Winner 2012 artwork design by Sandy Gold of Grass Valley
The Nevada County Fairgrounds Board of Directors voted Tuesday evening to cancel the 2020 Nevada County Fair due to the COVID-19 public health crisis. The Board also voted to authorize an online junior livestock and ag mechanics auction.
The vote comes after delaying the decision two weeks ago following Governor Newsom’s same-day announcement that California was moving rapidly into the next reopening stage. Since that meeting, the Fairgrounds Board and staff discussed the feasibility of different options with various Fair partners, communicated with State and public health officials, and further reviewed the Governor’s executive orders and updated guidance regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and mass gatherings.
NewsUSA) – When Danielle and Jimmy returned to their home state after three years in Germany, they spent the next six months looking for their first home.
“Location was so important to us. We got used to walking everywhere while we were in Germany. Grocery stores, restaurants, beer gardens and pubs were all within walking distance of our apartment. We wanted to find a neighborhood like that,” explains Danielle, an employee relations attorney.
They found the perfect neighborhood: Bay View, Wisconsin. They also found a house in a perfect location, right across from a park, with a lovely view of Lake Michigan.
But the house itself wasn’t so perfect: it needed about $20,000 worth of renovations. And the sale price was on the high side of their price range.
“We looked at other homes in the neighborhood that were cheaper and in better shape. But we kept coming back to this one. It was in the perfect spot. And when we found out there is a beer garden in the park in summer, it was a done deal!” Danielle says.
They successfully closed on the house in January and spent a month painting, installing a new kitchen floor and remodeling the master bath before they moved in.
So how did Danielle and Jimmy manage to buy a more expensive home and have money left over to fix it up? With direction from their loan officer, here’s how they did it:
1. They were pre-approved before starting the house hunt, so they knew their price range.
2. They used conventional financing with private mortgage insurance, which allowed them to put down 5 percent instead of 20 percent. Their mortgage payment is higher, but still within their monthly budget.
3. The lower down payment made it possible to buy the more expensive home.
4. Putting less money down also allowed them to keep cash for the renovations.
For more information on how to purchase a home with conventional financing and a low down payment, check out the articles and videos on this website, created especially for first-time homebuyers: contact us by the contact form below.
Mark your calendar for the 30th annual Country Christmas Faire at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley on November 28, 29 and 30. Rated as one of the top handcrafted shows in Northern California, the Country Christmas Faire features unique gifts and crafts from top artisans from across the state, as well as from Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, and New York.
Exhibit buildings will be filled during the Thanksgiving weekend, giving shoppers a chance to start their holiday shopping with quality hand-made holiday items, ornaments, jewelry, wooden crafts, soaps and lotions, hand-woven baskets, stained glass, candles, beadwork, and dozens of other unique gifts.
Visitors to the Faire will enjoy strolling live entertainment, festival foods, the magical Gingerbread House exhibit, errand elves, and a community bon-fire. Wagon rides around the Fairgrounds will be offered; and Victorian singers, the bell ringing RiverBells, and the Sierra Symphony quartet will perform throughout the event.
Santa will be available each day until an hour before the event closes, so bring your camera to capture that special photo with Santa. Free babysitting will be offered by Girl Scouts of the Northern Mines Service Unit, so parents can drop off their children while they enjoy holiday shopping. Errand Elves from Clear Creek School will be available to assist shoppers throughout the event.
On Sunday of the Faire, the Nevada County Fairgrounds will partner with Grass Valley Elks for a canned Food Drive. Bring a can of food on Sunday, November 30, from 10 am to 4 pm, and receive $1 off Sunday’s admission price (one coupon per person). All food donated will help feed those in need in Nevada County.
The Country Christmas Faire begins Friday, November 28, and runs through Sunday,
November 30. Admission is $4 for adults, and children 12 and under are free. Parking is free. The hours are 10 am – 5 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 10 am – 4 pm on Sunday.
The Nevada County Fairgrounds is located at 11228 McCourtney Road in Grass Valley, 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, off Highway 49. For more information, visit the Fairgrounds’ web site at NevadaCountyFair.com or call (530) 273-6217.
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The Friuli-Venezia Giulia region is an overlooked region in the Italian tourism scene, but it produces some exceptional wines. The origins of these wines date back to the middle ages (1066 to 1485), when the area was important in the Mediterranean spice route from the Byzantine Empire to the trading center of Venice. Travelers through the area brought grape vines from Macedonia and Anatolia. Under the Hapsburg reign, the German and French grape varieties were brought in. Even today, the Friuli-Venezia Giulia wine region is an area close to Austria and Slovenia. Due to this positioning, the region has a unique blend of Italian, Slavic and Austrian cultures and foods. But the wine, especially the white wine is special.
