Early this morning the Marin Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services notified the Sausalito Police Department about the oil spill in the San Francisco Bay in the area known as Anchorage Nine located approximately 2.5 miles south of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
The Marin Sheriff’s OES Director, Chris Godley, is at the oil spill command post on Coast Guard Island. The command post reports that most of spill appears to be contained. They also report that current modeling suggests that any drifting of the oil spill as a result of changing tides and weather conditions will shift toward the Treasure Island area. There is nothing in the current modeling to suggest that the oil spill will make its way to the Sausalito area. The modeling projects through 0800 hours on Saturday morning.
The Sausalito Police Department, the Sausalito Department of Public Works, and the Southern Marin Fire Protection District are in constant communication with the Marin Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services. We will take any necessary actions to protect our valuable shoreline and other natural resources.
Sausalito residents may keep informed on the progress of the oil spill clean up from not only the local media services but through the Marin Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services website.

Foreclosures are looming, unemployment is surging and the economy remains in the tank — but home buyers are apparently undaunted. Sales of existing homes in September were at their highest level in more than two years, the National Association of Realtors reported Friday. Sales were up 9.4 percent from August, to a seasonally adjusted level of 5.57 million units. To read the full story from the New York Times CLICK HERE

All the leading indicators say housing is definitely on the mend, economists reported in advance of the official release of several pieces of good news expected this week.

Bloomberg News surveyed 53 economists and asked them where they expected the numbers to fall. Here are their predictions:

* Construction starts in September are expected to hit a 610,000 annual rate, the most since last November.
* Sales of existing homes likely rose to a two-year high.
* Because of fear of a relapse, the Federal Reserve is predicted to leave interest rates low for a few more months.
* Building permits, a sign of future growth, probably rose to a 590,000 annual pace, also the highest level since November, the Commerce Department is likely to announce.
* The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index is expected to rise to 20 from 19, the economists say.

Google Inc. plans to resume hiring and acquisitions after its third-quarter sales beat analysts’ estimates. CFO Patrick Pichette says: “We weathered what is an incredible recession. If you have all this behind you, the only outcome you should have as management is: ‘OK, let’s build now.’”

Source: Bloomberg, Courtney Schlisserman (10/18/2009)

Making the current FHA loan limits permanent would ensure liquidity in the housing market and make mortgages more affordable for qualified buyers at a time when the market is showing signs of a fragile recovery, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® testified to the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity today.

Current FHA loan limits are as high as $729,750 in high cost areas, and are set to expire at the end of the year and revert to lower amounts, greatly hindering the housing recovery process.

“NAR strongly supports making FHA loan limits permanent,” said Boyd Campbell, an NAR spokesperson and managing partner-associate broker of Century 21 in Lanham, Md. He urged the subcommittee to quickly consider legislation that would do that—H.R. 2483, introduced by committee members U.S. Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) and Gary Miller (R-Calif.).

“FHA is more important than ever to homebuyers in the present market. In the wake of the collapsing private mortgage market, FHA has played a critical role in removing inventory from the market and stabilizing home prices,” he said. Present FHA housing market share is approaching 25 percent, significantly up from 3 percent two years ago.

NAR said that FHA has performed remarkably well through the housing crisis, compared to Fannie and Freddie, because FHA has never strayed from the sound underwriting and appropriate appraisals that have traditionally backed up their loans.

“The reason the FHA capital reserve ratio is expected to fall below 2 percent has nothing to do with FHA’s current business activities. It is simply a reflection of falling housing values in their portfolio,” NAR said. The FHA recently announced that a 2009 audit will show that even if FHA does nothing, the cap reserves are expected to rise back to the required level within a few years. FHA total reserves are not in as dire straits as some have reported, FHA said, because the cap reserve fund is not its reserve fund – FHA also has a separate cash reserve that is higher than it has ever been – and the combined assets total $30.4 billion.

FHA is taking timely steps to protect taxpayers: implementing credit policy changes to enhance risk management; hiring a chief risk officer for the first time in the agency’s history; and shifting responsibility for mortgage brokers away from taxpayers to the lenders who use mortgage brokers.

Campbell also called on Congress to add to appropriations legislation the funds necessary to update outmoded technology systems at FHA, and urged the Senate to pass H.R. 3146, sponsored by U.S. Reps. John Adler (D-N.J.) and Christopher Lee (R-N.Y.), to allow FHA the flexibility to hire appropriate staff and expert consultants.

