bay area: Whew! What a Whirlwind! - 12/03/14 08:59 AM


For this home I sold in the Mission Fremont area for $1,673,988, I was the agent for the buyers. If you read my previous story for the last home I sold in Fremont, that is the precursor to this sale.
This home is in a brand new community that the buyers just fell in love with first sight. The development was actually sold out at the time we first visited, so initially the clients were disappointed and we were trying to figure out any/all options to get them into this community somehow, but lucky for us, one of the … (0 comments)

bay area: Sometimes You Go with the Flow ... - 10/05/14 11:54 PM


For this home I just sold in Fremont for $630,000, I was the agent for the buyers, a very sweet couple who found me on Yelp! The timing for this one was a bit of a challenge because I was out of town and actually in a location without cell service, although I did have slow WIFI. The listing agent was taking offers first come, so thank God for my tech guru husband who was able to hook me up with cell service so I could communicate to the listing agent, my buyers, so that I could make things … (0 comments)

bay area: The Unexpected Bathroom Remodel - 09/12/14 11:12 PM


For this condo I sold in Sunnyvale for $420,000 I was the agent for the seller. The transaction itself was super smooth. We received multiple offers and the seller got well over the list price, the buyer waived ALL contingencies, the buyer bought in ‘as is’ condition, and the buyer even gave the seller a FREE rent back. The transaction itself was easy.
The main hiccup actually occurred before we listed the home. When the sellers were arranging their items for staging, they found there had been a leak in the bathroom, so they had to entirely gut the … (2 comments)

bay area: Excuse Me While I Go Through the Window ... - 09/02/14 03:08 AM


For this home I just sold in San Jose for $868,000, I was the agent for a very sweet first time buyer, who was referred to me. The search was a bit daunting for this buyer due to the insane market conditions and all the competition and cash offers on homes in the neighborhoods that he was looking to buy. The level of the competition was fierce for the areas he wanted, so he lost out to some pretty heavy hitters on a couple of occasions.
When he found this home, he basically said, this is it, we are … (1 comments)

bay area: Easy and Cheap Fixes to Sell Your Home for Top Dollar - 12/28/12 11:40 PM
 
It is a great time for many homeowners to sell a home in the Bay Area. Inventory is very very low, there are a lot of people that want to buy a home and take advantage of the ultra low interest rates. Practically every home that is priced right sells with multiple offers within a week. Prices are on the rise.
If you want to get a home sold quickly and inexpensively, you should review these sales and design tips. When a home looks fabulous and shines, buyers do pay more that if a home looks shabby and needs attention. … (4 comments)

bay area: A Nice Smooth Transition for a Move Up Buyer - 07/19/12 08:18 AM
 
I sold this home for $893,000 in San Jose (Almaden Valley) and I was the buyer’s agent for just the cutest young family. They bought their first home with me about 10 years ago B.C. (before children). They now have 3 boys and needed a larger home, so this is a move up buyer.
The search took awhile to find the right home, but once we found this home, wow, talk about luck! It was kind of around a holiday weekend, the showings were a bit hard in that it was by appointment and there was no open house, plus … (0 comments)

bay area: Yay! Another Smooth and Easy All Cash Transaction in San Jose! - 05/03/12 09:33 AM
For this home I sold for $606,500 in San Jose, I was the seller’s agent to an awesome family that has lived in this home for the last 14 years. My good friends a few years back, lived 2 homes away from this home and I sold their home. They are friends from being neighbors and both having kids around the same ages. Although, this couple was originally referred to me by another mutual friend of which I had sold his home as well, a number of years ago. We have actually kept in touch for many years. They have another … (0 comments)

bay area: This Sale Came Down to a Pool Table ... - 04/20/12 10:46 PM
 
For this sale in the Silver Creek Country Club in San Jose for $1,260,000, I was the buyer’s agent and this was my third transaction with this young lovely couple. This couple bought a townhome with me 3 years ago, and then we sold their townhome and bought this home at the same time.
 
Negotiations were rough for this home. The seller really didn’t want to budge in price and was pretty adamant to get what he wanted and the buyers felt the price was a bit high for them and wanted to get some wiggle room to feel … (4 comments)

bay area: Just Sold in Fremont for $720,000 with Warm Springs Schools! - 10/12/11 01:33 AM
 
For this transaction, I was the buyer’s agent and this was a normal sale (as opposed to a short sale). This was my third time working with this couple. I sold them a townhome years ago when they were first time buyers. Then, when they were moving out of the state, I sold that townhome for them in the peak market. After a few years, they moved back to the area and eventually decided to buy single family home. The hardest part was not the transaction itself, which was quite smooth and easy, it was the search for a home and finding the … (2 comments)

bay area: The Feng Shui Dilemma in Saratoga ... - 05/19/11 01:41 AM
For this transaction in Saratoga sold for $1,350,000, I was the listing agent. The seller is just the most down to earth, coolest woman with a fabulous sense of humor … which was needed for this listing. She had me laughing often with some of the emails she sent to me. Her parents owned this home since she was a youngster and both passed so she inherited the home. There was a TON of stuff left behind from like 30+ years of accumulation. It took her almost 2 years to go through it all and get organized. Apparently, her step mom … (1 comments)

bay area: Another Smooth and Easy Home Sale in San Jose (Evergreen) - 05/13/11 01:52 AM
For this sale, I was the listing agent and my clients are a really cute, young, newly married couple who wanted to sell this townhome and buy a bigger home in another area. The husband is the original owner of this home and has kept it in very pristine condition over the years. The townhome sold for $585,000.
Initially, the challenge for this home was that on Zillow…my arch enemy…the value was whacky because Zillow uses no logic, does not compensate for condition, location, comparable communities, etc, etc. It is just a data source that goes purely by square footage and radius … (0 comments)

bay area: A Smooth Short Sale Transaction in San Jose with Wells Fargo - 04/24/11 01:19 PM
 
