Pre-Viewed Homes by Lazarus -- Homes For Sale In 93711 - 03/31/08 08:27 PM
Yesterday, as I often do, I drove around the neighborhood View Larger Map looking for open houses to preview. Their weren't many which is one of the good things about this area: very low turnover. It's not a great market for the real estate agent who "farms a neighborhood" for that very reason. Many of the folks around here are original owners (from the 50's and 60's) or have been around for quite awhile.
We have lived in Northwest Fresno's 93711 zip code for 20 years and we really like it here. The only drawback is the Bullard schools don't have … (0 comments)

Camping In Fresno California - Secret Spots You've Never Heard Of (don't miss the pics) - 03/31/08 07:50 PM
Well they wont be secret spots for long because I am going to share them with you. If you like to camp and if you like to get out in the early spring when the poppies are in bloom and hills are alive with color and if you enjoy relative seclusion and privacy (but still want a campground with a commode), I have a few spots to share with you that I KNOW are underutilized at this time of year. (How do I know they are underutilized? I visited each of them the other day and there wasn't a single camper … (7 comments)

A Simple Fix For Bad MLS Pictures... - 03/31/08 12:40 PM
This morning when I was  perusing the price reductions on our MLS I came across a listing ( Fresno MLS# 309338) where the agent had taken one halfway decent shot of the exterior of the home.  Then she (or the office secretary) entered the same picture SIX times.  Sure, this is substandard work and the agent SHOULD do better, but believe me, I would rather look at one halfway decent shot repeated six times than six or ten ALL lousy shots.  BTW - that one shot repeated six time is the ONLY picture provided.
… (9 comments)

California Poppies - There's Gold in Them There Hills! - 03/27/08 01:18 AM
I went fishing today with my oldest son. We went up into the foothills behind Pine Flat Lake. We both wished others could have been with us to see what we saw. I hope that when you see these pictures you can get an idea of how absolutely beautiful it was.
© Randy "Lazarus" McAtee




… (12 comments)

Help Wanted From Others --- Lighting Questions... - 03/22/08 12:54 AM
I shot a home yesterday for another agent and it was a REALLY BIG home with big windows and lots of daylight outside.  I had the obvious problem of trying to capture the inside of the home without having the windows blown out.  I was using 3 Nikon SB800 strobes but the house was so big I wasnt getting enuf light from them to balance the exposure. 
This is a shot in the living room, which is one of the main shots.  I didnt anticipate it being so difficult but I think it had to do with the size of the … (16 comments)

Sunday Open Houses in Northwest Fresno - 93711 - 03/10/08 10:04 PM
On Sundays I often drive around my neighborhood and stop in to take a peek at the open houses. Yesterday I previewed two homes. The first home was at 1626 W Mesa Ave and is listed by London Properties - Ruth Reisz is the listing agent. The MLS# is 307900. This home is an REO listed for $370,000 and imo is WAY overpriced. It salient features are the tile roof and nice neighborhood but the house needs a LOT of work, inside and out. I hope Ruth is able to find a buyer, but methinks its a really tuff sell at … (0 comments)

Fresno Blossom Trail --- Pictures Included - 03/08/08 10:07 AM
On Thursday my wife and I drove the famous Fresno Blossom Trail. We planned to leave at 9:00 am and get back around 1:00 pm so basically we allotted 3 hours for the drive. As it turned out we left at 10:00 am and didnt arrive back home until nearly 5:00 pm in the evening. Time really does fly when you're having fun!
As you can see from the photos below the trail is full bloom and if you're wanting to drive it I think there might be one good week left, so you better hurry! it really is a treat and … (4 comments)

HUD Loan Limits for Fresno California Real Estate - 03/06/08 12:52 PM
This just in … actually I received it via an email from Jennifer Arnbrister, an Account Executive at Reunion Mortgage. HUD has revised their lending limits for the entire country and according to Jennifer the Central Valley rates are in today while the rest of the country has to wait until tomorrow.
Here are the rates for Fresno and several other Central California counties:
Fresno 381,250 417,000 Kern 368,750 417,000 Kings 325,000 417,000 Madera 425,000 425,000 Merced 472,500 472,500 San Joaquin 488,750 488,750 Stanislaus 423,750 423,750 Tulare 325,000 417,000
You can go to the HUD website to find the information … (3 comments)

Warren Bufffet Confirms Little Known Realtor's Prognositication of Recession.... - 03/03/08 03:08 PM
America's Billionaire next door, confirmed yesterday what I (Randy "Lazarus" McAtee) announced on January 14, 2008:
" ...the U.S. economy is essentially in a recession even if it hasn’t met the technical definition of one yet" (stated buffet on Monday)
The Oracle of Omaha had a significant advantage over me in that he made his announcement after reviewing the recent performance of the many businesses in his holding company Berkshire Hathaway.
I, on the other hand, didn't have the advantage of perusing the market performance of billions of dollars of assets and scrutinizing their money flow. No, my indicators were … (1 comments)

 

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