Mark Lomas

The Tiburon International Film Festival comes to town on March 19, 2009 (Opening Night Gala at the Corinthian Yacht Club - tickets still available: 415-789-8854) through March 27, 2009. Check out their web site at: Tiburon Film Festival



The hottest ticket for the Festival is Saturday night, March 21st, for the film Medium Cool. George Lucas will be presenting a tribute and the "Lifetime Achievement Award" to Oscar Wining Cinematographer and Director Haskell Wexler before or after the film.

The Windmill House

It was the summer of 1972. A couple of years earlier Rosa Burke Perez had completed construction of the hillside home that she and her then-husband, Neil E. Davis, had built a few blocks from downtown Mill Valley. Winding circularly, this unique all-redwood house has no right angles, a dozen levels, and 18 stained glass windows.

On the afternoon of June 23^rd, her youngest daughter's 5^th birthday, Rosa was saying goodbye to small party guests when the phone rang. It was Diane Nilson, an acquaintance who knew that in a week Rosa and her four children were traveling to Mexico.

"I know someone who might want to rent your house while you're gone," Diane said. "It has a lot of privacy, doesn't it? Because they're very famous. You can't tell anyone...it's John and Yoko."

It turned out that Diane was a friend of Peter Bendrey, who had just driven John and Yoko on a two-week trip from New York to San Francisco. Now staying in a Japantown hotel, they had decided to rent a house for a month. Diane asked if she and Peter could come over that evening after a customarily late dinner with John and Yoko in Sausalito.

When Rosa answered the expected knock on her front door, there, to her astonishment, stood John Lennon.

"Hi, I'm John," he said, as a group of five filed in. "This is Yoko. This is Peter...Diane...Elliot." (Elliot Mintz, radio personality and press representative.) John was wearing a black jacket with a button that said, "I'm crazy."

As Rosa gave them a tour of the house, her young daughters tumbled out of a bedroom. She introduced the girls, then remembered that she couldn't reveal the names of her celebrated guests. She looked beseechingly at John, who introduced himself and Yoko as "Fred and Ada Schwartz."

When they all stepped out onto the master bedroom deck, John gazed out and said, "It's like living in a windmill. I always wanted to live in a windmill." Elliot would later refer to it as The Windmill House.

After the tour they retired to the living room for almost an hour. A distinctly sweet smell soon filled the air. Peter did the rolling, and John was visibly appreciative.

The deal had been struck. Rosa would begin her Mexican vacation a couple of days early, and John and Yoko and Peter moved in on June 28^th, 1972. On August 1^st they autographed an album for their hosts and departed. When Rosa returned, she quickly checked to see if John had taken her hint: Having recently begun writing graffiti on her bathroom wall, she left pens handy. Something had indeed been added. In what looked like John's handwriting were the words "The maya the merrier!" (‘Maya,' Sanskrit for ‘create,' means ‘illusion' in Hinduism and Buddhism.)

Story by Rosa Burke Perez and Mark Lomas

Check out Mark's site at: www.TheRealEstateScene.com
Rosa's email is: rosa@rosacoloredglasses.com
Rosa's website is:www.rosacoloredglasses.com

Without revealing the street in Mill Valley's name...does anyone know the street this house is on?
Hint: Love All

This chart shows the activity of Top Brokers in Marin County.
This chart reflects Market Share in $ volume.
GMAC here is Pacific Union which was recently sold.
If you view the Pacific Union vs. Alain Pinel post below
you'll see that Pacific Union is in "transition" right now.

