Land Planning Provide Yield Studies in order to test various residential, retail, commercial, office, mixed-use, recreation, agriculture and conservation easement programs. Prepare site base maps for preliminary submittals. Urban and Landscape Design Develop the project’s vision through the use of imagery and written project descriptions in order to submit preliminary and formal city review applications. Prepare presentation quality graphics as necessary to support the various stages of the approval process including colored sketch plans, AutoCAD exhibits, Powerpoint presentations, land use diagrams, massing studies and site section cuts. Neighborhood & Site Context Analysis Clearly identify and document the opportunities, constraints and contextual influences affecting a properties ... 02/18/2010

Subscribe   I have been answering a lot of questions from uninformed first time buyers on websites Like Homeresearch.com and Trulia.com, these sites have realtors who will answer real estate questions.  The majority of questions are regarding if one house or another is available.  They do not have a Realtor nor are they pre-approved......So I am writing this for the benefit of the many first time home buyers who do not know that their first step should be to find a Realtor they feel comfortable with.   The buyers Realtor is paid by the seller and so the expert help of an experienced Realtor comes at no cost to them.  Their next step should be to obtain a pre-approval from their bank or other lender.  Without a pre-approval, any offer they submit will likely be ignored.  If they do not h... 02/16/2010

I sold a brand new home in Fremont today. (not shown here) I am not the broker there at the new home in Fremont building site. Rather, I am the broker for TriCity Real Estate Brokers, Inc. here http://www.tricityhome.com. But, an earnest home buyer found my site and--long story short--bought a brand new home in Fremont at the new Cedarbrook subdivision. I also discovered that they read my prior blog post on New homes in Niles here. http://tricityhome.blogspot.com/2009/12/niles-area-of-fremont.html. On our tour of the homes, we were impressed with many things that led up to the new home in Fremont purchase. One thing we were educated about was the use of Hardie planks by James Hardie (facebook page). The name Hardie seems perfectly fitting. These are "hard" somewhat flexible, cement boar... 02/14/2010

At the time of writing this page (2-10-10) Parkmont Villas Townhomes on Bright Common and Lavendar Common have been hovering around 435k for a Via Bravo--the two bedroom 2.5 bath and 475k for the Villa Bella--the 3 bed 2.5 bath townhouses. Sometimes we get a scare when a neighbor lists their Parkmont home for sale at say $410k for the Via Bella--3 bed 2.5 bath at 1700 sq ft. I am often asked why this is, or I am asked if it will hurt the value of the surrounding Parkmont homes. Truth is that it is unfortunate that the listing agent goes so low on the very first day. After all, the agent's job is to get the most they can for the seller of the property, right? Even if the seller is the bank--we have a fiduciary duty to perform. So, why so low? Sometimes out-of-area agents fail to know the... 02/11/2010

 Subscribe You can play in the snow with your family without having to drive all the way to Lake Tahoe or Reno.  At Leland Meadows you can have fun in the snow.  They have inner tubes that have tow straps on them so you can be towed up the hill and then you slide down.  So much easier for us older folks who do not want to drag the tube, while we walk up the hill.   For the younger and more energenic, you can still do it the old fashioned way.  My Family and some friends enjoyed both the towing as shown on left and the old fashioned way pictured below.  If you like to ski (like I do) you can also visit dodge ridge which is about 15 to 20 minutes away.  Go to www.snowplay.com  to find leland meadows and you can find dodge ridge at http://www.dodgeridge.com/site/index.php  You can play for... 02/05/2010

Subscribe The FHA has come up with some new rules when it comes to their loans.  Beginning April 2010, the up front mortgage insurance will increase from 1.75% to 2.25% There will be no more spot appraisals.  So it will be harder to get an approval on a condo.  This is a big one.  Effective for all case numbers issued on or after February 1 of this year, all previous FHA condo approvals will be eliminated and condominium projects must be recertified by HUD. You can pretty much forget about buying a condo until the project has been blessed by HUD or one of HUD's approved lenders. Going forward there will be two approval methods for FHA Case numbers ordered after February 1, 2010;  Hud Review and Approval Process (H-RAP) DE Lender-Approval and Review Process (DEL-RAP) On another note>>> F... 02/05/2010

