Check out this article for good affordable home maintenance tips – no more 1-800-Landlord! You’d be surprised how you can save money on your home….if you do it right especially for you first time homeowners.   12/16/2011

Hiking on a beautiful Russian River bench property today with very fun and athletic buyers who like to hike. Climbing between the pond and the crest of a view site we came across the wonderful specimen you see.  11/05/2011

  Country Property   Here are some things to consider when purchasing country property. One of the first things to do is to go to the County of Sonoma office and check on the history of the property. Does what is on record match with what is actually at the subject property. Is the number of buildings and size a match to what is being sold.  Are all of the permits there and executed. Make copies of all the information that you can such as building permits, well information and septic system information.   Boundaries, One big difference between country property and residential is clarity of property lines. In residential it is fairly clear where the property lines are at . In country property it is much more difficult and if there are any disputes now is the time to remedy them. Some of ... 10/28/2011

Healdsburg residential real estate includes everything from humble bungalows smaller than 1000 square feet to sprawling vineyard estate compounds with multiple houses, pools, stables, and vineyards worth more than $100,000 per acre. It's hard to look at any short period of time and try to pull useful decision-making intelligence from averages or medians with such a complex market.   Instead, let's look at a longer time frame and look at trends across different price segments. I chose to use an annual quartile analysis and see what we could learn about Healdsburg residential market trends that span the bubble in housing prices. I only captured the tail end of 2006, so the numbers are a little spiky. The red line starts out at nearly $400,000 for Quartile-1, the low end of the market. Wha... 10/20/2011

Healdsburg has a well deserved reputation as a great town for food and wine. Visitors flood the streets, especially now during harvest time when the weather is spectacular and the colors in the vineyards are starting to change. A certain percentage of well-heeled visitors end up falling in love with our area and decide to acquire property for a second home, retirement, or just for relocation to be here full time. Typically, our inventory of Healdsburg luxury homes is small. There just aren't that many million dollar and up homes or land on the market. There actually aren't that many homes like that in the area, period. We do have plenty of agricultural million dollar properties with planted vineyards selling for $50,000 to $65,000 per acre, but there are only a few neighborhoods that d... 10/14/2011

After touring a wonderful $10,000,000 pocket listing from one of my fellow agents this morning I took a leisurely drive back to Healdsburg through Dry Creek Valley. Most of the vineyards are still green, but one avenue of trees along the road was flying fall colors against the backdrop of green vines. 10/12/2011

We're waiting for ripeness in this year's grapes and crossing our finger that rain doesn't damage the grapes that survived early rains during pollination time. This shot of Pinot Noir grapes in the Russian River Valley on Eastside Road is a good example of grapes that are well formed, but not quite ripe...yet. 10/02/2011

A neighbor's garage isn't an ideal view, but it's better than their bedroom. Getting a couple of miles into the countryside is better still, for the chance to see a little more of what nature intended us to see. Green, green, and more green if you live in Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg.   09/25/2011

Healdsburg lots and land tend to be modest in size. The valley and hillside terrain doesn't lend itself to very large parcels, and farm mechanization works best in areas like the Central Valley with mile after mile of perfectly level land. Our hillside vineyards are picturesque, but require a lot of hand labor...and money. There are a few large farming operations along Eastside Road in the Russian River Valley and several in the Alexander Valley, but  by and large our properties are modest in size. The last six months have seen a dozen land sales in Healdsburg, but none contained more than 8 acres. Call it the season of town-scale residential lots rather than agricultural or estate sized properties. By contrast, more than nine Healdsburg residential sales over ten acres have occurred in... 09/13/2011

  MARKET UPDATE   I believe that history often repeats itself and if that is true than many experts may be wrong in their opinion as to how long this market will take to recover. In each and every of our economic downturns the rebound was always quicker and stronger than anticipated. This could happen again and there are so many factors that will sway the outcome.   This past week we saw the lowest that the Treasury bond market had ever been and with it a glimpse of record low interest rates. The mortgage bond market did not have as wild of a ride and is another indicator that housing is still a good investment.   Hunt Conrad of Prospect Mortgage noted that “In December of 2008 we had an environment just like today and interest rates did climb over the next six months at a strong rate. ... 08/17/2011

wow, Here we are at the begining of another summer in the wine country. I am excited about this year and all the good change that has taken place. We do have so much to be grateful for. I have not been blogging so much lately. I have a weekly real estate column on the web at patch.com/Healdsburg. I am getting ready to do a piece about what to do over Memorial day weekend.  Until we meet again please visit me at www.HealdsburgRealEstate.com 05/23/2011

2010 was a slow time for lot and land sales in Healdsburg. Some months had zero sales, and the second best month, December, featured a grand total of two lots sold. The market was glutted with bank owned lots which squeezed out the market priced lots that regular owners might have wanted to sell.  I'm happy to declare that the December, 2010 lot sales were the beginning of what looks like a resurgence in the market for buildable lots and raw land in Healdsburg. Sales have increased to the level that lot sales this year are already ahead of last year's numbers. The big overhanging inventory of REO lots has been sold off and we are almost back to a normal market.  There's no guarantee this will last, of course, but it is a strong sign of confidence by both developers and owners intending ... 05/20/2011

