Wednesday, January 18th, from 11:30 am – 1:30 pm at the Newark Hilton, the Tri Cities Chapter of WCR will hold its first program of the new year! Come listen to Deborah Biron of the Speaking Bridge, who will provide tips to better sell your services and how to communicate more effectively to boldly accomplish your goals in the new year.
“We are excited to be presenting programs you can’t get anywhere else, and programs that are not just of interest to REALTORS but of interest to the broader community” said Greg Jones, President Elect for the Chapter. ”Members of the community are encouraged to attend and can sign up by going to our website at www.wcrtricities.com “
The Women’s Council of REALTORS is a network of successful REALTORS empowering women to exercise their potential as entrepreneurs and industry leaders. 
If you are interested in being a program sponsor this year, contact Greg Jones at GregJones@GregJonesRealEstate.com for more information.
It’s the end of the year and we’re in the process of shedding a lot of our crap at home.
"He Said, She Said"
She Said: ”I want him to toss out his pointy, shiny shoes from his younger days. And his funky brown shoes and stupid baseball caps too.”
He Said: “I’ll get rid of them if you wear the short, tight clothes that have been sitting in the closet unworn for years.”
Folks, I’ve got to tell you, it is incredibly liberating to shed ourselves of stuff we don’t use any more. Last year we had our house feng shui’d right before the new year started which resulted in an amazing shift in our lives (and our relationship!) CLICK HERE to read that blog post and CLICK HERE to read about what our Feng Shui Lady said last year about her consultation at our home…
This year, we’re embarking upon a do-it-ourselves clean-up job. It means we’re going through our closets and saying GOOD RIDDANCE to our crap. (Or rather, HIS crap.)
We steer clear of new year resolutions. We’d rather end the year right!
Check out the newest downtown Hayward business, Vintage Alley, located at 1037 B Street. Vintage Alley features “rockabilly” style clothing, based on designs from the 1940s and 1950s. Alicia and Alfredo Rodriguez are long time Hayward business owners, and Alicia will continue her hair salon business in the back portion of the retail space.
Greg is pictured here with the owners. He assisted them in finding just the right retail space in the downtown. For more info, give them a call at 510.537.6105
What a great addition to our downtown!
The protection of property values rests upon all of us to some extent. (See previous blog post.) In our neighborhood, a group of very generous and caring neighbors helped to clean up the front and side yard landscaping to help a neighbor’s distressed property more attractive to sell.
A REALTOR is in a unique position to have influence over the process of a home for sale and has a very important role in helping to protect a property’s value.
For example, we listed and sold a distressed home on our block recently. This particular home had been vacant for 7 years and had undergone major renovation work over this period of time. It had approximately $35,000 in termite/wood destroying pest damage in addition to approximately $5000 of copper water pipes stolen and had no heating unit or stove. (Running water, heat and ability to cook are major factors to consider when certain buyers need financing). Floors needed refinishing and so did the master bathroom. The home was in need of a major-clean-up and vagrants had been reported being at the property umpteen times and vandalism was starting to occur. The seller decided to put the property on the market rather than continue with renovations.
With all of these issues, there were quite the handful of buyers submitting low-ball offers to purchase the property. Their agents were very good about articulating the reasons why they were submitting low-ball offers on behalf of their clients, but we knew better. This was our neighborhood, after all, and who better to list and sell a neighborhood property than someone who knows and believes in the area? After counseling our seller about whether or not he should accept those low-ball offers, he held out for the higher offer. Those lowball offers were $300,000 or less, hardly impressive — especially to our seller who poured his heart and hard-earned money into fixing up the property.
We ended up selling that property for $340,000 as-is. Interestingly enough, this buyer was a back-up offer, second to a couple who wanted to buy the home but had to sell their other residence first. The first buyers had the right of first refusal to match any higher offer that came in before their other home was sold. Those first buyers declined, not able to compete with an as-is offer at a higher price.
This was a short sale and we strategize to get short sales sold at a reasonable price. We’re good at convincing a lender about what is a reasonable price…
She Said: Here are some rules we all learned in Kindergarten:
- No bad-mouthing your city
- No complaining about your neighborhood
- No criticizing what improvements your neighbors are making
- No complaining about the “types” of neighbors you have…or their dogs…or their kids
He Said: How about we focus on the positives!!!
- When a property in your neighborhood is for sale, talk it up! Spread the word about a home for sale and get your friends and family to consider moving in!
- When people who don’t belong are hanging around, call the authorities! Lots of crimes are stunted because neighbors are watching.
- Shop and spend your money locally to support neighborhood businesses (which in turn support the services we all need, i.e. police and fire, street maintenance, etc.)
Any other ideas out there?
