With the NFL conference championship games behind us, it is now time to turn our attention to the Super Bowl. Vote in the poll and let’s see what you think.
My hope is that the Packers take home the Lombardi trophy. But, if they are to win they better play better than they did yesterday. Except for the first series that they had the ball, they looked liked they may have peaked against Atlanta. I HOPE NOT. I am picking Packers by 3 points over the Steelers, in overtime.
What is your pick?
Another exciting development descends upon the downtown area of the Lake Oroville real estate market today with the opening of the office of Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated.With its origins dating back to the 1890′s, the investment firm’s belief of “safeguarding the money of others as if it were your own” has guided them through portions of 3 centuries.
So why is this such a big deal? Because, the debut of the Stifel (pronounce it, Steeful) Nicolaus office marks the return of an investment company downtown that still operates, in
many ways, as a “family” run business. And, because my longtime friend, and even longertime ( I know, this is not a word) investment adviser, Jim Moll is going to be working there, and I want to help get the word out that his new office, which is actually his old office, is open for business.
Jim, along with fellow Vice President/Investments Kevin Zeitler, and Client Service Associate, Callie McBee, are pleased to welcome you to their new company at 1891 Robinson Street, Oroville Ca 95965.
The new phone number is 530-534-8021
The name on the door and the number on the telephones may have changed, but Jim’s, Kevin’s and Callie’s commitment of “safeguarding the money of others as if it were your own” won’t.
Good Luck, Guys!!!!
Just a quick heads up to all of you in the Lake Oroville real estate market and beyond to let you know that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has, as of today, implemented newly revised flood area maps that may require some buyers of homes in the greater Oroville area to purchase flood insurance as a condition of their purchase.
As part of the loan process lenders will require that a flood certification be done on the property. If the property is located in a high risk flood area (generally the 100 year flood zone), the lender will require flood insurance as a condition of providing the loan. The relative high cost of this insurance, which is added to the monthly payment of the buyer’s loan payment, can keep a buyer from qualifying for the loan that they need in order to purchase the home of their dreams.
Something important to keep in mind here, for those of you who currently are in the middle of a purchase transaction, is that this map revision is NOT grandfathered in. Meaning that if the home you are purchasing is now in a high risk flood zone you are going to be required to have flood insurance even though the home may not have been in a flood zone when your purchase contract was put into place.
Based on what I can decipher by looking at these maps there are not a whole lot of additional Oroville area properties that are affected by the new maps, but there are enough that some current transaction may be impacted.
You can look at the maps yourself by visiting the FEMA website. You can get to the Oroville maps by CLICKING HERE or on the picture of the map.
Voters in the Lake Oroville real estate market turned out at Municipal Auditoriumlast evening to get a first hand view of the candidates running for the positions of City Council member and Mayor of Oroville.
Although I do not reside within the city limits of Oroville , and am unable to vote in the election, as the owner of business located within the boundaries of the city I felt it important to attend the Oroville Forum of Candidates, moderated by my good friend Jim Moll, to get an idea of what to expect from the soon to be elected council persons.
Unfortunately, the format and time constraints under which the forum was conducted did not provide much of a window into the “political souls” of the candidates. With the video cameras rolling
for future broadcast on our local public television station the candidates struggled to respond, within the time allotted, to journalists questions about the future of our fine city.
Audience members heard opinions regarding issues as diverse as the candidates themselves. From annexation and the challenges of infrastructure repair, to solutions on how to make City Hall more business friendly, each of the participants did their best to prove that they deserve the votes of those in attendance.
If you missed the event, it will soon be available on our local public television station for all to see. If you were not in attendance and you either live or work in the city limits of the Lake Oroville real estate market, I urge you to view the forum and decide for yourself who you think is best suited to move this city into the future.
I have included a link to the pamphlet that was handed out at the forum last night which contain a short message from each of the candidates. Please read it and be sure that you are an informed voter before heading to the polls on November 2nd.
