All posts by jd

Real estate broker, civil engineer and general contractor.

Mortage Rates Drop to 37-Year Low

December 20, 2008 jd

According to Realty Times ® Freddie Mac today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey in which the 30-year fixed-mortgage rate (FMR) averaged 5.19 percent this week. This is the lowest FMR that Freddie Mac has recorded since it started keeping records in 1971 or 37 years ago. A year ago, the rate for a 30-year FMR averaged 6.14 percent.

Well that’s the good news. The bad news is in order to qualify for the above rates, according to Donna Knapp of Empire Home Loans, you need to have a FICO score of 740, full documents, that is proof of your income, the assets that you have and a review of your income tax returns. However, if you have all of that,you can get up to 100 percent financing.
The couple were then qualified for a large loan to buy a home beyond their means. With a low starter teaser interest rate, they could manage to hang on the home thinking the price of the home they purchased would go up and when the interest rate increased, they could refinance or sell. However, when the interest rate rolled over to a higher rate, they could not afford the new payment. In the meantime,the value of their home had gone down and they could not refinance. All the couple could do was move out and let the home go into foreclosure.

You may ask why banks ever made stated income loans. These type of loans were designed for self employed people, who’s income is erratic, but in general have good credit and usually are a good credit risk. So,understanding how the system was abused you can also understand how we are in such a financial mess because of the loose loans that were made in the recent past. In summary, the banks did not do due diligent on their part to assure themselves as to whom they were dealing with. Now they have gone to the other extreme, making it hard for most people to get a loan to buy a home with their stifling requirements.

Government

Nevada County Free Discount Prescription Card

December 17, 2008 jd

I was wandering around on the Internet the other day and what a surprise when I stumbled unto the fact that the county of Nevada County has a free prescription card. On reading further on the Nevada County website, it states that the card may be used by all county residents, regardless of age, income or existing health coverage. The National Association of Counties has made this available to all counties that want this discount prescription card and to our good fortune, the Nevada County Public Health Department decided to make this card available to us living in Nevada County. (The formal name of the card is “The National Association of Counties NACo Drug Discount Card or simply NACo discount card”)

The card may be used at over 57,000 pharmacies nationwide, including most chain pharmacies and many independents. Wal-Mart participates in the program. In addition the program has a safety feature that alerts pharmacists when one drug may conflict with another medication the card holder is taking, if the prescriptions were obtained with the NACo discount card. The card program remains a useful option now that Medicare Part D has been implemented. For example, the card can be used when a Medicare Part D plan doesn’t cover a drug.

For information on obtaining a NACo discount card call 530–265-140 or go to 500 Crown Point Circle, Grass Valley, CA, If you do not live in Nevada County, check with your County Health Department and see if they have enrolled in this program.

Nevada County Free Discount Prescription Card

December 17, 2008 jd

County Discount Card

There is no enrollment form, no membership fee and no restrictions or limits on frequency of use. Cardholders and their family members may use the card anytime their prescriptions are not covered by insurance. According to the County, savings average 20 percent, some discounts may be more, and some less, depending on the drug and quantity purchased. Cardholders are eligible for higher discounts on a three-month supply of some medications through mail service. If you have a pet, believe it or not, you can save on pet prescriptions at participating retail pharmacies. By the way, this is not an insurance card.
The card may be used at over 57,000 pharmacies nationwide, including most chain pharmacies and many independents. Wal-Mart participates in the program. In addition the program has a safety feature that alerts pharmacists when one drug may conflict with another medication the card holder is taking, if the prescriptions were obtained with the NACo discount card. The card program remains a useful option now that Medicare Part D has been implemented. For example, the card can be used when a Medicare Part D plan doesn’t cover a drug.

For information on obtaining a NACo discount card call 530-265-140 or go to 500 Crown Point Circle, Grass Valley, CA, If you do not live in Nevada County, check with your County Health Department and see if they have enrolled in this program.

Travel

Journey to Purmamarca

November 28, 2008 jd

The next day we started on an trip to Purmamarca, pretty much due north of Salta. But we went the long way around first , to the north west of Salta. We started by following the famous narrow gauge railway called Tren a las Nubes (the train to the clouds).

Train to the Clouds

If you do want to take the train, it is a full fifteen hour trip from Salta and back again. But we were in a van and only followed the train for a few hours. Along the way, we watched the train when it came to an area that the train had to come to complete stop, back up to another track going up hill, raising as it backed up, then going forward to a higher track. This was the only way it could climb the mountain. The construction of this railroad is an engineering feat and took twenty years to build, constructed by men with only basic tools through almost impossible conditions, detonating rocks and cutting away steep mountain sides through howling winds and snow.

Train going through small tunnel built to have water diverted over tracks

This small tunnel was constructed to have the water from the mountains go over the track, otherwise washing out the rails.

