ActiveRain Meetup Los Angeles - Had a Great Time! We had our last ActiveRain Meetup yesterday at the Good Earth Restaurant in Studio City, CA. The food was outstanding, and we had some really great conversations about the real estate market here in Los Angeles. In fact, I'm actually referring a client to ActiveRain member John Pusa. He covers the Glendale area, and I have a client who speaks one of the languages that John does, so we're going to work together to help this client. I LOVE the cinnamon iced tea they have there!  I tried a new dish they have there which is the salmon risotto with brown rice and meditteranean veggies simmered in a very flavorful tomato sauce with kalmata olives. The Good Earth has a very unique atmosphere in that it is an indoor garden setting with ponds and... 04/21/2012

ActiveRain Los Angeles Meetup - Studio City, CA - Friday, April 20th - 7PM......Be there and win a FREE Partner Membership to Referral Exchange of Southern California! For those of you Rainers in the Los Angeles area, this will be a great opportunity for you to meet some of your ActiveRain peers in person. A lot of great things happen at these meet ups!  Good information and good times! Would love to see you there and meet you in person!  That's how personal agent-to-agent referrals start - meeting someone in person! Time, Date and Location is as follows: Friday, April 20th, 7PMThe Good Earth Restaurant12345 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA  91604 PLEASE RSVP to me so that I can get a head count for tablespace. All the best,   Los Angeles Homes For Sale Los Angeles Condos For Sale Los Ange... 04/17/2012

It's Unanimous - The Market Has Officially Turned I've spoken to several agents around the country and it's pretty unanimous - the market has officially turned! Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York, Austin, Miami, Chicago, and more have all reported unbelievable amounts of activity. And this activity is the spark plug to the slow rise in home prices into our next chapter of a normal market. Congratulations to those buyers who purchased in the last few years - you officially came in at bottom. For those buyers who were on the fence waiting for the market to continue to drop even more, that ship has sailed.  We are now becoming a seller's market once again, especially with inventory levels as low as they are in some areas. I have many buyers in the $300k and below range that are finding it diff... 04/15/2012

ActiveRain Los Angeles Meetup - Studio City, CA - Friday, April 20th - 7PM......Be there and win a FREE Partner Membership to Referral Exchange of Southern California! For those of you Rainers in the Los Angeles area, this will be a great opportunity for you to meet some of your ActiveRain peers in person. A lot of great things happen at these meet ups!  Good information and good times! And there will be an added bonus.  At our MeetUp, we will be raffling off a FREE membership to Referral Exchange! Time, Date and Location is as follows: Friday, April 20th, 7PMThe Good Earth Restaurant12345 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA  91604 PLEASE RSVP to me so that I can get a head count for tablespace. All the best,   Los Angeles Homes For Sale Los Angeles Condos For Sale Los Angeles Townhomes For S... 04/03/2012

Great Market News Luck of the Irish Edition   While the weather this weekend does not make me feel particularly celebratory or lucky, I do think that this St. Paddy’s day washed away the bad and will bring in the good. The latest pending home index released by the National Association of Realtors showed pending home sales are on the upswing and at the highest level since April of 2010. Mortgage rates continue to decline and remain near record lows. Perhaps the luck of the Irish will keep it that way.   Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages are down, from the week prior, to an average of 3.13%. Thirty-year fixed rate mortgages are down to an average of 3.88% compared to 3.9% the week earlier. Most of us don’t have a pot of gold, so mortgage rates continuing to stay low, can only make this an... 03/19/2012

  4230 Bellingham Ave.   Studio City, 91604   5 Bedroom, 4 1/2 Bath   $1,749,000   I’m usually in favor of older homes with a lot of character, as opposed to newer builds, with their cookie cutter tendencies, but this fantastic cape cod in Studio City is a glorious exception.  Located in the very desirable zip code of Studio City, 91406, this 5 bedroom home is over 3900 square feet.  Interestingly enough, the Studio City Council just passed an ordinance restricting homes this size to be built anymore.  The ordinance was designed to stop “McMansions” from crowding out their lots.  In my opinion, this doesn’t qualify as a McMansion, because it was so tastefully done.  Scroll down to see what I mean.       My favorite part of this elegant kitchen is the chandelier, but the beveled marble ... 03/09/2012

