The "Real" State - Corona, CA

Library of Congress

2012-06-28T07:50:00.001-07:00

I do a lot of reading. Unfortunately, the reading is typically on the internet...usually on http://www.espn.com/, http://www.nascar.com/, http://www.yahoo.com/, or http://www.bloomberg.com/. I am very interested in sports, politics and finance. A couple of weeks ago I spent hours pouring over articles in The Economist about Global Warming and its affect on weather and oil trade. I do not spend too much time reading books. I love to read Jim Collins books. I thought Good to Great was great, I loved How the Mighty Fall...I got Great by Choice a few months ago, but find myself only 35% done with the book!

So, I stumbled across a list by the Library of Congress. The list of influential, important books in American history. The list has 88 books on it, spanning approximately 29,700 pages. So I have been kicking around the idea of reading my way through the list. So, I went on another site to determine how fast I read. The site told me that I read approximately 45 pages an hour. At that pace the list is going to take a shade over 659 hours to complete. Now if I read two hours a day it will take me 330 days to read through the list! I am pretty sure that if I set a goal of reading two hours a day for the next year, I am fairly certain that I am setting myself up to fail.

Not to mention that some of the books I have no idea if I can even find...ummm, or if I have the intellect to get through. Here is a sample of some of the books on the list:

1. Experiments and Observations of Electricity by Benjamin Franklin (1751 - 540 pages)
2. The Federalist (1758 - 565 pages)
3. A Curious Hieroglyphick (1788 - 144 pages)

Some of the books I should have read in high school:

1. The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850 - 192 pages)
2. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851 - 458 pages)
3. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (1884 - 224 pages)
4. The Call of the Wild by Jack London (1903 - 179 pages)

Some of the books I really do not want to read (these books account for approximately 10% of the pages):

1. Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer (1931 - 448 pages)
2. Alcoholics Anonymous (1939 - 576 pages)
3. The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care by Benjamin Spock (1946 - 1,152 pages)
4. Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Book Collective (1971 - 944 pages)

And then some books that I am VERY interested in reading:

1. Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1854 - 224 pages)
2. How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis (1890 - 206 pages)
3. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929 - 326 pages)
4. On the Road by John Kerouac (1957 - 320 pages)

I mean, I don't know anything about electricity, nor do I think I can read a book written in 1751 about electricity in 12 hours. I'm pretty sure that Benjamin Franklin wrote at a higher level than 3rd grade reading, which is where most stuff on the internet is written. Therefore, the task seems a little daunting. I was also thinking about blogging the whole process! I'll let you know!!!

The First Trip to LA

2012-06-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

The year was 1988. I was on vacation with my family in Sequoia National Forest. We were on our way home and I was reading the newspaper. The Los Angeles Times has been a staple in my dad's life since I can remember. The sports page was dominated by the story of this guy being traded to the Los Angeles Kings. His name...Wayne Gretzky! I was fascinated. I asked my dad tons of questions.

Two months later, the first game of the season was about to start. I was about to watch my first hockey game on TV. The lights were off and the PA announcer said, "and number 99, Wayne Gretzky". I was mesmorized! It was the same voice that years later would say "Los Angeles goal, a power play goal, the 802nd goal of his career, scored by number 99 Wayne Gretzky, assisted by number 33 Marty McSorley and number 20 Luc Robitaille" when Wayne beat Kirk McLean to pass Gordie Howe as the all-time greatest goal scorer!

That summer day, I became a fan of hockey! I became a fan of the Los Angeles Kings. I decided that first year that my favorite player was not going to be Wayne, rather it would be Steve Yzerman (and he is still my favorite athlete today!). It has been 24 years since that summer. I have watched countless hockey games. I have been fortunate enough to see Steve hoist 3 cups with the Detroit Red Wings (my 1a favorite team). But, for the first time...the Cup is in Los Angeles (arriving in Anaheim for the Ducks doesn't count). The Kings have a chance tonight to win the Stanley Cup...it will be inside Staples Center! I have waited for 24 years to see the Kings earn an opportunity to win the cup! I can't wait any longer! GO KINGS GO!!!!!

Can I (errr, Mitch Kupchak) fix the Lakers?????

2012-06-06T07:21:00.001-07:00

The NBA playoffs are coming to a close! This led me to start thinking about how the Lakers can re-load. Here are 4 crazy scenarios!

Pie in the Sky

Trade #1
Pau Gasol to the Miami Heat, Chris Bosh to the Los Angeles Lakers

Trade #2
Andrew Bynum to the Orlando Magic, Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers

Trade #3
Trade exception and a 2nd round draft choice to New Orleans, Trevor Ariza to the Los Angeles Lakers

Free Agent Signings
Steve Nash, Lamar Odom

Losses
Matt Barnes, Troy Murphy, Devin Ebanks, Darius Morris, Andrew Goudelock

A completely ludicrous trade a few weeks ago. We were about to anoint the Miami Heat as the NBA Champions. We were headed for a Heat v. Spurs finals. The Spurs were fresh off devouring the Utah Jazz (a complete cupcake in the West), the Los Angeles Clippers (worse than a cupcake, a horribly flawed team...the '08 Hornets were a better squad with a younger, less hurt version of Chris Paul), and they had sprinted out to a 2-0 lead on the Thunder (forgive me if I never thought the Spurs were for real, despite a 20 game winning streak...felt a lot like T-Mac leading the Rockets to 23 wins in a row a few years ago!). The Heat had just dispatched the Knicks (a dysfunctional squad built around a one legged big man and a massive ego small forward), the Pacers (a chippy team but no one to lean on in big moments), and had luckily found themselves up 2-0 on the Celtics (I thought the Celtics should have won game 2).

But now, it might be possible. If the Heat get ousted tomorrow there is a growing sentiment that they will blow the thing up. And who gets the ax, for sure Spoelstra and maybe Chris Bosh. I don't think they are trading LeBron but maybe...he is just not a clutch performer. In big moments he shrinks...I've been saying this for 5 years. He is the smallest big man in the NBA. He is the best front running guy in the league! When thinks are going well, it is all smiles and dunks! When adversary hits, LeBron sinks into the corner and lets Mario Chalmers shoot big shots (he might be developing a little Jason Terry into his game and rep...I like the ice water in his veins!). D Wade isn't going anywhere either. Of the big 3, I think he has the least amount of trade value. He is already on the wrong side of 30. He has a history of breaking down...so I think he is staying put. That leaves Bosh as trade bait. Bosh is the guy who is the one who has sacrificed the most of his game. He reminds me of Lamar Odom when he was with the Lakers. He was a stat machine, but he took a lesser role to fill the gaps. It probably cost him a little future money because his stats suffered with the Lakers.

