Welcome 2012 in Sonoma County with a Guide to New Year's Celebrations
A good link for finding out the best New Year's Eve celebrations in Sonoma County on December 31, 2011. Happy New Year!...
National Geographic Travel names Sonoma County One of the Top Destinations in the World for 2012
National Geographic named Sonoma County one of the top travel destinations in the world for 2012. Here is a link to the article and a slide show of all the destinations....
Newly Pending Home Sales in Sonoma County up 65% Year over Year October 2011 vs. 2010
Home sales statistics can be an interesting way to understand the timing of a home sale or purchase in Sonoma County, but sometimes it helps to go back a few years to be able to discern trends. Pam Buda, DRE 01381495, takes a look at current market data from a few different angles....
Planning on Building or Remodelling a Sonoma County home? Check out PRMD
Meet Sonoma County's Permit and Resource Management Department,PRMD, a place you will get to know well if you are buying a home in our wine country. Useful links and tips for researching country property in Sonoma County....
The Most Beautiful Time of the Year in Sonoma County Could be Now
Typically we think of springtime or summer as the most beautiful time of the year but for all of October and now November here in Sonoma County wine country of Northern California it feels like right now is the best time of year. We had some early rain (after six typical dry months) in September. The grass has gone from golden brown to emerald green. The vines and trees throughout the county are turning red, gold and orange. The skies have been brilliant blue and the weather has been delightfully warm but not too hot. LOVE IT. Maybe that is part of the reason why the real estate market has been so active this fall. Much busier than the typically busy summer months. Perhaps it is 30 year fixed rate mortgages at 4 percent? Ten year fixed jumbo loans at 3.75%!!! Perhaps it is health of many tech companies and startups in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Who knows for sure but it has been a great time to be showing and selling property and out and about on these beautiful days. Has kept me away from the blog for a bit. I apologize, and I am back! [caption id="attachment_1326" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A brilliant November day and old vine zinfandel in the Russian RIver Valley appellation of Santa Rosa, Ca"][/caption]...
One person's artistic vision is grounded in Graton
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Hollynn D'Lil in her Graton Garden courtesy of the Press Democrat"][/caption] My friend HolLynn D'lil is like many of my friends and clients who have moved to Sonoma County from successful lives elsewhere. She had a vision, a feeling, a sense of the possibilities that her new life could be in our pocket of country paradise a short hour north of San Francisco. She wanted room to garden and a studio for painting and a home environment that nurtured her creativity. More so than many, she did not allow a bare flat patch of dirt and a dated home deter her from realizing her vision. Now she lives in a creekside sanctuary in the heart of the small Sonoma County community of Graton. I first walked on to HolLynn's property for a dinner party last fall, which was my first meeting with her as well. Within five sentences I said to her--have you ever thought of having your home on the West County Garden Tour ? (a benefit for Food For Thought in Forestville). She said--I have always wanted to do that but didn't know who to approach. This May 15th she was one of eight gardens and homes in West County featured on the tour. Yesterday, the Press Democrat newspaper did a feature story on HolLynn's journey. I thought I would share it with you as a wonderful example of the creation of a dream in Sonoma's West County....
Welcome to Mortgage Notes from Otto Kobler
Wine Country and Horses contributor, Otto Kobler, of Maximum Mortgage, discusses some of the ins and outs of financing wine country property and horse properties in Sonoma County, California....
First Quarter Reflections: 2011 Off to a Fast Start but Challenges Remain
Since the first Monday morning after New Year's Day, the Sonoma County real estate market has been incredibly active with some of the highest rates of pending sales in the last several years. Most realtors I know have been very encouraged by all the activity, particularly after activity in late 2010 ground to a near halt for most agents. But many challenges and obstacles remain, and MANY opportunities exist in this market as well. We will continue to delve into these in more detail over the coming months but for now, here are some of the high points. The median sales price in the county has declined over the last several months. What this generally means is not necessarily that values of individual properties have declined so much, although I think there has been some softening. What it means is that the action this last winter was in the low end of the market--that is homes under $350,000. Our market is currently dominated by first time buyers, investors and, to a lesser degree, second-home/retirement buyers. First time buyers are often FHA buyers with as little as 3.5% down. FHA allows these buyers to receive down payment assistance--either gifts from family members or government-sponsored down payment assistance programs such as CHAFA. (News Flash: CHAFA in California is currently on hold due to a funding shortfall.) Real Estate Investors are out in force both in Sonoma County and nationwide. Bargain-basement pricing, interest rates in the fives and a strong rental market are attracting investors in record numbers. Previously high prices kept investors out of our markets for years. Many investors are buying homes to hold and rent. With 25% down, you can buy a rental and pay interest in the low 5's. Homes that cost $200,000 to $300,000 can cash flow today. Someday we will have appreciation again and you can add that to the tax benefits and cash flow of the current rental market. (Talk to your tax advisor about how a rental property can benefit you, and talk to me if you would like me to run some numbers for you.) Other investors are buying to renovate and flip. I have seem some great flip jobs and some bad ones, but for the most part I think these investors are doing a service in renovating some of the really troubled real estate inventory...
2010 Sonoma County Real Estate Year in Review
Sonoma County Homes Sales Trends for 2010 don't offer any major new insights, just further evidence of some price stabilization at the lower end with continued softness in the mid and upper price ranges. Links to sales data for 2010 from Pam Buda, Sonoma County Realtor with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate....
Check Out This Impromptu Singalong at Petaluma Whole Foods Market
The Heritage Music Theatre at Cinnabar Theatre in downtown Petaluma created a great guerrilla marketing event at the local Whole Foods Market. Imagine a fruit aisle stocker spontaneously bursting in to song from behind the pineapples and a bass player emerging from the cooler. Imagine yourself minding your own business shopping away when a half dozen singers burst into Woody Guthrie's stirring "This Land is Your Land" from over by the papayas and you get the idea. Woody Guthrie's American Song opens December 31st and runs through January 23 just down the block from the fruit aisle! For a taste, the video below is really worth watching to see the involvement of the shoppers grow as everyone gets in to this "Random Act of Culture." [tomatoframe width="480" height="390"]http://www.youtube.com/v/huSdqL1XlPQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6"[/tomatoframe] PS If you want to check out the latest homes for sale in this town of spontaneously musical produce aisles, you can see them on a map by clicking the link on the right, or here....