Good Food, Good Service and Lots of Both

by Craig Harper

It was a busy week, so when my sister Catherine and her husband, Iver, offered to drive over from Mill Valley and meet in the Walnut Creek area for dinner, The entire Harper Team jumped in the car and hit I-680 North out of San Ramon.  

We decided to dine at the Claim Jumper Restaurant in Concord CA because we had not been there in a while and it’s always a pleasure to see Iver enjoy their huge desserts as his main course.   That’s him with the I-deClaire which would normally serve 3 to four people. Iver finished it himself. 

On this occasion, we had no fewer than 6 different waiters, waitresses and managers drop by our table to make sure we were happy with the food selection and that we were being well taken care of.  Now, you might think that this was because somehow it got out that I was going to write a post to my blog about the restaurant, but you would be wrong in that assumption.  They treat everybody that way as far as I could see. 

If you’re looking for good food, lots of it and exceptional service with a smile, check out the Claim Jumper.

I was out walking the Biddleford Loop in San Ramon CA this past Saturday. I've been so busy, I haven't had time to write this post until now. Biddleford Loop is actually Biddleford Drive, but as you see it is more of a loop. There are about 40 houses on Biddleford and four cul-de-sacs off Biddleford: Ona Court, Prentiss Place, Foxcroft Place, and Bath Court containing another 30 or so houses.   

These homes were mostly built in the late 60's by William Lyon. They are 3 to four bedroom ramblers. The corner lots and the cul-de-sac lots have good size yards. Some of the houses have had major remodels.

This PODS is parked in the driveway of a home going through a remodel. I was able to step inside a couple of weeks ago and it is a wonderful job they have done. I think they added about a thousand square feet.

These PODS are a great idea. There were two in the driveway through most of the winter. There's a house a few blocks away that has had one there forever. I think the owner uses it for a home business. It would irk me to live next a permanent driveway POD.

A young couple recently purchased this house on Foxcroft Place. They've done a complete remodel on the inside, but did not add any more square footage. It was an absolutely marvelous day for these painters to get some work done.

Biddleford, Prentiss Place, Foxcroft Place, Ona Court and Bath Court are only a block away from Neal Armstrong Elementary School and a few blocks away from California High School on Broadmoor.

Biddleford is a pretty quiet street with a mix of people and families. I talked to several people who are original owners. They are nearing retirement, but face the situation of many Californians - they can't afford to move. The house is paid for and their tax rate is unbelievably low, to move would cost a fortune. 

As I said, it was great weather and I heard this weird music - that belonged to the first ice cream truck of the year circling the neighborhood. All-in-all a wonderful walk. 

San Ramon, Dublin & Pleasanton, CA

Foreclosures on the Rise 

We've been reading more and more about the rise in foreclosures, short sale situations and the trouble more home owners are facing with ARM mortgages coming due. Many Adjustable Rate Motgages that many took out to purchase a home 3 to five yearsago are getting ready to "kick up" the monthly payment of many home owners.

The California Association of Realtors® reoprts:

"The number of foreclosure filings across the nation exceeded 100,000 for the sixth consecutive month in January, with foreclosure activity increasing in all but 17 states, according to RealtyTrac's "January 2007 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report." Texas and California led the country with the most foreclosure filings last month, with 14,728 and 14,430 foreclosures, respectively. In California, foreclosures were up 14.3 percent compared with the previous month and up 54.3 percent from January 2006."

In the last 24 hours, we have held discussions with two of the top mortgage institutions serving the San Ramon and TriValley areas. The loan officers we talked to reported an increase in refi's. They have solutions for home owners facing problems with their re-ARMing.

If you are in such a situation, don't delay - start the refinance process before things reach a critical point. Many people are not aware of all of the options available and wait too long to deal with a difficult situation that then becomes more difficlut.

Contact us for recommendations - no obligation on your part.  

