The long tale of woe of a local Doctor looking for a house. He's looked at over two hundred and is still suffering from sticker shock. For more on this please read Looking For a Home in Santa Barbara
It's always been tough for the middle class to afford housing in Santa Barbara.
But with the median home price officially listed at over $1 million, even the highest-paid professionals are being squeezed out of the South Coast housing market, with doctors, professors and engineers increasingly choosing jobs elsewhere.
For more on this please read Home costs squeezing out the middle class
The median price of a single-family home on the South Coast of Santa Barbara County has reached the $1 million mark the highest in California.
The expectation of higher interest rates this summer has created a frenzy in the past several months, as buyers rushed to enter a heated market for fear of missing out.
Desperation-fueled buying pumped the South Coast median to $1.1 million as of May, the California Association of Realtors reported Friday. Year-to-date figures, the best indicator of home values, put the South Coast median at $1 million.
For more on this story please click on Median Home Price Passes $1 Million
Today's Casa Article is about a cool piece of software that runs on your PDA. With gas prices soaring here's a way to track what you're putting in your tank. It also can track the mainenance of your entire vehicle. So for more on Mileage Wizard please read Every Drop Counts!!!
It’s Summer Solstice Parade day in Santa Barbara. This is a great event and really a lot of fun. It’s not quite as cool as when bare breasted young ladies paraded down State St, but what are you going to do. You can’t even drink beer on State St during Fiesta anymore. Go figure?
Anyway, if you haven’t attended Summer Solstice you definitely ought to give it a look. Here’s a page where you can find out everything going on during the Festival Sumer Solstice Celebration Santa Barbara
California housing starts in April fell slightly from March but were up sharply compared to April 2003, according to a recent report from the California Building Industry Association. A total of 13,802 building permits for single-family homes were issued in April, down 4.7 percent from March but up 16.2 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Seasonally adjusted, the rate was down 6.4 percent from March but up 17.2 percent from the previous year.
Including multi-family units, primarily apartments but including some condominiums, housing starts totaled 17,505, down 10.1 percent from March but up 6.4 percent from April 2003. Seasonally adjusted, the rate was down 10.6 percent from March but up 6.7 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Multi-family construction tends to be very volatile, with wide swings from month to month.
"For the better part of two decades, new-home construction has not kept pace with population growth," said Robert Rivinius, CBIA's CEO. "So while homebuilders remain on course to beginning construction on 200,000 homes and apartments this year, even that level of construction won't be enough to meet this year's demand, let alone catch up with a housing deficit that has been estimated at between 500,000 and 1 million units statewide."
Builder confidence in the market for new single-family homes in June declined two points to 67 compared to May but was up five points compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Housing Market Index (HMI) released this week by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Homebuilders are asked to rate current sales of single-family homes as "good," "fair," or "poor," where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.
The HMI component index gauging current sales of new single-family homes declined one point in June to 73 compared to the previous month, the index gauging sales expectations in the next six months fell two points to 73, and the index gauging traffic of prospective buyers fell three points in June compared to May.
Two of Santa Barbara's most powerful entities are colliding over their visions for a revamped Cottage Hospital.
City officials are prodding Cottage to incorporate major, environmentally friendly building standards as part of the rebuilding of the $350 million hospital on Santa Barbara's upper Westside. They view the project as a milestone in the city's history that could prove to be a turning point in environmentally friendly building.
Hospital executives say they are trying to respond to the city's requests.
For more on this story please read City officials urge Cottage Hospital
renovation to be environmentally friendly
Environmentalists are rallying against a plan for 20 homes in the Santa Barbara foothills, even though 86 percent of the land would be left undeveloped.
The 377 acres just east of Highway 154 and north of Foothill Road has been the focus of several controversial development proposals over the past two decades. The latest application was submitted to the county nearly three years ago by local developer Jeff Bermant and Santa Barbara Foothills LLC. The Preserve at San Marcos project has been under environmental review most of the time since.
A hearing Tuesday before the County Planning staff of a draft environmental study is likely to draw opponents with wide-ranging concerns, from traffic and sewage disposal to increased risks of wildfire and potential habitat damage for rare species such as the burrowing owl and grasshopper swallow.
Decision makers will have to weigh those concerns against benefits, such as permanent preservation of more than 200 acres for public use and the inclusion of five low-priced condominiums at a time when Santa Barbara County is under increasing pressure from the state to create more affordable housing.
For more on this story please read Foothill Development Stirs Controversy Again
A giant American flag is stirring emotions among many who pass by on Anacapa Street, but not everyone is moved.
In an e-mail to the City Council, longtime Santa Barbara resident Michael Colin is demanding removal of the 30-by-60 foot flag identical in size to the one draped on the Pentagon after Sept. 11 which hangs on the back of the Lobero theatre because its size violated the city’s sign ordinance.
“I just find it overwhelming” he said.
But with the United States at way and after Friday’s beheading of another American at the hands of terrorists, others say the flag is just the show of patriotism we could use right now.