The Russian River was famed for steelhead fishing for generations. Over the last few decades, the fishery resource has declined as a century and a half of logging, agriculture, and development have led to soil runoff that clogs streams and makes water conditions unhealthy for fish. Things are improving, however, as people have mobilized to repair stream habitat. Fishery biologists are encouraging the strongest surviving steelhead by raising their offspring in hatcheries. Building and agriculture departments as well as Fish and Game staff are working hard to implement stricter controls on run-off from all sources. The steelhead appear to be responding well to these efforts and returning fish populations this year have increased. Every year Trout Unlimited and other sponsors put on the He... 05/16/2011

Wine Country Dry Creek Valley - Commercial Corner May 14,2011- Healdsburg Real Estate Overview Maps Photos Description $701,000 Commercial Main Features Lot: 5,000 sqft Location 185 Healdsburg AveHealdsburg, CA 95448USA To get updates on open home dates and other property events, please click the "Like" button below: Steve Chain Chain Real Estate(530) 370-1818steve@chainrealestate.nethttp://www.chainrealestate.net Our recent listings Commercial for $701,000 in Healdsburg, CAMedical Dental Office in Cottonwood Ca - Commercial for Lease Subscribe to our listing feed Nearby properties for sale 05/14/2011

Wine Country Dry Creek Valley - Commercial Corner April 23,2011- Healdsburg Real Estate Overview Maps Photos Description $701,000 Commercial Main Features Lot: 5,000 sqft Location 185 Healdsburg AveHealdsburg, CA 95448USA To get updates on open home dates and other property events, please click the "Like" button below: Steve Chain Chain Real Estate(530) 370-1818steve@chainrealestate.nethttp://www.chainrealestate.net Our recent listings Commercial for $701,000 in Healdsburg, CAMedical Dental Office in Cottonwood Ca - Commercial for Lease Subscribe to our listing feed Nearby properties for sale 04/23/2011

 Three local real estate offices have changed the names of their offices in the past week. Frank Howard Allen Realty is now named Wine Country Group Realtors by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. They will remain in the same location at 119 North Street in Healdsburg. The announcement came at their office meeting Wednesday, February 16th. Dianne Harris, a Realtor with Frank Howard Allen said, "Were thrilled and looking forward to joining forces."  This not only changes for Better Homes and Gardens Realty this week locally. They are relocating Sonoma Gold Realty by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate to 119 North street intoi the new office. The office was located at 326 Healdsburg Ave. That office had only been operating under that name the past 6 months and was formerly known as Pr... 03/21/2011

One of my favorite commenters reminded me that I have slacked off on my chart production. He/she is a student of the housing bubble, particularly in Healdsburg. HHB has written lucidly and engagingly about the follies of real estate professionals... including a couple of indirect and perfectly reasonable shots at my optimism. In other words, changes in the housing market are both important as an idea and real issue and also grist for HHB's blogging. This chart shows the average residential sale price in Healdsburg over the last five years. I eliminated one outlier sale to keep the chart readable, but every other reported transaction is included. One chart with average price graphed doesn't give a complete indication of volume or intensity of the market. It is, however, a quick method t... 03/07/2011

We're listing the Healdsburg Machine Shop as a commercial building, but the wonderful, fully-packed interior is the fun part of the package. This business invented and produced important wine making equipment for decades. The building is filled with great old machine tools, molds, metal fittings, and the odds and ends that hint at the character of the tenants. In this case, deer heads and stuffed ducks to accompany the tools. Auction coming soon if you know any collectors of items like these. 03/06/2011

Wine Country - Commercial Corner - Healdsburg Real Estate Overview Maps Photos Description $701,000 Commercial Main Features Lot: 5,000 sqft Location 185 Healdsburg AveHealdsburg, CA 95448USA To get updates on open home dates and other property events, please click the "Like" button below: Steve Chain Chain Real Estate(530) 370-1818steve@chainrealestate.nethttp://www.chainrealestate.net Our recent listings Commercial for $701,000 in Healdsburg, CAMedical Dental Office in Cottonwood Ca - Commercial for Lease Subscribe to our listing feed Nearby properties for sale 02/15/2011

I am proud to announce that our brand new Century 21 office is almost ready to open at 435 Healdsburg Avenue. It is under new ownership and will prove to be the leader in the Healdsburg real estate market. It will now be known as Century 21 NorthBay Alliance and it is part of the Century 21 Alliance. Century 21 Alliance controls most of the Century 21 franchises in the north bay. It is a family owned business that I have been proud to be a part of the past several years/ Although we have well over 100 agents we are still like family. We have the best training, the best technology, the best locations and are by far the best in the area at national and international relocation moves. Homes, ranches, vineyards and land are what we do best. If you are looking for a Sonoma County area expert... 02/09/2011