NEVADA COUNTY FIRST TIME BUYER

Once you've determined that you're ready to buy, it's time to begin thinking about where you want to look. Nevada County is a very geographically diverse county. It has snow, mountains, large conifers and oaks, open rolling hills, dense forests, rivers, streams, lakes. The Yuba River is the boundary to the north and Bear River to the south.

The county's largest city is Grass Valley with a population just over 12,000.

There are many questions you must answer about the type of house you want to purchase. For example, are you interested in an older home or a new one? How big of a home do you need? Would you like to move closer to certain major roads or shopping?

Location Is Everything

Do you want to live in a particular city or neighborhood? If you're a parent, you're probably considering school districts (Nevada County schools) and other child-friendly options like the proximity to parks. If you're relocating to an unfamiliar area, you can contact the city (Click Nevada City,   Grass Valley,   Nevada County) for information about the community. It's a good idea to investigate crime statistics per neighborhood when you're narrowing down the areas of your home search.

Or perhaps location is the reason why you're buying in the first place -- to move closer to your work, your spouse's work or your extended family, or to live within a particular school district's zone. As you're probably aware, the location of your home can have a dramatic effect on its price.

A general rule of thumb in Nevada County is, as you move up the hill the prices also move upward.

Size Matters

You may have experienced growing pains in your current home, which prompted you to pursue buying a new abode. Or you're entering a self-employed profession and need a home office. Consider all your space requirements before you start searching for a new home. There's no reason to waste time looking at two-bedroom condos when you really need a four-bedroom house.

Locating Listings

Once you've narrowed down the specifics of your ideal home, where do you find listings? By contacting me.

Scott Hopper - Realtor, 530-477-2277

LOP, ALTA SIERRA AND SOUTH COUNTY PROPERTY VALUES

Over the past 12 months there were 99 single family homes which sold in Alta Sierra, Lake of the Pines as well as the South County area under $200,000. The lowest priced home was found in LOP which was 24212 Oakmont Way, the sales price was recorded at $73,000 for the three bedroom with two and a half bath 1,872 square foot home.

Currently there are 16 homes on the market in that same area with a list price less than $200,000. With the lowest price being a three bedroom, two bath, 1,448 sq. ft. home on a .37 lot located at 10969 Lakeshore North within Lake of the Pines currently priced at $126,000.

Now for the other end of the spectrum within the same area over the same time frame. There were three homes that sold with a sales price over $900,000. All three are water-front properties, with the most expensive being a 4,000 sq. ft. home on one acre on Lake Combie for $1,300,000.

Staying with water-front for a moment but looking at the lower end of the spectrum. There was a 1,796 sq. ft. three bedroom two bath home on .22 water-front lot on Lake Combie that sold within the past 12 months for $499,000.

Currently the lowest price water-front home on the market is on a four bedroom, two and a half bath, 2,276 sq. ft. home listed at $799,000.

Please feel free to contact me at 530.477.2277 if you would like for me to educate you on the current market conditions.

Scott Hopper - Realtor, 530.477.2277

DO YOU NEED A BUS

  The Pleasant Ridge School District is planning to continue providing school bus service for the 2012-13 school year.  However, due to ongoing funding reductions as well as uncertainty about the future of home-to-school transportation for the 2013-14 school year and beyond we must rethink how the service is provided.

Earlier this year families with a child riding the bus were asked to complete a survey. The survey results indicated that 85% of those who responded saw more streamlined routes with centralized stops as a viable option. At this time that is the model upon which we anticipate providing service.

In the Lake of the Pines we will provide a shuttle route service with 2-3 centralized stops. Additionally, we are working with the LOP Board of Directors  and Nevada County Public Works on installing a staffed crossing at Sunset Ridge.

Additionally, due to "adequate space" rules that the CHP monitors very closely we need to look at each bus as having a sixty (60) student capacity. For that reason we will need to have parents register their child(ren) for bus service.

The 2012-13 Transportation Reservation Form will be coming home with your child on Thursday, May 17, 2012. Additionally, the form is posted on the Home Page of the Pleasant Ridge School District's website as well as on the Home Page for each individual school's web page.

Forms must be returned to your child's School Office no later than Friday, May 25, 2012.

A form may be utilized for more than one child as long as all the children on the form attend the same school.

We will use these forms in working with Durham Transportation Services to develop the 2012-13 bus routes. Those routes will be available in early August. 

