Aziz Khatri, Keller Williams Agent, Elected Board President!

Our own Aziz Khatri, Real Estate Agent Extraordinaire and Real Estate Investor Guru, was elected 2010 Oakland Association of Realtors President. We are honored to have the OAR President-Elect on our team here at Keller Williams Oakland/Piedmont. Aziz is a phenomenally dedicated, professional and knowledgeable Realtor who will elevate the real estate community's image among the public as well as fostering consensus-building and forward-thinking among OAR's members. Congratulations Aziz! Shown here are a few shots of some of our agents celebrating with Aziz at the office.

Having Fun Together after Work!

Just as important as serving our clients and taking care of business is spending time with one another engaged in fun activities where we really get to know and build deep relationships with our KW "family" as well as colleagues in the profession. Adesso was our gathering spot this month and we enjoyed some delicious food and refreshing beverages while we chatted and laughed. From top (left to right): MaryLou Martin, Tabetha Gibson and David Carriello; Patty Flores, Susan Robards and me; Nanette Barrie, Michelle Williams and Patty Flores.

Short Sale Listings and Public Service Opportunities

Short-sales are the next wave of properties to hit the market. Look for a big increase in short sale listings in the next few months. Better educated agents understand how to properly and effective service the sellers and better communicate with the banks. Plus, great support services like Short Sale Pro (www.shortsalepro.biz) are providing administrative and informational support to agents who don't have much experience on the listing end of short sales. This is lowering the fear level and allowing agents to embrace rather than avoid these listings.
I personally feel very strongly that it is incumbent upon agents to support property owners who are facing financial difficulties and trouble maintaining their mortgage payments by being a great resource for information and services. The real estate community greatly benefited from the highly lucrative sales market of the early-mid part of the decade and needs to step up to the plate and accept these requests for help. Agents should not only understand the options that exist to foreclosure, such as loan mitigation and short sales, but also provide lists of resources such as non-profit support and counseling organizations (e.g., ACORN), CPA's, attorneys, and other professionals whose expertise is needed by most homeowners before they choose their course of action.
Coming from this perspective of service, expertise and support, agents will continue to earn the privilege of serving struggling clients while earning a living doing so. What a great combination!

Keller Williams Oakland/Piedmont R.E.D.* Day at the Blood Bank!

In spite of one fainting (the O.P.), one rejection for low weight and one rejection for iron-poor blood (Geritol anyone?) our day of "Giving Where We Live" was a huge success! Our market center enlisted agents, team and family members, clients and colleagues to donate about 40 pints of blood to the Alameda/Contra Costa Blood Bank. Plus, we had a terrific time and introduced a number of folks to this really important, life-giving contribution. Here are some photos of the day (from top: Dennis Blyth, Ellen Lynch and Allen Moore, Liza Badar, Theresa Ordonez, Derrick Debose). We had such a good time, we're going to do it again in the Fall!

*R.E.D. (Renew Energize, Donate) Day is a nationwide Keller Williams day of service where our 73,000 agents take time to give back and serve the communities in which we live and work.

Haas Alumni Meeting - Real Estate Update from Nancy Wallace

At last night's Haas Alumni SF Chapter meeting, speaker Nancy Wallace, Co-Chair, Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley (is that a mouthful?!), provided the 150+ audience an update on the myriad issues affecting the real estate sector and the overall economy. According to Wallace, the mortgage-backed securities derivatives (for a quick overview of derivatives go to: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/derivatives/index.html) that Warren Buffett famously called financial Weapons of Mass Destruction, are here to stay, because they provide the massive international trade/financial fluidity that the world economy has come to depend on in the past two decades. She sees more government oversight of these instruments and the firms that trade them. Coincidentally, as I was driving home after the talk, I heard that Tim Geithner had announced new regulations that day giving the Commodities Futures Trading Commission a new (and leading) role in oversight of the derivatives market.
She said that Fannie and Freddie need billions more in bailout assistance (no surprise there).
One interesting issue she talked about was the lack of a national database of housing values. She said that the government does not have a good handle on the distinctions among geographic markets further broken down by loan type. She pointed out that California is being hurt more by the lack of liquidity in the jumbo market than by the collapse of the sub-prime market and until jumbo market lending recovers, neither will California's real estate market.
I talked with a couple of brokers and real estate attorneys last night and they both talked about being contacted by property owners facing foreclosure on multiple properties but having other assets the banks can go after. I encouraged them to call me when they encounter these cases because we have a number of agents in our office specializing in working with property owners in these situations, and having the resources/contacts/expertise to provide them their options and assist them in making the best decisions for that individual case.
Last, this was the first Haas alumni function I have attended and it was terrific and I'll be attending more!

No Reductions Allowed by Fannie Mae in Short Sale Agent Commissions

TWO IMPORTANT UPDATES:
1. I've run into a number of agents who are not aware of Fannie Mae's new policy for their servicing companies that prohibits a reduction in agent commission below the listing agreement level, unless the total commission is above 6%. This went into effect March 1, 2009. For details, here's the link: https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides/ssg/annltrs/pdf/2009/0903.pdf
2. Since the home owner/borrower often doesn't know if Fannie Mae owns their loan, direct them to Fannie Mae's web site: http://www.fanniemae.com/index.jhtml. Then click on the button "Does Fannie Mae Own Your Mortgage?" which takes them to a page where they type in the property address. I tested it for one of our investment properties and it's a snap.

Jeffrey Woo - Unparalleled Legal Education Regarding Rental Properties

Right now there are a lot of investors in the market scooping up the great investment opportunities available. So, to help agents be better prepared and skilled at serving them, I invited Jeffrey Woo, who runs the "Complex Rental Property Group" at Sedgwick... in SF, to come educate us about the legal issues surrounding residential rental property ownership, disposal and purchase. This man is an amazing resource, with tons of hands-on experience working with property-owner clients over many years in the heavily regulated cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, as well as pretty much all of the other cities in the Bay Area. He kept a roomfull of agents (both Keller Wiliams and outside agents) completely engaged with his exceptionally useful, clear and timely information and advise on working with and guiding clients buying/selling residential investment properties. He shared so many actual stories of situations he's had to help clients get out of, as well as those he's helped structure properly up front. He's helped several of our agents and they can't say enough about his great accessibility and the value of his advice. Plus, he offers a free 20-minute consultation with their clients, so it's a great resource to be able to offer to buyers and sellers.
So, now all of us who attended understand what the Ellis Act really does, when it makes sense to use it, the difference between rent control and eviction control, and lots of other really helpful insights that make us more valuable advisors to our clients.
If you need this type of help, I recommend that you call Jeffrey at 415.781.7900 or email him at mailto:atjeff.woo@sdma.com