PruCalVoices

Buyers…are You Commitment Phobic?

January 28, 2009 · · 6 Comments

You’ve made the commitment to buy a house. You’ve committed to a lender and gotten your pre-approval letter and now it’s time to go looking. When it comes to choosing your Realtor(R), you’ve decided to take a different approach…find as many Realtors willing to work on your behalf. You’ll give the business to the one that actually finds the specific house you want. Sounds like a good plan, but is it? Are you hurting yourself instead? Read more

Karin Cunningham

Can I really buy a house in Daly City for under $400,000?

January 27, 2009 · · 6 Comments

Not only can you buy a house in Daly City for under $400,000 right now but in South San Francisco, Pacifica, and San Bruno as well. Most of these lower priced bargains are short sales and bank owned property. They are not always in the best shape or have a lot of bedrooms but they are opportunities that some people have been waitng for! Although there is competion again to buy in this price range, more and more homes become available every week. It’s sad on one hand but a hopeful first time buyer’s dream!        Read more

Kathy Wall

Where Should We Work?

January 27, 2009 · · 5 Comments

Over the years, one of the big controversies in the real estate world has been where we should work…what territories should we cover?   Should we stick only to the areas near our office or home or should we branch out and sell properties in other areas?   After all, our real estate license is for the entire State of California.  

When my office was in Pacifica, there were many agents who would, literally, refer out any listings or sales that weren’t on the Coast.    They wouldn’t “go over the hill.”   I know that this is true for many agents in other areas, as well.   Personally, I have always been of the mindset that “have license, will travel.”  Read more

Nicole Machado

Have We Hit the Bottom

January 24, 2009 · · 5 Comments

I was reading the January/February 2009 edition of the California Association of Realtors Magazine and came across this article I thought I would share. The article has good facts with a positive economic forecast for 2009 and the graph is a great visual representation of the history of the market.

To read the full article click on the thumbnail image of the article below, then click once more on the article to make the content larger.

Shokoofeh Nowbakht

Open House TOOOOO Crowded ???

January 20, 2009 · · 9 Comments

Last week I had a really busy open house. I don’t know if this is particularly good. I don’t know if I were able to answer everyone’s questions and concerns. I tried to respond a little loud so that everyone in the room would hear me. I didn’t always had a chance to greet everyone as soon as they walked in the door, or hand them a flyer soon enough. I don’t think the buyers like a too busy open house either. I have heard complaints from my clients that he couldn’t move in the hallway, couldn’t see the kitchen well enough, or didn’t get a chance to check out the garage as well as he wanted. Read more

Jean Joh

Is Your Agent a Twit?

January 17, 2009 · · 5 Comments

Recently, many people in our office have been learning more and more about social networking sites, such as twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed…you get the idea.  One of the questions I hear often is, “How is twitter going to help me get more business?  What good does it do to let people know what I had for breakfast?”  The basic answer for this is that this is just another way to make more contacts, put ourselves in front of more people, and hopefully become known as the “real estate experts” in our area.  But another question comes to mind: “How do my clients benefit from the fact that I’m on twitter and other such sites?”  Here are some reasons why it might be beneficial to you to have an agent actively engaged in social networking on-line:

Read more

David Wang

Fannie Mae Short Sale Webinar

January 13, 2009 · · 7 Comments
do you know what a short sale is?

Do you know what a short sale is?

Doing a routine search for properties today I came across a very good 20 minute video on what is a short sales put on by Fannie Mae.  We have been working with short sales for over a year and have had the explanations given and have had the explanation received many many times already but this is short and good.  The slides are good and to the point the Audio is clear and crisp it is short enough for clients to get through without losing focus.

 As a client I would believe this more than an agent i just met because we all recognize the name Fannie Mae and with all the government oversight they are receiving they have to watch their P’s and Q’s. Read more

Terry Birt

Say Goodbye to an Old Friend

January 13, 2009 · · 9 Comments

Since I have lived in Millbrae, my Saturday ritual consisted of a walk downtown to the farmers market, a trip to Starbucks and end up at Mervyn’s.  When it was announced that Mervyn’s was closing, my initial response was “how sad” then my second thought was how long the building was going to remain empty.  Read more