Girl Power: Girl Scouts Aid Sheltered Animals in Tough Times, By Carrie

Ruth Bates

831.359.2212

ruthbates1@gmail.com

CalBRE#01799929

Thankful. Grateful. Yes, it is that ‘time of year’, but/and, truly I live in Aptos paradise… the air, the beach, the forest, the restaurants, the shopping, the coff ee…. nuff said. SANTA CRUZ COUNTY STATS (Zillow)

APTOS (95003): $1,313,691 – Typical home value now vs. $1,026,683 Typical home value one year ago (28% increase in one year!), and +12% expected in 2022.

EAST SC/LIVE OAK (95062) - $1,269,791 Typical home value now vs. $991,145 typical value one year ago (28% increase in year!), and +13% expected in 2022.

WEST SC (95060) - $1,290,971 Typical home value now vs. $1,012,941 typical value one year ago (28% increase in year!), and +8% expected in 2022. I think Zillow is low on West Santa Cruz growth next year as it is the hottest spot in the County. APTOS SALES (past 30 days) 29 homes sold. AVG Sales Price - $1,505,895! Median Sales Price - $1,430,000, AVG Days on Market = 12! (that’s just long enough to List, have one weekend Open House, take multiple off ers, counter, and accept off er – ba-da-bing!). High sale was 192 Zanzibar which sold for $2,700,000 on list price of $2,500,000. Low sale was 204 Forest, 1 bed, 1 bath, 554 Sq. Ft. sold for $704,500. 5 homes sold over $2M, 15 sold over $1M, and 9 sold below $1M.

APTOS ACTIVE LISTINGS

No inventory! There are only 21 Active Listings as of 11/06/21; 4 of those are over $3M, 3 are over $2M, 11 are from $1-2M, and 3 are <$1M. The high is 638 Beach drive, listed for $8,999,900 and the low is 812 Cathedral listed for $669,000.

US HOUSING PRICES

The median home sales price across the US was $374,900 in Q2-2021. That is a 16.2% increase from a year ago ($322,600), so housing prices are up signifi cantly everywhere.

AVG home prices (per Zillow) by state: AL-$170K, AK-$301K, AZ-$356K, CA-$684K, CO-$490K,CN-318k, DE-$308K, DC-$692K, FL-$297K,GE-$246K, HI-$731K, ID-$403K, IL-$233K, IN-186K, IO-$166K, KS-$177K, KY-$169K, LA-$188K, ME-$306K, MD-$366K, MA-$518K, MI-$208K, MN-302K, MS-302K, MO-$194K, MT-$360K, NB-$206K, NV$368K, NH-$366K, NJ-$408K, NM-$249K, NY-$372K, NC-$248K, ND-$247K, OH$182K, OK-$151K, OR-$448K, PN-$235K, RI-$373K, SC-$225K, SD-$243K, TN-$231K, TX-$247K, UT-$465K, VM-$300K, VG-$328K, WV-$118K, WI-$231K, WY-$274K.

Santa Cruz County AVG is almost double the State AVG at $1.2-1.3M. There is defi nitely “value” here in Santa Cruz County. ———

My favorite 4-letter word is “SOLD”! Call, email, text anytime and Get Results with Ruth!

COMMUNITY NEWS Girl Power

Girl Scouts Aid Sheltered Animals in Tough Times

By Carrie Mulcaire

Local Girl Scout Service Unit 150 ‘Surf City’ / Girl Scout Troop #15016 took several trips to the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter this past year. Their purpose was to tour the shelter, be educated on animal care needs and the adoption process, and eventually donate items to the shelter’s wish list as part of the Girl Scout’s community service responsibility.

This past year, the animal shelter has been especially busy due to two disasters hitting our county — COVID-19 and the CZU Lightning Complex Fire. While the shelter processed an extraordinary number of adoptions at the start of the shutdown, there was also unprecedented demand for finding homes for animals due to the CZU fire that ravaged our county in the summer of 2020.

During August 2020, the shelter was either hosting or arranging foster care homes for nearly 5,000 animals — the number typically placed in a normal year!

And they did all of this work despite cutbacks in their funding as a result of the pandemic’s impact on local public coffers.

With this in mind, the troop members were motivated to do their part in helping the animal shelter care for these little ones. They reviewed the shelter’s wish list — such as used blankets, new or gently used animal toys, pet food, etc. These items provide for a more comfortable stay while the animals are at the shelter or in a new home!

The girls cleaned out their closets (or their parents’ garages!) and identified additional items to pick up at the local pet store.

In total, these 10- and 11-year-old girls were able to fill up five bags of needed care items including pet food for the free pantry, pet toys, kongs (and peanut butter!), gently used collars, an animal heating pad, pet litter, Amazon gift cards, and more.

The girls met up on a warm Tuesday afternoon, masked up, and delivered these items in person to the shelter.

As a special treat, they were able to visit with a new batch of kittens including petting one of their favorites of the new arrivals.

The smiling faces with ‘ohs’ and ‘ahs’ revealed their enjoyment. If they had their way, they would bring home as many pets as their parents would allow.

Now, these girl troop members are in the planning stages for their next community service project for the year!

They are eager to set goals and work toward them to have a meaningful impact in their community.

The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter continues to rely on various volunteer groups that donate their time and goods, and also open their wallets.

To donate funds or items on the wish list, shop their benefit shop, or provide a legacy gift, visit the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter’s donation page: https:// www.scanimalshelter.org/donate. n

Carrie Mulcaire is troop leader for Girl Scout Troop #15016.

“Fellows Program” from page 11

The program will select Cabrillo College students with preference to those who are the first in their family to attend college and pursue a major consistent with a career in local government service.

When might the program begin?

“Next fall semester if we raised the money,” Croce said. “I’m optimistic.” n •••

How To Give

The Cabrillo College Foundation will accept contributions to the Local Government Fellows Program. You may contribute in the following ways: • CHECK: Send a check payable to the

Cabrillo College Foundation. Enter

Local Government Fellows Scholarship in the memo section.

Cabrillo College Foundation

6500 Soquel Drive, Aptos, CA 95003 • CREDIT CARD: Call the Cabrillo

Foundation office at 831-479-6338 to donate with your credit card • ONLINE: https://foundation.cabrillo. edu/donate/

Enter Local Government Fellows

Scholarship in the Special Instructions or Notes section • DONOR-ADVISED FUND: Initiate gift to Cabrillo College Foundation for the

Local Government Fellows Scholarship

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