It’s time to start thinking about the California Association of Realtors® Expo if you haven’t already.

Registration is underway for the largest state real estate tradeshow.

This year’s Expo will be held Oct. 6-8 in the San Jose Convention Center. It is expected to draw more than 10,000 real estate practitioners and feature more than 300 exhibit booths.

Bodine Balasco will present the Tech Tuesday luncheon speech, Technology Tips and Techniques: Keep Clients and Deliver Results. Tech Tuesday is a day of tech training, including hands-on practices.

Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president and chief economist for the California Association of Realtors®, will discuss the 2010 Housing Market Forecast during the Opening Luncheon Oct. 7.

Connie Podesta will deliver the Expo closing luncheon speech, Life Would Be Easy if it Weren’t for Other People.

A tentative schedule also includes workshops such as: 20 Free and Low-Cost Online Marketing Tips, Green Marketing Tips for Homeowners and Sellers and The ABCs of Successful Selling: What Works and What Does Not.

For more information, please click here.

Aron Ralston was trapped.  While climbing alone in a narrow canyon in Utah, he became hopelessly stuck when an 800 pound boulder shifted and pinned his right arm. Stuck in a 3 foot wide slot, he tried for days to get free, but nothing worked.

Finally, after three days of being trapped without food or water, he realized he'd die if he didn't take drastic action.  Aron’s only option was to cut off his arm to save his life.  Yes, that’s right; he cut off his arm, in the middle of nowhere, by himself, with a dull pocket knife – to live.  It took him two days.  When he finally free himself, he crawled through a narrow, twisting canyon, rappelled down a 60-foot cliff, and hiked six miles before he finally stumbled across help. All this with his forearm gone, the stump bleeding.

"I'm not sure how I handled it," he said. "I felt pain and I coped with it.  I moved on." He knew there was no other way to live.

While most of our choices aren't nearly that drastic, I couldn't help wondering what we are willing to sacrifice to live, to achieve our goals, to accomplish our dreams.  Because when times get tough and we're stuck, we have choices.  Keep what we've got, keep doing what we are doing and die, or take "drastic action" and sever what's holding us back and live.  It could be a destructive relationship, it could be a failing business, it could be unhealthy living or it could be addictions to drugs, alcohol, smoking, food, money, power, etc. that control our life.  

Drastic changes?  Yes, that is what is needed.  There comes a time when that's the only way out, and we're the only one who can set ourselves free.  Is life worth it?  Ask Aron.

Click here to watch and hear as Aron Ralston describes the amputation.

Make it a powerful week, make the necessary changes and live!

David and Carol Casas

Intero’s David and Carol Casas of Los Altos are seeing big results from a new online marketing tool. Their story was profiled in a feature in this week’s Los Altos Town Crier.

According to the story written by Ya-an Chan, the Casases tested a marketing tool created by C4 Marketing, LLC, that “presents realtors online as the experts of the areas on which they focus.”

Working with C4 Marketing, the Casases built a new Website that features properties as well as information about Los Altos schools, government, business groups and more, the story said. For example, the Web site lists information about a July 4^th celebration in Los Altos. The site also has a comprehensive list of parks and open spaces in the area plus information about the library and the Los Altos History Museum.

The Casases have worked with homebuyers from India, Japan and other places since the site has been up and running, the story said. 

For the full story in the Los Altos Town Crier, click here.

The key to getting what we want in life is making the choice.  The most common difference between those who get what they want and those who don’t, are simply the choices they make everyday.  Typically it’s not their circumstances, it’s not the way they were raised, or their education.  Most people who are not accomplishing their goals in life are totally capable to if they were just committed, but they have chosen to not commit and take the 'easy path'.  They simply were not willing to do what was necessary to attain their goals.

Think about your life for a moment what do you want and what would it take to get it?  Be very specific on what it takes to get it.

So, why haven’t you been doing what it takes to get what you want?

Before you start with all of the excuses, ask yourself - if you really had to do it, could you?  Let me make it a clear how this is a choice.  I don’t even like to think these thoughts, but this will help you understand that you can do it if you want it bad enough.  If the person or person’s you care about the most lives depended upon it, could you do it…if you doing those specific things necessary was a matter of life or death, could you?  We both know the answer…of course you could and would do whatever it takes to make it happen to save the ones you love.  Life is a series of choices…the Y’s in the road of life.  In most cases if you take the easy path…the one most people take, you will experience short term gain and long term pain.  On the other hand if you have the courage to take the other path…the one most will not take, you may have some short term pain, but long term gain. So, make the right choice.

