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