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   Since it is Halloween I feel a trip down memory lane is called for. I’m talking from a Kid’s perspective or specifically from my perspective as a kid growing up in a Resort River Town, Guerneville, California, during the 50’s and 60’s. This was during the era when a parent would say, “Why don’...

Realtor.com came out with their 20 Hottest real estate markets in the nation. 11 of these are in California and we've added two NEW spots--Eureka and Fresno. Eureka is way up north on the coast of California. Isolated, older fishing community but it is very affordable as is Fresno which is in the...

Part III—Where’s the Listings? To recap Part I & 2: Discussion was about meager statistics of our Sonoma County real estate market—lack of inventory being the biggie. Meager sales because of low inventory. Median home price rising because of those two factors, 10% higher than last year, and listi...

PT 11 Where are the Listings? Part I of this report we looked at our Sonoma County Statistics and saw home sales meager at besta nd this with interest rates at “historic lows”. I heard a lender friend of mine, a longtime member of our real estate community, state, “rates are o.k. at 3.75% but FHA...

Pt 1--Where are the Listings?  2016 is rapidly coming to a close. Here in Sonoma County our summer “Buying/Seller Season” never got off the ground. It taxied about but was never cleared for take-off. Every Realtor knows a robust real estate market, and the factor which drives every market, is a p...

Our last segment of "Buying Country Property" ended with a  discussion of  toxic waste issues. I'll develope this further and demonstrate through actual stories how to gather information to protect you and your Buyer. Here’s another “red-flag” story regarding a dairy. I was referred to a widow wh...

Buying Rural or “Country” property: PT V-This is the last part of our series on “Buying rural or country property. “ To recap, we explored gathering initial inspections on the property you are attempting to purchase; Well performance, various water testing available, septic system report and unde...

Pt IIII   We finished by recommending a competent “Permit Consultant” to help your way through the maze that is the usual County bureaucracy. S/he can go beyond “level 1” searching of file  and dig deeper into the County records.The Consultant will make sense of what’s on record and KNOW the righ...

Buying Country or “Rural” Property PT 111     In Part I and II of “Buying Country or “Rural” property I explored the differences of a “Town” versus a “Country” property.  The major difference between Town and Country? Onsite “waste disposal systems” and “water supply” residing on the same propert...

PT11  Of my series on Buying Country Property.Note of reference--I'm writing this for a Northern California audience but reports of this kind happen across the nation. The names of some of the test or reports may be different and the county department may bear a differnent name. I'm in California...