The Pleasanton Farmer’s Market takes place every Saturday in Downtown Pleasanton CA, rain or shine. It just happens to be located right outside of my downtown Pleasanton Real Estate office. I love to stop by on Saturdays even when I’m not showing property or working with a seller. It’s great to grab some fresh produce from nearby farmers and the prices are much better than the local chain grocery story.

Yesterday as I was walking toward my office, I heard this amazing voice from a young man at one of the vendor booths. He was singing opera and man, could he sing!  I explained that I have a blog and asked if I could video a small snippet of him singing and ask him a few questions for the blog post. He agreed. Here is what I heard.

SunTiles from PowerLight – These tiles are created to blend with almost any roof line.

Solar electric was a standard feature at the time of building and was not charged as a premium to the buyer.

Attic insulation of R-49 material & above garage insulation of R-30 material.

Anderson 400 Series HP Windows, and so much more.

At completion, the homes were inspected by either CalCerts or The California Home Energy Efficiency Rating System (CHEERS), both of which are certified and qualified by California Energy Commission.  All of these features and benefits to both the homeowner and the environment enable this development to be labeled “Zero Net Energy Homes”.

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These homes are situated off East Vineyard Avenue, just outside the West Ruby Hill gate as shown in the map above. Since the time the builder sold the new homes, below is a chart of the activity in the 32-home development.

For more information about Avignon Luxury Homes Pleasanton – A “Zero Net Energy Homes” Community built by Centex Homes, feel free to email me at rhonda@rhondafee.com

I live near the Vintage Hills Shopping Center, Pleasanton in Shadow Cliff Homes and for far too many years, the center has been nearly desolate with few businesses surviving the seemingly abandoned center. About 3-years ago the center began to come to life!

Recently a Pleasanton Coffee Shop, Coffee Ali opened and much to my surprise, I already knew the owner of the shop! Owner of Pleasanton Coffee Shop, Coffee Ali, Ali Frey previously worked for several years at a well known coffee franchise near my downtown Pleasanton office. I often stopped by and over time had come to know Ali by name. She has a warm and inviting personality and always made me feel welcome in the shop where she previously worked.

After years of working there, Ali dreamed of opening a family friendly coffee shop of her own. While listening to a song at church, the words resonated with her and her tagline, “Sweeter Than Yesterday” became her life and business montra.

She’s off to a great start so let’s send support her way. Here are just a few of the features of Coffee Ali:

Coffee Ali also provides Joe-to-Go! For business meetings or pleasure. Joe-to-Go serves 10 people with coffee, sugar, cream, cups and stiring sticks. Pastries (locally purchased) are available as well. Also coming soon…pre-made lunches!

Ali not only supports US business, but she has a heart for Doctors Giving Back, a non profit organization striving to help bring clean water and other medical services to under developed countries.

Please help support a neighborhood coffee shop owner in her endeavor to create jobs in a difficult economy. Together, we can all make a difference and enjoy a great cup of joe at the same time!!

Hours of operation are:
Monday – Thursday 5:00 am – 8:00 pm
Friday – 5:00 am – 9:00 pm
Saturday – 7:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sunday – 8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Bring along your printed coupon for a special savings. Pleasanton Coffee Shop ~ Vintage Hills Shopping Center, Pleasanton Coffee Ali is up and running and ready for your business!

How to start my Pleasanton short sale

• Contact your lender and let them know you are having financial difficulties.
• Go to their website as instructed by their customer service representative you speak with and print the necessary forms.  Don’t be shy about asking your lender for help completing the forms, they are now more interested in allowing sellers to short sale than they were even a year ago.

• Be diligent and timely; if the required list of documents is a list of 10 items, SEND ALL 10 ITEMS! It will slow the process if you send in partial documentation and then find a week later that they are still waiting for the other items to start your loan modification application. Remember, they won’t call you to say they are missing paperwork. You will likely get a letter in the mail, but again, that wastes time.

• Follow-up with the modification process at least 2 times per week! This is crucial. The banks aren’t reaching out to consumers. They too are overwhelmed with the amount of files they are trying to process. 

IF you get a denial for your modification, you really only have 2 choices. Before you make your choice, be sure you are informed. Seek the advice of an attorney and CPA. Yes, this will cost a bit of money, but you need to know if you will have tax consequences on the forgiveness amount; peace of mind is important.

If you qualify for the HAFA program to short sell your Pleasanton property, you will get $3000 at the close of escrow to assist with relocation costs and you will received debt forgiveness as outlined in your Short Sale Approval Letter. In this case, you could feel confident that you know what the future holds.Some lenders such as Citibank Mortgage for one, are offering substantial incentives to sellers to Short Sell their properties. Wachovia (for World Savings originated loans) and Chase are also offering financial incentive programs to encourage clients to short sell as well. These lenders are encouraging Realtors to make consumers aware of the incentive programs. Just this week, I saw a Short Sale Approval Letter giving $30,000 to the seller at the close of escrow! This was a loan that had been originated with WAMU, a lender that was purchased by Chase. That’s quite an incentive! For now, most of these incentive programs expire at the end of 2011.

