Posts Tagged ‘intero real estate’

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Intero Real Estate Services Appoints Charmaine Wang to Director of Sales & Marketing, APAC of Intero Hong Kong

By Teressa Francis | July 7th, 2011 0 Comments

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

Cupertino, California – (July 7, 2011) – Intero Real Estate Services, Inc. has appointed Charmaine Wang to Director of Sales and Marketing, APAC of Intero Hong Kong.

Under the leadership of John Thompson, Executive Vice President & Managing Officer of Intero Hong Kong, Charmaine Wang will bring investors from China and across the Pacific region to U.S. properties.

In addition to her success as a top 5% agent with Intero, Charmaine Wang had a successful career in sales and marketing in various Silicon Valley companies. Ms. Wang was born and raised in Shanghai. She received her BSEE and MBA from Santa Clara University.

After joining Intero, Charmaine serviced Bay Area clients as well as many investors from China with the highest standard. Her deep understanding of Chinese culture and extensive hands-on U.S. real estate practice makes her a welcome figure in representing China investors.

The continued growth of Asia’s economies, high asset prices, particularly in real estate, and rising currencies relative to the US dollar, have made Asians significant buyers of US 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.

The Intero brand’s strength in the US, 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, make it the ideal partner to provide quality real estate investment opportunities to China investors.

“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. “This transition is a natural move for us and one we are uniquely equipped to execute successfully.”

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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 Insider: Are Falling Home Prices Saving Marriages?

By Gino Blefari | July 5th, 2011 0 Comments

You’ll often hear people in the real estate business talk about how most home sales are triggered by life events: marriage, divorce, babies, job relocation. These are the standard igniters. But how do situations change when the housing market is slow?

In a situation like divorce, the general truth is that economic hardship and financial stress tend to be a chief cause. So you’d think that during the recession and housing slowdown that divorce is on the rise. But you’d be wrong.

I stumbled across a discussion of a new economics paper last week that finds the opposite – that economic turmoil today is keeping couples together, and that low house prices are the reason. Although it may seem like low house prices would enable couples to break up and buy on their own more easily than when the market is hot and prices are high, it seems that couples instead would rather stay in their unhappy marriages than sell their homes at a loss.

For those couples whose home values may have fallen below their mortgages, selling may not be an option if the bank won’t approve a short sale. But, even if that’s not the case, the research notes what economists call “loss aversion,” an emotional barrier to selling at a loss. It seems we humans for the most part can’t get over that.

Just how much did the recession and drop in house prices pull down the divorce rate? The research found that a 10% decrease in home prices pulled down the divorce rate of college-educated households from 11.6% to 8.22%.

What exactly does this mean? Well, it’s interesting data to understand when examining the dynamics of the housing market, what affects it and how it affects other parts of the economy and everyday life. For some couples, who knows – maybe the extra years they spend together because of avoiding a loss on their home sale will actually help them reconcile. Or, maybe it makes it worse.

I think a big takeaway from this is that it shows the emotional component of the housing market that can’t always be predicted. Data and forecasts are great; they’re helpful to understanding the various factors and impact of economic events. But, sometimes in housing there is good old human emotion that comes in and throws all the data and forecasts for a loop.

If you’re interested in learning more about this research, check out “House Prices and Marital Stability,” by Martin Farnham, Lucie Schmidt and Purvi Sevak, which appeared in the American Economic Review, Vol. 101(3)

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Intero Folsom Lake Grand Opening

By Teressa Francis | June 29th, 2011 0 Comments

As a follow up to last week’s post on Intero Folsom Lake Grand Opening Celebration, we would like to share the event’s success with you! Check out the photos for a glimpse of the celebration!

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Intero Insider: The Rise of the Landlord

By Gino Blefari | June 28th, 2011 0 Comments

While all the focus has been on the data related to single-family housing – home sales, home values, foreclosures – there’s a lot brewing in the market for rentals. Think about all the millions of people who’ve foreclosed in the last few years who went from owning to renting. Think about those who had to downsize due to job loss or a cut in wages.

