Time Warp In The Flume Canyon Museum

If you guessed built in 1980 you'd be right but come on. How hard was it with these pictures?  
More time warp pics and details at

23306 N Flume Canyon Dr Wrightwood, CA 92397

Australia 2018 = USA 2006

No the following is not about SoCal in 2006, it is about Sydney Aus 2018.

…A couple asked him to sell a two-bedroom weatherboard home in Veron Street in Wentworthville, 27 kilometres west of Sydney, for $950,000 when it was only worth about between $820,000 and $830,000. They bought the home for $790,000, two years ago.
“I asked them where they got that number from and they said that was the number they need to pay back the $200,000 they borrowed from family to buy the home as well as repay their interest-only loan,” he said.
“A lot of them initially paid $2000 to $2500 a month on their interest-only loans, and now they have to pay $4000.”

We all know how that ends.

Read the whole article:

Western Sydney ground zero in interest-only mortgage bust

 

 

Here Come the Real Reductions

Seems the sellers are waking to their asking for a price too far.  Both of these are also examples of lower prices per square foot. 

MASSIVE Price Reduction?

Remember this cute little cottage featured a few weeks ago?  The cabin with ZERO bedrooms listed as TWO bedrooms?

1015 Robin Ln Wrightwood, CA 92397

New Asking: $230,000

 

The $5,000 reduction has made an 80 cents per day reduction in the mortgage.    Deal maker!  

Nothing Says Curb Appeal Like...

Welcome!

4426 Oil Well Rd Phelan, CA 92371

$399,000 Pending

4Beds 2Baths

2,392 Sq. Ft.

$167 / Sq. Ft.

6ac.

 

Located In A Majestic Valley Of Joshua Trees. Beautifully Remodeled Custom Home With Everything New  

 

As they say location, location, location. 

 

Flip It Flip It Good

1015 Robin Ln Wrightwood, CA 92397

Recently updated and fully furnished (Everything inside is included) located in the Acorn area of Wrightwood with a level entry off the street. This property has new paint, flooring, appliances, furniture and even a washer and dryer. Ready to move in or rent out with an approval from the County for short term rentability...

Very nice kitchen remodel. 

 And how is this sweetie represented?  

2 Beds  1 Bath

836 Sq. Ft.

$235,000

$281 / Sq. Ft.

 

Let's check out the "bedrooms."That's right.  ZERO bedrooms, just a loft. 

Presentation Makes the Sale

Did the termites object to removing the woodpiles? 

2041 Slippery Elm Rd Wrightwood, CA 92397

$199,000

 

 

When is a Price Reduction not?

I want "back on market" to include why.  In this case it is failing to assess.

Property History for 680 Big Rock Road

Date	Event & Source	Price	Appreciation
Jul 31, 2018	Relisted (Active) CRMLS #CV18145580	—	—
Jun 19, 2018	Delisted (Hold Do Not Show) CRMLS #CV18145580	—	—
Jun 18, 2018	Listed (Active) CRMLS #CV18145580	$680,000	—
Jun 18, 2018	Delisted (Withdrawn) CRMLS #CV18033504	—	—
Feb 12, 2018	Listed (Active) CRMLS #CV18033504

I want "price drop" to mean 10%. 
 

Property History for 9727 Cedar Street

Date	Event & Source	Price	Appreciation
Aug 1, 2018	Price Changed DAMLS #218016874	$448,000	—
Jul 16, 2018	Price Changed DAMLS #218016874	$458,000	—
Jun 6, 2018	Listed (Active) DAMLS #218016874	$474,500	—

Property History for 1386 Helen St

Date	Event & Source	Price	Appreciation
Jul 31, 2018	Price Changed CRMLS #IV18172590	$330,000	—
Jul 19, 2018	Listed (Active) CRMLS #IV18172590	$340,000

Stetching A Point Until It Breaks

"Nobody wins a trade war."  We've all heard it for near  half a century whilst China has been winning a trade war.  To exhibit how far some people will go to stretch a point here is an article.
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Add rising lobster trap prices to the growing list of difficulties facing Maine’s lobster industry.
Some trap makers had already increased their prices in the spring to cover the rising cost of steel and labor. Then last month, the U.S. levied a 25 percent tariff on raw imported steel, driving up the cost of the Canadian, Mexican and Chinese steel used to make the plastic-coated wire mesh used in traps. American steel producers quickly raised their prices to match.

As a result, the biggest U.S. supplier of the mesh used to make Maine lobster traps, Riverdale Mills Corp. of Massachusetts, has seen the price of its raw steel double in 2018, said CEO James Knott Jr. But Riverdale is absorbing that price hit so far, by slowing the rate at which it is retiring construction debt and dipping into energy savings.
“We are who we are because of the lobster industry, so we’re doing everything we can to make sure this won’t hurt the industry,” Knott said. “We can take the hit for a while, but we need the tariffs lifted as soon as possible. It’s very damaging to us. These tariffs mean we can’t invest in our business, our employees, our equipment or technology. There is real trickle-down.”
Knott hopes the Trump administration eliminates the tariffs before he must decide between trimming jobs at Riverdale, which employs 100 people, or raising the price of its lobster trap wire, called Aquamesh. Raising the price would undoubtedly force trap makers to pass that cost along to lobster fishermen, including many of Maine’s 4,800 commercial lobstermen.

