Archive for March, 2010

« Older Entries

Intero Insider: Why Would You Choose One Over The Other?

By Gino Blefari | March 31st, 2010 0 Comments

At a recent gathering of real estate professionals of which I was a part, a rather interesting question was posed.

“Do people choose an individual real estate agent, or do they choose the brokerage for whom they work?”

The ensuing discussion was exhaustive and filled with more than a little hot air, but it got me thinking. What really matters to our customers and clients? What really matters to you?

At Intero, we take the approach that everything matters. Everything is important. We are only as strong as our weakest link.

We take great care to hire only the best agents. And by “best”, I don’t just mean those who make lots of sales or who bring business to our offices. When I say “best”, I mean those agents who continually set higher standards for their work, to embrace innovation. I mean those who are willing to go the extra mile (and further, if necessary) for their clients and customers.

While many brokerages see fit to hire anyone with a pulse, we have no interest in merely filling our offices with bodies. At Intero, our agents are the ambassadors of our brand. They’re carrying our name out into the field and their actions, good or bad, polish or tarnish our brand accordingly. Their skill, caring, and expertise is a direct reflection on us and the sort of business we endeavor to run.

You might ask yourself, “If I have a great agent, why should it matter to me whom he works for?”

On the surface, that question makes sense. But scratch just below it, and it makes no sense at all. Why does it matter?

It matters because, when push comes to shove, you want someone who is backed up by resources. There are plenty of real estate brokerages who hire agents (more to the point, who collect fees from agents and do very little else) and send them on their merry way with a few yard signs, never to give them another thought. Is that the sort of company that you want representing you?

At Intero, we do things differently. We stand behind every one of our real estate professionals. We put the strongest resources and best technology behind them. We want everyone to know that Intero stands for quality, not just a stable of relatively warm bodies who’re doing the bare minimum. Our agents deserve our support, and our clients most certainly do as well.

Why this question should matter, why you should want both a great agent and a great brokerage is that while each is great individually, the strength generated by their combination is unbeatable. When you’re embarking on what is, arguably, one of the most important decisions — financial or otherwise — of your life, why would you settle for anything less?

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

Intero Real Estate Services, Inc. wins prestigious Website award from Leading Real Estate Companies of the World

By Teressa Francis | March 26th, 2010 5 Comments

Organization representing over 600 premier real estate companies in 35 countries across the globe recognizes Intero for design excellence

CUPERTINO, SILICON VALLEY, USA – March 25, 2010 — Intero Real Estate Services (http://interorealestate.com), a leading U.S. real estate brokerage that has recently expanded its brand globally, as a franchisor, through Intero Franchise Services, Inc. and Intero International Franchise Services, LLC, was awarded the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® Best Visual Design of 2009 award for its flagship website, interorealestate.com.

The award was presented by Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®, a global network of distinctive real estate firms, at the organization’s annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The award comes on the heels of a recent redesign of interorealestate.com to reflect the latest design standards, highlight the company’s expanding international presence and create a visual experience that reflects the spirit of innovation that drives the Intero brand.

“It is not a coincidence that our global headquarters sits next to the Apple® Computer campus,” said Gino Blefari, Intero® President and CEO. “We recognize the importance of design in everything we do – especially online, which is where most property buyers and sellers first encounter real estate brands today.”

Bob Moles, the Intero Chairman, added, “Real estate operators around the world have known for years that the Web is a critically important brand touchpoint, but most have failed to take action and make the investments needed to deliver usable, compelling online experiences. We believe this inaction is no longer sustainable and have made the investments needed to ensure our growing network of franchisees excel in this area.”

The Intero® approach to designing online experiences is based on a set of principles any company, in any country, would do well to follow:

User focused design: Design should be driven by the needs of end users, not the brand. This requires taking the time to understand what property buyers and sellers want when they go online, then delivering it to them in the clearest way possible. Though simple, this idea has been largely ignored by real estate companies intent on designing with their needs in mind.

Restraint: Website design in real estate has long been plagued by unnecessary complexity. Designs laden with marginally useful features, self-promotional copy and heavy graphics are the norm. This gets in the way of users seeking what they truly want, which ultimately harms the brand.

Quality: Real estate companies that spend millions on palatial offices and expensive print collateral often balk at spending thousands on quality Web design. This is exactly backwards. Insisting on – and investing in – good Web design is imperative.

