murrieta: July Housing Report for Southwest California. Making sense of the nonsensical. - 08/22/10 07:46 AM
How's your market? So far we've avoided the 'plunges & plummets' that seem to have afflicted the rest of the country. But I question if it really has impacted everybody - or just a few markets that tend to make the headlines. Hope your market is doing better than the headlines. 8 city rept View more documents from Southwest Riverside County Association of Realtors. … (0 comments)

murrieta: Murrieta - FREE Concert in the Park series ends this weekend. - 08/12/10 07:49 AM
Looking for a little free fun this weekend? The City of Murrieta is presenting their last free Concert in the Park at the Town Square Amphitheater at 6 p.m. Saturday. 
Show up early, bring a blanket, your lounge chairs, a picnic dinner and make an afternoon of it - the weather promises to be warm and dry with nary a cloud in the sky.
If you missed the 5th Dimension a couple weeks ago, you can still rock out with Southland Mega Groove this weekend, combining rock & disco for your listening pleasure. 
Remember, picnics are great but no alcohol is … (0 comments)

murrieta: Affordable La Cresta Homes $500,000 to $1 Million. WOW! - 06/06/10 06:32 PM
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)

murrieta: Affordable La Cresta Homes Under $500,000. WOW! - 06/06/10 06:05 PM
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)

murrieta: Southwest California March Housing Update - 04/20/10 11:50 AM
Here's the March housing update for Southwest California. In addition to unit sales and median price for the past 2 years, I've also compared our Q1 sales for 2009 with this year to see where the trendlines are. Overall, sales are up slightly constrained only by lack of inventory. Our median price is holding it's own - up a little/down a little by city. After 3 years of dropping like a rock, holding steady looks good. There's also a demand chart showing inventory levels at around 2 months for each of the 6 cities.

However, the chart on sales … (0 comments)

murrieta: These Women Mean Business - 02/17/10 08:34 AM
 

In case you’ve been in a post-holiday siesta or simply water-logged, you’re already aware that four of our six cities in Southwest California have women Mayors this year, joining six other cities throughout the Inland Empire. Media outlets have had a field day dubbing our area ‘Estrogen Alley’ and talking about ‘Women Taking Charge’. But the fact is that in most cases our Mayors are not elected to that post, they’re simply chosen by their fellow council members, typically in a set rotation schedule. As Lake Elsinore Mayor Melissa Melendez characterized the situation, “… it’s not some staged take-over, … (1 comments)

murrieta: The In-Home Concert Returns - Scarlet Rivera & Eric Rigler - 02/14/10 09:41 AM
After more than a year absence while Musicians Workshop founders Jon & Jane Laskin opened their new Performing Arts & Music Center,  the In-Home Concert Series returned last night with a bang. For those of you not familiar with this treasure of the Temecula Valley, Musicians Workshop is a non-profit group in its 10th year providing a variety of instrumental & choral music classes for children ranging from 2 - 20. They also offer dance and performing arts instruction, a recording studio and much more to fill a growing niche between what young people need and what the schools are able … (0 comments)

murrieta: Southwest California 2009 Housing Recap - 01/30/10 07:06 AM

Welcome to the Realtor Report for January 2010. The attached charts summarize Southwest California housing activity for the year just past and provide some perspective on where we've been and where we are today. It's going to take somebody far sharper than me to figure out where we're going. 
The first chart is always interesting in that it gives us a six year window on the market. One of the first thing you'll notice is that sales were off 2008 levels - about 20% in Temecula, Murrieta and Lake Elsinore, 40% in Wildomar and Menifee and just 7% in Canyon … (2 comments)

murrieta: Murrieta Business Rountable - Helping Your Business Grow. - 01/27/10 10:09 AM
The City of Murrieta has launched a new group called the Murrieta Business Roundtable. The forum is sponsored by the Murrieta Economic Development Department in cooperation with SCORE, counselors for America's small business. The group plans to meet the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7:30 am in the Murrieta Public Library in the Town Square. 
The meetings are open to all businesses and offer an opportunity to ask questions, discover resources and share experiences with other business owners throughout the Valley. For example, at the first meeting the founder of a custom bridal shop asked about the best way to do … (0 comments)

murrieta: Southwest California - The Year In Housing: Wild Cards & Caveats - 12/28/09 07:22 AM
 
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)

murrieta: The Story of Two People and a Thing - The Country Review Ceases Publication. - 12/28/09 07:15 AM
 
