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Back from Hibernation, the story of my New Unwelcomed Dell Studio 15
Back from Hibernation, the story of my new unwelcomed Dell Studio 15 Some of you noticed I have been away for two weeks or so. It was not planned. No, I did not go to a deserted Island without internet access. I had some Laptop Issues. Change is good when you do it willingly on your own. Change is debilitating when it is done to you. So with that, I want to share with you the following experience. I had a Dell Inspiron 8200 Laptop for seven short years. Then two weeks ago the dreaded blue screen came, two three hour sessions with Dell from midnight to three am and now, I am the proud owner of a Dell Studio 15 Laptop. Wow, going from Windows XP to Windows 7 what a day and night difference. I love it. Now I am glad my old laptop wanted to rest. The speed, the colors, the many new features are just truly amazing. Now I am back on the Active Rain community as well as back with my posts and observations about the Real Estate Market. It is truly amazing how dependent I have become to my laptop. For someone who hardly goes into his office, having all the technology at home, it became a challenge to take listings and input same to all the internet portals. I am accustomed to work late at night doing research for my clients, writing offers, as well as listings. Let’s not forget writing blog posts, commenting on various social networks. It felt as if I was on a deserted island without internet. It is good to be back. Next I will be working on the Monthly Market Reports. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue...
read moreHere we are less then 48 hours from the Super Bowl. The big game! What will you be doing?
Here we are less then 48 hours from the Super Bowl, what will you be doing? As an East Coast Transplant from Boston to Los Angeles, I remember we had a Super Bowl Party the first year we moved out and said we will make this a Tradition. We had a nice turn out of Angelinos, who were polite and came and watched “the game”. Most of them were not familiar with who was either playing or cared who would win. So with that we did not bring out the “squares” well known in Boston by young and old. Professional or Amateur Betters. (Just a side note the following year we had an Oscar Party with Ballots) Well as I was reminiscing about the big Super Bowl Parties of yester years, I went on the internet to see what people are placing bets on in the Super Bowl? Was I surprised? There were twenty three pages worth of information what people are placing bets on, from the Coin Toss to will either team score three unanswered times in the game? I could go on and on. Short of will there be a Sunday everything imaginable related to the game was a subject to bet on. This made me think a few questions that relate to Real Estate. How many people will hold Open Houses on Super Bowl Sunday? What kind of turn out will they anticipate? How many Realtors will not have time to watch the Game because they are writing offers? I could go on and on, but I will not. If you are watching the game just text me or e-mail me or leave a comment here, but do not call during the Commercials. This is Los Angeles after all we will be watching the commercials. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue...
read moreCentury City,CA., Condominium Market Report for January 2010
Century City,CA. Condominium Market Report for January 2010. I was so happy that at the end of 2009 I was so busy I hardly had time for the holidays. Knowing that the new year no one know how it turns out, I was pleasantly suprized how busy and quickly January went by. So with that short explanation. I just want to give all my readers the January Statistics. I will not compare it to the previous year, since it is a new year let us use this as the base. As of January 31st 2010 there were 263 Active Condominium Listings in Century City,CA. 27 Condominiums sellers were accepting Back Up Offers until the buyers remove all their contingencies. 37 Condominiums were Pending, waiting for funding. 24 Condominiums Sold in the Month of January This is a good indication we will have a busy first few months, just based on Inventory, and Pending Units that are currently in the pipeline. I always get asked what the least expensive sale was, so with that, here we go: it was a One Bed room one and a half bathroom Condominium with approximately 869 sq ft of living space and the Unit sold for $410,000.00 If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue...
read moreMarina Del Rey,CA., Condominium Market Report for January 2010
Marina Del Rey,CA Condominium Market Report for January 2010. I can hardly believe how fast this month went by. Good news was I was busy handling four Escrows and two of them closed. The others I am trying to keep together. I will not compare the statistics to last month, since this is a new year, let us see how the numbers are.: There are as of January 31st 2010 139 Active Condominiums on the Market. 22 Are accepting back up offers, where the buyer has not removed their contingencies yet. 33 are Pending waiting for funds to close. 23 Closed transactions for the month of January. My first impression is, that this is a large number of Sold properties as well as a large number of Pending So we are starting of the year with a solid jump. Just for informational purposes the least expensive sale was for $290,000. It was a one bedroom one bath condominium of approximately 810 sq ft of living space. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations. ...
