Thread regarding Qualcomm Inc. layoffs

After much speculation supporting both sides, the Federal Reserve has decided NOT to increase interest rates. We will see how this impacts mortgage rates.

You are correct, the majority of the decision making in regards to home purchases and selling is done by women. Which I'd say is one of the most significant purchases a family or couple will make. Who better to relate with and understand the needs and desires of a woman, than another woman? I agree that it's a good idea to meet with two or three brokerages/realtors to find who will best suit your personality and net you the highest profit possible.

Too bad roughly 80% of all engineers are still men. Especially when 70% of the decisions-- like who to list the house with-- are actually made by women; because men usually have "more important stuff" to do.

As you can see engineers tend to be pessimistic and emotionally immature at times. I admire you positive attitude and persistence and hope you continue to help people who can benefit from your experience and enthusiasm. Good luck !

If you currently have a brokerage/realtor that you work with, and are satisfied with the results, that's fantastic! By all means, keep working with them. I'm merely reaching out to those who might have had a bad experience with the realtor that they worked with in the past, or had no connection with. I'm not forcing anyone to do anything, but would my team and I appreciate the opportunity to interview for the position of being their realtor? Absolutely! I understand peoples frustrations, I'm a single mom trying to provide for my family, so I get it. I'm not the enemy here, and insulting me anonymously won't intimidate me because I am well aware of who I am and what I stand for. I would never do a job that doesn't bring me joy, and helping people with their real estate needs is my truly my passion. Angelique Kiss ~ Realtor® Pacific Sotheby's International Realty ~ The Upham Group 619-822-6113 CA BRE#01935230

I know that a ditzy blonde with a Realtor's license is ALWAYS the expertise I want to rely on when seeking legal advice on addenda to standard C.A.R. contracts, or information on code issues. /SNARK

It sounds like you've had a bad experience with your realtor in the past. However, I pride myself on being quick to respond and having excellent communication skills, remaining calm and level headed no matter what is thrown at me, as does the rest of my team. The continued education is based more on contract, construction, architectural and market analysis. As a realtors, our fiduciary duty is always to our clients. We always want to make sure our clients are satisfied at the end of purchase, so yes, we have credited buyers for various reasons.

Great. So as part of that "team", I'll get a botched handling of prospects, unreturned phone calls, misfilled misfiled paperwork, and considerably more over cost that won't be related back to me. For example do you rebate back any of your clients and if so how much for a team based out in point loma. Sorry I'll still my with brokers that I work directly with that have very little overhead and know what they are doing, especially when it comes to negotiating with the banks o. Short sales when the do counter like they have been doing the past two years. No,you aren't going to get 30-40% off on short sales anymore...

Angelique, honey, don't BS the nice people. Unless you're socially retarded and fail to keep up with market trends on your own, most continuing education materials aren't worth the paper they're printed on--in any profession. Let's face it: You chose Sotheby's for the status the franchise name is associated with. Your firm is essentially the McDonald's of high-end real estate listings. Unfortunately name and status do not necessarily correlate with agent performance. Also, most home sellers can increase their selling price by an average $41,000 in the S.D. area just by making all necessary repairs, doing a full interior repaint, and perhaps some other cosmetic repairs--often for less than $20,000. And that's regardless of who they choose as their agent. For $1.2 million and up, buyers expect like-new turn-key; and there are plenty of contractor/brokers who specialize in delivering exactly that.

I understand the fact that some of you are concern with regards to my experience. I will reiterate that I am part of a team with 15 years experience. I also chose Pacific Sotheby's as my brokerage for the extensive continued education training program they offer to their agents, whom are the most aggressive and best in the business. Statistics show that using an agent can net the seller an average of $41K more than FSBO. With regards to the question of how many short sales our team has sold, it is over 100 homes. I can assure you, we are a team that delivers. ANGELIQUE KISS - REALTOR® Pacific Sotheby's International Realty ~ The Upham Group

