Real estate agents who want to be successful in this business can’t hide in their shell or be a “wilting lily” - at least not in Silicon Valley.  Being able to get out there and find new clients with whom to work, encourage offers on listings, and negotiate well for buyers and sellers all require a level of assertiveness.  We may need to work outside of our comfort zone if the situation requires it.

But sometimes real estate sales people can go too far and venture into aggression instead of assertiveness.  The words “pushy” and “salesperson” almost seem to go together at times, don’t they?  (Personally, I hate buying cars because I loathe being on the other end of what feels like pushy sales tactics.)

A few years back, someone I met at an open house said that he didn’t need to like his agent because the agent wasn’t someone he’d want for a friend – it was someone who would push through what needed to be pushed and he didn’t need to be likable.  I found that a really interesting idea, but fundamentally, I disagree with the guy’s premise that successful Realtors basically have to be jerks.  It just isn’t true; in fact, the opposite is the case.

The most successful real estate agents share a few recognizable traits, at least most of the time.  I will list them off as I see them – not every top Realtor will possess all of these habits, skills or traits, but as a group, they emerge as a commonality found among most of them.

Top Silicon Valley real estate agents share these traits (at least most of the time):

1. Prospect or market themselves continuously to attract new business (they cannot simply work on today’s business or tomorrow they will be unemployed).
2. Have systems in place for how to work with buyers, sellers, sales in contract, prospects who are long term, follow up etc. Good systems are crucial.
3. Work well with other agents and consumers – they play fair, communicate well, respond in a timely manner.  They are usually well liked by their colleagues. (This helps you to sell or buy a home – agents want to work with others they can trust to work well and fairly.)
4. Know the contracts and forms and use them appropriately. They explain the contract to their clients so that expectations are in line.  Surprises are bad most of the time and can be avoided if everyone understands exactly what they are agreeing to.  And the contracts we use are clear: if it’s not in writing and agreed to by all parties, it is not a part of the transaction. (more…)

What is an exclusion in a real estate contract? What is an inclusion? Both of these refer to fixtures at the property which is for sale.

Generally speaking, a fixture is any item affixed or attached to the house, townhouse, condo or property which is installed with the intention that it be there permanently. For example, cabinets in the bathroom, kitchen or elsewhere are fixtures. So are lights mounted from the ceiling, built-in ovens, in-ground (not potted) rose bushes.  The exception to the rule is anything attached solely for earthquake safety.  This would be the case if you have a large hutch which you have bolted to the wall so that it doesn’t topple in the case of a big quake. In Silicon Valley, fixtures are normally included with the sale of the home.

Exclusions refer to fixtures which the seller does not want to include with the sale of the real property (real estate).  For instance, there may be a light fixture in the dining room which is a family heirloom and the seller does not want to leave it with the house.  It would be noted either in the MLS, with a note at the property or mentioned when the buyer’s agent calls the listing agent to ask about offer instructions. Other examples could be a special fireplace screen, curtains in one or more rooms (may match a bedspread or other decor), or even a rose bush in the garden that has sentimental value.

Inclusions refer to personal property (property which is not affixed) which the seller will leave even though it is not required since it’s not attached.  Commonly we see refrigerators, washers and dryers included, even when they are not attached.  Sometimes furniture may be negotiated also, such as patio dining set, a sofa or perhaps a very large dining table that won’t fit into the seller’s new house, but fits where it is perfectly.

It is important to note that if an inclusion is mentioned in the MLS, it still should be written into the purchase agreement if the buyer wants it (and this is written into the contract form as a reminder). Otherwise the seller is free to donate, share or sell those items.

When in doubt as to whether or not something is included or excluded from the sale, always ask before writing or accepting a contract to avoid unhappy surprises or conflicts later!

Real estate professionals are becoming increasingly aware of the need for caution in their line of work.  It is good for our Silicon Valley buyers and sellers to be aware of some of these issues, since it may not be obvious to everyone:

1. Don’t have your first meeting with a stranger at a home for sale, especially if it’s vacant.  It is best for consumers and Realtors to initially meet in a public place, such as the realty office or a coffee house, and for others to know where you are during that meeting.




2. For sellers who are marketing their home for sale without professional representation, be very careful about showing your property to people who call you from an ad or otherwise learn that your home is for sale. A few years back, an elderly woman showing her condo as a “for sale by owner” was attacked and killed in her northwest home by a pretend buyer.  (Real estate licensees know that agents are murdered around the country when alone or sometimes even in pairs, but home buyers and sellers are not usually aware of this risk to our safety.)  Homes which are shown by real estate licensees will usually be on a lock box – you can be gone when the home is shown, and each agent who accesses the key using the box will have his or her information recorded.  Safety is greatly increased. (I have looked but cannot find the link to that story about the older home seller. If any of my readers remember the city or town and can share that info, I’d be most grateful. I think it was in the greater Seattle area where that crime happened.)




