All posts by jd

Real estate broker, civil engineer and general contractor.

Travel

USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York City

February 12, 2013 jd 1 Comment

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Aircraft carrier USS Intrepid

Today I asked my son John what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to visit the USS Intrepid, Land, Sea and Air Museum.

So after breakfast at the hotel, we went back to our room and I finished putting on the rest of my winter clothes for travel in New York. That consists of thermal underwear for the legs, heavy pants, undershirt, shirt, turtle neck sweater, heavy coat, knit cap. I’ve never seen a city where everyone looks like they’re freezing and they all have red noses. I think Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer was raised here.

So we go down to the lobby on the way to the subway and the carrier and the clerk at the desk said a blizzard was here and we would not be able to fly out tomorrow. I said my smart phone has the weather forecast and it says clear in the morning. He said I haven’t read the paper or watched TV. By the time, the blizzard was here and the snowflakes coming down were smaller than a pea.

At the museum, we learned that the USS Intrepid was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the US Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf

Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier, and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier. In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. Her notable achievements include being the recovery ship for a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. Because of her prominent role in battle, she was nicknamed “the Fighting I”, while her often ill-luck and the time spent in dry dock for repairs earned her the nickname “the Dry I”.

Decommissioned in 1974, in 1982 Intrepid became the foundation of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

We took the 90 minute tour, focusing on stories of the men who served aboard the Intrepid, their daily lives aboard this city at sea and how similar their on-board community was in comparison with communities today. The tour also includes heroic stories about other men and women who served in the United States Armed Forces.

At one point we were allowed on the actual flight deck with several vintage airplanes, and toured through the commander’s and captain’s working rooms and cabins.

Meanwhile it had started to snow, and despite the fact that the snow was less than an inch high outside and mostly melting into water, we were warned the museum was closing early due to the “blizzard’ outside!!

Indeed by the time we made it back to the hotel all of New York was in a huge panic about the blizzard… warning us that we might not get out tomorrow as the airport might be closed. We almost couldn’t stop laughing at people, and I kept saying, “but I get 4 feet of snow at my house! and they don’t close the roads”

By the way, my smart phone, was right, it was clear the next day.

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Travel

New York Museum of Natural History

February 11, 2013 jd 5 Comments

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My oldest son John Jr.

The next day we visited the American Museum of Natural History we had been here on our last trip to New York, but this museum could take easily take several FULL days of study.

The first thing we did was to watch “Journey to the Stars” a short film narrated by Whoppi Goldberg about the life and death of stars, like our sun. The movie is shown inside a globe within the four story tall planetarium of the museum – quite a sight in and of itself!

On the bottom floor of the planetarium the best display is the Willamette Meteorite (so named because it was found in Willamette, Oregon) weighing 15.5 tons! It is made of metalic iron. Thousands of years ago it traveled at 64,000 kilometers per hour and crashed into the earth’s surface. The top surface (see pictures) is covered with large cavities. This is because over the years the rainwater reacted with sulfur within the meteorite, creating sulfuric acid, which then ate away at the iron of the meteorite.

After the movie we wandered through the African Room. where there are panoramas of the various climates, and geographic areas of Africa including the birds, insects reptiles and mammals native to the area. The panorama also included the real animals, some birds and reptiles that have been preserved by taxidermy which make the displays really come to life.

We completed our stay with lunch in the food court, very nice, but not cheep!!

Is This Meteorite a Piece of Mercury?

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Travel

Visit to New York Tenement Museum

February 9, 2013 jd 1 Comment

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Tenement Museum

New York again… this time February 7, 2013… COLD… We did come prepared, thermal underwear, hats, gloves, scarves, and boots, but this is really cold, high of 30 degrees.

Last time we had tried to go on a tour of the Tenement Museum, but couldn’t due to the crowds, although we did see a nice 30 minute movie of the times. This is a 5 story tenement that 10,000 people from 25 countries called home between 1863 and 1935 in the Lower East side of NY at 97 Orchard Street. So this time we made reservations to the tour called “Hard Times”.

