We are getting ready to send out our 2009 Pick the Pros football schedules. This is the envelope that we are thinking of sending it in. I think people are going to like it!!
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Pick the PROS football schedule 2009
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009Get on your hobbyhorse
Thursday, August 13th, 2009There’s a phrase that says all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. I don’t know about you but lately I’ve been a pretty dull boy. The effort needed to meet the challenge of today’s market has had me putting my nose to the grindstone in a way I haven’t for years.
Recently I rediscovered one of my hobbies, however, and I realized that part of me had been missing. Maybe you’re a writer, a musician or a painter. Perhaps you like to golf, read, jog or do some gardening. There are probably another 200 I didn’t mention but in an environment like this it’s so easy to forget those things that put a spring in our step and the joy in our journey.
So just a little word to the wise; make sure you’re making room for those interests that make you who you are. Get on your hobbyhorse…because nobody wants to be a dull boy.
Cont… Meet Kevin Johnson, NBA Player turned mayor
Saturday, August 1st, 2009If you’re a basketball fan, this is the Kevin Johnson you remember: K.J., the all-star point guard for the Phoenix Suns. Whether running the Suns’ offense or dunking over seven-footers like Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwan, the combative Johnson was more than a match for almost any opponent.
But take a look at what he’s up against now. Today, K.J. is mayor of Sacramento, Calif., and, if the meltdown had a hometown, this might be it.
Kevin Johnson: The big challenges for the city of Sacramento are no different than the ones that we’re facing nationally and statewide.
Sacramento is — in some ways — a bellwether for the economic state of the nation. It cratered faster and deeper into the foreclosure crisis than almost any city in the country. With an unemployment rate somewhere north of 11 percent, the California’s capital city is a full two points higher than the national average.Pretty tough going for the multi-millionaire hometown sports hero who’s brand new to politics.
Kevin Johnson: I’m living the dream. I’m living the dream. I mean, a kid who grows up in an inner-city, poor part of Sacramento, California, first in my family to go to college. Luckily to graduate and play 12 years in the NBA. I didn’t think my life could get any better.
Johnson’s election last November made history. He’s the first African American mayor of a city that is only fifteen percent black. And, Kevin Johnson is a child of Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood.
Oak Park began as Sacramento’s first suburb; it was working class when Johnson was growing up here. But it became the part of town where people lock their doors when they drive through.
Johnson’s mother was only 16 when he was born here. His father drowned when Kevin was three, and he was raised in this house by his maternal grandparents. His grandfather, a sheet metal worker, would become a model for young Kevin.
Kevin Johnson: The number one lesson he taught me in life is that you have to be a good neighbor, a Good Samaritan, at all times.
Johnson excelled at baseball before becoming a basketball star at Sacramento High. But the athlete who was such a good student that he skipped a grade in grammar school was in for a reality check when he won a scholarship to the University of California-Berkley.
Kevin Johnson: I was woefully unprepared. I remember sitting in an English class and they were talking about euphemisms. So, I didn’t know what the word meant. I remember going back and feeling this small. And I made a commitment that day, that I was– gonna go back to my community in Sacramento and make sure that kids just like me would not feel what I felt in college.
After college, Johnson passed on an opportunity to play professional baseball with the Oakland A’s and went to the NBA.
And he starting giving back to Sacramento. Using some of his NBA money, Johnson established a faith-based foundation called St. Hope in his old neighborhood.
It began as an after school program but over 20 years has expanded to include charter schools, including Sacramento high and a development corporation that’s brought an art gallery, a bookstore, a barbershop and a movie theater to oak park.
Josh Mankiewicz: How is Saint Hope different from charitable foundations that celebrities just kind of lend their names to?
Kevin Johnson: we’re very focused in education and charter schools. Last year’s graduating class, 83 percent got accepted to a four-year college.
Josh Mankiewicz: And when they get into college, they’re gonna know what a euphemism is?
Kevin Johnson: They’re gonna definitely know what a euphemism is. (laughter) Absolutely. Absolutely.
He thought about politics when he was still with the Suns, courted by both parties … But he wasn’t ready to commit.
