t. One of the reasons stated why older people won’t start a business, which caught my attention is health care.

Paul Kedrosky, editor of the business blog ‘Infectious Greed,’ stated that start up costs really are not the main consideration when people of the older persuasion decide not to start a business…it’s health care.

I cannot agree more! I am happily self-employed at the young age of 40. I started my business when I was 35 and I went for a long time with major medical only. Thankfully my ex-husband covered our daughter under his work sponsored health care plan. What did “major medical” mean? It meant that I paid full price for my Doctor visits, my prescriptions and any tests or x-rays performed. Why? It was what I could afford. The only time I saw my Doctor was for my yearly girl exam. That’s it. I couldn’t afford to get sick and if I did my medical coverage wouldn’t kick in until I am on the hospital bed dying.

Thankfully my new husband has a job with great health care and I’m now covered under his plan. A few months ago his place of business went through a major restructuring and it looked like he was going to lose his job. We started brainstorming about what we can do if that happened.

My first reaction was to tell my husband to go freelance. He works with video and web and it would be an easy fit into my business. We were very excited at the prospect of creating this expanded business together and how having him work from home would help because he would be around more to help with the girls. We had no doubt that we would create enough income to continue our lifestyle and save for retirement….but then came the health care issue.  Could we afford the health care we need (I am older now…premiums tend to skyrocket at the age of 40 and DH is a few years older)?  That became the proverbial fly in my glass of wine.

Right now we have dental, vision, RX and health insurance. Last year alone I had $ 2000 worth of dental work done and my teeth are in good shape but they are not getting any younger. I have glasses and need yearly exams and occasionally new lenses (besides what is it with turning 40 and suddenly having to hold a book at arms length away while reading….?)  As I get older I find that I need more medical monitoring besides the yearly girl exam, there is now the mammogram and other yearly checkups.

The night before the layoffs my husband and I toyed with the idea of him going in and saying take me…lay me off. What stopped us? The idea that once he became self employed we would be one accident or one illness away from losing everything we worked for. We would be putting not only our financial health in jeopardy but we would also be gambling with our girls’ future.  We couldn’t do that.  Thankfully my husband’s job was spared. For how long?  We don’t know.

How sad is it that he is now working for the health insurance? He loves what he does, he likes where he works and the people he works with/for. But given the uncertain future at his place of work he would have more security going out on his own but he/we chose not to because of health care.  Where did it all go wrong?

I’m not a policy or political wonk. I keep abreast of the headlines but I’m too busy raising my family and running my business to get deep into the political wrangling. Normally I don’t talk publicly about politics. For the first time I wrote to my representative and implored them to do the right thing and create a health care system that is affordable for everyone…including us entrepreneurs. If the blogger is correct and I suspect he is (given that just about every major corporation is either in or on the verge of bankruptcy) we entrepreneurs just might end up being the saving grace of our economy

 

This article was written by Lisa Jacobson (My daughter)

Real Estate

California Imposes Statewide 90 Day Foreclosure Moratorium

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really-you-got-to-stop-sign

California is imposing a 90-day moratorium on housing foreclosures under a new law that takes effect Monday, June 15, 2009.

The law is expected to make lenders try harder to keep borrowers in their homes. Loan companies must prove they tried to modify the delinquent loans before they can begin foreclosing.

But supporters acknowledge the California Foreclosure Prevention Act won’t stop thousands of foreclosures from eventually happening. There have been more than 365,000 foreclosures in California since early 2007, with many more already scheduled.

The law will largely press lenders to follow the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable Program that began in March. That encourages lenders to cut interest rates or rewrite loans to 40-year terms to get payments below 38 percent of a borrower’s monthly income. Other options include reducing principal and tacking missed payments to the back of the loan. Under the law, California officials also can encourage short sales or deeds in lieu – options in which banks accept less than owed – for borrowers who want to leave or don’t qualify for modifications.

In summary, here’s what will happen starting Monday:

• Lenders will submit applications to the state outlining their loan modification programs. That gives them a 30-day exemption from a moratorium.

• If the state OKs a lender’s program, the firm is permanently exempt from the 90-day delay on foreclosures.

• If the state rejects the program as inadequate, a lender has 30 days to upgrade it and be reconsidered.

Leyes said consumers will be able to see a list of lenders that comply with the state’s requirements by mid-July.  

