About Alameda's East End

This short sale property went on the MLS Saturday. Open house on Sunday. by Monday, we had 5 offers. Wednesday, 7. Friday, 9. And we continued to receive calls inquiring about writing offers.

Multiple offers

By the following Sunday, and after reviewing the matrix that shows the various terms and conditions of the multiple offers, the sellers countered four. Two of the counter offers came back, and countered at higher prices at almost $100,000 over list price --- and they were only $1,000 apart!

The sellers are overjoyed. And so am I. The offers are over what they paid for it in 2004, and they are 95% of balances owed (when sellers refinanced, with two loans). This bodes well for getting the short sale approved and accepted.

Things seem to be working out. The buyers and their agents are all well-versed with short sales and know what to expect (and for how long).

Keeping my fingers crossed that everything works out.

Key factors that I think helped tremendously in marketing this property:

• LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION - in the most desirable east end of Alameda
• Aggressive list price at below market
• Property was thoroughly cleaned --- looked good, smelled good
• Property was staged --- even minimally, it evoked a warm and fuzzy feeling
• Pictures --- lots of it
• Tour --- VisualTour and YouTube. Prospective buyers said they were attracted enough to want to see it
• Featured tour as well as showcased on REALTOR.com that in turn was picked up by the other sites
• Posted on various sites of the internet: Trulia, Zillow, Craigslist, personal and company website, ActiveRain --- to get massive internet exposure
• Open house --- massive turnout
• Ability for sellers to sign electronically via DocuSign (extremely helpful to get the parties together since the sellers are in two separate states and time zones)
• Third-party short sale negotiator such as Short Sale Advantage -- buyers like the idea of professionals handling the negotiation with the short sale lenders

Keeping my fingers crossed that this short sale goes smoothly.

This is one of those times when I wish I have an assistant who can do all of these things....shoot pictures, create video tour, post on various websites. It's late at night, and while I'm watching TV, I'm posting this on as many sites as I can.


What I am happy about, is that I know how to do these things. And at a time when budget constraints are necessary, I know that I can continue to serve my clients and not sacrifice or give up any of the services I provide.


In the meantime, I am just happy I have a video of this listing.

Since I won the Magnetic Lenses to give my pocket digital camera wide-angle capability, I happily logged on and ordered it. Even if I had to pay for it, it may be worth it, for only $39.95! I had to check it out.

Simple to use lenses for use on multiple cameras

PROS: Definitely gave me greater depth. Easy to mount -- magnetic ring with adhesive attaches to outer rim of lens. And lens adheres to the ring and stays there! Lightweight lens.

CON: Visible rounded corners have to be cropped. Need to make allowances for what will be cropped out. More time spent cropping!

UPDATE: A Magnetic Lenses support person name Josh made a simple recommendation that solves this problem: Zoom in just a tad until the corners disappear. You will still have a good wide-angle picture photo. And indeed, it worked!

UPDATE: Found a Youtube video using Magnetic Lenses on a camcorder, and comparing it with the manufacturer (Sony)'s own lenses for that specific camcorder. You can use Magnetic Lenses with your Flip, too! As the Magnetic lens guy says, just zoom in a tad and the round corners wll disappear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6s7cOr6084

UPDATE November 2009: Some folks who ordered their Magnetic Lenses report that they have not received their lenses, nor can they get through to anyone at the company for a resolution.

Photo without magnetic lens

Photo with magnetic lens

Photo, cropped

MORE BEFORE/AFTER CROPPING. I also tried interior shots. I hate those pictures where all one can get is a picture of a corner of the room. This one I took from one end and managed to get more room in the picture. If I use this, I will definitely have to look at it from the point of view of how much i need to crop from the picture so that it looks presentable.

OR, as the Magnetic Lens' Josh said, just zoom in a tad....this gets rid of the rounded corners without losing too much of the photo. It works!

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