I've posted this on my blog before but it was a few years ago.

This is a photo tour of the contaminated area around the Chernobyl plant. A girl, equipped with a radiation detector, rides her motorcycle into the area and took photos. Quite interesting and educational.

Go to the web page here

Since the Dalidio ballot measure had the most $$$ ever spent on a campaign, I thought I'd take a look at final votes.

One thing that surprised me was the number of absentee votes (for the election, not just for Dalidio). 41,117 votes were cast at a polling place and 35,873 absentee votes.

For the Dalidio measure, 68.49% of the total absentee voted YES vs. 61.59% of polling place votes.

The precincts that had the highest percentage of YES votes were in Paso Robles. The polling place with the highest percentage of YES votes in Paso was the Plymouth Congregational Church Hall on Oak Street with 77.08%. The Creston Fire station polling place had the overall highest at 79.52% voting YES.

All precints in the County voted more than 50% YES on this issue, except the following:

Navitity of Our Lady Church, Daly Ave, SLO - 49.66% Yes
Zion Lutheran Fellowship Hall, Foothill Blvd, SLO - 46.99%
Congregational Church of Christ, Los Osos Vallley Blvd, SLO - 47.92%
San Luis Obispo Grange Hall, Broad St, SLO - 45.57%
Church of Christ- Lawton St, SLO - 42.29%
Grace Church- Pismo St, SLO - 37.33%
San Luis Obispo Veterans Bldg- Grand Ave, SLO - 47.74%
Ludwick Community Center, Santa Rosa St, SLO - 45.5%
Mount Carmel Lutheran Church, Fredericks St, SLO - 43.17%
Cal Poly Student Union Lobby, SLO - 45.93%
St. John's Lutheran Church, Valley Rd, Arroyo Grande - 47.83%

Here's another article about the housing market:

Home prices still getting weaker

First time in six years that any state reported prices falling over a 12-month period, government agency says. - Full article here

If you've been on Highway 101 in South Paso Robles lately, you probably have seen the new Chili's restaurant about to open. The Chili's folks are also going to the Arroyo Grande Planning Commission in December to try to move forward with modifying the former Vignetto's restaurant (near Trader Vicks).

From MSN Money- National Averages(APR): Low - 5.34% Average - 6.19% High - 7.17%

40-Year and 50-Year mortgages...are they really the miracle they may seem? I haven't yet found where they provide an advantage for my clients. But I continue to check as every borrower is different. Is there any reason to really consider these new options. Read the article here. Article link here

For lending questions call Margie @ 473-0309 or email margie@teammortgage.info .

Looks like the Arroyo Grande tax measure passed by 15 votes (3491 to 3476). The election is scheulded to be certified tomorrow by the County Recorder.

I've added another information service!

In continuing with my goal of providing a service that I would have wanted when I was looking for a home to buy, I've added a monthly report on Sold and Pending sales.

The home valuation tool I have on my website is the best I can find but it takes the information from the County Recorder. The plus is that it lists sales that aren't reported in the MLS (private, probate, FSBO, etc.). The negative is that the information is typically at least 3 weeks behind.

I'm now offering a monthly report that lists all the Sales for that month, plus list Pending sales. Currently, there is no way of telling if a home that is for sale has gone Pending sale. You'll only notice that it isn't showing up on a MLS search anymore but you won't know if that's because it's Pending or Off-Market (Withdrawn, Cancelled, Expired).

The date for the monthly reports is from the Central Coast MLS. Because there are restrictions placed on the usage of this data, I can't put the reports on my website and provide public acccess. I can only provide the report to clients or potential clients. That is why you'll see a statement at the bottom of the subscription form that you need to agree/disagree to.

You can sign up for the montly report here. Each month, I'll email you with a link and password to the latest report.

Looks like November will be the first month we had under 400 Pending sales in years. The to-date total is 322. I doubt we'll have lots of Pendings in the next 3 days.

