About San Leandro's Bay-o-vista

We work mostly out of our home office. While typing my last sentences for a relocation report , I ignored the small little rubber ball that was being dropped at my feet over and over again. My 2-year old Pomeranian dog Prince wasn't going to stop inviting me to go out and play. The phone rings and the moment I pick it up I can hear one of my clients almost yelling at me complaining about a Realtor that just left her house. He showed up 30 minutes early for a showing of her house and she was in the shower and the house was not quite ready. She was very upset and wanted me to file a complain to his broker because of his early showing.

It took me a few minutes to calm her down, as I hung up, I directed the dog to get out of the office! Out! I called pointing towards the door, I did not want any distractions, the dog looked at me, picked up the ball and ignored me, the phone rings again, I ushered the dog out, push the door closed and answer the phone. Now is the Realtor who showed the house, he is upset because the seller let him know her disapproval in front of his clients and he wants an apology! I asked him about the time he had set the appointment and the time he showed up, he wouldn't take any of that, we had a lively disagreement about how to show houses within the time frame set for the appointment.

My office has two doors, one is a double glass door right in front of my desk, as I talk on the phone I can see the small dog jumping up and down trying to get back inside the office. The other Realtor is not going to settle down just yet, an incoming call gives me an opportunity to put this guy on hold, I am alone in the office. As I take the second call, I am surprised to find my upset seller who wants to know now what is the brokerage company this Realtor works for, she demands to know the name of the manager because she wants to file the complain herself. I promise I will find out and call her back, I hung up and tell the other Realtor what the conversation was, he is not happy and ask me to "rein in" my client! I tell him I had to go and we hang up.

The phone rings again, at this time the dog has pushed open the door and sticks his head and with the ball in his mouth, he gives me this tilted head sort of question... are we going to play? If you have a Pomeranian you know what I mean. I look at the phone, and at the dog's invitation, I take the second one, I come out of the office and pick the ball off his mouth and throw it far into the yard, he runs and happily fetches it, we play like that for about 15 minutes, finally he brings the ball back but he does not come straight to me, he goes to his water dish, an indication the game is over, he is tired, he comes to me and I pet him and thank him for being there at a time like this.

I have been rattled with the situation between my client and the other Realtor. Because of the dog I am now more relaxed and my blood pressure is probably down. I pick up the phone and call the seller, explain to her the job of the Realtor and the fact that sometimes this happens, I apologize on behalf of the other Realtor and invite her to let it all go. I call the other Realtor and apologize on behalf of the seller and invite him to let it go. Neither of them really apologized to each other but they both believe they did.

The mere presence of the dog and the break I took with him, made me a better negotiator, a more subdued, mellow and calm individual who diffused a potential explosive situation and prevented me from going into the argument more forceful. Can my dog help me be a better person? Yes, he can. Now if I could only put his name on my taxes... sort of "consultant" "special aide""trouble-shooter..." He deserves all those titles. I would love to know if any of you have had this secret tool in your offices or homes and how it works for you. Kibbles anyone?

The debate has never been settled; Sellers and Realtors disagree as to the possibility of finding a buyer for the house while holding it open for the general public. Some think it is a waste of time, others believe there is a valid reason to set up shop for 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon in somebody's house.

After 23 years selling real estate I am a true believer of the power of open houses. Not all people that come thru the house are simply lookers or neighbors, there are true homebuyers choosing a house to purchase. I look at my own habits, when was the last time I went looking at cars? When I needed to buy one, when did I look at furniture? Appliances? I only went when I needed to buy any of those items. From the buyers point of view it does make sense to go out and look at open houses on a Sunday afternoon in the area they like, it saves them time, rather than making appointments on house after house.

All week long a big part of my job is to look for homebuyers, I call everybody I know, I ask my friends and family if they know of anyone who wants to buy a house, I send postcards to tenants, offer seminars to first time homebuyers and then... Then on a Sunday afternoon when typically homebuyers are out looking at Open Houses... I take the day off! I don't think so! I want to be there, right in the middle of their tours, I want to meet those buyers in person, nothing beats a face to face encounter. Waiting for the phone to ring back at the office is not a good strategy. I learned that when holding Open Houses in the same area regularly, you get to know who is looking in that neighborhood, buyers in turn get to know you.

As a listing agent I owe it to my clients, the sellers to take every opportunity to find them a buyer. Sometimes I manage to drag my favorite loan officer to be with me during the open house on a Sunday afternoon, I then can offer every person that comes into the house a "free pre-qualification" right then and there. At the end of the open house I fax a copy of the register so the loan officer can also follow up with those buyers who signed. If we both follow up with the same person, odds are we will sell them a house, any house.

When my wife and I work the same open house together, one of us is ready to go show other houses in the neighborhood to a homebuyer that comes and find this house is not what they are looking for, if we know the inventory in the area we can just put them in the car and go. Having several of our own listings in the area increase the chances of selling one of them. It is sort of... fishing! The more hooks we have in the water the better the chances. Fishing for orphan buyers (buyers without a Realtor) is a very profitable activity on a Sunday afternoon. All you need is ONE qualified buyer per Sunday!

