Bakersfield home sellers pushing prices higher, Jeff Gutierrez suffers a mild stroke and recognizing some outstanding women about town

* ... HOME PRICES: Earlier this week I speculated that - judging from some of the asking prices on local homes - we may be entering another mini real estate bubble. Not so, says appraiser Gary  

Crabtree, who told me the market has been basically flat since last September with the average media sale price being $218,000 at $134 a square foot. "On the other hand," he said, "the average median asking price over the same period was $255,500 with an average unit price of $143.50 per square foot. Your observation is correct, sellers are unrealistic in their asking prices. The issue is the economy. There is virtually no market above $300,000 and that is where the majority of the unsold inventory sets. Why? Forty five percent of the Bakersfield buyers must rely upon the low down payment government financing which has established the maximum loan for our community and much of the Central Valley of California at $271,050 while the Los Angeles and San Francisco have government loan limits at $625,500 or 130 percent higher, thus the federal government is in 'de facto' control of the real estate market. Where is Congressman McCarthy when we need him?"

 * ... MORE HOMES: And local Realtor Michael Richert added this: "Unless it comes with a famous chef who stays with the property, the overpriced house won’t likely sell. There are a lot of homes on the market because the seller is dictating the purchase price instead of the Realtor.  All those hard working, laid off oil field workers and those who benefit from their income, aren’t buying.  However, a clean, updated, well-priced home will sell to a very limited group of buyers. "

 * ... FRIENDSHIP: Al Gutierrez gave me a call to share a story of kindness and having your friend's back. It turns out his son, Jeff Gutierrez, owner of DeWalt Corp., suffered a mild stroke last Friday in Fresno and found himself alone in a parking lot unable to drive. After an Uber driver took him to a local hospital, it was his friend Jeff Green (general counsel Grimmway Farms) who drove to Fresno and spent two days in the hospital with his close friend, never leaving his side and bringing him back to town. "Now that's a true friend," Al Gutierrez told me.

* ... SPOTTED ON INSTAGRAM: ""Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes the reason is you're stupid and make bad decisions."

* ... HOMELESS: A reader dropped me this note: "Every day we drive through downtown on 24th Street. Heading west just past Pep Boys is a homeless camp on the front 'porch' of the building just on the right. Looks like a group of maybe six or seven permanently camped out.. Hasn't anyone else noticed? They are there day and night.. this building will not win a Beautiful Bakersfield Award."

 * ... WOMEN: Hats off to Cynthia Icardo, Tracy Walker Kiser, Danielle Wade and Nomra Rojas-Mora on being selected at Garden Pathway's 'Women with a Heart for Bakersfield.' The organization's  High Tea will honor these women next Wednesday, May 11.

 * ... VOLUNTEERS: We have moved into the prime fund raising season, and you don't have to look far to see folks volunteering for good causes. Recently, more than 50 women showed up to support the Power of the Purse campaign at the home of Wes and Tracey Bradford. Said Darlene Mohlke of Castle and Cooke: "Included in this group of volunteers were local business owners, community partners and 18 of the best and brightest from the CSU Bakersfield swim and dive team. These young adults come from all over to not only represent their sport, our college but give back to our community. The event raised over $120,000 and went to The Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assualt. Our community really knows how to support each not only with their generous donations but with their wiling spirit to do what is needed to put on a great event."

Bako Bits: Looking for a $2 million mansion? Plenty to choose from in Bakersfield, and more on stray dogs and cats and those young gun skeet shooters about town

 * … REAL ESTATE: How many homes do you think are for sale in Bakersfield for $2 million or

more? A simple search of the Trulia real estate website found five in that range, starting at $2.3 million and soaring to a $2.9 million mansion boasting seven bedrooms, eight baths and 16,000 square feet of
living space. Meanwhile, an old home I have admired downtown that sold for $220,000 in 2010 is back on the market listed at $775,000. What is this, 2006?

