On the surface at least it would appear that this should be a very good week for me. Later this week I will be cashing the largest check I have ever received for selling a property. Sweet. Big house, country property that had lots of interest from the day the listing came out. Accepted an offer and went into escrow very quickly. The escrow has gone smoothly and the buyers will be signing docs this week. Money will be transferred on Tuesday and my seller will have his check Wednesday or Thursday. I should be dancing in the streets.   I'm not.   The nearly complete transaction is for the home of a good friend. Someone who for a number of reasons is easy to like and easy to respect. He has served both his country and community with honor and dignity. Now he is moving from the left coast to... 09/17/2012

 I picked up a listing on a referral from another agent. I didn't know the agent but I was recommended to him by some one I know well. I went to visit the potential sellers and to say the least they were an “interesting family”. I have had interesting sellers before so I wasn't intimidated by the challenge.   The asking price they had in mind was definitely higher than comps but not outrageously so. The listing agreement was signed but not until a long conversation regarding my commission rate had taken place. Their brother, had told them that my rate would be too high and they needed to have me lower it. I refused, but they signed anyway. Because of the asking price there were not a lot of buyer visits. I let them know that in this market with so few properties available this was a cle... 09/13/2012

Out here in Tracy California, our city like many others across America have face real and difficult challenges throughout the past half decade. Fortunately the Mayor of Tracy Mr. Brent Ives has brought a strong management skills, and more importantly leadership to his position. In addition, Mayor Ives and many city officials understand and value the role of the RE community within the city. Last week Mayor Ives came to our local Realtor marketing meeting to express his thanks for what we do, and to layout his vision for Tracy as we move forward. Mayor Ives spoke about the cities strong belief in private property rights and the difficulty in dealing with vacant boarded up and unsightly building in our downtown area. He said that the city is always looking for ways to help the owners of t... 09/04/2012

I don't like to blog political jokes to often but this on caught my attention and decided to blog it. A lady bought a new luxury car. Cost a bundle. Two days later, she brought it back, complaining that the radio was not working. "Madam," said the service manager, "the audio system in this car is completely automatic. All you need to do is tell it what you want to listen to, and you will hear exactly that!" She drove out, somewhat amazed and a little confused. She looked at the radio and said, "Nelson." The radio responded, "Ricky or Willie?" She was astounded. If she wanted Beethoven, that's what she got. If she wanted Nat King Cole, she got it. She was stopped at a traffic light enjoying "On The Road Again" when the light turned green and she pulled out. Suddenly an enormous sports ut... 08/27/2012

Earlier this week a property I am representing underwent a very detailed inspection process. We had the normal home, roof and termite inspections, but because it is a country property we also had septic, chimney and pump inspections. The process started at 7 AM and was concluded around 1 PM that afternoon. The agent representing the buyer did a great job of scheduling all of the inspection for one day and for this I am thankful.   As always during the inspection process I was concerned about about what might turn up. I wasn't expecting much because the property owner is also a licensed contractor who had kept his property in top notch shape. But, something inside me told me the inspectors would hard to find mythical problems to justify their fees and to help drive the selling price down... 08/24/2012

I have blogged several times about my experience mentoring a new agent that came to our office last spring. She had left a career as a teacher due to budget cuts and since she had always enjoyed looking and talking about properties she decided to pursue an new career in Real Estate. When I met her the first time she was full of energy and prepared to hit the ground running. We looked at properties and she began learning the basics of all of the paperwork required to sell a home. She learned fast and wanted more. Unfortunately her energy and enthusiasm came to an abrupt halt when it came to Lead Generation. She hated it and decided she couldn't do it. She decided that teaching was her real calling and soon had found a part time teaching job and left Real Estate. Sad to see her go, but it... 08/08/2012

Yes I know the media is reporting that this is a buyer's market.  I know the media has told you, Dear Buyer that you can buy houses pennies on the dollar.  This may be true in Detroit, however real estate is local and it's not true in Tracy, CA. When you client calls you and asks, I see this house came on the market at $175,000 today.  Do you think the seller will take $60,000 CASH? Nope, no I do not.  Let me remind you what the Tracy Housing Market is like.  As of Today there are 42 active listings, compare that to 1482 5 years ago.  We are a town of 85,000 people and we have 42 homes in every price range available for you to buy.  So Dear Buyer, if you are serious about entering the real estate market in Tracy, CA I suggest you come in with a STRONG, Highest and Best offer.    You can... 08/05/2012