An important issue for all parties involved is SECURITY. Sellers should put away items of value, sensitive documents like tax returns, bank statements, passports etc. documents that have personal information on them should always be secured. Also please put away prescription drugs. And don't forget that children's rooms also have expensive items that can easily be pocketed, like game cartridges and CDs. Pets should not be left at the house while it is open to the public, and the house should be immaculate from top to bottom. And for us Realtors, we should have at least 2 clear exits from the house and someone in the office or a family member in contact by phone every hour.

I joined Active Rain about 3 months ago, and I must confess that I am addicted to this group of professionals. I have learned a lot from the members of this group, there are tons of useful tips on how to handle almost anything relating to real estate. I have pick up a few marketing tips that have made a difference and I have met some wonderful people who's knowledge is so generously shared that I have nothing but admiration and respect for them.

During this time I have had two of my clients move out of the area. In the past I will look for the nearest office or look up the CRS or GRI members on that area and hand over my clients without knowing much about the individual except the number of years in the business and the professional designations, I figure if I have those designations and they do too, then, they are like me... wrong!

When I posted my first seller referral I received lots of inquiries, I particularly asked that the agent must be CRS or GRI, I screened them and found a wonderful active rain member who right now has a new $850,000 listing. This Realtor was new to AR also but had the designations I wanted and she lives 5 minutes from this listing, took action, followed up with the client and with me. Good feeling!

My second referral is an all cash buyer for about $600,000 but this time I actually went to the AR web page of the individuals and read some of their post in their blogs, looked at the inventory of homes, cheked the ability to reach them, the 800 numbers, I called them on the cellular and actually was able to pick the best Realtor I could possibly find.

Both of my clients are absolutely delighted with the individuals I found for them. But by sending buyers and sellers referrals out, I have learned that the receiving agent must meet a few requirements in order to compete for and win the referral: Numbe one: Quick response of course, a couple of hours after the posting the referral was assigned. Professional web site, if you don't have an online presence but my client does, there will be no connection! Professional designations like CRS, GRI, E-Pro at least, this will tell me how commited and updated you are in the industry. A toll free number, I will gladly pay for the call if someone is going to give me a listing, wouldn't you?

I also appreciated the brief introduction some of them had when requesting the referral. Some did ask for the referral, others just told me how wonderful they were. The better ones even gave me tips! Like: "a part of that city carry Mello Ross taxes that are high, be careful you get an agent who knows the area well..." That was great! I used that in my interview with the Realtor that ultimaltely got the referral and warned my client to keep an eye out for that.

The ones I did not care for were those whose geographical area was not what I was looking for. Or those Big Designations-long experience-leaders of a team who wanted the referral but when I asked who will handle the client, they told me their "buyers agent" who happen to be a new Realtor with just a few months of experience, ouch! That is a no-no for me! If I give you a referral based on YOUR experience and knowledge, YOU must handle the client! Please remember that the client will give me feed back and I will have no problem looking for another Realtor if you drop the ball.

Taking buyers and sellers of real estate out of the equation, I thought it was going to be difficult to find anyone who could possibly be enjoying this depressed market, but once you start looking carefully you will find them! People who are actually having a ball in this market! There are some real estate service providers who are enjoying an all time high because houses aren't selling.

Home stagers: They are running out of furniture and since they make money by renting it, the longer it stays put the better the margin of profit. Staging houses to look good is their job. But on a market where PRICE seems to be the only issue, sometimes staging doesn't even help. To borrow a line from the politicians that applies very well to our real estate market: If the pig has lipstick... it is still a pig!

Appraisers: Almost everybody wants to know how much is their house worth, banks want to know the true value of their properties, equity lines of credit need to be adjusted, and an appraisal is the key. I recently discovered a new twist: A review appraisal when providing new purchase loans. Just over 3 weeks ago, at the last minute the lender required 2 more appraisals to verify the value! An appraisal to appraise the appraiser? The buyer refused to pay for those appraisals and the loan officer took that loan to another lender, there was a 3 week delay but we closed the escrow. We used to have only ONE appraisal per house, no wonder the appraisers are busy people.

Property Managers: The high number of foreclosures have been a boom for these people, they don't have enough rentals to go around, their vacancy factors are very low, and they are getting pretty good tenants, former homeowners who know how to take care of a home. A foreclosure prevents them from purchasing another house for years until their credit improves. Good property managers are in high demand right now.

Landscapers: I always thought that these people have a very steady job. Weeds keep growing, trees go out of shape, lawns turn brown and die, houses for sale with un kept landscaping loose value, nature simply goes all out if the gardener quits, and everybody notices his absence.

The Sign Company: What a good job to have right now. Their existing inventory of "For Sale" signs is all out; some of their signs have been planted for good in some cases... like in one of my listings! I have a house that has been for sale for almost 2 years with a for sale sign planted on the same spot, I think I noticed the other day that it has sprout some twigs and leaves, if it ever bear fruit I'll quit selling real estate!

"Credit Restoration Consultants"... whatever that is... they are making money too! You see, not EVERYBODY is suffering from a bad real estate market, some of them are actually having fun!