In spite of all of the craziness going on the world today, a couple of my good friends and fellow real estate professionals are taking the time to make a difference by raising money for their favorite charitys.
Nick Rasic (my former partner/boss/good friend) is now up in Mill Valley at his own company Palladium Realty . Nick will be riding on October 18, 2008 at Death Valley to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. If you would like to help Nick you can click here.
Amy Lee with MetLife Home Loans will be participating in the in the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk this Sunday. If you would like to help Amy you can click here.
Since there are so many of you that ask me about Nick I decided to post this photo of him. WE MISS YOU NICKY!
Has your home been on the market a long time? You might want to look to St. Joseph the patron saint of buying and selling property. For centuries, Catholics have buried blessed medals of St. Joseph asking his help locating land for convents.
Today homeowners across the world seek his help in selling and buying their homes. The are many documented cases of his powerful intercession. According to my cousin Rosina you have to be a believer!
Then again you can always go the conventional way and hire a professional Realtor that you know and trust to do the job
Enjoy your Sunday!
Well I have nothing new to post today so I thought I would just do the stats. So far this month in Northwest Glendale there are 12 New Listings and 6 Closed Sales and currently 26 Pending Sales.
On another note I just read an article on the internet that people are Choosing Cash Over Cachet click here to read more. I guess people really are going back to basics, imagine living within our means, what a concept!
I don’t know about you but I have noticed a drastic improvement in the customer service I am receiving just about everywhere I go! Could it be that people are actually going back to the good old fashion ways of doing business? Call me old school but I attribute my success to my good old fashion upbringing (thanks Mom & Dad!) and my commitment to my clients.
Today I was at Wells Fargo opening a new account and the service I got was first class. Later I went to Macy’s to pick up a few things and the nicest sales person helped me find what I was looking for and he was very pleasant. When you think about it we should’t have to go to Nordstrom to get good customer service, it should be a given everywhere we go. Check out this tidbit that is in the Nordstrom handbook. It never hurts to take a refresher course!
Welcome to Nordstrom
We're glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both our personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them. 

In today's real estate market it is essential to keep in mind that the value of your home is NOT:
The fact of the matter is this: The market value of your home is what a buyer is willing to pay based on today's market, available financing and our current economic condition! It's really that simple! Failure to understand this basic concept could end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars!
Take for example the seller's on Lee Drive-They originally listed their home with agent #1 (a knowledgeable and well respected area agent) last December for $840,000 (the seller's price of course) then reduced it to $799,000. Agent #1 brought them an offer of $749,000 and they turned it down! A few months later along comes yours truly and I list the home for $785,000 with the agreement that if we didn't get any offers in the first couple of weeks we would reduce the price. In spite of the fact that I hired a professional cleaning crew, photographer and floor plan designer and heavily marketed the home as well as had several open houses we still did not get any offers. The seller's did not hold up their end of the bargain when it came time to reduce the price so when my listing expired I recommended they call another agent. They tried to sell for sale by owner for a short period of time before agent #3 came along (another well respected agent/team). Agent #3 lists for $749,000 and nothing happens UNTIL they reduce the price to $699,000 and WHA-LA it's now in escrow! So just to recap their original list price was $840,000 and final was $699,000 a difference of $141,000 over a 10-month period. During that period this home (NOT the seller's primary residence) had expenses pool service, yard service, property taxes, insurance, utilities and of course the payment and interest! Let's not forget the $749,000 offer that agent #1 brought them. The difference between the current list price and the previous offer is $50,000. It's hard to say exactly how much this overpricing mistake actually cost the sellers but we know it was at least $50,000 which is a lot of money in my book! As agent #1 so eloquently put it "We, as agents, can not force the market to pay more than the home is worth."
Because so many of you ask me for recommendations for misc. services I put together a list which you can find at www.ZastrowsList.com . Recently I came across this list-www.angieslist.com/AngiesList/ that covers much more than just local vendors. The contractors on this list do NOT pay to be on the list and there is even a place where you can go and complain if you run into a problem. You do however have to pay a $40 a year fee but for some of you that may be money well spent. If you have anyone you would like to recommend or have me add to www.ZastrowsList.com please feel free to let me know.
Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all!
Sam Ewing