Here is an Interesting Article of the Chicago Tribune with the following statement: TO DAY IS THE TIME TO SELL AND TO BUY REAL ESTATE!

Sell now, avoid (some) regret later.

That was Steve Harney’s advice recently to a roomful of real estate agents. Harney is a housing industry consultant who told the assembled agents of John Greene Realtor in Naperville, Ill., that they should tell clients who have been sitting on the fence about selling that the time is now — if they want to sidestep more marketplace competition in a few months.

Or, as he put it, the cork in the dam is about to pop.

That “cork” is banks’ indecisiveness. The “water” behind the dam is their stockpile of foreclosed homes, which has been growing with a vengeance for a couple of reasons, Harney said.

Banks have been in a state of limbo this year about what to do with repossessed houses, and so they’ve mostly held on to them in order not to add to the nation’s already-serious oversupply of homes for sale, Harney told the agents.

“The banks have been saying, ‘There has to be a number (the market) can hit where we can keep the river going without flooding the valley,’” he explained.

Apparently, he said, the nation hit that number recently, as prices reached a relative level of stabilization. A Dec. 17 report from Re/Max, for example, said sales prices dropped “only” 1.7 percent over last year in its 54-city survey, which would indicate general price equilibrium.

But before you break into applause, consider that while the banks were waiting for that sign of stability to decide when to put their holdings on the market, they also were foreclosing at a rapid pace.

“In August, the number of houses banks took back was up 49 percent over the year before, and September was the greatest month in history for repossessions,” Harney said.

That’s bad for individuals, of course, but necessary, in Harney’s view, for the housing economy to heal itself.

Then, the robo-signing mortgage-document fiasco unfolded, causing major lenders to put new foreclosures on hold for a while. But as that situation begins to inch toward resolution, banks are resuming foreclosures, which will only put more pressure on the dam, Harney said.

With the general agreement that the market has hit some long-awaited neutral spot, the banks have their hand on the cork, Harney said. He, among others, expects that cork to come out by the second quarter of 2011, as lenders push anywhere from 3 million to 4 million (as seen by foreclosure-data firm RealtyTrac) to 8 million (as forecast in a Morgan Stanley report) foreclosed houses onto the market.

As a result, the burgeoning inventory should push prices down by 5 to 8 percent, Harney said, though he conceded that gloomier views foresee a 20 percent drop.

Harney counts himself in the camp that believes that the worst is generally over for the market; that the inventory mess and lending issues will work themselves out in 18 months or so as pent-up buyer demand begins to reassert itself.

“I think we’re out of it,” he said. “Is that going to happen tomorrow? No.”

Meanwhile, he said, selling earlier in 2011 is likely to net a better return than late.

“If you have a $500,000 house in Chicago, and the price drops 5 percent, you’ve just lost $25,000,” he said. “That’s why I’m telling agents, ‘Don’t let sellers wait till spring; they’re going to lose money.’”

But what does that mean for buyers next year, I asked him in an interview after his presentation. Why should they buy from those early year sellers if the prices are going to drop further?

Harney good-naturedly espouses a kind of logic that seems endemic to the real estate industry (and drives some economists crazy): That it’s always a good time to buy — and to sell.

“There’s no good news or bad news, just news,” Harney said. “Every time a house rises in value, there’s a person who makes money and a person who says, ‘Darn!’

“And every times a house loses value, there’s a person who says, ‘Darn!’ and a person who says, ‘I got a steal!’”

Buyers, he said, should take a look at those recent charts that show mortgage-interest rates creeping up and consider how much it might cost them to wait.

“That cost is going to go up, even as prices go down,” said the former owner of a New York real estate brokerage. “Now is the time to buy.”

By Mary Umberger

History and tradition of:

Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, and Christmas

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Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piet

The Feast of Saint Nicholas, by Jan Steen

Sinterklaas is a traditional Winter holiday figure in the Netherlands, Belgium, Aruba,             Suriname and Netherlands Antilles; he is celebrated annually on Saint Nicholas’ eve (5 December) or, in Belgium, on the morning of 6 December. The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of Amsterdam, children and sailors. He is the basis of the mythical holiday figure of Santa Claus in the United States.

Sinterklaas is his usual name. The more formal name is Sint Nicolaas or Sint Nikolaas. He is also known as Goedheiligman or simply Sint [ pronunciation (help·info)]. The Dutch write Sinterklaas.

