All posts by jd

Real estate broker, civil engineer and general contractor.

In Government, Two minus Two equals Two!

February 16, 2009 jd

The Legislators Budget Process, somewhere there's an answer.

It seems that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has negotiated with Service Employees International Employees Union (SEIU) Local 1000, representing 95,000 state workers to eliminate two paid holidays, Lincoln’s Birthday and Columbus Day. However, if you think that’s going to help the budget, it will not because in lieu of the paid holidays, the state workers will get two “floating” personal days off with pay instead (read vacation)! Then there’s “Furlough Fridays”, going from two mandated days off per month to one day off.

According to the Sacramento Bee , in further talks the two days mandated to be taken off, popularly known as the “Furlough Fridays” (approximately a 10% cut in pay) for state workers has been changed to eight hours of unpaid “flex time”off per month. This is good, because it will not dock the pay of the state workers so much (only a 5% cut in pay, and it will keep the state offices open through out the work week. Closing the state offices on two set Fridays has been a terrible burden on the small businesses and particularly restaurants around the capitol area.

The bad news is there are still eleven more other state bargaining units left to negotiate with! Let’s hope the Gov. uses a little different logic in his negotiations when it comes to eliminating holidays. Let’s see how this turns out.

The most telling information to come out recently is that the State Legislators themselves are not suffering during the budget crisis. They are still getting their $116,000 annual salary, their $173 per day for food and lodging and $400 a month for auto expense. Why should they be in a hurry to balance a budget?

Environment, Weather

Scotts Flat Lake Winter 2009

February 13, 2009 jd

There was a nice blanket of snow which fell last night at my house. I would guess that there was a little over one foot of snow which made everything outside look like a winter wonder land. My house is located in Cascade Shores about 11 miles from Nevada City and at an elevation of 3,700 feet.

From my house you can overlook Scotts Flat Lake and notice that the water level is very low. It is normal for the lake not to be full this time of the year, but it is lower then normal. In January according to Susan Sindt, of the Nevada Irrigation District, the level of the lake was 31,000 acre feet. (An acre foot is one acre filled one with water one foot deep). We have gained some benefits from the recent rains, since the water level has gone from 31,000 acre feet in January to 32,200 acre feet as of today, according to Susan.

The last time the lake was lower was in the 1988-89 season at which time the water level was at 30,000 acre feet. Susan also said that NID’s overall water supply for the district is at 87 percent of normal for this time of the year. Hopefully we’ll get a lot rain this winter-spring season and the water supply will get back to normal.

By the way, if you are interested in camping, boating or fishing at Scotts Flat Lake go to the website of the Scotts Flat Lake Resort

Real Estate

Rip off a House, go to Jail

February 12, 2009 jd

Just as we get a high when we purchase a new home, it must be an equal low when you are losing your home to foreclosure and for some people it brings out their dark side.

For example, browsing on the Internet, I read where someone was having a “Demolition Sale” on their soon-to-be foreclosed home. According to the article anything and everything in the house was for sale!

Here’s another one from a house that once sold for $630,000 that was published on Voice of Sandiego.org

“The kitchen cabinets were gone from the yellow, 1960s-era four-bedroom, two-bathroom house. So were ceiling fans, blinds, light switches, outlet covers, interior doors, closet doors, the toilet, a vanity, the stove and marble counters. The kitchen walls had jagged lines of marble tile, marking the perimeter where the cabinets once were. Gaps showed in the paint, inside and out, the job stopped in mid-refurbishment. The former owner had stripped the house and taken nearly everything with her.”

According to an article from the California Association of Realtor®

“The report said, in summary, damages intentionally caused by the mortgage holder can be subject to criminal and civil penalties. In fact, removal of fixtures valued more than $100 constitutes a felony in the State of California and can result in a state prison sentence for a year or more.

“Even fixtures totaling less than $100 can result in a misdemeanor and could include county jail up to one year and/or a fine up to $1,000.”

