About Sonoma County, CA

I like to keep updated on California and US statistics so I watch news every morning. Today was really good: new jobs in California increased to over 22,000 last month alone and National Unemployment improved to 8.3! There's a really optimistic outlook for the housing market so I figured its time to start spreading the news to interested Buyers: Loan rates are great, houses for sale are at fantastic prices and there are loan programs for those not qualified for conventional loans – Buy A Home Now, before you kick yourself that you missed out!

Have that great property which just cries out for International Marketing and Exposure? An estate in the Wine Country of Napa or Sonoma County? Perhaps a stunning estate in Santa Barbara or Knob Hill location in San Francisco? You spend a ton of money on the brochure, Virtual Tour, Video, Syndication, email to all your CIPS connections but you make ONE CRITICAL MISTAKE!!

You do NOT convert Square feet to Square Meters or Acres to Hectares! So BEFORE you make this faux pas make sure you convert these two common references when describing property and acreage.

I place the converted numbers next to each other. If you measure each room then do so for EACH room. It could mean the difference between someone calling you directly rather than having the Realtor who HAS converted call YOU on showing instructions!

Sqft to Sq. Meters Multiply your Square feet by (.09290) to arrive at Square Meters. Example: 2,000 square feet x .09290 = 185.8 square meters.

1 acres = 0.404685642 hectares

Example: 20 Acres x 0.404685642 = 8.09 Hectares

Taking the extra time will win clients and impress those International Realtors seeking a solid referring Realtor for their clients!

Also--DON’T forget about Currency Conversions! Here I’d convert to Euro’s, Yen and Yuan!

Example: Today’s quote on the Yaun is 1 Chinese yuan = 0.1586 US dollars. $1,500,000 would be $237,900 Yuan.

Remember—Convert our standard measurements to your market’s measurements and CONVERT leads to escrows!

This morning, our Multiple Listing Service (MLS) had 30 homes listed for sale in Oakmont. This compares with 33 for sale at the beginning of last week. This past week, two homes came onto the market, four new escrows opened, and two homes closed escrow. For a complete list of all the homes currently for sale in our MLS system, please click on the link below:

View Listings

For details on any of these homes for sale in Oakmont, please click on Search by MLS Number and select "Sonoma" from the "Choose a County" dropdown box, then enter the MLS number at the bottom of the search screen.

Note: This is a live link, so any additions or changes to these listings will be reflected within 30 minutes or less.

For more information on the community of Oakmont, please click on Oakmont California.

At the close of 2011 completed sales were 1.7% higher in comparison to 2010. “The pattern of home sales in recent months demonstrates a market in recovery,” asserted Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR. It’s encouraging to hear these statistics. Take a look at this article and see the good news for yourself.

Am I Lucky or What!?!

I am absolutely terrible when it comes to taking pictures when I'm on a job... I walk in the door and am so focused on getting the job at hand done, I completely forget to get good before and after pictures...

Today was moving day... a couple in the midst of a divorce had sold their $3+million dollar home in San Francisco's tony Pacific Heights neighborhood and so most items (carefully packed by PHA and color-coded between his, hers, and community property) were going into storage. Still other items were tagged for donations and those to be sold by an antique dealer.

However, there were 22 boxes of her personal items to be moved to their Sonoma County residence (that is also a multi-million dollar property currently on market) for her to use and enjoy until that property is sold.

During the course of the move, located within a winding stairwell, was a very large, very heavy, steel French-style, clock face that needed to be removed and delivered to a third party.... and, I was only informed of this task at 10am this morning!! (I'll be doing a separate post on the movers....they deserve all the kudos they get!).

Do I take pictures of this challenging task? No.

But, I get up to Sonoma with my crew member Suzanne, walk out onto the back deck and just could'nt resist... the home and grounds are beautiful... these pictures don't even come close to doing the property justice.

While the interior is not huge, it is so well appointed that it is more than quite comfortable.

Am I luck or what ???? Yes, I am. I get to work in beautiful properties both in the City of San Francisco and in Wine Country!!

Organizing moves and helping people through the moving process is what I do... and, more importantly what I love to do!

Here's two more pictures of the Sonoma residence...on the left is the Dining Room and on the right is the Family Room which is right off the kitchen... all have doors leading onto the deck and beautiful lap pool. I missed a shot of the lake which is below the pool...