Anne Fashauer Anderson Valley Real Estate

First leg of the southwest trip

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:34:00 GMT

We left the Anderson Valley on Friday the 3rd at 5am. We drove for about 13 hours that day, including stops for gas, bathrooms and food. We got to Kingman, AZ, at around 6:30pm California time. The drive was easy and uneventful - just how you like it. We found a steakhouse for dinner in Kingman - bad choice. My ribs were quite good, but the atmosphere and service weren't great. After dinner we drove around old Kingman and found it was "First Friday" - which in Kingman apparently is one gallery and one wine bar. The art in the gallery was predominantly nudes of the female form, except for the jewelery. We kinda chuckled at that - a theme, perhaps? The wine bar was packed - what else to do on a Friday night in Kingman? We spoke to a nice young woman who told us that First Friday started with a number of galleries and businesses participating but was now down to just the two. We found a nice bottle of Malmsey (some of which I sip now as I write) and settled in for a bit to enjoy the local scenery. We noted almost immediately that there were a lot of pretty young women - but where were the boys?? After a while a few trickled in - but the girls were dressed for a night out and the boys were in ball caps. Hmmm.

The next morning we ate a quick breakfast and headed for the Grand Canyon. We arrived around 1pm and headed for the dining room at the El Tovar for a nice lunch and a bottle of Louis Roederer champagne. Once our room was ready, we deposited our luggage and headed out for a short walk along the rim trail. We had enough of walking down in to the steep canyon on the last trip - this time we just wanted to admire the views. Also, this year is much snowier and icier than last year, if we needed another excuse to stay on top. We had dinner again at the hotel - we'd booked a "romance package" which included the meal and a souvenir bottle of Grand Canyon wine (what turned out to be a not bad bottle of very light cabernet). Our room was one of the few with views of the canyon, so with the moon full, we headed out to our deck after dinner to enjoy the view some more.

We left the Grand Canyon mid-morning and headed through Navajo country down to Flagstaff and then on to Sedona. We arrived a bit earlier in the day this year, so we were able to get a quick grocery run in before all of the superbowl was over. There is a great natural foods grocery here that we love - we picked up king salmon and lamb chops for at least two dinners. We have a fantastic room this year - a separate bedroom, living room and full kitchen, as well as a small laundry closet. A big improvement over last year where we had a bedroom/living room/kitchen set up in one space. I had some business to attend to the first morning here, but we headed out for a short hike this afternoon and got to enjoy the gorgeous area that is Sedona.

The rest of this week will be filled with hikes around Sedona, good meals cooked in our kitchen (and on the grills the resort provides) and maybe a movie or two in town. By the time I write again we will be in Pagosa Springs, CO. Until then, cheers!

On our way again

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:21:00 GMT

Last year at this time, my beau and I took a wonderful road trip to the southwest. This year we are doing it again, with a couple of twists. Last year we spent a couple of days at the Grand Canyon, a week in Sedona, AZ, then a few days in Death Valley. This year we are going to spend just one night in the Grand Canyon; we've booked a nice room with a view (there are only a few, we got lucky) and will just spend the afternoon and part of the next day there. Then we will again drive down to Sedona where we will spend another week. We like to hike and will be exploring more of the area, testing out trails we didn't have time for last year. We found a nice market and were able to cook most of our meals and we look forward to that as well. This year we also booked a nicer room, one with a larger kitchen and a fireplace, which will be so nice to come home to after a day of hiking.

We have another week booked in Pagosa Springs, CO. I have never been to Colorado, so I'm very excited. This is in southern Colorado, just east of Durango, in the Indian country made famous by Tony Hillerman. Of course, there's a hot springs there as well and, hopefully, some snow so we can do some skiing (I'm not a big skier, but my beau is). We plan to drive home across Utah and Nevada, stopping at a couple of national parks, Capitol Reefs in Utah and Great Basin in Nevada. We plan to take 50, the loneliest highway, home.

In all, we'll be gone about three weeks. I'll be writing from the road and keeping you posted on our travels. We'll miss the crab feed and the Roadhouse Romancin' dance, so I hope you all attend those for us!

2011 Real Estate Statistics

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:18:00 GMT

2011 was not a big year for sales in Anderson Valley. There were ten residential sales and six land sales. One of the residential sales was "distressed" meaning it was either a short sale or an REO (bank owned sale). In 2010, there were 12 residential sales and 10 land sales. For a little comparison, in both 2000 and in 2004, there were 25 residential sales. In 2000 prices were closer to what they are today; in 2004 they were, of course, significantly higher. At the end of 2011 the median price for a home in the Valley was around $300,000. There were no residential sales in the first quarter of last year, but from April to October, 2011, prices dropped 13.1%. I left off November and December because there was one large sale for over $3,000,000 that would throw off any meaningful statistics; of course, given the small number of sales, these stats are limited as well. This information is based on sales reported in Bay Area Real Estate Information Services, Inc. (BAREIS) and is not verified and is subject to change. Listings represented may not have been listed or sold by myself, Anne Fashauer, or by North Country Real Estate.

Despite the low number of sales in the area, I personally felt busy throughout the year. I had a couple of sales and a couple of escrows - one that never went through and one that is still ongoing. I felt I had a good number of people contacting me about real estate and looking at properties. I think the interest in real estate is still out there but there are a lot of factors keeping people from "pulling the trigger."

I feel this year is starting out well; I've had offers on a couple of properties and several people are looking - and we're just over two weeks in to the new year. I'll check those statistics again mid-year and we'll see how things are playing out. In the meantime, enjoy the rain that we're finally going to get!

Happy New Year!

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:38:00 GMT

We've been home from Cabo for about two and a half weeks now and it seems worlds away. We came home just before Christmas to a bit of madness - last minute shopping, a few delayed meetings and decorating the Christmas tree. We did that last on Christmas eve itself! We had family here for the holiday which was really nice, spending time catching up and cooking a delicious Christmas dinner.

