100% listing guarantee

As a standard part of every listing agreement the Seller agrees to give the Agent a certain numbers of days to sell the home. It can be as few as 90 days or as much as 365 days. In the current market I think 180 days is a reasonable place to start.
The problem is that the Seller is contractually obligated to the Realtor, even if they become dissatisfied with the Realtor.
That's why I give every listing client a written 100% guarantee:

My Guarantee to You:

I am so sure that you will be happy with my service and results that I offer you the following guarantee: 

 If at any time prior to acceptance of an offer, you are not satisfied, you may cancel this listing agreement in writing without any cost or further obligations to me. 

Proper marketing of a home is expensive.Most of the costs are from my pocket long before the home is sold. The reason I can offer this guarantee is that I only choose to work with clients I'm sure I can serve well. If I do an extraodinary job for them, I never have to worry about holding them to a listing term.

Before you sign a listing agreement with any Realtor, ask for this same guarantee.

Eric Haggin Keller Williams Realty - Danville (serving the whole Tri-Valley and beyond) 
925 388-6462
EricHaggin@EastBayPlus.com

Tulsa office / warehouse for lease

I am a Realtor in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I own properties in the Tulsa Oklahoma area.

We currently have one warehouse available for lease in the Tulsa area
( or for purchase at the right price):

1565 N. 166th East Ave.

---

 http://www.loopnet.com/lid/17309119

 East Park Industrial 1565 N. 166th East Ave., Catoosa, OK 74015

Total Space Available: 7,000
SF Rental Rate: $5 /SF/Year
Property Type:Industrial Property
Sub-type:Flex Space
Building Size: 7,000 SF
Year Built:2007
Lot Size:33,180 SF
Zoning Description:IL
Features: Electricity/Power

Listing ID 17309119

Lease Type: NNN
Parking Spaces: 15
Office SF: 1000 SF No.
Dock-High Doors/Loading: 1
Drive In / Grade-Level Doors: 2
Clear Ceiling Height: 18 ft.
Features: Cooling is available - Y Heating is available - Y Lighting is Available - Y
Highlights Easy Access to I-244 / I-44 / Hwy 169 1 - 14' Drive-in Door 1 - 12" Drive-in Door 1 - Dock-High Door with Leveler 18' Center Height 100' Clear-Span (60' x 100')
Warehouse Description 6,000 SF Insulated Warehouse with 100' Clear-Span and 18' Center Height (16' at the sidewalls),
1 14' Drive-in Door,
1 12' Drive-in Door and
1 Dock-High Door with Leveler.
 1,000 SF of Office Space with separate offices, bathroom and kitchenette area.
 Zoning is IL Excellent access to Hwy 169 / I-244 / I-44

---

Eric Haggin, Realtor serving the East Bay Area...Plus
925 388-6462
EricHaggin@gmail.com

Good idea- pool becomes firepit

Here is a good idea.

Many homeowners or potential buyers do not want a pool. It can cost $5,000~$10,000 to remove or fill-in an existing pool.

This is a creative solution:

Note that the step has become a firepit!

Very cool.

Eric The Sculptor

In addition to selling real estate, I am a Sculptor

Please check out my sculpture page here >> EricThe Sculptor

Investor's Wisdom

Here are some bits of Investor wisdom which I have seen to be true from my own experience.

---

1. Buy more, sell less

When I look back at deals didn't do, and properties I have sold, this is what hits me. I could have sold less and still bought more. Particularly in these times of very tight credit it can seem necessary to sell one deal to gather cash for the next. Sometimes it's a good option, but many times there are other ways to achieve the same goal without selling.

A few years ago I bought a warehouse by refinancing an office building and cross collateralizing with a small retail place. Neither one was sufficient on it's own but together I got the loan for the warehouse. Last year I got the bank to remove the lien on building #2 so now it's again free to use for another deal.

This also holds true for your home. When you want to buy a new home you should try to keep the current home as a rental. Not all homes make good rentals, but it's always an option I want my Clients to consider.

