1302 Park Ave., San Bruno 4 bd/ 1ba $699,000

Last week there were “0″ homes for sale in San Bruno…today there are 20! I am not kidding! From last Thursday to this Wednesday there has been a whole movement of for sale signs that have gone up! Yes, they all have offer dates and yes, they will all sell fast, that is the kind of market it is …and these homeowners have heard!

It didn’t take long for these homeowners to figure it out. We have word of mouth and plenty of news media talking about the real estate inventory being all dried up. Home buyers are making 20-30 offers on different homes and just getting beat out! I hope we are heading towards a nicer market where there is plenty of homes for people to choose from and home sellers able to sell and make a profit!     

It’s nice to see that none of these new homes hitting the market are distressed sales (short sales or bank owned foreclosures). That is a good sign that people are not in trouble like they were a few years ago.

Karin Cunningham, Prudential California Realty, 180 El Camino Real, San Bruno, Ca. 94066 Search for homes: www.KarinCunningham.com, Blog: www.facebook.com/sanbrunolife, Email: sanbrunokarin@gmail.com, Phone: 650-438-3504

I have been married to a school teacher for 35 years. Parents cannot expect that living in a good school district will manufacture Stanford graduates. I believe teachers are important but parents and family are more important. You must lead by example. You go to work everyday, and they learn to go to school every day. When your children come home you ask what they learned, review their homework assignments, talk to them about the day, help them with their homework assignments, get help if they need help and you are involved. This needs to be done at all ages. Yes, the way you approach the subject needs to change, but cannot be eliminated.

I just read in the San Jose Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_22987359/california-graduation-rates-climb) that South San Francisco Unified School district had the highest graduation rate (94.1%) in all of San Mateo County. It was almost the same as our southern neighbor Palo Alto (94.6%). South San Francisco actually had a lower drop out rate (3.0%) than Palo Alto (4.7%) Please feel free to view all the numbers of your choice at (http://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/) These are phenomenal numbers considering the fact you don’t have to pay a $1,000,000 for a home. Homes in South San Francisco are in the $550,000- $800,000. If you are interested in buying a home in South San Francisco give me a call at 877-Lee-Sells

San Mateo County Schools Graduation Rate % Vs. Drop Out Rate %

Cabrillo Unified                                       85.2              9.1
Jefferson Union High                            88.7              8.2
La Honda Pescadero Unified             80.8              7.7
San Mateo Union High                          90.3             6.6
South San Francisco Unified    94.1              3.0
Countywide                                              83.3              11.0

Several years ago, I wrote about the Monte Verde Elementary School winning a grant from Google. http://www.prucalvoices.com/2011/06/monte-verde-student-wins-doodle-for-google/

View my website at: www.LeeSellsMore.com

Last Saturday, April 20, in conjuction with Earth Day, Prudential Cailfornia Realty, San Bruno, held its 7th annual Paper Shredding Party. It was the biggest paper shredding party that anyone has ever seen! People came from Daly City, Burlingame, San Mateo and all over the Bay Area to shred their confidential documents for free! We also had a hot dog bbq and served popcorn and water which was great because it was a warm day!

We had two paper shredding trucks by 10:00 am and by 12:00 pm a third was on its way! Clearly the biggest paper shredding party San Bruno has ever had! We helped people sort through files, break down boxes, and answer questions about real estate.

We invited our entire community and we mingled, laughed, worked, and ate. The weather was gorgeous and everyone was really pleased! Our next big San Bruno based event will be our Speaker Series event in June where we will have a panel of speakers talk to the public about real estate investing. In October, we have a pumpkin patch which is always a big hit with the community’s school age kids. Thanks to everyone who attended the paper shredding event!!

Karin Cunningham-Prudential California Realty, 180 El Camino Real, San Bruno, Ca . 94066 650-438-3504 Email: sanbrunokarin@gmail.com Facebook Blog: www.facebook.com/sanbrunolife Home search website: www.KarinCunningham.com

Prudential Paper Shredding Party Pic from 2010

Every year for the past 7 years, Prudential California Realty, San Bruno holds it’s Paper Shredding Party in April to coincide with Earth Day. This year the Shredding Party will be help on Sat., April 20, 10am-2:00pm in the back parking lot. Prudential offers this FREE event to the community to bring us all together and help! We will also have a hot dog BBQ, coffee, doughnuts, and popcorn with an area to hang out and mingle.

Bring your closets full of confidential documents and watch them shred into a million peices right before your very eyes in two huge paper shredding trucks! This will help you protect your identity, recycle, keeping the earth “green”, and make room in your house for you to enjoy!

For more info, feel free to call me anytime! Karin Cunningham, Prudential California Realty, 180 El Camino Real, San Bruno 650-438-3504 Email: sanbrunokarin@gmail.com Website: www.KarinCunningham.com Blog: www.facebook.com/sanbrunolife

The lack of available homes for sale along with the strong job market bringing lots of qualified buyers are driving prices up in San Mateo County.  Inventory of available homes is down substantially in San Mateo County as compared to a year ago.

