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A recent study evaluating the health of California families and children has given Marin County high scores. In the 2008 State of the State’s Children report, Marin ranked above other counties throughout the state in 27 out of 31 categories, including high scores across the board for meeting educational goals and state standards.

The study ranked Marin County as number 1 in the percentage of elementary school students that meet or exceed state standards in English and Math.  The 2007 school year statistics show that 72% of Marin students scored at the Proficient or Advanced level in Math; and 68% were at Proficient or Advanced in Language Arts, as compared to the statewide averages of 52% and 43% respectively.

These scores aren’t surprising, as…

Marin County’s reputation as being innovative and progressive has once again received national recognition.   Recently the American Planning Association acknowledged Marin’s efforts to involve the community in sustainable living, and named Marin County as the winner of its 2008 National Planning Excellence Award for Implementation.  In announcing the award, a spokeswoman for the Association is quoted as saying “Marin County’s contribution to sustainable living merits national attention.”

Reducing Marin’s dependence on nonrenewable resources is at the core of the new 30-year planning blueprint recently adopted by the county.  Targeted goals include reducing carbon emissions, protecting farmlands and open spaces, and promoting thoughtful, sustainable…

Imagine making a profit of $27.5M on the sale of your house.  That is what a Belvedere California man is set to do when escrow on his $65M home closes next month.  After purchasing the house for $5.5M in 1995, mining mogul Robert Friedland, spent nine years and $32M renovating the house before deciding to put it on the market.  Even by Marin standards $65M is impressive.  Admittedly the neighborhood is exclusive -- homes for sale in Tiburon are pricey and real estate in Belvedere California is even more expensive, but this sets a new record – not only for Belvedere and Tiburon, but for all of Northern California.  To date the record for a home sale in Northern California was set in 2000 with the sale of a home in Woodside for a cool $52.5M.

What will… Read Full Post

"Happy Holidays....now take those Christmas lights down" is a message that select residents of Dillon Beach are hearing this holiday season. 

Located just northwest of San Francisco in Marin County, Dillon Beach is a small beach-front town popular with vacationers and Bay Area homeowners looking for a second home on the Pacific Ocean.     Many residents of this intimate, sea-side community are also members of the Dillon Beach Neighborhood Association.     

According to the neighborhood CC&R's which have been in place for more than 20 years, homeowners are prohibited from utilizing exterior lighting unless the lighting is for safety or security.   Translation: No holiday lights permitted on the exterior of homes in Dillon Beach.

Despite the…

To mitigate damage in its loan portfolio, Washington Mutual is closing its home loan center in San Rafael this week.  The bank will, however, continue to finance homes in Marin County through its Corte Madera office.  Other mortgage companies in Marin aren’t as fortunate, however.  GreenPoint Mortgage in Novato, for example, has been shut down and other brokerages are laying off employees.

This leads to the question “What should I do if my mortgage lender goes bankrupt?”  Since your loan will, in all likelihood, be sold to another institution you are still obligated to the terms of the mortgage.  The new lender will provide details as to where to send payment.  In the meantime:

Make your payments  Send the monthly installment to the same address… Read Full Post

Marin County real estate has long been known for its progressive architecture.  Almost every community has notable examples of mid-century modern design, including several Eichler neighborhoods.  You’ll also find many homes and public buildings by world caliber architects including Frank Lloyd Wright and I.M. Pei.

It is because of this architectural tradition that winners of the 2007 San Rafael Design Awards can be especially proud.  They stand in excellent company.  I want to offer my congratulations to the designers who were honored this week as part of San Rafael’s Design Awards program.

Winners of this year’s competition are:

• Robert Hatfield of Hatfield Architecture for design of – 5000 Civic Center Drive
• Genaro Morales, Watry…

Many of our clients are eco-conscious home buyers in Marin County however the headlines in today's local Marin Independent Journal newspaper would indicate that these "green" buyers would like to extend their green purchasing power above and beyond residential real estate.    

The article presents data from a recent consumer survey conducted by Forrester Research Group which indicates that more than 12% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for everyday products (i.e. television sets, laptop computers, desktop computers) if those products consume less power or come from an environmentally-friendly organization.   

Some manufacturers have identified ecoconscious buyers as a small - yet rapidly growing - niche market and are beginning to promote… Read Full Post

It seems that California’s fire season just won’t end.  This morning I woke up to the news that the Santa Ana winds are blowing again and there is another fire in Malibu.  This happens every year, and there is always a great deal of discussion over the fact that people choose to live in fire prone areas, that we need Defensible Space around homes and buildings, and that the various state and federal agencies need to “do something”.  The discussion goes on, then the rains come, and people go about their business until next fire season.

There are, however, ongoing efforts to address the problem.  Currently cities and towns throughout California are required to review state fire code every three years and adopt revisions necessary to comply with state… Read Full Post