My Rotary Club, Rotary Club of Novato Sunrise, recently took a sunset sail in the San Francisco Bay.
We sailed from the dock at the Bay Model in Sausalito, sailed past the Golden Gate Bridge, around the Marin Headland and then cruised back.
The weather was perfect, warm, low wind, clear sky, the bay is as blue as it can be. Gentle breeze and we sailed into the sun setting against that magnificant bridge. The day after the Chinese Moon Festival brought an incredible full moon, rising behind Mt. Tam... The city Sparkled under the moonlight...
A perfect evening with a group of wonderful friend!
Heading into the High Fire Season in Marin County, this seems to be a good time to reintroduce the guideline on how to mow the grass in Marin County, especially the properties that are next to Open Space.
The guideline was established by the the Marin County Department of Parks and Open Space.
This letter is especially critical at this time of year when fire risk is increasing; especially since Marin county is agian, facing a very dry summer season.
GUIDELINES FOR MOWING GRASS ON MARIN COUNTY OPEN SPACE DISTRICT LAND ADJACENT TO YOUR HOME
It is extremely important that your clearance work does not start a fire and that you follow the guidelines below:
Confirm that the property you want to mow is owned by the Marin County Open Space District, not your neighbor or another agency. Information on lot lines and property ownership is available at the County Assessor-Recorder's Office (499-7215, or go to http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/AR/main/index.cfm) and the County Community Development Agency (499-6269, or go to http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/CD/main/index.cfm).
Mow only grass. If you wish to cut brush or trees on Open Space District lands, you will need a permit; please call the District field office at 415-507-2816.
Never mow under high fire hazard RED FLAG conditions; call 415-499-7191 for current conditions.
In the heat of summer, mow early in the morning or during the evening when it is cooler and less likely that you could start a fire. Use extra caution with power mowers or other spark-producing tools.
Keep a 5-pound "ABC" fire extinguisher AND a fully charged garden hose at the work site while mowing or other work is taking place.
Do not use metal mowing heads on power scythes (weed whips) as they can spark from contact with rocks.
Make sure spark arrestors are in place and functioning.
Do not lay power tools in dry grass where hot metals may ignite flammable vegetation.
Re-fuel tools away from vegetation -- on paved surfaces or cleared areas. Store gasoline away from site.
If possible, have someone spot you (keep a close watch) while you are working to watch for problems.
Watch for hikers and other open space visitors; cease work until they are clear from the work area.
The long anticipated speech from President Obama to America's Students
The President gives a speech directly to Americas students welcoming them back to school. He emphasizes their hope and potential but makes clear they will need to take responsibility for themselve...
He used his own difficult background growing up as a backdrop and remidnes us how fortunate we all are - look at what he has accomplished from where he was!
It will be awfully difficult for anybody to use hardship as an excuse for not achieving the most they can!
How fortunate those Students at Wakefield High are! Checkk out their Senior Class President, his confidence and smooth delilvery! :-)
A semi uneventful but very busy week for the office, with one wonder property on the market - a deliberally priced low REO single family home next to Novato High School, lots of unfinished, unpermitted work. The property commanded 23 offers in a few short days with several over asking, all cash offers. Novato realtors are buzzing about this kind of trend for REO offers (other than one extremely low priced short sale home on Leland Drive a while back, none generated as much activity as this house).
An experienced and knowledgable local Realtor is ultra important in guiding you through this new real estate maze - Check with your Realtor on how to spot, evaluate and make strategic offers in the current market!
As you can see from the statistics below, percentage wise, there is not a lot of change within a week. Howeve, the numbers give a good feeling about the market, although unusual, being somewhat stable.
Novato, and for that matter, Marin county real estate are seeing an encouraging trend of more buyers out looking for homes. As is the aboe case in mind - there will be 22 ready and willing buyers (many with all cash) for a bargain and yes, they jump on one when they see it!
% pending and Days on Market (DOM) continue to be skewed by the lingering short sale homes that have been in contract for a long time while waiting for lenders approval. Ask Sylvia to research background of the properties you are interested in!
Contact me at (415) 717-0293 or at sylvia@SylviaSellsMarin.com to discuss the market and the current trend, get familiar with the buying process, and start hunting for inventories on the market, whether REO, Trust Sale, start home, luxury homes. Take time to see many homes so you know the right house when you see it! It's never too late to get ready. I will be very happy to find the best house / investment property for you!
