JN Real Estate Valuation Services

Winter Blues

Posted on December 16, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

No Seasonal Affective Disorder here… just bright blue skies after showers. And rain! We’ve had rain! Yay to no more drought! It’s been a few dry years here in California. It’s nice when the hazy California Sun gives way to cloudy, character-filled skies and deep blues when the storms clear out. Here are some recent snaps from around the Bay Area. Enjoy my view. 🙂

Crystal Springs Reservoir, San Mateo County, CA

Old Oak, Canada Road near Filoli Gardens, Woodside, CA

Pacifica Sunset

Morgan Hill Rainy Day

Posted in Images | Tagged California, D7000, Image, images, Landscape, Nikon, Northern California, Photography, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area | Leave a comment

Photo Challenge: Eye Spy

Posted on December 4, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

Eye am more of a landscape photographer. Ummmm sunset! Eye don’t seem to have the knack when it comes to drawing out the personality of a “subject” sitting in front of my camera. My son proves my point in the photo below. Otis, my Grandkitty who came to live with me for three months a year and a half ago, doesn’t mind if Eye Spy on him but he doesn’t sit still for long so no posed portraits please. Eye don’t mind. Eye do hope you have a great weekend!

Go here to see the weekly photo challenge from Michelle W.

Grandkitty Otis Eyes Me Up

Son’s No Eyes Portrait

Otis Eyes Everywhere

Posted in Images | Tagged California, D7000, E500, eye, eye spy, eyes, grandkitty, graphics, Image, images, Nikon, Olympus, Photo Challenge, Photo Challenge: Eye Spy, Photography, portrait, son | 6 Comments

Hallowed Data

Posted on November 21, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

October has come and gone and the California Employment Development Department and CoreLogic have just updated data on employment in the San Francisco Bay Area and median housing prices, respectively.

Look here for CA EDD October employment data. Total employment continues to increase but at a slower pace than a year or even six months ago. You can tell that employment is strong by the sight of parking lots that we used to call freeways! 😉

Look here for CoreLogic October median price data and housing price trends and updated figures for September, as well. We seem to be having a year-end slowdown on steroids. Median prices throughout the Bay Area are slipping farther below the long-term trendline.

The first quarter of 2016 should be very telling. Will the economic expansion we’ve seen here in the SF Bay Area finally stall or are we just having a return to normalcy?

Too Dark to See?

Are we this close to the edge?

Back… back… whoa!

Posted in SF Bay Area Employment Trends, SF Bay Area Housing Trends | Tagged California, D7000, Economics, employment trends, graphics, Image, images, median home prices, Nikon, Photography, San Francisco Bay Area, unemployment | Leave a comment

Photo Challenge: Victory

Posted on November 13, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

Friday the 13^th!

I shoulda stayed in bed!

I got up… I had two cups of coffee… I survived (most of the day)… I claim victory over paraskevidekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13^th).

Back to Krista’s Photo Challenge: Victory… Sports gives us the rush of competition without the need for a M.A.S.H. unit, dogtags and those ugly camo uniforms they wear now in the armed forces. Here are a few photos of people challenging themselves and pushing on to victory over the other team.

Have a great weekend!

Posted in Images | Tagged athletics, California, challenge, D7000, graphics, Image, images, Nikon, ornate, Photography, Postaday, San Francisco Bay Area, sports, Weekly Photo Challenge, weekly photo challenge: victory | 1 Comment

Weekly Photo Challenge: Ornate

Posted on November 6, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

I’m an ornate guy stuck in a Mid-Century Classic world. Okay, so my neighborhood was built in the early 1960s so bland is the operative word. Luckily, there are a few throwbacks here in California so I do get to see the occasional work of ornate art. Here are a few examples from my part of the planet. Look forward to seeing yours and see Ben Huberman‘s Ornate Photo Challenge Here!

Have a great weekend.