My beau hit the ground running right after the holiday and was back in Hyampom the day after Christmas. He came back in time for New Year's Eve, which we spent on the coast dancing to Be Bop Deluxe with the coast swing dancers. It was fun to be out dancing again as it has been a while. New Year's Day was spent doing chores, but we ended it with a nice dinner with my brother and his family and a couple of games of Farkle (that is a lot of fun).

Just before Christmas I got a new horse, Fred. He joins my other two geldings, Jac and Barney. Fred and Barney have really hit it off and are hardly separable. We just call them the Flinstones. Unfortunately, Fred has been diagnosed with a serious illness; he's treatable, but it will be a long course - and expensive, too, of course. I'll keep you posted, but he's getting the best care right now - special supplements for his immune system, along with acupuncture and cranial-sacral work to help him along.

I found myself surprisingly busy with real estate over the past couple of weeks; usually it is a very quiet time of the year, but people are out and about and looking. The beautiful weather, while indicating a dry summer, is undoubtedly helping with this situation. I'll send out some info on the past year in real estate in my next column. Until then, happy new year!

Cabo San Lucas, again

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:03:00 GMT

Today is my last full day in Cabo for this trip; we fly home tomorrow. We were here last year, but in November. The two trips have been quite different. Last year we were here during the tuna fishing tournament, which meant my beau only got to fish a couple of times. There were a lot of people here and the weather was nice and warm. We stayed at the same resort both times and have eaten at a couple of the same restaurants, shopped at the same grocery store as well.

My beau has been able to fish every day this trip; he took one day off just so he and I could hang out together more than our usual late afternoon/evening of every other day. This trip they have caught mostly Dorado (aka Mahi Mahi) but we did get to eat Grouper one night. The tuna are much harder to find this time of year and you have to be willing to really go after them.

I have spent most of my days at the pool, reading. So far, I've read three books and am working on a fourth - Finding Nouf (Zoe Ferraris), Lucky You (Carl Hiasson), The Messenger (Daniel Silva) and now, The Man From Beijing (Henning Mankell). I've walked around town, snapping some pictures of locals and the marina. There is a sail boat here rumored to be worth $100,000,000. It's big, that is for sure. It's docked in such a way, all I could photograph would be it's masts. I did find a great riding stable and took a two hour ride, half in the desert, half galloping along the beach (yes, that was fun).

We've done well with food this trip as well. We found one place we liked last time and went there right away. We have found two or three more places we will go back to as well. We've had fresh fish every night; one night we had one of the restaurants fix it for us - a starter of carpaccio and then grilled; yum!

If there's been a downside to this trip, it's been the weather - much cooler and cloudy more than sunny most days. Yesterday was the coolest, cloudy and breezy all day - I went to the pool but spent the day wrapped up; today it's clear and gorgeous, so I'll be heading out soon. But cool is relative - it's still in the 70's and low 80's most of the day. I'm sure I'll miss this weather as soon as my feet hit the ground tomorrow evening!

Don't be caught unaware

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:21:00 GMT

A couple of weeks have passed since I last had a chance to sit and write. In that time I finally visited Hyampom, the town where my beau is working part of the time. It's a very remote, very rural place; it's quite pretty but it has nothing on Anderson Valley. It's also very cold - the elevation of the valley is not high, but it's surrounded by very tall mountains and when the cold air settles it settles in Hyampom. Thanksgiving came and went during that time as well. We were in Cottonwood with my beau's family. It was a very nice time, lots of family and good food, of course. I also took advantage of being close to Redding and Anderson and availed myself of the shopping to be had there.

I've been back for a couple of weeks and have been very busy. First I was helping plan the ICW holiday party, which ended up being a lot of fun. We were able to use Rivers Bend Retreat center and it was beautiful. Burt at Boont Berry did the food and it was delicious as always. We had a good turn out and everyone had a good time.

The second thing I was busy with was having some clients out to do their inspections on a property they are wanting to buy. I have mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again - if you're thinking of putting your property on the market, it pays to do some homework. In this case, a little effort by the seller could have saved the dual surprises of finding out the leach field for the septic wasn't functioning and that the house needs a new roof - now. Now the seller faces the costs to rectify both of these items at a time when he was just hoping to sell and be done. If you have any questions about what you should research before you get ready to sell, drop me a line; I'm here to help.

I leave for a week in Cabo San Lucas on Monday, so I'll miss another week but I'll catch you up when I return.

Qualities of Absence

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:56:00 GMT

I have been thinking about the qualities of absence, of longing, and of loss recently. My beau has taken a job that is about six hours away; it's part time but it's not the kind of part time where you work 25 hours a week. It's the kind of part time that means you are gone for long stretches at a time, then back for a time and then gone again. The job involves wine making and vineyard management, so the past couple of weeks have been the busy season and have required a lot of his time. It coincided with our own harvest, of course, so he was gone for several days, then back for our harvest and then gone again a day later, this time for over a week.

The first part of the absence was the most difficult - my joke was that he "picked a fine time to leave me Lucille" - with our grapes yet to be harvested, the rental house still to be painted, a garden full of vegetables needing to be preserved, and a chunk of the firewood still to be brought in. To make matters worse, the area he is working in has no, none, zero, cell coverage (apparently Verizon is working on this, thank goodness) and he had no phone at the house his employers are providing. I was left to wait for twice daily calls from either the employer's house or the winery - or even the local bar and grill, if no one else was using the phone and if there was time with their harvest going on. This wouldn't have been too bad except in the middle of this one of his family members had a medical emergency and we couldn't get a hold of him to let him know!

The rental house got painted the weekend before the rains, my beau came back for harvest (which went extremely well, with a decent tonnage and better sugars than we could have hoped for), he brought in all of the firewood and I was able to pick the garden one last time and get some of the preserving done that day (and the rest over the following week). We went for close to another week without a phone in his house up there, but even that has been taken care of and he can now call from the privacy of that residence.

