Here are some tips for consumers who are selling an Orange County, CA home this spring.

Sellers Should:

1. Put Your Home on the Internet. More than 80% of buyers use the web to find homes now. Listings with six good photos get almost 300% more viewers than ones with just one photo. (PS–Orange County listing Realtors…are you reading this?

2. Make your house look good. Hire “I’m Gorgeous Inside,” San Clemente’s own decorator firm to give you a consultation for $200. Or, just hire Gail Marino and Lisa Garcia, owners, to redecorate any dowdy rooms FOR you. Contact them at 949-361-0580 today. Their ideas will gain you far more in selling price than what they cost you for their brilliant redecorating of your home in the San Clemente or South Orange County area.

3. Price it Properly. Don’t ask too much. Get real. Weigh what it costs you to go six months before selling your home at YOUR price against what you’d get by dropping the price 10% NOW. The market a year or so ago is not there today…just accept it.

4. Emphasize Green Features — Swap regular light bulbs for the new fluorescent ones everywhere. Install faucet filters. This means lots to some people and can become a tie-breaker against homes of the same square footage.

5. Don’t Sell it as a Fixer-Upper - Go ahead and do the cosmetic things first. Paint with taupe, not white. Replace old kitchen and bathroom fixtures that have become outdated, such as toasters that recede back into the wall, chromed towel racks, goofy toilet roll holders, etc.

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I sent the below message to my Marine Friend, Col. Stewart Navarre,

because I knew that he would understand:

Hi Stewart:

Stewart, I’m actually quite proud of this advancement document (inserted far below), because in the U.S. Navy (between 1961 1964), I made E-5 in just 1.5 years of active duty, after serving a year in the Navy Reserves during my last year of high school.

And making E-5 wasn’t easy…..

As I began active duty, I naturally lacked time in rating to help me score high on Navy advancement tests.

Another obstacle was that there were few unfilled billets available at that time (era of Cuban missile crisis) for Personnelmen (manage Air Squadron personnel office & records, transfer people, handle leave, etc.)

So to move up into Petty Officer Class from an E-2, I had to virtually ACE all the tests to beat out 10-20 year long-timers who already got many extra points for longevity.

So I did that—-I Aced the tests by studying my ass off…ha ha. And ultimately ended

up an E-5, Personnelman Second Class, a rank equal to a Marine Sergeant. (Where there’s a will…?)

So I am very glad that my parents saved these old Navy documents for me. They remind me of so very much…

(It was actually my success in the Navy that convinced me that I should go to college.

And of course that led to many more rewards, or my life would have turned out radically different—because I was already then headed down a wrong path.)

I dunno. I sometimes think that there’d be lots less crime, punks, and gangs today if we still had the draft. In the military, people learn to respect authority and to accept personal responsibility for their actions at a young age.

Sadly, those qualities are often missing today because, I believe, young men are DEPRIVED of a military-type experience. Perhaps an alternative could be some OTHER form of public service, but one that was run much on the military chain of command (responsibility) model. Perhaps we can noodle about this some time.

Anyway, just thought I’d share my forgotten

and long-ago achievement, and the

lessons it taught me, to a few friends…

…….Sharing it as a Military Veteran and proud of it!!!!…

Bill Koelzer

 

 IF YOU FOCUS ON YOUNGER REAL ESTATE BUYERS

YOU SHOULD READ THESE STATISTICS ON THEM.

A recent study showed that younger buyers, those in Gen X and Y, looked for these qualities in a real estate broker.  See also what Baby Boomers preferred:

First, the age groups (approximations):

Boomers:  1944-1962

Gen X        1962-1977

Gen Y        1978-1995

——————————————-

Qualities Preferred:

Honest and Reliable - GenX  68%  GenY - 77%   Boomers 58%

————————

Experienced and

Familiar with market:  GenX 62%  GenY 71%    Boomers 52%

—————————-

Dedicated and Patient:  GenX  38%  GenY 56%   Boomers 24%

—————————–

Young and Enthusiastic

Go Getter:                         GenX 7%    GenY  14%   Boomers 2%

—————————–

Don’t Know:                   GenX  9%    GenY 2%    Boomers 13%

———————————–

*Survey by C21, in 2006…

Among first-time home buyers, 84 percent are likely to use the Internet as an information tool in the home search, compared with 78 percent of repeat buyers.  Additionally, 62 percent of first time home buyers use the internet frequently, and just 57 percent of repeat homebuyers do the same.  (According to the 2006 profile of home buyers and sellers of the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

My job usually consists of finding out of town home buyers some real estate to buy in South Orange County, CA. Doing this is one of my greatest joys. Especially if the buyers are from out of this area, and have never seen San Clemente, Dana Point or the surrounding area before.

San Clemente is blessed with its incredibly beautiful beaches, our stunning wooden pier that runs nearly a quarter mile into the ocean, our ocean view bluffs, and our quaint, old-fashioned down town shopping area.

