All posts by jd

Real estate broker, civil engineer and general contractor.

Scott's Flat Lake. Picture taken from my deck. John O'Dell — Scott’s Flat Lake. Picture taken from my deck. John O’Dell

GRASS VALLEY – The water rights used by the Nevada Irrigation District to fill reservoirs and supply customers in Nevada and Placer counties are among those covered in the state’s May 27 curtailment order.

To address record dry conditions in California, the State Water Resources Control Board ordered some 2,600 agencies to stop diverting water from streams and rivers, including those on the Yuba River watershed.

NID Manager of Water Operations Chip Close said the district is reviewing its options. “This is another reminder of how serious the drought has become,” he said.

“Everyone has to conserve water. The governor has called for 20 percent water use reductions and we are asking our customers for the same.”

The state’s order includes 19 of NID’s post-1914 water rights, which are also referred as “junior” water rights. NID also holds multiple pre-1914 “senior” water rights, some of which date to the Gold Rush and are among the oldest in the state.

The state’s order does not impact pre-1914 water rights but includes a warning that these rights could be affected if the serious drought conditions continue. The order is effective until drought conditions ease.

Close said that considering the length and severity of the drought, NID is relatively well-prepared.

“We had an early runoff from the snowpack this year so the water is already in our reservoirs,” he said. “Under the state’s order, we’ll have to let any additional runoff run through our system.”

State officials said the action is necessary because current water supplies are insufficient to meet the needs of Sacramento and San Joaquin river water right holders. Affected agencies must certify that they are in compliance or face fines of $1,000 per day. The order allows some exceptions for health and safety purposes.

Close said NID has been carefully managing runoff as dry conditions have continued, leaving district reservoirs at near-average levels for this time of year. The district remains concerned over carryover storage for next year, he said.

Source: Nevada Irrigation District

Please help to keep this blog going
Let us Sell or help you buy your new home or land

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

nevada county fair

Nevada County Fairgrounds Hosts Fair for 2014 Fair Season Jobs

June 5, 2014 jd

The Nevada County Fairgrounds will host a job fair to fulfill its hiring needs for this year’s Fair season. The Nevada County Fair job fair will be held on Tuesday, June 17, from
3 – 6 pm at Ponderosa Hall, located at Gate 2, at the Nevada County Fairgrounds.

If you are interested in working at the Fairgrounds during the 2014 Fair season, plan to attend this event. Fair staff will be accepting applications from 3 – 6 pm for all departments, as well as conducting interviews on site. Some of the jobs available include gate cashiers, ticket monitors, “red shirt” patrols, exhibit crew, exhibit entry clerk, clean-up crew, and parking crew.

Employment applications, as well as available jobs and job descriptions are posted on the Fair’s website at www.NevadaCountyFair.com. Applications will also be available on the day of the job fair.

The 2014 Nevada County Fair is August 6 – 10. For information, call (530) 273-6217 or visit NevadaCountyFair.com.

Please help to keep this blog going
Let us Sell or help you buy your new home or land

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

Real Estate

Almost Half of States Near Home Appreciation Peaks

June 4, 2014 jd

Photo courtesy of: http://www.funnypica.com/

Home prices are continuing to rise heading into the summer months, according to CoreLogic’s latest Home Price Index, which shows nationwide home prices, including distressed sales, rising 10.5 percent in April compared to year-ago levels.

“The purchase market continues to suffer from a dearth of inventory, which we expect will continue to drive prices up over the year,” says Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic.

In fact, no states posted drops to their home prices in April, according to CoreLogic’s index. What’s more, several states surpassed their previous home price peaks, including: Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming.

Twenty-three states as well as the District of Columbia also are at or within 10 percent of their home price appreciation peak, according to CoreLogic.

The five states with the highest home appreciation (including distressed sales) in April year-over-year are:

California: 15.6%
Nevada: 14.8%
Hawaii: 14.1%
Oregon: 11.8%
Michigan: 11.3%

Source: CoreLogic

Please help to keep this blog going
Let us Sell or help you buy your new home or land

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

nevada county fair

Nevada County Fairgrounds Closed to Walkers and Bicyclists from June 8 – 15, 2014

May 29, 2014 jd

In preparation for the annual Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival, June 12 – 15, in addition to a private music camp June 8 – 11, the Nevada County Fairgrounds will be closed to walkers and bicyclists beginning June 8. The Fairgrounds will re-open its gates to walkers and bicyclists as usual on Monday, June 16. This closure does not affect the Main Office, which is open during its normal business hours of Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm.

The RV Park at the Fairgrounds will also be closed to the public from June 8 – 15.

At various times throughout the year the grounds are rented by organizations for large, community events like the Bluegrass Festival, the KVMR Celtic Festival, Strawberry Music Festival, and The California WorldFest. During these times, it becomes necessary to close the grounds to pedestrians in preparation for these various events.

If you are interested in attending the festival, please visit www.cbaontheweb.org or call (209) 588-6031. For more information about the Nevada County Fairgrounds, visit www.NevadaCountyFair.com or call (530) 273-6217.

