| What A Ride It’s Been!Wow!It’s been a fun, if somewhat bumpy ride over the months since I joined the ranks of Mountain Valley Living Magazine. Drawn to the publication out of the simple pleasure of pouring over its’ pages month by month, I decided to toss my hat in the ring as an advertiser. To my surprise, the first ad brought a call from a pleasant gentleman in Chico wanting me to give him a price opinion on his lakefront property at Almanor. Oh, did I mention my day job is as a realtor?
Speaking of real estate, I am so proud to announce that this issue includes our premier Real Estate Section! Inside you’ll find full color features on selected home listings, plus agent profiles, REO properties, fixer-uppers, hot buys, and more.
Just for fun, check out all this and more on our website, mountainvalleyliving.com, where you can take a virtual tour of the listings, and click on links to individual realtor’s websites. Be sure to also check out our link to shopnorcal.com for even more listings! Apologies to all the realtors we haven’t had the opportunity to talk to yet. Certainly no slight intended!
As a native of this area, it gives me great pride to share in producing a publication dedicated to the good in our intermountain area. Having worked with publisher Eileen Majors in the past, I knew and appreciated her special talents and ethics. Her focus on exploring the simple pleasures that abound throughout the Nor Cal, and Northeastern Nevada areas bring so many kudos from our readers. Like them, I am always pleasantly surprised to find out about people, places, and activities I hadn’t known about in a lifetime here.
This, of course, makes my job in advertising for the publication a breeze. Businesses already know and enjoy the magazine before I get there. I don’t have to tell them that their customers are among the thousands of readers that enjoy our stories on outdoor adventures, home and garden, family fun, good health, great food, travel, entertainment and more. It doesn’t seem to matter whether readers are young or old, newcomers or oldtimers, or vistors, the magazines fly off the stands, keeping us on our toes refilling them.
In these times of uncertainty, we tend to return to the simple pleasures. That’s what we’re all about, whether it’s sipping a cup of coffee by a crackling fire, or bundling up the family for a weekend outing, it’s taking time to savor the moment. So tuck a copy of our magazine next to your favorite chair, or in your knapsack. I think you’ll find it’s good company. |
CONSIDER A PRE-HOME INSPECTION WHEN SELLING
By Richard Barlupi
In today’s real estate market, buyers tend to be more sensitive to the condition of properties they are considering purchasing. By obtaining a “pre-listing home inspection” report, the seller and real estate agent can provide potential buyers with a complete evaluation of the home by a qualified home inspector from their area. The home inspection report will also give the seller the opportunity to identify defects in their home and obtain bids from subcontractors to determine the cost to make the repairs. By disclosing any defects to possible buyers, the seller can realistically price their home to adjust for the repairs needed. Or, the seller can make the corrective repairs themselves before listing their home with a real estate office. Most home inspection companies are up-to-date with current defects or safety hazards that appraisers and lenders look at very closely. Therefore, the seller may be able to ward off potential issues that could delay the sale of their home. Seeing that there are no major defects in the home, it would assist the buyer in determining how much they should spend on the property. In most cases, once the seller accepts an offer and opens escrow, the buyer will hire a home and pest inspector of their own. However, if a home has a clean inspection already completed, the buyer would not need to have additional inspections done. By correcting problems found in the home inspection report or by disclosing the defects in the listing agreement, the seller could be saving themselves from deal-breaking issues that prevent their home from being “sold”.
Reasonable, Busy, Uptown Business For Sale Due to Retirement. Check It Out!
 Busy Business for Sale - Picture Perfect, Susanville CA
By Eileen Majors
It seems that staging homes for sale still seems to be working even in today’s real estate market according to a study published by the Real Estate Staging Association. On vacant homes, a 2007 study showed that a home spent 68% less time on the market when staged. The same study of 2008 showed that staged homes spent 85% less time on the market meaning the same tricks are still working.
We took a look back at some of the tips provided by local home stager, Naomi Turner, of Room by Room Interiors and from the home staging industry. We found everything from the importance of curb appeal and the first look inside the front door to extensive cleaning instructions. All stagers seem to agree on the ultimate importance of removing clutter and personal items from the home such as family photos. It is important to allow the potential buyer the opportunity to picture their own things in the house. Clutter can also make a room look small as can having too much furniture in a room.
