Local Writers & Contributors, nevada county fair

Nevada County Fair Calendar 2010

Mark your calendar for the event voted as “Nevada County’s Best” for 10 years in a row – the 2010 Nevada County Fair, August 11 – 15, at “California’s Most Beautiful Fairgrounds,” the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley.

“Rooted in Tree-dition” is this year’s theme and five days of “tree-mendous” fun are planned for Fair-goers of all ages. Live entertainment will be available every day at five different stages throughout the Fairgrounds. There’s also carnival rides and games, barns full of livestock, thousands of community exhibits, special contests, an Idol Competition, nightly arena events, daily demonstrations, magic shows, gold panning, and food contests.  As always, Treat Street will be serving an array of delicious food and drinks – corn dogs, pasties, tacos, corn on the cob, beer, tempura zucchini, nachos, hamburgers, funnel cakes and caramel corn – just to name a few!

Long-time crowd pleasing events will soar into the Fair’s arena Wednesday through Sunday, presenting thrills ranging from a rodeo to Monster Trucks to the Demolition Derby.

The Ag Mechanics Auction will be held on Friday of the Fair, and the Junior Livestock Auction will be held on Sunday, August 15. These popular annual events will raise more than $400,000 for Nevada County youth in agriculture.

For those interested in entering competitions and projects for judging, the Fair’s Competition Handbook will be available June 1. At that time, all of the categories, as well as online entry information, will be listed on the Fair’s web site at Nevada County Fair.

Gates open each day at 10 am, and close each evening at 11 pm. Admission this year will be $8 for adults, $6 for seniors (65 and older), $3 for children 6 to 12, and free to children five years old and younger.

At one of the most affordable fairs in California, take advantage of one of several pre-sale packages available this year, including a special “Be A Kid” price of only $3 for a Thursday adult admission ticket; or a pre-sale Fair admission ticket for $5 for any one day of the Fair.  Kids Day will once again be held on Thursday from 10 am to 5 pm and during that time all children 12 years and under are admitted for free. Other pre-sale packages and coupons will be announced in June.

The Nevada County Fairgrounds is located at 11228 McCourtney Road in Grass Valley, 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, off Highway 49. For directions, event details or general information, visit Nevada County Fair or call the Fair Office at (530) 273-6217. Our blog can be found at Nevada County Fair Blog, or you can follow us on Facebook or MySpace.

Source: Wendy Cox Nevada County Fair Publicist

Bits & Pieces, Local Writers & Contributors

Walking vs. running—which is better?

Photo Central Valley Activities Club

by Lisa J. Lehr

Looking for the ideal exercise? Whether you’re still trying to make good on a New Year’s resolution, thinking about the upcoming swimsuit season, or looking for a way to add variety to your workout routine, walking and running rise to the top of the list of possible choices.

For overall fitness, nothing beats walking and running. You need no expensive equipment; you don’t have to join a club or travel to a special place; you can do it at pretty much any time of day or year.

But which is better? Well, it depends. Here are the pluses and minuses of both.

Running:

·         burns more calories than walking in the same amount of time—because you travel farther running than walking. Mile for mile, however, the calories burned are the same. That’s because carrying your weight over a given distance burns the same number of calories regardless of speed.

·         raises your heart rate more than walking.

·         strengthens your bones more than walking because of the strain it creates.

·         strengthens your muscles more than walking—but only if you’re actually running, not jogging. In that sense, power walking (walking as fast as you can without breaking into a jog) is actually more effective than slow running.

·         is more likely to cause injury. When running, you impact (hit the ground) with three times your body weight on each step. Especially for people who are overweight, out of shape, or pregnant, the strain on the knees, hips, and ankles can be a problem. If you’re going to begin a running program, start slowly and gradually increase your distance and/or frequency.

Walking:

·         may be better for fat burning. According to Dr. Dean Ornish, a clinical professor of medicine at UC San Francisco: “When you run a mile, you’re burning mostly sugar, or carbohydrates, which is how your body gives you fast energy in bursts. When you walk a mile, it gives your metabolism time to switch from burning carbohydrates to burning fat.”

·         is easier on your joints. Walking causes an impact of only 1.5 times your body weight, yet is still a weight-bearing exercise that will prevent bone loss.

