Seinfeld Sued by Real Estate Broker

Link is here: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=796&e=1&u=/eo/20050429/en_celeb_eo/16453

If you're looking to buy real estate and have chosen a real estate agent to represent you, then go to them with any questions you have about properties for sale. Real Estate agents only get compensated for their time if you purchase a property through them. They don't get a salary. If your agent doesn't have the resources to help you, find another agent. If you plan to use one agent, don't ask other Realtors to spend time doing research for you knowing you're not going to use them to represent you. There are also ethical rules that Realtors must adhere to. One is that if an agent is first to show a property, they are the ones that will get the commission even if another agent represents the Buyer in the transaction (remember this when you go look at Open Houses). So, to make things go as smooth as possible, pick one Realtor and give them the chance of satisfying your requests and needs. If Jerry Seinfeld had done that, he probably wouldn't have been sued!

Cal Poly broke ground today on the 69 unit development for faculty. These will be sold below market value. It's across the street from the Highland Drive entrance, next to Highway One. It's expected to be completed in 2007.

A Santa Maria home on Santillian came on the market today. A 2100 sq foot home on a 6600 sq foot lot for a price of $5.8 Million. That works out to be $2785 a square foot. It also says its priced for a quick sale.

I'm sure it's a mistake and the Listing Agent will soon realize it but in this crazy housing market, you never know what people think they can get for a house!

There was an interesting article in today's Times Press Recorder about the water situation for the 5 cities. The article is here: http://www.timespressrecorder.com/articles/2005/04/27/news/news01.txt

What's missing is a chart they included along with the article which I thought had some good info in it about buildout timeframes. Here is some of what it included.

Oceano- current population7260, buildout population (est. 2033) 15,787
Pismo Beach - current population 8551, buildout (est. 2025) 11,122
Grover Beach - current population 13,067, buildout (est. 2018) 16,000
Arroyo Grande - current population 15,851, buildout (est. 2023) 20,000

For those of you out the area, San Luis Obispo just had its election about the Marketplace shopping area and in a tight vote, it was defeated. This is not the end of the project though. The owner of the land will now take it to the County as the land isn't in the city of SLO. Even if it passed it would not have been a done deal as there were going to be lawsuits to stop it. The issue will continue to go on but I wonder how this is dividing the city? Also, the city is the regional center for a county of 250,000 residents but only a fraction of these residents got to vote on the Marketplace. With a huge budget deficit already, the city of SLO can't afford to lose any more of its' tax revenue from any potential backlash from County residents. Should be interesting to see how this all shakes out.

For me, I just want a Chili's restaurant!

The boardwalk along Moonstone Beach in Cambria will soon be longer. They are about to extend the boardwalk another 2/3 of a mile! Construction may begin in a few months.

A 1 bedroom, 1 bath condo in Arroyo Grande just hit the market for $215,000. Monthly homeowners association fee of $130. Don't see this price level too often these days.

On the other end of the spectrum, an oceanfront home in Shell Beach is on the market for $3 Million. No, this isn't one of the homes at the Bluffs. Just a 2600 sq foot home built in 1974. Lot size is around 6,000 sq feet. It does have a ceiling fan though...

I added statistics of condos and homes for most cities going back to 2002. It includes median price and the number of homes/condos sold in a particular price range. To access these, go to the home page (www.SloCountyHomes.com) and click on a city name under "Real Esate Statistics and Information". It's the one with bubblegum alley as the background.

I'm going to be putting together a section on Land too.

Our new MLS system has made it easier for agents to upload photos with their listings. They no longer need to resize them before putting them on the system (the new system automatically does this for the agents). Even with that, less than 25% of the new listings that are on the Realtor hotsheet today have photos with them. Shame, shame, shame!

When you sign a listing agreement with an agent/broker, add a statement that at least one photo will be up at the *same time* the property is put on the MLS or you may cancel the listing agreement. This is to make sure that the 2700+ Realtors in the area will see a photo of your property when they look at the hotsheet. Having an "Image not Available" won't help your property get noticed. Since your property will be on the hotsheet only for a day, don't miss this opportunity for exposure. The MLS system allows up to 10 photos to be attached to a listing too. An agent should attached photos that make the home look GOOD. Some homes may have a few photos attached while others will have 10. All depends on if you're home has enough photo appeal and how good the listing agent is with photography. Vacant homes are the toughest to photograph and probably shouldn't have that many photos attached to the listing. There is a reason why model homes put furniture in them and not leave them empty!

*Remember that the Listing Agreement a Realtor uses are created by the California Association of Realtors to make it easier for Realtors. You can add or delete anything in the Listing Agreement you want before signing it. The same goes for any other forms used in a real estate transaction.

The big Woodlands development in Nipomo is getting ready for its first 50 homes. Models are expected to go up anyday now and the first 50 homes are expected to be ready for occupancy in May. The 957 acre development will have 1320 homes. There will be 11 models ranging from 1,800 to 3,600 sq feet.

