Palos Verdes Real Estate

July 2016 Newsletter

July, 2016

Dear Neighbor:

The real estate market experienced a slow-down in late Spring, early Summer, contrary to common assumptions about that time of year.  That notwithstanding, all the listings I had as new when I last wrote have sold, plus 2108 Via Visalia, PVE, that never hit the market.  I’m telling you, the benefits of your agent belonging to the Top 10 PV Agents group can really pay off.

Even tho I‘ve been doing this for almost 32 years, I am still reminded of what is important in this business.  In this case, it’s agent involvement in the transaction.  Nearly all the big name agents that you see advertising all over the place with expensive ads in those glossy magazines (which don’t sell the listing, by the way), TV, you name it, have at least several people working for them.  This is not a criticism, but just something you should be aware of.  The purpose of those employees is to take care of the “routine tasks”, so that the name agent is freed up to prospect for new clients, take a vacation every couple of months, or whatever.  I had a sale recently where the buyer was brought by one of those agents.  Other than writing up the offer and emailing it to me, he had no further involvement.  Escrow instructions, inspections, loan follow-up, etc, were all relegated to an assistant.  You’ve heard me say this before, but it bears repeating:  don’t you expect the agent you hired to be paying attention to your transaction, and not assign it to some (almost always less-experienced) assistant?  The buyer had his inspections and he thought there were serious issues which he understandably wanted to discuss with his agent.  How prepared do you think that agent was to discuss the details of an inspection he had not had the time or interest to attend?  The agent, whose experience the buyer was probably depending on, was reduced to relying on the buyer’s impressions and the written inspection reports (which are generally much worse-looking than reality, but that’s another discussion).  The agent was completely unequipped to provide any perspective or guidance, such as “these kinds of defects are typical.  This house has everything you want.  Do you really want to walk away, only to discover that you can’t find another house you like as well and it still has these same kinds of issues?”.   My goal is not to be the top agent (tho I’m still in the Top 10), but you have my commitment that no one but me will be handling your transaction, and I will be on it like it was my own house, giving you advice based upon what I would do if it were my house.  Ask my past clients – they will tell you.

This month’s PV history tidbit has to do with the Botanic Garden.  When we moved to PV in 1947 there was no trash pick-up (or maybe my parents just couldn’t afford it).  Up until at least the mid-50’s we took our trash over to this big canyon.  My dad had it down to a science:  he laid a tarp in the back of the ’54 Ford station wagon, we loaded the trash on it and, when we got to the bottom of the canyon, he dropped the tailgate, hit the gas on the mighty Ford V8, and out slid the trash.  With mild irony, my father later became one of the founders of the South Coast Botanic Garden – maybe his first-hand knowledge of what lay beneath added to his qualifications.  The Cliff Graham Shade Garden used to be just outside the main building, but I suspect it’s now been “re-purposed”.

If you have any real estate-related needs, give me a call at 310 613-1076 and feel free to visit my website:   www.DanaGraham.com.

Sincerely,

Dana H Graham                                                                                                                                                                                           DRE #00877973

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