tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:00:16 +0000Home price trends in southern Santa Barbara County (Goleta, Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, Santa Ynez Valley) and related real estate topicshttp://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)Blogger40125SantaBarbaraHousingBubbleBloghttp://feedburner.google.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-5113196940187047006Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:55:00 +00002008-12-11T10:48:54.207-08:00FOUR CLICKS up from Channel 17, the public-access outlet where the South Coast’s flotsam and jetsam wash ashore alongside local city-council members, abides the more quodlibetic SBEDU—a.k.a. Channel 21. (The “EDU” is for education.) If you’re a local cable subscriber whose invitation to the Lobero Theater for the mid-April symposium on the South Coast economy was lost in the mail, don't throw a http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/06/mudita-takes-roman-holiday.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-3069602073588612003Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:50:00 +00002008-12-11T10:48:56.214-08:00RICK’S CAR was in the driveway, which meant he was already home from work. But that made sense, since it was almost five-thirty. His wife Lori and their seven-year-old son Cody scurried up the driveway in tandem. Cody pushed past his mother through the front door and into what some architect had decided forty-five years earlier should be a living room.Lori had brushed off her afternoon http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/06/reo-speedwagon.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-1167415997213182343Tue, 27 May 2008 05:40:00 +00002008-12-11T10:48:57.434-08:00MIDTOWN Manhattanites with a yen for an American Riviera vacation home but who suffer the vapors whenever they stray six or more blocks from either of the two Mets should run, not walk, to the reservations office of One Twenty One—two blocks south of Saks Fifth Avenue, near Santa Barbara's vibrant urban core. For it was at this address, 121, along West De la Guerra Street, that on a recent http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/05/saks-and-city.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-3726291758180964258Mon, 19 May 2008 22:30:00 +00002008-12-11T10:48:58.475-08:00BABY NEEDS a new pair of shoes. Not only that, Sis' needs a cute pair of double-button capris, Daddy needs a old pair of Jaguar Series-E's, and Mommy needs a nice pair of 38D's (ideally). And the list continues. Tax rebates only go so far. More money is required—much more. And some luck . . .Luck!—be a lady tonight. But where to take Lady Luck . . . to the Chumash Casino? Hardly. That might be anhttp://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/05/three-hard-way.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-2800415970772213877Tue, 13 May 2008 06:45:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:01.088-08:00GOLF IS A METAPHOR for life: if you can't afford the greens fees, you're not allowed to play. Which is why the Tee Time driving range in Carpinteria is so great—pony up three U.S. pesos for a bucket of balls, and you can at least pretend.Tee Time's been there, at 5885 Carpinteria Avenue, for years (as has the other tenant, sunflower grower Johannes Flowers). But the venue's whack-a-ball days are http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/05/im-alright.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-7770151863497842930Tue, 06 May 2008 02:20:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:03.313-08:00IT'S HARD TO THINK of anything more important in this world than good signage. Without signs to tell us where to go and where not to go, what to do and what not to do, and what everything is and what it isn't, we'd all be in big trouble—I can guarantee you that.The most important signs, of course, are the ones that keep us safe. The stop sign is probably the best sign ever invented; most of us http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/05/furl-interrupted.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-8855367035802415468Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:00:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:05.722-08:00THE SOUTH COAST'S first annual Housing Bubble Roundtable took place on Wednesday, April 23rd, at palm-reader Madame Rosinka's East Canon Perdido offices in downtown Santa Barbara. For the augural occasion we assembled a trio of true titans from the world of economic forecasting as our panelists: first, clairvoyant and psychic Edgar Cayce, author of Condos for the Long Run and a surefire bet to http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/04/coffee-klatch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-5376197651037265621Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:20:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:07.673-08:00BEAVER CLEAVER is all grown up now. A few years ago he moved out of his parents' house, and since then he's been renting a two-bedroom apartment with his older brother Wally. For the past year or so, The Beaver's had a decent-paying, salaried job with a Santa Barbara software startup, and he's rekindled a relationship with his childhood sweetheart Violet. They're pretty serious now—the two of http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/04/tommy-chong-doesnt-live-here.