According to FBI stats, violent crime, including murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault, is down across the country by 5.5%. That’s pretty good considering the economic situation. You might imagine just the opposite would be happening but so far so good.

For at least the 2nd year in a row Irvine California ranks #1 in safety with almost 10 times less than the national average crime rate – just 55 crimes per 100,000 people with Zero murders and 30 robberies. Contrast this with the most dangerous city in the country, Flint MI, with 2,208 violent crimes per 100,000 including 49 murders and 84 forcible rapes.

Southwest County again scored well. For the past couple years Murrieta has ranked #2 behind Irvine, with Temecula coming in at 4 or 5. This year Temecula leapfrogged to #2 and Murrieta came in 4th. Temecula had just 72 violent crimes per 100,000 with 3 rapes while Murrieta had 95 violent crimes and 1 murder. Considering that each city has just over 100,000 population, that means there really were only 72 violent crimes in Temecula last year. Applying the same count for #2 Detroit with 1,887 violent crimes per 100,000 and a population of 800,000 gives you a crime spree of nearly 19,000 violent crimes and 340 murders last year. Yowza!

The 13 safest:
Irvine CA
Temecula CA
Cary NC
Murrieta CA
Gilbert AZ
Red Rock TX
Frisco TX
Simi Valley CA
Bellevue WA
Orange CA
Amherst Town NY
Thousand Oaks CA
Surprise AZ

The 25 most dangerous:

Flint MI
Detroit MI
St. Louis MO
New Haven CT
Memphis TN
Oakland CA
Little Rock AK
Baltimore MD
Rockfort IL
Stockton CA
Buffalo NY
Springfield MA
Cleveland OH
Hartford CN
Washington DC
Springfield IL
Philadelphia PA
Lowell MA
Richmond CA
Saint Petersburg FL
Nashville TN
Kansas City MO
Miami FL
Lansing MI
Elizabeth NJ

And one of the problems, as you’ll recall, is that some 90% of our Democratic legislators (who comprise the majority in both houses) have NEVER held an honest job. In one fashion or another they have been on the public dole their entire career, public office holder, commissioner, union organizer – some facet of public employment which has never forced them to meet a payroll, be responsive to the desires of customers, never required that they produce a product or a profit. Honest!

So it was no wonder during a recent discussion of the far-reaching costs of our landmark AB32 Greenhouse Emissions bill, that Democratic legislators referred to one of the by-products of the bill as ‘leakage’. Know what leakage was a euphemism for? JOBS! Yeah. Our state, with consistent unemployment of 12+% and these a-holes are referring to further job loss as ‘leakage’.

They were voting on some final rules to this horrendous piece-of-crap bill that will drive more businesses out of state and put even more people out of work but to them it’s simply leakage. Implementing this bill has already cost long-haul truckers and construction crews their jobs and resulted in increased costs for consumer goods from food to gas in the state. The last phase, slated for implementation in 2013 and 2014 sets in place the cap-and-trade emissions system whereby companies will either cut their emissions levels back to what they were in 1990, OR pay for emission credits from companies that emit below their cap OR pay substantial fines.

So the exodus of jobs from California will not only continue but probably expand. We already have more than 5 times as many companies leaving the state, reducing their footprint in the state or just going out of business as we did just 2 years ago. Aww, it’s just leakage says the California Air Resources Board. Oh, and the manufacturing and other jobs that are being over-regulated and over-taxed out of state – they’re going to Mexico or China or other states that have more realistic goals for emissions. So not only is California losing jobs but by our intransigence we are also INCREASING the amount of pollutants in the air.

So to get this straight, our never-held-a-job legislators passed an overarching landmark bill designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state. Notice I didn’t say pollutants – that’s not covered specifically – just greenhouse gasses which they claim will reduce manmade global warming – if you still believe in that. And the appointed-not-elected wing-nuts on the California Air Resources Board have taken on the challenge of putting teeth into all these rules. And they admit that at times they have relied on specious science to formulate their rules. In fact they admit that AB32 will not reduce global warming even if they shut down every business in the state. But according to their logic – it is a beacon that was passed to encourage other states and countries to follow California’s lead.

Oh Puh-leeze.

What my Momma used to say – ‘just cause that other knott head jumps off a cliff, you gotta go do the same thing?’ Not me. And especially when I can just as easily follow the out-migration of businesses and jobs and people to places where the politicians s still have a brain cell or two, where my congressman might actually have held a job in the not-too-distant past and where the human tragedy of job loss is not simply dismissed as ‘leakage’.

Of course that’s just my opinion – I could be wrong.

Another cluster **** from a government reeling from one uninformed decision to the next. It seems every time you turn around someone from the administration is bemoaning the state of housing in the country today. Housing has pulled us out of 6 of the last 8 recessions – why not this one?

Why? Because Washington says one thing and does the complete opposite. Or one branch does one thing while another branch acts to negate the first (see: PACE Program). Is it any wonder confidence is at record lows? If you people are going to screw up, at least do it consistently so we can move forward with confidence that you’ll continue to screw up the same way – we can deal with that. It’s the multiple levels of screw-ups and misdirection that has us lost.

For those of you that live in the middle of the country, I know it makes no difference. It’s not your fight. But at least get out of the way for those of us that do have a dog in the fight, OK?

Here’s a primer – prior to 2007 GSE loan limits were low. Even though we were in higher cost California, for our county it was about $355,000. Some very high cost areas got 115% of the median price of the market up to $417,000 and some areas as high as $525,000. Problem was, in 2005 – 2007 the median price for a home in our state was approaching $600,000. In our little backwater, medians were in the low $500,000′s for 2 years. That meant that anybody coming to our area COULD NOT GET a conforming loan for even a median price home. They were increasingly pushed into the jumbo market with higher fees, tighter qualifying and higher interest rates. Use of FHA and GSE backed mortgages plummeted from as high as 55% to around 7% by mid-2007.

