This is the first entry to my blog. I'm going to try to do one each week; generally it will refer to real estate related topics, but since it's my blog, I'll feel free to bring in other subjects as they strike me.
Today at my home in Anderson Valley the weather was ominous - it was cloudy and windy and seemed as though it could rain at any minute. My dogs and I set out at 6:15am for our daily walk and I was bundled up - strange, because two days ago I was in shorts and a t-shirt at the same time of day and I was still hot! When I arrived in my office in Mendocino - sunshine! And it's still sunny now, at 1:10pm. It's definitely one of those gorgeous coastal days where you are glad you don't live anywhere else.
The past couple of weeks have seen an increase in activity, at least for me, with regards to real estate. I've had showings almost every day and walk-ins during my floor duty time every day as well. People are definitely thinking about real estate again after a summer break (and longer). Is it the soon-to-expire $8,000 first time buyer credit? That has certainly caused people to think about buying again. It's also that we're seeing prices start to hit bottom in other locations and people are realizing if they want to get in on the low prices, now's the time.
I can tell it's "crush" now in the Anderson Valley - everywhere I go I pass trucks and pickups laden with grape bins. I spoke to my own vineyard manager yesterday evening and he said they are going on 31 days straight of picking. Whew. My own grapes aren't quite ready for harvest yet - sugars were at 18 in the lower half and 20 in the upper half, so we'll be a few more weeks. We dropped a lot of fruit in order to get the rest ripe, but let me tell you, you can hardly tell we dropped that much - the crop looks fabulous. These hot Indian Summer days are just what we need - even if we humans can hardly stand it.
Remember, there are still Farmer's Markets to visit for another month or so. Friday's in Mendocino from 12pm to 2pm and Philo from 9:45am to 12pm. All sorts of fresh local produce is available so you can make a delicious harvest dinner. Those of us with gardens are also seeing the bounty come in, perhaps faster than we can deal with it! I canned tomatoes last week and I just picked more, so I'll be doing that again. There's also a lot of basil to make pesto and the apples! I've been dehydrating them for winter snacks. There's something satisfying about opening up a jar of something you put away yourself and in February it sure is nice to get a little reminder of summer.
Well, I'm off to preview a property for a client. Let me know what I can do for you!