SiteDomain

With over 90% of home buyers searching online for a new home your home must make a great first impression. The first impression is a lasting impression!  In a buyers market sellers compete with sellers.  If buyers are not impressed what they see online they will move on to the next listing. Ready, Set, Stage! works with you and your Realtor to put your home on the “must see” list for today’s home buyers. We offer a marketing plan and photos to assist with the sale of your home.

Posted by Jana Robison on September 4th, 2010

Please leave a comment.

I am excited to announce the launch of our new web site design, including new features.

By Roger Ewing

In a short time we will be launching our newly redesigned web site at ewingSIR.com.  It may take us a few days to get the kinks out and some of our links may temporarily not work as a result of the new theme installation.  Please be patient with us, we are doing our very best to make the transition as seamless as possible.

Over the coming weeks, we will also be updating our Community Blog sites as well.

We will be adding a new link to our Community Newz sites, where you can subscribe to receive current statistics for your community by zip code.

When our new site is launched, please let me know your thoughts and your feelings about the new design.  We greatly value your input and recommendations.

If you would like to see your community featured on our community blog list, or if you would like to become a Community Newz contributor for your neighborhood,  please let us know.

Best wishes,

Roger Ewing

Posted by Roger Ewing on October 25th, 2009

Please leave a comment.

By: The Zago Group

Los Angeles Country Club will be the host site for the 2017 Walker Cup and bring some of the best amateur golfers to our back yard. The Walker Cup is the Ryder Cup but for amateur players from the United States, Great Britain and Ireland. The Walker Cup match consists of the original format that the Ryder Cup used to have. The Match employs a combination of foursomes (alternate-shot) and singles competition and was originally the format used for the professional equivalent Ryder Cup.

The Walker Cup is played every two years and rotates between sites in the U.S. and overseas. The last time the Walker Cup was in California it was held at cypress point. The united states have won the last three Walker Cups leading up to the next showdown at Royal Aberdeen golf club in Scotland in 2011.

Posted by The Zago Group on September 16th, 2009

Please leave a comment.

The Vote Is Friday September 11

By Tina Stern

The California legislature is voting on Friday September 11, 2009 to renew the California $10,000 home buyer tax. It is widely believed that an extension will be approved. The credit applies to newly constructed, previously unoccupied homes. Condominium conversions also qualify. Californians do not need to be first-time home buyers to take advantage of the credit; nor do they need to meet income requirements.

Requirements For The Credit

1. The home must be a “qualified principal residence” as defined under California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 17059(b)(1).   The home must:

• Be a single-family residence, whether detached or attached.
• Never have been previously occupied.
• Be occupied by the taxpayer for a minimum of two years.
• Be eligible for the property tax homeowner’s exemption under California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 218.

2. For over three successive taxable years, the total credit allocated among owners that occupy the home must not exceed $10,000. (Multiple qualified buyers that occupy the home will be allocated credit based on the amount paid and their percentage of ownership.)
3.  Any credit that reduced tax on a tax return must be repaid if the buyer does not occupy the home for at least two years immediately following the purchase date.

4.  FTB may request documentation to ensure buyers have complied with the requirements of the credit.

To learn more visit New_Home_Credit.shtml

EwingSIR does not guarantee information contained in this blog, readers are encouraged not to rely on this information and to do their own independent research of facts contained herein. Blog information was obtained from independent sources that we do not endorse, and we do not investigate this information for accuracy.

Posted by Tina Stern on September 10th, 2009

Please leave a comment.

Is Anyone Home At Sherman Oaks’ Beloved Mazzarino’s Italian Restaurant?

By Linda Cardoso

I thought I saw lights on inside….I drove around the corner and did a second pass because I had to be sure….My eyes were not playing tricks there were really lights on inside! I could barely contain myself when I parked the car and got out for a peek inside. I saw tables, chairs, and yes, a stack of menus.

Residents of Hidden Woods, Sherman Village and No Moor Cold Tofu REJOICE! Our favorite neighborhood Italian restaurant, Mazzarino’s, is finally reopening more than two years after the fire that closed its doors back in 2007.

Ask anyone who has eaten there about the garlic bread and then brace yourself for a heartfelt, bordering on tearful description of mouth watering deliciousness. That’s just the beginning – the food is hearty and home style and never fails to remind me of my favorite Italian restaurants in Chicago. It’s cozy, fun and best of all, Mazzarino’s proprietress, Liz, her son John and the staff always make you feel like part of a big happy family.  My inside source tell me that Mazzarino’s will be open again in about two weeks or right around September 24. Mazzarino’s Italian restaurant is located at 12920 Riverside Drive in Sherman Oaks.
See you there!