The county is hoping to bring a couple of tow trucks to jump-start cars, change flat tires, refill leaky radiators and tow vehicles off Highway 101 free of charge to relieve congestion on the South Coast.
The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, a regional transportation agency voted this week to seek state funding for the freeway service patrol, saying it could be in operation on 101 between Ventura and as early as next year. The annual cost for two tow trucks would be $250,000.
Today's Casa Article is all about Digital Photography. Digital cameras are one of the coolest inventions ever. Unfortunately I see a lot of pretty awful pictures taken with these great devices so I thought I'd share with you some ways to make those pictures better.
If you'd like some tips on taking better pictures please read Pretty as a Picture!
A record year-over-year gain lifts the region's median to $396,000. Orange County posts an increase of 36%.
By Debora Vrana and Annette Haddad, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
Southern California home prices continued to set records in May, as buyers rushed to get into the market before interest rates moved higher.
The median price — the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less — rose to $396,000 in the region's six major counties in May, a 27% increase from a year ago and the largest percentage increase on record, DataQuick Information Systems reported Wednesday.
In Orange County, the region's most expensive market, the median price rocketed 36% from a year earlier, to $543,000, the biggest year-over-year gain for any Southern California county since DataQuick began tracking data in the late 1980s.
"Orange County is nearing a point in the cycle when things start to readjust," said DataQuick analyst John Karevoll. "The big question is, 'Do prices start to level off or go down?' "
Riverside County saw the next-largest leap, with the median price rising 32% to $317,000. The median price In Ventura County surged 27%, to $492,000; 26.9% in San Bernardino County, to $236,000; and 21% in San Diego County, to $454,000.
Los Angeles County prices, reported last week, gained 26% to a record median of $394,000.
Because of a lack of inventory, the number of houses and condominiums sold throughout the five-county region slowed to 31,151 in May, a decline of 5.4% from April, according to DataQuick. Sales in Orange County dropped 7.6% from last year and sales in Ventura County dropped 11.5% from the same time the previous year, DataQuick found. Los Angeles County saw sales fall 3.1%.
"May sales would have been much higher if there had been enough homes for sale," said Karevoll. "There just hasn't been enough inventory to satisfy demand."
Kenneth Rosen, a real estate economist at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, cautioned that the state's red-hot home prices were likely to cool within a year.
"Six to nine more months of this and there will be a slowing," he told a gathering of about 27,000 housing industry officials meeting this week in San Francisco. "Not a crash, but things will slow down."
He and other experts attending the San Francisco conference were careful not to refer to the state's housing market as being in a "bubble."
"But it is excessive," Rosen said. Still, he said the economy would have to reverse course and fall into recession to cause prices and sales to collapse.
The nation's housing wealth continues to fuel the national economy, said William Apgar of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. He said home equity nationwide grew 6% in 2003, to $8.4 trillion.
But he also warned that the housing market was poised to slow. It will be "a gradual coming down to earth," Apgar said.
Despite the housing-price records set in May, some realtors are starting to see home prices flatten and even drop slightly, as more homes are listed for sale and some buyers are priced out of the market by the recent interest-rate increases.
Richard Rose, a realtor with Coldwell Banker Premier in Moorpark, said prices have recently declined by about $30,000 in his area, which includes Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks, as more homes have been listed for sale. In Moorpark, for example, there were about 20 homes for sale in April and now there are more than 90.
"We're seeing the inventory build up, and houses are not moving," said Rose. "It's a much needed correction."
Karevoll said that although there was more inventory, "we have to remember inventory has been at record lows the past half year."
State water which costs the South Coast $25 million per year, drought or no drought has made its’ first appearance at Lake Cachuma. From the nearby observation point, it looks like a small faucet emptying into a gigantic bathtub that is nearly 40 feet below the high-water mark. The last time the lake was this low was in 1988, during the second year of a severe drought.
South Coast residents draw down the reservoir at a rate of 2 or 3 feet per month in very dry weather. The 7 inches of state water flowing monthly into the lake right now is more than canceled out by 10 inches of monthly evaporation.
Ten years after a $640 million branch of the California Aqueduct was built from Kern County to Cachuma, state water remains a touchy subject in Santa Barbara County. This year, the aqueduct is delivering only 65 percent of the water that county voters signed up for back in 1991, when they approved the expensive project. Last year, deliveries were at 90 percent.
It’s Irish Festival weekend in Santa Barbara. Only this year it’s taking place at Earl Warren Showgrounds. Along with the traditional Irish fare and beverages, the entertainment ranges from Irish ballads to traditional Irish dancing. Local and national bands will provide music and song on three stages, and the renowned Claddagh School of Irish Dance will perform traditional jigs, reels and hornpipes.
The festival displays Irish imports from merchants from throughout California at booths displaying both traditional and contemporary Irish items.
There will also be a re-creation of an early ancient Celtic encampment, which is a touch of living history you’ll find both fascinating and educational. Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and admission is free.
