Chance Gates' Blog

Alexander Fleming (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have been trying to point out that in our lives chance may have an astonishing influence and, if I may offer advice to the young laboratory worker, it would be this – never to neglect an extraordinary appearance or happening.
Alexander Fleming

It is the lone worker who makes the first advance in a subject; the details may be worked out by a team, but the prime idea is due to enterprise, thought, and perception of an individual.
Alexander Fleming

One sometimes finds what one is not looking for.
Alexander Fleming

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/alexander_fleming.html#urJBIMQPCjAmaJA2.99

Thanks to my friends at Prospect Mtg

www.almanac.com.

Eclipse Anular (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

May 20, 2012: Annular eclipse of the Sun This rare eclipse will be partially visible from all but eastern North America. For most western locations, the eclipse will begin between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. PDT. In Alaska and parts of northern Canada, the eclipse will start an hour earlier and end 2 to 3 hours later (or will be interrupted by sunset). In San Francisco, for example, the eclipse will begin at 5:16 P.M. PDT, reach its maximum at 6:33 P.M., and end at 7:30 P.M., with the Sun very low on the horizon.

RENO, Nev. – Tickets for Nevada’s Sept. 1 football season opener at California are on sale now at the Link Piazzo Ticket Office at Legacy Hall.

Tickets are only available to season ticketholders who are current on their payments and can be purchased by calling or visiting the ticket office.

Tickets are $45 each, and season ticketholders can purchase two tickets for every seat in their accounts. All orders received prior to July 1 will be allocated based on Nevada’s Loyalty Points System. No refunds or exchanges will be permitted.

After July 1, any unallocated seats will go on sale to the public on a first come, first serve basis with fans able to purchase a maximum of four tickets per person.

Season tickets are still available in all areas of Mackay Stadium with prices ranging from $85 for general admission to $150 for reserved (some areas require an additional donation to the Pack Educational Fund).

For more information or to purchase tickets, call or visit the Link Piazzo Ticket Office at Legacy Hall at (775) 348-PACK (7225) or go online at NevadaWolfPack.com.

A friend of mine called and said they’re interested in having you do a song for the new Pokemon. All my kids are grown up, so I’d heard of it, but I didn’t really know what it was.
Donna Summer

And I mean, I’m established. So I’m not worried about having a hit at this point in my career.
Donna Summer

And no, having the hits is just more work.
Donna Summer

Because I’m just an ordinary person that did some extraordinary things.
Donna Summer

But I like to know that someone is stronger than I am. I want to be able to know that if I get tired, somebody is there to hold up the fort. I like knowing that I can’t pick a refrigerator alone. God did not make me strong enough to do that.
Donna Summer

Logo of the National Association of Realtors. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org.

Pending home sales increased in March and are well above a year ago, another signal the housing market is recovering, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 4.1 percent to 101.4 in March from an upwardly revised 97.4 in February and is 12.8 percent above March 2011 when it was 89.9.  The data reflects contracts but not closings.

The index is now at the highest level since April 2010 when it reached 111.3.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said 2012 is expected to be a year of recovery for housing.  “First quarter sales closings were the highest first quarter sales in five years.  The latest contract signing activity suggests the second quarter will be equally good,” he said.

“The housing market has clearly turned the corner.  Rising sales are bringing down inventory and creating much more balanced conditions around the county, which means home prices will be rising in more areas as the year progresses,” Yun said.

The PHSI in the Northeast slipped 0.8 percent to 78.2 in March but is 21.1 percent above March 2011.  In the Midwest the index declined 0.9 percent to 93.3 but is 16.9 percent higher than a year ago.  Pending home sales in the South rose 5.9 percent to an index of 114.1 in March and are 10.6 percent above March 2011.  In the West the index increased 8.7 percent in March to 108.0 and is 9.0 percent above a year ago.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

# # #

*The Pending Home Sales Index is a leading indicator for the housing sector, based on pending sales of existing homes. A sale is listed as pending when the contract has been signed but the transaction has not closed, though the sale usually is finalized within one or two months of signing.

The index is based on a large national sample, typically representing about 20 percent of transactions for existing-home sales.  In developing the model for the index, it was demonstrated that the level of monthly sales-contract activity parallels the level of closed existing-home sales in the following two months.

An index of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity during 2001, which was the first year to be examined as well as the first of five consecutive record years for existing-home sales; it coincides with a level that is historically healthy.

NOTE: Existing-home sales for April will be reported May 22, the next Pending Home Sales Index will be released May 30 and first quarter metro area home prices will be released May 9; release times are 10:00 a.m. EDT.



The Commerce Department reported that consumer spending rose $32.3 billion or 0.3% in March, just one-third of February’s increase. Personal income in March increased $50.3 billion or 0.4%, after a 0.3% rise in February.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the monthly composite index of manufacturing activity rose to 54.8 in April from 53.4 in March. A reading above 50 signals expansion. It was the 33rd straight month of expansion.

