Beautiful Mountain Blog of Belmont

When A Little Common Sense Goes A Long Way

I found the picture that accompanied the article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday November 15^th 2008 title “Increase in Deaths, injuries on dangerous San Francisco Streets”  a bit symptomatic of the problem.

The article is reciting the statistics on just how dangerous the streets are for pedestrian and bicyclists and the picture shows a pedestrian walking right out in front of a car without even looking at the driver of the vehicle which is poised to potentially run him over.

(click on the picture for a full-sized view)

Don’t get me wrong, in most accidents drivers are in fact at fault and hitting pedestrian accounts for more than half of the fatalities each year in San Francisco. That doesn’t mean we should subjugate personal responsibility or common sense for laws. Traffic lights are there to tell drivers they need to stop, and laws are there to help enforce that they do so, but if they fail to stop who really wants to be dead right?

I applaud Belmont for installing the flashing crosswalk signals to alert drivers that a pedestrian is about to cross. This extra “heads-up” could save many lives if it were employed in San Francisco. And while their proposal to install cameras to award citations for failure to stop will generate much needed traffic fine revenues, it will do little prevent accidents; remember the citations are given after the fact—once there has already been a violation. That said, if the fines generate enough revenue to be self-sustaining or better yet offer extra revenue to fund lighted crosswalks I’m all in favor.

Not being privy to the statistics, intuitively, I’ll bet that the person who purposely runs a red light does so by just missing a yellow one. If the lights were timed with a little more delay, a pedestrian would not receive a green light until well after the opposing light had turned red. The real danger is in drivers who plow on through a red light oblivious to its warning, well after the driver should have stopped—giving pedestrians ample time to wander out in front of an oncoming car.

When I was a child my mother taught me to stop, look and listen before crossing a street. Somehow those simply life saving lessons have been lost as people become more reliant on traffic lights and less reliant on common sense—traffic signals do not substitute for common sense and personal preservation. Sure people are supposed to stop, but pedestrians fail to remember that sometimes they don’t, or can’t always do so.

I’ve driven around Belmont for many years and I’m always amazed as I approach an intersection to see for example, a mother with a stroller fixated on the WALK signal in front of her and not on whether I am poised to heed my signals. They’ll blindly push their stroller right out in front of my vehicle on the assumption that in a perfect world I will see the red light, heed the laws, that I will physically be able to stop and my car will mechanically be able to do so—should you really have that much faith in the average driver or the maintenance of their vehicles?

Look, listen, be aware of your surroundings and a lot of these accidents could be avoided.

October 26th 1881--A Day in History

Each year I post a new message on the anniversary of the “Shoot out at the OK Corral”, and also on Wyatt Earp’s birthday, March 19^th (1848).

October 26^th bears a lot of meaning for me. Most importantly it was the day my mother was born—and event without which this blog would not exist. My mother was a stall worth advocate of learning and the history that surrounds us. I fondly remember mornings when I would awake to find new message on our chalk-board in the kitchen that recounted some historical trivia—she was the first who said “What happened on this day in history?” It also marks the day of the famous shoot out near the OK Corral.

In 1992 I saw the movie “Tombstone”, and I thought at the time, “What an interesting movie, I wonder what really happened?” That led me on a decade of research into the life and times of Wyatt Earp and the Wild West.  Since then I have read every book I could get my hands on regarding the topic.

*Kurt Russell plays an excellent Wyatt Earp in the 1992 movie Tombstone.

In 1998 I had occasion to meet with several prominent authors of Wyatt Earp history. We met  in Tombstone, Arizona for a trip to recount the facts and places that preceded the shootout as well as that which transpired after the events on that fateful October 26^th day in 1881 when the Clanton’s, Mc Laury’s, the Earps and Doc Holliday had it out in proximity to the OK Corral.

The trip was enlightening to say the least, and as is often the case, finding the truth is more fascinating than the Hollywood fiction.

