Batchelder Properties

Realtor serving all of Siskiyou County; Offering Reanl Estate and Property Management in Mout Shasta, Yreka, Weed, Dunsmuir, and Lake Shastina

March 11, 2018

Sally and I have some lots listed for sale and, talking with other Realtors and buyers, it is becoming more apparent how building costs are playing a big role in why they are selling so slowly. For example, there are 123 lots for sale on the MLS as of this morning. That’s high but the real telltale is that only five sold in the past six months (twice the normal range of 90 days that we used to use to find comparables).

Now compare to home sales: 21 for sale today, forty five sales in the last six months.

Asking prices for lots here are lower than they have been for years but demand for them is slack. Why is this ?

Building costs are rising, making it more difficult for builders to put up homes and sell them with any kind of reasonable return on their invested labor and money. There is a national discussion about the housing shortage that revolves around construction cost increases as an ingredient for this problem and we here in Lake Shastina are seeing it first hand.

California has enacted several energy conservation measures in recent years (see http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/) intended to save consumers money in their utility bills. The intent is sensible . . . build fewer power plants, etc. . .  but the cost is hitting the housing industry, hard.

More to follow.

Gem of a Bookstore on the Oregon Coast

(Note: for people who are new to northern California this is a letter to a friend in England, both of us lamenting the trend away from the printed book and subsequent disappearance of bookstores. The location, Gold Beach Oregon is about 5 hours from Lake Shastina; from I-5 at Grants Pass) take 199 to the coast at Smith River, CA which sits on the Oregon border. From there Gold Beach is about one hour north on Highway 101.)

Bob, I cannot resist sharing this unique establishment (www.goldbeachbooks.com) with you after our last exchange on reading. More so because it is now for sale, the founder having passed away earlier this year (http://obits.oregonlive.com/obituaries/oregon/obituary.aspx?pid=177362974).

His four sisters in Portland do not share his bibliophilia and with their own large business interests, they can no longer keep his dream alive. And it would apparently take a lot of attention. The senior clerk said there were over 150,000 collectible volumes stored all over Gold Beach, some in 55 foot trailers, awaiting the now defunct owner’s dream to double the store’s size.

It is the second largest used book store in Oregon but more famously, a rare book collection as well. The second floor (reachable by the only elevator I know of on the small town Oregon coast) is devoted to signed first editions and other collectible originals, one set of the latter that I saw was priced at $15,000 although the title and author escaped me in the rush of the moment.

In this digital and throw-away age it was a treat to visit when we were there in Gold Beach. I found a signed edition of Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton who was famous also for The Andromeda Strain and several other medical and science fiction thrillers. He lived in Seattle so I bought the book as a Christmas present for my son-in-law.

Must Read Book For First Time Home Buyers

Homes and Other Black Holes

Must Read Book For First Time Buyers Dave Barry Homes And Other Black Holes
Must Read Book For First Time Buyers Dave Barry Homes And Other Black Holes

You have got to read Homes and Other Black Holes and my only hope is that you don’t die of laughter before your escrow closes if you read it. This is a must read book for first time home buyers !!

Mr. Barry won the Pulitzer Prize among dozens of awards for his columns and books and no wonder, with chapter titles like these:

  • Why it Was Probably a Mistake to Buy This Book
  • How to Get Very Deeply into Debt
  • Moving; A Common Mistake

He answers buyers’ questions such as; “Can you recommend a good mortgage?” (There are several kinds: Fixed Rate, Variable Rate, and the banks’ secret weapons, the Party Hat Mortgage, and the Mortgage of the Living Dead).

And “Is there a secret to having a beautiful lawn?” (Yes and no. If you fail to feed, fertilize, and water your lawn, it will die. However, if you feed, fertilize, and water your lawn, it will also die).

The New York Times called him the funniest man in America and I believe them.

More Information

Dave Barry’s websites:

You can find Dave Barry’s book on Amazon:

Ask Your Doctor About Proton Pump Inhibitors

Popular Medications Linked to Higher Risk of Kidney Failure

CNN Article Popular Medications Linked To Higher Risk Of Kidney Failure
Ask Your Doctor About Proton Pump Inhibitors

Proton Pump Inhibitors

Taking one of the most-prescribed medications in the world — proton pump inhibitors — might dramatically increase a person’s risk for kidney failure and kidney disease, new research suggests. The study was released Thursday in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Ask Your Doctor About Proton Pump Inhibitors
Doctors prescribe proton pump inhibitors, also known as PPIs, to help people who suffer from regular heart burn, ulcers, gastroesophageal reflux disease or acid reflux. They are sold under the names Prevacid, Prilosec, Nexium, Protonix, Aciphex and others. About 15 million Americans have prescriptions for them, although people can get them without a prescription — so the number who use them is likely much higher.

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Scientific Data

The medications are popular because they relieve symptoms pretty quickly. It was also thought that they had a low toxicity.
Looking at data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the study’s authors found 173,321 people who used PPIs and 20,270 took a PPI alternative known as histamine H2 receptor blockers. The authors, who work at Washington University in St. Louis and at the Clinical Epidemiology Center at the VA St. Louis Health Care System, analyzed data from these patients five years later.
They found that a large percentage of those patients who were taking PPIs were now having more kidney problems than those patients who took the alternative histamine H2 receptor blockers.