It will be my pleasure to serve you! Good Hunting!
MARIN, SONOMA, S.F. BAY AREA REAL ESTATE - Beveldere, Corte Madera, Greenbrae, Kentfield, Larkspur, Marinwood, Mill Valley, Novato, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon; Cotati, Penngrove, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa. Starter Home to Luxury Property. REO (Bank Owned), Short Sale, View Homes, Architecural Distictive Homes. Investment, 1031 Exchange. Chinese Realtor.
Fabulous Mt. Burdell provides a gorgeous backdrop for City of Novato in the magnificant Marin County, San Francisco North Bay, CA.
The pictures were taken in the summer, around the very desirable Partridge Knolls neighborhood, overlooking San Marin, showing the 'golden' state. During the raining season, the hills turns fresh and than jade, provides a refreshing look throughout the county. Mt. Burdell, being one of the 'younger' hills in Marin County, has oak trees dotted in various places, provides a lively and beautiful picture of the hills.
Can't believe summer slips by so quickly! I last posted Novato Statistics on April 1, 2009 and now is the later part of August. Students are back in school and we are heading into fall.
During the past four months, with housing prices dropped 20%-30% and certain condos at 50% drop (the ones with problementic HOAs), stimulus plan, attraction of the 'up to $8,000 credit back', interest rate staying low, regular sellers holding onto their properties unless they have to sell; the supply remains low and demand has heightened. All these contribute a shift in the percentage of houses under contract, moving most price ranges into the 'sellers' market, meaning % of houses under contract is great than 40%.
The only decrease in percent of pendings are the 700-800K range (inbetween starter homes and luxury homes) and the super luxury range (over $1.5M) in Novato.
Novato, and for that matter, Marin county real estate are seeing an encouraging trend of more buyers are out looking for homes, and they are Serious and Anxious buyers. Most are the traditional buyers with solid downpayments, steady jobs; some are seasoned investors, all cash buyers, some are first time investors, and many first time buyers are also taking advantage of the soft market, low housing prices; and not surprisingly, all are looking for that great bargains and many are getting them.
% pending are also skewed by the many short sale homes that have been in contract for a long time while waiting for lenders approval, but what great bargains the buyers can get with time in hand and plenty of patience. I often encourage my clients to look for short sales if they can wait, beats jumping back into that multiple offers situation with REO, bank owned homes. All my buyers clients are getting the best deals now because both of us have the patience to strategize, look, wait and bargain for the best property to purchase.
Contact me at (415) 717-0293 or at sylvia@SylviaSellsMarin.com to discuss the market and the current trend, get familiar with the buying process, and start hunting for inventories on the market, whether REO, Trust Sale, start home, luxury homes. Take time to see many homes so you know the right house when you see it! It's never too late to get ready. I will be very happy to find the best house / investment property for you!
It will be my pleasure to serve you! Good Hunting!
Novato public schools are back in session, and Duke, our beloved Laborator / Pointer mix is very happy that he gets to go to Dogbone Meadows Dog Park to see his best friend, Hunter, again. Since Dogbone Dog Park is in the opposite direction of my house in Partridge Knolls, San Marin Area, to my work, Frank Howard Allen Realtors, Duke only gets to go there after I drop my younger son off at the local school which is just a block away from the park. This means Duke has not been there for quite sometime :-(
The park is very popular, lots of dogs and their humen go there to hang out with their buddies. The place can get overwhelming for Duke and I late afternoons after work. I love going there in the mornings where things are calm, and there are only a few familiar dogs and very responsible dog owners. We enjoy seeing each other and catching up. And Duke! He is in heaven! You can not find a happier dog (o.k. maybe the other dogs at Dogbone Dog Park).
See the following for info about the very premier Dogbone Dog Park, Duke and his best friend, Hunter! I still need to take some pictures later in the day when the sky is blue and bright.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dogbone Meadows Dog Park in Novato, Marin County, located en route to Stafford Lake and West Marin, dogs often bring their people when they are on the way to the beaches. The dog park is right accross from Novato Chase luxury homes, is probably the best dog park in Marin County, or maybe even California. Due to the great location and the natural surroundings, there are talks of starting the first community garden in Novato next to the dog park.
Built by dog loving volunteers (or shall we say, slaves of dogs), the property is around 1 acre, with tracks for dogs and human alike, toys and exercise stations (the hoops, loops, bridges, jumps, tubs, etc) for dogs only. The volunteers planted trees for shade, put down benches and , water fountains, , porchesThe backdrop is Open Space, part ofO'Hare Park, great hiking, horseback riding trails.
