Today I showed about 5 homes to some new clients of mine in Eureka, CA.  It is surprising, but although the housing market in Eureka and most of Humboldt County has overall been pretty steady in the rise and fall of its prices, there are more and more listings that are either being sold as short sales, or are REOs or banked owned.  Of the three listings we saw, two were short sales and the rest were bank owned.  But the good thing is that now, my clients are able to afford the house of their dream, or at least have more options in their home search.  My clients did not decide on a house to make an offer on tonight, but we are meeting up again tomorrow afternoon and keep on looking.    Thavisak Lucky SyphanthongLucky Star Realty539 G Street Suite 101Eureka, CA 95501lucky@luckystarrealty.... 06/18/2009

There is a new website from the government that provides a series of options for distressed property owners who have fallen behind on their payments.  They offer a series of questions to let home owners whether they can do a loan modification with their mortgage holder, or be able to refinance.  Here is the website address: http://www.makinghomesaffordable.gov/ 06/10/2009

 Good morning everyone and I hope you had a wonderful weekend, are you are excited about making money this week?  I am back to pushing one of my favorite places in the (World), Northern California. I have been visiting Northern California since the early 70s and please don't remind me how old I may be.  My wife and I have planed a trip in 2009 to go up to Lake Tahoe, the Redwoods and along the Coast of Northern California. Last year we went and looked at some property with (Jessica Bigger) and will be doing it again this year.  Jessica sells property in one of the most beautiful places in the world, and if you don't believe me go take a look for yourself. I would like to get licensed in the State of California some day in the future and sell Real Estate with Jessica on a team. I would ... 02/16/2009

Good to excellent conditioned homes for sale in Eureka CA, especially in the lower price range seem to be selling rather quickly recently.  I've been working with one of my buyers in this price range for several months now, so I've been keeping an eye on Eureka CA Homes for Sale as they come on the market as well as the McKinleyville CA real estate market.  My buyer has expressed her interest in living in either Humboldt County CA city.  So we keep our search criteria focused in these locations.   We ended up officially writing two offers on homes listed in this price range and competed with other buyers who also wrote offers.  Unfortunately both times we were not the highest bidder and both times the home sold for higher than it was listed for.  We waited on a couple of homes my buyer ... 01/04/2009

Happy New Years to Everyone from all of our staff here at Lucky Star Realty in Eureka and Crescent City California.  We wish you all good health and prosperity in the new year and we are ready to serve your real estate needs in both Humboldt County and Del Norte County California.  Do not hesitate to call our office toll free 866-875-2279 whether you are buying or selling a home in Northern California.  All of our agents are hard working and willing to serve your real estate needs in the coming year.  01/03/2009

I am working on a real estate transaction right now that keeps getting its closing date extended and extended.  I know that in a real estate transaction, one can never know when a deal will fall out of escrow.  I had one that was about to close right before Thanksgiving, on November 26 in fact, and the Friday before, the buyers called me and told me that the gifted funds from their relatives to help with their 20% down payment, is no longer available and we now cannot complete the transaction without those funds.  That was a blow to the waist line because we have completed all the things necessary to make the purchase happen and the funds were "guaranteed" throughout the entire escrow period... up to that point.  Without that missing piece, my buyers could not make the purchase and I ha... 12/10/2008

I just came back from going to the Emergency Room again tonight, last time it was for an appendectomy, this time, I thought I had miniature heart attacks.  I was feeling these sharp pains a couple times today, and when it happened again tonight after dinner, I immediately went to the hospital.  I was well enough because these sharp pains came and went, so I was feeling normal when I drove to the hospital.  I went and checked in, the receptionists were very nice and friendly to me, as they were last time.  After I was admitted, the ER doctor came in and did a quick check of my pain area and asked me a series of questions.  After the questions and checking my heart and lungs, he came to the happy conclusion that those sharp pains were not from heart attacks at all, but were muscle pains. ... 11/13/2008

