Albany Gorgeous Redux

Here we are in the waning days of August, and I have another Albany listing. A different house, a different street, and a vastly different market - but people need housing, and they have kids who need good schools, and not everyone can afford $15,000 plus a year for private schools...so I invite you all to look at www.617Stannage.com and come to our second Open House on Sunday, August 28th, 2011 - more than two years since the first Brighton Street listing - drop in 617 Stannage Avenue on Sunday from 2 - 4:30PM. I will be glad to meet you and you will be glad to see such a sweet clean home for such a reasonable price. $599,000 for 3 bedrooms/1 1/2 baths. Walk to three Albany schools. Just like the "good old days" when we walked to school.

Albany Gorgeous

Sixty five agents came to see 1225 Brighton Avenue in Albany on Thursday's Brokers Tour, and it wasn't because they did not have other options. There were plenty of houses to tour, but no others in Albany - the city with the excellent schools, easy to navigate bureaucracy, and all the great Bay Area weather. Take a look at this home, and consider coming to see it this weekend: either Saturday or Sunday from 2PM - 4:30PM. I'll be there! www.1225brightonave.com

Albany Gorgeous

http://www.facebook.com/n/?video/video.php&v=1166896087346&mid=b66f29G4078dee4G930f93G1d

Video tour of new listing in Albany. Using someone who knows what they are doing - marketing-wise - Krista Miller of Keller Williams does the tour, I do the talking.
This is one of the sweetest homes on the market. See it now, Open Saturday and Sunday, July 4th and 5th from 2-4PM.

Sam at Eleven

Sam is my dog. He is sweet and neurotic. I got Sam from a friend of mine whose daughter found Sam and his sister by the side of the road near Chico, California on a rainy and cold day. They were muddy and wet and starving. They were about 3-4 months old. She scooped both of them up and took them down to Oakland, to her mother. Suzanne, the mother, is an animal masquerading in a human body. She knew that I was mourning the loss of my dear Alfie - large, male Australian Shepard with a big plume of a tail and the sweetest disposition I had ever known. Alfie died of cancer a year before. Three days before he died, I took him for a very slow walk in my neighborhood of South Berkeley. He saw our neighbor, Anna. Alfie loved Anna and Anna loved Alfie. He had very little energy at this time, but enough to wag is tale for Anna. She petted him and told him what a good boy he was, and he proceeded to lift his leg and pee on Anna's foot. She, being tolerant of all things dog, laughed at this occurence and told Alfie she was honored to be the object of his marking. Sam is similar to Alfie, and I can imagine him doing something similar with Roxanne, the woman who cares for him when I am away. Sam loves Roxanne.

I think Sam is close to the end of his life. He sometimes stops on our walk and looks at me with bewilderment and confusion. His joints, all of them, are arthritic, so we limp around the block, not walk. He has had a very good life with Nancy and I and our two cats. When Sam and I limp around the block, our longhaired cat, Tallulah, follows us up to the end of our street. She reconnects with us about half a block from our completion and we all go slowly home.

One last remembrance about the day I met Sam. Suzanne called and invited me to breakfast at her house - it was a Saturday. I was happy to have breakfast with her. What I did not know was that her daughter was there - with both puppies. Sam's sister was very hyperactive and barked alot at all of us. Sam was shy and did not bark. I sat down on the floor near their box and said, "Suzie, it's too soon for me to get another dog. I am still mourning Alfie." She said, "I know that, just enjoy them." After a few minutes of petting both puppies on the floor, Sam quietly climbed on my lap and fell asleep. I was his from that moment on, and he was mine.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, "Save yourself: Get a dog" I have saved myself.

5r9ima28dog

We approach the July 4th holiday and the housing market has been on a wild rollercoaster ride. The lessons of being overleveraged have been painfully felt by many homeowners and investors. The loss of one's home is one of the most painful events of our life.

I know. I lost my home in the downturn of the early 90's. There were compounding events that were out of my control, but I was overleveraged and could not weather the storms of the market that I depend on for my livelihood. I do not overleverage now. It was an indelible lesson and I shall never repeat it.

If you read my blog from a few months ago, you know that it was even painful for me to show a home in foreclosure to a client. I shall never forget the face of the 70+ woman who raised her family and her grandchildren in that home when I asked her, "where will you go?" Her eyes were empty of energy when she replied, "I don't know". I look forward to a market with more restraints and controls on how loans are given and paid back. I look forward to a community of realtors who take the responsibility of asking the necessary questions - perhaps even pre qualifying buyers with simple income/expense/proposed purchase price ratios before we send them off to their mortgage brokers.


To those who will speak to me about their homes and their ability to downsize or take advantage of the lower prices and buy, you will find a more measured response from me. I want you to achieve your dreams, but even more important, I do not want you to lose your dreams because we did not plan ahead. Live well and prosper.

ReInventing Myself

Most everything I thought I knew about doing business as a Real Estate Broker, I am re examining. The lens through which I look forward is the lens of a new demographic, and a new and brave world.

Everyone has their opinion as to why the real estate market slowed, skidded and came to an abrupt and downhill race to a bottom that no one knows the location of. Not one real estate broker I speak to is willing to get off his (this is what we mostly have in ownership) "It's a beautiful day and business is great!" horse to muck around in what really seems to be happening.

People (homeowners, investors, buyers, sellers and our agents) need us to be guides through this new terrain. If we are to be guides that earn our living, we must educate ourselves on our local market, while being broader in reach with our understanding of the Global economy. We tend to give weather reports to people, "well, my business is doing just fine" or "The Berkeley Market is thriving" without understanding the way in which the larger US economy is slowly collapsing around us. True, some micro markets are still healthy with good sales and decent prices, but is it only a matter of time before the layoffs at GM and IndyMac filter up to the more affluent neighborhoods and the housing market slows and prices move downward. Time is on the side of those who have lived frugally and not overextended. How much time do I need before I can refinance out of this adjustable loan, or sell my house so I can pay off my debts, or get another job? That is the unknown piece in this scenario.

So what can we do to help people with these fears and realities? We can do alot, and we should do alot.

First of all, "It is not about us, it is about them" By that I mean that it is not a great time to buy or sell for many people. Let's drop that line. Let's help them analyze their local market and their personal financial situation. Let's give them resources - for goodness sakes, LET'S DEVELOP GOOD RESOURCES!

Next, Anyone who comes to us with interest in buying or selling deserves a careful consideration of what they want to achieve, what they can do financially, and how that might play out for them over the next two to five years. Think of them as your sweet younger brother or sister, and treat them with that level of care and caution.

Finally, RETOOL! Do things that scare and intimidate you. Communicate with new people - not for a sales pitch, but for ways in which you and your skills and talents can contribute to their well being. "When everything looks bleak, GIVE BACK!"

It works every time.