---

2. Live where you want to live, invest where the numbers make sense.

Investing in properties far from home goes against everything I always believed. It's really common sense that you can't properly control your investments if you are far away. 

A few years ago I had 3 properties in my neighborhood and wanted more. It struck me that, if an earthquake struck me, I would be totally wiped out in 11 seconds. I expanded my search to areas within a 1 hour drive. As I went further and further I realized that I was already too far to fix toilets and drive by to make sure the car isn't parked on the lawn.

At this same time I had the epiphany that changed me from being an owner of investment real estate into being a real estate Investor. I did a simple calculation of the return on investment (ROI) compared to the return on equity (ROE). I realized to my horror that my true return on equity was only about 2% or 3%. I could do better, with less risk to just dump it in the bank. This is what pushed me to look out of state for better returns. As soon as I started treating my investments as a business, I started getting the benefits of time leverage and economies of scale that businesses enjoy.

---

3. Buy a beautiful spreadsheet, not necessarily a beautiful property

I love real estate, it's one of the reasons that I am a Realtor. Part of the process of becoming an Investor is to separate the love of real estate from the love of the deal. I have found many properties that I really wanted to buy, and looked to be really good deals. Unfortunately most do not stand up to careful, dispassionate, analysis with an APOD or similar spreadsheet. 

Even the most beautiful property will not make you smile if it's eating your cash flow every month. If you want a vacation home, or a horse property you should buy them when you have profits from your true investments. Don't let some time-share salesman convince you that it's an investment.

---

4. It's better to loose 5 good deals than to get one bad deal.

For those of us who love real estate it's hard to pass up what seems to be a good deal. Unfortunately there is often not enough time to get information or to verify information you already have. In fact some real estate agents and sellers use time pressure to make sure a buyer doesn't find out everything they should. 

One really bad deal can wipe out the profits from 4 good ones, and might even knock you out of the game for good. It's a hard balance because in the end you need to do deals (see #5 below) to make money and many potential Investors get stuck in the analysis stage and never actually buy anything.

---

5. Take action! Be accountable.

You must take action to make money, it's that simple. That action might be to buy, sell, hold, or something else. The point is that the world is always changing, opportunities arise where none were before. An effective Investor is constantly looking for hidden value, and protecting what they already have.

Accountability is not what you think it is. Yes, accounting is important, you need to know your numbers to succeed. Accountability is about something else.

If you have a goal or target it's critical that you have an accountability partner who helps you to stay on track. The goal is yours and it can be simple or grand. The only requirement is that it's a specific, measurable target. "I want to buy more properties" is useless, but "I want to own 5 more properties before this date 2 years from now" is something which can be broken down, subdivided into tasks, and tracked against a timeline. Your accountability partner never forces you to do something you do not want to do. They help you achieve what you have decided you want. It's not about blame if you fail, it's about "what can I do to help you succeed?"

---

6. Making good decisions comes from wisdom, wisdom comes from making bad decisions.

I love this because it frees us to make mistakes. If you limit your damage, mistakes are usually the cheapest form of education. I rode the dot-com stock bubble up to a fortune...and back down to nothing. That experience helped me to bail out of California real estate at the top. I lost a lot in the dot-com crash, but made much more by timing the real estate crash correctly.

Remember that you can also learn from the mistakes others have made before you. Ask friends, family, or Investors for advice. All mistakes and bad decisions have already been made by someone. 

---

Eric Haggin,

Realtor and Investor

925 388-6462

Eric@EastBayPlus.com

Short Sales

Short sales in real estate are becoming more common here in the East Bay. Of the 255 Dublin homes listed as Active or Pending as of 2/8/2010 , 133 were short sales

This is what you need to know...

If you bought a home from 2003~2008 it's likely that you owe more on your loans than the home is currently worth. This is known as being  " upside down " on the loan. By it's self it doesn't really matter. If you keep paying on the loan, and continue to live there nothing really changes. 

