About Tuolumne County, CA

I've got the latest Lake Tulloch / Copperopolis area residential sales statistics for you to see in four clickable graphs. As usual, the first three graphs cover three years including 2008, 2009 and 2010. The first graph spells out the Residential Unit Sales. The second graph highlights Residential Sales Volume. And the third graph shows Residential Average Sales Price. And finally, the fourth graph focuses on the price range breakdown of Residential Units Sold through February 5, 2010. Before you click on the graphs, here are some of the numbers in simple black and white...

Tuolumne County's Public Engagement Process for the 5 Year Strategic Plan Has Begun

Special Board of Supervisor Tuesday evening meetings are being held in February as part of the public input for strategic planning. The Supervisors are seeking input from residents on what they feel are the most important things the County should be doing:

•1.) What are the greatest needs within the County

•2.) What are the highest priority County services

•3.) What are the main future issues facing the County

•4.) How should County leaders balance future budgets

The remaining meetings are scheduled for 2/16 (Groveland Community Hall); 2/23 (Church of the 49er Social Hall) - all meetings are at 6:30 PM. This is a great opportunity to participate in local government.

If you can't make the meetings go to the County Web site at www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov and complete the survey for the Strategic Plan. The link to complete the survey is at the top of the page. It takes less than 5 minutes to complete this survey. Please take the time to tell your leaders what is important to your community.

Mother Lode Happenings

February 5-8

Here is a sampling of the music and art you can find happening around Sonora:

Big Band Jazz Festival

Columbia College will host the 31^st annual "Big Band Jazz Festival" on Friday and Saturday in the Dogwood Theater on campus. Studen workshops will take place during the day and concerts with jazz professionals will be given at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday. Reserved concert seats are $17 available at Mountain Bookshop in the Junction Shopping Center and the college's Manzanita Bookstore. Remaining seats will be available at the door. All of the daytime events and workshops are free and open to the public. For more information call 209-588-5211.

The Stanislaus River Canyon: What Was Lost, What Was Saved

A new display of Stanislaus River photographs, poetry and archival collages by Ron Pickup and Martin Blake, is on display through March 21^st at the New Melones Visitors Center on Highway 49, on the right just before the Stevenot Bridge. Admission is free. Winter hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

The Foreigner

Stage 3 Theatre will present "The Foreigner", a comedy by Larry Shue, through Sunday, March7 at 208 S. Green St in downtown Sonora. Curtain times are 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Live music is featured one hour before each performance. For reservations call 209-536-1778 or visit www.stage3.org.

Open Garden Day

Tuolumne County Master Gardeners will host an Open Garden Day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Demonstration Garden on the Cassina High School campus at 251 S. Barretta St in Sonora. Demonstrations will begin at 10:30 a.m. and will include fruit tree pruning, rose pruning and caring for pruning tools. Admission is free.

Hey fellas - take your wife out for a couple hours tonight or tomorrow and then enjoy Super Bowl Sunday!

I just read an article by Al Lewis entitled: "Cut foreclosures by slicing real estate fees." (You can read the entire article by clicking HERE.) And if you'd be so kind as to allow me to blow off some steam at the get-go (I'd appreciate it): What is it about folks that have a problem with Real Estate brokers and agents receiving remuneration for their services? It's the underlying theme/point/agenda of Lewis' article quite frankly. As he sees it 6 percent commissions are responsible for the foreclosure mess (not government intervention~no) and by doing away with these "hidden" charges the market will see a turnaround and the consumer will be better served. I have a few questions for Mr. Lewis. (Click HERE to read the rest of my response.)

I've got the latest Mother Lode market numbers for you to look at today. To begin with, you'll notice the overall sales picture including all sales classes. CLICK HERE to view January 2010 compared to January 2009. You'll also want to notice the graphs including the Mother Lode Residential Unit Sales through January 2010 graph versus the previous five years (clickable picture 1 on the above left) along with the Mother Lode Residential Volume Sales graph versus the previous five years (clickable picture 2 on the right) and the Mother Lode Residential Average Sales Price graph versus the previous five years (clickable picture 3 on the left below), respectively. (The data used comes from the Tuolumne Multiple Listing Service and is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.) As usual, I also have some of the numbers in black and white here:

UNIT SALES: Jan 10 = 20; Jan 09 = 25; -20%

VOL SALES: Jan 10 = $4,406,252; Jan 09 = $6,834,950; -36%

AVG SALES PRICE: Jan 10 = $220,312; Jan 09 = $273,398; -19%

Watch for the Calaveras MLS stats to be posted soon.