I realize, I am very enthusiastic about Yountville and how often I portray it as ”the quintessential enclave” which I am fortunate enough to reside in and also have my office here. Yet, there is another part of the Napa Valley which many of us who live and work here experience on a near daily basis, the City of Napa. Quite often I find myself describing Napa as an “All American blue collar town”, one with many similarities to a mid-west town I spent a few of my growing-up years spent in, Massillon, Ohio. What is true about many world famous areas which attract large numbers of visitors, these places take on a certain persona and many of those who do pop in for a day or two, often wonder what is the truth about living there. 

Just recently, I came across this article in the Napa Register,   ”YouTuber surmounts fears to produce Napa documentary“, and finally had a chance to view the video referred to in the story. All I can say that based upon my 30 plus years of being here, this is one of the best portrayals of the City of Napa I have seen from a local’s perspective . Seth Herbey’s YouTube video, “City of Napa, California – Documentary of my hometown”, is worth the time it takes to view it and I hope it gives you a better insight into the Truth of what normal, daily life is like here. Enjoy

This is a weekly feature to keep you informed about the real estate happenings in Yountville. Besides just real estate info, I hope to give the readers of my blog some insight into the heart of Yountville using a variety of media including photos, tidbits, gossip and other fun things. If this is of interest to you, I would love hearing from you. If there are other cities here in the Napa Valley, such as St. Helena or Calistoga, you would like this feature expanded to, let me know. 

STATS

last 7 days acivity     new listings  1    sale pending  1    sold  0    expired  0    withdrawn  0

new listing(s)          1510 Yountville Cross Road, $3,400,000, 4 br, 4 ba, 3,417 SF 1.35 acre

new pending(s)       34 Forrester Lane, $849,000, 3 br, 2.5 ba, 1,897 SF

             Facts, numbers, SF from BAREIS and/or Napa County tax records, not guaranteed

current active listings for sale    23      average price  $1,291,557   average days on market  104

current sale pendings                2       average price  $765,000   average days on market 184

sold in last 6 months                 10       average price  $626,500   average days on market 154

FACTS ETC

My FACTS ETC this week is copied from the Studio 707 blog who did a wonderful job covering the YOUNTVILLE PHOTO BOOTH PROJECT by Phil Sherburne. Truly a unique and Yountville type of happening. If you get a chance to drop by, it is still up.

Yountville “Facebook” Installed This Week

photo booth mural Photos by Ashley Teplin

Pacific Northwest urban planner- turned- sustainable developer, Phil Sherburne, collaborated with San Francisco photographer Christopher Irion this month to rally people who live or work in the small Napa Valley town of Yountville for a community portrait.  Monday night the two men hosted a block party to celebrate the installation of the portrait, a composite of hundreds of large-format individual and group images that stretches along a sidewalk in the town center.

(Left to right) Alexander Treu of the Di Rosa Preserve and Ashley Teplin, Studio 707, work with photographer Christopher Irion to mount the 215 images he took in his PhotoBooth for Yountville’s Community Portrait.“I’ve been thinking about Facebook and what it means to the people who participate,” said Sherburne. “I’ve decided this is the facebook of Yountville,” he said, gesturing toward the images of locals.  Both Sherburne and Irion said they consider the wall to be a celebration of community here and everywhere.   “It’s not about the art,” said Irion.  “It’s about all of you.  Thank-you for taking the risk to participate.”

Phil Sherburne introduces townspeople to Arborica’s Evan Shively who not only sourced and milled reclaimed lumber for the Bardessono inn and spa, but arrived with his wife, Madeline and Chef Annie Gingrass and his portable, wood-fired oven to create artisan pizzas for the block party.Irion has now traveled across the United States carrying his portable, handmade PhotoBooth in a Volkswagen Eurovan documenting communities from coast to coast.  Sherburne, who underwrote the project, founded an even smaller community than Yountville on Decatur Island in the San Juans 25 years ago.  Next winter, he will open a new inn in the Town of Yountville he hopes will achieve Platinum LEED Certification.

Yountville’s block party drew several hundred locals who enjoyed pizzas created by Madeleine and Evan Shively and Ann Gingrass in Evan’s portable wood-fired pizza oven.  Shively is the owner of Aborica

The Community Portrait wall will be up until Yountville’s November Festival of Lights installation.

Click here for images of the PhotoBooth installation party from Monday, August 11.
Photos by Ashley Teplin

Click here for images of the PhotoBooth installation.
Photos by Ashley Teplin and Pamela Hunter

Click here for the PhotoBooth picture taking day in Yountville on July 10 and 12.
Photos by Ashley Teplin and Christopher Irion

Posted by Pamela at 5:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0) | Bardessono Inn and Spa  

I came accross this table while reading a post from therealestatebloggers.com. Sometimes I think price here in the Napa Valley are a bit on the high side, but when compared to these, not so bad!!

Median sold home prices for July 2008

                      Napa County $445,000

                      Napa            $455,000

                      Yountville     $1,062,500 (1 sale)           St. Helena      $1,167,500 (2 sales) 

When it comes to real estate, California is a schizophrenic place. You have some parts of the state that can not sell a home if it is not a foreclosure while other parts are seeing dramatic price increases. Los Gatos has had a 36.6% increase over the past year while Mill Valley is up 28.6%.

So to show that the world has not come to an end when you talk about California real estate, take a look at the average prices in these cities.

California -  The Top 10 Cities With The Highest Median Home Prices

1. Manhattan Beach, $1.77 million
2. Los Gatos, $1.42 million
3. Mill Valley, $1.37 million
4. Burlingame, $1.29 million
5. Calabasas, $1.18 million
6. Newport Beach, $1.14 million
7. Cupertino, $1.04 million
8. Rancho Palos Verdes, $1 million
9. San Carlos, $975,000 
10. Danville, $930,000

Pacific Business News