Great News out of Oak Glen

Although not part of Riverside County, I can't help but be happy when I heard that the proposal by L.A.'s Mayor Villaraigosa and the L.A. Dept.of Water and Power to run gigantic power lines and towers through the treasured apple town of Oak Glen in nearby San Bernardino County has been squashed. Outrage along with thousands and thousands of letters, postcards, and calls to the Mayor's office has aided in detouring the L.A. contingent's controversial plan.

A celebration is planned up in Oak Glen this coming Wednesday, March 10th, with an announcement by L.A.'s DWP planned during the event. Here's to hoping the news was not premature by officials and apple growers of the Oak Glen region.

18 Month $52M Train Trellis Project on Magnolia to Help Traffic Flow

The final design to lower Magnolia Avenue under the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) tracks in Magnolia Center is nearing completion. This project will shift the alignment of Magnolia Avenue approximately 50 feet to the west, and construct a two-track railroad bridge. Beatty Drive will be widened between Brockton and De Anza Avenues, and traffic signals will be installed at the intersections of Beatty Drive with Brockton, Magnolia and De Anza Avenues. Additionally, Merrill Avenue on the east and west side of Magnolia will be converted to a right turn in/out at Magnolia Avenue to facilitate traffic flow. The project requires relocation of water and electric facilities by Riverside Public Utilities, AT&T and Charter communication lines, gas lines, and relocation of over 6300 feet of sewer line to redirect sewer flows around the grade separation. Also, a storm water pumping station will be constructed. A temporary two-lane detour road on the east side of Magnolia Avenue will accommodate traffic while the railroad bridge is under construction. Construction is expected to start in fall 2009 and take approximately 18 months to complete.


(Courtesy of www.Riversiderenaissance.org)

Lake Hills Community Slide Show Courtesy of Animoto

Great New Facebook Fan Page Published for Lake Hills Homeowners and Future Homeowners

Lake Hills Community

It's finally up and running. Many of our local friends and clients had requested we create a Lake Hills Community Facebook page. You'll find it stuffed full of very useful community information, market trends and updates, open house announcements, price adjustment announcements, locally-oriented articles, and much, much more. Simply click the icon right above to sign in and become a fan.

There's also links back to this blog, our main website, and Twitter profiles. So, as you can see, there are plenty of resources for the Lake Hills homeowner or for the future Lake Hills homeowner. This blog is still the main source of real estate information and community topics for the city of Riverside.

Please contact the Baird Team at Keller Williams Realty for any additional help and guidance you may need with the sale of your home or the purchase of a new home in Riverside.

Riverside Hotel Tax To Fund Convention Center Expansion to be Considered

(From the Press Enterprise, dated February 21, 2010)

Riverside city leaders may ask voters to increase hotel taxes to pay for an expanded downtown convention center.

Officials are considering a 2 percent increase to the city's hotel bed tax, which is now 11 percent. The council plans to discuss the issue in March with the goal of putting a measure on the June 8 ballot.

Now that downtown amenities such as the Fox theater and Main Street mall have been upgraded, business leaders and council members have begun talking about how to draw more convention business.

City Manager Brad Hudson is expected to explain options and costs to improve the...............

(For full story click here)

New Lake Hills Community Fan Page Created

A new and exciting Facebook Fan page for the Lake Hills community of homes in Riverside has been created to give homeowners the kind of precise real estate information, statistics, and a variety of other community event information that they need to know about their community.

Created by The Baird Team at Keller Williams Realty of Riverside, customer service specialists dedicated to the Lake Hills community of homes, the new fan page is well laid out with up to date information on homes for sale, open houses in the community, up to date real estate stats that concern the community, and.............well...just take a look for yourself.

Zillow Shows Just How Inaccurate They Are

Here's a very enlightening accuracy chart(inaccuracy is maybe a better desciption) put out by Zillow on their own website. Keep in mind, these are figures tabulated by Zillow themselves for all to see. Take a look at how inaccurate they are for Riverside and their margin of error. They hide the link to this chart at... the bottom footer of their site.

What Zillow fails to provide, and is ultimately their failure in providing an accurate service to its viewers, is it's lack of knowledge that real estate agents and home viewers have regarding any particular home for sale. Zillow cannot see the interior of the home. Zillow is not familiar with neighborhood influences in pricing, for example the proximity to a better school or a substandard school. Zillow is not aware of one home's stellar lake view versus another homes only peekaboo view. Zillow is very flawed, although convenient for homeowners to rely on.....so they think.

Thank you Zillow for making our jobs as neighborhood real estate specialists easier when it comes to pricing a home and proving your service as just a convenience, not a standard.

If you are considering selling or purchasing a home in Riverside, please contact The Baird Team at Keller Williams Realty of Riverside for more accurate and reliable pricing analysis.

City of Riverside Neighborhood Map

You'll often hear Riverside residents talking about the area or neighborhood of the city that they live in. Well...here is a handy map showing you all of the neighborhoods within the city proper boundaries. You won't see sections like Lake Hills or Victoria Grove on this map because they fall under county jurisdiction. Lake Hills and Victoria Grove, had they been shown on this map, would be at the bottom edge just under La Sierra South and Arlington Heights.

January 2010 Average Sales Price for 92503 Zip code

These are pretty enlightening trends. It's to be expected that the average sales price on standard listings would be all over the place, and in turn that the average foreclosure sales price would hover around the $200,000 range.....a price point indicative for first-time buyers who during the peak of the market a few years back purchased for around $350,000 to $400,000. This is a great time to buy a home. Rates are still outrageously low, FHA guidelines are still pretty reasonable, and some time during 2010, we will see prices start to creep back up.

Price Reduced on Lake Hills View Home to $210,000 to $220,000