Politically Correct Silliness - Where the Hell Is Bill Murray When You Need Hiim? - 06/29/10 09:14 PM
I don't even know what to say about this except that it serves as a great example that silliness in the pursuit of political correctness knows no bounds - or in this case, knows no boundaries.
So I'm spending my customary summer sojourn at my place in Telluride CO and this morning I'm greeted with a bigger than life photo of a rodent on the front page of today's Telluride Daily Planet. It's a prairie dog. 

Nothing special there. 
Oh yes there is. This is one of the prairie dogs who reside in a 23 acre Prairie Dog Preserve set … (10 comments)

$700 Million Bailout for California Homeowners? Don't hold your breath. - 06/25/10 06:01 PM
$700 Million OK'd for California Homeowners!
That's  a headline that would reach and and grab you over your oatmeal, wouldn't it? It certainly caught my attention yesterday. Here's a new program (4 actually) designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure  and the Department of Treasury has just approved $700 Million of those old leftover TARP funds just for us in California. The article went on to say it's to help:
unemployed homeowners in danger of defaulting on their loans (lenders must match federal funds) borrowers who are a little behind on their mortgage but could catch up with a little help (lenders … (2 comments)

Fannie Puts Some Teeth Into Strategic Defaults. Does It Matter? - 06/25/10 04:13 PM
Up until now about the only thing preventing millions of homeowners from strategically defaulting on their home was the moral dilemma many of them faced. With as many as 1/3 of the nations 45 million homeowners currently upside-down in their homes (owing more than they can sell it for), lenders fear that a 3rd (or 4th, depending on how you keep track) wave of foreclosure activity could be launched by millions of owners simply walking away. They can afford to make the payments but the strategic argument is that they can re-build their credit and build equity in a new home … (2 comments)

Telluride's Lunar Cup Ski Races are on for tomorrow. Come on up! - 06/25/10 03:12 PM
Looking for something a little out of the ordinary to do tomorrow? Why don't you come on up to Telluride Colorado for the ski races? Yep, that's right. There's plenty of good snow this year and so the Lunar Cup ski races will be held as usual (well, almost as usual) up in the Savage basin above the Tomboy. 
The Lunar Cup races have been an annual event almost every year for maybe 25 years or so now, maybe longer, maybe less. Years ago we just used to ski up there because it was the only place left in the area … (1 comments)

CA DRE Hopes To Put The Bite on Exploding Short Sale Frad - 06/17/10 07:49 PM
Thank heaven somebody is finally stepping up. We have been deluged with short sale scams in our market since short sales replaced REO's as our primary housing alternative almost a year ago. Many Realtors are also hiring these so-called expert negotiators because they are either too lazy or too incompetent to do it themselves. These can be time consuming transactions but if you promise your customer you are going to do it - then do it. Now your license can be on the line if you hire an unlicensed person to do the job you are being paid to do.
… (3 comments)

More Real Estate Fraudsters Cracked Thanks to Ventura County led Task Force. - 06/17/10 01:53 PM
I'm lovin' this. Our friends up at the Ventura County Association  of Realtors had a hand in this. They've been very pro-active for years in fighting real estate fraud in their community and have worked hand-in-glove with their local District Attorney. Maybe now that Riverside County has a new District Attorney we can get some of this same attention to fraud that Ventura has enjoyed. They've even helped their DA receive substantial federal grants to combat this scourge. Kay Runion and the REFAT team in Ventura are 'Da Bomb'.
REGIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT JOINS TOGETHER IN CRACKDOWN ON
MORTGAGE FRAUD, … (0 comments)

Never too old to make your parents proud. Wunderlich gets nod for Citizen of the Year. - 06/14/10 07:41 PM
This past Saturday evening the Murrieta Chamber of Commerce held their 50th Anniversary Installation of Officers and Community Awards Event at Monteleone Meadows. In keeping with the 50's theme, I'm hoping somebody got a photo of my white sport coat with the obligatory pink carnation. With my modified DA and spit curl, I was da bomb. Better yet, my wife took a page from the original Barbie catalog and went with BIG hair, a slinky black dress and long black gloves. We should won best costume but the Prom King & Queen looked pretty good too I guess. I don't know where … (5 comments)

EVERY CA Realtor becomes an advocacy investor. - 06/11/10 10:46 PM
I've been at our mid-year CAR meetings in Sacramento this week so will have lots to post in the coming days. But I did want to share some phenomenal news with you that at this afternoons Board of Directors session we passed the motion which will have EVERY Realtor becoming an investor in our advocacy effort. The past few years that burden has increasingly been borne by about 20% of us while CAR's lobbying stature has fallen from top 5 in the state to #33. This at a time when there are almost daily efforts to expand taxes on Realtors and … (1 comments)

