Best Buys In Ojai/Team Deckert – Our daily blog spotlighting the best in Ojai Valley real estate!

February 13, 2026

Quote of the Day

A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.

~ Anonymous

This Day in History

February 13, 1778: John Adams prepares to sail for France. On this day in 1778, two future presidents of the United States, John Adams and his son, 10-year-old John Quincy Adams, sit in Marblehead Harbor, off the coast of Massachusetts, on board the frigate, Boston, which is to take them to France, where John Adams will replace Silas Deane in Congress’ commission to negotiate a treaty of alliance.

Silas Deane’s son, Jesse Deane, who was 11 or 12 years old, was also on board and bore a letter from his uncle requesting that Adams take care of the child, whose Youth and Helplessness among such bad company would require “some friendly Montior (sic) to caution, and keep him from associating with the common hands on board.”

Adam’s newfound role as pater familias expanded further with the delivery of a letter from William Vernon, Esquire, a member of the Continental Navy Board in Boston. Vernon’s son, a recent college graduate, was also on board the Boston. His father asked John Adams to find a merchant whom he could trust to educate his son in the business. Although sending him to a Catholic nation, the elder Vernon wished to see his son installed with a Protestant family of extensive Business in hopes that he “would hereafter be usefull (sic) to Society, and in particular to these American States.” He entrusted Adams not only with his son, but also with his money, asking Adams to negotiate a price of approximately £100 sterling for room and board with an eminent merchant to train his son for two to three years.

Once in France, Jesse Deane joined John Quincy Adams and Benjamin Franklin’s grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache, at a pension in Passy, outside Paris; Vernon remained in Bordeaux. Two of the boys in Passy grew to be among the leaders of the next American generation. Benjamin Franklin Bache inherited his grandfather’s skills as a journalist and founded The Aurora, a newspaper in which he attacked first George Washington’s presidency and then John Adams’. Under the notoriously unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, Bache was imprisoned for his opposition to Federalist Party policy. John Quincy Adams followed in his father’s footsteps, serving as a foreign diplomat, Massachusetts state senator and president of the United States. Jesse Deane, like his father, faded into the backdrop of history.

Ojai Weather

Sunny – High 72 / Low 39

Rainfall accumulation from 2/10 through 2/11 – 1.50 inches

Total rainfall for the season – 24.12 inches

Lake Casitas water capacity – 99.7%

Friday, February 13, 2026

8:15 a.m.

Three new or “coming soon” listings have come to the market since Tuesday:

1318 La Paz Drive – $1,369,000

910 Mercer Avenue – $1,060,000 (coming soon, 2/18)

1210 S. La Luna Avenue – $2,550,000 (coming soon, 2/17)

Recently cancelled, expired, or withdrawn listings – back on the market as “new:”

1131 Rancho Drive – $4,250,000 (this had recently expired on 1/9).

We’ll be holding our listing at 12752 Sisar Road in upper Ojai open tomorrow (Saturday) from 1:00 to 4:00. You can catch a sneak peek of it today from 9:30 to noon as well. This really is an amazingly updated cabin – located close to the Sisar Trail. Here’s a 3-minute video I put together recently (click on the photo below). Expand the video to full screen so that you can read the descriptions without the video overlay covering them. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Have a great weekend!