Thanks For The Memories - Record Album Time Machine - 12/29/09 06:20 PM
My wife got me an ION Vinyl Archiving Turntable for Christmas this year. My last turntable crapped out about 15 years ago and I just never replaced it in spite of the 2 boxes of records I still lug around. (Note: if you're under 30, a record is a 12" round black plastic disc. It's a little thicker than a CD and it has lots of tiny grooves cut into it on both sides. The grooves are where the music is and you have to flip it over to hear the other side. They could hold about 10 or 15 songs. You … (6 comments)

California High Speed Rail Comes Off The Tracks - 12/29/09 03:11 PM
Well here's a surprise - our politicians lied to us. I know that comes as a shock to you, living as we do in this Utopian state we call California, but according to The San Jose Mercury News and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, we've been had. Again.
This time it has to do with the highly touted High Speed Rail system that has been proclaimed the fix to our state's transportation problems. If we only had a system that could get you from San Diego to San Francisco for half the cost of an airplane, would greatly reduce our 'carbon … (1 comments)

Too Lazy to Work, Too Dumb to Steal: Get elected to Congress. - 12/28/09 03:54 PM
Years ago they used to say if you were 'too lazy to work and too dumb to steal' you went into politics.
Unfortunately after witnessing the shenanigans surrounding the recent debate over healthcare reform, it has become obvious that while they may indeed be too lazy to work, they have certainly honed stealing to a fine art.
When asked why he robbed banks Willie Sutton is reported to have replied "Because that's where the money is." Today the money the banks have is chump change compared to the grifters working congress. When you can make off with $100 million just for … (16 comments)

Southwest California - The Year In Housing: Wild Cards & Caveats - 12/28/09 03:22 PM
 
For the first time since 2006, Southwest California cities saw a glimmer of hope in our foundering housing market. Home prices posted moderate gains in some areas, very moderate losses in others. In many ways the year just passed can best be described as a transition year – perhaps the year in which our housing free-fall hit bottom. Our fondest hope for the new year is that the bottom was indeed reached and not just a respite before another plunge.
For the six city region comprising my focus area, monthly unit sales were actually off 22% from 2008, from … (0 comments)

The Story of Two People and a Thing - The Country Review Ceases Publication. - 12/28/09 03:15 PM
 
There are no issues to be found on the world wide web and the Boss hates email, but you won’t find a more loyal readership or long-term clientele than at The Country Review Magazine in Murrieta. So when the magazine ceases publication this month after 22 years and nearly 250 issues, there will be a void in the fabric of our community.
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Publisher Joan Padberg who, with late husband Brian, first rolled the presses on The Country Review well before the City of Murrieta was born. We covered a lot of … (0 comments)

Realtors® - Part of the Fabric of Our Community. - 12/28/09 03:11 PM
 
I’ve just returned from the National Association of Realtors® year-end conference in San Diego and a couple weeks before that our California Association meetings in San Jose. These meetings are always very busy between wrapping up the legislative agenda for the year past, planning new offense and defense for the year ahead and passing the gavel in our leadership transition.
As Realtors® we have a great deal to be proud of in the legislative arena. This year saw some very significant achievements culminating in the extension and expansion of the Homebuyer Tax Credit. FHA Commissioner Dave Stevens, himself a Realtor®, … (0 comments)

California Association of Realtors® posts hotline for HVCC Complaints - 12/22/09 01:47 PM
Since the inception of HVCC, problems and complaints have become pandemic acorss the country. I've written about the problem before - from the NAR Convention where HVCC became a major point of contention at a panel discussion with Freddie, Fannie, FHFA etc. and later when a study was released showing appraiser fraud up 46%. From more than 100 commenters on these and other sites where these blogs are posted, there has only been one (1) person who has been adamantly in favor of HVCC, plus the spokeshole for Fannie Mae at NAR who noted that her complaints were 'way down'. She … (2 comments)

Kaw Lee Four Nya iss in da Krappa (again). - 12/17/09 07:10 PM
I can hardly wait until after the first of the year when our legislators finally admit what we've known since the last budget was passed a few months ago - we're another $20+ billion in the hole.
Let's see... Maybe the liberal Democrats running the show will actually stand up to their union handlers and make some real cuts. 
Maybe they'll really eliminate some of the deadwood instead of hiring more.
Maybe they'll decide to cut money from education administration and use it for our students.
Maybe they'll actually eliminate a few of the worthless commissions and committees that regulate industries … (5 comments)

FSEEE Spokes Hole says '50 fish are more precious than 80 homes' - sues fire dept. - 12/17/09 06:35 PM
From the 'truth is stupider than fiction' file - a group calling themselves the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics or FSEEE (a non-profit group headquartered in Oregon not to be confused with the actual US Forest Service or their employees) hasfiled a notice of intent to file a lawsuit against the US Department of Commerce, the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection and the Santa Barbara Fire Department this week. The lawsuit is in response to the Santa Barbara fire last spring called the Jesusita Fire which burned over 8,700 acres, threatened more than 500 homes, burned 80 homes … (6 comments)

Howard Jarvis Group releases 10 worst tax gimmicks of 2009. - 12/16/09 01:18 PM
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has just published their 10 worst tax gimmicks of 2009 in California. In this state it's got to be a challenge to narrow it down to just 10 - we have such a plethora to choose from. 
I do believe they missed the boat on #9 however. California's marijuana harvest rivals or surpasses most other agricultural crops in the state in both revenue and quality, and all that potential tax revenue is just going up in smoke. Add to that all the money spent on our ineffective 'War on Drugs' and the millions wasted prosecuting and … (4 comments)

It's Only Pork When The Other Guy Takes It - NAR Survey - 12/15/09 07:55 PM
I love this political stuff. Thus I'm always surprised when Realtors® don't understand how closely tied their personal success is to our collective Association success in our state capitols and in Washington DC. If you're not at the table, you'll probably be on the menu, especially these days when everybody's being carved up. But I'm betting that Realtor® response to this latest policy survey from NAR will have a response rate of 10% or less. Sad isn't it? Yet only 18% of you managed to get off your asses for the 2 minutes it took to respond to the Call-for-Action to extend … (6 comments)

Lawsuit filed after 15 year US Fish & Wildlife stall on the Kangaroo Rat. - 12/15/09 06:29 PM
The Stephens Kangaroo Rat is back in the news.
Long-time area Realtors® remember the furor caused by the Stephens Kangaroo Rat back in the early to mid 90's. Back then rural construction, most notably in our budding Wine Country, nearly ground to a halt with the discovery of habitat potentially favored by this little critter. The fact that the same scrub Chaparral was also supposedly a favorite breeding ground for the Quino Checkerspot Butterfly and the California Coastal Gnatcatcher made it virtually impossible to obtain building permits until more reasonable minds prevailed. Farmers and developers had their land declared worthless and … (0 comments)

Another One Bites The Dust - USAO Indicts 2 for fraud. - 12/15/09 11:41 AM
And the hits just keep on comin'. Not that they've made a substantial dent yet in the army of fraudsters who contributed to our housing meltdown, but nonetheless it's always gratifying to see another of these swine with their names up in lights. 
These two were really small potatoes glomming only $777,000 (that they're indicted for). In our area, where it took more than 5 years to indict perpetrators charged with over 200 fraudulent transactions and more than $140 million in ill-gotten gains, it is really really sweet to see these people getting cracked for just 2 deals and under $1 … (10 comments)