Affordable La Cresta Homes $500,000 to $1 Million. WOW! - 06/07/10 01:32 AM
Seems like only yesterday that you couldn't find a home in La Cresta for under $1,000,000. Actually it less than two years ago. You couldn't find a vacant lot for love nor money, improved horse properties were almost non-existent and commanded a premium if you could find one, spec homes were sprouting everywhere. Times were good.
If you're not familiar with the La Cresta area, it sits in the rolling hills just to the west of Murrieta. You can see the ocean from some of the back lots, there are avocado and citrus groves and a few vineyards. There are homes … (5 comments)

Affordable La Cresta Homes Under $500,000. WOW! - 06/07/10 01:05 AM
Seems like only yesterday that you couldn't find a home in La Cresta for under $1,000,000. Actually it less than two years ago. You couldn't find a vacant lot for love nor money, improved horse properties were almost non-existent and commanded a premium if you could find one, spec homes were sprouting everywhere. Times were good.
If you're not familiar with the La Cresta area, it sits in the rolling hills just to the west of Murrieta. You can see the ocean from some of the back lots, there are avocado and citrus groves and a few vineyards. There are homes … (2 comments)

Bear Creek / Murrieta CA Homes for $1 Million Plus - 06/05/10 05:58 PM

The Bear Creek community located in Murrieta California  is recognized as one of the pre-eminent golf course communities in California - or anywhere for that matter. The Bear Creek Project was one of the early undertaking of the Jack Nicklaus Organization who organized the purchase of 550 acres of Live Oak studded rolling hillside acres in 1978. Adjacent to the 180 acre golf course, Bear Creek boasts a series of lifestyle residences from condominiums and villas to spacious single family homes and magnificent estates as well as a Golf Club and a Swim & Raquet Club, swimming pools, Bocce Court … (0 comments)

Bear Creek / Murrieta CA Homes Under $1 Million - 06/05/10 05:36 PM

The Bear Creek community located in Murrieta California  is recognized as one of the pre-eminent golf course communities in California - or anywhere for that matter. The Bear Creek Project was one of the early undertaking of the Jack Nicklaus Organization who organized the purchase of 550 acres of Live Oak studded rolling hillside acres in 1978. Adjacent to the 180 acre golf course, Bear Creek boasts a series of lifestyle residences from condominiums and villas to spacious single family homes and magnificent estates as well as a Golf Club and a Swim & Raquet Club, swimming pools, Bocce Court … (0 comments)

Bear Creek / Murrieta CA Villas & Condos - 06/05/10 05:11 PM

The Bear Creek community located in Murrieta California  is recognized as one of the pre-eminent golf course communities in California - or anywhere for that matter. The Bear Creek Project was one of the early undertaking of the Jack Nicklaus Organization who organized the purchase of 550 acres of Live Oak studded rolling hillside acres in 1978. Adjacent to the 180 acre golf course, Bear Creek boasts a series of lifestyle residences from condominiums and villas to spacious single family homes and magnificent estates as well as a Golf Club and a Swim & Raquet Club, swimming pools, Bocce Court … (0 comments)

Proposition 16 - PG&E Perpetuates a Major Fraud On The Public. - 06/02/10 03:13 PM
We've all been absolutely bombarded by election ads this cycle. Even people who are into that sort of thing are tired of the bombast and we've still got a week to go.
But one of the loudest and most consistent campaigns is being waged by Pacific Gas & Electric for Proposition 16. And let me tell you there is no more cynical and fraudulent campaign on next weeks ballot than the battle over Prop 16.
PG&E has titled Prop 16 the 'Taxpayers Right to Vote Act'. That's a lie. The Proposition is about nothing more than perpetuating PG&E's utility monopoly and they've … (1 comments)

California Ballot Propositions - Recommendations from CAR & SCLC - 06/02/10 02:02 PM
Both the California Association of Realtors and the Southwest California Legislative Council have published recommendations for next Tuesday's election on the various ballot propositions that you will find. The SCLC is in agreement with the positions supported by CAR and has also staked out positions on a couple of the measures that CAR determined to be 'Not Real Estate Related'. Feel free to use this voter guide to the upcoming elections and please contact me with any questions. I have also included links to both the CAR and SCLC websites for further clarification on why each organization took the position they … (0 comments)