Suka the Gyr-Pergrine Falcon

When you are on your way to the Damonte Ranch High School and you see the dark helium balloon in the air, be sure to look around and you might see my falcon getting her exercise nearby. Thanks to friends like Steve, Dave, Martin and Gary I have recieved enough good pointers to get Suka flying and almost ready for Sagehen and Duck hunting. When it gets colder and most of the rifle and shotgun hunters have decided to watch football games instead of hunt, then she will get her chance. She is up to approximately 1000 feet and getting stronger. Wish us luck. Everyday is an adventure with her.

Salmon Run in 2007 is a bust

The friends who have fished with me this year will all agree that it's nice to have Rick on the boat to take the photos and net the salmon. The fish have all made me a good host and chose to bite on their poles and not mine.

Dan Ripple with 15 lb. , Mike Radcliffe with 30 lb. ,Bob Livinston with 27 lb King Salmon

The fishing has been slow at best. The guides are even having a hard time catching many fish this year. We are lucky to catch what we have caught. We can hope for a better winter run on the Sacramento River if not we hope for a better 2008.

Rick Goes to Big 10 Football

Ohio State has some serious fans.

My son told me two years ago that he wanted a different experience for his graduate school. I asked "why would you want to experience anything east of the Rockies?" He is now finishing his last year of his MBA program at Purdue University. When he first called me to tell me he had been accepted to Purdue I said "now you can get me into the Notre Dame football game I've always wanted to see." While discussing the schedule it was determined I would have to go out the weekend of the Ohio State game. I have season tickets to UNR and love to catch a tailgate party when I can. Steven assured me that what goes on the day of a Big 10 game is nothing like UNR. He was right. Starting at 9:00 AM they have the breakfast club. I am so glad none of my kids are part of this breakfast club. They dress up and drink their breakfast. They restricted the tailgate parking so it could not start until 1:00 PM because this game was going to be a late ESPN 8:00 PM. In the Big 10 the people drink all they can before the game as they don't allow beer sales in the stadium. UNR fans are complaining that they stop selling beer after half time. I have great seats at the UNR games, we are almost on the 50 yard line and we only stand up for kick offs and big plays. At this game we only sat down during half time. Unless you like seeing lower portion of bodies and getting no fresh air, sitting is not an option. The electricity is felt before you're in the stadium and it never stops. The band is huge and when they go on the field, they fill the entire field. The volume of noise vibrates your ears at times. There are the usual beach balls being hit around the stadium and a few other objects that you just don't want to touch let alone hit. You know you have had a great experience when your team loses 23-7, you get a phone call that your UNR lost 49-41, the crowd is huge and never ending when you leave and still you think to your self, that was a fun night. My thanks go to my son for being brave and smart enough to get accepted so that he could go east. Because he did this,I got to experience something new and yes it was exciting.

Of course visiting his family and seeing the grandson would have been enough without the game.

Now is the time to buy!!!

It is a slow afternoon here in the office. I just read that gas prices maybe going up again. This morning stocks were well over 14,000. Gold is over $700. per ounce and interest rates for home loans are holding steady at just over 6%.
I have been going over market statistics for the Reno/Sparks, Nevada market and they really have some bright spots that people are letting the media dull.
Now is a great market for buying that larger, newer home you've been wanting for so long.
You can make a super buy in the next 4 months and motivated sellers are going to welcome you to make it. You won't be competing with multiple offers like we had in previous years. If you buy your new home through Rick Lund you will get contributions towards your closing costs and negotiated prices that you've never seen in the past. Even the lender might be willing to throw something in to get your business. There are still plenty of great loan programs available for either owner occupied or investor's.
Don't let the media scare you away. The loan programs that have been cancelled by lender's and now outlawed by the State of Nevada in SB 440 shouldn't have been available anyway.
What you don't realize about the Reno/Sparks real estate market is that the prices have only dropped by approx. 5-15% depending on the price range and location.
RENTS HAVE NOT COME DOWN....
Many people were buying rentals like we were going to run out of them soon when the prices were high and now I can show you the same home for substantially less money and the same amount of gross income and you've let the press scare you away.
We are now in a great buyer's market. Probably the best I've seen in my 29 years of selling real estate and people are afraid to buy. I have seen times where we had as equally motivated seller's in the early 1980's but the interest rates were so high no one could afford to buy. This market is different because prices have dropped and interest rates are affordable and many seller's would even pay to buy down the buyer's interest rate if they were asked to.
If I represent you,"I am not afraid to ask"! If you have a smaller home and want to buy a larger home you have an option of selling your existing home at a small loss to buy a larger home at a huge savings. I have all of the documentation to prove what I've just said, so why not call me.