Buying and Selling Your Davis, CA Home with Keller Williams agent Carmen Isais

I’m not an e-Pro.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, an e-Pro is a real estate designation given after taking an approved course from NAR, the National Association of Real Estate. After paying some amount of money for said designation, and after looking over the course work, I quickly saw I had been had– and so was the public, if they cared much about this particular designation. In short, if I took and learned anything at all from the e-Pro course it would mean I wasn’t nearly qualified to market your property on the Internet. If you are interested as to why this is, read Real Estate Tomato’s, “e-Pro is a Tinfoil Badge”.

And if you want to see what I’m doing instead of studying to be an e-Pro, take a look at my list….

Top Ten Things I Do As a Realtor Instead of Studying for the e-Pro Designation

1. Posting via postletts and quickblog, New Listings every week  to Posterous, Craiglist, Sac News and Review and more.
2. Updating my Hyper Local Real Estate Blogs to showcase new listings and find my sellers buyers who, might be other’s agent’s clients, but visit my site regularly for updated information.
3. Exposing your home, should you sell with me, to Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Facebook Marketplace and Craiglist audience– because these online venues are visited more often by home buyers than traditional print advertising.
4. Texting, facebooking, emailing, and twittering my clients to keep them abreast of any market changes in the quickest, cleanest communication method they are comfortable with and…
5. Oh yes, I actually still phone clients and even better, meet with them face-to-face.
6. Creating out-of-the-box virtual presentations of your home and embed them on mutiple sites from Vimeo to You Tube, From Blog posts to Facebook– NOT just MLS.
7. Networking online with literally hundreds of agents from San Francisco to Pollock Pines, From Sacramento to Los Angeles to expose your home to the largest market possible– NOT just Davis.
8. Holding your home open,  personally, because despite it all, there is no replacement for the face-to-face. And along those lines…
9. Networking offline with Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, CPA’s and other professionals making “keeping the deal together” much easier should things get rough– and they do.  An agent with good social skills and the ability to negotiate calmly is harder to find than you might imagine.
   
10. Keeping it real. Today’s market is a tough one. Seller’s might not want to hear that their property cannot sell at “X” price, and I know you can find an agent who will tell you exactly what you want to hear. But, I promise you, unless your agent is being straightforward and genuine– which includes sometimes delivering news you don’t want to hear– your home will be sitting on the market, unsold and most likely not even shown for months to come. So, I like to keep it real, using trends and data that I keep up with daily and are concrete.

In short, I’m busy using my advanced internet skill sets selling your home or finding you one to buy. If you’d like to reap the benefits of my work ethic, everyday stamina and dynamic tech-skills call me (530.601.1003), skype me (carmen.isais), twitter me, facebook me or otherwise contact me. I’m always connected.

Homeowners facing foreclosure in Yolo County, Solano County, Sacramento County and across California, may get a little relief – again. From the Associated Press:

California imposes 90-day foreclosure moratorium
The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California is imposing a 90-day moratorium on housing foreclosures under a new law that took effect mid June.
The law is expected to make lenders try harder to keep borrowers in their homes. Loan companies must prove they tried to modify the delinquent loans before they can begin foreclosing.

But supporters acknowledge the California Foreclosure Prevention Act won’t stop thousands of foreclosures from eventually happening. There have been more than 365,000 foreclosures in California since early 2007, with many more already scheduled.
The bill passed in February is similar to the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable Program that began in March.
Both encourages lenders to cut interest rates or rewrite loans to affordable levels.”

You’ll see that this new law and “attempt” to help ailing homeowners leaves a lot of holes, and many lenders may find themselves exempt from complying. Remember, seek the services of a non-profit homeowner advocacy group to get help, such as:

• www.naca.com
• www.dontborrowtrouble.com
• www.acornhousing.org
• www.makinghomeaffordable.gov

Another option to foreclosure, and something I will be write more about in days to come, is the short re-finance. As another option, for short sale help, contact Carmen Isais, Real Estate professional with Coldwell Banker at 530.601.1003. Carmen offers short sale consultations for homeowners in Davis, Vacaville, Dixon, Winters, Woodland and the larger Sacramento-Metro area. If you have a home with little or equity

If you are selling your Davis home, you should be concerned with your listing agent’s practice on presenting offers. Fellow Realtor, Renee Porsia wrote this very informative piece on Listing Realtor practices and questioned whether your Realtor was showing you every offer that came across his or her desk. Ms. Porsia works in Pennsylvania, where perhaps the laws are different than here in California. She writes the piece and approaches the topic as a matter of good practice.

California Real Estate law is different, however. Here, Realtors have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients and this includes bringing them any and all offers a home. Despite this fact, I have personally seen Realtors sit a on offers for various reasons… namely they themselves are hoping for a better offer, or they are certain their client won’t accept the offer and don’t want to risk discouraging them by bringing less than stellar offers to the table.

As a matter of law and simple ethics, I always present all offers to my clients and let them make up their own mind. Being the bearer of bad news isn’t always easy, but sometimes, even a low offer is welcome of necessary, and followed through with.

To read more about how missing knowledge of offers can effect you as a buyer read Renee Porsi’s article directly. If you are selling a home in Davis, Winters, Woodland or Sacramento and you  have any questions about seller’s rights and the fiduciary responsibility owed them under California law, please do not hesitate in contacting me at 530.601.1003 or via email at carmen@focusondavis.com.

Green remodeling can save you money on utilities, increase the resale value, and provide a healthy, environmentally conscious home.  The following quotes are from an article in the September 2008 issue of California Real Estate.  Mike Hall, president and CEO of Berkeley-based solar company Borrego Solar was quoted as saying,

“For every 1,000 watts of power in a home that’s coming from PV (photovoltaic panels), it can add $20,000 to the resale value of your home.”

Chris Bartle of Green Key Real Estate was quoted,

“If you’re comparing [green building] to a super-cheap Home Depot remodel, then yeah, it’s more expensive,” he explains.  But if you’re comparing it to a high-end remodel with granite counter tops and things like that, then a lot of times it’s actually cheaper.”

The opening of  “Green” building supply companies is evidence of the increasing popularity of Green remodeling.   Davis has it’s own eco-friendly home improvement store called Casa Verde.  There are also recycling options for building materials.  Sacramento’s Habitat for Humanity has a building supply store called the ReStore offering surplus building supplies donated to the store and sold at discount prices.   Another web-site resource is www.thereusepeople.org.  They are a non-profit organization that provides environmentally responsible demolition services and sells reusable building materials.

If you would like more information on green building and learn about the “GreenPointed Rated” system, check out www.builditgreen.org

As a Realtor, the number one question I hear is, “How much is my home worth?”

Now, while there are many pieces of information that factor into the ultimate value of a home, one tool I use, and one that I can easily share with you today, is that of Recent Home Sales.

Recent home sales are a good indicator of what your home might go value at in the current market. And thanks to the internet, this information is easy to share with you, instantly.