11206 Laurie Dr. Studio City, CA 91604 2 Bedroom, 2 Bath $909,000 Imagine having this view from your back yard.  This 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom Studio City home has 180 degree views of the valley.  If I lived here I don’t think I’d ever go inside.  Luckily, the home is outfitted with huge picture windows so you can see the view from the living room, the kitchen and even the bedroom.   Built in 1954, an extensive renovation of this mid-century home in 2008 brought it into the twenty teens with several changes, including a new, open kitchen complete with stainless steel appliances and granite.   Read more... Listing courtesy of Bill Lustig – John Aaroe Group. 02/02/2012

Multiple Offers Increasing in So California - The Tide has Officially Turned.......... We are seeing mutliple offers all over the place here in Southern California.  And not only in certain price ranges, but across the board. Our listing in Stevenson Ranch has 10 offers on it after only a week and a half! Our North Hollywood condo listing that has been on the market for quite a while just recently ended up with multiple offers. Not only that, but on the buying side we are ending up in multiple offers with the offers we're writing for our buyers. Our Encino, CA buyers - 4 offers on the property Our Stevenson Ranch buyers - 3 offers on the property Our Calabasas buyers - 3 offers on the property There was even one agent in our office that reported a Tarzana / Woodland Hills home that has ... 02/02/2012

Fannie issued an article about how 2012 is the year of the political economy. Stating that the rise and fall of our housing market would be based entirely on how the economy itself fares this year. And so far so good. The housing sector is showing improvement due to gains in employment.   Not only that but Fannie believes the second half of this year will be great for the housing market because of positive consumer behavior. The global economy is to be considered when trying to make a housing forecast. But the Brightside of 2012 will show growth because of predictions for our domestic economy and thus the housing sector. I don’t love politics and relying on a political economy isn’t my favorite plan. But good news is good news. So I like it. 01/23/2012

Ralph's Weekly Legal What-If Scenarios: Contract Addendums - Who Signs What And Why? Each Monday, I'm going to post a "What If" Scenario that presents a legal issue in a real estate hypothetical situation. Each Sunday, either the correct legal answer (or most likely legal resolution) to the situation will be posted. These are great opportunities to keep your real estate legal chops honed and tuned as a real estate professional.  And I'm sure there will be some interesting discussions going on related to these hypothetical situations.  Some of you may also have had identical situations in the past that will bring some interesting light to the answers. Here is this week's scenario: Jane is the listing agent, and is representing her seller, Adam, in an escrow.  Steve is the buyer's agent, ... 01/16/2012

Become an exclusive preferred referral agent in your area - www.referralexchangegroup.com Referral Exchange is an exclusive, invitation-only business networking organization that is cutting edge. With our affiliate and partner memberships and teleconference capabilities, you can receive referral business in your area. Many of our members have been involved in other networking communities and have decided to make Referral Exchange their business network of choice.  What they feel are the strengths of Referral Exchange is that we make the absolute BEST use of your time as a member.  We get it.  We're all busy working professionals and the time dedicated to attending a business function must be worth that time.  It must yield results. Our chapter meetings are free of rigid formats and non-... 11/08/2011

The banks responses to SB458 begins to rear it's ugly head................. The recent passage of California Senate Bill 458 prohibits both 1st AND junior lienholders from pursuing a deficiency judgement OR requiring the seller to contribute cash proceeds upon successful closing of a short sale. Well, many of us were waiting to see what the banks responses were going to be, and it has hit me first hand on one of my short sales. The 2nd lien on this file, Wells Fargo Home Equity, just told me today that since they are no longer legally able to ask for cash proceeds from the seller, that they would like 2% of the commissions credited to THEM!! For a second there, I had to ask the negotiator to repeat herself because I wasn't sure exactly what she was saying. Once I had it clarified that i... 10/31/2011

Do you want your clients to consider you a "real" pro?  Then why are you using a headshot from 800 years ago?! OK.  I get it.  We all want to look "nice" in our business headshots. Cool.  I totally understand. But honestly, if you're using a headshot that's more than 5 years old, what good can possibly come from it? When you do finally meet in person, I'm sure the "shock" value will somehow transform into a form of deception to the client, sub-consciously or consciously, don't you think? I mean, no one died recently and made me the headshot police, but I guess this blog post can be considered a "reality checkpoint" for those on the road to disaster, that's all. Is there a chance that a prospective client will see your headshot, only to log onto your Facebook and wonder why a pic of your... 09/25/2011

