NorCal Partners Real Estate

Rowland Fellows, Broker, CDPE, ePro, GREEN, CA BRE # 01435867

ORGANIC FOOD ON A BUDGET

By Leave a Comment

Organic food usually tastes better, and is better for you, but it can also be very expensive compared to non-organic products. Organic food can cost nearly 50 percent more, thanks to the extra labor required to produce it and consumers’ demand exceeding supply.

So how do you get tasty organic food without spending a ton of extra money? Follow these tips to get more bang for your buck.

Shop at farmers’ markets: You can get fresh organic produce for far less at a farmers’ market than you’d pay at the grocery store. It’ll taste just as good, and you’re getting your food straight from the source.

Choose seasonal produce: Out-of-season produce usually has to be imported, and that can really drive up the price. Focus your meals on in-season fruits and vegetables so that you don’t end up paying $6.00 for a pound of organic asparagus.

Shop more frequently, and plan your meals around bulk sales: The trick here is to only buy what’s needed for your meals, and to only plan for a week of meals at most. That way you’re less likely to throw food away, because you can use leftover produce for more meals before it goes bad.

Grow your own: A home vegetable garden will provide some extremely cheap organic produce, and gardening can also be a fun and rewarding hobby.

 

The State of California!

By Leave a Comment

cscm

We all know California is a very large place! A population of almost 38 million. A land mass of 158,000 square miles. 3,400 miles of coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The Sacramento Association of Realtors, in it’s recent monthly publication sent to it’s members, published an number of facts about California from a recent State Legislative Analysts Office report.  I thought it would be interesting to present them some of them here!

The Economy

California’s gross domestic product, at $2 trillion, ranks 9th in the world. That’s 50% more than the gross domestic product of Texas. California accounts for about 13% of the nation’s total gross domestic product.

Housing

When the “housing bubble” burst, median single family home prices DECLINED by $250,000. In 2011 there were 155,000 foreclosures in California, down 25% from the peak. However there were still 250,000 delinquency notices filed in 2011.

Education

Most of the funding for K-16 education in California comes from the State.  Local funding comes from property taxes. Small amounts come from the State Lottery, parcel taxes and local direct levy’s. Federal funding provides for specific programs, such as low income students and students with disabilities.

 Taxes

California’s income tax burden is $11.30 per $100 of personal income. This is the 10th highest in the US. The top 1% of earners contribute about 40% of the total income tax revenue. Prop 13, which was passed in 1978, limits property taxes to 1% of the property’s assessed value.

Water

Seventy five percent of the State’s precipitation occurs in Northern California while 75% of the State’s population lives in Southern California.  Water delivered from north to south through the State Water Project and the Federal Central Valley Project provides drinking water to most Southern Californians.  Some rely on imported water from the Colorado River.

Employment

Unemployment in California for Inland Counties averages 12.2%, while Coastal Counties average 8.8%.  The counties of Marin, Napa, Orange, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo and Sonoma have unemployment rates below the national average.

Demographics

California’s non-Hispanic whites make up 40% of the State’s population per the 2010 Census. this down from 67% in 1980. Hispanics now make up 38% of the population, up from 19%.

/s

Rowland

 

California home prices reach 4-year high

By Leave a Comment

Persistently declining for-sale home inventory helped push the median price of California homes up to its highest level in four years in August, according to a report by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

Closed sales of existing single-family homes in the Golden State also saw gains, rising 2.3 percent on an annual basis in August to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 511,240 units. That’s a 3.4 percent decline from July, but the fifth straight month to see a year-over-year increase.

“A lack of inventory remains an issue, as the housing supply fell more than 30 percent from last year,” said LeFrancis Arnold, the Association’s president, in a statement. [Read more…]

The Great Recession

By Leave a Comment

According to the Pew Research Center, since the “Great Recession” began more than 30 months ago, more than half of the adults in the US labor force have experienced a work related hardship! This may have taken the form of unemployment, a cut in pay, a reduction in hours or an involuntary move to part-time work. [Read more…]