As we close the calendar on 2024, we come to my year-end ritual — the one where we look back at the past 50 columns, at the trials, tribulations, tips and takeaways and pull one bit of advice from each month that strikes at least me as noteworthy. Here are some highlights from the rst six months.
In JANUARY, the month we’re supposed to take a wideeyed inventory of our lives, I asked you to ask yourselves a few core-shaking questions: Am I living where I should be? Should I stay or should I go? Have my home and I outgrown each other? Is this the year to make a change? See, I had personally confronted all these topics in my book, “Rightsize Today to Create Your Best Life Tomorrow,” which came out that month, so I wanted to make you uncomfortable, too. Grappling with
questions of how and where you live and why isn’t easy but grapple we must.
Lesson: A new year smacks us with the fact that, whether we keep pace or not, time moves on. To make the most of our lives now and of the months and years to come, we must face what is standing between us and our ideal life (stu , fear of change, complacency) and move through it.
In FEBRUARY, my friend called me for an emergency decorating intervention. Her single, 29-year-old son needed an apartment makeover stat. His place was a disgusting den of neglect. Now he was interested in someone. He couldn’t invite a date over if he wanted to impress her, so he called his mother. She was on the next plane. “We were made for this moment,” I told her. Over FaceTime, we assessed the
problems: a horrendous color scheme of dark gray, black and khaki, an old mattress he’d had since college and a dirty sofa he got for free from Facebook Marketplace. We got to work. By the time we were done, the place was date bait — just in time for Valentine’s Day.
Lesson: Gentlemen, if you want to attract a lady, heed the following domestic don’ts, which all ranked high (or low) on women’s ick list: Dirty towels, beds on the oor without a frame, holes in comforters, blankets or sheets as curtains and club lighting (i.e., lava lamps, neon signs, black lights). If you need help, call your mother. We know stu .
In MARCH, I logged my 20th year of writing this weekly column. That makes 1,040 columns, but who’s counting? I recounted how the editor who rst assigned me this column said he wanted the antidote to the insu erable, pretentious content found in so many home magazines. “In other words,” I paraphrased, “you want a reality column.” “Exactly,” he said. “Be the girl next door who has the same problems as everyone else but is two steps ahead because you’ve made mistakes and know who to call.” And o I went.
Lesson: If I have learned one lesson from 20 years of writing this column — from the calamities (the custom sofas delivered with underside of the fabric facing out), the many moves (10 in 20 years) and the life changes (empty nest, divorce, remarriage, downsizing, upsizing and rightsizing) — it is this: To live beautifully, you do not need a big budget. You just need the desire and drive. A beautiful life doesn’t happen by accident. It’s designed on purpose.
In APRIL, I found the animal within. Christopher Grubb, a wonderful interior designer and friend, gave me the creative con dence I needed to reupholster two stodgy, tapestry-covered armchairs in a bold zebra print and to paint the arms and legs glossy lacquer black. It was a wild move, but every time I look at these chairs, I think, “Heck, yeah!” and “Thank you, Christopher.”
Lesson: Take a risk. If you think bold
design moves are for other people, grab your creative courage and go for it.
In MAY, I toured The Mustard Seed, a Central Florida furniture bank that helps those who’ve lost their homes to disaster or other tragedy furnish new dwellings. There I met a woman who had been living in her car with her three children, but not anymore. As she walked the furniture- lled aisles, I asked what look she was going for. “I want a house full of color,” she said. Thanks to a lot of thoughtful donors who had let go of what they no longer needed, she was about to get just that.
Lesson: Cleaning and clearing out our homes can make a meaningful di erence to those who have nothing to decorate their homes with. You can help by donating unwanted household items to a furniture bank near you: furniturebanks.org/furniture-bankdirectory.
In JUNE, I visited my new grandbaby in Colorado. My role was to cook, clean, wash and fold miniature clothes, and shore up this new little family — which includes my daughter, her husband and their two dogs — while doubling down on my e orts to not o er unwanted advice. As I have been gently reminded: “Things have changed in 30 years.” So they have.
Lesson: We’ve come a long way baby. Today’s parents have smart-sleeper bassinets, which rock babies back to sleep when they start to stir; rocking chairs and gliders that have built-in USB ports; and app-controlled noise machines that make white noise mimicking the sounds of the womb or a laundromat. New parents also have baby-butt spatulas for applying diaper cream. (Now there’s an advancement.) How did we ever manage?
Join me next week for a recap of highlights from the second half of 2024.
