Murrieta, CA

The City of Murrieta held their 2009 Veterans Day Parade and Groundbreaking for their Veterans Memorial today. It was a Chamber of Commerce day, hazy skies keeping the sun from blistering the thousands of people lining Washington Avenue while more than 80 parade entries honored our Veterans. Vintage cars carried vintage Veterans, dignitaries paid tribute, the La Mesa Warbirds swooped overhead, there were motorcycle veterans, submariners from the silent service, marching bands, color guards, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts by the troop.

It was my privilege to be one of the parade announcers this year.

Veterans marched, flew and rode by. Some in wheelchairs, some on crutches & canes, some with as regal bearing as when they marched into battle 65 years ago or more.

Members of the US Submarine Veterans paraded a model of the USS Bonefish. (SS-582), the last conventionally powered submarine in the US Navy. Decommissioned in 1988, this model is 1/10 the size of the 219' Bonefish, which carried a crew of 84.

3 Bands and several marching groups sported color guards and precision flag movements.

Among the marchers today, which included a 9' cow (Chic Fil A), an 11' Lake Monster known as Thunder, twirlers, karate kids and a Clydesdale named Diesel, Realtors from Tarbell Realtors in Murrieta fielded a marching unit which included several veterans who are braving the housing wars today. Always good to see Realtors® in the mix on a day like today.

From the parade, we trekked over to Town Square Park for the goundbreaking ceremony for the Murrieta Veterans Memorial. To reach the event you had to walk past or through the Field of Honor. Erected the past few days by the Murrieta Rotary Club, the Field is 1,200 American Flags across the city park.








Every flag was purchased by an individual in honor or memory of a veteran. The moneys are being used to install the granite wall that will become the Veterans Memorial.

Prior to the groundbreaking, a pantheon of local dignitaries, Mayors, Council members, and guests thanked our veterans for their service. Grand Marshall and WWII Marine Corp Veteran Harold Craig was introduced and over 2 dozen WWII veterans were with him. Among the speakers, Murrieta Council Member and veteran Rick Gibbs gave an eloquent tribute to veterans including many in his family for whom he flew flags in the Field of Honor. Congresswoman Mary Bono-Mack also praised the veterans telling the story of her father, also a veteran who died just last year, who returned to marry his sweetheart against long odds.

In this photo Mary Bono-Mack pays tribute to our armed forces as hundreds of veterans, dignitaries and townspeople gathered against the backdrop of 1,200 American Flags in the Field of Honor.

Overall not a bad day in our little corner of the world. Our hearts went out to the recent casualties at Ft. Hood, great respect was given to those who protect us today, and great tribute was paid to those who have taken up that duty in the past.

Our town is not as small as it used to be - but today the town turned out en mass to celebrate, to honor and to have a few hot dogs and rub elbows with the Mayor. It was almost a Groundhog Day kind of event and everything played out beautifully. The parade started on time, nothing broke down, the horses weren't (that) messy and the speeches were blessedly short.

The flags waved softly in a cool breeze and all was right in Murrieta.

Hope your day was good too.

By the way, there's a few more photos at: Murrieta Celebrates Veterans Day.

See you at NAR tomorrow.

Veterans Day is here again.

To me this is a day to Remember and Honor those who served and those who fell in the service to give us the freedom to think and do anything we want

I was thinking about putting music to this, but in my heart, I hear the last post played on a single horn, the tones ringing into a cold night, I for one can not think of any other music to set to this - so play it in your mind, and please take a moment and join me in remebering and honoring our brothers and sisters in arms.

Thank You!

and yes, my words got cut out when I posted this, so you will have them now

My phone rings on a daily basis with folks who are interested in purchasing a home in Murrieta California and the surrounding cities of Temecula and Menifee plus Wildomar and Lake Elsinore. This is all well and good as our Southern Riverside County Valley is full of wonderful homes and offers a lifestyle second to none in all of California. From the Single "A" Lake Elsinore Storm Professional baseball team through the world renown wineries of Temecula to the fantastic fishing of Lake Skinner and Diamond Valley Lake plus 12 golf courses we something for all to enjoy.

The thing that puzzles me is the fact that many folks call for information but then state they have an agent who is not from the area who is representing them. Yesterday I had a call from a very nice lady who was driving around Menifee looking for a home and she saw my sign on a listing. Beautiful home and I informed her it was already in escrow but I let her know there were other homes still on the market and I would be glad to meet with her to go see them. That's when she said she was working with an agent, 120 miles away, and that she would still like to see my listing as she had no idea as to the floorplans of this particular development.

Seems her "agent" had instructed her to drive around the area and get into the ones she liked and then give the agent a call. Talk about a lack of buyer representation plus the fact she is going about the home buying process in the completely wrong and hard way. After explaining the facts that working with a local agent who knows the market and has access to all the available listings Ms. Buyer decided to keep searching in the same manner. Too bad as she nor her "agent" has a clue to value in our area.

If you are looking to purchase a home do yourself a huge favor and allow a Realtor who knows the area work "for" you and find the home that fits your needs. Different areas are specialties in their own right and no agent knows them all in a manner that will work to your best interests. Agents are at their best in areas they know but are lacking in expertise for the areas they don't understand and work in as their predominate market.

I have a great Dentist who is a friend but if I should ever need heart surgery I'm going to see the Doctor who specializes in that field. Simple but true.

Need a Realtor in Southwest Riverside County?

cameron.wilson@century21.com

Many folks have said they are going to wait to purchase a home in Murrieta and the surrounding cities.Their reasoning is the banks are holding thousands of homes from the market only releasing a few at a time to drive prices up as they will receive multiple offers on them. This theory of a 'Shadow Inventory' has created a mind set of waiting as a wave of foreclosures will suddenly appear and the glut of homes will drive prices down according to many hopeful buyers and some Realtors as well.

The biggest problem for everyone is who do you believe as there are conflicting views and waiting may be a gamble and only time will reveal who was right. The one thing I know for sure when it comes to determining where the bottom of a Real Estate down cycle was at is when the prices start rising and we can then only look over our shoulder at the previous price. That Was the bottom.

The banks have denied this shadow inventory but hey who wants to believe a Bank, right? Well we now have a new report from ForeclosureRadar, a data tracking firm, that is standing with the banks as they are debunking the Shadow inventory theory and they prove it with their statistics. Feel free to interpret them any way you want.

According to the report the inventory of foreclosed homes in California peaked in September 2008 at 155,269. Since then the banks have been selling them as fast as possible and they now have 41% fewer than a year ago.

In Riverside County which includes Murrieta and the surrounding cities the numbers are in line with the state. The bank inventory fell from 2959 to 1747 for the same period a 40% decrease.

San Diego County inventory fell from 1562 to 914 a 41% decrease. According to the report these figures show there is no Shadow Inventory of homes being withheld from the market and that there will not be a glut of foreclosed homes in the future.

What the future holds for the Real Estate Market is anyone's guess but waiting for the 'bottom' to hit is only a gamble at best.

42950 Joshua Tree Ct Murrieta CA 92562 4 beds, 3.25 baths, 3,454 sq ft just listed!!! $500,000!!! http://tinyurl.com/o4z274