Or it could be Orinda, Montclair or maybe San Mateo. But the point is, my family and I are relocating back to the Bay Area. The hubby’s small company is doing great, but it’s based in San Francisco, and telecommuting is no longer working. We have to go back.

But don’t worry, the blog will go on as always. Guy will continue to be your local Realtor resource, and Mike, I’m sure, will continue to compulsively follow foreclosure data all the way to market bottom. I too will remain involved, reporting from your feeder market, which may add an interesting new dimension to the mix.

Guy and I have also teamed up with Realtor JoAnn Corriera, a ten-year veteran in our local market with an amazing reputation for honesty, integrity and getting the job done. We are fortunate that the blog generates many inquiries about buying and selling from readers, so she will help us get back to everyone in a timely manner. We may even coax her into blogging with us on the site. Still working on that one…

So now I get to play the role of delusional seller in front of you all and either sell or rent my big over $500K Somersett house that I have a less than 1% chance of selling in this market. And since we need to move in July/August, whatever we do needs to be done fast. This should be interesting.

BTW, yesterday was Guy’s birthday (ah yes, 1977, a fabulous vintage). Please join me in wishing him a happy birthday, so that I can feel less guilty about posting this a day late…

Sales in May 2008 were off 24% from the year prior, again. Activity in the under $300K range held steady with 10 months of inventory and a significant jump in pendings from 490 to 570 (237 of which are short sales). The $300K-500K range lost a bit of ground, bumping up to 15 months of inventory from 12. The $500K-1 million category experienced an uptick in average price along with fewer days on the market, but still favors the buyer with well over two years of inventory. The $1-2 million perked up with a higher average price and a decrease in inventory to 22 months, while the $2 million plus range had no activity at all (except for four pendings). Full report.

Data courtesy of NNRMLS, May 2008. Report includes Stick-Built Single Family, Condo/Townhomes, and Real Property Manufactured Housing in Reno-Sparks (Area 100).

So the buzz around the water cooler this morning was the lead article in this morning’s RGJ.  Apparently, in a new report issued by Global Insight/National City, Reno-area home values have now declined to point where they are now just below what the report considers absolute fair value.

The report determines “fair value” based on typical house prices, interest rates, household incomes, population densities and historical prices over the last 25 years.  The RGJ article also contained a chart showing how Reno’s downward median sales price curve has now met the “Statistical normal value” curve for homes in the area.

According to the report, the value of Reno-Sparks area homes for the first quarter of the past four years has been…(see table below)

I received the following announcement this morning from the Director of Marketing for Somersett.  Stop by for a chance to win a Vespa…

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Somersett is proud to announce the addition of a weekly Farmers Market to their event calendar.  The Farmer’s Market will take place in the Somersett Town Square every Wednesday evening from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. from June 11 through August 20.  

Attendees can enter to win a Vespa from Freedom Cycle in Reno at each of the Farmers Markets to be given away at the final Market on August 20.  The drawing is completely free and there will be weekly prizes as well.  Complete drawing details will be available at each market.  

The market is open to the public and will feature fresh produce as a Nevada Certified Farmers Market, packaged food vendors, local artists and vendors, food specials by Roundabout Market Everyday Gourmet and drink specials by Whispering Vine Wine & Coffee Company, free live music and activities for the kids.  

The June 11 will feature live music by the The Rusty Strings, June 18 will be The Beat Freaks and June 25 will be The Mark Sexton Band.  For more information on the Somersett Farmers Market or for a calendar of events, click here http://somersett.com/whatsnew/calendar.php , visit somersett.com, or call 775-787-4500.  

To visit the Somersett Town Square, take I80 to Robb Drive and turn left on Sharlands Avenue, which turns into Somersett Parkway. Follow Somersett Parkway into the community and turn in at the 2nd roundabout.  

Sales in April 2008 were off 24% from the year prior, but activity in the low end continues to improve. The under $300K range decreased to 12 months of inventory with another big jump in pendings from 370 to 490. The $300K-500K range came down to just over 12 months of inventory showing improved activity once again. The $500K-1 million category had a slight uptick in activity but still favors the buyer with well over two years of inventory. Over $1 million is slow, with 4-5 years of inventory. If you’ve been waiting for the bottom in the low end, this may be it, as current pendings, sales and activity will probably result in a further reduction of inventory next month. Full report.

