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To Preapprove or not to preapprove?that is the question
2007-02-10 07:38:02
Well, nowadays, and at least in the Bay Area, that is no longer the question. Bay Area buyers have become accustomed to hearing agents, and their friends, emphasize the importance of being ?preapproved?. But like many overused and underexplained topic, few people actually fully understand the power of a properly executed preapproval, and how to distinguish it from its more commonplace cousin, a prequalification. If you are in the market for to buy a home, especially in some of the more competitive neighborhoods of the Bay Area (such as Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Los Altos, Mountain View and San Carlos), your agent ? if he or she is any good ? will ask you to meet with a qualified mortgage advisor as soon as possible to get prequalified or preapproved. This will serve two main purposes: 1) the agent will be able to serve you best by understanding the range of your affordability and not waste anyone?s time, and 2) you will be able to focus your search on what you know you can comforta...
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Introducing Another New Contributor ? Christine Kani
2007-02-10 07:38:02
I’m delighted to welcome a new blog contributor, Chris t ine Kani, a good friend and a top-notch mortgage broker with Equitas Capital. She’s performed some pretty neat miracles on past transactions of mine, but her real claim to fame is that she’s the only person who actually understands my spreadsheets! In her inaugural post, Christine unveils the distinction between a prequalification and a preapproval — and why it’s important to know the difference. Take it away, Christine! Real estate
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Redfin Attacks SoCal?s INTx?ers
2007-02-10 07:38:02
While Glenn Kelman was co-hosting an event in San Francisco with Socketsite, his compadres were putting the finishing touches on a Southern California launch, which, per the embargoed-until-7am-press-release, “increases the number of properties for sale on its site by more than 340 percent.” Greg Swann has previously pointed out that Redfin ’s target markets are high-priced INTx-heavy metro areas — translated, for those of us not familiar with Myers-Briggs personality profiles, as high-priced markets with lots of geeky, web-savvy, technical, analytically-minded people. Why high-priced? Because when you take home only 1% of the purchase price as your commission, you have to sell expensive homes to make it worth your while. Why geeky, web-savvy, and so forth? Because grandpa and grandma, or even mom and dad, definitely ain’t gonna be buying real estate online. Does SoCal meet those requirements? Let’s see what Neighboroo has to say about housing...
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Redfin?s Glenn Kelman Just Can?t Resist?
2007-02-10 07:38:02
After a several month-long “make nice” campaign — including 1) several tête-à-tête sessions with numerous bloggers, like yours truly at Inman and Kris Berg in San Diego; 2) a lively and entertaining drinks-on-Glen n event last night in San Francisco; 3) winning accolades at Inman for having the guts to take on Alan Dalton; 4) refraining from praying mantis allusions … Glenn Kelman apparently just couldn’t resist taking another potshot at the real estate industry — his peers, really. In black and white print, in the widely circulated LA Times, Glenn refers to the real estate industry as being similar to “big oil or big tobacco,” a statement he calls “intensely regretted, insanely provocative.” Couldn’t have put it better myself.  Which leads me to ask — “Why did he say it?“  The obvious low-brow answer — that he himself is not yet rid of the epileptic fits of which the site itself is now apparent...
More About: Just , Redfin

Today?s Palo Alto Real Estate Gems
2007-02-10 07:38:02
Undeterred by the light rain — and well-protected by bright yellow rain gear — I ventured out to sample a pick of today’s properties. First up was a listing from the local real estate triumvirate of Carol, Rosemary, and Nicole of Alain Pinel at 1428 Hamilton Ave.  The home’s ranch-style exterior gives an undeserved first impression of blandness, an impression completely undone once you see the inside.  The living room, presumably an addition, uses skylights, light paint, recessed lighting, and the natural sunlight coming in from the French doors to give a large, warm, welcome feel.  A little office cottage in the back went unvisited, alas — I had left my shoes at the front door — but I did take the time to check out the basement, an unusual enough feature of Bay Area homes that they always warrant a visit. Bob and Lori Ann Wolff of Coldwell Banker’s entree at 1295 Wilson, also in Palo Alto, is one of those classic “they just don’...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Today , State , Real

Carnival of Real Estate #28
2007-02-06 19:35:02
Greg Latin-phile Swann and his pack of writing hounds took charge of the ticket booth at this week’s Carnival of Real Estate — and did a bang-up job, considering the competition the Superbowl presented for their attention.  Yours truly made the top 10, influenced no doubt by the pandering Latin title of my post, In Dentibus Anticis Frustrum Magnum Spiniciae Habes.  Hey, even Bloodhounds are influence-able! Top placement went to Zillow’s David Gibbons, aka blog commenter extraordinaire, for his post on…you guessed it, blog comments.  David points out that the meat of a blog is often in the comments. Mary McKnight, blogging goddess, made the short list too, helping to explain the subtleties of the “long-tail search.”  Fellow Silicon Valley blogger Steve Leung made the list too with his post on “When Not to Buy a House.”  A David Lereah clone made an opposing comment on this post, suggesting basically that it’s always a good time to...
More About: Real Estate , State

