Visit my website at www.deanrizzi.com

San Bruno sure knows how to celebrate Halloween especially if you live on Elm Ave. (Nightmare On Elm St.) Every year families crowd the streets, trick or treating by the thousands. Most homes who give out candy run out. Lines form in front of some houses and there are traffic jams on some of the narrow sidewalks! I saw news cameras one year on the corner of Elm and Clark! Decrations are always a hit! I have posted some for you to see!

 

Booooooooooooooooooo! 

Jenevein House

 

Olive Ave. SCARY!

Jenevein House window 

 

www.KarinCunningham.com

 

 

 

 

 

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On Saturday, October 24th, a group of agents from our office held a community event that turned out absolutely perfectly.    We held a combination Pumpkin Patch and Coats for Kids event.     It was hugely successful.

We provided cookies and hot chocolate, as well as goodie bags for the kids and, of course, pumpkins.   We, also,  took photos of each and everyone that wanted one and made them a special photo card right on the spot.   We even had face painting….All for free!

Many, many people brought coats for the kids, too, which was very exciting.    (By the way, for those who weren’t able to attend, please know that we will be accepting coats through the end of October.   If you bring a coat or sweater to our office, be sure to fill out a card so that you can enter the drawing we will be having to thank people for donating.    Our office is located at 180 El Camino Real, San Bruno.)

For me, the very best part about it was that it was such a diverse event.    People of  just about every age and nationality attended.  It was a great deal of fun for everyone, including those of us working at the event.     Business is all fine and dandy, but doing things for others is really what makes life worthwhile.   I am so happy that I work for a company that genuinely cares about the community.

Above, are photos of the terrific agents who participated in this wonderful event!

Kathy Wall – October 26, 2009

Some of the great feedback I received was: speak with the HOA president, speak with the management of the team that was not that experienced, interview CRS members in the area, and Google the agents.    

I ended my last blog saying I would make a decision after seeing their follow up. Well #2, the friend of a friend, has never been heard from. The experienced agent did call me and I asked her to send me the most recent sales. She told me to check it out on Realtor.com. She did send the link the next day but you know what I was thinking. My thought on her was she and her office had a bunch of adult community properties listed but why would she push my property being 3000 miles away and no previous relationship. She and her office represented a great majority of the sellers but did not represent many buyers. I want my property to be seen by the buyers.

I had a communication or two with the less experienced agent team. The following comment they sent me via email made my decision; “With us, it’s not about the Quantity of listings and/or buyers we are working for, but it’s about the Quality of Service we provide.” I thought that was excellent, in fact I might steal it.

Almost the first words out of the Real Estate Lawyer’s mouth was, “all commissions are negotiable and since the market is tough they are all cutting their commissions so don’t accept the rate they say.” I went on and told him what I do to make the money to pay him and he became very quiet. For a lawyer to be quiet and an East Coast lawyer at that, he must have been very uncomfortable. Brian said it was the perfect time to ask him to cut his hourly rate.

Once again thank you for your help and support and wish me luck!

Lee Ginsberg

Please join us in making our first annual Pumpkin Patch a success!!

Nicole Machado

 Many Taxpayers are familiar with §1031 exchanges of real estate.  What many people do not know is that section 1031 applies equally to the exchange of personal property.  Taxpayers that sell personal property used in a trade or business or held for investment may miss a valuable opportunity to defer the tax gain on the sale if they do not consider like kind exchange treatment for their transaction.

 Typically, gain on the sale of personal property, such as machinery and equipment, comes only from depreciation recapture.  Even though the used asset is worth considerably less than the original purchase price, the tax on the amount subject to recapture can be substantial.  Recapture on personal property is taxed at ordinary income tax rates which are considerably higher than capital gains rates.  Thus, if the fair market value of the relinquished personal property asset is greater than its adjusted basis (cost of the asset minus depreciation allowed), a gain will be realized, and it makes good sense to consider a tax deferred exchange.

 The rules for exchanges of personal property are the same as those for real property.  The “like-kind” requirement, however, is a bit more challenging for personal property.  To qualify for exchange treatment, the relinquished and replacement assets must be either “like-kind” or “like-class.”  “Like-kind” refers to assets that are the same, such as an airplane for an airplane, or a backhoe for a backhoe.  “Like-class” refers to tangible, depreciable personal property that falls within the same General Asset Class or within the same Product Class.  Your tax advisor can assist you with determining what exactly qualifies as “like kind” or “like class” under §1031.

Ron Ricard – Investment Property Exchange Service

The National Association of Realtors is urging Congress to extend this credit, which has been successful in encouraging home buyers to get off the fence, especially coupled with the still historically low interest rates and affordable home prices. 

