Sacramento Real Estate

U.S. home prices are cooling off. These five charts tell the story: http:// on.wsj.com/1yGIAIX   Reply Retweet Favorite More

China Wastes 35 Million Metric Tons of Grain a Year—Enough to Feed 200 Million http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-17/china-wastes-35-million-metric-tons-of-grain-a-year-enough-to-feed-200-million#r=nav-f-story 中國廢物糧食3500萬公噸年，足以養活200億  By  Dexter Roberts     October 17, 2014           Photograph by Ariana Lindquist/Bloomberg A farmer harvests rice in Xizhou county, China Chinese officials like to point out that their country has less than 10 percent of the world’s arable land but has to feed a fifth of the world’s population. So you would think that China obsessively ensures there is no wastage in its agriculture sector. You would be wrong. Every year China wastes at least 35 million metric tons of grain through subpar storage, during transportation by truck, rail, and boat, and through excessive processing, said a Chinese official earlier this week. “The losses can feed 200 million people for a year, which is ...

IN ASSOCIATION WITH 6 October 2014 Last updated at 12:33 ET Hong Kong protests: Mapping the crowds Latest Protest wall Story so far Protest map Tiananmen echoes Symbols Continue reading the main story The number of protesters taking to the streets in central Hong Kong has started to drop away, eight days after the demonstrations began. Tens of thousands of people had been turning out for the rallies against the Chinese government's decision to limit candidates in forthcoming leadership elections, bringing parts of the territory to a standstill. But as student leaders have started meeting government officials to lay the groundwork for talks on political reform, the protesters out on the streets are in their hundreds, not thousands . Connaught Road, central Hong Kong On Sunday 29 September, Occupy Central joined forces with students who had been staging boycotts and sit-ins to demand democracy. Their occupation of the busi...

香港抗議     A tough test for China's leaders Sep 29th 2014, 12:17 by G.E. | HONG KONG Umbrella man IT IS a most unusual sight on Chinese soil, and most unsettling for leaders in Beijing. On September 28th and 29th tens of thousands of demonstrators surrounded government offices and filled major thoroughfares around Hong Kong, braving rounds of tear gas from riot police to call for democracy and demand the resignation of Leung Chun-ying, the territory's Beijing-backed chief executive. One image broadcast and shared around the world, of a lone protester holding his umbrella aloft in a cloud of tear gas (pictured above), has given the non-violent protests a poetic echo of “tank man” from the crackdown at Tiananmen Square in 1989. It also captures precisely what Communist Party leaders in Beijing fear from Hong Kong and its special status under the “one country, two systems” arrangement it has enjoyed since the territory’s handover from Britain in 1997. No...

Sacramento’s grid: How would you improve it?    Posted on  September 23, 2014  by  City of Sacramento Why is the Downtown Grid so important to Sacramento?  And how would you improve it?  The City wants to hear from you! The Grid is the network of streets within the Central City. The Grid does a wonderful job of serving diverse users including bicycles, pedestrians, transit riders and automobiles but improvements can be made. Planned development in the Central City warrants a second look at how the grid operates and we would like to engage the community in helping to determine the appropriate improvements for the future of the gird.   Click here  to tell us what you think.

TOP 10: MOST POPULAR "BONSAI OF THE DAY" IMAGES TOP 10：最流行的“盆景的日子”IMAGES On social media (including Facebook and Twitter) we share a "Bonsai of the Day". The ten most popular trees deserve special attention in this Top 10. Enjoy! 十大最受歡迎樹木值得特別注意在這前10名享受！  (#1) Juniper Bonsai tree by Luis Vila By far the most popular image; A Juniper Bonsai tree by Luis Vila. It is placed in a unique Crescent Bowl, which enhances the dramatic effect of the cascade composition. This is a personal favorite, stunning composition! Photo by: Salvador De Los Reyes. Check our  Bonsai gallery  for more images. (#2) Bougainvillea by Lorna Toledo Abundant flowers on this massive Bougainvillea Bonsai, by Lorna Toledo. (#3) Bougainvillea Bonsai by Eko Bonsai Purple flowers on a Bougainvillea Bonsai tree, in Moyogi style, by Eko Bonsai. He also works on  Ficus Bonsai  trees. (#4) Juniper by Peter Ebensperg...

The challenges facing prospective buyers of the least expensive homes in the U.S. are getting harder to overcome. Already beset by  stagnant wages , growing student debt and competition from investors who are snapping up listings, those looking to purchase moderately priced houses must also provide more cash up front. The median down payment for the cheapest 25 percent of properties sold in 2013 was $9,480 compared with $6,037 in 2007, the last year of the previous economic expansion, according to data from 25 of the largest metro areas compiled by brokerage firm  Redfin Corp . The higher bar is a symptom of still-tight credit that is crowding out first-time buyers even as  interest rates  remain near historical lows. Younger adults, who would normally be making initial forays into real estate, are among those most affected, weakening the foundations of the housing market and limiting its contribution to economic growth. Homeownership Reconsidered “The numb...