…Because all the great conversation is happening in Mikey’s last post. Scroll down and check it out… It’s one of the best, most informative comment threads I’ve ever seen on this blog, including lots of new faces never before seen. Sure, I’ve got a ton of poignant, economic fallout posts courtesy of voracious reader, Reno Ignoramus, which I promise to post soon. But it’s late, I’m tired, and thank goodness the earthquakes have lessened in intensity and frequency. I think we’re on the downtrend there. For all you Somersett people sleeping with friends in Sparks… it might actually be safe to come home.

First of all, I thought when I moved from Northern California to Nevada, where nothing ever happens except for Vegas, where whatever happens there magically stays there anyway… I would completely leave the whole Bay Area earthquake thing behind. Turns out, Nevada is the number three state behind Alaska and California for earthquake activity, which means we even beat out Washington and Oregon, which, like, blows my mind because don’t they have live volcanoes?

So it turns out that every 25-50 years or so, there’s some major seismic event here in Nevada, as has been the case recently in Wells and with the Mogul earthquakes. I guess since Nevada’s population per square mile has historically been so low that no one ever cared what happens here, like installing nuclear waste dumps at Yucca Mountain, etc… Whatever, no one pays much attention to our seismic activity. But since February, we’ve been having an increasingly powerful series of quakes following a textbook pattern of statisical probability centered in Mogul, from one point something to five point zero.

The kicker, and what makes this series so unique from every other swarm of earthquakes in the world, is how shallow they have been. Apparently, most earthquakes originate from approximately 20 kilometers beneath the Earth’s surface. But the recent Mogul earthquakes are much shallower in origin… only about a mile beneath the Earth’s surface, which means they feel more jolty and intense than what we’re used to in California. But then again, they’re over so much more quickly. The shallowness, however, is apparently unprecedented, and geologists will be be discussing theories about what could possibly be causing such a shallow origination in upcoming conferences. (There’s nothing like having a UNR geologist living right on your block, with a bunch of really smart geologist friends!)

Meanwhile, I have cosmetic stress cracks on my walls, a few broken art pieces that fell down upstairs, and some other items that fell on the semi-shag carpet and survived quite nicely. (Apparently Somersett homes are routinely built to withstand earthquakes at 7.2, though originating at the usual 20 kilometers below the Earth’s surface. The more intense effects of shallower quakes are as yet unknown). I’ve secured my earthquake insurance (well worth the double premium and 10% deductable if you knew anybody who lost their homes in California quakes, and as long as quakes don’t exceed 5.0 there seems to be no moratorium on new polices). And my cat has been hiding under the bed for three days.

The good news is, our probability of a larger quake has been reduced from 80% to 60%… but the next three days will tell all.

Today is National Start! Walking Day…at least according to the American Heart Association.  I saw the article in this morning’s RGJ Neighborhood & Voices section.  While I believe in the benefits of walking (or most exercise, for that matter), what I found most interesting were the stats quoted for Reno’s commute times.

•  Reno’s median commute time: 15.6 minutes
•  Percent of the Reno population with a commute that is 45 minutes or longer: 5.8 percent
•  Percent of the Reno population that walks or bikes to work: 6 percent.

Coming from Chicago, I find these commute times extraordinarily short.

The RGJ article quoted the source of these stats as CNNMoney.com’s “Best Places To Live”, so checked out the site.

You’ll find plenty of info here on the best US cities in which to live, but here’s a direct link to Reno’s page.  On this page you’ll also get to see how Reno stacks up against the averages for the cities that comprise the “Best Places to Live” on a variety of metrics.  For example, Reno has only 160 bars within a 15 mile radius.  The average number of bars within 15 miles for the Best Places to Live is 287!

Okay, this is funny. Mike found this one, but only I can point to it because it makes fun of my entire profession. (For all my super serious colleagues out there lurking in the shadows, just laugh… it’s a joke.) For all the rest of you, please enjoy. Movie