5 Super cool space-aged home appliances.

1. iKettle controlled by smart phone.

This stylish coffee maker not only brews a great cup of joe, but hooks up with your home’s Wi-Fi, allowing you to access its controls via a smartphone mobile app.  From there, you can schedule its use remotely, starting that water to boil so it will be ready the moment you get downstairs or get home.  Once the water is boiling, it sends prompts to your mobile phone to give you options to keep the water warm, set to a certain temperature shut it down, etc.   Of course the kettle itself is top of the line stainless steel, removable so you can wash it without damaging the electronics stored in its base.  Available at Firebox, it goes for 99 pounds or so (British product.)

2. Waring Breakfast Express makes waffles and omelets at the same time.

Perfect for Sunday brunch with the family, you can now make a perfect omelet with all of the ingredients and toast up waffles from scratch in the same appliance.  Not only will that save you time and make it easier to cook for several people, but your omelets will come out perfectly formed, instead of looking like scrambled eggs like when I make them!  You can get this appliance at Hammacher Schlemmer.

3. Airocide Air Purifier.

We’ve seen huge, conspicuous, and loud air purifiers, but this one by Airocide is positivelty elegant!  It’s simply a rectangular box with an open back, and has no filters to clean!  The design is based off NASA technology that was developed to slow the ripening of fruits and vegetables too quickly in space by scrubbing the air of ethylene.  I will spare the fancy NASA technology behind it, but it cleans the air 100% of pathogens and you only have to replace the Reaction Chamber once a year.  It costs $799, is about as big as a small audio speaker, and you can get it at Airocide.com

3. Dyson Air Multiplier fan.

The folks that brought you one super vacuum cleaner have done it again with the Air Multiplier fan.  It looks just like a little open circle, but amazingly it produces 118 gallons of air every minute, with no blades and quiet operation, amplifying the normal airflow by up to 18 times.  The price tag is only $330 and you can check it out anywhere Dyson products are sold.

4. Aroma Grill Express.

For you barbecue enthusiasts, there’s nothing worse than running out of time to marinate meat, or forgetting, and trying to improvise while it’s already on the grill.  The Aroma Grill Express has solved that problem, allowing you to season the food right as it cooks. It basically looks like a high-end George Foreman grill, but features a recessed channel down the middle you can fill with herbs, wine, marinade, spices, etc. that draws up into the meat evenly when heated.  It drains off the grease just like a Foreman grill and is big enough to fit a dozen sausages, a couple steaks, and a few pieces of chicken at the same time.  Yummm, I’m hungry!  It costs 119 Euros and is made by Beem.

5. Meneghini La Cambusa fridge.

La Cambusa markets this is an oversized fridge, but users say it’s more like a mini kitchen.  This 3-door fridge unit manufactured by the Italian company Meneghini looks more like a modern furniture cabinet when closed, with an all-wood exterior with an optional selection of knobs, handles, colors, and finished.  Door #1 is for dry goods, kitchen supplies, and tools, while Door #2 on the right side is the actual spacious and perfectly organized fridge, and the whole bottom cabinet is the freezer.  It also has compartments in the middle of the unit that can hold coffee makers, blenders, a microwave or, of course, a TV and computer screen for Internet browsing.  The price tag?  A cool $40,500.  If you want one give me a call, and I’ll do my best to talk some sense into you.

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You can find these products and many more at www.CoolThings.com.  

The Alfano Group Real Estate will bring you more fun and amazing home appliances from time to time, as well as great posts about real estate and our own Placer County, California, so keep posted or subscribe to our blog.  

 

Placer County's gold country a hidden treasure for wine lovers.

Did you know there's a special place, nestled in Northern California's foothills, close enough to the ocean but with enough sunshine and just the right temperatures to grow some of the best grapes and produce some of the best wine in the world?  No, were not talking about Napa Valley - it's all about wine country in our own Placer County, California.

Napa may be a household name when it comes to wine, but Placer County's grape country holds some of the best kept secrets in vino.  Follow the Placer Wine Trail (map included here) on a perfect autumn Sunday to find your favorite red.  Or, there's no better way to spend a chilly winter day than visiting several wineries in our own Gold Country backyard.  Whether they are big, established vineyards with grand tours and sprawling grounds, or small, family-owned shops driven by passion and love of grapes, drink a Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay, or Reisling with great food and great friends.  And remember, always have a safe driver on your wine tasting excursions!

Here is a list of some of our favorite vineyards and wineries in Placer County.