Total construction spending rose 0.1% to $808.1 billion in March from a revised $807.3 billion in February. Economists had anticipated an increase of 0.5% in March. Compared to a year ago, construction spending is up 6%.

Factory orders fell 1.5% in March, the biggest drop in three years, to a seasonally adjusted $460.5 billion, following a revised 1.1% increase in February. Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders increased slightly in March.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted composite index of mortgage applications for the week ending April 27 rose 0.1%. Refinancing applications decreased 0.7%. Purchase volume rose 2.9%.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the monthly composite index of non-manufacturing activity fell to 53.5 in April from 56 in March. A reading above 50 signals expansion. It was the 28th straight month of expansion in the services sector.

Thanks to my friends at Prospect Mtg

Portrait of Alexander Graham Bell Français : Portrait de Alexander Graham Bell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself.
Alexander Graham Bell

America is a country of inventors, and the greatest of inventors are the newspaper men.
Alexander Graham Bell

Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.
Alexander Graham Bell

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.
Alexander Graham Bell

Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the cooperation of many minds. I may be given credit for having blazed the trail, but when I look at the subsequent developments I feel the credit is due to others rather than to myself.
Alexander Graham Bell

Neither the Army nor the Navy is of any protection, or very little protection, against aerial raids.
Alexander Graham Bell

Sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open.
Alexander Graham Bell

The most successful men in the end are those whose success is the result of steady accretion.
Alexander Graham Bell

The nation that secures control of the air will ultimately control the world.
Alexander Graham Bell

What this power is I cannot say; all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.
Alexander Graham Bell

Monday June 18, 2012 at the Reno  Livestock Events Center in Reno NV.

The first four BFIs were held in Chowchilla. The BFI moved to Las Vegas in 1981, then to Denton, Texas, in 1982. That fall, Feist and Hartnell College student Bill Wittmer were in a car accident while on a fishing trip in Alaska. Wittmer died, and Feist just wasn’t up to a 1983 event.

The BFI has called Reno home since 1984, though the roping was held outside in the rodeo arena the first several years.

“We moved it inside to remove the weather factor,” Feist said. “One year when we were outside, the weather was atrocious. It rained, hailed, sleeted and the wind blew. It was typical Reno weather & three seasons in one day. It was terrible to see guys roping for that kind of money in those conditions.”

Tickets will be available starting June 1 at D-M Western Store
in Reno and at the Silver Legacy Hotel starting June 16th.
Plenty of tickets will also be available starting at 7:30 am
on Monday, June 18th at the Reno Livestock Events Center.

The World’s Richest One-Day Open Team Roping!

www.bobfeistinvitational.com

As a Reno/Sparks Nevada real estate professional and property manager, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.com http://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  To checkout some of  my property manager services goto http://chancegates.com/property-management-services/

If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable

If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.

Pending home sales, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts, rose 4.1% in March, the highest level since April 2010, after an upwardly revised 0.4% increase in February. On a year-over-year basis, pending home sales in March were up 12.8%.

The Commerce Department announced that gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services produced in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate of 2.2% in the first quarter of 2012. This follows a 3% pace of growth in the fourth quarter of 2011.

New home sales fell 7.1% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 328,000 units from an upwardly revised rate of 353,000 units in February. The initial February reading was 313,000. The January rate was revised higher to 329,000 units. On a year-over-year basis, new home sales in March were up 7.5%. At the current sales pace, there’s a 5.3-month supply of new homes on the market.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index — on a non-seasonally adjusted basis — fell 0.8% in February, after a 1% decrease in January. On a year-over-year basis, prices fell 3.5% compared with February 2011.

Orders for durable goods — items expected to last three or more years — fell $8.8 billion or 4.2% to $202.6 billion in March, the biggest drop in more than three years. This follows a revised 1.9% increase in February. Excluding volatile transportation-related goods, orders posted a monthly decrease of 1.1%.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending April 21 fell by 1,000 to 388,000 from a revised 389,000 the prior week. Continuing claims for the week ending April 14 rose by 3,000 to 3.315 million.

As a Reno/Sparks Nevada real estate professional and property manager, I encourage all questions and comments on the Reno/Sparks real estate market or any of the articles posted in this blog. Please feel free to use my back door to the MLS and search the houses available in the Reno/Sparks and most Northwest Nevada neighborhoods. I can be reached by email @ chance@ballard-company.com http://www.myspace.com/chancegates .  You can also follow me at http://www.twitter.com/chancegates .  To checkout some of  my property manager services goto http://chancegates.com/property-management-services/

If you are behind on your house payment and looking for a loan modification, go to making homes affordable

If the modification fails, contact your local real estate professional to help short sale your home.  To make sure there is no deficiency judgment a homeowner might find it necessary to hire an attorney.