A blog about Business & Finance, Kern County, and Neighborhoods.
Real Name: Chris Craddock Address: 3400 Calloway Dr #800 Bakersfield, CA 93312 Cell: (661)900-2222 Gender: male Member Since: June 30, 2007 Last Signed In: August 27, 2008 Profile Views: 538 Blog Views: 6857 Zero Down goes Bye Bye! Looking for the "Timber!" point of Bakersfield Real Estate Spring Has Sprung When the Buyers Return to Capistrano Home Tours, the Stock Market, Auctions, and Mortgages Financial Forecast Countrywide may be under Federal Investigation for Securities Fraud Local Honey, Spring Forward! Bakersfield Real Estate Sales Data Charts Money Talks, Bakersfield Real Estate Listens June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 
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Today, Friday March 21st, we had a Real Estate Caravan, and who should arrive but The Easter Bunny? Somehow, I never see The Easter Bunny and Sheryl Gallion of Ticor Title in the same place, and this has been going on since 1984?!?!?!
March 17th, St Patrick's Day, and then two days later, the swallows return to Capistrano. Someone I know has a birthday on March 19th, so I incorporated a little of the Capistrano legend and lore into a birthday greeting. Did you know that the swallows fly all the way from Argentina? Legend has it that they carried twigs in their beaks, so they could rest in the water, using the twigs as little life rafts. Saw a great blog from the Real Estate agents of San Juan Capistrano, who tied the story into their observation that the buyers seemed to be returning along with the swallows. Though the evidence is anecdotal, and may even be apocryphal, here it is: When the Buyers Return to Capistrano The next day I went to the luncheon sponsored by REPERs (Real Estate Professional's Educational Resource) and The Bakersfield chapter of The Women's Council of Realtors at the Stockdale Country Club: WCR Bakersfield (They haven't updated their website in a while. I wonder if they would let me in to their events for free in exchange for updating their website?) The speaker was Liz Callihan, and she brought her Texas-sized wisdom and common sense to the subject of technology in Real Estate. Smart Phones, Texting, Blogging, Tablet Lap Tops, Mobile Printers, Miniature Digital Voice Recorders, Mobile Scanners, and 500 gigabyte back-up units were just a few of the devices she demonstrated. Want to scan receipts on-the-go, and have the information automatically entered into your accounting software? Try this neat receipt scanner: Use a digital voice recorder to capture ideas--or even write the Great American Novel. Then you can use Dragon Naturally Speaking software to type it up: Want to have a FREE phone number where you can receive faxes and have them sent to your email? Sign up for eFax: Want the latest tech info, and also great how-to videos that show you how to set up and use all these great gadgets? Try cNet: Liz Callihan had many great tips and tricks that would benefit any Real Estate Agent, business person, or entrepreneur. She recommends that you put lanyards on your keys, and all of these gadgets, so you won't lose them. For smart phones, get ones with big keyboards, and big buttons. Not only are they easier to press the buttons without hitting the one next to it, you can also see them better. The iPhone? More like iCandy--it looks good, but you can't really use it for business. And Vista? When you buy a new computer they try to force it on you, but they've had so many returns and complaints that you can now demand Windows XP, and Microsoft has backed off and is now committed to supporting XP for at least 2 more years. If your computer is slow and locks up if you try to run more than 2 or 3 programs at the same time, check your RAM (Random Access Memory). Right click on the My Computer icon, and then choose Properties. It will show you how much RAM memory you have. You might have a gazillion gigs of memory on your hard drive, but then you skimped on RAM memory. Liz compared the hard drive memory to a storage unit, and the RAM was a truck. When you want to use a program, it is loaded into RAM much like a truck picks up your stuff from the storage unit. If you have tons of stuff, but then try to move it with a little tiny truck, there is a bottleneck. You need a BIG RIG!!! 2 gigabytes of RAM memory will dramatically increase your computer's speed. Liz Callihan dropped by our office after the luncheon to talk tech (minus the geek speak) with our sales manager, Nancy Harper, and I. She really has a gift for explaining how to use technology in plain English. Her engagement for the WCR is an annual event. Here is Liz Callihan's web site: Another National Speaker on useful technology is Dick Betts. His website has a lot of useful information as well: Remember, The Key to Bakersfield Real Estate is Chris Craddock, Realtor.
I am constantly scanning the media, looking for signs about which direction our economy is going, and wondering how that will affect the housing market. They say that Economics is "the dismal science" but I find it exciting--especially when you translate all the numbers, graphs, and trends into cold, hard cash. It's all about the Benjamin's (as in Benjamin Franklin, the face on the $100).
