1. We can SELL your house for more money. According to a National Assoc. of Realtors report, a FSBO home sold for $153,000, while a Realtor generated assisted sales sold for $211,000

2. We do this full-time. Often FSBOs don’t recognize how [...]]]>  

Here are six reasons you might consider using The Kelly & Noman Team to sell your House:

1. We can SELL your house for more money. According to a National Assoc. of Realtors report, a FSBO home sold for $153,000, while a Realtor generated assisted sales sold for $211,000

2. We do this full-time. Often FSBOs don’t recognize how many hours a Realtor spends selling a home. Pre-marketing, advising on the right strategy for marketing, using our years of experience through 3 such “corrected” markets, pricing to “lead the market” and representing YOU in all negotiations equates to a big work week! Why do we work so hard? To get you the highest price, with the least amount of hassles in the shortest amount of time!

3. Our  market knowledge is second to none! We provide the detailed information you need to price the home competitively. Setting the right price is listed as the third most difficult problem FSBOs have in selling their own homes, according to a study by NAR.

4. We understand how to complete all the contracts, forms and disclosure statements required and also know the time-frames, techniques and right people to get the job done right and on time!

5. We are  objective about your  house, as well as negotiate and overcome buyer objections. You most likely have emotional attachments to your house. Balancing offers and counteroffers, as well as handling the contingencies that usually occur, can be overwhelming and scary for a homeowner/seller but for us the load isn’t heavy at all nor disconcerting.

6. We  help buyers locate the best financing. All of our preferred lenders are experienced in helping buyers locate the right financing and select between fixed, adjustable, or balloon mortgages. The complexity of mortgage financing requires a trusted relationship between the Realtor and their Lender of choice. Our lenders DO NOT let us and YOU down!

  But try it yourself for a few weeks and YOU make the decision. And if you need some help along the way give us a call. We don’t want to see you get into any trouble down the path of home selling!

Back in 1992, an article in Time Magazine included this quote from market analyst Dennis Gartman:  “The US economy [...]]]>   A friend of mine sent me this blast from the past. One needs to keep the current economic conditions in context and perspective. Remember Edmund Burke’s warning:

“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”

Back in 1992, an article in Time Magazine included this quote from market analyst Dennis Gartman:  “The US economy remains almost comatose. The slump already ranks as the longest period of sustained weakness since the Depression. The economy is staggering under many “structural” burdens, as opposed to familiar “cyclical” problems. The structural faults represent once-in-a-lifetime dislocations that will take years to work out. Among them: the job drought; the debt hangover; the banking collapse; the real estate depression; the health care cost explosion and the runaway federal deficit.” 

 Hmmm…sounds very much like today.  You may remember that the time period following 1992 included terrific growth and opportunities in the economy, stock market and housing.  If history repeats itself, which it often does, this could point to much better days in the future with opportunities in the present.  The most successful investors buy during the periods with the most pessimism.

 Bob Finn  707-836-9264 (pages me over the weekend)

We had a nice vist at our office today–Alli’s granddaughter Emma! Mom had to go to the DMV so we had a visitor who made “tribble” noises, wondered if my cat was friendly after pulling his ear and generally brightened up the place. I only get that smile from [...]]]>

She has her Grannie's Nose!

We had a nice vist at our office today–Alli’s granddaughter Emma! Mom had to go to the DMV so we had a visitor who made “tribble” noises, wondered if my cat was friendly after pulling his ear and generally brightened up the place. I only get that smile from Alli when a grand-child is near it seems!! Cute huh?

 Here are a few facts that may help to put the issue into perspective:

 The county has approximately 640-registered vacation rentals in Sonoma County outside of the Coastal Zone, [...]]]> Vacation Rentals–The new hot topic in Sonoma County appears to be Vacation Rentals and the New Vacation Rental Ordinance. Passion runs high on both sides of the discussion.

 Here are a few facts that may help to put the issue into perspective:

 The county has approximately 640-registered vacation rentals in Sonoma County outside of the Coastal Zone, (which is not currently being considered in the proposed Ordinance.) The County collects 11% TOT tax on all of vacation rentals, making over 1 million dollars per year.  Per PRMD here is the breakdown of Vacation Rentals in the districts:

 1srt District has144; 2^nd District has 1, 3^rd District has 5; 4^th District has 71; 5^th District has 419 (that’s 65%!) outside of the Coastal Zone. Our little West County area suddenly has a big piece of the pie. Vacation Rentals are a major part of the economy in the Russian River. With 65% of the revenue, we might well expect at some point to see some of this passed back to West County in terms of services.

