January 27, 2023
Quote of the Day
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.
– Winston Churchill
This Day in History
January 27, 1945: Auschwitz is liberated. On this day in 1945, Soviet troops enter Auschwitz, Poland, freeing the survivors of the network of concentration camps – and finally revealing to the world the depth of the horrors perpetrated there.
Auschwitz was really a group of camps, designated I, II, and III. There were also 40 smaller “satellite” camps. It was at Auschwitz II, at Birkenau, established in October 1941, that the SS created a complex, monstrously orchestrated killing ground: 300 prison barracks; four “bathhouses” in which prisoners were gassed; corpse cellars; and cremating ovens. Thousands of prisoners were also used for medical experiments overseen and performed by the camp doctor, Josef Mengele, the “Angel of Death.”
The Red Army had been advancing deeper into Poland since mid-January. Having liberated Warsaw and Krakow, Soviet troops headed for Auschwitz. In anticipation of the Soviet arrival, SS officers began a murder spree in the camps, shooting sick prisoners and blowing up crematoria in a desperate attempt to destroy the evidence of their crimes. When the Red Army finally broke through, Soviet soldiers encountered 648 corpses and more than 7,000 starving camp survivors. There were also six storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of women’s dresses, men’s suits and shoes that the Germans did not have time to burn.
Ojai Weather
Mostly sunny – High 67 / Low 35
Total rainfall for the season – 26.26 inches
Lake Casitas water capacity – 43.3%
Friday, January 27, 2023
11:45 a.m.
There are four new listings on the market:
537 Del Oro Drive – $3,875,000
135 S. Padre Juan Avenue – $839,000
1273 S. Rice Road #48 – $262,500
1885 Maricopa Highway #14 – $269,000
Here’s the list of things to do in Ojai. Have a great weekend!
Pic of the Day
Thursday, January 26, 2023
10:40 a.m.
There is a new listing on the market:
Pic of the Day
I did some quick research on the above photo, as I thought it may have been faked. Nope. Look it up for yourself on Zillow. This home was actually sold “as-is” following fire damage to the structure. Unique marketing, that’s for sure – and talk about full-disclosure!
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
11:10 a.m.
There are three new or “coming soon” listings on the market:
915 Santa Ana Blvd. – $899,999 (coming soon, 1/30)
210 S. Ventura Street – $875,000 (coming soon, 2/3)
Pic of the Day
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
11:25 a.m.
There are no new listings for today.
- I’m glad to see the Lake Casitas gauge is back online and up to 43.0%! Just FYI, that’s the highest the lake has been since July 21, 2020.
Pic of the Day
Monday, January 23, 2023
10:40 a.m.
There are five new listings on the market:
116 S. Pueblo Street – $1,499,000
219 E. Oak Street – $1,749,000
304 Topa Topa Drive – $1,197,000
Prior “coming soon” listings now on the market:
- Here’s the list of things to do in Ojai from today through Thursday.
- I apologize for the lack of updates since last Wednesday. I was out of town from last Tuesday to yesterday. Last Thursday my laptop appeared to have been hacked/compromised. It may have been overkill, but I decided to not boot it up at all until I had a professional take a look at it. Luckily, the laptop only serves as my backup/travel PC.
Pic of the Day
Wednesday, January 18, 2023
8:40 a.m.
There is a new listing on the market:
239 S. Montgomery Street – $1,675,000
Pic of the Day
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
9:05 a.m.
No new listings for today.
Pic of the Day
Monday, January 16, 2023
11:45 a.m.
There are two new or “coming soon” listings on the market:
1458 Foothill Road – $4,679,000 (coming soon, 1/20)
Prior “coming soon” listings now on the market:
Here’s a quick mortgage rate update:
30-yr fixed: 6.09%
15-yr fixed: 5.27%
30-yr Jumbo: 5.70%
30-yr FHA: 5.65%
30-yr VA: 5.72%
Pic of the Day
Friday, January 13, 2023
10:45 a.m.
There is a new “coming soon” listing on the market:
1029 N. Rice Road – $1,425,000 (coming soon, 1/26)
It’s seems as though the Lake Casitas level gauge has been wonky the last few days; today it’s showing the level is back up to 39.4%. Then I read in the Ojai Valley News about the Robles diversion being shut down due to debris and sediment flow. Sometimes nature is just too powerful for mankind to handle, no matter how sophisticated our “systems” are – I get that.
