Good news!  Salida home sales for the month of March are up 13% compared to March of 2008.  Year to date sales are down 34% from a year ago.  BUT...This is an historically great time to buy.  Refuse to participate in the recession!   Interest rates are at a 50-year low, down to 4.6% for a fixed 30 year conventional home loan.  Department of Agriculture and VA are offering 100% loans.  Buyers who haven't purchased within the past 3 years receive an $8000 tax credit for home purchases made by December 1, 2009.  There are 672 homes on the market in this area and the median home price is under $300,000.  Wish I had more money to invest!  Leslie Walker, CRS,GRI, Salida Realty.

I am 14-some years old, so I don't get around much.  When I do, I keep my nose to the ground!  A few days ago, there was a snow storm here, so when my Mom and I went to the "no-pets" park, I rolled over and over, making a snow angel that looked like a Labrador Retriever!  I could see the flowers perking through the icy white stuff.  Spring is great because of the smells-deer droppings, goose poop, even a cow pie.  For a while now, the baby cows have been shooting out like airborne black dots.  Also interesting is rejected bird nesting.  I guess the babies need new twigs and grass, so all the leftovers are tossed to the ground.  Why don't they recycle?  This time of the year, there are wild asparagus and fresh grass to eat.  I've heard that the Purina Diet is popular now.  Humans lose lots of weight, just nibbling on pockets full of the crunchy stuff.  I don't recommend it, people shouldn't eat dog food.  My Mom ate dog biscuits when she was young.  Leave all this to us!  You can see a picture of me on my Mom's web site at www.buysalida.com.  Estes Bark

A Texas couple nicknamed Pumpkin and Meat Loaf (names changed somewhat!), wanted to see my listing of 21 acres on the Arkansas River.  The land had recently been leased to a rancher with cattle.  This enables the owner to reduce taxes to about $15/year.  They hopped the fence, I took a phone call and they marched on.  When I proceeded, my red pants caught the attention of the cows (altho Meat Loaf says these animals are color blind, they began to follow me as an increasing pace.  In Colorado, cows must be fenced OUT.  See Code of the West at www.chaffeecounty.org for other ways in which homeowners and ranchers cooperate.  Pumpkin and Meat Loan had disappeared down the gully on Bureau of Land Management land.   Public land (BLM, National Forest and State) makes up 85% of Chaffee County.  I pointed out trails and river access available to them as taxpayers. It's like getting an extra big yard for free!   Cows, of course, and other animals can drink out of the river, but the water cannot be pumped, because someone up or down stream owns it.  This means they have already filed their right and use with the Division of Natural Resources probably back in the 1800s.  However, properties lines usually go the middle of the river.  In addition to water rights, we talked about types of wells and how the supply can be augmented.  Under 35 acres, parcels use in-house use well, at 35+ acres, domestic wells are permitted, and can be shared with three households.  Vacant land does not usually have a well drilled.  We went over septic and leach fields, country living means you can't hook up to sewer, water and gas lines.  We located the well, and carefully covered it so that a racoon or other critter wouldn't fall inside and contaminate the water, bacteria can be identified by the Department of Health.  After some minutes of calling their foody names, we reunited.  They had more questions about flood plains, road access off a highway, production and depth of the well. Explaining rural life to city folks is all in a day's work!    Leslie Walker, Salida Realty