Here at Intero, we have a charitable foundation (the Intero Foundation), fully funded by the agents at Intero, whose goal is to positively impact the well being of children in the communities in which we work, by supporting organizations focused on assisting in their education and personal development.

Last Monday, we presented a check for $8,000 to a very well-deserving organization here in San Mateo County called “Advocates for Children“.

All I can say about AFC is….wow…what an amazing organization that is doing so much good for children in San Mateo County.

The Foundation provided $5000 grants to both Habitat for Humanity and Shelter Network to support the work they do in the community of providing housing and shelter. The Foundation also provided $2500 to the Daly City Youth Center, which encompasses the Jefferson Union High School District and services the Pacifica high schools, as well.

Help us, help others!

We invite members of the public and real estate professionals throughout the region to help the SAMCAR Foundation raise funds for local charities by attending the Foundation’s Annual Charity Spaghetti Feed on September 16th at the Peninsula Italian American Social Club from 5:30 pm-10:00 pm. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by calling SAMCAR at 650-696-8200. For more information, visit www.samcar.org and click on “2010 Events”.

Where the grant funds are going:

Habitat for Humanity is currently building a condo complex to house over 35 families in Daly City. Each family will provide 500 hours of work on the project and in return, will have an affordable home they can call their own. Habitat for Humanity also offers classes in credit repair and debt reduction to help consumers prepare themselves for homeownership. For more information, go to www.habitatgsf.org.

Shelter Network is committed to providing housing and support services that create opportunities for homeless families and individuals to re-establish self-sufficiency and to return to permanent homes of their own. Shelter Network operates thirteen programs, has more than 50 full-time staff, and thousands of volunteers. Shelter Network is the Peninsula’s principal provider of housing and support for homeless families and individuals. Find out more at www.shelternetwork.org.

The SAMCAR Foundation, which provides more than $50,000 each year to charities that work with housing, and quality of life issues in San Mateo County, is currently accepting grant applications for the fourth quarter of 2010. Please go to www.samcar.org/foundation for grant guidelines and to learn more about the charities that SAMCAR supports.

Since its inception, the San Mateo County Association of REALTORS® Foundation

focuses its charitable efforts towards benefiting organizations and programs that strive to make San Mateo County a more livable, affordable and thriving community. Through its work, the SAMCAR Foundation has made significant financial contributions enhancing quality of life throughout San Mateo County. The SAMCAR Foundation also supports and encourages grassroots member-organized efforts that enhance the quality of life in our neighborhoods.

Doesn’t matter whether it’s a Buyer’s Market, or a Seller’s Market. Lowball offers are as old as the oldest profession.

Let’s say you just received an offer from someone who wants to buy your home. You’re excited and relieved, until you realize the offer is an unrealistic lowball price. Insulted? Disappointed? How should you respond to ensure the buyer doesn’t beat a fast retreat? Bottom line: set aside your emotions, focus on the facts, and prepare a counteroffer that keeps the buyers involved in the deal.

An offer, even the lowball type, means someone wants to buy your home. As Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross so eloquently said, “a guy don’t walk on the lot unless he wants to buy.”  Unless the offer is laughably low, it deserves a cordial response, whether that’s a counteroffer or an outright rejection. Remain calm and discuss with your agent the different ways you can respond to a lowball purchase offer.

So unless you’ve received multiple purchase offers, the best response is to counter the low offer with a price and terms you’re willing to accept. Some buyers make a low offer because they think that’s customary, they’re afraid they’ll overpay, or they want to test your limits. Sometimes it just feels like a class in Haggling 101.

A counteroffer signals that you’re willing to negotiate. One strategy for your counteroffer is to lower your price, but remove any concessions such as seller assistance with closing costs, or features such as kitchen appliances that you’d like to take with you.

Consider the terms

Price is paramount for most buyers and sellers, but it’s not the only deal point. A low purchase offer might make sense if the contingencies are reasonable, the closing date meets your needs, and the buyer is preapproved for a mortgage. Consider what terms you might change in a counteroffer to make the deal work.

Review your comps

Ask your agent whether any comparable homes have been sold or put on the market since your home was listed for sale. If those new comps are at lower prices, you might have to lower your price to match them if you want to sell.

Consider the buyer’s comps

Buyers sometimes attach comps to a low offer to try to convince the seller to accept a lower purchase offer. Take a look at those comps. Are the homes similar to yours? If so, your asking price might be unrealistic. If not, you might want to include in your counteroffer information about those homes and your own comps that justify your asking price.

If the buyers don’t include comps to justify their low purchase offer, have your realtor ask the buyers’ agent for those comps.

Get the agents together

If the purchase offer is too low to counter, but you don’t have a better option, ask your agent to call the buyer’s agent and try to narrow the price gap so that a counteroffer would make sense. Also, ask your agent whether the buyer (or buyer’s agent) has a reputation for lowball purchase offers. If that’s the case, you might feel freer to reject the offer.  No need to proverbially “drop your pants” if you really don’t need to.

