Palos Verdes Real Estate

About Me

I don’t care about being #1, although I have been.   It wasn’t so long ago (well, 44 years now) that I was a client and unable to find the kind of realtor I wanted:  one that combined a solid business background with a sincere empathy for the buyer/seller; there were a few of the former and a lifetime supply of the latter.   It was that experience that led me to walk away from a long and successful career in the hi-fi business giving scintillating lectures on the laws of sound wave propagation to halls full of 2000 people (James B Lansing Sound and Bose Corp), determined to be the kind of agent I wished I could have found, suspecting that other buyers and sellers felt the same way.

I determined from the outset to do for my clients the things that, to my mind, any agent ought to do, but few actually do:  finding you, the buyer, a loan is a good example.  Where most agents simply turn you over to a mortgage broker (a middle man who doesn’t have the money), I actually shop the direct lenders for you myself, and then sit down with you and explain all the options.  I go about this the way you would if you had the time and knew whom to call.  I don’t get paid by the lenders (or anyone else) for this, thus avoiding any appearance of conflict of interest. This just seemed like the kind of thing a good agent should do for his clients. Almost none do because it requires time and knowledge of loans and lenders. Even if you’re selling your house, such intimate and up-to-date knowledge of lenders allows me to assess whether or not the loan the buyer is seeking (without which his full price offer is meaningless) is do-able.

Other areas where I am similarly thorough are contract negotiation, problem anticipation and solving during escrow, construction, defect repair, etc.   It is not unusual to find me under the house in the morning fixing a pipe and negotiating margin or points with the buyer’s lender in the afternoon.

In short, my emphasis is on the nuts and bolts of the business, not the fluff. I do everything myself — I have no assistants, sub-agents, or secretaries to whom you are shunted off once the contract is signed. I am with you and on your side throughout the transaction.  Whether you’re buying or selling, I personally meet every appraiser, termite man, inspector, etc — when you hire me, you get me and my expertise applied unblinkingly to all facets of the transaction. This, by the way, is the stuff that really matters — fancy ads, public open houses, even “internet presence”, etc, don’t have a lot to do with getting your house sold, notwithstanding what you may hear.   I can explain better in person.

Agents continually brag about being #1 (whatever that means); I’ve been #23 in the country out of 90,000 agents, which generally trumps #1 locally, and I was #4 in Palos Verdes in 2012, #2 in Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in PV in 2014, and #6 in 2016 overall in listings sold operating as described above, but it doesn’t matter. I treat every transaction with the meticulous attention to detail that I would want.  If that results in my being #1, fine; if not, so be it.  I also belong to an exclusive group of the Top 10 agents in PV, which can really benefit you when selling — I’ll explain in person.  Here is a partial list of my past sales in Palos Verdes — it’s a bit out of date; if you want a complete list of my past sales, give me a call at 310 613-1076.

As a 75-year resident of Palos Verdes, by the way, there just isn’t a lot that gets past me.

Just so you don’t think my life is devoid of other interests, I have a couple of other things going on . . . I sing 16th Century Italian and Spanish Renaissance church music — Vittoria, Palestrina, Monteverdi — that crowd.  I also belong to a national club of guys who build and battle scale model WW 1 and WW 2 warships.  I’ve included a picture of my scratch-built HMS Prince of Wales on which the guns fire, turrets rotate, and it goes at a scale 30 knots. To give you some idea, it is about 5.5 feet long and weighs about 35 lbs. There are ships from many nations represented — Germany, Japan, Italy, US, Sweden, etc, and typical national battles include 50 ships on the water, Axis vs Allied. Ships include everything from IJN Yamato at nearly 7 feet in length all the way down to my scratch-built PT-73 at 8 inches and 5 oz.  Sea trials were in a Tupperware dish. In the middle is my newest ship — WW 2 Heavy Cruiser USS Des Moines. I also have a 1929 Packard Dietrich Dual Cowl Phaeton and a 1932 Chrysler Imperial Convertible Sedan, pictured below.

So if you want to discuss real estate, Palos Verdes history, military history, classic cars, or Renaissance music, you can reach me either via my cell phone (310 613-1076), direct at 310 265-2141, or email at [email protected].  I look forward to speaking with you.

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