I purchased a home in Parkmont of Fremont (I wish I knew about http://www.tricityhome.com CA back in 99. It was built in 1978, so if you are like me and purchased a home built back then or even one built in the eighties, you may have those closet doors with the off white panels. These are the ones that look like fake wood grained contact paper over a wood panel framed in gold metal trim. My wife and I gave our bedroom a face lift recently that included re facing closet doors. We got a whole new look re facing closet doors that we are very pleased with. Basically, we wallpapered the panels. But, in re facing the closet doors, there was more to it than that. First, we had to remove the panels from the guides by lifting up and pulling the bottom out of the tracks. Second, using a electric... 04/30/2010

I got a kick out of the movoto website today when it listed the least expensive and the most expensive homes for sale in Fremont. I felt it was timely because I had a recent experience that identified with this somewhat. I while back I received a follow up call from a client who was in the market for a very expensive home in Fremont of several million in price. In preparation for the new home buyer in Fremont, weeks went by with much planning for the upcoming appointment--phone calls were made, calendars rewritten, plans changed, etc. in order to make room for the high priced Fremont home buyer coming into town. The time finally came when we were scheduled to go out looking for multi million dollar homes in Fremont, and they were a no show. Even worse--no call, no email, no text, zero. ... 04/22/2010

For someone who is suppossed to know Fremont, I fell short recently. I had heard about Kristy Yamaguchi's Always Dream Play Park in Fremont CA, but I had never seen it. One day while driving on Stevenson towards Mission on my way to the Soccer part of Central Park, there is was, Always Dream Play Park. Kristy Yamaguchi is from Fremont, and I was glad to see she still has vision for achieving not just for herself but others. In this case, the vision was to have a park where children with disabilities can enjoy a colorful play park here in Fremont. It has ramps, and the grounds are both colorful and fun--even parents like to walk on the ultra squishy foam rubber that surrounds each play area. Maybe after a hard day at the office http://www.tricityhome.com/ , I can sneek a bounce or two o... 03/25/2010

At the risk of sounding old, I must say that I enjoy living close to Palo Alto Medical Foundation Fremont Center. Many great doctors share their practice between there as well as practicing across the Dumbarton at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto. You certainly do not have to be old to appreciate a good medical facility. Take Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford for example. The moment a child walks in, they feel a bit better already. The architecture and artwork seem to have a small medicinal effect on children just by themselves. Regular check ups for young and old are essential to stying healthy in Fremont. My reason for visiting PAMF arose from the fact that I somehow tore a portion in my knee. The short of it is that I will undergo surgery today. Over the last few weeks, I ... 03/10/2010

I was one out of many I'm sure that took place in a survey that measured real estate confidence. Keep in mind my opinion is based on my knowledge of what is happening in our own neighborhoods here in Fremont, Newark and Union City and sometimes neighboring counties at best. We tend to focus on the Fremont, Newark and Union City home values here. http://www.tricityhome.com and more specifically about Parkmont home sales here. http://tricityhome.com/Parkmont_homes_sold.html Since the term market conditions can be subjective, I am setting the stage here by simply outlining that I felt market conditions were to be defined as: The current frequency of new and existing home sales as they are relative to their selling prices to last year. I checked a 7 out of 10 for market conditions today as ... 03/03/2010

I'M GOING TO WALK AWAY FROM MY FREMONT HOME--HOW DOES FORECLOSURE AFFECT MY CREDIT?  In case you do not know the effects of foreclosure on your credit, here are a few: •1.   A foreclosure listed on your credit report is virtually impossible to get repaired.  It will most likely be a permanent mark on your personal credit history. •2.  The impact to your credit score will be significant.  Sometimes up to 300 points.  This will be devastating to all your future credit inquiries.  INCLUDING CAR LOANS, CREDIT CARDS AND MEDICAL. •3.  In the future, if you apply for a mortgage, you will be required to disclose a previous foreclosure.  This will cause any future mortgage rates to be significantly higher. •4.  Some companies run random credit checks on their current employees.  If they find a f... 02/22/2010

 If this economy has caused a financial hardship you have alternatives to bankruptcy and foreclosure. If your getting calls from debt collectors you do have options. We are fortunate to have laws that protect us from Harrasing Debt Collection. A collector can not talk to a third party about your situation. They can not call your work if you tell them not to. They definately can not call you before 8 am or after 9pm. Debt Collectors can not call you several times a day.  Causing the phone to ring continuosly my be a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Law. If you are feeling threatened, harrased, humiliated. You have options. Debt collectors will sometimes resort to Unfair and Deceptive Practices to try and collect debts. You have rights, to be treated with dignity.  You are allowed to... 02/21/2010

