HELLLOOOO My Most Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area!!…  The “Question of the Day” is … Are you sure your realtor is licensed to do business?

Most sellers, buyers, soon to be in the market consumers and yes even fellow realtors probably don’t think too much about the licensing status of the agents they work with! And we all should know!! In fact its crucial to know… why would you work with someone who isnt licensed, why would you work with someone who has been disciplined or has complaints placed on his/her record?… As with everything else in life we must scrutinize the who, what and whys which includes “making sure your realtor is licensed and current” when it comes to working closely with that person regarding your home or any kind of property and where a huge amount of your life and money  is involved… Use a Licensed Realtor!

Jim Malmberg wrote a very insightful article on why its important to know the status of the realtor you work with…please take a minute to read it… and enlighten yourselves… http://bit.ly/A5hHlw

(the DRE – Department of Real Estate License Lookup link is inside Jim’s article… its FREE to use…do yourselves a favor and do this…)

  

  

 

 

 

HELLLLOOOOO My Wonderful, Beautiful Bay Area!!… Good Day to you… today I have another question and answer regarding buying  a condo in Berkeley or Oakland, CA… I hope my response is helpful for any of you who may be considering a purchase no matter what the price range or location…

  

Question… Where is a good place to look for a condo in Oakland or Berkeley for less than $300,000??

I would like to be in an area close to BART (preferably walking distance), reasonably quiet but has lots of places to walk to (and where I will feel safe walking around), and will be in an up-and-coming neighborhood as far as property value. I do not want a fixer-upper.

 

I’ve seen some places in the Adam’s Point, Uptown, Jack London Square, Harrison St.,and Downtown areas that look good on paper at least, but I don’t know too much about them. Any advice?

asked by Krabappel… Just looking…94117

 

Related articles

• Kid-friendly restaurants in the Oakland/Emeryville area (sfgate.com)

 

HELLLOOOOOO My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area!!… Safety- Safety-Safety… Location is a key component to how we go about our daily lives.. our Safety is right up there with Location choices… Ever want to know what kind of crimes are going on in a specific area??… search by street address, neighborhoods, sort of crimes, sex offenders…one of the better sites I’ve found is …Welcome to CrimeReports.com … easy to use and very informative… you can even sign up for email alerts for any activity in a specific area…Check it out and pass it along to your family and friends…very useful information… please give me your feedback…

Thanks for checking in… visit me again…

Isi

Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay…

Isi Wu
the right agent makes all the difference
Realty World – Blue Property Group
DRE#01258838
Cell 925.997.2426
isiwu@comcast.net
www.isiwu.com

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• Find Sex Offenders Free! Locates Sex Offenders In All 50 States (themactrack.com)

 

Hellllooooo My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area… How are you all doing?… Today I’d like to bring up Friend-Friends-Friendship… over the course of our lives… there are many many people that cross our paths, some touch our lives in the most unexpected ways… some we only know for a very brief period of time…  I was very blessed and fortunate to meet a woman of great warmth, care and stature but for a very brief period of time… we were only beginning to grow our friendship… this wonderful person Brigitte who always had nothing but warm loving words to share… had a very sudden illness which went into an equally sudden terminal status… was taken from her loving family and all who were touched by her in so many different ways… Brigitte was my Friend… I will miss her dearly… people who exude the warmth, care and friendship she did is sooooo rare these days… she’s someone I will keep in my heart and thoughts forever… I hope you’re blessed with a Friend like Brigitte sometime in your lifetime… 

Her loving Husband Steve told me she wept when she received her first bouquet of flowers from him… not because she didnt like them… she had never received flowers from anyone before… from then on he sent her flowers every Friday no matter what… that was the beginning of their weekend together every Friday…  What I failed to remind him is that Brigitte will always be his bouquet of  flowers… and what a bouquet she was… Cheers Brigitte!! 

Thanks for checking in…

Isi Wu…the realtor for you…

Serving clients all over the Eastbay…

Hellooooo My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area!!…  Happy Day to You!!… You may or may not have heard… but its Happy Hallelujah Day for all First Time Homebuyers who have ratified contracts in place as of  April 30, 2010!!… As of last nite the Senate passed the bill and the House of Representatives passed the same bill earlier this week to EXTEND the closing deadline for Homebuyer Tax Credit Eligibility from June 30, 2010 to the new date of September 30, 2010… The bill now goes to the President for his signature..

To be clear… the extension applies only to transactions with ratified contracts by April 30, 2010 that have not yet closed?  (Nearly 180,000 homebuyers would have missed out on the tax credit had Congress not taken action to extend the deadline to close escrow… Estimates from the National Association of Realtors show as many as 17,700 home buyers in California would not have received the tax credit without this extension…)

Will keep you posted… Thanks for checking in…

Cheers Everyone!…

Isi

Isi Wu… the realtor for you…

Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay!

