A Beverly Hills Realtor’s Perspective on Surviving Covid-19 Lockdown: Answer the phone, reply  to emails, respond to texts. The world, or rather its inhabitants, are faced with many uncertainties and not just real estate; every profession’s way of conducting business has been affected and changed in some way or another by this global lockdown.I am amazed (and honestly more annoyed) with all the “help” that is bombarding the average Real Estate practitioner. Here is a sampling of actual opportunities that were suggested for this Wednesday, keep in mind this is just a ONE-day sampling.10 am – 11 am: Staying Fearless in Uncertain Times.11 am -Noon: Let’s take a closer look at one of the Real Estate Technologies.Noon  to 1 pm: How to do Facebook ads to generate leads.1 pm -  2pm:  Clarifyin... 04/22/2020

Well almost wordless Wednesday! I received a phone call from the Mayor of Beverly Hills, CA. I am confident I was not the only Realtor that received this call. Basically it was a public service message that if I want to conduct business in Bevely Hills I need to wear a Mask. Now keep in mind I have also received six new forms from the California Association of Realtors that I have to have people sign if I show properties with Social Distancing.Then to boot if I go to a Store may that be a Wine Store or a Grocery store I better have a Mask on or I will not be allowed in the store or worse case, both the store owner and I would get a $1000.00 fine for the violation. I get it...Gratefully last week one of my clients gave us two masks. So with that said Los Angeles and Beverly Hills here I ... 04/15/2020

Here we are, I lose track of how many days we have been Sheltering in Place… so with that said it was time for me to make another Soup to fight the dreaded CV. Hence, I roasted a head of Cauliflower and there you have it, a Cream of Cauliflower Soup was in the making.Now those of you  who know me, I cannot just make an ordinary anything. I decided to add baked Garbanzo Beans for crunch and taste. Diane loved it; the bad news is now she only wants it  is baked/toasted Garbanzo Beans of any sorts.( she is right the flavors a stronger)Just to be clear I am a firm believer this soup tastes much better the next day when all the flavors have blended.The steps are easy ,bake the Cauliflower in the oven with a little olive oil  for about 15 to 20 minutes around 400 degrees.While the Cauliflower... 03/27/2020

As we are in our homes due to Government Restrictions and normal common sense, Restaurants have closed and limited take out service is the norm. Those who are used to eating out in great Restaurants needed to make some adjustments. We have made the adjustments about six or seven years ago.  Having three cats and a dog, requires discipline and regimentation not to go out to dinner, because our pets come first. Now with that said it does not mean we do not eat quality food. I have been replicating great foods from top Chef in the Culinary world for decades.Diane has been reading up on what might help to prevent  CV and one of these was making and enjoying warm soups. Clearly my assignment was to make a good soup.Having loved Butternut squash soups I chose to make a Curried butternut squas... 03/26/2020

Diane being stressed, nervous and concerned about the current situation with the Corona virus inspired this post. It troubles me that an intelligent and reasonable person can become so stressed about the events that are surrounding and changing our-day-to day life. I am not in any way downplaying the severity of the challenge with which we are currently faced. Rather, I am trying to put things in perspective so that  we can function as normal human beings.During the past few weeks in between very busy and productive Real Estate activity, I had the opportunity to reflect over the current situation. I have observed  that my various nearby stores  that I regularly visit have run out of water, hand sanitizers and toilet paper. I find it extremely sad and somewhat ignorant behavior from the ... 03/15/2020

Well here I am with a long overdue Market Snapshot Report for the Greater Los Angeles Real Estate. As we are preparing for Spring, the housing market is in full bloom. We have record sales to prove it. The Talking heads aka analyst are wonder how high can we go? I am so grateful to be in one of the most exciting Real Estate Markets around the Globe. In case you did not hear Jeff Bezos  bought the most expensive home in my back yard for a mare $165 million the Warner Estate. On top of that as an investment he bought this fantastic piece of land for $90 million. Ironically, I had two buyers for it, and I told them $90, million was the sales price. They waited and vacillated too long, and they missed out. Well I get the glory of knowing I was right on the sales price. Small consolation for... 03/07/2020

Our friend Richie Alan Naggar  is hosting this contest and I would be remiss if I did not participate in his challenge. Now keep in mind I seldom Re-blog a post, but this  post was clearly Re-blog worthy.Active Rain has  had so many great writers with so much to give, the hardest part for me was to choose a post. I have been on Active Rain for way over ten years, I have seen many great posts. Some of the writers have left the platform others have passed away, I intentionally did not choose one of those posts from people who  are no longer active for one reason or another.I have always considered myself  a positive person who tries to look at the bright side of everything. Now keep in mind, I do look at all sides and like to make sure the right choices are made and will result in a favor... 02/29/2020