Candidate Pamphlet
Take advantage of this weekend’s awesome weather in the Lake Oroville real estate market and come on out to Oroville’s 16th Annual Salmon Festival, being held today and all day tomorrow.
The celebration kicks off with Salmon and Tri-tip BBQ at the Feather River Nature Center at 6:00pm tonight and continues tomorrow from 10am-4pm with tours of the Feather River Fish Hatchery, the Downtown Oroville Street Fair, and the 10K Salmon run.
Every September for the past 16 years, the streets of Oroville between Historic Downtown and the Feather River Fish Hatchery burst with fish-flavored activities during the Annual Salmon Festival, a day of fun, food, music and information.
On this special day Oroville celebrates the thousands of spawning salmon that annually make their way from the ocean back up the Feather River. Environmental education, music, salmon tasting, tours of the hatchery, and fun for kids and adults highlight this free event.
The Historical Downtown Oroville comes alive with a pancake breakfast, certified farmer’s market, live music, craft fair, and Family Fun Day
At the Feather River Nature Center, guests can experience the Maidu Salmon Ceremony with live dancing by local Native Americans.
This year you can nosh at the Salmon Court where recipes featuring salmon will be featured, take a spin in a kayak on the beautiful Feather River or join the fun at the Family Circus near the Municipal Auditorium.
A free shuttle to transport people between events is available.
Click here or on the picture to see the entire flyer.
It looks like Sonic Drive-In has ironed out any issues they were having with their attempted development of one of their restaurants here in the Lake Oroville real estate market.
After being delayed for nearly a year, it appears that the company is nearing the ground breaking for its newest Northern California unit. In driving to work this morning at 7:15 I noticed the “Coming Soon” sign on the vacant lot next to our new Holiday Inn Express. This will b
e another nice addition to Oroville Dam Blvd in an area that has laid vacant for a number of years.
I know what you are going to say, “Just what we need, another burger joint.” While it is true that there is no shortage of fast food places in town ( including the Burger King I used to own and operate), it is a positive thing for the Oroville market, as it will provide more entry level jobs, and probably 2 or 3 managerial positions. Yes, we do need more than just entry level jobs here, but it certainly better than no jobs at all. If the Feather River Recreation and Parks District can spend $4.5 million to keep 16 people employed, then it makes perfect sense for Sonic to invest somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 million to create 30-40 jobs.
I think is is also a recognition by a major company that this town is economically viable enough to invest in. To be honest, I am a bit surprised that we didn’t take a back seat to Chico on this one. Apparently the company execs felt Oroville was the best for them to be at this time, than the Chico market. I am sure, though that it won’t be long before Chico has its own.
The game hunting world is all abuzz this morning as word spreads that Lake Oroville resident Pat Butler set a world record by bagging the largest Tule Elk while bow hunting on Grizzly Island yesterday.
According to reports from the hunting grounds, Butler, an owner of the ever popular Wagon Wheel Market, here in the Lake Oroville real estate market, took the 8 x 8 elk during the afternoon hunt. By late afternoon representatives from the Department of Fish and Game certifed it as the largest elk ever taken by hunting with bow and arrow, granting Pat world record status for his efforts.
I think there is elk jerky in my future!!!!!!!!
Congratulations Pat.
I recently had cause to discuss an issue with the City of Oroville Housing Department regarding whether or not a particular home located within the city limits of the Lake Oroville real estate market could be approved to be sold to the first time home-buyer that I am representing.
Without getting into the minutia of the issue, the Housing Department originally said that my client would not be able to purchase the home based on the current guidelines that were established within the gra
nt program that is being used to fund the loans for first time home buyers that are purchasing homes within the city limits of the Lake Oroville real estate market.
In my view, the guideline that they were using was one that was very subjective and open to broad interpretation. In discussing this issue with the housing department over a three day period I think I talked to nearly everyone in the department.