Source: The Sacramento Bee

Angel's Dog House Listings

Angel’s Doghouse Listings – Schmitty “Chief Doggie Officer”

I've worked so hard today, I need a nap.
I've worked so hard today, I need a nap.

My name is Schmitty. I’m a Boston Terrier and CDO at my mom’s business. CDO is “Chief Doggie Officer” and as you can see my job is quiet grueling.

My work functions are to look cute, bark at the wind, chase my girls, make sure my mom takes lots of breaks to pet me.

A usual work day schedule goes something like this:
Morning

6 am wake everyone up, eat breakfast and go outside
7 am chase the girls around the house, chew on shoes
8 am take the girls to school
8:30 – 9:00 am run around the house
9:00 am look cute for my mom
9:15 – 11:15 nap
11:15 wake up and go outside
11:30 get pets from mom

Afternoon

12:00 pm eat lunch
12:30 – 1:30 nap
1:30 go outside and stretch
1:50 come inside and chew on my bone
2:15 nap
2:30 pick up the girls.

I love what I do, but boy does it wear me out! This is my vacation home. This is a really nice doghouse, don’t you think? I really like the front deck.

Photo courtesy of melamarsh@Flicker.com
Photo courtesy of melamarsh@Flicker.com

Have a dog? A dog house (you can make one up)? Angel would like to list your doghouse, send a picture of your dog and a doghouse, along with the square footage, how many bathrooms the doghouse has and we’ll post it on this site. Tell us what’s special about your dog and what breed it is. Angel would appreciate that. See the About Us page for details.

Real Estate

Can’t Sell Your Home, Offer a $1 Million Coupon

coupon
Can’t sell your home? Offer a coupon as one homeowner did in Florida in order to sell his home. Realtor Rusty Gulden came up with the idea rather than lower the price of the home $1 million, just make up a $1 million coupon.

In an effort to cut through the gloom in the luxury real estate market, Gulden has been running an ad in the Palm Beach Daily News. “FREE $1,000,000 with this coupon,” the ad reads. “Offer expires May 31, 2009.”

Gulden is trying to sell a 2,000-square-foot unit at the Sun & Surf condo at 100 Sunrise Blvd. in Palm Beach. The asking price was $3.7 million, but it’s a mere $2.7 million with the coupon.

Gulden says tough times call for attention-grabbing marketing gimmicks.
“The volume is significantly off — you don’t need a Ph.D. in finance to know that,” Gulden says.

Since the ad started running earlier this month, she says, “I’ve been busier than a one-armed paper hanger showing it.”

Seller John K. Kearney paid $1.65 million for the unit in 2004, according to property records.

The property Gulden advertised had been on the market for two years, she said. The owner, a Massachusetts resident who was selling because he “just wasn’t using the property,” agreed to shave a $1 million off the asking price if the house could sell in May.
Gulden created a black and white ad offering a “free $1 million” to anyone buying the property. An ad designer at the Palm Beach Post bordered the ad with dashes and a small scissor.

Gulden said she saw more calls on the property and even received an offer from a New York buyer within the month.

“It wasn’t just another ad,” Gulden said.

Million dollar coupons are yet another side effect of a high-end market that is over-saturated with homes and burdened by higher loan interest rates, said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors

Real Estate

Too Early to Call Housing Bottom

highway-sign-going-both-way 

Housing research organization IHS Global Insight estimates that the average U.S. home is undervalued by 12.2 percent, and many previously pricey communities are undervalued by considerably more.

A recent study released by IHS used home prices, interest rates, area incomes, population density, and historic premiums and discounts to analyze housing values. It examined 330 markets and found homes are underpriced in 248 of them.

Despite the high percentage of undervalued areas, IHS says “it is too early to call a bottoming,” as “job losses continue, housing inventories remain elevated, and consumers remain wary in light of economic uncertainty.”

Here are the 10 most undervalued areas:

1. Vero Beach, Fla., -42.5 percent
2. Houma, La., -41.4 percent
3. Las Vegas, -40.9 percent
4. Merced, Calif., -40.1 percent
5. Cape Coral, Fla., -39.1 percent
6. Houston, -36.9 percent
7. Midland, Tex., -34.8 percent
8. Lafayette, La., -34.4 percent
9. Vallejo, Calif., -34.3 percent
10. Stockton, Calif., -34.3 percent

Source: CNNMoney.com, Les Christie (06/04/2009)