Coronavirus vs. Real Information Observations from a Beverly Hills Realtor: Endre Barath, Jr.I have not written a blog post in some time; the reasons are many.  Gratefully, the main reason was because, I have been extremely  busy.  This post was inspired by all the bad information I have seen that has been creating volatility and has been pushing the stock markets lower.I saw a post from a well-respected California Association of Realtors “expert”, I could not believe my eyes she was blaming three months ago California Real Estate Activity on the Coronavirus, SERIOUSLY??? Sadly, I find that the coronavirus is a human tragedy and I sympathize with all those people who have been directly impacted. It does not give the right for people to give bad information and calloused information abou... 02/28/2020

I had nothing to do with it, I suspect because Berkshire Hathaway has an arrangement with ADWERX every time I have a new listing ADWERX pushed the listings out. On the other hand to see my face must have been the benefit of having 17 listings and ADWERX thought it was time to push my name out too? What do I know, All I can say is hope the word gets out and I get more listings:)) If you are looking for a knowledgeable, focused and goal-oriented Realtor in the Beverly Hills area who will help you achieve your Real Estate goals, please reach out to me directly!If you are looking for a pet friendly Beverly Hills Realtor who can handle and sell the most difficult properties that no one else could, please reach out to me directly!! If you are considering buying or selling a home, a luxury hom... 02/16/2020

Happy Valentine’s Day weekend or is it President’s Day weekend?How many times have we intentionally been deceived? The times are too many for me to recall, when it happened to me. Now with that said, are we intentionally deceiving ourselves too? As Realtors we are always “busy”, but are we “productive” or are we deceiving ourselves by being “busy”? These questions are always high on my  priority lists. I constantly review, question and modify my  activities. I do not want to deceive myself that I am busy. Do you check what you do daily, weekly? Or you are just too busy to do that?Now with that said, what is Valentine’s Day about? Is it  about the more than 50 million pounds of chocolate that is sold leading up to the big day? Or  is it about the expressing our devotion to our loved ones... 02/16/2020

What changes did you make last year or the year before that worked? An Active Rain Contest to jump start your year! Every year we strive to become a better version of ourselves.  Usually in January we take stock and make promises how we will change our daily lives in our business and in our personal lives. This cycle is repeated year after year. Some people call it “New Year’s Resolutions” others just call it’ behavior modification’. I always smile at people who promise to lose weight, start exercising and others promise to  market and do things differently in their business. Some people call it ‘Goal Setting’. Then a few days after the New Year they go back to their old ways of doing things.  I find that these rituals are all intended and are done with the purpose to transform our live... 01/01/2020

Hope everyone had a wonderful and Merry Christmas. I just wanted to share with you a few reflections of our Christmas...My take is you can never go wrong with what 007 drinks:)This recipe was a take off on "Fishing with Dynamite" in Manhattan Beach, CA aka HammachiThis was a Scallop Crudo  a take off on the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills Recipe...There were many other small appetisers this was just a teaser reflection on Christmas 2019! Hope you had a Merry Christmas. If you are looking for a pet friendly Beverly Hills Realtor who can handle and sell the most difficult properties that no one else could, please reach out to me directly!! If you are considering buying or selling a home, a luxury home, luxury investment real estate, luxury vacation homes, or luxury beach properties in South... 12/29/2019

This month’s Active Rain Challenge has made me wonder and reflect: What makes a Transaction a nightmare? How do we determine that it is a difficult or very challenging transaction? What criteria do we use the assess that it is a nightmare transaction? What are the influences that create the nightmare scenario? How do we gage the events that it justifies it to be considered a nightmare?Is it the buyer? Is it the Seller? Is it the agent representing one of the principals? Is it matters that are out of our control? Is it a lack of response by the parties involved? Are the parties involved mistreating the other parties involved? Is it a disrespectful negation’s strategy or environment?I keep wondering what are the causes of the stress. Is it self-created? Is the stress because the seller’ f... 12/28/2019