The state’s two largest trap makers, Friendship Trap Co. and Brooks Trap Mill, buy wire mesh from Riverdale. The companies said Riverdale has not passed on the cost of the steel tariff increases to them.

Still, they saw Aquamesh prices go up in 2017 and 2018 to offset the rising cost of steel, zinc and labor. That was before the tariff was implemented.

-----

Anyone who thinks the input cost of retail lobster is anything like a few percent after labor, interest, fuel, other capital is insane.  Then remember that it is 25% of the landed valu not the retail value and then remember it is 1/3rd of all imported steel. 

When is a Drought No Longer a Drought?

November 2006 was the last time Ventura County was not in drought conditions.  Sorry but what we have here is clearly a major mistake in establishing baseline conditions. 

Our Way or the Highway

The owners of the Montecito Inn are coming up against those rules in an attempt to add an awning to their building on Coast Village Road.
The Inn was damaged in the January mudflow, and the owners hastily cleaned up, repainted, and reopened to welcome guests.
The owners of the Montecito Inn are trying to pitch a black awning over the door to their newest restaurant, Frankland's Crab Shack.
The city says the Inn is a structure of merit, and black is not one of the colors allowed for awnings.
The city has recommended dark green for the black and white building, but the owners have rejected that suggestion and are appealing that at a special hearing.

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Approved awning colors.  Welcome to the nanny state.  

Craigslist as Social Commentary

It's just cheap laminate but how it got on Craigslist for free is the story.  Two fewer dwelling units in the area:

2 illegal garages worth of removed laminate flooring (Camarillo)

I got work tomorrow and want my truck empty I removed two illegal garages worth of flammable flooring. Half are unblemished the other half have some chips. Available for free this day. Must take all. Might have been 600sq ft of flooring. Tongue and groove panels. Most 4 ft or 3ft some 1 and 2 foot prices. I would keep but won't be installing soon enough.

Hollywood Bowl 2018 Season Starts

A nice ease into summer:

Testing price limits

My favorite canary in the coal mine zip code 92397 is calling a plateau.  This is the extreme low end of the housing supply and they tried to push the pricing.

Price History

Date	Event	Price	$/sqft
06/28/18	Price change	$169,000-5.6%	$263
05/21/18	Price change	$179,000-10.1%	$278
04/26/18	Listed for sale	$199,000+109%	$309
07/14/11	Sold	$95,000+5.6%	$147

As you can see $300/sf isn't going to fly.  Good.  Let's follow this so we see where it sells.  Click address:

1582 Laura St, Wrightwood, CA 92397

2 beds 0.75 baths 642 sqft

					This is what as known as "low side of the street."  Not always bad but this is an example of why high side is better.  But ignore that.  Look at the features.  3/4 bath 642 sf.  This is a turn around slowly domicile.

What's with that silly side board?

Jim the Realtor noticed an "unusual" feature of the great kitchen remodel.   What's up with that shallow side board?  Only 12" deep and at the far end of the room.  Three things.
1. Being shallow there will not be an urge to turn it into horizontal storage.
2. Perfect for staging big dinners into the adjacent dining room.
3.  Tells everyone this is one room and not two rooms spliced together. 

Check out the oversupply of Wilton Armetale and Moscow Mule mugs. 

. 

1 ft by 6 ft matching the rest of the kitchen.

Admit it.  There's miscellaneous stuff that you'd use if you could get to it easily. 

Cheese planks, Thai chicken salad bowls, baked bean pot, display fruit bowl.  You got them too but can you get to them? 

No Splash Backsplash

Jim the Realtor was a bit concerned about the durability of my range art.  Luckily i know an engineer and it will work out.  The porous travertine tile field is double sealed and has zero grout line.  The inset is hard polished stone as is the pencil border. 

The oven exhaust  and the stone work.

Notice the high polish on all the material. 

Sunflower bunch at the Davis, CA farmer's market.

Finished Kitchen Pics

Here are a few finished work images before we move in tomorrow:

Four door fridge!

interior lighted cabinets!

Hidden microwave!

Linear concept squared!

Lighting, lighting, lighting!

Cabinets galore!

A cool little sideboard!

Right outside the dining room. 

Tile and space to move. 

Sunflowers 07 Jul 18 in Woodland, CA.  The haze is from the Yolo Fire. 

We can Make Fire!

The range area is complete. 

Downtown San Diego is Nice if Missing "Something"

Gaslamp District

USS Midway

USS Reagan? 

View from the deck og my little sister's La Jolla purchase. 

Kitchen Remodel #06

Washer tech

Washer bling

I designed this back splash

I designed this edge

I designed this pattern

A cute built in side board