Remember from my July 18th post “Napa Valley Real Estate, a Tale of Two Times Two Markets“ was the number of distressed sales (in foreclosure, a short sale or a bank owned property, REO) increasing for homes priced $800,000 to $2,000,000, especially up valley. By up valley I mean the Cities of St. Helena, Calistoga, Angwin, Deer Park, Oakville, Rutherford and the Town of Yountville. Today, there are 5 distressed sales of 80 active listings in this price range, compared to 3 of 79 on February 1st. Keep tuning in for this as a new monthly stat I will regularly tract from now own. Next look April 1st.
Last Friday I attended the quarterly Northern California CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) Chapter Educational/Networking meeting held here in Napa. The guest speaker was Bob Hart, who is a California Real Estate Broker and teaches the NAR (National Association of Realtors) Green Designation Course, and the topic of his presentation was “Practical Green For REALTORS”. One of the sponsors there, JCP (JCP Disclosure Reports is the company I use when ordering a Natural Hazards Report) handed out a great little reminder from the Red Cross about being prepared for disasters. Since we do live in EARTHQUAKE country, it reminded me of a few things I need to do to be prepared.
I have included a copy for you to read here and hopefully it will act as the same motivator for you to implement a few of these suggestions and become prepared. Just click on the image below for a readable version.
While reading posts on the approximately 20 blogs I subscribe to, I came across a post By Jeff Brown on Bloodhoundblog.com that made my blood boil and I am certain yours will do so also after viewing this. The video is the work of ThinkBigWorkSmall who I will subscribe to when I am done with this post. Here is a quote from Jeff Brown’s article which will give you a sense of the deal, maybe it should be called theft, One West Bank received when it purchased Indymac Bank from the FDIC in March 2009.
I know the FDIC went out of its way to issue a Press Release, denouncing the guys at Thing Big Work Small. I know those guys fairly well (had a few beers with them at the CAMB convention this summer). The FDIC denounced the video as “factually incorrect”, a day after it came out…then…
One West Bank, who bought the IndyMac portfolio for $1.55 Billion, earned 1.57 billion in its first year of operation. Now Jeff, youi’re a bright guy…what kind of bank earns 100% ROI in one year?
Here is the video from Jeff Brown’s post, but you can click on ThinkBigWorkSmall links above and go directly to their site.