We arrived at San Antonio de los Cobres where the land changes dramatically to the high desert puma (a lot like Nevada). This was a simple former mining town of low adobe buildings in very poor condition in the middle of a dry dirt valley.

Town of San Antonio de los Cobres

We left that town after a quick tour with no stops(!) and went to a settlement truly in the middle of nowhere, which was founded by a man who had a vision to be self-sustaining and to have a place for tourists to stop and have lunch. He had many children and has since, with them, built many buildings all of them of adobe. He has even constructed a church and museum. He has goats, chickens, llamas, a hot house for fruits and a garden to grow their own vegetables.. There was a solar oven, one small solar panel for electricity, a homemade cell phone antenna… and basically has done quite well if you like to be with your family 24/7 and work seven days a week from sun up to sun down.

Small Town near Salinas Grande

We had a very nice lunch there, family style, with a stew (of an unknown type of meat), vegetable soup and fruit desert. The restaurant held maybe 40 people, and was really quite nice. The tables we ate at were made of SALT (more on this later).

After lunch we proceeded down Highway 40 to Salinas Grandes (Great Salt Lake). This is an area that was once the Pacific Ocean, but due to past uplifting of the earth and volcanic eruption, it left a large area of the ocean to slowly The ocean evaporated leaving a large salt and mineral deposit. the thickness of the salt and mineral deposits range to from 1 to 3 meters. There are artisans carving figures and even huge sculptures (and large rectangles for shelves and tables) out of the salt.

Salinas Grande

Water is still found when a hole is cut on the surface to about 8-10 inches below the surface. When this is done, the hole is left open for the winds to blow minerals into the pool, which then forms new crystals, and then is mined and sold. But for every 1000 Kilograms (or 2200 pounds) of salt the natives only get 18 pesos, or about $6.00 US from the Government. By the way, the winds blow constantly. And we were there on a good day which was blowing really hard.

Salinas Grande Pits

From there we went over some mountains, and down into a valley which held one of the cutest towns we had seen so far, Purmamarca. There we spent the night in the motel La Conarca in a suite/rooms that looked like it could belong to Worldmark or RCI travel corporations, really nice, and brand new. We bought a lot of gifts in the local market around the square, the best deals we had found.

Purmamarca is surrounded by mountains of seven different colors as you can see from this photo:

Mountains of Seven Colors

John O’Dell is a licensed civil engineer, general contractor and real estate broker. Judy Pinegar is Wavier Officer for the Department of Education. Your comments are welcomed

Travel

Journey to Cachi

November 28, 2008 jd

On Tuesday the 18th, we took a tour to Cachi, southwest of Salta. The drive is through a valley and raises to about 5,000 meters (Salta is at 1200 meters). The drive is one of the most unforgettable drives in Argentina. I know that Judy and I will not forget it, with a gravel, narrow, twisting road with many switch backs. The altitude raises quite rapidly and the vegetation changed as we got into the high desert.

As the journey continued, we went through Parque Nacional Los Cardones which has huge candelabra cacti. According to our tour guide they only grow less then one centimeter per year and since they grow to about 6 meters that would make some of them about 600 years old.

Judy standing by the side of one of the many cacti in the area

We arrived at the town of Cachi, located in a wide green valley. Cachi was founded in 1694 by the conquering Spanish. Prior to that time, it had been an Indian settlement long before the conquering Incas arrived in 1450, and the irrigation channels constructed by the Incas are still in use today. They grow a lot of red peppers and after the summer they are spread on the ground in huge patches to dry. But it was only spring time now, and the wet season has not started.

It is nice place to stay for a few days, as it is very quiet, not too touristy, and very inexpensive. There is no wi-fi, not sure that there is television available, but other than that, it has all modern conveniences.

Street scene in Cachi

Our trip back down the mountain was a little hair raising and the tour group cheered the driver when we got down to the flat lands again in one piece. Luck was with us in the form of a rainbow!

John O’Dell is a licensed civil engineer, general contractor and real estate broker. Your comments are welcomed

Travel

Back To Argentina

November 25, 2008 jd

I’m starting in the middle of our journey to Argentina this time, about a new area we visited. I wrote quite a bit of about the City of Buenos Aires on our last trip to Argentina in January, February, 2008.

We arrived in Buenos Aires on November 8,2008 and our trip out of town was on November 15 to the northwest of Argentina, bordered by Bolivia to the north and Chile to the west. We arrived in the city of Salta by overnight bus. The bus we took was luxurious with seats that flatten into a bed with blankets and pillows. Provided on these buses are a snack, dinner with wine, an after dinner drink, and breakfast in the morning.

Salta is both a province and a city. The providence of Salta has an extraordinary range of landscape from puma (high desert) populated only by llamas and a few other creatures, to the cloud forest and from hill sides of pink rock where cactus thrive, to valleys irrigated by the Incas of the past to produce scarlet fields of red peppers. The irrigation system developed by the Incas are still in use.

