My Appraisal Blog

Some go up while others go down....

 May was the slowest month in 12 years for home sales in Southern California. The slowdown hit the lower priced home markets the hardest left the Southland's median sales price nearly unchanged.

According to Dataquick, a data provider for the real estate and appraisal industry, 19,874 new and resale homes sold in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange counties last month. This is the lowest since May of 1995 when only 17,712 homes sold. The “strongest” month of May was 2005, when 35,557 homes sold.

The high desert market may have been hit the hardest including Victorville, Barstow, Hesperia, Phelan, Pinon Hills, and Adelanto. The company reports that “the declines are in the lower half of the market, while prices are flat or even increasing in the upper half of the market”. The high desert has some of the lowest priced homes in the southland.

The average or typical monthly mortgage payment committed to by Southland buyers was $2,364 last month. This is up from $2,356 the previous month and up from $2,359 a year ago.

After adjusting for inflation, the payments are 8.7 percent higher than the typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 4.6 percent below the current cycle's peak last June.

The Subject Never Came up

There are more sons and grand-sons of Freemasons than there are

Freemasons.

I asked a man why he wasn’t a mason . He said that he didn’t know,

adding that his grandfather was a Freemason. I asked him what he told

him about Freemasonry and he said “the subject never came up”. Are

we all waiting for someone else to explain Masonry to our sons, nephews,

grandsons… ? If not us, who ?

With that card in your wallet, legally you are a Master Mason, but in

your heart realize that you have assumed all that millions of other men

have built for you in the years before. In your heart don’t think that you

have fulfilled yourself as a Master Mason until some time in your Masonic

career you find the one good man who will step into your shoes

when you fall. So , the task is not to fine a million new members, it’s

for one man to find one man in the next year. Maybe another the next

year. Is that too difficult ? __________________________________

There is very , very little that is secret: The signs of recognition and the

grip , but look At your Monitor. If it’s in English, read it . It isn’t secret.

Share it. One of the mysteries of Masonry is that the candidate attests in

the petition that he has formed a high opinion of Freemasonry . How does

he do that if nobody tells him anything about it. What does Masonry

stand for ? freedom of religion , education, charity, patriotism, commitment

to serving others , friendship, fidelity, and family, and the value

of personal integrity and the sanctity of one’s word. These values and

aspirations are guideposts for my progress through life.  I am a Mason and proud to be a part of this great group of men makeing good men better.

Did you know the Shriners and Scottish Rite groups, who do all the good works with the hospitals and children, are all Masons who then can join either of these two groups but are still Masons?

Masons are a group of men helping other good men become better men.  We have a link on our website if you would like more informtion about becoming a Mason.  Just let us know!