If you think the federal government is hard at work taking the necessary steps to avoid future financial catastrophes, think again. If you click on the image below you will be taken to a video created by Think Big Work Small. It's about five minutes long, but it is a great outline of the deal the FDIC made during the sale of Indy Mac's assets to One West Bank.

My number one rule for this blog is to keep the content strictly limited to real estate topics. I'm breaking my number one rule because I'm so proud I can't contain myself. My son started walking this weekend, and here is a short video of his first steps. In the future I will continue to limit myself to the world of real estate, so please forgive me for this one transgression.

Not sure about you but I've always been dismayed by the difficulty of identifying the properties that will be open each weekend. In the past we've relied on the local newspapers to gather all of the weekly open house details, but as advertising has continued to move to the internet the role of the newspaper's open house guide has been diminished. Unfortunately, many brokerage firms and Realtors have been slow to adjust their advertising practices, and open house schedules found on Trulia.com, Zillow.com, and the myriad of other sites are ...

Palo Alto, CA – In California , nearly half of all urban water use is applied to yards. State law has been amended to require all cities to adopt more stringent water use requirements for landscaping. Residents and businesses in Palo Alto seeking permits that include new or upgraded landscaping are currently required by state law and an ordinance developed by the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) to meet the new water efficiency regulations. This new requirement went into effect on January 1, 2010. As of January 1, 2010, the DWR ...