All posts by jd

Real estate broker, civil engineer and general contractor.
Education

Be Careful With Your Holiday Decorating

can-christmas-tree

The holiday season is here…and with the holidays comes decorating! The following tips and suggestions will help ensure safety as you get in the holiday spirit.

  • Decorate only with lights that have a NOEL or U/L testing agency label. Check wires, plugs and sockets for signs of wear or defects. Remember: If in doubt – throw them out.
  • Do not overload outlets and extension cords. Never tie together more than three extension cords. (Best not to tie any of them together)
  • Be sure decorative lights used outside are approved for outdoor use.
  • When decorating outdoors, be aware of all power lines. Don’t work near overhead power lines or anywhere there is a possibility of contacting an overhead power line, either directly or indirectly, with a ladder or other piece of equipment.
  • Place Christmas trees away from fireplaces, radiators, television sets, and other sources of heat that may prematurely dry out the tree and make it more susceptible to fire. Make sure the tree has a sufficient amount of water at all times.
  • Don’t burn wrapping paper or boxes in the fireplace. These types of materials ignite quickly and may burn uncontrollably.

Calculating Energy Costs For Your Christmas Lights.

It’s that time of year when houses shine a bit brighter. Ever wonder how much the decorative holiday lights add to a monthly electric bill? Here’s an easy way to help calculate energy costs this holiday season.

  • Count the bulbs on all of your decorative indoor and outdoor lights.
  • Check the wattage per bulb.
  • Multiply watts per bulb by number of bulbs. (1 watt per bulb x 1,000 bulbs = 1,000 watts).
  • Convert watts to kilowatts – 1,000 watts = 1 kilowatt (kw).
  • Estimate the hours per month the lights are on. (5 hours per day x 30 days = 150 hours)
  • Multiply the total kilowatts by the total number of hours the lights will be on to get the total kilowatt-hours (kwh). For example, 1 kw x 150 hours = 150 kwh.
  • Multiply the total kilowatt-hours by the total cost of electricity per kwh. (150 kwh x $0.14 per kwh = $21) In this example, the cost of holiday lighting would be an additional $21 per month.

Source:  RISMedia, publisher of Real Estate Magazine

Republished for educational purposes
John O’Dell
Real Estate Broker

Real Estate

Home Sales Increase, Home Building Rebounds

upward-arrow

Home building rose 8.9 percent in November to an annualized rate of 574,000, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Wednesday.

The rate was still 12.4 percent below what it was in November 2008, but the increases were nationwide, with the Northeast leading the trend with housing starts rising 16.4 percent. Housing starts rose 12.3 percent in the South, 3 percent in the Midwest and 1.9 percent in the West.

Analysts attributed the increase to the extension and expansion of the home buyer’s tax credit. David Crowe, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, is cautiously optimistic. “The new credit will have an impact as we move into 2010 and consumers plan for that credit availability, and builders begin to answer expected demand in the spring,” he says.

In another measurement of the industry’s strength, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed, have risen for nine consecutive months. Pending home sales were up 3.7% in October compared to September, and up 31.8% compared with October 2008.
Congress recently extended a tax credit for home buyers, giving first-time buyers until April to claim an $8,000 tax credit. Those who have owned a home for five consecutive years can claim a $6,500 credit for a new home purchase.

“The tax credit is helping unleash a pent-up demand from a large pool of financially qualified renters, much more than borrowing sales from the future,” said Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist.

Real Estate

Foreclosures, The Good and The Bad

Former mortgage company Countrywide Home Loans failed because of their risky mortgage practices and was taken over by Bank of America
Former mortgage company Countrywide Home Loans failed because of their risky mortgage practices and was taken over by Bank of America

The good and bad of foreclosures is a mixed bag.  The bad is that banks which pushed these risky loans are going to take a bath.  The bad is that people who are being foreclose on either because of being tricked into a bad loan or loss of income, are going to have bad credit ratings.

The good is that those people who have lost their homes will now have more money to spend.