Related articles …

• Congress extends closing deadline for home buyer tax credit (sfgate.com)
• Home buyers must scramble to claim federal tax credit (sfgate.com)
• House votes to extend homebuyer credit 3 months (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Rush on to meet tax credit deadline (lansner.ocregister.com)

Hellooooo My Beautiful Wonderful Bay Area!!…  Have been thinking about you lots… however my schedule became just a bit much with ‘To Do’s” lately…  Sunny bright days have been shining down upon us and I for one… feel re-energized!!…  rays of sunshine beaming down upon us does have that certain power it brings… Happy Just Happy Happy Days!!… Spring is just around the corner!

The days are passing by quickly … those of you still pondering whether to get into the home buying market your wonder days are slowly diminishing… you still have TIME TO GET INTO CONTRACT BY APRIL 30… (in order for you to qualify to get up to $8,000 in tax credits)… but you must be in contract by April 30!!… You still have time but times a wasting… Get Going Now!!… FHA interest rates are rumored to be heading upwards and the requirement minimun of 3 1/2% Down to get into a house is fast going to be a thing of the past… rumor is… its going to be a minimun of 5% down… Better let your fingers do the walking and get qualified NOW….

Please enjoy some of the scenes down at Jack London Square Farmer’s Market on any given Sunday… (one of my most very favorite things to do)…

Have you ever heard about Walk Score?… This is a trend that is finding a place in the search parameters for a growing number of homebuyers… just thought it would be of interest to you if you’re not aware of it…

About Walk Score

Mission

The Walk Score mission is to promote walkable neighborhoods. We believe walkable neighborhoods are one of the simplest and most effective solutions to halt climate change, improve our health, and strengthen our communities.

Very soon all listings will read: Beds: 3  Baths: 2  Walk Score: 84. We want walkability and transportation costs to be a key part of choosing where to live.

Go ahead check your neighborhood Walk Score…   http://bit.ly/6a08VL

Why Walking Matters

Walkable neighborhoods offer surprising benefits to our health, the environment, and our communities.

Better health: A study in Washington State found that the average resident of a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood weighs 7 pounds less than someone who lives in a sprawling neighborhood.¹ Residents of walkable neighborhoods drive less and suffer fewer car accidents, a leading cause of death between the ages of 15–45.

“We are here to show those guys that are inching their way on the freeways in their metal coffins that the human spirit is still alive.”  - Patrick Swayze, Point Break

Reduction in greenhouse gas: Cars are a leading cause of global warming. Your feet are zero-pollution transportation machines.

More transportation options: Compact neighborhoods tend to have higher population density, which leads to more public transportation options and bicycle infrastructure. Not only is taking the bus cheaper than driving, but riding a bus is ten times safer than driving a car!²

Increased social capital: Walking increases social capital by promoting face-to-face interaction with your neighbors. Studies have shown that for every 10 minutes a person spends in a daily car commute, time spent in community activities falls by 10%.³

Stronger local businesses: Dense, walkable neighborhoods provide local businesses with the foot traffic they need to thrive. It’s easier for pedestrians to shop at many stores on one trip, since they don’t need to drive between destinations.

Find the best neighborhoods for walking …  in the largest 40 U.S. cities… http://bit.ly/6a08VL

Just read this article by Gil Linton and thought it was pretty insightful…  It struck me that this same train of thought could be applied to how we view the business of real estate here in our beautiful cities by the San Francisco Bay … check it out..

http://tinyurl.com/yfy9onb

Your thoughts???…

Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay…

Greetings To You Today!!... Yesterday… I attended a class offered by my brokerage http://www.realtyworldnca.com… on Social Media… designed to give us insight and information on today’s technology and networking capabilities… all about the How’s, Why’s and What To Do’s and how to incorporate it all into my business… WOW what a concept!!… Help to Help Me in my work!!… Awesome… here’s my chance to go and get myself more informed… and Free… whats not to like?!?…

This class was jammed pack with information… great overview  but wished we had more time for Q&A and actual instructions on the downloading of all those tools… most of these tools were brand new to me… never had anyone share these with me (thanks so much Erin…our in-house social media guru)… I was so excited and anxious to start using them ASAP!!

I wanted to download these tools while still in class… NOT… the internet connection at the venue was faulty, my own air card wasn’t working correctly… nothing I did allowed me to download a thing… was advised to wait til I got home (better connection) to download… NOT… tried and tried over and over to download… I’ve learned over the years…with much trial and error and anxiety… one must be patient, stay calm (take deep breaths) and not get aggravated when working with the computer… nothing was working out right… went to bed… woke up this morning and the very first thing I did … (even before my morning coffee) was to get on my laptop to go at it again… NOT… to avoid bothering our in-house tech guru Ron… I called my local realtor board/tech support… NOT… they couldn’t get the downloads to take… sent emails to the various sites for help… (remember that saying… if at first you don’t succeed don’t give up… keep trying… ) so I reached out to our in-house tech guru Ron… Funny thing he was at that moment working on some of the same issues I was calling about…  he’ll send out update on the fixes later…

Moral to this story… there’s lots to learn, its all there for the taking, be patient, anything worthwhile will come in good time…

Have a Really Good Day All…

As always… would love to hear back from you… I welcome your feedback… Lets Start a Dialogue!…

Save Me in your Favorites and come back and visit all the time!!…

Thanks a Bunch for your time today…

Isi Wu… the realtor for you…

Serving Clients All Over the Eastbay…