Month: April 2005

Seinfeld Sued by Real Estate Broker

Link is here: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=796&e=1&u=/eo/20050429/en_celeb_eo/16453

If you’re looking to buy real estate and have chosen a real estate agent to represent you, then go to them with any questions you have about properties for sale. Real Estate agents only get compensated for their time if you purchase a property through them. They don’t get a salary. If your agent doesn’t have the resources to help you, find another agent. If you plan to use one agent, don’t ask other Realtors to spend time doing research for you knowing you’re not going to use them to represent you. There are also ethical rules that Realtors must adhere to. One is that if an agent is first to show a property, they are the ones that will get the commission even if another agent represents the Buyer in the transaction (remember this when you go look at Open Houses). So, to make things go as smooth as possible, pick one Realtor and give them the chance of satisfying your requests and needs. If Jerry Seinfeld had done that, he probably wouldn’t have been sued!

Cal Poly broke ground today on the 69 unit development for faculty. These will be sold below market value. It’s across the street from the Highland Drive entrance, next to Highway One. It’s expected to be completed in 2007.

A Santa Maria home on Santillian came on the market today. A 2100 sq foot home on a 6600 sq foot lot for a price of $5.8 Million. That works out to be $2785 a square foot. It also says its priced for a quick sale.

I’m sure it’s a mistake and the Listing Agent will soon realize it but in this crazy housing market, you never know what people think they can get for a house!

There was an interesting article in today’s Times Press Recorder about the water situation for the 5 cities. The article is here: http://www.timespressrecorder.com/articles/2005/04/27/news/news01.txt

What’s missing is a chart they included along with the article which I thought had some good info in it about buildout timeframes. Here is some of what it included.

Oceano- current population7260, buildout population (est. 2033) 15,787
Pismo Beach – current population 8551, buildout (est. 2025) 11,122
Grover Beach – current population 13,067, buildout (est. 2018) 16,000
Arroyo Grande – current population 15,851, buildout (est. 2023) 20,000

For those of you out the area, San Luis Obispo just had its election about the Marketplace shopping area and in a tight vote, it was defeated. This is not the end of the project though. The owner of the land will now take it to the County as the land isn’t in the city of SLO. Even if it passed it would not have been a done deal as there were going to be lawsuits to stop it. The issue will continue to go on but I wonder how this is dividing the city? Also, the city is the regional center for a county of 250,000 residents but only a fraction of these residents got to vote on the Marketplace. With a huge budget deficit already, the city of SLO can’t afford to lose any more of its’ tax revenue from any potential backlash from County residents. Should be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

For me, I just want a Chili’s restaurant!

The boardwalk along Moonstone Beach in Cambria will soon be longer. They are about to extend the boardwalk another 2/3 of a mile! Construction may begin in a few months.

A 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo in Arroyo Grande just hit the market for $215,000. Monthly homeowners association fee of $130. Don’t see this price level too often these days.

On the other end of the spectrum, an oceanfront home in Shell Beach is on the market for $3 Million. No, this isn’t one of the homes at the Bluffs. Just a 2600 sq foot home built in 1974. Lot size is around 6,000 sq feet. It does have a ceiling fan though…

I added statistics of condos and homes for most cities going back to 2002. It includes median price and the number of homes/condos sold in a particular price range. To access these, go to the home page (www.SloCountyHomes.com) and click on a city name under “Real Esate Statistics and Information”. It’s the one with bubblegum alley as the background.

I’m going to be putting together a section on Land too.

Our new MLS system has made it easier for agents to upload photos with their listings. They no longer need to resize them before putting them on the system (the new system automatically does this for the agents). Even with that, less than 25% of the new listings that are on the Realtor hotsheet today have photos with them. Shame, shame, shame!

When you sign a listing agreement with an agent/broker, add a statement that at least one photo will be up at the *same time* the property is put on the MLS or you may cancel the listing agreement. This is to make sure that the 2700+ Realtors in the area will see a photo of your property when they look at the hotsheet. Having an “Image not Available” won’t help your property get noticed. Since your property will be on the hotsheet only for a day, don’t miss this opportunity for exposure. The MLS system allows up to 10 photos to be attached to a listing too. An agent should attached photos that make the home look GOOD. Some homes may have a few photos attached while others will have 10. All depends on if you’re home has enough photo appeal and how good the listing agent is with photography. Vacant homes are the toughest to photograph and probably shouldn’t have that many photos attached to the listing. There is a reason why model homes put furniture in them and not leave them empty!

*Remember that the Listing Agreement a Realtor uses are created by the California Association of Realtors to make it easier for Realtors. You can add or delete anything in the Listing Agreement you want before signing it. The same goes for any other forms used in a real estate transaction.

The big Woodlands development in Nipomo is getting ready for its first 50 homes. Models are expected to go up anyday now and the first 50 homes are expected to be ready for occupancy in May. The 957 acre development will have 1320 homes. There will be 11 models ranging from 1,800 to 3,600 sq feet.