Gilroy, CA

I am not an artist but I have a passion for cycling and I am ready for the Tierra Bella Tour.

The Tierra Bella Tour is organized on April 18th, 2009 by the Almaden Cycle Touring Club http://www.actc.org/index.php. Cycling enthusiasts flock to GavilanCollege in Gilroy to participate in this wonderful event. Riders can choose from 4 different routes depending on their level; options are 60, 100, or 200 kilometers or 100 miles. My personal favorite is the 100 kilometers which takes me through the east side of Gilroy past the Gilroy Hot Springs and back to the west side of town and north along Uvas Reservoir to Morgan Hill. This year the longer tours will not take the riders to MetCalf. The new route takes them to South San Jose and up to Henry Coe Park. http://www.actc.org/tb/tb08map.html

Hopefully the weather is perfect and we won't see the repeat of two years ago when we were biking in the pouring rain. It was a great time to become an expert at changing flat tires. One of my fellow cyclists had three flat tires within two hours. That was a record. Unfortunately, she didn't get a price for that.

You must take a look at the cool jerseys this year; they are awesome and a collector's item. ttp://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1658005&assetId=a9ef61c2-67c1-4be8-b5c9-96fb03fd22e6. Another reason to participate in this tour.

The event is well organized, sells out fast and the food is terrific . I am one of the lucky ones. I can cycle in this beautiful area every day of the week. Well, not really because I do have to work too. But all kidding aside: I do get out at least twice a week during the year with my cycling girl friends and enjoy the magnificent hills of Gilroy, Morgan Hill and occasionally the south side of San Jose. At on the weekends our husbands can come too!

It is Saturday and I am looking back to a very busy week in real estate. Gilroy saw an increase in properties that went to pending sale and closings in the past week. At our open house today we had at least 10 couples coming through which is more than in previous weeks. That is a good sign. Let's get the REO properties and short sales out of inventory so that prices can increase again. It is definitely a buyers' market. In the Eagle Ridge Golf community we had 38 listings last week with 12 going to contract. All were REOs and short sales.

Entrance to the Eagle Ridge Golf Community

This is the Eagle Ridge Golf Clubhouse. A favorite spot for wedding ceremonies.

And the good news is ……… A new research report from the National Association of Home Builders “found that affordability of houses is now at its best level in years.” When I look at the statistics of my local market I tend to agree. Home values dropped 37.5% ($390,000 vs. $624,000) last quarter compared to the same period the year before. According to a study 62.4% of median income families could afford to buy a median priced home compared to only 47% the year before. These are encouraging numbers. In February we had a few more listings, fewer sales and homes were on the market a bit longer than the month before. However, the medium sales price increased slightly. March sales are off to a good start with 13 homes sold as of today.

Thanks to the efforts of a few "brave" ladies the Social Committee of Eagle Ridge has been resurrected with the full support from the Board of Directors of Eagle Ridge Homeowners' Association. They are planning their next event on March 13th and encourage all homeowners and their guests to sign up for the "Homeowners Casino Night" at the Eagle Ridge Golf Clubhouse.

The event takes place between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm on Friday March 13th. This wonderful evening will include dinner, games such as craps, roulette, blackjack, and poker hosted by a professional casino group, a no-host bar and dancing to the music of DJ C.J. Wallace. The cost is $45.00 per person thanks to a pledge of the Eagle Ridge Homeowners Association.

The Social Committee is also working on other events in the coming months such as the October Fest and the New Years Party.

Does the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 benefit the housing market?

It seems that we are bombarded by bad news day in and day out. You open the newspapers and stare at articles about the plummeting property values (Gilroy is at about 31.8%) and the bleak unemployment numbers (at a 25 year high as of January 2009). However, there is also some good news.