The real deal about Los Angeles real estate.....really!

Multiple Offers Increasing in So California - The Tide has Officially Turned..........

We are seeing mutliple offers all over the place here in Southern California.  And not only in certain price ranges, but across the board.

Our listing in Stevenson Ranch has 10 offers on it after only a week and a half!

Our North Hollywood condo listing that has been on the market for quite a while just recently ended up with multiple offers.

Not only that, but on the buying side we are ending up in multiple offers with the offers we're writing for our buyers.

Our Encino, CA buyers - 4 offers on the property

Our Stevenson Ranch buyers - 3 offers on the property

Our Calabasas buyers - 3 offers on the property

There was even one agent in our office that reported a Tarzana / Woodland Hills home that has 44 offers on it!

We've seen it before.  This is the beginning of the tide beginning to turn from a buyer's "shooting fish out of a barrel" market more towards a seller's market.

Get your buyers in now while the price points are still low.  Based on my experience, I don't think they're going to stay that way for very long.

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Become an exclusive preferred referral agent in your area - www.referralexchangegroup.com

Referral Exchange is an exclusive, invitation-only business networking organization that is cutting edge.

With our affiliate and partner memberships and teleconference capabilities, you can receive referral business in your area.

Many of our members have been involved in other networking communities and have decided to make Referral Exchange their business network of choice. 

What they feel are the strengths of Referral Exchange is that we make the absolute BEST use of your time as a member.  We get it.  We're all busy working professionals and the time dedicated to attending a business function must be worth that time.  It must yield results.

Our chapter meetings are free of rigid formats and non-productive activity, or membership rituals that do not make the best use of your valuable time.  We get right down to it!

One of the most unique features of our chapter meetings are the Member Focus Masterminds section.  That is when all the other members sit down and figure out how they can bring referrals to YOU specifically.

So ................ What's New?

Don't "axe" me why, but I just felt like checking in with everyone and seeing what's new in your life.

How's business?

How's your personal life?

Anything new and exciting?

Same 'ol ..... Same 'ol?

Just a light and breezy blog post to dish a little.

No strings attached!

So talk to me ........

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Agents Faking Multiple Offers - Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire!!

As Suze Orman would day:  "Don't do it, don't do it, don't you DARE do it!"

I can't tell you how many times in the last few months I've written offers for buyers and then the listing agent tells me there are multiple offers on the property when I know darn well there are not.

An example would be an offer I wrote for a client where the listing agent stated there were multiple offers, some over asking price.

My first indication of something rotten in Denmark was that my client wrote just under asking and we went through a series of counter offers for a week, which ended up in my client getting a final counter at asking price.

Believe it or not, we opened escrow, and just as fast as we opened escrow, we ended up cancelling escrow due to contractual discrepancies that the listing agent refused to acknowledge.

Anyway, my client, being as motivated as he is, went immediately back out with me to look at other properties and we got an accepted offer on another property.

Meanwhile, over the course of the next 2 weeks, the listing agent kept coming back to me trying to negotiate a deal on the old property.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL THE MULIPLE OFFERS?  AND WHY ARE YOU NOW TRYING TO NEGOTIATE A DEAL UNDER ASKING WHEN YOU HAVE OTHERS OVER ASKING?

To me, this is a prime example of mis-truth and deceipt ending up coming back to bite the listing agent in the a$$.

It could have ended up in a closed transaction for this listing agent if he would have just put it out there and not try to be a weasel.

NOTHING GOOD CAN EVER COME OF A TRANSACTION THAT STARTS OUT WITH DECEIPT!

Just a word of advice:  Do NOT fake multiple offers!  Be a straight shooter and everything will be just fine.  It's when you try to pull this kind of stunt that everything starts to get dirtied up.  In more ways than one you'll end up getting nailed by the powers of the universe!

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We paid for a bus drivers sandwich at Subway! Pay It Forward

Richard and I were at Subway the other day picking up a quick bite on route to our next appointment.

In line behind us was a gentleman with a great attitude, and the Subway counter guy asked what he wanted.

He replied "Anything you got, just as long as it's free!"

That gave us a little chuckle.

I noticed he was wearing a uniform, so I asked him what he does for a living and he stated that he was a bus driver.

Richard and I told him that we would like to buy his lunch for him.

He was gracious and thought it was the coolest thing ever. 

So did we!  I have to tell you, it's the best feeling ever to do some of these little things for people.  The look on their faces is priceless.....

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Treat mom to a special Mother’s Day Brunch at the Sportsmen’s Lodge Event Center in Studio City, California!

The Sportsmen’s Lodge Event Center will be hosting a fabulous Mother’s Day Brunch for all of the fabulous moms out there this Sunday, May 8, 2011.

The Sportsmen’s Lodge Event Center is located at 12833 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.

At the Sportsmen’s Lodge Event Center moms and their loved ones will enjoy a fantastic Champagne Brunch Buffet in honor of Mother’s Day!

