Helping People Live the Paso Style,  Events, Wine, Food, Living                                                       February 2008

Wine Notes: (Local RE and Wine News)
 D'Anbino Vineyards and Cellars
    There is a new tasting room that has opened in Paso which deserves mentioning. 
    My wife and I were listening to Grape Vine Radio on KVEC a couple of weeks ago and I caught the quick announcement that a new tasting room was opening at the Rail Station. Since we're always wanting to taste new wine we decided to drop by.  We walked in and were immediately impressed with the decor and my wife felt something was familiar, but couldn't identify what.  Then Carmine Rubino started waving and she finally realized it was the D'Anbino label she recognized from her wine days. 
  D'Anbino is a family partnership of Carmine Rubino and John D'Andrea.  Carmine and John have a remarkable musical background and they have brought that love of music to their wine and their new tasting room. The tasting bar is constructed of real pianos.  There is ►

also a complete stage where the family periodically performs .
    We had a great time talking with Carmine and his family, and I think everyone will thoroughly enjoy tasting their wines while browsing all the music awards that line the walls, including a couple of Emmy's. 
    Definitely a fine new addition to the Life Style of Paso Robles which I call Paso Style! 
 www.danbino.com

Quick Real Estate Facts: (Calif)
Median home price - 
    $475,640
Highest median home price
    Santa Barbara So. Coast $925,000
Lowest median home price 
     High Desert $244,330
Mortgage rates - week ending 12/20:
  -30-yr. fixed: 5.48%; Fees/points: 0.4%
  -15-yr. fixed: 4.95%; Fees/points: 0.4%
  -1-yr.   adj:   4.99%; Fees/points: 0.6%
New Name Coming:
My monthly blog will continue to be What's Happening, Paso Style Living, but you will see changes over time as I re-brand my Real Estate business to HOME and Vineyard Real Estate Brokerage.  I'm the Broker Owner and look forward to the new identity.
Cooking Corner:  (Personal recipes and views on Cooking Paso Style)   
This is a very unusual Barbeque Cream Sauce recipe which I developed several years ago. 
  2 tbsp butter
  1/4 tsp cumin
  1/4 tsp cayenne
  1/4 tsp powered mustard
  1 tbsp vinegar
  1 tbsp tomato paste
  1 cup heavy cream
Slowly melt the butter, then adding dry ingredients stirring.  Add cream, tomato, and vinegar.  Simmer for a few minutes. Serve over roasted pork. 

Wine & Local Trivia:
    Paso Robles produces excellent red wine, but white wine grapes are the most planted in the world.  What is the most planted wine grape in the world?
 
  a) Chardonnay
  b) Airén
  c) Colombard
  d) Chablis

(Please visit http://www.pasostyleliving.com for the answer)

Paso Style Living Real Estate: (Real Estate market conditions in Paso Wine Country)
     It's impossible to escape the bad news about the Real Estate market.  It's important to always keep in mind that "Real Estate is Regional".  I lived in Colorado in the early 80's when nationally Real Estate was booming, but Colorado was in a housing recession.   We had the Savings and Loan Crisis in the late 80's impacting a wider segment of the nation.  In the mid 90's I moved from Colorado where Real Estate was booming again to the Central Coast where it was depressed.    No doubt Real Estate will boom again!  The turn could be just around the corner considering interest rates are approaching all time lows, less than 5.5% for a 30 year fixed loan.
    I'm often asked what caused this mess.  There is a lot of blame going toward the lenders these days,  but I think it's extremely important to look back at what may have been the start of the problem.  In 2002 there was an effort  to "Expand Homeownership to all Americans" where the stated objective was "dismantle the barriers to homeownership".  This was the start of the removal of many federal regulations on how loans are made and approved.  I'm sure we will see a shift back to more regulation.
   

Area  (1/1/08-1/31/08)

Avg Price

Homes Available

Sold/Pending

Atascadero

$497,156

186

18

Paso Robles

$365,406

358

48

Templeton

$754,857

79

11

All Paso Wine Country

$454,979

742

88

Paso Wine Country contains the following real estate areas (Paso Robles, Atascadero, Templeton, San Miguel, Creston, Shandon, Santa Margarita, Bradley, and Chalome) (Single Family Homes, SFRSB)
Ron Johnson
 Broker, Realtor®
 (805) 423-1902
 www.pasostyleliving.com
www.homeandvineyard.com