Marni Jameson is the award-winning author of seven books, including “Rightsize Today to Create Your Best Life Tomorrow,” “What to Do With Everything You Own to Leave the Legacy You Want” and “Downsizing the Family Home.” You may reach her at marnijameson.com.
11-2
Saturday, December 21, 2024
3720 MARINKO CT, PLACERVILLE
$599,000
Discover your dream home in the heart of Placerville! Big news! We’ve just dropped the price on this incredible Placerville treasure! This 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom beauty, complete with two master suites is a dream come true for multigenerational living. Picture yourself in the spacious family and living rooms, cozying up by the wood stove, or enjoying over an acre of gorgeous, usable land perfect for outdoor fun and peaceful escapes. With RV access, solar, and a location that’s close to town yet tucked away for ultimate privacy, this home truly has it all. The opportunity to make it yours just got even better -- don’t let it slip away!
C21 • HELEN RIVARD 530-409-2687 • ASHLEY CAMPBELL 530-391-4058
California had its largest yearly increase in existing home sales since June 2021 in November, but overall, the housing market remained a workin-progress. Despite a double-digit growth rate from their year-ago level, sales of existing single-family homes remained well below the pre-COVID norm of 400,000 units, the California Association of Realtors recently reported.
Closed escrow sales of existing, singlefamily detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 267,800 in November, according to information collected by CAR from more than 90 local Realtor associations and MLSs statewide. The statewide annualized sales gure represents what would be the total number of homes sold during 2024 if sales maintained the November pace throughout the year. It is adjusted to account for seasonal factors that typically in uence home sales. November’s sales pace climbed 1.1% from the 264,870 homes sold in October and was up 19.5% from a year ago, when a revised 224,140 homes were sold on an annualized basis. The strong year-over-year gain observed last month was largely due to low-base e ects, as home sales in November 2023 dropped to their lowest level since late 2007.
a er recording the biggest Septemberto-October increase in the prior month.
The sizable monthly decline in price was due primarily to a change in the mix of sales, as home sales in the higher-price segments pulled back more sharply from the prior month than in the lower-price segments. Home sales in higher-priced market segments continued to have an e ect on the overall price growth. While the impact on the statewide median price gain had moderated in recent months, a solid increase in high-end home sales in November was still a contributing factor for the rise in the California median sold price.
“Home prices are expected to moderate further in the next couple of months if they follow the seasonal trend, but should continue to grow in the rst quarter of 2025 before the kicko of the spring homebuying season,” said CAR Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Jordan Levine. “With mortgage rates expected to moderate in 2025, housing sentiment will continue to improve throughout the next 12 months and more consumers will get o the sidelines as they acclimate further to the new market environment.”
Other key points from CAR’s November 2024 resale housing report include:
“Mortgage rates continue to remain elevated, leading to challenges for many buyers. However, home prices are growing at a moderate pace and housing supply is increasing, indicating some hope that the market will continue to improve next year,” said 2025 CAR President Heather Ozur, a Palm Springs Realtor.
The statewide median price declined in November from the previous month but was up from the previous year. The November median price declined 4% from $888,740 in October to $852,880 in November but was up 3.8% from a revised $$821,710 in November 2023. On a month-to-month basis, the November median price had the largest October-to-November drop since 2008
Home sales in all major regions improved from last November by more than 5%, with three of the ve regions in California increasing from their yearago levels by double digits.The Central Coast region had the biggest year-overyear jump last month with a 21.7% surge in sales, followed by the Central Valley (17.1%) and the San Francisco Bay Area (14.0%). Sales of existing single-family homes also increased from the same month of last year in Southern California (8.7%) and the Far North (5.2%), but their growth rates were more moderate compared to other regions.
Four of the ve major regions in California increased in median price from a year ago in November. The
Central Coast had the biggest climb from a year ago with a jump of 7.9%, followed by the San Francisco Bay Area (5.3%), the Central Valley (4.3%) and Southern California (3.1%). The Far North (0%) was the only region that did not have an annual price increase in November, but it also did not do worse than its year-ago level.
Home prices increased on a year-over-year basis in more than two-thirds of the counties in California, with November’s median sold prices rising from their year-ago levels in 38 of the 53 counties monitored by CAR Santa Barbara (51.9%) had the biggest price growth of all counties last month, primarily due to strong home sales in its high-end market segment. Following behind were Lassen (48.3%) and Trinity (37.4%), with both counties registering an annual gain of over 30%. Fi een counties recorded a decline in median price from last year, with Del Norte falling the most at 23.9%, followed by Calaveras (-14.9%) and Siskiyou (-9.2%).