It's Friday funny time, so I hope you get a chuckle from this one. An elderly Realtor was about to die. One day he told his wife he had come up with a way to take all of the money he had with him to heaven. He told his wife to put all of his money in the attic so when he died he could grab it on the way up. A couple of weeks after he died his wife was cleaning out the attic and saw that the money bags were still there. "That old fool," she chuckled. "I told him that we should have put the money in the basement!" My Name is Dale E. Bledsoe with Crown Key Realty and as always I may be reached at 209-481-6031. 08/03/2012

It's Monday and to get the week off to a good start I felt compelled to put this one in writing.   A Realtor has a chance meeting with the devil. The devil says “I can make you the richest, most famous Realtor that has ever lived. I can make you a thousand times more rich and famous that Donald Trump has ever dreamed of being.”   The agent looks at him for a moment and says, “OK, but what will I have to do in return?”   The devil looks at him and says “first you will have to give me your soul, then your children's souls and their children's souls and even their children's souls.”   The Realtor looks back at him and says “Yeah, but what's the catch?”   My name is Dale E. Bledsoe with Crown Key Realty and as always I may be reached at 209-481-6031. 07/30/2012

In the early spring of this year I wrote a blog about a new agent that had joined our office. She had just received her license and was eager to get started. I was asked to be her mentor and gladly accepted the responsibility.   I asked agents in the office not to speak in acronyms, as I wanted the new agent to learn the correct terms. All of the agents were happy to help and soon she had learned the correct names and began using the acronyms herself. I set up contract classes, role play and everything else I could think of. She learned fast and continued to impress.   The problem was she hated lead generation and made only half hearted attempts to find clients. We talked several times about how Realtors often need to “become comfortable being uncomfortable”. Several times she said she ... 07/24/2012

Well today is my birthday. Hard to believe I have completed yet another trip around the sun, but my drivers license and Face Book both say I have so it must be true. For me the best present is that I have had another year to watch my son continue to grow into a fine young man. He is 16 and I am 61 but we have developed a strong bond that has easily overcome the generation gap. It is the thing I am most proud of in my life. OK, enough of the blather and emotional stuff, how about some Monday fun. I went to an antique auction yesterday and three people bid on me! My best friend gave me a comb for my birthday and I told him I would never part with it (see my picture). I asked my girl friend what she wanted for her birthday and she said anything with diamonds. She threw the deck of cards at... 07/23/2012

My son who is 16, has spent the last 25 months of his life behind bars. Not the bars you may be thinking, but behind a set of handle bars. His mantra is now, “life behind bars”. Two years ago he took up BMX bike riding. Not racing but what is called in BMX circles “street and park” riding. I encouraged him to ride as I have riding most of my life and found it to be a great sport. Here is the rub. When I rode my goal was to keep the wheels on the ground and to go straight as far and fast as possible. His goals is to get the wheels off the ground and to maneuver in the air in impossible ways. The trick in the picture is called a hand plant as he goes up and over a small wall. He is doing what I always had hopped to avoid. It is amazing to me to watch him riding along in a straight line an... 07/16/2012

Tracy CA Home Inspector Inspecting houses around Tracy California often is really like Indiana Jones on yet another adventure. Treading through clutter and sometimes destroyed belongings in some bank owned properties generally is a realistic concern. These types of homes sometimes hold the unfortunate consequences of some furious property owner where rooms will be spray painted, entry doors will be destroyed, glass may be broken plus everything deserving of equity is surprisingly gone.There's a good possibility most of these houses will likely be grabbed by first time homeowners. Whenever that occurs, a close look for hazards and even possible danger will have to be wide open for any property inspector. A lot of brand new home buyers may perhaps never have been able to afford a home pre... 07/07/2012

