For my mom's birthday, I brought her a bundt cake from KK's Gourmet Bundt Cakes in Arroyo Grande. YUMMMMMMY! If you haven't tried one of these cakes you're missing out.

Here's their website

I've been in the Bay Area the past few days for my mom's 88th B-day. For the first time I can remember, gas prices up here are higher than the Central Coast. I paid $4.29 for regular.

Foreclosures are impacting neighborhoods everywhere. A house on near my parents was listed for $599,000 six months ago. It went REO and was relisted at $429,000. Ouch!

Pending Sales on the Central Coast have picked up since my last blog about them. Right now, we're at 510 for the month. I'll be doing the monthly statistics updates this weekend.

Ryan's Mortgage Blog:

The Down Payment requirement is another concern you need to be aware of when purchasing a home in today's market. While it was usually standard to put at least 20% down several years ago(20^th century), many people received loans over the last 5 or so years by putting very little (5% - 15%) or nothing down at all. Well, reality has struck the lending industry and requirements of late have gotten stricter as to how much you need to put down to qualify for a loan. There are still programs/loans out there for those who are first time homebuyers or who have little to put down but the rates are not that great. Think about it...who is more likely to "walk away" from paying their mortgage, someone who just put 20% down or someone who put 5% down? On a $500,000 loan that is a difference of $100,000. So to get a good rate today be ready to put at least 20% down, and if there are some questions as to your credit history, maybe put 30-40% down.

Taken directly from my company's website here is some more info on Down Payment:

Documenting that the down payment comes from your savings and that you will have savings and/or assets over and above the down payment gives the lender confidence in your strength as a borrower and your ability to repay the loan.

Take extra care to document the sources for any monies to be used for the down payment or closing costs. Do not transfer large sums of money without first discussing with your mortgage consultant.

Acceptable Down Payment & Closing Costs Sources:

• Cash in a bank account
• Mutual funds / stocks / IRA / 401K
• Proceeds from the sale of another property
• Gift from an immediate relative
• Liquidation of any asset
• Borrow against an asset (401K)

If you have any questions or would like a rate quote, please contact me at RBaker@PeregrineLending.com or 805-540-0866.

Have you seen the visitor map that's at the bottom of the right column of this blog?

http://www4.clustrmaps.com/counter/maps.php?url=http://www.slocountyhomes.com/real_estate_weblog.htm

It's amazing to me where people are reading this blog from! And the visitor map is only from the last 2 months.

Poly's alcohol consumption above average

This is from Cal Poly's Mustang Daily...

"According to random surveys of approximately 1,600 new Cal Poly students taken in 2002 and 2005, a combined 46.5 percent of students reported drinking alcohol multiple times per week, with 8.7 percent drinking almost daily. "

"When we look at alcohol consumption by students, Cal Poly is among the highest in the CSU system," said Martin Bragg, psychologist and director of Cal Poly Health and Counseling Services."

There is an effort to create a statewide MLS in California. So far, 61 out of the 70 local MLS Associations in the state have expressed interest in wanting to join. It won't happen overnight as there are many things that need to be worked out.

What it means is that any agent in the state will have access to the property details (including confidential remarks) and can sell the home. Today, if an out-of-town Broker wants to sell on the Central Coast, they would need to join the local MLS. One benefit of a statewide MLS is that Brokers won't have to join multiple MLSs so they save money. But what about the effect on the home seller?

There are still things that need to be worked out such as how agents will show properties. Will there be a common lockbox where every agent in the state can access to get the key? Will out-of-area agents just send their clients to the Central Coast with the confidential seller info to call to see their home since the agent won't be accompanying them?

I've seen some agents abuse lockboxes. Some feel they are entitled to have access to a home. I hope that we don't see out-of-town agents decide to inconvenience homeowners saying they want to "preview" a home when they really have no clients that are interested. Going into peoples homes because you area an agent and are curious should not be something to do when they are on vacation and looking for something to do.

There is also checks and balances by having everything local. If an agent from a local Brokerage leaves a door open or creates another type of problem, the Listing Agent can deal with the local Broker and agent. Other Broker's don't want to do things that will make other agents not show one of their listings. But what's going to keep an agent from Eureka from not abusing the new "system"?