According to the Wall Street Journal

“Analysts at Deutsche Bank Securities expect 21 million U.S. households to end up owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth by the end of 2010. If one in five of those households defaults, the losses to banks and investors could exceed $400 billion. As a proportion of the economy, that’s roughly equivalent to the losses suffered in the savings-and-loan debacle of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The flip side of those losses, though, is massive debt relief that can help offset the pain of rising unemployment and put cash in consumers’ pockets.

For the 4.8 million U.S. households that data provider LPS Applied Analytics estimates haven’t paid their mortgages in at least three months, the added cash flow could amount to about $5 billion a month — an injection that in the long term could be worth more than the tax breaks in the Obama administration’s economic-stimulus package.

“It’s a stealth stimulus,” says Christopher Thornberg of Beacon Economics, a consulting firm specializing in real estate and the California economy. “The quicker these people shed their debts, the faster the economy is going to heal and move forward again.”

So as everything in life, there is the good and the bad, what do you think?

Education, Local Writers & Contributors

O Tannenbaum! Picking A Christmas Tree

1 Comment

christmas-tree

Photo Courtesy of Christmas Lights Etc.

By Elizabeth Dunn, Landscape Architect

It’s the holiday season, when the eggnog is back in the stores, the fruitcakes come out of the cupboard, and my hand is cramped from writing Christmas cards.  It is also the time of year for magic and one of the best combinations of aromas.  Hot chocolate with candy canes, cloves in oranges, and Christmas trees!

Nordman Fir
Nordman Fir

The Nevada County Farm Guide for 2009 lists several places to find Christmas Trees, and some of the local nurseries have live trees available.  These trees can be planted in the yard after Christmas.  They are not in pots or boxes but have their roots and attached soil wrapped in burlap. In the industry they are called balled and burlapped or B&B on the plant list.  It allows for less waste when planting the tree because there are not wooden boards or plastic pots to send to a landfill or recycling center.  The tree is planted with the burlap still in place.  Before the hole is filled the burlap is pulled back from the top 1/3 of the rootball, the natural fiber rope is cut from the trunk and in a few other spots, and then the hole is filled with the appropriate mixture of planting soil.

I spend a couple Saturdays a month working at Peaceful Valley.  They have live trees for sale.  Having never worked on a Christmas tree farm, I enjoyed helping people pick out their tree.  It was even more magical knowing that they will be able to enjoy the tree well into the future.  It is recommended that they plant the tree in their fire safe zone, keep it irrigated for at least the first three years while it is becoming established, and eventually, after several years, remove the lower branches.

Douglas Fir
Douglas Fir

Douglas Fir is one of the favorites.  It is listed as native to Nevada County in the Master Garden’s Western Nevada County Gardening Guide.  It is not a True Fir tree as its botanical genus name, Pseudotsuga, shows.  However, according to the National Forestry Association, it is one of the fastest growing conifers in the temperate forests and is the most important lumber species in the US.

White Fir
White Fir

True Fir Trees have the botanical genus name of Abies.  With my unscientific poll, this genus is best because of its scent. “It just smells like Christmas!” many friends say.  There are several species of True Firs.  The Nordman Fir is popular as an indoor potted plant.  It has evenly spaced branches that easily showcase a range of ornaments. Sunset’s Western Garden Book notes that the Nordman is one of the best adapted Firs for California gardens.

Corkbar Fir
Corkbar FirWhite Fir

There are so many more evergreen trees out there.  The Cedar, Cypress, Pine, Sequoia, and Spruce are all trees that are used for Christmas Trees and decoration.  With proper care and the right location, any species of tree will provide years of wonder.  Its ornaments next year can be popcorn and red berry chains.  The magic will be heard when the winter birds are singing from its branches and it will be felt when standing close to the tree and listening to the silence of the snow as it falls all around.

Happy Holidays!