@147020: Selling Real Estate during the 80's in Silicon Valley was a lot tougher than it is now. Fixed interest rates for JUMBO loans were often 18% and conforming firsts--which were useful on only a minority of houses because even then, most decent "starter homes" were close to $300K--were not much lower. ARMs were about 12% APR at best. Banks would not consider anyone for a fast close who had never previously owned without a pre-qual letter. Engineers were making about 85K-90K at the project lead/manager level. Remember, back in the "olden days" a bank couldn't just pull up your entire credit history on the screen using your name, your social, and a few other minor financial details, so it could take a couple of days. And no, your agent wouldn't slip you through on a cash sale; because once a buyer accepts an offer a sale is pending. The agent or seller who "slipped a cash buyer through on a pending sale" stood a good chance of being sued for breach of contract and fraud by the buyer. We actually had that happen in our office when a seller decided to be greedy and sell for more to an all-cash buyer. Realtors are "softer targets" for lawyers because they usually carry E&O insurance. @147021: Our office had an agent who was tight with the director of the local REO dept. at BofA--so yeah, I moved a lot of REOs--which if you are familiar with bank terminology are home that have been acquired by banks in short sales. Banks hate holding property, so some of these actually sold for less than short sales--which at that time were also not favored by sellers because they had considerable tax consequences. My particular areas of expertise were not high-end homes, although I probably have forgotten more about rreal estate sales than Angelique learned when she took that weekend course to prepare for her Realtor's exam. Personally, I tended to favor assemblage/plottage, older homes, and contractor overbuilds.

Again, I'm actually part of a team. I'm not just one agent working for you. Our team has 15 years of experience, please see the reply to this message board as to what makes our team one that at the very least, you should consider interviewing. We are The Upham Group. It was suggested to me by Donald Jones, that I reach out to people here on this message board. I am certainly looking into other options to reach out to those of you in the company who might be considering selling, but figured that this would be a good place to start. I will find out the exact number of short sales that the team has experience closing and get back to you soon with that information. I'm well aware the you are able to find out any and all information about our team members online, and welcome you to investigate.

Angelique Kiss ~ REALTOR®

Pacific Sotheby's International Realty ~ The Upham Group

Just curious.. How many short sales have you actually done, considering you've only been licensed starting in 6/2013 in CA, and considering that most of the short sales opportunities were close to vaporized/dryed up by the end of 2013.....Yes, google is our friend.... BRE#01935230 http://www2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp?start=1, I'd say, you're pretty "new"........ I'll pass. I'd rather work with people that's been doing this a heck of a lot longer.

Anonymous146807, you do realize that most short sales were not really arm-lengths away transactions don't you? Many of them appeared on the MLS for no more than 1 day before then went contigent....

Anonymous146807, Well, then you do have a problem that most of your clients needed to be "pre-approved" for a loan...The reason why I ended up being an A-list client for some of the brokers and agents was because when client like yours were busy going pre-approval process, my agents would slip me through as a cash buyer, even if was a lower price than some of the others that came afterwards...

Angelique is kinda hot. I'm wondering if I gave her my commission will she give me mission-ary.

146728: When I sold real estate, my "A-list clients" were the people who actually listened to me when I told them to get pre-approved by a lender. Realtors/brokers rarely had any pull with banks or S&Ls. Now the loan brokers in Silicon Valley were a different story. If banks were willing to fund reluctantly, or at high rates, the loan brokers would usually not hesitate to offer a better deal.

Angelique: So you will blow money on a band and catered party to attract neighbors who are looky-loos, but you are too cheap to pay the owner of this site for an ad? This sort of crap can actually deter motivated buyers, because there are too many people walking through the property at one time. Get back to us when you figure out what buyers whose time is worth well over $500 per hour are really looking for in a Realtor.

Raj Patel: Forget the extra 2% to the Realtor. Just go with the standard commission to an agent/broker you can trust. For less than the extra 2% you can hire an attorney to oversee the Realtor to make sure they are actively marketing the property, wind up your affairs, and wire the money to your international account. You may be able to find a real estate attorney who specializes in handling transactions for foreign nationals who can recommend a Realtor.

It is a predatory business practice to incite uncertainty in order to encourage people to sell their homes. The Board of Realtors should revoke your license!

Anonymous146703..lol...double representation more or less went along the line of the agent calling their a-list clients about a pending short sales there were going to list and offering their a list clients the first opportunity to buy at a ridiculously low price that for some time went throigh the bank approval process with minimal challenges to the suggested price (before banks got smarter)..that was one of the few ways to get 30-40%+ off, and usually those were only left with the listing agent a-list buyers....don't pretend that this isn't how the game was. Because well all know that was more or less what happened. Not that I am complaining... Worked just fine for me.