The problem of course is that the foreclosed owner of the house has no assets. So pursuing them would not get the banks any money. However, I think they should pursue them. Why? Because twenty percent of the people foreclosed on do just that, rip the house apart. This hurts you and I, because it reduces the value of the home when it goes back on the market and it lowers the value of your home and everyone else’s too.

Weather

Stuck on Highway 49

February 11, 2009 jd

Today I took my Prius down the mountain instead of my trusty four wheel drive chevy. With all the snow on the ground and having lived in Nevada County since the miners founded this area, I should know better. But driving slowly and carefully I made it to my office.

Having to go to Loomis tonight for an appointment, I was working in the office when I looked out the window and saw that it had started to snow like in one of those movies you see where the hero is suddenly in a blinding snow storm and winds up completely lost.

I decided I better hurry up and get going before I got snowed in with my two wheel drive Prius. Going slow and careful again I made it all the way to Highway 49 where I was forced to a crawl. Managing to continue all the way out to the end of the freeway, or about a half mile, all traffic in the south bound lane came to a complete stop. As I sat there, my thoughts were that some unfortunate souls might have gotten in an accident. I also thought that it was funny that the north bound lane was flowing smoothly and with a lot of traffic.

After about forty five minutes we started moving and I figured they had cleared the accident. As I continued on my way, I was listening to NPR and they said that Highway 49 out of Grass Valley was closed due to ice conditions. Now, if Highway 49 was closed for ice conditions, why was the north lane flowing like the Autobahn? I guess that’s one of those mysteries of life that we encounter once in a while, but never quite know the answer. If you were there, let me know.

Hiking, State Parks, Travel

Malakoff Diggings State Park

February 10, 2009 jd

The Hendy Monitor, used to wash the mountains down

With all the bad news lately, it’s time to take a deep breath and think about all of the natural beauties that exist in this County. My friend Judy and I took a trip to Malakoff Diggings a couple of weeks ago. You can go the way we did, from Nevada City on Highway 49, turn right onto North Bloomfield Road, continue on until you come to the park. I prefer this route, with parts of the road steep with many switch backs, cutting across an old bridge over the South Yuba River. You can stop by the bridge and appreciate the wonders of nature and what the force of water can do to a river bed. Then continue on until you get to the park and the town of North Bloomfield.. Interesting, the web site of the State tells you that this route is not recommended. I guess if you are not used to driving in the mountains, it’s not a good way to go, but it is sure a beautiful drive. Google Map

The other way to go, which is a lot faster is to leave Nevada City, travel eleven miles up Highway 49 to left on Tyler Foote Road and continue on to the park. The road changes names several times, but stay on the pavement and you will get there to the park and North Bloomfield.

: Downtown North Bloomfield

Once you get there, there are hiking trails, campgrounds and of course seeing the destruction that the miners seeking gold did to the surrounding mountains. It’s amazing that what was an ecological disaster at the time, has now become a state park. Time has pretty much healed the area with the forest coming back along with the animal life. In the center of the park is the historic town of North Bloomfield. The State has done a really good job of restoring many of the old buildings, and at certain times of the year they are open for you to go in and see what the old miners saw.

Mountain washed down by the miners seeking gold

In 1851 a miner came to town with a pocket full of gold. They followed him to what is now North Bloomfield and could find no gold, so they named the town Humbug. As the town grew to a population of 1,229 people, the residents wanted a post office, so they named the town Bloomfield. However there was another Bloomfield, so they named the town North Bloomfield. The present population is 2-12, I guess depending upon how many rangers are out there, and not counting the bears.

I could go on with the colorful history of the park, but detailed information is available at Wikipedia Malakoff State Historic Park and the website of the California State Parks Website

Take trip up there when the weather is nice, hike, relax, take a nice lunch with you and realize there is more to life then all the negative news we’ve been hearing lately.

Real Estate

Property Tax Assessment Another Scam

February 6, 2009 jd

warning-signw3

Now we have a company in Los Angles taking peoples money for something they can do with a simple call to their local tax assessors office. An official looking letter from a firm calling themselves Property Tax Assessment, with a PO Box wants you to send them $179.00 by February 27, 2009 for them to do what you can do with a simple call.

