Real Estate and Real Life in the Wine Country

Did you see the new homes at Bridge Trail at the North Village ? It’s developed by Hugh Futrell, a great developer who does unusual projects. He also build The Burbank on seventh street in Santa Rosa. Both developments have something special. All the homes at Bridge Trail come with solar panels a great way to lower your PG&E bill, actually there are tax rebates that can be claimed too!

The homes in the newer subdivisions are built on small lots (post stamp lots), the beauty of the Bridge Trail projects that it comes with open space/trails, kids will be able to walk to the Jack London Elementary and Piner Olivet Charter Middle school. And don’t forget the North Village club community center with pool gym etc.

The homes are priced in the low $400K range, should you be looking for a new home: there is lots of value that come with these homes. Tell them Mirjam de Rijk sent you and say hi to Stan and Juan.

Yesterday’s Wine club party at Seghesio Winery in Healdsburg was great, 400 pounds of crawfish was flown in from New Orleans (Peter’s wife comes from New Orleans) and that was served cajun style with red potatoes, corn and sausage. It came with Gumbo, that was absolutely the best I had.Last time I mentioned the 2004 Venom, a Sangiovese from Rattle snake hill (sold to members only), this time I need to tell you about Defiant, a new wine that will come out next year. Peter shared some of it to sample: it is still very young but already delicious and my expectations are extremely high for when it come out next year. It’s a mix from some Italian vines, will have to ask again what’s in it since I did not write it down.

Oh, Seghesio is also a great place for a picnic: enjoy you picnic with a great glass of wine while enjoying a nice game of Bocce. It doesn’t come better than that: Sonoma County living at it’s best!

Have a great day!

Mirjam (707-486-2638)

Today a totally different thought. You will read everywhere how bad the market (Press Democrat) is, that we are in a depression (see CNBC article), but don’t forget, the current market conditions do have a silver lining.

Here it is, my thought of the day, should this make you think about selling, you probably have an idea about the market value of your house and contact your Realtor (Of course, feel free to contact me) and get a professional opinion and get started.

P.S. This weekend we went to pick up our wine club shipment at Francis Coppola in Geyserville. They are doing a major remodel but the temporary tasting room is worth a visit. It’s food and wine tasting, the wines are great. Love the Diamond Collection Claret!

Have a great day!

Mirjam (707) 486-2638 

Yes, last weekend was the first weekend for this years Russian River Wine Road barrel tasting. Coming weekend will be the second. But last weekend was great and there were some great wines to taste. Make sure you pick up the little program book -> great for making notes.

We did go to Sunce and that is always a great place to go (they have a boche ball court and picnic tables). The Nebiolo futures was great and the Cab Franc future was my favorite. An other favorite was Martin Vineyard. You may or may not know that they are transitioning the winery into a biodynamic winery called Truett Hurst Winery. A few of the owners were there and is was great to hear their plans -> I am looking forward to the gardens (rumors are that the person who designed the old Fetzer gardens will also design these) and they are planning on having animals there too. Great for a picnic , your kids will love the animals! But this will take a while, hopefully some is ready by the end of summer.

Carol Shelton opened a wine tasting room at 3354 B Coffee lane, it’s in an industrial building. They are having a great thing going there. Her zins are spectacular, my favorite was the Karma Zin, Tony (my dearest hubby) loved the Petite Syrah from the barrel.

There is a fairly new winery of Piner Road, Benovia. Great location, they had life music. Their chardonnay is pricey but absolutely delicious!

And the winner was… for the first year part of the barrel tasting, normally NOT open to the public but the best of the afternoon… Windsor Oaks. They are grape growers and only a very small part of their grapes are used to make wines. But boy Julie the wine maker does know how to make wines! A long and beautiful road over the 720 acres they own, of Arata Lane in Windsor bring you to the winery. Great place and the wines… well let’s say we both loved their wines. We loved the Pinot Gris(barrel) and their Estate Chardonnay(barrel) and their Pinot, and their reserve Cab and their reserve Zin and the Malbec (barrel). Hat’s of for the winemaker. I talked to her, she wanted to make sure that you know that they are grape growers and NOT open to the public, only for events. So maybe I should not brag about her and keep it a secret… But all these secrets make Sonoma County the best place on earth to live!

So buy Real Estate in Sonoma County, all the more reasons to live and invest here!

Have a great day, enjoy the Barrels! (and drink responsibly)

Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)

Good news for all you folks  who own investment property for appreciation purposes in a ‘vacation’ area (Lake Tahoe, Hawaii). Exchanging this property will be a whole lot easier.

Per March 10, 2008 the IRS officially allows limited personal use of an investment property and will not prevent the  qualification of a property held for trade or business or investment use for purposes of the tax-free-exchange rules. Here is a link to an article from Tom Kelly.

Using your investment property 1 or 2 weeks a year and keep it vacant for the rest of the year and still qualifying  for 1031 exchange rules is ok by the IRS.

Sonoma County is a great area, historically track records of property values doubling every 10 years, the wine county is a great vacation destination and on top of that: great opportunities right now!

Have a great day.

Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)

Coming 2 weekends will be the 30th annual barrel tasting weekend in Sonoma County. There will be food and lots of great wines to preview from the barrel. Tickets are $20,00 per person per weekend. It’s going to be busy, usually Sundays are less busy than Saturdays and rain keeps people away too…

Eric Trailer did a great article on the stimulus package : How Stimulating Will Raising the Conforming Loan Limit Be? Interesting article it is expected that the conforming loan limit in Sonoma County will be $ 625,000 so a lot more people will be able to either refinance or purchase a home with a conforming loan.