The City of Salta is at the heart of this province in the broad Lerma Valley with a background of dark green hills. Salta was founded in 1582 and became a strong hold for the Spanish which conquered the native and Inca population.

There is an active night life and the architectural is from the colonial period. Things are much cheaper here than Buenos Aires. We spent the first few days walking to the multiple museums which contain much of the history of the area. We took a tour of the city but learned much more of the city by just going out on our own, which seems to be the case in most city bus tours that we have taken.

One of the things that we liked the most was a gondola ride to a top of a mountain to a place called Cerro San Bernardino from which you can see most of the city. The cost was ten pesos (about $3 US) and is well worth the ride. One of the nicest museums was the Museo Antropologico which contains relics from the pre-hispanic cultures of the area. It was at one time considered by the natives that to have a flatten head front and back was a sign of higher intelligence. So in order to achieve that, they tied boards to the front and back of their heads to flatten the the skull as the children grew. Several of those skulls are on display along with a well preserved mummy.

By the way, people drive here like there is no tomorrow. Cars come to intersections and it seems like whoever gets there first wins. As in most parts of Argentina, stop signs are suggestions to slow down, double yellow lines means you can pass anytime you want or to drive in either lane. Pedestrians are someone to avoid hitting but not stopping for.

John O’Dell

History

Cedar Ridge, Nevada County

February 26, 2008 jd

What is the area called Cedar Ridge? Good question and kind of funny. The official zip code for Cedar Ridge is 95924. The post office (see picture) is the only piece of property in Cedar Ridge that has that zip code. All of the immediate area around the post office is listed as Grass Valley, 95945. My office is across the street and I can’t get mail delivery because they don’t deliver mail out of the post office! They do give me a free PO Box though.

The Cedar Ridge Post Office, the only area with the 95924 zip code. The area around the post office is Grass Valley, 95945

The best information that I can find is that way back in the 1870’s a man by the name of George Kress bought two hundred acres which became known as Kress Ridge. Kress Ridge was a stop for the now demised Nevada County Narrow Gauge railroad. They had a post office then as now. The name changed in time to Cress Ridge, Cedar Cress and is now our present Cedar Ridge

The Cedar Ridge Fire Station. With a modern fire station, fire engines and paid fire fighters.

It’s a beautiful area, with many cedars (of course) and pines at an elevation of around 3,000 feet. There is a post office, a fire station, a service station, a grocery store, a beauty shop and of course my office. Located on State Highway 174, between Brunswick Road and Grass Valley in Nevada County, be sure not to blink as you drive by, you might miss us

Looking at Highway 174 in the direction of Brunswick Road.

Now don’t get me wrong, just because we really don’t know where Cedar Ridge ends or begins, there are many fine homes in the area around the post office. There is a wonderful subdivision called The Cedars, with many fine homes ranging into the million dollars plus category just a very short distance away. There are also many homes near by with beautiful forest settings. It is a very desirable area to live in and commends a higher price for homes then some other areas of Nevada County.

If you have information on Cedar Ridge, please e-mail me.

Travel

Last Day In Buenos Aires

February 11, 2008 jd

Our last day in Buenos Aires was Saturday February 9. My observation of the City this time from the sights of my trip here two years ago is that there are profound changes happening. Some of the changes are good, such as the majority of the stores are not locked now. When we were here two years ago, almost all restaurants and small shops were locked and you had to ring a bell to get in. There are still guards or security in a majority of the stores, but they’re not locked. You have to realize that starting in 1980 until 2001 there was huge unemployment and a large majority of people could just barely survive and as in all countries when times get bad, the crime rate goes up.

Florida Street, an upscale shopping area

Inside Galerias Pacifico located on Calle Florida, one of the most famous shopping malls in Buenos Aires, designed to recall the Galeria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Italy, with it’s long halls, glass cupola and several tiers of shops. The frescoes were painted by local artists.

Another change is that a lot of the stores and restaurants and shops prohibit smoking, although a large majority of people seem to smoke. Now a lot more stores are taking credit cards and there are constant ads trying to get you to get cards. Two years ago, it was hard to find a store that would take a card. People here like to deal in cash, since a national sport is to avoid taxes, which is currently on twenty one percent value added tax basis.

The bad is that there are a lot of fast food junk shops such as McDonald’s and Burger King. I counted two McDonald’s within one block and a Burger King thrown in the middle. In addition, it seems like a large majority of the people drink Coca Cola with their meals. I don’t recall seeing many overweight people last time, but now, according to the local news, sixty percent of the people are overweight and you can see it. It seems like the junk food boys are carpet bombing the world with their garbage.

