History, Nevada County Information

Nevada County Airport

Nevada County Airport was built in 1932 by Errol McBoyle, owner of the Idaho Maryland Mine. The purpose was to fly gold to Mills Field which is now the San Francisco International Airport. In 1956, Charles Litton of Litton Industries gave the airport to Nevada County.

Nevada County Air Airport covers an area of 117 acres (47 ha) at an elevation of 3,152 feet (961 m) above mean sea level. It has one asphalt paved runway designated 7/25 which measures 4,350 by 75 feet (1,326 x 23 m)  For those that are pilots, GOO is the National Inventory of Airports designator for Nevada Count Airport. In 1995, over $5 million was invested in improvements at the airport. Over 30,000 take-offs occur each year.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buYZzj-ORmA
Video of Nevada County Airport

According to MyNevadaCounty.com “Nevada County Airport is home to the California Division of Forestry (CDF) Grass Valley Air Attack Base. This center of wild land fire fighting from the air is the permanent location for two Grumman S-2 Air Tankers that drop fire retardant, and an air attack lead plane that coordinates the efforts of the tankers. Aircraft from Nevada County Airport are on standby, ready at a moment’s notice, to respond to fires throughout the foothills and mountains. When larger fires occur nearer to the airport, many other fire fighting aircraft use the airport as a base for fuel and supplies.

Search & Rescue and Medi-Vac aircraft also use the airport year round for public safety missions.

Aircraft used in law enforcement are a common site at the Nevada County Airport. The California Highway Patrol, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Department, and the FBI are only a few of the State and Federal agencies that have used our airport facilities.”

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Looking for property in Nevada County
Go to JohnODellRealty.com

Real Estate

Thinking of Walking Away From Your Home? Here’s IRS’s Rules

Generally, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treats debt forgiveness by a creditor as taxable income. However, under federal legislation that took effect in 2007, certain home mortgage debt cancellations—such as loan modifications, short sales, or foreclosures—may be exempted from federal taxes. Other exemptions are also available.

Important rules to consider

• Homeowners considering a loan modification, short sale, or foreclosure should note that the federal tax exclusion under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 only applies to mortgage balances on a qualified principal residence and not on second homes, rental real estate, or business properties.

• The maximum amount of forgiven debt eligible under the 2007 law is $2 million for married taxpayers filing jointly and $1 million for single taxpayers.

• The debt reduction can only be for loan amounts used to buy, build, or substantially improve a principal residence, including refinance loans as long as an increase in the total mortgage debt if any is attributable to renovations and capital improvements of the house. However, if refinance proceeds were used for other personal purposes, such as paying off credit card bills, purchasing cars, or investing in stocks, then the mortgage debt attributable to those expenditures is not eligible for tax exclusion under the 2007 law.

• California homeowners who sold their house in a short sale or were foreclosed upon in 2009 still may have to pay state taxes on forgiven mortgage debt. The California legislature did not extend the tax exemption for mortgage debt forgiveness for state taxes. However, lawmakers are working on a bill that would provide the same tax relief on state taxes as the federal government currently offers.

To read the full story, please click here: Los Angles Times

Notice that the debt reduction states that if the home owner paid off credit cards or bought toys (cars, boats, vacations), stocks etc. than the debt reduction will be classified as income. Ouch! That can hurt, since I know some of my friends did that with their equity loans. In other words, if you took an equity loan for $100,000 and spent it on anything but improving your home the IRS counts that as earned taxable income.

So before walking away from your home check with your accountant or tax attorney.

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Looking for real estate in Nevada County?

Find it at JohnODellRealty.com

Bits & Pieces

Nevada City Area’s Campaign For Google Fiber Network

As you may or many not know, a lot of cities are vying to have Google invest in bringing high speed internet connection to their city.  We are talking here of having internet connections 100 times faster than most Americans have access to today. Even if you are not interested in high speed internet connection this video gives you the dynamics of this community and how many tech companies there are here. We consider Nevada County as a mini Silicon Valley, with many tech companies that have started and grown up in this area.

This video is Nevada City’s area (95959) to convince Google to bring Google Fiber to their community. It’s very well done.