Saint Nicholas is also celebrated in the traditionally Germanic parts of France (Nord-Pas de Calais, Alsace, Lorraine), as well as in Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and in the town of Trieste and in Eastern Friuli in Italy. Additionally, many Roman Catholics of Alsatian and Lotharingian descent in Cincinnati, Ohio, celebrate “Saint Nicholas Day” on the morning of 6 December. The traditions differ from country to country.

History

The Sinterklaas feast celebrates the name day, 6 December, of Saint Nicholas (280–342), patron saint of children and sailors. Saint Nicholas was a bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey. In the 11th century, the saint’s bones were taken and moved to southern Italy, an area then ruled by Spain, and relics and his fame spread throughout Europe. The Western Christian Church made his name day a Church holiday. In the north of France, he became the patron saint of school children, then mostly in church schools. The folk feast arose during the Middle Ages. In early traditions, students elected one of them as “bishop” on St. Nicholas Day, who would rule until December 28 (Innocents Day). They sometimes acted out events from the bishop’s life. As the festival moved to city streets, it became more lively.^[1]

Numerous parallels have been drawn between the legend of Sinterklaas / Sint Nicholas and the figure of Odin, a major god amongst the Germanic peoples and worshipped in north-Western Europe prior to Christianization. Since many elements of the Sinterklaas celebration are unrelated to Christianity, there are theories regarding the pagan origins of various customs of the holiday stemming from areas where the Germanic peoples were Christianized and retained elements of their indigenous traditions, surviving in various forms into modern depictions of Sinterklaas. Non-Christian elements in Sinterklaas that could be of pagan origin:

• Sinterklaas rides the roof tops with his gray horse Amerigo; Odin rides the sky with his gray horse Sleipnir.
• Sinterklaas and Odin are both depicted with a long beard.
• Sinterklaas has a staff and mischievous helpers with black faces; Odin has a spear and black ravens as his attributes.^[2]
• According to Phyllis Siefker, children in pre-Christian North Western Europe would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw, or sugar, near the chimney for Odin’s flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat. Odin would then reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir’s food with gifts or candy. This practice survived in Belgium and the Netherlands after the adoption of Christianity and became associated with Sinterklaas.^[3]

Sinterklaas is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful Moorish dresses, dating back two centuries. These helpers are called ‘Zwarte Pieten’ (Black Petes). During the Middle-ages Zwarte Piet was a name for the devil. Having triumphed over evil, it was said that on Saint Nicholas eve the devil was shackled and made his slave. Although the character of Black Pete later came to acquire racial connotations, his origins were in the devil figure. This racialization is reflected in the reworking of the characters’ mythos. Their blackness was racial, with Pete being an imported African servant of Saint Nicholas since 1850 (though some people say Pete was a slave who, when Sinterklaas bought him his freedom, was so grateful that he stayed to assist him). Today however, the more politically correct explanation that Pete’s face is “black from soot” (as Pete has to climb through chimneys to deliver his gifts) is used. Traditionally Saint Nicholas only had one helper, whose name varied wildly. “Piet(er)” the name in use now can be traced back to a book from 1891.

In medieval times, the feast was both an occasion to help the poor, by putting money in their shoes (which evolved into putting presents in children’s shoes) and a wild feast, similar to Carnival, that often led to costumes, a “topsy-turvy” overturning of daily roles, and mass public drunkenness. After the Protestant Reformation, England and Germany prohibited celebration of the saint; Netherlands also became a largely Protestant country following the Reformation, and the government abolished public celebrations in the 17th century, but people protested, including students in Amsterdam. The government allowed celebration within the family. In the nineteenth century, as shown below, the saint became more secularized.^[1]