The Abbey of Rosazzo is located in the Coli Orientali (eastern hills) of Friuli in an isolated area to the northeast of Manzano (famous for the production of chairs), around twenty kilometres from Udine and ten kilometres from the Slovenian border. The origins of the over one thousand year old abbey are still not fully known. Proof to the early origins of winemaking as well as the importance of the craft to the society comes from a document in the abbey dated January 20, 1341 that reads: “The Patriarch Bertrando has threatened the excommunication of several people, who after having occupied a wood belonging to the Abbey of Rosazzo did not want to plant vines”. Shocking!
Looking out from the Abbey Both photos and quote courtesy of The Abbey of Rosazzo http://www.abbaziadirosazzo.it
In the pictures of the Abbey note the proximity of the vines and roses. Even today in California on a wine tour you often see a single rose planted at the end of each row, traditionally the roses are the grape growers early warning system. Powdery mildew is a fungus affects both plants, but roses are much more sensitive to the disease. So if the roses are infected, it is time to spray the grapes with sulfur or other fungicides that are used today. Roses also warn of other diseases, and harbor beneficial insects that help kill other insects in the grapes. And they are beautiful! The Abbey can be visited, with some limited rooms, but visit the cellar as it is one of the oldest in Friuli, dating back to the end of the thirteenth century with the Benedictine monks.
Housing affordability decreased in the third quarter as home prices and mortgage rates were on the rise and put housing out of reach for more families, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index.
NAHB’s index showed that 64.5 percent of new and existing homes sold between the beginning of July and end of September were affordable to families earning the nationwide median income of $64,400. That represents a drop from 69.3 percent in the second quarter, and marks the largest index drop since the second quarter of 2004.
“Housing affordability is being negatively affected by a ‘perfect storm’ scenario,” says NAHB Chairman Rick Judson. “With markets across the country recovering, home values are strengthening at the same time that the cost of building homes is rising due to tightened supplies of building materials, developable lots, and labor.”
While housing affordability has fallen since its peak in early 2012, NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe says that a family earning a median income can still afford 65 percent of homes recently sold.
Indianapolis-Camel, Ind., and Syracuse, N.Y., tied as the most affordable major housing markets in the country. In both metros, 93.3 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the third quarter were affordable to families earning the areas’ median incomes of $65,100 and $65,800, respectively.
Other major metros ranking high in affordability, according to the index, included:
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.
Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa.
Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Least Affordable Housing Markets
Meanwhile, the San Francisco metro area continues to be the priciest housing market in the nation for the fourth consecutive month. Only 16 percent of homes sold in the third quarter were affordable to families earning the area’s median income of $101,200, according to the index.
Other major metros that were among the least affordable in the nation included:
Photo credit: Tom Moon ; http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2011/02/04/worst-foreclosed-home-vandalism-ever/
Here’s a recent article on people going into foreclosures and moving out of their homes. Not said in this article, is how often the homeowner demolished the home that they lived in. I’ve seen some horrible examples, wire being stripped, electrical breakers taken out, and in one case that I saw, they had cut all the wires and controls off of a well pump. An inspector told me of one home owner pouring concrete down toilets. Another took all the appliances out of the home, which seems to be quite common. Anyhow, here’s the article:
“Is anyone home? Apparently not in a large share of foreclosed homes. Twenty percent of foreclosures nationwide are abandoned by their owners and left vacant, according to RealtyTrac.
It’s important to move vacant foreclosures quickly so that they don’t negatively impact surrounding real estate values, says Daren Blomquist, vice president of RealtyTrac. Bank of America, GMAC, Chase, Wells Fargo and Citi hold the highest number of vacant foreclosures.
Twenty-nine percent of the vacant foreclosed homes are priced below $50,000; 25 percent are between $50,000 to $100,000; and 12 percent are in the $1 million-plus range, according to RealtyTrac.
The states with some of the highest percentages of vacant foreclosures are:
Indiana: 32%
Oregon: 28%
Nevada: 28%
Washington: 27%
Georgia: 27%
Still, “even if all these homes flooded the market simultaneously, they would likely not cause the once-feared double dip in prices given supply constraints from non-distressed sellers and stronger demand,” Blomquist says.”
A very good article and more pictures of what some people do when they leave their home due to foreclosure click here
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It seems after paying 105 Euros (about $138 million) for the construction of Steve Jobs Yacht that there is a bill left of about 3 million Euros (about $3.9 million). Therefore according to various sources,
Philippe Starck on board as co-designer — is a homage to everything sleek and sophisticated on Steve’s ship the Venus. He claims he is owed the money.
And yet, as the Associated Press reports, Starck seems not to have been paid the agreed amount for his refined efforts. Starck has reportedly hired a debt collection agency and has prevented Venus from leaving Amsterdam’s port.
“These guys [Jobs and Starck] trusted each other, so there wasn’t a very detailed contract,” Roelant Klaassen, a lawyer for Ubik, told Reuters.
The Venus is a floating ode to both Jobs and Starck’s minimalist aesthetic. Made entirely out of aluminum, with 40-foot-long floor-to-ceiling windows lining the passenger compartment and seven 27-inch iMacs making up the command center.
– When Danielle and Jimmy returned to their home state after three years in Germany, they spent the next six months looking for their first home.