Posted by Linda Cardoso on September 9th, 2009

Please leave a comment.

Thinking of Volunteering?  Think TreePeople.

By Gary Kreiger

The nonprofit TreePeople organization was instituted to unite the power of trees, people and technology in order to grow a sustainable future for Los Angeles. Their work and their message is to help nature heal our cities. Check out their website at www.treepeople.org.

Located at the top of Coldwater Canyon, TreePeople is on the east side of the canyon where Coldwater Canyon, Mulholland Dr. and Franlkin Canyon intersect. Their mission is to “inspire, engage and support people to take personal responsibility for the urban environment, making it safe, healthy, fun and sustainable and to share the results as a model for the world”.  If you go to the TreePeople site, you’ll find an outdoor classroom, hiking trails and a beautiful park. TreePeople is a favorite of local residents in the Longridge Estates area of Sherman Oaks, the Dixie Canyon Estates area of Sherman Oaks and people throughout the Studio City, Sherman Oaks and surrounding communities.

Consider volunteering at TreePeople as they are always looking for help and support!

EwingSIR does not guarantee information contained in this blog, readers are encouraged not to rely solely on this information and to do their own independent research of facts contained herein. Blog information was obtained from independent sources that we do not endorse, and we do not investigate this information for accuracy.

Posted by Gary Krieger on September 9th, 2009

Please leave a comment.

JULIE & JULIA: “If no one’s in the kitchen, who’s to see?
By Roger Ewing

I put on my sunglasses and fake moustache, and walked quickly through the parking lot with my head down, thinking no one would recognize me when I went into the theatre. For two weeks my wife had been asking me to see the movie Julie & Julia with her and my 86-year-old mother-in-law. Not that I mind going out with the two of them, but being seen entering a theatre in my home town to see a movie about Julia Child and cooking was, well, somehow not very macho.

The Nora Ephron written and directed movie features Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie Powell. The film is actually two stories in one. It flashes back and forth between Julia, as she begins her cooking career in 1949 Paris, contrasting her life to Julie, a woman in 2002 Queens, New York who aspires to cook all 524 recipes from Child’s cookbook. Stanley Tucci, brilliantly plays Julia Child’s husband Paul Childs, opposite Streep.

Less than ten minutes in, I suddenly realized this film is the first major motion picture based on a blog. Off came the sunglasses and fake moustache; on went the light bulb inside my head, blogging is something I could wrap my brain around.

It turns out, the real life Julie Powell started to blog as a means of getting in touch with her inner desire to someday become a writer. Her life had led her to an unhappy place. She lived in an apartment above a pizza parlor and spent her days in a sad cubicle-job working for the city of New York. She was in desperate need of some self-realization. Blogging became Julie’s passport to a meaningful existence. Her goal was to cook all of Julia Child’s recipes inside one year and to blog about it each day. The project quickly became an obsession for her.

I checked out Julie’s original blog, The Julie/Julia Project. Not that impressive. No exotic links, no theme, other than her first person rambling about life and cooking. Which leads me to an important conclusion for my own blog, www.rogerewing.wordpress.com.

There is no need to be fancy in delivery, only a desperate requirement to connect to your readers on a level they understand and identify with.

Compelling content is a constant requirement for successful blogging. Julie’s blog is very conversational. It’s as if I am in her kitchen listening to her while she cooks. Her written words are merely the extrapolation of her thinking onto a computer screen. Why is this so readable and why is everyone so interested in what she is thinking on any given day?

On Friday, August 13, 2004 Julie writes, “Without you here (Julia Child), I would be a different person – a smaller, a sadder, a more frightened person.” There were 238 comments posted to this particular blog. That’s impressive. It is clear she is willing to expose her true feelings to the world and has no fear of transparency. This is an important point.

One must blog from their true heart, without fear. Be willing to commit to treating the world as a welcome friend.

Julie Powell’s blog became a memoir for “Everywoman”. Julie’s writing is simply a revealing expose of a year in the life of someone just like you or me. She writes about herself, a real person, whose life is filled with joy, sadness, fear, pain, exhilaration, passion, and every other emotion that makes the human condition so complicated and entertaining.

This is a wonderfully simple film that is filled with delights, as well as a realistic sampling of the kind of challenges we all face in our everyday lives. It is also a lesson on the strength of social media and the power of the written word. I highly recommend Julie & Julia.

See it, you’ll be better for it.

Posted by Roger Ewing on August 21st, 2009

Please leave a comment.

Welcome to Ewing Sir. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

Posted by Jeff Biebuyck on August 18th, 2009

1 Comment »