Please help to keep this blog going
Let us Sell or help you buy your new home or land

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

Real Estate

I Sold My Home, Now I Have Nowhere to Go

May 22, 2014 jd

Photo Courtesy of http://luxeestatescollection.com/time-laugh/

More home owners say now is a good time to sell, surveys show, but low inventories have them worried about what their next move would be. With fewer homes on the market and quickly rising home prices, sellers are becoming less confident that they will be able to trade up at an affordable price. So where do they go from here?

Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, says he repeatedly hears this concern from sellers: “I’m afraid to sell my house because I can’t find another one.”

Tim Brampedach, a business owner who lives in San Francisco, tells CNNMoney that his home’s value has risen from $1.2 million to $1.6 million in the past three years. He and his wife want to move to a bigger place, but “[we] are effectively locked into the house. We can’t sell because we can’t afford anything else nearby. … It’s people like us, who live in a fully turnkey home, who can’t supply homes because we have nowhere else to go in the city,” Brampedach says.

The competition for the limited number of homes for sale has heated up in some parts of the country, with buyers facing increasing competition from all-cash buyers. All-cash deals reached a record 43 percent of home sales in the first quarter of this year, according to RealtyTrac.

Some real estate professionals are actively looking for home owners who may consider selling, even mailing them letters or knocking on doors to ask them if they considered it.

One home owner, Kathleen Jackson of South Boston, says she and her husband recently received such an unsolicited offer that they felt was too good to pass up. But they worried if they’d be able to find another home. When the buyer agreed to give the couple until October to find a new home, they accepted the offer. Agents say this tactic is becoming more popular, with some sellers making the sale of their home contingent on their ability to find another home to move into.

Source: “‘I’m Too Afraid to Sell My Home,’” CNNMoney (May 20, 2014)
Please help to keep this blog going
Let us Sell or help you buy your new home or land

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

Real Estate

May 2014 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook

May 21, 2014 jd

Photo courtesy of: http://funny-pics-fun.com/funny-compilations/home-sweet-home

MCLEAN, VA–(Marketwired – May 19, 2014) – Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) released today its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for May, showing that regular supply and demand forces continue to produce unexpected results as the housing recovery readies to shift into a higher gear during the spring home buying season. The complete May 2014 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook and forecast table are available here.

Outlook Highlights

Projecting new home construction to increase by 18 percent, and house price appreciation moderating to an annual growth of 5 percent in 2014.
Maintaining new and existing home sales at 5.5 million for 2014, the same as for 2013, as the inventory of homes available for sale remains low in many markets.
Single-family originations are expected to drop about 35 percent in 2014 relative to 2013, based on the large decline in refinance volume. Refinance is expected to represent about 40 percent of this year’s originations, down from about 60 percent in 2013.
While net household formation continues to increase, the overall level remains lower than what would be expected; stronger job and income growth are necessary to support additional household formation.
Expect the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to gradually rise higher, ending the year around 4.6 percent. We expect fixed rates to rise gradually during the second half of the year in part as a result of the Federal Reserve’s “tapering” of net MBS acquisitions.

Quote
Attributed to Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.

“The housing recovery is struggling to shift into a higher gear, and obviously there are various imbalances holding this back from happening, but at the heart of the matter it comes down to jobs. Housing needs stronger, and just as important, sustained levels of job creation to get the housing engine firing on all cylinders. April’s jobs numbers were encouraging, and nothing will solve the supply and demand factors faster than keeping employment growth going. Until we see this happening, we’re revising our forecast lower in several areas on an annualized basis. While we still see an improving trajectory for the housing market, we’re pushing it out a few months from our earlier forecast because we expect GDP growth to pick up in the final three quarters of the year from what was clearly a dismal first quarter reading.”

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation’s residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Today Freddie Mac is making home possible for one in four home borrowers and is one of the largest sources of financing for multifamily housing. Additional information is available at FreddieMac.com, Twitter @FreddieMac and Freddie Mac’s blogFreddieMac.com/blog.

Please help to keep this blog going
Let us Sell or help you buy your new home or land

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

Real Estate

City of Grass Valley Has Funds for First Time Home Buyers

May 20, 2014 jd

The City of Grass Valley’s has available funding to provide down payment assistance to qualified low-income potential home buyers. This program is separate from the County’s and offers agents and their clients an additional funding source to access.

The City’s First Time Home Buyer Program, funded through the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development HOME Investment Partnerships Program, can provide gap assistance to qualifying individuals and families. Gap assistance enables these potential homeowners to borrow part of their down payment and/or closing costs from the City of Grass Valley through the HOME Loan Program. To be eligible, applicants must meet the following requirements:

Be a first-time home buyer, which is defined as an individual who has not owned a home during the three-year period before the purchase of a home with subsidy assistance.
The home being purchased cannot exceed a purchase price of $246,000.
The home being purchased must be located inside the city limits of Grass Valley.
Meet the program income eligibility, based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Community Development standards, developed for Nevada County/Grass Valley by size and income as follows:

Family size 1 2 3 4 5 6

Max. Income $38,650 $44,200 $49,700 $55,200 $59,650 $64,050

Please have interested applicants contact Beth Owens, City of Grass Valley Housing Technician, at (530) 274-4344 or beth@cityofgrassvalley.com for more information regarding the application process

Help me keep this website going
Call today for buying or selling real estate

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
ODell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

nevada county fair

Nevada County Fairgrounds Welcomes Strawberry Music Festival

May 19, 2014 jd

The Nevada County Fairgrounds is pleased to announce that this year’s Strawberry Music Festival will be held at the beautiful tree-covered Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley on September 11 – 14.