Subscribe Smart consumers, taking advantage of the historically low interest rates, the very good home prices and also, the extended and expanded tax credit, are helping to water a housing market growth.   This is in turn helping the economy in general.  According to several surveys, most of the current home owners say they would use the tax credit money to pay off existing debt, do home improvement, or invest it, or put it in savings. Helping to energize the housing market is the reason behind the homebuyer tax credit and the recent extension and expansion.  Consumer spending is, of course, the real water for the nation's economic growth, and a lot of consumer spending is fueled by the growing housing market,  along with new jobs, and confidence in our country's rebound from the recess... 02/01/2010

Real estate agents who help Fremont home buyers look at homes spend a lot of time out in the field. Today, I was one of the agents doing just that--spending a lot of time out in the field showing Fremont homes. My home buyers and I looked at 11 homes today. It may not be considered a lot of homes by some, but we did it smoothly and effectively within 2 hours without being rushed. That was nice. The odd part of it all was that during the whole time, I felt like I was being stalked. Not by my clients but by other Fremont home buyers. More times than a few, we pulled up to the next house on our tour only to find that there was someone already waiting there in a car or van. They seemed motionless at first. Quietly, these car sitters waited for me to pull up, and then watched me get out my s... 01/30/2010

On Tuesday, Jan 11, the Fremont City Council voted to join the California FIRST financing program. As reported in last week's issue, California FIRST is a voluntary program that provide loans to homeowners to finance energy efficiency upgrades. The loans are repaid through a special property tax assessment. Recently the City of Hayward joined this program and Bay East staff testified in favor of the California FIRST program and urged Hayward to involve the REALTOR® community in designing and marketing the program. Bay East offered the same support and cooperation to the City of Fremont. Remember .... "Dream Green"  Considering Moving to the East Bay Area?    ~   Do you want to Buy or Sell a home?       Do you have clients with needs in the East Bay?      Search East Bay Area Properties... 01/19/2010

Fremont interested in the Oakland A's...again... At a council meeting last week, Fremont City Manager Fred Diaz revived Fremont's chances at landing the team.  Supporters and opponents of the new stadium were equal in attendance.  Notably different than in January 2009 when hundreds of stadium opponents rallied outside of City Hall.  More than a dozen Chamber of Commerce members spoke to the council in favor of the new stadium plan.  Supporters of the stadium believe that bringing the baseball team to Fremont would boost business and create more jobs.  Opponents, however, say that research has shown that stadiums are not economic opponents. The new stadium plans would put a 36,000-seat ballpark on 120 acres of land owned by the NUMMI auto plant, which will be closing in April of this ye... 01/19/2010

I got frustrated with somethings in the real estate business recently. One thing in particular was the fact that buyers were asking me to show them properties I knew nothing about. I got calls that went something like..."Oh Jeff, here's one I want to see." or "Jeff, can we see these. I'll send you a list." These were listings I had never seen, they were growing in number, and they were coming from other MLSs like Santa Clara, San Mateo, etc. Santa Clara County MLS currently does not cooperate with Alameda County, so if this is new to you, it might be a little complicated. For example, let's say a Santa Clara broker gets a Fremont listing but does not have the Alameda County MLS subscription. It happens a lot. It will only show in their MLS not mine or maybe not yours. Well, frustrated, ... 01/18/2010

If you remember reading about Agnus from a recent post here, you might agree with us when we tell you that we collectively decided it was time to let her go from our 'current client list.' It is a rare thing to let a client go or even worse, fire a client, but there comes a time when you need to stay on target with the business and stop representing a client. In order to successfully represent a client, they should be ready, willing and able. "Ready" is usually environmental or possibly a work related aspect of making the move. "Willing" is the drive behind it; the motivation and reason. "Able" is the feasibility; usually the money and/or other resources. These are my subjective definitions, but they seem true enough to get the point across. Agnus showed all three, but later it was disc... 01/14/2010

If you have been on facebook, and had seen this ad you should buy a pack or two here http://www.amazon.com/. They are these clever little snaps that wrap around the end of an open bag, then you just snap the other on top. Now why didn't I think of that. Is it real estate related? No, but they sure are cool if you like to keep things fresh and neat. You get 12 for $10.00. I have a bunch. I love em. 01/13/2010