If you don’t send them the money by the 27^th you will have to pay them an additional $30.00. Wow, how to word a scam letter to the hilt! In a specific example, one letter which I read states they can save the home owner $1,005.22. Notice the twenty two cents. Now they must have done some kind of research to come up with that close a figure, don’t you think?

But wait, in the letter they state “upon receipt of your service fee, Property Tax Reassessment will thoroughly review your individual property value” Now just a minute, if you send a letter out with a value to the penny, didn’t you do some research before you sent the letter?

Here’s an excerpt from the Examiner which also has a copy of the front and back of the form if you hadn’t gotten one of these scam letters and want to see what it looks like.

“The cunning company takes advantage of the fact that parcel numbers are a matter of public record to create a devious come on that may not be illegal but is certainly deceptive.

You can choose to pay someone to help you with your property tax assessment appeal, but why would you if it’s free? Trickery could induce you to pony up.

The single-page, double-sided mailing (front) (back) from “Property Tax Reassessment, P.O. Box 25519, Los Angeles, CA 90025” comes with the home owner’s address, the correct parcel number and a claim that the property may be over assessed”

When you get mailings like this, report it to your assessor, tax collector and your local district attorney. Offers to reduce your property tax with a fee attached is a warning sign, so call the county officials and do not respond to the letter.

Real Estate

Only a $500,000 Salary?

February 6, 2009 jd

John Thain after leaving Bank of America

Geez, I can’t get by with $500,000 if I have to run a big corporation like GM, or Bank of America into bankruptcy, woops, I mean run these companies!

Here is what some of the CEO‘s of these large companies made as they ran their companies into the ground according to The New Times

First a little update.

“Executives at companies that have already received money from the Treasury Department would not have to make any changes. But analysts and administration officials are bracing for a huge wave of new losses, largely because of the deepening recession, and many companies that have already received federal money may well be coming back”

Crucial details remained unclear on Tuesday night, including whether the restrictions would apply to all companies that receive money under the so-called Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, or whether they would apply only to the “exceptional” companies that were being rescued from collapse.”

The Times went on to list some executives from severely troubled companies and their current salaries.

The chief executive of Bank of America Kenneth D. Lewis, , took home more than $20 million in 2007. Of that, $5.75 million was in salary and bonuses.

Vikram Pandit, who became chief executive of Citigroup in December of 2007 and previously held other senior positions at the bank, made $3.1 million.

The chief executive of General Motors, Richard Wagoner, made $14.4 million, much of it in stock, options and other non-cash benefits. He earned a $1.6 million salary.

Then there’s John Thain CEO of Merrill Lynch who gave billions of dollars to his employees just before his company went under and was taken over by Bank of America. He spent 1.2 million remodeling his office including a $1,450 parchment waste basket.

Darn, at $500,000 a year, the top dogs will not be able to buy parchment waste baskets for $1,450. How about they use a paper bag from the grocery store instead, that’s parchment, sort of.

By the way, in 2004, Bill Gates of Microsoft received a pay raise and with bonus made $901,667. The rest of his wealth came from the company making money and receiving his wealth from stock growth and dividends. What a concept, company makes money, CEO makes money.

Real Estate

Now What? Who Owns This House?

February 4, 2009 jd 2 Comments

So what do you think about people renting out a home that is not theirs? Seems like one way to make money in this economy if you’re looking for free room and board at the local jail house.

Yet this is what happened in West Natomas, in a gated neighborhood that has million dollar homes and such neighbors as the owners of the Sacramento Kings, former Kings star Mike Bibby and other such people with fame and money.

At issue is a 3,361 square foot, 4 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom home that has been vacant for some time. Police investigating the case found that the home had been purchased at auction last Thursday by Aurora Loan Services Inc. of Littleton, Colo, and that Aurora did not know who Phillis Powers was or why someone was living in their home.

However, when police approached the people living in the house, the couple produced a contract allowing them to rent the home for $1,500 a month. The contract had the name of Sacramento real estate broker Phillis Powers. (Hopefully she wouldn’t be a broker much longer.)