Why Bosh to the Lakers works! Bynum is down low and Bosh can be out on the wing. He can be the pick and roll big. He can knock down 17 footers with ease. He isn't all that comfortable going down low and banging bodies...so he can leave that to Drew. Gasol was never comfortable being out at the elbow in Mike Brown's offense; therefore, going to Miami allows him to go back into the post. Miami is in desperate need for someone down on the block. Gasol is still one of the top 3 low post players in the NBA.

Why Gasol to the Heat works! Gasol is a great 2nd option. He is not afraid to shot big shots. He can bang a little and grab rebounds. He has won championships and could possibly give the Heat the needed low post threat. Plus, he is not going to fight Wade or LeBron for the spotlight. He will go to work, do his job and return to the production that we are used to seeing from him.

If trade 1 happens I think both teams improve, but it might led to trade 2 which would likewise be beneficial to both squads. The Magic have to trade Dwight. He has outlived his welcome in Orlando. He has shown himself to be nothing like Shaq. Shaq bailed on Orlando, but he didn't drag the city and the team through 12 months of hell. I remember when I was sitting in church telling all my friends that Jerry West was going to get Shaq, it was a gut feeling, but none of them thought I was sane.

Why Howard to the Lakers works! If we have Bosh and Bryant we have a ton of offense, we would need a defensive stopper! Howard is the best stopper in the NBA. He would anchor the Lakers defense and allow the Lakers to gamble a lot more on defense.

Why Bynum to the Magic works! They are old and don't have a go to option. Hedo Turkaglu, Jameer Nelson and Jason Richardson are not the same options they used to be. So, the Magic need an offensive player to shoulder the load. Let's face it Drew is better offensively then Howard, just like LeBron is not the closer we want him to be Dwight is the offensive threat we want him to be. Both men have been in the league too long for us to believe they are going to make any massive changes to who they are!

Call me crazy but I have a gut feeling that Ariza is a Laker next year. I love making all of these trades and convincing Nash to join the Lakers for 2 years to make 2 solid runs at titles! Although, he might prefer Miami if they do not win this year. It will give him the "I'm the missing piece" feeling! The Lakers would be re-loaded in my "pie in the sky" scenario and they would be the new hunted!

Alright, second best!

Trade #1
Pau Gasol to the Boston Celtics, Rajon Rondo to the Los Angeles Lakers

Trade #2
Trade exception and a 2nd round draft choice to New Orleans, Trevor Ariza to the Los Angeles Lakers

Free Agent Signings
Lamar Odom

Losses
Matt Barnes, Troy Murphy, Devin Ebanks, Darius Morris, Andrew Goudelock

I know that I am spending a lot of Jerry Buss' money in this trade. However, I love Rondo, Bynum and Bryant as the big three. I also think that Ariza and Odom coming off the bench gives the Lakers immediately a more credible bench! It gives them a tremendous amount of flexibility!

Why this trade works for Boston? They already have made it clear they don't want to build the future around Rajon Rondo! Gasol gives them a legit star who can bridge the 2-3 year gap until they can reload.

Why this trade doesn't work for the Lakers? They already have a petulant star in Bynum, by adding Rondo...they would have two super moody stars and no Phil Jackson!

Fine, more likely!

Trade #1
Trade exception and a 2nd round draft choice to New Orleans, Trevor Ariza to the Los Angeles Lakers

Losses
Matt Barnes, Troy Murphy, Devin Ebanks, Darius Morris, Andrew Goudelock

I love this trade for a few reasons. 1.) Trevor is an athletic wing that the Lakers need! He can knock down open jumpers (33.3% of his 3s this year), despite no help with the Hornets. Plus, he is an above average defender...let's face it he is Matt Barnes, just younger and better! The problem here is that we are adding salary and not getting that much better. I am not sure bringing Trevor off of the bench all of a sudden makes the Lakers a contender. Well, I take that back, I am sure that it doesn't make them a contender!

Worst Case Scenario

The Lakers brass (led by Jim Buss) thinks that the "big three" of Bynum, Gasol and Bryant are good enough to take another run or two at the NBA title. Unfortunately, I do not feel like this scenario is not that far off. Also, I don't think this assessment is that far off. Bynum and Gasol still give the Lakers an incredible front court duo. There is one thing that I am fairly sure is going to happen, and that thing is Lamar Odom coming back to the Lakers (unless someone comes along and throws stupid cash at him...and the guy in Jersey is the only one I can see doing that). In that scenario, Odom, Bynum and Gasol give the Lakers the most dynamic front court trio! Having said that, the Lakers still need help on the bench. I am not really a fan of anyone on the bench. I am hoping the Lakers can sign a legit point guard (Nash, Rondo, Williams, etc) so Sessions can be the backup! This would allow the Lakers to amnesty Blake (after the trade of Walton he is really the only amnesty contract available...unless you want to consider, gulp, Kobe Bryant!) and his $4,000,000 per year salary ($12,000,000 total). Sadly, Lamar doesn't push the Lakers back over the top...they need MORE!

Jukebox XVIII

2012-05-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

Well, as they say, New Year's resolutions are made to be broken! This year's ill-fated resolution was that I wanted to participate in 8 triathlons in 2012. Here I sit just a couple days short of June 1, which appears like the half way point of the year...alright, it is a month short of half...41.7% of the year to be exact. This means I need to be 3 TRIs into my goal to be on pace. Well, as usual, life happened and I am still sitting on a giant goose egg. This does not mean that I can't begin to work out and try to shave 20 pounds and still try to jam 8 TRIs into the next 215 days! Anyway, that is the goal, to begin training, which means that I will be listening to my iPod a lot more frequently. Therefore, I am bringing back one of my favorite posts...the jukebox!

1. You Remind Me Mary J Blige

When this CD came out, it was completely OK to put your stereo up to the radio and record a song straight from the radio. This was done quite a few times during my high school career. My buddy Daniel and I loved to listen to 92.3 the Beat, 99.1 KGGI and Power 106 (105.9). One day, You Remind Me by Mary J came on and I asked Daniel if he had that song. He said, I have the CD...I wanted to listen to it. He told me that I could record it but I couldn't keep it over night because "he needed him some Mary J Blige" before bed.

2. The Best of Me Jason Aldean

A love gone wrong song. One of my favorite Aldean songs.

3. Kush Dr Dre (feat. Snoop Dogg and Akon)

The first song released off the infamous Detox Dr Dre album. Dre and Snoop doing their thing. Snoops line, "still I am, tighter than the pants on Will.I.Am" is great. Anyway, I remember Dre and Snoop from their Deep Cover days, from their Nuthing But A "G" Thang days...I got to believe that Dre is embarrassed that Snoop is on a Katy Perry track, I know I am!