This was a tour of the three room apartments of two families of immigrants who survived the economic depressions at 97 Orchard Street between 1863 and 1935. We visited the restored apartment of the German-Jewish Gumpertz family, whose patriarch disappeared during the Panic of 1873 (they think he just ran away from his family) but the mother became a seamstress and move up in the world later in life.

And we also visited the Italian-Catholic Baldizzi family, who lived through the Great Depression and went on to move up to a better area of town. Fascinating stories complete with artifacts and pictures. In the tour, they say one in eight Americans can trace their lineage back to the immigrant tenements in New York.

After this we wandered through Chinatown and Little Italy (right next door to each other), the changes happen rapidly between one and the other within just one block!! It is amazing… like going to a different country by walking!!

We ate a wonderful Italian meal at El Piccolo Buffalo at 141 Mulberry Street – see picture! We recommend it!
For all your real estate neeeds
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John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
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(530) 263-1091
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Politics, Real Estate

Home Prices May be Rising Too Fast

February 7, 2013 jd

In a historical context, home prices typically increase about 3 to 4 percent a year.

But in the years preceding the housing crash, prices in 2002 started soaring 7 percent a year, then 8 percent in 2004, and 12 percent by 2005, CNBC.com reports.

A “new bubble” may be forming, CNBC columnist Diana Olick writes. CoreLogic’s latest housing data shows home prices rose 8 percent in December year-over-year, the largest gain in more than six years. In some places, home prices are up by double digits from a year ago, like Phoenix where prices are up 26 percent year-over-year.

Inventories of for-sale homes are very tight and many are attributing the tight inventories as helping to drive up home prices. Inventories were at their lowest supply since May 2005, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

“The greatest concern in the market is the inventory situation,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR. “Even if we see an increase in the spring and summer, if home sales hold at the [current] level or even a 5- to 6-month supply, price increases are guaranteed. We don’t want to see rapid appreciation in prices faster than income.”

CNBC reporter Diana Olick notes that “healthy housing market gains are historically driven by increasing employment and income, not by lack of supply; the latter leads to price bubbles.”

But another part driving recent gains are the flood of investors in some markets. Investors are cashing in on once hard-hit markets by the foreclosure crisis, like in California, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. Many of these investors are hedge funds turning single-family homes into rentals, but as prices increase they may be inclined to take their profits sooner rather than later, Olick writes.

“What we had thought were safer, long term buys, may now turn into flips of the last decade,” Olick writes. “The question will be if there are enough non-investor buyers out there to support those sales?”

But the price gains may be sustainable, some say. Consumer confidence is increasing, employment is improving, and price gains may soon allow more home owners who are seeing equity once again trade-up, Olick writes.

Source: “Housing Market Already Shows Signs of New Bubble,” CNBC.com (Feb. 5, 2013) and “New Housing Fears: Home Prices Are Rising Too Fast,” CNBC.com (Jan. 22, 2013)

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Realtor® GRI

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Real Estate

Best Season For Home Buying

January 31, 2013 jd 1 Comment

After the holidays, buyers tend to start getting more aggressive with their house hunting. Search activity usually peaks around March or April in most states, according to a new study of home searches from 2007 to 2012 conducted by Trulia.

In September, searches slow down. By December buyer searches ebb to their lowest point of the year.

“Home-search activity swings with the seasons in every state,” says Jed Kolko, chief economist of Trulia. “Buyers and sellers can use these ups and downs to their advantage. Sellers looking for the most buyers should list when real estate search traffic peaks. Buyers, however, should think about searching off-season, when there is less competition from other searchers.”

The study revealed seasonal patterns of search activity state to state. Here are the months when online real estate searches peak in every U.S. state:

January: Hawaii
February: Florida
March: Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington
April: Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin
May: Real estate activity does not peak in any state
June: Mississippi
July: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wyoming
August: Montana and Oregon
September-December: Real estate activity does not peak in any state

Source: “Trulia Reveals Best Home-Searching Season,” HousingWire (Jan. 29, 2013)

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Real Estate

What Will the New ‘Normal’ for Housing Be?