read morePlaya Vista, CA.,Condominium Market Report for January 2010
Playa Vista,CA., Condominium Market Report for January 2010. It is a New Year, so I will not look back how we did to the previous months. Hard to believe, how quickly the month of January went by. I was so busy, had two 9 day Escrows to keep together amongst two others, hence the month went by much faster for me. Now, let us look at the Results. I am not sure if it is my imagination, the inventory is almost non existant. There are only 23 Active Listings as of January 31,2010. There are 9 properties which are accepting back-up offers since the buyers have not removed their contingencies. There are 18 Pending waiting to get funds and close. There were 3 Condominium which closed in the month of January,2010. In case you are wondering the least expensive was $359,969.00 it was a one bed room one bath room Condominium approximately 916sq ft of living space. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue...
read moreFantastic Mid Century Home in Tarzana, CA. We will be Open Sunday 1pm to 4pm.
I just want to share with every one this great listing in Tarzana, CA. South of the Boulevard in a very desirable pocket. Here is this Mid Century opportunity. First Open House this Sunday from 1pm-4pm Add’l Photos Larger Map Aerial Map Plat Map OPEN HOUSE: 01/31/2010 (1:00PM-4:00PM) RESIDENTIAL SINGLE FAMILY AREA: (60) Tarzana MLS#: 10-422863 MAP: 560/H3 BR: 4 STYLE: Mid-Century SUB: PUD: No YB: 1955 BA: 3.00 APN: 2176-017-009 ZONE: LARA HOD: $0.00 STO: 1 APX SF: 3,100/OW ADP: No VU: Yes PL: No APX LDM: 99×225/OT APX LSZ: 22,220/OT APX ACREAGE: GH: Att’d FP: 1 PKGT: 6 HORSE PROP: No LSE: No LOP: No FUR: No PKGC:2 ELEM: Check with City JRHS: Check with City SRHS: Check with City DIRECTIONS: South of Ventura Blvd., Head South on Mecca Ave., go West on Wells Dr. and then turn on to Amigo. REMARKS: Fantastic Single story home in very desirable pocket South of the Boulevard. This home boasts of 3100sq ft of living space.Living room has Cathedral Ceilings, as well as three sets of French doors which open to spacious yard. Room for Olympic size pool and there will be still plenty of yard left.Huge master bedroom with French doors leading outside. Off the garage there is a separate apartment with full kitchen and bath as well as a large walk in closet. This is a must see home. Sold as-is. ROOMS: Bar,Breakfast Area,Dining,Family,Living EQUIP: Alarm System,Cable,Dishwasher,Dryer,Range/Oven,Washer AIR: Central,Wall/Window HEAT: Central FLOOR: Carpet,Vinyl LAUNDRY: Inside FIREPL: Family Room ROOF: POOL: None TENNIS: Room For PARK: Attached,Garage,Side By Side SPA: Bath Tub VIEW TYPE: Green Belt WATERFRONT: None SEC: Other FIN: Cash To New Loan SEWER: In Street,Other POSS: Close Of Escrow DISC: As Is SZONE: Property Report As soon as the Virtual Tour is up I will have to do a follow up post. In the meantime if you are in Tarzana,CA Please drop in on my Open House and say hellow. I will be there 01/31/2010 from 1pm to 4pm. If you can not make it drop me a line. If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations. ...
read moreLead Generation: Tiger Leads. Has anyone heard of this?
Lead Generation: Tiger Leads. Has anyone heard of this? I have been watching a discussion on LinkedIn about lead generation companies. The consensus is, that they are not worth the money or the hype. So I was just checking my e-mails and I received an e-mail from someone who claims to have his business increased by zillions per cent. Hence this made me pose the question, has anyone had positive, negative or neutral experience. Please share with me. Also what the cost is for something like this? I have been watching a discussion on LinkedIn about lead generation companies. The consensus is, that they are not worth the money or the hype. So I was just checking my e-mails and I received an e-mail from someone who claims to have his business increased by zillions per cent. Hence this made me pose the question, has anyone had positive, negative or neutral experience. Please share with me. Also what the cost is for something like this? If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue...
