Elder Engagement Day, February 6

Yesterday, at Petaluma Senior Care Connection, a networking meeting of senior services providers that I regularly attend, I learned of a fun sounding event, coming up on Saturday, February 6, from 10 -3 at the Odd Fellows Hall at 545 Pacific Avenue in Santa Rosa  

National Elder Engagement Day (NEED) is described as FREE fair for the whole family where elders can enjoy a variety of engagement arts. Thirty hands on demonstrations and interactions to help elders feel more empowered in their lives, regardless of physical or mental capacity, will be offered along with lectures on various aspects of living well, plus games and prizes for everyone.

Benefits:
 Elders learn new ways to use their bodies and minds to life fuller lives
 Caregivers learn proven ways to create more communication with seniors
 Adult children of aging loved ones gain perspective on the aging brain.

Sponsored by Inquiring Systems, a not-for-profit organization, and coordinated by Chance Massaro of Memory Back Guarantee (a mind aerobic system), I understand it to be a first-of-its-kind event and have heard that they have hopes of growing this into an annual nationwide event.

Hope to see you there.  For info on ASK Realty’s Elder Concierge Services go to Elder Concierge Services

Good news for Sebastopol sellers

There was not a single new listings at  Wednesday’s Sebastopol Realtors’ caravan, but lots of agents sharing buyer’s needs ranging from in-town victorian fixers to country estates.  In fact there have  been only 4 new listings in the Sebastopol area since the first of the year. 

NOTE: for purposes of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS)  the Sebastopol area extends far beyond the city limits, encompassing surrounding rural areas from the area around Blank Road on the south to Forestville proper to the north, from the Laguna de Santa Rosa (which is about 1/4  to 1/2 mile east of, and basically parallels,  Highway 116) to Bodega.

Take away message —  inventory is much below demand at the moment, so this could be a very good time to put a well-priced property on the market … you might even get multiple offers.

How’s the Market?

For my first ever blog post answering the real estate question I’m most frequently asked seemed a good beginning: “how’s the market doing in Sonoma County?”   The short answer, “it depends on who you are, whether you’re buying or selling and the price point involved”.

The longer answer: many of today’s sellers were wooed by creative financing into buying at a price point or with a payment schedule that was not sustainable. These folks aren’t now selling to move up to higher priced home as was typical in the past.   So we no longer have an integrated market, with lower end sales fueling higher end sales.  As a result the lower and upper ends of the market are experiencing quite different activity levels  —  though bargain hunters are trolling each in search of the perfect deal.  And when a ‘great value’ priced property hits the market, in any price range, it typically has an accepted offer within just a few days.
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