Cleaning is another huge component of home staging as professionals recommend scrubbing baseboards, vacuuming corners, polishing chrome fixtures, dusting ceiling fans and cleaning windows. Sweeping porches, raking debris and trimming up the garden can also provide big pay offs for little or no cost. Whether you are interested in hiring a professional to stage your home or in obtaining a consultation describing the specific things you can do to make your home show better and potentially sell faster, there are local companies to help like Room By Room Interiors of Susanville.
Sources: Room By Room Interiors – Naomi Turner: 530- 310-3496, www.roombyroominteriors.net, Real Estate Staging Association.
ALSO ON THE WEST SHORE…..
Lake Almanor, CA
Campgrounds and a free boat launch are also located just down the road from Camp Prattville. These campgrounds are within walking distance to the lake, and the west shore’s paved trail system runs right through the place.
Plumas Pines Resort, located about a half mile away, offers horseback riding, two stores, fuel, lodging and boat and SeaDoo rentals, as well as dining and a cocktail lounge. Live music is featured on the weekends in this lake front resort. Panoramic lake views from giant windows indoors to a nice patio overlooking the lake make it a spectacular stop. Hosts Grant and Todd Geer are two brothers who enjoy serving the crowds of summer. The quiet shores of the west shore draw large crowds for the night life at Plumas Pines where these two brothers run the show.
One popular Sacramento rock band calls this resort their mountain home away from home. Nothin’ Personal is considered the house band and you will find them performing on summer holiday weekends including their annual three night engagement over the 4th of July. To describe the band, I would have to say the vocals by lead singer Katina Whalen parallel such greats as Janis Joplin and Stevie Nicks, yet Katina has a definite style of her own that keeps crowds coming back. The musical performances of Glen Whalen on lead guitar are reminiscent of the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughn. The passion and talent in this group of musicians provides some rockin’ entertainment. They appear from 9 pm to 1 am.
Horseback riding is available throughout the day with hour and hour and a half rides available. The stables are located just across the road from Plumas Pines marina and RV park on Almanor Drive West from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Pony rides are available for younger kids just before each scheduled ride. Find more information at 530-259-5170.
Boat rentals on the west shore include fishing boats, pontoon boats for family fun and ski boats to accommodate skiers and wakeboarders from Majors’ Outpost. They have some really nice boats, some with wakeboard booms and with all their ski boat rentals, they include all the toys like big tubes, kneeboards, skis and wakeboards. They also offer wet suits just in case but Almanor is a lake that gets pretty warm in the peak of summer. Joe Majors manages the place with his brother John Stewart also taking on a leading role in the family business they grew up in for more than 20 years. They offer late model SeaDoo watercraft and if you rent one for three hours, they are once again throwing in that 4th hour free.
Is it Really The Worst of Times?
Or Could it Be the Best of Times?
Is the cup half full, or is it half empty? Like pretty much everything else in life, it depends on how you look at it.. The doom and gloom package delivered by the national media seems to be losing it’s momentum. There is no doubt that the real estate investment community most certainly took a colossal hit from an over-aggressive buying frenzy, fueled by unwise and unsafe lending practitioners. Some of these firms willingly duped borrowers they had cause to know could not honor their loans. Many borrowers signed loan agreements under the assumption that their investment would continue in the upward spiral.
We Americans are a resilient lot and have showed time and time again that when something isn’t working, we fix it. The fixing time is at hand, with assistance coming in the form of increased loan limits, low interest rates, government support to lenders, economic stimulus packages and the like.
Residential properties are adjusting to real values and are influenced further still by real estate appraisers who in effect now govern what bankers consider when evaluating loan portfolios. A reasonable profit is still available to sellers who will acknowledge a simple truth. Consider that an appreciation of 5% to 8% from a 2002 benchmark is an adequate return on investment and let go of the thought that your property is now worth multiples of that 2002 figure. The buying public is now seeing homes and properties with prices about 20 to 25% lower than previous offerings.
