All posts by jd

Real estate broker, civil engineer and general contractor.
Hiking, Local Writers & Contributors, Recreation

Walk For Health, But Stay Healthy And Pain Free

by Lisa J. Lehr

Exercise is good. Some of us have undoubtedly made a New Year’s resolution to exercise more. And walking is, for most people, the best choice because it: 

1.      Doesn’t require much training; 

2.      Doesn’t require special equipment;  

3.      Doesn’t (usually) require travel to a special place, such as a gym, pool, or recreational area. 

Now, number 3 is somewhat qualified because, while most people in Nevada County live on or near a road with reasonably little traffic, walking on a paved road poses its own set of problems. If you get your regular exercise by walking along a public roadway, you may have noticed persistent or intermittent pain in the joints or muscles of your right leg.  

In most places, public roads are constructed with “crowning”; that is, the road is higher at the center and slopes down to the sides. This is to help rain and melting snow run off more quickly instead of pooling in the middle, creating a driving hazard and damage to the road. 

We learned as children to walk facing traffic, for obvious safety reasons: if an approaching car is too close to you, you can see it in time only if it’s approaching from the front—unless you have eyes in the back of your head (or wear a little tiny rear-view mirror, as cyclists sometimes do). The problem for walkers is that, as you walk along the edge of the road, one foot is always landing on a higher surface than the other. And over time, this can lead to pain in the hip, knee, and/or other parts of your leg. That, in turn, may discourage you from exercising; or you may just “live with” the pain, having no idea that it’s fixable.

I actually lived with this problem, off and on, for a couple decades before it dawned on me what might be causing it! 

Here are some suggestions to avoid one-sided leg pain: 

Continue reading Walk For Health, But Stay Healthy And Pain Free →

nevada county fair

Now, Enter Nevada County Fair Logo Contest

Mascot Nevada County Fair

WIN $250 IN LOGO DESIGN CONTEST

Submit the winning logo for the 2010 Nevada County Fair and you could win

There’s still time to enter the Nevada County Fairgrounds logo design contest. If you’re a talented or aspiring artist, and you’d like $250, this is the contest to enter! All you need to do is design the best logo to illustrate the 2010 Nevada County Fair slogan, “Rooted in Tree-dition,” which features trees.

The contest is open to Nevada County residents only and takes place until January 15. If you submit the winning design, you will win $250 and a 2010 Nevada County Fair package. Additionally, the winning artwork will be used on various Fair promotional pieces, print ads, buttons, t-shirts, banners, posters, and flyers.

Interested artists may use any medium and can submit up to three entries, which must be on 8-1/2 by 11-inch paper. Entries can be delivered to the Fairgrounds Office at 11228 McCourtney Road or mailed to the Fair Office at PO Box 2687, Grass Valley, CA  95945. A complete set of rules can be found on the Fair’s website at Nevada County Fair, or by calling the Fair Office at (530) 273-6217.

The 2010 Nevada County Fair is August 11 – 15.

Source: Wendy Oaks, Publicist, Nevada County Fairgrounds

Real Estate

Commercial Property Values Continues Downward

According to commercial real estate brokerage Grubb&Ellis, the commercial real estate market will not start coming back until 2011. They are forecasting that the banks are holding back on foreclosures of commercial property and may spread them over a three or four year period   Read Grubb&Ellis report for the 2010 Forecast today for Northern California and the Central Valley’s office, commercial and retail environment. The common prognosis is: the decline continues, but not as fast as last year. Look for a recovery starting in early 2011. Until then rents keep falling.

” While we expect real estate sales to pick up during the year, banks have delayed selling their REO properties in order to protect their capital reserves. As a result, distressed assets will likely come to market over the next two, three or even four years. CMBS will provide opportunities for investors to acquire distressed debt in 2010, but the structure of the original agreements often makes the process more arduous than buying a property or a whole loan from a bank.”

Source: Grubb&Ellis
John O’Dell
Broker
General Contractor
Civil Engineer

Real Estate

Woman Sets Record – Looks at 298 Homes Before Buying

The average buyer looks at about 10 to 12 homes before they buy.  However, Bay Area resident Lidia Pringle looked at 298 homes before she found what she was looking for according to the Wall Street Journal.  Ms. Pringle spent 2 ½ years looking for her dream home.

Lidia Pringle looked at 298 homes before she found what she was looking for. WSJ’s Juliet Chung reports on Ms. Pringle’s 2 1/2 year quest to find her dream house. She looked at so many homes, that real estate agents would sometimes ask her for her opinion on new listings that hadn’t seen themselves.

Quoting from the WSJ:

“I’ve always given 110% to whatever it is I do,” says Ms. Pringle. “If I’m looking for a dream house, of course I’m going to follow the same methodology.”

Collecting flyers along the way, she amassed enough data to fill a two-by-three-foot box. She looked at so many homes that real-estate brokers would sometimes ask for her opinion on new listings they hadn’t yet seen themselves.

House hunts have gotten lengthier as buyers have gotten choosier during the housing downturn. A recent survey of California home buyers by the California Association of Realtors found that buyers who used brokers, on average, spent 10.3 weeks searching for homes this year, compared to 8.7 weeks in 2008. National data show a similar pattern, with an average search time of 10 weeks during the second half of 2008 and early 2009, compared to eight weeks in 2005 and 2006.”

Source Wall Street Journal