January 30, 2013 jd 1 Comment

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae recently offered some predictions of what the housing market’s “normal” will look like in the next two years.

In its report, “Transition to ‘Normal’?”, Fannie says while the housing market has shown improvement, uncertainty remains over both the economy and the real estate market.

“Our forecast is that 2013 and 2014 will exhibit below-potential economic growth,” according to the white paper. “This is despite the fact that we expect the housing rebound will continue and that the economy will benefit from the gradual increased growth of U.S.-based manufacturing, as well as the expansion of domestic energy production.”

The following are some of the projections Fannie made in its report:

Mortgage rates to stay low: Fannie Mae expects mortgage rates to remain low over the next few years. The mortgage giant expects rates will increase to no more than 4.2 percent by the end of 2014.
FHA loans may get more expensive: More costs may be assigned to Federal Housing Administration loans.
Refinancing drops: The boom in refinancing may have peaked last year with slower activity projected this year. “We expect 2012 to be seen as the high watermark for refinances and 2013 as the first of several transition years as the housing finance market transitions back to a more normal balance between purchase and refinance activity.”
Foreclosures continue to fall: Fannie expects foreclosures to continue to decline from their peaks as more alternatives to foreclosure are pursued.
Housing starts to rise: Fannie Mae predicts that housing starts will increase 23 percent in 2013 — which would be 60 percent more than the record low in 2010. Fannie expects housing starts won’t reach sustainable levels until 2016.
Mortgage originations grow: “Given our expectations of continued improvement in housing starts, home sales, and home prices in 2013,” Fannie Mae writes, “we project that purchase mortgage originations will rise to $642 billion from a forecast of $518 billion in 2012.”

Source: “‘Normal’ Housing Market May Not be What it Used to Be,” Realty Times (Jan. 30, 2013)

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
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(530) 263-1091
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DRE#00669941

Real Estate

Housing Inventories Are Falling

January 24, 2013 jd 2 Comments

Photo Credit: http://www.shakesville.com/2008/06/my-former-landlord.html

Home prices are increasing across the country as the number of homes for-sale continues to fall. But at a time when buyer demand is picking up, why is inventory still so low?

Inventories fell to 1.82 million at the end of last year, a 21.6 percent drop from one year earlier, the National Association of REALTORS® reports.

The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted several reasons behind the dropping inventories, including:

Sellers hesitant to sell: About 22 percent of home owners with a mortgage are still underwater, owing more than their home is currently worth. Home owners don’t tend to sell unless a life-changing event occurs when they’re underwater because they don’t want to take a loss on the sale of their house. CoreLogic data shows that inventories are the most constrained in areas with the highest number of underwater borrowers.
Not enough equity to trade up: Often times, home owners rely on the equity from their home to make a down payment on their next home. With fewer home owners seeing equity in their houses, they may not have enough money to move into a pricier home, which is constraining the would-be “trade up” buyer from moving.
Investors continue to snatch up properties: Investors are snapping up properties, but they’ve changed their strategy from past years, which is also constraining inventories. Now they’re holding onto properties and turning them into rentals instead of rehabbing properties and flipping them for profit. This is keeping fewer homes on the market.
Banks are slowing down foreclosures: Banks have new rules to meet with the foreclosure process, and it’s causing them to move at a slower pace in foreclosing on homes. Banks also are showing a preference for short sales and loan modifications, which are curbing the number of foreclosed homes on the market.
Builders are doing less building: Housing starts were at record lows from 2009 through 2011 so there’s less inventory being added to the market. A rebound in the new-home market has only recently started to occur.

