Posts Tagged ‘Intero Real Estate Services’

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The Luxury Insider: Luxury Homes, Yes, But Where?

By Alain Pinel | February 8th, 2012 0 Comments

Between 11pm and 5am, when I don’t have anything better to do, I sometimes fantasize about what home I would buy, in what town and in which country, if I did not have to worry about such trivial financial concerns as paying my bills & feeding my family.  Judging by the success of “voyeur programs” like HGTV’s “Selling New York”, “Selling LA” & “House Hunters International”, I may not be alone in dreaming wide-awake.

Dreaming about buying a luxury home can be exhausting. First, you have to think about where you would like to live: Location…Location…Location… Paris comes to mind but San Francisco would not be bad either, not to mention New York, Rome, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro… And of course exotic places would be in the mix: The Maldives?  The Seychelles Islands?  Bora Bora?  Maui?  Nantucket? ….Tough to decide, don’t you think?  We may have to buy more than one place after all, one in the city, one on the beach somewhere in the Pacific or the Indian Ocean, and perhaps one in the countryside.  OK, now, what are we going to live in?

Nice dream, right? Well, a lot of people are actually living that dream rather than… dreaming about it. The world has never been so small.  It makes no difference for thousands and thousands of people whether they live in a luxury top floor condo in a Manhattan high rise or a beachfront mansion in Santa Barbara or even a villa in Tuscany.  With the ease of travel and an internet connection, you can now run your business from anywhere you happen to be on the map.  When money is no object, you just have to choose where you want to wake up in the morning.

Back ten years ago or so, a friend of mine, head of international for a major US hi tech firm, did not care to work at headquarters.  He was told that it was OK with the executive team if he chose to live elsewhere.  And so he did, he found himself a nice pad on the French Riviera.  It could be worse.

Amazing how the world has changed over the last 15 years in the high end.  Many Bay Area residents who, back then, were contemplating purchasing a weekend home in Carmel or the wine country, are now considering looking for a flat overlooking La Seine, a chalet in Aspen, a townhouse in Hawaii or perhaps a far-away beach front retreat on a man-made island in Dubai.  At the same time, a host of wealthy foreigners are buying right and left in the US, happy to make a good deal and keep away from the political/economic tribulations in their home country.  Without the European demand, Miami might still be a depressed real estate market.  Cash buyers from India, Russia and China are now coming in waves into the Bay Area looking for huge homes with what they perceive as a very affordable price tag.

Just last week, I met a topflight Indian businessman who told me he knew of a small naked residential lot in New Delhi offered at $2,000 a square foot!  Keep these stories in mind when determining whether to pay what you think is a lot of money for a beautiful home somewhere in the US.  Believe it or not, our prices at the top end of the ladder are not so high anymore.  Other similar world cities aligned their prices on ours long ago since they were catering to the same exact buyers.

Our prices, today, may in fact be low and getting lower relative to the “competition”:  other similar homes in a “comparable” town in Europe, Asia or the Middle East.  Yes, our luxury real estate is a good deal considering new international standards.  Perhaps we are due for a raise and with what looks like a mini-bubble in the making on the West Coast; we may very well get it.

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Intero Insider: Facebook’s IPO and the American Dream

By Gino Blefari | February 8th, 2012 0 Comments

By now, you’ve heard all about Facebook’s S-1 filing last week – the social networking site’s first steps toward what is expected to be a $5 billion IPO. It’s a fascinating story, and something we’re sure to hear a lot more about over the next three months leading up to the actual offering.

There is also a fascinating real estate story about to unfold. No, not the kind of story in which agents start to find wild success selling homes via Facebook. But the real kind: young Internet minds work hard to build a raving success, take the company public, and get wildly rich in the process. And what’s the inevitable next step? They buy real estate.

That’s right. Our very own Silicon Valley, which is already flush with brilliant tech minds who’ve found amazing success in their careers, is about to be flooded with even more young success stories thanks to Facebook’s IPO. The rippling effect of the wealth about to be made by Mark Zuckerberg and 3,000 Facebook employees on the local economy is expected to spark a jump in real estate sales and also boost the local economy overall for many years.

This is how we know that Americans – regardless of background, age, or current economic standing – still have a healthy appetite for owning their own homes. It’s among the first things we all do when we realize success in our careers.

News stories may have you believe that many Americans are over owning a home – that the wounds of foreclosure, financial hardship and upside down home values have created a huge disconnect in what was once the American Dream. But I’m here to tell you that it’s simply not true, and Facebook is my case in point.

Watch for evidence that the American Dream is alive and well in our local real estate market after this IPO hits Wall Street in May (and leading up to then, too).

This is why I don’t panic when personal finance gurus start to talk about shifting values among America’s young – that our kids are more interested in renting than buying. Because it’s simply not true. Give them success and a healthy income and they will buy a home.