4. 2 of Americaz Most Wanted Tupac (feat. Snoop Dogg)

All Eyes On Me was a phenomenal CD. How Do You Want It featuring K-Ci and JoJo was great. I Ain't Mad At Cha featuring Danny Boy was awesome. California Love featuring Dr Dre was off the hook too. But, this song was without a doubt the best track from this album. "Ain't nuthin but a gangsta party"

5. Venus vs Mars Jay-Z

The Blueprint 3 is a great album. One of my buddies keeps telling me that rap/hip hop are dead and for the most part, I agree. Having said that, The Blueprint 3 (and Recovery by Eminem) is a great album. This album has high end pop songs (Empire State of Mind with Alicia Keys and Run This Town with Rhianna and Kanye West), as well as some other great cuts (Reminder, D.O.A.) and then there is Venus vs Mars. A good but not great song from this album. The last line "My dollars was down, she left me for some Euro’s, took my whole flavor, I call her coke zero, co-MVP like Kobe and Shaq, left me for the Heat, we were winning back to back, said I partied too much, shawty got fed up, shawty got Britney shaved her whole head up, we used to make out, kissing each others face off, fell for the ponzi scheme, damn shawty just Made-off."

6. Dear John Taylor Swift

Alright, as much as it pains me...this is actually a decent song! I am going to pretend that it isn't about some bitter public celebrity relationship! I just actually like most parts of this song. And, she doesn't seem so bitter, just young and naive.

7. You Can't Tell Me Nothing Kanye West

I can go either way with Kanye. Typically, he falls into the "hip hop music is terrible" category. But, occasionally, he has a good song...and this is one of those songs! I love this song. It has some very funny lines. "So if the Devil wears Prada, Adam and Eve wear nada, I'm somewhere in the middle but way more fresher". As funny as that line is, there is nothing funnier than Zach Galifianakis' take!

8. Lighters Bad Meets Evil (feat. Bruno Mars)

I just mentioned above that I think that Recovery and The Blueprint 3 are the best hip-hop albums released lately. I also think it is quite interesting that Eminem and Jay-Z are following a similar path (I realize that they have a few differences). They both had amazing albums that had great collaborative work. Part of that collaborative work included a pop song that featured Rhianna (Love the Way You Lie and Run This Town). They both followed up their solo albums by doing a collaborative album (Watch the Throne by Jay Z and Kanye West, Hell the Sequel Bad Meets Evil - Eminem and 5'9" Royce). Anyway, I'm not a huge Mars fan but this song is sick. If you listen to Em and 5'9" it's amazing how they mirror each others flow in this song!

9. More Bounce (in California) Soul Kid

This song screams The OC...loved the show (well, season 1 for sure, season 2 was good too...but it definitely jumped the shark in the season finale of season 2), like the song!

Lord Stanley's Cup

2012-05-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

Wayne Gretzky. Luc Robitaille. Tomas Sandstrom. Jari Kurri. Tony Granato. Paul Coffey. Kelly Hrudey. The mainstays of the Kings last run to the Finals! I remember that playoff run vividly.

My buddy Daniel and I had a routine everyday. We got home from school. We played street hockey until it got dark, then we ran to Foster's donuts for a snack, ran back home to watch Saved by the Bell and Dial MTV (I didn't say we weren't dorks). Oh, I forgot, we also watched almost EVERY hockey game that year. Not just every hockey game that year, but almost every second of every game.

I have a few very distinct memories from that playoff run. 1.) Gretzky scoring a hat trick against the Doug Gilmore/Wendell Clark led Toronto Maple Leafs in game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. 2.) The Kings played only Canadian teams that year in the playoffs. 3.) Gretzky scored an AMAZING empty net goal against Montreal in the first game of the Finals. 4.) Marty McSorley got busted for having an illegal stick with just a couple minutes left in game 2. The Kings were ahead 2-1. The Canadiens scored on the ensuing power play, then again in overtime to tie the series. The Kings NEVER recovered. 5.) John LeClair destroying the Kings. 6.) Patrick Roy was a beast...that the Kings couldn't overcome!

This year's run is a little different for me. I don't know all of the Kings yet. I re-kindled my love for the Kings a few years ago, so I know a few. Drew Doughty is my favorite. Dustin Brown is the heart and soul of the team, the Robitaille of '93. Kopitar is the leading scorer, the Gretzky role...although he is nowhere near the superstar that Gretz was! Quick holds the role of Hrudey, and quite frankly is way better at it than Kelly. But, beyond that...I don't know these guys.

As I try to determine who is going to win, I usually look at history. I look at goals against versus goals for. I would examine the records of the two teams and try to determine which team has an edge.I would pour over stats and create a spreadsheet that would predict the winner. However, this year is a little different. As little as I know about the Kings, I know less about the New Jersey Devils. I know Marty Brodeur! I know Ilya Kovalchuk (I wanted him to be a King SO bad when he was a free agent a couple years ago!!!). I remember Patrick Elias, but he is from the tail end of my hockey obsession. So this year, I have to go with my gut, my heart, to make any sort of pick!

As little as I know about the Kings, one thing I do know is that Bob Miller and Jim Fox are the best! I cannot stand listening to the network broadcasters. I know there must be some broadcaster code that says you can't bash anyone in the fraternity, but all of the broadcasters talking about how "great" Mike Emrick is, well it is just laughable! He literally sounds to me like a guy who has never watched hockey before. He reads the last names of the players like a child pronouncing a word that they do not know. He makes constant mistakes. If I have to listen to him mispronounce names like Daymond Langkow for another series I may have to turn the sound off! I did hear a rumor that the Kings are going to have Miller and Fox announce the games, so fans can buy them after the fact as a souvenir. I truly hope this is true! Miller and Fox are amazing. Miller is the lesser known of the Los Angeles triumvirate of sports announcers (alongside Vin Scully and Chick Hearn, please don't say Ralph Lawler to me...BINGO!), but that doesn't mean he is any less of a hall of famer!

Therefore, based on my eyeball test (I have watched somewhere between 6 and 10 kings games this postseason, but I've watch no Devils games...so this makes this a complete homer pick!), I am going with the Kings in 6 games! For this reason only, I hope the Stanley Cup Finals provide a little better hockey than the previous 3 rounds!

May Homes Report (Corona and Norco)

2012-05-23T14:23:00.002-07:00

"Let me tell you something...everything you hear at a poker game is pure crap" ~ Aunt Iris

****Shocking to see this report just 7 days after my report!****
In the first season of Friends, the boys and girls are playing poker. So, Monica asks her aunt to come and teach the girls how to play. The quote above is the "first lesson of poker". It might be appropriate to say about pretty much anything coming from the media. Yesterday the stock market advanced on "good news" from the real estate world. The existing homes data report suggests that the end is in sight; therefore, every one can be happy that we are taking the right steps to recovery.

The existing sales data report to me is as murky as ever before. There are five zip codes in Corona and average price per home decreased in three of the five zip codes (-1.32% in 92879, -12.12 in 92881 and -9.69% in 92883) in the past six months. The zip codes that showed growth were 92880 (3.42%) and 92882 (4.23%). Which results in a composite decline of 3.87% over the past six months. I realize that 3.87 is a ton better than the 13.39 declined seen in the past 4 years, but it is not the happy, cherry news that I read about yesterday.