* … STRAYS: The throw-away culture that exists in our society unfortunately extends to pets, and Kern County seems ground zero for stray animals. Recently an emaciated, but very sweet, female gray cat showed up on my porch. She was hungry, for food, for water and most of all, for attention. I later learned that she had been spayed and walked with a limp because of an injury that no one bothered to attend to. A friend took her in, nourished her and heard the soft purr of a cat that only wanted to be loved. By the time she was taken to a veterinarian, it was too late. Someone out there unceremoniously dumped this cat in my neighborhood, an act so cruel that it defies logic. At least "Honey," as she was named over a 72-hour period, had love at the end.

 * … OVERHEARD: A friend coming back from the beach this week remarked: "What moron at Caltrans decided to reduce Highway 46 to one lane during Spring break week for minor road work?"

 * … SPOTTED: Former Gov. Pete Wilson was in town this week and was spotted in the lobby of the Padre Hotel chatting with KEDC director Richard Chapman and county counsel Teri Goldner.

 * … YOUNG GUNS: One of Bakersfield's best kept secrets is that each year it produces some of the best young skeet shooters in the nation. And that tradition continued this weekend at the Ken Barnes Open Skeet Tournament at the Kern County Gun Club. Miles Ramsey, the 13-year-old Stockdale Christian seventh grader and son of Mark and Betsy Ramsey, came away as the class champion in both the 28 gauge and 410 bore and as High Overall Champion in his class. And Jenna Bouni, 16-year-old daughter of Frank and Lori Bouni, shot a perfect 100 X 100 in the 12 gauge and also claimed the lady's championship with an overall score of 388 X 400. She is a freshman at Grand Canyon College in Phoenix. Both kids represent a long line of local teens who have had outstanding careers shooting skeet.

   * … MEMORIES: Jack Kelley posed this question:  "Good morning Richard. I was wondering if any of the old timers in Bakersfield remember the police motorcycles painted red and black. They were painted black and white after a lawsuit forced all vehicles issuing traffic tickets had to be painted black and white. I don’t think this applies anymore."
                                                                 

Olympian Jimmy Watkins is treated to a homecoming bash at Action Sports and signs that the anemic housing market is starting to find some traction

* ... HOT MARKET: More stories from our local housing market. The number of homes on the market is near an all-time low, prices are inching up and properties at the lower end of the price range are attracting multiple offers. One friend has been shopping for a home for his son for several months. "One came on the market in the area we wanted, it needed a lot of work but it sold in one day," he told me. "A cash deal from an investor in Los Angeles." At the upper end, homes are taking longer to sell but at they are starting to move. A colleague sold her house in the $440,000 range in less than a week. So if you are thinking of listing your home, you may want to consider doing it sooner rather than later.

* ... OVERHEARD: A local business executive passed along this conversation that happened during a recent job interview. "Your application indicates that you haven’t worked in about two years. What is that all about?" The applicant responds: "Well, I was on unemployment all that time and making a lot, but now my unemployment is running out so I have to look for a job.”

 * ... OBSERVED: This observation comes from reader Walter E. Stewart: "I wonder how many people observe waitress and waiters wipe off the seat where you sit after using the same towel to wipe off the table where your food is served. The same contaminated towel is repeatedly used from seat to seat and table to table."

 * ... OLYMPIAN: Hats off to Kerry Ryan over at Action Sports for giving Olympian Jimmy Watkins a heck of a welcome home party. A big crowd of more than 150 people packed Action Sports Sunday afternoon to welcome Watkins home and celebrate his 30th birthday. Watkins was moved by the adulation but told me that London was his first and last Olympics. A Kern County fire fighter, Watkins finished sixth in the track cycling competition.

 * ... GOOD DEED: The newest Rotary Club in Bakersfield, Twilight Rotary, recently completed a successful project providing 126 backpacks and supplies to the entire third grade class at Mount Vernon Elementary School. The club is barely three years old and has stepped up in a big way since its inception in community service projects through the direction of immediate past president Gary Fachin and now under the leadership of Robin Paggi. Several Rotarians, including Breakfast Rotary past presidents Cecil Martin and Jim Bell as well as West Rotary past president Brad Henderson, helped charter the club three years ago.