NEVADA COUNTY HOME PRICES

The information below states Alta Sierra, South County and Lake of the Pines could have a little over three months of housing inventory at the current sales pace. Many of the sold properties listed below are short sales and the prices were negotiated at 2011 prices, due to the nature of the short sale process. Many short sale sales can take up to eight months to close. The point is, inventory is drying up and prices are beginning to firm and when prices begin to rise, there less property that becomes available. The national media has done a poor job in getting the word out to the consumer of this new fact. The spring/summer home selling season is just getting under way and with the current inventory beginning to become tight we could see fewer REOs as well as short sales moving into the market. It might be a great time to buy, as interest rates are near historic lows and there are many buyers who may qualify to buy a home with as little as 3% down.

I have an article click here which discusses the greater Sacramento area as well as many other regions of the country. It states investors are beginning to purchase in beaten down areas looking for a deal. Click here for an article on the indicators that home prices will move higher.

If you are thinking about selling, but you are upside down in your current mortgage, your time is running out to take advantage of the current tax breaks. Now could be the time to sell into the strength of the market. Once the colder wet weather returns the buying volume tends to slow.

Current inventory snap shot

Listed below is a list of all single family homes currently on the market as of 5/8/2012 within Alta Sierra, South County and Lake of the Pines.

Class	Bedrooms	Current Active	Avg List Price	Avg DOM
All	All	127	$411,118	134
RE	All	127	$411,118	134
RE	0-1	0	$0	0
RE	2	20	$284,235	165
RE	3	77	$396,398	131
RE	4	24	$488,825	122
RE	5+	6	$712,150	110
LD	All	0	$0	0

Solds

Listed below are the sales of homes from Jan 2012 to May 8, also within Alta Sierra, South County as well as Lake of the Pines.

Class	Bedrooms	Total Listed	Num Sold	Pct Sold	Avg List Price Sold	Avg Sale Price Sold	Sale Price/List Price Ratio	Avg DOM Sold	Avg List Price Unsold	Pct Expired
All	All	149	95	63.76%	$277,515	$265,671	95.73%	124	$342,265	14.09%
RE	All	149	95	63.76%	$277,515	$265,671	95.73%	124	$342,265	14.09%
RE	0-1	0	2	0.00%	$174,700	$156,000	89.30%	365	$0	0.00%
RE	2	20	5	25.00%	$185,340	$171,800	92.69%	75	$218,643	10.00%
RE	3	98	73	74.49%	$258,717	$247,202	95.55%	107	$309,169	14.29%
RE	4	26	14	53.85%	$419,750	$406,642	96.88%	195	$414,347	19.23%
RE	5+	5	1	20.00%	$325,000	$329,000	101.23%	151	$1,071,333	0

Scott Hopper - Realtor 530.477.2277

BASS FISHING AND THE MOON

6.5 pound large mouth bass

When the local lakes' water temperature hits 60 degrees something magical happens. Male Large mouth as well as Spotted bass move into shallow water to spawn. Male fish (three to five pound weight class) will fan an area with their tails removing the loose debris . They are creating a bed for the often larger females ( five plus pounds) to lay her eggs. While the male is fanning the female will be staged in a little deeper water hiding within some type of structure until the time is right. What triggers the spawning female that the time is right? Through my 40 plus years of bass fishing, I can share with you with confidence it is the full moon. The first weekend in May (5th, 6th and 7th) will be peak spawning season as this is the first time in 2012 where the water temperature is 60 degrees under a full moon. You will want to work the shoreline with plugs, spinners or plastic worms. I prefer to walk along the banks than to fish from a boat.

 When you see a bed (small circular indentation) there will be fish near by. The spawning bass are not actively feed, but they will strike anything that is endangering it's offspring. Cast past the bed and bring it back towards towards you let in sink into the center of the bed and leave it there. The bass will pick it up in their mouth and try to spit it out away from the bed. This is when you set the hook. Make sure your drag is set fairly lose as the bass is going to make a fast aggressive run in an attempt to free itself.  If you are lucky enough to land a large female who is on her bed please do not keep it. Your trophy of a lifetime is the life's blood to future generations of fish and fisherman.

