Snowboarding can wait...and other things of note

Hi,

Sorry people in Lake Tahoe, I am loving this weather. In fact, for this occasion, I have made a special list of reasons that I love the sun.

1. I can go on a run without getting soaked.
2. It's warm.
3. My son can go outside and cart his Radio Flyer around everywhere.
4. It's not cold.
5. I am in a better mood.
6. With a toddler it's difficult to make time to go snowboarding anyway, so might as well not worry about it...and also, this is what I look like when I am out there...

To be sure, that isn't me, just a representation of me. You'd never catch me in pants that red.


The list could go on for a while but the number one reason I like this weather is business related. Open Houses take place on the weekends and when the sun is out, people like to check out Open Houses and see what's on the market. I was speaking with a co-worker who had 42 groups through her house on Sunday! 42! That is a crazy amount of people for 3 hours. More people touring a house means a better chance of getting it sold, and the more houses that sell, the better it is for the economy. Pretty simple right? In related news, 2 + 2 = 4.

Another interesting thing that I will start doing (and I know how ecstatic some of you will be with this news,) is posting on Twitter more often. Now I can bombard you with a unique perspective on all things...but mostly just real estate and running. You can follow me: @cdunn27.

Also of note, my son Noah is 1 and half years old today, my how time flies. I saved the best for last, I updated the photo on my front page. YES!


Conor

Bee Tag

Hi,

So in our office meeting, we talked about this crazy new thing called Bee Tag. Its almost like a barcode that takes you directly to a website.

An Example of a Bee Tag:




To use this tag, you have to do a few things. First you have to download an application on your Iphone, DROID, or BlackBerry, just go to your AppStore or Droid Market and search Bee Tag. After you open up the application, your phone camera will pop up. Aim the camera at the Bee Tag and wait for it to recognize the code. What this will do is take you directly to this website on your phone. You might be asking yourself, what is the point of doing all that, when all I really need to do is type www.conordunn.com into my phone's browser and it will take me to the website? You are correct in this thinking, for a website that is easy to remember it's probably not important, but for a website that is www.supercalifragilisticexpialidoscious.com, it is much easier to open an app on your phone, one click and you are there.

Here's why it is important for me as a real estate agent. If I have a house to sell, I can actually put the Bee Tag image on the sign out in front of the house. If someone has the Bee Tag app, all they have to do is take out their phone and click a picture with Bee Tag and it can take them directly to my Real Estate website or a website that maybe I have created for this specific house. That way they have all of the specs of the house right while they are standing there. It's pretty crazy technology and probably one step closer to everyone have neck tatoo bar codes but hey, for my purposes, it's pretty cool. Give it a try with my Bee Tag and let me know if it takes you to this site directly on your phone!

Conor

A Good Question

Hi,

In one of my recent posts, I got a question from anonymous. Here it is:

Anonymous said...
Question is: Where do you think the market is going? Is there still enough inventory to get a decent deal on a house in the "TheBayArea". Or should I continue to wait to buy? AMA
February 1, 2010 9:03 AM

I was about to reply within the comments section but I thought this would be a good opportunity to address a question that I am sure many are asking.

My response:

After speaking with others in and out of the office, it seems the market is holding pretty steady right now.

That being said, I don't foresee a huge upswing in the market but I definitely don't see a big drop off either. I think it will hold steady for the remainder of the year. Once we have a more accurate picture at that point we can of course make a whole new guess as to where it is going.

Real Estate agents are like Economists. We have lots of theories and we are always "supposing."

To answer your last question, yes there is still enough inventory to get a decent deal. The prices are remaining steady, which is good...it's just that there are multiple offers, which makes it a little tougher. The good thing though is that even if you do outbid someone in this market, you are still getting a way better deal than what you would have gotten a few years ago. Also, and most important, you have to pay close attention to the houses. You wait a day to make an offer and it could already be gone. That's the part that a lot of people have trouble with. They are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and they don't want to be rushed.

If you are in it for the long haul (at least 5 years) it is still a good time to buy a house.

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

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.

Cell Phones

It's amazing to me how important cell phones are to people.

It drives me nuts to watch people swerving around in their car, and as you pass them you see that they are either A) on their cell phone or B) just a bad driver.

What happened to the hands free law? I am pretty sure I see more people talking on their phones while driving now, than I did before. I know for a FACT, that my driving capabilities decrease significantly if I am trying to talk on the phone and drive at the same time. I am not alone in this venture and can't believe everyone doesn't have some sort of headset. You can get them for like 15 bucks on the internet and really, what's 15 bucks for a little peace of mind, knowing you don't have to throw your phone on the ground if a cop drives by? Not to mention, it's easier and safer! Sometimes I beep at people and motion at them to get off their cell phone while they are driving, yes, I am that guy.

Now that I've vented, I will get to the point of this post. My cell phone died yesterday because I needed a new battery. My first thought was "OH NO! What am I going to do without my cell phone!?!?" Then 5 min later, after I composed myself from my near meltdown, I sent an email out to a few people that might try to get a hold of me during the day and just let them know that I would be without a cell phone for the day and if they needed me they could call me on my work phone or send a quick email. Wouldn't you know it, the whole problem was solved.

It's was definitely odd not having my phone in my pocket for the day but in the end, I found it kind of nice to know that I wasn't at every person's beckon call every second of the day. So I checked my cell phone voicemail every hour and unsurprisingly, I made it through the entire day unscathed.

My cell phone works again. Call me anytime.