I’m in the process of evaluating different Walnut Creek (and nearby) real estate investment groups in hopes of finding one or two that will provide for the best use of my time.  Although I haven’t had the opportunity to attend meetings at each of these, the following groups are on my list:

• Contra Costa Real Estate Investment Club
  • Contact: Dennis Downing
    Telephone: (925) 933-6663
    When: 2nd Wednesday of each month, 6:30pm to 9:00pm
    Where: Financial Title Company, 1676 N. California Blvd., Ste. 117 (facing plaza), Walnut Creek
• Real Wealth Network East Bay
  • Contact: Scott R. Fuller
    Telephone: (925) 567-6720
    When: 2nd Wednesday of each month, 7:00pm
    Where: Holiday Inn off Main St., Walnut Creek
• Walnut Creek Real Estate Investment Club
  • Contact: Mike Berndt
    Telephone: (510) 435-5609
    When: 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:00pm
    Where: Lindsay Wildlife Museum, 1931 First Ave., Walnut Creek
• Real Estate Investment Club Dinner Meeting
  • Contact: Beth Winters
    Telephone: (714) 402-9303
    When: TBD
    Where: TBD, Walnut Creek and surrounding areas
• Prosperity in Motion
  • Contact: Robert Upton
    Telephone: (925) 465-9574 (please email)
    When: 3rd Tuesday of each month, 6:30pm Registration, 7:00 Meeting
    Where: Concord Hilton, Concord
• San Ramon Investment Club (SRIC)
  • Contact: Jake Chase
    Telephone: (925) 408-2969
    When: 3rd Wedneseday of each month, 6:30pm networking, 7:00pm meeting
    Where: Residential Pacific Mortgage, 3201 Danville Blvd., Ste. 195, Alamo

If you happen to have attended meetings for any of these groups, I would love to hear about it.  Otherwise, check back over the course of the next few weeks and months to read about my findings.

Happy investing!

Real Estate absorption rates are an indication of how long it would take, at the previous month’s pace, for a market to sell off its entire inventory. This value helps us gain a better understanding of the market in which we are dealing:

• Are we in a buyers or sellers market?
• How are 3 bedroom homes selling in the Palos Verdes neighborhood versus the Saranap neighborhood?
• What impact will we have if we price a home at $605k versus $599?
• If I want the best chance at negotiating a below asking price offer, should I look in Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill?
• etc.

Absorption rates can, and should, be calculated in a number of ways depending on your interest. At a very high level, you can look at the national, state and county numbers; however, these won’t help you buy or sell a specific property. When you are dealing at the property level, it is important to look at these numbers across price boundaries, property characteristics and local areas. In the table below, I give you the absorption rates for Walnut Creek across some high level price boundaries. Since December is historically a very slow month, I provide the rate based off of the December sold numbers as well as the 2007 average sold numbers.

	Under $500k	$500k - $999k	$1M - $1.499k	$1.5M - $1.999M	Above $2M
December	37 Weeks	28.6 Weeks	39 Weeks	43.3 Weeks	8.6 Weeks
2007 Avg	24.8 Weeks	20.1 Weeks	20.3 Weeks	26 Weeks	16 Weeks

I’ve highlighted the $2M numbers because there really aren’t enough data points in this range to determine a very accurate absorption rate.

If you are buying or selling property, you owe it to yourself to know the absorption rates at a granular level. If you don’t have access to the necessary data to calculate this number yourself, feel free to give me a call and I’d be happy run the calculations.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of interviewing a buyer’s agent is to find a person that will act with your best interest in mind at all times. He or she will need to listen to your desires, guide you over and around hurdles and fully explain each step along the journey in an understandable way. The agent’s communication, research and negotiation skills are key elements in facilitating a smooth and successful buying experience, so it is imperative that you are comfortable with and trust the agent’s approach to each of these areas.

1. What type of clients do you typically work with?
(shows caliber of typical client drawn to this agent)

2. What is your professional and educational background? How has it helped you with clients in the past?
(shows professionalism)

3. Do you work alone or are you part of a team? If part of a team, what will your role be in our future relationship?
(properly sets expectations)

4. How many properties, on average, do you preview each week?
(shows knowledge of current inventory)

5. What is your approach to locating my dream home and how will you inform me of the candidates?
(shows research skills)

6. If it takes me 6 months to a year before I find my ideal house, will you work just as hard for me in the last month as you did in the first?
(shows commitment)

7. How often and in what manner of communication should I expect from you?
(needs to be compatible with your preference)

8. How will you present my offer to the listing agent?
(shows professionalism)

9. Tell me about some of your previous client negotiations that you’ve undertaken on their behalf and what the outcome was.
(shows thought process)

10. In previous transactions, what steps did you take to protect the buyer and the buyer’s deposit?
(shows thought process and contract competency)

11. What are some of the biggest mistakes you have made in your real estate career and what did you learn from them?
(shows professionalism and growth)

12. Other than what we’ve already talked about, why should I hire you?
(shows salesmanship)

Following the similar post on Contra Costa’s December single family home foreclosure market, here is the condo market…

Below are a series of charts depicting the breakdown of Notice of Defaults (NOD), Notice of Trustee Sales (NOT) and Real Estate Owned (REO) condos for each city in Contra Costa County. These numbers, by themselves, don’t mean much. However, if we track them week-over-week or month-over-month, we should be able to find trends that can be leveraged to our benefit…

Everybody is talking about foreclosures: the media, the investors and each person thinking about buying or selling property in the near future. On top of that, California is consistently posting one of the highest state and metro foreclosure rates in the nation. But what does the scene in Contra Costa County look like?

Below are a series of charts depicting the breakdown of Notice of Defaults (NOD), Notice of Trustee Sales (NOT) and Real Estate Owned (REO) single family homes for each city in Contra Costa County. These numbers, by themselves, don’t mean much. However, if we track them week-over-week or month-over-month, we should be able to find trends that can be leveraged to our benefit…