The Broker's Record

How to Find Santa Cruz Open Houses

September 06, 2008

A lady who has been using my web site for a while just sent me an e-mail, enquiring about a property. She asked a common question: will there be an open house for this property coming up soon?

The tricky thing about looking for Santa Cruz Real Estate on SantaCruzHomeBroker.com is that most of the listings on this site aren’t actually my listings. The same is true for most Realtors’ web sites – the exception being, those Realtors whose web sites only show their own properties.

I can, however, help you to buy any of the listings you find on my web site. We Realtors employ a Multiple Listing Service – the MLS. It’s a database of what’s listed for sale by Realtors, and it’s a cooperative system. I can show and sell your listings on the MLS, and another Realtor can show and sell my listings. This is key to selling a home quickly and for the best price, as it gets quick and wide exposure to thousands of Realtors and hundreds of thousands of potential buyers.

When someone asks me, “Is there going to be an open house soon?” the definitive answer can be a little hard to come by if it’s not my own listing. The first thing I do is go and look at the listing itself – there is a place on the MLS entry for a property where the listing agent can put open house information.

This information can be searched by the public as well. If you point your web browser to mlslistings.com, you will see an image like this right on the first page:

That image is hyper-linked to an Open House Search page. From there, you can search by zip code, property type (house, condo, multi-res), list price, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. It’s very handy.

Unfortunately, it’s not very reliable. Many Realtors do not update the MLS with the dates and times of their upcoming open houses. I don’t know what the percentage is, but I’d guess probably not more than half of a weekend’s open houses are updated correctly on the actual MLS.

For the rest, you’ll have to check on craigslist – sometimes, when a Realtor advertises a listing on craigslist, he will also put the open house information there.

I hate to say it, but perhaps the most reliable way of finding open houses is to, gulp, open up the newspaper. There’s very little real estate advertised in newspapers anymore these days – with the exception of open houses. Those are still pretty well advertised in the newspaper, and if you’re looking for a quasi-definitive list of what’s going to be open on the weekend, check out the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Or perhaps the Register Pajaronian.

Or, just make a call to your Realtor. Your Realtor will, I am sure, be happy to research upcoming open houses for properties you are interested in. Your Realtor will also probably be happy to hand you a stack of his or her cards and tell you that when you go to the open house, just say to the agent sitting the open house, “I’m working with so-and-so” and hand over one of the cards. This is like pushing a fat glowing bar of kryptonite at Superman or sportin’ a garlic necklace when in the company of Vampires – the over-eager and bright-eyed Realtor will go back to reading his book and leave you to explore the property in peace.

Happy House Hunting!

Posted by SantaCruzBroker at 10:57pm
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Santa Cruz For Sale by Owner – Blue Light Special!

September 05, 2008

Nothing makes a Realtor see red like a FSBO (For Sale by Owner). Fizzbo. For Sale By Owner. Grrr. There goes another juicy commission, right out the door!

Well, not quite. Actually, a savvy Realtor will look at a FSBO like an opportunity ripe for the plucking – because most FSBOs will eventually end up listing with a Realtor after they give up in frustration trying to sell their home on their own. So going FSBO is kind of a like a huge neon sign saying, “Hey Realtors – come convince me to list my house with you.”

Not that I’ve listed a FSBO mind you. Never have. I’ve read lots of books about getting FSBOs to list with you. I’ll probably get around to it when the market comes back around again and starts swinging towards a more balanced market, or even (gasp) a straight-out Seller’s market. For now I’m content to work with buyers and to sell them bank-owned homes. Making hay while the sun shines, as they say.

You see, it’s my belief that selling a house by owner is, in general, a mistake. The #1 mistaken notion is that the seller is going to save some money by going FSBO. I think it’s safe to say, that’s why most sellers want to go FSBO. Let me show you why that doesn’t work in today’s market, when information is so open and shared.

Let’s say you have two houses in a subdivision that area exactly equal in every way. Tract homes. The first home sells with a Realtor for $100,000. Then the next door neighbor says, hey, I want to sell my house, too, but I want to keep that 6% commission in my pocket. So the next-door neighbor lists the house for $100,000, For Sale By Owner.

A buyer comes along. Wants to buy the house. Sees that the seller is not paying any commissions to anyone. This buyer hops on the internet and says, oh, woah, look, the house next door just sold for $100,000 last week. He also happens to note that it was sold with a Realtor. Is this buyer going to offer the seller of this FSBO house the full $100,000?

Let me ask: would you? I didn’t think so. Of course not. Why would you? There’s no commission in the sale of this FSBO home. So why not offer $94,000? Why indeed. Is the seller going to stick to his guns, and insist on $100,000? Probably not. And if he does, he may not sell the house. Or if, somehow, he does sell the house for $100,000 that means he will have, effectively, sold the same house for 6% more than his neighbor just sold his. So, either his neighbor could have sold his house for more money, or the buyer of FSBO house at $100,000 is paying too much for it.

Which brings me to the Blue Light Special.

[From Jondi Gumz, Reporter at Large: Do your homework before you bid on house - Santa Cruz Sentinel]

The man who wrote “Write a Book Without Lifting a Finger” is trying to sell his house without hiring a real estate agent.

Mahesh Grossman, known as the “ghostwriting guru,” is offering a four-bedroom home at 4398 Nicker Court in Soquel for $749,997, which he claims represents a $50,000 savings.