Each Child 9 years old and under will eat for free at the Sportsmen’s Lodge Event Center. If you get to the Mother’s Day Brunch by 10:30 am you will get $5.00 off of your bill. Now, that is a treat for mom!

For more information regarding the Mother’s Day Brunch at the Sportsmen’s Lodge Event Center please visit the link: http://www.sportsmenslodge.com/

What a fantastic way to show mom how much she means to you!

Donated $30 to SaveAfricaNow.org today - Pay It Forward

I was at the GoGreen Expo today at the LA Convention Center. 

There were many very cool exhibitors there and some celebrity keynote speakers.

You can check out what the GoGreen Expo is all about here:

http://www.gogreenexpo.com

One of the exhibitors was a non-profit organization called SaveAfricaNow.org.

They raise funds for children who are stricken with AIDS and/or orphaned also.

I'm not even going to go into a description of that because I will probably break down, so excuse my brevity because I just can't go there.

Anyway, I presented them with a check for $30, and I am going to be helping them raise funds with my association with DailyTicket.

If you're in a postion to give a few dollars too, please do so.

Much love and positive energy,

The Ralphster

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There is a Chicago-based realty that is now offering a discount voucher on Groupon.

Dream Town Realty is offering a $1,000 cash-at-closing voucher for just $25!

You can read about it here:

http://www.walletpop.com/2011/04/10/save-1-000-on-real-estate-purchase-with-groupon/

Most of the online discount voucher companies, such as Groupon, Living Social, and new contender DailyTicket, offer huge discount vouchers on local merchant products and services such as restaurants, spas, classes, cosmetics services, cosmetic dentistry, theatre, car washes, special events, entertainment, and much more.

If you haven't read this month's ActiveRain Masterminds challenge, it actually had to do with this same topic:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/2238160/activerain-masterminds-march-2011-the-judges-scores-are-in-we-have-our-winners-1-250-bonus-points-each-

Is this a new wave in the future of real estate?

Do any RESPA guidelines fall into place here from state to state?

What's your opinion?

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Pay It Forward - I donated $25 to the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation

Wow.  What a week.  Elizabeth Taylor is no longer with us.  What a huge void we have without her presence.

She WAS Hollywood, and in my opinion the last living link to old, classic Hollywood.

I remember my Mom telling me that Elizabeth Taylor was famous for her violet eyes.  At first I didn't believe her, but when you look very closely, there truly is a slight violet hue to her eyes.

To me, she is a symbol of living your life fully by your beliefs, without wavering to public pressures.  If she were a boxer, she would have been the undisputed lightweight champion, because with that amount of fight you are pretty much unstoppable.

And lastly, she had dedicated decades of her life to fighting a terrible disease that can strike anyone in many different countries.  I'm certain that the advances we've made towards treatment and a cure were due in heavy part from the right hooks and left uppercuts she threw by her tireless fundraising efforts that have totalled in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

You can donate too by clicking the logo below:

Brava! Ms. Taylor for your bravery, and your vulnerability.  Thank you for a life well-lived and for for a society you've well-served.

You did good, chick....................

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A real DOOZY this week with an appraisal on a short sale I am mitigating..........

In addition to my own short sale listings, I am also a certified/hired short sale mitigator for other agents.

Right now I have 3 short sales that I am mitigating for other agents in my area.

One of them just got an accepted offer, and the other two I have obtained written approval for.  Both of those had 2 lenders on them, and one of them I successfully negotiated the HAFA short sale for, and the sellers will be receiving $3000 from the net proceeds at the close of escrow.

Well, on the one that is not the HAFA short sale, the appraisal was done on the property this week.

But here's the twist: 

1. The property was appraised $100,000 below the accepted purchase price!

2. There were MULTIPLE offers on this property!

3. And here's the clincher:  the appraiser that did the BPO/Appraisal for the mortgage holding bank was the SAME appraiser that was sent out to do the appraisal for the buyer's lender!!

So now at this point, all we can do is draft an amendment to the contract for the new purchase price at $100k below, revise the HUD, and send it in to the bank to see how it flies.

The appraiser is from out of the area, and for this particular neighborhood that the property is located in, you REALLY need to know the area because it has very distinct neighborhoods within the area that vary drastically in value that are located literally within a mile or two of each other.

I know this neighborhood VERY well, and in fact I own a single family investment property in the area, and I can tell you with 100% assurity that this appraisal is beyond wrong.  I mean, the fact that the property had multiple offers on it pretty much tells you right there that it was priced right.

The part that bothers me the most about this is that this one appraiser's actions are going to cause HUNDREDS of people some undue hardship that live in the area, and will unjusitifiably bring the value of the homes in the area down when the market has clearly spoken on what the value really is based on the accepted purchase price within a multiple offer situation.

How are we supposed to recover in this market when we have appraisers who are practicing this kind of thing?

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