WSOCTV.com - Special Reports - Legislator Looks At Changes To Homeowners Associations
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Homeowners associations are filing liens and threatening to foreclose on the houses of their own neighbors in communities all over Charlotte. They're doing it legally to members who are late paying their homeowners association dues. Rick Jasinski is one of dozens of people who contacted Eyewitness News, complaining that state law gives homeowners associations too much authority. "It just seems the power they have, it just seems like they've got a little more power than they should," Jasinski said.Homeowners associations have the power to foreclose on homes because the state legislature in Raleigh passed laws that make the foreclosures legal. But after Eyewitness News brought its investigation to Raleigh, some legislators say it's time to take a closer look at how far homeowners associations can go to collect their dues.
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Here's the typical pattern. The legislature usually decides it's time to convene a special select committee to research the issues and propose a few bills about closing the barn door...while the horse is about three counties away.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
SB 1682 Senate Bill - Bill Analysis
This bill would reform HOA forec.osure in California. It would prohibit foreclosure for delinquent assessment amounts of less than $2500, leaving the association recourse to small claims court or filing a lien. For amounts over that, nonjudicial foreclosure is still available but the bill creates a homestead exemption and a redemption period.
My understanding, from Fred Pilot, is that this is headed for the Senate floor.
This bill would reform HOA forec.osure in California. It would prohibit foreclosure for delinquent assessment amounts of less than $2500, leaving the association recourse to small claims court or filing a lien. For amounts over that, nonjudicial foreclosure is still available but the bill creates a homestead exemption and a redemption period.
My understanding, from Fred Pilot, is that this is headed for the Senate floor.
Sunday, May 09, 2004
The Seattle Times: Local News: Big monorail fan might backtrack
...or "I voted for the monorail before I voted against it"
When officials from the Seattle Monorail Project pay homage to the monorail movement's grass-roots heritage, they're talking about citizens like Bobby Inshetski.
"I simply love the monorail," he says. Driving under the city's old one-mile monorail on Fifth Avenue, he would cheer when a train passed above the sunroof. He voted yes on the 2002 initiative to build a new 14-mile monorail from West Seattle to Ballard. Then he volunteered for the project, answering questions at Bumbershoot and neighborhood festivals. Inshetski bought a second-floor condominium along the route on California Avenue Southwest in West Seattle last June — at a time when the agency was publishing verdant visions of a train soaring above the center of the street through a canopy of trees. What he didn't know was that the final plan would permit trains to pass as close as 6½ feet from the bay windows at his building. He said overhead tracks would block the only sunlight into the apartments of Inshetski and many of his neighbors in the Serrano, a 34-unit condominium. Now Inshetski is considering whether to join a campaign to repeal the monorail plan."They affected not just all the residents, but one of their most faithful workers," he says. "If they could do that to a volunteer, then how would other people feel?"
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Proving once again that there is a Supreme Being making the big Karmic Justice Decisions up there.
...or "I voted for the monorail before I voted against it"
When officials from the Seattle Monorail Project pay homage to the monorail movement's grass-roots heritage, they're talking about citizens like Bobby Inshetski.
"I simply love the monorail," he says. Driving under the city's old one-mile monorail on Fifth Avenue, he would cheer when a train passed above the sunroof. He voted yes on the 2002 initiative to build a new 14-mile monorail from West Seattle to Ballard. Then he volunteered for the project, answering questions at Bumbershoot and neighborhood festivals. Inshetski bought a second-floor condominium along the route on California Avenue Southwest in West Seattle last June — at a time when the agency was publishing verdant visions of a train soaring above the center of the street through a canopy of trees. What he didn't know was that the final plan would permit trains to pass as close as 6½ feet from the bay windows at his building. He said overhead tracks would block the only sunlight into the apartments of Inshetski and many of his neighbors in the Serrano, a 34-unit condominium. Now Inshetski is considering whether to join a campaign to repeal the monorail plan."They affected not just all the residents, but one of their most faithful workers," he says. "If they could do that to a volunteer, then how would other people feel?"
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Proving once again that there is a Supreme Being making the big Karmic Justice Decisions up there.