Source: “Six Reasons Housing Inventory Keeps Declining,” The Wall Street Journal (Jan. 22, 2013)

Six Reasons Housing Inventory Keeps Declining

For all your real estate needs
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John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
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(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Bits & Pieces

China Builds a Hotel in 15 Days

January 21, 2013 jd

httpv://youtu.be/GVUsIlwWWM8

How about assembling a hotel onsite in fifteen days. Well, they did it in China. When I was there they built a freeway in six months that would take us 6 years to construct.
For all your real estate needs

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Environment, Government

Three Easy Steps to Get Brush Chipped at Your House Year Round

January 18, 2013 jd

The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County will chip any brush that is cleared from defensible space of any permanent structure and/or 30’ from any roadside or driveway used for evacuation purposes. Any vegetation that grows past such limitations is beyond the boundaries of what we can chip.

Grant funding is very limited for the Chipping program. We need your support to keep the program functional. The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County relies on a suggested donation of $75 per hour from chipping customers, membership dues and generous donations of local businesses and Nevada County residents to keep the program running.

To use the chipping program:

1. Create your piles to be chipped. See program requirements below.

2. Download the Defensible Space Chipping Application or contact the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County at (530) 272-1122 and leave your name, mailing address and phone number and a Defensible Space Chipping Application will be mailed to you.

3. After the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County receives your chipping application they will enter it on the appropriate neighborhood route. Chipping is completed on a six to eight week rotation throughout all the different neighborhoods. When you complete your piles for chipping and submit your chipping application will determine how long it will be before the chipper arives to complete your chipping. Sustaining members of the Fire Safe Council generally recieve chipping service within two weeks. If you would like to learn how to receive priority chipping please visit our membership page.

The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County is not able to chip:

Solid piles of leaves.
Pine needles.
Yard clippings.
Decaying wood.
Scotch Broom
Timber harvest projects.

Waste Management offers a “Green Waste Pick-Up” program to dispose of such materials. They can be contacted at (530) 274-3090.

Program Requirements:

Chipping piles need to be stacked along a road or driveway frontages which will allow the crew to work from the road or driveway.
Piles must be placed within 5 feet of chipper access.
Piles must be placed on the uphill side of road or driveway.
Piles must be free of roots/stumps, rocks and mud, poison oak, scotch broom and blackberries and other vines.
Piles must be stacked with the cut ends facing the same direction, pointing towards access route to piles.
All material chipped will be blown back onto the property or put in a pile where the brush was or.
The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County will provide service on a first-come, first–served basis.
The Fire Safe Council of Nevada County cannot clean up timber harvest projects or vacant lots.

Any more questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County (530) 272-1122.

For all your real estate needs
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John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

Get a 2013 Firewise Calendar for Completing a FREE Defensible Space Advisory Visit

Camping, Fishing, Hiking, Lakes in nevada county, Nevada County Information, Recreation

Scotts Flat Lake January 2013

January 11, 2013 jd

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Scotts Flat Reservoir seems to be very close to the spillway elevation which is approximately 3074.8 feet in elevation. That’s the elevation in which the water starts flowing out due to increase in volume from rainfall or from release of water from upper dams. As of today, the elevation of the water is 3073 or about 1.8 feet from flowing over the spillway.

In the pictures above, you can see how close to the top of the dam the water is. Camping, fishing, swimming, sunning, boating, water skiing, sailing, board sailing and other activities are popular at Scotts Flat reservoirs in the Sierra foothills. Day use parks, campgrounds and beaches which is operated by a private operator under contract with Nevada Irrigation District.

Scotts Flat is situated among the tall pines at the 3100-foot elevation nine miles east of Nevada City via Highway 20 and Scotts Flat Road. It offers 169 campsites at two large campgrounds, plus a group camp. Across the lake, accessible via Red Dog and Quaker Hill Roads from Nevada City, is the Cascade Shores Day Use Area.

For all your real estate needs
Email or call today:

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
Civil Engineer
General Contractor
(530) 263-1091
Email jodell@nevadacounty.com

DRE#00669941

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