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-493231678503452639Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:30:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:09.553-08:00THE DIE WAS CAST the moment the ink on California's last gubernatorial ballot (shown at right) had dried. It was set in stone—a sure thing; a done deal; a fait accompli, if you will—that Arnold and Maria's forever dream home would grace the vicinity of Gobernador Canyon Road in the foothills of Carpinteria, a dozen miles down the coast from Santa Barbara. According to Los Angeles Times http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/04/hottie-and-nottie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-1198687740322537642Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:01:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:11.578-08:00DAVID GALE died on March 7 at the age of 86. A professor emeritus of mathematics at U.C. Berkeley, Gale laid the groundwork for modern game theory through his work and theories involving linear optimization. He was popularly known for, among other contributions, his engaging and elegantly simple games and math puzzles. In one of his games, called Chomp, two players take turns biting into a http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/04/booby-prize.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-8910411768567352065Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:11.926-08:00THIS IS SUMMERLAND. Things happen here. Things they don't show you at 10 p.m. on a t.v. show. Things that'll make your Stackies fries straighten out and take notice. You won't see flatfeet around here—Summerland's not their beat. And the county sheriff's got bigger fish to fry. As for the dandies who peddle antiques down on Lillie Avenue—they couldn't be bothered. And the local homeowner types…http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/03/hillside-whore.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-108648823361301578Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:23:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:12.543-08:00Goleta and NoletaNCE UPON A TIME, in the unincorporated nether region of Noleta—betwixt Santa Barbara and Goleta—there lived a poor wench called 474 Cinderella Lane. A good and serviceable 1,468-sq-ft house, Cinderella had piously, since her construction in 1958, provided for her successive owners a modest shelter—but little more, for it was her haughty stepsisters in neighboring Zip Codes, and not the lowly http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/03/cinderella-story.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-2244088224801840914Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:00:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:12.813-08:00Laissez faire (or unfaire?)Middlemen and the media[Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain. But you feel it. That there's something wrong in the world. It is that feeling that has brought you to this blog. You take the blue pill* and the story ends; you wake in your bed, and you believe whatever you want to believe about the future of the South Coast housing market. You take the http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/03/blue-pill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-5456260387761455242Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:00:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:13.332-08:00La Cumbre and Hope RanchCondos and townhomesLET'S CLEAR UP THE CONFUSION RIGHT NOW. All the heavy-duty hubbub presently transpiring at the northeast corner of State and Mason Streets (shown at right) has absolutely nothing to do with last week's hoity-toity "hard hat tour" of the freshly renovated Granada Theater, located more than a mile away. Nothing at all. Nor does all the pile-driving at that State-and-Mason construction site have thehttp://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/03/levyathan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-4145567858461164566Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:00:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:13.862-08:00Homes of the StarsTO THOSE OF YOU just performing a Google search for "Santa Ynez Valley" +discotheque +"Anderson's split pea soup" and discovering this blog for the first time: welcome! And to all returning visitors: welcome back. Last week, every media outlet on Earth, save perhaps Qatar Quilters Quarterly (whose editors always seem to be behind the curve), reported on a 02/20/08 Notice of Trustee's Sale in http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/03/thriller-killer-part-deux.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-9133477324782041476Tue, 26 Feb 2008 05:00:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:15.116-08:00The Westside and Samarkand"LAST TUESDAY, Santa Barbara peace officers were dispatched to the city's Samarkand area, near the MacKenzie Park lawn-bowling facility, in response to numerous reports of ongoing, suspicious activity at a certain residential property now owned by a mortgage lending institution. At or around 2:15 p.m., officers gained unforced entry to the house there, but found no persons present—either inside http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/02/police-blotter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-7034377955987703343Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:10:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:15.266-08:00Homes of the StarsMontecitoIN CASE YOU MISSED the 2008 Grammy Awards last Sunday, the Grammy for "Song-of-the-Year Alumnus Most Relieved to Finally Off-load His or Her Personal Residence" went to Bruce Johnston ("I Write the Songs," 1977). After 522 days on the market, the Johnston residence—shown here and located at the fringe of Montecito's freeway-adjacent Hedgerow District—finally found its mark: title passed to a http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/02/santa-bar-bar-bar-bar-bar-bara.