I had a 9am appointment at No WiFi Peet’s in Bishop Ranch. I have reached the conclusion that no WiFi is better than Scalp You WiFi. While waiting for Kris at Peet’s and thinking about the WiFi thing, I noticed that Peet’s doesn’t seem to recycle.

I met a lovely person named Zi in line and we got to chatting about people watching. Zi is a regular at Peet’s and likes to watch the customers in line. She must go there a lot as every other person came up to her to say hi.

Smadar Hanson stopped to say hi and update Zi on the TV show she is producing – something around S-E-X!

Klris and I went off to walk some of Bishop Ranch and gather material for our Bishop Ranch Blog.

Then, it was that time again – in need of a trim. So, I headed back to the Shops at Bishop Ranch, where Lex and Allen served me up a very berry smoothie at Jamba Juice.

Next door at SuperCuts, Mandana did her magic with what’s left of my top growth.

When the new City Center is built, I may buy one of the condos – it would cut my gas bill dramatcally as I seem to spend a lot of time in this area.

Dougherty Valley High School is on track top open this fall in San Ramon, CA (10550 Albion Road). School officials estimate it will open with 450 to 600 students, with a capacity for 2,200 students. The 54-acre site will also have room for more buildings, which could accommodate up to 200 more students.

Facilities, including a synthetic turf football field and two baseball diamonds, there is also an agreement with the city of San Ramon to share use of the pool and theater.

Is your lender working for you or against you?

How To Reduce Sub-Prime ARM Foreclosures
Once the homeowner qualifies for something “better”, he remortgages from the loan he’s in with the help of his loan officer (who should be actively managing the mortgage for his client).

Therefore, for borrowers who follow “the plan” and whose loans are actively managed by their loan officers, the sub-prime loan will never adjust because the homeowner is rid of the loan before the adjustment ever begins. 

So, YOU Want to Sell YOUR House

Home Sellers’ Biggest Mistakes & How to Avoid Them
Lots of home owners cry when they sell. Before the ink is dry on the listing agreement, eyes often swell with tears, and we’re not talking about the listing agent. That’s because sellers have developed relationships with their homes. Homes hold treasured memories. It’s common for sellers to be very emotional about their home. Some are overcome by  seller’s remorse. However, some sellers weep for a different reason. They sob because they can’t sell their home.

Worse than a vanilla cone on a hot August day!

Speed of subprime bust surprises lenders
Many mortgage lenders expected a subprime meltdown, but not one that came so fast and strong.

The subprime mortgage meltdown has been a shock to industry insiders, but now they say it’s hitting harder and faster than expected - even to those who predicted the crisis in the first place.

That was the message Monday from a panel of leading industry executives on the state of the mortgage lending industry at the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Secondary Market Conference & Expo in New York.
“Anything that smacks of no-income and no-documentation is history,” he said. “Anything above 85 percent to 90 percent loan-to-value, anything non-owner occupied, anything ludicrous as to value - like someone stepping up from a $1,000 a month payment to a $6,000 a month - is history.”

The Break Up – It’s always sad to see people going through a divorce. especially one as costly as this one. Like many break ups, the inability to listen plays a huge factor.
 

Not only is it an excellent market for move-up buyers, but conditions are favorable for saving money on that remodeling project you may be putting off.

According to the news media, the fallout from the upheaval in the subprime lending market has added to the real estate market blues. Those of you thinking of remodeling might want to consider going against the trend of waiting on the sidelines until the market improves and break ground now while conditions are more favorable.

Why Remodeling Now Could Save YOU Money

Many factors contribute to your ability to get the best deal on your home improvement project. There are three lucrative reasons why you might want to hire a contractor now rather than putting off that remodeling job.

• Lumber is Cheaper – Because of the slow down in the housing market, construction is down. Lumber mills have too much supply, so they’ve cut prices to move more product. However, lumber mills will adjust to supply and demand and you can bet that lumber prices might not stay low for long.
• Home Equity Levels Remain High – Even with the housing market slowing down, housing prices are still at all time highs leaving many homeowners with equity to leverage for remodeling.
• Contractors More Available – With the slowdown in new construction, more contractors are in the market for work. For the savvy homeowner, such an environment is an excellent time to find someone to take on a project. You are much more likely to be able to negotiate lower and more competitive bids.

It’s been a challenging year for my computers and thus, me. First my desktop decided to go to the computer graveyard. Fortunately I had enough time and warning to transfer all of my files onto my laptop.

Unfortunately, within two months, the laptop developed a short, so I decided to get a new laptop with max RAM, better video card and more multimedia capability.

The decision I am regretting everyday is buying a computer with VISTA, the new Microsoft (non)operating system. My opinion – Microsoft has done it again – created a system that is as jam-packed with bugs and aggravation as everything else it has put on the market.

I was giving serious consideration to switching over to an Apple MAC, but I have been using PC’s for over 20 years and all my software runs on a PC - we're talking thousands of dollars to switch. There is also the issue of familiarity. So, yes, I freely admit – what stopped me was fear and not wanting to add another learning curve to the mix of an already busy schedule.

Half of my software won’t work on VISTA. New products that say they are VISTA ready don’t work or need tweaking. The system won’t start properly 20% of the time. This is a new HP 6000 series VISTA machine off the shelf.

It would have been a better decision to buy the new PC with Windows XP. At least then my software would work. At this point, I am seeing that the better decision would probably have been to buy the MAC.

Since more and more of my work is going to involve multimedia and with Intel chips available in MAC’s, I am already planning on passing this latest Microsoft lesson in frustration along to my son, who is much more tech savvy and getting a MAC.

I thought that given all the bad press in the last few years, Microsoft might actually release a product that exceeded their past benchmarks of mediocrity, but I was wrong.

My advice – DO NOT BUY VISTA. If you must have a PC, wait a year or so until they get this system duct taped and chicken-wired together to meet their historic levels of acceptable aggravation.

Real estate agents from the Keller Williams Danville office showed up at Paul and Ginny Mees’ house for a little TGIF celebration. Wine, beer, water and nibbles soon had everyone in a festive mood until Kristin White, Keller Williams Danville Team Leader, and Craig Harper of The Harper Team had to settle a disagreement with a bout of arm wrestling.