Look above at all the ocean view homes!

The pier is a joy to photograph and to walk on. Many people fish off the pier. Just out in the ocean a ways south, is the new kelp bed that will bring even better fishing to our shores. But the pier itself is a joy to behold.

On the land side of the pier, standing high on a piling-supported platform, is The Fisherman’s Restaurant, a terrific place for local food of all kinds, plus a place to drink or dine right over the surf below. Go HERE to see many pictures of the restaurant’s interior and exterior.

Bill and I like to check with weather.com to see what time the sun sets in San Clemente, then we go down to the pier and get an outdoor table facing west so we can have a drink and a shrimp cocktail as we watch the sun slip into the ocean.

There are several hamburger-type small outdoor restaurants on the beach just before you go onto the pier, and since these, too, are operated by the Fisherman’s Restaurant, you can bet that the burgers, dogs, fries and shakes, even salads, that you get there are of top quality, too.

Generally, I just TELL the out of town real estate and home buyers about the restaurant and pier, but sometimes we park in the pier bowl and go onto the pier to discuss an offer or lay out the next day’s homes to view since I can get the Internet anywhere I go because of a special AT&T/Cingular web software I have on my laptop computer.

They are always just stunned with the beautiful views from the pier bowl, of our wide beach and the pier structure itself. Oh yes, the surfers are always there and to landlocked people from the prairie states, seeing them balance on a wave-driven board is always fascinating.

Do I love helping buyers find real estate in San Clemente, California? You bet I do. I love to share their joy in finding the home of their dreams, whether it be a little condo or a huge luxury home. My life as a San Clemente and South Orange County Realtor is a blast. Deb.

Last week, San Clemente city council approved local Mortgage Broker Scott Melcher’s conceptual plan for a 36-hole miniature golf course on Ave. Vista Hermosa near Ave La Pata and behind the Fire Station there.

Because I am a marketing consultant, and friend of Scott’s, he showed me his plan about six months ago.  I studied it and told Scott that it was a brilliantly conceived plan and that it would be hard to find anyone that might oppose it.  Especially the many COOPERATIVE ways he has designed the facility and its revenues to fit into the city and not only be a great new entertainment center for the populace, but provide income for the city and various non-profit organizations from time to time.

It is a testiment to Scott’s reputation in the community for integrity and entrepreneurship that the council voted to work exclusively with Scott Melcher, rather than open the project up to a series of competitive bids.   Way to go, Scott!

The San Clemente Sun Post reported that former San Clemente Mayor Susan Ritschel’s 1,000-mile walk to raise funds to build the new Dorothy Visser Senior Center is off an “running.” As of March 20, the paper reported that Susan already had pledges of about $20,000.

It works this way….Susan has vowed to walk 1,000 miles by the end of the year and has already walked 200. Donors can sponsor her by pledging so much a mile, or, they are even invited by Susan to walk WITH her several times a week as she traces several different routes through San Clemente.

If you would like to pledge some money or would like to walk with Susan, just sign up by calling Cathy Lee at the current Senior Center at 949-498-3322.

The new center will be on a piece of real estate located downtown, just off PCH. See the first post on this subject for location details and info on the project itself.

The current site devoted to this project is HERE and you are welcome to visit and learn full details about this much needed Dorothy Visser San Clemente Senior Center. - Debbie

Real Estate is such fun. Bill and I drove down to San Diego for the past three days (Sun, Mar. 18 thru Tues, Mar 20) for the Prudential Realty National Convention at the San Diego Convention Center (such great architecture it has, too).

Prudenial acknowledged award winning salespeople, me included, and there were speakers, cocktail parties and evening entertainment. We had the NAR economist speak to us, football great Terry Bradshaw cracked us up, and the Beach Boys took us back a few years with all their great hits.

We also visited hundreds of booths at the expo, which were very trafficked this year, compared to last. Advanced Access’ booth was VERY busy all the time.

Prudential Realty bought out the entire aircraft carrier, USS Midway, in San Diego harbor and all us Realtors got bused over there for a monster party on the flight deck, amidst dozens of old planes and choppers. That thing is BIG!!!

Prudential also put on two whopper parties in the lobby bar of the Westin right in Horton Plaza downtown and watch for the links to the three photo albums that bill made of the convention.

A friend loaned us a portable scooter for me to ride in the huge convention center and it sure made things easier.

We were able to easily leverage it in and out of the back of the van…

The next national convention is for the National Council of Exchangors, held here in Buena Park at the Knotts Berry Farm Resort and we already have rooms there. I am proud to be the president-elect of this national 1031 property exchangor group.

About 300 1031 property exchangors from around the U.S. and Orange County, too, will attend. Bill and I already have our room there at this four-star resort hotel.

Deb.