DEAD BATTERY IN NEVADA COUNTY

When your car's battery goes dead, you have just a few options to get that hunk of metal rolling again. If you own a manual transmission car, then what is know as "popping the clutch" will almost always get you on your way again. That is if you can push 3000 pounds or if you are lucky enough to be stalled on a hill. Calling AAA is always the best option with an automatic transmission, but if you are not one of the 50 million customers the company claims to have then you will need to flag someone down to help jump start your car, if you have jumper cables. If you don't own them, I would recommend picking them up at Riebe's Napa Auto Parts in Grass Valley near the round-a-bout on Idaho-Maryland Rd. or on Searls St. in Nevada City. So let say you have the cables and you have a willing jumper. You will want to open the hoods to both vehicles and locate the batteries. Once you have navigated where the hood release is, make sure the cables are long enough to reach both batteries at the same time. Once you are ready to make the connections, always connect to the dead battery first and be sure to connect the red handle to the positive post (+) on the battery and the negative (-) with the black handle. Once you have your vehicle hooked up, be sure to do the same thing to the car that is currently running. Once your connections have been made, try to start the dead car. It should start right away. Be sure to drive the newly started vehicle to give your alternator (the cars internal battery charger) time to fully recharge the battery or you may find yourself stranded again. The idea of revving the running car to enhance the power transferred to the dead battery has very little merit. If the vehicle does not start right away you most likely have a bigger issue on your hands. Call Fischer Towing 647 E Main St, Grass Valley, CA 95945 (530) 273-3180. They are a good group of drivers, who are courteous and conscientious. Have them tow you to Gin's Little Valley Auto Care 15898 Little Valley Rd. Grass Valley (530) 477-7880 . Duke is a great mechanic for those of you who are not afraid to go to a non-dealer environment. If a dealer is what you are most comfortable with, Grass Valley and Nevada City are not the places to have car troubles. 

THREE LEGS OF EDUCATION

Teaching and or coaching is a very demanding position in any community. Teachers have Star tests with very public numbers, and coaches have win loss records displayed in the sports section every day. My father was an educator and coach in Jackson, Michigan where I grew up, so other than my involvement as a school board member and as the father of two school aged children, I have a long history as to the demands of education. Teachers have a responsibility to teach every child to the best of their abilities, regardless of who walks through the door. Some children read or run faster than others, while many are engaged and others are not. Nevada County has some of the best schools in the state as well as the country. Many local schools have achieved Blue Ribbon status and a large number of Bear River and Nevada Union High School graduates attend college. This is due to teacher dedication, student commitment and parent support. Think of a stool. There must be three strong legs for it to stand. The educator, the student and the parents create a partnership for student success. If there is a failure by one of the three legs, the stool will not stand. If there is failure, the teacher or coach is usually the first to receive the blame. But instead of casting blame, it would be best for the sake of the student to find another way to motivate the learner if and when they struggle. A parent can take an active role by being involved as well as being inquisitive as to what their child is learning. They can ask questions, help with study/practice habits and volunteer in the classroom, field or court. Statistics show that children with parents who are involved in the classroom or coaching on some level, have a higher achievement rate. Parental actions speak louder than words to children. Teachers are paid to teach, students by law have to attend school, the parent is the only leg of the stool which is by choice and it takes three legs to make the educational stool stand.

Bruins hold Hillman scoreless for six innings

Bear River's varsity baseball team came into Tuesday nights contest looking to continue to move up in the PVL standings as the dropped the league leading Lincoln Fighting Zebras 7-1 on Monday. But on Tuesday they squared off against another team looking for a playoff spot and fell to the Hillmen of Placer High school by a score of 2-1. The Bruins scored in the bottom of the third to take the lead and held the cross-county rival scoreless until the top of the seventh when the they gave up two runs. Bear River falls to 4-6 while Placer moves to 6-4. The two team play again on Thursday at Placer High school at 4 p.m.

Nevada County peeps

Nevada County peeps

For my first post, I would like to express how wonderful Nevada County and it's residents are. They are always willing to go the extra mile for their fellow peeps regardless of where they came from, or where they intend to go. I'm a relative newbie compared to many of my neighbors, but my wife, two school aged children and I have been welcomed with open arms and treated like we have been here all of our lives.

My business life in Nevada County, revolves around working as a real estate agent for ERA Cornerstone at the corner of Alta Sierra Dr. and HWY 49. I was a realtor for some time prior to moving to Alta Sierra. While the current market is getting better by the day, there are still numerous opportunities to be taken advantage of. It is still a buyers market. If you have a few investment dollars and a desire to purchase property as an investment or to call home, I would be honored to help you make the right purchase.

I was recently appointed to sit on the Pleasant Ridge School District's School Board. Even though I have been involved at all three of the district's schools, I have much to learn. The board is comprised of five very diverse people who bring very different perspectives to the table. I appreciate the time, thought and care that each one of them provide to me as well as the broad based community. It is a tough tough job that I do not take lightly. If you have a question or a situation that you do not know how to handle, I'm here to help you. I'm always around and I'm told that I'm a good listener.