The Sonoma Land Trust became the country’s first land-saving organization of its kind

Land Grab

Sonoma Land Trust is 25 years old–and 13,000 acres strong

By David Templeton

A QUARTER CENTURY ago, in 1976, smack in the middle of America’s yearlong bicentennial celebrations, a spirited assortment of Sonoma County visionaries–activists and property owners alike–banded together to attempt something truly revolutionary. Amid all the speeches and poetry contests and related hoopla, with its chorus of voices warbling songs like This Land Is Your Land and This Is MY Country, the founding members of the Sonoma Land Trust were dreaming up a plan that would honor and protect the land that they love–in a truly literal sense. The Sonoma Land Trust became the country’s first land-saving organization of its kind by acquiring parcels of land under threat of development and by holding conservation easements that would permanently limit development on that land.

Twenty-five years later, the organization has evolved from a small cadre of activists, persuading property owners to donate land for tax advatages, to an amassment of 1,500 contributing members, with a small, committed full-ltime staff and the resources to purchase threatened properties. The Sonoma Land Trust has, to date, permanently protected over 13,000 acres of North Bay earth, currently holds 27 conservation easements, owns and manages 11 properties, and has transfered 11 properties to public agencies.

“The Sonoma Land Trust,” explains David Katz, executive director, “has matured as an organization. Since those first days, when the focus was mainly on survival, we’ve become more professional, more stable and solid. We’ve been thrown out of our infancy, and now have the broad support of all sections of the community.”

That said, it’s party time.

On Oct. 10, the SLT will be celebrating its 25 years in the land-saving business with an afternoon of story-swapping, music, food, wine, and birthday cake–two cakes, actually, each to be decorated with the icing-painted landscape of properties under the protection of the SLT–and a keynote speech by essayist Fred Euphrat.

In attendance will be members and Land Trust volunteers–who assist in various restoration projects and act as environmental monitors of the Land Trust’s properties–as well as folks from the community eager to say thank you (and, just maybe, take the opportunity to become more involved).

Says Karen d’Or, development director of the trust, “The party is a great opportunity for members of the community who’d like to have a stronger relationship with our lands to become familiar with the opportunities available through the Sonoma Land Trust.”

Opportunity is a word the SLT people use often, and with particular enthusiasm. As when d’Or describes the trust’s members-only “hiking tour” series, explaining that it offers land lovers “the opportunity to see beautiful, unknown parts of the county.” Or the way Katz describes the close-to-the-soil contact enjoyed by the SLT’s many volunteer “Land Stewards,” who “adopt” a piece of property, monitoring the land and documenting its conditions over time.

“It’s an opportunity,” he says, “for anyone who wants to have a more direct relationship to the land, not only in the broader landscape but in developing a relationship with a specific place.”

And even after 25 years of work, he adds, the land-saving opportunities in the North Bay are endless.

Says Katz, “There’s still plenty of work to be done.”

The Sonoma Land Trust Silver Anniversary celebration will be held Oct.10, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., at the Friedman Center, 4676 Mayette Ave., Santa Rosa. Cost is $20 per person. Advance reservations must be confirmed by Oct.5. Call 707/526-6930.

From the October 4-10, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Sticker Shock

Oh, give me a home …

By Christian M. Chensvold

SHUFFLING BACK and forth down 101, it’s easy to forget the rural fields and forests that comprise most of Sonoma County. And yet despite the miles of open spaces, the price of housing keeps many hopeful homebuyers perhaps permanently priced out of the market.

Let’s face reality: You don’t have to leave the area (although I am), but the truth is that barring any major intervention by local government or massive recession affecting everyone but you, Sonoma County will continue to require above-average income in order to buy a safe home. Only 17 percent of Sonoma County households can now afford a median-priced home, leading a lot of folks to look northward for affordability.

Can you say, “Lake County”?

Sandra Geary of Re/Max’s Rohnert Park office says Sonoma County–which in recent years has seen a huge influx of homebuyers from Marin County and beyond–is in a declining market. Of course, coming down from space-shuttle heights means things are still pretty stellar. Geary says you’ll have a hard time finding a suitable home under $250,000. According to MLS statistics, there were 2,072 units priced under $350,000 that sold in the county through mid-September, for an average price of $264,763. This includes condos, by the way. Even one-bedroom condos.