Montreal Gazette - $7 billion Canadian tax dollars at work
A routine safety test at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport went monumentally wrong after an airport employee placed explosives in a passenger's luggage, but failed to remove them before he left the airport. In an effort to test sniffer dogs at the airport Friday, an employees slipped TNT, hidden in a jar of jam, into a passenger's luggage, instead of other baggage normally used during tests. Before the package could be removed, the passenger, who arrived on an international flight, picked up his luggage, passed through customs and security checks, and left. It was only when he arrived at a friend's house in Magog that he discovered the package, labelled "dynamite," and called police, who contacted the bomb squad...Since the World Trade Centre attacks, the federal government has spent more than $7 billion to upgrade national security.
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And Inspector Clouseau "couldn't explain" how this happened. Mais non. Je ne sais pas.
A routine safety test at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport went monumentally wrong after an airport employee placed explosives in a passenger's luggage, but failed to remove them before he left the airport. In an effort to test sniffer dogs at the airport Friday, an employees slipped TNT, hidden in a jar of jam, into a passenger's luggage, instead of other baggage normally used during tests. Before the package could be removed, the passenger, who arrived on an international flight, picked up his luggage, passed through customs and security checks, and left. It was only when he arrived at a friend's house in Magog that he discovered the package, labelled "dynamite," and called police, who contacted the bomb squad...Since the World Trade Centre attacks, the federal government has spent more than $7 billion to upgrade national security.
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And Inspector Clouseau "couldn't explain" how this happened. Mais non. Je ne sais pas.
Friday, May 07, 2004
Government Arrogance in Action: "Alderman defends having police watch her home"
Your tax dollars at work: here in Chicago government officials can get private security at public expense, courtesy of the Chicago Police Department. After a couple of burglaries, the CPD is keeping a special eye on this alderman's home, including a cruiser and officer parked outside on weekends at a cost of $366 per day. The peons who complain, however, should just shut up, because, says Alderman Marie Antionette...oops, I mean Arenda Troutman,""Deserve it? Damn right," she said. "I should receive the protection I am receiving. I am an elected official. You're darn right." Sure, of course, Alderman Troutman. Elected officials first, ordinary people can eat cake. Welcome to Chicago.
And you know what will happen now that this has been publicized? Exactly nothing.
Your tax dollars at work: here in Chicago government officials can get private security at public expense, courtesy of the Chicago Police Department. After a couple of burglaries, the CPD is keeping a special eye on this alderman's home, including a cruiser and officer parked outside on weekends at a cost of $366 per day. The peons who complain, however, should just shut up, because, says Alderman Marie Antionette...oops, I mean Arenda Troutman,
And you know what will happen now that this has been publicized? Exactly nothing.
Officials give HOAs a pass, says Dan Watson of Gilbert, Arizona
This opinion piece ran parallel with the editorial below, and is referred to in the editorial. It deals with whether a municipal government that is mandating HOAs in all new construction should take some responsibility for protecting the owners who are conscripted into HOA living.
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It seems that Mayor Steve Berman and other town officials have once again taken an all-too-common position of disregarding the needs and concerns of the citizens of Gilbert. While our state lawmakers are busy trying to pass legislation that would rein in the powers of out-of-control homeowners associations in Arizona, Gilbert is still mandating HOAs for all new developments. In fact, Berman has decided that on his watch he will not address this critical issue for the citizens of Gilbert. His response to taking such an action (as reported by Brian Powell in the Tribune May 2) was that he "likes the idea of establishing a town commission to oversee HOAs, but with the town having no legal authority over HOAs, he doesn’t see how the commission would work." It’s a strange situation in that Gilbert feels it has the legal authority to mandate HOAs but will not get involved in resolving homeowner disputes that result from imposing unchecked HOA conditions, covenants and restrictions (CC&Rs) on homeowners. Come on, Berman, you can’t have it both ways. The concept proposed by Steve Maggs of forming a Gilbert town commission to address homeowners’ concerns is a genuine step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I don’t think it goes far enough. We don’t need an advisory group without power to offset the actions of unruly HOA boards. We do need a system that will return equality to Gilbert homeowners. As it stands now, the Gilbert-mandated HOAs have the final say in critical homeowner issues affecting Gilbert residents. The only recourse for homeowners today is through the courts, which is both expensive and time consuming. It’s difficult to understand how Gilbert town officials can mandate that every new development have an HOA without establishing a check-andbalance structure that would protect an individual homeowner’s investment. They should be taking an active, legal role in their mandated HOA management system.