Patients who took PPIs had a 96% increased risk of developing kidney failure and a 28% increased risk of chronic kidney disease compared to the patients who took the histamine H2 receptor blockers.

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Earlier Studies

Earlier studies have shown that taking PPIs have been linked to acute interstitial nephritis, also a problem that may be likely to end in kidney failure. A study that ran online in JAMA in January also found a link between PPIs and a higher risk of chronic kidney disease, also known as CKD.
Like this study, it also was observational and doesn’t provide evidence of causality, but as the earlier study said, “even a casual relationship between PPI use and CKD could have a considerable public health effect given the widespread extent of use.”
Other side effects from taking PPIs include an increased risk of pneumonia, double the risk of infection from C. difficile and a small risk of osteoporosis, earlier studies have shown.
The authors of this research suggest that PPIs are overprescribed. Previous research, including a 2008 study and others have shown the same. The authors of the new study conclude if a person has a prescription for a PPI, it should be used sparingly and only taken for a short period of time.
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Exerpted from Jen Christensen’s story on CNN, April 14, 2016

Can You Believe This Tech Support Call

What Are Your Experiences?

Outsourced Movie on Netflix and Tech Support Calls
Can You Believe This Tech Support Call

Running into trouble on a computer is easy for me. I pretty much expect to have to make another one of those agonizing calls to an overseas ‘tech’ who is actually a teenager on day one of their training and for whom English is a second language.

For a great laugh, watch the Outsourced Movie on Netflix

Today however was special and warming

First off, I didn’t get the “we are experiencing a heavier than normal call volume . . . ” message that I always hear. Nor did I get put on hold.

Voilà , a real guy ANSWERS THE PHONE ! In a cadence so slow that I thought he must somehow know I’m hard of hearing.

I learn that I’ve linked up with Jasper Clint ‘Foggy’ Harris who lives in Missouri and is 61 years old. He led me through each software step so visually I almost felt that he was standing behind me. I complimented him on how good an instructor he was and it turned out he is an ex-teacher like me (grades 7 through 12) who also like me, gave it up when we both learned that we weren’t teaching anymore. At least not the way we knew we had to teach the things our kids need to know to survive high school and beyond.

Ordinarily support people don’t say things like, “Hell, Bruce, this is cool !!”. Or, “That’s just crappy!” Or, “DUDE! You’re on it ! !” This made the call so much more charming and memorable.

The call lasted over half an hour and he would have gone on even more but I was worried his employer might record or monitor calls for training as they always warn and that this chatter might get him in trouble. I told him so and asked if he would send me an email when he got off work so we could correspond. It came while we were talking, with his two personal email addresses, his business email address, his cell phone number, and an invitation to contact him directly if I had any future support questions. Can you believe this ???

So now I have a ‘pen’ pal from back when people used pens.
What a sweet support call ! !

May all your Tech Support calls be like this one!

Scammers Phish For Mortgage Closing Costs

Home Buyer Warning

Buying a home is exciting. You saved for the down payment, scheduled the move, and are dreaming of planting new roots. Closing is right around the corner… unless a scammer gets your settlement fees first. Read this article from the Federal Trade Commission by Colleen Tressler on Scammers Phish For Mortgage Closing Costs…

The Federal Trade Commission and the National Association of Realtors® are warning home buyers about an email and money wiring scam. Hackers have been breaking into some consumers’ and real estate professionals’ email accounts to get information about upcoming real estate transactions. After figuring out the closing dates, the hacker sends an email to the buyer, posing as the real estate professional or title company. The bogus email says there has been a last minute change to the wiring instructions, and tells the buyer to wire closing costs to a different account. But it’s the scammer’s account. If the buyer takes the bait, their bank account could be cleared out in a matter of minutes. Often, that’s money the buyer will never see again.

If you’re buying a home and get an email with money-wiring instructions, STOP. Email is not a secure way to send financial information, and your real estate professional or title company should know that. If it’s a phishing email, report it to the FTC.

How To Avoid Phishing Scams

  • Don’t email financial information. It’s not secure.
  • If you’re giving your financial information on the web, make sure the site is secure. Look for a URL that begins with https (the “s” stands for secure). And, instead of clicking a link in an email to go to an organization’s site, look up the real URL and type in the web address yourself.
  • Be cautious about opening attachments and downloading files from emails, regardless of who sent them. These files can contain malware that can weaken your computer’s security.
  • Keep your operating system, browser, and security software up to date.

Learn more about protecting yourself from phishing and what to do if your email is hacked. If you gave your information to a scammer, visit IdentityTheft.gov.

Federal Trade Commission Home Buyers Warning Scammers Phish Mortgage Closing Costs Identity Theft
Federal Trade Commission Home Buyers Warning Scammers Phish For Mortgage Closing Costs Identity Theft