Yes, there’s a lot happening in the rental market that’s not being talked about much. While home builders were creating massive amounts of single-family inventory during the housing boom, multi-family units took a back seat. To give you an idea of the difference: At its peak in 2007, new construction of single-family homes topped out at somewhere around 1.9 million units that year (according to Census Bureau data). That same year, new construction of multi-family housing (5 or more units) topped out at somewhere around 225,000.

So there’s your low supply situation. Now, what about demand?

Data from the Census Bureau shows that household formation has declined during the recession – most likely because there are more unemployed young adults who are still living at home with their parents, and many of those who lost their jobs had to temporarily move in with friends or relatives.

When jobs pick back up and it’s time to move out, where will these people go? Will they jump into home ownership? Likely not. They’ll be looking for a nice place to rent.

And all those borrowers who defaulted on their mortgages? They’re going to need to rent for awhile too, in most cases.

Now you can see there may actually be a shortage of rental housing coming our way. The building industry may start to pick up pace to meet demand, but what’s the opportunity here for you and me?

Well, first, are you in the market to invest in property? If so, you might want to start by looking at duplexes and smaller homes that could be used as rental properties. Picture yourself as a landlord, not a house flipper.

The rental market is on fire in terms of demand. And by the looks of it, it will continue to be this way for several years ahead. People have to live somewhere and home ownership is still a few steps away from a pretty large pool of the population.

Being a landlord might not be what you’d pictured yourself doing as a real estate investor, but the opportunity to earn extra income speaks for itself.

You can read more about the multifamily opportunity in this post I wrote back earlier this year.

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Intero expands into the Vietnamese community

By Teressa Francis | June 28th, 2011 0 Comments

Owners of the InteroNha Milpitas office, Dylan Nguyen and Steven Tran, opened a new commercial retail development, Vietnam Town, the largest Vietnamese Plaza in California. A grand opening event was held on June 18, 2011.

Dylan and Steven also plan to expand InteroNha Milpitas in the coming months to a second office, Intero Vietnam Town, which will be located within Vietnam Town at 909-990 Story Road in San Jose, CA. This office will be a state-of-the-art commercial business model, that will cater to an Asian market.

The Vietnam Town plaza grand opening had a variety of food, games for kids, jumpers, a dunking tank, lion dance and live entertainment. There were also many booths set up to support the community such as City programs for first time Home Buyers, NSP, HAFA, Home Path, Credit Consultant, Residential, Commercial Lenders, Attorney, and much more. President, Founder and CEO of Intero Real Estate Services, Gino Blefari, gave a speech and expressed the excitement about exposing this Intero Vietnam Town project and its future to all of Intero and their clients as well as the Vietnamese community.

We would like to share the event’s success with you! Check out photos from the event below!


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Every Nickel Counts! The Intero Foundation beneficiary of the Whole Foods Nickel for Non-profits campaign

By Teressa Francis | June 24th, 2011 0 Comments

Save a bag and support The Intero Foundation

During the upcoming months of July, August, and September the Intero Foundation, a non-profit organization funded, promoted and governed by Intero Real Estate Services, Inc. agents is being featured by the Whole Foods Market on Blossom Hill Road, in their Nickels for Non-profits campaign.

Nickels for Non-Profits is the Whole Foods community giving program which features a local non-profit for three months. Every time a customer reuses a shopping bag, a nickel is donated to the chosen local non-profit. The goal of the program is to reduce the use of new bags while increasing funding for a local non-profit.

The Blossom Hill Whole Foods store chose The Intero Foundation as a beneficiary of the five cent bag refund program because they felt the Intero Foundation could reach the most number of people to promote the event and bring people to the Blossom Hill store and also because of the great work the foundation does for kids. Customers who shop at this location and bring their reusable shopping bags for groceries at checkout will be asked by a Whole Foods checker if they would like to donate five cents to the Intero Foundation or receive a five cent credit between July 4, 2011 and September 24, 2011.