Make it a GREAT week and make the right choices!!!!!

6th Annual Foundation Golf Tournament

The 6th Annual Intero Foundation Golf Tournament is coming up next month.

Sign up now to play or become a sponsor.

The golf tournament will be held from 12:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. July 16^th at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club in San Jose.

Besides golf, the day features a BBQ lunch, dinner and a raffle.

Registration forms are due July 1^st. You can find the forms on Intero’s Facebook page.

The Intero Foundation’s mission is “to create awareness in the community by demonstrating good corporate citizenship” and to support organizations that focus on assisting children, their education and their personal development.

Did rates moving up over the last couple of weeks make your heart stop? Fear not, Uncle Sam is on the job. In fact the current U.S. mortgage market feels a lot like the diamond industry.

How’s that? If you know a little about the diamond industry, you know that DeBeers pretty much sets the prices. 

It strikes me as very similar to what our government is doing with interest rates. The government has decided to keep rates low and the fed is doing everything possible to accomplish this. It’s working.

The reason why is pretty apparent.  Although the stimulus package will put lots of dollars to work, there’s nothing quite like millions of homeowners having $300-400 extra every month because they refinanced into a lower rate.  There’s nothing like these lower payments to help families to pay their bills easier or to have a few extra dollars they can spend. Also, with home affordability at an all time high buyers are back IN THE MARKET.

And there’s nothing like it to stimulate the economy.

The Federal Reserve has been buying hundreds of billions in mortgage backed securities, and they’ve been buying every day of every week.

Like with anything else when someone is buying huge quantities, it drives the price upwards.  Higher prices on mortgage securities mean lower interest rates on mortgages.

When you look at the Fed activity, it looks like 4.5-5.5% is the level they’re trying to maintain.  Rates bounce around within that general area, but when they get a little too high; the Fed is driving them down. Just as we are seeing now that rates are at 5.5% which is the higher end of the fed’s desired range. Watch for rates to move lower in the coming days.

A big part of why they’re doing this is that the economy is still fragile.  It doesn’t feel like we’re in free-fall anymore, but foreclosures are still raging through the land and layoffs are still occurring.

Lenders and the government are working closely together towards the same goal:  Keep rates low, knowing that refinances and lower monthly payments will go a long ways to repairing the economy. 

If DeBeers can manipulate the price of diamonds, our government, with all sorts of tools at its disposal, can certainly manipulate and move interest rates. 

And they absolutely will do so to keep rates down and get the economy moving again.

It’s worked in the past, and I’m positive it will work this time.

Every time you see this person you try and avoid them like the plague because they are so negative and draining.  To them everything is a crisis, everyone and everything is out to get them.  Nothing works and everything that is not going right in their world is someone else’s fault, never theirs. They never smile and they always seem to find the negative in everything and everybody, never the positive.  Anytime there is a small setback it’s like the world is coming to an end.  They treat life like it is a WIN/LOSE game and trust me there is no such thing.  Whenever someone wins and someone loses, both lose.  Does this type of person sound familiar, do you know people like this?  I sure do.

Then there are those people you love being around because for what ever reason they just have this positive energy about them which makes you feel good.  They are always fired up, have a smile on their face and having a good time. When there are small set backs, they seem to find the positive side or don’t even acknowledge it and they just keep moving forward as if it is an expected part of the process.  They are the ones who keep their emotions under control, they don’t yell, they don’t scream, they don’t attack, they don’t fight and they don’t blame.  Now don’t get me wrong - they are passionate and fired up they just don’t fight it and they seem to always find a way to use the flow to their advantage.  Instead of pushing their way through life, they seem to be getting pulled. They are WIN/WIN people who are always looking for ways to WIN with no one losing.

The interesting thing about these two different types of people is the positive ones almost always seem to win in all aspects of their life: Personally, Professionally, Business, Health - you name it.  They actually say people who smile and laugh a lot (the positive ones), live longer and are much healthier and happier.  The negative ones always seem to look unhealthy and anxious, and struggle in business and relationships - they physically look run down.