 Here is another fact: Only 13 vacation rentals of the 640 are considered “problems”. A problem is defined as having received more than 4 valid complaints per PRMD.  In the Russian River area, the “problem” properties are narrowed down to 3 “Problem properties”. Statistically, this means that the “problem properties” compromise less than 2% of all vacation rentals and in the Russian River area, are less than .006%

 The “Fix” for a 2% problem is to redefine Vacation Rentals and limit what can and cannot be done with them. The concerns and problems boil down to:

 Noise, Parking, Numbers of Visitors on a property, Trash and Human Waste. The two major concerns have been Noise and Parking.

 The proposed ordinance attempts to address these with land use allocation issues as opposed to a noise ordinance. The other issues are infrastructure issues. Each of these issues applies equally to all residential property owners and long-term tenants as well as vacation homes. This ordinance would set a precedent by only applying a “solution” to a segment of the owner population. It is discriminatory in nature. By separating out by the use of a property (mostly part time owners who rent out their nicely fixed up homes), there may be significant unintended consequences. These consequences in Maui changed the landscape of tourism significantly. Our county has not looked at the unintended consequences, or seriously analyzed the economic impact to communities like ours that have a tourism-based economy.

 Let me, for a moment; talk briefly about a client of mine who purchased a property recently that needed some work. On the one side of the property is a vacation rental, on the other a distressed property with distressing tenants.

 The vacation rental guests park in front of my client’s property. The long-term tenants do also. On trash day, the trash from the vacation rental is wheeled out to the curb. On trash day, my client has to have someone go over and pick up all the garbage dumped on the property by the long-term tenants next door. The long-term tenants have vandalized my client’s property and belongings. If the vacation rental ordinance comes in, the visitors in the vacation rental will not be allowed to sit outside or enjoy the hot tub after 10 pm. The long-term tenants next door regularly play loud, nasty music until the wee hours without repercussion. In vacation rentals, if there is a sewer or septic issue, it is handled immediately as vacationing guests have zero tolerance for such problems. The septic next door to my client’s is probably comprised with no solution in sight.

 Separating out the infrastructure issues of property owners to create an “Ordinance” that impact only a select few of property owners (the majority of whom are taking excellent care of their properties) does not make sense to me. Here is a breakdown of the issues and

concerns in a spreadsheet format.

 On paper, it doesn’t look too bad. Unfortunately, the way this ordinance is proposed, one neighbor who lodges one complaint, can create a permanent end of use for a vacation rental owner. This sets up a “big Brother is Watching You” mentality that seems unnecessary and harsh.

 Our little town of Monte Rio is dubbed “Vacation Wonderland” It has been a vacation community from its inception. Unintended consequences of this ordinance may limit or reduce the usage of properties long in existence and reduce TOT tax by as much as 30% (per one vacation property management company’s research). Do we really want to reduce the amount of revenue being generated in our community at this financially stressed time? Another unintended consequence is the reduction of jobs in communities as the vacation rental business creates many jobs such as landscaping, maintenance, hot tubs care and housecleaning. Our unemployment rate in the West County is hovering near 20%.

 Finally, many people invest in properties as vacation rentals and pay more for them as they produce more income then a long-term rental. People also buy second homes and use them as vacation rentals in order to make their mortgage payment. An unintended consequence for this ordinance is to possibly reduce property values and possibly end up with more foreclosures.

 I have spoken to several people in PRMD about this ordinance. The general consensus seems to be that the request has been made to put together an ordinance and they have no choice but to obey. The folks I have talked to believe that this problem would be better addressed by a noise ordinance with teeth and self-policing.

 If we must monitor each other and how we use our properties, it would be great for everyone to need to be a good neighbor. Let’s create infrastrucre that applies to all neighbors and that can work to support each other rather than create measures that is draconian to some – with only 2% of property owners that are considered problems.

 The Planning Commission is reviewing this amended document on August 5^th. They are only accepting comments on the changes from the first draft. This will go before the Board of Supervisors in late September. Please write to your supervisor on this issue. You can make a difference.

 With respect for our community,

 Kyla Brooke,MS, Realtor

707-869-3865 Ext 18

Cell: 481-00

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Robert Digitale, reporter for the Press Democrat, sat in this week at the Santa Rosa Chapter of Realtor’s weekly Breakfast meeting. He does a great job covering the local real estate market.  In his blog, Robert reported that the county recorded 355 single-family home sales in July, compared to 451 in June….a 21 percent drop!!   In [...]]]> 8/18/2010. Santa Rosa, Ca

Robert Digitale, reporter for the Press Democrat, sat in this week at the Santa Rosa Chapter of Realtor’s weekly Breakfast meeting. He does a great job covering the local real estate market.  In his blog, Robert reported that the county recorded 355 single-family home sales in July, compared to 451 in June….a 21 percent drop!!   In a quote from Robert’s blog, “Sellers need to sharpen their pencils,” said Mike Kelly, an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Santa Rosa …But, like I said, if you’re a Real Estate Hour listener, you already knew that too. To read the full article click here