Concludes Blefari, “This award is an important validation for us, and one we are particularly honored to receive given the strength and breadth of the organizations in the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® network.”

About the Intero® brand

Founded in 2002 Intero Real Estate Services, Inc. has quickly become one of the premier real estate brands in the U.S. Today, the Intero® brand has over 1,800 agents and 40 company owned and franchise offices covering California, Colorado, Nevada and Texas. The company is private and headquartered in California’s Silicon Valley.

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

HAFA (The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative) is coming to town!

By Russ Boyd | March 26th, 2010 0 Comments

As I reported in a recent post, up until now, short sales have had a high rate of failure, leading to frustration by buyers, distressed sellers, real estate agents and escrow officers. HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative) is a new federal program which becomes effective April 10, 2010. The intent of the new guideline is to streamline the process and create incentives for short sale transactions for lenders and borrowers through 12/31/12. Whether you are a homeowner, home buyer or home seller, this program may impact on you!

Yes, even if you are a current homeowner that is not experiencing financial distress you may be affected. Here’s how; as can be seen here, homes that have been foreclosed on and are now bank owned receive a sale price, on average, some 20% below that of a successful short sale. What homes sell for in your neighborhood directly impacts the value of your home. The fact that short sale sellers typically stay in their home until escrow closes limits the negative affect of foreclosed homes that become vacant.

As a homebuyer you are impacted because of the high failure rate and length of time short sales have been experiencing. In the first time buyer price range short sale listings represent the highest percentage of homes for sale, however, most buyers learn quickly to limit their search to bank owned or traditional market listings, thus ignoring half or more of the available homes for sale. The expected outcome of the new guidelines, which become effective April 5, 2010, is to align the short sale process with more traditional sales.

And of course, all this will benefit the seller experiencing financial hardship. Hopefully, the failure rate will go down and the process will become more predictable.

So, lenders have until April 5th to implement the HAFA guidelines and if it provides the intended benefit, it’s a win-win for all.

For complete details on how HAFA affects you, contact your real estate professional.

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

Mortgage that Matters: BELIEVE

By Rick Soukoulis | March 25th, 2010 0 Comments

If there’s one thing I’ve seen over and over again, it’s the cycle where housing soars, corrects, and then soars again.

At its low periods, like today, many, many people think real estate values will never come back.  And certainly they’ll never go up again like they did in the past.

I don’t know about other parts of the country, but this is California – where the American Dream thrives.  I am eternally optimistic about California housing values, and most optimistic about values in the Bay Area.

So, I’ve collected some quotes from the past where people say real estate is dead.  Reading them might allay some peoples’ concerns and put things into perspective.  Enjoy:

  1. “The prices of houses seem to have reached a plateau, and there is reasonable expectancy that prices will decline.”  (Time, Dec. 1, 1947)
  2. “Houses cost too much for the mass market.  Today’s average price is around $8,000—out of reach for two-thirds of all buyers.” (Science Digest, April, 1948)
  3. “If you bought your house since the War…you have made your deal at the top of the market… The days when you couldn’t lose on a home purchase are no longer with us.”  (House Beautiful, Nov.  2, 1948)
  4. “The goal of owning a home seems to be getting beyond the reach of more and more Americans.  The typical new house today costs $28,000.”  (Business Week, Sept. 4, 1969)
  5. “Be suspicious of the ‘common wisdom’ that tells you to ‘Buy now…because continuing inflation will force home prices and rents higher and higher.’”  (NEA Journal, Dec. 1970)
  6. “The median price of a home today is approaching $50,000….Housing experts predict that in the future price rises won’t be that great.”  (Nations Business, June, 1977)
  7. “The era of easy profits in real estate may be drawing to a close.”  (Money, Jan. 1981)
  8. “In California… for example, it is not unusual to find families of average means buying $100,000 houses…. I’m confident prices have passed their peak.”  (John Wesley English, The Coming Real Estate Crash, 1980)
  9. “The golden-age of risk-free run-ups in home prices is gone.”  (Money, March 1985)
  10. “If you’re looking to buy, be careful.  Rising home values are not a sure thing anymore.”  (Miami Herald, Oct. 25, 1985)
  11. “Most economists agree… [a home] will become little more than a roof and a tax deduction, certainly not the lucrative investment it was through much of the 1980s.”  (Money, 1986)
  12. “We’re starting to go back to the time when you bought a home not for its potential money-making abilities, but rather as a nesting spot.”  (Los Angeles Times, Jan. 31, 1993)
  13. “A home is where the bad investment is.”  (San Francisco Examiner, November 17, 1996)

Things look grim right now, but go back and look at the dates on all these quotes?  Anyone who followed the advice of these people would have missed out on one of the great real estate booms of all time.