But where there’s a problem, there’s also an opportunity so lenders came up with ways to address people’s inability to get conforming loans by inventing a whole new category of loans – the exotics. And it worked so well, they kept inventing new features. Can’t qualify for an Alt A or subprime, how about if we ask for ’0′ down? No? How about interest only for 3 years? Still don’t qualify? How about if we just tell you how much you need to make in order to qualify and then you tell us you make that much? Better?

And the GSE’s saw their market share falling even more and the geniuses on Capitol Hill saw that that was bad so just as things started to implode they made a corrective move to increase conforming loan limits. Had they done that 3 or 4 years earlier while maintaining the relative quality of the loan qualification process, we would not be in the trouble we are today.

Now many of the same geniuses who got us into the problem are charged with getting us back out. And they look at the higher loan limits and see that very few people are using that higher limit today. Duh. So their conclusion is not that they tanked the market, but that the higher limits must no longer be needed. And many Republicans are against the higher loan limits because they see this as a way to ‘reduce governments stake in housing’. Great time to be worried about this, ya schmendrakes. Why not just drive that stake right into the heart of the market while you’re fiddly-farting around trying to make us believe you actually have principles.

YOU DULLARDS! First of all, you are absolutely killing any nascent move-up market that may be starting to percolate. In my area we’re down from $500,000 to $355,000 as a conforming cap and sales of $400,000 – $600,000 homes, which were damnably slow to begin with have dried up completely.

It is true that it has not impacted the broader base of our business because our median price has fallen from the mid-$500′s to the high $200′s or low $300′s. But what about when the market snaps back? And it will. It always does. Even Obama can’t kill the innate drive for the American Dream of Homeownership. So what happens in my little market, or the broader California market, or the other 593 higher cost counties in 42 states when the median price again creeps over that cap?

Well, lenders are working on a solution to that even as we speak. The only question is – what are they going to call sub-prime next time? That name’s probably played out.

Of course that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

This morning I joined the Mayor of Murrieta, Randon Lane, Wildomar Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit, Menifee City Council member Darcy Kuenzi, Lake Elsinore Finance Director Allan Baldwin and League of Cities rep Dave Willmon in providing our statements to the assembled press. Here is my statement:

Good morning. My name is Gene Wunderlich and I’m Chair of the Southwest California Legislative Council, a coalition of businesses and Chambers representing more than 3,000 small, medium and large businesses in Southwest Riverside County.

Communities throughout our state are facing crisis. In Riverside County our unemployment rate is 14.7%, statewide it is 12.1%, and that’s only the people they count. Like many other cities and counties across California, we each face problems that are similar in nature, yet unique to each locality. We must be able to make decisions that are best for our communities, our families and our friends.

Our elected leaders in Sacramento don’t seem to know what’s going on in Temecula, or Wildomar, or Menifee or communities across Southwest Riverside County. SB469 is a perfect example of that with its bureaucratic roadblocks and overreaching state authority. It’s a one=size-fits-all bill and it will not help us create jobs in our community – although it may well keep several attorneys busy for years.

This bill takes away the power of a community to build and define itself and gives that power to the state, having local land use issues defined in Sacramento. The state SHOULD NOT be imposing more regulations on local governments right now. The state SHOULD NOT be telling us what kinds of businesses we can and cannot approve and the state SHOULD NOT be interfering in our ability to help reduce the high unemployment rate in our own community.

We are asking Governor Brown to help Southwest Riverside County and cities and counties across the state. Join us in helping create new jobs, not destroy more jobs.

VETO SB469.

This bill is also opposed by the California Association of Realtors® and dozens of other pro-jobs, pro-business & pro-local rights groups throughout the state.

Dan Walters, Political Columnists for the Sacramento Bee, recently wrote about the slew of Democratic legislation aimed at eviscerating the initiative process in our state. You know, the initiative process – whereby ordinary citizens have the opportunity to get measures on the ballot that legislators don’t like? Yeah, that process. Democrats complain that ‘the initiative process is being abused’ and they want to protect us from ourselves.

Now granted there are too many initiatives on our ballot sometimes – there were 10 on last Novembers ballot alone, But in its 100 year history, the initiative, referendum and recall petition has produced many beneficial results in addition to a few clinkers. Prop. 13 comes to mind, and last years successful Prop 20, which removed the redistricting process from the hands of our legislators, and failed Props 19, to legalize marijuana and  23, which would have overthrown the onerous AB 32.

But the Democrats don’t like us to have that much say in our government – because they know what’s best for us and how best to spend our money without any pesky input from us. Heck, they already control our legislature, our governor, and every major elected office in the state – they just don’t want to contend with the actual voice of the people.  They’re also afraid of public backlash against their incompetence and malfeasance in office which is threatening to put bills on upcoming ballots mandating pension reform, restrictions on political fundraising by unions, education entitlement and reform and a host of other issues that citizens are pissed off about but that the legislature refuses to act on.

Now in an act of craven insincerity, they are backing radio ads aimed at inducing fear of signing initiative petitions. You may have heard them – a sweet female voice just signed a petition outside the local grocery store while the wise male voice tells her she probably just gave her signature to an identity thief, all her pertinent information will be shared on the global network of signature gatherers/identity thieves, and she should never do that again. Listen closely at the end, after the terrified woman promises never to do such a stupid thing again – listen to who is paying for the ad. It’s a  group called - Californians Against Identity Theft,  ALONG WITH backing by unidentified labor groups. The origins of the group are murky but the goal is not.  Identity theft is a major issue and cause for concern for everybody, I’ve written about it numerous times over the years, But the SOLE FOCUS of CAIT appears top be  signature gatherers and the initiative process. Sound like a well rounded group focused on the real issue – or some special interest? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Maybe I’m just cynical but could the liberal labor movement and their Democratic lackeys in the legislature be in cahoots on this? Could they actually be waging a concerted campaign both in the legislature and on the airwaves to further their agenda of coercion and control? Naw, I’m probably just being paranoid. Of course just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they really aren’t  out to get you.

