I had the opportunity last Friday to attend a luncheon in Bellflower where Don Knabe, LA County Supervisor for the Fourth District, was the speaker.  Don has an office in Bellflower and has been involved with the City and it's service organizations for many years.  This luncheon was sponsored by the Kiwanis club.  Of course with Thanksgiving less than a week away, they spent time talking about the serious need in Bellflower and the County for food this year.  Don generously brought a personal check with him to the  luncheon for $350.00 to help the Kiwanis Club buy turkeys and put together food baskets for those in serious need.  Today the Kiwanians got together to package those boxes with canned goods and other food items.  Every box had a turkey and many very needy families in our community will have a good meal.   Don took the opportunity at lunch to give us an update on things in the County.  They aren't good.  Budgets still need to be cut more as the State continues to make cuts to the County Budget.  I was shocked when Don said that the area he covers in the fourth district has a budget larger than many Governor's have for their entire state!  He did not paint a rosy picture of the year ahead.  He talked about the damned if you do,  damned if you don't position he is in.  No matter what you cut and what you support somebody won't get something and somebody that no one wants to get anything will get something.  He also gave us an update on Martin Luther King Hospital.   I was thrilled to learn that it will become a part of the UC Hospital system and will be a teaching hospital.  The corruption and blatant lack of care that are this hospitals history will no longer be!  It will be a hospital filled with bright energetic young doctors working hard to make a difference.  If you haven't spent anytime wondering about the state of the county, or how people like Don can do that job - follow what he's doing.   I know he's a politician but it sure doesn't feel like it.  It feels more like I'm talking to a good friend who has a thankless job and doesn't see to know it.  Support him, let him know you think he's doing some right things, and if you don't agree with him let him know that.  He's one of the few that really does want to hear how you think it's going.  By the way, Don is a big fan of the Bellfower flag sponsored by the Kiwanis.  That's the big flag on the 91 freeway that you can see forever.  He has been a financial support and a moral support since the program began.  As a thank you. Kiwanis presented Don with a replica of the Keep it Flying Flag.  He thanked them and assured him he had enough coffee mugs!

This has been a frustrating year - and I don't mean just for me - I especially mean for buyers and sellers.  I just got off the phone with a seller that told me she can't understand why she hasn't gotten any offers on her property and it's been on the market 20 days.  But it's priced higher than the market value and it's a very high end home.  The media - here we got again - has led everybody to believe that everything on the market is such a steal they should jump on the bandwagon.  Well that just not true.  The houses that are a steal are the ones that are already owned by the bank, usually in need of some repair and that are priced between 250 and 300,000.  Who in their right mind thinks 300,000 is a steal.  But you would be shocked to learn that many of these homes are being purchased by investors and they are paying all cash.  They can spend very little to make them liveable, close quickly, which makes the bank happy and rent the property for more than it would take for them to recover their investment.  On top of that they have the luxury of time to wait for the market value to rise again.  Not many of us have that luxury with that much cash just sitting around.  There are some homes on the market that are priced fairly and priced to sell.  These don't last long.  There are still far more buyers than sellers in the market and this continues to make the market driven by the Sellers.  The extension of the home buyers tax credit sure doesn't hurt either!