Elizabeth Dunn is a licensed Landscape Architect. She spends the majority of her work days in the studio of Rebecca Cofffman Landscape Architects in Nevada City, CA

fir-covered-with-snow

Sources:

Nevada County Farm Guide

Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply

Western Nevada County Gardening Guide

UCCE Nevada County Master Gardeners, c. 2006

Western Garden Book, Sunset Books, sixth printing, c. 1998

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Michael Dirr, c. 1998

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Real Estate

Extreme Makeover:Home Edition Family Faces Foreclosure

Wofford's Home
Wofford's Home

The team from ABC’s heartwarming and popular reality series “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” may give worthy families a whole new house. But yet another family who appeared on the show learned that they don’t guarantee you’ll keep that house forever.

 The Wofford family of Encinitas, California, got their house from the show five years ago, but now claim that after struggling for two years to pay their bills, they’re facing foreclosure . Dr. Brian Wofford, a widower and father of eight, explained the crisis, telling 10News: “A lot of people think when you get the house, you get the mortgage. Well, you don’t.”

Wofford’s wife, Theresa, died in 2000, and the new home helped the family move on.

“It’s been a great, great blessing,” said Wofford

 For the past two years, the Woffords have been fighting just to live in their home.

The family — 8 kids and dad, Dr. Brian Wofford — is still happy despite the prospect of losing their home.

 

However, the blessing turned into a nightmare two years ago when the mortgage crisis that crippled millions of Americans also hit the Woffords. Their mortgage adjusted and Wofford’s chiropractic clinic was not making enough. 

The Woffords aren’t the first family featured on the show to face serious financial problems after their home makeover. The Harper family of Atlanta, who received the show’s biggest house to date, along with the money to pay taxes on it for 25 years, famously faced foreclosure last year after taking out an ill-advised $450,000 loan using the house as equity. And at least four other “Extreme Makeover” recipient families have had to sell or lose the homes they won on the show. ABC is probably considering changing the show’s rules (maybe the houses don’t need to be quite so lavish, for example) to help avoid such disasters in the future.

 However, there’s still hope for the Woffords. Loan modification papers are being promised by their bank, OneWest, next week. If they don’t go through, the house will be auctioned by the bank in two weeks, but Dr. Wofford is optimistic about his family’s future: “If I have my family and I live in a tent, I’m in good shape. Better be a big tent though.

Real Estate

Banks Are Still Flakes When it Comes to Loan Modifications

bank

According to the U.S. Treasury Department only 4 percent of home owners who signed up for loan modifications — fewer than 31,000– had received them by the end of November,

Of the largest lenders, Bank of America Corp. had the worst results. It completed a total of 98 modifications. With 7,100, GMAC Mortgage completed the most.

Lenders have blamed their lack of success in part on the failure of borrowers to complete the paperwork necessary for the process.

So lenders are blaming home owners? Well, I don’t think so. I think the banks don’t really care about doing loan modifications. They are very efficient at nickel and diming you with fees for everything, from taking money out of an ATM machine to walking into the bank and talking to a teller. Loan modifiications are at the bottom of their list of things to do.

A great story appeared recently in the New York times that illustrates just how bad, one bank, Wells Fargo has been handling loan modifications.

Here’s a small portion of the article:

“PHOENIX — Bobbi Giguere had no luck in securing a loan modification from her mortgage servicer. For months, she had sent the bank the financial documents it requested to process her modification. But each time she called to check on the request, she was told to send her paperwork again.

In court, Mrs. Giguere questioned Joe Ohayon, right foreground, of Wells Fargo. He confirmed she had not been asked for a crucial worksheet.

“I submitted the paperwork three times, and nothing happened,” said Mrs. Giguere, 41, who has a high school education and worked as restaurant manager before losing her job.

On Thursday, something happened. She questioned a Wells Fargo official about the bank’s lack of response — under oath.

The spectacle of a high-ranking banking executive being grilled by an ordinary homeowner was the result of an unusual decision by Judge Randolph J. Haines of the United States Bankruptcy Court to summon a senior executive from Wells Fargo to appear in Mrs. Giguere’s bankruptcy case.

At the hearing, Judge Haines made it clear that he was acting out of concerns about Wells Fargo’s mortgage modification practices generally.

