Rainmaker Properties

To paraphrase the famous line about voting in Chicago: Check real estate listings early and often. Perseverance can be the key to helping clients be at the right place at the right time to get a great value—even in high-priced zip codes.

Here’s how that rule of thumb recently played out for my client. We had been viewing homes in Redwood City for quite some time and came across five brand new luxury homes in a gated community. We were in the beginning stages of the client’s search, and the homes were priced at the high $2 million to the low $3 million mark. Though we liked the house, we had just begun the home search and were not familiar yet with the current market inventory and pricing. I suggested the client wait until the first of the five homes sold so that we could get a better handle on their value.

As we viewed other homes, I kept checking the MLS for the status of those five trophy homes. One eventually showed that a sale was pending and was scheduled to close within a few weeks. As the deadline for the close of escrow approached and then passed, I checked again and again. When the listing seemed permanently stalled, I started digging—and learned the developer had gone under. The homes foreclosed and were now bank owned.

I immediately called my client, explained the opportunity this new information presented, and suggested he move quickly to view the property before the bank put it on the market. The client made an offer, which the bank accepted after we’d negotiated it down to $2.1 million.

Thus the lesson of checking listings early and often. If I hadn’t stayed on top of that listing, I’d have never learned the property was in foreclosure—and I’m sure it would have sold immediately at the bank’s planned listing price of $2.2 million. Perseverance helped my client get the home of his dreams for a price much lower than what we had originally anticipated. Shortly after we had purchased the property, the other listing that was available also sold prior to the property being marketed on the MLS.

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Whenever one of our agents completes a real estate transaction, Rainmaker Properties donates a portion of the commissions to a charity of our client’s choice. For me, it’s always an enriching experience and I learn about new groups in our community that are working to help others.

A couple weeks ago, my team helped a client sell her townhouse located in the Mountain View Park development in the Whisman Mountain View neighborhood and my client asked me to make a donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. I wasn’t familiar with it, and the 35-year-old group invited me to take a tour of their San Carlos warehouse (the smaller of two warehouses, the other one located in San Jose). It turned out to be an eye-opening and touching visit for me.

Thanks to the experience, I found that hunger is really a hidden tragedy in our community. You can usually tell if someone is poor. Or if someone is homeless. But you can’t see hunger. This really got me to think about how I can often take for granted the ability to have a almost any type of meal at anytime of the day.

Second Harvest is the largest nonprofit provider of food to low income households in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, and it provides food to an average of 163,000 individuals each month. Families make up 67 percent of the recipients and 12 percent are seniors.

Those are pretty shocking numbers. Even though we live in solidly middle class environment, there are so many people who have to make the choice between paying for housing and utilities or buying food. And with the economy in flux, even more people are feeling pinched.

Though Second Harvest gets donations from large food distributors, it relies heavily on regular people like us too to stay afloat. Its programs go beyond the traditional food pantry.

One is a toll-free hotline, with a multilingual staff, that helps people find food in their neighborhood; another provides food to more than 400 non-profit agencies that run soup kitchens, rehabilitation centers, schools and shelters for victims of domestic violence.

And yet another program helps approximately 12,600 low-income seniors and disabled people through weekly grocery deliveries. Volunteers also deliver food to the homebound.

The group works to get nutritious snacks to low-income kids during after-school, summer, and youth programs. And during the summer, when kids don’t have access to subsidized school meals, Second Harvest helps local soup kitchens and agencies feed approximately 20,000 children.

So if you’re looking for volunteer opportunities or a place to donate food or money, Second Harvest is terrific group. I’m going to add it to the list of charities I support, and with the help of Second Harvest, Rainmaker Properties will be doing a food drive during the holidays this year.

For more information, here’s the contact information: Second Harvest, www.2ndharvest.net, (408) 266-8866. If you know of anyone who needs food assistance, call the Food Connection Hotline: 1-800-984-FOOD (3663).

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Nobody’s perfect, especially when it comes to pricing properties in today’s still-unsettled market.