As you’ve probably gleamed the famous shoot out at the OK Corral never really happened at the OK Corral—it was around back in a vacant lot close to Fly’s photo gallery. But who fired the first shot? Those who know for sure are long gone but many believe it was Wyatt Earp—the only one to come out of the fray unscathed. Interesting enough one of the most important details omitted from every movie ever made was the trial that took place after the shootout which could have sent the Earp clan and Doc Holliday to the gallows. There were many witnesses to the gunfight that day and as you can imagine every one of them told a slightly different version of what happened.  In December of that year the trial ended with the exoneration of the Earp’s and Holliday and with that the murder charges were dropped; but the acquittal set off a string of events including Virgil being crippled for life, the murder of Morgan Earp and the bloody massacre of the Clanton gang by Wyatt and his cronies.

For a good book to get a better understanding of the political environment which created the tension in this small silver mining town, I suggest you read a thesis now in book form written by Paul Mitchell Marks titled “And Die In The West”, still in print at Amazon.com.

Transparent. Frankly, I'm sick of the word...

Catch phrases are being overused, don't you think?

They're like a good song that gets played so much you're afraid to turn on the radio for fear of having to hear it played once more.

It's Friday and call it "fried-day" if you've had as hectic of a week as I-and with only two more work days to go, this seems like the best day to get off a rant.

Allow me to digress...If the 90's were defined by conspicuous consumption than the "Ought's" so far have turned out to be years filled with anxiety, uncertainty and fear.

Before the new millennium ever even got started we had to worry about the Y2K. Even naysayers of that alert surreptitiously logged into their bank accounts the next day just to be sure. Then the 21^st century really hit and we ushered in new paradigms.

We voted for a new President that year but that too was after much anxiety in our nation. We never really knew without question if the President we voted for was supposed to be in office or not.

Things settled down and seemed to be humming along fine until September 11^th 2001, when our country faced an unparalleled attack. More anxiety, uncertainty and fear.

That's when our country's paradigm shifted to a fear based society. Even our government leaders told us to go about living our lives, while looking over our shoulders; all while our mail delivery person was supposed to watch out for suspicious activity. We had to be alert, 24/7.

Then all of a sudden we needed to be green. Of course it would have been nice to think green all along; and in fact many people have. But suddenly everything had to be about "going green" and it starts to be disingenuous when corporations are going green as a marketing ploy.

Now with gas prices soaring, the housing market crashing and ruining everyone's party, the only fun anyone we're having is riding the stock market roller coaster-more uncertainty.

And now everything has to be transparent-transparent? Who coined that word to describe the new millennium business model?  In order to compete in real estate all of a sudden you have to be web 2.0 savvy and completely transparent. Not even the people using the phrase web 2.0 can agree on its meaning. And what about transparency? Don't you think Coke owes it to us to make their recipe public? After all, we do drink their product...

Am I the only one who thinks the word transparent has a slightly negative connotation to it-as in there's no substance, "it's completely transparent"; or, "he's so transparent", as in you can see right through his gimmicks?

I've never started a catch phrase before but could we try something with a little more integrity, such as "apparent", as in "His business style is completely apparent"-perhaps not.

It's hard to be green and transparent at the same time. The only thing that seems transparent to me right now is that everyone is so busy trying to be transparent, in the meantime, they are.

The Streets Around Us

Have you ever driven around Belmont and wondered how a street got its name? You might even live on a street named Lyon for example and wondered if it too is a French derivation.

How about that funny round turret of a building on Alameda de las Pulgas (now that’s a name)—who lived there?

We’ll answer a few, but Belmont does have a historical society which is fun to visit and you’ll meet volunteers with all of the answers. There’s even a book titled “Heritage of the Wooded Hills” by Ria Elena MacCrisken that will satisfy some of your curiosity and make driving the windy roads of our little town more interesting. Now for some answers:

In an apparent attempt to fashion Belmont after Hillsborough, in 1925 the Belmont Country Club Properties were formed by Messrs Lee Monroe, Lawrence Miller and Arthur Lyon (apparently Mr. Lyon had more pull as both his first and last names were used for street names).

Across the street from the $65,000 club house located at 751 Alameda de las Pulgas (now the Congressional Church of Belmont) was a tiny round sales office offering homes around the golf course for sale. What golf course? Find out in our next blog page at

BeautifulMountainBlog

Foreclosures have pitfalls for buyers

Ever since we launched our foreclosure portal on our web site we've been inundated with inquires requesting information on how to purchase one of the many homes going to auction.

What we did not anticipate was the general misunderstanding of the process.

