Monthly Archives: June 2011

Entertainment

Flamenco del Oro Nevada County’s Flamenco Music & Dance Troupe Performing At The Holbrooke – June 11

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Flamenco del Oro Nevada County’s Flamenco Music and Dance Troupe will be performing at The Holbrooke Hotel Restaurant featuring Gypsy Flamenco artist from Jerez de la Frontera, Spain KINA MENDEZ. Kina’s powerful and soothing voice will be accompanied by the rooted guitar works of Gopal Slavonic. Also performing will be percussionist Roger Aiton.

Singer and dancer KINA MENDEZ grew up in the Mendez clan of Gypsy artists from Jerez. She began singing under the influence of her aunt, legendary singer La Paquera de Jerez. Her professional career began when she joined Manuel Morao’s company. She later worked with Mario Maya and toured internationally with Salvador Tavora’s productions Carmen and Carmina Burana. Performing in festivals such as La Fiesta de las Bulerias and Las Fiestas de la Vendimia in Jerez de la Frontera, she has shared the stage with Agujetas, El Grilo, La Macanita and others. A featured artist at last year’s Festival de Jerez, her solo CD De Sevilla a Jerez was released 2008 in Madrid.

Gopal Slavonic has studied and played flamenco for 17 years and studied Flamenco guitar in Sevilla, Spain at La Fundacion Christina Heeren. He studied at the Foundation for two years where he received the opportunity to study with many great guitarists. Gopal has returned to Spain to study many times over the last decade. Gopal has worked with California Flamenco artists Mark Taylor, Cerro Negro, La Fibi, La Carola, Roberto Zamora, Pilar Moreno and recently released his second CD “Dos Orillas”.

Flamenco del Oro with Kina Mendez from Jerez, Spain,
Saturday June 11; Dinner shows at 7:00pm and 9:00pm
Information: (530) 273-1353
The Holbrook Hotel Restaurant 212 W. Main Street Grass Valley

For all your real estate needs, call or email:

John J. O’Dell Realtor®
Real Estate Broker
(530) 263-1091
jodell@nevadacounty.com

Real Estate

Home Improvements That Boost Resale Value

Photo courtesy of Sermon Series
Photo courtesy of Sermon Series

When deciding which home improvements to make, many homeowners consider the amount of resale value the improvement may or may not make and compare that against the cost of the renovation.   Homeowners concerned with making home improvements that will pay off when it’s time to sell the property, should consider the following tips.

  • The first improvement/repair homeowners should consider are those that impact the home’s basic structures and systems.  Potential home buyers generally do not want to face expensive repairs, and if items such as the foundation, roof, air conditioning, water heater, or other basic structure need to be fixed, the property will be considered a fixer-upper and its market price will be discounted accordingly.
  • Some minor replacements will produce big results for minimal cost.  Replacing and coordinating bathroom and kitchen hardware and fixtures are generally inexpensive, but tend to make a big difference.  The same can be said for getting rid of any dated finishes, such as old wallpaper and brass light fixtures.
  • Homeowners who don’t know when or even if they will be able to sell their home are advised to choose home improvement projects carefully.  Unless the home is located in an upscale neighborhood and the property already is immaculate, owners can skip expensive upgrades – such as remodeled bathrooms – and focus on the fundamentals.

Read the full story

For all your real estate needs, write or email:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
jodell@nevadacounty.com

Real Estate

You Own My Mortgage? Prove It

Delinquent home owners are finding a wild-card in saving their home from foreclosure. In court, more home owners are successfully arguing that their mortgage companies can’t prove they own the loan and don’t have the right to foreclose on them.

The Wall Street Journal reports: “In some cases, borrowers are showing courts that banks failed to properly assign ownership of mortgages after they were pooled into mortgage-backed securities. In other cases, borrowers say that lenders backdated or fabricated documents to fix those errors.”

In a few cases, home owners have even had their foreclosures reversed as courts blame lenders’ sloppy paperwork.

Some argue that borrowers are using “arcane legal rules” to get free houses when not paying their bills. Banking industry lawyer Laurence E. Platt at K&L Gates in Washington says “the real assault on the legal system” are efforts by judges and local officials to not give lenders their rightful ownership and make foreclosures nearly impossible.

However, attorney Thomas Ice in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., argues that borrowers shouldn’t have to tolerate incomplete or falsified evidence by lenders.

Source: “Banks Hit Hurdle to Foreclosures,” The Wall Street Journal (June 1, 2011)
For all your real estate needs, call or email:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Real Estate Broker
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
jodell@nevadacounty.com

animals

Puppies & Kittens: Precious Little Darlings Face A Precarious Future

Photo courtesy of Chesapeake Animal Hospital
Photo courtesy of Chesapeake Animal Hospital

by Lisa J. Lehr

Ah, spring! The weather is warming up, it’s green everywhere you look, and the animal shelter is bursting with puppies and kittens.

They’re so cute! Who doesn’t love warm, fuzzy puppies and kittens? It’s positively un-American not to love puppies and kittens!

The problem with puppies and kittens isn’t that they aren’t inherently delightful; it’s that we have way too many of them. While the Nevada County Animal Shelter is a remarkable example of a nearly-no-kill shelter, the national statistics on euthanasia are shocking and too depressing for me to quote here. Let’s just say that any joy a mommy cat or dog could possibly feel at the birth of her children would be completely obliterated if she could know the overwhelming odds that her children would soon end up dead.

What are the arguments in favor of letting your cat or dog have babies? Let’s see…

“It would be nice for her to have babies once.”

Continue reading Puppies & Kittens: Precious Little Darlings Face A Precarious Future →