Santa Barbara City College

Economic Meltdown…”So, Mom and Dad, What Do You Suggest We Do?”

Talk with your kids about what is going on in our crazy and scary economy.  They have fears, too.  They need to be addressed!

No matter if you think you are an empty nester or not, you are NOT! We have three kids in college at this time. Yikes!  ( You now know why we are so highly movitated to continue to evolve two very profitable real estate companies.)  Well, two of our three kids surprised us by showing up at home on Friday. They are both in college in Santa Barbara  so they carpooled home. We asked them why they came home for 48 hours? Their first answer was because they needed to do laundry and they were out of detergent. ( It is a six hour drive for them to get to the Bay Area so we know that was not the real reason.)

They ended up just hanging out with us for the two days. During our many conversation they asked a lot of questions about what is going on with our real estate business, because our success is important to funding their college costs. It was an amazing time of dealing with our kids’ concerns about the economy and their concern about us and our success. They wanted to check in and find out if we were OK. We let them know that not only are we OK, we are thriving, but it is taking seven days a week of intense lead generating and client services.

They asked the $64,000 question just before they left to drive back down to school about an hour ago. “Mom and Dad, what do you suggest WE do regarding our future plans for our careers?  Should we wait a bit and apply for corporate interviews after this economic crisis has subsided?”   I gave them an old quote from Napolean Hill  that has served us well. I hope you find it useful, too.

“Do not wait to take action! The time will never be “just right”. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command. Better tools will be found as you go along.”

It was a very inspiring time to spend time with our kids who our the future leaders of our country’s economic success. They thanked us for spending time with them.  And…as they were walking out the door they turned and said, “Could you loan us about $100 for gas money?”  ( Have you EVER had your kid pay you back for the LOANS that you gave them for gas money? And, yes, I gave them five $20. )   We loved to see them and can’t wait for our next time with our kids. The condition of being empty nesters is really fun, but we have to admit we miss the “joyful noise” that is in our home when they are home. Until next time…DON”T WAIT! Take action now in ALL aspects of your lives.  Contact me anytime for your real estate needs!

Santa Barbara City College

College Bound From San Francisco’s East Bay!

Back to Southern California to enroll our last child into college!

We are gladly taking donations from all of our friends, family and the internet world.  As of yesterday we have all THREE of our kids in college – Matt at Loyola-Marymount University in West Los Angeles, and JJ and Bryana in Santa Barbara, California!  It has been a hectic time of transporting ALL of them and us to the various campuses to get them settled into their college dorms and apartments.  In addition, it will be the first time in 22 years that Ann Marie and I will be “empty nesters”! 

Bryana, as a freshman, is very excited, nervous, and filled with anticipation of how the next chapter in her life will be unfolding.  Her three girlfriends since the second grade have said their goodbyes, since they are all going to different universities.  Ann Marie found a blanket manufacturer that could weave in a photo into the blanket.  We found the girls’ favorite photo of them and surprised them with a blanket for each of them so they could be reminded of their dear friendship.  Bryana is currently focused on a career in journalism.  As you can see, she may want to start in television since she is so beautiful and so darn smart.

JJ continues his passion for surfing and golfing while attending college in Santa Barbara.  As a Junior he has kept a 3.0 GPA, and he has lowered his golf handicap significantly between his class work.  If I could pick a career for JJ it would be doing something with kids.  He is an amazing coach with sports, and he has a natural knack of having kids bond with him and listen to his advice and direction.  At the moment his major is social science.  He would be a great elementary school teacher, too.  However, no matter what he does he will need to live by the beach.  We are so glad that he and Bryana will be in the same college town, just so they know there is a family member close by.  It is comforting to us, too.

Matt is completing his last few courses at LMU.  He already graduated last June with double degrees in Economics and Music – what a combination of interests.  He is passionate about both, and during his last four years he has more than tripled his stock portfolio because of studying the stock markets daily.  He has made some BIG hits with Apple stock purchases over the last few years.  His next step will be in some type of international experience.  We will be taking him to London in January to interview with the London School of Economics.  And, next we will open some doors in Geneva, Switzerland with the Nestle Group.  He would really enjoy a year’s internship with Nestle. ( Any contacts would be greatly appreciated.)