Anonymous146706. Yeah...no shit shirlock.

FYI short sales in the nicer parts of san diego are down to a trickle at this point. If you are looking for a distressed sale head to El Centro or Hemet lol.

Being able to double dip in the past indicates they are aggressive and know how to attract a lot of interest in your house which will maximize the sales price. I would recommend interviewing 2 or 3 agents and pick whoever you like the best. It is still a good for sellers but selling season is ending soon so better to list now rather than sit on the fence.

Anonymous146565. No shit shirlock. But I meant how many of YOUR listings are short sales that you will offer me the opportunity to buy with you doubling up as an agent

? My guess is you have ZERO clients that are selling short, making you useless for me...I work with 5 well know agents here that had a stack of them...but it looks like even they are out of short inventory. So I doubt you as a new agent have any...

What agent/broker isn't comfortable with "double ending a deal"? All that means is they get the full commission without having to split it with another broker. I never found an agent yet that prefers 3% over 6%.

What sets our team apart? Here's a list of examples that prove we are a team that delivers.

• We have over 15 years experience within our team.

• Our team has a 10% higher sales price than the average agent.

• Excellent negotiating skills with multiple offers.

• Immediate international exposure throughout the globe.

• High end professional photography, virtual tours & drone photos available.

• Advocates of home staging.

• More internet and local media print exposure like Dream Homes Magazine.

• Marketing Reports provided bi-weekly to inform you exactly what cites, countries and web sites your property is being viewed at.

• Mega Open Houses: Professionally catered, personal invite to 200-400 neighbors, live musician for $1 Million + properties, obtain buyer feedback, provide buyers with pertinent information regarding schooling, churches, parks, etc.

• Relocating connections to help you find your new home outside of the city, state or country.

• You aren't just getting one agent working for you, but rather a whole team that includes our personal assistant, transaction coordinator, listing coordinator, and of course your listing agents. If the seller agrees, we are comfortable with double ending a transaction.

The best way to see if our team is a good fit for you is to schedule a listing appointment with Valerie Upham and myself. This way we can be sure that we are a match for each other, and that we will be able to provide you with the level of customer service that will leave you feeling completely satisfied and cared for.

Angelique Kiss - REALTOR®

619-822-6113

Angelique.Kiss@sothebysrealty.com

Valerie Upham

858-761-7890

Valerie.Upham@sothebysrealtly.com

146460: Any Realtor who takes five minutes to talk with the lenders who regularly come to their offices will have a list of short sales or REOs, so that doesn't indicate anything. In this market, you need someone who knows how to price a house so you can attract multiple bids. For the next month or so, until we know if the Fed will raise rates, people will want to close fast on a house and will bid up the price of something they like. You can't tell from the closed sales whether there was a bidding war. A good indicator is agents who are good at "double-ending" a deal--they hold the listing AND reel in the buyers.

Impersonation is a serious crime and your IP address has been tracked

RE Agents don't give a crap about you! All they want is 6% of the sales price.

I would love to sell my house and move to Mountainview but what separates you agency from all the others. I have an offer from Apple and need someone who can generate the best offer possible as my new place in norcal will be very expensive to say the least..

Like I always said, if you are an agent and doesn't have a-list access to short sales, you aren't an agent I am interested in working with

Hahhaa...young realtors with little existing clienteles...

Realtors are the next big industry to be marginalized by technology. A realtor has one important job and that is bringing buyers and sellers together. Moving around paperwork is not a big deal and escrow companies could fill this function (they already do, but they aren't consumer focused yet). Online sites already show the houses available with details, but the missing piece to drive down transaction costs is a vast majority of people still list with a realtor. We are also missing some application glue for FSBO, which is a convenient scheduling system and maybe a new profession of independent house showers. The goal in 5 years should be to drive transaction costs down from 6% with a realtor to 2% with various apps, platforms, and services.

Yeah--and what kind of legitimate realtor for a high end company goes on anonymous message boards trolling for clients--knowing full well that some of them are upset and anxious and maybe not thinking clearly? For all we know, you could be setting up home invasion robberies! Realtors are supposed to be fiduciaries--which means you have a higher duty to customers than, say, the average used car salesman! Buy a freaking ad!