During the recent absence I had time to think about missing him. When we first started to see each other I resisted the relationship and him; then I went on a trip with a girlfriend where I had no cell service and he and I were only able to talk two or three times for that week. I keenly missed him and realized the resistance was futile. This absence reminded me of that time a little; I've missed him greatly but I've also been the one at home this time, busy with my work, my friends and my activities. But absence does make the heart grow fonder, as the saying goes; every time I do something that he would normally do (fill the wood basket, take a turn feeding the hummingbirds or the dogs, go out to the garden to pick something, for a few examples) I would miss him, think about him, wonder when he would be able to get home again. Every night I would close out the lights in the house and head up to my room, alone.

I've had my share of deaths to deal with over the years, mostly when I was younger. I lost two young cousins when I was around 14, when I was 16 a lot of the people in Elk died (mostly older folks, my god mother and the like, but a couple of young ones too, like Matt Sandkulla); when I was 20 my uncle and my father died. I grew to expect death, but I've not actually had too many people close to me die since my early twenties, a reprieve of sorts.

Death teaches you about absence in a whole new way. I was reading "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" while on that trip away, missing my beau, and one of the characters talks about "never" and how we use that word all the time - I'll never do that again, It's now or never, and so on. But never means something very different after you've experienced the death of someone close to you. You realize that you will never see that person walk into a room again, they will never teach you to hit a golf ball again (my cousin), never make you eggs, bacon and potatoes for breakfast again (my father). They will never do all the things you love and all the things you hate - and when you miss someone, you would give anything for that person to come back and do the thing you hate the most, just to be able to see that person again.

My beau is home again this week and we are enjoying our time together. I have the expectation of seeing him while he is gone, which is delicious in its own way, and the joy of spending time with him when he's back. But as the family emergency reminded me, there is no guarantee that expectation will be met, so I am feeling truly grateful to have him in my life and to be able to savor this. I'm even able to smile at the things that might otherwise annoy me, appreciating them more because of the sweetness of their simply being there, not being absent.

The last of our "Indian Summer"

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:40:00 GMT

It seems the last of our Indian summer is upon us. I have been daily, sometimes several times daily, following the local agriculture weather forecast, checking to see how many more days of sun we have left. My grapes are still hanging and looking fabulous, the sugars seem perfect and we should be harvesting just before the rain that's due this week. It's been a touchy year with the vineyard, after last year when we weren't able to get enough sunshine to get the sugars high enough to sell the grapes (but we will have some fabulous wine to sell early next year - I'll keep you posted). We farmed it like crazy, doing everything in our power to bring the fruit to where it is today - ripe for the picking, as the saying goes.

I've been working on harvesting the last of the garden as well; we still have tons of peppers, eggplants and lemon cucumbers. Even some tomatoes. I think the squash is about done, though. I made my first batch of jalapeno jelly and am planning to pickle some of the other hot pepper varieties. I've also made ratatouille and frozen that for winter feasting. I'll miss all of the summer veggies, but on the other hand, I'll be glad when all the preserving is behind me and I'll be opening those cans of goodies instead of filling them.

The other big project has been painting my rental house. My beau worked off and on all summer getting it ready, but when it came down to it, there just wasn't time for him to get it complete, so my brother and his mother-in-law stepped in and finished it for me over the weekend. It looks great, thanks to their hard work. Choosing the paint color was a bit exciting. Because of a snafu with my original paint choice, I had little time to choose a new color; so I picked one and brought a sample home - and hated it. So I went back, picked another but it had to be "it" because my brother was painting that day. Thankfully it worked well and everyone says it looks good. Whew!

I hope everyone else is ready for the rain to begin. I know I'll be able to enjoy it this time, once the grapes are harvested and now that house is painted. I'll miss the great riding weather, but I'm ready for some indoor time, too.

A Perfect Valley Day

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:28:00 GMT

Last Wednesday I had the most wonderful day. It took a little planning, but it was worth it. It started with taking my horse, Jac, up to where my friend keeps her horse on the Holmes Ranch. We took the boys (our horses) down Holmes Ranch road, across Smith Hills, and down Guntley. Feeling ambitious, we decided to ride the short distance down the highway from Guntley to Holmes Ranch; we were aided by horse friendly people at Handley Cellars who let us sneak around the back and out their driveway, making it a much quieter and safer ride. We made it back up Holmes Ranch road and to the barn with a total ride time of about two and a half hours.

After I dropped my horse off back at his barn, I headed into Boonville for a really wonderful and relaxing massage from Nahara. This is a great experience - she possesses such healing abilities! I left there feeling loose and limber.

My evening was complete with a scrumptious dinner prepared by my beau - lobster tails and champagne. My brother and his family joined us and I got to spend some good time with my two nephews. As it was my birthday, we finished the meal with a tirimisu cake as I opened my presents: a new winter coat, a new raincoat and a Carhart vest just perfect for riding right now.

It's such a blessing to live in such a beautiful place and have the opportunity to experience everything we do. Life is good.

Contrasts

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:15:00 GMT

I spent the weekend before last at the Mendocino Women's Retreat, held at River's Bend in Philo. This was the third year I have attended (and the third year of it's existence) and it was as wonderful as ever. In some ways it felt like a reunion as I saw women I hadn't seen for the past year and yet with the unique theme and new participants, it felt very fresh. It was a time to reflect, attend thought-provoking, even emotional workshops, and simply catch up and share some female bonding. I felt very relaxed and at ease for a few days - a true retreat from the hectic nature of my every day life.

Of course, coming back into reality happened. It started as soon as I drove away from the retreat - a call to go taste the wine we'd made last year, to assess it and decide its future. I peeled the stick-on bindi from my forehead and headed back into the world; culture shock hit immediately as I walked into the tasting room of the winery we have our wine stored at and saw a woman in a pretty dress and high heels with her beau, tasting wines. I was still in cozy, comfortable retreat-wear, with no makeup and mussed hair! I'm not sure which of us was more out of place but it was fun to experience the discrepancy. The wine was tasted and decisions discussed but nothing set in stone yet.

