U.S. HouseFlipper Laura Richardson Once a Real Estate Agent

From the Long Beach Press-Telegram:

U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson's housing woes - defaults in Long Beach and San Pedro, a foreclosure and unpaid property taxes in Sacramento - are well-documented.

What is less known is that the Long Beach Democrat once held a real estate license. The congresswoman was permitted to sell property in California from Dec. 16, 1998, to Dec. 15, 2002, state Department of Real Estate records show. In the late 1990s, Richardson worked for short periods of time at Action Century 21, 3626 E. Pacific Coast Highway, and Prudential California Realty (now Coldwell Banker), 1650 Ximeno Ave., agents at both offices say.

A spokesman for Richardson says she never took part in any real estate transactions.

From the Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento-area home values have an 82.2 percent chance of being lower two years from now, an improvement from previous rankings, Walnut Creek-based PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. reported Tuesday.

From the Sacramento Business Journal:

Hit hard by the housing slump and economic downturn, Sacramento furniture chain The Room Source has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and will begin liquidating its inventory at all six locations with a court-ordered sale beginning Saturday. After several weeks, all the stores will close, according to the company conducting the sale. The retailer, which employs fewer than 200 people, began experiencing the slowdown two years ago, said Harris Blickstein, chief operating officer. People aren’t buying furniture, he said, because of fallout from the subprime mortgage bust, lower housing prices and higher gas prices.

From the Sacramento Land(ing) archives:

The Room Source isn't planning layoffs or cuts, he [Blickstein] said. Instead, "I may spend more ... on advertising." The Room Source can weather a slowdown; smaller, undercapitalized businesses may not, he said...

From the Modesto Bee:

An economy rocked by staggering fuel prices and a moribund housing market has claimed two more businesses -- Dan Gamel's RV Centers and RoomSource Furniture & Accessories...Gamel, who sold the company in 2005 and reacquired it early this year, said he has had trouble getting banks to lend him working capital.
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Darrel Friesen, president of the California Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association, said RV sales in the state are down 40 percent from a year ago. He said fuel prices are partly to blame, and loans are harder to get because of declining home equity and tightened lending standards.

From the Sacramento Bee:

Elk Grove Ford, arguably the automaker's anchor dealership south of Sacramento, closed down operations early Friday evening in the Elk Grove Auto Mall...Keil Enterprises also recently closed its Great Valley Chrysler-Jeep-Mazda-Isuzu dealership at 2329 Fulton Ave. in Sacramento...[L]ocal auto dealer Paul Blanco announced in April that he was going to close Paul Blanco Chevrolet at 3815 Florin Road...Michael Barbieri, owner and manager of Auburn Nissan, said financial difficulties led to the closing of his dealership in Auburn on April 24.
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"This is the reality of the harshness of the market right now," [Rick Niello, president of the Sacramento-based Niello Co]...said... "…It's like seeing a home in your neighborhood where your neighbors have left and the weeds are growing all around the place."

From the Lodi News Sentinel:

Plans to build Lodi's new drinking water treatment plant will not flow as fast as first thought, city leaders said Tuesday. That is because the $41 million plant's funding source — fees from new development — has largely dried up.

From the CVBT:

[F]or many of the first settlers, Mountain House has become a nightmare. Out of about 300 homes on the resale market in the community rising out of 4,800 acres of former ranches and farms near Tracy in the Central Valley, roughly 260 are in some state of foreclosure, according to the real estate website trulia.com.

From the Modesto Bee:

Consider it a consolation prize: Plummeting home values have cost Northern San Joaquin Valley homeowners billions in home equity, but at least their property taxes are going down..."The average assessment value decrease was $122,000, which was a shock to us," Stanislaus County Assessor Doug Harms said Monday.
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The widespread decline in property assessments is unprecedented, causing total assessment rolls in the three counties to decline for the first time -- or at least as far back as records go.

From the Modesto Bee:

Hundreds of homeowners in Modesto and Patterson are late paying special property taxes, forcing the cities to begin a speedy foreclosure process for houses in newer subdivisions. The cities went through the same procedures last year when clusters of homeowners didn't pay Mello-Roos taxes they owe for growth-related effects such as roads and parks.
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More than a fifth of what Patterson residents owe in Mello-Roos charges hasn't been paid, City Manager Cleve Morris said. That has cost the city about $1 million this year.