Right now, when an out-of-area agent has a client they do a "referral" with a local Broker/agent. That gives the Buyer someone that knows the area and the local info for the city that they are looking to buy in. I really don't see what value there is to have someone that doesn't know the area or local city ordinances represent a Buyer.

I hope I'm missing something and there really are some benefits to the home seller to have a statewide MLS.

If you've been in the Bay Area over the past 30 or so years, you're probably familiar with Dennis Richmond who was the anchor of the 10 o'clock news on KTVU (channel 2). Dennis retired a few days ago after 40 years with the station.

I watched Mr. Richmond for many years and really liked him. When I was going to Cal Poly in the late 70's/early 80's the cable company in SLO at the time (Sonic Cable) broadcast Channel 2 so I was able to watch the 10 o'clock news from here too. The Bay Area will miss him!

Here's an article on his retirement

I mapped the foreclosure sales since Jan 1st for SLO County and Santa Maria/Orcutt. These links are also on the www.SloWatch.com homepage.

To zoom in on the map, first click on the area you want to center the map on and then hit the "+".

REO Solds Map - SLO County - 1/1/08 - 5/25/08

REO Solds Map - Santa Maria/Orcutt - 1/1/08 - 5/25/08

Short Sale Solds Map - SLO County - 1/1/08 - 5/25/08

Short Sale Solds Map -Santa Maria/Orcutt - 1/1/08 - 5/25/08

I forgot what gas prices were a few years ago so I thought I'd go back down memory lane. The chart above shows the average price since 2002 (click the graph for a larger one).

I made a calculation error on the percentage of foreclosures for SLO County for the pendings post yesterday. It should be 31%, not 46%.

I updated the inventory reports for individual cities for single family homes. These show the actives as of yesterday displayed by price range. The Days on Market is also included.

You can use these to compare how much inventory there currently is vs. other reports on the page, see how many homes there are in a particular price range if you're considering selling, and find out how long it's taking for homes to sell.

The Inventory Reports are listed under the "City Stats" section of the SloWatch.com home page. You can jump to them by clicking here.

I added a new chart to the www.SloWatch.com home page. It shows the number of new REO listings since January 2007 for Santa Maria/Orcutt and SLO County.

Foreclosures continue to be a big percentage of activity in Santa Maria/Orcutt. Of the 106 Pending Sales of single family homes so far this month, 72% of them are foreclosures. Here's the breakdown:

60 - REO
16 - Short Sale
30 - non-foreclosure


In SLO County, 46% of the month-to-date pendings for single family homes are foreclosures:

42 - REO
9 - Short Sale
111 - non-foreclosure

Some fast facts:

Calif. median home price - March 08: $413,980 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region February 08: Santa Barbara So. Coast $1,140,000 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region February 08: High Desert $210,66-(Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index - First Quarter 08: 44 percent (Source: C.A.R.)

Mortgage rates - week ending 05/15/08
30-yr. fixed: 6.01% Fees/points: 0.6%
15-yr. fixed: 5.60% Fees/points: 0.5%
1-yr. adjustable: 5.18 % Fees/points: 0.7% (Source: Freddie Mac)

Right on cue...

We're now seeing the newspaper articles come out about how much Sales have picked up. They are reporting April Sales which were Feb/March pendings. You'll see similar articles a month from now that will be talking about May solds (or March/April pendings).

Right now, we're at 346 Pendings for the month. We're going to need to start getting more deals closed to break 500 for the month. Even if we get there, that will be a 20% drop from last month's Pendings but you won't hear anything about that in the newspapers until July.

