Deborah's Beach Blog (Santa Cruz)

The definition of who is considered a First Time Buyer in Santa Cruz County might surprise you. If you have not owned property for three years, you might qualify as a First Time Buyer. The program is an amazing resource that allows people of lower to medium income to get a foot in the home-owners...

  Yesterday, my dog and I took a favorite walk along Soquel Creek, where it empties into the Ocean at Capitola Beach. It was a beautiful day - the tourists were out in full force, frolicking on the beach, eating ice cream, moseying around. You can forget all of your cares in a moment when you sm...

Realtors are a dime a dozen . . . that must be what my FORMER clients must have thought when they disrepected my time and energy one time too many. I have thought about writing about what Realtor's actually do and how we work for quite some time, but the job of a Realtor is so complex, varied, an...

Recently, a representative for a bank was trying to get me to refer business to her. She and I corresponded back and forth and finally, I said, "I think banks are dumb." (I was referring to a specific incident where a bank could not qualify a client for a loan, but a mortgage broker got creative...

Check out this amazing listing. Resident Owned Park, 55+. Newer model unit (2008). Low HOA fees ($110), Resort-like Facilities . . . Pool, Hot Tub, Workout Room/Library/Billiards, Putting Green, More! Close to everything. Walk to Capitola Village, THE BEACH, the mall . . . Excellent location. Cap...

Here are some facts I found interesting about the district of Soquel: Rumor has it that Mission records indicate an alternative for the Native American name for, "Shoquel" was "Osocales" Soquel Creek was originally Soquel River (I will write more about this in future blogs) Charles Darkey Parkhur...

One day I noticed that Soquel Ave., between Branciforte & Morrissey  Blvd. seemed somehow brighter, more vibrant - it was like it happened overnight, although I am sure that is not the case. After doing a little research, I found that this stretch comes under the Santa Cruz Redevelopment Agency S...

I have been thinking about places that are well loved (Capitola, Carmel & San Francisco, come to mind) and although very different from each other, these aesthetically pleasing locales seem to have several traits in common: Interesting architecture, a seemingly innate reverence for the importanc...

Just by coincidence, awhile back I met Richard Beal, the author of Highway 17 (1991 The Pacific Group, Aptos, CA). When I got back to my office, I pulled the book off the shelf and began thumbing through it. What a gold mine of local history! I saw that the year I graduated high school (no hints...

No, I am not going to brag in the usual way about how wonderfully different I am, but I am going to differentiate myself from the status quo huckster mentality. When I was a marketing rep for corporations, I had a particular problem: I had to believe in what I was selling. I figured out a way to ...