Tobin Cleaning & Restoration plans March 11 grand opening

Tobin Cleaning and Restoration has scheduled a March 11 grand opening of its new new location at 3466 E. 20th North, one block north of the intersection of Ammon and Lincoln roads.

The Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a ribbon cutting at 11:30 a.m. A free lunch will follow, and there will be a superhero photo booth, spin-to-win games and a chance to meet the staff.

The company is also unveiling the new Esporta is4000, a machine designed to clean almost any soft
item, even the ones your dry cleaner won’t touch.

“Our new location will allow Tobin Cleaning & Restoration to provide expanded services
to our customers. We are fortunate to serve extraordinary families and businesses who have made this new building possible,” said Rhett Judy, Tobin’s owner.

In business since 1972, Tobin Cleaning and Restoration provides service to homes and businesses affected by fire and water damage or mold, also those in need of specialized restoration services. The new location features a flooring showroom, courtesy of Stapleton Flooring, which allows customers an opportunity to conveniently choose their new flooring and arrange flooring restoration services.

For more information, visit www.tobinrestoration.com.

D.L. Evans schedules March 18 grand opening for Ammon branch

D.L. Evans Bank has scheduled March 18 as the date for the grand opening of its Ammon branch,  2634 East Sunnyside Road, in the Sandcreek Commons Center. The event begins at 4 p.m.

The branch is a full-service location offering a full range of banking products and services, President and CEO John V. Evans said in a news release.

The bank was founded in Albion in 1904 with $25,000. Today, D.L. Evans Bank has total assets of more than $1.2 billion, with 26 branches in Idaho.

The Ammon branch was designed under sustainable guidelines by Erstad Architects and built by Construction Solutions Co., a local general contractor in Idaho Falls. Byron Wiscombe will serve as vice president branch manager, the release said.

Lientz appointed to head new INL directorate

Amy Lientz

Amy Lientz of the Idaho National Laboratory has been appointed to head a newly formed directorate: Partnerships, Engagement and Technology Deployment.

In this position, she will be in charge of the lab’s communications and governmental affairs, technology deployment, and university programs and educational outreach.

Lientz has more than 20 years of experience in program management for the energy and environmental industries. Before she became the INL’s director of governmental affairs and communications she was a vice president of CH2MHill.  She is a graduate of Boise State University in environmental science and holds a master’s degree from the College of Engineering at the University of Idaho.

Are low gas prices here to stay a while?

I’ve been writing gasoline price stories for decades, and one thing I know is that no matter how much your sources say the numbers at the pump are related to supply and demand, most Americans think something shady is going on.

A year ago, who would have dared to think regular unleaded would be selling for less than $3 a gallon. Yet as I’m looking right now at the GasBuddy app on my phone, I see local prices are generally in the range of $1.90, with $2.15 reported at the Chevron on Grandview. Last week I gassed up my Subaru for $1.64. Horror! I expect very soon to see Facebook friends posting, “The fix is in!”

Is our era of good feeling coming to an end? This is a time of year when we see gas prices start to rise, typically peaking around Memorial Day. Conventional wisdom and past experience suggest our respite is likely to be short-lived, but Bradley Olson at Bloomberg Business dares to suggest that low oil prices could be here for a while and perhaps quite a while.

A growing consensus is emerging from the likes of BP Plc, the International Energy Agency, shale wildcatters and even the Saudis that a near-term recovery to $100-a-barrel crude isn’t in the cards. Instead, expect a range of $50 to $60 for at least the next few years.

When oil prices plunged sharply in 2008, they rebounded almost as quickly. Several months ago, industry and government touted the same U or V-shaped recovery this time out. On closer examination, a new factor in the marketplace — shale oil — has changed their minds.

“This is the new normal,” Dennis Cassidy, co-leader of the oil and natural gas practice for consulting company AlixPartners, said in an interview. His group sees an L-shaped chart that could extend for three to five years.

Unlike other petroleum formations, the nature of shale — with multiple inexpensive, short-lived wells — means producers can stop and start drilling on a dime. On the one hand, this allows them to quickly cut costs in a downturn; on the other, every time prices tick up, so will their output — renewing downward pressure on prices.

To read the full story, follow this link: L-shaped Oil Recovery Flattens V-shaped Market Optimists. And, as they used to say at the ESSO station, "Happy motoring!"

Index shows rise in Idaho Falls home prices

Here is a line graph showing what the price of a $150,000 home in the Idaho Falls area would have done over the last 10 years. After peaking around $195,000 in the first half of 2008, the number slid to around $164,000 in mid-2011 and bobbed along between that number and $170,000 until third quarter of $2014.

If you bought a $150,000 home in the fourth quarter of 2004, the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Calculator says it would be roughly worth this in the fourth quarter of 2014:

Idaho Falls: $171,411  +14.3%
Pocatello: $179,618  +19.7%
Boise: $188,740  +25.8%
Reno: $123,048  -17.9%
Las Vegas: $108,277  -27.8%
Seattle: $192,029  +28%
Phoenix: $165,778 +10.5%

Here's a graph for Boise. Note that Joe Homeowner was underwater from Q1 2011 to Q2 2012, but recovery has been strong since then. 

Go ahead and try your house, but remember the House Price Calculator does not project the actual value of any particular house. What it projects is what a given house purchased at a point in time would be worth today if it appreciated at the average appreciation rate of all homes in the area. The actual value of any house will depend on the neighborhood, house condition and age, home improvements made and needed, and many other factors. Consult a qualified real estate appraiser in your area to obtain a professional estimate of the current value of your home. Title XI of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 requires that any appraisal used in connection with a federally related transaction must be performed by a competent individual whose professional conduct is subject to supervision and regulation. Appraisers must be licensed or certified according to state law.