My question to you is which one are you?  Be honest. Is your energy good energy or bad energy?  Fired up energy or draining energy?  If you asked people around you to describe your energy, what would they say? Fired up and infectious or exhausting and draining.  Are you positive or negative?  Do you fight life or do you use those people and things around you to propel you to success.

It is a choice, another one of those small choices I write about every Monday morning, and the cumulative effect of all your small choices will get you what you want and where you want to go in life.

Make it a GREAT week!!!!

Every time you see them you try and avoid them like the plague because they are just so negative and draining.  To them everything is a crisis…everyone and everything is out to get them.  Nothing works and everything that is not going right in their world is someone else’s fault…never theirs.  They never smile and they always seem to find the negative in everything and everybody…never the positive.  Anytime there is a small setback, it is like the world is coming to an end.  They treat life like it is a WIN/LOSE game…and trust me, there is no such thing.  Whenever someone wins and someone loses, both lose.  Does this type of person sound familiar…do you know people like this?  I sure do.

Then there are those people you love being around because for what ever reason they just have this positive energy about them which makes you feel good.  They are always fired up, have a smile on their face and having a good time.  When there are small set backs, they seem to find the positive side or don’t even acknowledge it…they just keep moving forward as if it is an expected part of the process.  They are the ones who keep their emotions under control…they don’t yell, they don’t scream, they don’t attack, they don’t fight and they don’t blame.  Now don’t get me wrong, they are passionate and fired up.  They just don’t fight it…they seem to always find a way to use the flow to their advantage.  They aren’t pushing…they seem to be getting pulled through life.   They are WIN/WIN people…always looking for ways that they can WIN, but so can everyone else. 

The interesting thing about these two different types of people is that the positive ones almost always seem to win in all the equities of their life…Personally, Professionally, Business, Health…you name it.  They actually say people who smile and laugh a lot…the positive ones live longer and are much healthier and happier.  The negative ones always seem to look unhealthy and anxious…they seem to struggle in business and in their relationships…they look run down.

So, my question to you is which one are you?  Be honest. Is your energy good energy or bad energy?  Fired up energy or draining energy?  If you asked those around you to describe your energy, what would they say?  Fired up and infectious or exhausting and draining.  Are you positive or negative?  Do you fight life or do you use those people and things around you to propel you to success.

It is a choice…another one of those small choices I write about every Monday morning.  It is the cumulative affect of all those small choices that will get you are looking for in life.

Make it a GREAT week!!!!

Two industry trade groups are offering praise for the goals of legislation that would provide incentives for energy efficiency upgrades.

The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colorado. Perlmutter says his legislation provides for incentives to lenders and financial institutions so they can offer lower interest loans and other benefits for consumers who build, buy or remodel their homes or businesses to improve their energy efficiency. The legislation is called the Green Resources for Energy Efficient Neighborhoods Act, or the GREEN Act.

The bill was heard in the House Financial Services Subcomittee on Housing and Community Opportunity this week.

National Association of Home Builders President Jerry Howard says: “The scope of the GREEN Act and the new programs that it creates is ambitious, but the intent is thoughtful and NAHB hopes that the resources will ultimately be available to develop the programs into effective tools to promote sustainable principals,” he said.

From the National Association of Realtors®, David Wluka, a member of NAR’s Global Climate Change Presidential Advisory Group, offered this: "We know that many of today's consumers want homes and communities that are sensitive to the larger environment, and we are pleased that the GREEN Act would offer resources and incentives to homeowners to help them improve the energy efficiency of their homes."

The groups are critical, however, of “The American Clean Energy and Security Act” by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California. The Energy and Commerce Committee already has approved this bill.

You can read more about Perlmutter’s bill here and about Waxman’s bill here.

Now, this just sounds insane, or maybe I should have started it as “I never thought this would happen to me, but…”

It’s mind boggling, but the notion of multiple offers – particularly on the lower 1/3 of the market here in the Bay Area– is as prevalent now as it was 3 years ago. Now granted, the affected market segment is much more specific – I don’t really see this happening much on the higher end of the market (above $900K). But now that lending has thawed a bit from the catatonic state it was in Q4/’08 and Q1/’09, there are a TONS of investors and first time home buyers that are scooping up homes once priced in the $500K+ range which are now priced in the $200K-300K range.