Don’t signal desperation

Look, buyers aren’t dumb. Most buyers are sensitive to signs that a seller may be receptive to a low purchase offer. If your home is vacant or your home’s listing describes you as a “motivated” seller, you’re putting up a BIG SIGN that says “Make me a lowball offer.”

If you can remedy the situation, maybe by renting furniture or asking your agent not to mention in your home listing that you’re motivated, the next purchase offer you get might be more to your liking.

Bring a blanket or lawn chairs, some refreshments, and come check it out!

You can find the schedule of bands right here.

For us Redwood Citizens, this is good news, as Redwood City ranks #4, behind some pretty big “powerhouse” cities for startups.

The top 5 is as follows (along with the amount invested, in millions):

1. San Francisco    1,013
2. Sunnyvale              663
3. Mountain View     574
4. Redwood City       545
5. Fremont                 528

The annual Mt. Carmel Festival is a three-day festival, held each spring, in which we expect over 3,000 local families to join us for thrilling carnival rides, delicious treats, festival game booths, live local entertainment, and socializing with friends and neighbors.

Also, the Cash Raffle is back! You could win $5,000; only 400 tickets will be sold! Buy your raffle ticket by returning this form to the school. Drawing to be held the last day of the Festival on Sunday, May 2 at 7pm – need not be present to win

Part of the reason for these low rates has been because the Fed has been on a buying binge of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS).  The Fed has been buying $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities in its effort to prop up the economy but has said it will end those purchases March 31.

As I speak fairly regularly with seasoned, well-informed, and intelligent mortgage lenders and brokers, one thing they all seem to agree on is that the expectation is that, after March 31^st,  rates will head upwards, and will likely be in the 6% range.

Still pretty low, historically – but, a significant impact to the buying power of home buyers out there.

Just think about it, if you’re looking at a loan amount of say $700,000, this means that a 1% increase in interest rate translates to paying $450 MORE per month on the same loan.  Or looked at another way, a 1% increase in rate just reduced the sale price you can afford by about $80,000.

Quoting some highlights from a recent WSJ article:

What happens when it (the Fed) stops buying hundreds of billions of dollars in financial assets?

In its monetary-policy statement, the Fed said it would “gradually slow the pace of these purchases in order to promote a smooth transition in markets.” Suddenly cutting to zero, presumably, could prove too much of a jolt.

But even a gradual pullback could have big repercussions. Zero interest rates and Fed purchases — financed by printing money — have played a massive role in reviving stocks and bonds and rekindling the economy.

Mortgage rates will likely move up, as private-market buyers will charge more than the Fed for bearing the risks of holding government-backed mortgage securities. Now, the Federal Reserve has said they would consider reopening its program to support the mortgage market if interest rates spiked or the economy showed new weakness

In its best corporate-speak, the Fed said they will “evaluate the timing and overall amounts of its purchases of securities in light of the evolving economic outlook and conditions in financial markets.”  That is, if markets play along. Investors are already balking at the heavy use of printing presses. Just look at the sliding dollar.

Want to know when your street is going to get a visit from the City Street Cleaning sweepers, for every month in 2010? Then check out this link here:  http://www.redwoodcity.org/publicworks/streets/pdf/Street-Cleaning-Schedule.pdf

An even more cooler tool is the Community GIS (Geographic Information System). This tool is a computer-based mapping tool that takes location information — such as streets, water features, schools and day care centers, neighborhood associations, census and demographic info, zoning, parks and places of interest, historic resources, parcel information, community information centers and more — and turns it into visual layers on a map, while also providing detailed data about a specific parcel.   Check it out at: http://pubgis.redwoodcity.org/communitygis/

• 327 Jeter: $585,000 – 2br/1ba, 1140 sq. ft. on a 6500 sf lot.  Already has an offer date set (tomorrow, 1/13).
• 532 Ruby: $549,000 – 2br/1ba, 980 sf on a 4800 sf lot
• 266 Lowell: $949,000 – 3br/3ba, 1370 sf on a 6500 sf lot (this one is a re-list. Had been on the market for the past year or so, at a higher list price).

Got a new TV for Christmas? How about a new game system or microwave, cell phone, or DVD Player/ Recorder? Don’t know what to do with the old ones?

Bring your used, broken or unwanted electronics to school Saturday, January 9 and recycle them for FREE.

• Computers/Laptops/Servers
• Televisions/Monitors
• DVD/CD Players
• Fax Machines/Printers
• Telecom Equipment/Telephones/Cell Phones
• Speakers/Stereo Equipment
• Microwaves
• Cables/Computer Mice/Keyboards

Bring all your old TVs, along with other broken, unused and/or unwanted electronics to the Mt. Carmel parking lot – 301 Grand St., Redwood City – on Saturday, January 9th from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Your car will be unloaded for you and those items will be safely recycled for FREE. You will be benefiting both the community and the school. You can also check www.mountcarmel.org for more details.