Ryan's Mortgage Blog:
A client of mine, we'll call him Bob, had an interesting thing happened to him recently while dealing with his current lender, which I will not name but lets just say they are one of the big name lenders, but for now we will call them XYZ. Bob chose to go with my company for his refinance recently and his lender, XYZ got wind of it because we had ordered a payoff request from them. They gave him a call and tried to play ball. which is normal. Their quote to him was very similar to ours and he decided to stick with us (smart man). A week later XYZ called and said rates would be going up tomorrow and if Bob gave them his credit card number they could "lock" the rate in that day for a charge of $600. They told him they could beat our rate by 1/8% but he would have to "lock" in immediately. This makes no sense and is not common or ethical practice. It should not cost you money to lock in a rate, or at least our company doesn’t charge to do it, nor do I know of any others that do. I really hope this isn't a new trend with big name lenders, but this is probably just an isolated incident of a loan officer trying to make money. I just wanted to share this with you guys so you could be aware of it while you are out shopping for rates.

If you want a legitimate FREE rate quote, feel free to contact me at RBaker@PeregrineLending.com or 805-540-0866

The American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement, through Sperling’s BestPlaces, conducted a study, revealing the nation’s top 10 most – and least – heart friendly cities for women. The study considered a variety of risk factors includiing obesity, smoking rates and general health statistics.

San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles was ranked #3 in the nation for metro areas!

1. Boulder, CO
2. Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, ME
3. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA
4. Fort Collins-Loveland, CO
5. Ann Arbor, MI

See the full list here

The National Association of Realtors (sorry REALTORS® to follow guidelines) released their latest member profile report. Here are some stats included in it:

- the typical member is 52 years old, works 40 hours per week and specializes in residential brokerage; 60 percent are women.

- The median REALTOR income was $42,600 in 2007, down from $47,700 in 2006

- REALTORS in the business for two years or less earned a median of $10,500, while those with three to five years of experience earned $34,600. For six to 15 years, the median was $52,000, while members in the business for 16 years or more earned $69,500. (Note: $10,500 is below the poverty level)

- Overall membership edged down 1.5 percent from a record in 2006. Those in the business for two years or less dropped to 18 percent of overall membership from 23 percent in 2006.

- 93 percent must obtain health insurance on their own.

- Only 5 percent of members report real estate is their first career, and most bring expertise and experience from other fields. Prior careers include management, business or financial, 18 percent; sales or retail, 16 percent; office or administrative support, 10 percent; education, 6 percent; and homemaker, 5 percent. Eleven other categories were each 4 percent or less

- Women account for 52 percent of brokers, and 71 percent of full-time sales agents. Five percent of all REALTORS® are under 30 years of age while another 6 percent are 30 to 34 years old; 14 percent are 65 or over.

- Six out of 10 members have a personal Web site, which they have maintained for a median of four years, while 89 percent report their firm has a Web site; 73 percent have a home office. The typical member received four inquires over the past year from a personal Web site. (SloCountyHomes.com receives around 4 inquiries EVERY DAY!)

- Technology is increasingly important to REALTORS success. Ninety-two percent use e-mail daily or nearly every day, 88 percent use computers and 82 percent cell phones.

Thomas, who is overseas but planning to move back to the USA soon, sent me this link that shows a school's API performance on a map. Thx Thomas!

Click here for the site

Of the 129 homes in SLO County that have gone Pending in May thus far, here's the breakdown:

16 - Arroyo Grande
19 - Atascadero
1 - Cambria
1 - Cayucos
5 - Grover Beach
5 - Los Osos
8 - Morro Bay
9 - Nipomo
2 - Oceano
5 - Pismo Beach
32 - Paso Robles
1 - Shandon
17 - San Luis Obispo
3 - San Miguel
1 - Santa Margarita
4 - Templeton

Listing Price Range	Quantity	Average DOM
$180,000 thru $199,999	2	67
$200,000 thru $249,999	8	40
$250,000 thru $299,999	7	56
$300,000 thru $349,999	19	59
$350,000 thru $399,999	12	44
$400,000 thru $449,999	9	78
$450,000 thru $499,999	12	114
$500,000 thru $549,999	7	42
$550,000 thru $599,999	15	171
$600,000 thru $649,999	8	70
$650,000 thru $699,999	9	155
$700,000 thru $749,999	3	187
$750,000 thru $799,999	4	74
$800,000 thru $849,999	1	105
$850,000 thru $899,999	1	4
$950,000 thru $999,999	4	21
$1,000,000 thru $1,249,999	3	46
$1,250,000 thru $1,499,999	2	300
$1,500,000 thru $1,749,999	3	157
	129	90

If you use Charter's Internet service, they have recently started keeping track of where users go. They are doing this in four "test" markets, with San Luis Obispo being one of them. Just like what Realtor.com is doing, they want this data so they can better target their advertising.