This is a morning with unusual heavy fog from West Marin, a beautiful background for the dog park.
Duke (black with white spots, rescued from 2nd Chance Rescue) and Hunter (Golden, dapper with his red bandana - he has a whole collection of those) love to come here in the morning - Duke, after dropping his brother off at local high school, and Hunter, after dragging his mom for his daily 2 hour walk and play (can't say Hunter does not have a GREAT life, even Duke is envious of him!) - Hunter will chase the tennis ball and Duke will run along Hunter.
Makes Happy Dogs and Happy people when their dogs are tired the rest of, the day!
It's a foggy morning, but I thought it's interesting, so I snapped the pictures.
Duke and Hunter waiting for Hunter's mom to throw the ball.
Time to chase the ball!
Duke's best friend, Hunter, whose only passion is chasing the tennis ball!
SERVING MARIN, SONOMA, S.F. BAY AREA - FOR ALL YOUR REAL ESTATE NEEDS Beveldere, Corte Madera, Greenbrae, Kentfield, Larkspur, Marinwood, Mill Valley, Novato, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon; Cotati, Penngrove, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa.
I hesitate to jump on the bandwagon to sing praises to the improved 101 traffic in Marin County since they opened the lanes on a stretch of San Rafael in first quarter, 2009.
It amazes me to see people who hardly drive on 101 filming the traffice at 6:00AM while reporting how great the traffic is ;-)
As a Realtor, commuting during traffic hours is not the norm as I have the priviledge to schedule appointments away from traffic hours and that is what I normally do.
I feel that for reliability, I have to wait until I actually have the chance to drive during traffic hours regularly before reporting with confidence about the improvement, if any.
Well, my younger son signed up for classes at Cal. The classes start at 8:10am / 9:10am; and I have the priviledge of driving him to UC during traffice hours every morning for the last two weeks.
So far, I am very impressed by how much traffic has improved.
During the height of construction period, it took me up to 1 hour to inch from North Novato to just befroe Central San Rafael. This includes finding all local detours (which many don't know) to avoid the heavies 101 traffic depending on how each stretch of traffic is moving at the time.
And now, I can be on the Richmond bridge in just over 20 minutes and be in the middle of Cal campus (which includes driving through the famously painful Unversity Avenue) in abuot 35 minutes.
O.K. I have to admit that I took advantage of the car pool lane with my younger son in the car. However, I was able to observe the heavier part of traffic when I drove by. There are still stretches where the traffic slows down but the stretch is much shorter - just before St. Pablo and right after that exit. The traffic, although slower, is not that bad. The cars still move along nicely isntead of the agonizing stop and go.
In addition, I also surveyed my clients who commute to the city for work. The reports are a resounding YES! on how much better the traffic is now. A client told me the improvement is anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes driving the 101 stretch in Marin county. I am pleased to hear that.
So, my overall report on the 101 widening project in Central Marin, although slow in coming, is - Yes, A Great Improvement!
(Word of Wisdom from your Realtor - In addition to REO (Bank Owned) properties, there are GREAT Deals out there if you look hard enough. I will be able to help you to find the best property for you in Marin and Sonoma county, Bank Owned or Not! (O.K. I still have to work on the new Blog 'Tale of a Short Sale', but there are other priorities)
The towns included in this list are Marin County towns South Marin, Central Marin, North Marin and West Marin (yes, we even have a few in South, Central and West Marin). Specifically: Belvedere, Bolinas, Corte Madera, Dillon Beach, Fairfax, Greenbrae, Kentfield, Lagunitas, Larkspur, Mill Valley, Muir Beach, Nicasio, Novato, Marin County, Olema, Point Reyes Station, Ross, San Anselmo, San Geronimo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Stinson Beach, Tiburon, Tomales
Single Family Homes, Farms and Ranches are in one link; and Condos/Townhomes are in another link. Note that the link expires in 30 days (Per MLS rule).
It has been 1 and 1/2 months since I last (06/06/09) posted Marin REO proeprties - taking care of my clients tends to get in the way of posting online. However, never hestiate to email me if you need current info.