The rest of the week was anything but restful, with driving to Santa Rosa twice, once for my mom to her eye doc, then for myself for the same. We did hit Sallie's and Goodwill and found a few good bargains, which was fun. I had to get a new laptop as my old one was dying and that took nearly two days to successfully set up so I could work again. Then I had friends over for a basic canning tutorial. Whew!

I was struck over and again by the difference in the pace of the week, beginning with the restfulness and ease of the retreat, the time allowed to deepen relationships and experience events and the craziness of the rest of the week, running from one appointment to another, squeezing in every moment to accomplish some task before collapsing into bed at the end of the day. I think some of the busy-ness of this time is the season, as I wrote before. For example,I have spent every moment at home prepping and canning either tomatoes or tomato sauce, something that only happens at this time of year. Some is coincidence, the two appointments out of town happening during the same week; and the doctors' schedules being such that we could not combine this into one trip. I look forward to those quiet winter days when all the autumn chores are done and we can relax until spring starts knocking on the door.

Autumn has arrived

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 16:39:00 GMT

It seems as though Mother Nature wanted us to make sure we knew that the season was changing as she brought in a slight rain storm just as we passed through the autumnal equinox. The air and the light have changed; the mornings are cooler, crisper, the afternoons filled with a golden tint and the last warmth of the year as the sun moves away from us. Fall chores are heavy upon us: harvesting the vegetables from the garden, putting them up either by freezing or canning, bringing in the last loads of firewood and getting them under cover for the winter, and any projects started outdoors need finishing before the real rains come (such as that paint job on my rental house).

The grape harvest began a couple of weeks ago for some. Our grapes are finishing going through verasion, we are thinning the crop, removing fruit from vines that either are unlikely to ripen or from vines too heavily laden to get everything ripe with the current amount of fruit. The vines look really good, the extra farming efforts by my beau evident in these waning days of ripening. Now we try not to worry about what else Mother Nature has in store for us, how much rain, how many cool days instead of "Indian summer" days we are looking forward to between now and our harvest. Last year we were in Mexico when the harvest was called, due to rain, not because we wanted it then. This year we've planned our trip for December - if the grapes aren't in by then, they aren't coming in. It's a balance - we want to be able to stock up on tuna and wahoo for the winter as well.

The real estate market continues to be quiet. There is some action here and there but I have noticed a drop in the number of visitors (but not my friends who stop by to say hello) to my little gas-station office in Boonville. I'm keeping busy, I have clients who are actively buying and selling, searching and hoping, so it's not as bad as it was a few years ago.

I want to give a little plug here for the Senior Center in Boonville and call attention to a new class being offered there starting next week - chair yoga, taught by Kathy MacDonald. It will be held before Thursday lunch, starting the 6th of October. If you have more questions, give the Center a call at 895-3609. Try it out and say hello to my mom while you're there!

Class K vs. regular building permit?

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:22:00 GMT

I received a call from someone last week asking my opinion on whether or not a Class K building permit makes a difference when one goes to sell the property. According to the Mendocino County Building Department website FAQ's page, "Class K is a relaxed construction standard available to owner-built rural dwellings and appurtenant structures intended “… to allow and facilitate the use of alternatives to the specifications prescribed by the Uniform technical code to the extent that a reasonable degree of health and safety is provided…” " There are a couple of other restrictions, but the fee is the same for either a Class K or a regular Uniform Building Code structure. I called the Building Department and found out a bit more: the language for the description of a Class K permit comes from the state of California and is part of its building code. Generally, the building is not inspected for seismic bracing or engineering or wind shear and the fire safety standards are relaxed (no sprinklers are expected). Owners sign a waiver stating that they are aware that the structure is not being reviewed to the same code level as a structure built with a standard UBC permit.

Speaking to other long time real estate agents, the overall opinion is that a Class K permit does not usually make a difference when selling a home. However, there are always exceptions. The person at the County that I spoke to told me of one instance where a lender would not lend on a newer Class K structure. In these days of tough to find financing, lenders are looking for every excuse to say no and a Class K permit is one more reason for them to do just that. Sometimes an appraiser can make an issue out of a Class K permit as well, and occasionally the Class K status can be found on the title to the property. Overall, the main issue is going to be the quality of the building; the County says that most Class K structures are built well. Often a lender can be satisfied if a home inspector examines the house and indicates that the building is safe and well built.

In the short term, a Class K building permit is going to be easier on the builder, the property owner. In the long term, getting a regular UBC permit is going to make a future sale a lot easier. No one, lender, buyer, appraiser, will be able to question that the home was built to code at the time it was completed. It's a personal choice and only you, the builder and property owner can answer to what will be best for you.

As a follow up to last week's column, both I and my beau did really well at the Fair; we came home with three best of divisions - one for my tomatoes, one for my biscuits and one for his canned albacore. I also received firsts on all of my other baked goods and he got an assortment of firsts, seconds and thirds for a lot of his veggies. We both felt pleased as Punch! Hope this inspires some of you to come out and compete next year!

Baking for the Fair

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:38:00 GMT

It's Fair time again! Boonville has been flying the banners for a few weeks and I have seen the carnival people arriving over the past week as well. Entries are starting to be due for judging - my mom dropped off her needlework a few days ago. My beau is entering some of his vegetables this year (Ok, so I filled out the forms and told him what he would be entering...) and those are due on Thursday night. I am writing this on Monday evening; tomorrow all of the baked and preserved goods are due, so that means I will be spending much of tomorrow morning in the kitchen baking.

This year I decided to add a couple of new items to my baking entries. I am doing my cookies and apple cake as usual (hopefully my cookies turn out better than last year - they were very disappointing last year), but I have added biscuits and sourdough bread. I've been making biscuits for a while and every year I look at the other entries and think I can compete. The bread is because over the winter I did a lot of sourdough bread baking and thought it would be fun to see how I'll do.