Ann Marie and I are already planning an adventure when Bryana graduates in four years.  As she exits college at that time, we will get an immediate raise in our income.  With that in mind, we are planning to sail in the Caribbean for six months starting in the BVI and heading south with no other plans than beautiful sunsets, SCUBA diving, fair winds, and having friends meet us along the way at various islands.  I will let you know how these plans unfold.  Wish us well as we launch our last child into a new world.  ( Bryana already called today to see if we could assist her in figuring out the public transportation system to her college from her dorm. Life’s little leasons have already begun for her! )  Until next time…fair winds to all of you!

Santa Barbara City College

East Bay Real Estate 2008 Fire Season Hasn’t Yet Shown Up!

June 20, 2008 was the official date of the start of the California fire season, and Jim Walberg found himself right in the middle of the mess. 

“If I told you that 526,707 acres have burned in California since June 20th would you believe me?  Well, believe me.  Here are some further sobering stats regarding our fire season that is just three weeks old with over $350 million spent so far with a State budget for fighting fires this year at about $100 million!  Yikes!!!”

1. Number of California fires: 1,783 with 332 fires still burning.
2. Over 20,260 people have been assigned to fight the California fires.
3. There are 1,641 fire engines in service; 531 fire crews; 331 dozers; 429 water tenders; and, 118 helicopters on duty.

Last Wednesday my wife and I took our daughter down to Santa Barbara City College so she could register for the Fall semester – one of the most beautiful California college campuses we have ever seen.  It slopes right down to the Pacific Ocean.  While we were there we also assisted our middle son to move from one of his college housing to another one.  We anticipated a fun family weekend, with our oldest son driving up from Loyola-Marymount University to join us in the celebration of his 22^nd birthday since we were already in Santa Barbara.

Well, it didn’t work out the way we planned.  We left about 5:30AM on Wednesday morning in order to be at SBCC before noon so our daughter could participate with her counselor in organizing her class schedule.  As we came down Highway 101 entering Goleta, we noticed a few puffs of smoke trails coming from the coastal mountains with Goleta at their base.  In the car we noted that we were sad to see another small fire given there has been over 1,750 California fires since June 20, 2008!!!  What started out as a few puffs of smoke on just a few acres of land turned into a State disaster over the next three days!  Now, close to 9,000 acres have burned with Governor Schwaszenegger proclaiming a state of emergency in Santa Barbara County as a result of what they are now calling the Gap Fire.

Governor Schwarzenegger said. “California has the best firefighters in the world, and I also want to commend them for their dedication under such difficult circumstances. Thanks to their hard work, we are making progress in containing the more than 1,000 current fires, and through our local, state and federal coordination and resources, we will put these fires out and help our affected communities recover as quickly as possible.”  One of the keys to having only a few structured burned in the Gap Fire was the work of homeowners in these Santa Barbara foothills complying with the “100′ Defensible Space law”… keeping burnable debris at least a 100 feet from all sides of your home and property.

So, we were staying at a very nice hotel in Goleta with the sky turning dark during the day as if it was dusk.  Ash was raining down on everyone, and the fire burned through several power stations which had all of the electricity in Goleta do down.  There were over a 1,000 people evacuated to shelters such as the Goleta High School gym.  We were not prepared for being in a hotel with nothing but our cell phones working – not even a candle.  I remembered we had an earthquake survival kit in my car.  What I didn’t remember is that it was over 15 years old.  When I opened it up everything had spoiled or evaporated.  So, one of the benefits of our experience was to immediately create a shopping list at Home Depot the next day for five complete emergency kits that would sustain two people for three days in any emergency.  I went to Home Depot on Friday morning and put the kits together for each of our three kid’s cars and one each for my wife’s and my car.  If you don’t have an emergency kit in your car, put one together today.  Obviously, they call them “emergency kits” because you never know when you will need them.  We were unprepared.  Are you?  If not, take care of it this weekend.  Until next time…a bit singed and still coughing.  (The photos on this posting are from AP News, and SBCC website.)