My New Blog

The Life Option

The town of Rancho Santa Margarita gives home and apartment hunters a chance at the healthiest life their housing dollar can buy. I call it the Life Life Option, because recreation was designed into Rancho Santa Margarita's basic plan from the beginning. and in a big way. Under the plan, over half of the towns 5,000 acres are devoted to open space and a network of recreational facilities which integrate residential neighborhoods. These facilities are designed to make available to residents an exceptional array of activities. Walk around the lake, or bike on some of the most majestic bike trails, or swim in the pools which are throughout the community. And around the town lies a paradise of parklands, baseball, soccer fields or tennis, basketball courts. Taken together, they comprise of marvelous conspiracy of God and man to keep Ranch Santa Margarita's residents living to the fullest.

Homes for People in All Stages of Life

Housing in Rancho Santa Margarita is for people with all sorts of needs and preferences. For single people, Married people. Families. People in their youth. Their mid years. Their later years. People at vious income levels and with changing space requirements. Here are apartments for people just starting out. Smaller attached homes for first-time buyers and larger ones for people moving up. And for people with growing families, there are detached homes in a range of sizes. And homes for people whose children have left "the nest".
Rancho Santa Margarita is a town you can live in for life. Starting as low as $200,000 and going up to over $1,000,000. Home prices have always been an exceptional value for orange county real estate.

Beautifully located. Secluded, yet accessible. Rancho Santa Margarita's setting is a gift of God. For the town sits amidst the beauty of a vast valley of viewlands. 5,600-foot Saddleback Mountain and the sprawling range of the Santa Ana Mountains. The woodlands of the Cleveland National Forest and rolling hills of Coto de Caza. O'Neill Regional Park and Trabuco Creek.
The arroyos and laderas of historic Rancho Mission Viejo. Land with an everpresent sense of size and grandeur.

Yet in location just 8 miles from Interstate 5 and within a very short distance of the 241 Tollroad. In Orange county, one of the nation's most buoyant economies; within access of lively business and commercial centers like Newport Beach and Irvine Spectrum. And of the many cultural, civic and retail facilities throughout the region.
From the town's very beginning, its designers invested its basic plan with a unique "village feel." By devoting over 2,500 acres to parks, plazas, picnic areas, sports fields, bike lanes, jogging paths, greenbelts. Open space designed to give residents what they need to relax to exercise or to simply gather together. It is the Urban Village concept of life and community.

 Saturday, April 19^th, 2008, 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Bring your family, friends and a big appetite to this free event at Civic Plaza.  Tickets for the delectable tastes will be sold for $1.  Each restaurant booth will have a sampling of their menu available for your enjoyment ranging from $2 - $8.

The Rotary Club of Coto de Caza/Rancho Santa Margarita will host a Beer and Wine Garden at the event.  Try a new vintage or enjoy an old favorite as you mingle with friends and neighbors.

In between tastings, event goers will also enjoy the Go GREEN Expo.  This educational showcase will allow attendees to learn about the products and services offered locally that promote a greener lifestyle.  Join in the fun and get a jump on celebrating Earth Day 2008.  Taking care of the earth is not just a responsibility – it is a privilege. 

The fun continues at 8:00 p.m. with the After Taste – an after party hosted by the Rotary Club at the Bell Tower Regional Community Center.  The William Lyon Homes Ballroom will be rockin’ to the sounds of a Disco Band and restaurants will continue to serve their specialty dishes.  For ticket information visit www.rotarydelsol.com.

This event presents a wonderful opportunity for Rancho Santa Margarita residents and those of neighboring cities to gather and celebrate our vibrant community.

Taste of Rancho Sponsorship Opportunities

Taste of Rancho Event Flyer

Food Vendor Participant Application Form

Go GREEN Expo Participation Application Form

After Taste Flyer

Keyboard Shortcuts
Improve Your Efficiency

PCs are an integral part of our lives. We use them extensively at work and usually end up logging on in the evening as well, to read email and catch up on the day's events.

