Bakersfield real estate market is on fire, reflecting a national trend, Stephon Carter returns home to coach the Centennial High men's squad and another local favorite son - Thomas Benham - also returns home.

Welcome to Bakersfield Observed. Our mission is to celebrate life in Kern County by focusing on newsmakers and events and the local characters who make this community such a special place. The views expressed here are strictly my own and do not represent any other company or publication.

 * ... REAL ESTATE: There is no doubt that our local real estate market is healthy. So healthy, in fact, that sellers are receiving multiple offers and many times well over the asking price. Apparently, according to The New York Times, that is part of a national trend that is seeing sales of homes in the suburbs and mid-size cities taking off. The Times said real home prices, adjusted for inflation, rose 45 percent from February 2010 through May 2020, but experts are warning nothing lasts forever. "It

would be easy to assume that the boom times for housing will go on forever, but that would require ignoring the disaster that led to the most recent great financial crisis, a little more than a decade ago," the paper said. Locally, people like Ronda Newport (president of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors) notes that mortgage rates remain near all-time lows and that Bakersfield is starting to see folks from other areas move here to work remotely while getting more house for their buck.

 * ... THOMAS BENHAM: And speaking of those who see the bargain that Bakersfield is, it was heartening to read Herb Benham's column in the Sunday Californian indicating that his youngest son - Thomas - and his fiancé were moving back to Bakersfield. A world-class chef who attended Cal-Berkeley, Thomas is bringing Alicia, his east-coast born fiancé, with him and they are negotiating to buy a home downtown. Now tell me where two young kids could afford to buy a home other than here? This is the kind of happy ending story we all need for a Sunday.

 * ... STEPHON CARTER: Stephon Carter, the former Garces and CSUB basketball player who wooed crowds with this athleticism, has been named the head coach of the Centennial High School men's squad. Carter led Garces to three consecutive CIF Central Section titles (2007-2009) before continuing at CSUB where he ended his collegiate career as the program's all-time leading scorer. He played semi-professional basketball in Spain, Mexico and Canada for six years.

 * ... MORE STEPHON: If you want to hear Stephon Carter's story, tune into KERN NewsTalk 96.1 FM Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. when I will interview him on The Richard Beene Show.

* ... SPOTTED ON TWITTER: "My son is wearing a MAGA cap and a Vote Trump 2020 button. He’s been spat on, punched and verbally abused.  I hate to think what will happen when he leaves the house."

 * ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Happy birthday to Megan McCarthy, daughter of Judy McCarthy and Congressman Kevin McCarthy. The young lady, who grew up a political child with rare access to national politics, turned 24 years old.

 * ... MEMORIES: Take a look of this old building on 34th Street that I spotted on the Kern County History Fans Facebook page.