The median price of a home in Sonoma County is $365,000, up from $313,000 a year ago.

How about Shasta County?

Even if you get lucky and find something for $250,000, with 3 percent down and financing at just under 7 percent, with property taxes and insurance you’re looking at an $1,860 monthly house payment. Lenders like to see three-and-a-half times that in gross income, or about $6,500 per month, before they’ll talk shop.

Many prospective homebuyers can afford this monthly payment, but don’t have 10s of thousands stuffed in their mattresses for the hefty down payment. Fortunately, Geary says, there are many lenders offering 100-percent financing programs. Here you essentially get a loan for the down payment as well as the mortgage and make two payments per month. As long as you make three-and-a-half times that, you can qualify. And you won’t even pay a higher interest rate. Of course, that still leaves a lot of folks priced out of the market.

SPEAKING of interest rates, they’ve dropped yet again as a result of the terrorist attack, making now a very good time to buy if you can afford it. The market has gone from the multiple-offer mayhem of last year to an environment in which sellers are willing to assume closing costs or grant a lease option, allowing buyers to defray the down payment if they know they are going to be coming into some money soon. Houses are also staying on the market 60-90 days.

But again, be realistic: You’re not going to buy your dream home as your first house: You’re probably looking at a condo.

Some municipalities even offer assistance for first-time homebuyers. Rohnert Park has a public fund that provides a gift of up to $30,000 for qualified applicants. Unfortunately, Santa Rosa does not. Geary warns buyers of looking to outlying areas such as Forestville or the Russian River area as many of these houses, often former cabins, have been upgraded but don’t always comply with county regulations. A new buyer could face a nightmare of violations and structural damage from floods and termites. “People love that area for the trees and privacy,” she says, “but pay attention to what you’re buying or you’ll open up a can of worms.”

If you’d rather eat bugs, worms, and pig parts on the TV reality show Fear Factor than leave the area, here are some possible solutions. One is to band together, either two couples or a group of single people, and buy a property through a joint-tenancy.

Another is so-called “granny units” or guest houses. “I totally believe you should be allowed to add a second unit to your home,” says Geary. “Why not have the county lighten up on this so that there’s more housing?” Guest houses would not only create more rental properties, they could also help first-time homeowners defray the costs of their purchase with income from a rental unit. But Geary says getting a permit to build a guest unit is “almost impossible.”

Meanwhile, the Burbank Housing Development Corporation is a Santa Rosa-based non-profit that seeks to solve the county’s affordable housing shortage with programs such as “sweat equity,” in which new homebuyers actually help build their (and their neighbor’s) home. This takes a commitment of 30 hours per week for six to 12 months and the buyers get the value of their labor in equity.

And if you’re going to sweat anyway, there’s always the desert. “I just moved my daughter to Las Vegas,” offers Geary. “I bought her a condo for $61,000.”

the current marketclimate as well as his peak income, and reduces his mortgage for his coming retirement years.

Then there’s the case of a young couple who bought a home through Cogbill last year at 8.5 percent. Since the rates have come down, he worked out a no-cost refinancing loan with no points, title, escrow, appraisal, underwriting processing–in short, no nothing. “We got them an above-market rate, but it was still less than 8.5,” he explains. “We lowered their monthly payment and they didn’t have to pay a dime.”

Then just five months later, when rates came down again, the couple refinanced yet again.

So while the gentleman paid more up-front to get a rock-bottom loan, the couple paid nothing to get an above-market loan that was still less than what they were previously paying.

So with low rates and peak properties, are you a fool not to run out today, get the groceries, pick up the dry cleaning, and refinance your home? “It needs to make sense,” says Cogbill. “You compare the amount of the points–closing costs and everything–to the payment savings.”

So let’s say you’re looking at a deal to pay $4,500 up-front in fees to save $100 a month on your payment. Since it’ll take you 45 months to break even, don’t do it if you plan on moving–to Bali, for example. If your home isn’t going to be home-sweet-home much longer, talk to a broker about the Young Couple Option mentioned above, and get yourself a no-cost loan. Even at an above-market rate, it still could save on what you’re paying now.

