Diablo Valley Real Estate Customers

My goal is to help Diablo Valley customers to achieve their most successful real estate transactions. As an agent, I like to offer buyers or sellers, the accurate market analysis to reach the price they should pay for their dream home. I have never felt more strongly that anyone who has ever considered purchasing real estate should do it now. The strong influence of a relentless flood of foreclosures and a lackluster economy sets a very attractive buyers market. Still, a lot of Contra Costa residents are waiting for a lower bottom. I’d like to remind everyone that nobody has control over any kind of market, so when you find the right home , the right price for your budget, the right location, just BUY IT. In the mortgage corner, the new legislation was signed to bail out the financial industry. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) hopes that it will provide relief to homeowners struggling with foreclosure woes. It also hopes to calm the fears on Wall Street by offering support and financial relief to the beleaguered government-sponsored mortgage institutions, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Homeowners with negative equity or who where behind on payments, had little or no option for refinancing into a more favorable loan, leaving foreclosure or a short sale as the only alternative. Under this act, the FHA can now refinance those homes at up to 90% of the current Value. The current lenders will forgive the remaining balance of the loans. The catch? Homeowners will be required to share in the future appreciation (50-100%) with the FHA and must meet a payment burden test to qualify. Uncle Sam will now issue a tax credit of 10% of the home purchase price up to $7,500, for first-time homebuyers through July 2009. The credit must be repaid over 15 years. The temporary loan limits were set higher at $729,750 until their expiration date on December 31, 2008. The minimum down payment for an FHA loan will increase to 3.5% from 3.0%. The media is all too happy to report on bad news, throwing gas on the fire and hurting the greater housing market. All the ingredients are in place for a housing rebound in the Danville, Pleasant Hill and the Lafayette areas (Lamorinda). There is just one missing ingredient: a series of media reports that buoys the confidence of all buyers waiting for signs that the bottom has hit.
Christian Rousset.

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

Diablo valley has everything for your horse good life

Having horses on your property is enjoyable when you own real estate in the Lafayette, Danville area.
My older son used to love taking care of them, even late at night when the new born colt wanted to play.
Not only they fertilize the soil of your orchard or your vegetable garden, but what a saving on gas, and extreme pleasure, to ride your horse, go down the next valley to visit your neighbor and friend in the late afternoon. This is what I used to do in the early 80's.
The thing is I enjoyed so much talking about all our realization around the property and the community news that I got caught by the night. Lucky me it was full moon. So I decided to visit little bit longer with my friend. Finally just before midnight, it was time to go home. Sure enough, I was so tired that I fell aslip on my saddle. The next thing I remembered was waking up, on the horse, in front of my house.
Roxanne knew the way, and safely ended this journey.

The spirit of Michelangelo alive in the Diablo Valley

Carving this thirty six inches high piece of earth colored lime stone was inspired by my mother soft face.

I was in my twenties, artist, making my living from my sculpture, trying to keep alive the spirit of the Italian Renaissance Stone Carvers.

Finding inspiration by hiking Briones State park in Lafayette, Pleasant Hill trail, Mont Diablo and his valley. Nature offers a large variety of colors, textures and forms in a such strong way that I can't sculpt anything for few days, when I come back to my studio. Then the magic happen and I can create again with inspiration.

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.

Danville Art - Fountain at the Danville School

This fountain was a donation by Bob and Brenda Markstein of Diablo in recognition of the 2001 graduating class, at the San Ramon Christian Academy. I was involved in executing this project, because of my close relationship with the Markstein family who gave me the opportunity to build several projects at their residence over a couple of decades.
Art like this piece is a message of Tranquility, Love and Balance that we often forget to include in our daily life, whether in school, church or home. Ownership of real eastate, espacially in the Diablo valley, gives us the chance to express ourselves through fine art, music, poetry, and litterature in any form we like. Keep this spirit.

Pleasant Hill Market Update

Pleasant Hill Update
August 2008

Pleasant Hill Sales Activity

Active Inventory On 8/1/08 On 7/1/08
Number of Listings 120 130
Avg Days On Market 73 74
Avg List Price $609,037 $617,264
Median List Price $587,000 $589,450
Avg $ / Square Foot $337 $339
Pending Sales On 8/1/08 On 7/1/08
Number of Listings 51 54
Avg Days on Market 63 57
Avg List Price $497,562 $479,548
Avg $ / Square Foot $323 $325
Closed Sales 7/1/08-7/31/08 6/1/08-6/30/08
Number of Listings 35 27
Avg Days on Market 43 54
Avg List Price $542,969 $510,969
Avg Sales Price $523,677 $491,833
Avg Sales $ / Sq Ft $331 $337


“I’ve never felt more compelled and stronger about advising anyone and everyone who ever thought about getting into real estate to do it now.” This is a direct quote from Gus Kramer, the current Contra Costa County assessor, in a Contra Costa Times article this week, discussing the condition of our local real estate market.
Kramer is the person in charge of valuing all real property in Contra Costa County for tax purposes, and there are not many others more qualified to comment on the subject. Articles like this one are not the only sign that the housing market here in the Bay Area is primed for a rebound, or at the very least, a leveling off.
Despite the strong influence of a relentless flood of foreclosures and a lackluster economy, July marked the fourth month in a row in which the volume of home sales outpaced the month prior. Even more impressive is that July also marked a new record for number of homes sold for Contra Costa County in a single month, besting the previous record set in June of 2006 according to my personal market records.
The good news doesn’t stop there. Inventory continues to fall steadily at a time when we’d normally expect a seasonal increase, and pending sales in Contra Costa and Alameda have increased every month since December 2007, currently up 236% since that record-setting low point.
At the end of the day though, home values continue to remain soft. Unfortunately in many areas, they continue to get softer despite robust sales activity. One thing is for sure though--if the media continues to sing a favorable song, that strong rebound will be here sooner than you think.

Christian Rousset, Realtor

Bay Area Real Estate

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