Bear River Winery 2751 Combie Road Meadow Vista, CA 95722 530 878-8959 Tastings: Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00	Bonitata Boutique Wine 291 Auburn Folsom Road Auburn, CA 95603 530 305-0449 Tastings Wednesday - Sunday 1:00 - 6:00
Casque Wines 9280 Horseshoe Bar Road Loomis, CA 95650 916 652-2250 Tastings Friday 11:00 - 8:00 Saturday & Sunday 11:00 - 5:00	Ciotti Cellars 3750 Taylor Road Loomis, CA 95650  916 534-8780 Tastings Wednesday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00
Cristaldi Vineyards 3750 Taylor Road Loomis, CA 95650 916 759-1291 Tastings Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00	Davis Dean Cellars Rocklin, CA 95765 530 888-0101 Tastings: By Appointment
Dono Dal Cielo Vineyard & Winery 6100 Wise Road Newcastle, CA 95658 530 888-0101 Tastings Thursday - Sunday, 12:00 - 5:00	Fawnridge Winery 5560 Fawnridge Road Auburn, CA 95602 530 887-9522 Tastings Friday - Sunday, 10:00 - 5:00
Green Family Winery 3420 Pine Ridge Lane Auburn, CA 95603 530 888-8866 Tastings Saturday - Sunday, 12:00- 4:30	Lone Buffalo Vineyards 7505 Wise Road Auburn, CA 95603 916 663-4486 Tastings Friday - Sunday, 12:00 - 5:00
Mt. Vernon Winery 10850 Mt. Vernon Road Auburn, CA 95603 530 823-1111 Tastings Thursday - Sunday, 11:00 - 5 :00	PaZa Vineyard & Winery 3357 Ayres Holmes Road Auburn, CA 95602 916 834-0565 Tastings Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00
Pescatore Vineyard & Winery 7055 Ridge Road Newcastle, CA 95658 916 663-1422 Tastings Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00	Popie Wines 3750 Taylor Road Loomis, CA 95650 916 768-7643 Tastings Wednesday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00
Rancho Roble Vineyards & Winery 340 Fleming Road Lincoln, CA 95648 916 645-2075 Tastings Saturday 12:00 - 4:00	River Rock Ranch Lindemann Winery 6024 Prairie Way Lincoln, CA 95648 916 410-7105 Tastings Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00
Rock Hill Winery 2970 Delmar Ave Loomis, CA 95650 916 410-7105 Tastings Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00	Secret Ravine Vineyard & Winery 4390 Gold Trail Way Loomis, CA 95650 916 652-6015 Tastings Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 5:00
Vina Castellano Winery 4590 Bell Road Auburn, CA 95603 530 889-2855 Tastings Thursday - Sunday, 12:00 - 5:00	Wise Villa Winery 4100 Wise Road Lincoln, CA 95648 916 543-0323 Tastings Thursday - Sunday, 11:00 - 5:00

5 Ways the Federal Housing Administration changed mortgages forever.

In the dark days of the United States Great Depression, banks had failed, the monetary system all but collapsed, and the real estate marketing was in shambles.  Home ownership was a rarity in those days to being with – by some estimates up to 70% of people rented.  But as people lost their jobs, their incomes, and their trust in the banking system, foreclosures and defaults on mortgages reached epidemic proportions.  So many people walked away from their homes that the banks were forced to “call due” existing notes in an attempt to gobble up whatever cash and assets they could.  But this just quickened the cycle of values plummeting and more people losing their homes.  No banks wanted to lend because of the risk and certainly few people wanted to buy a home under those conditions.  

Something had to be done, so the Federal Government, under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, initiated the Housing Act of 1934, with the aim to insure loans made by private banks and commercial lending institutions to trigger home buying and home building again.  They knew no amount of monetary policy would be effective if they didn’t build in insurances for banks and consumers – creating confidence in the system, once again.  Part of this Act was the creation of the Federal Housing Administration, the FHA, who’s sole purpose was (and is) to stabilize the mortgage market, regulate rates of interest, and promote home buying.

Here are 5 ways the Federal Housing Administration changed mortgages forever: 

1. Lower down payments.

Prior to the FHA’s new mortgage plan, home buyers traditionally put up to 50% of the home’s value down as a deposit. That means you had to come up with half the value of the property in cash!  But the FHA changed that by lowering down payment requirements, offering mortgages with only 20%, 10%, or even lower deposits.  Thus, 80% and 90% Loan To Value mortgages were born, allowing access for a huge new group of home buyers. 