The modern tradition of Sinterklaas as a children’s feast was likely confirmed with the illustrated children’s book Sint Nicolaas en zijn knecht (Saint Nicholas and His Servant), written in 1850 by the teacher Jan Schenkman (1806–1863). He introduced the images of Sinterklaas’ delivering presents by the chimney, riding over the roofs of houses on a gray horse, and arriving from Spain by steamboat, then an exciting modern invention. The book’s ideas were incorporated by many across the Netherlands in their personal and communal celebrations. Schenkman also introduced the song “Zie ginds komt de stoomboot” (“See, there comes the steamboat”), still popular in the nation. In Schenkman’s version, the medieval figures of the mock devil, which later changed to Oriental or Moorish helpers, was portrayed for the first time as black African and called Zwarte Piet (Black Peter).^[1] He is a negro boy who accompanies Sinterklaas and helps him on his rounds (possibly derived from the Dutch colonial experience, or the Moorish occupation of Spain, the main Catholic nation.) In late 20th and 21st century celebrations, numerous people dress as Zwarte Pieten in various cities across the Netherlands.^[4]

In the Netherlands, Saint Nicholas’ Eve (5 December) is the chief occasion for gift-giving during the Christmas season. The evening is called “sinterklaasavond” or “pakjesavond” (“presents evening”). In the Netherlands, most children receive their presents on this evening. For Belgian and some Dutch children it is customary to put their shoe in front of the fireplace on the evening of 5 December, then go to bed, and find the presents around the shoes on the morning of the 6th.

Sinterklaas during World War II

In the lean times of the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945), Sinterklaas nonetheless came to cheer everyone, not just children. Many of the traditional Sinterklaas rhymes written during those times^[5] referred to current events. The Royal Air Force (RAF) was often celebrated. In 1941, for instance, the RAF dropped boxes of candy over the occupied Netherlands. A contemporary poem was the following:

R.A.F. Kapoentje,

Gooi wat in mijn schoentje,

Bij de Moffen gooien,

Maar in Holland strooien!

This is a variation of one of the best-known traditional Sinterklaas rhymes, with “R.A.F.” replacing “Sinterklaas” in the first line (the two expressions have the same metrical characteristics), and in the third and fourth lines, the RAF is encouraged to drop bombs on the Moffen (slur for Germans, like “krauts” in English) and candy over the Netherlands. Many of the Sinterklaas poems of this time noted the lack of food and basic necessities, and the German occupiers having taken everything of value; others expressed admiration for the Dutch Resistance.^[6]

Physical descriptions

Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas has a long red cape, wears a traditional white bishop’s robe and red mitre, and holds a crosier, a long gold-coloured staff with a fancy curled top. He carries a big book that tells whether each individual child has been good or naughty in the past year. He traditionally rides a gray horse.

Zwarte Piet

Sinterklaas and his Black Pete usually carry a bag which contains candy for nice children and a roe, a chimney sweep’s broom made of willow branches, used to spank naughty children.Some of the older Sinterklaas songs make mention of naughty children being put in the bag and being taken back to Spain. The Zwarte Pieten toss candy around, a tradition supposedly originating in Sint Nicolaas’ story of saving three young girls from prostitution by tossing golden coins through their window at night to pay their father’s debts. They also climb down chimneys to fill the children’s shoes with presents, this causes their skin to be black.^{[citation needed]}

Arrival

Sinterklaas arrives

Sinterklaas and his assistants name Pieter

Sinterklaas traditionally arrives in the Netherlands each year in mid-November (usually on a Saturday) by steamboat from Spain. Some suggest that gifts associated with the holy man, such as mandarin oranges, led to the misconception that he must have been from Spain. He parades through the streets on his gray horse Amerigo, welcomed by cheering and singing children.^[7] This event is broadcast live on national television in the Netherlands and Belgium. His Zwarte Piet assistants throw candy and small, round, gingerbread-like cookies, either “kruidnoten” or “pepernoten,” into the crowd. The children welcome him by singing traditional Sinterklaas songs. Sinterklaas visits schools, hospitals and shopping centers. After this arrival, all towns with a dock usually celebrate their own “intocht van Sinterklaas” (arrival of Sinterklaas). Local arrivals usually take place later on the same Saturday of the national arrival, the next Sunday (the day after he arrives in the Netherlands or Belgium), or one weekend after the national arrival. In places a boat cannot reach, Sinterklaas arrives by train, horse, or even carriage or fire truck.

Presents

Traditionally, in the weeks between his arrival and 5 December, before going to bed, children put their shoes next to the fireplace chimney of the coal-fired stove or fireplace. In modern times, they may put them next to the central heating unit. They leave the shoe with a carrot or some hay in it and a bowl of water nearby “for Sinterklaas’ horse”, and the children sing a Sinterklaas song. The next day they will find some candy or a small present in their shoes.

