Archive for September, 2011

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Five Realtors Of Intero Named One Of America’s Top 1,000 Real Estate Professionals By The Wall Street Journal and REAL Trends

By Teressa Francis | September 13th, 2011 1 Comment

Local Realtors Had an Impressive Total on Transaction Volume on Their Way to Becoming One of Silicon Valley’s Top Professionals

CUPERTINO, SILICON VALLEY (September 13, 2011) – David Troyer, Dominic Nicoli, Minhua Jin, Efi Luzon and Eric Fischer-Colbrie of Intero Real Estate Services, Inc. were named one of America’s top real estate professionals by The Wall Street Journal and REAL Trends. They are now a member of the “The Thousand Top Real Estate Professionals,” a prestigious national awards ranking sponsored annually by the two respected publications. Troyer, Nicoli, Jin, Luzon and Fischer-Colbrie are now ranked in the top one half of 1 percent of the more than 1 million REALTORS® nationwide.

The Thousand Top Real Estate Professionals was announced on September 6, 2011 with four separate categories honoring the top 250 residential agents and agent teams for excellence in:

  • Individual Sales Professionals – Sales volume
  • Individual Sales Professionals – Transaction sides (in each real estate transaction, there are two sides that can be represented by a real estate agent: a buyer’s and a seller’s.)
  • Team Professionals – Sales Volume
  • Team Professionals – Transaction sides

“The best individual agents – including Troyer, Nicoli, Jin, Luzon and Fischer-Colbrie’s award-winning efforts – were nothing short of phenomenal considering the challenging real estate market,” said Steve Murray, founder of Denver-based publishing and communications company REAL Trends, which compiled the list. “Ironically, if you look at the top 250 in each category you will find that collectively, their sales volume and transaction sides held up quite nicely compared with the market as a whole.”

“Becoming a member of such an elite group as the “The Thousand Top Real Estate Professionals” is an incredible accomplishment in any market, but what David, Dominic, Minhua, Efi and Eric did during these challenging times is impressive on so many levels,” said Gino Blefari, President and CEO of Intero Real Estate Services. “Intero is very proud to have these five Intero agents be named to The Thousand. Their efforts topped 99.99 percent of the more than 1 million REALTORS nationwide.”

The four lists of the “The Thousand” can be found at:

http://realtrends.com/products/top-1000-sales-professionals/individual-sides

http://realtrends.com/products/top-1000-sales-professionals/individual-volume

http://realtrends.com/products/top-1000-sales-professionals/team-sides

http://realtrends.com/products/top-1000-sales-professionals/team-volume

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Intero Hong Kong Appoints U.S. Intero Real Estate Services Agents to Assist Investors Visiting Silicon Valley

By Teressa Francis | September 9th, 2011 0 Comments

Agents will attract investors from China and across the Pacific region to U.S. properties

Cupertino, California – (Sept 9, 2011) – Intero Hong Kong has appointed three Realtors from Intero Real Estate Services, corporately owned offices based out of Silicon Valley to be the U.S. contacts for investors from Hong Kong. Guru Toor from Intero Cupertino, Lisa Wendl, and Renuka Ahuja from Intero Los Altos, all are part of the international team and serve as Directors of Marketing and Sales.

“Intero was born in Silicon Valley, which is a crossroads of innovation for the entire Pacific Rim,” said Executive Vice President & Managing Officer of Intero Hong Kong John Thompson. “Guru, Lisa and Renuka’s primary mission is to provide one-stop services for mainland Chinese clients to fulfill their quests and purchase their new homes or investments in the United States.”

A number of Chinese investors are already waiting to take advantage of opportunities in U.S. and Bay Area real estate markets, particularly in California, where many Asians choose to buy given its geographical proximity to Asia, established Chinese community, favorable climate, and economic, educational and work opportunities. The Asia-Pacific region’s economic growth, high real estate prices and rising currencies relative to the U.S. dollar have created a lot of interest in U.S. properties

With Guru, Lisa and Renuka’s business connections and fundamental understanding of what the local Chinese buyers want, together they can attract investors from Hong Kong and across the Pacific region to U.S. properties. They’ll be working in capacity of business director in the areas of sales, marketing and business development. In addition they’ll be working in local marketing, sales, and business development for Far East clients

Guru Toor focuses on real estate investment. With a graduate degree in Management and a Masters in Strategies and Planning, he has a long experience in management and has a desire and penchant for working with international buyers. Currently he is working on a number of projects with international clients.

Lisa Wendel has 20 years experience with real estate investment and financing. She obtained an MBA in Finance from University of Illinois at Chicago and a BS in Economics from Fudan University in Shanghai. Lisa also works with several major U.S. based developers to promote developments in Shanghai.

With roots and past experience in the Silicon Valley tech industry, Renuka Ahuja brings years of experience in buying and selling Real Estate in the Bay area as well as in the luxury home developments. She takes an integrated approach and works diligently hands on selling and buying Real Estate for her clients.

