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mary popehandy: Using Social Media Authentically, Helpfully and Professionally - 07/09/11 12:00 PM
Do you love social media? Is it helping you with your business, or do you want it to? Many real estate professionals are dabbling in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and many more new online venues, the most recent addition of which is Google +.
The first question that many people fail to answer for themselves is the most basic one: what do I want to get out of this experience? Is it recreation? Is it more leads? Is it to help convert people I already know from aquaintances to clients?
If you are engaging on social media sites and want to make … (5 comments)
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mary popehandy: An Introduction to Monte Sereno, California - Smallest City in Silicon Valley - 04/28/11 12:58 AM
Monte Sereno, California- the small neighbor next to Los Gatos in Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley)
Nestled against the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains on the west side of Santa Clara County (about an hour south of San Francisco and a few minutes from San Jose), Monte Sereno is a scenic, small city which is semi-rural with neither sidewalks nor street lights. It has, in fact, the smallest population of the 15 cities within Santa Clara County, having just about 4000 residents in about 1.6 square miles. There are no businesses in town, just residences, the city office and post … (0 comments)
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mary popehandy: Los Gatos, CA Real Estate Market Update for Feb 2011 - 02/07/11 10:51 AM
While most of Santa Clara County (which makes up most of Silicon Valley) is seeing slippage in sales prices and a tougher market, houses in Los Gatos (95030 and 95032 zip codes) are faring better than most. As with most of the region, though, condos and townhouses in Los Gatos do continue to struggle. Homes in the Los Gatos Mountains (95033 zip code area) often have a hard time selling even in a "hot" market and they are really having a difficult time now.
A lot of variables can swing the market for this town: short sales and bank owned homes … (0 comments)
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mary popehandy: Best Systems for Agents and Brokers, & A Checklist for New Agent Hires - 07/22/09 08:55 PM
As some of you know, a few months ago I "jumped into the deep end of the pool" and began forming a new real estate brokerage in Silicon Valley with a group of agents and one very experienced broker. Our company, Luxor Real Estate Group, is up and running and is growing, despite the crazy market conditions and our newness.Each of us Founders (9 in all) brings something different to the table: insights, tools, gifts. One thing I am going to help us to implement as a company is a focus on good systems (thank you CRS and Howard Brinton of Star … (5 comments)
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mary popehandy: Open this weekend in Monte Sereno - Stunning Victorian Home! - 01/29/09 01:25 PM
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mary popehandy: Stunning, Classic Monte Sereno Home - Open This Weekend! - 01/22/09 03:03 PM
16125 Francesca Court, Monte Sereno Beautiful craftsmanship and detail work abound throughout this custom-built home!Updated! Close to downtown Los Gatos!
4 Beds 3.5 Baths - the home consists of 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths plus a fabulous studio apartment or guest suite, which is built over the garage and enjoys a separate entrance. Altogether, it's 4 bed, 3.5 baths. Offered at $1,865,000 Open Sat/Sun, Jan 24/25, 2009 from 1:30pm - 4pm. Slideshow Tour with Words and Music
See also the virtual tour:www.tourfactory.com/474389
16125 Francesca Court, Monte Sereno Many exceptional details can be found in this updated home: hardwood flooring on the … (1 comments)
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mary popehandy: Get Ready for Halloween - How To Make Photos with Special Effects - 09/29/08 10:13 PM
Halloween will be here before you know it, so get ready to blog about upcoming events in your neighborhood! A great way to spice up your posts for this spooky holiday is to doctor a photo. A house is perfect, of course, but this works with pumpkins or almost anything else.So start by finding a photo of a house that you can use. I'll choose a pic of a listing I sold a few years ago in the Blossom Valley area of San Jose (Silicon Valley). Next, go to www.Picnik.com and upload the chosen photograph. (Picnik is a free site. Just go, … (3 comments)
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mary popehandy: How's the Los Gatos Real Estate Market Doing as of August 2008? - 08/30/08 10:41 PM
August is often a more "sleepy" month in Silicon Valley. In 2007, the August activity was better than September, since we had the mortgage meltdown occur then, and in 2001 August was better than September for sales. But most years, August is better for buyers than for sellers in terms of closing prices. How about this year? Most homes in Los Gatos are in the $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 range, though there are a few homes priced lower (the lowest being about $850,000 for a single family home) and quite a few are higher (it is not uncommon to see homes sell … (0 comments)
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mary popehandy: Do You Have a Ghost Story To Share? Collecting Agent and Related Posts for HauntedRealEstate.com! - 08/27/08 11:31 PM
I don't "see dead people" but I do collect ghost stories, and a LOT of agents seem to have had experiences worth reading about! Do you have one to share? If so, I'd love to showcase it (and you) on my Haunted Real Estate blog!Yes, really. After all, it's almost Halloween!!