·         is easier to fit into many people’s schedules. You can do it on your lunch hour at work; you may need to change only your shoes and probably won’t need to shower afterward.

·         has a benefit if you live in the city and have to stop at traffic signals: the sudden stop from a running pace can be dangerous for your heart. It’s much safer to stop from a walk. If you have to stop at a light while running, try jogging in place.

·         allows you to enjoy the scenery more than running, which in turn may keep you from burning out as soon.

I’m going to add a reminder to vary your terrain to avoid one-sided leg pain, and try to disconnect from your iPod. We live in a friendly community full of natural beauty. Say hello to the neighbors you pass; listen to the frogs croak and the birds chirp; be alert to approaching cars.

So…walking or running? It’s really a matter of what works best for you. Walk, run, or do something else. Just do it.

Lisa J. Lehr is a writer, copywriter, and fitness enthusiast 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.

See related post by Lisa Walk For Health, But Stay Healthy And Pain Free
—
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.

Real Estate

Hong Kong Real Estate Bubble About to Burst?

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As i mentioned in a recent article, China’s real estate is super hot and may be ready to collapse,  well, it looks like Hong Kong and Singapore  are in the same boat. Home prices in Hong Kong have risen 25 percent and land prices have doubled. Singapore’s government has stated that because of low interest rates, it is fearful that they may be getting into an overheated real estate market and are going to increase the housing market.

.According to the Wall Street Journal:

“Strong results in a Hong Kong government land auction are the latest sign that the city’s real-estate market is surging higher after a brief lull, as government officials here and elsewhere in the region grapple with how to cool off overheating property prices.

Around the region, easy credit and ample liquidity is fueling fears that real-estate prices may be rising to irrational levels.

Unlike China and Singapore, however, Hong Kong has little control over interest rates because its currency board system, which pegs the local currency to the U.S. dollar, forces it to import U.S. monetary policy.

“Hong Kong property buyers have been in a prolonged low-interest-rate environment, and now they’re behaving like drunken drivers on the road—they don’t think about consequences,” Ms. Wong says, estimating that prices have increased 5% this year. While speculative activity has been subdued, she argues the public is “overstretching” itself, convinced that “prices will go up forever.”

Sounds familiar doesn’t it?  What do you think?

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Because I care
Call 530-263-1091

Bits & Pieces

America Wins Two Gold and Two Bronze Metals for Being Lazy!

Comparing us to 24 other countries, it seems that we have won two gold medals and two bronze. According to the Daily Beast:

“For the Couch Potato Olympics, we stuck with 24 countries in the developed world, as determined by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-member countries that had extensive data available. The large majority of this list is Western—a byproduct of only ranking countries with accurate, reliable, and consistent data. (There was no Russian judge in this competition.)”

So here is the summation of our metals:

Calories per Day: 1st out of 24 (Gold)
Television Viewing: 1st out of 24 (Gold)
Sports Aversion: 3rd out of 24 (Bronze)
Internet Usage: 3rd out of 24 (Bronze)

To further expand our knowledge of how we are doing, here’s a video put together by some high school students.  There are four versions of this video, this is version one.

Did You Know; Shift Happens – Globalization; Information Age

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q

Did You Know? originally started out as a PowerPoint presentation for a faculty meeting in August 2006 at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, United States. The presentation “went viral” on the Web in February 2007 and, as of June 2007, had been seen by at least 5 million online viewers. Today the old and new versions of the online presentation have been seen by at least 20 million people, not including the countless others who have seen it at conferences, workshops, training institutes, and other venues.

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Because I care
Call 530-263-1091

Entertainment

The Nevada County Regulators Live

This is one of my favorite bands in Nevada County. They play in some part of Grass Valley, Nevada City almost once or twice a month in Nevada County. You can find their schedule at their website  Nevada County Regulators

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eOI6muBVxo

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Call today because I want to help you
in buying or selling real estate
or short sale or foreclosure questions
530-263-1091

Real Estate

Reagan Office Building for Sale

I guess if you need money you sell your real estate? How about the State of California selling some of their real estate to raise money?  Do you think that’s a great idea?  In the bottom of the real estate market, the State is selling two dozen buildings in order to raise $2 billion to pay off some of their long term debt.

