Realtors for Ventura | Oxnard | Camarillo

As we began our volunteer ESL teaching to increase our “place-ability” with the Peace Corps (see our June, 2013 newsletter) we got to know an individual through the Laubach Literacy program who had taught ESL at a university in China.

We became intrigued with the possibility that maybe we could teach there as well!

Don’s father was a missionary in China for 9 years in the 1930s before Mao created that country’s transition.  So last summer he pulled out some of his Dad’s China keepsakes and discovered that his Dad had lived in the same area as the university.

To compound our interest, a number of Professors from that university came to Long Beach last summer to study and we were invited to meet them at a private BBQ held for them.  We got to sample “real” Chinese food! I got my plate of food, sat my chair against the wall and many of the women pulled up their chairs around me. We had fun chatting! We were warmly welcomed and found the Sunday afternoon passed too quickly.

Later in August, Don had the opportunity to invite a couple of the Professors to the Camarillo airshow and Don really enjoyed giving them the “cook’s tour”.

In the early fall we submitted our CV’s (curriculum vitae) to the university for the possibility for teaching English during the second (spring) semester of 2014. Regrettably, age restrictions were tightened up later in the fall, closing that door for us. Bummer – on to Plan B!

Listed below are the combined July and August real estate charts for sold prices and the number of homes sold.

This data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.

The percentage of single family homes that were distressed sales for July and August are:

Ventura: July 11%  & August 12% • Oxnard: July 15% & August 22%  •  Camarillo: July 13%  & August 9%

We have seen a significant fall off of short sales and bank owned properties this summer; most sales are now standard sales. We’re also seeing a moderation in the frenetic buying atmosphere of the past number of months – but that’s to be expected as fall kicks in (things normally slow down) and the market starts taking a breather from the sprint we’ve seen as investors try to get back into the market.

Sold prices – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Sold prices – Condos in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

Numbers sold – Single family homes in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo:

• 12 month graph

All data is taken from the Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo MLS.

I was sanding the edges of the horizontal stabilizer when I noticed red – hmmm – that didn’t look right! Didn’t realize that the edge of my sanding block was chewing into my palm as I aggressively sanded a radius on the leading and trailing edges of the stabilizer.

I’d been sanding for maybe a couple of hours and was pleased with how the radius was coming along, until I saw the blood.

How’d the builders in the 1920s and 1930s get their radius curves? Not really sure but today you’d just use a router and it’d be done nicely in a few hours.  But for some crazy reason I decided to manually sand the edges, and I found the experience of manual labor (and the smell of sawdust) to be therapeutic and a nice break from my “real” work as a Realtor.

The sanding is almost done now. I really like how the curves of the radius are turning out. The right side of the picture is the “fixed” part of the stabilizer. The left side (with the indent) is the elevator that goes up and down, which is what controls the up and down (pitch) of the aircraft.

When all the sanding is done, I’ll brush everything with sealer.

Leslie and I had the privilege of hosting 2 visiting Chinese professors to a little bit of Americana Sunday afternoon, and what better way could there be but on a beautiful summer day take in the sights and sounds of an airshow.

With constant flying overhead, we wandered around looking at airplanes and I enjoyed showing them the Tiger Moth project in our EAA hangar. Our chapter recently acquired a new flight simulator for the Young Eagle program and both of them got some flying time in the simulator.

During the show we’d wander past a cargo plane from WW2 named the “China Doll” (a C-46) and I promised we’d go inside the plane before the show ended. However, we were almost ready to leave when I remembered the China Doll.

We were one of the last to enter the “flying museum” but John (the docent) explained how American volunteers flew this type of aircraft “over the hump” of the Himalayas from India to Burma to China in support of the Chinese against the Japanese invaders during WW2. The “blood chit” was worn on the flight jackets of the pilots in the event their plane went down and was a message to the Chinese people to help the Americans escape. If the Japanese soldiers caught any of the Chinese helping the Americans, the consequences were brutal. About 900 of those aircraft were lost.

I’d heard of the Flying Tigers but it was good to have that memory refreshed and was a new reminder of the ties that still connect the Chinese and Americans.

I’ve noticed that most new listings are “Standard Sale” listings now – not short sales or REO (bank owned) listings . As a matter of fact, seeing a new short sale listing today is sort of “quaint” – reminiscent of the “bad ol’ days” of the previous few years.

So I was curious to compare how many Notice of Trustee Sale notices were published for the county in July compared to a year ago – and it’s been cut in half.

July saw 153 recorded notices compared to over 300 last summer, but down substantially from over 500 in January, 2012.

Relatively speaking, very few foreclosures today are actually going to sale. The vast majority get postponed or cancelled as homeowners work things out with their lender.

This net effect has substantially reduced the number of homes for sale, which in turn shows how the supply and demand nature of things work in a free market.  But in the long term, it’s not a bad thing. As price points have climbed, many underwater homeowners have now found they have equity again and can plan accordingly. We’re also seeing the move-up market starting up again.

Hopefully, the painful challenges we’ve gone through over the past 5 years or so are now in the rear view mirror.