The curse McDonalds & Burger King junk food

You can see a large McDonalds sign on the right, then one on the far left with a Burger King in the middle. The men in the forground is an outgrowth of the unemployment, they started making a living by collecting paper from garbage thrown away and continue to this day.

There is even a McDonalds in the Jewish District which serves kosher food, the only one in the world outside of Israel. However, if you want a big mac with cheese, which is a no-no in kosher food, all you have to do is turn around and there is another McDonalds and another one downstairs serving the super size me meals. (If you haven’t seen the movie, Super Size Me, about McDonalds, you have missed a great movie about fast foods.)

Also last time almost every woman wore high-healed shoes (despite the horrible sidewalk conditions.) In the intervening time there has been an invasion of flip-flops and now they are everywhere, women wear them with nice dresses now. Also I think it is much more informal in dress now, we saw many more shorts on women, however the tops continue to be let us say “revealing” of womanly charms, which I appreciate. And the pants are painted on in some cases.

It has been a great trip, the people are friendly and it’s easy to find a good cafe or restaurant with great food no matter where you go in the City. We stayed in the Microcentro area, which is a nice part of the City but very busy and lots of traffic. But next time we will go back to the Belgrano area where we stayed last time, a more friendly, residential neighborhood. It has a lot of clothing and other shops that have great prices because they cater to the locals, rather then the tourists.

One of the many beautiful streets in Buenos Aires

A nice area to sit, notice all of the cafes with outside sitting

Travel

La Boca Area Buenos Aires

February 6, 2008 jd

La Boca, meaning in Spanish, the mouth, is the area of Buenos Aires that Italians migrating to Buenos Aires in the 19th and 20th century settled into. The area was named La Boca because of the natural shape of the harbor formed by the River Rio Riachuelo bending and flowing into the Rio de la Plata creating what appears to be a mouth.

The area is difficult to get to using the Subte, so John and I bought a guide to the collective; the huge city bus system that criss-crosses the city. (Getting there was easy, getting back a little more difficult as we were standing on the wrong street for the return buses to our area. But here are almost no bus signs (let alone street signs), you just have to go stand where other people are standing; if they look like they are waiting for a bus!!)

The vendors have painted the area to recreate the early days of the area.

The first thing you see is the huge stadium for the Boca Juniors. And the people in the area have a fervent; most would say fanatical; identification with the team. Soccer memorabilia and T-shirts are everywhere.

Anyway, the first Italian and French immigrants built boarding houses haphazardly with metal sheeting called “conventillos”. These were decorated with whatever paint was left over on the docks, creating a mish-mash of colors on each building. The colors can be inviting, but the poorly insulated buildings can be unbearably hot in the summer and frigid in the winter. It was fine the day we were there, even though it is summer here, maybe mid-80â€™s.

On of many beautiful doors in Buenos Aires

On a Saturday (when we went) it is very busy and touristy. We saw a lot of interesting things, and spent a couple of hours in an on street cafe, enjoying the dancing and singing of a local tango troupe. Lots of little stores, artists, and street vendors we did a good bit of shopping there.

Colorful vendor area

Travel

Tigre Area Buenos Aires

February 4, 2008 jd

A train ride to the outer reaches of Buenos Aires (made a little longer than necessary because John and I didn’t know we had to switch trains in the middle until we had reached some other end destination). Then a switch to the new, obviously touristy “Tren de La Costa” Stopping at 7 or 8 little beach towns along the edge of the delta, north of Buenos Aires. Very nice real estate.

Tigre is one of the most popular weekend destinations from BA, on the banks of the lush jungly banks of the Delta of a lot of different rivers. Arriving, and avoiding the El Parque del la Costa (sort of an Argentine Disneyland/county fair combo) and the big Casino at the end of the line we walked in a discovered a very cute little town. We located a B & B to stay at (an OLD family home where the Grandmother rents 4 rooms a night to tourists) for 150 pesos (less than $50 US)

Typical treatment of many houses in area, with ornate treatment of front entries.

Walking, seeing the sites, visiting cafes and of course eating the great food. The next day we did some museum visits (the fantastically detailed Museo Naval, covering the origins of boat, Argentine navy merchant museum, lots of model ships, and relics from many old ships The outside display included relics of the Falklands Islands (Here called Malvinas Island) conflict with the British.

Then we were of on a 2 hour luxury cruse of a small portion of the huge delta, thousands of islands, waterways, summer homes, resorts, camping, restaurants and natural reserves. Really fantastic and relaxing. Next trip we are spending at least a week in one of these isolated resorts (I have the map, web sites and the phone numbers now!)

Looking out from the dining section of the catamaran. Great food by the way!

We passed (rapidly) through the smoky Casino and had a nice visit to the HUGE artisan and. fresh fruit fair, Puerto de Frutas. Handcraft wicker furniture and basketry (with river reeds and trees) are the specialty, and unique to the area.