Now, I do understand that they were talking about national data, so that might explain the discrepancy. Having said that, I do live in California, Southern California to be exact so I obviously believe that this is the center of the world and closer to reality than any other place in the country! I also understand that the homes data report was not talking about the average price per home either. It was dealing with the median price per home and the volume of homes sold year over year. We have to realize that real estate has changed SO much in the past twelve months. The banks began to stop foreclosing homes (due to a number of reasons including fines from the government and litigation from tons of homeowners) and this is after they stopped releasing the homes that they have foreclosed for sale! What I am saying is that the banks sold less homes a few months ago which created less supply (almost no supply), this forced people who wanted to buy to bid up the homes they did buy. Therefore, the prices were artificially inflated. All you have to do is look at the homes currently available in Corona, REOs (bank owned homes) account for 1 in 8 of the homes on the market. This number is down massively off the high of a few years ago!

Lastly, there are lots of banks with tons of blood in their books. They have not released the homes that they have foreclosed, so we don't know how much worse things will get. CitiGroup Asset Disposition claims that there are 11,000,000 distressed properties in the foreclosure backlog.

The dialog from Aunt Iris ends by her telling Pheobe, "those are nice earrings"...to which Pheobe looks around a sheepishly smiles and says, "thanks." Kind of my response to these reports...

Available Homes Report (Corona and Norco, CA)

2012-05-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't done one of these reports in a while, so I am a little surprised by the shift in the inventory. Here is the breakdown...

Standard Sales - 204
Short Sales - 147
REOs - 50

There are literally more standard sales on the market than distressed properties. This could be due to a few reasons. One, real estate agents HATE short sales. So, there could be a large number of realtors who do not want to take the listings. Two, the banks have been beat up by federal regulators. Therefore, they may be less willing to foreclose properties. Three, homeowners may be fed up with the process and just not even attempting to short sell the homes. This could also led to homeowners being uncooperative and staying in their homes longer (filing for bankruptcy, multiple loan mod attempts, etc...).

I will post more tomorrow about the inventory in Corona and Norco.

92879

Standard Sales (26)
Short Sales (33)
REO (7)

92880

Standard Sales (50)
Short Sales (39)
REO (11)

92881

Standard Sales (44)
Short Sales (16)
REO (9)

92882

Standard Sales (34)
Short Sales (31)
REO (16)

92883

Standard Sales (50)
Short Sales (28)
REO (7)

92860

Standard Sales (37)
Short Sales (11)
REO (3)

Not as often as you'd think...

2012-05-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

"I thought it'd be great, you know? have some time alone with my thoughts... turns out, I don't have as many thoughts as you'd think." ~ Joey Tribianni

I started this blog when I thought I had something to say. Now, I am not sure when I lost my voice or if I ever had one, but for a while now I just feel like I have nothing to say. I got all prepared to do a 2012 Clippers comparison with the 2008 New Orleans Hornets and well, I just didn't want to complete it. I don't know if I don't have thoughts like Joey, or if I don't know how to put it into words. All of this has caught me completely by surprise. I was the kid in kindergarten who would finish his work faster than everyone else, and then proceed to prevent all the rest of the kids from doing their work. I am the guy who usually has something to say about religion, politics (two areas I'm not supposed to address), or sports. However, there just isn't enough in sports to talk about that is compelling. And life has gotten so busy that sadly, I am not as up to date on politics as I'd like to be.

The Lakers are, well, old! There is no other way to put it. They are actually not that good. And, I may be the only person who is in LA and who is a Lakers fan who is over Kobe Bryant. I relate to him on a very personal level. Our personalities, I think, are very similar. But, he is the antithesis of a team player. I want him to make his Lakers teammates better, but he just doesn't. I read about Jordan's work ethic and his intensity...and how that raised those things in his teammates. Kobe does not seem to have the same impact on his teammates. Maybe I'll write about my complete thoughts about Kobe, probably not!

The Trojans are too far away. I will get into full Trojan crazyness as the season draws nearer.

The Dodgers are under new ownership. But, I am not feeling the team. The beginning of the season feels like a sham. I love Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw. Both of these guys are cornerstone guys. Very easy to build your team on those two guys, and have a firm foundation. However, the only other guy I remotely like is Andre Ethier. He just happens to be producing in a contract year. I am VERY skeptical of guys killing it in a contract year. I remember Adrian Beltre having an amazing season! ONE SEASON! He has been productive throughout his career, but that one year was sublime. I hope this is not Dre's MO.

The Clippers, Bruins, and Angels all fall into the same camp for me. They are the Jets, Mets, Nets of New York. They are the other teams in LA. They put together nice seasons here and there...but no history. They never produce over time. I have no room for them.

The Kings are amazing! The have brought about SO many old memories for me! Watching Wayne and the boys go to the Stanley Cup finals was amazing. And these Kings are putting together a great run. A phenomenal goalie, a timely offense and a big strong defense makes them fun to watch. I need a Drew Doughty jersey!

The only other thing on my radar sports wise is NASCAR. The only sport I like that is not regional (outside of my love of the Red Wings, even though they are regional, just not to me). I am a big fan of the sport. Last year, my brother took me to the race in Fontana. It was a complete blast and I am hooked. Not to mention it gives me something to talk to my brother about. We went to the race again this year and had a killer time. My favorite driver is Kyle Busch. This year, I took Mac with me to the race, and she had a good time...and picked up a super cute Kyle Busch t-shirt. After a very slow start, the "MMMs" (as Mac would say it) car is starting to perform like the Cup contender that he is.

See, it took me an hour to write all of that out...and there is not a compelling word among them. It reminds me of Jim on The Office, he was describing to the interviewer what he did at Dunder Mifflin and about 2 minutes into it he says, "I am boring myself talking about this"...which perfectly wraps up this post. I have bored myself. Hopefully, I'll find something compelling to say!

10341 Lindesmith Ave, Whittier, CA 90603

2012-03-28T17:29:00.001-07:00

Beautiful home in a highly desirable area. The entire kitchen has been remodeled. There are hardwood floors throughout the house. Both of the bathrooms have been completely updated. There is designer paint throughout the house. This is an immaculate home, even your fussiest buyers will appreciate! You really have to see to believe!

Additional features:

- Omega Kitchen Cabinets: www.omegacab.com
- Solid Hardwood Frames
- Dovetailed self closing drawers
- Full Pantry with pull-out drawers
- Many cabinets with extra features
- Jenn-Air Appliances
- Reverse Osmosis water purification at the SINK and the Refrigerator
- Refrigerator not included in the sale.
- Natural Gas Hook-Up for outside Barbeque
- 50-Amp Underground wiring to Garage with receptacles on every wall
- New Kohler Cast Iron Laundry Sink
- Deep Soaker Bathtub
- Full Featured In-Wall Surround Sound System (TV Mount not included)
- In-Wall HDMI/Component/Composite Cabling to TV
- Power receptacle behind TV
- In-Wall Center Channel speaker wire
- In-Wall satellite speaker wiring
- In-Wall Bass Speaker wiring
- Plumbing for a water softener with separate plumbing for hard water to the toilets. (Water Softener not included)

Please contact me for additional information!