There?s Transparency?and Then There?s Just Plain Dumb!
2007-02-06 19:35:02
If there were Darwin Awards for real estate blogging, this would surely be a contender… Web-savvy buyer puts offer on house.  Web-savvy seller Googles buyer’s name and finds buyer’s very-up-to-date blog which lays out, blow by blow, buyer’s strategy for winning the house, including — I kid you not — how high he’s willing to go to get it. Shockingly, the final agreed sales price of the home turns out to be the buyer’s highest price. Moral of the story:  Don’t blog about deals you’re currently doing, unless well sanitized. And no, this is not a story I heard from somebody about something that happened to their second cousin’s ex-barber’s schoolteacher’s nephew.  I heard this anecdote from the seller himself. Real estate, Transparency
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In dentibus anticis frustrum magnum spiniciae habes*
2007-02-05 07:34:02
Sufficiently warned by Michael Price about the quality and content of entries submitted to this week’s Carnival of Real Estate, let me dispense with my gratuitous Latin phrase by boldly placing it in the title…and assuring you that my post has absolutely nothing to do with spinach in your dentures.  It’s just that I couldn’t find a Latin translation site that would reliably render the following headline: Creative Internet Advertising Your Broker Never Thought Of. One of the first things you learn from many of the old-timers in the business is the importance of listings, for at least two reasons: Your “sales force” — the other agents in your area, some of whom may have competed with you for the listing — does much of the legwork of showing the property to prospective buyers. Having a listing gives you an “anchor” from which to further advertise yourself: an ad in the paper, a sign in the front yard, a brochure, a neighborho...
More About: Spin , Anti , Rust , Magnum

Top 10 Differences Between the SuperBowl and my Real Estate Business
2007-02-05 07:34:02
10. It doesn’t cost $2M for a 30-second ad on my site. 9. I don’t need shoulder pads and a helmet to protect me from rough play in real estate. 8. I don’t have a 100 million people watching my every move. 7. There aren’t 10,000 web sites predicting the imminent demise of football. 6. I don’t get to call a timeout to figure out what to do next. 5. In football, there’s never any doubt about who’s on whose side. 4. Bad weather doesn’t bring the Super Bowl to a halt. 3. Prince doesn’t perform at my closings. 2. Not many of my competitors weigh 325 pounds. …and the number 1 difference between the SuperBowl and my real estate business… 1. Real estate makes sense to me. Real estate
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Redfin?s Citizen Bloggers Now in the Bay Area
2007-02-03 19:32:02
Marie Hagman has some new colleagues… I’ll be fast asleep by the time the embargo on this one is lifted, so I’ll trust Wordpress to release this post at one minute after midnight. The news?  Redfin continues its 2.0 community exploits by releasing a flock of citizen bloggers on the Bay Area.  Let me be the first to welcome these seven fellow bloggers, who will be writing up several properties each week.  Good for both Google SEO juice and property voyeurism, I’m looking forward to reading their write-ups. From the press release: Online real estate broker Redfin Corporation today launched its eyewitness property review site, Sweet Digs, for the San Francisco Bay Area. Bay Area home-buyers now will be able to read daily candid reviews of properties for sale at blog.redfin.com/bayarea. The new Bay Area Sweet Digs offers as many as 30 eyewitness reviews per week of properties for sale in Bay Area neighborhoods from Santa Rosa to Fremont, including Berkeley, Menl...
More About: Blogger , Blog , Citi , Bloggers

Realbird?s RealKi Becomes Inman Wiki
2007-02-03 19:32:02
Realbird, the Bay Area-based MLS search provider, launched a real estate Wiki about the same time that Zillow made its big December 6th announcement, which also included a Wiki. Industry wikis have yet to take off, at least in real estate, but now that Inman has acquired Realbird’s Wiki, that might change. Real estate professionals have been reluctant to contribute content to Zillow’s wiki for at least two reasons: They remain eternally suspicious of Zillow’s intentions and are skeptical of making a contribution to a site which they believe will turn on them. There’s currently no way of getting attribution for contributing. (”What do we Realtors want? Linkbacks! When do want it? Now!”) We may be happy to add to the body of knowledge out there, but we want some credit for it. The crude and simple way around this is to put a link back to our own site within our post, but the efficient Zillow cops tend to pick that up pretty quickly. (Drew, ...
More About: Real , Come , Bird