Statistics show that more Americans than ever are homeowners. The "First-quarter numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show that America's homeownership rate is at an all-time high of 68.6 percent." (source: RisMedia article)
The 2004 Housing Pulse Survey shows that Americans are concerned about housing. According to the National Association of Realtors:
"Families rank the cost and availability of health insurance, job security and housing costs and availability (in that order) as their three greatest concerns. Two-thirds of the respondents said they were concerned about the cost of housing in their communities. Seven out of ten want government to make affordable housing a higher priority, and two-thirds include affordable housing opportunities as a factor in their decisions about voting for a candidate."
Have you ever thought how cool it would be to take some of your photos and make a real work of art out of them? Well the folks at PhotoWow had the same idea and formed a company around that idea. All you do is send your photos to them and they will turn them into a modern-art masterpiece. You can choose from several styles such as Warhol-like pop art, slick collages, vintage hand tints and faux watercolors.
For more please click on It's a Real Wow
Simmering frustration over limited access to Haskell's Beach has boiled over, prompting the Goleta City Council to consider measures as drastic as grabbing a portion of Bacara Resort & Spa's land through eminent domain.
Signaling that they might move beyond efforts to negotiate a resolution to the eight-month dispute between beach-goers and the resort, council members are also considering enlisting the help of the state Coastal Commission or seeking a right of way through the resort's property.
The council discussed the alternatives at a public hearing Monday where residents criticized Bacara management, with some alleging that intimidating security guards are being used to drive non-guest beach-goers from the picturesque stretch near Sandpiper Golf Course.
For more ont he Haskell's Beach Access Dispute click here
In a move that would shift the way Santa Barbara provides affordable housing and work force housing, the city is pondering a plan to spend $2 million in reserves to buy land and save it for future projects.
Councilman Das Williams, who campaigned on a platform of providing affordable housing, proposed the idea. But it is being met with some resistance by the city administrator, finance staff and fellow council members Roger Horton and Dan Secord, who sit on the city's finance committee.
They contend the timing is wrong because the city is raising fees, cutting costs and spending reserves to balance a $35 million budget deficit next year.
For more on this subject please click on City Looks at Buying Land for Housing
One of the only downsides with living in Santa Barbara is our incredibly hard water. Taking a shower makes you feel like you're showering with sand paper. Your clothes don't get as clean and your dishes always have a film on them.
We finally bit the bullet and went to the "go-to" guy in Santa Barbara, Augies Water systems. We called him on Monday and by Thursday we were soft and cuddely again.
If you're thinking about getting Soft Water In Santa Barbara give Augie a call at (805) 967-3830 Augies Water Systems P.O. Box 60225 Santa Barbara, CA 93160
If you'd like to get a look at Augie here he is!
The other day I heard the words all husbands want to hear from their wives. Honey, we need a new TV Set. So with much shopping and looking at the benefits of Plasma, LCD and Projection we decided to go with a 50" Samsung DLP. This is a new technology and looks great. It came in just over $4,000 which is more than half of what a 50" plasma would be and to my untrained eye looked just as good. The nice folks at Holser & Bailey including Mary Memalakis and the installers Kit and Travis we're wonderful.
If you're shopping for a new TV give Holser & Bailey a look!!! Holser & Bailey 4141 State St. (805) 964-5816
U.S. applications for mortgage loans to buy homes, an indication of future sales activity, rose while refinancings continued to trickle lower last week, an industry trade group said on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its purchase index, a measure of demand for loans to buy homes, rose 2.2 percent to 459.8 in the week ended May 28, nearly unchanged from a year ago when rates were at historic lows.
"People are getting in (to the housing market) while the getting is good," said Drew Matus, financial markets economist at Lehman Brothers.
The MBA's refinancing index, a gauge of requests for mortgage loan refinancings, however, fell by 6.6 percent to 1,583.6 from 1694.9 in the prior week.
Average interest rates on 30-year mortgages fell 0.02 percentage point to 6.24 percent, the MBA said. This contract rate is up 1.11 percentage points or 111 basis points from a year ago, effectively stamping out refinancings but remaining low enough by historical standards to encourage home buying.
"A 6.25 percent mortgage is not as good as 5.25 percent but it is still very affordable by historical standards," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets. "It feels to me we've gone beyond the point where you are just capturing people who were on the fence (waiting for lower rates). We have strong underlying demand."
The MBA's market index, a measure of overall lending activity, fell 1.2 percent to 624.6 from 632.4 in the prior week, dragged lower by the decline in refinancings.
The strength in demand for loans to buy homes comes as demand for refinancings ebbs, offering little surprise for market participants, who have expected a rush to purchase before mortgage rate rise higher.
"There is some sense home sales are holding up because people are trying to beat the Fed - get into a house and lock in a mortgage rate before the Fed hikes rates," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial Inc. on Tuesday before the report was released.
Expectations of higher interest rates have hung over the market in recent weeks, especially after a strong April employment report.
Last week, Federal Reserve Board Governor Ben Bernanke pointed out that "an alternative to gradual policy adjustment is what an engineer might call a bang-bang solution, or what I will refer to today as the 'cold turkey' approach."