Next week: Mendocino Film Festival sneak preview with Festival Director Michael Fox
President John Cottle opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Thought for the Day: John C.: “Is someone missing a cell phone?” Kira: “That’s my mouse…”
Visiting Rotarians: Eric Miller from Fort Bragg Rotary Club, and Howard and Mary Fisher from Gualala (Howard has 45 years of perfect attendance with the Gualala Rotary Club. Mary is an honorary member of the club, and a Paul Harris Fellow.)
Guest: Barry Cusick, local realtor and volunteer fire fighter.
Visiting Rotarian Eric Miller.
Visiting Rotarian Howard Fisher.
Jerry introduces guest Barry Cusick.
Donna’s birthday is tomorrow! Happy birthday Donna!
Happy Dollars:
– Matt is happy that his brother and his wife did a Rotary bike ride… maybe we can do a similar event?
– Kathleen is happy that she spent a couple of days with her daughter at her final wedding dress fitting, and she gets married in about 15 days!
– Heather is happy just because…
– Dean had a great walk with his dog this morning, which always makes him happy!
Sunshine Report:
Wilma shares this week’s Sunshine Report.
Wilma shared news that Chatter Bishoff passed away last week. Chatter’s son Tom has also helped our club with Chatter and Jack’s dream of creating something wonderful at Rotary Park; Wilma passed around a card for all to sign and give to Tom, to express our condolences for Chatter’s passing.
Announcements:
Jerry announced that our July 4 event at Rotary Park will include giving small American flags to kids, along with $1 off coupons for an ice cream at Frankie’s, candy bars for kids, and face painting. We’ll need to be in the park from 11a.m. to 3p.m. on July 4!
Cornelia announced that the Rotary Park Art Competition deadline has been extended to May 29. She also announced that Kevin Williams will serve as the new Foundation Secretary. Thanks, Kevin!
Jerry announced that his “Rotary Park options” email did not receive wide response, so he printed hard copies for members to mark up during our meeting today. It lists a wide variety of types of events that we could hold in Rotary Park. Jerry asks everyone to provide their input as to what seems like a good idea vs. a bad idea.
Interact will be here May 28 (as will our Rotary Friendship Exchange guests from India). Interact will run the meeting, and the Friendship Exchange will be the program. Please sponsor a student meal if you are able.
Youth scholarship winners have been selected. Our club will give out two scholarships to deserving high school students. The awards nights are this coming Tuesday for the Community School, and Thursday for the High School. We’ll also be supporting two kids going to the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy camp this summer.
Save the Date! June 26, 2015 is the date for John C.’s debunking! It’s a Friday night. Send your items for a good roasting to Dean!
Today’s speaker, Kira Meade.
Today’s Program:
Kira Meade, today’s presenter, also served as our Finemaster. She is a member of our club and a real estate broker here on the Mendocino Coast
Finemaster knowledge:
– There are 111 member real estate agents in the real estate association on the coast.
– There have been 69 houses for sale on the coast since Jan. 1.
– Nine land parcels have sold since Jan. 1.
Kira shared information as to how the recession in 2008 cut local home prices in half, and the prices are recovering now. A detailed chart showed home sales in various price ranges from 2006 – 2014. It shows fewer sales after the crash, though the number of sales has rebounded and has recently surpassed 2006 levels. Foreclosures drove down home prices for a few years. High end sales are rebounding now. The median list price in 2014 was $454K in Mendocino, and $295K in Fort Bragg.
How do real estate agents determine the value of an ocean view? Ocean view is considered blue water or white water. Ocean front is determined by owning a bluff-top or owning to the mean high tide line. Ocean view drives up prices by 25-40%. Ocean front property might be valued 50% higher than non-ocean front property.
Some homes are receiving multiple offers locally, but most are not, according to Kira. Currently sales prices are 93% of asking prices.
The data shows that it is taking about 120 – 500 days on the market to sell a home in the local market. This includes the time from accepted offer to closing. If no new inventory is added to the market, it would take about 10 months to sell off the entire current inventory.
Kira says that current buyers include locals, and people from San Diego, the Bay Area and Sacramento. Most buyers are from CA. The higher end homes are being purchased more often for use as vacation homes/future retirement homes.
Of the 111 agents on the coast, the saying goes, about 20% of the agents do 80% of the work. Not all agents are active full time.
Kira is seeing people who want to downsize, since kids have moved out of the house. She is also still seeing some first-time homebuyers, which is good.
One big challenge here, Kira says, is that the local job market pays low wages compared to the housing prices.
At the conclusion of her presentation about local real estate, Kira took a few minutes to talk about our golf tournament fund raiser, scheduled for August 22, 2015. She is looking for a few volunteers to help with organizing it, since she cannot do it by herself. She is asking every club member to bring in at least one Hole Sponsor for $50 per hole — this is the best way to raise the bulk of our money. She is also asking every member to contribute at least one raffle prize valued at a minimum f $25. Erich and Jody will take care of the food and barbecues for the event.
Today’s Raffle Winner: Cornelia (won a box of chocolates!).
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.