I'll be up early, hoping to get the baking done before it gets too hot - nothing like running a 400 degree oven on a hot day! I think I'll make the biscuits first, because I can eat a couple for breakfast! The sourdough takes a few steps, with resting time in between, so it will likely be the last thing I put in the oven. In between I'll bake cookies and the apple cake. The apple cake is the hardest and most time consuming - the apples have to be peeled and cored, then chopped. It's all a bit of work, but a lot of fun, too, especially if I get rewarded with a ribbon or two!

I'm also helping out at the AVVFD hamburger booth, so look for me on Saturday afternoon next to the grandstand, then Saturday night my beau and I will be out there dancing to Dean Titus and the Coyote Cowboys, and mom and I will of course be attending the sheep dog trial on Sunday. I look forward to seeing you at the fair!

Making firewood

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:29:00 GMT

When I lived in San Francisco all I had to do for heat was turn up the thermostat and plan to open my checkbook to PG&E and write a bit larger check to them to cover this. In one apartment we had a fireplace but it was more decorative than useful and I think I can count the number of fires we had with it on one hand. When I moved back home winter heating took a whole different perspective. Instead of one simple motion of the fingers, it is a several month-long process that eventually results in heating my home. I'm sure most, if not all, of you are familiar with this! In fact, I talked to an acquaintance about this and she said she and her husband figured they touched a piece of wood eight times before it was on fire.

For me, the process starts sometime during the summer when my brother, a timber feller, selects and cuts trees on my property for me. He fells them and cuts them in rounds the correct length for my stove. They lay for a while and then we take the wood splitter up and find a good spot where we can both split the wood and get the truck in to load it up and bring it to the house. Either my beau, his son or myself splits the wood and piles it up; this year it has been my beau. It's been my job to bring the truck up and load it and bring it back to the house where we both unload and stack it. From there it will be brought in and burned in the fireplace and will sometimes get so hot it causes us to open the windows! Here's one of the first loads I brought in so far this year:

I remember when I first moved back home and I was actually doing all the splitting, loading and unloading myself (my brother has always been the one to fell and "buck" the logs for me) and I was laughing to myself as I imagined the expression on some of my City friends if only they could see me then! I had a feeling they would hardly recognize me, all dirty and sweaty and working so hard at something so physical. But it felt good and it continues to feel good. Every year it's a tough chore that has to be done and yet it remains one of my favorite seasonal chores to do - it's a very satisfying thing to know this hard work now will result and many cozy evenings spent in the warmth of my hard work, while the rain pelts down outside.

Summertime

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:25:00 GMT

I've been thinking about summer and what that means to me. For many years summer was a period of time defined not by the equinoxes, those floating dates in the latter half of June and September, but rather by my school year. Most of my school years that meant early to mid-June until the day after Labor Day. I think towards the end of my high school years we might have started the week before Labor Day, but it was nothing like today's start in the middle of August (ugh). In college, summer actually ran from the middle of May until the last week in August - how nice that was! Today's school year can hardly define summer any longer, with kids going back while temperatures still spend most of the day above 85 degrees.

As an adult without a three month long summer vacation I have the weather itself defining my summer. The past two years that has meant summer not starting until much later in June, but because it feels weather related, I find myself feeling like summer extends into early October. Only when the rains begin and we have those cool, crisp evenings and mornings with hot days do I feel like Autumn has arrived.

Summer can also be defined by clothes. At least in Anderson Valley, summer means shorts, skirts, light shirts and sandals. Unless I plan to ride my horse, you will not find me in a pair of jeans. The last summer I worked in Mendocino I remember dressing for home but having to bring a heavy sweater along because it was so cold that year. The only time I need a sweater now is if I plan to enter a building with air conditioning.

The foods of summer change too, not just because of what is growing - like the obvious tomatoes. I don't sip hot tea all day, but rather drink cold water and sun tea. I don't turn on the oven (except the week of the Fair when I'm busy baking cookies and cakes to enter) and everything we eat is either grilled or cooked on top of the stove. But the garden also dictates summer food - squash, cucumbers, peppers, basil and green beans are just some of the vegetables only available in the warmer months. Of course, this year with the cooler temperatures, we continue to have lettuce, arugula, radishes, beets, kale and broccoli in abundance.

Summer is also a good time for real estate, with more people out and about enjoying the fine weather. I would be remiss if I didn't mention here a new listing I have that would make a perfect summer getaway, a nice, off the grid house on the middle of Greenwood Ridge, on 24 forested acres. It's in the neighborhood that I grew up in, where I spent many summers riding my horse. The owner would like to sell this year and the price has been reduced significantly. If you want more details, give me a call or drop me an email. (707-272-1202 or anne@annefashauer.com)

The Great Day in Elk - a bit of history

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:54:00 GMT

This Saturday, the 20th, is the Great Day in Elk. For the past few years I have been on the board of the Greenwood Community Center and have been the board president for the past three years. The Greenwood Community Center is a wonderful community gathering place. About 40 years ago, give or take, the community built a building to house the volunteer fire department and used the space, with the trucks moved out, to hold community events. Over the years the buildings have been enlarged and modified and the land around the center expanded due to donations from local land owners. The space has been used for all sorts of things over the years, including as the Greenwood School when I was a child and the district was doing work on the actual school buildings. I remember all my school plays happening there, as well as holiday gatherings in December, the Catholic Church's St. Patrick's Day party, Pepper Martin softball and other regular events. Today it continues to host all sorts of events as well as providing space for aerobics and yoga classes, a local meeting space, a place for parents to host birthday parties and a place for people to celebrate weddings and the lives of deceased loved ones.

