Michael Greenslade

Hello again blog readers,

I've seen some great opportunities come up in the coveted North area of San Leandro come on to the market in the last few weeks.

The economy has finally hit our area hard and we are seeing some real affordability here now. If you are looking to shorten your commute or to get into Roosevelt Elementary School, now is the time to buy.

If you see anything that catches your attention, please give me a call and we can talk about it. Give me your email address and I will gladly forward you the complete listing. Let's set a date for a tour of these homes.

The Broadmoor has some interesting opportunites. Fortuna Avenue has a property listed for $299,900.00 Superior Avenue has a property at $349,950.00 Broadmoor Boulevard has two properties listed at $300,000 and $550,000.00 West Broadmoor Boulevard has two properties also listed at $229,000.00 and $349,988.00 Diehl Avenue has one listed at $254,900.00 Dowling Boulevard has one listed at $299,000.00 Herma Court has one for $349,000.00 East Merle Court has a home listed at $299,450.00

Some newer construction at Greenbrier Court and Cherry Park Square offer 3 bedroom and 2 baths and attached two car garages are being offered at $449,000.00 and $549,000.00

Bay-O-Vista has several homes available. Two properties are availble on Astor Drive with the asking prices of $535,000.00 and $599,976.00 One property on Benedict Drive with the asking price of $405,000.00, It could use some work but, at $405,000.00 it gets you into the Bay-O-Vista neighborhood. Graff Court has a listing for $839,000.00. Lakeview Drive has a listing for $999,500.00 Marineview Drive has a property listed at $895,000.00 Montrose Drive has a property listed for $699,976.00 Vista Grand Drive has a property listed at $1,275,000.00

In the older part of Bay-O-Vista you have the Lealand Heights area, which has two listings. One home on Parker Street is listed for $525,000.00. One home on Sandelin Avenue is listed for $499,976.00

In Estudillo Estates we have the following opportunities. Begier Avenue has one home listed for $518,000.00 Bridge Road has two properties listed at $625,000.00 and $649,950.00 Oakes Boulevard has one listed at $430,000.00 Arbor Drive has one listed at $1,195,000.00

Let me know if there is anything I can do for you. Give me a call. My phone nunber will appear somewhere on this blog page

I am sorry that I haven't been supplying you with my regular blog content. I have been a little busy. and for several reasons.

The first reason is that I was robbed at gun-point while with a client. We were looking at a property near Oakland's Castlemont High School. We had just seen the small two bedroom ranch house and were in the backyard looking at the detached garage when five armed punks came down the driveway and ambushed us. They stole from us our money, cell phones, wallets, my brand new GPS (worked so hard to get that). The leader of this gang was next to me and he specifically asked the car keys. With the keys, they then stole my mother's minivan and had keys to our homes.

The criminals then ran back down the driveway and departed in the aforementioned minivan. My client and I are very lucky to be alive. Just three days after our robbery three men were shot on the same street and same block where we were robbed.

I am just now limping back to real estate full speed. I have decided to no longer do properties under a certain price range for your safety and mine. Just between you and me, I am considering changing offices and working out of a Castro Valley based office.

Secondly, I have been busy with clients. I have teamed up with agent Michelle Lang and we have a nice ranch style home in Ashland in escrow. I am excited about this as our clients are very nice first time home-buyers. It's fun to share in their excitement.

We had been in escrow before but we were up against a big REO-mill agent who was really hard to work with. We even had to consult our Prudential legal department over some of the things she and her bank client had done. We finally canceled our side of the contract and asked to get the client's deposit returned.

That same bad agent would try to lecture us on "this is how REOs are done" in reference to her stalling tactics. Well, that maybe how she does business, but it is not how real estate is done as a whole. In the purchase agreement and joint escrow instructions "TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE" is one of the big clauses that state that we need to do everything in a very timely manner. RPA-CA section 24

We found a the replacement property that is in a better neighborhood, and in much better condition. So we are kind of glad that the other deal fell out of escrow. It opened up a much better opportunity for our clients.

I am here at the office today doing floor time. The phone hasn't rang once, it's raining outside and the foot traffic past our "storefront" is way down. So, I decided that I would catch you all up on the recent events and let you all know that I haven't forgotten you.

Yesterday I had the great opportunity to tour the Thorsen House near U.C. Berkeley in Berkeley, California.

My client who happens to be a high ranking alumni member of the fraternity that owns the Thorsen House gave me a private tour of this beautiful Greene & Greene "Ultimate Bungalow".

Greene & Greene architects are the same architects that designed the world famous Gamble House in Pasadena California.

My client is getting his loan funded today and will be closing on his first home in Oakland's Montclair district tomorrow.

It was high time to take a break. My client chose to work with me because of my passion for and knowledge of historic architecture.

I will be doing a full series of blog postings later, but I want to give you this web link now. www.thorsenhouse.org to let you know that you can tour the home. The website is also set up to take donations.

Clinker Brick and beam detail

Living room details

Front porch details

Front Door Art Glass

I would love to work with you too. Give me a call

On KPIX 5 CBS television's "Around the House with Jan Yanihero", a glorified infomercial paid programming, they run a segment on Renewal by Anderson Windows.

Renewal by Anderson and their local contractor Homeworks offer high quality custom sized modern, energy efficient dual paned windows.

Did you know that Homeworks has an excellent NO money down, NO payment, NO interest for one year plan (with approved credit)

Make your home more marketable before you put your home on the market. Have the updated windows that your buyers are looking for.

Give your home that well maintained look and feel. Imagine how sweet will it be when the homebuyer at the open house opens a window with ease. (they do and will)

Home insectors and appraisers will also love your updated fully functional windows.

Check out their websites for further information. They'll have windows for just about any style of home. Check out their gallery.

http://www.renewalbyandersen.com/

http://www.homeworks.com/financing.html

Once you've got your home looking great give me a call and I will be more than happy to help you with your next steps in selling your home. My information should appear somewhere on this blog page.

At today's sales meeting at the Montclair golf course we had a presentation from the guys at Metrocities Mortgage.

The topic of today's scheduled speakers was the new program from Fannie Mae, HomePath REO loans. This promises to be an exciting program

Metrocities Mortgage our in house lender is one of the few lenders approved to offer Fannie Mae HomePath REO Loans.

The HomePath REO Loan Program offers lower down payments and relaxed requirements. What this means to the consumer is more homeshoppers can become homebuyers!

The key is the home must be a home owned by Fannie Mae. To check the homes available please visit the website www.homepath.com or www.reosearch.fanniemae.com/reosearch

You'll need a FICO score of 660 or above to qualify

• Only 3% down required on a primary residence property
• No mortgage insurance required
• No property appraisal required
• Only 10% down on 1-2 unit investment properties
• Get up to 6% in seller concessions on primary residence properties

Get pre-approved with my contact at Metrocities Mortgage;

Shane Wihlidal

3320 Grand Avenue. Oakland, Ca. 94610

Office: 510 834-2010 x 229

Cell: 925 395-3488

Fax: 866 597-0125

Swihlidal@metrocitiesmtg.com

Be sure to tell him that I told you about this program. When you're ready to purchase that home give me a call. My contact information should be somewhere handy on this blog page your viewing.