How much do like being manipulated? You must – you keep voting for these people.

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/08/03/2487995/calif-democrats-attack-initiative.html#ixzz1UqBID2Lb

The opinions expressed in this blog are solely the purview of the author and in no way represent the views or policies of SRCAR, or any other reputable organization or asylum I am associated with.

But a question was raised from an audience member during the Q & A referring to a ‘disconnect’ between the board and the members. Now keep in mind I sat on the board for 12 years, chaired it three times and have sat in the back of the room as an observer the past 2 years. Never have I seen a board more connected to the members. Everybody on our board is a practicing Realtor®. They come from big franchise offices and one man brokerages. There are salespersons and brokers. There are people that work hard to do 5 deals a year and others who do 80 or more. There are people with lending and appraisal experience, men and women, young and not-so-young – in short, a board that mirrors our membership pretty well.

This board is also very engaged. There have been times in the past where board members were just padding a resume but todays board members sit on a variety of committees, several are traveling directors to our state association, some travel to national association meetings, others are involved in our regional and state mls, some are members of our fraud task force and some have stepped in from our future leadership pool, the Young Professionals Network, to become leaders today.

How do you even intimate these people are ‘disconnected’ from our members? They represent the very best of our members. And the people running for the positions represent a continuation of that excellence – it is insulting to them and to the current board to say they’re disconnected.

But then I had to step back and consider the source. Not everyone out there is connected, that’s obvious. The person calling for more transparency in board meetings is obviously not aware that board meetings are open to everyone to attend and that minutes are subsequently posted to the association website. In spite of repeated efforts to inform them, they’re disconnected from the bigger picture.

Another member bemoaned the lack of ‘outreach’ to get members to attend the Tuesday morning marketing meetings. This has been an ongoing  issue over the years as people tend to come to the meetings when times are tough but don’t attend when times are good. But even during the best of times attendance seldom exceeds 1% or 2% of our members plus a healthy dose of affiliates. Again, some members are disconnected. They think the entire association revolves around these Tuesday morning meetings simply because that’s the one thing THEY attend. As one director pointed out, an email goes out every week reminding members of the meeting – they can either choose to attend or not. Apparently of our 3,500 members, about 3,440 regularly choose ‘not’. Yet amazingly enough many of those people are very successful without attending the meetings. Not a lack of outreach, simply a matter of choice and priority.

Some pointed to a lack of Broker involvement or commitment to force their agents to attend these meetings. We have a very robust Broker community that take a very active role in our association. We hold regular meetings with them to provide information and solicit their input and these meetings are very well attended. Right now we are involved in an ongoing efforts to get a majority of our Brokers signed onto the Broker Involvement Program through CAR & NAR. The BIP has been shown to increase the response rate for calls to action by anywhere from 2 – 3 times. That’s critical for our state and federal legislative programs – far more critical at this juncture than pressuring these Brokers to force their agents to attend a Tuesday morning  meeting. Not only that, most Brokers have their own weekly marketing meetings and if they’re going to have their agents kill a morning a week, they would just as soon it be at their own office meeting. Their choice, not the association’s position to badger them.

Unfortunately, as all people running for office, our candidates treated all these questions with a gravitas often undeserved. Sometimes the premise behind a question is invalid and it’s OK to point that out. And as much as we’ve been told over the years “there are no stupid questions”, we all know better, don’t we? In any group there’s bound to be at least one asking stupid questions repeatedly. Yet our candidates, to their credit, dealt with each question, often according it way more legitimacy than it deserved. A couple even twisted themselves into corners on what they would do if elected trying to address every realm of some obscure question. Welcome to the world of politics.

Ah well, bless the candidates for stepping up. Three of them will go on to represent our members very effectively and develop that special connection. The ones not elected will still continue to contribute as they have over the years which brought them to this position today. Yesterday they staked out their positions and answered questions for an hour – all for the benefit of 5, count ‘em, 5, people who had not yet voted. They treated it like it really made a difference – because it does. If you don’t like it, get involved yourself. It’s easy. All you have to do is step out from the back of the room lobbing vollies and move to the front of the room fielding them.

I’m not going to dredge up all that unpleasant history at this point other than to say significant changes were made at the hospitals while other changes were taking place at the state agency. Finally last month the state gave the go-ahead to open these  facilities at first on a partial basis, followed quickly by a full opening. (In the interest of full disclosure, I was one of 5 new members named to the Board of Governors for the two facilities, though I take no responsibility whatsoever for the progress made).

New CEO Ken Rivers initiated a sea change of atitude by instilling the concept that each patient is not just a patient but a family member. Treat each person you meet as if it’s your own parent, sister or child. Together with some tweaks to procedural issues raised by state and federal regulators, the level of care is reaching new heights.

The move at Rancho Springs opened up a $50 million expansion which saw emergency beds go from 8 bays separated by curtains to 30 fully private bays with not only state-of-the-art medical and trauma gear but flat screen TV’s in every room and family comfort stations.

Equally important for the community is the entire 2nd floor dedicated to womens services, pre-natal care and a host of other services. These include spacious suites for Moms that have individual sleep-chairs for Dads, infant warmer beds and specially designed facilities to accomodate all services within the same room – including C sections and other procedures. No more wheeling the patient around here and there, most everything can be done within the comfort of her private suite.

One opening that has been delayed is the dual bay neonatal intensive care unit with surgical centers. Originally staffed and trained, the two year wait to open meant that staff was moved to other areas and now must be re-trained so this much needed opening has been delayed for a few more months.

In addition to being a regional trauma care center, Inland Valley Medical Center also added to their own ER center as well as a much needed cardio-vascular care center. Intensive Care Units were also expanded at both facilities and new technological advances were incorporated into both the new facilities and the existing buildings, an ongoing process.

