REALTORS' Marketing Association

Congratulations to the newly-elected RMA 2010 Board!

Ashley Provost — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:55:49 +0000

President: Nate Ellis

Vice President: John Hollinger

Treasurer: Ernie Decoite

Secretary: Joni Toy

Sargents at Arms: Haisem Nijem, Carlo DiMarco

Advisory Council: Dennis Viers, Kaveh Sartipi, Angela Muetterties

Realtor of the Year: Barry Zwahlen

Affiliate of the Year: Ernie Decoite

Thank you to the 2009 and 2010 board for your service!

Share on Facebook

RMA Elections Tomorrow, Nov. 12

Ashley Provost — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:59:21 +0000

Don’t forget–tomorrow, November 12th are the RMA elections. Please join us at
the San Ramon Community Center from 8:30 to 10:00 am (the meeting will run a bit
later than normal) for the big day!

And the nominees are…

President:
Nate Ellis

Vice President:
John Hollinger
Mike Tacconi

Treasurer:
Ernie Decoit

Secretary:
Joni Toy

Sargent at Arms:
Dean Kanat
Haisem Nijem
Carlo DiMarco

Advisory Council:
Bernadette Dugan
Vickie Coker
Ashley Provost
Dennis Viers
Kaveh Sartipi
Angela Muetterties

Special Honors

Realtor of the Year:
Will Doerlich
Nate Ellis
Vickie Coker
Barry Zwahlen

Affiliate of the Year:
Kirk Bailey
Ernie Decoite
Kaveh Sartipi
Michael Tacconi
Felix Boston

Congratulations to everyone who is nominated and good luck tomorrow!

Share on Facebook

Last Week’s Broker Panel.

Ernie DeCoite — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:21:41 +0000

Here are some videos of last week’s broker panel discussion. Click the link below to see the full article and watch the videos. The discussion was very informative and all the participants did a great job.

This is one of the reasons we belong to RMA! Get the word out.

Share on Facebook

Broker/Owner Panel

Ashley Provost — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:02:29 +0000

Come listen to leading Broker/Owners speak about the ever-changing market this Thursday at the Realtor’s Marketing Association meeting.

Speakers include Vance Smith of J. Rockcliff, Jerry Stadtler of RE/MAX Accord, and Evelyn Walker of Coldwell Banker. Steve Reiser, President of the Contra Costa Association of Realtors will be the Moderator.

See you there!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

8:30am to 9:30am

San Ramon Community Center

12501 Alcosta Blvd.

San Ramon, CA 94583

The meeting costs $5 and includes breakfast and networking.

Share on Facebook

John Coleman with EBMUD will be speaking with the RMA on the 17th

Ernie DeCoite — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:11:09 +0000

John Coleman with EBMUD will be speaking with the RMA on the Thursday the 17t. John will be discussing long-term water planning, and its impact on economic growth and activity. He will also be talking about the current drought, EBMUD and State wide.

Share on Facebook

Special Location For Our June 11th, 2009 Meeting

Christopher Manzi — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:34:13 +0000

June 11, 2009
8:00 am	to	9:30 am

Please join us for a Special Engagement at the Black Hawk Country Club on Thursday June 11th.

Enjoy all the usually Networking Opportunities in this fabulous location. Find out about the Black Hawk community and Events in the area including the LPGA Tour.

We will also be welcoming special guests running to represent you at CCAR and looking for your vote.

599 Blackhawk Club Drive, Danville Ca, 94506

Share on Facebook

Live Band, Appetizers and a Good Time

Christopher Manzi — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:41:03 +0000

March 25, 2009
5:30 pm	to	7:30 pm

Live Band, Appetizers and a Good Time at California Custom Carpets!

Must donate canned goods for addmission to fill the Food Bank’s Pantry for Easter.

Where: California Custom Carpets

6815 Dublin Blvd

Dublin, CA

Time: 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM

Contact: Cathy Lee 925-351-6118

Jim Walberg 925-260-8800

Share on Facebook

An Open Appeal to the President & the Treasury

Christopher Manzi — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:16:40 +0000

Here is another one that is on Jim Walberg’s blog that you may be interested in. He sent me this last night:

Below is a link to a blog I posted last month that was written by Michael Lissack, a Realtor in Florida that is one of the brightest ecomonic minds I know. C.A.R. and N.A.R. both requested a copy of this article in order to use it as a blue print in designing a proposal to the current State and Federal administrations. Our membership may find it useful to consider, too.

http://www.eastbayrealestate.com/real-estate/the-bailout-package-guest-contributor-michael-lissack/

Jim Walberg

An Open Appeal to the President and the Treasury: Humbly submitted by Michael Lissack!

Wall Street and the general public are unimpressed by the latest bailout suggestions. The only solution for our economy is to FIX the mess regarding housing PRICES. The economy is suffering from the risk of foreclosures and the inability of banks to properly value the mortgage assets on their books. There is a solution. Create a loan repackaging service at and .

Any borrower may ask to have their loan purchased by the repackaging service, but the service should only repurchase loans related to the primary residence of the borrower or a home which had been the declared primary residence of the borrower for at least six months following January 1, 2007. If a home equity line or a second mortgage exists on a home it must be included in the repackaging. Loans aggregating more than $1 million per home shall be ineligible.