I'll update the statistics in early December.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

I'm up in the Bay Area and went to a Comp USA last night. They opened from 9 PM-Midnight on Thanksgiving. I have never seen such a shopping craze. We got there about 9:17 pm. Not a parking space to be found. We parked across the street and walked over. In the store, you couldn't walk down the ailes. People everywhere. The lines to check out went all the way to the back of the store. Some people with shopping carts had their coats covering what was in their carts so I guess people wouldn't take the stuff.

We left and drove by Best Buy. There was already a line of about 35 people and it was COLD last night (at least compared to Central Coast temperatures!).

I think we're going to see more stores opening on Thanksgiving next year....

I hadn't heard if the Arroyo Grande sales tax measure passed or not so I went to the County Recorders site. As of today, 35 votes are still yet to be counted. There is only a 14 vote difference at this time. This one will definitely go down to the wire.

3490 - Yes
3476 - No

I get emails and calls from agents in other areas of the country asking how I get so many visitors to my sites. The reason is simple, my sites show up high in the search engines! This is not an easy task as real estate is one of the most competitive industries for search engine placement. For example, there are 4000+ Realtors on the Central Coast and 99% of agent websites won't be found by using a search engine. That's just the way the Internet works.

Every agent with a website wants to show up in the Top 10 of search engine results for the most competitive keyword searches, which for the real estate industry is "(city name) real estate". I use a multiple web site strategy to show up in the search engines and I'm constantly doing things to help with my rankings. It's rare that you can have one site rank well in the three popular search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) for a particular search phrase so that's why I use a multiple-site strategy. My main websites are www.SloCountyHomes.com and www.LocalLinks.com.

Not only are other agent websites in the area competing to be in the Top 10, but there are a lot of national websites wanting a spot in the Top 10 as well. There are Search Engine Optimization companies charging as much as $3,000 a month to assist Realtors to get their sites in the top 10 for a SINGLE search phrase.

Here's where my sites currently rank in Google for the most popular real estate search phrase for each city. Of course my goal is to be #1 in all of the following search phrases!

Search term (Ranking in Google)
-------------- --------
Arroyo Grande real estate (3)
Atascadero real estate (1)
Avila Beach real estate (2)
Cambria real estate (3)
Cayucos real estate (3)
Grover Beach real estate (3)
Los Osos real estate (4)
Morro Bay real estate (6)
Nipomo real estate (1)
Oceano real estate (2)
Orcutt real estate (2)
Paso Robles real estate (2)
Pismo Beach real estate (5)
San Luis Obispo real estate (7)
Santa Margarita real estate (4)
Santa Maria real estate (3)

There are other search phrases that people also use but not as much as the above ones. But, that doesn't mean my sites don't rank well for other terms as well. According to my web statistics for September 2006, I had a total of 7,038 people visit SloCountyHomes.com or LocalLinks.com through a search engine result page.

So, if an agent says they will market your property on their website, ask them how people find it. One thing about the Internet, it's really easy to verify claims.

Realtor.com Listings

When you list a home with a Realtor, your home will appear on Realtor.com unless your listing agent says not to when they enter the listing in the MLS system. There is no cost to the Realtor to put the listing on Realtor.com as that's part of our membership dues by being a Realtor. What you get for the free listing is basic information. One photo and some description of the property.

Realtors have the option of "enhancing" their listings on Realtor.com by paying adidtional money to the company that maintains Realtor.com. There are mutliple things a Realtor can do to enhance a listing including adding more photos, adding a virtual tour, putting in their own descriptions, putting a showcase banner around the listing in the search results, and other things. Most agents that pay for enhancements will do a couple of these.

You can see the difference between free and enhanced listings by looking at this page. You'll see my 670 Silver Charm listing about half way down the list. Enhancing a listing helps to make your home noticed by Buyers searching Realtor.com.

If you are interviewing agents to sell your home, make sure you go onto Realtor.com to see if they enhance their listings. This will give you an easy way of seeing how they market their listings. Unless you are paying for a limited service, wouldn't you want your home to be presented as best as possible?

Luxury home values posted slight gains in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco in the third quarter of 2006, according to the First Republic Prestige Home Index™ by First Republic Bank, a leading provider of wealth management and private banking services.

Full article here

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its 3rd quarter report on home prices.

