Funky Foto Contest Winner Week 15

I know, I know…it was too easy. It certainly does prove the point that Chevy’s is Foster City’s preeminent landmark though! If you don’t believe me just check out some of those comments on Friday. Great stuff! If anyone else would like to check in with significant Chevy’s memories (but it has to be the Foster City Chevy’s!) please feel free. Sort of a Chevy’s support group…a free service of FosterCityBlog.com. Congratulations to Bill Hastings who nailed it first on Friday morning! Bill will receive a $30.00 gift card to Lucky’s Foods…across the parking lot from Chevy’s at Edgewater place. Thanks also to Janet, Jessica, Dana, Michael, Greg, Jodi, Asif, Gina, Erika, Steve, Joe, Linda, Dr. Mom, and Ak for also answering correctly! By the way, my wife’s going to be out of town tomorrow and I asked my kids where they would like to go to dinner…guess where we’re going? It’s their home away from home! Thanks for playing, see you this Friday.

Appraisals

The concept of an appraisal works like this…when a buyer purchases a home and gets a loan, their lender sends out an appraiser to verify the home’s value and make it safe for them to lend you money. In the very hot market we’ve just departed from, it seemed like homes appraised for whatever amount the buyer wanted to pay. For a long time, homes appraised well over comparable sales value. In 2004 I had a listing in San Mateo that we priced at $650,000, and at the time that represented the most money ever paid for a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house in that neighborhood. After receiving multiple offers we ratified with an offer of $778,000. I was secretly worried that these buyers would not be able to get an appraiser to bring that value in…but one did!

Well, that’s no longer the case. A seller can set a price and even if the buyer agrees to it the buyer’s lender will only finance the appraised price…and that may be lower than what was agreed too. What that means is the buyer will need to bring more money to the table or the seller needs to accept a lower offer. If the buyer has a contingency for that appraisal they can cancel the deal and get their money back if the seller won’t agree to negotiate downward.

Truly, it was crazy before and and I’m sure there was quite a bit of pressure placed upon appraisers in the past to bring values in on some of these crazy overbids. I remember in 2000 there were several sales in Palo Alto that came in $1,000,000 over asking…let’s hope they all paid cash! Can you imagine trying to appraise those? I think the return to sanity in the market we’re in is a good thing.

Funky Foto Contest Week 15

Look familiar? I submit to you that it’s the most famous landmark in Foster City…it’s OK to argue that point too. Nothing like the water…it’s what makes Foster City so unique and wonderful. So, tell me…where and what is this place? Submit your answers in the comments below. All the rules of the road are available for your viewing pleasure on the bar above and on the left hand margin. I won’t publish any and all correct answers until Monday morning but I will post all the semi obnoxious retorts and not too subtle jabs and shots that you would like as soon as possible, along with all wrong answers. This weeks winner receives a $30.00 gift card to Luckys Foods at Edgewater Place. Go buy some groceries. Thanks for playing…and good luck!

The Perfect Fixer Upper

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about these before and after shots! Frequently, I’ll hear clients tell me that they would like a house that needs some work. They’ve heard, acurately, that buying a fixer upper is a great path toward building equity and thus maximizing their investment. The clients of mine that have bought and fixed up homes have made the most money of any of the people that I’ve ever worked with. Take the case of the house in these photos. This young man bought his first house in San Mateo Village in 2002 for $485,000…it was a fixer. He, along with his family, fixed it in stunning fashion and sold it in 2004 (with 26 offers!) for $778,000. He then bought this house in Hayward Park for $551,000…and did a whole bunch of work. We’re talking lot’s of work, roof, plumbing, electrical…you name it. I wish I could show all of the interior photos too! He sold it in 2006 for $1,288,000…and bought a fixer in Hillsborough where he lives now. From a 2 bedroom, 1 bath starter home fixer upper in San Mateo Village to Hillsborough in 4 years!

I have several other stories similar to this…and they all have one thing in common. Each individual had some degree of skill or other with being able to fix these homes up themselves. Lots of the folks that ask me about buying fixer uppers have no skill at all with repair. They would need to contract out everything. Keep in mind that there are fixers…and there are FIXERS! I’m not talking about a house with original kitchens and bathrooms that need updating, I’m talking about houses that need everything! One of these houses came up in San Carlos last week on the west side priced at $675,000 and some clients of mine got pretty excited about it’s possibilities. The problem is that what they would pay $100,000 for, a buyer who’s a contractor or other skilled person could do themselves for $30,000…plus they would be trying to live there in the midst of the work. A fixer is also not an ideal situation if you’ve got little kids either.

It’s something you really have to balance. I do think you can get some really good buys on homes that are cosmetically challenged as well…and you can live through a kitchen remodel. It might not be easy, but it’s do-able. In Foster City, recently, there was a 4 bedroom fixer on Chrysopolis that closed escrow at $838,750. I really thought that was a good buy, it’ll be interesting to see if they turn it in a few years.

