Some of the great feedback I received was: speak with the HOA president, speak with the management of the team that was not that experienced, interview CRS members in the area, and Google the agents.    

I ended my last blog saying I would make a decision after seeing their follow up. Well #2, the friend of a friend, has never been heard from. The experienced agent did call me and I asked her to send me the most recent sales. She told me to check it out on Realtor.com. She did send the link the next day but you know what I was thinking. My thought on her was she and her office had a bunch of adult community properties listed but why would she push my property being 3000 miles away and no previous relationship. She and her office represented a great majority of the sellers but did not represent many buyers. I want my property to be seen by the buyers.

I had a communication or two with the less experienced agent team. The following comment they sent me via email made my decision; “With us, it’s not about the Quantity of listings and/or buyers we are working for, but it’s about the Quality of Service we provide.” I thought that was excellent, in fact I might steal it.

Almost the first words out of the Real Estate Lawyer’s mouth was, “all commissions are negotiable and since the market is tough they are all cutting their commissions so don’t accept the rate they say.” I went on and told him what I do to make the money to pay him and he became very quiet. For a lawyer to be quiet and an East Coast lawyer at that, he must have been very uncomfortable. Brian said it was the perfect time to ask him to cut his hourly rate.

Once again thank you for your help and support and wish me luck!

Lee Ginsberg

I am responsible for selling my mother’s home.  Great I got an easy listing.  Well not that quick.  She lives in New Jersey. And they do things differently than we here in northern California and I am not licensed in New Jersey. They use lawyers instead of Escrow and Title companies. I pondered how a deal is ever going to close with two lawyers involved. The people I spoke with assured me they do. It seems radon gas is an issue in this part of New Jersey and the seller is responsible for mediating it. My mother lived in an adult community where Open Houses and For Sale signs are not permitted. No wonder as I drove the community I did not see any other homes for sale. I thought there was no inventory and I would receive multiple offers just like here in the San Bruno and South San Francisco. After doing additional research I come to find they have a year’s worth of inventory in the area adult communities.    

I was recently in New Jersey and spoke with three realtors.  Prudential is not strong in the area so I went into a GMAC Realty office at the local shopping center and I made an appointment with the floor agent. Immediately she told me she will come with her partner. Good! Two for the price of one. She and her partner came very well prepared. They presented information on themselves and their office. After speaking with them for a while I could tell they were not very experienced. It comes out they were in the business for five years. They were very friendly, easy to speak with, extremely motivated and aggressive but not pushy, understood marketing but not to knowledgeable on the contract, (do they need be since an attorney will review it?), they were the only ones that came with complete information on solds, actives and under attorney review. They had scheduled to show my wife and me three active listings. There was one under attorney review listed in their office that I mentioned interest in seeing. I was impressed that one of them immediately called their office to verify that a lock box was still on. We were discussing painting the home and once again immediately called a painter they work with and got a ball park price over the telephone.

The second agent I spoke with was recommended by a friend. My friend did not have a business relationship only a personal relationship. I called him on a Sunday about 3 PM and returned my call at 9PM and we set an appointment for 9AM the next morning to meet my schedule. I already liked his response time. I will justify him being the least prepared with the fact he had the shortest time to prepare. He did have information on the market but no marketing information. He did discuss marketing briefly. His mother in-law lives in the same complex and he lives in the complex next door, so I felt comfortable that he was familiar with the area. He offered to paint a stained area himself to save money. I appreciate saving money.
We had a very good rapport I thought. We discussed our mutual friends, the Real Estate industry and Back home.

The third and final agent I found on the internet as a “Top Producer” for a local old time one office company.  She definitely knew the complex.  She said I should hire her because she is the best and her office is the dominating listing office. She showed me all sorts of stats. Not much at all with buyers. She told me the various websites she will list the property on.  She spent most of forty five minutes we spoke, discussing pricing.  She suggested that I offer 4% to the listing agent because there was over a year of inventory available. It is a thought that was shared by another realtor as well but I’m not a big believer in that. She was not warm and friendly but she was not cold either.  She was opinionated.

Real estate is very localized so before interviewing the agents I prepared a list of questions to learn about the area: market procedures, lock boxes, inspections, time frames, the attorney situation, inventory, Open Houses, marketing, availability, full time or part- time, experience, DOM, list to sale price, their mix of buyers to sellers, office activity and more.   Could I hire all of them? Sales people are easy to sell. we trust everyone.  We don’t want to say no to anyone.  Each had pluses and minus. They were all pleasant.  Now I understand what our clients go thru. Let me tell you by the third agent in two days I was burnt out. Do I go with experience, relationship, motivation? I thought I would hold off my decision until I see how their follow up is.  I ask for your help; whom do you think I should hire?

Lee Ginsburg

They were not looking forward to doing yard work so I convinced them to look at condominiums. They were hesitant because of HOA fees but I explained the costs of ownership over a period of time were basically the same as of single family homes or.  
http://www.pruvoices.com/2008/10/hoa-dues-junk-fees-or-good-budgeting/ 

I showed them a 3 Bedroom 1300 sq. ft. condo and the young bride’s face just lit up when we walked in.  It was modern, spacious, laundry inside, views and more.  They were sold but they had to convince their parents who were putting up a good share of the down payment.  The parents were difficult to convince. They were concerned with appreciation.  I ran some numbers for the State of California from 1990 thru 2008 single family homes appreciated 79% and condos appreciated 116%.  In San Bruno from 2000 –2008 single families increased 20% and condos 28%.  Still did not convince the folks. San Mateo it was 7% for single family homes and 5% for condos. 