There’s a huge “dang, this is a bummer” element for any agents like myself, representing buyers who keep getting outbid, or beat to the punch by others making offers on homes the day they come on the market.  It seems like in Q4/Q1, that a home would come on the market, and the buyer mentality was “I’ll just wait 2 months, and they’ll be lowering their list price”.  That scenario is long gone. My recommendation to any buyer out there is this: if a home seems priced ‘right’ (totally subjective), don’t wait to make an offer on it, because chances are someone else will. What about making lowball offers? Don’t even bother, as the window where you could go into contract offering 10% or more, below the list price has pretty much shut for good.  Lowball offers? You might as well just stand on the rooftop and say “I don’t really want this house.” Don’t try it, as that train left the station in Q1.

So back to the 89 offers.

So I (representing a buyer) present a good, slightly over asking price offer on an REO (bank-owned) home in South San Jose.  Couple days later, an automated email from the listing agent comes back saying they’re doing a multiple counter-offer, to ALL of the 72 offers they received.  I go to check the Listing Agent’s listing updates on Twitter, and they now have 89 offers. I wouldn't make that up if I tried. Eighty....nine...offers.

I then picked up my jaw from desk upon which it hit….

Although this was a situation I thought I would never see, I was very impressed with listing agent’s usage of Twitter. Many of these foreclosure-specialist listing agents have 20, 30, 100 listings – all foreclosures – they are juggling all at the same time. Updating the status on a bulk amount of listings in MLS could be a time-consuming task. Using Twitter, the agent was able to give a ‘to-the-minute’ update announcing if offers were submitted to the bank, or if they are in counter-offer with a buyer, or if they’re taking no more offers, etc.

But back to multiple offers, no matter what you read, the market in many instances around the Bay Area, is showing PLENTY of signs of life.  Yes, things slowed down early in the year, as did almost every micro-market in the world. But even between the price points of $800K - $1.3M, there are homes that are going into contract within 2 weeks of coming on the market. It’s becoming less and less of an anomaly. Ultimately, if a house is priced right based on its location, it will sell.

Since everyone is looking for that "great deal" in real estate and there is a lot of misinformation, I thought that the attached videos would be interesting to see. About 20 Intero Real Estate agents from my Los Altos office visited the Santa Clara County pre-foreclosure property auction.  Really--it was downright boring! 

A high percentage of the properties were getting postponed until future dates or the starting price was pretty close (or over) what market value is on these houses.  We spoke at great length with one of the auctioneers that day.  He told us that these homes are not the "great deal" that everyone is looking for or are hearing about in the media.  Most of the time these pre-foreclosure properties sell for $30K, $40K, or $50K below market value. 

Now before you grab your jacket and decide to hop in your car and zip down to the daily auction at the courthouse, please understand that these properties come "AS-IS", with NO title insurance, NO disclosures, NO inspections, and can be riddled with back taxes or other liabilities that you as the new owner will need to make good on as the new party on title.   Plus, you have to show-up with cashier's checks in the amount enough to cover the entire cost of the property.

You will notice that there are folks standing around with cell phones, clip boards, and brief cases (stuffed with cashier's checks).  These are professionals that are out there every day.  Some of them have "handles" or code names like "Dragon Lady." Notice the gentleman in the black jacket--he is likely getting instructions from his boss or a partner on which properties to place a bid.

When you hear in the videos that the property will be "sold back to the beneficiary," what this means is that the bank will take the property back and will then have to proceed with the full foreclosure process.  The foreclosure process costs banks oodles of money, and the courthouse steps is the last resort before having to go down that path.   About 90-95% of the time, the properties that are sold back to the beneficiaries wind up listed by a Realtor and are on the MLS.  Did I mention that many of them are in not-so-desirable areas?  

All in all, it was an interesting experience and I'm glad to be able to share it with you.  I look at educating those I know as a big part of my real estate business.  Goodness knows that several news media outlets are completely failing at this piece!

Comments?  E-mail me.  Thank you!