By 2008, after a stint as an analyst with NBC sports, he came home to work on St. Hope, ad he found that fire in his belly. He ran as a Democrat. But, he may not have seen what was coming.
Kevin Johnson: The historians of Sacramento have clearly said it was the dirtiest campaign that this city has ever seen.
The seven-candidate primary was brutal, but Johnson finished first and went on to defeat the two- term incumbent.
He’s been pretty much on his feet since then. Hizzoner’s day starts at 5 a.m. with a run with staffers. A strategy session in perpetual motion, time well spent.
Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Breton:
Marcos Breton: He’s really going to be tested as a politician in the coming months. Huge budget deficit. Huge cutback in city services. Huge challenges in terms of investment and lack thereof in Sacramento.
Josh Mankiewicz: Not easy.
Marcos Breton: Not easy. Difficult for the most seasoned politician and you’re still talking about a rookie having to do work that would humble a veteran.
Josh Mankiewicz: You could have done anything you wanted. And what you want to do is sit in meetings and talk about municipal finance and how many positions you’re gonna have to cut? (laughter)
Kevin Johnson: It’s a strange, strange, strange way things work out. I’m in this job and this seat to solve problems, and to make people’s lives better. So whatever that challenge is, I’m gonna meet it.
And so a man who once played in front of huge crowds in the NBA making $6 million a year is now spending his evenings in city council meetings with an audience measured in dozens…for one fiftieth the money.
Josh Mankiewicz: True that you haven’t touched a basketball basically since you hung it up?
Kevin Johnson: Touched a basketball one time in nine years/and my goal was, to see if I can dunk, on my 40th birthday. I am sad to report that I was not able to dunk on my 40th birthday and have not touched it since. (laughter)
Johnson has only been mayor since the end of November and he’s getting a lesson in politics, which it turns out, is more of a contact sport than the one he used to play.
Kevin Johnson: That’s, you know, politics they– they throw even more elbows, and they’re sharper.
Josh Mankiewicz: And they don’t all get called.
Kevin Johnson: Yeah, they don’t get called.
Josh Mankiewicz: I can’t help but think that that was not what you expected.
Kevin Johnson: It wasn’t what I expected, but again (laughter), I say, “When you’re play in the NBA, you’re booed half the time. And they’ll even boo you at home if you’re not playing well (laughter).
Johnson heard the crowd turn against him early this year after news reports about a Sacramento homeless encampment drew world- wide attention and pushed him onto the national stage.
The newly-minted mayor made the best of it.
Tent City was shut down. A new shelter opened for those homeless willing to move there. It may have been little more than a temporary solution. But the new mayor had faced–and finessed– his first public-relations challenge.
And, it turns out that who he was on the hardwood is who he is on City Hall’s marble floors.
Josh Mankiewicz: I talked to somebody today who said, “You know, this guy, when he was a player, he was exacting and he was– he knew exactly what he wanted and he used to yell at other players who didn’t move to the right spots, and he used to scowl at people when they didn’t play well enough, and he’s gotta learn that doesn’t work in politics.”
Kevin Johnson: All that’s like, “I wanna win. I want a sense of urgency. I want people to feel like we have a chance.” So, it– for me, it’s just this relentlessness of– just being the best and– and not wanting to let up. And people respect that.
Folsom’s Most Walkable Neighborhoods
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009NATOMA STATION, FOLSOM
Residents of this suburban neighborhood on Folsom’s west side find it easy to get out in nature. There are plenty of sidewalks, ponds teeming with birds and wildlife, and easy access to the American River Bike Trail, which winds for miles through some of the region’s most beautiful terrain. Built about 20 years ago on the hill behind the Folsom Premium Outlets, it’s a model of the well-planned community. There’s an elementary school and several parks; a light rail station enables residents who work downtown to avoid clogged Highway 50 at rush hour. On nice days, the neighborhood is filled with kids on skateboards, teens WWT (Walking While Texting) and people strolling with their dogs. A group called the Folsom Dam Runners meets Saturdays and Sundays for runs around nearby Lake Natoma.