So ................ What's New? Don't "axe" me why, but I just felt like checking in with everyone and seeing what's new in your life. How's business? How's your personal life? Anything new and exciting? Same 'ol ..... Same 'ol? Just a light and breezy blog post to dish a little. No strings attached! So talk to me ........ Los Angeles Homes For Sale Los Angeles Condos For Sale Los Angeles Townhomes For Sale   09/18/2011

Want to advertise yourself to over 200,000 ActiveRain members for FREE?  And have fun doing it?  Here's how..... I have a weekly post entitiled "2 Truths and A Lie". Our group has TONS of fun each week, as one of our ActiveRain members gets featured in our weekly game. The featured member states 2 Truths and 1 Lie about themselves, and for the remainder of the week, all the other members need to guess which is the lie. At the end of the week the featured member reveals their answer with some fun comments. Some of the comments on these posts are the funniest ever. If you'd like to see what it's all about and some of our past featured posts, click here: http://activerain.com/groups/2truthsandaliegame Nonetheless, the post includes some information about the featured member - where they wo... 09/17/2011

The ActiveRain Masterminds monthly challenge for August is complete, and the judges scores for each team are in! If you missed this months challenge, you can read each teams entry here: http://activerain.com/blogsview/2464780/activerain-masterminds-challenge-august-2011-real-estate-scams-how-can-we-prevent-them- If you are new to the ActiveRain MasterMinds and want to learn what the monthly challenge is all about, you can click here about how to join and what the rules are: http://activerain.com/groups/ActiveRainMasterMinds Put your own team together and be part of the Creative Mindshare to coming up with solutions to issues in our industry!                 The August issue to find a solution for was: Our outstanding Judges panel for the current six month term are: OK, here are this mon... 09/16/2011

Should the seller have to reimburse the buyer for a re-inspection? I just thought I'd take a poll to see what the AR members think. If a buyer does an inspection, and there are things that are not quite finished being installed, OR the utilities were not turned on, do you think the seller should reimburse the buyer at the close of escrow for the cost of having the inpsector come back out to the property for a re-inspect? Let me know what you think. Los Angeles Homes For Sale Los Angeles Condos For Sale Los Angeles Townhomes For Sale 09/10/2011

Short Sales and Buyer's Deposit:  After the contract is signed or After the written approval is obtained? Just wanted to take a poll and see how many of you out there require the buyer on your short sale listings to submit their deposit before or after the written approval has been obtained. In our C.A.R. addendum, section #3 has a box that can be checked off that states the deposit is to be submitted per the original contract:  on or before 3 days after full execution of the contract between buyer and seller. I personally feel that the deposit is an element that constitutes the contract:  offer + acceptance + exchange of value = contract Therefore, I require the buyer's deposit to be submitted within 3 days of acceptance of the purchase agreement, and held until at least the stated dea... 09/02/2011

Agents Faking Multiple Offers - Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire!! As Suze Orman would day:  "Don't do it, don't do it, don't you DARE do it!" I can't tell you how many times in the last few months I've written offers for buyers and then the listing agent tells me there are multiple offers on the property when I know darn well there are not. An example would be an offer I wrote for a client where the listing agent stated there were multiple offers, some over asking price. My first indication of something rotten in Denmark was that my client wrote just under asking and we went through a series of counter offers for a week, which ended up in my client getting a final counter at asking price. Believe it or not, we opened escrow, and just as fast as we opened escrow, we ended up cancelling escrow ... 09/01/2011

By: Morgan Rollins Nestled on a hillside in the mountains of South Africa near Cape Town lies a peaceful monster, boasting 5 pavillions to maximize views as well the natural landscape surrounding it.  Lying like slabs of slate, from a birds eye view, it looks like it belongs, and that's exactly what  Van Der merwe Miszewski Architects wanted. Step inside and you are greeted with more nature “Habitable spaces have been created by using the age-old tradition of inserting stone walls into the landscape, thereby creating usable terraces and platforms. The colours of these stone walls emulate those of the cliffs of Table Mountain above and its presence anchors the design into the landscape”  This property truly seems like it grew straight from the ground, so organic; hugging the hillside, it... 08/19/2011