Here is a clock that I hand carved for the movie "The Bicentennial Man"

Pleasant Hill, quiet community of the Diablo valley, doesn't have anything glamourious like Hollywood, just is the location of my modest studio. Nevertheless some wood clocks for the movie, staring Robin Willams, the Bicentennial Man, were born here. After many drawings and real scale clay models, I had to move and execute my work in the San Raphael area.
What a thrill to use my art in the movie industry, tune Heart with Art with the challenge of everybody's different personality. Thank you to the entire staff and a special attention to Ann and Isaac, who gave me all the support and opportunity to realize this hand carving project all the way to the end.

Why “ All Cash “ Is Not Always the Best Choice When Buying Real E state in The Diablo Valley.

With property values sinking, my phone has been steadily ringing with calls from new investors who are considering the purchase of rental property. And with prices on bank –owned single family homes starting at $75,000 in many areas, buying with cash and avoiding the mortgage process is an option there are considering. But before you jump and pay all cash for your next investment property, be sure to run the numbers first. You’ll discover one of the reasons why investing in Real Estate can be so lucrative. Here’s a real case study for a property that a client is thinking about purchasing. It’s a two bedroom, one bath single family home with about 900 square feet and a one car detached garage. The listing price is $95,000 and it will rent for approximately $1,200 per month. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll omit the price negotiations, repair cost, and closing cost details, pretending he’ll be purchasing the home for $95,000 with no other expenses. If my client purchased the home all in cash with no mortgage, his only expenses would be management fees, property taxes, maintenance, and insurance, totaling approximately $235 per month. With a monthly rental income of $1,200 per month, his net annual proceeds would be just over $11,000. That’s a respectable 12.20% annual return on his $95,000 investment. So what happens when we put a mortgage on the home? Common sense would say that the debt would increase the monthly expenses and thus lower the rate of return, right? Not so fast. Let’s run the numbers, first with 50% down and then again with 25% down. With a 50% down payment and a 30 year fixed mortgage at 6.75%, the monthly expenses go up to $542 per month, leaving the net annual proceeds at just $7,900. However, with a capital investment of only $47,500, the annual return actually goes up to a 16.62%. Holy cow! 16.62% return per year? Where do I sign up? Well, let’s save your excitement for a minute while we explore the smaller down payment of 25%. In this scenario, the monthly expenses increase to almost $700 per month, leaving the annual proceeds of just $6.000. But with only $23,750 total cash invested, the annual return climbs to 25.45%. Is anyone getting 25% in the stock market lately? Or in savings or CD’s? Me neither. That’s why leveraged Real estate is and continues to be one of the great American ways to invest.


Christian Rousset

Green Is The Trend For Diablo Valley Residents

Green energy is getting affordable and we are going to see in the next decade a huge improvement in his utilisation, in cars, commercial and industrial buildings and in residential housing.
The Diablo Valley offers a great possibility. Lafayette, Pleasant Hill and Danville
in California are perfect areas to benefit from the Pacific coast wind for windmills and the sun exposure for photocells utilization.
Twenty eight years ago it was a real adventure to built my own windmill. Not too much literature and manufacturers to buy from. So I had to find a used alternator.
buy some fir, being the best wood for a small propeller, that I had to carve myself to the right profile and assemble the whole thing together on the top of a 35 foot pole like you see in the picture. In building our homes, let's consider a budget for green energy.