3. Similarly, if you have listed your San Jose area home for sale with a broker or agent, buyers should come to view your house through the proper channels (i.e., during an open house or with their agent, who called ahead of time).  Do not open your door and allow entry in by people who simply “pop by” when they saw the sign, whether they are buyers or agents.  If agents, they can pull up your property’s information on the MLS, call and make an appointment.  If you have a lock box, you can perhaps let them enter if the agent is willing to use his or her display key to open the lock box – officially recording the visit with the agent’s ID now known.




4. For buyers who see signs on properties: do not presume that the house is empty and that you can peer into windows or walk around into the back yard of the house. (I have seen people do this and it is creepy at best.)  You don’t know the situation – the house could be for sale but not viewable.  Some homes are offered with the instructions that the home can only be seen once an offer is accepted (“write offer subject to inspection”).  The home could be tenant occupied.  A resident could be ill.  Children could be in the house and if they look up and see a stranger at the window it will scare them badly. Don’t do it.  (Most buyers won’t do this, but I have seen it often enough that it warrants saying.) If you need more information, call your own agent to pull it up.  If you aren’t working with a Realtor, call the listing agent. In all cases, don’t go onto the property except to grab a flier from the box on the sign post.




5. When entering a home that you have scheduled to see, be cautious and enter slowly to avoid surprising anyone or being surprised yourself.  Sometimes sellers forget that you’re coming, have the time mixed up, or someone in the house failed to tell someone else about the appointment.  When I go into a property with my clients or alone, while previewing, I do so slowly.  First I knock and/or ring the doorbell.  I wait. Sometimes people are in the bathroom, have stepped into the yard or can’t respond fast.  Give it a minute.  Then I’ll use the lockbox, and while opening the door and stepping in I’ll call out loudly, “hello! Real estate!” so that anyone in the far reaches of the house can hear me.This is where you’re most likely to encounter a surprise – when you first enter the home.  I’ve seen just about everything, including unclothed people running for cover, couples who were occupied with each other (they knew we were coming right at that moment!), all kinds of things.  Once I had a small child with a baby snake come running at me, pushing his pet into my face.  (Good thing I like animals and didn’t freak out.)   Sometimes sellers are home but don’t answer the door, so as you go through the house you may find them. (I hate that!  They should at least hollar for us to use the lock box.)  I’ve stumbled onto sellers sleeping on a couch, showering (we leave fast) etc.  It’s not good to either suprise sellers or to have them surprise you!




6. Be cautious when trying to locate the correct house, especially in the foothills or mountains where it can be hard to find some addresses due to private roads, unmarked houses etc.  Once I went down the wrong driveway and had a man emerge from his house holding a rifle.  Another time I went down a wrong driveway – should have been the one next door – and the owner drove up behind me and blocked me in such that I had no exit, came over and started hollaring at me in  a very threatening way.  Turns out I needed to be at his sister’s house next door, but the homes were not well marked and I simply had the wrong leg of the road.  He apologised but it was harrowing.  Both of those experiences have made me appreciate cell phones and GPS (both happened in the early to mid 90s). (The listings agents for these homes should have directional arrows and alert the neighbors about properties for sale nearby.)

It’s very important, when buying or selling homes, to keep your wits about you.  Crazy things can happen so pay attention and follow some basic rules of caution for your safety and that of those around you.

Likeability is a subjective term.  Who’s likeable? How important is it? Most of all, how relevant is your Realtor or agent’s likeability to your home buying or selling success in Silicon Valley?

At times I’ve been shocked at what I’ve heard from consumers and industry insiders alike:

“You don’t need your clients to like you.  You need them to respect you.” (As if these were diametrically opposed.) – a real estate trainer & coach

“I didn’t want to hire someone I’d like or who’d be my best friend. I wanted to hire a tough negotiator.” (Again, seeing these as juxtaposed.) – a real estate home seller

Why do some people think that being a good negotiator means that you have to be rough around the edges, a difficult person with whom to get along?  Strong negotiating doesn’t mean being a jerk, or even being aloof.

In many cases, it’s the exact opposite.

Many of the top agents in the San Jose, Los Gatos and Saratoga markets are indeed quite gracious and pleasant.  They are smart and they are driven.  Most are genuinely nice people, while a few have learned that good manners is part of good business.  Yes, there are a few successful ones who don’t match this description – but they are the exception, not the rule.   And in truth, their lack of likeability is inhibiting at least some of their success. If you hire one of them, it may impact yours, too.

An arrogant, rude and nasty agent may find that his or her colleagues are less excited to show his/her listings.  Or that they will be less enthusiastic if he/she brings an offer in on one of theirs.  Conversely, if that agent is well liked (and, of course, well respected) by the real estate community, it’s far more likely that agents will want to have him or her on the other side of a transaction. (more…)

Seen on Realtors board tour: Pull out wine rack for under the staircase

Many of our houses in Santa Clara County are ranch style, tract homes which were built from the 1950s to the 1970s (or ’80s). Often they include one coat closet, normally near the entry area of the home, and one linen closet, usually found close to the hall bathroom.  To the surprise of folks relocating to Silicon Valley from colder climates, we don’t have basements in the majority of houses here.