2. A qualification process.

In the old days, small town banks did business based on a borrower’s reputation in the community.  Basically, they knew the person and the kind of business they did, so they’d vouch for them and approve the loan based on anecdotal information.  The FHA did away with that, instead setting up a structured qualification process based on their ability to repay.  That’s where income qualification ratios and employment verifications factors came in, and later, credit score.

3. Lengthened loan terms.

Up to the time of the Great Depression, mortgage loans were only for 3-5 years, or up to 5-7 for a longer-term loan.  The FHA lengthened the term of the loans to 15 years, and later to 30 years.  Like many of these changes, once the FHA offered these new, improved mortgage provisions, traditional lenders and banks all followed step, to stay competitive.

4. Standards of quality.

In order to bolster confidence and assure the value of a property, the FHA put in play standards of construction.  They mandated a qualified inspection before they allowed a mortgage loan on a home. FHA appraisals factor in 8 criteria, with “Relative Economic Stability," constituting 40% of the appraisal value, and "protection from adverse influences,” another 20%.

5. Amortization.

Traditionally, mortgages only had Interest Only payments, and after the 3-5 year term was up, a big balloon payment for the rest of the balance.  Of course we can see how this led to mass defaults, so the FHA instituted the novel concept of amortization, meaning a set schedule of interest and principal payments every month.  The mortgage started out with heavy interest payments, but as they stayed in the loan and time went down, started paying off their principal more and more.

These measures were wildly successful in turning around the momentum of home ownership in the United States.  In 1935, Colonial Village in Arlington, Virginia was the first large-scale rental housing project built and funded with the Federal Housing Administration’s backing and insurance. From there the economy rebounded and home ownership rates rose to all-time highs a decade later as soldiers came back from World War II and settled back in to their American Dream, with the help of FHA-backed mortgages.  

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Will winning the lottery make you happy?

Most of you reading this are probably saying saying “Heck, yes!” right now, but studies cast a shadow of doubt on that premise.  In fact, people who win it big with the lottery (like the Powerball or mega jackpot – we’re not talking about a $50 scratcher ticket) often cite complications, problems, and issues in their lives that they never experienced before, causing a certain level of unhappiness.

With the odds of winning a big jackpot 1 in more than 175 million (about the same odds of you being struck by lightning or having identical quadruplets) its not likely you’ll have that problem, but still, 25 percent of the population say they play weekly.  In fact the more financially challenged the demographic, the more they play the lottery.

Studies show that lottery winners experience a rush of euphoria with winning, but that quickly retracts as problems with taxes, being targeted by predators, and family problems arise.

“Winning will release some pleasurable chemicals in your brain over the short term,” said Scott Bea, clinical psychologist with the Cleveland Clinic. “Unfortunately, your brain will likely revert back to the same old same old before too long.”

Lets look at statistics compiled from a survey of 34 national lottery winners:

Effect on Individual Happiness

Percent of lottery winner who were happier after winning: 55%

No effect on happiness:  43%

Are less happy:  2%

Of the 55% of winners who are happier…

Claimed they were happier because of improved financial security and fewer worries:  65%

Claimed they were happier because they could buy what they wanted and life was easier:  23%

Effect on Family Life

Percent who remained married after winning:  95%

Percent of winners who have given some money to their family: 83%

Percent of winners who’s family claims to be happier:  58%

Percent of family’s who claim to be less happy:  37%

Probability that new family wealth will be gone by third generation: 90%

Percentage of lottery winner who had spent their entire winnings within 5 years:  44%

Percent of winners who have gained weight:  32%

Percent of winners who stay in their same job:  48%

Percent of lottery winners who still play the lottery on a weekly basis:  68%

Percent of winners who have given some money to their family:  83%

Percent of families who asked lottery winners for money: 29 %

Average number of friends men winners gave money to:  3

Average number of friends women winners gave money to: 1

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What’s the conclusion?  A person probably will not significantly more happy because of winning the lottery, but they do have the capacity to sink into life’s new problems.  Family problems, stress about maintaining wealth, and dealing with the greed of others are the particular leading causes. 

Empirical research in the field of psychology and economics has found that people do get happier as their income increases only up to the point where they are financially comfortable.  Statistics show that level is about $75,000, after which happiness and life satisfaction ratings level off.

We wish you luck playing the lottery next time, and hope you win it big – but don’t expect it to make you happy in life.