Here's where things get sticky. If you need to sell it's very possible that the current market value is less than the total of your loan balance and any expenses of selling. You can still make it right by bringing money to the deal to fill in the difference. Realistically most of use don't have a large pile of cash to make this happen. If you still want to sell you may need to do a " short sale ".

Let's back up a bit...

Your lender gave you your loan to buy the home andyou gave the lender a promise to pay them back. That promise was guaranteed by giving them the right to take your home if you don't pay. The process for this is called a foreclosure. If you stop paying your mortgage for any reason they will start the foreclosure process and 4 or 5 months later they will sell the home at a courthouse auction. If nobody buys it at the auction the ownership (title) goes to the lender and the property becomes an REO (Real Estate Owned by the bank). The REO home will be listed on the MLS by a Realtor working for the bank and sold to a new buyer. 

A foreclosure is devastating to your credit rating and doesn't always relive you of the obligation to pay the lender for the money they lost.

[ this is where I need to give you the obligatory "ask a lawyer or CPA" speech ]

So, what about a short sale?

A short sale is an agreement from your lender that if you sell the home, the lender will accept whatever they can get as full payment for the loan. 

Here's an example

Home purchased in 2004 for $500,000

Current loan amount is $400,000

Current market price is $350,000

Cost of sale $50,000

so if you sold today...

$350,000 - $50,000= $300,000 from sale. You still owe $400,000 to the lender which means that there is a shortage of $100,000. 

If the lender agrees to take the $100,000 loss then you can do the sale, "short-pay" the loan balance, and walk away. Your credit will suffer, but usually not as much as a foreclosure. But Why would they agree to do this? 

Foreclosures are expensive, and take many months. Even if they eventually get a judgement against you for the "Deficiency" it's really hard to actually get the money back. A short sale may be cheaper in the long run.

Sounds great, let's do it...

Well, maybe not.

The lender (or lenders if you have a 2nd loan also) will want proof that you can't pay your mortgage, not just don't want to pay. It's not enough to be upside-down, you also need to prove to the lenders that you have a genuine hardship. Loss of income, health expenses, or some other unexpected reason that you can no longer pay your monthly bills. You will need to give them copies of your income taxes for the past 2 years, bills, bank statements, mortgage statements, and pay check stubs or other proof of income. It's a long, uncertain process.

If it seems likely that a short sale is the best solution for your situation, I will list the home for sale and work hard to get a good offer. With an accepted offer in hand, I will negotiate with the lenders for you and try to convince them to accept the short sale proceeds as payment of your debt. 

You will lose the home, and get nothing in return. The good part is that the burden of the expensive monthly payments will be gone and you can find a cheaper place to live. 

It’s a “short” sale so it’s quick, right?

No, in fact short sales are notoriously slow. Figure from 2~6 months. I have seen some that are done in 40 days but it’s very unusual. Most of the time is wasted in bureaucratic dead ends, lost faxes, and indecision at the lenders. This is why it’s useful to have a Realtor help you get it done.

A word of warning…

There are scams which take advantage of people facing a short sale or foreclosure by confusing them into paying fees or signing over a deed. Never pay a penny or sign anything you don’t completely understand. Ask a friend or attorney to review any agreements you are considering. Realtors should not charge you anything, we are paid only as part of a completed short sale transaction.

If you want more information, or are curious if a short sale will benefit you, please contact me very soon. The longer you wait, and the further behind you get, the harder it will be.

Eric Haggin

925 388-6462

Eric@EastBayPlus.com

Keller Williams Realty, Danville

I serve clients in all parts of the San Francisco East Bay Area.

Yellow pages waste

It's happened again, and it makes me sick.

Someone has littered my neighborhood with useless heaps of paper in the form of a phone book. In this case it's the Valley Yellow Pages, but there have been others.

We never requested it and yet they dumped it on every local driveway. It would not be ok for a stranger to put an 8-track tape players in every driveway so why is this acceptable?