This chart reflects market share in UNITS SOLD


This Data reflects sales from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008

Glen Roberts of Inman News recently reported that "the idea of a national multiple listing service has moved out of the realm of science fiction and into the realm of serious discussion" David Charron, president and CEO for Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, the largest multiple listing service in the United States said that, "the idea of a national MLS is a wonderful thing!" And, that he expects rapid change in the MLS industry, evolving into "an entirely different business" in the next 18 months.
David Charron would be one of the benefactors if we were to go down this road. And, the realtors that provide the MLS data would be further compromised as big business steps in and dictates how our industy should operate. When will someone from NAR, CAR, and the local Associations stand up and say no to all these corporations that have invaded our industry? We create the data, and then all these lead generation companies try to sell leads back to us? Why aren't they paying for access to this data? How did thet take over control our MLS data? We created the data their expoiting. They should be paying us!
Where's the leadership? Any Internet company that is in the business of exploiting the real estate industry is given carte blanche when accessing our MLS data...why?
Any efforts to 'nationalize" the MLS will only continue to erode our relationship with the MLS data that we create. Local associations need to take control of their own MLS data and it's distribution to what extent they can. Our current leadership believes that there is very little that we can do? Why are we so intimidated by these large internet businesses that feed on us? Now more than ever, at the local level, realtors need to stand up and defend our industry before the David Charron's take it away from us.
A national MLS is good for the corporations that want to control the data. With so many internet side vendors they'll make a fortune on the backs of the realtors who create the data.
Really, how many realtors need to practice out of state? Now that the markets are in transition and struggling, predators are everywhere. Who's watching the store?

What do Real Estate agents do to earn their commission ? Ever heard that question? Here's a comprehensive and humorous take on that very question from a Home Inspector who's worked closely with Real Estate practitioners.
"They don't do @*!?&% thing! Why they just stick a sign in the yard and make easy money. I could do their job any day of the week."
Well, maybe you could do their job. But it just won't be any day of the week. And if you intend to be successful at it (which means satisfying a bunch of clients, mortgage lenders, appraisers, and countless other associates), it will probably be EVERY DAY of the week as well as most nights, weekends, holidays, anniversaries, special occasions, sick days, snow days, and unpaid vacation days.
Understood, there are Real Estate agents, and then there are good Real Estate agents. Just like Doctors, Lawyers, and Indian Chiefs. This article is about the good ones. The ones who go to work before,during, and after the times mentioned above.
To serve their clients and stay competitive in their profession, today's Real Estate agent are expected, assumed, requested, required, and or demanded to perform, be knowledgeable of or have access to the following: Information Brokerage Services, Multiple Listing Services, tax rate adviser, appraiser, mortgage lender,financial planner, legal expert, credit counselor, city planner (fortune teller),building inspector, chauffeur, shuttle service, travel agent, tour guide, delivery boy, order taker, public relations expert, therapist,marriage counselor, family doctor, nurse, baby sitter, advertising executive, general contractor, construction estimator and superintendent, and multi-talented subcontractor (not excluding locksmith, yard man, maintenance man, garbage man, plumber, electrician, decoder scientist for alarm systems and programmable thermostats).
They're often perceived as the bad guy when interest rates go up and the bad guy when your house doesn't sell by 10am the next day.
It's helpful if their talents include being a diplomat, a negotiator, a referee (similar to those used in Roller Derby and Monday Night Wrestling) and, in general, a walking bureau of information for everything about anything - including whose check is good and whose wife or husband isn't.
They must know about schools, churches, governments, public utilities, crime rates, world affairs, this weeks jail term for this weeks Environmental Protection Agency violations, future developments that no one has ever dreamed up yet, transportation, shopping, day care, soccer, T-ball,how many termites it takes to eat a house, every homeowners association formed since 12 BC and what kind of fences they don't allow, should you water and fertilize the Bermuda grass before, during, or after mowing, the best place in town to buy pizza, if you can buy beer on Sundays, and at least two dozen other skills and talents that I don't have room to mention.
So, be nice to your broker/agent. Next time you start thinking. "They have it so easy", go spend a day with them. You'll soon realize that, like most of us, they work hard for their money, and your satisfaction really is important to them.



MARIN COUNTY, CALIFORNIA * * * MARK DANFORTH LOMAS * * * THE REAL ESTATE SCENE.COM * * * 415-789-7777