David Lereah, NAR’s chief economist, said market conditions are nearly the opposite of a year ago. “Last year we had a record sales market and historically tight supplies of homes with buyers bidding over the asking price,” he said. “With the market in full transition, buyers now have choices and sellers are more willing to negotiate – under these circumstances it’s no surprise that overall home prices are slightly below a year ago. We expect this trend to continue in the months ahead, but we’ll see modest appreciation in most of the country in 2007.”

Full article here

Sidewalks, parks seen as help in obesity fight

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Sidewalks, parks and neighborhood stores could be part of the solution to the ever-expanding U.S. waistline, according to a new report.

Writing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers offer a top-10 list of ways to turn sedentary cities and suburbs into "activity-friendly" communities. The point, they say, is to fight obesity by encouraging people to get more incidental activity into their daily lives.

One of the main goals is to give people reasons to get out of their cars. This includes building more sidewalks and intermingling residential and commercial buildings so that more people will walk to the store or the movie theater instead of driving.

full article here

The change in the real estate market is starting to take its toll. An article in today's Trib quoted an owner of a San Luis Obispo brokerage saying that for the last 6 months, his business didn't generate enough money to pay the office rent.

I don't think it's just the number of transactions that is the reason why Realtors are starting to leave the business, but the impact of the Internet as well. SloCountyHomes.com had its best month in October and November is shaping up to be a great month as well!

Smart Money magazine released it's lastest "most overvauled" housing cities. They looked at 152 markets (SLO wasn't one of them).

Here are the most overvalued areas (guess which state dominates the list?!):

1) Naples, FL
2) Miami, FL
3) Santa Barbara
4) Riverside-San Bernardino
5) Modesto
6) Salinas
7) Stockton
8) Los Angeles
9) Merced
10) Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce, FL
11) San Jose
12) Sarasota-Venice, FL
13) San Diego
14) Fresno
15) Vallejo-Fairfield
16) Ventura
17) Fort Myers, FL
18) San Francisco
19) Vero Beach, FL
20) Atlantic City, NJ


Read the article here

The 13th Annual America's Safest (and Most Dangerous Cities) report was just released.

San Luis Obispo was included as one of the 344 Metro Areas but it didn't appear in the Top 25 Safest Metro Areas. The good news is that it didn't appear in the bottom 25 either. I didn't pay for the full report to see where SLO was ranked.

See the top 25/bottom 25 lists here

Here is the SF Bay Area Housing Market data for October 2006 from DataQuick. It compares # of Solds and median home prices to October 2005. For the entire Bay Area, there were 24% fewer solds in Oct 2006 vs. Oct 2005 median home price was flat (0.0%). Here is the information by County. The percentage at the end is change in Median Home Price.

Alameda -27.5% drop in # of solds, 1.2%
Contra Costa -21.2% $drop in # of solds,-5.4%
Marin -27.6% $drop in # of solds .3.3%
Napa -25.1% drop in # of solds,-8.7%
San Francisco-13.6% drop in # of solds -0.9%
San Mateo -13.4% drop in # of solds.-1.8%
Santa Clara -22.9% drop in # of solds. 3.0%
Solano -35.4% drop in # of solds. -2.9%
Sonoma -28.9% drop in # of solds,-5.9%

From MSN Money- National Averages(APR): Low - 5.45% Average - 6.17% High - 7.17%

The big discussion is should I invest my home's equity or should I be pushing myself to pay off my debts and live debt free? The article link for Huge Debts Paid Off Fast discusses ways to pay all your debt down. Read Article Here

According to the latest traffic safety study, these are the most dangerous intersections in San Luis Obispo-

Santa Rosa and Marsh
Pismo and Chorro
Pismo and Santa Rosa
Pismo and Morro
Monterey and Osos

"Search MLS" listings just got a bit more complex

The National Association of Realtors today adopted a new policy allowing agents to choose what listings they want displayed on their web site searches. This is in response to the Department of Justice saying that MLSs can't restrict certain types of listings from the system, such as limited service or MLS-only listings which are FSBOs with MLS advertising. So, instead of the MLSs deciding which the DOJ didn't like, they are giving the decision to their agent members.