One more very cool thing – you can visit the nursery anytime to see the newborns. Check out theses little bundles and their happy Mom’s. Friends and relatives from across the country and around the world can log on and see how Mom & baby are doing. Grandma in Topeka can go in and see when Casey T. was born, how big she was and view several snapshots of the nipper.

More beds, more space, more technology and more caring – means a better healthcare experience for all our patients. After all, we know you really don’t want to be here and would just as soon be on your way as quickly and easily as possible.

It’s not just about healthcare, it’s about people care. I like being part of that.

The newest Drum Major for California’s ‘A**holes on Parade’ has to be Assemblymember Tom Ammiano. Let me just say three words about Tom – San Francisco & Democrat. Adding the term ‘liberal’ to that would merely be gilding the lily – an exercise of which Tom might approve.

Ammiano has risen through San Francisco politics from educator to Supervisor to Assemblymember having never actually held a private sector job. He’s been on the public dole his entire career. This is also the same district that gave us Nancy Pelosi, so we would not be remiss to flavor their political judgment with a grain or three of salt.

(unretouched photo – can’t say the same for that face)

Ammiano’s main claim to fame in the assembly is his perennial bill to legalize marijuana in the state. If the general public outside San Francisco has heard of him at all, it’s probably for that. But that pales in comparison to some of the bills he routinely introduces. Just in this legislative session alone he has produced more than his share of clunker bills that should be relegated to the outhouse instead of the state house – for example:

• Earlier this year landlords, apartment owners and Realtors united against a bill that would have extended a landlords  ’pay or quit’ timeframe from 3 to 14 days. That means if you own a home or an apartment complex and somebody decides not to pay you, rather than tack a notice on their door telling them they have 3 days to pay up or leave, they would now have 2 weeks to live off you rent free – more if they contest the eviction. Why did he propose this? His ‘constituents’ are going through some hard times and just need some more time and a little understanding.

HELLO! We’re all going through some hard times. What about the hard times your landlord is going through? But it’s OK for him to carry your deadbeat constituents for 2 weeks, is that right? How about the small landlord who has a house rented and suddenly he’s in default because your constituent decided not to pay? That’s OK too? Well, as long as your constituents aren’t inconvenienced I guess. After some considerable pressure, he amended the bill to remove the most onerous language and it now simply says the eviction process can be halted at any time as long as they pay the rent owed and landlord attorney fees capped at $350. Property managers across the state are still against the measure.

• Earlier this year Ammiano declared that ‘sports are a vital economic activity’ and proposed that the legislature create a ‘statewide sports authority’.

• Ammiano has proposed a bill which would limit the number of charter schools in a given area to 10.

Let’s see – charter schools traditionally have a higher success rate, produce more college bound students, enjoy smaller class sizes and attract more motivated teachers. Yeah, let’s limit them and force those kids into Californian’s superbly under-performing and over-funded public school system where 60% to 70% of students in your constituency fail to graduate. That makes sense? Well, it makes sense I guess if your former colleagues in the teachers union helped get you elected, otherwise -ehhh, not so much.

• Here’s a fun one. Ammiano has proposed a bill to let California counties ‘opt out’ of the federal Secure Communities Program. The SCP mandates that when people are booked into local jails their immigration status is checked to see if they are deportable. “We’ve got to improve the RIGHTS of the people who are the foundation of our society”, according to Ammiano.

That’s wrong on so many levels. Of course he has the backing of both Los Angeles and San Francisco counties, who prefer not to check anyway and would rather just let these people remain here to commit more crimes I guess. And of course our new Attorney General, also a strong supporter of illegal immigration, supports the bill. A spokeshole recently declared that some 25% of people brought to jail end up not being convicted of a crime but may end up being deported anyway because of their immigration status. Hmmm, perhaps nobody explained to the nimrod the definition of the term ‘illegal immigrant’. By definition they have broken the law and should be deported.

Just one of the many reasons California continues it’s downward trajectory – people unclear on the concept who are elected to positions of authority. Ammiano is one of those who has never held a private sector job, has never had the pressure of meeting a payroll or producing a product or service in a competitive marketplace. Among his notable accomplishments prior to getting elected to the Assembly was the expansion of diversity and sensitivity training to include gay and lesbian curriculum to the kindergarten level for San Francisco schools. Oh, and as a Supervisor one of his great contributions was permitting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a charity group of drag queens, to close Castro Street for their Easter Parade. Attaboy Tom, way to focus on the important stuff.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that Ammiano’s first exposure outside his limited constituency, came in 2009 when he yelled ‘you lie’ at then Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger at a public event. He followed this up saying Arnie could “kiss my gay ass”. Apparently Arnie wasn’t interested and promptly vetoed a bill of Ammiano’s that had passed both houses of the legislature unanimously. His note to Ammiano explaining the veto is attached for your edification. If you read down the left side of the page you find an acrostic message from the then Gov. Statisticians put the odds of a message like that appearing randomly at over 2 billion to 1.

We should be saying that to more of Ammiano’s bills.

Of course that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

“The Right of property is the guardian of every other Right, and to deprive the people of this, is to deprive them of their Liberty.” – Arthur Lee

The Temecula Valley Players version is true to the original production and brings together a diverse collection of some of our Valley’s most talented thespians. For Director Marc McCullough, staging this production has been a lifelong passion. Jason Call, who channels Ted Neely as Jesus, first played a minor part in the
production when he was 14. Now some 24 years later he has achieved his dream to bring the lead role to the stage. Several of the other players have also had an abiding fascination with this unique piece of theater and have eagerly endured months of rehearsals to fine tune the production.

The cast of nearly 50 people includes youngsters of 7 and 8 years old up to a couple ‘senior members’ of nearly 60. Many of the actors are what we refer to as
‘triple threats’, they are equally adept at singing, dancing and acting. I am actually the antithesis of a triple threat in that I can’t really sing or act and I certainly can’t dance, but I do have a certain presence. Thus the role of High Priest suits me fine as foil to the scheming Annas and the evil Caiaphas.