Where does all of our “stuff” go? That’s what these home buyers are wondering. It is really a critical question in smaller homes with fewer, and tinier, closets.

It is not uncommon to see garages in the San Jose area acting as a catch-all for seasonal decorations, old financial documents that can’t yet be shredded, business files, boxes from the last move which haven’t been opened yet, keepsakes and things that the residents haven’t had time to handle yet…for years at a time.  Guilty here also!  We will not be featured on an episode of “Hoarders”, but our garage also needs thinning out.  In this case, I have real estate files going back until 1993.  Rather, I did.  I have been scanning them, saving to both an external hard drive and to CDs, and shredding them.  So far about 10 boxes are gone.  Only a few more to go (I wish!).

Clutter increases stress for most of us.  Home buyers love built ins and see a future with less clutter when viewing cabinetry in home offices, family rooms, hallways, etc.  It’s a great surprise that assures them of better organization and less clutter in that home.

Most houses, townhouses and condos have places where a little more storage can be squeaked out, or even where wasted space was planned in!  This is especially true for structures with attics (sorry, Eichler and mid-century modern home owners). Here are some possibilities to consider in your own home:

• A furnace in a closet inside the home may be able to be relocated to the attic, providing another inside closet
• Water heaters hogging interior closet space could be moved to the garage or a different type of water heater could be installed in the attic. (more…)

Which is better: buying or selling a home in “fixer upper” condition, or aiming at “turnkey”?   In Silicon Valley today we are experiencing a shortage of good inventory. Home sellers may be tempted to market their home without preparing it well.  Buyers may feel that they will get a better deal if they purchase something that needs some work. What is really in your best interests?

Silicon Valley home buyers decide: bargain price and do the work, or turnkey and pay a premium?

Often it’s not a black and white choice of extremes between a “total fixer” and a “completely remodeled” home, but often there’s a basic stance that Silicon Valley home buyers must take: am I searching for turnkey or something that needs work? And if it needs work, how much am I willing to do?

A deep discount will be had on properties which are “all original”.  The question, though, is whether or not it will be worth the effort and cost to go through the trouble of extensive repairs and thorough remodeling.  Often the biggest projects are more profitably taken over by contractors – and even then it may not be profitable in the long run. Last summer I sold an original condition home to a contractor who remodeled and sold it.  The contractor did a lot of remodeling and sold the property a few months later for about 18% more than he paid for it.  When you consider the costs of buying and selling (8-10%), the cost of the remodeling (probably another 8-10% of the purchase price if you include the value of his labor), I’m not sure he really make much money.  For his sake I hope so.  For consumers, though, not contractors, it’s even harder to break even with huge remodels if you want to sell anytime soon.  What you do, do for the long run and for yourself – not because it will make you money!

At the same time, buyers need to be careful of homes which have been flipped by investors for a quick profit: they may have simply done the most visible work, leaving undone items which still need addressing, such as pipes, foundations, or structural items.

A few questions to ask yourself if you want to do a massive remodeling job (and buy a fixer upper):

• Do I have the time to oversee the work?
• Am I knowledgeable about construction? Or do I have time to research and learn prior to doing it?
• Can I do what I need and still put aside an allowance of 20% for non budgeted surprises?

For most buyers, changing paint, carpet, windows, appliances or counter tops is a big enough assignment. Rearranging floor plans and expanding a house is going to be too much work, cost, liability and stress for most.

Repair and staging advice for Silicon Valley home sellers

For most people who are selling Silicon Valley real estate, the house, townhouse or condo they are about to put on the market is the single largest asset they own. For this reason, maximizing the return on investment is extremely important. Most sellers avow that they want top dollar for their home.  Many, in the next breath, say “I want to sell As Is and I don’t want to fix anything.” Those two, unfortunately, are mutually exclusive. (more…)

Silicon Valley home buyers (and sellers) are faced with a myriad of questions and choices when completing or reviewing residential real estate contracts to purchase the property.  One of them, early on, is whether or not a particular day is chosen for closing escrow or if instead it’s a number of days from contract formation (acceptance) to closing.

Which is better?

The are pros and cons to each approach, of course.  Many buyers want to be able to plan, without any ambiguity, when they will move in to their new home.  (For some this can be a matter of feng shui, astrology or a sense that some days are more fortuitous than others.)  This can work if negotiations are not protracted.

With distressed sales, though – bank owned properties (REOs) and short sales – and sometimes with multiple offers, the negotiations time frame can be hard to predict and if you pick one particular date, you may well have to change it later or find that you don’t really have enough time because a week or more gotten “eaten up” with counter offers, waiting for a bank or seller to respond or other delays. In those cases you may want to have the flexibility of writing in the length of escrow (number of days) rather than picking a certain date.

As always, talk with your professional real estate licensee for guidance as each case may be different.