This opinion piece ran parallel with the editorial below, and is referred to in the editorial. It deals with whether a municipal government that is mandating HOAs in all new construction should take some responsibility for protecting the owners who are conscripted into HOA living.
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It seems that Mayor Steve Berman and other town officials have once again taken an all-too-common position of disregarding the needs and concerns of the citizens of Gilbert. While our state lawmakers are busy trying to pass legislation that would rein in the powers of out-of-control homeowners associations in Arizona, Gilbert is still mandating HOAs for all new developments. In fact, Berman has decided that on his watch he will not address this critical issue for the citizens of Gilbert. His response to taking such an action (as reported by Brian Powell in the Tribune May 2) was that he "likes the idea of establishing a town commission to oversee HOAs, but with the town having no legal authority over HOAs, he doesn’t see how the commission would work." It’s a strange situation in that Gilbert feels it has the legal authority to mandate HOAs but will not get involved in resolving homeowner disputes that result from imposing unchecked HOA conditions, covenants and restrictions (CC&Rs) on homeowners. Come on, Berman, you can’t have it both ways. The concept proposed by Steve Maggs of forming a Gilbert town commission to address homeowners’ concerns is a genuine step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I don’t think it goes far enough. We don’t need an advisory group without power to offset the actions of unruly HOA boards. We do need a system that will return equality to Gilbert homeowners. As it stands now, the Gilbert-mandated HOAs have the final say in critical homeowner issues affecting Gilbert residents. The only recourse for homeowners today is through the courts, which is both expensive and time consuming. It’s difficult to understand how Gilbert town officials can mandate that every new development have an HOA without establishing a check-andbalance structure that would protect an individual homeowner’s investment. They should be taking an active, legal role in their mandated HOA management system.
An obvious HOA reform
Here's a newspaper editorial talking about Gilbert, Arizona's practice of requiring HOAs in all new construction, and then taking zero responsibility for dealing with the conflicts they cause, or as some would put it, the oppression of homeowners.
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Gilbert’s Congress of Neighborhoods has been trying to get the Town Council to set up a municipal commission to deal with HOA issues. The organization’s chairman, Steve Maggs, says that since Gilbert mandates new subdivisions have HOAs, the town should take a role in trying to resolve disputes that sometimes arise. It’s a good suggestion, one that’s echoed by Gilbert resident Dan Watson on the following page. (Watson goes further, urging the Town Council to drop its mandate that new subdivisions have HOAs.) Homeowners associations are probably here to stay, for several good reasons. First, most homeowners like the having a neighborhood association protecting the appearance and property values of their area. Second, if private associations are maintaining neighborhoods, there is less demand for government to do the job — and that saves tax dollars. But the growth of HOAs has not been accompanied by a similar growth in checks and balances. Although the greatest check on HOA abuse is for homeowners to be aware of and involved with their association, even elected groups need oversight; that’s why the governor has veto authority over the Legislature. The Legislature has made some strides in recent years to bring some checks and balances to bear on HOAs, but has been appropriately cautious so as not to hamstring associations. It has also been reluctant to create a new state entity to mediate HOA disputes. The Gilbert Town Council should step in with a commission that acts as an ombudsman in hearing HOA disputes and possibly offering solutions. Perhaps airing disputes in public would be enough to win compliance with the commission’s recommendations.
Here's a newspaper editorial talking about Gilbert, Arizona's practice of requiring HOAs in all new construction, and then taking zero responsibility for dealing with the conflicts they cause, or as some would put it, the oppression of homeowners.