If you haven’t had a chance to catch this local production, tickets for the final 5 performances are gong fast but a few seats remain available. For more information and showtimes visit: Jesus Christ Superstar.

So here is a comparison of condo prices in several of our better known communities:

Location            Size    Br/Ba            Q1 2006 (73 sold)        Q1 2011 (93 sold)    %

Arboretum          730    1/1                     $235,000                     $70,000        -70%

Madison              854    1/1                     $220,000                     $68,000        -69%

Bucaneer Bay       961    2/2                    $295,000                   $104,000        -65%

Anchor Bay       1,016    2/2.5                  $305,000                   $105,000        -65%

Madison            1,159    2/2                     $285,000                     $90,000        -68%

Arboretum        1,246    2/2                    $314,977                    $135,000        -57%

Pelican Bay        1,387    3/2.5                 $337,900                   $128,000        -62%

Socorro            1,508    3/2.5                  $345,000                   $133,600        -61%

Arboretum        1,745    3/2.5                  $365,000                   $175,000        -52%

All I can tell you for sure is that a lot of first-timers lost a lot of money during the past 5 years. BUT, if you’re in a position to buy into one right now, your timing couldn’t be better. There’s almost nowhere for these prices to go but up. The problem right now is that investors have been scooping these up as fast as they can so the ratio of owner occupied properties has dropped so far most first timers can no longer get FHA financing in these developments. But for an investor is there any question? You can generate a positive cash flow from day one, hold onto it for 3 – 5 years and turn a tidy little profit.

You may recall a couple years back when CAR tried to get our legislature to pass a bill prohibiting private transfer fees. We were aligned against an odd coalition involving our some-time allies the Building Industry Association who were allied with a variety of environmental groups like the Sierra Club and others. Our bill was defeated but we did manage to get a corollary bill passed that at least required properties with private transfer taxes attached to them to at least disclose them to prospective buyers. Prior to that it was just one of those hidden items on page 57 of your title report that most people didn’t find out about until they went to sell their house.

SURPRISE!!! Here’s a bill for another $2,749 that you, Mr. Seller, or you, Mr. Buyer, or you Ms. Agent, get to pay..

Now you might be asking yourself – ‘Self, why would the building industry be in favor of an additional transfer tax on a home – especially a private transfer tax?’ Well according to the BIA, ‘private transfer taxes are used to finance a variety of environmental mitigation, community amenities and affordable housing requirements’. According to their website – if  the current FHFA proposal is enacted the following results may occur:

• Property values could suffer (already have. Will suffer more in areas with additional taxes attached to the property)
• Home sales transactions will become cumbersome (really? Having another tax on the property will make the transaction easier?)
• Lending will be harder to obtain (and having another tax on the property will make it easier? Come on!)
• Taxes and home owners association dues will increase (too late. You’ll just be one more tax)
• Environmental conservation efforts will be stifled (no, environmental extremist agendas will be stifled)
• The real estate market will suffer further (yep, another tax on housing will really help us climb out of this hole)
• An individual’s ability to choose where they want to live will be inhibited (well yeah, they might choose not to live in an area with a transfer tax)
• Community programming and quality of life will be compromised (yeah, a tax that has no direct benefit to the community will really compromise it)

Sounds pretty dire, doesn’t it? But don’t be fooled. There are areas of the country where private transfer taxes are needed and I’ve heard from fellow Realtors in some of those areas. But those areas are excluded from this legislation. Why? Because there’s a nexus between the funds being collected from the fees and where they are spent – which is right on the same project. For example, Condo developments that rely on these fees for maintenance and amenities upkeep are exempt as are a variety of other direct benefit uses.

But for California, and indeed much of the country, you need read no further than the first sentence in the BIA claim – ‘finance a variety of environmental mitigation.’ Translation ; it’s a way for developers to knuckle under to environmentalists demands without incurring any cost themselves by passing it along to future home purchasers.

Here’s the typical California scenario: A developer has an option on a tract of land where they would like to build new homes. An eco-mill (environmentalist group set up to find out about this kind of stuff, see – ambulance chasing lawyer) finds about about this developers plan and approaches the builder.

Eco-mill: “We don’t want anything built there because there are maybe endangered species or trees or we just want to preserve the wildlife there. If you move forward with your plans we will sue you from here to kingdom come and even though you might eventually prevail in court, you will spend a ton of money and ultimately it will drive your cost to build these homes up past the point where they are economically feasible.”

Developer: “Jeez, what can we do. There’s a need for houses in this area and we’ll be building a good affordable product that will be really good for young families?”

Eco-:mill “Well, maybe we can reach an accommodation – and it won’t cost you a dime.”

Developer: “That sounds delicious – what do we have to do?”

Eco-mill: “Just attach this private transfer tax to your homes. Every time that home gets resold for the next 30 or 50 years, that tax will be collected and we’ll rake in millions of dollars over the life of the property.”

Developer “And what will you do with the money?”

Eco-mill: “Oh don’t worry abut that.”

Developer: “But will you spend it in the area, maybe help build a new road or a park for the development, contribute to a school or help build a new fire station or something to benefit the residents who will be paying the tax?”

Eco-mill: “Are you friggin crazy? We are totally unregulated. We might spend part of it on new Prius’s for our members, and we might raise our own salaries and we’ll probably spend part of it to research other poor schmucks like you who are thinking about building somewhere else and we’ll no doubt spend part of it suing developers who don’t just fold up like a cheap card table when we threaten them.”

Developer: “Hmmm, well I don’t like that one bit but as long as you promise to leave us alone I guess we’ll just go along and get along.”

Eco-mill: “Thatta boy. Next.”

Think I’m making that up? That exact scenario plays out numerous times throughout our state – less now that developers are building fewer homes, but it was so prevalent during the boom days that whole eco-mills were set up around the product. There was even a Texas company on-line offering the opportunity to help you set up an individual private transfer tax on your own home so that after you sold it, any future sellers would have to send you a check.Yeah, really.

