East Bay Pet Sitter Knows How to Market I caught up with this PT Cruiser at a traffic light on Mt. Diablo Blvd in Lafayette, California. I quickly rolled the window down and shot a couple of pics.
I like marketing and people who know how to use it.
Ed Newbegin has two sites:
If I needed a pet sitter, I wouldn't hesitate to contact Ed. He's a great marketer for his service and his resume is very supportive.
The home sales cycle usually starts its year end drop in late August. The uptick usually begins in late January. Every community has unique characteristics and dynamics that affect its real estate market. Real Estate is ALWAYS Local
You can see this very clearly in the weekly graphs we post from MLS data. Our Market Detail Reports are also updated weekly and break data down by zip code and price point, so you get a more in-depth understanding of local markets.
During the Holiday season we usually see many homeowners pulling their house off the market for 30 days or so. They don't want the inconvenience of property showings and if their home has seen traffic stagnate, they may want to bring it back on the market when things pick up as a "new" listing.
Serious buyers remain in the market through the Holidays. Lookers, dreamers and shoppers often check out for the Holidays.
Who won't be checking out for the Holidays? Banks & Investors
Regardless of moratoriums, banks have a lot of foreclosed properties on the books and they are going to continue to sell as many of them as they can before year's end to get them off the books.
Investors are going to continue to gobble up the best deals they can find. When the best deals are gone, we're going to see the rest of the deals languish until individuals that want fixer-uppers pick them up or until the banks decide to lower the prices even more.
Items to Note & Watch Over the Holidays
These three items will each influence the 2009 real estate market.
Land America 1031 Exchange Shuts Down – read the email I received yesterday. This morning, the first email in my box stated that Bank of America must temporarily discontinue placing closing orders and accepting title commitments from any LandAmerica title underwriters.
This morning, Realtors, mortgage brokers, title reps and others in the business were scrambling to get definitive answers to how their opened escrows with LandAmerica would be affected.
The "on-again" merger means that means Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company and Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation will combine with Fidelity National Title, Chicago Title, Ticor Title, Security Union Title and Alamo Title.
The combined company will have almost half of the real estate title insurance market.
It appears that escrows in process with LandAmerica will continue smoothly and future escrows should not be a problem. LandAmerica's 1031 exchange clients with funds in the hands of LandAmerica may be facing some tough challenges.
According to LandAmerica's press release -
Under the Stock Purchase Agreement, Fidelity and Chicago Title will pay the Company $298 million in total for Commonwealth, Lawyers Title and United (Chicago Title Insurance Company will acquire Commonwealth for $158.6 million and Fidelity National Title Insurance Company will acquire Lawyers and United for $139.4 million). The closing of the transactions under the Stock Purchase Agreement are subject to approvals by the Bankruptcy Court, the Nebraska Department of Insurance, and other state and federal regulatory agencies. The Company intends to work with FNF toward a closing as early as late December 2008 and will request expedited approval from the Bankruptcy Court.
Just another "normal" day in the whacky new world order of real estate.
California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a long-time advocate for combating global warming joined Sacramento Mayor-elect, Kevin Johnson, at The Green House Community Enrichment Center yesterday to acknowledge the center's contribution to the community.
The GreenHouse was started by Executive Director Kacie Stratton in 2002. The initial inspiration for the GreenHouse came after Ms. Stratton read a 2001 story in the Sacramento Bee about the neighborhood that described the need for positive role models in this struggling and diverse community.
Kacie Stratton is the daughter of Cathy Lee, owner of CLDesign Services, a local home staging business. We mention Cathy Lee often on this blog because she is a friend, a business vendor for us, an charity activist, an active member of CCRIM, RMA, VMA, & WCR, and a sweet person as well. Obviously, Kacie has inherited her mother's energy and concern for a better world.
The "GreenHouse Effect" was covered in USA Today and the San Francisco Examiner. The story was picked up by Yahoo! News and the video is on YouTube. Interestingly, I couldn't find any mention of the GreenHouse event on the Sacramento Bee's site.
Back on 11/3, I wrote about Drop.io, the best and easiest file sharing method we've seen so far.
Drop.io has updated their site and product. Here's a video that helps make it clear.