The Marin housing market is heating up again, as evident in the new 'sellers' market. Lack of supply and increasing demand play a big role in that - Economics 101, I am sure. This can be attributed to a few reasons: Continuing interest in first time homebuyers taking advantage of the up to $8,000 tax credit from the government, interest rates stay historicacl low, including the new friendly Jumbo ($729,000 in Marin county), consumer believing the market has hit the bottom (as evident by many multiple offers), the lenders are required to hold of for an additional 90 days before starting the foreclosure process - allowing distressed homeowners the opportunity to work out their loans with the lenders - we have heard quite a few successful loan modifications), short sales are getting easier to approve, less stress for buyers, and much more.
And 1 and 1/2 months later, the famous, but accurate remark of: "The Bottom of the Market is Hindsight" Don't be the one who missed out on the opportunity.
Changes between 06/06/09 and 07/16/09! for Single Family Homes
19 Active - Rumor had it and now Luxury REOs are finally on market. Vacation at home with Bay and Mt. Tam views in Sausalito - speaking of breathtaking views! check out that 178 Santa Rosa Avenue. Belvedere REO? with stunning water view, small but sure
~ Continue watching for outstsanding properties on REO list! ~
29 Pending (Contingent, Pending) a gorgeous home in Larkspur - 5 Wittshire Avenue, inescorw just after 3 days; 1190 Cambridge (short sale at $470K, now REO at $372,900) in escrow after 2 days, probably multiple offers too! On the other hand, a major fixer (or tear down) in San Anselmo, first priced at $1,350,000 went into escrow when it was reduced to $1M in May.
18 Sold since 06/06/09 - Remember that super hot deal on Sun Lane? Sold for $710K (12.72% over asking) ALL Cash. One of those, no offers, but then suddenly many offers came in. A Shea Home in Pointe Marin closed in 21 days for $855K (last sale in 06 for $1,150,000)
Changes between 06/06/09 and 07/16/09 for Marin County Bank Owned Townhomes / Condos
Questions about the current market? a specific property? The Incentive? Ready to Buy? Ready to Learn? Call your trusted Realtor to give you personalized updates...
MARIN, SONOMA, S.F. BAY AREA REAL ESTATE - Beveldere, Corte Madera, Greenbrae, Kentfield, Larkspur, Marinwood, Mill Valley, Novato, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon; Cotati, Penngrove, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa. Starter Home to Luxury Property. REO (Bank Owned), Short Sale, View Homes, Architecural Distictive Homes. Investment, 1031 Exchange. Chinese Realtor.
Nestled in the hills of desirable Gerstle Park; this almost new, immaculate bungalow with bay, bridge and city view; is a rare find. Walk up the stairs to the tiled front deck framed by gorgeous surrounding views.
The glass front wood door welcomes you while allowing sunshine into this sweet and compact but high efficient home.
Small but cleverly designed kitchen has slate tile floor, granite counter, stainless steel appliances, spotlights, under counter lighting and ample storage. There is a breakfast area and an adjacent granite top breakfast bar/workstation combination.
Cozy living room with dramatic fireplace set the stage. Huge picture windows bring in plenty of sunlight and the gorgeous surrounding views. Gleaming hardwood floors throughout; exposed wood beam ceilings add much warmth and charm to the home.
Slat tiles in entry way and kitchen. Double pane windows with shutter blinds frame gorgeous distant bay, bridge, and city views. Enjoy the view while observing deer right at home outside the master bedroom windows. 2nd bedroom has access to the backyard. Side deck outside of master bedroom is accessible through the door next to the kitchen.
Small courtyard sanctuary provides a peaceful place to gather. Level side yard to enjoy the view. Side and backyard attract wildlife from surrounding hills.
Centrally located with easy access to downtown San Rafael shops, restaurants, 101 and 580 freeways to east bay and the city. Award winning schools.
MARIN, SONOMA, S.F. BAY AREA REAL ESTATE - Beveldere, Corte Madera, Greenbrae, Kentfield, Larkspur, Marinwood, Mill Valley, Novato, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Tiburon; Cotati, Penngrove, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa. Starter Home to Luxury Property. REO (Bank Owned), Short Sale, View Homes, Architecural Distictive Homes. Investment, 1031 Exchange. Chinese Realtor.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Heading into the High Fire Season in Marin County, this seems to be a good time to reintroduce the guideline on how to mow the grass in Marin County, especially the properties that are next to Open Space. 
l in first quarter, 2009. 
UPDATED 07/16/09 (last updated 06/06/09) 
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