2007 ranked in as the fifth highest existing home sales volume in recorded history. According to the National Association of Realtors, since September, sales volumes have stabilized into narrow fluctuations, even managing a modest 2.9% increase in February.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the gain is encouraging. “We’re not expecting a notable gain in existing-home sales until the second half of the year, but the improvement is another sign that the market is stabilizing”, he said. “Buyers taking advantage of higher loan limits for both FHA and conventional mortgages will unleash some pent-up demand. As inventories are drawn down, prices in many markets should go positive later this year.
What can this all mean for the local market? One would expect good things to come from the buyer incentives right now. Prices are down, some way down. Interest rates are extremely favorable.
There is an enormous inventory of homes available. Loan limits of federally backed mortgages have expanded to match housing costs. So, looking at the cup before us, it encouraging to imagine what will happen as buyers everywhere grab their pocketbooks and take advantage of the best buyers market we have seen in decades. Perhaps it’s time you took a look at the local real estate market to consider joining in the buyers’ bandwagon.
Submitted by Joyce Ruschhaupt,
Broker & Realtor
London Properties – Lake Almanor
Director, Plumas Association of Realtors
IS NOW THE TIME TO BUY? Our Real Estate Market has undergone significant changes in the last two and a half years. We are frequently asked have we hit the bottom or is there further to fall? Have we stabilized or are we actually in recovery? Here’s what we know!
Our market abruptly shifted in August of 2006. The number of housing sales began to fall, we saw our first signs that average sales prices had finally peaked, and inventory began ticking up. Although there’s never a bell that rings when we hit the actual height or bottom of any market, the Real Estate Market shift was loud and clear in the last quarter of 2006. After five years of unprecedented growth in Real Estate, we had exhausted the ability for further increases. The number of households that could afford to buy (affordability index) had gone from nearly 65% in 2002 to only 24% by 2006. Almost overnight that situation has now reversed; within two short years, Housing affordability is back up over 65%! The facts of our market reality have again shifted and the bell is ringing loud and clear. For most, the sound will not be heard, but for those that listen, the opportunities are tremendous.
 Affordability is back!
In the fourth quarter of 2008, the minimum household income needed to purchase an entry-level home at $287,760 in California was $56,100 (based on an interest rate of 5.91% with 10% down). This was 44% lower than a year earlier when households needed $100,500 of income to purchase a then-entry level home. Decreases in home prices and mortgage rates have brought affordability into alignment with income levels.
A drop of 45% means that Real Estate is now on sale at nearly half off and half off is usually a great time to buy. Could prices fall further? Yes, anything is possible, but with the quickly diminishing inventory, we think chances are more likely prices may soon start moving back up.
Value is back
The crazed Market of 2001 – 2006, fueled by easy financing (no longer available), had everyone running on adrenaline so much that bad loans, and wild speculation, pushed the good homeowner out. Our prices exceeded the real value.
People were able to buy high and sell even higher. Although many people made immediate profits, they laid the foundation for a collapse and learned the hard way that buying high and selling low just doesn’t yield a profit. After a significant two year shift, there are numerous signs that indicate we could be entering a new market. IHS Global Insight recently released a 2008 update to its US housing valuation analysis which showed that, nationwide, housing prices are 3.8% under-valued based on total market value and 5.7% undervalued when weighted by the number of housing units in the marketplace. Our current market offers every buyer a far better opportunity than what has been available for years.
Investing in your future
Uncertainty in the stock and financial markets makes Real Estate the best opportunity for investing because homes are real, tangible, solid, and something that you can control. You decide how to manage them, rent them, or when to sell them. Every time we do a market report, Real Estate has out-performed the stock market. This holds true even in the greatest Real Estate price correction our state has ever experienced. Case in point, the Dow Jones Industrial average finished 1998 at 9,170 points; 10 years later, the market in early 2009, at 7,900 points. Over 10 years, my investment is down over 5%. Comparatively, the average sales price of a home (Fresno / Clovis) in December 1998 was $120,000 compared to $181,500 in December 2008. That’s a gain of almost 55% in your Real Estate investment. Also remember, unless a David Copperfield can actually make your Real Estate disappear, there is no Ponzi scheme in your personal Real Estate purchases. You can see it, touch it, control it, and enjoy using it every day.