Valley Yellow pages

I did a little (very little) market research, nobody I asked has used a phone book  in the past year. I haven't used one for at least 4 years. It's sad to think of all of the time, money, and trees that were wasted to do nothing but add to our recycling bins.

I looked up my name in the book and it has our home phone number, but don't bother calling that number. I only really answer my cell number which is not even listed in the book. If you ever need to call me just Google "Eric Haggin" for my actual number, web site, and email address and don't waste time looking in any phone book.

The publisher of the Valley Yellow Pages prints 7.7 million directories every year ! My book has 222 pages, so assuming it's average for all of the areas they serve, that's  1,709,400,000 pages of paper every year. That's an unconscionable waste.

It struck me as funny that the Valley Yellow Pages has offices next to the Neptune Society. Or perhaps it's just my twisted way of seeing things.

Yellow pages office

To be fair, if you do not want one next time the Valley Yellow pages has an opt-out form buried on their web site:

http://www.myyp.com/directories  [ click on "Opt Out" and fill out the form.]

It's too late for this edition, but hopefully it will prevent the next one. Unfortunately they have made it necessary to do it every year! There is no permanent opt-out.

Ok, so I am a Realtor and I know that many Realtors send out lots of fliers and other junk. I have done a bit of that myself, but in the years I have been a Realtor it's probably less that the equivalent of 3 phone books. In the past 2 years I have sent almost nothing (and those I did send were my first class mail). Let's work to show advertisers that paper junk mail of all types are a waste by responding to digital media and intensionally ignoring any sort of junk mail (even mine!)

East Bay earthquake will happen

The horrific events in Japan recently should serve as a reminder to us that the Tri-Valley and East Bay Area will also suffer a disastrous earthquake. Are you ready?
I have used the Sendai earthquake and Tsunami as a reminder to prepare:

1. Refresh the contents of my "earthquake box"
I have a large container outside of my house with enough food and water for at least a week. Pretend that you will be camping far away, what would you bring? Earthquake box Food, daily medicines and first aid, radio and flashlight, batteries or solar power, tent and blankets, firewood and matches, tools, and most importantly lots of water. I write the date on all food with a maker pen and keep refreshing it about one time per year. Canned food, granola bars and dry pasta last a long time. Rice is ok to eat raw if you let it sit in water for about 1 hour. 5 gallon food buckets are free or cheap and have strong lids. food storage

 2. Review with my family what each of us should do if we are not together when it hits. Assume that phones will not work and roads may be blocked for a while. Our general rule is that if you are someplace safe then stay there. I have told my parents and my brother that I will check on them as soon as possible but that they should stay at their homes. I bought some walkie-talkies that have a range of many miles. Remember that all electronics should be solar powered or use common replaceable batteries. Your plug in chargers probably will not have power.

 3. Walk through the house to find and fix common hazards. It's easy to bolt bookcases to the wall but many videos of the Japan quake show falling bookcases. Pay particular attention to what's above beds. Bowling trophies are great but even a small quake will send them flying. Get a wrench ready to turn off the gas if a large quake hits. A plumber can install an inexpensive automatic shut-off valve for extra safety. gas valve

 4. Think about how we would do if there were no power or water for 2 weeks. Buy at least 4 five gallon bottles of water. You can also use bleach to disinfect water (use 8 drops per gallon). If there is a problem with the public water system it's good to use the water in your water heater. I have a valve set up so I can separate and protect that water. I have a small camping stove and fuel in the box. It's also a good idea to keep an extra bottle of propane for your barbecue. Flashlights and batteries will be essential. The new LED flashlights are more reliable and last a lot longer on a set of batteries. I also have a solar powered/crank powered radio.

 5. Learn more about the current science regarding earthquakes, earthquake prediction, and earthquake engineering. The April 2011 issue of Scientific American has an interesting article about earthquake warning systems (also available here online). The online edition has a very interesting collection of information about the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami. The Nova show on PBS did a very interesting episode about the events in Japan.