There’s one more piece of the planetary alignment. Refinancing means verifying your income all over again. So with the rate planet and property-value planet already in place, you’d better strike now if there’s any chance you may be laid off, as you’d have a hard time refinancing to lower your mortgage payment just when you need it most.

From the September 27-October 3, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Refine & Dandy

Rates low, property high; time to refinance?

By Christian M. Chensvold

ARE YOU STILL paying off your credit cards from that trip you took to Bali after college? Have you always wanted to go to Bali and would rather not max out your credit cards? Do you own a home, not just credit cards? Then maybe it’s time to consider refinancing. Thanks to Mr. Greenspan (and anyone with “green” in his name can’t be all bad), mortgage rates right now are about as attractive as that hottie who pours your coffee every morning at the local java joint, and since the rest of the world continues to consider Sonoma County a damn fine place to live, property values are up even while the stock market is down. This is the mortgage business equivalent of a planetary alignment.

Refinancing in the North Bay heated up with the summer weather, says Barry Cogbill, agent with the Warren Co., Santa Rosa mortgage brokers. The firm is having a “banner year” making money by saving you money. “Rates are excellent right now, the result of a falling economy,” he says. Interest rates are about as low as they’ve been for 10 years. “Plus equity is up. Everybody’s had 50 percent appreciation in their houses for the past two years.”

Refinancing is a term that covers both borrowing against the equity you’ve built up in your home, and simply taking advantage of lower mortgage rates to take out a new loan on your home that could save you a couple hundred dollars a month.

There are as many reasons to finance as there are people. If you’ve got an expensive car loan or a high credit-card balance at 15 percent (or worse), then it’s third-grade math to realize that paying off your high debt with a new home loan will definitely save you money. But experts offer this caution: Don’t clear your cards with a re-fi only to run off to Bali to see if it’s changed.

Perhaps you’ve got a hole in your roof big enough for Santa Claus and his reindeer. Then refinancing to make home improvements could help you in the long run by giving your property value a boost.

Your parents may have followed the old industry standard of putting 20 percent down on a house, but many people today can’t afford that. As a result, they’re often forced to take out mortgage insurance. Refinancing is a way to get rid of that extra monthly payment.

OR TAKE this scenario. One of Cogbill’s clients is a man getting ready for retirement. His house has appreciated to about $500,000. Believing that property values have peaked and that he wouldn’t qualify for prime refinancing with post-retirement income, the man decides to refinance now with a 30-year fixed rate “that he’d never have to mess with again.” The man pays a “pretty hefty” up-front cost to get a below-market interest rate. He uses some of his equity, “which is really just free money, since until you cash out it just sits there.” Since he has no plans to leave the home, his decision takes advantage of the current market climate as well as his peak income, and reduces his mortgage for his coming retirement years.

Then there’s the case of a young couple who bought a home through Cogbill last year at 8.5 percent. Since the rates have come down, he worked out a no-cost refinancing loan with no points, title, escrow, appraisal, underwriting processing–in short, no nothing. “We got them an above-market rate, but it was still less than 8.5,” he explains. “We lowered their monthly payment and they didn’t have to pay a dime.” Then just five months later, when rates came down again, the couple refinanced yet again.

So while the gentleman paid more up-front to get a rock-bottom loan, the couple paid nothing to get an above-market loan that was still less than what they were previously paying.

So with low rates and peak properties, are you a fool not to run out today, get the groceries, pick up the dry cleaning, and refinance your home? “It needs to make sense,” says Cogbill. “You compare the amount of the points–closing costs and everything–to the payment savings.”

So let’s say you’re looking at a deal to pay $4,500 up-front in fees to save $100 a month on your payment. Since it’ll take you 45 months to break even, don’t do it if you plan on moving–to Bali, for example.

IF YOUR HOME isn’t going to be home-sweet-home much longer, talk to a broker about the Young Couple Option mentioned above, and get yourself a no-cost loan. Even at an above-market rate, you could pay less than you’re paying now.

There’s one more piece of the planetary alignment. Refinancing means verifying your income all over again. So with the rate planet and property-value planet already in place, you’d better strike now if there’s any chance you may be laid off, as you’d have a hard time refinancing to lower your mortgage payment just when you need it most.

From the September 27-October 3, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.