Back again...

2012-03-07T12:18:00.002-08:00

So, it has been a long time. Just over a year I think. I know I have said this before (and failed miserably), but I am going to blog more this year. Hopefully, developing content that is useful, timely and somewhat entertaining.

I am going to start this year with a quote that I came across the other day...

I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinion I have no respect.
~ Edward Gibbon

Reminds me of the line in On Fire by Eminem, 'Then why the f@*k am I yellin' at air?'

Anyway, I'll see you soon!

Lakers v. KG

2011-02-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

My hatred and disdain for anything Celtic is pretty well documented. The same pretty much goes for Kevin Garnett. In my opinion, he is not a winner (a whiner yes!, but definitely not a winner). He had to combine with Paul Pierce (he has his own set of issues) and Ray Allen (the only one of the three that I borderline respect), in order to win anything.

There are many things I can't stand about KG. So, I will only go back far enough to the event that brought us to our present scenario: the day that KG decided he wanted a trade out of Minnesota. I remember reading about Kobe asking the Lakers to trade for KG. I remember the Lakers considering it, but ultimately deciding not to make the deal, because they would have had to give up Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum to make the deal work. Anyway, KG wanted out of Minnesota, so he demanded to be traded. I have an issue with a guy wanting to be "the man" on a team, wanting to be paid like "the man", not producing enough wins to be "the man" and demanding to be traded (I have issue with Kobe for what happened in 2007 too).

KG was the highest paid player in the NBA. During the mid 2000s, he was one heck of a basketball player. He was the best defender in the game (still is one of the top 10). He challenged Tim Duncan as the best power forward in the NBA (he doesn't get the nod because TD has won 4 championships). His contract, as with most superstars, restricted the T-Wolves. They were unable to surround him with enough talent to win consistently; not to mention that they had some bad luck (Malik Sealy), made some bad decisions (Stephon Marbury), and did some bonehead things (Joe Smith). KG wanted to be the alpha dog and he wanted to be paid like the alpha dog, but he did not produce results like an alpha dog. So he wanted out. That is problem number one I have with KG.

I am not going to go into all my issues with KG, so let's just fast forward to this season. 2011 has provided me two more things that 'endear' me to KG. Let's start with the infamous tweet of Charlie Villanueva:

"KG called me a cancer patient, I'm pissed because, u know how many people died from cancer, and he's tossing it like it's a joke,"

To this KG replied by saying,

"My comment to Charlie Villanueva was in fact, ‘You are cancerous to your team and our league.’ I would never be insensitive to the brave struggle that cancer patients endure."

I don't really care what KG said to Villanueva. I just think it is funny that he would have us believe that calling a guy 'a cancer to his team and the league' shows us that he is a sensitive guy. Well, I guess he didn't say that he was sensitive. He said that wasn't insensitive. And to be fair he was saying that he isn't insensitive to people with cancer, but who the hell cares how he treats another basketball player. This is my first 2011 issue with KG.

Second, I really struggle with him identifying himself with the Celtics. I know he has been there for 3 years and I know that he has experienced his greatest achievements there. But come on, he hasn't even been there for a quarter of his career. He doesn't get to embrace the legacy of the Celtics. He grew up in Chicago idolizing Michael Jordan. His new shoes with the all-time Celtics win-loss record against the Lakers on the tongue is annoying (I know I am homer). The record just happens to be 153-121 (55.8%).

It is annoying because HIS all-time record against the Lakers is 29-50 (36.7%). His record is only slightly better as a Celtic, 4-6 (40%). His best record against the Lakers is in the postseason, where he boasts an 11-14 record (44%). His teams have eliminated the Lakers only one time from the playoffs, in the 2008 NBA Finals.

In fact, no Celtic has much to brag about in this regards (I know, I know...I have covered this already), except those who played on the Celtics in the 60s and 70s. Because since 1980, the Lakers record against the Celtics is 36-23 (61%). This tells you that the Lakers and Celtics played each other a lot during the 60s and 70s AND that the Celtics dominated!!!

Anyway, when LeBron "took his talents to South Beach" my focus became beating the Heat. KG has done a great job of bringing the Celtics back into focus, and helping me realize there isn't enough room in my heart to actively despise two teams. So, Miami is safe...for now!

Corona Inventory

2011-02-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

So, we tried to write a little bit more consistently, and it hasn't quite worked out. Anyway, it (and by 'we' and 'it' I mean 'ME') is a work in progress.

Standard Sales (301)

92879 (45)
92880 (64)
92881 (56)
92882 (66)
92883 (70)

Short Sales (648)

92879 (116)
92880 (172)
92881 (63)
92882 (147)
92883 (150)

REO (130)

92879 (25)
92880 (31)
92881 (18)
92882 (33)
92883 (23)

Here we are two months later and our inventory (from raw data, I am only going to dissect the numbers on a quarterly basis) has increased by 49 homes in Corona. We have 23 more short sales on the market, 43 more standard sales on the market, and 17 less bank owned homes on the market.

The number that intrigues me is the number of bank owned homes on the market. The number of bank owned homes on the market is the real market indicator.

Jukebox XVII

2011-02-08T09:45:00.000-08:00

GAME ON!!! I am an really competitive person. I can remember playing Tetris with Hanssie when we were dating and she would always be SO cocky and arrogant when she won...I would have to destroy her for a few days, just to keep her in check (we ultimately stopped playing video games together, for obvious reasons). Anyway, a few friends of mine have begun a competition to see who can develop the best habits.

A very brief overview of the game is this, we get points for consuming under our 'goal' for calories, for sleeping 7 hours a day (my biggest area of weakness), for drinking 3 liters of water a day, for developing a good habit, for stopping a bad habit and for communicating with the people in the game. There is also an overall goal that if you are tracking every week, you get a bonus. This is my motivation for working out the past few weeks. And I have found it very hard to get this 20 minute workout in every day. So, I have resorted to taking runs with Bentley after dark.

Anyway, here is my game on work out list. I will warn you this is not a random shuffle. I put 6 CDs on my iPod and am random shuffling through those 6 CDs. The CDs are:

The Band Perry by The Band Perry
Hemingway's Whiskey by Kenny Chesney
Charleston, SC 1966 by Darius Rucker
Speak Now by Taylor Swift
The Incredible Machine by Sugarland
My Kinda Party by Jason Aldean

1. Postcard From Paris The Band Perry

The is my favorite cut from this CD (I don't know why I even said that, my favorite is definitely bound to change). I can't put my finger on why I like this band. Maybe their music just resonates with me. Whatever it is, this CD is in my car and it is on all the time. Well, besides the Jason Aldean CD...