Today's blog will be short, completely personal and probably only meaningful to me. Yesterday was of course July 4th, the day we celebrate our nations birthday. I will have more to say about that shortly.   The first thing I will mention is that I have been sick for the past week. Not desperately ill, but, head-achy, low grade fever and just being incredibly tired. Now, for the last two days I am pretty much back to normal. It never has felt better to feel better!   Secondly I finally hit the 100 thousand point mark right here on Active Rain. It seems forever ago that a college set me an email congratulating me for hitting 10 thousand points. Active Rain has since turned in to a regular part of my daily RE life. Thank you AR for allowing me to express myself for good or bad each day.   ... 07/05/2012

  It's Monday, and I have a joke for all of us homeowners. Here we go.. The homeowner got into his grubbiest clothes on Saturday morning and set about all the chores he'd been putting off for weeks.He'd cleaned the garage, pruned the hedge, and was halfway through mowing the lawn when a woman pulled up in the driveway and yelled out her window, "Say, what do you get for yard work?"The fellow thought for a minute, then answered, "The lady who lives here, lets me sleep with her."   I'm Dale E. Bledsoe with Crown Key Realty and as always I may be reached at 209-481-6031 07/02/2012

Two women were walking through the woods when a frog called out to them and said: "Help me, ladies! I am a real estate agent who, through an evil witch's curse, has been transformed into a frog. If one of you will kiss me, I'll be returned to my former state!"One woman took out her purse, grabbed the frog, and stuffed it inside her handbag. The other woman, aghast, screamed, "Didn't you hear him? If you kiss him, he'll turn into a real estate agent!"The second woman replied, "Sure, but these days a talking frog is worth more than a real estate agent!" My name is Dale E. Bledsoe with Crown Key Realty and as always I may be reached at 209-481-6031. 06/25/2012

I let Fathers Day pass without writing about my father. I decided that today, along with my normal Monday funny, I would write a few words about him. My dad was born in 1902 on a Kentucky tobacco farm. He started using tobacco by his recollection at age nine. He was never a financial success, but he always worked hard to have a home, clean clothes andfood on the table for my mother, my brother and I. Our home was always a quiet and peaceful place. The best thing he did was dearly love my mother. Abraham Lincoln one said that the best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother. My dad did, and the happiness in our home was the result. My father passed away in 1965 from cancer. I was just 14 at the time and it was less that three years removed from my older brothers passi... 06/18/2012

I have always had a belief in karma. If I do good, then good things will come to me. Having been a hippie in my pre-bald days this is not surprising. Its how most of us thought.   On Thursday of this week I attended a Realtor breakfast at the local I hop. We meet every Thursday, but normally in a more formal venue. This week our normal spot was being used for Vacation Bible School, so we gladly relinquished the room for a week.   Our breakfast was fun and it was a nice change from our normal Thursday meeting. I had to leave a bit early for an appointment and as I walked into the parking lot I noticed a device, which turned out to be an I pod Touch on the ground with headphones still attached. Nice unit, looked new and obviously fallen out of a pocket or a car. In fact it was near the fr... 06/15/2012

I recently took a listing that I expected to sell quickly. Almost instantly we received multiple offers with one standing out above the others. I knew the Realtor representing the buyers and I knew the lender as well. A quick talk with the lender convinced me that it was the best offer and my sellers accepted it.   During the inspection process it was noted that the water heater installation did not meet state guidelines. My experience told me the inspector was correct. I spoke to the home owner who was adamant that it was correct and gave me documentation from the city approving the installation. I spoke with a city official that said if the installation meets city code state code did not apply. Hmm!   I called the California Association of Realtors Legal Hotline and explained the situ... 06/13/2012

One of the really interesting things about baseball is that you have never seen it all. Doesn't matter how many game you watch, things that you've never seen before happen. Baseball announcers mention it all the time, they'll say something like, “well, that's one I have never seen before”. Happens every week.   Real Estate is the same. The rules for each transaction (just like in baseball) are written down and every agent is supposed to follow them. New things still happen.   My broker called me a few mornings ago to say there was a message on our office answering machine that “sort of” has to do with a transaction I am involved in as the listing agent. The message was from a person, claiming to be a Realtor in another city and a parent of one of the people purchasing the property. The ... 06/02/2012