Yes, it was worth the wait -- and then some.

"For more than two hours, the vocalist-keyboardist rolled through the years and relived many of his greatest triumphs. That meant such '60s era Motown nuggets as "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours," classic '70s cuts like "Superstition" and even a few '80s hits, notably "Part-Time Lover" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You." - Jim Harrington of the Contra Costa Times. Read his entire review HERE.

"He just seemed so full of life, bursting with the same spirit that has colored so much of his recorded work, and his enthusiasm was as contagious as the first cold of the season at kindergarten."

An older Stevie Wonder - still a full-time performance.
Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music critic

"The entire show was an outpouring from Wonder. If he wasn't snapping off hit after hit, starting the next song right on top of the last, he was talking aimlessly but enthusiastically to the capacity crowd in the balmy night air and under the almost full moon."

Such a joyous celebration, high energy, positive energy, engaging, and enjoyed by fans of all ages, Stevie as always, is so great to see live. I only hope that I have the opportunity to see him once again in my life time. Once a fan, always a fan.

Labels: Bay Area Jazz, Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Stevie Wonder

Subprime problems mean 100% financing harder to get, by Eve Mitchell, Median Staff.

Thinking about refinancing a mortgage or getting a no-money-down loan to buy a home? Something that was relatively easy to do several months ago may be a lot harder in today's stricter lending environment.

In recent months, many lenders have tightened underwriting standards for no-money-down loans, also known as 100 percent financing, in response to the subprime mortgage mess that has seen foreclosure activity soar this year.

The upshot is that today many borrowers are finding it harder to get a loan than a few months ago even though interest rates are at the same level as last year. To qualify, borrowers may find that they will need to document their income, bolster their savings or find a co-signer.

Those who are getting hit hardest by the tightening loan standards are those with low credit scores, subprime borrowers and people who are unable or unwilling to document their income, mortgage experts say.

So what do people need to get a loan if they are having a hard time in today's lending environment? The Full Story and Tips can be viewed HERE.

A related story from U S News; "Lenders Crack Down After Subprime Collapse."

And from BusineeWeek; "The Subprime Mess, Let the Blame Begin."

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, BusinessWeek, Contra Costa Times, Interest Rate, Real Estate Cycles, Subprime Loans

C.A.R. Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young on KNX 1070 AM, June 25, 2007.

C.A.R. Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young discusses the housing numbers for May 2007 and what they mean for the California real estate market. You can listen to the audio interview Here.

And here's the report that she's referring to released from C.A.R. on June 25th;

C.A.R. reports sales decrease 25 percent in May, median price of a home in California at $591,180, up 4.8 percent from year ago.

Here's a look at May's numbers for Contra Costa County;

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, CAR, Continuing Study of the California Economy, Contra Costa Times, DataQuick, Fisher Center for Real Estate, Real Estate Cycles, San Francisco Chronicle

Prices also up in Alameda County, down Solano County; sales increase in March but down from 2006 - By Barbara E. Hernandez, CONTRA COSTA TIMES.

The median price paid for a Bay Area home in March was $639,000, up 3.1 percent in a month's time, bucking the national trend and regaining much of the decline since last summer, but the chorus still isn't singing "Happy Days Are Here Again." - George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer.

"The housing market in the state will show a substantial decline this year, on the order of 2 or 3 percent,'' said Ken Rosen, director of the Fisher Center for Real Estate at UC Berkeley. Moreover, he said he expects the state's housing market to stay soft for a while.

"We had such a large run-up (in home prices) in the state as a whole in the last four years and now there is excess inventory in unsold houses -- in San Diego, Sacramento, Orange County and the Central Valley in particular,'' Rosen said. "Usually, the reaction time to an overheated market is two to three years.''

On the day after the normally glass-is-half-full Realtors trade association said the median price of existing U.S. homes will fall nearly a percentage point this year, DataQuick said that Bay Area prices are holding their only-in-the-Bay Area value.

"Prices seem to have held up surprisingly well, probably because of a relatively strong economy. Additionally, it's starting to look like much of the current sales lull may be due to the strong sales in 2004 and 2005. Some of today's demand probably got pulled into that period because of low mortgage interest rates and the availability of exotic mortgages," said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president.

Levy, at the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy, said that the housing downturn of the 1990s, with slow and flat activity in prices and sales volumes, lasted seven years and that there is no reason to believe the current downturn will be short term. "I think we are closer to the middle of the housing adjustment process than to the end,'' he said.

"What the National Association of Realtors said about the price of homes going down screams volumes,'' Thornberg added. "It says, 'Guess what. This is not over. We have a ways to go.' To think we are out of the woods is silly.''

"The big story,'' said Michael Lehmann, professor emeritus of economics at the University of San Francisco, "was the big surge in prices of homes between 2000 to 2005. That is over here and everywhere,'' he said. "And overall, if the weakness continues across the nation, it will be hard for the Bay Area to resist it in the long run."

Labels: Bay Area Real Estate, CAR, Continuing Study of the California Economy, Contra Costa Times, DataQuick, Real Estate Cycles, San Francisco Chronicle