• Real estate: One- and two-story single-family homes sell from the low $400,000s to the high $500,000s.
• Hip hangout: Folsom Premium Outlets
• Good to know: The developer commissioned original art for the parks and main entrances to the neighborhood.
The Smith Team awarded TOP LISTING TEAM
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
Head columnist Miki Garcia publishes our response in Folsom Telegraph Newspaper
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009Agents react to ‘outing of REO listing’ practices
Ask Miki
As in any indusry, there are unwritten rules in the real estate community … not to be broken. But Alexis Moore snapped a few and said what needed to be said. There ain’t a kitchen area in a brokerage where agents haven’t grumbled over crumbled muffins suspecting their buyer’s offer had conveniently slipped off the listing agent’s desk
–– Miki
Dear Miki:
In response to Alexis Moore’s comments regarding whether or not an REO (bank-owned property) listing agent submits all offers to the bank, I can only speak for myself, and our team does submit all offers on available properties. As long as the offer has been submitted correctly by the buyer’s agent, we not only submit every offer, but we send fax or email confirmation once an offer has been submitted. We continue to communicate with the buyer’s agents or parties regarding status of their offer, whether it has been accepted, rejected, or countered. We take pride in the fact that we do communicate through the offer process and have been complimented by other agents that we do so.
Our feeling is that many times we are on the flip side of this business, representing a buyer, so we look for the same courtesy from the listing agent. Let’s face it, our real estate community is small, and we will work with each other again so it is important to maintain a good working relationship with our colleagues whether we are in a foreclosure market or “normal” market.
There are cases, depending on the bank, when they want us only to submit the top three offers. Others want us to submit all offers, regardless of price and terms. Bottom line is…what is going to net the bank the most? They not only look at price, but the terms, cash or financing, close in 10 days, etc. It is what’s going to get the bank the maximum dollar.
When purchasing an REO property, I always advise the buyer and their agents to submit their highest and best offer from the beginning, especially in a multiple offer situation.
If you are a buyer and working with your agent, I recommend the following steps prior to writing an offer if you want the best chance of getting your offer accepted:
· Always do your research on the house.
· Check the specific offer instructions for the property that appears in the MLS listing remarks. This is vital to your offer being submitted. If your agent doesn’t follow the requirements, the listing agent cannot submit your offer. (In regard to a buyer knowing if the listing agent has submitted their offer or not and it being a “crapshoot,” sometimes the buyer’s agent hasn’t followed specific offer instructions from the start, therefore the listing agent cannot submit the offer due to the bank’s requirements).
· Submit your highest and best offer from the start as the bank doesn’t always counter.
· Ask your buyer’s agent to make your offer as clean as possible. For example, don’t ask for the moon in terms of inspections and repairs, as most bank properties are being sold “as is.”
In response to an agent meeting the very “stringent” criteria the banks require for listing their properties, it is true that we are pre-screened and held to the bank’s high standards. Listing REO properties requires that we are not only experienced real estate professionals, but that we have the staff to manage the properties, that we have reputable contractors, gardeners, etc., to maintain the properties, that we carry the required business insurance, and, in most cases, we are asked to cover the property expenses while the property is listed. In many cases, those expenses are not reimbursed for up to 90 days with certain banks.
As far as Alexis’ comment, “real estate sales professionals also having to improve their business practices,” it’s time for agents to dust off their real estate licenses and polish up their sales skills. Today’s market isn’t the 2005 boom where anyone and everyone had a real estate license. This is an entirely different market that requires agents to use their training and experience and also learn what it takes to successfully represent their buyer in a REO transaction. In turn, buyers need to do their part by doing their research and aligning themselves with a professional Realtor.
Tyler Smith
Dear Tyler:
Thanks for your advice to buyers and agents.
While it is true the majority of real estate agents adhere to an honor system, there are bad, big boys and girls that just can’t resist the cookie jar. Anyone thinking otherwise was born way before yesterday.
All around the mulberry bush, the columnist chased the weasel… To read the previous colunm from Alexis Moore please visit Local real estate pro outs REO listing agent, bank practices
