Would you like to see more bike paths in Irvine? Or maybe you would like it to be easier to get around Irvine by walking. As an Irvine resident, employee, or student, you can make your opinions known by taking the Active Transportation Survey.

From a City of Irvine letter: “We are writing to ask your help with an important study being conducted by the City of Irvine to better understand how residents and employees may be walking or biking as part of their day-to-day activities and how they feel about making bicycling and walking more viable transportation options in our communities. You can participate by completing a brief survey and provide valuable input that would help inform transportation decisions that will likely affect you and your community.”

Not only will your input help in shaping Irvine’s transportation options, it will also give you the opportunity to win prizes from local bike and retail shops in Irvine. However, you must complete the survey before February 28. To take the survey click on this link: ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION SURVEY. And for more information, contact Mike Davis, Transit Programs Administrator at 949-724-6288.

And if you would like to give some input on public transportation options, especially bus scheduling and routing, the Orange County Transportation System holds Customer Roundtables approximately three weeks after scheduled service changes (February, June and October).

“When a Customer Roundtable is scheduled, OCTA will call or email prospective riders and ask approximately 15 questions. If your ridership profile matches our discussion topics, you will be sent an invitation to participate in the Customer Roundtable. Customer Roundtables are held at the OCTA Headquarters located at 600 South Main Street in Orange and will begin at 6:00 pm and will last no more than 2 hours. Participants are not paid for attending.” To be put on the Customer Roundtable interest list, click on this OCTA site

As I wrote previously, California has had quite a few years of below average rainfall. And our current forecast for increased precipitation is not good. In fact, Governor Brown recently made it official: California is in a drought.

IRWD is offering some classes that can help us all reduce our outdoor water use. The key to this program, CALscape, is to use the right plants, water schedule, and equipment for our location.

Here are the details:

What: California Appropriate Landscape (CALscape)

Date: You have three dates to choose from: January 29, March 7, or March 21

Time: 6 pm

Where: IRWD headquarters office, 15600 Sand Canyon Avenue, Irvine in the multi-purpose room

RSVP: Send an email to calscape@irwd.com. Include your name, the number of attendees and which date you would like to attend.

Contact: Shannon Reed, Public Affairs Manager
reeds@irwd.com, (949) 453-5500

I’ll end with some words to ponder: “We continue to run California as if the longest drought we are ever going to encounter is about seven years. We're living in a dream world.“–Scott Stine, professor of geography and environmental studies at Cal State East Bay

Here is a look at some statistics as provided by Redfin for homes that sold in Irvine in the ninety days prior to January 12, 2014.

• Median sale to list price: 98.2%

• Median selling price : $748,900

• Median selling price per square foot: $422

• Average number of offers: 1.6

• Average down payment: 18.4%

• Number of homes sold: 539

And following is a look at a few of the homes in Irvine that have asking prices that are near the current median selling price.

11 Eccelstone Circle

• $739,000 ($499/SF)

• 3 beds/1.75 baths

• 1,482 SF

• Single family built in 1972

• The Ranch Neighborhood

• HOA Dues: None

• Mello Roos: No

4056 Williwaw Drive

Note: This is a short sale.

• $735,000 ($314/SF)

• 4 beds/3 baths

• 2,344 SF

• Single family built in 1971

• Racquet Club Neighborhood

• HOA Dues: None

• Mello Roos: No

402 Rockefeller

• $777,000 ($373/SF)

• 2 beds/2.5 baths

• 2,081 SF

• Condo built in 2012

• The Airport/IBC area

• HOA Dues: $714/month (Includes Clubhouse, Maintenance, Trash)

• Mello Roos: Yes

With the last 12 months being exceptionally dry, the U.S. Drought Monitor states that almost 95 percent of California is in some level of drought. And Bill Patzert, a climatologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, states that rainfall in the Los Angeles area has been below average for seven of the last ten years. In addition, Jeanine Jones with the Department of Water Resources states that the rainfall forecast for the state is not encouraging.

