It's nice to know that some things in life are still free. One free pleasure I have been enjoying the past couple of years is the Rohnert Park-Cotati Library in Rohnert Park CA. I paid a visit to the library yesterday to ask permission to snap a few photos for my blog. I had no idea I would have the personal pleasure of sitting down and talking with Nancy Kleban, the Branch Manager. The Rohnert Park-Cotati Library is just 7 years new with over 90,000 books, DVD's, CD's, magazines and newspapers! There are over 20 computers for those who need free access to the internet. And in February 2009, the Rohnert Park-Cotati branch of the Sonoma County Library system was the first to install a Radio Frequency ID system for self-checkout. The RFID system allows a person to scan the barcode on thei... 09/08/2010

You know that old saying "You can take the girl out of the Country, but you can't take the Country out of the girl"? Well, that pretty much sums up what I'm all about. Growing up on a dairy farm was where I learned that meat and potatoes is what is supposed to be on the dinner plate. With a glass of milk, of course. I got over the milk part early on but the meat and potatoes stuck with me for a very long time. So when I was invited to go out for sushi, I resisted with a passion. While my friends ate raw fish, I tried my best to eat tempura and teriaki chicken which I didn't care for either. Then I stuck my toe in the water and I tried a California Roll. (I know, I know, some of you are rolling your eyes right now, California Rolls don't qualify as sushi). Hey, they were good! Even that ... 09/01/2010

With the economy in the tank, we have had to endure school closures to consolidate resources and save money. With the start of the school year on August 26th, two middle schools are being combined into one. Students who would have attended Mountain Shadows Middle School will be attending a school with a different name and mascot. And so will the students whose school didn't close. In order to be fair to all kids involved, the district re-named the school that will remain open. With this change, ALL middle school students will be attending a school with a NEW name and a NEW mascot. Creekside Middle School has become Lawrence E. Jones Middle School, named after a school resource police officer. Mr. Jones served for 27 years with the Rohnert Park Police Force while mentoring a generation o... 08/03/2010

Rohnert Park was ground zero for REO sales in Sonoma County last year. Residential sales in this home to Sonoma State University during January through April of 2009 was all about REO property. Since then, short sales and open market sales have begun to take their shares of the market back from bank owned house transactions. Last month, REO sales were still the biggest share of the Rohnert Park housing market, but open market sales were almost equivalent and short sales still represented at least 25% of the overall market.  Along with the trend in volume of transactions, we saw a modest amount of variation in house prices overall. Given the context of the end of the real estate bubble, economic uncertainty, high unemployment, and general worry, I think the ability of the housing market ... 05/23/2010

Windsong Condos in Rohnert Park CA 94928 Welcome to Windsong Condos in Rohnert Park, located at 8201 Camino Colegio.  Windsong Condos are in a great walking and biking neighborhood, very close to 10 acre Magnolia Park in the "M" Section.  With a swimming pool, Jacuzzis, tennis courts, workout room, sauna, tanning room and clubhouse, Windsong Condos would be ideal for the discriminate buyer who could enjoy a low maintenance lifestyle with amenities galore! Windsong Condos consist of 223 units that were built in 1989.  66 units have one bedroom, 112 units have two bedrooms and the remaining 45 units have three bedrooms.  These are all single level condos with half being upper units, the other half lower. Conveniently located, Windsong Condos are very near Sonoma State University.  Walk or... 05/06/2010

L Section, Rohnert Park, CA 94928 When I first arrived in Rohnert Park 25 years ago to hunt for a condo, I was asked by my real estate agent which section in Rohnert Park I was most interested in.  Section?  The agent explained to me that Rohnert Park is divided into neighborhoods called sections.  Each section is named after a letter in the alphabet, and each street name within the boundaries of that section begins with that letter.  Got it? L Section in Rohnert Park is no exception.  Every street name begins with the letter L, so you will find Lincoln, Liberty, Lilac, Lombard and Lancaster as well as 17 other streets.  And if that wasn't confusing enough, the L Section in Rohnert Park bleeds into the City of Cotati as well.  The West end of Lincoln is in Cotati, the East end is in Roh... 04/13/2010

Rohnert Park CA at the morning meeting Association of Realtors on 4/29/2010 oriented for Realtors and how you can make money using the 203k in your business. Well received in Sacramento last week, if you want to know more about the 203k and more importantly how YOU can get those "hard to move" properties sold and sold fast, please join us. We'll enlighten you as to how to find out what lender is closing these loans the quickest and dispel the myths that haunt the program. The are just that "myths" and there are for the most part unfounded, we'll show you why and what you can do to bring light to them and show them for what they are... myths.  Typically people that won't use a 203k have heard from someone who heard someone else had a problem 203k and therefore they have decided not to ad... 04/03/2010