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)

murrieta: HALLELUJAH! Mortgage Fraud Scamsters Finally Arrested (just 5 years too late). - 11/19/09 01:37 PM
Here's today's update "Seven Accused of Defrauding Investors of Millions"
HALLELUJAH!!!! 
If I sound ecstatic it's because the biggest fraudsters in our area have finally been charged! These three, Montecastro, Duncan and McLeod started their mortgage fraud scheme in Murrieta in 2004. Our association and our chief counsel started documenting the problem late that year. We took it to the District Attorney, the FBI, the Dept. of Real Estate, the Attorney General, local law enforcement, lenders, etc. - and nobody NOBODY would give us the time of day. 
This scam was the incentive for our Association (SRCAR) to join our neighboring … (61 comments)

murrieta: A Small Town Veterans Day Parade - Murrieta CA - 11/11/09 11:33 AM
The City of Murrieta held their 2009 Veterans Day Parade and Groundbreaking for their Veterans Memorial today. It was a Chamber of Commerce day, hazy skies keeping the sun from blistering the thousands of people lining Washington Avenue while more than 80 parade entries honored our Veterans. Vintage cars carried vintage Veterans, dignitaries paid tribute, the La Mesa Warbirds swooped overhead, there were motorcycle veterans, submariners from the silent service, marching bands, color guards, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts by the troop. 

 
 
 
It was my privilege to be one of the parade announcers this year.
(3 comments)

murrieta: Building Moratorium Defeated by Grassroots Effort (for now). Pray for Rain. - 11/10/09 07:10 AM
Last evening the people of our community spoke and, for a change, somebody listened. That somebody, Rancho California Water District, had proposed a BUILDING MORATORIUM by eliminating eliminating the issuance of water availability letters and the installation of new water meters. That would have deleteriously impacted residential and commercial development in the City of Temecula, some in the City of Murrieta, the Wine Country and other unincorporated areas including the vineyards and avocado and citrus groves. 
The effort brought out am avalanche of community response, hundreds of letters and emails generated by the business and Real Estate community, and a … (4 comments)

murrieta: Riverside County Releases 2009-2010 Annual Plan. Read 'em & weep. - 11/03/09 09:57 AM

County Assessor/Clerk/Recorder Larry Ward has just released his 2009-2010 Annual Report and it's chock full of all kinds of exciting stuff - and some not so exciting.
I'll just tease you with a few details but for the full scoop you've got to follow the link at the bottom to find the details.
For example, did you know that:
The Riverside County tax roll value (before exemptions) dropped 10.51% last year - from $242.98 Billion to $217.44?
There are 500,292 single family residences in the County worth $120,318,983,044. They represent 57.54% of the tax base with an average value … (0 comments)

murrieta: Murrieta Holds Inaugural 'Salute to Public Safety' Event. - 09/25/09 04:58 AM
On September 24, the Murrieta Chamber of Commerce held its inaugural Salute to Public Safety honoring the men and women of Murrieta’s Police and Fire Departments. Chamber Chair Bob Hagel presented a commendation to Murrieta Mayor Gary Thomasian noting that a recent FBI statistic named Murrieta as the second safest city in the country. Our 90 sworn officers, 61 firefighters, civilian members, staff and volunteers are the reason why.
Following a welcome by Chamber CEO Rex Oliver, Master of Ceremonies Gene Wunderlich introduced representatives from the Governor’s Office, from Mary Bono-Mack’s office, Senator Hollingsworth’s office and Assemblymember Kevin Jeffries. In … (0 comments)

murrieta: Banks or the Crooks That Represent Them. - 09/23/09 12:42 PM
It's not unusual for me to field complaint calls from members - apparently they are labouring under the assumption that I 1) care and 2) can do something about it. (For the record I do and I try)
Most complaints have to do with one of two things - banks or the crooks that represent them. Sound familiar?
One of the most prevalent complaints - and the subject of three calls today, have to do with the pre-quals/pre-approvals required by the banks before they'll look at an offer. With many of your Buyers submitting multiple offers in hopes of landing one, this … (56 comments)

murrieta: Each one reach one. Be Somebodys Angel this Saturday. - 08/04/09 08:21 AM
We've got an urgent challenge right now which requires big vision for change.  Each week 4,250 of our families are seeking help from Murrieta, Temecula and Menifee food banks, and 14,800 of these are our children - every week.  During summer, school breakfasts and lunches are not available to the children. Demand on our food banks has increased 83% since 2007.  Last year the tons of food collected by our Realtor & Affiliate Food Drive was gone in weeks. The need in our community is skyrocketing. 
Massive change requires massive action.  That's why your food banks have come together in … (0 comments)

murrieta: Riverside County Assessor Releases 2009-2010 Home Value Reports - 07/31/09 05:30 AM


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)

murrieta: 14th Annual Student of the Year Awards - Rewards the Exceptional. - 06/08/09 12:37 PM
What a glorious time this is - end of a school year and graduation. You meet some of the most delightful young people at this time of year - too bad you won't see much about it in other media. 
This morning I had the privilege of attending the 14th Annual Murrieta Student of the Year award ceremony presented by the Murrieta Chamber of Commerce. Ever month the Chamber, in association with numerous community sponsors, recognize an outstanding student of the month from our three current high schools. Today's event selects from among those  recipients to recognize students who have made … (1 comments)