Ornate Vic – Pacific Heights, San Francisco, CA

Ewww… Modern Ornate – City Hall, San Jose, CA

Ornate Bench – Cypress Lawn Cemetery, Colma, CA

Ornate Old West – Sacramento, CA

Ornate Gate – Woodland, CA

Ornate Victorian – Oak Street, San Francisco

Posted in Images | 7 Comments

Exporting Jobs?

Posted on October 17, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

For the first time since last December the Bay Area has seen total employment take a slip. The labor force also shrank slightly for the second month in a row. The big hit was in Santa Clara County where 4,100 jobs disappeared. It will be interesting to see if the trend holds up over the next few months. See the updated SF Bay Area Employment Trends here.

Heading Out!

Posted in SF Bay Area Employment Trends | Tagged California, container ship, D7000, employment, employment trends, graphics, Image, images, Nikon, Photography, San Francisco Bay Area, unemployment, unemployment trends | 4 Comments

Photo Challenge: (Extra)ordinary

Posted on October 16, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

Another Friday brings another challenge from Cheri Lucas Rowlands. This one is to find, “What’s mundane yet meaningful to you?” Something (Extra)ordinary.

I enjoy landscape photography. It’s nice to find little things that appeal to my eye while on the path to the next sunset or pastoral valley. Sometimes less is more like an image of boats in the Golden Gate. Also, Old Town Sacramento and two stops on the way home lead me to a few extraordinary images that had nothing to do with urban scenes or grand vistas. Hope you enjoy.

Have a great weekend.

Extraordinary texture

Lamp and shadows

Contrast of old and new

Just another barrier

Everyday Alcatraz made extraordinary by fog.

Posted in Images | Tagged Alcatraz, California, D7000, extraordinary, Golden Gate, graphics, Image, images, Nikon, Old Town Sacramento, Photo Challenge: (Extra)ordinary, Photography, Sacramento, San Francisco Bay Area, Weekly Photo Challenge | 3 Comments

Photo Challenge: Happy Place

Posted on October 9, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

When you’re born under a water sign you tend to find your happy place near water. Or so I am told. I pretty much believe anything I read and if it’s on the internet it must be true! Right?

Have a great weekend and see my happy place.

Mystical Lake Tahoe

Dollar Point

Sand Harbor

Posted in Images | Tagged #laketahoe, California, happy, Lake Tahoe, Photo Challenge, photo challenge: happy place, Postaday, Sierra Nevada | 8 Comments

Photo Challenge: Boundaries

Posted on October 2, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

Friday brings a challenge from Ben Huberman to look at “…limits, borders, and dividers of all types.”

Some boundaries are self-imposed while others come from physical constraints or the edicts of others.

Follows a sample of my visual limits!

Have a great weekend.

Can’t you read the sign?

Can’t YOU read the sign?

Can’t you read the sign?

Can’t YOU read the sign?

What sign? Don’t be walled in.

Posted in Images | Tagged boundaries, California, D7000, edicts, graphics, Image, images, limits, Nikon, Photo Challenge: Boundaries, Photography, restrictions, San Francisco Bay Area, signs, sky’s the limit, Weekly Photo Challenge | Leave a comment

Throwback Thursday

Posted on September 30, 2015 by JN Real Estate Appraisal & Valuation Services

Well, it’s a #TBT… A look at the world the way it was in the 1950s and before… Black and White. This relates to the actual story of a seven-year-old kid once asking me if I was alive when the world was still black and white. Think back to the movie Pleasantville which starts out black and white and turns into full color. She believed in Santa Claus, too.

Today I’m looking from atop Corona Heights in San Francisco. The primary view is to the east toward Downtown SF but I’ve also included a couple of views to the west. This takes in Mt. Sutro, the iconic Sutro Tower, a massive TV and radio tower, and Twin Peaks.

Enjoy the snaps and please come visit SF and leave all your money behind! {Insert Smile Here}