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Gilbert’s Congress of Neighborhoods has been trying to get the Town Council to set up a municipal commission to deal with HOA issues. The organization’s chairman, Steve Maggs, says that since Gilbert mandates new subdivisions have HOAs, the town should take a role in trying to resolve disputes that sometimes arise. It’s a good suggestion, one that’s echoed by Gilbert resident Dan Watson on the following page. (Watson goes further, urging the Town Council to drop its mandate that new subdivisions have HOAs.) Homeowners associations are probably here to stay, for several good reasons. First, most homeowners like the having a neighborhood association protecting the appearance and property values of their area. Second, if private associations are maintaining neighborhoods, there is less demand for government to do the job — and that saves tax dollars. But the growth of HOAs has not been accompanied by a similar growth in checks and balances. Although the greatest check on HOA abuse is for homeowners to be aware of and involved with their association, even elected groups need oversight; that’s why the governor has veto authority over the Legislature. The Legislature has made some strides in recent years to bring some checks and balances to bear on HOAs, but has been appropriately cautious so as not to hamstring associations. It has also been reluctant to create a new state entity to mediate HOA disputes. The Gilbert Town Council should step in with a commission that acts as an ombudsman in hearing HOA disputes and possibly offering solutions. Perhaps airing disputes in public would be enough to win compliance with the commission’s recommendations.
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Yahoo! News - Town Has Firehouse, No Firefighters
What if they gave a fire and nobody came? 60s flashback. You had to be there.
Construction of a new fire station in rural Stanislaus County will soon be completed. The problem is, there won't be anyone to staff it. In March, voters in the rural Oakdale area of Valley Home rejected a measure to pay for a fire crew. Each home would pay $165 a year.
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I guess this shows that municipalities can have the same problems as HOAs. Taxes, assessments...whatever.
What if they gave a fire and nobody came? 60s flashback. You had to be there.
Construction of a new fire station in rural Stanislaus County will soon be completed. The problem is, there won't be anyone to staff it. In March, voters in the rural Oakdale area of Valley Home rejected a measure to pay for a fire crew. Each home would pay $165 a year.
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I guess this shows that municipalities can have the same problems as HOAs. Taxes, assessments...whatever.
FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Madonna: Stay off My PropertyLawyers acting for the Material Girl argued on Wednesday that walkers should not be allowed to traipse across her $11 million country estate of Ashcombe House in Wiltshire, southern England...Madonna and her husband, film director Guy Ritchie (search), are disputing their obligations under a new law designed to give ramblers access to open land across Britain.
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Britain has a "Planning Inspectorate" and a "Countryside Agency" that decide whether or not you need to allow strangers to perambulate on your land. There is also an organization called the "Ramblers' Association," with 140,000 members, who apparently make a hobby out of walking on other people's property. Given the size of Madonna's estate (1200 acres), the next issue should be whether she or the Ramblers' Association should pay for the porta-potties that will be needed.
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Britain has a "Planning Inspectorate" and a "Countryside Agency" that decide whether or not you need to allow strangers to perambulate on your land. There is also an organization called the "Ramblers' Association," with 140,000 members, who apparently make a hobby out of walking on other people's property. Given the size of Madonna's estate (1200 acres), the next issue should be whether she or the Ramblers' Association should pay for the porta-potties that will be needed.
Pension Underfunding Undermines Financial Health of the PBGC, Worker Retirement Security
The historical parallel to the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC, R.I.P.) is chilling. Government sets up insurance program to socialize the risk that private institution will become insolvent. Private institution proceeds to engage in risky behavior, because, hey, it's all federally insured so nobody gets hurt. Private institution fails. Taxpayers pick up the tab. In the case of the S&L collapse the total cost was $153 billion, of which the taxpayers got stuck with 81% and the industry with 19%. What will happen with these insured pension funds that are on rocky ground?
The historical parallel to the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC, R.I.P.) is chilling. Government sets up insurance program to socialize the risk that private institution will become insolvent. Private institution proceeds to engage in risky behavior, because, hey, it's all federally insured so nobody gets hurt. Private institution fails. Taxpayers pick up the tab. In the case of the S&L collapse the total cost was $153 billion, of which the taxpayers got stuck with 81% and the industry with 19%. What will happen with these insured pension funds that are on rocky ground?
Friday, April 30, 2004
Salon.com Life | Out of the closet and behind the gate
"The first gated community marketed at gays and lesbians is under construction in a small Florida town. Will it be a queer utopia -- or one more sign of the fragmentation of America?"
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You may recall that the Public Policy Institute of California's recently published study about HOAs and gated communities concluded that this fragmentation was not taking place. They used quantitative methods and good data sources. But it is very hard to pick up the kind of fine-grained fragmentation that developers can create with HOAs. I don't know whether this gated community is being marketed as the Slate article says, but if it is, (and how about calling this niche the "gayted" community?) you'd never identify it using normal social science methodology.