When purchasing a home. appreciation should be taken into consideration but that should not be the only consideration.  Life Style should also be given major thought.

I believe Condominiums offer a life style that fits many needs: No exterior maintenance, security with a security force or proximity to neighbors, often many have recreational facilities, and large complexes offer social activities, more updates than similar priced single family homes.  Buildings that were built as condominiums and not converted offer excellent sound proofing and insulation.  They also have laundry in the units.  I suggest if buying a condo today to review the HOA financials closely.  Many are having severe problems and assessments could be inevitable.

Oh, the young couple are hoping to close on a short sale soon.

www.leesellsmore.com

We need to add more info to our MLS data reports.  Even comparing selling prices is not a fair comparison if you don’t have all of the information.  So many purchases have a credit for closing costs and or repair costs.  Whole neighborhoods  will be overpriced real quick when just a few homes were compared to homes with 3% credit backs.  I realize some MLS’s are more progressive than others and include some of this information now. Some appraisers call and get this information. We as agents, could make this a very simple process.  I suggest we add the following categories to the MLS data: age of roof, furnace, type of plumbing and electric, Cost of section one termite repairs if not completed, Amount of credit back, type of financing.  If we put this in an area only available to agents we will be more valuable to our clients and help the appraisers compare apples to apples. 

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The Real Estate Market in San Bruno, South San Francisco, Daly City, San Mateo is hot just like the weather. Prices are based on supply and demand.  Demand is strong as all smart people want to take advantage of the buyers market.  By the way the $8000 Federal Tax Credit terminates Nov. 30 of this year.     Many people do not understand this credit.  It is a true gift.  When this concept was originally introduced the credit was really a loan and needed to be paid back.  In 2009 it became a true credit.  You could just amend your 2008 taxes and receive your check in less than 2 months is what many buyers have seen.  Other are choosing to claim it when they file 2009 taxes.    Inventory is drying up.  Please look at the chart.  We are seeing less homes for sale today than we had last month or last year.  If you remove the short sales that have received offers (maybe 25% of the homes available we are probably close to the inventory of the hot market in 2005.  Please not the difference in the higher end and lower end of the markets.

Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Your credit will be most negatively affected with a Foreclosure, then a short sale. As long as you stay current on your loan, loan modification should not affect your credit.  Your credit score weather it is right or wrong is used by potential employers before hiring, landlords before renting, insurance companies before granting insurance and etc.  Depending on your individual situation maybe credit is not important. 

My client’s father nearing retirement age could live in his son’s rental unit and will not be looking for another job said he might pass away before his home in Las Vegas is worth as much as as his loan.  He opted for foreclosure.  

I had another client, a family with parents and adult children living at home.  They came to me for a discussion on their options. They are still working and acquiring things so their credit score is  important to them.  Being an immigrant family losing their home, the “American Dream”, would be extremely emotional and their image amongst friends and family here and back home would be devastated. They struggled making payments, but after family members lost two part time jobs they couldn’t do it any more and came to me for help. They pondered the situation. Should they continue making payments on a home that they owe $250,000 more than it is worth. They purchased this home with no money down and realized they would probably never be able to save the 10-20% now required down payment to purchase another home. They opted for a loan modification.  They were hoping for some debt forgiveness.

Their bank would not hear from that. But with persistence similar to a short sale approval I was able to get the bank to modify their 6.5% fixed interest only loan to a Principal and Interest loan starting at 3% for five years, 4% for 1 year and 5%  for the next 34 years. Before that, the second lender agreed easily to modify their 8.5% loan to .31% yes .31% not 3.15 but only for 1 year.  We will follow up with them in a few months.  With home ownership tax benefits their new payments are now about the same as rent would be.  They are thrilled, knowing they will now be able to afford the “American Dream”.   During these negotiations I had them apply and they were approved for a property tax reduction with annual savings of almost $3,000.  

I was told during this process that each loan holder not necessarily the servicing bank has their own set of ratios and criteria for loan modification.  This worked out to be win-win situation.    Their lender will receive their full payment over a longer period of time rather than losing several hundred thousand dollars during a short sale or incur thousands of dollars for foreclosure expenses. 

We have all read that more than 50% of loan modifications are defaulting.  Maybe it depends on the modification.  I recently reviewed a loan modification for a client that was in default.  In November her loan was modified from 8.4% to 7.9%.  Maybe $100 reduction and then they had the nerve to add on another $550.00 per month to bring her current.  Her payments were $400.00 more than before the modification.  If I did not see it myself I would not believe it.  What were they thinking? It is no surprise she is in default again only 4 months later.    

www.leesellsmore.com

 www.leesellsmore.com

SSF Home Price Right and received multiple offers

Buyers are out there. Homes in San Bruno and South San Francisco priced right are having 75-100 potential buyers view their home during the Sunday Open Houses. Homes not priced right get less than half that. I personally know of eight homes in San Bruno and South San Francisco that went on the market with the Price It Right Philosophy and within the first week received multiple offers and sold at above the Listed Price. Not by much but they sold while others not priced right are still on the market. Sellers must understand that for every week their home does not sell it is costing them .25% or more.

www.leesellsmore.com