I’ll have to admit, however, that there’s a part of me that doesn’t want it to be extended.  It’s not so much a matter of economic principles.  Quite simply, I’ve always been the kind of person who takes deadlines seriously and makes every effort to keep them.  I’m just not into extensions.  One semester at Cal, I had an experience in a chemistry course that I’ll never forget.  The weekly lab reports were due every Friday, and I remember staying up late to finish them, color-coding the different sections and re-writing whole pages when I made a mistake (this was before computers became commonplace).  Imagine my chagrin when, at the end of the semester, my classmate, realizing that he’d fail without turning them in, threw together a dozen late lab reports, submitted them to the TA, and got 100%…100%!…on every one of them because the TA didn’t want to bother looking over them!!!  Even though decades have passed since then, that sense of injustice still lingers.

But then again, I have clients who have been making a sincere effort to find and purchase a home, but for different reasons, have not been successful yet.  When I think of them, going through the preapproval process, responding promptly to my emails and calls, even submitting offers that were not accepted because of the increased influx of home buyers and the reduction in inventory in some areas – when I think of them, I have to think twice.  As much as my focus of business is on working with homeowners, I still have a soft spot for first time buyers and feel such happiness when handing them the keys to their new home.  So, for their sakes, I’ll join the throngs who are calling for an extension…but only this once…

Jean Joh

I am responsible for selling my mother’s home.  Great I got an easy listing.  Well not that quick.  She lives in New Jersey. And they do things differently than we here in northern California and I am not licensed in New Jersey. They use lawyers instead of Escrow and Title companies. I pondered how a deal is ever going to close with two lawyers involved. The people I spoke with assured me they do. It seems radon gas is an issue in this part of New Jersey and the seller is responsible for mediating it. My mother lived in an adult community where Open Houses and For Sale signs are not permitted. No wonder as I drove the community I did not see any other homes for sale. I thought there was no inventory and I would receive multiple offers just like here in the San Bruno and South San Francisco. After doing additional research I come to find they have a year’s worth of inventory in the area adult communities.    

I was recently in New Jersey and spoke with three realtors.  Prudential is not strong in the area so I went into a GMAC Realty office at the local shopping center and I made an appointment with the floor agent. Immediately she told me she will come with her partner. Good! Two for the price of one. She and her partner came very well prepared. They presented information on themselves and their office. After speaking with them for a while I could tell they were not very experienced. It comes out they were in the business for five years. They were very friendly, easy to speak with, extremely motivated and aggressive but not pushy, understood marketing but not to knowledgeable on the contract, (do they need be since an attorney will review it?), they were the only ones that came with complete information on solds, actives and under attorney review. They had scheduled to show my wife and me three active listings. There was one under attorney review listed in their office that I mentioned interest in seeing. I was impressed that one of them immediately called their office to verify that a lock box was still on. We were discussing painting the home and once again immediately called a painter they work with and got a ball park price over the telephone.

The second agent I spoke with was recommended by a friend. My friend did not have a business relationship only a personal relationship. I called him on a Sunday about 3 PM and returned my call at 9PM and we set an appointment for 9AM the next morning to meet my schedule. I already liked his response time. I will justify him being the least prepared with the fact he had the shortest time to prepare. He did have information on the market but no marketing information. He did discuss marketing briefly. His mother in-law lives in the same complex and he lives in the complex next door, so I felt comfortable that he was familiar with the area. He offered to paint a stained area himself to save money. I appreciate saving money.
We had a very good rapport I thought. We discussed our mutual friends, the Real Estate industry and Back home.

The third and final agent I found on the internet as a “Top Producer” for a local old time one office company.  She definitely knew the complex.  She said I should hire her because she is the best and her office is the dominating listing office. She showed me all sorts of stats. Not much at all with buyers. She told me the various websites she will list the property on.  She spent most of forty five minutes we spoke, discussing pricing.  She suggested that I offer 4% to the listing agent because there was over a year of inventory available. It is a thought that was shared by another realtor as well but I’m not a big believer in that. She was not warm and friendly but she was not cold either.  She was opinionated.

Real estate is very localized so before interviewing the agents I prepared a list of questions to learn about the area: market procedures, lock boxes, inspections, time frames, the attorney situation, inventory, Open Houses, marketing, availability, full time or part- time, experience, DOM, list to sale price, their mix of buyers to sellers, office activity and more.   Could I hire all of them? Sales people are easy to sell. we trust everyone.  We don’t want to say no to anyone.  Each had pluses and minus. They were all pleasant.  Now I understand what our clients go thru. Let me tell you by the third agent in two days I was burnt out. Do I go with experience, relationship, motivation? I thought I would hold off my decision until I see how their follow up is.  I ask for your help; whom do you think I should hire?

Lee Ginsburg