Fremont Short Sale Negotiator Tactic Hurt$$$

I was going to wait until it closed escrow, but my Fremont short sale negotiator pulled a fast one. And I wanted to write about it. I also really do think it was the negotiator and perhaps the short sale lender together on this one.

Some time ago, I was helping a Fremont CA home buyer look at homes. We looked at a few good ones along with others that may not have been top on her list of a good Fremont real estate deal. There was one other home I was not going to show her because it was not ready. It was one of my own homes for sale in Fremont. It was a short sale, like some of the others.

Long story short, after much discussion about the home in Fremont that I had for sale, she really wanted to see mine. She bought my short sale listing and during the negotiations with the short sale lender it was disclosed that I was the agent for both buyer and seller--a bit easier to swallow when it is a short sale because the seller just needs approval and to be forgiven of the debt instead of getting a high net profit.

After the lender discovered the dual agency, they wrote back and said I was only going to get half of my percentage of the commission instead of the whole commission. They wrote, "sorry, their rules." and that was that.

Our office did not take this lying down. After a few calls and some firm words, it was remedied to my satisfaction. I found out later that this was a new tactic negotiators are allegedly using. I know this because my sources revealed that an earlier escrow with the same short sale lender just closed with dual agency (both buyer and seller represented by one office) and was paid full commission. I never used that piece of evidence in my dispute, but I was ready to.

The short sale lenders are perhaps praying on the tired disposition of agents who have become exhausted after months and months of work with commissions dangling by a thread. A lot of agents see that anything is better than zero when it comes to getting paid.

So, short sale lenders out there. Give a listen. Agents work very hard contrary to what some may feel. We make real estate move and fully represent our clients seriously. Lately, it seems like you are simply throwing us a small bone for a job well done. I will be glad when this short sale era goes away. By Jeff Pereyda

Fremont Garage Sale Tip or Two

Whether your purpose for a Fremont garage sale or moving sale is to clear out stuff (junk) from your house or to recap some cash on items not used anymore--or both, you should do the garage sale. Moving sale, tag sale, estate sale, and garage sale all bear the same rules for success. My family and I, in Fremont, just did a block sale last weekend, and here is what I want to share with you on how we got things done. Some things we did well, and others okay.

My goal was two fold. First, being a Fremont real estate agent, I wanted to get the immediate Fremont community involved in order to glean a little name branding for my Fremont real estate office http://www.tricityhome.com from the event. Second, was for me to get some things cleared out of the house and garage. I needed my space back.

You should opt for the block sale first, even if you are not a Fremont real estate agent. Block sales build your event from one driveway of attractive garage sale items to perhaps twenty or so driveways of attractive garage sale items. Once, I had the pleasure of attending a city-wide garage sale in Burlingame. The idea is to build demand by way of building traffic. People are much more likely to attend a block sale than visit a single, isolated garage sale or tag sale.

Naturally, someone has to step up to the plate to get the garage sale or block sale going by way of a little resource mobilization. Flyers, board meetings and the like are a great start. Craigslist now has a garage sale category as well. Real Simple Magazine did an article on the tag sale and provided many tips and tricks of the trade. http://www.realsimple.com/tagsale.

I believe I had a little edge in the way of signs due to the fact that I am a Fremont real estate agent. I had a good deal of open house signs I converted to block sale signs. With some bright construction paper, a fat felt-tipped pen and some double sided tape, I was in business. With 10 signs in prominent areas leading visitors to our garage sale, we ended up having to actually direct traffic from 10:30am to around 12:00 noon (these were the busiest times) for some of our visitors.

In a nutshell, here is what I learned:

• Get at least $200 in change first from your bank--$50 in ones, $30 in fives, $50 in tens, $60 in twenties, and $10 in quarters (one roll). Do not let the smug guy hand you a $100 bill when buying a $5 item in hopes that you will not have change and then you end up giving the item to him.
• Use lots of signs
• Do not do Sunday unless you have to--Saturday had four times the visitors.
• Stop at around 2:00pm--seriously drops off after that.
• Use a large umbrella for shade and use sunscreen
• Drink lots of water
• Hot items asked for at our garage sale are: (were in our case) bicycles, video games, tools, cell phones (did not understand that one), jewelry and clothing.
• Cold, hard to move items at the garage sale were: dolls, plastic toys and our previous tv that weighed near 100 lbs
• Have bags
• Have fun

Feel free to call me at my Fremont real estate office at 510 742 3212 or visit my Fremont real estate website at http://www.tricityhome.com. By Jeff Pereyda

Selling & Moving From Fremont, Newark or Union City

The Winner!

I recently listed a home for sale in Union City for one of my clients selling a home & moving from Union City to what is known as La Morinda. During the process of selling the Union City house, the sellers and I talked about many logistics regarding selling a Union City home, and ultimately, discussed moving from Union City. Cutting to the quick, after interviewing the major movers for the area like Mayflower and Bekins, etc. my client selling his Union City home, chose Bekins as the service provider in moving from Fremont, Newark and Union City area. Although the moving company's prices were competitive with each other, Bekins had an edge of professionalism that was found lacking in the other moving company's sales staff.

Naturally, the selling staff and the actual people who would be doing the moving would be altogether different. Simply speaking, you may not get the shiny professional salesperson lifting your boxes of dishes. You will get, "the crew." Fortunately for Bekins and my client selling a Union City home, Bekins has stellar independent teams for the areas of Fremont, Newark and Union City. But what struck me as interesting after talking a bit more with my client who was selling his Union City home, was the fact that this particular team that was going to help with the move from the Tri-City area was Tri-Valley Bekins--a moving team that has stuck together for many years.

I spoke with Miss Owens, a 13 year Operations Manager for Bekins in Alameda County yesterday afternoon, so I could get some facts. The team that had helped my Union City home seller was Tri-Valley Bekins lead by Javier Angiano, an Independent Contractor and sole proprietor of 18 years with the company. He and his crew have been working together for 6-10 years. Much can be said about their professionalism and performance according to my Union City home seller.

Well-protecting items before they were placed into boxes was a given, but when the crew began to make wall protectors from heavy duty card board and laid out stair protectors as well to protect the walls and steps from damage, it got my client's full attention. They handled the whole move with efficiency and even stuck to their quote even though my client's Union City home had an excessively stocked kitchen full of many different sets of dish ware that called for more boxes and more wrap work than previously thought.

I mentioned earlier about the "shiny" salesperson and how the first impression made a difference. Alex Arsenault, a 20 year selling coordinator for Bekins was the deal maker. Although, Arsenault went toe to toe with the rep from Mayflower, Arsenault was the one who asked the relevant questions and had a genuine concern about my clients and their Union City move. My sellers chose Bekins, and they were glad they did to say the least.

Thank you Bekins for indirectly being an important part of my successfully selling this Union City home.

If you happen to be thinking of selling your Fremont, Newark or Union City home, contact me from my Fremont real estate agent office site here http://www.tricityhome.com --and if you want a great moving experience, make sure you include Bekins in your list of interviewees. By Jeff Pereyda