"The first gated community marketed at gays and lesbians is under construction in a small Florida town. Will it be a queer utopia -- or one more sign of the fragmentation of America?"
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You may recall that the Public Policy Institute of California's recently published study about HOAs and gated communities concluded that this fragmentation was not taking place. They used quantitative methods and good data sources. But it is very hard to pick up the kind of fine-grained fragmentation that developers can create with HOAs. I don't know whether this gated community is being marketed as the Slate article says, but if it is, (and how about calling this niche the "gayted" community?) you'd never identify it using normal social science methodology.
Judge threatens to name receiver for embattled HOA
WEST PALM BEACH -- An irate judge Wednesday threatened to appoint a receiver to oversee a bitterly divided neighborhood, a rare move that could cost the community's homeowners thousands of dollars. "I'm tired of getting letters from people saying their homeowners association is falling apart," Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Tom Barkdull snapped at a court hearing. "These people need a definitive answer as to who's running the homeowners association."The dispute at Lake Charleston, a 10,000-resident community west of Boynton Beach, has given rise to two governing boards, with the current board annulling the decisions of its predecessor.
Thanks to Fred Pilot for passing this along. Here we have one of the failure scenarios I have been warning people about for years: implosion of HOAs under the pressure of internal conflict over governance issues. Read it and ask yourself what it would look like if there were many more such situations.
WEST PALM BEACH -- An irate judge Wednesday threatened to appoint a receiver to oversee a bitterly divided neighborhood, a rare move that could cost the community's homeowners thousands of dollars. "I'm tired of getting letters from people saying their homeowners association is falling apart," Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Tom Barkdull snapped at a court hearing. "These people need a definitive answer as to who's running the homeowners association."The dispute at Lake Charleston, a 10,000-resident community west of Boynton Beach, has given rise to two governing boards, with the current board annulling the decisions of its predecessor.
Thanks to Fred Pilot for passing this along. Here we have one of the failure scenarios I have been warning people about for years: implosion of HOAs under the pressure of internal conflict over governance issues. Read it and ask yourself what it would look like if there were many more such situations.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Anti-Privatisation Forum
Who knew there was such a thing? And in South Africa. I'm still trying to figure out what they are for, but I guess we know what they are against.
Who knew there was such a thing? And in South Africa. I'm still trying to figure out what they are for, but I guess we know what they are against.
SB 1682 Senate Bill - AMENDED
Would reform foreclosure for unpaid assessments. I need to read this more closely but it looks like something that could conceivably pass.
Would reform foreclosure for unpaid assessments. I need to read this more closely but it looks like something that could conceivably pass.
AB 2610 Assembly Bill - Bill Analysis
This bill would fix the Le Parc and Oak Park Calabasas situation of bottomless pit liability for owners. It allows the association to re-incorporate without carrying the previous organization's liabilities. What I have linked has the text plus full explanation.
This bill would fix the Le Parc and Oak Park Calabasas situation of bottomless pit liability for owners. It allows the association to re-incorporate without carrying the previous organization's liabilities. What I have linked has the text plus full explanation.
Wales - Sickles and galactic credits confuse many
TWO in five people think "sickles" - the money used in the Harry Potter adventures - is a real foreign currency, it was revealed yesterday. And around 25% reckon that "credits" - the currency in Star Wars - is genuine money used overseas, the survey from the Post Office found.
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Some people think we should privatize money, on the theory that if you and I think are among the 40% and 25%, respetively, who think that sickles and galactic credits (or whatever) are valuable, why shouldn't we be able to use them as a medium of exchange?
But I'm sticking with dollars and cents.
TWO in five people think "sickles" - the money used in the Harry Potter adventures - is a real foreign currency, it was revealed yesterday. And around 25% reckon that "credits" - the currency in Star Wars - is genuine money used overseas, the survey from the Post Office found.
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Some people think we should privatize money, on the theory that if you and I think are among the 40% and 25%, respetively, who think that sickles and galactic credits (or whatever) are valuable, why shouldn't we be able to use them as a medium of exchange?
But I'm sticking with dollars and cents.
BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | South East Wales | Wasp smoke-out sets house ablaze
The perils of do-it-yourself pest removal...and talk about adding insult to injury: the wasps stayed even after the house burned.