2. Hip to My Heart The Band Perry

The first release off the CD, it is ok!

3. Every Girl Like Me Sugarland

I really like Sugarland, but I am not feeling this CD yet. I listened to Love on the Inside and I was sold on 10 of the records. This CD has been slow to catch my attention. Having said that, I like this song.

4. I Got Nothin' Darius Rucker

I was cleaning the car one day and decided to give this CD a real good listening to. I need that one song to hook me, and Darius had that song Let Her Cry from his Hootie days (a special live version is on this CD). Anyway, that got me and I have been hooked on Charleston ever since. His first CD was really good and this one is a good follow up. Although, I don't think there are as many hits in this group (listen to me drawing conclusions like I am a music critic...and I am not through apparently).

5. Better Than Revenge Taylor Swift

Playing Tim McGraw to Tim McGraw a few years ago was priceless. I loved how raw and innocent she was. I liked Taylor Swift, I loved Fearless, I am torn on Speak Now. What I am certain about? I don't like this song. As a cute 16 year old, the bitterness and vindictiveness is a little more tolerable (I mean, not for my daughter, but for her), but as a 20 year old trying to be an adult...try being better at singing!

6. Seven Days Kenny Chesney

I like Boys of Fall, but this is the song that hooked me on the CD...the jury is still out on the rest of the disc!

7. Just Passing Through Jason Aldean

The more I hear Jason, the more I like him. I really wanted to see him last year at a festival in Lake Elsinore, but somehow missed the show. I don't think he comes out this far west often...

Existing Home Sales Report

2011-02-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

I was reading an article by Rick Reilly a couple years ago. The article was a day in the life of Kobe Bryant, I won't bore you with the details of the article (the hyperlink is Kobe's name), just one story. Rick said that Kobe would spend all day watching the news. Rick asked him,'don't you ever watch Sportscenter'? Kobe replied, 'I live it, why would I watch them report it incorrectly'. Interestingly enough, Rick did an interview with President Obama and the opposite happened. Obama (according to Rick) only watched Sportscenter and Rick asked him if he watches the news. Rick said that Obama gave the same response as Kobe. Both of these men expressed the same sentiment as Thomas Jefferson when he said, "It is always better to have no ideas than false ones; to believe nothing, than to believe what is wrong."

It was this article that came to my mind when the December 2010 existing home sales report from NAR came out. The report said:

"Existing-home sales report, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, rose 12.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.28 million in December from an upwardly revised 4.70 million in November, but remain 2.9 percent below the 5.44 million pace in December 2009."

All you have to do is read Bloomberg, Yahoo!, or the Wall St Journal to see that many economists are using this data to point to a strengthening recovery (of the US economy). Well, I have been saying for the past three years that '08 & '09 would be terribly down years. I believed that 2010 would bring some stability (maybe even a little false hope). But, 2011 and 2012 would be down years again. I firmly believe this to be the case. I do not believe that one month up 12% can indicate to us that we are in recovery. Well, at least not here in Corona. Here is the data for Corona:

Month Closed Gain (Loss)
9/10              264
10/10            299         13.3%
11/10            263         (12%)
12/10            314         19.4%
1/11              191         (39.5%) - projected numbers

When I see these numbers, recovery is not the first word that jumps into my head. Schizophrenia, that is a word that pops up in my head. We are living in a market that is all over the place. I was looking at the median price closed in Corona during the month of December all the way back to 2002. Again, the numbers are absolutely staggering. The median price for a home in Corona during December 2002 was $274,900. The peak was December 2006 when then median priced home was $554,900. In December 2010, the median price has retreated all the way back to $315,000. That is 14% growth over 9 years, or an annual rate of growth of 1.5%.

By contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial average (the stock market) was at 8,400 on December 31, 2002. On December 31, 2010, it was at 11,578. This represents 37.8% growth or an annual growth rate of 3.6%.

If you invested $100,000 in the stock market in 2002, today you would have $138,198. If you invested the same $100k into real estate in Corona during the same time, you would have $114,444.

I know that Corona is not a leading indicator of the markets in America. But, what I do know is that things are not as the media would make it out to be. I, too, believe what Thomas Jefferson had to say about knowing nothing is better than knowing something false. The more that I examine the data and not what they want me to believe, I am inclined to believe that they are false.

Last thing, this whole topic reminded me of this George Carlin routine. It is literally one of the funniest bits of stand up comedy that I have seen. Here is the transcript of the bit and the you tube link, George Carlin Jammin' in New York:

"You might notice that, I don’t feel about that war the way we were told to feel about that war, the way that we were ordered and instructed by the United States government to feel about that war. See my mind doesn’t work that way. I got this real moron thing I do, it’s called thinking. And I am not a really good American because I like to form my own opinion. I don’t just roll over when I am told too. Sad to say too many Americans roll over on command. I have certain rules I live by. First, I don’t believe anything that the government tells me. And I don’t take very seriously the media or the press in this country."

El Torero, Corona, CA

2011-02-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

El Torero
222 E 3rd St
Corona, CA 92879
(951) 737-2738

Growing up, my mom was a very simple cook. She had an arsenal of approximately 12-15 meals and we re-hashed them over and over again. For some reason (probably because we didn't have the money), we didn't have too many fresh vegetables. In fact, I thought fresh vegetables were shaped like a Del Monte can. (side note: kids hate vegetables because canned vegetables are horrible. My mom either drenched our vegetables in bacon and onions - green beans - or she covered our carrots in brown sugar, which just happens to be another popular way to get kids to eat vegetables). Spicy food in my house meant that we put a lot of salt on everything. My food experiences were very limited growing up. I grew up in Redlands, CA, a college town approx. 60 miles east of Los Angeles. We had two Mexican restaurants, Cuca's and Rosa Maria's. We loved those places, in fact, we wore them out. We would go there all the time.

When I moved to Corona, I very quickly tried to find a place that would satisfy my need for Mexican food. I found a great place, El Torero on 3rd St. The home of the burrelleno. It is located behind Del Taco off the corner of Main St and 3rd St (basically just south of the 91 FWY on 3rd St). Back in the day when I was fat (like last year, hahaha) I used to get a chicken taco and a meat potato and cheese burrito. They use chile verde pork as the meat, and it is amazing!!! Their hot sauce is delicious.

They are known for their "world" famous burrelleno. I have not ordered this but they told me that it is very popular. Basically it is a burrito with an entire chile relleno inside of it. They have added breakfast burritos and other breakfast foods since the restaurant changed ownership in 2008. They have taco tuesday and special most days of the week.

Ironically, when I go back to Redlands, Cuca's and Rosa's can not compare to the restaurants I have found in Corona.

