Great knowledge folks! The correct answer is both Moonsail Lane and Carmel Village…many of you declared both of them. This weeks winner was first timer Kirk Matsuo who scores the $30.00 gift card to Starbucks. Also arriving with the right answer was Ryan, Kavita, Nike, Asif, Carol, Lakshmi, Monica Martines, Alex O, Karla, Satish, Erika Jahnke, Nancy and Debbie. Good job guys! Thanks again for playing!

I’m not quite clear about these 3 minute, Internet based commercials…and I don’t really give a rip about JC Penny, but this is pretty darn clever. I may have actually learned something too!

Still full? I sure am! Last night was brutal, plus I managed to break the glass on our oven door (fortunately after the turkey came out!). But, enough of that! This weeks contest begs the question…what Foster City project is shown above? I’ll allow either the street it’s on (there’s just one) or the name of the project. This weeks winner will receive a $30.00 gift card to Starbucks. The winner and all other correct answers will not be published until Monday morning. All the rules of this game are available to view on the left hand margin or on the bar above. Any and all funny jokes, snappy quips and all wrong answers will be published immediately. Thanks for playing! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Even in this really kooky year, I’m very thankful today. Among other things I’m sure thankful for all of you have read this blog, have made it successful and have broght me business as a result. I truly hope that you all have a great day today! Happy Thanksgiving!

When buyer makes an offer on a house it’s a fairly common thing for a seller to want to rent back for 30 days or so after close of escrow. That’s an especially useful thing when the seller hasn’t identified their next home. Typically, the seller rent’s back at the buyer’s principle, interest, taxes and insurance (PITI), which naturally tends to be higher, sometimes ALOT higher than they’re used to. Often, that’s a reasonable tradeoff since a 30 day escrow is entirely too short if you need to buy another house first and the extra time removes loads of stress. The PITI payment can easily be rationalized.

There is a caveat in all this though. When a seller rents back they need to agree to do so in writing on a standard form used commonly throughout the industry, a “seller occupancy after sale addendum”. It’s basic boilerplate, for the most part, and talks about how long the period of occupancy is, how much is paid, who maintains the property…etc,etc. It also has a clause for a security deposit. Here’s the actual verbage that’s written on this form:

Upon COE, Seller shall deposit funds with Buyer equal to twice the monthly occupancy charge, or alternatively the otherwise agreed total sum of $____(Security Deposit).

Hmmm. It doesn’t say funds are held in escrow…it says the buyer gets the deposit. It also says twice the PITI. It wouldn’t be at all uncommon for this sum to reach $10,000 or more under these guidelines. Honestly, this is something that can be easily missed in the midst of all the boilerplate that is signed while ratifying a contract.

If you’re a buyer think about this for a minute. The seller, usually, has loved the home they’re selling. Most of the time they’ve gone to a great deal of time preparing their home to sell and making it as appealing as it possibly can be…and then a buyer expects a $10,000 security deposit so they don’t recreate Animal House during the rent back? Like the sellers are going to start tapping kegs and having toga parties for those 30 days? In the 20 years I’ve been in Real Estate, I can’t think of anything that offends a seller more that a demand for a large security deposit. Most of them are offended by the suggestion of any security deposit.

If you’re selling and will be in need of a rent back, make sure you get that clause clear when it comes to a deposit and how much it will be…as well as who holds the deposit. The Title company is happy to do that.

It was a tad easy, huh. Oh well! Congratulations to Michael Sit who narrowly beat Dana and Debbie (by about 30 seconds!) to win the gift certificate to Spices Restaurant in Edgewater Place. Way to go Michael! Also following Dana and Debbie with the right answer was Eleen, Nancy, Kavita, Nicole, Alex O, Bill, Kirk, Lakshmi, AR, Shrikant, Amruta, S and Pradeep. Good knowledge folks! Thanks for playing! See you again on Friday!

I know, I know…I’m a few weeks late with this, but it’s a classic. I love the Onion!

