SAVE money

Opt out of overdraft charges with every checking account

Join a credit union to get one of their cheaper rate VISA or Mastercard

NEVER pay for a service to follow your credit

Pay a bank to run your tri-merged report to prepare to refinance or buy

Work on improving your FICO score by reallocating debts to less than 69% of line

Opt out of credit card offers 1(888) 567-8688

Refinance with little cost while the rates are down

Cut US stock market exposure and sell some

Trade/ bargain/ stop buying

Halloween Dinner

Easy Fall Dinner before Trick of Treating


2 Tablespoons good olive oil

Chopped fine 1 onion ( maui sweet if you can find)

6 smashed plum fresh roma tomatoes

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons dried oregano (or 1 ½ fresh)

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

6 cups chicken broth

2 cups coarse corn meal (polenta)

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

12 sausages- I like the turkey ones but mix sweet/hot/flavored

Get your grill hot and throw on the sausages whole . (Ten minutes)

In a large skillet medium heat warm the olive oil add onion and sauté about 4 minutes

Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, fennel seeds raise heat cook abou

7 minutes.

Have one of your children get the sausages off the barbeque and place them in an oven proof pan.

Put them in the oven to stay warm on lowest temperature (200)

At the same time in another sauce pan heat the chicken stock to a boil. Wisk and stir the corn meal into

The hot broth and lower heat to lowest setting. Stir about 14 minutes.

Add the tomato sauce into the creamy thick polenta.



To serve- the polenta is spooned on the plate and the sausages are cut in half.

The polenta will be somewhat orange- you might want to add orange bell pepper on the grill if you really want to be fancy (sliced and rubbed with olive oil grill in about 4 minutes)
Salt and pepper to taste - red chili flakes if they will eat hot

Drip Mail Campaign

Direct mail used to be the mortgage standard to connect with our farm list. However, the cost to mail in printing, paper organizing and United States postage has increased not proportionate to how income has fallen. I miss my junk mail.


I received few or no direct mail campaigns with this last refinance interest rate drop. Is it because so many of the thousands of Mortgage Companies in Orange County have closed? Perhaps this is a contributing factor. Why do the remaining banks and direct lenders in Laguna Beach and Newport Beach no longer even drop me junk mail in a plastic zip lock bag?

I saved all the offers for mortgage rates that arrived in my mailbox, door jam and thrown on my front pergola. Why would I save the papers? Quarterly I laid them all over my living room floor and asked my two best consumers (my teenagers) which ones were visually appealing. I gave the remaining pile of four winners to my Mom (a generation above consumer) to pick her top two. This provided market information. Most of all it gave me what to copy. Is not that what Pablo Picasso said? “Combining the best from smart artists gave him creative input.” So please put me back on your mailing list. I am preparing my next advertising campaign and with so few competitors, perhaps my neighbors in Beacon Hill will actually call me.

Drip mail campaign- will Dana Point residents hate it if I put in a baggy and put them on every drive way?

Does anyone Read these signs? Does the candidate ask permission to litter on my lot?

 

Foreclosure or Deed in Lieu or Short Sale for Laguna?

WHEN IS MY HOUSE GOING TO BE WORTH WHAT I PAID in 2006?

More foreclosures coming in Laguna Beach October 23 2010 some with ocean views like mine:

Y Place 3 bed 3 bath $1,103,000.
Seacliff Drive 4 bed 5 bath $ 8,250,00.
Saling Way 2 bed 2 bath $355,794.
Oriole Drive $767,520.
Cliff Drive $968,379.


CORPORATIONS ARE MORE PROFITABLE THAN IN THE PAST TEN YEARS. They are not adding new talent. They ought to be buying infrastructure when the economy is cheap but they are holding off. GDP is shaping to look more positive.

Industrial Production also is improving slowly.