I'm in the process of doing analyis of real estate sales per city. Here's some info about homes in San Luis Obispo for this year to-date. I'll be putting reports together and posting them on my website. I'll put the link in this Blog when they are ready.

San Luis Obispo Homes - Sold 1/1/05-04/23/05
Summary Price Information (Total 94 homes, Average Days On Market(DOM) = 81)
Minimum
$415,000

Maximum
$2,550,000

Average
$711,322

Median
$637,500

I added a new MLS search capability. This one is directly from our new MLS system so it's searching the same database as I have access to. You can get up-to-the-second status of properties plus search for properties by drawing a rectangle around a map. Click on "Search the MLS" at the top of the page to try it out! Or, go to www.SloCountyHomes.com

Yummmm! Strawberries are in season!!!! If you don't know about the Hayashi strawberry stand it's on 13th Street near the border of Grover Beach/Oceano. My family has visited this stand to buy strawberries 5 times so far. I can make some killer strawberry-banana smoothies...

Wow, here's one for you. How would you like a Victorian Estate in Cambria with panaramic ocean views? 10,000 sq ft plus 1,400 sq ft guest house. 97 acres with a 5222 sq ft barn. Main house has 5 bedrooms, 6 baths. There's also an adjacent 45 acre parcel available too. List price is $10, 500,000.

A 6 bedroom, 4 bath home within walking distance to Cal Poly came on the market today. Currently receiving $2890 a month in rent (6 poly students). List price is $792,000.

Note:

Because of the change of our MLS system here on the Central Coast, my MLS Search page is not returning current status of properties. It's supposed to be fixed in a few days. If you signed up for the New Listing email notification, this is the reason why you haven't recevied any new listings for the past several days. When my vendor completes the changeover, you'll get an email with tons of listings for the first day, then it will go back to just new ones in subsequent emails.

I hope to add another MLS search option tomorrow that will give you real time access to the new MLS system in addition to the one I already offer.

A 2 bedroom, 2 bath mobile home in Los Osos just came on the market. Listed at $299,900 plus $631/month for space rent. 2002 model, 1440 sq feet.

Compare that to a mobile in Santa Maria that also is new to the market. 2 bedroom, 2 bath. Listed at $105,000 with $468/month for space rent. 1983 model, 1200 sq feet.

More Central Coast crime reports from the Police Blotter:

April 2- Police received a report tht a surfer was interfering with fishing lines at the Pismo Pier.

April 1- Youngsters toilet papering Oceanview Elementary were busted and had to clean up the mess.

April 3 - Police pursued five teenagers who apparently snuck into the spa at Pismo Lighthouse Suites.

Here's an article about rising mortgage rates:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/07/news/economy/debt_consumers/index.htm?cnn=yes

Ouch! I heard something on the news last night that Santa Barbara had the highest gas prices in the country. I was down in that area last weekend and didn't see any difference between prices there and in San Luis Obispo. Looks like another spring/summer of premium prices at the pumps.

Google has added the capability to get satellite photos of an area. You can access this feature here:

http://maps.google.com

Once you put in an address, click on satellite in the upper right.

The maps will show a neighborhood but won't let you zoom down that much. The new MLS system the Central Coast just got TODAY(!) also has a satellite map function and will allow agents to zoom in closer than the google maps do.

These maps are helpful to look at a neighborhood to see things like if anyone has a swimming pool, how close together the homes are, etc.

What's the oldest established business in SLO County???

Give up? It's Sandercock Transfer Co in the city of SLO. Established in 1872. Next is Maino Construction Company also of SLO, established in 1881. No local real estate company was established pre 1932.

Arroyo Grande is the area's oldest city, incorporated in 1863.

According to a study by Northern Trust, there are 4,584 people in SLO County with $1 million or more of wealth, 684 with $5 million or more, 233 with $10 million or more.

Comparing that with Santa Barbara County you have 7,727 with $1 Million or more, 1,371 with $5 million or more, and 525 with $10 million or more.

The study also said that rising healthcare costs was the biggest concern for wealth erosion.

For the last few years, the condos at the student complex in SLO called Cedar Creek seemed to be falling behind the appreciation of other SLO properties. A year ago, the majority of them were still going for under $300K. Well, looks like they're catching up with with the rest of the market. One just sold for $369,000. They are 2 bedroom units, kinda cramped if you try to put 4 Cal Poly students in them. But, that's what you'll probably need to do if you're looking to pay the mortgage with rental income.

Here's the MLS activity for the month of March (entire Central Coast):

New Listings - 961
Back on Market - 227
Price Change - 450
Contingent - 61
Pending Sale - 802

What will $1.5 Million get you in Cambria these days??

A new home came on the market. 3400 sq feet on 1 acre up in the Cambria pines. 3 bedroom, 3 bath. Asking $1,595,000.