Inflation is Coming?
Actually, if it were not for the trillion dollars (and counting) that the Federal Government has pumped into the economy, inflation may already be here. So, inflation has been staved off, but we believe it will come, and when it does everyone who hasn’t bought a home will wish they had. Obviously interest rates will also go up, keeping buyers from buying the homes they could have afforded in 2009.
Perhaps the biggest factor will be the inflation on building materials for builders. This time, however, material costs have another foe – increased building fees (City permits, school fees, etc.) for local governments that are already strapped for dollars. Not to mention new building codes which drive up the builders’ costs? For example, by 2010, all newly constructed homes are required to have interior fire sprinklers throughout, adding an additional $6,000 to $8,000 on an average size home. And remember, as new construction goes up, so goes the resale market. Whether you are looking at resale or new home construction, now is the time to buy a home.
Low Rates
Today’s interest rates are some of the lowest we’ve seen in the last 30 years — this won’t last. Current low mortgage rates have been cited by Real Estate industry leaders, from economists to the National Association of Realtors®, and from the Mortgage Bankers Association to the home builders as the tonic that has done the most to help correct the housing economy. The smart home buyer (or owner who re-finances) can lock in low 5% financing for the next 30 years, saving literally hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of the loan. Low FHA financing also allows a buyer to get in with only a 3.5% down payment. Soon, homebuyers may enjoy an $8,000 tax credit for purchasing their next home. It may make sense to start planning on buying now before these opportunities are lost.
Here’s an extra bonus
Today’s lower prices mean lower property taxes and lower insurance costs for all the years to come, but only if you buy now and lock in the savings.
Inventory is going down and sales are going up. Virtually every neighborhood of every market area has experienced a significant drop in inventory and an even greater increase in units sold. Just as President Harry Truman joked that he needed a one-armed economist so that he wasn’t faced with someone who always said, “on the other hand…” we believe that there is enough evidence in our current Real Estate market to offer some “one-armed” advice. Buy and buy now!!
 The Bliss Mansion-- B&B with four rooms.  The Krebs-Peterson house--used in 1976 to film John Wayne’s last movie.  St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, completed in 1868 CARSON CITY – TALKING HOUSES BRING TOUR ALIVE
Story and Photos by Rick Barlupi
Imagine “Talking Houses” that take you back to when the Old West was young.
History is just around the corner and down the street in Carson City, Nevada’s capital, which bears the name of Kit Carson.
My daughter and I left our motel and walked across the street to the
Visitor’s Center at 1900 S. Carson Street. I was given a free self-guided
walking and driving tour map of the Kit Carson Trial with a CD that told the
stories for 16 landmarks. The map is a poster-size guide with photos,
 The beautiful Governor’s Mansion, built 1909, Photos by Rick Barlupi illustrations and descriptions of various historic buildings along the
trail. Established in 1993, the Kit Carson Trail is designated by a painted
BLUE LINE and a collection of bronze medallions inlaid along the sidewalk.
Park benches allowed us to sit down, admire the beautiful landmarks,
including museums, churches, and Victorian-style homes over 100 years old.
The “Talking Houses” share their ninety-second narratives that provided
insight and tales about the capital city and some of its more colorful
personalities. We listened to sound effects such as horse-drawn carriages,
train whistles, and John Wayne’s voice at the Krebs-Peterson house where he made his last movie, “The Shootist,” in 1976. The route also passed the
home of Orion Clemens, where brother Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain would stay when he was in town.
The tour features 60 landmarks along the trail including the former U.S.
Post Office, U.S. Mint, Governor’s Mansion, and the Carson Brewing Company, home of Tahoe Beer for more than 100 Years. For a nostalgic walk down the largest historic district in Nevada, bring a hand-held CD player and make tracks for the vivid BLUE LINE that will guide your way along the 2.5-mile path of Carson City’s legacy.
BEFORE YOU VISIT…Call 1-800-NEVADA-1 or browse www.visitcarsoncity.com
For more information and the blue line trail map. This year the Kit Carson
Trail GHOST WALK guided tour is scheduled for Saturday, May 23rd. Walk the path of yesteryear and meet character actors portraying historical residents in their homes. It’s only a short drive to discover the wild west!