Some time ago, I was at City Beach for my coed bachelor and bachelorette party. Yes, my wife-to-be was there. It was a fun time, and I especially enjoyed the bocce courts they have there. Thanks to my brother and a resource or two, I learned that the floor of the bocce court is partially made up of crushed oyster shell. Fascinated by such a claim, I bent down for a closer look. Sure enough, there were little bits of oyster shell on the bocce court. It actually had a mother of pearl effect under the bocce court lights they use there. However, albeit beautiful to some, it can be a bit messy and quite evident to that fact immediately after players receive a pat for a good roll. A white, dusty hand print poofs its way onto almost any fabric. Well meaning gestures of, "way to go" and "good o... 01/12/2010

If you go to my site, http://www.tricityhome.com, you will see an iPhone app down near the bottom of the page that you can download. The application allows users to search for homes on the iPhone in Fremont and many other cities, but even better, a user can create a search criteria, save it and when a home comes up for sale that matches the criteria, it alerts the iPhone user to view their homes on the iPhone. Pictures, data and map are all there. Great, Now that it was in, I was ready to go give it a try on my phone. One small problem. I have a Blackberry. My developer passed me up and went straight to search for homes on the iPhone. He said that there are much more apps written for the iPhone. But, they are working on the application for the Blackberry as I write, supposedly. So, I ca... 01/10/2010

In a Q & A I took part in, a homebuyer needed to know if his agent was a "great" agent or just there, like a lemon. My answer was abit roundabout because it can be subjective, but only up to a point. There is merit to the question. Representing a seller for example, any licensee can list a home, but having real estate contract knowledge and thinking outside of the box when an offer comes though the fax or scan is one of several characteristics that mark a great agent. I tutor my agents in regards to the purchase agreement for a total almost 8 hours of lecture—line for line in a Quicktime presentation. Not that I have arrived by any means, but I want my new agents to know what I know about the contract. Knowing the buyer’s 3 day right of rescission for lead, natural hazard disclosures a... 01/08/2010

I am starting off the 2010 year by putting together my Women's Network for Home Buyers here in Fremont, CA.  Single women continue to be a  very strong  member of the home ownership here in our local market.  tha NAR states that twenty percent of home buyers were single females, and 10 percent were single males.  With the $8000 Tax Credit, the numbers could only increase here in our Fremont Housing Market.   Part of our goals of the Fremont Women's Home Buyers group is to help educate the buyers with the new rules and regulations of the lending industry.  We want to help women make strong educated decisions on the key aspects of purchasing a first time home or an invesment. We hear it is satisfying to purchase a bank owned home. Mmaybe maybe not.  Connecting with our Women's Fremont Hom... 01/04/2010

If you do not know already, there is a great Social Media tool sort of like YouTube. It's called Slideshare. http://www.slideshare.net As an agent and a broker, teaching is part of the profession. Home buyers, home sellers, licensees and myself included all benefit from being educated about real estate and how it applies to us all. Slideshare allows you to create streaming audio/visual presentations using PowerPoint (other programs too), but PowerPoint being perhaps the most convenient. Once finished, like in my example below, viewers must click on the green play button rather than the prompt that moves, so I'm sure that could be a bit confusing. But all in all, Social media packs a punch. For example, without even trying, the slide share presentation below has been viewed almost one th... 12/27/2009

A while back, I had a home for sale in Union City, and I had just finished up on a few things after an open house. I decided to drive home by way of a different street. All the while, in the back of my mind, I wondered where a poor Prudential agent's real estate sign ended up, and there it was. The sign was posted on a home for sale in Union City on Almaden Ct off of Alvarado during my listing period on another Union City home nearby. My seller and I always got a kick out of the bare post with no sign. The missing sign started as a dangler. You know, the one hook dangle? Then, it just dropped on the lawn. The agent never bothered to check on the home. I even called. After a while, someone finally decided to dump it. Stop, I know what you're thinking--It wasn't me. I'm not trying to sla... 12/23/2009

I have a wonderful home in Parkmont for sale here at http://www.homes-in-fremont-unioncity-newark.com/ I put it at this point2home site because I want to have the home in parkmont be posted (syndicated) to 30+ websites. Well, it worked. It's out there, and we are marketing the home in Parkmont aggressively. In fact, we procured a ready, willing and very able buyer today. I cannot discuss particulars, but even though the buyer is ready willing and able to purchase this home, we have obstacles. One problem is overcome already, the HUD requirements for FHA and condos regarding spot approvals for condos I mentioned in an earlier blog here http://tricityhome.blogspot.com/2009/12/fha-loans-for-condos-in-fremont.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/TCREB+(Home... 12/17/2009