read moreThe Irony – HAMP Offered Stated Income Loan Modifications
Somehow I initially missed this post, so I am sure many of you missed it as well. Hence I wanted to bring it to your attention. So Via James K Barath If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations. With so much talk about the Federal Open Market Committee’s press release yesterday, Apple’s new iPad, the lackluster state of the union address last night and a variety of other business related news, I wouldn’t blame you for missing the anti-climatic revisions to President’s Obama foreclosure prevention plan. Today’s press release by the Treasury Department was to have been the next step forward to improve the effectiveness of the Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP). If you recall, HAMP was launched last April to slow down the rapid rise in foreclosures through loan modifications. Here are some interesting results of HAMP as of year end 2009. Only 66,500 Permanent Loan Modifications; 900,000+ Application Requests 100+ Servicers Participating in HAMP; Accounts for 89% of ALL Mortgage Debt $500 per Month – Median Monthly Savings In the haste of rolling out HAMP last summer, the Treasury Department allowed applicants to get approved for a temporary loan modification based on an oral application. It was then left to the servicers to chase down the paperwork over the 3 month trial period. If everything was accurate and the homeowner made the new payments on time, then the temporary loan modifications would become permanent. Right now the HAMP only has a 7.4% success rate from application to permanent loan modification. Consequently, the Obama administration and the Treasury Department want to improve their success rate. Can you guess what the big announcement was today? In order to improve their success rate, they want to be able to get more homeowners converted from their trial loan modifications to permanent loan modifications. How will they accomplish this task? From now on, homeowners will be required to submit all paperwork in advance of being offered a temporary loan modification. This way all that is left is for the homeowner to make their payments for 3 months. There are other things that were revised and updated, so go ahead and read the complete Supplemental Directive 10-01, Home Affordable Modification Program – Program Update and Resolution of Active Trial Modifications. The Irony – HAMP Offered Stated Income Loan Modifications Five Recent Blog Posts of Interest: Let’s Get Excited Indianapolis, BarCamp is Coming! #rebcin How Long Can FHA Sustain Their Role in the Housing Market? What Are You Doing to Keep The Dream Alive? How Will Your Real Estate Business Be Affected by Higher Mortgage Rates Weekly Blog Update for the Week Ending January 23rd FEATURED Blog Posts on ActiveRain: Realtors®Please Stop with the New Listings! Existing-Home Sales Up, But Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be! How Legitimate is the NAR Housing Affordability Index Like what you see? Fantastic! I welcome your connection at any of these online communities. ...
read moreHow to get an offer accepted? Use a Realtor!
How to get an offer accepted? Use a Realtor! Many buyers are asking on various internet portals how to get an offer accepted. My answer is easy, use a Realtor. The multiple offer phenomenons have returned in certain markets. Where is that? The areas are in the Short sale and Bank-owned property. This market is smoking. I have buyers who have submitted at least 15 offers. Forget low balls, think full price and above asking price. Then why is my offer still not accepted? Buyers ask these questions. How is it that the lower priced offer got accepted? The answer is they had cash, you have FHA. Many private remarks to agents state NO FHA. As discouraging it is you still have to keep going. Now the great news comes CONGRATS, your offer has been accepted, six, seven, eight months later still no Closing. Why is that? It is called SHORT SALE!. This process is tedious and lengthy. Do you have to patience for this? I just closed on a Bank Owned Property, after four different attempts. Why did it take this long? The buyer had all cash, we needed to learn, that automatic low balls do not get acceptance. We were in multiple offers all four times. We missed out four times. Then as luck would have it, the first buyer did not perform. Said they had all cash, truth be told they were exaggerations. Then the second buyer did not perform either. So you would think we automatically came in. No, we had to give best and final to compete with three other buyers. So an All Cash nine day escrow with virtually no contingencies and a million dollar got us a property. No what did it take to get the offer accepted? The answer is a good strategy, good financial status and a strong stomach to take on a fixer with virtually no contingencies and a Realtor that guided the buyer thru these turbulent negotiations. So we had a happy ending on the REO. We are still waiting on the Short Sale, patience is a virtue. We are being virtuous.If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue Organizations. ...
read moreGreen Construction!Great links to green Renovations!Check it out!
I just discovered a new member’s post on Active Rain. Eric LoVecchio of Keller Williams Los Feliz,CA. He compiled a fantastic “list of green links” if you need anything green related check it out please. Here is the link: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1447364/some-very-cool-green-construction-renovation-links Also while you at it give him a great welcome to the community, he looks like someone who will bring us good information. Should you need a vacant lot to build your Green Home, keep me in mind If you are a consumer who is considering buying or selling a home, investment real estate, vacation homes, or beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu. Feel Free to give me a call at 310.486.1002 (USA) or email me at homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites at https://www.endrebarath.com Your Pet Friendly Realtor. I contribute a portion of My commission to Local Animal Rescue...
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