Kenny Lo, General Manager of Intero Hong Kong adds, “I welcome such a high caliber group to join the Intero Hong Kong team. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to work with them closely on projects of Far East origin going forward.”

The continued growth of Asia’s economies, high asset prices, particularly in real estate, and rising currencies relative to the U.S. dollar, have made Asians significant buyers of U.S. real estate. According to The 2011 NAR Profile of International Home Buying Activity, the international market for U.S. residential property approaches $82 billion on an annual basis, of which more than $7 billion comes directly from China. This upward trend is likely to continue this year.

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Need More Buyers?

By Rick Soukoulis | September 6th, 2011 0 Comments

It always surprises me that 40% of all homeowners in America own their home free and clear. I’ll be the first to admit that I saw that stat years ago; the number is probably lower today.

Still, a mortgage banking consultant I know up in Berkeley just bought a home all cash, and we all know that lots of older people also own their home free and clear. I’ll guess he and the vast majority of “free and clear” owners have no interest in getting a new mortgage, but here’s an idea for all my Realtor friends.

Maybe this mortgage-free person would be better served to take out a mortgage and buy rental property. (1) Mortgage rates are insanely low (did you ever in your wildest dreams think you’d see rates in the low 4’s?) and (2) buying a rental all cash can generate very attractive returns.

I heard of one couple whose neighbor walked away from their mortgage, leaving a boarded up eyesore next door. Although he had never been a landlord, he contacted the bank and bought the house at a bargain price. I should add that he bought it all cash.

He fixed it up, rented it out to some nice people, and not only did he eliminate the vacant eyesore, he now is making almost 10% cash on his cash. In another case, my father just did this very same thing. Turned $34.00 a year in interest he was earning at the bank into $1,100.00 a month in rent. He thought for $22,000 a year it was worth the hassle of finding a new renter every couple of years and receiving the occasional call about the garbage disposal.

For those who own their home without a mortgage but who don’t want to be landlords, there are other opportunities. Someone in this situation could buy California General Obligation bonds yielding 5%, and being tax free, this is the equivalent of getting about 8% on your money.

If this person needed to take out a mortgage to do this, the math is simple. He’d pay around 3.75% for the mortgage and receive 5% from the bonds. That’s a 1.25% spread, and because it’s tax free income, the real yield is closer to 3% and I don’t think bond rates will be going down in a few years when it’s time to renew the bonds.

I’m not a tax expert, but (1) the income on the bonds is tax free and (2) the homeowner could write-off his mortgage interest, so let’s just say that the true yield is closer to 3%.

It might be worth exploring this with people who are mortgage free.

Good luck, and let us know how this works out if you do try it out on some people. Any of our mortgage bankers would be happy to help you put together a plan.


Intero Insider: Study Spotlights Bay Area College Towns for Investing

By Gino Blefari | September 6th, 2011 0 Comments

While the real estate and economic news is often bleak these days – no new jobs in the latest national report, persistent foreclosures, softening values and slower sales – the reality is that now is a great time to take advantage of the lows. This is especially true for investors.

An interesting report from ZipRealty last week tackled an age-old question in real estate investing: Are college towns better investments for landlords? The study included data pulled for Berkeley compared with the East Bay in general, Palo Alto compared with the South Bay in general, and Cambridge, Mass., compared with Boston in general.

In each case, the college town proved to be a much better real estate bet. In Berkeley, home to the University of California, the median price-per-square foot for homes sold doubled that for the East Bay as a whole for almost two years. This is no big surprise to anyone who’s tried to buy a home in Berkeley over the last few years; the market has been just as fierce for the most part as that the rest of the country felt back in 2004.

In terms of market distribution, though, Berkeley showed more market-priced sales than distressed ones compared with the East Bay as a whole. While this shows stability, distressed sales are often the sweet spot investors need to really make waves.

In Palo Alto, home to Stanford University, the data showed a similar story. The median price-per-square foot for homes sold doubled that for the South Bay as a whole for almost two years. Palo Alto also had a much higher distribution of market-priced sales than distressed sales.

College towns can be great investments for the real estate-minded. A steady influx of young twentysomethings attending school makes for a steady supply of renters. These renters usually have financial support of some kind as well, making them reliable sources of income.

However, a university alone isn’t a great gauge of whether or not to invest in one town over another. Berkeley, for instance, is infamous for its restrictive rent stabilization laws, which can quickly become a landlord’s biggest nemesis. College towns are also much more transient than other towns – so that steady influx of potential renters also means constant turnover, which can eat into profits.

One other thing that may turn the “college towns are great places to invest” theory on its head is a way investing Warren Buffet lives by – the best investments are those that no one else is paying attention to. Buffet says (about stocks), “The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular and do well.”

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