This transaction was another short sale in downtown San Jose, a condo. Wells Fargo was the bank and I must say, this transaction was one of the smoothest short sale transactions I have had thus far! It only took about one month for short sale approval, which is almost a record for the transactions I have been involved in. My client is an investor taking advantage of the low prices and has a friend in this same community which I sold a condo to a couple of years ago. So, the buyer already knows the community well and visits his friend quite … (1 comments)

bay area: Yikes, a short sale listing with a FHA loan! - 04/08/11 03:56 PM
This home I sold in Fremont for $540,000. This one was a doozy! A double wamy with a short sale listing and a FHA loan…fun, fun. This really nice and cute couple was a lot of fun to work with despite the fact that this transaction was a pretty tough one toward the last few weeks. I do have to say, I laughed out loud at some of the emails the buyer sent to the BofA lender. He really has a way with words. For the short sale approval part, it wasn’t too bad. We wrote the offer mid January and … (2 comments)

bay area: Sold a Short Sale in San Jose City Heights - 03/13/11 08:58 AM
 
This sale was a condo in City Heights on the 8th floor and is a corner unit, which is a very desirable location in this high rise with a great view. This was also a short sale transaction with a very nice investor couple who actually lives in Hong Kong. They came to San Jose for their one and only visit to view this unit that their son, who lives in Canada, thought they would like to buy. They loved the unit and made an offer, went back to Hong Kong, and we went through the entire transaction with these buyers abroad. 
(1 comments)

bay area: The Guest House That Became an Issue - 02/13/11 05:03 AM
 
This couple was really cool and a lot of fun to work with during the process. They actually called me to represent them on this particular home because they wanted a buyer’s agent for this short sale transaction. They were open to viewing other homes, but this was kind of ‘the one’ for them. We did look at just a few other homes while waiting for short sale approval, but nothing compared to this home that they actually found on their own. One funny thing that happened when showing them another property on one fine Sunday, is that I went … (2 comments)

bay area: The Race to the Finish Short Sale in Milpitas - 12/12/10 12:17 PM
 
This buyer is a really nice young single man buying his first home. His search took quite awhile because he was looking mostly at short sales and foreclosures and ran into a lot of competition with multiple offers…yes…multiple offers in ‘this market’. After months of making offers and looking for the right home to fit his needs, he competed in a multiple offer situation for this home and was chosen by the seller.
 
This transaction was a short sale and the response time for the short sale approval for this home was actually pretty quick in short sale waiting period terms. We … (1 comments)

bay area: Homes at Auction are Not Always Good Deals - 12/05/10 10:34 AM
 
I sold this buyer a home a few years back when she bought with her sister. Over the years they both got married, had children, and now she and her husband were looking for a larger home with a really good school district. The search was a long one and it seemed every home they really liked and wanted to make an offer on had multiple offers…yes, multiple offers. So, they competed a number of times for homes over maybe a year period, but weren’t interested in getting caught up in the competition and paying top dollar for any of … (0 comments)

bay area: The 7 Month Short Sale Transaction - 11/05/10 02:51 AM
 
This sale is yet another short sale transaction which took 7 months to close! The buyers for this home have the patience of saints! Seriously! I think this has been the most torturous transaction for any of my short sale buyers thus far, but the buyers were extremely patient and remarkably mellow and laid back, WAY more than I could have ever been if I was the buyer.
 
We wrote the offer back in March and competed with other buyers for this home. Back then the market was pretty hot for these kinds of deals. We luckily prevailed and was … (0 comments)

bay area: Another Successful Short Sale Tansaction with a FHA Buyer - 10/29/10 06:13 AM
 
I sold this home to a really sweet first time FHA buyer who was  very patient through the waiting process. This sale was a short sale that took about 2 months for short sale approval and then another month to close the transaction, so not too bad. For the most part the short sale process and transaction itself was pretty uneventful, which is actually a very good thing when buying a home, mainly just waiting for the approval, which in the short sale world, actually didn’t take that long.
 
Just on a side note, in regard to FHA financing, if … (1 comments)

bay area: Short Sale Transactions Can Get Quite Complicated - 09/24/10 11:02 AM
This was the most complicated and complex short sale thus far for me for sure. The situation for the seller was an extremely sad one. The seller actually lived in this home for many years and raised a family here. This wasn’t the typical short sale scenario in which the owner bought in the height of the market, yada, yada, yada. This owner owned this home for a very long time. 
This home was owned by a married couple, the wife, a very successful business woman who did very well. She became ill and went into a coma, which is her current … (1 comments)

 

Karen List

San Jose, CA

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CENTURY 21 Alpha

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