Congressional leaders and the Bush administration had announced they came to an agreement on the historic Bailout Plan . However, in a new twist today, the House rejected the agreed upon financial bailout.

The plan called for taking illiquid mortgage backed securities off the hands of lending institutions. Several elements of the plan have been intensely debated, including the amount of the plan, the government's role, the absence of oversight, limits on pay for executives of bailed-out financial institutions, and exactly how the plan will help struggling homeowners.  

No deal so far!

        

        

Is it hot enough for you?  Holy cow all I can say is that I hope it's cooler tomorrow because I have an open house at 2900 Canada Blvd. from 2:00-4:00.  Please feel free to stop in and take a peek, it's a really cool house with tons of potential and priced to sell! 

        

Regret

1. a troubled feeling or remorse over something that has happened, esp. over something that one has done or left undone
2. sorrow over a person or thing gone, lost, etc.

Have you ever done something that you regret doing? Have you ever NOT done something and regretted it? This post is for you buyers out there that were waiting for the market to drop so that you could buy that dream home.  My Mom always says "Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it!" and get it we did! 

The market has dropped so what the heck are you waiting for?  Let me guess you want to wait and see what happens with the proposed bail out?  Next it will be the election, then the holidays and after that income taxes.  Come on people this is the down market you have been waiting for, get off the fence and get a move on! 

        

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. 

        

Realtors wear many hats and today I wore a few.  It's actually what keeps my job interesting as well as rewarding.  This morning I helped my son wrap up some loose ends on the lease of his new condo in Westchester.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention he is now in grad school at LMU!  His roommate's Mom is also a Realtor down in San Diego, what a coincidence!  All I can say is, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THOSE BOYS WOULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT US! 

Moving on...then I get a call from a neighbor who is dying to know what a home in our neighborhood sold for, of course I know exactly what it sold for because its my job to know!  Then a client calls me to ask me for the number of my handyman I referred to him FOR THE 10th time already Charles it's on my website at www.ZastrowsList.com I jokingly say to which he replies "Oh Chris you know how much I love to chat with you because you always make me laugh!" Awww shucks! 

        

In today's real estate market it is essential to keep in mind that the value of your home is NOT:

• What you put into it
• What you need out of it
• What it appraised for during refinancing
• What your neighbors home sold for 6 month's ago

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."

Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise.

Cato the Elder, from Plutarch, Lives
Roman orator & politician (234 BC - 149 BC)

   

        

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