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3rd Annual Pooches on Parade & Dine With Your Doggie Bark BQ

Looking for some 4th of July fun with your furry family members? Make plans for July 4, 2011 @ 12:00 on Main Street in HMB!

All dog owners are invited to come celebrate the 4th of July with our Coastside Communities by walking their four-legged friends in Half Moon Bay’s Ol’ 4th of July Parade.

View the Slideshow of the fanciful pooches in our 2010 parade.

Join us July 4 to be a part of the pageantry. Registration check-in begins at 10:45am and the parade starts at noon.

There are fun events surrounding the parade, like our Yappy Hour (6/25) and our Bark BQ (immediately following the parade) that we’re certain you won’t want to miss.

Don’t have a dog? No worries…John and Marcia, event organizers, bring their imaginary dogs, Cuff and Link. A stuffed animal also works just fine for parade purposes. And if these options don’t appeal to you, we are working to create a social network for those who are dogless and are interested in helping walk those who have more than two dogs.

Did we mention that all these events are free? You must register to walk your dog, and if you don’t take advantage of all the opportunities to pre-register, there will be a $10 registration fee for registering the day of the event (July 4).

Article from Pooches On Parade

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World Class Performances Right Under our Nose in Pacifica, California

“Sometimes things could be right under your nose, the only problem is your eyes are above it”
-Unknown

We often feel like we need to travel a long way to see something really amazing. But sometimes when you look up and really look around your own home in San Mateo County, you will see that amazing things, amazing surroundings, and amazing people are usually just under our noses.

For example, have you made a trip yet to Pacifica Performances yet? The Pacifica California organization has been staging concerts all over the community for years. It began in 1976 as the Pacifica Arts and Heritage Council, assisting art shows, sponsoring art, dance, and poetry, and providing a meeting place for artists within Pacifica.

Today, Pacifica Performances is housed in the Mildred Owen Concert Hall, a former school building transformed into a beautiful 175-seat concert hall. With a focus on live performances, the roster that they have today boasts a variety of acts – from Latin rhythms to stand up comedy. Below are a few upcoming events. As you read them, and possibly explore further into these musicians, you may find something truly amazing right outside your Pacifica home.

Los Boleros
When: Saturday, January 15th @7:30 pm
Dance moves, spins, passion! Los Boleros brings you back to the golden era of traditional Cuban son, cumber, merengue, danzon, and, of course, bolero! The lead singers combine a Havana-born son of a famous vocalist, the amazingly clear voice of an experienced performer, and  the addition of Flutes, Sultry Saxophone, dreamy violin and smoking Tres Cubano.

Richard Smith
When: Saturday, January 22 @7:30 pm
What do you get when you combine Scott Joplin Rags, Sousa marches, Mozart, fiddle tunes, Chet Atkins, Django gypsy jazz, Bach, and the Beatles? Answer: Richard Smith’s Virtuoso Guitar Series. This British-born musician showed incredible talent as a toddler. He can quickly master whatever guitar style that piques his interest, often taking only a single hearing to get it down. He really is a musical prodigy and definitely worth seeing at least once.

Bobbe Norris, Kenny Washington with Larry Dunlap Trio
When: Saturday, January 29@7:30 pm
If you’ve ever missed the voices of Nat ‘King’ Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, here is a wonderful reminder. Bobbe and Kenny come from soulful New Orleans roots, inspired by the greats. This is your chance to see the two of them together on stage.

Will Durst
When: Saturday, February 5
5 Time Emmy Nominee. 7 Time American Comedy Awards Stand Up of the Year Nominee. First comic invited to perform at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. This man has done it all and has got the resume to prove it. This political comic is a C-SPAN darling, and now he is coming to Pacifica.

Click Here for more information about Pacifica Performances and Ticket Prices.

What did we tell you about looking right under your nose? We would say that these acts are pretty impressive and they are just the tip of the iceberg. Pacifica, California is a place full of art, culture and performance. There is so much to love about this neighborhood, but it’s best explained by showing. When you are ready to come take a look at what Pacifica Real Estate has to offer, please give us a call.

Kathy & Michael Rain
Your San Mateo Coastal Real Estate Experts

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Bay Area’s High-End Housing Market Gaining Momentum by Rick Turley

Along with the beautiful early spring weather, the Bay Area’s housing market is gradually starting to warm up, too. We’re off to a much more robust and healthy start this year, and it’s not just in the lower price ranges. The mid-to-upper level market is picking up from Silicon Valley through the Peninsula and up through Marin and across to parts of the East Bay.

As I mentioned in an interview with the San Jose Mercury yesterday, after the financial market meltdown a year ago, high-end home sales dried up during the first half of 2009. Compared to those days, homes sales in higher price ranges are much more active now, pushing up median prices around the Bay. And with relatively few homes on the market in Silicon Valley and on the Peninsula, prices have stabilized and buyers are now competing for good listings.

Half of the sales reported by our Los Altos office drew multiple offers, for example.  One Sunnyvale home listed at $950,000 drew 12 offers and sold for more than $1 million. In Palo Alto, we’re seeing eight to 10 multiple offers for properties that are well-priced.  The San Francisco Van Ness office says some well-priced high-end listings are selling in 10-15 days. The same story is being told in Menlo Park, Southern Marin, Orinda – in fact, most of the Bay Area’s higher-end markets.

We just released our Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Luxury Report this week, and it shows million-dollar home sales in Marin nearly tripled last month from a year ago, while the median sale price jumped 25 percent.  The same was true in Silicon Valley, where luxury sales nearly doubled as the median price edge higher.

Now don’t get me wrong. While we’re seeing a promising recovery in many of our markets, we’re still fighting our way back to normalcy. The nation’s economy recovery is still very fragile. And the housing market’s gradual improvement must be sustained over time in the face of a challenged job market.  But the signs are encouraging that all sectors of our local housing market are slowly coming to life again.

Here’s a market-by-market report from our local offices:

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