RealEstate680

 

This is a photograph of a parking meter in front of Coldwell Banker in Walnut Creek.  It seems this parking meter broke the other day and a very resourceful person, obviously with baby in tow, used a diaper to show the world that it is out of order.  How many of you think it was the design of a Man?  How many of you think it was the design of a Woman?

 If 100 people answered this question, I would estimate that one person out of 100 thought it was the doings of a Man.  My solution would be, pay the parking ticket and forget to notify Walnut Creek that this meter is out of order.  The shape of a parking meter and the shape of a diaper never seemed to be comfortable to me.  Besides that, I do not carry diapers in my car! 

I want to thank the female of our species for having the design sense and confidence to use a diaper to show the rest of the world that this parking meter is out or order.  If this sounds Chauvinistic to you, please accept my apologies, as I happen to think this is a genius solution to a urban problem.

The moral of the story.  Keep a clean diaper in your car.

 

Last Saturday, my Coldwell Banker office in Walnut Creek California had a Santa Day.  One of my colleagues, Jeff Gillette dressed up as Santa and we took over 200 photos of local children with Santa and several of the other agents in our office dressed as elves.

It was a roaring success, past clients and families enjoyed games, made holiday cards to our Soldiers in Iraq, donated toys for Toy for Tots and gave old coats to the fantastic One Coat charity for local homeless people.

I took the pictures and had the privilege of seeing some of the happiest faces along with a few children that were terrified of this white bearded stranger that is truly larger than life.

Have a very happy holiday–yes all of them, all denominations.  Cheers!

 

Great news for homeowners who face short sales on their primary residence.  The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation that would end the controversial practice of treating the balance of a home sold at a loss by a lender.  In other words, under current tax law; the homeowner has  the additional burden of having to pay income tax on the difference between what their foreclosed home sold for and what they paid for the house.

This practice has forced many families into Bankruptcy as part of losing their home.  Kind of a double whammy.  This will also help Banks and mortgage brokers get these homes on the market and sold.  This should speed up the process.  It also allow families to get on with their life and resolves some of the additional financial burden.  it’s all good.

 

 Hunter Wimmer and Cassandra Permenter recently bought an Eichler in Concord, California.  The home they purchased was in original condition.  They bought the home from the original owner’s family.  truly a diamond in the rough.

Hunter and Cassie have an eye for design and a very good understanding about construction.  Their story is told in their Blog:  www.RedneckModern.com.  I am very impressed with their work and have enjoyed reading about the transformation.

There are a lot of original Concord and Walnut Creek Eichlers owned by the orignal owners.  Each is a wonderful story of how they raised their family in these great communities.

A few years ago, Internet compnaies like Realtor.com allowed consumers to has access to active real estate properties.  The real estate community was up in arms, as we all wanted to protect our interests in our MLS.  This practice gained the attention of real estate companies.  Their search engines delivered the entire multiple listing service to anyone with a computer.  My website www.Benson4Homes.com will provide you with all the listing in Northern California

 Is the next step in bringing data to consumers the entire MLS.  All the pending sales and closed sales?  How would this effect the relationship between buyers, sellers and real estate brokerage?  It’s my opinion that the more information and data we can give our clients the better.  My best clients come to a meeting as prepared as I do.  Only time will tell, but I’ll bet you that as time goes on, data will too.

 Happy buying and selling!!!

The third annual Downtown Walnut Creek on Ice began a few weeks ago, it’s located at Civic Park. The open air setting is enough to encourage anyone to glide across the ice, except me. I have a phobia about putting 10 pounds of blade on my feet and going around in circles. Just the thought of going around in circles on blades holding up my ankles makes me want to run for a hot Toddie and watch my Walnut Creek friends and neighbors skate in circles. The rink was the brain child of my colleague, Mary Ellen Dudum and it has brought the Walnut Creek business community together in a very good way.

Things to expect this year are free group skating lessons, a New Year’s Eve party, a Figure Eight Frequent Skater Card enabling skating enthusiasts to enjoy savings on multiple visits The ice rink will continue to offer Family Skate Night on Wednesday evenings with KKDV 92.1, private skating lessons, corporate parties and private ice rental. The rink is also available for school field trips. John Muir Health Foundation has generously donated funds to reduce the cost of the field trips to only $8 per student. The ice rink committee has even developed special school based curriculum to enhance the experience for educators and students.

The rink opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11:00 a.m. on Sundays. It closes Monday through Thursday at 10:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 11:00 p.m., and Sunday at 8:00 p.m. The ice rink features $11 pricing during off-peak times (most weekdays and Fridays until 5 pm) and $15 during peak (weekends and holidays). Civic Park is located at the corner of N. Broadway and Civic Drive.

Hey look, even if you’re not into ice skating, it’s a home-run for all of Walnut Creek. Enjoy the friends and family during the Holiday season.

 

I am always asked by buyers about school districts through the San Francisco East Bay Area.  Their questions are not always based on whether they have children, but because historically, homes in neighborhoods that have better school are more valuable.

This axiom holds true in this crazy market as well.  Altos Research, a company I use for weekly market information shows that homes in Walnut Creek and a few surrounding cities have fewer days on market.  This means that real estate is moving faster in areas that have better schooling.

The State of California has made it very easy to review testing in all public schools.  http://star.cde.ca.gov/ is the web site that shows all California Public Schools test scores, it’s called the Star Report.  There is additional information on my website, http://www.benson4homes.com/community/local_schools.php

I caution using this as a Bible.  This is raw test data.  This does not address the quality of a child’s life with siblings, friends and parental supervision.  I sometimes ask my clients with children.  Would you rather have you child create the curve or have a rounded eduction in an environment that fits there/your lifestyle?

 These are very important questions when purchasing a home in the school rich, fashionable Walnut Creek where a home may cost you $100,000 more than a similar home in Concord or Martinez where schools do not have the same reputation, but families still care about their children’s education.

 Your thoughts?

 

I didn’t think it was possible in the market, but I actually had a seller, my client change his mind on a full price offer.  The home was a rental in Walnut Creek, California, he had owned the home for well over 10 years.  IT was a little run down, but in a great Walnut Creek School District.

 The reason for keeping it was because rents are increasing in Walnut Creek and it was a very good business decision.  The agent who represented the buyers were not surprised, as she knew this was an absolute gold mine of a rent property.

 I am sure the buyer has many other options in this crazy real estate market.