My belief is that Internet Service Providers shouldn't "snoop" at all. They say that they won't keep individual user info but in realty, they do gather that info too but just say they just won't store it.

You can go to this site www.charter.com/onlineprivacy and fill out a form if you want to opt-out of their web tracking. When you fill out the form, it installs a cookie on your computer (a small piece of code). If you use different browsers or have different users on your computer, you need to fill out the form using every browser and every user also has to fill it out too.

If you are real concered about privacy, you can use a program like Ghost Surf. It uses what's called a proxy server. What this means is that you will connect to one server on Ghost Surf's network and that server then goes out and makes all the connections to the sites you are wanting to surf. You can also encrypt the data between Ghost Surf's proxy server and your PC so no one along the data highway can snoop (like Charter).

Here's the mid-month market check...

Through yesterday we've had 275 pending sales on the Central Coast. If the second half of the month has the same amount of activity, we'll end up with about 10% fewer pending sales than we did last month. Still too early to predict but I would say that we probably won't continue the upward trend in market activity that we've seen since the first of the year.

Of the 168 pendings thus far in SLO County, 28 are REOs and 10 Short Sales. In Santa Maria/Orcutt, of the 107 pendings, 48 are REOs and 15 Short Sales.

I do sense that things have slowed down recently and other Realtors I've talked to agree. Hopefully, things will pick up in the second half of the month.

Beware when you register on Realtor.com!

The company that manages Realtor.com, Move Inc., continues to struggle with earnings and their stock dropped over 10% this week alone. They are coming out with a new interface with Realtor.com and going to be adding other stuff (such as Zillow-like valuations) later this year to try to keep visitors coming to the site. But, they are also looking how to beef up advertising revenue from national companies. It appears one way is to utilize the contact info when someone registers on the site. This is from the transcript of their latest quarterly conference call which happened last week:

"As our improved consumer experience generates longer and more repeated session time, this registration process is enabling us to capture more information about our consumers, understand their needs and translate that in to extremely targeted and valuable advertising opportunities. "

So, your contact info will be translated into "extremely targeted and valuable advertising opportunities" which sounds like your info will be sold to some advertiser.

I am proud to say that none of the information that you put in to receive any of my reports is used for anything other than getting you the information you requested!

The next missle launch from Vandenberg is scheduled for next Thursday. This is a ICBM test that will impact south of Guam. The launch window is 3 AM - 9 AM. If you wake up hearing something on Thursday, this is probably what it is.

The next launch after this will carry a satellite and is scheduled on June 15 between 1:47-1:56 AM.

Huckleberry's opened yesterday in Pismo Beach where Perko's used to be (next to 101 and across from the Outlet center). Huckleberry's is a new chain that's owned by the same company that owns Perko's.

I went there for lunch. So the interior was a major improvement over Perko's. They are open for breakfast and lunch only. I don't know any other way of saying this about the food other than it's "a Perko's with jambalaya". The breakfast menu is similar to a Perko's/Denny's/Coco's/etc. and the lunch menu is pretty limited with $10 sandwiches being the focus. They do have a cajun chicken on the menu and call their bar-be-que sauce "bourbon" but that's as Southern as it gets.

Bummer....I was hoping for something different.

Ryan's Mortgage Blog:
I am going to have to keep today's blog short and sweet. The flu bug has caught me again...or my allergies have gone crazy, one of the two. While researching some specifications on FHA loans I came across something interesting for those of you who have a FHA loan. They are giving refunds from part of the insurance premium for certain borrowers. To see if you qualify click here .
Over the last week 5 Year ARM rates have dropped, probably because everyone is scared to get one since "ARM" are to blame for part of the mortgage mess. If you aren't afraid of them and learn how to make it work for you, now is a good time for a 5 year ARM. The 30 year fixed (which is becoming oh so popular once again) rates are on the slight rise.