In my opinion, everyone has something to say about real estate, whether it be your neighbors, your co-workers (if you have a second job besides being a successful real estate agent), your banker, your doctor, your daughter's teacher, and today for me, it was my dentist.  I went to my dentist in Eureka this morning because I was due for two fillings.  The minute I walked in the door and my dentist saw me, he greeted me nicely and of course, started talking to me about real estate!  He shared everything he knew or heard recently in the news having to do with real estate (from his point of view).  He even mentioned some news about certain communities down in the Bay Area near San Francisco where houses have gone down in value so much, that they are worth 70% of what they were worth before ... 11/10/2008

Asia Market Central-1125 Summer Street, Eureka, CA 95501 1125 Summer Street, Eureka, CA 95501 Thavisak Lucky Syphanthong http://www.luckystarrealestate.com Welcome to Asia Market Central-AMC Board Co! Located on 1125 Summer Street, Eureka, CA 95501. We are the largest global import grocery/retail store in Eureka California, USA. Our products arrive from all over the world, especially from the Asian countries. We sell everything from packaged food products to traditional Asian clothing items, imported musical instruments and music, Asian movies and videos, Asian drinks and food ingredients for Thai, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Laotian and other Asian dishes. We also have a skateboard department (AMC Board Co.) carrying the highest quality products in the industry. We a... 11/08/2008

The Eureka Reporter is one of the predominant Daily newspapers serving Eureka and the surrounding areas of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.  But today, I was shocked when I saw this head line on the Eureka Reporter website(http://www.eurekareporter.com/), "The Eureka Reporter to cease."  This means that Eureka will only have one daily newspaper, the Times Standard (www.times-standard.com) that will serve Eureka and the rest of Humboldt and Del Norte counties.  In the article, the Eureka Reporter cited that "Times have been difficult for the newspaper industry nationally and many fine papers have had to close their doors. It is difficult for a small community like Eureka to support more than one daily newspaper."  This is just another example of how far reaching the financial crisis has ... 11/05/2008

Last month one of my sellers was in escrow with a buyer that I also represented and the deal was going great, but then, a couple weeks before closing, there was a last minute glitch in the buyer's financing and they could not move forward with the purchase.  That put a strain on my sellers because they had the property on the market before and were eager to sell.  I assured them that I would do my best to help sell their house and planned a series of Open Houses and even started producing a video home tour of the property.  They stuck with me and were confident in my ability to help sell their house, and today, just a week and a half after we heard the bad news, we received news that there is another offer for their property!  I was excited to call them on the phone to tell them the goo... 11/05/2008

Yesterday I almost lost two real estate transactions that I have been working on for almost a month now, and the clients whom I have been showing houses with for almost three months.  All the precious time, energy and costs that I have spent would have gone to waste had I not stepped in this morning and helped facilitate the communication between my clients and their loan officer.  The situation was that my clients' loan officer needed a document to be signed by them, but that document asked so many seemingly unusual and personal questions, questions relating to their bank accounts, addresses and more, that my clients got overwhelmed and could not understand why they had to go through that.  They were telling me that when their cousin bought a property a few months back, she did not hav... 10/25/2008

Today I attended the Humboldt County Association of Realtors Equal Opportunity Committee meeting.  We discussed issues relating to how our Realtor Community works with and reacts to the public, especially to prospects and clients.  The main thing we got out of today's meeting was that we as an association, need to come up with a directory or resource to help the Realtor community when they are working with clients who are from minority groups.  This directory would be a valuable resource providing connection to  language interpreters, different ethnics groups, cultural events and other resources.  Sometimes it is helpful for real estate agents to have interpreters with them when a client is not able to speak English,but this language interpreter should be certified so that they are able... 10/21/2008

Tonight I was walking my client through with signing he's disclosure documents over the phone (I had emailed them over to him because he lives 4 hours away in Santa Rosa and his property is here in Eureka) and he mentioned that he liked me better than the other real estate agent that he had been working with.  I asked him why, and he replied, that I had returned his phone calls!  I was surprised because I usually always try to return clients' phone calls within the hour and I was under the impression that all agents adhere to this unspoken code.  But apparently not, because although the last agent my client was with is from a big company and had been practicing real estate for years, my client still favors me because I am courteous, patient, answers his questions and explains things cle... 10/20/2008