That’s a lesson I and my sellers were reminded of when a recent sale in Mountain View came to a screeching halt because of a low appraisal. The property was townhouse near downtown Mountain View listed for $725,000 in an area in which a similar, bank-owned unit had recently sold for $660,000. When I met with the sellers, I suggested a price of $675,000 based on my analysis of recent sales, including the bank-owned unit. The sellers wanted to list their home with me, but the other two agents they’d interviewed had suggested much higher asking prices than I had. I was reluctant to take the listing at $725,000, but I agreed to give it a try.

All was going well. The photos and marketing were so strong that prospective buyers were calling off the Internet to see our “model” unit”, and the sellers received an offer for $715,000. But the smooth sale hit rocky waters when the property wouldn’t appraise for the $715,000 contract price. The buyer walked.

With the market in flux, appraisers are strictly adhering to recent sales, and the most recent sale in the downtown Mountain View area was of the bank-owned property for $660,000. That brought down the value of all the neighboring units. The sellers worked with me to come up with a new pricing strategy relisting the property at $680,000 and the sellers got three offers, eventually accepting one at their full $680,000 price.

I take some responsibility for the choppy ride during that sale. Every agent is having a hard time determining the right sales price to recommend to sellers, and I’m no different. I simply made a mistake in allowing myself to be persuaded to list this Mountain View townhouse at the higher price when I had comparable sales that pointed to a lower price. I didn’t help my clients or myself with that decision.

There’s a lesson in this saga for sellers, too. Look at the hard facts—including comparable sales—your agent presents. Remember that appraisers are scrutinizing sales closely, and they’re not budging from recent sales. So if your agent shows you recent comparable sales that don’t support the price at which you’d like to list your property, consider rethinking your price. Or be prepared if a transaction capsizes.

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You always hear businesspeople say that building long-term relationships is critical.

You wonder, “What does that really mean?”

It’s a legitimate question. At Rainmaker Properties, it means providing service even when someone is no longer technically a client.

As an example, we helped a couple buy a house in Mountain View and it was in perfect condition before closing. Once the clients moved in they noticed a chronic leak that resulted in some pooling water that could easily lead to mildew or mold. They contacted us for help.

We talked with the developer and used our powers of persuasion to encourage him to fix the problem. He had built and sold the property a few years earlier and our clients had actually bought it from the first occupants. Thus, he was not legally obliged to make the fix.

Yet we strongly urged him that it was in his best interest to do so. After all, we pointed out that he’d benefit from good word-of-mouth referrals and we mentioned the fact that we might be involved in recommending or selling one of his homes to our clients in the future. Here, our diplomacy and negotiating skills were enormously beneficial.

When the developer agreed to do the job, here’s where agent Edmund Yue truly went beyond the call of duty to ensure the client was happy with the resolution. He kept in touch with the developer and called and met with contractors. And when he found the homeowners wouldn’t be able to be home, Edmund even waited at the property for the contractors to arrive and do the work

Our clients were kind enough to write a public review of our business at Yelp.com. Here’s some of what they said.

“…Alex has been there at every step and he is still there to give us advice. He is truly our lifelong agent.”

“… Edmund is honest and goes beyond what is expected of him. I would recommend him to anyone and I will definitely go back to him for our next home purchase or to sell our home.”

We’re, of course, always grateful when clients appreciate our efforts and have faith in our abilities. It reinforces our belief that providing ongoing service is important to our clients and that it is the right way to do business. Such a level of commitment is what separates us from our competition and really differentiates us with limo-like service in the Silicon Valley real estate industry.

We believe our clients are a blessing and they provide us the ability to build a successful business.

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You’ve heard it said a million times: “That photo doesn’t do it justice.”

“It” can be a landscape, a flower, a car—even a home. That’s why it’s critical to ensure that photos of your property do your home justice. I have all my listings professionally photographed because I want as many people as possible eyeballing them. Professional photographers know how to present spaces in the most flattering light—literally and figuratively—and use wide-angle lenses so that viewers get a sense of an entire room.

Here’s an example of how much photos matter. One of my listings was a townhouse situated in the Mountain View Gardens development off of Tyrella Avenue. This townhouse was built in the early 1970s and though it was maintained quite well, the floor plan was slightly dated. With smart staging and the use of wide-angle lenses, the photos have drawn callers asking when they could see our “model home.”