F Section, Rohnert Park, CA 94928 The neighborhoods in Rohnert Park, referred to as sections, were named after the alphabet.  "A" section was first, and all of the street names begin with the letter "A" ... Adrian, Alma, Alison.  Then came the B section ... Bonnie, Burton, Beverly.  Then C section ... you get the idea.  This Rohnert Park neighborhood knowledge can come in handy when someone tells you where they live.  If you tell me you live on Davis Circle in Rohnert Park, I know that you live in the D section. F Section in Rohnert Park is no different.  Here you will find Fauna and Fescue, Fairway and Firethorn, Fuchsia and Fig and the list goes on.  As the name Fairway implies, this neighborhood wraps itself through and around an 18 hole golf course.  Not just any golf course, mind y... 04/02/2010

CentreVille At Rohnert Park is a live and work community built right in the heart of Rohnert Parks new City Center.  Located on the corner of State Farm Drive and City Center Drive, CentreVille offers townhomes, single level condos and live-work homes with spacious 2 bedroom floor plans. CentreVille is within a short distance to major employers and public transportation.  Within two miles you will find Sonoma State University.  Within two blocks, you have Safeway, Raley's, the U.S. Post Office, medical and dental offices, restaurants and the Rohnert Park Public Library. The standard features that come with each unit in CentreVille are: - Air Conditioning- 9 Foot Ceilings- Custom, Shaker-style Kitchen Cabinetry and Slab Granite Counters- General Electric, Black on Stainless Appliances- ... 04/01/2010

M Section in Rohnert Park, CA is almost a town of its own.  Located directly across from Sonoma State University, M Section is a popular destination for students to rent or buy their home for the next four years.  Sonoma State University, also known as SSU, has become a sought after campus for 4 year students.  M Section is the newest subdivision in Rohnert Park, each one named after a letter in the alphabet.  Every street in M Section starts with the letter "M", creating what I refer to as the "M Section Zoo".  Would you like to live on Middlebrook, Mary, Mercedes, Mitchell or Maurice?  Don't worry, there are 39 more M Section street names to choose from. At the center of M Section is Magnolia Park, consisting of 13 acres of fun.  Magnolia Park is equipped with tennis courts, a swimmi... 03/24/2010

I debated on whether or not to blog about this particular instance just because it is a bit personal and I am quite sure that the principle involved would be quite embarrassed if their identity were given so we will keep this as anonymous as possible.  A friend of mine has parents who moved here from Mexico in the 70's and made great money in the wine industry and ran a 3400 acre vineyard in Northern California for more than 30 years.  After several weddings a costly college tuition and a vacation getaway home in Mexico and several other large expenses it soon became apparent that in this economy with the rising costs of living and lack of any sort of retirement or profit sharing program from the grueling vineyard career mr and mrs "lopez" began to realize that the savings would soon dw... 01/24/2010

Three months ago, I ruled the world. My strong buyers could pick up any Sonoma County property they wanted for good discounts off the list price. I still have great buyers, but finding a property to offer on is tough. Harder still is going up against as many as a dozen other buyers...in two days after a listing hits the market. This is going on in many places, but the ground zero for vanishing inventory and a seller's market is Rohnert Park. A picture is worth a thousand words, but I don't know if that applies to pictures of words. It's the best I can do to show the situation in Rohnert Park, both for REO properties and open market sales. The screen capture below is for a Hot Sheet. For my readers who aren't real estate professionals, the Hot Sheet is a snapshot designed to show what's ... 05/27/2009

Rohnert Park & Cotati, Sonoma County CA April 2009 Market Snapshot My current monthly market statistics & conditions report for the Rohnert Park & Cotati Market Area of Northern California Real Estate follows.   This report includes sales stats for April 2009 as well as what is currently (as of May 24) listed in the Rohnert Park & Cotati residential real estate market.    Residential meaning, Single Family Homes, Condo's as well as Farms/Ranches.   This month I am changing this up a bit by dividing out the detached single family homes from the condo market. As of Today May 24, 2009 the Rohnert Park/Cotati CA Market Area has: 191 Listings: 115 Are Single Family Home with List Price Range of $159,900  - $1,499,000   Average List Price $382,929     *  Median List Price $349,900   21 are Ba... 05/24/2009

Interested in what's selling in the Rohnert Park California Real Estate market and for what price?   Following are the stats for the March 2009 market as well as what is currently available in the residential real estate market.    Residential meaning, Single Family Homes as well as Condos & Farms/Ranches. As of Today April 17, 2009 Rohnert Park CA currently has the following: 160 Active Listings: List Price Range $85,500  -  $589,000 Average List Price $251,203 Median List Price $231,450 Of these 160 listings, 50 are Bank Owned aka REO or Foreclosed properties & 85 are Short Sales 89 Listings In Escrow in "Contingent" status: List Price Range $85,5000  -  $550,000 Average List Price $243,066 Median List Price $229,000 Of these 89, 19 are Bank Owned & 57 are Short Sales 23 Listings In E... 04/17/2009