Here are a few articles I have found, and not all the news is bad. Playing the Housing Slump: The article in the Wall Street Journal actually says that NOW is a good time to buy a house. But not so good to sell a house. It is a buyer's market, but if you must first sell your current house before you can buy, then it is a little harder to take advantage of the housing slump. But if you want to trade up to a bigger and better house, now is still a good time. Though you would lose a bit on the sale of your current house, you would make up for it on the other end. Or if you want to buy a second house as a vacation home, now is also good. Finally, if you want to help your kids get their first home, now would be a great time. UCLA experts don't buy recession Those whacky, contrarian economists over at UCLA are saying that 2008 will be disappointing, but not a recession. They claim that they predicted the last recession, when the conventional wisdom was that we weren't headed for one. If they are right again, that could be good news. Read all about it in the LA Times. Bloomberg reports on that other Benjamin, Bernanke, and his vigorous efforts to shore up our economy. Again, it's all about the Benjamins. This is a related story about the same thing, the Benjamins, i.e. Bernanke and the feds. This time it is from NPR (National Public Radio) instead of Bloomberg. Credit Proves Tough Even for Good Borrowers For people who don't like to read that much, this is a pod cast from NPR's Morning Edition of March 11th, 2008: Renee Montagne gets a firsthand account of the paralysis in the credit markets with Hugh Johnson, chief investment strategist at Johnson Illington Advisors. Johnson says borrowers are reluctant to make loans these days even to people with good credit. The New York Times and other media outlets have reported that Countrywide may be under investigation for misrepresenting their financial position at a time when the sub prime mortgage melt down was looming. Meanwhile, Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo was one of three mortgage industry executives brought before a Congressional committee on Friday to defend their exorbitant pay at a time when their companies were booking huge losses. Does this mean that if I have a mortgage with Countrywide I might not have to pay it? No, silly. Countrywide is in the process of being acquired by Bank of America, and all of this investigating and Congressional committee business should have no effect on you. The share of all home loans with payments more than 30 days late, both prime and fixed-rate loans, rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.82 percent, the highest since 1985, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in its report. Forty-two percent of new foreclosures in the fourth quarter were people with adjustable-rate subprime mortgages, given to borrowers with limited or tainted credit records, according to the report. Those types of loans accounted for about 7 percent of all mortgages.
Location:
4308 California Ave,
Bakersfield, CA 93309
She found some local honey, from Kern County, at Lassen's Groceries at 4308 California Ave, next to Long's Drugs. It wasn't cheap, but she isn't sneezing, and she isn't drowsy. And I always thought local honey was something musicians on the road had in every town they played. Speaking of Spring, this Sunday, March 9th, is time to Spring Forward (Remember Spring Forward, Fall Back? Remember to set your clocks forward one hour on Sunday Night to adjust for Daylight Savings Time. But getting back to honey, this morning on the California Report on NPR I heard a piece about the theft of honey. It has become very valuable lately due to Colony Collapse Disorder. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), formerly called Fall Dwindle Disease, refers to the unexplained disappearance and dying off of many honey bee colonies being observed across the United States. Brian Beekman, a third generation bee keeper in Fresno, recovered about 128 beehives that had been branded inside with his logo. That is a great name for a bee keeper, Beekman, and I remember a bee keeper with that last name who lived around San Francisco. His nickname was "B" Man, and he wasn't the same guy, but I'll bet he was from the same family. Another branch of the Beekman family has a great website. They also make honey wine, or mead. Another source of local honey, produced right here in Bakersfield, is Wilson's Pollination & Honey. If you want local honey, go to the honey locator website, and there you can search for honey producers by state. Wilson's is on their list. Another great source of information and recipes about honey is honey.com. Did you realize that honey is available in many different varieties? When bees visit mostly one kind of flower as they gather nectar, the honey they produce has a unique taste, aroma and color from that particular flower. The main varietals of honey are Alfalfa, Alfalfa/Clover, Basswood, Black Locust, Blackberry, Blueberry, Buckwheat, Red Clover, Sweet Clover, White Dutch Clover, White Sweet Clover, Cotton, Gallberry, Goldenrod, Mesquite, Mixed Flower, Orange Blossom, Palmetto, Raspberry, Star Thistle, Sunflower, Tallow, Tulip Poplar, Tupelo, and Wildflower. Mesquite honey would sure go good with mesquite barbeque. Bass players might enjoy Basswood honey. Van Morrison sang about Tupelo honey. Bobby Goldsboro sang about honey, too, but that song is just about the sappiest song ever written. I asked Melody Duncan about her local honey experiment, and she said it was still working. When I told her about the bee hive theft in Fresno, she said there was a sign at Brimhall and Renfro offering a reward for information about another bee hive heist. Winnie the Pooh was seen fleeing the area, with Piglet, Yogi Bear, and Boo Boo close behind. http://www.honey.com/
As can be seen by these charts and tables, of the almost 4,000 homes for sale in Bakersfield, one quarter are Short Sales, and one quarter are REO.
Lot's of places for kids to throw ragers and trash vacant houses!!! |
