Klor Strong Team Blog

How would you like to earn some money and do some good while your’e at it? I’ve always LOVED that combination! The United States 2010 Census needs folks to reach out to the community and they are willing to pay you $15-22 to do it. In case this sounds like something you might want to do, you can call the job line at 1-866-861-2010. Do you speak a second language? They will be very thankful for that added benefit!

In the last census of 2000, 60-65% of the population did NOT respond! When you consider that each person and child that is counted brings in $1,200 to the local community… let’s stand up & be counted folks!

But don’t get fooled by those that would take advantage of the situation, Census workers are not allowed to as for personal information, credit card number and they are not allowed to enter your home- greet them at the door, give them the information that is going to be mailed to you the first week of March & you can feel all wonderful about yourself for having done your civic duty!

Our main issue is that there is not enough housing for the amount of buyers that want to purchase. Because Real Estate statistics are hyper local, any general statement that has as its basis a global statistic for the United States, has little to zero relevance to our Bay Area RE. In Detroit you can purchase a single family home for $59,0000. In the Bay Area, that will buy you a large, newer vehicle or old trailer- not even a financeable mobile home….

New construction in the Bay Area is not selling like hotcakes due to the difficulty of obtaining financing, not due to lack of demand. We have a MAJOR stumbling block right now in the financing process which is the new appraisal rules & regulations- the amount of war stories are mounting and unfortunately we are all getting wounded by it! These new rules have left us with very few good appraisers that are intelligent, professional & discerning and instead we have a bunch of uneducated, unmotivated, & unknowledgeable  people  that are willing to work for $125 for over 20 plus hours worth of work! These are the folks that are stopping transactions from going through. But then, we’ll talk more about that later….

As a secondary problem for new housing- which is just getting started- is the Chinese Drywall issue www.newsinferno.com/archives/5591 (just an example).

Indicators that ARE important are:

2/21/09     1,375 Properties available for sale in Santa Clara County 28.1% were in escrow

2//10     760      “          “       “   “    “    “     “    “      59.3% are in escrow

But even these stats are not totally correct due to the amount of Short Sales that are under contract/in escrow that will NEVER close escrow and will end up back on the market as Foreclosures…..

O.K., first I’d have to ask you a couple of questions:

1. What day are you reading this on? If it’s any other day than the one on which I’m actually writing this, the answer could be 75% wrong!
2. What exact,  micro, super hyperlocal market are you talking about? 5 miles away, I could be at least 90% wrong!
3. What price range are you wondering about? $400K and under? $750-900K? $1MM and over? WOW, I’d have to give you 3 different answers!
4. Are you asking about Single Family Homes, Town Homes, or Condominiums?

You get the idea I’m sure, it’s really pretty complicated and we can talk about each of these 4 points more in depth in future posts. Right now let’s talk about why generalizations just don’t work in Real Estate.  The national news feeds say the market appears to be getting better and I can only wonder WHO they are listening to and WHERE that very enlightened person is reporting from. If they are in Detroit, they are possibly lying through their teeth! If they are talking about Silicon Valley, Single Family Homes listed under $400,000: BINGO! They are right on the money! So, nationally you cannot make that kind of blanket statement.

Let’s bring it home a little bit more and listen to what they are saying about the California Real Estate Market “Most California real estate markets have already hit bottom”. Makes me wonder where this person bought their crystal ball? I hope they kept the receipt! Depending on what part of California we are speaking of, MOST markets, have not even heard, much less seen the giant whose shoe is going to be the next one to drop…..

In the next post we will examine our local market more closely and expand more on the shoe industry- nos vemos soon…

Well, it just so happens you CAN! If you as a Buyer, Seller, Lender or Agent are having issues with someone and the issue has to do with Real Estate, then the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors has the answer to calm your pain. More than 5 years ago, the Ombudsman Committee was established to do just that. You can check out the information at www.sccaor.com. Click on the Disputes Resolution tab. During 2009, we were able to informally mediate 147 cases! 98% of which were resolved by our committee of 8. So, next time you have a question regarding ethics, best practices or just need a little help figuring out if what is going on in your transaction is “above board” or not- get a hold of our local Ombudsman committee and let us help you sort it out.

Yesterday was Christmas Day, and my husband and I were volunteering for a program called “Loaves & Fishes”. We both love volunteering in and for our community and we were more than happy to be helping this wonderful organization. Prior to starting, Christine, the person in charge, gave us a little talk about what we were about to do and how that would impact those folks that we were about to serve. She spoke about how those folks that would show up for this free meal and gift bags full of “survival” items and blankets, might be in need of a kind word almost as much as they were in need of a hot, nutritious meal.

As the men, women and families came in, you could see a bit of embarrassment in their eye and thankfulness in their smile. I think all of  us volunteers were hoping to erase the embarrassment and give them a moment of warmth, caring and ACCEPTANCE. This may have been one of the few times that they felt accepted and cared for. So, what do other people want? I think most people, no matter who they are, what they are doing, and what dreams or nightmares they see in front of them,  just want a moment enveloped in someone else’s warmth and caring- not judging, not wanting to fix them, just smiling from one’s heart to another’s heart, taking a few minutes to get to know their name and where they are from…. oh, and did I mention a HUG? Sometimes all other people want is this, in that one moment and for that one moment, it can make ALL the difference in the world! I hope you get the opportunity to bless & be blessed by a moment like this….

Everyday is a new begining- thank goodness! And we are so blessed to be in a human centric business as Realtors. Sure we have our bouts with the machines of our trade, the computer that sends those important emails to the spam folder and the very expensive 2 year old printer that has decided Vista is a foreign language it has no intent of trying to understand- but all in all, at the end of the day- we get a positive comment from a client, we get that contract accepted or that listing sold for our clients and it’s ALL good!
I went to the HARA (Hispanic Association Of Realtors & Affliates)luncheon meeting today at Maggianos(great food BTW!) and heard a couple of speakers one from the Office of Affordable Housing from Santa Clara County and another from Wells Fargo Bank and they both shared about programs that are available (some presently funded and some awaiting funds that can help a lot of deserving first time home buyers achieve the American Dream! There is such a wealth of information out there and all we as Realtors have to do is just be open to being educated so we can better assist our clients! I’m ready ready, able and willing! And can’t wait to share this information!

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