But it’s baffling to see that Cachuma Lake went from 36.9% capacity to 70.9% in 24 hours from January 9th to the 10th. Meanwhile, Lake Casitas rose from about 33.3% to 39.4% during the same time. Granted, Cachuma Lake holds roughly 20% less water by volume than Lake Casitas (205,000 acre-ft. compared to 254,000 acre-ft., respectively). And I’m guessing the topography surrounding the lakes has an impact on how water flows into them. I’m not a hydrologist and I admit I know next to nothing when it comes to understanding hydrology, aquifers, and the like. But it’s frustrating knowing that so much water is going uncaptured…again.
Here’s the list of things to do in Ojai; have a great weekend!
Pic of the Day
Thursday, January 12, 2023
9:10 a.m.
There is a new listing on the market:
1001 Creekside Way #H – $649,000
Pic of the Day
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
10:45 a.m.
There are two new listings on the market (kinda):
950 Woodland Avenue #11 – $325,000
(Note: This came up as new, then was immediately placed in a “hold” status. Thus, there is no link available for this property)
I don’t consider myself a wordsmith, but I do enjoy certain aspects of the English language that tickle me when things are said either as malapropisms (mistakenly using a word in place of a similar-sounding one), e.g., “I might just fade into Bolivian” (Mike Tyson) or when things are just non-sensical or obvious in themselves “Nobody goes there any more because it’s too crowded” (Yogi Berra – when asked why he no longer went to a St. Louis restaurant).
I bring this up because I inadvertently created one of these myself while recently speaking on the phone with a good buddy I’ve known for 37 years. In our conversation, he mentioned a girl’s name – Mary Glatz – that he went on a single date with back in 1987. I knew her as well, because we all worked at the same company during the late 80’s – early 90s.
I was startled by the name as I heard it, and my response was thusly:
“Wow…I would have forgotten that name forever and never would have realized it.”
Yep, Ray. That’s what “forgetting” entails.
Pic of the Day
Tuesday, January 10, 2023
12:10 p.m.
There is a new listing on the market:
710-718 S. La Luna Avenue – $4,920,000
Some notes on the recent rainfall:
- With Lake Casitas water capacity at 36.4% as of this morning, that’s the highest it’s been since June 25, 2021.
- The highest capacity the lake reached in all of 2022 was 35.1% on February 4, 2022.
- The 23.02 inches of rain we’ve received thus far already eclipses our seasonal average of around 21 inches.
I’m hope you’re all safe and sound and not dealing with too much in the way of property damage. I have family on the east end of town who are dealing with some mud flows and flooding in secondary structures. I got lucky on the west end of town. Nothing happening here except some standing water in a couple of areas on the property. I have an older “Heritage” oak tree that I worry about coming down whenever we get heavy rains. It has a chance of nipping the corner of the house if it falls in the wrong direction, but the tree leans away from the house so hopefully I’m good in that regard.
I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of photos of water over the last few days, but I’m still going to throw a couple of my own into the mix. I still can’t get over what an event it is for people to gaze at the water as it flows past the Baldwin Road bridge. I’m surprised the county hasn’t starting charging an admission fee. The river is as wide across as I’m seen it in a long time (possibly since 2008 or 2009)?
I drove towards the Santa Ana creek yesterday (near Lake Casitas) and noted flooding over the top of Baldwin Road. I took a look this morning as well and noted that they’ve closed the road due to mud flow over the top of the small bridge over Santa Ana creek. There’s not much mud (a pickup truck could easily drive through it), but there was enough for the county to start diverting traffic.
It looks like there’s more rain headed our way this weekend, but perhaps not as heavy as we’ve seen the last few days. Stay safe!
(Motion) Pic of the Day
Solicitor removal system
Monday, January 9, 2023
12:15 p.m.
There is a new coming soon listing on the market:
1162 Camille Drive – $909,888 (coming soon, 1/16)
Pic of the Day
Friday, January 6, 2023
11:45 a.m.
There are no new listings for today, but here’s the list of things to do in Ojai!