“This is certainly not an isolated case,” he said. “The kind of story I hear from this debtor is one that I and other bankruptcy judges around the country are hearing over and over and over again.”

Under preliminary questioning by one of the bank’s lawyers, Mr. Ohayon stated that Mrs. Giguere had repeatedly failed to provide a financial worksheet, a critical document in processing a loan modification.

Under cross-examination by Mrs. Giguere (who had a little assistance from Judge Haines), the bank’s defense withered. From her files, Mrs. Giguere produced a letter from Wells Fargo describing the paperwork that she needed to file for a loan modification. In the witness chair, Mr. Ohayon read the letter.

“Mrs. Giguere is right,” Mr. Ohayon concluded. “The letter did not ask for a financial worksheet.”

Wells Fargo has been criticized for its slow pace in modifying mortgages the U.S. Treasury Department’s foreclosure prevention initiative, which was begun in April. The bank has started trial modifications on about 20,000 home loans under the program, or 6 percent of those who meet the program’s guidelines. JPMorgan Chase, by comparison, has begun modifications on nearly 20 percent of such loans. The banks’ information was issued in a recent report from the Treasury on the progress of the program.”

Read the entire article at New York Times

By the way, I’m still keeping track of one of Wells Fargo’s loan modifications for a client of mine. It’s been going on since June of this year. It’s the same old thing, no one in Wells Fargo talks to each other in doing the loan modification. I’ll let you know if they make the modification.

John O’Dell
Real Estate Broker

animals

The Truth About Cats and Dogs: Helping Kids Cope With a Pet Death

1 Comment

pets

by Lisa J. Lehr

Nevada County is a very pet-friendly place. Most of us here have one or more pets. And pets, over the generations, have enjoyed a status upgrade from outdoor animal to family member, albeit one who lies under the table at mealtime rather than sitting in a chair like the other family members. Many people—including me—believe that a family without pets is incomplete, and a childhood without the experience of raising pets is a disadvantaged childhood.

That experience, though, almost invariably includes the death of a pet. It’s a fact that most people outlive most types of pets; almost all children who have a pet will, at some point, lose one. As difficult as it is for the kids—not to mention for the parents who must explain death—it’s an important life experience.

Sadly, some parents try to spare their kids the pain of losing a pet with some type of coverup—by offering another explanation for the pet’s disappearance, or by concealing the death entirely. The first scenario, mostly used with dogs and cats, usually involves saying it “ran away.” The “ran away” story is offered either when the pet is known to be dead, and the parents have discreetly disposed of the body; or when a pet has disappeared, its fate unknown. Bad things sometimes happen when pets go outdoors, and sometimes old or ill pets will go away to die alone.

The second coverup method is most often used with small pets—fish, turtles, reptiles, perhaps rodents. In these cases, the parent removes the deceased pet while the kids are at school or asleep, replacing it with a similar one and hoping the kids won’t notice.

Continue reading The Truth About Cats and Dogs: Helping Kids Cope With a Pet Death →

Nevada County Information, Real Estate

Residential Sales in Nevada County November 2009 Compared to November 2008

 map-of-nevada-county

The good news is that sales volume picked up 7 percent.   In November of 2007 to November of 2008, 839 homes had been sold.  From November 2008 to November 2009 897 homes were sold, an increase of 7 percent.

The average sales price in November 2008 was $395,609. In November 2009 the average sales price was $316,859.  This is a decrease of $78,650 or a 20 percent drop in average sales price.  The amount of active listings also dropped 7 percent.

Sales bya few key areas:

 Nevada City area sales increased 17 percent and average sales price dropped 22 percent. The average sales price in November 2009 was $364,800 compared to a year ago of $468,895.

Lake Wildwood sales increased 11 percent and the average sales price dropped 14 percent to an average sales price of $316,216 compared to last year’s average sales price of $368,366.

Lake of the Pines sales decreased 3 percent and the average sales price dropped 20 percent to an average sales price of $313,188 compared to $368,366 last year.

Alta Sierra sales increased 20 percent and the average sales price dropped 26 percent to an average sales price of $305,537 compared to last year’s average sales price of $410,415.