If you have any mortgage related questions feel free to contact me at RBaker@PeregrineLending.com or 805-540-0866

Here's my "Best of" choices for 2008:

Best Tasting Dish under $10-
Chicken Enchiladas Mole, Chlie Peppers, Broad&South St, SLO

Best Hot Dog that doesn't cost over $4 -
Der Weinershnitzel, Atascadero & Santa Maria

Best Tri-tip sandwich-
Firestone Grill, SLO

Best question to ponder at Farmers Market-
"Why is the McLintock's line always so long?"

Best parking lot to get hit in-
Chili's, Arroyo Grande :)

Best Thai restaurant-
Thai Basil, Paso Robles

Best and most filling dinner under $15-
AJ Spurs everyday specials menu, Templeton, Grover Beach, Santa Maria (soon)

Best disc golf park-
Waller Park, Santa Maria

Best walking trail that's easy to walk (no hills)-
Poly Canyon, Cal Poly

Best place to buy a soda-
McDonald's 99 cent 44 oz'ers

Best concert in the last year-
Aerosmith, Mid-State Fair

Food not to eat in your car-
Garlic fries, Bel Frites, San Luis Obispo (smell stayed in my wife's car for over a week!)

Best beach to go to when you don't want to be around people-
Hazards, Montana De Oro, Los Osos

Best place to take your significant other on a nice Central Coast night-
Sycamore Mineral Springs hot tubs, Avila Beach

Best lunch deal-
Most chinese and thai restaurants (except the chinese buffets in AG and SLO)

Best mexican restaurant (food and value)-
Mexican Viejo, Arroyo Grande

Best chips and salsa-
Burrito Loco, Santa Maria, Arroyo Grande

Best sandwich place at lunchtime if you don't mind waiting-
High Street Deli, San Luis Obispo

Best pizza-
(tie) Woodstock's wheat crust, San Luis Obispo
Straw Hat Pizza "The Works" special on Saturdays, Santa Maria

Best pinball machines-
Gino's Pizza, Pismo Beach

Best restaurant that would be nice to have in the area-
fondue

Best real estate agents-
The Keith Byrd Team, Century 21 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Century 21 was voted "Best Real Estate Company" once again in the New Times Best Of issue that is on the street this week. Having a Century 21 yard sign in front of a house you are selling is a benefit! Both for the nationwide name recognition and local reputation.

I updated the Just Sold reports tonite (residential, lots, multi-family, and foreclosure solds).

http://www.slocountyhomes.com/just_sold.htm

http://www.slocountyhomes.com/reo.htm

As of Monday, it will cost Realtors a bit more to send those "Just Listed" postcards.

The postage rates go up to 42 cents for first class, post cards go up a penny as well to 27 cents.

You might want to run down to Costco tomorrow and buy some of those Forever stamps if you haven't done so yet.

Well, I finally made a trip to the new Chili's in Arroyo Grande on Wednesday evening. My wife and I went early enough (4:30'ish) to beat the crowds. Food was good, service wasn't. Then it got worse. The parking lot was packed and people driving around looking for a space. I was backing out and saw another car backing down the lane towards me! I didn't have time to put in in drive or honk the horn before the "crunch". The other car put a nice big dent in my bumper. I don't know if they saw a car coming out of a space and put their car in reverse without looking to get that space before any other car. My futher shock was when I talked to the insurance company and found out the other driver said that they were stopped and I ran into her! UNBELIEVEABLE. She even said she ran into me after the accident but I guess she talked to her husband or just decided to lie on her own. The car (minivan) is insured by a Santa Maria company so maybe that has something to do with her not taking responsibility for hitting me. The damage to my car is $1000 (my deductable) and she had minimal damage to the edge of her rear bumper. I have pictures from the accident showing the scratch marks on her car showing she was the one moving plus some other evidence. Has anyone been through this that can provide me any guidance? Sounds like my insurance company isn't going to do much since it's under the deducatable.