Recently cancelled or expired listings, back on the market
- 8434 Ojai Santa Paula Road – $65,000,000 (last on the market 12/28/22 at $65,000,000)
Well, the Deckert clan had it’s first-ever skunk encounter this morning at around 4:00 a.m. Logan woke me up to go outside, an extremely uncommon occurrence. When I opened the back door that leads to the dog pen, Logan and Leo bolted out and I immediately knew something was afoot. I instinctively reacted and took a couple of steps outside the door, when my senses were immediately overcome with that lovely bouquet. Or perhaps more accurately, it was as if I’d just eaten a salad slathered with skunk oil dressing.
I spent the next hour in the walk-in shower with both dogs, trying to bathe them with a solution of baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and shampoo (thanks, Internet). The trouble was the whole house was scented with Eau de Pepé Le Pew, so I had no idea if the dogs (or myself) were clean or not. I opened all the windows to air the house out, which resulted in an all-time indoor low temperature for this household – at 54 degrees. The previous record low was 59 degrees – in the main bedroom. (I like to sleep in a cool environment and I went a little overboard one night.)
I made a trip to the pet store for some Nature’s Miracle and bathed the dogs again, just in case. I think they’re good, but somehow the odor still lingers in the house. Is an entire can of Fabreze too much?
Have a good weekend!
Pic of the Day
Thursday, January 5, 2023
1:15 p.m.
There are no new listings today. I’ve got a whole slew of market updates for you, starting with the market update for all Ojai valley listings, including sales that occurred in December 2022:
~ 18 new listings came to the market in December, compared to 27 in November.
~ 16 residential properties sold in December, compared to 17 in November (does not include land parcels, commercial properties, or mobile homes).
~ Of the 16 properties that sold in December, 1 sold above list price, and the remaining properties sold below list price. For comparison, in November, 5 of the 17 listings sold over full price, 1 at list price, and the remaining below list price. The average number of days on the market for properties sold in December was 51 days (51 days in November). (Note: For purposes of these statistics, “list price” is the original list price of the home and does not take into account any subsequent price reductions or increases after the home was initially listed on the market.)
~ The average sales price for homes in December was $1,039,595 while the median sales price was $935,000. The lowest sales price for a home in December was $455,000 while the highest sales price was $1,900,000.
~ As of today there are 35 single-family residential homes available on the market (does not include land, commercial property or mobile homes). For comparison, there were 49 active listings on the market on December 5th (the date of our last market update). Of the 35 active listings on the market at this time, 12 of them are listed under $1,000,000 (there were 18 such listings on December 5th). The average list price for homes on the market today is $2,409,388 ($2,182,939 in December), while the median listed home price is $1,449,000 ($1,324,500 in December).
~ During the month of December there were 6 price reductions on listings (24 in November). Note: For this metric, price reductions includes ALL types of listings (residential, land, mobile home, commercial) so that you have an overall view of what the entire market is doing.
~ Finally, to really give you an idea of where the market currently stands – the average days on the market for all currently active listings is 92. In June it was 19 days for listings that closed that month. It seems that the frenzy is over, folks.
Ojai valley real estate – Year 2021 compared to 2022
2021
Number of homes sold – 324
Average number of days homes were on the market – 49
Average home sales price – $1,368,565
Average list price to actual sales price percentage – 102%
Lowest sales price – $400,000
Highest sales price – $7,500,000
2022
Number of homes sold – 253
Average number of days homes were on the market – 43
Average home sales price – $1,410,703
Average list price to actual sales price percentage – 101%
Lowest sales price – $495,000
Highest sales price – $10,500,000
Current interest rates
30-yr fixed: 6.50%
15-yr fixed: 5.84%
30-yr jumbo: 5.70%
30-yr FHA: 6.12%
30-yr VA: 6.19%
Pic(s) of the Day
The occasionally annual pilgrimage to the Baldwin Road bridge – where people go to look at water.
(Although I laugh because it’s such a SoCal thing, I confess I do this as well.)
Santa Ana bridge in Oak view
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
10:00 a.m.
There is a new listing on the market:
1202 Loma Drive #100 – $199,000
Pic of the Day
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
10:55 a.m.
There are four new listings on the market:
74 Valley Ridge Street – $789,000
214-A Bryant Street – $950,000
“Coming soon” listings, now on the market:
Recently cancelled or expired listings, back on the market:
Pic of the Day
