Category

Wine Tasting

May 10
0

Foreclosures …

By | Buyers, Financial news, Foreclosure, RE by the numbers, RE Investing, Sonoma County info, Wine Tasting | No Comments

With so much said in the news about foreclosures and short sales just some facts.

At this moment the bank owned properties are selling well, the lower price range of our market is selling, some bank owned properties were priced so low that they had more than 20 offers on them and I know of one property ( NW Santa Rosa) that went into escrow $100,000 over asking. It will be interesting to see the numbers when these transactions close.

Financial Title did sent me enclosed stat, an overview of the sub prime ARM’s that will mature the coming months/are maturing now. Sorry to say that quite a bit of these will end up as foreclosure. Banks are only interested to sell these properties as fast as they can.

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While you have to be careful buying these (use a good Realtor), they are excellent opportunities for investors and buyers. Should you like to be on my ‘opportunities watch list’, just send me and email with your contact info so I can set you up. By the way, not only bank owned properties are great deals, sometimes a regular sale might be a better deal.

We are going to have a wonderful weekend, great for touring around Sonoma County an enjoy some wines. I did meet Pat Maier at the Chamber Expo this week, she was pouring an excellent 2005 Cabernet. Check out their website, you have to make an appointment to taste their wines, they are also available at some great restaurants in town (one was Willi’s Wine bar in Larkfield).

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mirjam de Rijk Mirjam (mirjam@C21alliance.com)

Apr 16
0

Great time to sell too!

By | Sellers, Sonoma County info, Visit WineCountry, Wine Tasting, Winery with picnic place | No Comments

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.

Home owners who are reluctant to sell because prices have fallen, should do the math, and realize that the market downturn could work in their favor. Yes a home owner will sell their home for less than a few years ago, but the home he or she would love to move up to, is also a lot less.

For example: if the house you covet used to be $500,000 but its price has fallen 20 percent to $400,000, it is a deal, even if your own home also has lost 20 percent of its value.

Of course this is really tough for people who bought about four years ago at the height of the market, but even then, selling now may make sense as long as you can at least break even. When the market was so hot, many people bought homes that was their second or even their 3rd choice. Right now, if moving will help you to get rid of the most negative unchangeables in your current home, and replace them with better unchangeables in a new home, moving does make sense. Once the market really turns around, the growth will be bigger in the better house, that’s a historical fact.

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.

francis_ford_coppolacannesphotocall.jpg 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 

Mar 06
0

Barrel Tasting !

By | Sonoma County info, Visit WineCountry, Wine Tasting, Winery with picnic place | No Comments

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)

Feb 29
0

Barrel Tasting and Real Estate

By | Buyers, Financial news, Visit WineCountry, Wine Tasting | No Comments

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:inventory.jpg

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

Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)

Feb 23
0

Spring Cleaning!

By | Around the house, Buyers, Sellers, Visit WineCountry, Wine Tasting | No Comments

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.

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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 de Rijk Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)