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

Here’s Google’s Statement as to what they are trying to do:

“Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone. Here are some specific things that we have in mind:

  • Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it’s creating new bandwidth-intensive “killer apps” and services, or other uses we can’t yet imagine.
  • New deployment techniques: We’ll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we’ll share key lessons learned with the world.
  • Openness and choice: We’ll operate an “open access” network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we’ll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way.”

To read their entire mission go to Experimental Fiber Network

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker

Looking for real estate in Nevada County?
Looking for short sales & foreclosure?

Go to JohnOdellRealty.com

Real Estate

Nabbing a Bargain-Basement Mortgage Before Rates Rise

The Federal Reserve has been purchasing mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since early last year.  The purchase program has helped maintain low interest rates for borrowers.  As planned, the Fed this week announced it will stop purchasing these securities at the end of this month.  Many analysts anticipate this will result in a slight rise in rates by year’s end.

Making sense of the story for consumers

  • Interest rates have hovered at or near historic lows for much of the past 18 months, resulting in lower payments for many borrowers.  With the Fed discontinuing its purchase program, some analysts believe a rise in interest rates could range from 0.25 percent to as much as 1 percent by the end of 2010.
  • The federal tax credit for home buyers also is scheduled to end April 30.  The tax credit combined with the expectation interest rates will increase has created a sense of urgency for many home buyers.  In fact, 23 percent of California home buyers purchased a home in 2009 due to the perception that interest rates will rise and they would be priced out of the market, according to C.A.R.’s 2009 Survey of California Home Buyers.
  • Rising interest rates will have an effect on home buyers.  For example, a qualified couple with a combined pretax income of $100,000 per year and debt obligations (excluding mortgage) of $500 who receive a mortgage rate of 5 percent could qualify for a loan of up to $590,000, assuming a 20 percent down payment.  If the interest rate were to rise to 6 percent, as analysts at Barclays Capital predict, the same couple could only qualify for a mortgage of $540,000.

So in short, now is the time to buy real estate while home prices and interest rates are low.

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker

Looking for Real Estate in Nevada County?

Find it at JohnOdellRealty.com

Do you have a question that’s holding you back
from buying or selling now? Call me, I can help
you!  530-263-1091

Bits & Pieces

Scotts Flat Lake, Nevada County, Winter 2010

1 Comment

I just recently bought a Canon Hf200 camcorder.  The last video camera I had must have weighed 30 pounds (just kidding). The Canon HF200 weighs less than one pound and is small enough to carry in my jacket pocket.

The Canon HF200 has 15X optical zoom, optical image stabilization and can record in full HD and outputs at 1920×1080. This is my first fully edited video and I am still learning the software that I just bought. If you are interested in the full specs for the Canon HF200 Click Here

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htW7RpS67d4

This video was shot during several periods this winter. Looking out from my deck, the lake is constantly changing  appearance,  even in the summer when the wind plays on the water and sail boats float like toys in a bathtub.

You can download a lot of video editing software for a free thirty day trial. I read all the reviews and tried about 4 different software packages and finally settled with Corel VideoStudio Pro X3. If you read the reviews online it will drive you nuts. All of the reviews seem to have horrible stories about their computers crashing and the programs freezing.

I had none of the problems with any of the software packages that I tried. Corel’s program can read my memory card from the camcorder which the other programs could not. It’s a fairly easy program to learn if you play around with it for a while. There are also a lot of tutorial videos on YouTube which really helped. After editing the video, I was able to download it to YouTube, which is part of the software. If you are interested in the specs for Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 Click Here

Canon HF200 Camcorder

Anyhow, this is my first try and it is not as seamless as I wanted, but it’s a start. I hope you enjoy it and any comments you might have on how to improve the beginning of my movie career would be appreciated.

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Looking for property in Nevada County?
Search for it at JohnODellRealty.com
Can you think of a problem you might have in buying or selling?
Call me, I can help you   530-263-1091

Real Estate

Oddball Houses, Great, But How do You Get a Mortgage?

As you can see in the video below, some people have their own taste as to what they want in a home. As a builder, I have stayed away from “green” homes, that is straw bales, rubber tires and yes, recycled cans and bottles. Now home owners with non-conventional homes are having a hard time getting homes financed,

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

The Problem Is:

How do you find comparables?  In other words, where is another house built of tires or straw that just sold?   Hard to find, since not too many homes are built that way.  No comparable, no appraisal, no loan.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

“Such sentiments in some cases have been no match for the new resolve of the banking industry in the wake of the housing bust. Banks have become much pickier about examining sales of comparable homes, in deciding whether and how much to lend. Owners of odd homes can be out of luck.”