First, the opening bid is inappropriately referred to as the "sale price" when in fact it is more accurately the opening bid price. This sale price is what seems to attract the throngs of interested parties since it sounds too good to be true, and in fact, it is.

Buyers are asking us, "How can I purchase that home?" Of course the answer is you attend the Sherriff's auction and be the winning bidder.

Then they ask when can they see the home? Unfortunately, the answer is not until after you buy it. The Sherriff's department does not conduct home tours, nor do they perform inspections and provide buyers with illuminative reports on the condition of the home. Bidders show up with 10% of the price they wish to bid and must provide the remainder within 10 days of the auction or forfeit their deposit.

If you are lucky enough to be the winning bidder and manage to get a home for less than what surrounding properties of like kind are selling for-good. Now all you have to do is hope that when you get the keys and open the door the walls are intact, the kitchen is still there and the floors are not ruined.

Unless you are a savvy investor with deep pockets we suggest that buyers stick with more traditional methods with safeguards for purchasing a home.

Going "Green" is all about image, not substance

It’s pretty exciting this time of year. Don’t you just love coming home to a full answering machine with voice mail messages from your representatives in government? I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty darn important when Bill Clinton calls and asks me to vote for his wife; or it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger himself calling to see if I’ll vote to be taxed a little more so he can balance the budget.

This year it’s the year of the postcard. Funny too, since all of the candidates are claiming to be going “green” this year.

Richard Holober’s postcard is not really a postcard at all. It’s an 8.5” x 11” glossy full page ad where he claims to be supported by the Sierra Club. I wonder how many trees the Sierra Club donated to his cause? At least one of his flyers appears to be printed on recycled paper. But the one with a picture of him standing next to a tree he is claiming to protect is absolutely ironic.

Gina Papan must own interest in a paper company for all the mail I’ve received from her lately.

Jerry Hill is another “Sierra Club" sponsored candidate according to a printed flyer I received from him. In fact, several other candidates who aren’t even running appear to have helped Jerry by sending out print flyers for him. Good for him. I like more mail too.

Perhaps they could all take a page from the Internet playbook and start blogging. Barack Obama has been sending me emails almost daily and I’ve yet to get one single piece of paper mail from him.

It’s going to be lonely around here after the election is over—I know I’ll never hear from any of them again.

Belmont is in need of some negativity

If you’ve been thinking like we have, you're probably wondering when will the weather get a little warmer.

The wind has been relentless this month. Our Davis weather station located at our home in the Hallmark area of Belmont, has been collecting data since we moved to from Barclay Way in 2001. We’ve been broadcasting it live since January 2002 and it receives more hits than any of our other web pages each month.

A recent software upgrade has allowed us to extract data for analysis and this is my first graph. It illustrates the wind at time intervals for the Month of May, 2008—to date.

Notice that there hasn’t been one day so far this month that there hasn’t been any wind between the hours of 12:45 PM to 11:00 PM!

The positive ions wind can create may actually have a negative affect on the body by raising stress levels. Ever wonder why lying near a stream or waterfall feels so relaxing? Moving water creates negative ions which counteract the effects of positive ions created by the wind. Try washing your face with water after a bike ride. We hear it’s not just the coolness of the water that feels so good; it’s the positive ions being cancelled out by negative ones that have a calming effect. Admittedly these articles are not from scientific scholars, but sometimes experiencing something for yourself is all the affirmation one needs.

After awhile, the wind begins to grow a little tiresome and we’re just waiting for a calm mild day—I know a lull before the storm.