Ryan's Mortgage Blog:
Congress is set to vote today on a $15 billion housing aid plan for foreclosed properties and homeowner rescue. It is one of the biggest actions Congress has taken to address the housing crisis. Under the plan, troubled homeowners could refinance into government-backed mortgages and states would get money to deal with foreclosed property. I also read that part of this plan would reduce the principle owed on these government back loans to no more than 15% off of the homes' appraised value. According to the AP, the plan is also to include a housing tax credit of up to $7,500 for first-time home-buyers, to be paid back over 15 years. It would permanently raise the limit on the size of loans FHA could insure and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could buy to $729,750 in the highest-cost housing markets. The limits are set to go back down at the end of the year after they were temporarily raised recently.

President Bush has already claimed he would veto the plan and many republicans are against it. From what I read congress is pretty split about the issue as well as the American public. Republican critics argue it rewards lenders and investors who own the property, and could act as an incentive for them to foreclose rather than find ways to help struggling borrowers stay in their homes.

I am on the fence as well as to what the answer is. Something obviously needs to be done about the housing problem because it is directly related to the economy. We need to get a step ahead and not wait for more problems to arise. I definitely don't want the big banks to be "rewarded" here. I also don't want to make it easy for people to "walk away" from the homes. Walking away should be a very last resort for any homeowner. I understand some banks are making it hard not to walk away...maybe the government should send out a bunch of fair minded mediators to make deals between troubled homeowners and the lenders...and maybe there will be world peace too. You can contact me with any questions or just to rant and rave at RBaker@PeregrineLending.com or 805-540-0866.

Here's the comparison of Solds for Foreclosures vs. non-Foreclosures between last year and this year for SLO County.

	REO	Short Sale	Non-foreclosures
1/1/07 - 5/8/07	14	8	786
1/1/08 - 5/8/08	112	32	458

Looks like Open Houses continue to be a target. This past weekend a trio (an older man and two woman) visited an Open House in Pismo Beach and stole the wallet out of the Realtors purse which she had put in a cabinet. The same group also was seen at another Open House but didn't find the Realtors purse.

I did some analysis of REOs that have sold in SLO County since the beginning of the year. What was most interesting is that homes that were on the market less than 30 days received, on average, 99.53% of their asking price.

I put the analysis here on the SloWatch.com site. It's also a link on the SloWatch home page.

While on the topic of camera photos, below is a photo that shows how much of a shot you get with different wide angle lenses. The smallest outline is what you get with amateur digital cameras (actually most amateur cameras have an even smaller view!). There are a few pocket cameras that have a wider lens, but they only help a little bit.

To get the full room you need an ultra-wide angle lens on a digital SLR camera. The ultra-wide angle lenses aren't cheap. My camera and lens cost me over $2400 but that's what is needed if you are going to present a home well. If you're paying a Listing Agent 2%+ commission to sell your home, why would you settle for amateur photography equipment to create the visuals for potential Buyers? When you hire someone else to perform a service (like an auto mechanic, doctor, or contractor), I'm sure you are expecting them to use the best tools to get the job done so why is this any different? I can understand if you're paying 1% commission for limited service but don't pay for a service you aren't getting. With so many Buyers seeing a home on the Internet for the first time, you need a great photo for good "Web Appeal". Photos have become one of the most important pieces of an agent's Listing Service! I've heard a lot of people say that they've eliminated a home from their list based on what the photo(s) looked like.

You can click on the photo below to get a bigger display of it. This particular photo also shows another common problem with interior photography with the bright windows that look like a nuclear blast just happened outside. When I take interior photography, I take multiple photos of the same shot at different exposures and then merge them together in Photoshop to fix the nuke effect and not make a room look so dark too.

(p.s. The photo below shows len sizes at 35 mm equivalent. When you read a lens on a digital camera, it is not in 35 mm equivalent. Here's a site that calculates the 35 mm equivalent for certain pocket cameras. For example, my Canon Digital Elph says 5.4 on the camera which is a 41 mm equivalent and even smaller than the inner photo below. Even the wide angle lens aren't in 35 mm equivalent. A Canon 10-22 mm wide angle lens is a 16-35mm equivalent. Confusing?? Yes it is!)