 6. Reconsider the cost/benefits of earthquake insurance The best place to learn more is the California Earthquake Authority web page.

 7. Installed an earthquake alarm . I'm not entirely convinced this will work, but it's only $25 so it's worth a try. earthquake alarm The idea is that the P waves arrive a few seconds before the more energetic and destructive S wave. The alarm might give us a chance to take cover before the big shakes hit. Someday we might have a statewide integrated alarm system similar to Japan's if funding can be found.

 As a Realtor in the East Bay I know that homes here are always at risk from earthquakes. My Clients and I choose to live in the East Bay because of the great quality of life. Simple preparation for "the big one" will make a big differance for our families' safety and comfort when it hit. 

Eric Haggin , Realtor
 925 388-6462
 Eric@EastBayPlus.com

iPhone apps I use to learn Chinese

Here are some of the iPhone apps I use to learn Chinese

---

eStroke -learn how to write characters with proper stroke order, also has a dictionary and flash cards
Chinese-Course.com -Daily lessons and various tools
HippoDict -Chinese/English dictionary and flash cards for study
ChineseWriter -From Popup Chinese to learn the characters

Mobile Mouse -Awesome tool to use iPhone for PC/Mac Chinese input
Magnifier -to read small writing, see all the strokes in a character
Translator -iPhone front-end to Google Translate. Works mostly ok but not perfect.
Pleco - a really good dictionary with extra features available as in-app purchases. I have the spoken words and the awesome OCR (see video below)
Important - This is how you enable handwriting of Chinese characters on your iPhone: Settings>General>Keyboard>International Keyboards>Add NewKeyboard> Chinese - Traditional Handwriting
Here are the Chinese language learning podcasts I listen to:

---

Popup Chinese
Medlock Method

Check out this new feature of Pleco on the iPhone, it's crazy good:

---

I have tested it for a while now and it's really good. Perfect for reading menus or newspapers. It even is able to read my Chinese writing!

These are my favorite books to learn Chinese

---

Beginning Chinese Reader
Living Mandarin ( 生活華語 )
Speak Mandarin in 500 words ( 五百字說華語 )
Remembering Traditional Hanzi

.

Since Jan 1 of 2011 it's been required that homes have carbon monoxide detectors. Do you have one installed yet?

CO has no smell or color so it's impossible to know it's there, but it's very dangerous. 

SB 183
(eff. Jan. 1, 2011)
This law enacts the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Prevention Act of 2010.  The law requires a carbon monoxide device (battery or hard-wired) to be installed in a "dwelling unit intended for human occupancy."  A violation is punishable by a maximum fine of $200 for each offense.  Owners of residential rental property must also comply with this law.  Tenants are responsible to notify the owner of an inoperable or deficient carbon monoxide device.
Installation Time Period:

• On or before July 1, 2011 for existing single-family dwelling units
• On or before Jan. 1, 2013 for all other existing dwelling units

Required or not, the detectors are cheap and easy to install so there's no reason not to. Combined smoke/CO detectors are a simple, quick solution.

Here's a video by Fredddie Mac which shows one of the many ways people in foreclosure are scammed.

This is the government sponsored web site with help for
those in or near foreclosure >> http://www.995hope.org/

If you need help for an East Bay Area Realtor, please contact me:

Eric Haggin

925 388-6462

EricHaggin@gmail.com

If you are planning to buy a home in the East Bay be sure to include new homes in your search. Your Realtor can help you negotiate the best possible concessions from the builders and it costs you nothing extra.
 The new home builders pay a commission to a Realtor for bringing a potential buyer into the models for the first time. If don’t have an agent the builder saves the fee, but will not pass it on to buyers. The builders want to encourage Realtors so they are sometimes more likley to offer add ons, upgades, or other incentives to the Buyer’s deal.
So, if you want to see all homes available, including new homes, contact me anytime.