Want to be included? Email me and put something about Haunted Real Estate in the subject line (or phone me) and we'll get started. Meanwhile, check out the blog, especially the category for Agent Stories.
… (6 comments)
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mary popehandy: Inman's Bloggers Connect Yesterday - Speaking on Panel About Closing Sales from Blogging - 07/25/08 10:16 AM
Yesterday was a lot of fun - I had the pleasure of being a panelist at Inman's Bloggers Connect in San Francisco and was honored to be surrounded on stage by bloggers I truly respect: Laurie Manny (Long Beach Real Estate Home), Teresa Boardman (St Paul Real Estate Blog) and Linda Davis (Eastern Connecticut Real Estate), and we were lucky to have a great moderator, Jay Thompson (PhoenixRealEstateGuy). The point of the panel was to get input and tips from bloggers who are closing sales from their blogs. When Inman asked me to be on a panel for blogging, I said … (26 comments)
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mary popehandy: Forget the Car! This Los Gatos Home is Close to Schools and Shops! - 06/16/08 08:00 PM
With gas rapidly approaching $5 per gallon in Silicon Valley, a close-in location is prized now more than ever! The home at 120 Magneson Terrace in Los Gatos offers incredible proximity to Blossom Hill Elementary School (just a couple of blocks away), Fisher Middle School (about a half mile away) and a fabulous array of shops and restaurants within a half mile.
Details on 120 Magneson Terrace, Los Gatos:
Updated, single story ranch home NEW ROOF as of late June Located on quiet cul-de-sac Home appx 1800 SF, Lot appx 8700 SF Three Bedrooms Two and One-Half Bathrooms Step Down Living … (5 comments)
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mary popehandy: Introducing Mary Pope-Handy's new Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog, "The Valley of Hearts Delight" - 04/12/08 11:25 AM
Blogging has become my primary source of meeting new clients in recent months (from my Real Town blog, www.LiveInLosGatos.com), so I have decided to expand what works (and cut what doesn't) by replacing a non-performing website with a blogsite that I believe will do great things for my business and my clientele.The old site can still be viewed at www.ValleyOfHeartsDelight.com. It is a Best Image site, which is quite expensive at $60 per week! A year or two ago, it was a great source of leads. Now it is merely a budget drain and a source of amazing quanties of spam. … (17 comments)
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mary popehandy: It's A Buyer's Market in Silicon Valley: Why Won't The Seller Take Your Offer? - 03/22/08 01:17 PM
Home buyers are surprised when they make an offer and it is rejected or countered high. After all, this is a buyer's market in Silicon Valley, isn't it? Shouldn't the sellers be thankful that there's an offer at all? Shouldn't they just take any offer they get?That's how a lot of buyers view the "lay of the land". But even if only one in five homes is selling in Los Gatos, those homeowners do not want to feel like they are "giving away the home". And they'll tell you so.Buyers want a bargain and sellers want top dollar. Somewhere in between, … (0 comments)
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mary popehandy: Los Gatos Real Estate Market Update for March 2008 - 03/17/08 11:31 PM
How is the Los Gatos real estate market doing?Well, it is a bunch of micro-markets, really, even among the single family homes:
the mountain areas (zip code 95033) are not really part of "The Town" (rather, county)in town, the area closest to downtown is the 95030 zip code and it has all "Los Gatos Schools"further out, the 95032 zip code is mostly non-Los Gatos Schools (and sells for less)Once you add in townhomes and condos, it gets even more confusing!In a nutshell: the mountain areas are selling pretty slowly and are usually not considered as part of Los Gatos proper. The 95030 … (0 comments)
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mary popehandy: On TV Today: Wish I'd Said "Real Estate Blogger" Instead of Just "Blogger" - 03/06/08 10:23 PM