A recent sale also proves the point. I was working with a couple relocating from Toronto. The husband had already moved to corporate housing in the Bay Area and was doing the legwork of looking for a home for his family. He found one he was sold on near Ponderosa Elementary School, so we e-mailed photos of the property to his wife. Based on the photos, she liked the home, too.

I drafted a contract so that when she came to town, we could schedule a showing to confirm the couple’s choice and then submit an offer. In person, however, the wife waffled. The photos hadn’t prepared her for the true condition of the home, and she asked to see more properties. The couple
ended up buying another home in Sunnyvale’s Ponderosa Park neighborhood that they’d earlier eliminated from their search on the basis of a less-savvy agent’s unflattering photos. That couple learned a lesson all buyers should keep in mind: Never fall in love with a home—or eliminate one from your search—based solely on photos.

The lesson for sellers is that buyers’ first impression of your home isn’t something you can ever get back. Be sure to choose an agent who makes sure that first impression doesn’t disappoint.

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The mark of a good agent is adaptability. What works to get one buyer a great home may not work in another sale—and a smart agent knows when and how to pivot on behalf of a client.

Case in point: I recently represented first-time homeowners in the purchase one of the Sunnyvale’s largest townhouses in the highly desirable The Gardens tract in Sunnyvale located near W. California and Mary Avenue. This Sunnyvale townhouse was listed at $699,000, and my clients submitted an offer for $685,000. By the time my clients’ offer was to be presented, there were two other offers, so my clients increased their offer to $705,000.

I asked the listing agent if I could present my clients’ offer last. That way, the sellers would be ready to make a decision, and I could probe for information about the other offers so I’d know whether to recommend that my clients adjust their offer.

We arrived to the appointment before the first presentation—but nothing happened. As we sat in the parking lot, no agents came or went. Maybe there weren’t really three offers. Or maybe the listing agent was presenting my client’s offer first.

Time to pivot. I called the listing agent, who told me the other agents were “running late,” I asked her to call me after the other two offers had been presented. An hour later, we got the call. Another pivot. I asked the listing agent if my clients could sit in on the presentation. That turned out to be a blessing. Small talk revealed that one of my buyers worked at the same major high-tech company as one of the
sellers, and the techies bonded. My buyers’ offer (which was not the highest) was accepted—and the sellers even shaved $1,000 off the buyers’ offer as a courtesy.

The moral is that a great real estate agent always think of ways to give their clients a leg up. By having my clients come to the presentation and by scoping out the parking lot to be sure we would be last to present, we were able to outsmart two agents with solid offers. Make sure you choose an experience agent who knows when to pivot on your behalf.

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By putting your confidence and trust in Rainmaker Properties, you help us give 10% of our income to support charitable causes, education, the arts, social services, and volunteerism. As we are half way through the 2008 business year, we’ve already raised over $50,000 for our communities.

Below are a few of the organizations that we support. As we serve more clients and have the opportunities to serve more charities, I’ll add to the list…

Great Exchange Covenant Church
Abundant Life Christian Fellowship
Hidden Villa
China Sichuan Earthquake Relief Fund

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Many of the agents in Silicon Valley do just about the same thing. They send fliers to your home and sometimes e-mails to your in-box, but glossy fliers or flashy e-mails tell you nothing about their experience or ability to serve their clients.

How do you choose a reliable real estate agent to represent your best interests?

Check out the strength of their network, which speaks volumes about how well they meet their clients’ needs. Start with their blog—if they even have one. As you read, ask yourself whether it’s written by someone who’s smart and dedicated to helping people just like you buy or sell a home. If an agent contributes time to writing a blog, then it may show their experience and commitment to their clients and the industry.

Next, check out testimonial and social media Web sites. Many of these sites are comprised of unsolicited testimonials or detailed experiences working with a particular person. Some of these site may include Yelp or LinkedIn. I’m humbled that so many of my clients value my services and proactively recommend me to their friends, family, and even strangers—especially since I work entirely by referral only.