 

Open House Ads

OK, this may sound like a bit of a rant. (some of you are saying…”what else is new?”) Open House ads in the newspaper make me crazy. Last Friday morning I called the San Francisco Chronicle and placed an ad in the Sunday open home guide for a new listing of mine. During this process I create the ad itself, stipulate it’s length and pay for it at the time with either a credit or debit card. After we had worked through all of the details they gave me a confirmation number for the ad. Just for your info, a three line open house ad in the Sunday real estate section cost’s $118.00..slightly more if you want bold type. Sunday morning I went and got the paper from the driveway, pulled out the open house guide in the Real Estate section and guess what…no ad.

Of course, I called the Chronicle Monday morning to find out what happened and had to leave a message because nobody could help me…I’m still waiting for them to return my call.  I know from several past experiences just like this that it’ll come down to one of two problems…1) They (or I) transposed a number from my ATM check card and thus it didn’t go through (they never call you back when that happens, and who knows why they just don’t run your card while you’re on the phone with them)..and/or 2) the ad ran in the wrong community or county, oops! I’ve finally come to this conclusion…who cares?

Here’s one of the great secrets of the real estate business folks…Sunday Open House ads are worthless and Realtors buy them knowing that full well. They do it to appease their sellers, who want to be assured that they’re getting their monies worth out of the commissions that they’re paying. Many sellers think an Open House Ad is critical and we resisit illuminating them. We don’t want them to think we’re cutting corners on their marketing so we pay it, sort of like hush money. With each successive year of Internet technology, print ads have  gotten more and more irrelevant. In spite of missing the Chronicle’s ad on Sunday I had at least 100 people at my open house. They came from the directional signs, Craigslist and MLSlistings open house guide. For the last 3 or 4 years I’ve asked people at my open houses how they found the place…90-95% say from one of these 3 options. It’s rare to hear anybody mention a print ad. Yet I see 10 and 12 line ads in the Chronicle every weekend complete with photos of the houses…I’ll bet they cost $500.00 or more. There’s no way they bring one single person more than a 2 line ad will…if they bring anybody at all. Obviously, this is a very technologically sophisticated area where potential buyers see new listings instantly via multiple on-line resources, print Open House ads are an anachronism.

Last year I had a seller who called me at 8:15 one Sunday morning when he noticed the Chronicle didn’t run our ad.(Sound familiar?) He was really panicked that nobody would come to the open house. We ended up with more people that week than we did the week before with the ad! Once upon a time Sunday open house ads actually may have introduced a potential buyer to a listing…can you imagine that being said now?

Funky Foto Contest Winner Week 14

You know what? I drove by it 4 times this weekend, kept meaning to get out and run over and check out the plaque at the base of this sculpture to be able to give you it’s proper name…but I choked in the clutch! It’s a kid (a boy I think, Bill) sitting on the globe reading. It’s appropriately sitting just outside the Foster City Public Library on Shell Blvd. Just like last week, Bill Hastings got there first but is still ineligible…so the $30.00 gift certificate to Lotus Garden Chinese Food goes to Dana Ferri who gave us the best correct answer. Thanks also to Susan for playing and getting it right too! See you again this Friday…by then I may have actually gotten out of the car and discovered the name of this kid too!

 

FCTV

It seems like everywhere I turn any more in Foster City I keep running into the local public access television station, FCTV. I see it in the Foster City Islander and I see it on-line and I saw their cameras out at the Arts & Wine Festival so I thought I’d comment on it. Turns out Foster City Television has been around since 1981 when it covered live council and planning commission meetings. In the 90’s it had become your typical local public access channel with pre recorded programs, bulletin boards and plenty of council meetings. In 2000 FCTV produced it’s first original production, about the FC fire department, and was met with many compliments.

FCTV also hit the web in 2000 and we now have the ability to see council meetings and several other locally produced programs via streaming video on-line. Other than San Bruno (which runs it’s own cable system) there’s no other city in San Mateo County that has a full production staff for it’s local government access channel other than FCTV. Foster City has been a leader in the county for developing programing directly relevant to those in the community. Every week FCTV produces a local newsbrief that sort of wraps up events here and can be seen both on-line or on channel 27 if your a Comcast subscriber. I’m sort of hooked on watching these newsbriefs because the host, Leah Edwards, changes her hair style for every broadcast…and I’m always anxious to see what she looks like next! They also have some pretty interesting programing on other local issues called City Snapshots plus a little talk show format about local individuals called FC Cafe. If you would like to check it out, here’s a link:

 

www.fostercitytelevision.com

Funky Foto Contest Week 14

 

No, it’s not some new and creative picnic table at Sea Cloud Park. What is it actually? That’s for you to determine. Definitely extra credit if you can call it by it’s given name, but I’m OK with just what it is and where it is. This week’s winner receives a $30.00 gift certificate to Lotus Garden Chinese Food at Charter Square. All the rules of the road are located on the left margin and on the bar above. I won’t publish the correct answers until Monday but I will publish all snide remarks, lame attempts at humor (as well as actual humor!) and all incorrect answers ASAP. Just place your answer below with the comments. Have fun!