?Wisdom of Crowds? Meets Real Estate: Introducing My-Currency.com
2007-02-03 19:32:02
As noted by Altos Research and FOREM, there’s a new kid on the AVM block — My-Currency .com (don’t forget the “-” ) . For predictive firepower, it depends on the “Wisdom of Crow ds” concept popularized by James Surowiecki in his eponymous book. The idea, as thought-provoking as it is controversial, is that if you create an appropriate bidding environment, in which market participants drive collective wisdom by “buying” and “selling,” that collective wisdom is often more accurate than the insights of any one expert. Confused? My-Currency trades in real estate futures. It lists properties for sale — at this stage only a handful — and then challenges you to predict what the final selling price of that property will be. The aggregate of these predictions is the “CrowdValue.” Once the property sale consummates, the actual selling price gets compared against the predictions, and those who were ...
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Liked the Palo Alto Townhome? Meet the Architect ? Gordana Pavlovic
2007-02-03 19:32:02
The Palo Alto townhome featured in my recent video post was the work of local architect Gordana Pavlovic.  Today’s San Francisco Chronicle has a write-up about her work, her inspiration, and her other projects. Gordana Pavlovic, Real estate
More About: Home , Meet , Town , Townhome

Rain or Shine ? What?s your preference? Depends if You?re a Buyer or Selle
2007-02-03 19:32:02
After a long spell of unseasonal sunshine, it looks like the rain may be back.  The forecast for this weekend gives us nearly 50/50 odds of being rained out. Here’s the question — if you’re active in the market right now, which would you prefer:  rain or shine?  I’d say it depends if you’re a buyer or seller. If you’re a seller, you definitely want good weather.  Bright sunshine and balmy weather triggers the release of home buying pheromones and gets you lots of weekend open house traffic.  The more interest in your home, the better. If you’re a buyer, especially a really committed one, you definitely want bad weather.  Cloudy, overcast days, and preferably rain definitely dampens home buyer enthusiasm and reduces competition for that home you’re after. This may explain the unusually early spring buying season we’ve been experiencing.  We often get Seattle-type weather this time of year, with week after endless week of drizzing ...
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Four Simple Things Agents Should Consider Before They Refer a Home Inspecto
2007-02-03 19:32:02
Did you ever hear the age old statement that the only stupid question is the one that is not asked? Well that applies to real estate agents too. Agent s should consider asking the following simple but important questions before referring home inspectors or home inspection companies (hereinafter ?inspectors?) to their clients. Referrals reflect the agent?s own professional judgment and may affect the most important pipeline of potential future business. My opinion is that agents shouldn?t use an inspector just because an officemate or friend recommends one or has been using one ?for years.? An agent is a fiduciary who must put the client?s interests above everything else, must make the best possible recommendations, and must not act with expediency and convenience when there may be a better alternative or option that should be evaluated for their clients. The questions below are easy, simple and should be considered each and every time you refer an inspector. 1. Know Your Ins...
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Introducing a new contributor?David Roberson
2007-02-03 19:32:02
I’ve been on the prowl for some additional contributors to this blog, some folks who know a lot about real estate and enjoy writing. I’m thrilled to announce that Davi d Robe rson, a local real estate attorney — and husband of my colleague and friend Shelly Stevenson-Roberson — has graciously agreed to join me! David, who is with the firm of Rossi, Hamerslough, Reischl & Chuck, has been in the real estate business in one form or another for quite a while. Prior to becoming an attorney, he was a home inspector as well as a municipal building inspector. His specialty, quite naturally, is construction transactions, defects, and litigation, and contractor licensing issues. His corporate biography page is, shall we say, quite impressive. I’m just glad he’s on my side! Take it away, David…and readers, please give David a warm blog welcome! Real estate
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Click and Clack?s Chiropractor?
2007-02-03 19:32:02
Real estate, strange sights
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Making Realtors? Lives Easier with Docusign
2007-02-03 19:32:02
A few weeks ago I was in Seattle and had the chance to visit with Kevin Connor of Docusign, the electronic signature provider I use. I shot some video of our conversation as we discussed what industries Docusign addresses, and how Docusign helps real estate transactions go more smoothly. docusign, Real estate
More About: Realtors , With , Live , Realtor

Typewriters and Water Towers ? Amazing What You See on Palo Alto Broker Tou
2007-02-03 19:32:02
One of the fun traditions in this biz is the “Broker Tour” — explained here by Pat Kitano — in which recently listed properties are made available to the local Realtor community to preview on behalf their clients as well as simply to stay abreast of the market.  It’s also a great opportunity to kibbitz with your fellow Realtors, find out how many offers there were at 123 Main Street, and sample some delicious home-cooked soup made by the more culinary-skilled Realtors. During a typical tour, most agents will see around a dozen properties; the more ambitious and well-organized ones might see as many as 25 to 30.  I had to cut my tour short today because of a meeting but nonetheless managed to see some interesting things. First on my list was 1068 University Ave, Palo Alto, listed by Mary Gullixson of Alain Pinel, Menlo Park.  At a tidy $3.5M, this property is nonetheless at the lower end of Mary’s current inventory, which includes some 8-figure lis...
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