I think this might be the new real estate environment for years to come.  I say that because the recession we just got out of has scared a lot of people.  It has made them be more conservative financially.  In my opinion that is a good thing for the long term.  Similar to when our parents or grandparents went through the depression. That thought stayed with them for a lifetime.  In the past people owning an $800,000 home would step up to a $1,200,000 home or the person with a $500,000 home to $800,000.  Yes people are working today in San Mateo County but they remember just a few years ago their job and home were in jeopardy.  When the thought of moving up to a larger home with larger payments comes up, it gets shut down very quickly.  People are staying put, they are comfortable, their home is good enough, they do not want to take the risk, they don’t want to live for their mortgage, and they want to save for that rainy day.  I think that thought will stay with us for quite a while.

Seniors used to be a good portion of sellers and that is decreasing.  Seniors are remaining in their own home longer, because they are healthier or by having live in assistance.  Some are choosing to rent it out rather than sell.

In the last few years when the economy was not as strong and homeowners were not able to make the payments, foreclosures and short sale made up 35-50% of local sales.  I am very happy to say that era is over, gone, finished. Our San Mateo County employment is very strong and with rising prices most people have equity in their homes and can make payments.

In summary we have lost three major home sellers: the move up seller, the senior, and the banks. I believe we have to adjust to a new Real Estate environment.  I do not see a major change in the forefront.  

To home sellers on the border line of selling or not selling, I suggest contacting your real estate agent for a value and then discussing with your options.

To home buyers facing multiple offers and all cash buyers; I say stay with it! Find a good agent that knows the area and the other agents.  Everyone wants a deal and today the deal is interest rates.  They are at their lowest point in the last 4- years.  Don’t pass it up. Home ownership is the first step to financial freedom. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions relating to buying or selling in San Mateo County. 1-877-Lee-Sells.

The person speaking to us will be Peter Landes, a local San Mateo County attorney.

We will also have a brief presentation from our broker/owner, Larry Franzella about the activity in the current real estate market.

Please join us or tell a friend! Thanks!

365 Angus Ave., San Bruno $439,000

Most of us San Brunans have experienced a huge rise in our home values. Everywhere we turn there are offer bid dates with offers of $20,000-$100,000 over the list price.

I sent a real estate information flyer out last week to home owners that live outside of the area with a trendy chart of list prices versus sale prices and got a call from someone making sure I hadn’t made a mistake!

It has been really tough for home buyers in this market. I have a couple that have written four offers over the list price with no success on homes in San Bruno, South San Francisco, and Daly City. We go out house hunting every weekend but there isn’t a whole lot to choose from. Most of the homes we have seen are being sold by investors who bought foreclosures and are “flipping” them.

We would really wish that the real estate market would just be steady with a stream of homes available to buy and a manageable number of home buyers…never seems to happen that way in the Bay Area though…

We are becoming evermore dependent on our everyday electronic devices and overly complacent about our security and safety.  Criminals aren’t stupid, but they are capitalizing on your own complacency and reliance on electronic gadgets. To ensure that you don’t become victim to someone burglarizing your home or making off with your hard earned money some simple behavior modifications might be overdue.  Most start with basic common sense, however here are some local examples, which might just get you to start thinking about your own habits.

1. TAKING A TRIP…

A friend of a friend had left their car with a ‘Del Monte Forest’ placard in the long-term parking at San Jose airport while away.  Someone broke into the car, using the information on the car’s registration in the glove compartment, they drove the car to the couple’s home in Pebble Beach, used the gate and garage remote and robbed it.

If you are going to leave the car in long-term parking, you should not leave the registration/insurance cards in it, nor your remote garage door opener.  Even better get a ride to the airport from a friend.

This gives us something to think about with all our new electronic technology.

2. GPS…

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me that someone he knew had their car broken into while they were at a SF 49’er game.  Their car was parked on the lot, which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans.  Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and the GPS, which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.  When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.  The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house.  They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house.  It appeared that they had brought a truck along to empty the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS – don’t put your home address in it… Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.

3. MOBILE PHONES

This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen.  Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit cards, wallet, etc., was stolen. 20 minutes later when she called her husband, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, ‘hubby’ says “I got your text asking about the PIN number and I replied a little while ago.”  When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn.  The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text ‘hubby’ in the contact list and got hold of the pin number.  Within that short timespan he had withdrawn all the money from their bank account.

Moral of this lesson:

a. Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list.  Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mom, etc….

b. And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM it by calling back.

c. Also, when you’re being texted by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them.  If you don’t reach them, be very careful about going places to meet ‘family and friends’ who text you.

Even if none of this pertains to you….Someone you know might benefit from it!

Thom Ruben
truben.prucal.com