Hannah Nicole Vineyards is offering its acoustic weekend afternoons for your enjoyment. Come out to Brentwood and enjoy a bottle of wine from their tasting room and grab some cheese, salami and crackers from their gift shop or bring your own picnic!
Artists are scheduled to perform between 1 and 4 PM. Tickets are not required to ... [Read More]
Hannah Nicole Vineyards is offering its acoustic weekend afternoons for your enjoyment. Come out to Brentwood and enjoy a bottle of wine from their tasting room and grab some cheese, salami and crackers from their gift shop or bring your own picnic!
Artists are scheduled to perform between 1 and 4 PM. Tickets are not required to enjoy the music and it is open to all ages! If the weather gets cold or wet, the music will be moved inside; so you can enjoy the tunes while you’re warming up with a glass of your favorite red!
Below is a schedule of Acoustic Afternoons performances…
November 19 – Chris Ahlman
Country influenced vocalist.
November 20 – Owen Plant
Encore appearance by this eclectic artist who fuses island, classic and rock styles
November 26- Steve Marvel
Crowd favorite! Always a good afternoon of entertainment and music with Mr. Marvel!
November 27 – Toree McGee is Back!
A talented emerging voice with a strong set list and a great guitarist!
Yesterday, I attended “The BIG EVENT”, hosted by Contra Costa at the Lesher Theatre in Walnut Creek. Two main speakers were there speaking: Robert Kleinhenz PHD, Deputy Chief Economist for Calif. Assoc of Realtors (CAR) and Gov Hutchinson, asst. general counsel & VP of CAR. This once-yearly meeting talks trends/forecasts and new laws coming into ... [Read More]
Yesterday, I attended “The BIG EVENT”, hosted by Contra Costa at the Lesher Theatre in Walnut Creek. Two main speakers were there speaking: Robert Kleinhenz PHD, Deputy Chief Economist for Calif. Assoc of Realtors (CAR) and Gov Hutchinson, asst. general counsel & VP of CAR. This once-yearly meeting talks trends/forecasts and new laws coming into effect on January 1st. The event is open to members of the Contra Costa Assoc. of Realtors. Below are some highlights of the talk:
Unemployment for California remains around 12%. (10% in Contra Costa.) The non-farm recession job losses are about 1 million jobs; however, since Jan 2010, 222,400 jobs have been added to the state.
The economy is recovering, but moving slow. GDP for 3rd quarter 2011 was 2.5% for the same time last year, it was 2.7%.
Consumers are not spending, and also DRAINING down their savings. This will be a slow healing process, as consumer spending is needed to improve the economy.
Interest rates are historically LOW, and this makes it a great time to buy.
The California median home price is $287,400, down 8.3%.
2012 is predicted to mirror 2011 in the California housing market. We are close to record affordability. 34% of buyers are first time buyers.
Tax credits helped sales in 2010; they say this is a transition year and sales have to move forward by themselves. Equity sales rose in 2011.
There will continue to be foreclosure thru 2014!
Current inventory in CA is 5 months; down from 7 months. Homes over $1 million have a 10 month inventory and those under $300K have a 4.7 month inventory. Broken down by inventory type, in California there is a 2.6 month inventory for REO’s. A 5.9 month inventory for regular sales and ad 7.9 month inventory for short sales.
Most buyers shop for 4 months before contacting an agent; 80% of buyers used an agent.
Financing continues to be a challenge.
Some new laws going into effect 1/1/12: Landlords can prohibit smoking and it must be written in the lease. Tenants can display political signs. HOA transfer CANNOT be more than $250, and HOA MUST discloses if unit cannot be rented out. If a home is listed for less than the liens, than it MUST be listed as a short sale.
If a DRE member is on the Top 500 tax delinquent list, they will lose their license. WOW!
For a link to this speech go to: www.car.org/marketdata and then click the speech section on the left hand side.