Such changes would help give consumers more affordable choices when purchasing a home, would help strengthen our communities, and would reduce inventory and stabilize home prices, Campbell said.

In addition to the above enhancements, NAR recommended that FHA make these specific changes to condominium purchases:

Eliminate the owner-occupancy requirement, or at least amend rules so all bank-owned properties are not counted in the occupancy ratio;
Increase or temporarily suspend the 30 percent limit on total units in a condominium project that may have an FHA mortgage;
Reduce or eliminate the requirement that at least 50 percent of the units in the condominium be sold prior to FHA’s endorsement; and
Reconsider the elimination of the Spot Loan Approval Process, which allows certain borrowers to use FHA to purchase a condominium in a project that is not FHA approved.

Usually when you see an announcement of a large gift of private money going to a school, it’s on its way to a favored college, university, or business school.

Recently here in the Bay Area, that direction changed, and big money instead was being steered to elementary and high schools.

In what is undoubtedly one of the largest single donations of private money to public schools, the community foundation I head, a cohort of over 300 Marin families, has just announced an historic 5-year, $35 million commitment designed to close the “academic achievement gap.”

To Read the Full Story from SFGATE CLICK HERE

I’m sorry to have heard this sad news and thought trice about posting it but if your thinking about moving or already live in Marin County it’s part of my job to keep you informed about the crime that occurs as well. You would want to know everything about a neighbourhood before moving into it right? I would like to stress that as the headline says it’s the fourth homicide to have taken place in this town in 40 years.

TIBURON — A 79-year-old Tiburon woman was found shot dead near the front yard of her Del Mar neighborhood home this morning, police said.

The woman, whose name was not immediately released because relatives had not been notified, was found with a bullet wound to the head, Tiburon Police Chief Mike Cronin said at an afternoon news conference. No suspects or motives have been identified in the homicide, just Tiburon’s fourth in the past 40 years.

“This is traumatic,” Cronin said. “This is something that happens here once in a decade.”

The woman’s body was discovered at about 9:30 a.m. by a family friend who regularly checks in on her, Cronin said. The body was in a pool of blood near a patio that was outside the Hilary Drive home but inside a gate at the end of a driveway. The woman was fully clothed, “dressed the way a lot of us look when we first get up in the morning,” Cronin said.

Cronin said the woman’s home had not been ransacked, and the incident was not believed to be connected with a burglary. The woman lived alone.

Tiburon police had been to the home in the past for an alarm-related visit but reported no previous disturbances or criminal activity at the home.

“If anybody in this neighborhood heard anything last night, even if they think that it was something minor, please let us know,” Cronin said.

Source: Marin Independent Journal

This video from Rubloff Relocation in Chicago has some good information for buyers on how to use the web to research an area before moving.

In addition to the photos that you can see from the previous post about the Sausalito Houseboat fire. Here is some amateur video footage.

Just read an article on Yahoo that came from Forbes Traveler Magazine. It was a listing of the top shark attack beaches in North America.

Here is the list;
1. New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
2. North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii
3. Long Beach Island, N.J.
4. Stinson Beach, Calif.
In the shadow of Marin County’s Mt. Tamalpais, Stinson Beach is a spot where great white sharks swim into the shallows. Patric Douglas, owner of Shark Diver, an ocean guiding outfit in San Francisco, said he has sighted them at Stinson — which is a neighboring stretch of sand east from Bolinas Beach (No. 3 on the list)— in less than 20 feet of water. “They’re coming to feed on seals, though it’s not uncommon for surfers to see them.” My friend Bo Mullen recently witnessed an attack by a Great White about 150 feet ffrom the beach.
5. Beaches of Brevard County, Fla.
6. Horry County, S.C.
7. Solana Beach, Calif.

OK I try not to freak out and it’s not going to keep me from getting in the water, in fact my kids went to surf camp there. I will admit however that it is somewhat unnerving and as a former lifeguard I’m hyper vigilant when we’re wet at Stinson Beach.

Forbes magazine touted Marin County as having the best public school system in the country. To download the 2009 Marin Public School guide CLICK HERE or go to the RESOURCE PAGE at MARIN HOME SALE