Happy  Hanukah: Time Flies!How often have you heard “Time Flies”? Well hard to believe that it has been two years since Lou Ludwig our Motivations Guru, our Friend wrote his last post. He was always there to support everyone with his comments and “his liking of our posts” did not matter if it was a good or mediocre post, he was there for us 100% of the time.Loved reading his Motivational Posts and I still miss him on this platform. Lou was one of a kind. Someone who was caring and there when you needed him. Even when you did not need him, he was still there for you.I can still clearly recall his last post, I was one of the first to comment on it and there was no response, nor reciprocity. I knew there was something wrong…. Then I checked back and one of our Active Rain friends posted a ... 12/22/2019

 I had to share this transaction I would have been remiss if I did not participate in Carol Williams  and Anna Banana Kruchten CRB, CRS  Active Rain Challenge. As most of you know, the longer we  have been in Real Estate the more stories we can choose from. Sometimes that makes challenges like this harder, since we are having a tough time choosing the story to share with the readers. Some we cannot share due to confidentiality agreements and others we cannot share because we are still in contact with the clients or their connections. Then there are others that people do not want to read, because of all the emotional roller coaster ride  of the story brings back bad memories of their own transactions. Hence with that said I chose to share an entertaining transaction that I experienced.Mo... 12/15/2019

I am so Grateful for the Thanksgiving Holiday, truly my favorite Holiday…As most of my regular readers know, I have legally immigrated from Communist Hungary and the year was 1967… we arrived at JFK airport.  I had the pleasure of being driven in a Limousine from there through Manhattan. The world’s most desired city, the destination place everyone dreamed about, at least in 1967. I looked at the Skyscrapers and was in awe. We were heading to Fairfield Connecticut. This was in August and little did I know about Thanksgiving.My mother’s uncle lived in Connecticut and he promised  the US Government, that he would give financial support, if my parents could not make it on their own. No worries the Barath Family would not be on Taxpayer’s burden. My father was way too proud to be looking fo... 11/30/2019

There are so many things, events and people to be grateful for! The hardest part is to choose the subject. I consider myself very lucky to call Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices at 131 S Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90212 my office and the company with who I am affiliated with. Not a month goes by, without another Broker trying to convince me to leave the Office. I am always honored at the emails, texts and phone calls trying to sweet talk me and get me to move on.I have a company name, which is recognized and is respected by buyers, sellers all over the Globe, as well as by our competitors. I am very comfortable where I am, so why would I want to leave? I appreciate that brokers look at me and want me to be affiliated with their Brand & want me to join  their office. I always thank them a... 11/24/2019

Grateful for Active Rain:  The Social Media Platform for savvy RealtorsMost of my regular followers and those who read my posts consistently know, that I have been on this platform since 2008. Initially, I started out just reading other blog posts.  I was observing, learning and most importantly watching what the platform was all about.Then I took a leap of faith and started my own blogging. The quality of my posts well, let’s just be polite and say that it questionable at best.My initial goal, when I joined the platform was to get referrals. Naively I figured, that if I  put my name out there, the referrals would start flying in by the droves. Well, that did not initially happen. Instead I started to learn about SEO, then I learned about Long Tail Words and the list goes on and on. Mos... 11/17/2019

Real Estate: Bonanza-Jackpot in the Greater Los  Angeles areaI have had conversations with numerous new agents who decided to become Realtors. Many were under the mistaken impression and thought it was going to be easy and fast money. They thought it would be quick and easy just like playing the slot machines. Let’s be realistic how many people got rich playing the slot machines outside of the owners of the Casinos?Indeed, the Beverly Hills  Real Estate Market boasts of  Ultra Luxury Homes and Properties, but let’s be clear, there are 15,000 or more agents in my marketplace, and we can only show a handful of Ultra Luxury Homes that sold in the past couple years.Just like there are many individuals who watch “reality shows” and think, that is how “deals are made”. Sadly, the reality is f... 11/03/2019

 Endre Barath, you mean to tell me you had a life before becoming a Beverly Hills Realtor?Yes, I did have  a life before I became a Beverly Hills Realtor and it was fun too.  Every job and career position that I’ve had, I applied the same focus and energy as if there would be no other future opportunities for me and executed my job to the best of my abilities.Some of you already know that I was an Airborne Ranger Infantry Captain in the US Army. Over the years, I was promoted from a Mechanized Infantry Platoon Leader to Executive Officer to Acting Company Commander, and finally to Brigade Headquarters Commandant positions. That gave me the opportunity to work with subordinates, peers and higher-ranking officers from various socio-economic backgrounds.  I strived to give them guidance, i... 10/30/2019