ActiveRain SFRealEstateBuzz

How NOT To Sell Your House I've been thinking lately of all the weird things sellers do without thinking to put buyers off when they go to look at houses.If your house is on the market or you are thinking of selling, here are some do's and don'ts (mostly don'ts): 1.  Don't think we can't smell yo...

For more information, please visit www.120Turquoise.com

I hate seeing my sellers go to the expense of replacing cabinets when it comes time to sell. This post from a fellow agent in Arizona offers what sounds like a nifty alternative. . . Kitchen upgrades        I have been previewing a lot of homes with rough looking kitchens.  Many kitchens have ol...

Looking at Homes for Rent in San Francisco Unless they are heavy-duty nesters with a hunger to buy right away, I often encourage newcomers to San Francisco to try renting first. That way they can learn our neighborhoods and decide which one is right for them. Here are three different homes we ha...

Selling Tenant-Occupied Property in San Francisco A tenant occupied home is always more difficult to sell, especially in San Francisco where most properties are subject to rent control and vacancy control laws. Most buyers don't want to buy tenant occupied homes and those buyers willing to deal w...

Who Pays Late HOA Fees on a Condo Short Sale? When I had a buyer looking hard at a short sale condominium for sale, I did a bit of research on what was owed against the property.  In addition to owing a first mortgage against the home, the owner had also failed to pay HOA fees for many months. It...

Warning-- the punch line of this joke must read out loud, or it will make no sense to you. Please also note where I sell real estate. . . So Larry the Lobster and Sam the Clam are the bestest (bestest!) of friends. They hang out at the bottom of the sea all the time drinking beer, playing pool, a...

I'm a big fan of duplexes and triplexes as investments.  The last one I lived in was a Victorian home with two small 1950's apartments in back (I still own it-- I'm a keeper; not a seller). While my rents on the apartments kept my monthly costs low, the property on the whole has increased signifi...

The Kitchen that Put a Lump in my Throat Every year I reassure buyers who are frustrated by the lack of summer inventory during to hang in there until the weekend after Labor Day to be precise. This year was no different. 127 new listings came on the market between Friday and today. The most expe...

WSJ Mistake #5: Arbitrary Offers Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an article called "Five Mistakes Home Buyers Make." I usually get annoyed with these kinds of articles because the tips run towards the prosaic, like "Know What You Can Afford" and "Make a List of Must Have and Like to ...