Month: March 2006

I just received the following in my email. I hadn’t heard about this issue before. – Keith

March 21, 2006
To: All Agents and local property owners of the Central Coast
From: James Molnar and the POPR Committee
I am writing this letter to assure that everyone is informed of the recent proposal from a small group of citizens in Cayucos. These individuals are attempting to limit local property owners from building on hilltops and restricting grading on hills as well; in effect stopping any building on view lots. This view shed ordinance almost made it past the Supervisors last November, and would have if not for some quick action by an opposition group called POPR (Protect Our Property Rights). Several Hundred locals and ranchers are strictly opposed to this ordinance as it restricts the use of your land and therefore de-values it. The California Coastal Commission is for the proponents and recently held up the construction of a home located off North Green Valley Road, east of Cambria on a 330 acre ranch. This is a very serious situation that demands action from all Real Estate Agents and local property owners. IF YOU WISH TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS ORDINANCE VISIT THE POPR WEBSITE AT www.popr.org . OR E-MAIL COMMENTS TO info@popr.org. WE ALSO WOULD WELCOME ANY DONATIONS OR SUPPORT!

Since I added the MLS map search in January, my traffic to my website has almost doubled to over 1200 visitors a day which puts SloCountyHomes.com as one of the most visited agent websites in the entire U.S.!

My new listing website, www.559Foothill.com has already received 519 visitors as of late Tuesday night (it’s been up less than a week). I actually have multiple websites that I maintain. Another one of mine, www.LocalLinks.com, is also doing very well and is the Top 10 of Google for most real estate keyword searches. I have around a dozen more websites which I use to help people find my main two sites.

If you are looking to sell your home, I know I can provide you with more exposure than any other agent in the area which is even more important now that the market is slowing down. I also create a website targeted at Buyer agents that doesn’t have my contact info on it. This is so Realtors will send my listing information to their prospective Buyers without worrying that my phone number or name is all over it. I’m the only agent that I know of that creates specfic tools to make it easier for other Realtors to sell my listings. The Realtor website is here – www.559FoothillRd.com. I feel this tool is important since there are a lot of part-time agents out there and the more info I can provide them about my listings, the better. It’s a win-win scenario.

What’s great about the Internet is that you can know exactly how many people visited a particular page or site. Something you don’t get with traditional print advertising. If an agent talks about their Internet strategy, ask for statistics. If they can’t provide them to you, that should raise a red flag immediately. With the way the Internet works, over 99% of agent websites will never be seen by Buyers and Sellers. It’s easy to get a website, the challenge is to get people to visit it!

If you are thinking of selling your home sometime this year, don’t miss out in getting some photos around the outside of your home when the hills are green and the flowers are blooming, especially if you have views.

The second phase of the Woodlands development in Nipomo has been given the go ahead by the Planning commission. This will add another 368 homes to the 447 homes in Phase One. When finished, the Woodlands will have a total of 1,320 homes.

Rain…rain…rain!

Wow, it’s been a wet month. I checked weather.com’s forecast last night and they said it was going to be sunny starting on Friday. Now today, it says more rain on the way.

Well, one benefit of all this rain is that the reservoirs are filling up. Here’s a link to current capacity for Lake Nacimiento and San Antonio reservoir. They update it every morning.

It looks like my home valuation tool is working again for properties in SLO County. You can get an online home valuation emailed to you by going to this page. I also just purchased another online home valuation service which I’m testing right now. If it looks ok, I’ll add that to the site as well.

The 2005 Academic Performance Index (API) for schools has been released. San Luis Obispo County school results can be accessed here.

I was at my daughter’s softball game the other night and was talking to some other parents who also happen to be a Realtor team. They were dealing with their first foreclosure and were asking if I knew the proper forms to use. They’ve been in real estate for while and this was their first foreclosure. I hope this isn’t the start of something that will become more common….

An 18-unit apartment complex in Baywood Park came on the market today. All 2 Bedroom, 2 Bath, 2 story units between 920-940 sq feet. Some with view of Morro Rock. Rent from $860-$925 month. Asking $2.99 Million.

Eight new condos next to the ocean in Avila Beach came on the market today. They range from $999,000 – $1,799,000. Not many properties come on the market in the beach side of Avila so you might want to take a look if you always wanted to be in Avila.