Retail for certain sectors is rising. Take a look at an Apple Store, they are busy. Very hgh end retail such as Tiffany's will be busy for Christmas. Stores in Laguna Beach like Stella's closed this week. Pinky Wear in Dana Point closed up shop on a Sunday night and "they go in the night" leaving the place stripped with no relocation sign. Cheaper fast food with a five dollar lunch is also coming back up; however, every great restaurant in Orange County is struggling. I pray that Jack's in Dana Point, Mayur in Corona Del Mar, Dana  Kai in Laguna Niguel and Daria in Costa Mesa weather the storm.  

States still in big trouble:

CALIFORNIA HAS POCKETS OF HOPE and Areas still with Black Clouds ahead.

Everyone around me is timid. The lady at Happy Nails talks about taking Prozac.
SORRY BUT WE ARE NOT IN A RECESSION. WE ARE NOT IN A DOUBLE DIP. We are at year three of THE THIRD GREAT DEPRESSION.

The good news----we are pulling out of it. We will have slow growth for two more years but my house value is not coming back until 2017

I invested $1,800,000. in my house in price and improvements It is worth $940,000. today. Loss of $860,000.00 cash. Payments are $ 7600 month or $91,200 annual. If I make the payment eight years three months I might break even.

LOWEST HOUSING STARTS SINCE THE GI BILL. Why? You can buy a house inland Orange County for $240000. Now. You can buy a house in Laguna Beach for $ 400000. You can buy a three bedroom house in Riverside for $100000. A builder can not sell a new house for $100000.

SO WHAT TO ALL THOSE BORING GRAPHS TELL US:
CALIFORNIA FORECLOSURES CONTINUE WITH
INLAND AREAS HIT THE MOST

Properties with view seem to fair better
Unsold new housing inventory is declining because nothing new is being created



CALIFORNIA NEEDS JOB RECOVERY. Recovery HAS NOT BEGUN for Service/ Retail/ high tech/ entry level/white collar/ etc. employment. There are few postings for jobs from $60000.- $90,000. Companies are making their employees work longer hours and no claim overtime. Employees do not ask for raises and do not move to seek advancement because they are often stuck in their upside down home. Companies are not offering transfer packages to employees to buy out their upside down home. More foreclosures are on the way before the summer.


SO WHAT TO I DO WITH MY HOUSE?

Arizona Nevada Michigan Florida Georgia Illinois and California…

See Attached link to a market summary for Residential Real Estate Laguna Beach Homes California
Should I short sale my home? Should I sign a deed in lieu of foreclosure? Is it better to just let them foreclose? What will market need to recover? Answers to all your questions

Vacation Photograph

Photograph of C. G. Barbeau on vacation with Tony R Smith celebrating his pomotion to Simmons Bedding.

Spooky Halloween House?

In Orange County- Combination of Second Empire with the hipped roof and what?

photo for rear cover of novel is it clear enough?

 

California Native Drought Tolerant Plants for Laguna Zone 9B

Fall Color With no watering necessary
manzanita   chapparal current
       catalina island cherry

western red bud  
sea lavendar                
I plan to replace my grass with a low growing flowering meadow. There are several commercial seed mixes available but I want to combine three or four varieties of clover (red pink and white). The clover will supply nitrogen and having different varieties will allow them to survive all year round. I am considering adding dwarf yarrow, baby blue eyes (very popular in England but might not fair well in full sun) and either corsican mint or globe
globe gilia might be too tall.
baby blue eyes --- nemophilia-menziesii
I want to find red, purple and white clover as the nitrogen fixing base for the new lawn carpet .I shopped on line and found some wholesale sites but need more research
Please see my “before photos and general plan:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-212-legumes-grasses.aspx?pagesize=15&list=1&pagenum=2
http://larnerseeds.com/_pages/sales.html
http://www.wildflower.org/suppliers/show.php?id=103 this nonprofit website has numerous helpful links
http://www.parkwholesale.com/page/wholesale_ecatalog/