It is thought the woman had lit a small fire outside the house to smoke out the wasps but timbers caught, spreading the flames to the roof... Although the house was filled with smoke, the wasps remained in their nest until pest control officers were called to remove them.
The perils of do-it-yourself pest removal...and talk about adding insult to injury: the wasps stayed even after the house burned.
It is thought the woman had lit a small fire outside the house to smoke out the wasps but timbers caught, spreading the flames to the roof... Although the house was filled with smoke, the wasps remained in their nest until pest control officers were called to remove them.
Drowning detection, pool surveillance with Poseidon
This is from an advertisement:
Poseidon is the lifeguard's third eye that never blinks. It uses advanced computer vision technology to analyze activity in the pool, captured by a network of cameras mounted both above and below the surface of the pool. Poseidon helps lifeguards monitor swimmers' trajectories, and can alert them in seconds to a swimmer in trouble...The Poseidon System will soon feature an optional “After Hours Intrusion” mode. Designed to detect the presence of one or more swimmers, the alarm can be configured to sound locally, at a police station or other security monitoring station.
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If such a technology exists, is there a duty to install it if the HOA can afford it, as in a big and well-funded place with no lifeguard on duty? And how would people feel knowing that they are being watched from below as they swim, by a "third eye that never blinks"?
This is from an advertisement:
Poseidon is the lifeguard's third eye that never blinks. It uses advanced computer vision technology to analyze activity in the pool, captured by a network of cameras mounted both above and below the surface of the pool. Poseidon helps lifeguards monitor swimmers' trajectories, and can alert them in seconds to a swimmer in trouble...The Poseidon System will soon feature an optional “After Hours Intrusion” mode. Designed to detect the presence of one or more swimmers, the alarm can be configured to sound locally, at a police station or other security monitoring station.
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If such a technology exists, is there a duty to install it if the HOA can afford it, as in a big and well-funded place with no lifeguard on duty? And how would people feel knowing that they are being watched from below as they swim, by a "third eye that never blinks"?
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
March 2004 Median Home Prices in California
This comes from the California Association of Realtors and is broken down by municipality. Unbelievable. Areas that were all middle class suburbs in the post WWII era are now out of sight except for the rich. In LA County, here are some samples. Pasadena: $468,000. Monrovia: $424,000. Gardena: $328,000 (Gardena?)
All of San Diego County rings in at a median of $420,000, and even National City has a median housing price of $327,500! No offense to residents of same, but...National City? It's basically a big shipyard, and historically one of the least desirable places to live in the area.
Every municipality in Orange County is over $300K, and the median county-wide is $478,000.
Perhaps you prefer the SF bay area. Like Marin County? How about a little pied a terre in, oh, say, modestly priced Novato for about $578,750?
How can people afford to live in California? Maybe they can't. The only prices that correspond to middle class salaries are in the desert, 70 miles plus from any urban center: Apple Valley, $170,000; San Bernardino, $157,000, and so on.
But there is a silver lining. As the accompanying press release notes, prices went up 22%, and sales were up 4%, from March 2003 to March 2004. So I guess people figure they will buy an expensive house for an investment, and what the heck, you can't buy anything that's really affordable anyway.
This comes from the California Association of Realtors and is broken down by municipality. Unbelievable. Areas that were all middle class suburbs in the post WWII era are now out of sight except for the rich. In LA County, here are some samples. Pasadena: $468,000. Monrovia: $424,000. Gardena: $328,000 (Gardena?)
All of San Diego County rings in at a median of $420,000, and even National City has a median housing price of $327,500! No offense to residents of same, but...National City? It's basically a big shipyard, and historically one of the least desirable places to live in the area.
Every municipality in Orange County is over $300K, and the median county-wide is $478,000.
Perhaps you prefer the SF bay area. Like Marin County? How about a little pied a terre in, oh, say, modestly priced Novato for about $578,750?
How can people afford to live in California? Maybe they can't. The only prices that correspond to middle class salaries are in the desert, 70 miles plus from any urban center: Apple Valley, $170,000; San Bernardino, $157,000, and so on.
But there is a silver lining. As the accompanying press release notes, prices went up 22%, and sales were up 4%, from March 2003 to March 2004. So I guess people figure they will buy an expensive house for an investment, and what the heck, you can't buy anything that's really affordable anyway.
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