One of the best social networking sites I’ve been using is Facebook.
It’s a great way to get back in touch and keep in contact with friends and family members. I was able to find a few friend half way around the world that I hadn’t been in touch with for over a decade. I’ve also conducted business through Facebook.

For example, after one of my clients presented an offer on a property, I hit radio silence. I couldn’t get feedback from the listing agent. So I did a title search to identify the property owner and sent the
owner a message through Facebook to confirm that my client’s offer had been received. The result was a signed contract. (I understand that there’s a reason for buyers and sellers to hire agents and I don’t recommend contacting the other agent’s client, but their are times when proactive out-of-the-box action is required.)

It’s one thing to read a resume, but networking sites give you a much fuller picture of who a person is. Look me up and let me know what you think.

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You won’t find ads about our company on billboards or rolling by on buses, nor will you find local mailboxes stuffed with postcards from Rainmaker Properties.

Our approach to real estate is different from our competitors. We build our business by serving our clients and working by referral. That means we build long-term relationships with every seller and buyer we’re fortunate enough to call clients, and we treasure our “raving fans” and the word-of-mouth marketing they provide.

I often use a taxi cab metaphor to describe how we operate.

You hail a cab to get from downtown to the airport. The cab picks you up, you pay the driver and off he goes. The service is likely fine. It delivers you to your destination. Yet it’s impersonal, you’ll likely never get the same driver twice and you’re forgotten as quickly as you exit the cab as the driver rushes off to find the next fare.

The limo driver, however, has a vested interest in you. The company wants to build a long-term relationship so you’ll always call it for your airport runs, for instance. It keeps track of your preferences and knows where to pick you up, what your favorite kind of car is, whether you like a snack on the ride over and your preferred airline. You merely make a call and say your pick-up time and the limo company appears and delivers you to your destination. It’s a smooth, easy process.

Our limo approach to real estate delivers similarly personalized service. For buyers, we take the time to understand your needs, schedule and budget and make sure we find the ideal property.

For sellers, it means we sell your home for the very best terms possible. Moreover, we have a large, qualified buyer pool to draw from because we’re constantly building relationships with people seeking homes. Thus, our marketing dollars are spent not on postcards and other fuzzy methods to get your home sold but by tapping our existing relationships and showing exactly how your property stands out from the competition.

We work not only by word-of-mouth, but we also tap social network sites, such as Yelp, LinkedIn and Facebook, to constantly broaden our reach and reputation, and build new relationships with the most qualified prospects.

Moreover, our relationships don’t end with the completion of a transaction. We provide services on an ongoing basis by offering clients advice, business and vendor referrals, and client appreciation events and perks. For instance, if you need a painting contractor, an auto mechanic or a handyman, we can refer you to the best people and companies in town.

Yet unlike the limo company that charges more than the taxi, with us, you get top-flight service and a full array of expertise with no extra costs.

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With each sale, we’re making a difference in others’ lives.

I’ve always believed in living my Christian faith, so when I started in the real estate business, I began to tithe 10 percent of my earnings to my church. It was a way to give back to the community and bless someone with my blessings. It was difficult in the beginning. Now it’s simply a part of who I am.

Nothing changed when I opened my own company. When I launched Rainmaker Properties, I incorporated that commitment to my community into the company’s mission. I and every agent who signs on with my company donate 10 percent of every commission to the local charity or nonprofit organization of the client’s choice. To date, we’ve donated $50,000 to various charitable organizations, including America’s Second Harvest food bank.

Our charitable mission is a blessing to the communities we work in, but it also has a side benefit I hadn’t anticipated. When I got into the real estate business, it felt as though too many agents were focused only on money. That type of agent will jump from company to company with no commitment to the firm or its clients. I didn’t intend it, but our pledge to give back has turned out to be a good way to identify the principles of the agents I’m considering bringing on board and weed out those who don’t share my value system. That’s critical because it’s only through a shared value system that I can be sure that every client will get the level of personal service and respect I’ve promised.

I don’t make a fortune in this business, but I’m blessed enough to make a good living. I’m committed to passing my blessings onto others, and so is every agent at my firm. It’s who we are.

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