The statewide unsold inventory index improved from both the prior month and the same month of last year in November, as inventory for single-family housing units continued to grow year-over-year by doubledigits. Despite a solid increase in closed sales in November, last month’s UII recorded a gain of 13.8% from the same month of last year, due primarily to a surge in active listings at the state level by almost 27%. In fact, it was the ninth consecutive annual doubledigit increase in for-sale properties for the Golden State. With market activity remaining slow during the holiday season and mortgage rates likely to stay elevated in at least the next couple of weeks, housing supply could inch up further at the start of 2025.
At the county level, the number of for-sale properties increased from a year ago in all but six counties in November. Sutter (73.7%) had the biggest year-over-year jump, followed by Calaveras (66.9%) and San Joaquin (51.7%). Of the six counties that did not
record an increase in total active listings on a year-over-year basis, San Mateo (-12.5%) was the only county with a double-digit loss in active listing from last year.San Francisco (-7.5%) and Trinity (-7.4%) were the other two counties that experienced a decline of more than 5% in for-sale properties in November.
The median number of days it took to sell a California single-family home was 26 days in November, up from 21 days in November 2023.
CAR’s statewide sales-price-to-list-price ratio was 99.4% in November 2024 and 100% in November 2023.
The statewide median price per square footfor an existing single-family home was $429, up from $420 in November a year ago.
The 30-year, xed-mortgage interest rate averaged 6.81% in November, down from 7.44% in November 2023, according to CAR’s calculations based on Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage survey data.
All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the federal Fair Housing Act which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, physical handicap, familial status or national origin, or an intention to make any such preferences, limitation or discrimination.” California also extends protection based on age and marital status. The Mountain Democrat makes every effort to comply with these federal and state regulations. We ask your assistance in maintaining an acceptable standard of advertising. While they may seem inconvenient at times, these laws are written to protect you, our readers and advertisers, as well as ourselves. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this paper are available on an equal opportunity basis. For further information, you can call the Dept. of Fair Employment & Housing at (916) 445-9918 or the State Dept. of Consumer Affairs at (800) 344-9940.Note: Rental ads that contain the phrase “Single Occupancy” refer only to the physical characteristics of the dwelling and are not intended to state a preference of either marital or familial status.
Paying one lump sum for the subscription not in your budget?
Saturday, December 21 • 11-2pm 3720 Marinko Court, Placerville
We’ve just dropped the price on this incredible Placerville treasure! is 3-bathroom beauty, complete with two master suites is a dream come multigenerational living. Picture yourself in the spacious family and living cozying up by the wood stove, or enjoying over an acre of gorgeous, usable for outdoor fun and peaceful escapes. With RV access, solar, and a close to town yet tucked away for ultimate privacy, this home truly has opportunity to make it yours just got even better — don’t let it slip away!
MLS#224068708 $599,000
$2,997,000
$499,000
$535,000 4575 Hillwood Dr 3 2 (2 0) 1684 2.62 224115873
$539,900
$639,000 4200 S Shingle Ct 3 2 (2 0) 1560 1.06 224097500
$645,000 4580 French Creek 4 3 (2 1) 2170 1.11 224128305
$649,000 4354 Childhood Ln 4 3 (3
$625,000 2380
1959