The scenario also happened right here in Temecula with a group that was threatening to stop a well known developer from building a big box store in South Temecula. In that case, because it was a  single store rather than a development with future resale, the settlement was for an upfront fee and the organization went away.

And that’s how it works.

So if you get an email from colleagues at the Building Industry asking to help defeat this FHFA proposal for a private transfer tax, pass on it. NAR has been fighting hard to get this provision included at a national level and at least 11 states have passed a similar measure prohibiting these private transfer taxes. States like California that have no political will (balls) to step up and take a stand against these eco-terrorists, will only benefit from the passage of this proposal.

Well, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

What a great headline on the front page of our daily newspaper today. Accompanied by a photo of two goofs standing out in the snow with some 15′ long stick suspended from a ski pole measuring how heavy snow is. I don’t know – I guess it was meant to convince us the Gov. knows scientific stuff.

But the message was clear, our state reservoirs have reached such high levels after two years of rainy winters and plenty of snow up high that the drought declared in 2008 no longer exists. WhooHoo! The biggest reservoir in the system, Oroville Dam, is at 104% of its historical average, Shasta is at 111% of historical, our current snowpack is at 165% of normal. Even the Colorado River basins, Lake Mead,  Diamond Valley and others are filling up fast.

But wait – they remind us that conservation remains necessary because of the precarious condition of the Sacramento River Delta. Even though they’ve got all that water, a lot of it up north, doesn’t mean they will be releasing any more for us down south because it would still kill the little Delta Smelt – that 3 inch long good-for-nothing fish that gets sucked into pumps because it’s too stupid to swim away. Yeah, we still got that.

But even Southern California reserves are up – plenty of water for now. That means the 50%+ increases in price they’ve jacked onto us the past two years will stabilize? Maybe even drop a little since water is now plentiful? After all, the increases were to encourage conservation during the tough times and reduce our dependence on imported water.

And we’ve done that right?

Usage in San Diego County is down 20%, other areas are averaging between 15% and 43% reductions over the past 2 years. I mean, they beat us over the head with this. Gotta conserve. Low flow toilets, desert landscape, 5 minute showers,  if it’s yellow it’s mellow, if it’s brown flush it down, you name it, we’ve done it.  Heck I’m even drinking my whiskey neat because I don’t want to waste the water for mix or for ice.

We get that: Conservation = good. No conservation = expensive.

So now we get a break, right?

Yeah, I got your break right here, Pal. This is the part where you just have to appreciate the humor of the situation or you’re likely to go on a rampage with multiple dangerous weapons and a bad attitude. According to one water department spokehole, “all that water is a blessing and a bane.” A what? A bane you ignorant savages! Because now they have all this water but guess what? They’re not selling enough to cover their asses – I mean expenses. Honest to Jesus H, we’ll now be paying higher water bills because we’re not using enough. I believe judicious use of the ‘F’ word might be appropriate here.

Sounds like the oil companies. “Hey, they’re using too much gas, lets jack up the price to get them to conserve. Hey they’re not driving enough, we need to jack up the price to boost our profit. Hey, there’s a crisis in Libya, let’s jack up our price because we can. Hey, we don’t even need a good reason anymore, lets just jack up our price because….. Jackholes!

So we’ve got water flowing out the kazoo but we’re still scheduled for another 12.5% in rate hikes by 2012. It would appear that we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. If anybody can suggest a scenario out of this wherein the consumer actually wins a little, please feel free to suggest it.

Aw what the hell. It’s just California. Grab a little medicinal weed, go to the beach and forget about it.

C.A.R. has not taken a position in support of tax extensions, but is only in support of putting the tax extensions on the June ballot to let California voters decide.

For more information, contact Christopher Carlisle, C.A.R.’s legislative advocate at (916) 492-5200.

I don’t know if I agree with today’s move by CAR – but they didn’t ask me. However, it appears to be in line with recent polls showing the majority of Californians appear to prefer having a voice in this latest budget skirmish. 61% believe the issue of  Gov. Browns tax & cut budget should be decided by a vote of the people. Even 56% of Republicans believe this should be the case although 61% of Republicans also say they would vote
against the tax measure. A majority of voters also indicate they would not vote for any new or increased taxes – but the survey didn’t drill right down to whether the majority would vote to extend the currently increased taxes for another 5 years.

While I am not in favor of the tax increase that was foisted on us two years ago and is now scheduled to expire, if the few Republicans who have not backed themselves into a corner with the No New Tax pledge can negotiate some meaningful cuts – not just the lame-ass cuts proposed by the Governor, it’s worth bringing to a vote of the people. Without the current taxes being extended, there will be foul nastiness ahead for our state. The few real cuts that have been proposed as well as any future cuts, would be to programs that probably should not be cut. The retirement boondoggle, entitlements and growing employment at the state level will not be impacted. Education, police and parks will be.

Whats worse, if the current tax structure is not extended for another 5 years, in addition to the worthless and superficial cuts that may occur, we would likely face a slew of new taxes disguised as fees, levies and outright thievery from our cities and counties. Many of those taxes would also be aimed at independent contractors, small business owners and other housing related areas. I mean, face it folks, our state is broke and should be declared bankrupt if such a thing were allowed and if we had any politicians with enough balls to do it. Unfortunately it’s not and we don’t.

Further, if the tax extension is placed on a special ballot I believe it would pass. It would be supported by massive spending by the  public employee unions, teachers, nurses, etc, as well as the vast entitlement population who live on the public dole. California has reached a tipping point where we have more takers than  givers, people who rely on the system for their income whether it’s direct payroll, retirement or welfare. When that dynamic exists in a state without the political will to address it, the result will inevitably result in those voters making sure their nest continues to be lined as long as the rest of us can pay for it.

Of even greater concern, and something I believe is another inevitability, taxes will get placed on the ballot with the promise of real and substantial cuts to programs and entitlements. The taxes will get passed but the cuts will not occur. We already saw what happened a few years ago when Arnold worked up the machismo to try to tackle a few state employment issues. He was sued under the table  and no jobs were lost. Even the few cost reductions that might have been realized by the imposition of a few months of furlough days was largely negated by the lawsuits necessary to defend the governors right to impose them.