What if you paid attention to the advice in quote #7?  You’d have missed out on all that growth in the 1980’s.

What about quote #12? If you followed that advice, you’d have missed out on all the great years up until last year.

I could go on and on.  If you’re a patient person, it’s been almost impossible not to get rich on California housing.

It happened before and it will happen again.

Don’t bet against California housing.

In the long run, it’s always been a great investment.

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

Intero Insider: Ready To Buy A Home? Know The Expression: “Caveat Emptor”

By Gino Blefari | March 24th, 2010 0 Comments

Recently, while reading news items related to the real estate industry, I happened across a letter to the editor in which the writer, a recent homebuyer, referenced several problems she was having in her new home and wanted to know what recourse she had (if any) against the seller.

Her letter went on to say that she’d purchased the home “as is”; the sellers had had a home inspection performed and had provided a copy of the report. No significant problems found.

Huh.

I began to wonder if she —this recent homebuyer — had a buyer’s representative or whether she’d acted on her own behalf. I wondered if she’d ever heard the expression, “caveat emptor” or “let the buyer beware”.

With regard to this particular transaction, I don’t know any of the pertinent details, so I can’t really comment on those. But I do have lots to say about situations like this (and others like it). There are myriad situations that could have come into play in this case, but if the buyer really did purchase the home “as is”, then the onus, most likely, was on her to have her own home inspection performed, rather than take the one that the seller provided. Had she had a buyer’s representative, she would have known that a home inspection report is not a seller’s disclosure, nor is it a warranty of any kind.

Depending on the state in which you’re buying a home, “as is” condition may or may not come with any warranties or guarantees. In some states, for example, there are clauses in their real estate contracts that state that all major mechanical systems (plumbing, electrical systems, etc.) be in proper working order, regardless of the conditions of the home sale. In many, however, there are not.

Whether she likes it or not, and whether she realizes or not, she may very well have to face the fact that “as is” meant exactly that. Had she had a buyer’s representative — someone looking out for her interests instead of the seller’s — she would have known this.

If you listen, you’ll hear people say, over and over again, that buying a house is the most important financial decision you’ll ever make. Why would you make that decision without sound advice? The sellers of most homes have representatives working for them, why should you accept any less?

Buyers agents work for the buyer, not the seller. They have fiduciary duties to the buyer, and to no one else.

The buyer of the home in my example may or may not have any recourse. This is unfortunate, but it’s also reality.

Before you purchase a home, make sure that you’re protected. Make sure that you’ve got someone looking out for you. Otherwise, it’s “buyer beware”.

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

Intero Insider: It’s a Great Time To Buy! Or Is It?

By Gino Blefari | March 17th, 2010 0 Comments

Think back to any point in recent memory — or not all that recent, it really doesn’t matter — to conversations you’ve had with real estate agents, or ads you’ve heard about the real estate market. I can’t be certain, but I’m betting that the lion’s share of those contained some reference to that moment in time being “a great time to buy”.

And, in reality, real estate always has been a great long-term investment, hasn’t it? Ask somebody who bought real estate thirty, forty, or fifty years how they look at their investment today. I guarantee you they’ll say they wished they had bought more.

But let’s look a this a little differently for a moment – and look at the issue of “it’s a great time to buy” in a new way.

Is it a great time to buy … for you?

That’s the real question, isn’t it? Regardless of market conditions, regardless of interest rates or tax credits or anything like that, the best time to buy a home is when it’s best for you.

People tend not to look for new homes “just because”. There has to be a reason. There has to be some sort of need. If there are bonuses like rock bottom mortgage rates, or economic factors that have driven home prices to levels lower than moss, so much the better. But if you don’t have a reason to buy a home, do those factors make it a great time to buy? Probably not.

Often, we hear people say, in retrospect, “Man! I should’ve bought that house back then.” But really, would you have? If there was no reason for you to move, no real reason to buy “back then”, chances are that the idea of a home purchase wouldn’t even have been on your radar screen. Hindsight is 20/20, but none of us is a fortune teller; no one knows, in advance, what the trends in home pricing will be.

