Recent Reviews

Hi,

I am happy to report that people are actually starting to read my writing. I swear it's like my fan base went from 1 person (Me) to almost 4!! At this pace, I might have a van full by the end of the month...if I am lucky maybe even one of those big airport vans full.

Some recent reviews:

"This blog is awesome!" -Mark Dunn

"Now I want to buy more houses!" -Conor Dunn

"You've got mail." -AOL

Seriously though, thanks for reading, I like when someone tells me that they heard I have a blog...but then they get distracted by something on TV and forget to read it.

Conor

Newspapers, Negative Nancy's

Hi,

So I've started to get into a routine every morning. I guess this has been going on for about 6 months...is that long enough to qualify as a "routine?" Not important. So as I was saying, I have a routine in the morning that involves me getting out of bed, turning on the pot of coffee and walking out to the driveway to get the newspaper while my coffee brews. I say walk, but the last few weeks has been more of a run or "sprint" if you will, because it's been raining buckets here in The Bay Area.

*Side note* I always capitalize "The Bay Area" because it seems equivalent to saying something like "New England"...which as we all know, is capitalized. Capitalizing it makes is sounds in important. The Bay Area is important.

So, back to the morning, I walk in the house with my paper sit down at my kitchen table and pull out the sections I want to read. At this point I kind of dawdle because I want to have hot coffee in my hand while I read. Is this weird? Probably. Once the coffee maker beeps (YES!) I grab my cup and start reading the paper. Sections that I read: (In order) Sports, Business, then Comics/Crossword. If I see something interesting on the front page I will usually scan that as well.

Today I was reading the Business section and noticed an article on home sales in the month of December 2009. Apparently homes sales in The Bay Area went down last month as compared to the month before. I actually knew that this was true but it wasn't for the reason you think. Home sales have gone down because there is no stinking inventory. When there are no homes to sell, it makes it hard for sales to go up. They go on to explain in the article that homes are indeed selling and in fact they have been getting multiple offers. I am glad that the columnist clarified that in the article but it still irked me that the title had such a negative connotation. There are many people reading the paper who will scan the section and see the headline, "Home sales in Bay Area decline in December." They will see that and likely assume the worst, and you can't really blame them. It was definitely something that gnawed on me but hey, not a ton I can do about it...except tell you about it in this awesome blog.

So, end of story, I read the comics to cheer me up (Pearls Before Swine you rock!) I finished my coffee and got ready for work. Pretty standard.

Moral of the story: My blog has factual information that can blow your mind...or give you something do when you have a free minute.

Conor

Chuck

Hi,

So after holding an open house yesterday I came home looking forward to some time spent falling asleep on the couch to the TV. This dream quickly shattered as soon as I realized that I had some stuff to take care of around the house like cleaning, cooking, etc.

I was perfectly fine with this because the only thing in my mind was that I had to be in front of the TV at 9pm to watch one of my favorite shows "Chuck." Now there are a lot of people who waste a lot of time in front of a television. Maybe I shouldn't use the word "waste" as I am one of those people who definitely enjoys sitting in front of the tube. Like anything (except cupcakes, which are delicious,) I think TV is best experienced in moderation.

Back to the important stuff. "Chuck" was on at 9pm and by god I was going to sit there and watch it. For those of you who haven't seen the show, it's about a normal nerdy guy working at a store called "Buy More" (Best Buy) in the "Nerd Herd" department (Geek Squad.) His old college roommate is a rogue spy for the CIA and inadvertently sends him a whole bunch of government secrets which he sees and now has implanted in his head. Is the premise ridiculous? Absolutely! Could this ever happen in real life? No way! Does that matter to Conor? No sir. The show makes me laugh and has a little bit of action to boot.

At this point you might be asking yourself what this has to do with Real Estate...well not a lot, except this....

I've started to notice recently that when I am showing properties with buyers, there is usually one constant. We almost always walk into the Family Room, the buyer looks around and says something the affect of, "Hmm well I guess I could put the TV there, and the couches could go here..." or this one, "Oh the fireplace has plenty of room above it for a flat screen." It's amazing how consistent it is. Even if families don't watch a lot of TV, they still want to know where they will be putting the TV and how they are going to arrange the furniture to point at it. I would think this is weird, except for the fact that my rear end is planted on the couch for appointment television more than one time a week.

My name is Conor, and I watch Television. I read books too.


Conor

We think the economy is tough...

Hi,

I am lucky enough to have a traveling family. Every holiday season for the last 5 years my extended family makes it's way across the globe to a random destination. Past years have included, Mexico, Ireland and Argentina. This year, my family went to Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The first question you probably have is, "Why would you go to Vietnam?" I have an answer for that, my grandmother had never been there before, and she wanted to go. So there.

After 10 days (12 days total including travel) of tours, food, elephant rides, and temples, I left Southeast Asia with a life experience under my belt. I don't want to pretend that my trip was amazing fun when it really wasn't, but I'll merely acknowledge the fact that it was an experience I needed to have and a very interesting one at that. I'm happy with the opportunity to go there but I come back feeling fortunate for the things I have here in the Bay Area.

Our economy is going through a rough patch right now, more than a rough patch most would say. I walked through the streets of Cambodia and stared in disbelief at entire buildings completely empty. Cambodia is a place that relies very heavily on tourism and investors from around the world. When I asked our tour guide what was up with these empty buildings, he informed me that they were built a few years ago by world investors with hopes of sales. The economy crashes, building stops, now they have full buildings just sitting there empty going to waste. This isn't just one building either...they are everywhere. The amazing thing about these empty buildings is that they are still trying to sell them. Asking price for one of these condos is almost 500k USD!!! In Cambodia!! No wonder they are empty. Apparently, that is what the builder needs to stay afloat on these condos. Amazing...I was amazed.

Then I go to Vietnam. No empty buildings there. 10 Million people and nowhere to put them. I saw more motor scooters in one day than I had in my entire life up to that point. Too many people, lots of smog, too hard to cross the street...some of the many challenges I faced while in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

In the end, I came to the conclusion, that although times are tough in the Bay Area right now, we are lucky enough to strike a happy medium of good people in an area that is not too crowded and not too empty.

I know that I am where I want to be when I am landing at SFO and after looking around for a few minutes, think to myself, it's good to be home.

Conor

P.S. The pictures above include a trip to Halong Bay (North Vietnam,) scooters, the family, the snake at Mekong Delta, and Beung Melia Temple ruins in Cambodia. After re reading this post, I didn't mean to give off the feeling that I didn't enjoy my trip, very much the opposite in fact. It was an amazing experience as a whole with a bunch of cool little experiences on the way. I just wanted to convey the fact that, I feel fortunate to be where I am today.