Business & Real Estate

Zoe Morgan/Town Crier
Nature Gallery owner Carol Garsten wears a larimar and quartz necklace that she created for her new “87Rocks” jewelry line.

Carol Garsten, owner of Nature Gallery at 296 State St. in downtown Los Altos, launched her new jewelry collection, “87Rocks,” Friday, the first day of summer.

Garsten said her latest collection “presents jewelry with a bold geologic aesthetic.”

When you buy a house or condominium, there is already a bit of sticker shock, so all those little added fees that come up at sign-off can be a bit of a surprise.

Following is a breakdown of fees you should expect to see when you buy or sell a house or condo, and who typically pays them. Fees break down into lender, title and escrow, broker and city and county categories.

Melissa Hartman/Town Crier
An assembled BIZIBOT, designed for kids by Virginie Manichon of San Francisco, is among The White Mulberry’s selections featured in their customized gift boxes.

Los Altos resident and The White Mulberry co-founder Mansi Bhatia hands me a plastic bookmark to decorate, bake and gift to my father to show my appreciation on the day that specifically honors the ways in which he chiefly made me the person I am today.

Standing under a tent in 85-degree heat at the Los Altos Farmers’ Market, Bhatia and Tanu Pant, the woman with the concept that made their entrepreneurial dream a reality, walk children through a craft and advertise The White Mulberry’s custom gift boxes to those who troop along State Street.

I attended a large foundation’s investment committee meeting the other day to learn about its investment strategy.

One of the active fund managers the foundation uses for large-cap U.S. stock investments attended to discuss their methodology for achieving better returns than the Standard & Poor’s 500.

Los Altos

218 N. Avalon Drive, Fisher Family Trust to H. & X. Xu for $3,350,000

62 S. Clark Avenue, V. & A. Bernard to G. & A. Sud for $4,100,000

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier
The shades are drawn and the door is locked during regular business hours at LoveBugs in Los Altos June 5. The inside of the building appears to be empty. The owner could not be reached for details.

LoveBugs, a lice-removal salon in Los Altos’ Rancho Shopping Center, left the city without a trace – or a business license.

After receiving a tip from a reader last week, the Town Crier stopped by the business at 1148 Riverside Drive and observed that the office space, which LoveBugs functioned out of for just under eight years, was vacant. Owner Mailana Mavromatis did not post notification of the closure.