224113879 $724,999
(3 0) 2432 1.05 224126506 $750,000 4500 Studebaker Rd 4 2 (2 0) 1812 5.23 224095745
$790,000 3230 Shingle Springs Dr 3 3 (2 1) 2024 5.2 224123417
$850,000 4601 El Caminito Rd 3 5 (4 1) 1908 1 224122028
$899,000 4175 Vega Loop 5 4 (3 1) 3620 1.53 224086418
$977,000 3060 Rancheria Dr 3 4 (3 1) 2491 5 224133086
$1,089,000 5085 Deerwood Dr 4 3 (2 1) 2743 3.24 224120653
$1,899,000 6275 Chablis Dr 5 5 (4 1) 4010 10.07 224121599
$2,425,000 5700 Semor Dr 1 1 (1 0) 744 200 224112503
resCue/luneman PRICE STREET ADDRESS
BA. SF ACRES LISTING#
$375,000 1354 Lila Ln 2 1 (1 0) 648 0.51 224106605
$493,900 4620 Meadow Creek Rd 3 2 (2 0) 1359 5.03 224132977
$499,000 711 Kanaka Valley Rd 4 3 (3 0) 3800 4 224107910
$565,000 1025 Donkey Ln 2 2 (2 0) 1600 10 223112789
$659,900 1600-1602 Starbuck Rd 3 2 (2 0) 1521 5.03 224125040
$664,999 640 Kanaka Valley Rd 2 3 (2 1) 2219 10 224085861
$775,000 1401 Big Curve Ct 3 3 (3 0) 1825 5.02 224088665
$824,900 3472 See View Ct 4 3 (3 0) 2288 10 224077830
$850,000 794 Kanaka Valley Rd 6 3 (3 0) 3777 10.83 223103750
$1,100,000 1241 Arrowbee Dr 6 4 (4 0) 4580 8.16 224129338
$1,125,000 5105 Glory View Dr 4 4 (2 2) 3742 5.14 224089242
$1,149,000 2140 Buckhorn Ln 4 4 (3 1) 3489 10.02 224118079
$1,150,000 3580 Four Springs Dr 5 4 (4 0) 5000 5 224062969
$1,650,000 6940 Daffodil Trl 4 4 (3 1) 4208 2.23 224131445
$1,695,000 4550 Summer Brook Dr 4 4 (3 1) 4208 1.77 224125678
$1,905,000 4100 Luneman Rd 3 3 (2 1) 2795 10.01 223068181 12605 Residential Homes
$499,000 5798 Hollyberry Ln
$499,900 605 N Circle Dr
$549,000 4270 El Dorado Rd
$559,000 2091 Kinsley Ct
$570,000 5353 Silver Lode Dr
$599,000
6765 Monitor Rd
$639,999 6981
224079256
224105779
$499,000 2682 Cresta Verde Dr 4 2 (2 0) 1560 1.41 224083425
$549,000 3080 Carson Rd 3 2 (2 0) 2068 1.06 224075385
$575,000 2260 Larsen Dr 1 1 (1 0) 1251 10.4 224087294
$599,000 4355 Harness Tract Rd 3 4 (4 0) 1818 1.25 224124742
$719,000 2900 Crystal Springs Rd 3 2 (2 0) 1620 0.59 224126440
$725,000 5320 Puerta Del Sol 3 3 (3 0) 2615 3 224104434
$745,000 2345 Dutchman Dr 4 4 (4 0) 3089 5 224092917
$775,000 4387 Moss Ln 5 4 (4 0) 4605 3 224090630
$799,000 2607 Crystal Springs Rd 5 4 (4 0) 3580 1.03 224113963
$925,000 4686 Pinta Ct 3 5 (3 2) 2845 12.28 224118572
$999,000 4301 N Canyon Rd 3 4 (3 1) 3892 6.4 224087673
$1,350,000 3765 N Canyon Rd 3 3 (3 0) 3560 3.08 224103861
$2,850,000 2581-2601 Mace Rd 4 4 (3 1) 3780 19.94 224106598
$457,900 3031
$459,000 4112
$464,000 2501 Newhouse
$482,000 7126
$485,000 6488 Misery Ln
apply. Not a commitment to lend. Land Home only conducts business in states we are approved to. Land Home Financial Services 3420 Coach Lane, Suite 15, Cameron Park, CA 95682. NMLS #705400. Licensed by the Department of Business Oversight under the California Finance Lenders law - #6073455. CA Department of Business Oversight - 866-275-2677. California - Bureau of Real Estate Branch Office License Endorsement #00988341 1-2024
PLACERVILLE $3,490,000
160± acres in 5 separate parcels
Once in a lifetime opportunity to own all or a part of the historic Shinn Ranch. Awesome Estate quality Land, 160 acres +- in 5 separate parcels are being sold as one. Sellers are in the middle of a boundary line adjustment and will soon list the land in 5 separate large parcels. Gorgeous large Country Homes surround this property. Minutes to Highway 50, and the Historic towns of Diamond Springs and Placerville. Fish in your own private stocked pond and be amazed at the wildlife that surrounds you. It currently has an approved tentative map for 141 parcels that expires in June 2024. It would be fantastic as an equestrian ranch, family compound, or a vineyard with Ranch Marketing. 1880’s Home is included in the purchase price. There is also a 3 inch Ag. meter. Locked gates, please do not trespass. Don’t miss out on this remarkable property.
$725,000 MLS#224124923 BEAUTIFULLY
