Sunday, November 6, 2011

Supra Man, Oh Man!

When a Fremont real estate agent http://www.tricityhome.com/index.html sells homes in Fremont, Newark and Union City, that Fremont real estate agent must also trust a lot of new technology to work together at critical moments. Most of the time technology cooperates, but sometimes it does not. Bay East Association of Realtors, had a mandatory Supra Lock Box update a few years ago which granted Fremont real estate agents the opportunity to trade in the old, grey key lock box’s technology for the new, blue technology. The new locks worked well and offered infra-red connectivity, a way for some Fremont real estate agents who sell homes in Fremont to downloaded an app, connect directly to the lock box to open the box and receive data straight to their smart phones. That was a step in the right direction for both Supra and Fremont real estate agents who sell homes in Fremont. The new blue boxes seemed to work fine.

Recently however, the association offered Fremont real estate agents newer, sleeker blue infra-red tech lock boxes (shown above). They are much taller than their recent replacements. But, woe to those Fremont real estate agents who had to sell Fremont homes using the new Supra Lock Box just days after their release. Many did not work. I mentioned “critical moments” earlier because one needs to consider the time and effort that a Fremont real estate agent puts into corralling different family members after work and getting Fremont home sellers and their Fremont real estate agents to set up the showings at a particular time.

So, there was yours truly staring at one of those new fangled lock boxes with a new home buyer and family. Everyone showed up, happy to be there to see the inside of the home of their dreams. We all walked up to the lock box, admired the new design and I then transmitted the infra-red signal from my device. 3-2-1... Nothing. After the 5th time and what seemed to be an eternity, I called the Fremont agent who was supposed to allow access for me and my home buyers. Apparently disheveled, he exclaimed that I was the 10th call as a result of his new blue lock box failures. Needless to say, we could not see the home, nor could we do a single thing about it. That was technology not cooperating at a critical moment. We had to pack up and leave and go to the next house. Hoping the next listing agent did not get on of these state-of-the-art lockboxes placed on the house yet.

Shortly after that experience, I purchased the iPhone 4s. Now, I use what is called a “Supra Key FOB” or just plain old “FOB” to open the Supra Lock Boxes together with the iPhone and an iPhone app. The FOB is a small quarter-sized infra red modem that, once plugged in to the bottom of my iPhone, can send a secure signal to the new blue Supra Lock boxes. The app also allows me to check stats off my lock boxes and much more. I was a little disappointed that I still had to carry a FOB around on my key chain, as the FOBs can and have popped out of its carrier. But, after a few uses of the new FOB, once all is connected correctly, it hasn’t failed me yet. By Jeff Pereyda

Fremont Landlords & Property Managers Are Seeing Eye-to-Eye on New Trend

Renting a home after  a short sale can be done
Although Fremont-Union City home renters looking for homes to rent in Fremont have to do so in some very trying times, despite challenges, many of them are excellent renters. A lot of Fremont renters have been recovering from a short sale in their recent history. That's a rough situation to be in. Not only can they can no longer keep their home, they must now have their recent financial woes made known to their soon to be landlords and the property management. Albeit embarrassing, landlords as well as property management should read between the lines of the back round report. The people looking to rent in Fremont-Union City, who have come out of short sales, can be very reputable renters. Landlords and property management professionals should look at the whole picture.

In order to rent a home in Fremont and Union City, you have to show some consistency in paying the utilities among other items. The loan history may not look good, but some loans are not good either. Landlords and property management cannot always blame the borrower. Renters Fred and Sue, who now rent through our property management division, had to short sale their Pleasanton home and find a Fremont home to rent. Their back round checks and credit checks were showing red flags in areas like the delinquent home loan, but utilities and other important subscriptions to services have been paid for on time. Moreover, they earned a very stable income. It's just that the Pleasanton home loan was too much to bear. Being a Fremont Union-City property manager, I made a positive recommendation to my client/landlord to accept their application immediately to rent the home to Fred and Sue. So, even after my new tenant's horrible experience with the big banks, they now pay the rent every month early and even pay me a visit at my Fremont real estate office http://www.tricityhome.com while they hand me a cashier's check. Now, with their stable income and determination to rebuild their credit, collecting rent is from Fred and Sue is the easiest part of my job as a property manager in Fremont. By Jeff Pereyda