Bay Area Population Growth Helps Bouy Housing Demand

Anyone who owned a home in the Bay Area back in 1989 must remember the subsequent downturn in the market. That downturn was caused by a loss of Bay Area jobs. Home values fell as jobless homeowners sought to liquidate their mortgage overhead. Companies offered out-of-state relocations packages and early retirement to employees while many others opted to voluntarily move out of state. The latest Bay Area job report indicates that for now at least we are safe from that negative market force called unemployment. The nine Bay Area county population grew 1.4% last year and new arrivals helped buoy the housing market—if not more in the rental sector than homeownership. "It's evidence that the Bay Area is doing better economically than the rest of the state," said Mary Heim, head of the demographics research unit at the state Department of Finance, which released the new population numbers. This link http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/population/ allows you to see any city’s population growth and it’s definitely worth checking out. Whenever there is a market sell-off due to dire circumstances, such as we are experiencing now in the foreclosure arenas, prices drop. Why? Simply put in order to be the next sale you must have the lowest price and/or be the best home on the market. The housing market today is not unlike that of 1990 in that in many areas folks are forced to sell their homes and prices are dropping. But the Peninsula of the Bay Area has been fairing far better. First, there are far fewer foreclosures on the Peninsula and thus virtually no downward pressure on pricing from that market force. There’s market skepticism and a general reluctance on the part of many to enter the market; and we all know the new tighter lending practices have make it difficult to impossible for many to buy a home if they wanted to. But jobs are not one of the issues facing the Peninsula right now. If the unemployment rate rises dramatically or more simply put, if people start to leave the Bay Area (voluntarily or not)—where more people are leaving than are arriving—it could all change. Clearly a prolonged recession could have just such an impact and tip the precariously balanced local housing market in favor of a drastic sell-off. See our homepage at MorganHomes.com for monthly updated local market graphs and our blog page at Beautifulmountainblog.org for detailed market analysis and commentary.

Crosswalk etiquette, a lesson for Belmont

Is crosswalk etiquette dead or did it ever exist?

View Larger Map

This is our city, Belmont California; and this is our office, Carlmont Associates. Here we are smack dab in the middle of Belmont on the corner of Ralston Ave. and Villa--obviously a big enough intersection to get Google's attention.

The cross walk you see here is the topic of today's rant. You see the city installed an illuminated cross walk—you know the ones with the flashing yellow lights imbedded into the street—to assist pedestrians in crossing the road. Well not really to help them get across, but to help them get there more safely by making it easier for them to be noticed.

Clearly in order to get to my office I play the role of both a driver and pedestrian. First, in defense of the drivers, it's really hard to see people when you are staring into the sunset. Spin this interactive camera around and you'll see what we mean. It’s much easier to see the lights flashing in the road than to see a pedestrian standing off to one side—especially when they are often obscured by opposing traffic.

Don’t get me wrong--I think these lights are a great idea. Especially since my night vision isn’t what it used to be. But pedestrians take advantage of the "It's the Law" rule that one must stop for them in a crosswalk. When I'm the pedestrian (which I often am getting to and from our office), before I leap out into the crosswalk and stop traffic like Moses parting the Red Sea, as a common courtesy, I stop to see if the light at the corner of Ralston and Alameda is red or green. If it’s green, I’ll wait patiently and let the cars make the green light and only when it turns yellow will I press the power button to halt all traffic in deference to my presence. Do I have to do this? Of course not. The law is on the side of the pedestrian. Is it the courteous thing to do—of course.

Visit our web page at MorganHomes.com for detailed housing market analysis and I promise, no rants.

And just one more reason real estate sales are down…

After reading Kenneth Harney’s article titled “Tight credit hitting specialized areas of mortgage market” in the May 3, 2008 Real Estate section of the San Francisco Chronicle, it struck me how far we have to go to return to a more normal housing market. Mr. Harney discusses the multitude of new restrictions on home mortgages which all have one glaring similarity—they make it harder for borrowers to get a loan.

Some of the new loan restrictions affecting home buyers are:

·         No more zero down financing

·         No more stated income for non self- employed people

·         No refinancing a property that had a cash-out refinance within the last six months

Some of the new loan guidelines for investors will also hurt the housing industry. A few of these are:

·         No investor shall be eligible for loans on more than four properties in total—the prior limit was ten.

This will clearly have a detrimental effect as housing seen from an investment perspective will be effectively limited to four properties—looks like REIT’s will be getting a second life when the housing market does pick up.

What’s entirely possible is that the market may never see another feverish housing boom--the likes of which swept the country in the last decade. Home affordability is still near an historical low, lending standards have never been tighter—the huge confluence of dual income qualification for loans and higher home values is off the table as that market effect has been played out already (we did an article on that months ago called the dual income trap).

Visit our Real Estate web page for monthly updated Bay Area home sale trends MorganHomes.com

Disclaimer: This information is for entertainment purposes only and includes no legal, accounting or real estate advice nor is this intended to be specific to your situation-consult a specialist for your specific situation.