Included in the sale is the Ronald Reagan building, which they will then lease back for the next twenty years.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

“Under the proposal, for example, the twin-towered Reagan state office building at 3rd and Spring streets would be purchased by an investor who would in turn lease it to the state. The state would pay the new owner an estimated $12.2 million a year in rent, according to the plan.

State officials will now accept bids on 24 office buildings on 11 sites in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Rosa. Investors may buy the properties en masse or individually.

The planned sale comes during one of the worst real estate markets since the Great Depression. Commercial property values have fallen as much as 40% from their 2007 peak, according to industry analysts. Although the depressed market may hold sales prices down, it may also help the state as it negotiates how much to pay in rent after it leases back the buildings.

The recession drove up vacancy rates in many privately owned office buildings as white-collar companies contracted through layoffs or closed their doors. Landlords in most of the country’s major office markets have been forced to reduce rents to attract or keep tenants.”

Talk about a study in mismanagement, the State of California is one for the text books.

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Helping you in buying or selling real estate
Call today 530-263-1091

Real Estate

Phony Fornensic Review for Mortgage Relief Latest Scam

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Los Angeles-Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has joined the California Department of Real Estate (DRE) and the State Bar of California in warning Californians to avoid forensic loan audits, the loan-modification industry’s latest “phony foreclosure-relief service,” in which homeowners pay up-front fees for a forensic review of their lender’s practices, but are provided no actual foreclosure relief.

“Forensic loan audits are yet another phony foreclosure-relief service hawked by loan-modification consultants trying to cash in on the desperation of homeowners facing foreclosure,” Brown said. “The foreclosure-relief industry continues to be long on promises, but short on results.”

Individuals and businesses who offer forensic loan audits use inflated and misleading claims to convince homeowners to pay up-front fees for services that produce no actual foreclosure relief. Homeowners are encouraged to pay for an audit of their mortgage loan file to determine their lender’s compliance with state and federal mortgage-lending laws. This audit is pitched to homeowners as a tool they can use to gain leverage and speed up the loan-modification process.

In truth, there is no evidence or statistical data to support claims that forensic loan audits-even if performed by a licensed, legitimate and trained auditor, mortgage professional or lawyer-will help homeowners obtain loan modifications or provide any other foreclosure relief.

“The State Bar is committed to dealing with all aspects of loan foreclosure fraud involving attorneys,” said State Bar President Howard Miller. “We will continue to work with all the other government agencies to prevent fraud and to move for disciplinary sanctions against attorneys who violate their obligations to their clients.”

By law, all individuals and businesses offering mortgage-foreclosure consulting, loan-modification and foreclosure-assistance services must register with Brown’s office and post a $100,000 bond. It is also illegal for loan-modification consultants and businesses to charge up-front fees for their services.

Brown has sought court orders to shut down more than 30 fraudulent foreclosure-relief companies and has brought criminal charges and obtained lengthy prison sentences for dozens of deceptive loan-modification consultants.

Source Attorney Edmund G. General Brown, Jr.

John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker
Here to help you in all your real estate needs

Real Estate

Good Real Estate News: Home Equity is Rising Again

Numerous articles have reported that homeowners are underwater and that strategic defaults are increasing. However, a little known statistic by the Federal Reserve shows that home equity again is on the rise.

KEEP THIS IN MIND

• The Federal Reserve conducts substantial research on mortgage balances and home-value changes in hundreds of local markets nationwide and reports its finding quarterly. According to the Fed’s most recent “flow of funds” survey, homeowners’ net equity increased by nearly $1 trillion compared with the recession’s lowest point between the first and third quarters of 2009. From June 30 to Sept. 30, net equity rose by $418 billion.

• According to a report by Zillow.com, the overall negative equity rate among U.S. homeowners remained flat in the fourth quarter at 21.4 percent. This report, combined with other housing factors and studies, may indicate that the unprecedented reduction in home equity is shifting.

• Some homeowners, especially those in areas with high foreclosure rates, are choosing to strategically default on their mortgages, even though they can afford the mortgage. Many homeowners who choose this approach do so because they do not see an economic rationale in continuing to make their mortgage payments. Homeowners considering this option should be aware of the negative effect it will have on their credit status. Foreclosures can remain on credit reports for up to seven years, likely increasing the interest rates the consumer pays for credit, and making it more difficult to receive approval on a new mortgage loan.

To read the full story, please click here: Washington Post