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Wine
Notes:
(Local RE and Wine News)
Harvest Festival and Crush
October was Harvest Festival time. As I had mentioned last month,
there are several new wineries in the area which I had not
visited before and some not so new ones which I've never had
the opportunity.
So on Friday October 17th and Sunday October 19th some friends and I
took the opportunity to visit several wineries, none of
which I had visited before.
Friday we focused on wineries Northeast of Paso.
Mitchella
Vineyard & Winery
Graveyard Vineyards
Ranchita Canyon Vineyard
RN Estate Vineyard and
Winery
Locatelli Vineyards & Winery
All wines were very good wines,
but two deserve special mention. RN Estates had the
best overall wines and maybe some of the best wine I've ever
had. Locatelli has some excellent wines for the value.>> |
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Sunday we focused on Southeast wineries.
FS Cellars
Pomar
Junction Vineyard & Winery
Hidden Oak Winery
Victor Hugo Winery
Ambyth
Estate
Bella
Luna Winery
Again, an excellent day of wine tasting. The two
wineries of mention are Ambyth Estate which is making some
excellent wine using principles of Bio-dynamics and Bella
Luna which is dry farming and using natural yeast
fermentation.
Quick Real Estate Facts:
(Calif) |
Median home price -
$316,480 |
Highest median home price
Santa Barbara So. Coast $935,000 |
Lowest median home price
High Desert $159,720 |
Mortgage rates - week ending
10/23:
-30-yr. fixed: 6.04%; Fees/points: 0.6%
-15-yr. fixed: 5.72%; Fees/points: 0.6%
-1-yr. adj: 5.23%; Fees/points: 0.5% |
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Food Corner:
(Personal recipes and Favorite Restaurants of the Paso Wine Country)
Chili: Last weekend was the annual Creston Chili Cook-off.
I wasn't able to attend, but I thank the Tribune for publishing the
following winning recipe from last year.. .
| 4 |
Pasilla Chilies, diced |
| 6 |
Jalapenos, diced |
| 3 |
Medium Onions, diced |
| 2 lbs |
Beef, Diced |
| 1 lb |
Pork, Diced |
| 2 |
Whole Green Onions |
| 10 |
Cloves Garlic |
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Combine all ingredients in a
Dutch oven, beginning with onions. Stack meats and then add
the rest of the ingredients. Cook at low heat for 1-1/2
hours or until done.
Enjoy!
Wine
& Local Trivia:
So, maybe this question
isn't local other than love of good chili. Chili has
become an American favorite. It actually has a fairly
young history for such a popular American dish. What
city is considered the Chili capital of the world, Boasting
the most chili served and most chili restaurants per capita.
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a) |
San Antonio |
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b) |
Albuquerque |
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c) |
Cincinnati |
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d) |
Memphis |
(Please visit
http://www.pasostyleliving.com for the
answer) |
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Paso
Style Living Real Estate:
(Real
Estate market conditions in Paso Wine Country)
I've discussed some of the major financial issues the nation is facing
over the past few months, but there are some very major financial
issues facing the local community. There has been a lot of local
press about four local lenders: 21st Century, Estate Financial,
Real Property Lenders, and Hurst Financial. These lenders
focused on what is known as "Hard Money" loans. "Hard Money" loans
are loans usually funded with private money meaning there is no
Financial Institution involved. This type of lender has been around for
years to making loans when Bank underwriting requirements were too high
for borrowers to qualify. Investors like supplying money to for
these types of loans because they could get a higher return, up to 12%
interest. Borrowers were willing to pay the higher loan rates due
to the lower qualifications standards.
Back to the Gang of Four (21st Century, Estate
Financial, Real Property Lenders and Hurst Financial), It's
estimated that close to a $1,000,000,000 (Yes, a Billion with a capital
B) of investor money has been lost on loans made by these 4 lenders.
Certainly, a lot of money for a small community. So, everyone is
now wondering how could this happen. First, before investing
with these lenders you must sign a document indicating your financial
worth and income (Basically a statement that you understand you are
making a risky investment and can afford it). There are several
factors which contributed to the local financial market for which there
will be no "Bail Out". 1) Decline in Housing Values; 2)
Credit Market tightening, and 3) FRAUD. I had been
suspicious of that nasty word for a while now, but this past week
the principles of Estate Financial were arrested and jailed on $5M bond
each. There are lots of rumors about the others, but we will
have to wait and see on those.
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Area
(10/1/08-10/31/08) |
Avg Price |
Homes Available |
Sold |
Pending |
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Atascadero |
$360,940 |
173 |
20 |
23 |
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Paso Robles |
$364,941 |
336 |
50 |
36 |
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Templeton |
$916,000 |
94 |
8 |
10 |
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All Paso Wine
Country |
$411,306 |
729 |
86 |
74 |
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Paso Wine Country
contains the following real estate areas (Paso Robles, Atascadero,
Templeton, San Miguel, Creston, Shandon, Santa Margarita, Bradley,
and Chalome)
(Single Family Homes, SFRSB) |
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Real Estate Hot List
( Special
Properties for Sale in the Paso Wine Country)
●
Lowest price Single Family Residential Property
●
Most Expensive Single Family Residential Property
The above properties are listed in the
Central Coast MLS and may or may not be listed by Home and
Vineyard Real Estate Brokerage. The presentation of this
information is not meant to imply any advertisement of these
properties. |
Ron Johnson
Broker, RealtorŪ
(805) 423-1902
www.pasostyleliving.com |
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945 12th Street, Suite F
PO Box 1981
Paso Robles, CA 93447
www.pasostyleliving.com |
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