I don't know about you, but where I live there are always signs of nature that represent the changing of the seasons.  Here we are in the Fall and this is the only time of year in Eureka California that the Pumpkin Spiders come out. I think they get their nick name "Pumpkin" because of their orange brownish color and the fact that they start appearing around Halloween time.   They're all over my yard every Fall.  Even though I'm not a huge fan of spiders, (although they are part of the eco-chain), I have to admit these are the most beautiful spiders I have ever seen in the states.  I've seen plenty of incredible spiders in Latin America, but never anything as amazing as the Pumpkin Spider that hangs out in my backyard.   The Pumpkin Spider's seasonal visit to my Eureka California home i... 10/05/2008

Many people who have visited the historic Carson Mansion in Eureka, Ca.,also now known as The Ingomar Club, have always believed they saw a ghost in one of the towers. The story starts way back in 1849 when William Carson left New Brunswick Canada, to strike it rich during the California Gold Rush. He packed up some horses and headed up the Trinity River. As with most of the exhibitions, his search was unsuccessful. By 1854, Mr. Carson was running the most successful lumber mills in the country. He is known to have always been fair to his workers and to everyone around him. In 1864, he married Sarah Wilson in San Francisco. Sarah was also from New Brunswick Canada and had 4 children. Sarah was one of the most modest people in her circle of friends. She much rather have lived in the smal... 08/19/2008

Eureka California is located in the heart of the Redwoods, it is basically the "seat" of Humboldt County and many reasons why you should visit Eureka and its surrounding areas.  Here are some interesting facts and information about Eureka, California if you are planning on visiting or simply passing through, visit the following link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka,_California  For information on real estate in and around Eureka California, feel free to contact me at 866-875-2279, email lucky@luckystarrealty.com or visit my website www.luckystarrealty.comI will be more than happy to answer your questions about available homes for sale in Eureka, Arcata, McKinleyville or other surrounding cities.  08/16/2008

Recently, I had called some buyer clients of mine and informed them that the house they have been waiting for, for over a year, has finally become an REO (real estate owned or bank owned) listing and now they can make the purchase as a regular offer and not a short sale as we had tried last year.  You see, last year, when the same property was on the market, it was listed as a short sale because the owner had gone into default and could not sell the property at market price and pay off the loan.  Well, our offer was accepted by the seller and then the bank (it was Countrywide Home Loans in this case), but when it was time for the seller to sign final papers, the seller had disappeared and moved out of state!  We were shocked because my clients had the loan in place and their down paymen... 08/13/2008

When someone asks me, how far away is Eureka from san Francisco? I always answer, "oh just about an hour south of the Oregon border." The usual reaction I get is, "oh that's not too far, you must be near Napa!" "uuummm, no, we are about 6 hours north of SF and 4 hours east of Redding. We are the true Northern California!" We are situated behind what is affectionately called the Redwood Curtain. When you drive up the coast, you will see some of the most beautiful Redwood trees, gorgeous sandy beaches and some of the cleanest air one could possibly breath. No smog, no traffic, low crime, near the Pacific Ocean and some of the nicest people you can ever meet. So, with that being said, how far would you go to show a client some property? I picked up my client last Thursday morning at 6 a.m.... 08/10/2008

Well it has been about 4 months since my client has made an offer on her first home, which happens to be a short sale and yesterday was her final loan signing at the title company!  It was a very long road and there were times along the way that seemed like her purchase was never going to happen.  But we did it and she is going to fund on Monday, August 4th and record and close on that same day!  I will be very happy handing over the keys to her new home. Issues Along the Way: Seller's Lender:  We came upon many issues with the seller's lender, Countrywide Home Loans, who had trouble at first receiving and faxing our purchase contract and the seller's workout papers, then it was hard for them to assign a "negotiator" for the case, then that negotiator was not available at the days we ca... 08/02/2008