Some good news for Westlake and Agoura Hills

By: Sher Hann

If you want to follow the trends, just follow the headlines. In the past two weeks we have seen headlines pointing to a more positive real estate market. From the Huffington Post and other news outlets, 30-Year Mortgage Rates Top 5%. Why is this positive? As interest rates creep up, sooner or later home buyers begin to notice. The sentiment that there is no hurry, that an even better deal will be there tomorrow, begins to slip away. As this article points out, if interest rates rise from 5% to 6% and the price of a home drops from $500,000 to $450,000, the actual cost of the home over 30 years will be $90,000 higher.

From the LA Times, California Luxury Home Sales Jump 21% (even the wealthy like a bargain). And the Wall Street Journal, Cash Buyers Lift Housing, cites data from the National Associations of Realtors indicating 28% of home sales last year were all-cash deals – double the rate in 2008.

Finally, from the LA Times again, Now May Be the Time to Buy a Home. Says the usually pessimistic economist Christopher Thornberg, principal with Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, “Certainly, we’re pretty sure we’re at the bottom” for home prices, as quoted in the luxury home sales article.

What does it all mean? If you are a home buyer, it may be time to step up to the plate. Stories of homes selling in multiple offers are not uncommon. This means you could soon find yourself paying both a higher interest rate for your mortgage and a higher price for your home.

If you are a seller who is buying up, now may be the time to pick up that dream home. And if you are selling because of a personal or financial situation, don’t wait for prices to rise dramatically unless you have a lot of time. During the 1990s, in the LA area,it took 9.5 years for home prices to regain their 1990 peak.

EwingSIR does not guarantee information contained in this blog, readers are encouraged not to rely solely on this information and to do their own independent research of facts contained herein. Blog information was obtained from independent sources that we do not endorse, and we do not investigate this information for accuracy.

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If green is the new black, then wild is the “au courant” look in gardens.

By: Sher Hann

So goes the ecological wisdom.

In fact, the concept of “wild gardens” is not new, dating back to the 1860’s when it was pioneered in England by William Robinson. It has evolved to what we commonly call today the English Cottage Garden. Robinson, taking his cue from the Arts and Crafts movement, strove for the practical, more natural, less formal garden that harmonized with the surrounding landscape. Wild gardens were to contain a large variety of plants, including edibles and natives all mixed together in a free design.

In eco-conscious Southern California, wild gardens showcase those plants that thrive in our dry environment. Some wild gardens also seek to attract wildlife. In the wild garden in the photo, surrounding a home in Wood Ranch, owner Agnes Faughnan says, “We focused on the abundance of birds in the area, putting in not only plants but also a water feature that would attract them. Definitely, this has been a success story.”

To maintain the pastoral environment, Faughnan’s garden uses natural stone for the patio, walkways and small retaining walls. The resulting setting, says Faughnan, is eco-friendly, with low-water-using plants irrigated by micro irrigation sprinklers. It offers variety, with an abundance of native plants, perennials, annuals, shrubs and trees, including lemon, lime, tangerines, blood orange, pear, Asian pears, persimmons, pomegranate, fig and black walnut, as well as many herbs and, of course, lavender.

“Our wild garden is also practical,” says Faughnan, “because of its low requirements for both water and maintenance. Like nature,” she says, “our garden is a work in progress.”

For more images of this tranquil paradise, see Starbright Gardens.

EwingSIR does not guarantee information contained in this blog, readers are encouraged not to rely solely on this information and to do their own independent research of facts contained herein. Blog information was obtained from independent sources that we do not endorse, and we do not investigate this information for accuracy.

sherhann1

There is something about holding a paper

Even my little dog, Walter, prefers reading a book to reading online. He is shown hear at story time with a friend

By: Sher Hann

It has been raining all day, and I am finally at home, sitting in front of the fire, a glass a wine in hand, reading, of all things, the newspaper.  Ink on the fingers, for many years a bane, is now a badge of honor.

I use a computer all day long: reading e-mail, check the MLS, surfing the net, visiting Facebook, reading the headlines on my Google homepage. And I’ll admit that many a morning begins still in bed, with a cup of coffee and my Blackberry in hand, as I scan CNN headlines on my phone. Yet, before I dash out, I am not happy if I cannot hold the Wall Street Journal and, at the very least, read the front-page capsules. A tech column Walter Mossberg, for example, would be a special treat, and I want to read about in the paper, not peruse the Wall Street Journal online.

There is something about holding a newspaper, book or magazine that a screen cannot satisfy. A screen does not bend to the touch. It doesn’t flutter closed as I jump up to pull my little dog, Walter, from the edge of the fire (where he looks like just another log on the hearth) and holding a laptop is not comfortable when I lounge on the sofa.  Not even a Nook can do this (although I do admire the Kate Spade Nook covers at Barnes & Noble).

Tomorrow I will most likely succumb to the urge to buy a book, I am sure. Two things drive me to read a book: bad weather or being sick. I will brave the rain to check into Barnes & Noble, where I will buy a cappuccino, peruse the latest mysteries and select some very cheap entertainment: a book, to be touched, read, savored and remembered in a way that instant articles never can be.  I will take my new book home, enjoy a warm fire, pluck little Walter from its edge, and read … and read … and read.

EwingSIR does not guarantee information contained in this blog, readers are encouraged not to rely solely on this information and to do their own independent research of facts contained herein. Blog information was obtained from independent sources that we do not endorse, and we do not investigate this information for accuracy.

sherhann1