SubscribeTales From the Front – The World of Palo Alto Area Real Estate 10/16/09
October 16, 2009
Today was re-tour day in Palo Alto. When the price of a home is reduced, or the listing agent is trying to generate some interest in a stale listing, they “re-tour” it, or have it on broker’s tour again. Today we visited three great properties that are looking for new owners and are on tour following price reductions.
First up was a Crescent Park contemporary at 1012 Forest Avenue, listed by Alan Dunckel and Derk Brill of Alain Pinel Realtors in Palo Alto. Since there isn’t an actual Alain Pinel at that office, if you ask for him, you will be connected to Alan Dunckel, who is a nice guy and a good agent and his name is close enough. They have just reduced the price on this home from $2,395,000 to $2,195,000. Not bad for a 4 year old home in that neighborhood. It will have an open house on Saturday and Sunday from 1:30 to 4:30.
Next we moved a little South to 2145 Emerson Street in equally shi-shi Old Palo Alto. This newer traditional home is listed by Lisa Liu of Alain Pinel Realtors for $2,095,000, down from $2,295,000. At 2248sf on a 5000sf lot, it’s a cozy home, with great details, and great natural lighting. Open Sunday from 1:30 to 4:30.
Saving the best for last is my Intero colleague David Troyer’s listing at 75 Coronado Avenue in Los Altos. This new home is 6721 square feet on two levels on a 14233sf lot. Using modern Craftsman architecture and high ceilings, even the basement feels open and spacious, and it has great finishes and details throughout. Normally shown by appointment only, I’ll be there this Sunday from 1:30 to 4:30. Please stop by!
If you would like more information on any of these or other homes for sale in the area, send me an email, or call me at 650-450-0450.
Have a great weekend!
Tales From The Front – My world in real estate, October 9, 2009
October 9, 2009
I’m going back to some of our original content here on 3Oceans and providing some commentary on selected homes I saw today on Broker’s Tour that are worthy of mention to me. Thanks to JT for driving today, and Steve for navigational assistance.
I dragged my Los Altos compatriots to Palo Alto today to see a couple of fine homes from the 1930’s. Being an old house nut, 320 Kellogg Avenue, listed by Tim Trailer of Coldwell Banker in Palo Alto really captured my attention with its period details, classy kitchen remodel and the big soaking tub in the master suite. Set on nearly half an acre of Old Palo Alto, this fine property will only set you back $9,750,000.
Moving downmarket to 2050 Waverly Avenue, listed by Bonnie Bjorn of Coldwell Banker in Menlo Park is this beautifully restored Dutch Colonial, offered with the reduced price of $4,995,000. It’s less house and less land than Kellogg, but you don’t have the train noise, and I actually like the neighborhood better. Plus the almost $5million in change will get you a nice little place overlooking the fairway at Pebble Beach, or a small winery in Sonoma . . .
The highlight for me today was this newer Palo Alto Hills estate, listed by Grace Wu of Alain Pinel for $4,299,000. Almost two acres of land, sweeping views of the Hills, and a 3 car garage (must have!) make this a winner. No open houses, but I can set up a showing if you are interested.
Finally, a big shout out to David Chung of Alain Pinel for rocking his new Audi R8 on broker’s tour today! I think he is the new winner in the sexy Palo Alto Realtor Car competition. Eat your heart out Ken!
If you would like to see any of the homes I wrote about today, let me know.
Thanks for reading . . .
Bye Bye, Alain Pinel; Hello 3 Oceans Real Estate, Inc.
October 4, 2007
It’s been a busy few weeks here at 3 Oceans. Some eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed that my byline recently changed from Kevin Boer, Realtor, Alain Pinel Realtors to Kevin Boer, Broker/Owner, 3 Oceans Real Estate, Inc.
I’m pleased to announce that 3 Oceans is now more than a blog — it is, in fact, now a full-fledged boutique real estate brokerage. I recently got the final paperwork from Sacramento, and today I officially handed in my keys to my old broker, Alain Pinel.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my 3.5 years at Alain Pinel, learned a ton, and made great friends. The time has come, however, for me to move on and further leverage the exposure this blog has given me. I have many innovative business ideas I’ll be implementing, many of which would have been difficult to do while at a traditional brokerage.
If you still have my kboer@apr.com email address, please be sure to change it to kevin@3oceansrealestate.com
I think this means I now need to double-check and counter-sign my own paperwork?
How Come Redfin’s P&L Looks Distinctly Unlike That Of A Traditional Real Estate Brokerage? Because Redfin Is Actually A Brokerage, Not A Landlord!
October 1, 2007
Tipped off by another insightful Greg Swann piece (Greg — do you ever sleep?) I just read through Glenn Kelman’s fascinating soul-baring finances-revealing post over on Guy Kawasaki’s blog. As a serial entrepreneur — and quite a successful one at that — Glenn has certainly done more than his fair share of financial modeling, and his post is rich in advice for the prospective entrepreneur.
What is particularly fascinating is how Redfin’s financial modeling is thoroughly and utterly unlike that of a traditional broker. That makes sense, of course, since Redfin is, well, not a traditional broker. In particular, unlike traditional brokers, Redfin makes its money through the act of – wait for it — brokerage — that is, representing buyers and sellers of homes.
Traditional brokerages — Coldwell Banker, Prudential, ReMax, Keller Williams, Alain Pinel — on the other hand, most emphatically do not make money through brokerage activities — they leave that work to their agent work force, usually a collection of independent contractors. Traditional brokerages, you see, make their money through landlording.
They provide agents with office space, training, mentoring, branding, open house opportunities, telephone lines, etc. and then charge these agents twofold: first, a portion of their commissions (starting at 50% or more for new agents, going down to perhaps 5% or 10% for the top agents, averaging perhaps around 25%) and secondly, a rather long laundry list of fees, including tech fees, desk fees, legal fees, and a myriad of others.
Much of what remains in the agent’s pocket after the broker’s share is divvied up among countless vendors, including the local MLS, newspapers, cell phone carriers, web site vendors, and Lexus dealers.
Here’s a picture of the money trail:
…and here’s one of them new-fangled Sketchcasts…
Further commentary from others:
- Ardell summarizes her take on the article: Sounds like the practical people are the ones asking for money, and the impractical ones are the people giving the money.
- Joel wonders if the downturn in the market will do a Foxton’s to Redfin.
Trulia Turns Two Today
September 25, 2007
Trulia, the online listing site which aggregates data from brokers and agents around the country, just turned two today. In that short time, they’ve accomplished some fairly impressive feats:
- They built a home search site, getting listings Realtor-by-Realtor, broker-by-broker, without going through MLS’s.
- They formed partnerships with a number of leading regional and nation-wide brokerages, including Alain Pinel, Coldwell Banker, and Keller Williams.
- They layered on an impressive array of quantitative data on schools, neighborhoods, price trends, and so forth.
- They mixed in qualitative information with their Voices product, which has spawned quite an active consumer-agent forum.
- They became one of the leading sources of online traffic for many of their broker partners.
As founder Pete Flint notes in this blog post, they did all this without resorting to the all-too-common bait-’n-switch tactics in this industry.