Typical Sinterklaas treats traditionally include: hot chocolate, mandarin oranges, pepernoten, letter-shaped pastry filled with almond paste or chocolate letter (the first letter of the child’s name made out of chocolate), speculaas (sometimes filled with almond paste), chocolate coins and marzipan figures. Newer treats include kruidnoten (a type of shortcrust biscuit or gingerbread biscuits) and a figurine of Sinterklaas made of chocolate and wrapped in colored aluminum foil.

Poems can still accompany bigger gifts as well. Instead of such gifts being brought by Sinterklaas, family members may draw names for an event comparable to Secret Santa. Gifts are to be creatively disguised (for which the Dutch use the French word “surprise”), and are usually accompanied by a humorous poem which often teases the recipient for well-known bad habits or other character deficiencies.^[8]

Sinterklaas, Santa Claus, and Christmas

Sinterklaas is the basis for the North American figure of Santa Claus. It is often claimed that during the American War of Independence the inhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam) reinvented their Sinterklaas tradition, as Saint Nicholas was a symbol of the city’s non-English past.^[9] The name Santa Claus supposedly derived from older Dutch Sinter Klaas. But, the Saint Nicholas Society was not founded until 1835, almost half a century after the end of the war.^[10] In a study of the “children’s books, periodicals and journals” of New Amsterdam, the scholar Charles Jones did not find references to Saint Nicholas or Sinterklaas.^[11] Not all scholars agree with Jones’s findings, which he reiterated in a book in 1978;^[12] Howard G. Hageman, of New Brunswick Theological Seminary, maintains that the tradition of celebrating Sinterklaas in New York existed in the early settlement of the Hudson Valley. He agrees that “there can be no question that by the time the revival of St. Nicholas came with Washington Irving, the traditional New Netherlands observance had completely disappeared.”^[13]

Irving’s stories prominently featured legends of the early Dutch settlers, so while the traditional practice may have died out, Irving’s St. Nicholas may have been a revival of that dormant Dutch strand of folklore. The Saint Nicholas Society of New York celebrates a feast on 6 December to this day. The town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, which was founded by Dutch and German immigrants, has an annual Sinterklaas celebration. It includes Sinterklaas’ crossing the Hudson River and a parade up to the center of town.^[14]

During the Reformation in 16th-17th century Europe, many Protestants changed the gift bringer to the Christ Child or Christkindl (corrupted in English to Kris Kringle). Similarly, the date of giving gifts changed from December 5 or 6th to Christmas Eve.^[15]

San Dimas is the town for boating, hiking, biking, mountain climbing and the city with horse properties.

Pricing of Units for sale based on the Income Capitalization Rate (CAP) comparisons.

Annual Income:
Gross Scheduled Income (GSI): ———————————————-
-Vacancy (5%): ———————————————-
= Effective Rental Income: ———————————————-
+ Other Income: ———————————————-
Gross Operating Income (GSI): ———————————————-

Annual Operating Expenses:
New Property Taxes: ———————————————–
+ Insurance: ———————————————-
+Maintenance and Repair: ———————————————–
+ Utilities (Water, Trash, and Yard): ———————————————–
+ Any other Expenses: ———————————————–
Total Annual Operating Expenses: ———————————————–
Net Operating Income (NOI):
Gross Operating Income: ———————————————–
-Annual Operating Expenses: ———————————————–
= Net Operating Expenses (NOI): ———————————————–

Annual Debt Service:
Principal and Interest (Mortgage Payment): ———————————————–

Annual Cash Flow:
Net Operating Income: ———————————————–
-Annual Debt Service: ———————————————–
= Cash Flow before Tax: ———————————————–

To commonly used method of determining the value of an investment property is the Income Capitalization or CAP Rate method.

Capitalization Rate (CAP Rate):

The CAP Rate is the ratio (expressed as a percentage) between purchase price and the first year Net Operating Income (NOI) of the property.

Net Operating Income (NOI) = Purchase Price x CAP Rate.

Gross Rent Multiplier: Has only value with NNN.

First year: GSI x GRM = Investment Value of Property (Purchase Price)

Note: Any cost paid by tenants should not be included as owner/landlord expenses.
If units have their own gas, water and electrical meters it is the tenants cost.

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