It's been a few busy weeks since I've posted and I apologize. But it's been a good kind of busy few weeks. We are still massaging along the two income properties on Buena Vista Avenue. Slowly but surely 
they are inching closer to a closing date in late September. All but the loan contingencies have been removed. We're still having a difficult time with one tenant that totally refuses to work us.
One the brighter side we have on waiver two new listings we expect to get on the market next month. Both are three bedroom homes, one in the west end of town and the other in the heart of the gold coast. The gold coast home is a tri-level split ranch style nested amongst the stately old homes of the area. The home itself has had many upgrades to its mechanical systems and is listed at $599,000. The other in the west end is an older home which still has intact all the architectural detail of the period including the hardwood floors, built in hutches with lead glass cabinet doors alongside the stone fireplace and beautiful stained glass windows, one in the living room and the other in the entry. This home is listed for $499,000. Watch for pictures and videos on our website http://bianchis.biz in a few weeks.
This is the year Nancy and I moved our anniversary trip by two weeks so we could attend the Pebble Beach Concourse in none other than Pebble Beach. We stayed this year again at the Seven Gables which we have stayed at every year on our anniversary and the first trip to the concourse in 2007. Let me tell you this is one of the finest Bed and Breakfast Inns you will ever see. Just click on the link above and see for yourself. Nancy and I spent our honeymoon doing research on places to stay after finding our honeymoon accommodations to be not as advertised at another B&B in town. I must say after finding the Seven Gables I don't think we could stay anywhere else. The views of Monterey Bay are top notch being across the street from the water and Lover's Point beach.
Our weekend began with an uneventful drive down to the area and directly into Pebble Beach for lunch at the Lodge's Terrace Lounge. After lunch it was off to view some of the cars on display. We were killing time while our friends were on their way to the Seven Gables to join us for the long weekend. Nancy and I checked into our room 
and then headed up the hill to Pacific Grove's Concourse on Lighthouse Ave, it reminds me of Alameda's Park St Car show in October. The evening came and off we went to Fandango's for our annual anniversary dinner, it also happened to be our friend Alison's birthday a day earlier and she was surprised to have special dessert at the end of the dinner. I just happened to mention it in my reservation on OpenTable. While dining another couple from the Seven Gables were seated next to us, so we chatted a little bit and noticed a gentleman at the end table in the dining room with a Speed TV polo shirt on it turned out to be Mike Joy who announces for the Barrett Jackson auctions on the TV. I had already found the Russo and Steele auction at the Monterey Marriott hotel but when mike Joy's group got up to leave the couple at the table next to us stopped him to ask about a Ferrari that her boss from Russia wanted her to keep an eye out for, he would have been willing to spend up to $7,000,000 on. When she was done I wanted to ask him if the Russo and Steele auction was the only auction that night which he confirmed for us. Now the excitement begins, see my friend Bill owns a classic car already. But he has really wanted a different style of his 
current car for a very long time. He mentioned earlier in the day how much he'd like to see the workings of an auction like the Barrett Jackson Auction that's on TV's speed channel. So Bill's wife Alison made the comment before we left "Honey, if you 
find your dream car here, you can bid on it". They had found this car on the internet in the past but it was always off in another state. Her statement would haunt her later that night. So off to the Monterey Marriott hotel we went. We parked right across the street from a fenced off parking lot and ventured in, we found ourselves among the cars that had just crossed the auction block and were told to go downstairs to see the cars going up for auction Saturday night. So down the stairs we went, starting on one side rounding the corner to the other I hear an "Oh my God!", Alison's head drops into hands and I look a few cars down and there's Bill standing next to a 69 Black on Black Chevrolet Camaro convertible RS/SS with hidden headlights, his dream car he's been searching for, for years. After giving it the once over he was set to return the next night and give it a shot at the auction.
While having breakfast Saturday morning we glanced up to see a pod of what we thought initially were whales that turned out to be killer whales breaching as they crossed the bay, there must have been 40 or 
more of them traveling right across the bay in front of us. Joining us at breakfast we found ourselves chatting with the same couple from dinner the night before from San Mateo County who were down not for the car show but to golf for the weekend. As it turned out they were the inventors of the PODS moving system, how exciting was that! They sold the company to another company in Dubai and of course are enjoying life today. After breakfast Bill and I set out to give the Camaro find another going over in daylight, the gent from the Russo and Steele auction started it up let us peek into the trunk, basically kick the tires a bit. Then we were off to register Bill for the event that night and back to pick up our wives and head back to Pebble Beach to stroll around a bit more and look at the exhibits. It was a beautiful not a cloud in the sky day as we were looking at Spyker's and a car from Spain built almost entirely out of carbon fiber the price of $700,000 reflected that also. Up a little further on the hill from a distance looked like a Lexus, but to our surprise turned out 
to be of all things a Hyundai. It wasn't even being sold in the states until next year sometime and only 250 would be sold for around $60,000-$70,000 we were told, it was the Hyundai Equus. This car was something else it reminded us of the S-Class Mercedes and the big Lexus. It had reclining rear seats with massage, champagne cooler, separate audio and monitors like a limousine or a Maybach.
Back to the Seven Gables we went to rest and prepare for the evenings activities. Nancy and I at the 2007 event met an artist from Hawaii, Niles Nakaoka who designed a Hawaiian shirt for Reyn Spooner that I bought that year. I own quite a number of Reyn Spooner shirts. I've stayed in touch with Niles via email and he sent me an invite to the AFAS art exhibition opening on Saturday night. So off Nancy and I went to the AFAS art exhibition opening while Bill and Alison headed to the Russo and Steele auction. We spent about an hour and a half at the AFAS art exhibition opening, took 
a picture with Niles and another gent with the same Reyn Spooner shirt he designed. It was getting close to our dinner reservation time so off to Carmel we went to meet up with Bill and Alison and another couple from Alameda who came down at the last minute. On the way into Carmel my cell phone rings, its Bill, I stick the Bluetooth in my ear and I hear "Chuck! I bought a car!" WOW I told Nancy, he got the car, and for a lot less than he expected it to go for with two others bidding on it. So dinner plans changed to celebration, we arrived at Il Fornaio and met up with Bill and Alison's friends from Alameda who told us Bill and Alison would be a little late because they were at an auction to possibly buy a car to which I answered, he got the car. Within a half hour all 6 of us were toasting Bill's accomplishment. After a couple of hours we were off to the Seven Gables for the night.
I won't even begin to describe Sunday in this posting so you'll have to come back next week for my stories on Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld.
So off it is to the Real Estate Market in Alameda. Because I skipped a few weeks of posting here so I'll go back three weeks.
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Ciao for now, Chuck
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