 * ... DID YOU KNOW? Did you know that there are some 650,000 registered motorcycles on the road in California, and more than nine million nationally? High gas prices have led to a surge in motorcycle sales as more folks use the bikes for commuting. Not surprisingly, the highest death rate for motorcycle crashes involve so-called "supersport" bikes that accelerate rapidly and can reach speeds of 160 miles per hour.

A reader recalls a chance encounter with the late Julia Child, who revealed her family's Bakersfield roots

   * ... JULIA CHILD: Did you know that the late Julia Child (she would have been 100 years old this Wednesday) had Bakersfield roots? That's according to Susan Peninger, who shared a story about running in to the famous author and cook at LAX years ago. Child was alone and Peninger engaged her in conversation. "She asked my favorites (recipes) of hers and when I told her a gateaux and her roast chicken, she repeated the words I can still hear in my head when I think of her. Then, suddenly, the tables turn (no pun intended) and she was the one asking questions. She wanted to know all about me and where I was from, and so forth. When I said Bakersfield, she told me that her father had owned land in Bakersfield and that the family was here often during that time. In my research later, I discovered her father, John McWilliams Jr., was a California land developer who did own Kern County land and as I recall it was in the 1920s-1930s, and perhaps beyond.  It was Julia herself who told me the family lived here briefly."

* ... OUR WORLD: Claudia Casagrande wrote to share an experience in the Kern Medical Center waiting room. "I spent 5 1/2 hrs in the orthopedic waiting room at KMC with a relative who has a broken leg.  The waiting room was hot and crowded.  Crowded with people with broken limbs as well as able bodied friends and family. A young woman with a newly casted leg hobbled in on crutches to wait for her pain prescription. She was in obvious pain and looked around for a place to sit. She asked one middle aged woman if she could sit in the only vacant chair. The woman replied that she was saving it.  No one offered their seat, so I, probably the oldest female in the room, offered mine, after which a young man with an injured arm, insisted that I take his seat. The scenario played out several more times that afternoon and a few more men and woman offered their seats to others.  But many able bodied men and women did not. The woman who was saving the chair saved it for a half hour or so, before her son came and sat. "

 * ... CAL RADIO: Prices are going up in the local real estate market and the inventory of homes for sale is at or near an all-time low. On Monday at 9 a.m., join me on Californian Radio (KERN 1180) when I will be chatting with Scott Tobias, head of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors, when we will be talking about the state of the local market.


* ... THE MARK: The staff of the new downtown restaurant called "The Mark" is a collection of young people picked up from other eateries across town, and two of them are local products from rival high schools. Chef Ro Fernandez is a Shafter General, and bar manager Tony Partida (formerly of Cafe Med) hails from cross county rival Wasco. "It's like old home week here," Partida told me. The Mark is beautiful addition to downtown and is located on 19th Street in the building that once housed Goose Loonies.


 * ... INTERNS: Assemblywoman Shannon Grove has a new group of interns for her Bakersfield and Sacramento offices, all of them high achieving youngsters. They include Kirsten Albers, a sophomore in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University; Leah Avila, a junior at Cal State Bakersfield; Mackenzie Carter, a sophomore at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo; Jasmin Howells, a junior at Patrick Henry College in Virginia; Michelle Huete, a sophomore at UCLA;  and Andrew Worthing, a senior at Northwestern College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. 


 * ... MOVIES: Here's something I bet most people have experienced. From reader Beth Espinoza: "The new trend in Bakersfield is to take your baby, toddler, adolescent, etc. to movies with R ratings. I sat next to families at Ted and Savages most recently. Now I know I shouldn’t be judging the parenting skills of others but, really, people? If you can’t afford a baby sitter then go see a movie made for families!"