I have my Pole Camera working and starting to do some experimenting with it. What I've got is a camera that sits on top of a 20 foot pole. There is a USB cable connected to it and my laptop on the other end to allow me to control the camera sitting on the pole.

Here's an example of the different perspective the pole camera gives. Now that I've got it working, I'll be able to figure out what types of shots it will really make a difference on!

Shot at street level



Shot with the Pole camera

I saw a report on TV about the high-end market in San Francisco and how hot it is. It said that cash from high-tech 30'ish executives were the main buyers.

Unfortunately, the million dollar plus market here on the Central Coast isn't that hot. There are 364 active properties on the market and only 11 were Sold in April. That puts the Month of Inventory at 33 months.

The $ Million+ homes that Sold in April were located in:

4 - Arroyo Grande
2 - Cayucos
2 - Nipomo
1 - Pismo Beach
1 - Morro Bay
1 - Templeton

Having a background in Marketing, I'm always interested in companies trying new things and trying to figure out what audience they are trying to reach. Sometimes I don't get it and wonder if I've now reached an age where I don't fully understand the younger generation.

Here's my latest head scratcher....

If you go to www.cnn.com, you'll see a t-shirt icon next to some of the headlines. This is something new. If you click on the icon, you will be presented with a page where you can order the headline printed on a t-shirt. So you can get "Students strip to skivvies before finals " on a shirt with the cnn logo.

Are people really buying these for $15 (plus tax, shipping, handling)?

Here are some more examples of photos agents have put on the MLS to market their listing. To become a real estate agent, you're not required to learn how to market a home or take good photography. In fact, I've never seen a class targeted at real estate agents on this subject. But, when you hire an agent to list your home, a portion of the commission you're paying is for the presentation of your home. Most agents photography service is coming to a home, taking their consumer camera out of their pocket, and then spending a few minutes walking around snapping a few photos to go load on the MLS. Those photos then become the way Buyers (and other agents) first see a home. Agents may be good Buyer Agents but there is an extra set of skills needed when you put on a Listing Agent hat.

I did further analysis on the Pending Sales in April. Here's how they broke down:

Stick built, Condo, PUDs

SLO County
232 non-foreclosure
69 foreclosure

Of the 69 foreclosures, 52 were REO and 17 were Short Sale

The REOs broke down as:
Paso Robles - 20
Atascadero - 10
Nipomo - 4
Grover Beach - 4
San Miguel -3
Pismo Beach - 3
San Luis Obispo - 2
Oceano - 1
Templeton - 1
Cambria - 1
Los Osos - 1

Short Sales:
Paso Robles - 7
Nipomo - 3
Oceano - 2
Atascadero - 1
Bradley - 1
San Miguel - 1
Shandon - 1

For Santa Maria/Orcutt:

156 non-foreclosure
114 foreclosures

The foreclosures were
101 REOs
13 Short Sale

In addition, there were 27 Pending Sales for Residential Manufactured Homes (in parks and on acreage)

Thx to Jason for sending me the following link about my gasoline tips post-

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp

While not totally disputing the tips as in some other Internet rumour emails, the above link does make you think how much you will actually save for the trouble. Maybe not accelerating so fast and other bad driving habits can save you more. (You can buy a Prius too).

I was looking at one of those Smart cars that they just started selling here in the U.S. I was surprised that they required premium gas.

After doing the post about saving gasoline I wanted to see how much a year I'm paying for gas. Below is a chart that shows how much you'll pay with $4/gal of gas based on how many miles you drive (12,000-18,000). The left column is how many Miles Per Gallon you get.

	12000	15000	18000
10	$4,800	$6,000	$7,200
15	$3,200	$4,000	$4,800
20	$2,400	$3,000	$3,600
25	$1,920	$2,400	$2,880
30	$1,600	$2,000	$2,400
35	$1,371	$1,714	$2,057
40	$1,200	$1,500	$1,800
45	$1,067	$1,333	$1,600
50	$960	$1,200