To make matters more bizarre, there were two printed signs in the front window claiming the home was the “Private Property of sovereign Woman of republic of California” and that federal and state employees could not access the property.

The sign also mentioned “freeman” which may be a reference to the radical anti-government group that gained fame in 1996 during an 81 day standoff with federal authorities in Montana.

So now, along with everything else that’s happening, we have to watch out for scammers renting homes that they don’t own. Don’t tell the politicians in Sacramento about this, they might use this technique to balance the budget.

For some more of this bizarre story
Sacramento Bee

Real Estate

How Not to Face Foreclosure!

February 2, 2009 jd

From a scene that could have come out of a movie, a husband and wife loaded up with guns, ammunition, and homemade bombs and fought off Otero County, New Mexico, Sheriff Deputies that initially tried to serve the foreclosure notice.

Then they got into a battle with the New Mexico State Police SWAT team comprised of nearly 100 officers. At the end, the wife was dragged out of the home by a bomb robot and the husband was found dead with a rifle at his side.

According to Alamogordon Daily News

“Sgt. Andrew Tingwall said the woman, whom police would not identify, was heavily armed and wearing a bulletproof vest. She was arrested and charged with assault with intent to commit a violent felony on a police officer.

He said officers decided to use the robot to grasp her ankle and pull her out of the house.

Officers pulled her away from where she was lying face down,” Tingwall said. “She had two pistols in her pockets and (was) lying on a shotgun.” Police medical members rendered first aid to the woman. Tingwall said she was taken immediately to a hospital.

“At approximately 2 a.m., SWAT officers made an approach of the residence behind a Dona Ana County bomb robot. The approaching officers discovered that there was a male subject with a rifle lying deceased behind a vehicle.”

The wife is facing felony charges with assault with intent to commit a violent felony on a police officer. She may face additional charges according to the police.

So the score, husband dead, wife in jail, house foreclosed. Facing foreclosure is not easy, but this is not the way to go!

Real Estate

California Sales and Other News

January 30, 2009 jd

sold

Well, the latest news from the California Association of REALTORSÂ® (C.A.R.) states that sales in December of 2008 increased 84.9 percent compared with the same period last year. On the other hand, median home prices fell 41.5 percent during the same period. The median price in December was $281,100 compared to $480,820 in December 2007 according to C.A.R. By the way, in my previous blog I stated that DataQuick’s figures showed a 48 percent increase in sales from a year ago. Maybe we should average the two figures! I think what C.A.R. is comparing is the month of December 2007 to the month of December 2008. You have to be careful to about news stories, no?

“Sales have continued to be strong, exceeding 500,000 units for the fourth consecutive month and year-to-date sales are nearly 27percent above last year” said C.A.R. President James Liptak. (More percentages)

Several things have helped to bring buyers into the market. Declining interest rates have dropped along with declining home prices. In addition home building has dropped to a 17 year low which, while it hurts the economy, it also slows the flow of new homes into the market. First time home buyers are now able to afford a home. Investors are flooding into the market place, knowing that this is a buying opportunity of a lifetime.

By the way, I ranted in an earlier blog about banks being bailed out and how they used the money to help their own bottom line instead of you and I. Here’s an example of what we helped bail out with our money. Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch because it seemed to the bank to be a way to expand their holdings. John Thain was CEO of Merrill Lynch at that time and was allowed to continue as a one of Bank of America’s managers He has since been fired when B of A found out that he had given billions (not millions) of dollars in bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees in his last days as CEO there, while his company was going under and had to be rescued.

You know of course, that the government has given Bank of America 20 billion dollars in rescue monies and another 118 billion is sitting there, if they need it. They need the money because of their acquisitions of FleetBoston Financial, Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. So continuing with the saga of John Thain, John then spent 1.2 million dollars remodeling his office, including $1,450 for a parchment wastebasket. So this is where part of our rescue monies have gone, to pay for a $1,450 parchment waste basket! Read the full story of John Thain at MSNBC