In addition, the Intero Foundation volunteer Realtors will be at a table near the entrance several Saturdays each month promoting the Foundation, and handing out reusable grocery bags as well as information about the Intero Foundation.

Thank you for re-using your shopping bags, honoring the environment and supporting both The Intero Foundation and your local Whole Foods Market!

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Intero Insider: Is It a Good Time to Refinance?

By Gino Blefari | June 22nd, 2011 0 Comments

Despite doom-and-gloom reporting, not every homeowner in the U.S. has negative equity right now. And with interest rates still hovering near record lows, those with equity are likely asking themselves whether it’s a good time to refinance. Well, is it? Let’s take a look:

  • Average interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to 4.51% a week ago (according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest survey), the lowest level since last fall.
  • The average outstanding home loan carries an interest rate of about 6% (Freddie Mac’s Chief Economist Frank Nothaft told The New York Times last week).

So if you took advantage of low rates last fall or in 2009, you probably won’t see much savings by refinancing now. But if you haven’t yet refinanced since 2008, you might want to check in and see what kind of savings refinancing might afford you.

Cashing out: What’s enough equity?

Refinancing used to almost always mean the owner was taking some cash out in the process. That’s because values had climbed pretty steadily (and steeply in many areas) for several years in a row – so most homeowners could afford to cash out to maybe send their kid to college, work on a new addition to the house or remodel. But today, the story is much different.

Even if you have equity, it may not have climbed enough for cashing out to make sense. In fact, the NYT reports that some owners are even putting cash in to up the equity on their homes.

So what’s enough equity by today’s standards? Times have changed and 20% is once again a magic number. Many lenders aren’t even going to allow you to cash out if it means dipping below that.

Refinance options for the equity starved

OK, but what if  you have less than that? Can you still refinance to take advantage of low rates?

The good news is that there are some programs out there that may make this possible. If you have little or no equity, you can ask your lender about the Home Affordable Refinance Program. If you have an FHA loan, you can check out FHA Streamline Finance, which may make sense for you.

So even if your equity is pretty low, there are options. Point is, with rates this low, it’s a good time to sit down and discuss whether refinancing would improve your loan situation. We all know that rates are fleeting and what’s here today may be gone tomorrow.

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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 Franchise Services, Inc. further expands presence in California

By Teressa Francis | June 16th, 2011 0 Comments

Announcing the Grand Opening of Intero San Jose Evergreen Valley

SILICON VALLEY, CA – June 16, 2011 – Intero Franchise Services, Inc. announced its continued expansion with the grand opening of a new California location: Intero San Jose Evergreen Valley.

On June 16, 2011, a former Windermere Real Estate office located in the Evergreen area of San Jose, California, led by Denise and Marvin Morris, will transition to the Intero brand. The Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting will be at 2pm.

As a Real Estate broker and owner since 1990, Denise has proudly served Santa Clara County and the surrounding areas. During this time, she managed over 100 agents and a Loan Center with 20 agents as a broker and owner of two highly ranked Century 21 Offices. As the owner and broker of the new Intero San Jose Evergreen Valley office, she is committed to her clients and the community she serves.

Denise’s mission is to build a Real Estate relationship with integrity, loyalty, honestly and hard work. She is a highly trusted Real Estate Broker in the community. She can be counted on for enthusiasm and innovative ideas to achieve to help people achieve their goals.

With currently 15 agents on board, Denise Morris along with business partner and husband, Marvin Morris, plan to grow and create an office of agents who work together as a team and who possess the qualities for success.

Intero San Jose Evergreen Valley
2230 Quimby Road
San Jose, CA 95122
408-223-1511

The launch of Intero San Jose Evergreen Valley follows the recent announcements of Intero El Dorado Hills, Intero Rancho Cucamonga and Intero Scottsdale locations.

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