Once a year the Center holds the Great Day in Elk, a community celebration that brings people from all over the area together for a wonderful time. This one event supports the Center for the rest of the year, allowing all the above events to be subsidized and the space offered at a much lower cost than would otherwise be the case. The day is a lot of fun to attend but even more importantly, you're doing a lot of good for the community with your attendance and the fun you have, whether it be eating some delicious food or sweets, bidding on a scrumptious cake, drinking a world famous margarita, or bidding on one of the fantastic silent auction items. Many people find they can sit for hours and just watch the children attempt to climb the greased pole and get that elusive $100 bill at the top.

Each year the people of Elk come together and put long hours in to making this event a great time. I hope you are able to make some time to come down and join us this year. One note, this year we are asking people to leave their dogs at home. As the event has grown there have been issues with sanitation (dogs peeing on the straw the children are climbing all over), people tripping over leashes and even a few dog fights, so we are asking people respect this as a people, not a dog event. We all love dogs and have them ourselves, we are just leaving them at home this year. I look forward to seeing you there!

Three Markets

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:04:00 GMT

I've been involved in three different markets in the past few weeks. The difference between them and our own real estate market has me thinking.

First, I've been helping, or trying to help, some friends buy a home in Santa Rosa. They are looking in a certain area and most of what they have liked has been bank owned. This market is hot. We have made a few good offers and have still not gotten a house. There are multiple offers and bidding situations, much like the craziness of the early 2000's, but at the lower end. There is also a terrible lack of communication, with events unfolding that involve people but without their knowledge. The banks rule the roost in this market and often choose just one offer of many to counter and if that buyer backs out, the process starts all over again. The banks will also not entertain back up offers. It's a frustrating market, one requiring a lot of patience and not falling in love with a particular home.

The second market has been on Ebay. I've been looking for various things there and that is a very interesting and entertaining place to be. I have been trying to buy a bit for my horse and several times have been outbid. I try to keep my head, deciding the most I am willing to spend including shipping, then setting an automatic ceiling. In several cases, the bits went for a lot more than I was willing to spend. But once it was a matter of timing - in the last minutes I was outbid by $1! But Ebay is a place that really pushes you to keep bidding - their emails are very pushy - suggesting you keep bidding no matter what. Again, though, there are pockets to this market as well - the type of bit I wanted (I did finally get one) is very popular. There are pages of similar bits, but not the brand that I wanted, that seem to linger without a single bid.

Finally, I've been in the "used horse" market. I use that phrase jokingly - I've been trying to find a nice gelding for my nephews. This is another hot market. I wanted an inexpensive horse (not too hard to find in this economy), older, a certain height range, who is known to be good with children. I found several of these initially and felt hopeful. Then the first and most desired horse was removed from the market when the owners decided he was too much part of the family and couldn't sell him. I found two more, both up by Redding, and made appointments three days in advance to see the horses. The day of the trip I found out (because I called, not because they called me) that the horses had already been sold! Talk about disappointing. Fortunately, the one seller knew of some others and so I made the trip anyway and found Barney, a wonderful, sweet, patient gelding that my nephews have fallen in love with. So gentle he even loads in the horse trailer for my nephew!

Our own housing market remains much less hot than the three I've been involved in. These markets prove there are people out there willing to spend money but only for the right price. Perhaps it's time for our local market to reevaluate itself and realize we may have to become more competitive to become hot.

How do I meet people?

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:48:00 GMT

When I'm showing people around the Valley who want to move here I am often asked "how does one meet people?" As someone who has lived here most of her life, I realize I know people just because of that, but I also find myself meeting people for the first time all the time. I do this mostly through the various groups and activities I'm involved with and this is what I suggest to people - I ask them what it is they like to do and then often point out groups or individuals who are also interested in the same thing. Using myself for an example, here's some of the ways I meet people:

Reading - I love to read and often have three or four different books going at once. Right now I'm reading The Female Brain by Brizendine (non-fiction), Winter and Night by Rozan (mystery), and listening to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Haddon. I just finished Cutting for Stone and The Art of Racing in the Rain (I recommend both). I am involved in a book group and when I joined I "met" three new people. I put quotes around that because it turns out one of the women was a substitute teacher when I was in 8th grade and another was someone I saw at the store but had never actually met and the last was one of my nephew's teachers but I had never met her before.

Horses - while my interest has waxed and waned, I'm back in the saddle again. This gets me out on the trails with a variety of people. I'm also part of the Anderson Valley Equestrian Group and I just met someone new last Friday at one of our meetings. If I travel for events at all I also end up meeting people from surrounding areas and not just the Valley.

Grapes - between being a grower and having a beau in the business I've met a lot of people in the Valley who are also involved with vines. I also joined the local winegrowers association and have met more winery people this way as well as other growers.

Exercise - I like to go to Cindi Lee's class and to Melissa's yoga class and I have met quite a few people there that I hadn't met in any of the other groups.

ICW - I met a lot of women in the Valley through this group, many who don't own horses or grow grapes or get to the same exercise classes as I do. I feel this group is the best well-rounded group I belong to.

I usually end up telling people that they won't have any trouble meeting people and it is more likely that they will be turning down invitations to join or volunteer that they can believe possible in such a small community. And I truly believe this is what makes our community as strong as it is.

Happy Ending - the kitten I wrote about last week is doing great and has found a home. Mark and Bruce from our own AVA adopted "HC" as he's now called and he's doing great.

The Kitten

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 19:43:00 GMT

Last Saturday I was in my office here in downtown Boonville, enjoying the sunshine and nice breeze along with a lot of other folk who were in town for the Farmer's Market or for the Art Walk later in the day. Sometime during the morning a couple came by, window shopping, and we exchanged hellos. An hour or so later they were back, this time with a small kitten in tow. They had found it in the middle of highway 128, up near highway 253. The assumption was made that someone had dumped the poor thing and being from out of town, they didn't know what to do but remembered me and brought the kitten by, hoping I would know what to do with it. Fortunately, I did - I called Cheryl at the Anderson Valley Animal Rescue. Thank God for their invaluable service! Cheryl answered her cell phone, told me who to call and made a couple of calls herself. Within a short amount of time Mike, who works with Cheryl, had dropped off some kitten formula and a can of cat food to give to the little one. He arranged for one of the foster people to come by and pick the kitten up a little later in the day.