16085 Blue Mountain Ct

2011-01-26T22:58:00.000-08:00

Backyard view

Master bedroom

Master Bath

Master Bath

Master

Master

Master

Living room

Laundry

Kitchen

Family room

Family room

Dining room

Den/Office

Bonus room

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 3

Backyard

Backyard

Backyard

Backyard

Back of house

I have 4 posts that I have been working on since last week. I will post them the rest of this week.

2011-01-19T23:12:00.000-08:00

The inventory here in Corona took a small step (26% - 98 to 72) backwards this week. In fact, we had two of the five zip codes in Corona without a new REO listing. In fact there were only 8 REO listings total.

92879

REO (0)
Short Sale (8)
Standard (5)

92880

REO (3)
Short Sale (9)
Standard (5)

92881

REO (1)
Short Sale (5)
Standard (5)

92882

REO (4)
Short Sale (7)
Standard (4)

92883

REO (0)
Short Sale (9)
Standard (7)

Inventory Lists

2011-01-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

OKAY! So, the blog hasn't taken shape like I wanted. But, it is only the second week of January and I have a time to get it back on track.

The inventory has grown by the modest amount of 98 homes. Of those, 20 are bank owned homes. The standard sales amounted to 38 of the homes, which leaves 40 homes that are short sales.

The ruling by the Massachusetts's Supreme Court on Friday is going to cause banks to be more willing to negotiate short sales and loan modifications. Thus, we may shift back to short sales as a real viable option for buyers looking to get a home.

Here is the complete list of homes added to the MLS in the last week!

92879

REO (3)
Short Sale (10)
Standard Sale (3)

92880

REO (9)
Short Sale (13)
Standard Sale (8)

92881

REO (2)
Short Sale (4)
Standard Sale (5)

92882

REO (5)
Short Sale (7)
Standard Sale (15)

92883

REO (1)
Short Sale (6)
Standard Sale (7)

Jukebox XVI

2011-01-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

During the 2004 college football season, we went to Stanford to see USC play the Cardinal. We had decided a few weeks before the game that we wanted to see a USC football game. Our big problem was, at the time, a ticket to the Coliseum was next to impossible to obtain...so we set our sights on Palo Alto. A few reasons for this, 1.) my in-laws live in near by Milpitas, CA, which gave my wife an excuse to see and hang out with her parents, 2.) because the in-laws lived so close we would not have to pay for a hotel (and some food), 3.) Stanford was horrible (so the tickets would be reasonable).

A week or so before the game we decided to check to see if the Dodgers happen to be playing in San Francisco that same weekend. To our shock and surprise the Dodgers just happened to be playing a 3 game series with the Giants in San Fran. This was also the time that Barry Bonds was playing for the Giants, so these tickets were very hard to come by as well. Fortunately, we have a friend whose brother owned (at the time) like 50 pairs of tickets. So, we were able to secure tickets for a reasonable price.

So, this is how the weekend setup...we left here in Thursday night and drove to Milpitas. On the way, we made a quick stop at Harris Ranch...an unbelievable ranch in the middle of nowhere on the 5 FWY. We had a spectacular dinner.

Friday - Pier 39, Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard St, and Dodgers v. Giants that night.

Saturday - Dodgers v. Giants at 12pm, SC v. Stanford at 5pm

Sunday - Dodgers v. Giants 1pm

This weekend set a grand tradition of going away for the weekend to see multiple sporting events...tons and tons of fun!!!!

Anyway...on Friday as we are making our way around the Wharf and the Pier (a place I am very familiar with because the only places my family went on vacation as I was growing up were Sequoia National Forest and San Francisco - and by extension Hearst Castle) we walked up to the window for Alcatraz. It had been years since I had been to Alcatraz, so we decided that we would try to make it over there on Friday. Unfortunately, if you don't book 10 days in advance, you are not going. As we walked away, my buddy Mike looks across the bay to Alcatraz and says, "I bet I could swim there".

This conversation is all that I can think about as I begin to prepare for my next challenge. My goal for 2011 is to compete in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. It's a bit tricky because it is expensive for a triathlon ($400) and there are a lot of people wanting to do the tri.

So, my first jukebox of 2011 is in honor of this goal...

You Remind Me ~ Mary J. Blige

Daniel is my oldest friend, so he is going to appear here a lot. I remember borrowing his Mary J. Blige CD and how crazy he was until I returned it to him. What's the 411? was an amazing CD. It was one of my first CDs (The soundtrack to Boomerang was my first - I had to have End of the Road by Boyz II Men), and it still is one of my favorites.

Key's in the Conch Shell ~ Kenny Chesney
Almost Famous - Eminem

I am crazy about the new Eminem CD Recovery. Literally, I listened to it for 8 weeks solid, and my favorite song changed every other day.

Run this Town - Jay-Z feat Rhianna & Kanye West

"We got a bankhead full of broads, they got a table full of fellas, and they ain't spending no cake, they should throw they hand in, 'Cause they ain't got no spades...my whole team got dough, so my bankhead is lookin' like millionaire's 'fro"

I'll Make Love to You - Boyz II Men
Let Her Cry - Darius Rucker

When I was in college a few things were going on, 1.) I was an idiot and 2.) Hootie and the Blowfish was wildly popular. One day my buddy, Mauricio, and I decide to write "He's Hootie and I'm the Blowfish" on a one dollar bill along with our names. This is around 1995. Fast forward 12 years and my buddy gives me a call, we had grown apart and not kept in touch at all. My mom got the bill as change and gave it to him in church. This story comes flooding back into my head every time Let Her Cry comes on my iPhone. It is on Darius Rucker's (he actually is Hootie) new CD.

Somewhere With You - Kenny Chesney

Kenny's new single...I don't think I can say anymore about Kenny. Two quick thoughts, 1.) he is going to have a stadium tour this summer and is selling at least 7,000 tickets to each venue for under $25 so his fans can still afford to see him play (pretty awesome,) and 2.) according to Forbes magazine he made $60 million dollars last year (and it was a year he took 'off').

Back to December - Taylor Swift
Keep the Girl - Jason Aldean

I really like Jason's new CD. This is not a cut from that disc, but it is pretty awesome. I was doing the dishes the other night and Mac grabbed one of the headphones out of my ear to "hear what I was listening to". A new Jason Aldean song was coming on, so before he started singing, I asked who's song this was, and in a loud voice she proclaimed "Jason Aldean". Pretty cute!

Venus - Frankie Avalon
WTP - Eminem
Want To - Sugarland

They have a lot of love songs. My favorite...love this line!!!

"We could keep things just the same, leave here the way we came, with nothing to lose, but I don't want to, if you don't want to"

16483 Village Meadow Dr

2011-01-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

Pictures for this home...

New Year's Resolution

2010-12-29T20:06:00.000-08:00

They say that the top 3 New Year's resolutions are: weight loss, starting an exercise program and stopping smoking. Well, I am not usually one to have a New Year's resolution...because, well quite frankly, if I don't have one...then my chances of not breaking my resolution are 100%. However, this year, in honor of New Year's (which is just around the corner), but definitely not a resolution, I am planning on blogging a lot more. My goal is to get 4 posts up a week in kind of a structured format. So, I thought I would take a few minutes to get my goal out there...so at the very least it is written down (and if there are readers - eventually - they will have an idea of what posts are coming and when).