The story continues with three cases of odd-ball homes and how only one was able to get a mortgage.

Read the full story at: Wall Street Journal

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker

Looking for a great deal in property in Nevada County?

Find it on JohnOdellRealty.com

Bits & Pieces

A Boy Named Sam

1 Comment

When my second family was growing up, our home was a safe haven for a lot of my son’s friends. They knew that they could come to our home, have a place to sleep, warm meals and a  refrigerator full of food for their taking.

Sam was one of those boys.  He always said I was like a real dad to him, and in later years whenever he and his friends and I had dinner, he always called me the king of dads. He said I was a dad to all of them.

A couple of times Sam got hurt. Once he went head over heels on his bicycle. I rushed over to help him, he was screaming and hollering. I talked to him, and doing therapeutic touch  he calmed  down until the ambulance arrived.

Then there was the time that he got stung by a wasp. He again was crying and screaming, again I rushed over and using therapeutic touch, I calm him down and he said the pain went away.

In the last two weeks, Sam has been coming over. He broke down several times. His dad was dying and he wanted me to go up to where his dad lived and do therapeutic touch on him. He also told me of the abusive childhood that he had. His dad shot his mother right in front of him. How his dad was mentally and physically abusive to him.

How one time he wanted to go to the county fair so bad and his father took everyone but him to the fair, than came back and taunted him and told him how they all had a great time and too bad he couldn’t go.

So I told him I would help him by going up and seeing his dad. I put it off most of the last two weeks, having got caught up in the day to day affairs. Finally, I told him I would up with him  last Friday.  Gotten busy that day, I kept thinking I should call Sam. Finally, I got home Friday evening and my son texted me wondering if I had called Sam. I texted back and said I would call him now. I called, no answer on his cell, so I left a message telling him that we could go up Monday for sure.

Well, the next text I got from my son was that Sam had committed suicide, he had shot himself in the early morning before sunrise. Later in the day, when his dad heard the news, his dad shot and killed himself.

So I sit here as I write this, with great sorrow and guilt, I wonder if I had just taken the time to help Sam’s dad, would this have happened? I had run to help Sam twice before, but I feel like I failed him in the end.

John J. O’Dell

By the way I changed the name of the actual person involved  to protect the remaining family members. But this did happen last Friday

Fun Friday's

David After Dentist

This is a cute YouTube video of a woozy 7-year-old boy in the back seat of a car, struggling to understand the effects of anesthesia. It’s  been viewed 53,900,000 times and has helped the family gather income in the low six figures since it was posted 18 months ago.

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

CNN has more on this rapid way to fame if you are interested Click Here

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Search for foreclosures & Short Sales
Click here

Business, Local Writers & Contributors

Do-it-Yourself Marketing: Bad Idea

by Lisa J. Lehr

What’s wrong with this picture?

The fictitious Modern Widget Company in Grass Valley has a small staff of reasonably capable people who do pretty much everything. One day, Bob notices a leak in the restroom. “I can fix that,” he says, “and I’ll save the company a ton of money.” He goes the hardware store, buys some parts, and fixes the leak…or so he thinks. Next morning, when the staff comes to work, the toilet has crashed into the basement. You see, Bob didn’t know water was leaking under the floor, rotting out the floorboards.

Sally arrives, late and breathless, wearing a hat. Embarrassed, she confesses she’d cut her own hair. With an important presentation coming up, she didn’t have time to go to the beauty parlor. “It’ll grow out eventually,” she says, red-faced.

Jeff and his carpool buddy Jenny call to say they’re going to be late. They were on their way when they heard a strange racket coming from under the hood of Jeff’s pickup truck. “I can deal with that,” says Jeff. “Who needs AAA?” They might not make it in till afternoon.

What do all these people have in common? They tried to fix a problem themselves when they really needed the services of a professional. They ended up with problems far more serious and expensive to fix than their original problems. They suffered embarrassment, wasted time, and inconvenience.

Then one day the staff at Modern Widget Company is ready to launch their new Super Widget.

“I’ll do a website,” says Bob. “I’m a pretty geeky guy.”

“I’ll write a sales letter,” says Sally. “I majored in Creative Writing.”