I’m excited to see this generation of dot-coms growing and sustaining, defying the slow growth trend that’s happening in almost every other sector. This is exactly the type of positive news we need right now. Let’s embrace it!

Eight years ago, a young Zuckerberg took a chance and came out to Silicon Valley one summer while enrolled at Harvard. That chance is now paying off, and our local economy is lucky to be a part of it.

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Intero Insider: 5 Home Purchase Cancellation Prevention Techniques

By Gino Blefari | February 1st, 2012 0 Comments

The real problem in the housing industry right now is not lagging sales or falling prices. With lots of supply and rock-bottom interest rates on mortgages, demand from buyers is shaping up. The real problem now is in cancelled contracts.

In its December Pending Home Sales Index released last week, the National Association of Realtors said that pending home sales remained strong at 96.6 – still well above the same month a year earlier when the index was at 91.5. (An index of 100 is considered to be a healthy market.)

The index measures the number of contract signings made in a month and is viewed as a forward-looking indicator because contract signings in a perfect world lead to actual sales either the following month or month after. So, with all the positive numbers here, why aren’t we seeing a boom in closed sales? The answer is  simply that deals are falling through.

NAR says that one-third of Realtors are reporting that contract failures remain a big issue. This is no small potatoes. Now that we know more buyers are ready to bite, we can’t let you get blindsided or discouraged by contract failures. Here are five home purchase cancellation prevention techniques:

1. Have enough cash: A no-brainer, I know. Lenders are much stricter these days about how much cash they want to see at closing. You should know how much you can bring – for both down payment and closing costs – well in advance of your house hunt.

2. Prepare your paperwork now: Agents say that many times contracts fall through because the buyers didn’t have their paperwork ready when it was needed. To save your deal, make sure you’ve got all your financial information in line before you make an offer: proof of income, assets, debt, and proof of down payment, and letters you may need to explain gaps in income or employment.

3. Tighten up your finances: Just because your offer was accepted doesn’t mean you’ve got the house. You still need to get a loan (unless, of course, you’re independently wealthy and plan to pay cash). Long before you go house hunting, be sure to visit with a loan officer or mortgage broker to get a picture of your finances so that you’ll know whether a bank will lend to you and how much.

4. Understand your comps: Many deals are falling through because of appraisals coming in below the purchase price. While there’s nothing an agent or home buyer can do about a low appraisal, you can do something about the offer price. Make sure you know your market inside out. Pull good comps that are similar, local and recent. Get a good inspection and be sure that any defects are accounted for in some way. You need to know about any little thing that may come up to negatively impact the appraisal the bank will use to determine the home’s value.

5. If buying a short sale or foreclosure, educate yourself on these processes in advance: These types of transactions take much longer to complete in many cases. But when they move, you need to be ready to move with them. That means you should first know what to expect before making your offer, and then follow through on what is expected of you every step of the way.

Extreme caution, hyper preparedness and highly informed home buyers are the only combination that’s going to make a dent in the large portion of contract failures the market is experiencing. While we can’t control lenders, we can control our readiness to respond.

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From luxury to bank-owned, a review of this summer’s real estate market

By Teressa Francis | August 30th, 2011 1 Comment

This Intero Insider – Video Series brings you Dominic Nicoli, one of our top real estate agents at Intero Real Estate Services from the Los Altos office. He speaks candidly with Intero COO Tom Tognoli and shares his insight and projections on today’s real estate market from luxury real estate to foreclosures – where we have been, where we are now, and where we are headed.

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Intero and Western Bancorp voted the Best Real Estate and Mortgage Company in the Silicon Valley

By Teressa Francis | July 13th, 2011 0 Comments

The results are in and Intero Real Estate Services, Inc. and WesternBancorp were voted the Best Real Estate Company and Best Mortgage Company in Silicon Valley in the 2011 San Jose Mercury News Reader’s Choice Awards.

For Intero this marks our second time we’ve been honored with award. Thank you for voting we appreciate your votes – and your trust.

<a href=”http://interofranchise.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/best-of-logo_1.png”><img class=”alignright size-full wp-image-501″ title=”best of logo_1″ src=”http://interofranchise.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/best-of-logo_1.png” alt=”" width=”266″ height=”247″ /></a>
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Commercial Real Estate Market Insight with Steve Becerra

By Teressa Francis | July 7th, 2011 0 Comments

This Intero Insider-Video Series brings you Steve Becerra, one of the top real estate agents at Intero Real Estate Services from the Saratoga office. Steve has been in the business for over 20 years and is an expert on the commercial real estate market, owning his own brokerage business for 10 years. Steve speaks with Intero COO Tom Tognoli and shares his knowledge about the current condition of the commercial market both locally and globally as well as giving us his insight about what to expect in the future.

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Intero Evergreen Valley Grand Opening

By Teressa Francis | June 17th, 2011 0 Comments

As a follow up to yesterday’s post on Intero Evergreen Valley Grand Opening, we would like to share the event’s success with you! Check out the video and photos from yesterday!