The Cat Lady

Ok, we’re going to go just a tad bit off of the Foster City and/or Real Estate topic today, but I was talking to Lydia about this yesterday and she said I should write a post about this…and she’s right. We have this cat named Obi, he’s a 10 year old gray and white character who has pretty consistantly been a joy for our family. Now, I’m not some big cat freak but my wife Lesley and I along with our girls really love this fur ball. Well, awhile back Lesley took Obi to one of those pet stores that offer vacinations on certain days. He got four shots that day and about 2 months ago we noticed a lump on his left shoulder. Lesley took him to the Vet who told her it’s Cancer…and that the only thing that we could do was amputate his leg. Turns out this is a very common problem with cats and it even got a term associated with it… Vaccine Associated Sarcoma or VAS. We weren’t particularly crazy about the idea of amputation so we didn’t act on it immediately. Lesley learned more on-line..there’s a ton of info out there, as well as a large Yahoo group on this topic, and we learned that many folks have gone down this road and their cat’s have adapted well to 3 legs and are thriving.

We received a referral to a vet in Redwood City by the name of Monica Thompson who Lesley spoke to about this issue and we’ve been truly amazed at her…and her organization called the Nine Lives Foundation . She’s truly the cat lady! Monica has gone to bat for us with the pharmaceutical company who, she believes, caused this issue and it appears that there won’t be any charge for the procedure. She performed the amputation last week and stayed up all night with Obi because he freaked out when he discovered he had lost his leg. He had some complications since and he’s back at her clinic but he’s going to be fine. The Nine Lives Foundation is incredible, Monica won’t euthanize cats like the humane society will so there’s cats in all shapes and sizes and in all conditions living there…and awaiting adoption. There’s tons of little kittens (some that we saw, had been abandoned in a field and a good samaritan brought them in) there’s wounded cats, sick cats and cats in need of surgery, and lots and lots of healthy happy cats. There’s even a cat living there who had lost his left front leg (to a gun shot wound!) by the name of Magic. When we saw him running around happily we felt like Obi would be OK.

Monica is a saint! I don’t remember ever meeting anyone with as much passion and committment. She clearly lives a purpose driven life. She operates all of this out of a warehouse down on the service road to 101 south of Woodside Rd in Redwood City. Right near where Stanford Medical is rehabing the old Excite@Home HQ. Check out her website:

www.ninelivesfoundation.org

And if you have a cat…be careful with these crazy vaccinations! 

Fun For The Entire Family

You’ve spent a ton of time getting ready for this big step. Hours and hours scouring the 1001 internet sites pertaining to Real Estate and home buying. You’ve been to Borders and bought books. You’ve talked about this with friends, co workers and your parents until you’re blue in the face. You search multiple online listing sites like MLSlistings, Trulia and Zip just to make sure you’re not really missing anything and what’s really amazing…you’ve entered into a relationship with a Realtor! After months of looking and several sleepless nights the time has come, you’ve made an offer and you’ve ratified! You did it…you bought your first home!!

Now comes the really scary part…bringing your family over to see it! Naturally they want too…after all, they’re helping with the down payment. It’s just that…you know they’ll be critical! Even if your parents are out of state you still don’t get a break, in fact, it may be worse! When we bought our first house in 1999 my Mom gave us $10,000 toward our down payment and she lived in Colorado. Here’s the way the conversation went:

Me: Hi Mom, well we finally did it, we bought a house! It’s a really adorable little 2 bedroom, 1 bath place with a terrific view…I think you’ll love it!

Mom: That’s great, honey…how much was it?

Me: Well…we got it for $412,000. I think we did really well.

Mom: (dead silence)

Me: Mom…are you there?

Mom: $412,000!!! Why, do you know that you could buy the Governor’s Mansion here for $412,000? It’s got how many bedrooms?

Here’s the concept…Even though (in her mind) every body else was paying $65,000 for their 2 bedroom, 1 bath houses, she figured I went ahead and paid $412,000…just cause I’m impulsive or something. Needless to say, we worked things out…and she loved the house.

I’ve lost count of how many parent/family visits I’ve been a part of. 99% of them have turned out fine. For parents I think it’s very important to remember that buying a home is comparison shopping. If they’re not kept in the loop, when they see the house for the first time they don’t have the ability to compare it to all of the other places their kids have seen and sometimes get nervous about the inevitable flaws that exist in every house. For buyers, I think it’s a very important thing to keep the families close to the process, send them links to the homes that look interesting and discuss pertinent disclosure info with them. Often, family members really do have the ability to see things that the kids overlook.

Honestly, I’m serious about the title of this post. I do believe that the home buying process can, and should be fun for the entire family. When everyone works together as a team…that’s exactly what happens.