Members can also restrict display of listings based on location and commission offered by the Listing Broker.

One thing I will say now...SloCountyHomes.com will display all the listings that are in the data file I receive! I won't filter out the ones that give lower commissions or listings from a discount broker.

While on this topic, I will add that if a web site advertises "Search ALL the MLS listings" this is false advertising. Brokers can choose not to display any of their listings through public websites (and some choose not to). The listing data I, and everyone other agent gets, is a subset of the total MLS listings. While 99%+ listings are in there, it's still false advertising to claim that their search includes ALL mls listings. The only way of searching ALL the MLS listings is if an agent searches the system with their valid login. If the agent that is claiming to have ALL MLS listings on their website search is a Realtor, they are also violating one of the Realtor Code of Ethics.

If you're waiting somewhere and want something to keep you busy (doctors office, DMV, etc.), pick up an issue of a real estate magazine and look for the ads that claim this.

I was in Avila Beach today and took this photo. If you haven't been to Avila for a year or more, there is lots of building going on. It seemed like not too long ago we were looking at the Avila Grocery wondering when it was going to open. Now there are condos being built on almost every street clsoe to the pier. They said Avila was going to change into an upscale resort beach town after the oil cleanup was done and it's starting to feel that way.

Boy, Cal Poly is doing things right. They don't seem to have a problem raising money. An article in today's trib talked about what Poly will do with the expected $16 Million they'll get from the education proposition that was passed last week. Plans are to take $4.6 Million and add to the $18 Million they have from private funding to replace the current science and mathamatics building. Maybe the Lucia Mar School District can only ask Cal Poly if they can help them think of a way to get some extra cash to pay the teachers competitive salaries.

Housing Market Expected to "Coast" Into 2007 With Modest Price Gains

Following a correction in home sales and prices in 2006, existing-home sales are expected to "coast" at roughly the same level next year, although there will be some additional decline in the new-home market, according to a forecast released today at the National Association of Realtors Conference & Expo in New Orleans.

Full article here

From MSN Money- National Averages(APR): Low - 5.56% Average - 6.24% High - 7.17%

We all hear and read everyday that the real estate market is in for a foreclosure storm. I think that storm is brewing as I type. If you are one of the many Californians that has a huge mortgage in danger of default and your home's value is sliding, then you might consider a short-sale before it's too late. A short-sale is acheived when your lender agrees to accept a short-pay of your mortgage when your home is sold. Yes, it might affect your credit but not as badly as foreclosure.

You'll need to work with a knowledgable real estate agent to list your home and assist you in conducting the short-sale paperwork with your lender. Be prepared to disclose everything that could affect the approval of your short-pay.

• How delinquent your payments have become and whether or not you are in foreclosure
• How delinquent are your property taxes
• Do you have an impound account for your taxes and insurance
• Might there be any liens and judgements that may attach to the property, including child support, creditor judgements, lawsuits, IRS and FTB liens
• Any possible additional ownership to the property (unrecorded deeds or possible spousal interest)
• Are you in bankruptcy or do you plan to file in the immediate future

Seek tax and legal advice before you begin, but don't wait too long as the clock might already be ticking.

Here are the voting results from the SLO County Clerk-Recorder

I've received a couple of requests to add California Valley to the MLS neighborhood map search so I did. If you choose Santa Margarita from the navigation menu, you'll now see California Valley as a subchoice. I also added Santa Margarita Lake.

Are there any other neighborhoods you would like to be added to the navigation bar to make it easy to keep up on available real estate? If so, just send me an email or fill out the form under "Contact Keith" with the neighborhoods you'd like to see on the navigation menu.

The Automated Home Value tool on my website has been improved. First, you don't have to wait to get the report in your email as it runs and displays the report for you after you hit submit (give it a few seconds to run).