Interested in what's selling in the Rohnert Park California Real Estate market and for what prices?   Following are the stats for the January 2009 market as well as what is currently available in the residential real estate market.    Residential meaning, Single Family Homes as well as Condos & Farms/Ranches. As of Today February 28, 2009 Rohnert Park CA currently has the following: 169 Active Listings: List Price Range $94,620  -  $589,000 Average List Price $263,592 Median List Price $254,900 Of these 169 listings, 61 are Bank Owned aka REO or Foreclosure properties & 85 are Short Sales 79 Listings In Escrow in "Contingent" status: List Price Range $94,620  -  $550,000 Average List Price $270,893 Median List Price $259,000 Of these 79, 21 are Bank Owned & 49 are Short Sales 23 Listing... 02/28/2009

Gilberto Garcia | Prudential California Realty | 707 799-2302 22 Creekwood Sq., Rohnert Park, CA Nicely remodeled bathrooms,new paint, new tile, close to schools and shopping. 3BR/2BA Condo offered at $165,000 Year Built 1980 Sq Footage 1,398 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms 2 full, 0 partial Floors Unspecified Parking Unspecified Lot Size 1,437 sqft HOA/Maint $265 per month see additional photos below PROPERTY FEATURES Central heat Tile floor Living room Dining room Refrigerator Stove/Oven Microwave Balcony, Deck, or Patio COMMUNITY FEATURES Garage parking Guest parking Laundry on-site Swimming pool(s) Sauna/Spa Tennis court(s) ADDITIONAL PHOTOS Seller contact info: Gilberto Garcia Prudential California Realty 707 799-2302 For sale by agent/broker Equal Opportunity Housing Posted: Feb 6, 2009, 3:... 02/06/2009

The Silver Lining In The Credit Crisis    Watching the stocks plummet and the housing market sink is not exactly heartening news to most of us. However, there may be a silver lining to the economic downturn we are currently experiencing.   Some economic and investing experts in the media tout that the silver lining is that we are able to buy houses and stocks for bargain prices. While that may be the case, most of us probably do not know when the bottom will be, much less when stocks and housing will recover and start moving on an extended upward trend. I don't know about you, but I'm no Warren Buffet.   The silver lining I am talking about is education; the type of education that takes us deeper into understanding how our finances, credit and overall economics work. When things are goo... 11/11/2008

Roughly 54.6 percent of the homeowners in default emerged from the foreclosure process by bringing their payments current, refinancing, or selling the home and paying off what they owe. A year ago it was 88.0 percent. The increased portion of homes lost to foreclosure reflects the slow real estate market, as well as the number of homes bought during the height of the market with multiple-loan financing. In selling a home, all loans must be paid off, which is not the case in the formal foreclosure process, where second mortgages and lines of credit are most often written off.Notices of Default houses and condos County/Region          2006 Q2      2007 Q2      % ChangeNorth Calif*443                       847                91.2%Statewide20,90953,943158.0%* includes additional counties  S... 08/23/2007

Lenders filed 53,943 Notices of Default (NoDs) during the April-through-June period.  That was up 15.4 percent from 46,760 for the previous quarter, and up 158.0 percent from 20,909 for second-quarter 2006, a real estate information service reported.  Last quarter's default level was the highest since 54,045 NoDs were recorded statewide in fourth-quarter 1996."  A lot of the loans that went bad last quarter were made at or just beyond the cycle's peak, between summer '05 and summer '06," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick's president.  On primary mortgages statewide, homeowners were a median five months behind on their payments when the lender started the default process.  The borrowers owed a median $11,126 on a median $342,000 mortgage.  On lines of credit, homeowners were a median eig... 08/09/2007

Teens Business IdeasDo you have a teen at home that wants extra spending but gets a headache just thinking aboutworking at the mall and babysitting is out of the question?With a little creativity, your teen can start their own business.More small businesses than ever are owned and operated by teens.* Teens are taking stuff they earn from their first Ebay sale to buy higher ticket items to sell that willmake them more money. They must have parental approval before setting up an Ebay account.* Washing Cars* Chores and light housekeeping for people you know in the neighborhood.* Dog walking or pet-sitting for people in the neighborhood.* Jewelry-making business or knitting scarves and shawls, then selling them. They are very trendyright now.* Card making* Scrapbooking* Cake or cookie bakin... 08/03/2007