Since we spend so much of our time in front of the computer, it makes sense to find ways to improve our efficiency. This is where shortcuts come in. By using combinations of keystrokes, you can quickly access several tools without ever having to use your mouse. Most Windows shortcuts may be used for any Microsoft program (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) as well as selected products from other manufacturers.

If you would like to incorporate these shortcuts into your repertoire, try keeping a copy of this list at home and at work. Refer to it daily until the keystrokes become second nature. You'll be surprised at how much time you'll save!

Why the Fed's rate cuts won't help you

In its efforts to keep irresponsible bankers on Wall Street afloat, the Federal Reserve is spurring inflation, crippling the dollar and cutting into retirees' incomes. And mortgages and car loans won't get any cheaper.

This Is By Jon Markman:  www.jonmarkman.com  

The Federal Reserve attempt to get out in front of the worst financial crisis to hit the world banking system in five decades by slashing short-term interest rates from their current perch at 3% to the lowest levels in years.

But its effort will have little effect on the ability of the average American to get a cheap loan for a new home, car or college education even as it has a large effect on U.S. banks' ability to fix their balance sheets by racking up fat profits.

If that sounds unfair, welcome to the latest episode of a brutal new American business ethic, in which the government bails out bad bets by risk-taking banking executives in New York with money that it borrows from middle-class families and foreign investors. The effort is gilded with fancy financial language and cloaked in the guise of a rescue that helps all citizens, but the reality is that Washington is essentially robbing the poor to help the rich.

It seems odd, but these are extraordinary times. Normally, when the Federal Reserve cuts the rate at which it lends money to U.S. banks, those banks in turn cut the rates at which they lend money to citizens and companies for personal and commercial use. Simple enough. Yet in the past few months, banks have made three important changes in their usual practice:

They have not been passing all of their interest-rate savings to customers.

They have restricted lending only to most creditworthy, documented applicants.

They have cut the total amount they're willing to lend.

Good for banks, bad for you

Banks are taking these seemingly perverse steps in an effort to reverse the effects of the massive losses they have withstood for lending too broadly to consumers and companies with lousy credit over the past five years.

They're pulling a big 180, which is as confusing as it is disheartening.

Rather than providing funds to prospective home buyers and business people with legitimate needs for moving into larger homes or expanding factory lines, records show the banks are hoarding the low-cost money they're borrowing from the Fed and investing it in Treasury bonds paying higher interest yields. They're then pocketing the windfall profits to repair their own ravaged balance sheets.

As if that's not bad enough, the Fed's swiftly conceived, unprecedented course of action harms the public in three other ways:

It boosts inflation by lifting the total number of dollars in circulation.

It undercuts the attractiveness of the U.S. dollar, which leads to higher food, energy and gold prices.

It cuts the yields of dividend-paying investments such as government bonds upon which retirees depend for steady income.

In other words, the Fed action helps imprudent bankers dig out of a hole by putting prudent citizens and foreigners in one. This gives big financial businesses a shot at staving off disaster at the risk of cutting the spending and earning power of everyone else.

1. Do not list it with a realtor as you do not need to advertise your home in the Multiple Listing Services.
2. Price your home just a little less than the high of May 2006.
3. Do not stage your home.
4. Do not change your green carpet, rather offer a credit to the buyer.
5. Make the home available for showings by appointment only and don't give your agent permission to place a lock box on the home.
6. Make it very clear that you don't need to move until after school is out in June.
7. Sell your home in "AS IS" condition, the buyers can repair the items you neglected for the last 15 years.
8. While the home is being shown you follow the buyers into every room and let them know of all the special features each room has.
9. When your realtor sends you the most recent sales to update you, you justify your price, rather than listen to the professional.
10. When the home is shown, the TV is on and your kids are running around, the dog jumps on the prospective buyer.