ARCHIVED BLOG POSTS
2010
I hear this a lot from first-time home buyers and out of area (relocation) buyers. I want to buy a home in Sonoma County ... Where do I start? Where do you start? The fact that you are reading this means that you are starting in the right place, the Internet. You have an advantage that many of us...
12/29/2010
I am currently helping a buyer purchase a home in Sonoma County and we keep running into road blocks with some major banks, Bank of America in particular. My buyer is pre-approved with a small local bank, a bank where he happens to be employed. My buyer has chosen to NOT share his personal and pr...
12/28/2010
A prospective buyer found my contact information when I had a home listed for sale in the neighborhood he was looking. This was the question he posed to me in his e-mail. "I want to buy a home in Sonoma County ... How much do you charge? I know that is a very blunt question, but the answer is imp...
12/28/2010
13
Comments
I've always been fascinated with keys. As a kid, I would wonder if the key to my family's house would also open someone else's. I was sure that it would, but of course I had no way of knowing which house that might be. In today's market it is most important to have your locks changed when you buy...
12/26/2010
16
Comments
A former co-worker introduced me to Kiva a couple of years ago. Since then, I have had more fun with $25.00 than I ever could have imagined. Kiva is a non-profit organization whose mission statement is: "to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty" Lenders, such as mys...
12/24/2010
15
Comments
I have a long standing tradition in my family. Christmas Eve we would all gather at Mom's house and have Crab Louie. About 15 of us would sit at card tables and crack crab, drink beer and wine and have a great time. What a mess we would make. Some years we would wring our hands with worry before ...
12/24/2010
Wants and needs. Those are two very different things. Do you normally want to go to the bathroom or do you need to go to the bathroom? If you want to eat something, are you really hungry? If you need to eat something then yes, you are. Why do I ask whether you want or need to sell your home? Beca...
12/23/2010
As my local newspaper worded it, we have "one big mother of a storm coming off the Pacific". Storm systems have been lining up one after the other and have been pounding us hard for days now. This is the time of year where the back of my SUV takes on additional tools of the trade. And it's also m...
12/22/2010
25
Comments
When I became a real estate broker, I pretty much thought that my arsenal of toys would look like this: - Cool cell phone - Laptop - 4-door, 4-wheel drive SUV with GPS Oh boy, was I wrong. The back of my SUV is filled with, among other things, a noisy wet-dry shop vac, old towels and a garden hos...
12/20/2010
My granddaughter's Kung Fu class was having a performance for parents and family members last Friday evening. She really wanted us to attend, and with her being 180 miles away, we hadn't yet had the opportunity to see her in any of her school plays let alone her after school activities. We made t...
12/19/2010
Rainmaker
694,662
694,662
Cynthia Larsen
Independent Broker In Sonoma County, CA