Over the next few hours, I discovered that the little kitten was bleeding from its bottom and it was swollen there as well. I also discovered it had no fleas, so at some point someone must have provided some care for the little one. It also had a scratch on it's face and on its tail. For a while the kitten just mewed. I went next door to Rossi's and they gave me a cardboard box and I found a rag in my car and made something of a bed for it. It seemed unhappy there, so I finally put the rag on my lap and put the kitten on top of that and things settled down. I had made up some of the milk and put in a tiny amount of the cat food, making a sort of soup, and after a while I put the kitten back in the box and it lapped it all up. When I sat back down, I put it back on my lap and it happily went back to snoozing. I took a few photos with my phone and loaded them on to my Facebook page for fun. I got several comments, but, best of all, a phone call from someone wanting to adopt the cat. I myself would have adopted this kitten except for the fact that people in my house have allergies to cats, so that was out.

When the foster person picked up the kitten she was very concerned; she felt the kitten was very sick and didn't expect it to make it. I passed this info on to the prospective adopters and we all sat back to wait. I checked in Sunday morning and again today and, hallelujah, the kitten is doing great. The foster mom even brought it by so I could see it again today. So the adoption appears to be on - I'll let you know when I hear the rest of the story....

Speaking of the rest of the story, a few of you have asked, and yes, my beau is doing much better. He's still on the mend and we haven't been dancing much, but the worst is behind us.

Busy, busy, busy

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:24:00 GMT

The past two weeks have been about as busy as I've ever been. It started with my beau's surgery, which is routine and outpatient, but the recovery is very slow and they just don't prepare you for just how little this person is going to be able to do for the first week - walking was a challenge. I spent the first days revolving in and out of the guest room, making sure he was comfortable and doing well. On top of that, we had a wonderful house guest for the past two weeks and while she was a complete delight, it still meant the house had to be cleaned and the routines interrupted somewhat. And for some reason, clients and listings suddenly fell in my lap, for which I'm very grateful, and these too required more time and energy. Something had to give, and that something ended up being my usual office hours and my writing.

The past two weeks I have seen parts of the county new to me. I have been all over the McNab Ranch, out Orr Springs and Low Gap roads and a few places in between. I have been out nearly to the end of Lone Tree and walked along Con Creek. It's been fun and beautiful and a little hot!

I did squeeze in a little fun during the past two weeks: I attended my first Giants game at the new stadium. During the years I lived in the City I often went out to Candlestick for games, mostly night games, after work, when I and a couple of friends would bundle up, drink beer and groan our way through less than stellar Giant performances. I was shocked first and foremost by the crowd at AT&T Park - where were these people 15 years ago? Not freezing to death with the handful of us out on Candlestick Point. It's a beautiful new park and the day was gorgeous, sunny, with a mild breeze - and the Giants won 2-0. I ate way too much bad food - garlic fries, pizza, peanuts, plus a really bad mixed drink, though the beer was delicious and cold. In the years since I left SF I have rarely missed anything beyond pizza delivery and Chinese take-out, but I honestly missed living there after my afternoon at the park.

On the real estate front, loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA are changing - going down. Currently the high balance limit is $512,500; that is likely being reduced to $322,000. This means that a lot of those homes priced over $400,000 are likely going to need jumbo loans and while those are starting to come back, the interest rates are higher than conforming loans. It's going to be interesting to see if this affects an already quiet market.

Bookmobile memories

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:31:00 GMT

I've been thinking about my life and the role my love of horses has played in it, so much so I've been writing down those memories. Last night, one of those sleepless at 4:30am nights, I started to think about my love of reading and my love of horses and how the two went hand-in-hand for so long. Today I read mysteries and quality fiction, with a little non-fiction thrown in now and then. I also do a lot of audio books, listening while I drive or work in the vineyard - it certainly makes those hours go by a lot more pleasantly. I remember ten years or so ago, when we first put in the vineyard and I-Pods didn't exist and the hours spent in the vines were a chore. Now I look forward to the excuse to get something productive done and hear a good tale!

When I was a child I read anything to do with horses. I started with Misty of Chincoteague and soon had read all of Marguerite Henry's books. I read all of the Black Stallion series and as soon as I found an author who wrote horse stories, I tried to read everything he or she wrote. Sam Savitt was one of my favorites, but there were many others. If it had a horse in it, I probably read it, which meant I read John Steinbeck at a young age.

Something I never considered before, because, as a child, one doesn't necessarily consider these things, was how I was able to get access to so many horse stories. Most of my reading material came from the Bookmobile, which stopped in Elk every couple of weeks. Obviously, the people who ran the Bookmobile, now that I think about it, noticed my interest in horses and made sure there were always a few books on the shelf for me (and probably for the other horse crazy girls on the route); I believe nearly every book in the Black Stallion series with the exception likely of the first one, which I think my parents gave me, came off the Bookmobile. That means that someone took the time to follow the series as closely as I did and made sure the next one in the series was available every couple of weeks. And I'm sure that I was not the only child that those wonderful Bookmobile people paid attention to and made sure had something new to read. Talk about fostering a love of reading!

I don't remember now who those people were but I hope that either they read this or someone who knows them reads this and lets them know how much I appreciate their efforts and how much I benefited from their hard work.

Memorial Weekend and some stats...