Second, you don't need to put in a valid email address if you don't want to. Before, you needed to do this to receive the report. If you've run home value reports from this tool before, you know I didn't do anything with your email address like put you on one of those "canned" real estate mailing newsletter lists. I know that you might have been burned before by one of those sites requiring you to enter in your contact information only to find out that you don't get any instant info, just a call from a salesperson. Some agent websites still require you to register before you can search the MLS but NOT SloCountyHomes.com! So, to further my offerings of anonymous real estate information gathering, you can now get your automated report anonymously too. Just enter in some address like b@b.com so the system will accept it. All I ask is that you remember SloCountyHomes.com if you need a professional Realtor to help you buy or sell a home. I have a team of Realtors around the County that can help you based on your particular needs.

Lastly, the information that is used to calculate the online home valuations has also improved. Previously, details about a home (like square footage, # of bedrooms, etc.) was missing for most properties but that is no longer the case.

Click here to use the IMPROVED home valuation tool! There is also a link to it on the home page.

Also remember that you can lookup homes in any part of the U.S. with this tool.

ps. I'd appreciate it if you would help spread the word about the info I provide on SloCountyHomes.com !!! THANKS

The local CBS TV station (KCBY) has a pretty good deal. You can buy restaurant cards for $20 which are worth $40 in food. I picked one up for Two Blocks from the Beach awhile ago and took my wife there. For $20, it was a deal! You can order them here

I know some of you read my Blog to keep up with happenings around the area. Here are a couple business updates:

- Copeland has sold his sports chain to Sports Authority. He recently bought the stores back from the company he sold it to years ago. The chain had filed bankruptcy. No word on what will happen with the downtown store. Sports Authority was one of the ones tied to Dalidio's marketplace so it probably depends on how the vote goes tomorrow.

- The Madonna Inn is adding a large pool, 2 hot tubs, and a day spa to the Inn. It is expected to be completed in July.

I'm finding that memories of a particular place are better than a present-day visit. Latest example...the Fremont Theatre in downtown SLO.

I have lots of fond memories of the Fremont. I went to LOTS of midnight movies there in the early 80's plus remember seeing Aliens there for the first time and Pink Floyd's The Wall. I've stayed away from the Fremont these days since the last time I went, I remember having someone sitting in front of me blocking part of the screen. I guess I've come to expect stadium seating these days.

I did go there last Friday. The Borat movie was advertised to be in the Downtown Cinema and not playing at the Regal in Arroyo Grande where I go see most of the movies. I arrived at the Downtown Cinema only to be greeted with a sign in the window saying Borat was not at the Fremont so I quickly walked over to it. $9 was the ticket price.

My first stop at the consession stand resulted in popcorn and a large drink. Smaller drink than at the Regal and no refills, but the same price. The seats were uncomfortable with not much leg room. My knee was wedged on the seat in front of me. Were people not as big back in the days when the Fremont was built?? Luckily someone didn't sit in front of me but the person sitting 2 rows down did block a bit of the screen at the bottom. To top it off, the popcorn didn't taste good.

While the artistic decor of the Fremont is still cool, I won't be running back to spend $20 (ticket and food) anytime soon...

I get a fair number of questions about space rent for mobile home parks so I decided to put together a mobile home park section on the website. You can see it here.

A new sandwich place recently opened on the border of Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande. Located behind the China Buffet on Oak Park is Stacked Sandwiches. Very Tasty.

If you go, tell Brad and Lisa that Keith sent you!

We're losing another local icon by mid next year. Mid State Bank was recently sold to a Dutch-based bank. When the deal is complete the banks will be renamed. No closures are expected but you never know what the new owner will do.

I updated the www.SloWatch.com site with October's MLS stats. I also ran inventory reports for the individual cities.

October 2006 - Central Coast MLS Statistics - Residential
New - 670
Back on market - 252
Pendings - 411
Price reductions - 1101
Contingent -46
Sold - 308
Expired - 424
Inactive - 407

From MSN Money- National Averages(APR): Low - 5.57% Average - 6.27% High - 7.17%

Steady as she goes...That's what we are seeing in the mortgage market. Good news!

What's the really good news? As the market changes, more wholesale loan products are available with great flexibility. Today I found several companies that had programs offering financing for investment properties needing a 100% refinance with stated income!!! No way...just last year the answer would range from NO to 90-95% loan to value max.

We'll see more flexibility as more and more people need to come out of the Option ARMs that are/were so popular.