California School Budget Cuts Affect Homeowners!

March 15, 2010 · Karin Cunningham · Comment here

: Save Our Schools Daily Journal Pic

I attended an insightful meeting the other night of PTA/PTO Presidents in San Bruno. I learned that ALL of the public schools in California are expecting a lot of teacher and counselor layoffs next week. San Bruno’s only middle school, Parkside Intermediate will possibly have the most layoffs cutting out music (they have an awesome marching band), art, leadership, counseling, and more. Our elementary schools will have no art, music, PE, large classroom sizes of 30+ kids per class, no English tutoring, GATE programs, loss of funds to improve libraries and to supply instructional material like BOOKS and one school, I hear, will loose up to 7 teachers, leaving them with 4!! Read more

Where To Eat In San Bruno?

February 16, 2010 · Karin Cunningham · 4 Comments

Ok, so I love to help people buy and sell houses but still I need to eat! I LOVE to eat and I love to cook! I love to dine out and I love family and friend gatherings at home over a large home cooked meal. Since I live and work in San Bruno, I like to dine locally. Sometimes I go to San Francisco, my hometown, but most of the time, when we have the opportunity to dine out, we go local!

A few of my favorite places are Don Pico’s for Mexican fine dining, La Paloma Taqueria, Hon Lin for Chinese, Sushi House, Famous Johnny’s for pizza and beer, Amma’s Kitchen for Indian, and the West Coast Cafe for Italian. All of these places are walking distance from my house.

Living in San Bruno is really super convenient. From my house, I can walk to the Mexican market, the dry cleaners, the library, and the corner grocery store. Not to mention I can walk to my kids’ school, our friends’ houses on Friday nights for “family fun nights”, and my office, if I am so inclined. I always drive and it’s just 6 blocks away!

I love Don Pico’s a lot! I mean a lot lot! My favorite dish is the crab enchiladas with green sauce made with “real” crab! I could live on the chips and salsa. I love spicy salsa with good flavor! I also love the ambiance at Don Pico’s. It’s a warm, comfortable room with a lot of traditional Mexican decorations and some impressive ones, too! My favorite being a big framed picture of Frida Khalo! The booths are from Original Joe’s on Powell Street in San Francisco! The proprieter is Isaac Mejia. He’s great! He is welcoming, enthusiastic about his food, and keeps his menu delicious and interesting. He’s currently the president of the San Bruno Lion’s Club. His sisters help at the restaraunt, too. They are fantastic! On Friday and Saturday nights there is a live guitar player/singer. It’s just awesome!

Check out their website: www.DonPicosBistro.com

Frida, My Hero

Do you have a favorite San Bruno restaraunt?

www.KarinCunningham.com

San Mateo County Storm Watch

January 17, 2010 · Nicole Machado · 3 Comments

I received this information from a friend and thought I would share. Although it pertains to information in regards to South San Francisco, there are some great tips on how to be prepared in case of emergency.

This is a hazardous winter weather alert. Beginning Sunday and continuing through the rest of the week…a series of strong storms are expected to roll across the San Francisco and Monterey Bay Regions. The first storm is forecast to bring substantial rain across the Bay Area Sunday into Monday. Additional storms are then expected for much of next week. During the next seven days 10 to 20 inches of rain are expected to fall in the coastal mountains and 8 to 15 inches in the inland valleys and foothills. Due to many days of rainfall local flooding could occur. In addition, the storms beginning Tuesday or Wednesday are likely to also produce strong gale force winds that could cause property damage and power outages. Depending upon the intensity and duration of the rainfall coupled with a high tide localized flooding could occur in the low lying areas of SSF (San Mateo Ave. Airport, etc.).

This is the strongest storm of its type that has hit SSF for several years IF the forecasters are correct in their assessments! Read more

San Bruno Real Estate “Shake Up” 2010!

January 15, 2010 · Karin Cunningham · 3 Comments

112 Georgia Ave. San Bruno, Ca. $419,000

So far, in 2010, San Bruno real estate inventory is low making it a great new environment for homeowners who have been thinking of selling! Currently there are only 30 homes for sale ranging from $299,000 for a small one bedroom home to $1,000,000 brand spanking new homes in a new developement! Md range is about $550,000-$600,000.

With interest rates still teetering between 5 and 6%, home buyers are out in full force looking for good deals before the rates hike up!

What we are seeing is pretty quick sales of homes in the lower and mid ranges while the high end homes are taking awhile. They are selling though! It took quite a few months but the new homes in the Skycrest Develoment next to Lunardi’s have all sold! One most recently at $918,000! Read more

I Earned that Deal…BUT!

December 7, 2009 · Julie Cleland · 3 Comments

Another Realtor(r) walked away with a check. Please understand this rant is not directed at clients who’s transactions do not work out despite the best intentions. There are times when as a Realtor you spend a great deal of energy and effort and then, for a variety of reasons, it just doesn’t happen. No, readers, this is the story of being the Starter Realtor.

My tale started when I began working with clients who had a very set idea about what they were looking for. They were pre-approved Read more

San Bruno Halloween Houses!

November 3, 2009 · Karin Cunningham · 3 Comments

San Bruno sure knows how to celebrate Halloween especially if you live on Elm Ave. (Nightmare On Elm St.) Every year families crowd the streets, trick or treating by the thousands. Most homes who give out candy run out. Lines form in front of some houses and there are traffic jams on some of the narrow sidewalks! I saw news cameras one year on the corner of Elm and Clark! Decrations are always a hit! I have posted some for you to see!

Booooooooooooooooooo!

Market Trends

October 2, 2009 · Adam Chinn · 4 Comments

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I have done research and compared the market last year in September 2008 to this year in September 2009. These numbers are for single family homes. Here are some of the results:

Daly City:

Inventory down 49%
Properties under contract up 12%
Months supply of inventory down 79%

South San Francisco:

Inventory down 60%
Properties under contract up 90%
Months supply of inventory down 88%

San Bruno:

Inventory down 60%
Properties under contract up 9%
Months supply of inventory down 66%

Millbrae:

Inventory down 34%
Properties under contract up 67%
Months supply of inventory down 69%

In all four cities the inventory is down while properties in contract are up. Meaning supply is low and demand is high. Competition for homes in these cities is high, but it is still a great time to buy. This also means that home owners considering selling their home may want to contact a Realtor to see what their home is worth and think about weather it makes sense for them to sell or move at this time. The market has definitely changed for the better and this is a great sign for things to come not only for the housing market, but for our economy as a whole.

This Real Estate Blog is by Adam Chinn