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 31 May 2011 17:23:00 GMT

At the last minute my beau and I decided to head for Sacramento over Memorial Weekend to get some sunshine, warmth and jazz - it was the annual Sacramento Jazz Festival. We attended last year and had a lot of fun and this year was another winner for fun, if not for sunshine and warmth. We arrived Friday evening and headed out to dance. We found one good band and some of our friends and cut the rug for an hour, then headed to another venue for some more dancing. Saturday started out nice and we listened to a variety of bands, but then the cold and rain came and we headed indoors. We spent the evening in one ballroom and had quite the treat listening to a band we'd enjoyed last year - the Red Skunk Jipzee Swing Band, joined this year by Bob Draga on clarinet and Bria Skonberg on trumpet. Wow! It was fast music and the musicians really got into it - the young bass player actually stood on his stand-up bass and played for part of a song! Sunday I needed to rest my feet so we found a few venues without dance floors and listened to some more gypsy jazz and even the 101st Army Dixieland Jazz Band. Before we headed home yesterday we spent a little time at the tribute to the troops which featured the Army band again.

I am often asked how the market is doing and I usually base my answer on somewhat subjective information, i.e., what the market is doing for me, though I do take in anecdotal information I get from other agents in this market - sales they have had, escrows they have opened and so on. Overall, I have had a positive feeling about the market this year and I think that feeling is based a lot on my own perceptions. I have been busy with showings and writing offers and even completing one sale. I decided to run some figures to see how the market in Anderson Valley is doing objectively - and the short answer is that it continues to be a soft market.

I simply looked at active, pending and sold listings in the Anderson Valley from 12/2/10 to today, 5/31/11. There are 24 active residential listings on the market right now and 14 land listings also active currently. There are three residential and three land properties in escrow at this time and there have been four residential sales and two land sales in the time period I looked at. That comes out to one sale a month, though I didn't look to see when the sales actually occurred. I also did not break sales out by price range because it's too small a pool to be of significance - just glancing, though, there seemed to be a sale at both the low and the high ends, though the high end in this market is $850,000. The last might be a bit of bad news for all those sellers looking for over a million for their properties.

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and took a minute to remember our troops. I had an opportunity to catch the movie "Taking Chance" and recommend it; it was perfect for the Memorial Weekend and was a good reminder to me that there are a lot of people out there serving while we were here dancing.

Lot / Land For Sale in Philo

Anne Fashauer — Tue, 24 May 2011 22:21:00 GMT

• lot / land - MLS® $660,000

Philo, Anderson Valley - Beautiful forested piece of heaven along beginnings of Greenwood Creek. Walk all over and listen to the birds sing. 80 acres, zoned TP for lower taxes, huge fir trees, redwoods, rolling ground, two cabins, year round creek. Very private. One mile from PG&E. Possible home sites with views of Cliff Ridge and toward coast. Many years ago there was a small orchard but the forest has grown back.

Property information

Lots and lots of Pinot Noir

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 23 May 2011 19:34:00 GMT

This past weekend I spent a great deal of my time around Pinot Noir. As a member of the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association and a member of that group's board, I was involved in a lot of the planning meetings for the annual Pinot Noir Festival. It was my first time being so involved and it was a lot of fun watching it come to fruition. There are a number of people involved, from people from the wineries and vineyards, to people from the community who help with the event. I myself don't grow Pinot Noir grapes but rather have a small Zinfandel vineyard. We've also simply been growers up until last year when we ended up making wine out of the grapes we were unable to sell (due to weather unfortunately very similar to this year's).

I met several members of the press who attended a welcome dinner on Thursday evening. I did not attend the technical conference but my beau did and I heard it was well done and well attended. We both went to the BBQ at Navarro Vineyards on Friday evening. That was fun but the band, while good, was too loud, and the wind was blowing too much for comfort. The food, provided by Boont Berry, was, of course, outstanding. Because of the coolness and the wind, it was an early evening for us.

The main event of the weekend was the Grand Tasting on Saturday held at Goldeneye. This was part of the event that I had never attended; in fact, the only other wine tasting event like this that I ever attended was one of the original ZAP tastings in San Francisco many years ago when I called that City home. I found this to be a lot of fun. There were over 30 wineries represented, several of whom I had never heard of before; each one was pouring Pinot Noir wine made from grapes sourced here in Anderson Valley. I enjoyed tasting all of the different styles of wine and choosing my favorites. In addition to the tasting, there was a huge silent auction held to benefit the Anderson Valley Health Center. I don't know how much was raised, but at one point one donor had put up $1,000 and asked it be matched - which it was in short order.

Sunday the various wineries held open houses and I'm sure these were well attended. I was so pooped from the day previous that I spent most of the day at home, working in my own vineyard for a while, then went to one of the wineries closest to me - Baxter, where I enjoyed a bit of zinfandel made from my own grapes and had a nice visit with everyone there. All in all it was a fun weekend and I hope it was enjoyed by many.

April showers bring May flowers?

Anne Fashauer — Mon, 16 May 2011 21:26:00 GMT

Does this mean that we'll have more flowers in June with all this rain now in May? On the one hand, the endurance of the green and the lack of dust is nice, on the other, one has to ask - will my tomatoes, corn, watermelon and grapes ever get ripe?? It's also un-seasonally chilly - 42 at my home this morning, but 37 at some neighbors closer to the coast. I had a fire going most of the weekend and I suspect that after tonight, we'll be out of firewood and left to burn kerosene in the Monitor heater. Who knew?

The seeds that have been planted have continued to sprout, despite the weather, and it's fun to go out each day and see the growth. Last week I did that when I went out to water in the afternoon, but this week I will have to make special trips to view the growth as the rain is taking care of the watering. A week ago I was worrying if I had clothes cool enough to wear; today I'm in a warm sweater with the heater pulled up close. I don't know what to make of it - is this spring, nearly summer, or early November? I wonder if other places are having similar unusual weather for their locations?

Recently I decided against selling my horse. I've had him since he was three going on four and he's 13 now. I haven't ridden much in the past couple of years but rode the other day - he's been with other people during a lot of this time, so he's been ridden, I'm the one out of riding condition! - and decided this is something I'd like to do more of again. Now, with the rain predicted for the week, I wonder if I'll actually get a chance to ride, between my other commitments and the weather? I guess I'll just have to see how the week progresses.

Hope you stay warm and dry!