Maybe now is the best time for you to buy. If your family has expanded, if your work circumstances have changed, or if you simply want to, then yes. It’s a great time to buy.

When you decide that it’s the best time for you, make sure you arm yourself with knowledge. Make sure that you have an agent who knows your market. Make sure you have someone who’s an advocate for your needs, someone who’s looking out for your best interests. Each and every Intero agent is abreast of the latest market trends and is an expert in the communities that they serve.

So, ask yourself, “Is it a great time to buy?” Only you can answer that question definitively, but once you say “Yes!”, the team at Intero will be here to make it as great an experience as possible.

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

Lender Lawsuits Cause Halt for Purchasers

By Kristen Para | March 15th, 2010 0 Comments

Borrowers in the higher end homes are sticking their feet into cement bricks at their homes and not budging for foreclosures. Not literally, but homeowners are not being as reluctant for the cash for keys scenarios anymore. Hollister is seeing a growing trend of borrowers, who have received foreclosure notices,  seeking legal aid to keep them stay in their homes in order to allow time for loan modifications or additional months without payment. Borrowers are arguing that the lenders never disclosed the terms of the loan or never really qualified for the loan which creates a problem for the revolving world.

All the expected trustee sales from last year will not be available for purchase to the public, so buyers will not be able to purchase and receive the extended tax credit which needs to be in contract by the end of April. While people are looking for new beginnings, some people are struggling to keep what they have. Until the market is at a fuller recovery, all buyers, sellers, Realtor, escrow and title companies, lenders will have to stay on their toes as to where the market will transition to next.

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

Discovering Benefits of a More Sustainable Landscaping

By Tadas Narauskas | March 12th, 2010 1 Comment

The shortcomings of traditional landscaping are evident as never before.  You can smell them in air pollution landscape (lawnmowers, transportation, energy use), you can taste them in our water pollution (fertilizers and pesticides), and you can see them in harmful effects to our biodiversity and consumption of natural resources.  At the end of the day conventional landscaping can be just down right cost and labor intensive.  That is exactly why more and more folks are discovering the joys of sustainable landscaping.

So what exactly is this “sustainable” landscaping that everyone is talking about and what can it do for us?  Essentially, sustainable or “green” landscaping is landscaping that considers things like water conservation, the use of all natural resources and the selection of proper plants to beautify a piece of land while still making it work with the surrounding ecosystem.

In the beginning this may sound a tad complex but rest assured – it’s not.  There are countless things that we can try at home on your own.  Keep in mind these three mantras – Conserve, Design and Protect.

Conserve means conserving resources like water and using a composting bin to recycle natural yard waste into organic fertilizer.

Protect means preventing or reducing processes that degrade or pollute the environment and harm regenerative capacity of our ecosystems.

Design means designing your landscaping in harmony with the natural environment, and in a way that it enhances the sustainability features of your home.

For instance, if you are planning on redoing the landscaping in your yard, consider the placement of deciduous and evergreen trees.  If you plant deciduous (the type that has seasonal leaves) on the south and east sides of your home, you’ll be able to get shade during the summer while still keeping the sun’s heat and warmth during the winter, because the leaves will not block the sun light.  Evergreens (the type that always has leaves) that have been planted in the north and the west are particularly wonderful for protecting your home from harsh winds during those colder Bay Area months.

It’s always a great idea to consider the use of recycled materials for your green landscaping project. You’ll find that soil amendments and mulch fall under this category.  With wood becoming more and more expensive and increasingly depleted, we may want to consider making sure we can recycle plastic bender board.  Similarly, we can recycle broken up concrete into great flagstones, and recycled brick for paths and patios.  With a bit of imagination the options to recycle are limitless.

One of the most essential components to sustainable landscaping is of course the water irrigation concerns.  Did you know that most people over-water their lawns by 50%? Imagine the water savings if they all just adjusted their sprinkler systems.  My next door neighbor’s sprinklers are on day and night, spraying all over including our shared fence which is beginning to rot already.  Our cats love watching it though, for them this is pure entertainment.

When deciding what to put in a garden, it’s beneficial to think about how the water will flow and how we can best take advantage of the water that is around. Key things  here is install drip-irrigation and use only drought resistant and native plants.  This will assure that your deep watering needs are kept to a minimum.