San Ramon Chamber of Commerce Mixer

This month’s Chamber of Commerce Mixer, sponsored by and held at Club Sport Fitness Center in San Ramon, turned out to be a very well attended event with business people from all over the Bay Area.  The Harper Team was there in force with John Harper and Craig Harper moving through the crowd in opposite directions to ensure we would meet as many people as possible. (we need to coordinate our pic processing for the blog!)

One interesting fellow that Craig bumped into was Kevin Horan, Executive Dean of Diablo Valley College’s San Ramon Valley Campus. The new DVC San Ramon Campus is located in the Dougherty Valley area of San Ramon at 1690 Watermill Road in the same village as the Dougherty Station Library. Kevin was very excited about the new facilities which include 16 General Education classrooms, 3 Computer Labs, 2 Biology Labs, 1 Chemistry Lab, 1 Physics Lab, 1 Drawing Studio, 1 Painting Studio, 1 Ceramics Lab, 1 Math Lab, 1 Language Lab, 1 PE Studio and in the Fall 2007 they will also be offering a Medical Lab Technician program.

I (Craig) was beginning to get a little hungry so I grabbed some of the great hors d'oeuvres (seared ahi tuna was my favorite) and grabbed a table where I met Bobbi Greer, the Sales Manager for the Tri-Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau. They are located in Pleasanton and the interesting thing is that Pleasanton does not have its own convention center.  However, Bobbi, Natalie Alvanez (Director of Communications and Memberships who was also at the table) and the rest of the TVCVB staff provide the local expertise to track down and make whatever arrangements a company or group needs for handling all the logistics of pulling off a meeting, seminar, convention or just playing tourist.

I (John) picked up about a dozen business cards and Craig did the same. I didn't get this young lady's. She is a massage therapist at Club Sport. She is from Brazil and was a judge in that country. 

I also snapped a pic of Rich McVey, the official photographer for the event. I asked Rich if he was looking for more business. He informed me that he has reached that point in life where he is very particular of the work he takes on. He's having a great time, loves the work he does and has a golf foursome that rocks.

There was an awesome spread of food provided by A Tasteful Affair caterers. I had a great chat with owner Peggy Welch about blogging and the impact it could have on her catering business in the San Ramon Valley. Here is a pic of Peggy and her daughter.

Some of the other cards I collected:

• Carol Marshall - The Write Business 
• Paul Gent - PG Construction Company
• Elizabeth Urias-Garcia - Your Coordinator 
• Monica Bass - Grand Flow 
• Mohammed Barase - Saf Keep Storage 
• Cindy Paiva - Serenity Wellness 
• Alexander Le - People Around
• Aaron Feldman - Forming Relationships
• Jennie Mitchell - Diversified Financial Concepts

And last but not least - Sandy Parkins my competitor over at Prudential Realty smiling here because the local real estate market in San Ramon is just awesome!

by John Harper 

I was over at one of my favorite hangouts in Pleasanton, CA on Friday - Tullys. Tullys is a great place to hang out and get some work done. Especially, if you get a soft ice cream and pour a couple of shots of espresso over it. Tully's has FREE WiFi access, though I think the FREE WiFi zone is now operational in downtown Pleasanton.

I was at Tullys to meet up with Rhonda Fee and Karen Bartholomew, a couple of blogging converts that needed a pointer or two on blogging. The biggest table with a power outlet near was being occupied by this gent - Brian Clark. Turns out that Brian is the VP Planning & Sales for Virgin Amercia Airlines.

Well, given that I retired from Delta AirLines last August, we started talking airlines and then blogging as Brian informed me that Virgin America had a blog on their site. After taking a look, I informed Brian that you really couldn't call what Virgin America has on their site a blog. We kicked blogging around a bit, the airlines a bit more and then Brian had to make some calls and Rhonda, Karen and I needed to have our chat.

One of the points of interest in the conversation with Brian was his mention of the resistance VA is getting from unions. I found that interesting as Delta is mostly non-union and most of the low-cost startups are non-union.

I'll be keeping an eye on the VA site to see if they get the okay to fly and if they figure out blogging and what it can do to help them connect with their customers.