The market is picking up, this week we had 84 properties opening escrow, as of this morning, we had 414 properties opening escrow for the month. With 2462 active residential listings (count 7 am this morning) we have about 6/7 months of inventory. Here’s the chart for last 2 years:

Enjoy the weekend, should you go barrel tasting, let me know which winery/wines you liked best.

Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)

The spring is in the air, trees are blossoming, it’s beautiful. Although it will be a rainy weekend, it’s beautiful outside, perfect for some wine tasting -> just an excuse to drive through the county side, enjoy the scenery and taste some great wines (make sure you have a designated driver). Next 2 weekends will be the annual barrel tasting weekend which will be extremely busy. So may I suggest a visit to Alexander Valley this weekend, should you go, drop by Alexander Valley Vineyards, my favorite is their Wine Club Reserve.

Of course, don’t forget to check out Sue Bonzell’s XtremeGuide, there is a Wine and Cheese reception at Graton Ridge Cellars today.

Should you decide to do some spring cleaning, while your at it, you might as well take a home inventory. According to the Insurance Information Institute, in the event of a fire or other disaster, a current, detailed home inventory can help you obtain enough insurance to replace the things you own, get claims settled faster, and substantiate any losses on your tax return.

An other interesting fact to keep in mind while going through your house:

Nearly 30 percent of home electrical-wiring fires can be traced to the misuse of electric cords, such as overloading circuits, poor maintenance and running the cords under rugs or through high traffic areas. Source: InsWeb.com

Have a great day!

Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)

Did you already get a chance to drop by WineSpectum in downtown Santa Rosa’s Rail Road Square? I did meet with a friend - the best chiroprator I know: Patrick Pisenti -> just opened his office in Santa Rosa- and it was a great experience. Roland Hankerson the manager is extremely knowledgeable about wine and the selections is unusual. WineSpectrum is a wine bar, the store next to the bar and you are able to buy the wine you enjoyed at the bar. Often they put wines on the list before they become famous. It’s worth going there and try some unknown wines.

We enjoyed a Cabernet Franc from Kenefick Ranch, it was Caitlin’s Select and it was delicious. You should try it before it’s sold out. It was a wine Roland recommended and it surely was a great pick.

Which brings me to my Real Estate thought for the day: the interest rates have come down over the last week, there are plenty of good deals around in Sonoma County, NOW is a great time to buy. We are already seeing multiple offer situations on the super deals : investors are jumping in. For anybody renting and thinking about buying: NOW is a good time to look at the numbers. You’d be surprised how ‘affordable’ Sonoma County has become for starters and how many interesting deals there are for investors.

Have a great day!

Mirjam de Rijk

(707) 486-2638

Seghesio is one of our favorite wineries, members of their Centennial wine club are invited to club events, visit with family members and get to taste the limited production wines. Yesterday’s November Wine release party’s theme was a taste of Italy. We agreed that the Tuscan seafood dish that Ashley served was the best. From the wines that were paired with the food, we liked the Westphall Zin the best. And the winner of the evening was the Venom, Peter Seghesio shared some with us since we were also impressed with the Sangiovese.

Quick note, Seghesio is located on Grove street, beautiful grounds with picnic places and a bocce ball court. Enjoy your picnic while playing a game of bocce.

I did do the count this morning: should you like to move to Healdsburg, there are 139 active listings in the MLS system, 25 are in escrow and in the last month 8 sold. These numbers might not be that great for sellers but great for buyers. And the 8 that did sell, sold rightfully so.

Open houses this afternoon: check the Press Democrat, they have a list of open houses, don’t forget to visit 95 Kennedy Lane, a large vintage fixer and 1231 So Fitch Mountain Road, it needs some updating but has beautiful views.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Mirjam (707) 486-2638

Yesterday Mary’s Pizza Shack officially opened their doors for the newest restaurant at the Santa Rosa Court House plaza. I had the honor to meet Cullen Williamson (he married one of Mary’s grand daughters) and he told me a little about the history and that it’s their intention to keep the restaurants just as Mary intended it to be.

She passed away a few years ago. Mary loved to go to garage sales and used the things she found at garage sales to decorate her restaurant. That’s just how the restaurant feels. A great place to enjoy some good food and it’s a great place to go with kids. They also have a small room you can reserve for a party. It’s great asset to the Court house plaza.

Enjoy the weekend, should you decide to have lunch or dinner at Mary’s: try the Linguini Pesto. It’s delicious.

Mirjam

(707) 486-2628

As my husband always acclaims: Sonoma County is the most beautiful place in the world to live. Well there are other beautiful places but the fall colors in Sonoma County together with the dramatic skies never fail to catch my breath. Our dear friend Vernon Nelson has taken some beautiful pictures, feel free to visit his website for some beautiful pictures. His wife owns a spa and is one of the best massage therapists I know (A Place To Relax on Cleveland Ave).

Anyway, this morning The Press Democrat had a gallery with beautiful pictures: The Colors of Fall.

Just some Real Estate numbers for your information: As of this moments we sold a little bit over half the amount of properties that were sold in the all time high top year 2004. Considering that 2004 was a crazy year in Real Estate and that we are now paying the price for the ridiculous lending practices, it’s not that bad. Also, isn’t it interesting to see how fast the median home price went up? That was not healthy either. It was time for a correction. 

By the way, should you be interested to see these numbers for your neighborhood, please contact me.

Enjoy the colors of the beautiful fall and enjoy the day.

Mirjam