  Land Planning Provide Yield Studies in order to test various residential, retail, commercial, office, mixed-use, recreation, agriculture and conservation easement programs. Prepare site base maps for preliminary submittals. Urban and Landscape Design Develop the project’s vision through the use of imagery and written project descriptions in order to submit preliminary and formal city review applications. Prepare presentation quality graphics as necessary to support the various stages of the approval process including colored sketch plans, AutoCAD exhibits, Powerpoint presentations, land use diagrams, massing studies and site section cuts. Neighborhood & Site Context Analysis Clearly identify and document the opportunities, constraints and contextual influences affecting a properties ... 02/18/2010

Subscribe   I have been answering a lot of questions from uninformed first time buyers on websites Like Homeresearch.com and Trulia.com, these sites have realtors who will answer real estate questions.  The majority of questions are regarding if one house or another is available.  They do not have a Realtor nor are they pre-approved......So I am writing this for the benefit of the many first time home buyers who do not know that their first step should be to find a Realtor they feel comfortable with.   The buyers Realtor is paid by the seller and so the expert help of an experienced Realtor comes at no cost to them.  Their next step should be to obtain a pre-approval from their bank or other lender.  Without a pre-approval, any offer they submit will likely be ignored.  If they do not h... 02/16/2010

I sold a brand new home in Fremont today. (not shown here) I am not the broker there at the new home in Fremont building site. Rather, I am the broker for TriCity Real Estate Brokers, Inc. here http://www.tricityhome.com. But, an earnest home buyer found my site and--long story short--bought a brand new home in Fremont at the new Cedarbrook subdivision. I also discovered that they read my prior blog post on New homes in Niles here. http://tricityhome.blogspot.com/2009/12/niles-area-of-fremont.html. On our tour of the homes, we were impressed with many things that led up to the new home in Fremont purchase. One thing we were educated about was the use of Hardie planks by James Hardie (facebook page). The name Hardie seems perfectly fitting. These are "hard" somewhat flexible, cement boar... 02/14/2010

At the time of writing this page (2-10-10) Parkmont Villas Townhomes on Bright Common and Lavendar Common have been hovering around 435k for a Via Bravo--the two bedroom 2.5 bath and 475k for the Villa Bella--the 3 bed 2.5 bath townhouses. Sometimes we get a scare when a neighbor lists their Parkmont home for sale at say $410k for the Via Bella--3 bed 2.5 bath at 1700 sq ft. I am often asked why this is, or I am asked if it will hurt the value of the surrounding Parkmont homes. Truth is that it is unfortunate that the listing agent goes so low on the very first day. After all, the agent's job is to get the most they can for the seller of the property, right? Even if the seller is the bank--we have a fiduciary duty to perform. So, why so low? Sometimes out-of-area agents fail to know the... 02/11/2010

 Subscribe You can play in the snow with your family without having to drive all the way to Lake Tahoe or Reno.  At Leland Meadows you can have fun in the snow.  They have inner tubes that have tow straps on them so you can be towed up the hill and then you slide down.  So much easier for us older folks who do not want to drag the tube, while we walk up the hill.   For the younger and more energenic, you can still do it the old fashioned way.  My Family and some friends enjoyed both the towing as shown on left and the old fashioned way pictured below.  If you like to ski (like I do) you can also visit dodge ridge which is about 15 to 20 minutes away.  Go to www.snowplay.com  to find leland meadows and you can find dodge ridge at http://www.dodgeridge.com/site/index.php  You can play for... 02/05/2010

Subscribe The FHA has come up with some new rules when it comes to their loans.  Beginning April 2010, the up front mortgage insurance will increase from 1.75% to 2.25% There will be no more spot appraisals.  So it will be harder to get an approval on a condo.  This is a big one.  Effective for all case numbers issued on or after February 1 of this year, all previous FHA condo approvals will be eliminated and condominium projects must be recertified by HUD. You can pretty much forget about buying a condo until the project has been blessed by HUD or one of HUD's approved lenders. Going forward there will be two approval methods for FHA Case numbers ordered after February 1, 2010;  Hud Review and Approval Process (H-RAP) DE Lender-Approval and Review Process (DEL-RAP) On another note>>> F... 02/05/2010