Is it true that birds fly south for the winter? That sure seems to be where this guy is going! This weeks question is…where did he come from? What is this a symbol for? This weeks winner will receive a $30.00 gift certificate to the new Spices Restaurant at Edgewater Place. The winner along with all other correct answers will not be published until Monday morning. All the rules of the road are available to view on the left hand margin as well as on the bar above. Any and all attempts at humor, silly jokes, quips…etc and all wrong answers will be published immediately. Have a great weekend!

It’s long been assumed that there is definite seasonality in the real estate market. Every year since I’ve been doing this, things sure seem to slow down right about this time. Typically, folks who are thinking of selling figure they may as well wait until after the new year because the thought of having people visiting their home and holding it open on weekends at the same time they’re planning to receive guests for the holidays doesn’t exactly seem too appealing. Consequently, the market has always seemed to go on a bit of a hiatus in November and December. Usually, this hiatus is really obviously manifested in my office as visits from vendors and attendance by other agents slows down considerably. Lot’s of folks just sort of emotionally check out and come back to life again in January.

2009 has been the weirdest of weird years. Most of us didn’t sell anything until May or so…and then it got very busy! Every escrow was like pulling teeth and the stress level was extremely high. Consequently, I’m kind of liking the idea of slowing down right now. Here’s the problem…I’m not sure the market is cooperating in our usual thinking! Every offer I’ve written in the last month or so has been one of several. Honestly, I went to the Cashin office in San Mateo today to pick up a disclosure packet and discovered that I was one of 8 packets that had gone out on this particular listing this week! So much for slow down! I’ve been hoping that my buyers would have some opportunities during the next month and a half! I’ve heard no less than 9 multiple offer stories in the last 2 weeks alone!

Maybe I’m most bummed because I was sort of looking forward to writing blog posts and coasting the rest of this year. Oh, well!

There were some great and interesting comments on that post I did the other day called Sneaking Up On Them. By and large I agree with them too. There is no question that buying a home in this area is unlike any other…probably in the world. There’s also no question that buying anywhere for the first time, and especially in this expensive place is often a terrifying experience. I totally agree. Here’s the thing, I’ve discovered that two truths can simultaneously occupy the same space. It can be terrifying and also an important thing to do.

It’s important to say that there’s certainly no shame in feeling afraid when you’re about to buy your first home…or your 5th for that matter! This issue expands when fear becomes the thing that controls our decisions. I don’t have to look too far for an example here, I just look at my own history. We moved to this area in 1990 and at that time I remember a little 3 bedroom house I saw in San Mateo that was going for $220,000. Somebody I knew said “You should buy that.” Do you think I did? Of course not…I was too scared. I had just moved from Denver, and houses in Denver were selling for under $100,000! 220k seemed like a fortune. A couple of years later another opportunity presented itself on a view home on Georgetown in the Baywood area in San Mateo…it was $350,000. For what it’s worth, there hasn’t been a house sell on Georgetown for under $1,000,000 since 2003…and it was a 2 bedroom 1 bath house that went for $885,000!Again…I was too scared. I probably have 3 or 4 more stories just like that, where fear prevented me from taking the plunge. I finally got it together in 1999 and bought a house, and we did it again in 2004. I’m not complaining, mind you, we live in a great house and I love it…but we sure did miss some opportunities! For no other reason than irrational fear too.

Alot of you probably won’t believe this, but I sincerely believe in the importance of buying a home…and not just because it puts food on my table. I think it’s an important thing for everybody to do. I have no vested interest in what you do as a home buyer, I’m just writing a blog, so when I say that it’s a good idea to get out of your own way and take the plunge that comes from honest self analysis of my own personal mistakes. I’ve sold hundreds of homes in the last 20 years, yet I’ll bet I’ve seen almost as many folks opt out of buying because they couldn’t get past their fear. I sincerely don’t believe that it was ever in their best interest.