- Your ex-neighbor
at 952 Country Run Dr, Martinez, wants you to know this...
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If you don't list with me, you will probably
lose a lot of your friends!
- My experience with Gordon Allen is
two-fold: Gordon was my agent for both the purchase of my home
in 2003 and the subsequent sale of that property in 2005. I found
Gordon through his web site and have felt very fortunate for
that.
Gordon did a wonderful job of finding out my needs in purchasing
a house and easily informed me of the realities of my budget,
desired location, and timeframe. Gordon was quickly able to fine
tune the search for properties in a difficult market to my individual
preferences and this led to the home I owned for 2 years.
When it came time for me to sell my home, I thought of no one
else but Gordon Allen to represent me. He had been an excellent
trusted advisor in the purchase of my home and I felt certain
he would do just as good a job in helping me sell. I was absolutely
correct.
I informed Gordon of my intent to sell and he quickly ascertained
my goals for the sale. While working over the weekend, Gordon
put together research on the housing market in my neighborhood
including pricing history, comparable recent sales, and a marketing
plan. Gordon showed me that the most recent
sales in my development had been severely under priced and the
market would bear a higher price. All of these turned out to
be very important.
After presenting his research to me, Gordon listed the property
at the price we had decided on. The home had at least one showing
a day--indicating a competitive price point--and I accepted an
offer in the price range we had aimed for two weeks after listing
the property.
Gordon has made the process of both buying and selling a home
very smooth and easy. I cannot recommend him enough to anyone
who is purchasing or selling a home in the SF Bay Area.
Michael McCarthy
mailto:mmccarth@pacbell.net
- There's a national advertising slogan from the National Association
of REALTORS stating that you'll get the MAXIMUM price if you
List with a REALTOR.
-
- Well, not all REALTORS are the same, as you probably already
know. Please, oh please, don't list with "a friend"
or an acquaintance who just happens to be in real estate. HIRE
someone who will be 100% business and your pocket book will thank
you. Michael already knew (and I confirmed and later proved)
that an "area specialist" broker had been under-selling
homes in his subdivision (see his email above).
-
- As I usually do before listing a property for sale, I thoroughly
analyzed the market, and I recommended a price far exceeding
the amount my Seller thought possible. He thought his value was
somewhere around $535,000. After all, he had just received a
drive-by appraisal of $528,000. Well, I recommended a price of
$575,000 to $625,000. We ended up selling the home in 13 days
at $615,000.
-
- After a few years of receiving junk mail and many "gifts"
(aka bribes) from "area specialists," my seller really
got sick of it all.
-
- He wasn't fooled. He knew who to list with - me, Gordon Allen.
-
- The day before it sold, one agent came in with a ridiculously
low offer, using 2 month old comps (which again were under-priced
sales by the "local area specialist") and tried to
convince us his offer was a good one (it was $560,000). The very
next day, it happened - the offer the Seller and I knew would
come in arrived.
-
- The value, as I saw it, wasn't based on the immediate subdivision
market activity (because they've been grossly under-priced and
under-sold), but on sales data of a nearby subdivision and throughout
the entire city. I used simple logic to determine the fair market
value of Michael's home.
-
- If I don't tell you neighbors about these facts, the other
"area specialist" will continue under-pricing your
homes, and you won't even know it.
-
- This isn't new. I've seen "area specialists" under-price
homes all over the bay area since I started in 1982. Just some
quick examples of subdivisions I have succeeded in reversing
this trend in, are...
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- Concord's Clayton Valley Highlands in 1984-1986
- Concord's Sun Terrace from 1985-1988
- Pleasant Hill's Diablo Valley Estates, from 1989 through
1993.
- San Ramon's Bollinger Canyon Estates from 1990-1993.
- And starting in 1990, I started listing and selling homes
all over the bay area, including the rest of Contra Costa, Alameda,
Santa Clara, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Marin, and
Solano Counties.
-
- I started this website in 1995 with the hope that I wouldn't
have to send out junk mail ever again. I don't have much time
to really market myself, because I am busy re-listing properties
that other agents have failed to sell. Well, I for the 1st time
in 10-12 years, I just sent a batch of mail out to west contra
costa homeowners. Since 1994, I have only sold individual homes
of Sellers who have FIRED their broker and HIRED me. And then
I just do nothing afer that with the neighbors. The nieghbors
have been oblivious to what I did for that seller. With the internet
being more widely accessed by people since the mid 1990's, I
hope you are now reading this so you really know what's going
on.
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- A Few Words on Pricing: This estimating of market
values is a process that can highly fluctuate between appraisers
and real estate agents and brokers, because it usually is very
complex & detailed. So, who are you to believe and list with?
Just call me and find out. I simply look at the broader marketplaces,
not just in your immediate area of the subject property, to analyze
the data to help me advise the maximum price a Seller can get
in a reasonable amount of time. I believe I am more careful in
advising clients on pricing than the majority of my competition.
I've proven it throughout the 80's, 90's and now in the 2000's.
Only thing is, no one will tell you this, except me and my past
clients.
-
- I'll probably be around for the next 20 years, so
keep that postcard and call me when ready!
Call me at 1-800-837-3999