I talked to Dawn, Tiffany, Vanessa, and Pat during this time and to be totally honest I thought I was going to get the proverbial government runaround that normally comes in dealing with “policy.”
Well I was wrong. That’s right….wrong!
Each of these public servants listened to my concerns and my position with an open mind and in the end understood that the guideline was in fact extremely subjective and worked diligently to do the right thing for my client , as well as for future users of the First Time Home Buyer Loan Program, of which many in the Lake Oroville real estate market have availed themselves.
The postition that these ladies are in cannot always be an enjoyable job. Dealing with REALTORS®, lenders and first time home buyers while trying to keep up with, and communciate, the many changes that occur in the grant programs that make the loan programs possible has got to be quite a challenge.
A big thank you to Pat Clark, the Director of Business Assistance and Housing Development, and the entire staff in the department for their help. It is refreshing to see that common sense and fairness are alive and well in the halls of our city in the Lake Oroville real estate market.
You knew it wouldn’t be long before I made it easier for you to utilize your smart phone to access this blog site, search for properties in the Lake Oroville, Paradise and Chico California real estate markets, and get the latest in interest rates and other real estate news and advice.
Today I am announcing the launch of my very own iPhone app that is now available for download at the App Store. With this highly sophisticated, but easy to u
se, app you now have not only my contact information in the palm of your hand but you can now access all the services of my blog site with just the touch of a button. No more addresses to remember and no more passwords to forget. This is just another investment I am making for you in order to provide a service, that nobody else in the Lake Oroville real estate market will, in order to make current and relevant real estate information readily available to you.
See my current listings, check out my latest blog post, or even find my Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-In pages. Spend as much, or a little time as your prefer because there is NO COST to you to download this App. Check back often, though because updates and come cool additions are coming soon.
And unlike many of today’s apps this app will be compatible with Blackberry and Droid users. Look for the rollout annoucement for these phones on the site sometime before Labor Day.
Download your app at the iTunes App store and search for AgentNTouch. After downloading, launch the app and in the Agent I.D. box enter 5303704691.
I would greatly appreciate your feedback and suggestions. My goal is to always be an AgentNTouch.
Here are the numbers for last week’s Lake Oroville real estate market. This is the third week in a row that the number of Oroville home sales has been in single digits, and the 7th week out of the past 8 for this. With inventories still low, and a lot of that inventory in disrepair it is becoming more and more difficult to find properties for Oroville area buyers. All of my team members have pools of buyers that they simply cannot find decent properties to show them.
| MLS Stats for Oroville Area |
Week Ending |
Week Ending |
Week Ending |
Weekly % |
| |
2/15/2010 |
2/22/2010 |
3/1/2010 |
Change |
| |
|
|
|
|
| # of Total Sales |
9 |
8 |
7 |
-12.50% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| # REO/Short Sales Sold (SS) |
4 |
5 |
4 |
-20.00% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| % Sales that are REO/SS |
44.44% |
62.50% |
57.14% |
-8.57% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Avg. List Price |
$108,188 |
$116,644 |
$141,085 |
20.95% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Avg. Sold Price |
$98,722 |
$109,500 |
$137,482 |
25.55% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Sold Price % of Listing Price |
91.25% |
93.88% |
97.45% |
3.80% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Avg. Days On The Market |
67 |
53 |
111 |
109.43% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Total Sales Volume |
$973,692 |
$933,152 |
$987,595 |
5.83% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| # of Single Family Listings |
291 |
287 |
288 |
0.35% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| # Foreclosed On Market |
35 |
31 |
34 |
9.68% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| % of Foreclosed on Market |
12.03% |
10.80% |
11.81% |
9.30% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| # Short Sales on Market |
46 |
44 |
39 |
-11.36% |
| |
|
|
|
|
| % Short Sales on Market |
15.81% |
15.33% |
13.54% |
-11.67% |
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=d5961af2-c1c8-4f25-8bba-18da957ed8e5)
