Real estate

The Rancho Murieta Association board honored the homes with the best holiday decorations at Tuesday night’s meeting. Sean and Kristin Donnalley and kids of Murieta South Parkway were among those honored. See photos of the winners here.

See video of the RMA meeting (41 minutes)

The Rancho Murieta Association board Tuesday night unanimously approved spending about $390,000 to build the long-discussed Greens Park in the South. The board also honored homes with the best holiday lights. Read more » about RMA will spend $390,000 for Greens Park

The Camino Del Sol home, left, and the Lago Drive townhouse are owned, at least for now, by the Rancho Murieta Association.

Two foreclosed homes in Murieta North -- a townhouse on Lago Drive with a view of Laguna Joaquin and a two-story single-family home on Camino Del Sol -- have something else in common. Both are owned by the Rancho Murieta Association and they're being rented to recoup unpaid homeowners association fees.

"If someone doesn't pay their HOA fees, the association is allowed to (pursue) what they call nonjudicial foreclosure," RMA General Manager Nick Arther explained in a phone interview Thursday. Read more » about Who owns these rental homes? You might be surprised

The Sacramento Business Journal reported Tuesday that Murieta Plaza, Rancho Murieta's only retail center, sold for $6.42 million after an eight-month escrow that was complicated by the lack of recorded easements on the private roads that access the center -- Murieta Drive and Lone Pine Drive. Staff writer Kelly Johnson's blog says the 66,000-square-foot center last sold in 2003 for $7.78 million. The seller is identified as "a Southern California man" and the buyer is a Bay Area family investment group, according to Johnson's blog. Read more » about Murieta Plaza sells for $6.42 million

The Rancho Murieta Association board deferred action on exclusive use and how to use an expected surplus of about $200,000 at a meeting Tuesday night. In one of its  few actions of the evening, the board approved reducing the fine for open garage doors from $100 to $25. Read more » about RMA defers action on exclusive use and $200,000 surplus

Rather than enact new, difficult requirements for members to be granted exclusive uses of common area, the Rancho Murieta Association board of directors voted Tuesday night to delay any action on the rules change while it explores alternatives. Read more » about RMA hopes for state guidance on question of exclusive use

If you live on a circle, townhouse, cottage or McKim lot and you want a fenced yard, pool or other backyard amenity that won’t fit entirely within the property line, you could be out of luck after Tuesday. That’s when the Rancho Murieta Association board of directors will act on rules that require the approval of 67 percent of the membership for new exclusive use leases. Read more » about RMA board faces decision on allowing leases of common area

The Rancho Murieta Association board voted Tuesday night to go into budgeting for 2010 with an alternative budget for cable -- one that moves cable maintenance and operations funding into a separate document.  The board also addressed the idea of holding real estate open houses on Saturdays and the question of Security's powers and a Security memo from earlier in the year that apparently orders the department's officers to not respond to requests from the sheriff's department. Read more » about RMA discusses cable budget, Security, Saturday open houses and more

As the Rancho Murieta Association board pondered another half-dozen requests for driveway parking variances last month, someone mentioned one person who won't be asking for a variance any time soon -- the guy who's building the house on the South with the 11-car garage. Read more » about Building a garage to hold 11 cars (and a few golf carts)

A Superior Court judge on Friday heard the Rancho Murieta Association's appeal of a Small Claims Court decision about granting exclusive uses of common area. After a 40-minute hearing in Small Claims Court, Judge James Henke said he would review the documents in the case before making a decision. Read more » about Court hears RMA appeal of ruling on exclusive use of common land