Your gut, heart and soul say one thing…your voice, body and mind say something different. You say… "life is great”… "I’m happy”… "I’m healthy”… "I love my life"… "I am dependable”… "I’m disciplined”… "you can count on me,” but down deep inside you know its BS…your not connected…your not in alignment. When your voice, mind, body, soul, heart and gut are not in alignment is when life sucks and has drag… and like an airplane that has too much drag, if you don’t watch it you will crash!!!!! Drag creates anxiety and stress…it creates a feeling of being disconnected…of not being in alignment…a feeling of just getting through life, not taking from it.  Trust me, I know how it feels…I think in life no matter how much we try to live our life connected…in alignment and balance, we all have times when we struggle with this…when we are not honest with ourselves.  Unfortunately, I think most are disconnected.

I was one of those who was mostly disconnected people until about 12 years ago…until enough was enough and I just got fed up.  Quite frankly, because of changing from someone disconnected and not honest with myself for so long to someone who I think is pretty honest with himself, and mostly connected today is one of the main motivators for me to write Monday Morning MOJO.   I know the sense of relief and freedom that comes with being honest with myself…with being in alignment.   If you are ready to make a radical breakthrough in your life and really “have a great life”…”be happy”…”be healthy”…and “just plain love your life”, you need be honest with yourself about who you are today, who you want to be, and the discipline, accountability and changes you are going to need to make to get there.  When you make the commitment to do this, unlike New Years resolutions which never last, if you stick with it you will get connected.  It won’t happen over night and quite frankly I think it is something we all have to work at for the rest of our lives.  In the beginning, it will take months or perhaps years before you feel it…before you start to feel your soul, voice, body, mind…and your gut connected.  But once you do, you will notice everything in your life start to get better.  Your health, your relationships, you business, your life…

One of the books which had a huge impact on me years ago was The Power of Full Engagement written by Jim Loehr.  Another one of his books which we all should be checking out is “The Power of Story”.  What stories are we telling ourselves about ourselves?  Check out this short clip then order the book:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=LCxlORhwg80.

The National Association of Realtors has made changes to how members can obtain the Resort and Second-Home Property Specialist (RSPS) Certification.

The program was set up to help serve the second-home and resort real estate market. Applicants who want the certification need to complete NAR’s Resort and Second-Home Markets course online or in a classroom, plus two elective courses.

The changes announced recently no longer require that applicants complete the RLI Tax Deferred (1031) Exchange course. If you already have completed the course, it can be used toward elective credit.

“REALTORS® who earn their RSPS certification not only gain the education and training necessary to serve their resort and second-home clients better, but they join a network dedicated to providing resources and tools to help them in the process,” said Carol Kairis, managing director of NAR’s Resort Group.

Kairis says that NAR offers several benefits for RSPS certified agents, such as customizable marketing material and access to networking events at NAR’s annual Resort Symposium.

For more information, click here. 

Today with many of the homes available for sale being REOs and Short sales, there is even more to watch out for. Typical REOs and Short sale had owners who did not take care of their homes or worse yet, left damage. So a thorough property inspector is an essential piece of a home purchase.

Why Can't You Do it Yourself?

I know, now that you are getting your own home, you want to care for it and desire to know the ins and outs. The inspection period when buying a home is not the time for this. Even the most experienced homeowner lacks the knowledge and expertise of a professional home inspector (Do you inspect 2-3 homes per day as your job?). An inspector is familiar with the elements of home construction, proper installation, maintenance, building codes and home safety. He or she knows how the home’s systems and components are intended to function together, as well as why they fail. Above all, most buyers find it difficult to remain completely objective and unemotional about the house they really want, and this may have an effect on their judgment. For accurate information, it is best to obtain an impartial, third-party opinion by a professional in the field of home inspection.

How do you choose a home inspector?

1. Work with your real estate agent’s recommendation.

a. Agents who have experience in the business can tell a thorough inspector from one who just breezes through a quick checklist. Agents do not get anything from recommending one inspector other than piece of mind that a professional is looking at the home. If a property inspector misses something, there could potentially be a lawsuit and no experienced agent wants to risk that.

2. Check your local ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) chapter for recommendations in your area. It is very important that your inspector be aware of the area and what is normal for local homes or what items to look out for. Be wise making one of the largest investments in your life and hire a qualified home inspector!

Any other recommendations on how to find a good inspector?