Loans to be repurchased shall be valued at the lesser of the outstanding principal balance or 100% of the average of three appraisals. The existing mortgage servicer/holder shall NOT be required to sell the loan (but the existence of the offer will create a market value for marking to market purposes).

The borrower of a repackaged loan shall agree to add a deed covenant granting the repackaging service 50% of the increased value of the home as of the fifth anniversary of the date of the new loan not to exceed the amount of the principal reduction from the original loan and the new repackaged loan. The home can only be sold during these five years subject to this secondary lien. The repackaging service can sell the secondary lien to a new owner of the home prior to the fifth anniversary date and to the original owner of the home (if he or she is still the owner) on or after the fifth anniversary date.

The Treasury shall subsidize all repackaged loans such that the stated interest rate for the first five years shall not exceed 4.5%. New home purchases shall be offered immediate purchase of their loans by the repackaging facility. This plan will stabilize housing prices.

I have enjoyed conversations with Michael over the years, and I really like his thought process. What your comments about Michael’s open letter to President Obama?

Share on Facebook

2009 Financial Crisis - Depressed: YES! Depression: NO!

Christopher Manzi — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:31:06 +0000

I am posting this after reading it on Jim Walberg’s Blog. I believe that it brings some perspective to what is happening in our economy. If you like to see what else Jim Walberg is up to, Check out his blog at: http://www.eastbayrealestate.com/

Best regards,

Chris Manzi

2009 Financial Crisis - Depressed: YES! Depression: NO!

Bob Wuan of Vacation Finance is a fellow real estate writer on the internet. He is one of the most respected mortgage minds in our industry and I am glad to have him as a friend. We use the services of his company, Vacation Finance, for our clients needing a loan for purchasing their second and third homes.

Bob Wuan just published an article today that I wanted all of you to read.

Mind set is still one of the most powerful aspects of our economy. I welcome your feed back on Bob’s thoughts.

America does seem depressed. Our immediate gratification society is bogged down in a recession that started over 12 months ago, and its starting to irritate us. But it is not (yet) a Great Depression. First, the banking crisis: 31 banks have failed in the last year, only 3 failed in the previous 10 months - an increase of 10 fold. That’s how the media spins it. But when you consider history - 4,500 banks failed in 1990s - 71% of the S&Ls fell in that recession. How is 31 worse than 4,500?

Next, unemployment is at a high for several decades, 7.6%+/-, in fact, this generation has not ever seen unemployment this high. Is it another Great Depression? No. By 1936 unemployment in America had reached 25.6% - it was likely higher since record keeping was less strict back then without social security numbers. In 1979 unemployment was 13.8%, which means the recession of the 1980s was two times worse than today’s. In the 1930s there was no unemployment insurance, when you were out of work, you were out of food. Today many layed off workers get months worth of compensation paid up front, or insurance benefits that replace 30-95% of their wages. Imagine our troubles if the 3.5 million unemployed were truly penniless today like in the 1930s.

Economies are built on a foundation of faith and trust. When our faith wains, so does our willingness to trust, trade and prosper. Over the last 18 months, we have begun to doubt, we have lost faith in our banking system’s stability - which is the life blood of all commerce. We questioned the bedrock base of our net worth and security in our homes. We have watched the unthinkable plummeting of our our home value - live and in real time with new technology like Zillow.com. Like checking a stock price from our iPhones, we can see if our home value declined over night. It has made each of us wonder “why am I going to work today?” Everything I work for is worth so much less than I had hoped. I earn money to watch if drop in value in my 401k. In the past, we would wait until month end or quarter end for a statement of progress, and depression would only set in after performance disappointed for a few quarters. Today, Americans ride a wave of instant news, instant disappointment and false senses of recovery when the markets (or local home sales) rise daily.

I blame our new ‘mark-to-market’ mind set. Watched constantly, a pot never boils. Criticism of our capital model has often included our inability to look out into the future (like Warren Buffett) and have confidence that we are doing the right things to deliver long term results and wealth. Instead we grade all actions off immediate results. CEOs get bonuses off selling cars today, even if those sales create long term losses due to crazy lease financed terms. Neighborhoods feel wealthier when the property developer sells the model home at an inflated rate to his cousin, and then appraisal reports show a jump in values.

When these games are realized months, quarters or years later, we all feel cheated by the market and the participants and 2008-2009 ‘depressions’ set in. This economic down turn is all mental. It is all about how we ‘feel’ about the economy, the rules, the participants, the future prospects. The facts tell a much different story, slow down yes, but 3.5 million jobs could be recreated quickly in America. Our trust, faith and optimism may take much longer to bounce back, unless we look to the horizon instead of our feet.

Share on Facebook

2009 Room Sponsors

Christopher Manzi — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:30:14 +0000

We like to thank our 2009 Sponsors:

January

Cort Furniture Rental with Beth Bennett

February

Higgens & Lovett Field Services with Jason Bliss
Home Folio Magazine with Kirk Bailey

March

Lennar Homes
Higgens & Lovett Field Services with Jason Bliss

April

US Bank

Brook Furniture Rental

Share on Facebook