Monday - Inventory lists

As it stands today, the inventory lists will include the zip codes 92879, 92880, 92881, 92882, 92883. I have done a good amount of business in Riverside, Moreno Valley and a number of other areas in SW Riverside county. So, I am thinking about adding some of those areas, but the main focus is going to be on the city of Corona.

Tuesday - Business profile

Due to the focus being on Corona, the business profiles will be exclusively of businesses in Corona. I guess I should have said mostly, because there is a good chance that I am going to write about D'Elias grinder shop, which is in downtown Riverside. Anyway, I am not entirely sure how this is going to look or what is going to happen here, but I am pretty excited about the opportunities.

Thursday - Me

I am going to be writing about the things going on in my life. This section will include but is not limited to: the non-profits that I work with, the Triathlons I am participating in and the training for them, sports, music...basically things that I like...oh, I may get a little political here too...

Friday - Corona

I am going to be sending out the things going on in the city of Corona. Examples of this could be: what trade shows are happening in Corona, when they light the trees in town for Christmas, etc...just general information about Corona.

This is not set in stone, but it is going to be a guide for how the posts will come out. There are going to be a few exceptions but they will be pretty obvious when they come along (like a new listing, a house sold, etc).

I hope you check back often...

More on Corona Inventory

2010-12-28T22:37:00.000-08:00

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics" ~ Benjamin Disraeli

When I was in junior high school my parents decided to go on a trip to Vegas by themselves. They left my brother and I at home for the weekend. I remember this weekend like it was yesterday, my buddies Arturo and Brian came over and my brother (who was the only one of us who had money) bought us Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES. We literally played that game for 48 hours straight, stopping to eat and nap as we tried to beat the game. We were wildly unsuccessful. We didn't beat that game until years later and a friend of ours gave us the cheat codes book. Anyway, that experience moved me away from video games that you could "beat", and from then on all I have played are sports video games. Well, one video game NCAA College Football for PlayStation 2...because I am too cheap to get the new console to just play maybe 10-15 games a year!

I play NCAA for two reasons: 1. I love USC (I tried Madden, but I have no attachment to any NFL team, although I feel a growing attachment to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots...much to the chagrin of my friends - all of whom support really random teams), and 2. I love statistics. I play the game to churn out yards. I play to win the Biletnikoff award (presented to the top wide receiver). I play to win the Heisman. I play to win National Championships. I play to recruit...and build a dynasty. It's actually quite scary...

Statistics is one of the reasons that I love my job. I get to break out my trusty number 2 and my business calc and run all kinds of numbers. I get to calculate PMI. I get to figure out the riddle of mello roos. I get to work on PITI...figure in some HOA...and I am really smoking. Questions like, how much extra purchase power would I have if I wasn't buying a property with an HOA? Or, how much would I have if I was in a lower tax area? No mello roos? No special assessment?

So, as I was running the inventory searches for Corona last night...two thoughts hit me...1. how do they calculate the "standing inventory" report we get monthly (you know the one, there are 6 months of inventory in Corona, CA - really how do you determine that?)? And, 2. the quote above on statistics. So I began to pull some data to see if I could see where we are in Corona, and more importantly where we are going.

Here is what I found:

We currently have 1,030 homes available in Corona.

147 REO
625 Short Sale
258 Standard

Over the past 12 months Corona has averaged 305 closed sales per month. The high month was June with 368. The low month was February with 248. So, someone could say that we have 3 1/3 months of "standing inventory". However, this is very misleading. During the same time period, the last 12 months, Corona has averaged 450 listings taken per month.

Now, hold on a minute, if we are adding 145 more houses than we are subtracting per month, then our "standing inventory" should be in the 1,740 range. And it would be somewhat reasonable to believe that the trend would continue in the near future. We could make the assumption that in January our inventory would be in the 1,200 range and this would continue to depress the values of all of the property in Corona.

Again, it is not quite that simple. A quick search of the MLS of the past 12 months reveals that we are averaging approx. 165 listings that go expired or canceled per month. Now, this is not an exact science because a lot of these homes are short sales and they come back on the market the next month (or 5 months later) as either a bank owned or an investor owned home.

At first glance, we are now looking at the inventory shrinking by a modest 20 listings a month. Which means, we are looking at a "standing inventory" of 50 months. This looks like we are in a state of equilibrium. The market is standing pat, values holding firm, even ticking up in some neighborhoods. I had a listing agent tell me last month, "we are going to hold out for our price because we are the only home available in the area". While he was technically correct, there were no other homes available...what he wasn't taking into consideration was the 21 homes at some stage of foreclosure in that neighborhood.

And this is our last wild card as we try to figure out where real estate is heading. There are over 3,000 homes in Corona at some stage of foreclosure. That is 1 out of 7 houses...a number that seems astronomical to me because of the amount of homes already foreclosed. This is called "shadow inventory" and is truly wrecking havoc on the real estate industry. An asset manager with Wachovia told me that they expect their bank to begin liquidating their assets by the 3rd quarter of 2011.

During the meltdown of 2008 and 2009, I felt that 2010 was going to be the quiet before the storm. Pretty interesting words because we had just been through a huge storm, but this storm was going to be different. It was going to involve people who could continue to pay the mortgage. It was going to involve more people (5 year ARMs and Option ARM loans are coming due). And the real kicker, it is going to cut an already deeply wounded economy. We have been lured into a false sense of security because the stock market is over 11,500.

The goal is to continue to work on these numbers every month so that we can have an accurate picture of what real estate is doing in Corona, CA.

Corona Inventory

2010-12-28T00:57:00.000-08:00

Here is the inventory for Corona, CA as of today. I am going to be adding some additional data about trends for the area...and I hope to have this added by the end of the day today. I will be updating the inventory lists every Monday...so I hope you check back. Tomorrow I am going to outline a general format for the blog...so there will kind of be a schedule for what is to come.

Please leave me comments, letting me know what you like...and what you don't like. Thanks!!!

92879

REO (28)
Short Sale (117)
Standard (38)

92880

REO (32)
Short Sale (162)
Standard (63)

92881

REO (27)
Short Sale (65)
Standard (46)

92882

REO (32)
Short Sale (152)
Standard (46)

92883

REO (28)
Short Sale (129)
Standard (65)

2222 Monterey Peninsula Dr, Corona, CA 92882

2010-12-27T00:09:00.001-08:00

Back on the market!!! Hurry this home will not last. We went into escrow with this beauty last month but the buyer could not perform. I am including a link to the flyer for this home. Please call me if you know anyone interested!!

2222 Monterey Peninsula Dr

Lake Hills Reserve Riverside, CA

2010-12-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

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