Subscribe Smart consumers, taking advantage of the historically low interest rates, the very good home prices and also, the extended and expanded tax credit, are helping to water a housing market growth.   This is in turn helping the economy in general.  According to several surveys, most of the current home owners say they would use the tax credit money to pay off existing debt, do home improvement, or invest it, or put it in savings. Helping to energize the housing market is the reason behind the homebuyer tax credit and the recent extension and expansion.  Consumer spending is, of course, the real water for the nation's economic growth, and a lot of consumer spending is fueled by the growing housing market,  along with new jobs, and confidence in our country's rebound from the recess... 02/01/2010

Real estate agents who help Fremont home buyers look at homes spend a lot of time out in the field. Today, I was one of the agents doing just that--spending a lot of time out in the field showing Fremont homes. My home buyers and I looked at 11 homes today. It may not be considered a lot of homes by some, but we did it smoothly and effectively within 2 hours without being rushed. That was nice. The odd part of it all was that during the whole time, I felt like I was being stalked. Not by my clients but by other Fremont home buyers. More times than a few, we pulled up to the next house on our tour only to find that there was someone already waiting there in a car or van. They seemed motionless at first. Quietly, these car sitters waited for me to pull up, and then watched me get out my s... 01/30/2010

On Tuesday, Jan 11, the Fremont City Council voted to join the California FIRST financing program. As reported in last week's issue, California FIRST is a voluntary program that provide loans to homeowners to finance energy efficiency upgrades. The loans are repaid through a special property tax assessment. Recently the City of Hayward joined this program and Bay East staff testified in favor of the California FIRST program and urged Hayward to involve the REALTOR® community in designing and marketing the program. Bay East offered the same support and cooperation to the City of Fremont. Remember .... "Dream Green"  Considering Moving to the East Bay Area?    ~   Do you want to Buy or Sell a home?       Do you have clients with needs in the East Bay?      Search East Bay Area Properties... 01/19/2010

Fremont interested in the Oakland A's...again... At a council meeting last week, Fremont City Manager Fred Diaz revived Fremont's chances at landing the team.  Supporters and opponents of the new stadium were equal in attendance.  Notably different than in January 2009 when hundreds of stadium opponents rallied outside of City Hall.  More than a dozen Chamber of Commerce members spoke to the council in favor of the new stadium plan.  Supporters of the stadium believe that bringing the baseball team to Fremont would boost business and create more jobs.  Opponents, however, say that research has shown that stadiums are not economic opponents. The new stadium plans would put a 36,000-seat ballpark on 120 acres of land owned by the NUMMI auto plant, which will be closing in April of this ye... 01/19/2010

I got frustrated with somethings in the real estate business recently. One thing in particular was the fact that buyers were asking me to show them properties I knew nothing about. I got calls that went something like..."Oh Jeff, here's one I want to see." or "Jeff, can we see these. I'll send you a list." These were listings I had never seen, they were growing in number, and they were coming from other MLSs like Santa Clara, San Mateo, etc. Santa Clara County MLS currently does not cooperate with Alameda County, so if this is new to you, it might be a little complicated. For example, let's say a Santa Clara broker gets a Fremont listing but does not have the Alameda County MLS subscription. It happens a lot. It will only show in their MLS not mine or maybe not yours. Well, frustrated, ... 01/18/2010

If you remember reading about Agnus from a recent post here, you might agree with us when we tell you that we collectively decided it was time to let her go from our 'current client list.' It is a rare thing to let a client go or even worse, fire a client, but there comes a time when you need to stay on target with the business and stop representing a client. In order to successfully represent a client, they should be ready, willing and able. "Ready" is usually environmental or possibly a work related aspect of making the move. "Willing" is the drive behind it; the motivation and reason. "Able" is the feasibility; usually the money and/or other resources. These are my subjective definitions, but they seem true enough to get the point across. Agnus showed all three, but later it was disc... 01/14/2010

If you have been on facebook, and had seen this ad you should buy a pack or two here http://www.amazon.com/. They are these clever little snaps that wrap around the end of an open bag, then you just snap the other on top. Now why didn't I think of that. Is it real estate related? No, but they sure are cool if you like to keep things fresh and neat. You get 12 for $10.00. I have a bunch. I love em. 01/13/2010