Michael's Blog

     I am sorry that I haven't been supplying you with my regular blog content. I have been a little busy. and for several reasons. 

     The first reason is that I was robbed at gun-point while with a client.  We were looking at a property near Oakland's Castlemont High School.  We had just seen the small two bedroom ranch house and were in the backyard looking at the detached garage when five armed punks came down the driveway and ambushed us.  They stole from us our money, cell phones, wallets, my brand new GPS (worked so hard to get that).  The leader of this gang was next to me and he specifically asked the car keys.  With the keys, they then stole my mother's minivan and had keys to our homes.

     The criminals then ran back down the driveway and departed in the aforementioned minivan.  My client and I are very lucky to be alive.  Just three days after our robbery three men were shot on the same street and same block where we were robbed.

     I am just now limping back to real estate full speed.  I have decided to no longer do properties under a certain price range for your safety and mine.  Just between you and me, I am considering changing offices and working out of a Castro Valley based office.

     Secondly, I have been busy with clients.  I have teamed up with agent Michelle Lang and we have a nice ranch style home in Ashland in escrow.  I am excited about this as our clients are very nice first time home-buyers.  It's fun to share in their excitement. 

     We had been in escrow before but we were up against a big REO-mill agent who was really hard to work with.  We even had to consult our Prudential legal department over some of the things she and her bank client had done.  We finally canceled our side of the contract and asked to get the client's deposit returned. 

      That same bad agent would try to lecture us on "this is how REOs are done" in reference to her stalling tactics.  Well, that maybe how she does business, but it is not how real estate is done as a whole.  In the purchase agreement and joint escrow instructions "TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE" is one of the big clauses that state that we need to do everything in a very timely manner.  RPA-CA section 24

     We found a the replacement property that is in a better neighborhood, and in much better condition. So we are kind of glad that the other deal fell out of escrow.  It opened up a much better opportunity for our clients.

     I am here at the office today doing floor time.  The phone hasn't rang once, it's raining outside and the foot traffic past our "storefront" is way down.  So, I decided that I would catch you all up on the recent events and let you all know that I haven't forgotten you.