Looking for a place to buy some eco friendly plants?  Check out the Santa Clara County  Web Page (http://www.valleywater.org) for more info and nursery locations.  Want to hear something really cool?  The District will give you up to $1000 dollars to take out your lawn and replace it with drought tolerant plants and $1000 to install water conserving irrigation system. According to their website, this rebate expires this June, so don’t snooze on the opportunity.

Another fantastic resource online is the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara website (http://www.mastergardeners.org). It’s jam packed with all sorts of magic tips, wonderful advice, and local events for gardening and sustainable landscaping enthusiasts.

Sustainable landscaping makes financial sense and is truly our way of saying thank you to that earth and soil that have fed so many generations before us.  Happy landscaping.

More on Green Homes:  http://SanJoseGreenHome.com

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

Is Edgewood Park’s High-End Market as Dry as a Desert?

By Ed Gory | March 11th, 2010 0 Comments

Rhetorical question, I know.

Edgewood Road — particularly between Alameda de las Pulgas & El Camino Real — boasts some of the coolest, full-of-character, historical, and BIG homes in the neighborhood (big in home size as well as lot size).  Owning a home on this slice of Edgewood Road is akin to reaching that “dee-luxe apartment, in the sky-high-high”.

But in today’s market, where are the buyers for these homes? Sure, they’re out there…somewhere.

The hard statistics to swallow for any home seller relate to how well your home is priced for THAT segment of the market, at THAT moment in time.  I’m not marginalizing at all the value of these high end homes — heck, if I had $3M+, I’d love to live in one of these mansions too.  But then again, a home’s true value is only what a buyer is willing (and able) to pay at that time of the market.

In 2009, in Redwood City, only 1 home sold above the $2.8M mark. It’s interesting to see how this compares with neighboring “high end” areas.

In 2009, here are how many homes sold that were OVER $3M in sale price:

  • Woodside:         9 homes sold over $3M
  • Portola Valley: 5 homes
  • Hillsborough:   31 homes
  • Atherton:           33 homes
  • Los Altos:           9 homes
  • Palo Alto:          14 homes

So as it stands now — looking purely at black and white market stats — we have a 3 year inventory of $3M homes in Edgewood Park.  Yes, there are still buyers willing to buy. They will only respond to properties that are aggressively priced and work with sellers who are flexible as to terms and conditions.  An even bigger surprise this year is that even more of the buyers are all cash buyers.  So, if you are a seller, price your property “to sell.”  If you are a buyer, this is the opportunity to get into the high-end at the price of a lifetime.

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

Intero Insider: To Forgive Or Not To Forgive? That Is The Question.

By Gino Blefari | March 10th, 2010 0 Comments

Even in a “normal” year (when someone actually finds one of those, please tell me), I am bombarded each spring with questions about real estate transactions and their implications on Federal and State income taxes.

In a year in which we’re experiencing continued economic hardships, and since many of those hardships relate directly to home sales and foreclosures, I’m getting far more than usual.

Right out of the blocks, I tell them that I’m not a tax professional and that any questions that they have ought to be directed to their accountants and financial advisors. That said, I like to do all I can to help folks out, so I answer questions where I am able.

One of the most frequent questions I hear — and the one whose answer seems somewhat out of reach — pertains to short sales.

“I sold my house this year, but it was a short sale. Can the IRS or my state tax the forgiven debt?”

The answer is, “Yes. Yes, they can.” A better question is, “Will they?”

With regard to the Federal Government, the answer is “no”. In a move meant to encourage homeowners to work out alternatives to foreclosure, the Federal Government has placed a moratorium on the taxation of forgiven mortgage debt through 2012.

Many states have followed suit, but there are a great many who have not. One of the states in which the question has yet to be answered is California, a state that has been hit harder than most in this period of crisis, and also one whose economic woes far exceed that of any other.

While it may sound unfair, forgiven debt has always been treated as income and, until the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 was enacted, that income could (and would) be taxable.

At the time of this writing, Governor Schwarzenegger had not made a decision with regard to the state collecting taxes on forgiven debts, but in a state that is as cash-starved as California, there is a strong possibility that he’ll have no choice but to do so.

If you sold your home last year and that sale was a short sale, there are heady tax implications attached to it. It is imperative that you consult with your accountant or financial advisor, so that you can adequately prepare to meet the tax man, should he come a’calling.

  • Get new posts via email
  • Subscribe

« Older Entries