So we’ll get our existing higher taxes extended another five years, the $12 Billion in cuts will not materialize, there will be a call for more ‘fees’ on services and any other way to wring the last few bucks out of the business class and the paying populace and next year we’ll be right back here trying to figure out why we’re another $25 Billion in the crapper.

Ahhh California.

On the upside, it is almost 80 today and the sun is shining beautifully. Had a great lunch with my Congressional Rep on an outdoor patio and it’s almost time to pour a cold one. What? Me worry?

To say this hadn’t worked would be an understatement. Clients who actually followed his advice were summarily re-evicted if they were lucky and arrested if they were not. After all, the homes were now the property of the bank and in some cases had already been resold so charges of breaking and entering and other minor misdeeds were alleged.

Turns out Mr. Pines himself was in foreclosure on some homes he owned and lost his own law office building to foreclosure (he didn’t try to break into his own building). At that time a judge had also slapped him with a $16,000 fine for filing frivolous lawsuits and for wasting his time and not acting in the best interest of his clients.  He also had a couple restraining orders against him for civil harassment after a trial and had been cited for contempt at least once.

Today attorneys for the State Bar of California asked a judge to suspend the law license of Mr. Pines. According to the state bar, Pines behavior had become ‘so
egregious’ that it filed to have his license suspended on an interim basis while it seeks a permanent removal. Jeez, that’s like watching sharks attack another shark – gruesome yet exciting, and as rare in legal circles as it is in nature.

Chief Trial Counsel James Towery was quoted in a written statement as saying “To remove a lawyer from active practice before formal charges are filed is a drastic remedy. In this case, that remedy is justified by the established misconduct of Michael T. Pines, who has shown complete disrespect for the law, the courts and especially the best interest of his clients.” Duh.

Never to be outdone, Pines has filed his own lawsuit against the state bar. “I’m sure the charges are going to be thrown out,” says Pines. “They’re going to be really embarrassed when they find out the truth.”

Hmm, attorneys vs. attorney. I’m guessing the truth might be a rare commodity in this v enue. Of course that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Meanwhile people who have already suffered through a legal foreclosure in Southern California will not have the opportunity to be further victimized by this predator – at least until he teaches the state bar a lesson and gets his dorsal fin back.

The article begins, “Air travelers are asked to pay for everything nowadays. So goes a common complaint, though the natural rejoinder is that passengers always paid for everything. Today a traveler who doesn’t want a blanket and pillow doesn’t have to subsidize those who do. One who travels light doesn’t have to subsidize his fellow traveler who can’t leave home without the entire contents of his closet.”

The article goes on to quote Delta CEO Richard Anderson. “The industry has to evolve to a model of other industries where people pay us for our content rather than us paying them to take our content.” (italics mine).

That’s what’s behind current pricing wars among airlines trying to reach their customers more directly and has lead to recent blackouts by some airlines on sites like Orbitz and Expedia. Some airlines, most notably American, are also at war with the giant on-line reservation booking system Sabre.

And it’s not just to save the $3 buck commission on flight legs. The airlines are coming to realize that after years of giving their content away, or even worse, paying others to take it and profit from it, that it’s time to take back control of their own data and use it to better serve their customers and increase their own profitability at the same time.

As I re-read the article, I started substituting ‘Realtor Associations’ for ‘airlines’ and found that the article provided an equally compelling read. For years now at every local, state and national meeting I’ve attended there is much debate about how we as Realtors have lost control of our own data, our content. We gladly pay others to take our data and do with it pretty much as they want.

The listing you worked so hard to obtain you pay a fee to list on the mls. That mls will then take your data and sell it to numerous outlets that re-publish it. They use your data as a bargaining chip to join other regional or statewide mls’s, all without your approval and with no compensation to you. Some organizations will even use your data to generate leads and then charge you to get the information your data provided to begin with. Do you have any idea how many places have access to your listing information right now? How many newspapers, search engines, statewide and national aggregators and others are paying somebody else for the content YOU generated?

As the article notes – “Content, in the digital age, is what attracts eyeballs and, in turn, transactions, which in turn leaves a growing pile of data about who a customer is and what he or she might like to buy in the future. They want to bypass the electronic middleman and have a more direct relationship with shoppers.” Airlines or real estate?

The trend in real estate is for ever larger regional, statewide and national aggregations of mls data – your data. But at the same time Realtors are bemoaning the fact that for that greater exposure they have lost all control of the content they generate.

Maybe the airlines are onto something.

Maybe bigger isn’t necessarily better or more  cost-effective when it comes to the value of your content.

Maybe it’s time to retake control of our content before it’s too late and we’ve been disintermediated right out of the transaction.

Maybe I should just shut up and let you figure it out for yourself. Yeah, that’s probably best.

We’ve always known that some homes appear to be haunted – heck I own a 120 year old home myself that some folks will swear has a spectral resident. There are entire industries that have sprung up around that phenomenon including exorcisms, TV shows and movies.

But there’s a new form of home that’s appeared on the market – the house of bad vibes. Apparently what we in the business casually refer to as a ‘distressed’ property may actually be distressed in more ways than financially. It may have all sorts of negative vibes, residues or ‘energy imprints’ associated with it as a result of arguments, emotions, money problems and loss.

And of course where there’s an opportunity, there are opportunists. While it’s not unusual for some religious or ethnic groups to have their homes blessed occasionally, this new group is at the beck and call of home buyers and sellers to help rid a house of the funk either before it is put up for sale or before it closes escrow.

Practitioners of the art utilize a wide variety of customs and items in their cleansing treatment. Ringing bells, according to some, breaks up the negative energy. Iron, especially iron swords, are effective at keeping evil spirits away if placed before windows and doors. Kosher salt, candles, fresh flowers, scented oils, spices and incense can also play a role in the ceremony and in maintaining the ongoing positive aura of the home.