“I’ll send out some e-mails,” says Jeff. “I like to do e-mail.”

“I’ll make a brochure,” says Jenny. “I’m a pretty good artist.” So they did. How did their cobbled-together marketing program do, you ask?

It bombed. You see, Bob, Sally, Jeff, and Jenny made the same mistakes twice: they thought they knew what they were doing—but they didn’t.

If you’re offering a product or service, you need a professional marketing program to reach your audience and make them buy. Even the best product or service is only as good as your marketing plan. Run, don’t walk, to find a professional marketing writer—before you waste time and money, before you suffer embarrassment and inconvenience. And definitely before your business crashes into the basement (figuratively speaking).

Lisa J. Lehr is a writer and copywriter living in Grass Valley. She can help you promote your business with a full range of online and offline marketing pieces. A member of Empire Toastmasters, she’s available to speak to your business or professional group. Visit her website www.justrightcopy.com for more information, opt in for a message series, and receive a free Marketing Guide.
—
Lisa J. Lehr
I write words that make you money–just ask me how.
www.justrightcopy.com
Visit my website and sign up for my fr~ee marketing tips.
New! No~cost Marketing Guide now available at my website.

Bits & Pieces

The Runaway Prius – What Gives?

Let’s go over the bad press that Jim Sikes is getting and then I’m going to take his side in case he was telling the truth. (Some doubt there huh?)

Here’s some comments by >John Voelcker Car Expert:

“But in one sentence: There seems to be a growing possibility that Jim Sikes, the bankrupt, heavily indebted real-estate salesman who claims his 2008 Toyota Prius accelerated uncontrollably for more than 30 minutes on a San Diego freeway, is not telling the truth.

Overseen not only by Toyota field representatives but a Congressional staffer, NHTSA investigators were unable to replicate the behaviors Sikes describes in his car. Pressing hard on the brakes did in fact bring the car to a stop, over multiple tests.

Indeed, Sikes’ 2008 Toyota Prius has a “smart accelerator” function built into its throttle software: If both the brakes and accelerator are floored, it cuts power to the engine, making it impossible for the accelerator to overpower the brakes.”

So OK, if you put on the brakes and the accelerator quits working, how did Sikes burn his brakes out? The claim is that you can gently put on the brakes and then continue to accelerate. So you can gently put your brakes on and burn them out in a short period of time?

Here’s some more from John Voelcker

“The website The Truth About Cars rented a 2008 Toyota Prius to test the braking behavior. Its report is worth reading in full.

It concludes that Sikes could have applied the brakes at “moderate” pressure while continuing to accelerate, which would produce the smoking brakes and the worn-down brake pads that were observed by the investigators.”

OK, to defend Sikes a little more, I had a brand new 1999 Chevy Silverado. While in Sacramento, the engine fuel mixture started acting up and making the engine run rough. I took it into the Chevy dealer, he checked the on board computer and said the fuel mixture was OK. But then he came back after checking for fuel problems on 1999 Chevy trucks and stated that there was an upgrade for the on board computer that would fix the problem.

Now, I wish that was the end of the problems with that truck, but it wasn’t. I would drive the truck and try to come to a stop and the brakes wouldn’t work from time to time. Now that’s a thrill! To make a long story short, the Chevy dealer drove my truck several times, finally kept it for five days and could never recreate the problem.

I had to go to arbitration to get GMC to take my truck back. The reason I won in arbitration is that there were numerous cases just like mine on the web. The brakes wouldn’t work and the on board computer did not catch the problem. It didn’t catch the fuel problem and it didn’t catch the brake problem.

As I said before, I ran my 2005 Prius up to 50 mph on Brunswick Road and put it in neutral with no problem.  So my question to you and that everyone else is asking, why didn’t he put the car in neutral? The 911 dispatcher told him over and over to put the car in neutral and he completely ignored her. But let’s take that a little further. The driver of the runaway Lexus, who was a highway patrolman, did not put his Lexus into neutral. Of course you heard that he had a fatal crash that killed him, his wife and his daughter. So what happens, does a person panic when the car suddenly gets away from you? I don’t know.

So, who’s telling the truth, Mr. Sikes or the experts who say Mr. Sikes isn’t telling the truth? By the way, you can see they are really digging for dirt on this guy.

What do you think?

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker