It’s been an interesting day - awewome, to be truthful.  We hiked in Redwood Regional Park again today.  The Trillium is going to seed; no more triads of white.  Then, to my surprise, a pale violet-tinged iris appeared.  It was beautiful!  Wait!  There’s another!  What a delightful gift!  The remainder of the walk was spent seeking […]

   Me encanta el idioma español.  Me he esforzado mucho para aprenderlo.  Y quiero extenderme a Uds. tal como a toda la gente interesada.  Por eso estoy dispuesta a escribir en español tal como en inglés.   Mi esposo y yo tenemos muchos amigos y familiares hispanohablantes y sabemos que Uds. también son interesados en […]

     I heard an interesting item on the news today:  rents in the east bay are dramatically rising.   This is due primarily to the increased number of homeowners who are finding themselves in foreclosure, and are having to relocate to a rental.  This is a double jeopardy:  1) they are losing the home they bought, with […]

The traditional white picket fence has long been the universal symbol of the American Dream.  The concepts behind that vision remain more important than ever. The notion that Americans become self-realized when they enter the ranks of homeowners is not simply a myth created to prop up the economy. Yes, the housing industry constitutes about […]

Short sales are a common dimension of real estate sales these days–AND often a headache for both realtor and buyer (and for that matter, the seller).  Paul Cathen at www.hangtenrealestate.com does a very nice job of describing the pitfalls and difficulties of short sales.  We’ve dealt with ones that were unsuccessful, and ones that turned […]

   I’m a people watcher by nature, and Open Houses are a wonderful place to observe. . . folks come in and out, the “lookie-loos”, the “just starteds”, the “serious buyer” and so on.  My modus operandi is to welcome visitors, ask them to sign in (so I can send them a Thank You card […]

     I was REALLY impressed with the information presented by Pat Kop0wich on his blog site, www.SiliconValleyBroker.com.  Pat presents a regular television program on which he interviews various professionals on different topics to do with real estate.  In his article, “Hiring a Licensee” , he inludes the various important aspects to consider a real estate […]

Bill McCord gives a clear, simple description of the relationship between the Federal Reserve Bank, Mortgage Backed Bonds/Securities and Mortgage interest rates in an article “The Fed and Mortgage Rates” on his blog site.   I particularly agreed with the first fact in his article:  “There is no direct relationship between the Federal Reserve and Mortgage Interest […]