Practitioners of native arts insist that the same power can be derived from smudging ceremonies involving sage, cedar and sweetgrass applied to the person and the home. If you prefer this method, make sure to use a clay or stone bowl rather than an abalone shell. As we all know, abalone shells should only be used in water ceremonies, not burining rituals,  at the risk of offending Grandmother Ocean.

Consultants, astral healers or in some cases, witches, advise on a number of procedures including a thorough top-to-bottom house cleaning and airing-out as a precursor to the spiritual cleansing or invocation. Herbal mixtures, or just a sea salt and water concoction, can be used to sprinkle the house or actually wash down the place if the vibes are really bad. This is accompanied by a blessing, incantation or charm session, lighted candles in every room and the application of more herbs and fresh flowers to keep the negative energy at bay.

But as always, there’s a caution. Advocates warn that by doing this you are entering into a relationship with an unseen power of the plants and spirits which must be treated with respect and honor. Worse yet, you may actually remove a beneficial spirit that will result in even greater harm to you after the ceremony. You are advised to know what effects the spirits are having on your environment before you take any action.

As always, as with any phase of our business, it’s best to hire a professional.

California’s High-Speed Rail Authority has approved the first link in the bullet-train chain, a segment deep in the San Joaquin Valley. The LAT’s Dan Weikel and Rich Connell have the story.

“Costing at least $4.15 billion, the segment would run from the tiny town of Borden to Corcoran, an area hit so hard by the recession and agriculture declines that it has been dubbed the New Appalachia. Stations would be built in Fresno and Hanford.”

“Included in the plan are tracks, station platforms, bridges and viaducts, which would elevate the line through urban areas. The initial section, however, would not be equipped with maintenance facilities, locomotives, passenger cars or an electrical system necessary to power high-speed trains.”

Under this new program, the AQMD will issue no-burn advisories through the end of February for specific areas where ‘fine particulates are forecast to reach unhealthy levels’. For 2011 the no-burn prohibition is voluntary but starting in 2012 there will be a series of escalating fines from $50 to $500 or more if you light up during one of their advisory periods. They expect to see about 15 of these periods from November through February.

The AQMD claims that Southern California is home to about 1.4 million fireplaces or wood burning stoves. They claim that these spew 6 tons of soot into the air every day – 4 times the amount emitted by all the power plants in the southland. Really? But their spokes hole says people can avoid the problem just by switching to natural gas fireplaces.

But how about if you live in an area not served by natural gas? Say you live in the Temecula Valley Wine Country or up in the De Luz avocado groves, or the Meadowview area of Temecula? These areas are not all served by natural gas. Many rely on wood burning appliances to not just take the edge off a nippy winter eve, but to stay warm affordably. Electric heat isn’t cheap and many older residents or those on a fixed income will have to make tough choices.

Some of these homes have installed propane (bottled) gas to power certain appliances. But according to one resident I spoke to, their heating bill if they rely on propane alone can run to over $500/month during the winter. Simply burning a half cord of wood for $225 during the winter keeps the chill away and keeps their propane bill to under $200/month.

The AQMD knows this is a problem and have issued exemptions for areas over 3,000 feet elevation because they ‘recognize some mountain residents heat their homes that way’. How about recognizing that some residents below 3,000 do the same?

Is this a life changing event? Not for me. I’ve got four fireplaces in my house and they all burn gas. Goody goody for me. Will it severely impact a lot of people throughout our rural areas that can ill afford it? Probably not significantly if the no-burn events are held to no more than 15 random nights during the 4 month period. Maybe cost folks a few hundred extra bucks for heat, or a few hundred more for fines. Too bad for them.

But here’s my forecast – and I’ve been through this before so I’m not just whistling Dixie out my kazoo. Within 5 years, all wood burning devices will be banned. (When fireplaces are outlawed, only outlaws will have fireplaces).

Year one (2011) will be voluntary compliance with the no-burn. Year two (2012) the ban is no longer voluntary.

Year 3 (2013) will be more of the same – probably with a few more no-burn advisory days thrown in for good measure, or the particulate standards will be reduced to comply with some arbitrary ruling by the geniuses at the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

By year 4 (2014), based on the same specious studies that give us 6 tons of soot a day from fireplaces (did I mention that’s 4 times more than ALL the power plants in Southern California?), they will declare the project a resounding success but predicated on Californians need to be the leader in greenwashing reality, they will see the need to implement an outright ban on all woodburning devices. This will be voluntary in 2014 and there will be a call for increased state spending both to appoint a ‘smoke czar patrol’ to monitor the the state’s chimneys as well as to pay for people to switch to some alternate form of heat technology. By 2015 you’ll be subject to criminal prosecution if your chimney so much as farts during the winter.

Don’t believe me? I could direct you to several cities around the state and the country where that exact scenario has come to pass already. Meanwhile China continues to open a new coal-fired power plant every day. Arizona coal-fired plants will continue to provide electricity to Southern California. Our air will not be appreciably cleaner. But another of your simple pleasures, what you used to consider a right, will have been erased.

Aw, who cares? I’m heading for my little cabin in the woods. There’s plenty of down timber to cut up and not a neighbor around for miles to tattle if I stoke my fireplace. You can come drive by sometime if you get nostalgic for a whiff of pine smoke on a crisp winter morning.

Meanwhile if you want to learn if there’s a ‘no-burn’ advisory out tonight, here’s all you have to do:

• Check AQMD’s Check Before You Burn map at www.aqmd.gov to see if a voluntary no-burn advisory has been issued for their area. Residents may also zoom into a particular neighborhood on the map by entering an address or zip code;
• Sign up to receive electronic e-mail notices when a no-burn advisory is issued for their area. Visit www.airalerts.org to sign up; or
• Call AQMD’s 24-hour Check Before You Burn toll-free information line at (866) 966-3293.