Real Estate

First-Time Buyer Tax Credit Extension Possible

first_time_home_buyer

There are a lot of things driving the real estate market in California. The affordability index has increased to 67%. That is, 67 percent of potential buyers can now afford to buy a home. Prices driven down by short sales and foreclosures, have a dark side, but have created buying opportunities for investors and first time home buyers.

Another incentive for first time home buyers is the $8,000 tax credit. Due to expire on November 30, bills to extend the tax credit are pending in both the U.S. House and the Senate.
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Real Estate

Residential Sales in Nevada County by Area

Nevada County, CA
Nevada County, CA

The Nevada County Multiple Listing Service (MLS) breaks Western Nevada County into various areas. As a result, I can give you sales data for different regions of Nevada County. The data that I give you below represents the time period difference in sales from July 2009, to the same period last year. Different areas of Western Nevada County depreciated faster than other areas, with some areas decreasing in value as much as -27%

Here’s the residential sales data broken down by areas, July 2009 (current period) July 2008 (one year ago):

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animals

Dog Dreams and Angel

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I love dogs and dogs do dream. Angel my pit bull dreams like the dog in this YouTube video all the time.  Sometimes I think she is having a dream about the experience she had when coyotes attacked her.

httpv://youtu.be/xBoRilB7lRY
 

I normally let Angel out in the morning, fix my breakfast, watch the news and wait for Angel to come back upstairs. I usually give her a pigs ear as a treat, fresh water and she’s ready to start the day.  That morning she did not come back in her usual time frame.  So worried, I called her several times, no response. I started down the stairs, when all of the sudden, she hobbled up, blooded, with skin torn and puncture wounds all over her.

Panicked, I picked her up, getting blood all over me and took her to the vet. The vet confirmed that she had been attacked by coyotes and said she was lucky to get away from them, since they usually work in pairs. The vet sewed up her torn skin, gave her anti-biotics and she made a full recovery.  I must say she it took her several weeks to get back to herself, which is probably quicker than my recovery if I had been attacked by coyotes!

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Real Estate

Residential Prices Continue to Fall in Nevada County

chart sales up

Prices in Nevada County residential property continued to drop overall from July of this year compared to July of 2008. Overall, there was $290,919,175 in residential sales compared to $355,118,054 for the same period last year. The median price dropped from $414,858 to $347,989. Sales decreased only 2% compared to a median price drop of 16% for residential sales.

Sales in Nevada County have continued to increase in the last few months which is the other side of the coin.  As prices drop, homes become more affortable, creating an affortable residential market. Investors continue to be a large part of the residential sales.

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nevada county fair

Nevada County Fair Community Partnerships a Success

Food-Bank-photo-(2009)

Beautiful weather, a successful canned food drive, more than $400,000 raised for Nevada County youth, several charity benefits, and an increase in overall attendance made the 2009 Nevada County Fair – “A Hare’s Magical A-Fair” – a huge success. Below are some fun Fair facts.

At Sunday’s canned food drive, 1,240 pounds of food were collected for the Food Bank   of   Nevada County. This is enough to feed 550 – 600 families. 
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Real Estate

New rules for Refinancing That You Just do not Hear About

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refinancing

Let me try to help you make sense of the Government Home Affordable Refinance program. Believe me it can be very confusing.

Under the federal government’s Home Affordable Refinance program the plan is confusing and confounding. For example, under the program, lenders are supposed to refinance loans with mortgage insurance. But they are evasive about whether they will.

Another example: Last month, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that they would refinance mortgages at up to 125 percent of current market value. Sounds great — but borrowers will have to wait.
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Construction, Education

Is Your Deck Safe? Deck Safety for Nevada County Residents

deck-failure

Picture From The Home Doctor

 Nevada County is beautiful, scenic and in many areas serene.  Most homes in Nevada County have decks—so folks can enjoy the views, sun and solitude.  Nevada County also enjoys autumn and winter-rains and a few days of snow.  Due to the four seasons, decks and structural members are exposed to elements year-round, and lack of maintenance can make decks unsafe. 

Decks built without permits that are constructed incorrectly, or have inadequate structural members, make these decks unreliable and often dangerous.  Failure in building construction may not be immediate.  Sometimes deterioration can take place many years after construction. 
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Entertainment

Michael Vick, Back in the NFL, Why?

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Michael Vick playing with the Falcon's 2006 Photo Courtesy Wikipedia
Michael Vick playing with the Falcon's 2006 Photo Courtesy Wikipedia

This article is not about Nevada County real estate or Nevada County. I just felt I had to write about Michael Vick going back into football and the NFL. Michael Vick, former quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons and once the highest paid player in football, was convicted in August 2007 of conspiracy and running a dog fighting operation.

He did not just bank roll the operation; he was part of it, hanging dogs, electrocuting and drowning them. He served 23 months in prison and house arrest. He was banned indefinitely from the NFL, well, that is until he got off house arrest in June of this year. On June 20th, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell conditionally lifted Vick’s suspension, allowing him to sign with a team.

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Real Estate

Investing in Foreclosed Homes in Nevada County

money-tree

Smart investors are continuing to take advantage of the present foreclosure market. I don’t have an exact figure of how many foreclosures there are in Nevada County, but I just had one of my investors open escrow on two foreclosed homes in Nevada County. With some existing home prices under $200,000 in the county, there are some buying opportunities that are hard to pass up if you have the money to invest and willing to ride out the present downturn in real estate.

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Real Estate

More on Zillow.com & Home Values

I recently wrote an article about National Community Reinvestment Coalition filing a complaint with the Federal Trade commission about the accuracy of Zillow.com. In their complaint, a NCRC, a group for advancing appraisers, stated that Zillow.com gave false and mis-leading values of homes.

Zillow.com has prepared a video to address this issue and I found it very informative.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaeAgfay01o

If you can’t see this video, you need to download flash from Adobe Flash