Grass Valley’s sales decreased 3 percent and the average sales price dropped 16 percent to an average sales price of $267,024 compared to last year’s average sales price of $318,072.

Penn Valley sales decreased 10 percent and the average sales price dropped 12 percent to an average sales price of $319,370 compared to last year’s average sales price of $361,450.

Peardale/Chicago Park sales decreased 2 percent and the average sales price decreased 20 percent with an average sales price of $382,940 compared to last year’s average sales price of $476,855.

There are other areas of the county which I have not mentioned. If you are interested in any particular area that is not in the list above, write or call me and I will give you the stats.

John O’Dell
Broker

Real Estate

Property Tax Scam Alive, But Not for Long

This is the letter these scammers use. Looks official, but it's just a scam.
This is the letter these scammers use. Looks official, but it's just a scam.

You may remember earlier this year when you might have received an official looking letter regarding lowering your property taxes.  They had an assessed value of your property, with another value much lower stating this is what your house should be assessed. By sending them money, they promised they could lower your taxes by several hundred dollars or more.  

Now a new law that takes effect January first will ban this popular property tax scam. But one lawmaker is warning Californians to be vigilant now.

Again, you’re probably familiar with the scam. You get a letter in the mail from a company that offers to help reduce your property taxes for a fee. But that’s something counties automatically do for free when the market drops. Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu wrote legislation that bans the scam. He said he got one of the notices just last week.

“These third companies and these parties are quite smart,” said Lieu. “They’re sending out a lot of letters right now to try to get as much scam money as they can before the bill takes effect.”

The letters look official and counties say they’ve had hundreds of calls from homeowners who’ve been confused by them.

“Rather than us spending our time notifying people not to get scammed, we’d rather be doing our work for the people,” said Amador County Assessor Jim Rooney, said

Under the new law, scammers will be fined up to $25,000 dollars per letter, and could face six months in jail 

Leave a comment if you have received one of these letters recently.

nevada county fair

Country Christmas Faire Results

Ginger Bread House Best of Show
Ginger Bread House Best of Show

Gingerbread House Competition Results and Canned Food Drive Results

A successful canned food drive, more than 100 vendors, sixty five gingerbread houses built, and nearly 10,000 attendees made the 25th annual Country Christmas Faire at the Nevada County Fairgrounds a huge success.

The 7th annual Gingerbread House Competition was a crowd-favorite this year, with more than 65 entries received. Of those entries, the Best of Show winner was Wanda Dunn of Penn Valley, and the People’s Choice Award went to the gingerbread house built by Joanne, Megan and Sydney Perilman and Cody Lawson (entered as The Perilman’s plus Cody and Crew), all of Cedar Ridge. The Best of Show is chosen by the judges, and the People’s Choice is selected through ballots cast by individuals who attend the Craft Faire.

First place winners in the individual categories include Madison Nestell (child 5 & under); Sonora Slater (child – ages 6-8); Maura Devlin (child – ages 9-12); Jenna Hook (kits – ages 8 & under); Toria Kinney (teen – ages 13-17); Wanda Dunn (adult – 18 -64); Mary Abbott (adult – 65 & over); Hennessy Tiger Cubs After School Program (group – children 12 & under); That 70’s Group (group – teen 13-17); The Casto Family (group – family); The Perilman Family and Cody Lawson and crew (group – adult 18 & over); and Brailey Sears (special needs).

With the help of HOPE (Help Other People Eat) in Nevada County, Sunday’s canned food drive collected 547 cans of food and cash donations. These donations will be used at the organization’s December food distribution. HOPE in Nevada County is a program established through the Grass Valley Elks, who partner with the Food Bank of Nevada County to feed those in need. HOPE distributes food once a month to anyone in the county in need of food.

Ginger Bread House Peoples Choice
Ginger Bread House Peoples Choice

The 2010 Country Christmas Faire is planned for Thanksgiving weekend, November 26 – 28, 2010. For information, visit Nevada County Fair or call 273-6217.