Vacant Homes a Target for Homeless and Criminals
I was scheduled to do an open house at one of my listings in a terrific San Francisco neighborhood today. When I arrived at the property and unlocked the door, the first thing that I saw were 2 men’s socks and a bunch of dirt, along with something that looked like a dirt clot, but later turned out to be a rock.
Since this house has always been immaculate, I knew that something was radically wrong, so instead of entering the house, I first called the owners. When I was unable to reach them, I decided to call the police. Although it turned out that the intruder had already left, I’m so glad that I did call them, because it turns out that they were able to get really good evidence of who had entered.
This home had previously been “staged” and furnished, but the owners had requested that the staging be removed due to cost concerns, so it is now completely vacant. Although we kept the front drapes closed so that people would not notice that it was vacant, someone clearly noticed, broke a downstairs window and spent at least one night in the property, apparently ripping down one of the drapes and using it as a blanket. Read more
Brisbane – Missing the Boat…
Many home buyers and Realtors are missing the boat when it comes to a nearby town that offers great weather, lots of amenities and darned good real estate prices. I’m talking about the little community of Brisbane. It is located 10 minutes (or less, if you drive like me!) from the airport and is only 10 minutes to downtown San Francisco. Yet, hardly anyone even knows of it’s existence.
Brisbane is a hidden gem here on the Peninsula. It is located on the side of San Bruno Mountain between San Francisco and South San Francisco. There are only 3,597 residents, which makes it one of the smallest communities in the area. It is very unlike your typical suburb in that it has a hodgepodge of all types of architecture, from shacks to mansions, with very few ranch style homes. Many of the homes have great views of the Bay and downtown San Francisco.
The people of the community are almost as diverse as the architecture. Living in the town are world renowned film makers, rocket scientists, artists and musicians…all living happily amongst all of us regular folks. Brisbane is known as the “City of the Stars” because for over 65 years the residents have put up stars on their homes during the holiday season and even have a “Festival of Stars” each year. Read more
Your words say “Yes” but your actions…not so much!
In any sales position, a person’s living depends a great deal on their ability to figure out who is ready, willing and able to buy and who isn’t. In addition to understanding real estate, a Realtor® has to be able to analyze how serious a potential client is and then determine the amount of energy appropriate for that client. We’ve all had buyers who insist buying is something they really want, when every other signal the buyer is sending screams “Not in this life time!”. If you feel as a buyer you are not getting the attention you deserve, it could be the realtor, or it could be time for a little self reflection. Read more
Environmental Issues When Buying A Home
I recently had to renew my real estate license for another 4 years and, as part of that process, had to take 45 hours of continuing education. I’ve been selling real estate for 16 years and, after all of that time, you start to think you know it all. Clearly, I was wrong, because I learned a lot from taking these courses.
The course that covers environmental issues in homes was of particular interest. I thought that some of the things I learned might be of help to my readers, so my next few articles will cover some of the environmental issues people need to be aware of. Today, I’ll talk a little about asbestos. Read more
A Few Bad Pennies….
About 3 weeks ago, I wrote an offer on a bank owned property in Hayward for a client of mine. I tried contacting the agent representing the seller to let her know that I was sending an offer, but wasn’t able to reach her. So, I emailed the offer and, also, faxed it to make absolutely sure that she received it by the deadline.
Over the course of the next 3 weeks, I tried diligently to reach this agent. I tried both calling and emailing. Sometimes when I called, I would get her voice mail. Other times, I got her husband who was listed as the co-lister, but knew nothing about the property. He indicated that he had “taken the phone away from her, because if she kept taking calls, she would never get anything done.” Read more
Real Estate Jargon…What Do All of These Terms Mean?
We Realtors often bandy about tons of real estate jargon. We talk to our clients and friends about short sales, REO’s, contingency periods, etc. I have come to realize, however, that just because we know what all of this stuff means, not everyone does, so I thought it would be helpful to describe some of the terms we use. Hopefully, this will give you some idea of what we’re talking about as we rattle on and on and your eyes are going bleary! Here goes:
Contingency Periods: We, generally, refer to these when doing our contracts. As an example, we tell you that you will have a 10 day period to “remove your property condition contingency” or 20 days to remove loan and appraisal contingencies. What this really boils down to, is that these are the time frames during which you will have the right to get your deposit back if you cancel the contract. Once you “remove these contingencies,” you are no longer entitled to get your deposit back, unless you can prove some sort of fraud. Read more
More Housing Help from the Government
In previous posts, fellow bloggers, Annie Chang and Michael Monozon, have talked about the many benefits of the new federal government stimulus package. Over the weekend, I learned about yet another program that will greatly help potential home buyers and will also help the many home builders who are sinking under the weight of their new homes not selling .
At our office meeting this morning, our in house lender, Guarantee Mortgage, filled us in on the details, as follows. It seems that the State of California has now instituted yet another tax credit. This one will apply only to people who purchase a brand new home, condo or townhome. Read more
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