Fortunately, the Irvine Ranch Water District is not currently raising a water-shortage alarm. This is due in large part to the IRWDs diversified water portfolio (http://www.irwd.com/liquid-news/diverse-water-portolio-protects-irwd-customers-from-water-supply-disruption). However, IRWD does advocate for homeowner water conservation. Not only will this help to stretch our valuable water supply, it will also help the homeowner save money.

Here is how IRWD breaks it down:

How much can you $ave?	Estimated Water $avings
Water only when necessary	1,100 gallons per irrigation cycle
Water before 8am	25 gallons per day
Check for sprinkler leaks, overspray & broken sprinker heads	500 gallons per month
Use a water saving hose nozzle	up to 7,500 gallons per year
Use a broom, not a hose, to clean driveways and sidewalks	up to 150 gallons each time
Install a smart sprinkler irrigation controller	up to 40 gallons per irrigation cycle
Place organic mulch in your garden	hundreds of gallons per year
Replace thirsty plants with California Friendly plants	hundreds of gallons per year







To help you reduce your water use, IRWD provides some additional tips for both outside and indoor water use. You will also find some rebate information in the links.

According to Altos Research, the Market Action Index (MAI) for Irvine’s single-family housing market is 40.70. That is an uptick from the 36.88 MAI that was recorded about a month ago. As defined by Altos, this puts the Irvine single-family housing market in the seller’s market category. (Above 30 is defined as a seller’s market; below is defined as a buyer’s market.) Altos also states that the average single-family home in Irvine has been on the market for about 81days as of December 20, 2013.

Following is Irvine’s November 2013 housing market data as provided by Redfin.

Type	List Price/# Homes Listed	Sold Price/# Homes Sold	List Per SF	Sold Per SF	% Chg Y-O-Y Sold Price/SF
Houses
13-Nov 13-Oct 13-Sep 13-Aug 13-Jul	$1,175K/195 $1,180K/220 $1,099K/238 $1,075K/235 $1,125K/210	$825K/90 $921K/117 $920K/132 $908K/114 $900K/122	$472 $456 $462 $459 $459	$434 $419 $423 $406 $435	22.6% 14.5% 20.9% 17.7% 16.90%
13-Jun	$1,112K/186	$855K/99	$462	$414	16%
13-May	$1,030K/167	$890K/113	$457	$411	21.60%
13-Apr	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
13-Mar	$1,020K/101	$904K/62	$443	$381	13.40%
13-Feb	na/109	na/272	$415	$354	n/a
13-Jan	na/113	na/274	$409	$357	n/a
Condos
13-Nov 13-Oct 13-Sep 13-Aug 13-Jul	$618K/254 $600K/281 $585K/288 $590K/295 $588K/295	$495K/84 $524K/122 $520K/121 $564/146 $522K/135	$408 $404 $328 $406 $416	$384 $395 $325 $384 $394	17.4% 20.4% 28.7% 24.3% 28.80%
13-Jun	$585K/235	$540K/130	$418	$391	24.90%
13-May	$599K/177	$539K/144	$406	$386	30.40%
13-Apr	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
13-Mar	$570K/111	$476K/88	$375	$344	21.60%
13-Feb	na/100	na/301	$369	$325	n/a
13-Jan	na/106	na/324	$377	$327	n/a
All
13-Nov 13-Oct 13-Sep 13-Aug 13-Jul	$729K/486 $724K/552 $724K/578 $710K/579 $709K/545	$650K/197 $675K/257 $710K/271 $660K/278 $659K/283	$420 $416 $415 $418 $423	$392 $397 $408 $389 $401	18.1% 16.8% 25.9% 18.2% 24.10%
13-Jun	$734K/456	$638K/249	$422	$395	20.80%
13-May	$750K/371	$659K/274	$416	$393	26.80%
13-Apr	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
13-Mar	$703K/219	$588K/151	$392	$359	18.90%
13-Feb	na/209	na/573	$389	$334	n/a
13-Jan	na/219	na/598	$389	$338	n/a