You never know what a day will bring. Or a week.Last Sunday, my husband and I took Bella, our big black lab, out for a walk in our east Los Gatos neighborhood. I noticed some tagging - very unusual for our Silicon Valley community - so snapped a couple of pics and sent them off to the Los Gatos Police Department. I also copied my pal Alastair Dallas, who runs the online news journal, The Los Gatos Observer. (He has a great book, Los Gatos Observed.) Anyway, the Observer carried a piece on this - graffitti in town and how fast … (7 comments)
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mary popehandy: Can a Realtor, or other Real Estate Professional, Help You to Buy a Distressed Property in Los Gatos? - 02/24/08 03:25 PM
The whole arena of selling distressed properties feels like a quagmire to most people. We all know it's tricky, and difficult, and have heard that it's frustrating, but also that it's doable.People wanting to buy homes that are in foreclosure, or have been foreclosed on, or are in a short sale situation may have more questions than answers. What are the risks? Can I inspect? What is a short sale? Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, Almaden Valley and the other "west valley communities" are all highly desireable. Lately I have had inquiries from bargain-hunting buyers who'd like to scoop up a … (0 comments)
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mary popehandy: Los Gatos - A Tale of Two Vastly Different Real Estate Markets in One Small Town - 02/19/08 09:37 AM
Los Gatos is a charming town nestled into the base of foothills of the Coastal Range. It's an upscale community in Silicon Valley, with good schools, low crime, and well maintained homes overall. In general, the market is "fair" in town. But real estate is always local, and things aren't always as they seem.Recently I looked hard at the numbers in town and learned that the real estate market's performance in one zip code, 95030, is entirely opposite that of the other, 95032. How could that be?Here, schools drive real estate values more than any other factor. And here, the school … (3 comments)
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mary popehandy: Market Update for San Jose, Santa Clara County, and Silicon Valley - 01/09/08 10:54 PM
The numbers have been crunched for December and for all of 2007 and it's not a lot different than what we expected.Overall, sales are WAY down. And overall, prices are UP. How does that work? In a nutshell, only the best homes are selling - homes that are in ideal locations (no busy roads, no high voltage power lines, you get the idea), nicely updated and priced aggressively. Homes that aren't all of these things go on the market, get a little attention, and then proceed to NOT sell.You can read a very detailed report, complete with charts and graphs, for … (2 comments)
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mary popehandy: The Los Gatos Real Estate Market: Is Now a Good Time to Sell or Buy a Home? - 01/04/08 10:58 AM
It's January, it's pouring rain and the wind is howling here in Silicon Valley as a giant Alaskan storm is dumping water by the bucket. This is the largest storm since 1995. We are thankful for the water since precipitation has been low and there's talk of a drought and rationing by next summer. But how does this, or even "normal winter weather", impact real estate sales? Does it make this a better time to buy or sell? The obvious answer may not be the correct one! With the inclement weather, there's an opportunity - for both buyers and for sellers … (0 comments)
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mary popehandy: Getting A Home To Sell In Any Market - 11/29/07 10:15 PM
The Silicon Valley real estate market is really very split, with distinct "haves" and "have nots" in terms of who can easily sell a home at the moment. There are plenty of inbetweens, too. In fact, overall it is an oddly normal market. But the overview may have little or nothing to do with how well or poorly any one neighborhood is selling.Why are some areas "hot" and others "not"? How is it that some homes can sell even when it's an extremely strong buyers market? At my blog, Live in Los Gatos, I outline the five elements that go into … (5 comments)
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Mary Pope-Handy, ABR, CRS, ePRO, SRES, ASP
Los Gatos,
CA
More about me…
Sereno Group Real Estate
Address: 214 Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, Los Gatos, CA, 95030
Office Phone: (408) 335-1432
Cell Phone: (408) 204-7673
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