Riverside County Assessor Releases 2009-2010 Home Value Reports - 07/31/09 12:30 PM


The Riverside County Assessor-Clerk-Recorders Office has just released a series of reports providing us more information than we could possibly want to know about the state of housing in Riverside County as shown by assessed property values.
If you're curious about 2009-2010 Assessed Values by City, for example, you'll find that the local roll shows Murrieta with an assessed value of $10,112,353,803. After backing out exemptions, we're left with a net taxable value of $9,886,016,688 or a drop of 15.43% from last years $11,689,213,209. That's a drop in taxable value of nearly $2 Billion dollars!. Temecula dropped 11.6% … (0 comments)

HELP for Riverside County Homeowners? Thanks Ted Lieu. - 07/30/09 09:40 PM
Interesting times out there. I just got back from a Foreclosure Crisis Town Hall meeting up in Riverside with Assemblymember Ted Lieu. Assemblymember Nestande was a co-sponsor of the event but was not in attendance.
You might remember Ted Lieu recently for ABX2 7 - that was the one where the headlines trumpeted a '90 Day Moratorium on Foreclosures' but four paragraphs in you found the text that said it didn't apply to over 90% of the lenders in California. But everybody remembers the headlines and figures we got a reprieve until September 15. Wrong. Lieu told us today he was … (0 comments)

Sen Hollingsworth Helps Gov. Arnie Find His Lost Balls. - 07/29/09 12:27 PM
You've frequently heard me refer to the Otto von Bismark quote about laws and sausages being two things people are better off not seeing made in person. Well, the LA Times published an article yesterday on the sausage making process we just witnessed in Sacramento.  The Times also had some carefully parsed words for our own Senator Hollingsworth. While they were careful to maintain their liberally correct stance by pointing out how conservative Hollingsworth is and what an unusual alliance he has formed both with the Governor and his Chief of Staff, they did admit that Hollingsworth is usually the first … (0 comments)

NAR President Clarifies 'Energy Star' Bill Position to GAD's - 07/23/09 08:58 PM
Today at the GAD (Government Affairs Directors) Institute in Charleston SC, we had the opportunity to speak with NAR President Charles McMillan both during a luncheon meeting and later at an intimate reception hosted by President McMillan at Charleston's historic Riviera Ballroom. Personable and unassuming as always, McMillan was quick to praise the efforts of GAD's and the successful lobbying efforts we have conducted at a local, state and national level. The practice of real estate would be a far more difficult challenge for practitioners if not for the  lobbying efforts of NAR's Jerry Giovaniello, state lobbyists like California's Alex Creel … (3 comments)

Bono-Mack Disappoints on Waxman-Market 'Crap & Tax' Bill. - 07/23/09 07:52 PM
As members are aware, the Southwest Riverside County Association of Realtors is a founding sponsor of the Southwest California Legislative Council (SCLC). The purpose of the SCLC is to advocate on behalf of small business interests in Southwest California. Much like SRCAR, CAR & NAR advocate on behalf of Realtors and private property rights, SCLC takes it a step further - because all Realtors are by definition small business owners and are subject to some regulation and legislation not necessarily addressed by our Realtor organizations. In addition to board members representing the interests of 4 local chambers of commerce and a … (2 comments)

Federal Judge Gives $58.6 million Fraud Judgement - Against Our Local Nemesis. - 07/07/09 11:13 PM
Chris Bagley at the Californian forwarded this great article. Some of you have been following our saga with these gentlemen for the past few years. This was the original group in our area to pull off the old $150,000 overpay scheme. That and some investment 'vehicles' that the SEC cracked down on last year. Our Real Estate Fraud Task Force, which we formed nearly five years ago with the Inland Valley Association, was initially in response to this group. They operated under the umbrella of Stonewood Financial and a variety of aliases. Chris at the Californian, Leslie Berkman at the PE and others … (2 comments)