THANK S FOR CHECKING US OUT!
Mountain Valley Living Magazine caters to folks who love life in Nor Cal. Whether you are a long time visitor to the area or are relocating within the area, WE THANK YOU for choosing shopnorcal.com to select a Realtor®. Every partnering Realtor® is ready to serve you with OUTSTANDING SERVICE!
NOW is a great time to check out the great buys in the North-State! The selection of properties offered is amazing and interest rates are looking good too. So please take a look around and give one of our Realtors® a call today!
LAKE FRONT PROPERTIES • RIVER AND STREAM FRONT REAL ESTATE • PREMIUM GOLF LOCATIONS
FIXER UPPERS • COMMERCIAL PROPERTY • BUSINESSES FOR SALE
WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND OUR REALTORS
FOR SUPERIOR SERVICE, CONTACT A REALTOR® AT shopnorcal.com !!!
Click On any Realtors ad to view their listings
Real Estate
Your Home is Your Castle ~ Treat it as Such!
By Joyce Ruschhaupt,
Broker Associate, Bailey Creek Properties,
Vice President & Director, Plumas Assoc. of Realtors®
It’s not a surprise that 60% of American’s wealth is estimated to be in the home in which they live; so why do we tend to ignore it? Many of us neglect the smallest chores around our homes that take only minutes & cost only a few $$s which will extend the useful lives of costly key components. We have our car’s oil changed, but ignore the furnace filters! Make a goal in 2009 to take better care of your largest investment. Here are a few helpful hints & necessary chores to do each year to protect your home.
- Clean the coils. If you have baseboard heating units that use hot water, clear dust from the coils inside the units to maximize heating efficiency. Clean dust whenever you see it accumulating. If you have a hot water boiler/furnace, you should also oil the pump inside the furnace twice a year. Look for the three spots on the pump designated for oiling. Check in back of & around your clothes dryers & refrigerators, too.
- Check your circuits. Test the performance of the circuit breakers in your electrical circuit box twice a year by flipping them off and back on. If you have a circuit that keeps shutting off with normal daily electrical use, call an electrician. A faulty circuit breaker could indicate a short in the wiring inside your walls.
- Watch out for drips. Check under sinks periodically to look for leaks or water stains that might indicate leaks. Catching a small problem early can prevent water damage and save on your water bill. Use a plunger to clean out sinks and tubs whenever water doesn’t drain normally or go on-line for helpful inexpensive ways to clear drains.
- Be aware of life spans. Water heaters, furnaces, roofs, and other key components of your home should be replaced before they fail, based on their average useful lives. Here’s a general ballpark of the life span for key components:
- Roof: 13-15 years
- Water heater: 7-15 years
- Furnace: 15-50 years
- Wood deck staining: 4-7 years
- Exterior house paint: 5-10 years
- Get to the bottom of things. Check your home’s foundation for cracks or gaps that could let in water or varmints. Also look at the ground around your house. As homes age, they often sink slightly below the surrounding ground. This settling lets water puddle against the foundation and possibly damage it. Doing major landscaping can cause changes to the ground’s pitch that let water flow toward your home.
- Keep the wet out. Water is a major enemy of your house. Check each season for signs of water damage to your home. Flashing, the metal pieces used to seal the areas between roofs and chimneys and around doors and windows, are especially vulnerable to damage by wind or age. Loose flashing can let water seep under a roof or inside walls, which in turn can cause mold.
- Look up. Chimneys take a great deal of weather abuse. Visually inspect them each year for signs of loose mortar or loose or missing bricks. Have the insides of chimneys cleaned every two to three years. Also check your roof for loose shingles or dangling gutters.
- Change your furnace filters twice a year or more. It’s so easy to do but so critical. Clogged filters decrease furnace efficiency which means your furnace is using costly energy and can cause breakdowns which means huge bills later and a shorter life span, too.
- Drain your water heater at least once a year. Sediment will drain out along with the water from the water tank. Removing sediment can prolong the heater’s useful life & save energy.
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