This is an interesting article – especially because it contains a healthy selection of quotes from yours truly. Some truly sagacious insights there, you ought to check it out. The interesting thing here is that this FSBO seller is passing the savings on to the buyer. For once, there’s a FSBO seller who isn’t interested saving money – he just wants to sell his house quickly, and is giving the buyer an opportunity to save some cash on the commission.

Let’s tune in on Monday and see what’s come of it.

Posted by SantaCruzBroker at 10:36pm
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Santa Cruz Real Estate iPhone Blog

September 03, 2008

Catchy title, ain’t it? No, I’m not starting a new blog about how you can use your iPhone in your Santa Cruz Real Estate business. There are precious few Realtors using iPhones for some reason. Maybe it’s because AT&T’s network coverage sucks, and when you’re way up in the woods or down in some valley, Verizon creams AT&T. Mmmm, could be! Aside from AT&T’s coverage, what’s not to love about the iPhone?

But I’m not here (at the moment) to talk about my experiences using the iPhone in my Real Estate practice. No no. I’m here to say that if you, dear civilian reader, have an iPhone, I invite you to check out my blog using your iPhone.

There’s a groovy plug-in for Wordpress (the software that runs this blog) called wptouch and it converts a WordPress blog into an iPhone-friendly format. Now, I know what you’re saying – hey, the iPhone renders almost every Internet page brilliantly and perfectly, why do you need an iPhone-friendly format?

Good question. The iPhone does, in fact, render almost all pages perfectly and amazingly. But there’s no getting around the fact that the screen is small. Some web sites have specially formatted iPhone pages that rethink the web page paradigm for a smaller screen. Like Amazon.com – check that out on your iPhone. It’s fabulous.

And now, check out my blog on your iPhone. It’s fabulous, too.

I have to credit the Phoenix Real Estate Guy for turning me on to this. He doesn’t actually know I exist, but I read his blog, and his blog is also now iPhone ready. Even though he doesn’t have an iPhone himself. Hmmm, you’d think that Phoenix wouldn’t have too many mountains and valleys and that even AT&T could provide good reception. Apparently not.

Anyway, thanks for the tip, Phoenix Real Estate Guy!

Posted by SantaCruzBroker at 8:29am
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My Santa Cruz Realtor Wardrobe

September 02, 2008

Last year, I completed all the coursework for my GRI training. There’s a lot of Realtors out there who think those Realtor designations are a bunch of hooey – and maybe they are, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with trying to better oneself with a little education. It may be that most of what they taught in the the training was fluff, but how much of the time you spent in your University classes was really time well spent? Exactly.

One of the GRI classes I took, I forget which, talked about how it’s a good idea to wear “branded” clothing. Like, if you are a Century 21 agent, you should go around in a spiffy gold sport coat (muffled laughter). The idea being, people see you in your Realtor garb, and they say, “Hey, you’re a Realtor?” and you get to talking, and end up listing their house or helping them buy one.

The gold sport coat would be a little…how you say…alien here in Santa Cruz, and I don’t work for Century 21, anyway. However, I did attend a GRI class up in Sacramento (a useless one on Technology in Real Estate, I think I’ve got that part covered), and they had a pretty cool “Realtor” shop with a bunch of swell knick-knacks like yard signs, closing gifts, and…a huge selection of Realtor shirts.

I picked up four – just polo shirts in different colors with the Realtor R on them. I often wear them when I am showing property, or doing various errands in my professional capacity. Yesterday, I had one of my Realtor shirts on as I was walking around the Tapestry Arts Festival in San Jose. And there, in a booth selling clever T-shirts, a guy asked me, for the first time in a year: “Hey, are you a Realtor?”

In the GRI class, they even said, “And if even just once a year, someone asks you if you are a Realtor because of the clothing, is it not worth it?” And here it had happened, pretty much just like they said it would. The T-shirt guy and I talked for about 15 minutes. I ended up giving him my card. Unfortunately, he’s in San Jose and I don’t really specialize in San Jose, but if someone wants to buy a house over there and use me as their agent, I’m game. There’s enough San Jose agents selling Santa Cruz Real Estate, and turn about is fair play.

So the next time you see me sportin’ my Realtor shirts, please be sure and muffle your laughter, too.

Posted by SantaCruzBroker at 8:23am
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Capitola Village Residents Association

September 01, 2008

When I was down at the Begonia Festival the other day, checking out the floats, I picked up a flyer about the Capitola Village Residents Association (CVRA). I love these kinds of resident associations – I find that the communities that have them are generally much better run and have higher property values than comparable communities that do not.

Apparently, it’s a new association. Here is an excerpt from the flyer:

We are forming an association of residents of the Capitola Village and the nearby neighborhoods. Our goal is to closely follow issues of importance to the quality of life the residents of these neighborhoods and to participate effectively in the political process when the City Council makes decisions that affect us.

Some of the “hot topics” right now regard traffic circulation, parking/neighborhood permits and parking meters.

The CVRA Neighborhoods are: Central Village (including Fanmar), Upper Village (including Beulah/Burlingame, Pacific Cove, and McCormick areas), Depot Hill, Riverview Terrace, and the Jewel Box (excluding west of 47th Avenue)

According to the flyer, the plan is that the association will not meet often, but will communicate by e-mail and by a Capitola Village Residents Association Google Group that has been set up.

As anyone who lives here knows, the Capitola Village has a long history as a major tourist draw, and the commercial interests of keeping the visitors coming has had a big impact on the livability of the area. Tourism is a big part of the economic base of the area, but people have to live here, too, and this effort to involve residents to a higher degree in the ongoing development of the area should help to make the area more livable, as well as more prosperous.

Posted by SantaCruzBroker at 11:17am
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