California East Bay Real Estate

Spring is the best time to perform a thorough inspection of your home, since spring follows the winter weather that can so often be the cause of wear and tear on a home.  Do it now, with the help of a professional, before summer vacations, summer visitors and summer heat sets in.1.SPRING CLEANING...

There have been many times that we have been asked to give a rebate or a referral fee to people who have referred us business.  In California, we are not allowed to to share fees with anyone who doe not hold a real estate license.    This is to present kickbacks in real estate transactions.  As a...

Tricia Fink Andreassen, the CEO and Founder of Pro Step Marketing and a former national speaker for Realtor.com wrote an article in the Sept/Oct. 2005 magazine.  She talked about generating sales and that is the goal of our real estate business.  The had 7 steps to help us, so I thought I would s...

Tax Season is upon us!  And since I am in the process of getting organized, I thought that I would share this site with you, www.irs.govfor forms and publications.  What program do you use for your taxes? I have only been using excel for my records.  It is always hard to change once you have been...

Go to www.justgive.org to find out where to donate unwanted belongings, including furniture, clothing, computers and more.  It seems like a lot of organizations are being picky in what they will take.   Hopefully, this website will provide you with places to donate your items to.And for you Realt...

When is the media going to stop the bad press?  We pay a lot to the newspapers for our advertising.  Our board has a new open house website called HOT.  We think that most Realtors in the East Bay Area do not want to place ads in our local newspaper, a hot topic for the past several years.  Thank...

We have been thinking about using Hobbs & Herder for my advertising.  It looks like they have wonderful advertising, but I did hear it is quite expensive.  Is there anyone who uses this advertising and has it helped your marketing program bring in more sales?  Would you share your thoughts please...

www.bestplaces.net - For relocations, recreation and retirementwww.ashi.com American Society of Home Inspectors - Find out what goes on during a home inspection and the red flags to look out for.  We have a list of great home inspectors in the Bay Area.  We would be happy to provide them with the...

We are often asked if you can exchange your home for an investment property.  Exchanges can only be used for investment properties or properties owned for use in a business.  They are exchanged for like-kind properties.  They do not have to be for the same use.  Within 45 days after close of escr...

Just found out about Flickr www.flickr.com  You area able to share photos on this website.  You can also search and store them.  This website is free but you do have to sign in or up depending whether you have a Yahoo account or not.   You will have your own page to show of your photos, people ca...