Tag Archives: Nevada County

What, I was Just Having a Drink?

February 24, 2009 jd 1 Comment

You might have heard of the real estate agent in Hillsboro, Oregon who used his lock box key to enter into homes and burglarize them. A homeowner returning from a business trip, walked into his house to find Michael Troy Messmer drinking a White Russian. It seemed obvious that Messmer had been in his liquor cabinet.

The homeowner asked Messmer what he was doing and Messmer replys, “I’m a Realtor” with that, him and his girlfriend walk out with a box full of the homeowner’s personal property worth about $260. That was on February 1.

On February 5, this genius was found to have taken some minor items, toiletry and liqueur from a Cornelius home. The items were worth about $250. In both cases, he used his lock box key to enter the homes.

Of course Messner was caught in short order. This is because every time a Realtor uses his lock box key to open a lock box, (where the key to enter the house is located), a code is entered into the lock box leaving behind the agent’s name and the time that the house was entered. It’s too bad that in every profession there is always somebody who is dishonest. Not only was this guy dishonest, but I think he makes the grade for the dumbest criminal of the year.

I don’t know if they do a background check on real estate agents in Oregon, but in California every licensed real estate agent and broker has to have background check prior to obtaining their license, giving assurances that people with criminal records do not get a license.

Nevada County, Nevada County Information

Angel & I on Nevada County

February 22, 2009 jd

Angel, she does not like her picture taken.

Angel asked me the other day why I liked Nevada County so much. She said she’s 49 now and we have always lived here. (Angel’s seven, but dogs age seven times faster then humans, although some times I think I’m keeping up with her)

I said Angel, it’s like this, to give you an example, I was a construction project manager for a large land development company that developed subdivisions in Truckee and North Shore. Once a month I had to go to San Francisco and attend a committee meeting. Thats where a bunch of people get together for hours to talk about nothing and what a single line text message could have taken care without all that waste of time.

Anyhow, I would get to the company’s office right in the heart of the financial business district on California Street. I’d stand outside and watch people who would seem to be in high gear, walking like they were all late for a committee meeting or something. You can’t believe the traffic there either, I think they have more cars in one block then all the cars we have in Nevada County and the buildings are so tall, they had to calculate the orbit of the moon before they built them.

Coming back from all the hustle and bustle of the Bay Area, I would come up Highway 49 and as soon as I crossed the county line at Bear River, I would start getting calm, a feeling of coming back to nature. Driving along the highway, first there were and still are the large oaks to greet you, then continuing on you are surrounded by large pines on both sides of the highway, tall sentinels welcoming you back, bringing you back to a true reality of life.

That’s the way Nevada County is, an abundance of forest and terrain, having different eco-systems, from Penn Valley where you can raise horses and is more open, fewer trees, to areas around Nevada City higher in elevation, where you are surrounded by a canopy of trees and forest environment. You can live below the snow belt or above it. It’s an amazing County, where in just a few minutes you can be in completely different worlds. It’s a much slower pace here, more peaceful and more like life should be.

So Angel, that’s why I like Nevada County, the pace of life is much slower, more real and people are not in a rush to go to committee meetings.

Do you understand Angel? Angel; yes and now can I have a cookie?

Real Estate

Nevada County Sales January 2009

February 17, 2009 jd

1sold

I’m comparing the month of January 2008 to the month of January 2009. It is not really a good comparison in some ways, as a large sale can skew the results. But it is a brief snap shot of what’s happening. As the year goes, by, I’ll start comparing the combined months of the year. For example, the next blog will be a comparison of January and February and so on.

Residential sales for the month of January 2009 increased five percent over January 2008. The average sales price declined eighteen percent from an average sales price of $449,358 to $370,351 from 2008 to 2009. However, in January of 2008 there was one sale of $1,950,000 which really skews the average sales price. Taking that out of the equation, the average sales price for January 2008 drops to an average sales price of $372,155 which is about what the sales price is this year.

Average days on the market remained almost the same, 140 days in 2008 compared to 138 days in 2009. To make a long story short, sales in January of this year compared to sales in January of last year are about the same.

Let’s see how the rest of the year goes. I believe the market is picking up and I expect there is going to be a lot of help from the Federal Government in the coming months. A lot of investors are jumping into the market realizing that this is a great time to buy.

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

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

Real Estate

Home Sales Up 48%

January 25, 2009 jd

Custom home built by O'Dell Construction

In a flash of good news in an otherwise depressing economy, residential sales have increased locally and in most of the State to forty eight percent over this time last year. Although there doesn’t seem to be an end to foreclosures, it has resulted in making home purchases attractive to investors and affordable to first time home buyers.

An article from the Appealdemocrat.com states in part:

“Foreclosures and a three-year price plunge continue to drive a rise in home sales in the Mid-Valley and elsewhere in recession-wracked California.

Yuba and Sutter counties more than doubled the number of freestanding houses sold in December compared to a year earlier, according to a report Wednesday from MDA DataQuick of San Diego.

*****
A glut of foreclosed homes has slashed median home prices in Yuba-Sutter and throughout the Central Valley, as defaults have mounted on high-risk mortgage loans that linked artificially low early payments to much larger ones later. DataQuick reported an 48 percent jump in home sales across California from a year earlier, to 38,000 houses and condominiums”