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Intero Real Estate Services expands innovative franchise network in California and Arizona

By Teressa Francis | June 13th, 2011 0 Comments

Leading U.S. brokerage announces new offices in El Dorado Hills, CA, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, and Scottsdale, AZ

SILICON VALLEY, CA – June 13, 2011 — Intero Franchise Services, Inc. announced its continued expansion with the launch of Intero Rancho Cucamonga and the upcoming launch of Intero El Dorado Hills at the end of June and Intero Scottsdale later this summer.

The Rancho Cucamonga office will operate under the leadership of co-owners Danny Morel and Omar Morel. With roots in real estate coaching, this brother-team is in alignment with the Intero® coaching program.

“I was impressed with the Intero Provizio education and coaching program. The Intero system will revolutionize the way real estate is done in Rancho Cucamonga,” says Danny Morel, whose focus is to run a traditional real estate office that focuses on training and developing Real Estate Agents.

With currently 15 agents on board, Danny and Omar plan to grow their office to 100 agents by the end of the year.

Launching later this month, the Intero office in downtown El Dorado Hills, founded by Jason Stephens, Steven Rath, and Adam Weiner, will feature the Intero Andare(sm) design. Some of its unique features will include an interactive touch screen window and coffee bar inside.

Other than specializing in residential real estate, Stephens’s aggressive growth plans also include focusing on promoting international investment opportunities such as resorts, hotels, condos, single family homes, and land in Panama, Mexico, Belize, and Ecuador.

Jason Stephens, owner and CEO of Intero El Dorado Hills office, said: “We’re thrilled to become part of the Intero® family, and feel good knowing that we’ll have the technology and expertise needed to win in today’s market.”

Coming soon, the Intero franchise system will include a new office in Scottsdale, Arizona launched by Brandon Moles, nephew of Chairman Robert Moles.

“We are pleased to have Intero El Dorado Hills, Intero Rancho Cucamonga and Intero Scottsdale become part of the Intero® family,” said Intero Real Estate Franchise Services Inc.’s President and CEO Gino Blefari. “We’ve always thought about expansion in terms of the individuals involved, not the geography. We go where we find people who are the right fit for the Intero® brand because they have the same values and believe in the culture we’ve created. All of these leaders embody the Intero culture. With their impeccable credentials, we simply couldn’t pass on the opportunity to further expand in California and Arizona.”

Intero Rancho Cucamonga
10803 Foothill Blvd., Suite 110
Rancho Cucamonga, CA  91730
(909) 900- 5855

Intero El Dorado Hills
5072 Hillsdale Circle #140
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
(916) 496-4489

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Intero Insider: Cash Rules the Market Right Now

By Gino Blefari | April 27th, 2011 1 Comment

Cash is king in real estate right now. In March, 35% of all existing home sales were from buyers who paid in all cash, according to a report out last week. That’s a new record.

After stumbling in February, existing home sales increased 3.7% in March from the month before (but were down 6.3% from March a year ago), according to data from the National Association of Realtors.

Perhaps even more interesting is that 22% of March sales were to investors – an increase from the previous month and year.

This news is a tad bittersweet. As I’ve noted before, there’s a lot of opportunity out there right now for investors. But, you’ve also got to figure that a portion of these sales to investors presumably will be coming back to market at some point. These homes – likely rehabs or flips – will add more inventory to the market, which could further pressure prices.

The National Association of Realtors’ Chief Economist Lawrence Yun is pretty optimistic about the state of housing right now. With the latest data, he points out that sales have risen in six of the last eight months. But, the national median price is still falling at $159,600 in March (down 5.9% from the same month last year). Distressed homes, which typically are sold at discounts, made up 40% of the market in March, up from 39 percent in February and 35 percent in March 2010.

These numbers are not horrible. They’re far from cartwheel-worthy, but also not bad. What worries me most about the housing market these days are actually the numbers and factors outside of home sales stats:

  • Rising gas prices
  • The national deficit (and prospect of further budget cuts)
  • Proposals to further restrict mortgage lending

These are all things that could trip up a full housing recovery – or continue to prolong it. So, am I optimistic about the state of housing and the state of “all-cash” deals? Well, I think we have an OK market right now at the national level. But I like to remind myself and others that real estate is local and as such, some markets are doing well while others aren’t.

The fact that there are so many cash deals happening right now tells me that investors still have confidence in real estate. And that’s a good thing.

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2011 Mortgage Interest Rate Predictions by Rick Soukoulis, Western Bancorp CEO

By Teressa Francis | April 20th, 2011 0 Comments

This Intero Insider – Video Series brings you Rick Soukoulis, CEO of Western Bancorp’s insight and projections on 2011 mortgage rates, the effects of the Japan crisis on our market and the potential after effects of a possible U.S. Government shut down.

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