This popular music festival – which features four days of music, camping and recreation – draws thousands of musicians, entertainers, and music enthusiasts from across the United States each year. The festival features a wide range of musical acts, representing many different musical genres, including Americana, bluegrass, blues, folk, swing, rock, Cajun, Celtic and gospel.

Last year, Strawberry Music’s Fall Festival was cancelled due to the Rim Fire that burned around their festival home near Yosemite. After being denied a permit for this year’s fall festival at Camp Mather, they came to the Nevada County Fairgrounds to ask for sanctuary so that the festival could continue.

The Strawberry Music Festival is one of several popular, world-class music festivals held at the Nevada County Fairgrounds each year. This year’s line-up includes the California Bluegrass Festival, June 12 – 15; Music in the Mountain’s SummerFest Outdoor Series,
June 26 – July 3; California WorldFest, July 10 – 13; and the Celtic Fest, September 26 – 28.

For more information about the Strawberry Music Festival, call (209) 984-8630 or visit www.strawberrymusic.com. For information about the Nevada County Fairgrounds, visit www.NevadaCountyFair.com or call (530) 273-6217.

Help me keep this website going
Call today for buying or selling real estate

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

Real Estate

A Way to Complete With Cash Buyers

May 16, 2014 jd

Photo courtesy of: http://yasminescookbook.yolasite.com/funny-stuff/tag/funny

Buyers needing financing for their home purchase often struggle to compete with other buyers willing to pay all cash to close the sale. All-cash buyers are making up an increasing part of sales too. The National Association of REALTORS®’ latest existing-home sales report shows that in February all-cash sales accounted for 35 percent of transactions.

Some lenders are helping buyers better compete. Known as “pre-underwriting,” they’re putting loan applications through a more thorough venting process before the buyer even enters into a contract for a home, The New York Times reports.

For example, Luxury Mortgage in Stamford, Conn., has started pre-underwriting some of its clients. Unlike preapprovals for a specified loan amount, lenders take the approval a step further by thoroughly reviewing all documentation that would be required for a formal approval. This type of underwriting is being completed after a house is selected and an offer is accepted, but before the contract is in place.

Another lender – Mortgage Master in Walpole, Mass. – has also taken its preapproval process a step further. The lender says for some of its buyers it is verifying the same income and asset information upfront that it would typically do for a processed loan application. The aim is to put the borrower in the same position as a cash buyer, Paul Anastos, president of Mortgage Master, told The New York Times.

Nearly half of all home sales all-cash deals

Please help to keep this blog going
Let us Sell or help you buy your new home or land

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

Real Estate

Luxury Home Sales Soar Above Historical Average

May 6, 2014 jd

Photo courtesy of:http://www.fnuppercoomera.com.au/

Affluent buyers are feeling bullish about housing, as luxury home sales skyrocket, Bloomberg reports. Million-dollar homes in the U.S. are selling at double their historical average, according to data released by the National Association of REALTORS®.

Sales of homes that cost $1 million or more increased 7.8 percent in March compared to a year earlier. Meanwhile, sales of homes that cost $250,000 or less — which represent about two-thirds of the housing market — dropped 12 percent in March year-over-year.

“The real estate market is the ultimate reflection of confidence, wealth, and income,” says Sam Khater, deputy chief economist at CoreLogic.

Transactions for homes costing $2 million or more soared 33 percent in January and February compared to a year earlier, according to an analysis by DataQuick of 25 of the top U.S. metro areas. The transactions were the highest for a two-month period since DataQuick began its tracking in 1988.

“The luxury markets are on fire,” Christie’s International CEO Bonnie Stone Sellers told Bloomberg. “The trends in luxury housing are similar to trends in other luxury goods. Whether you’re buying a third home in Manhattan as a pied-a-terre or another Picasso, these are acquisitions of passion, of lifestyle, and of experience.”

There have been some blockbuster sales recently. The latest to grab headlines was the $147 million sale of an East Hampton’s property, which now carries the title as the priciest home sale ever in the U.S. This came two weeks after the sale of a single-family home in Greenwich, Conn., known as Copper Beech Farm shattered home records at the time at $120 million.

“The stock market is very strong, and this is a way to monetize and concretize some gains,” says Gary Wasserman, CEO of Allied Metals Corp., who is looking to boost his personal real estate portfolio. “We had quite a shock to our collective confidence in 2008 and 2009. The resurgence of the economy has underscored for us that this country remains a very strong place, and that the future remains strong.”

Source: “Million-Dollar Home Sales Thrive While Low End Stumbles,” Bloomberg Businessweek (May 2, 2014)

Read more:

Please help to keep this blog going
Let us Sell or help you buy your new home or land

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
Email John

BRE#00669941

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles

Related articles