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-3541638493678825238Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:00:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:16.100-08:00The Eastside and San RoqueCondos and townhomesDEMOGRAPHY IS, according to the 42nd U.S. president, the science of separating the world into two big chunks of humanity: the chunk that has seen the Taj…and the chunk that has not. CBS anchor Katie Couric—that butcher of nightly news—slices the species more delicately, noting in her 12/15/06 Couric & Co. blog entry: "People can be divided into two categories: those who wash or rinse their disheshttp://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/02/cruelest-cut.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-6079222081376936179Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:15:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:16.365-08:00Goleta and Noleta"THE BLUFFS along the Santa Barbara coast!" shouted Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Sam Gerard to his subordinates as he scanned the Arlington Theater marquee—just before hitting the red carpet with his date, U.S. Marshal Catherine Walsh, at his side."Deputy Biggs!" barked Gerard, "I need to know, asap, who—or what—exactly The Bluffs are and how exactly they got second billing, below that fine actor http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/02/us-marshals.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-3854113977480805830Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:44:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:16.805-08:00The Eastside and San RoqueMiddlemen and the media[For decades,"Opportunity Shop" has meant just one thing to Santa Barbara area residents: that second-hand furniture store on West Canon Perdido Street (shown at right).[1] But now the two-word phrase is to be taken as an imperative as well. Fixed mortgage rates are at or near historical lows; prices of South Coast condominiums and single-family homes are waning, now seems the consensus; and http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/01/sound-advice.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-4778454299711728649Mon, 21 Jan 2008 22:30:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:17.125-08:00Laissez faire (or unfaire?)The Westside and SamarkandCondos and townhomes[Last weekend, the USS Ronald Reagan dropped anchor just off the South Coast. But in the crew's excitement over finally getting their chance to visit the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum in downtown Santa Barbara, they completely forgot why they came here in the first place: to fire off their ship's bow a measured succession of twenty-one rifle shots in salute to a fallen fleet member, the goodhttp://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/01/brokeback-blankenship.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-3725418860433285208Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:22:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:17.883-08:00The Eastside and San RoqueMiddlemen and the media LAST WEEK'S ABORTED Obama coronation in the Granite State stole a bit of thunder, sadly, from the previous month's live birth of a new SBAOR (Santa Barbara Association of Realtors) president, someone named John Chufar. Barely out of the chute, this neonate is already showing real promise. Among the bouncing baby boy's first official activities in 2008 was to peck out an infantile "Hello World" http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/01/profiles-in-courage.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-628379530242722948Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:20:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:18.932-08:00The Mesa[New home construction exerts downward pressure on prices of existing homes, right? Good news, then, for aspiring South Coast homeowners: more new homes, and hence lower home prices, are coming soon. Following is the backstory.]TATIANA NEVER stood a chance—imprisoned for life with no say in the matter, subjected to daily humiliations by a species of specieists for whom admiring beauty only from http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2008/01/readin-writin-and-ritlin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-4284294845808288680Mon, 31 Dec 2007 09:58:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:19.379-08:00The MesaVULGARITY HAS ITS PLACE AND TIME. Stubbed toes, missed field goals, nuclear annihilations, bad hair days—all are suitable occasions to let fly an expletive or two. But no self-respecting housing bubble blog, let alone one whose administrator has been schooled to eschew colloquialisms, would ever resort to a certain four-letter “F” word merely for rhetorical emphasis. And it is this self-inflictedhttp://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2007/12/f-word.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7103173894617419908.post-240020231614958418Mon, 24 Dec 2007 09:51:00 +00002008-12-11T10:49:19.722-08:00Statistics and other liesMiddlemen and the mediaO HOLY NIGHT! The stars are brightly shining—unless you happen to find yourself anywhere near Santa Barbara's State-and-Valerio intersection, whose hyperbolically festive southwest corner (pictured here) succeeds brilliantly in obscuring all but the very brightest of celestial bodies. Try squinting, and you just might make out Century 21 Butler Realty doing its business behind all the festivity. http://sbhousingbubble.blogspot.com/2007/12/schadenfreudliche-weihnachten.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Saint Barbara)3