If you need the name of a good Real Estate attorney, you can call Ellen Rosenbueth, Attorney in San Ramon. She is a very good and will be able to answer all of your legal questions. If you don’t have a CPA you feel confident with, let me know or ask the attorney for a referral.

This post was originated at http://activerain.com/blogs/rhondafee

3-4 Bedroom Hidden Lake Home for Sale, Tracy CA I have the pleasure of listing a beautiful property at 850 Winnipeg Court in one of Tracy’s most prestigious communities; Hidden Lake. This community was built in the early 2000′s and completed in 2005. It features a lake surrounded by beautiful homes! You can actually swim or paddle boat in the lake! The Hidden Lake Community was built by Pulte Homes. A mile-long pathway surrounds the amazing 10-acre lake, as well as the Clubhouse and Common Area. This is a regular sale; NOT a short sale, NOT a foreclosure…so exciting!

The home features 3-bedrooms and additionally a loft upstairs and a den or office downstairs.  Either or both could be converted to additional bedrooms if need be for a larger family. The 3-4 Bedroom Hidden Lake Home for Sale, Tracy CA shows pride of ownership. It features a formal dining/living room combination as well as a combination family room & Kitchen.  The house is secured by a professional security system which can continue to be leased by the next buyer.

The indoor laundry room is conveniently located upstairs off the hallway as well as 3-bedrooms upstairs including the master. The master bedroom has a balcony to enjoy the views of your own personal backyard paradise. The backyard is lush and green including Queen Palms, a gated pool and a slated area for outdoor BBQ’s  The patio in the backyard has stamped concrete for a more custom look and feel.  Oh, and the best part, it is a regular sale; not short sale, not foreclosure (ya…I think I mentioned that)! The list price of this home is $299,000.

While looking for 3-4 Bedroom Hidden Lakes Home for Sale, Homes For Sale, Tracy CA, please make it a point to stop by this listing.

This was originally posted to www.activerain.com 6/13/2011

AT&T, Are You Kidding Me?! My Personal AT&T Wireless Review. Its embarrassing when I have to answer a call and the first sentence out of my mouth is an apology for my lame phone service. All I have to say is, “I’m so sorry, I have AT&T’. The other person usually laughs and without another word from me, understands completely. I have so many dropped calls everyday, I just can’t take it any longer! 

A phone is a vitally important part of a functioning business plan; would you agree? I try to stand as still as a statue while I’m talking for fear that if I sneeze or cough, it will cause me to lose the connection. I’m not one to complain without giving every opportunity to the other party to resolve their issue.

After numerous phone calls to AT&T Wireless last week (yes, of course while I was talking to the CS representative, our call was dropped…more than once) nothing was resolved. They tried this, they tried that, they even had me pick up a new SIM card, but to no avail.

I attempted again yesterday morning to contact customer service. Dialing the 800 # and sifting through the phone tree is no walk in the park. After re-explaining my issue with the CSR (while showing 4-bars on my phone), the call was dropped. Did the Customer Service Representative bother to call me back? You guess it; No! I’ll spare the ugly details but after 1-hour on the phone and being transferred from person to person, I end up with Jamie in the Resolutions Department. Keep in mind at this point, we were speaking on a land line. I again re-explained and she asked if she can put me on hold and I agree. She “disconnects” me!  Did she bother to call me back? You guessed again…NO! Okay, now I’m furious. It’s bad enough that the service doesn’t work, but I can’t seem to get connected to a supervisor that is capable of keeping me on the phone. Are they hanging up on purpose because they know they can’t help me?

The story gets better! I called back last tonight and waited 20 minutes on hold just to speak to the first supervisor, Chrystal. She went on to tell me that the closest tower to me is 10-miles away and numerous towers (yes plural) are “severly degraded” & AT&T Wireless is aware of the issue. In the next breath she told me that if I “chose” to breach the terms of my contract and disconnect early, they could not wave the early termination fee. 

Here’s the question? Who is in breach of contract? Am I, the customer, paying to receive a service I am not provided due to the “degraded towers”, or is AT&T in breach of the contract because they cannot provide the service? That questions totally stumped Chrystal, so she went back to the script.  I do appreciate Chrystal and her sincere desire to help, but what can she do when her company doesn’t have towers competent to service its clients? AT&T Wireless believe I am the party breaching the contract. Chrystal reminded me that the contract actually states that AT&T Wireless does not guarantee their service!!

Next stop…Verizon, here I come!

This original post was written 5/19/2011 via Activerain.

 Shadow Cliff Homes Pleasanton CA Update, January 2010 – March 11, 2011. As a resident of Shadow Cliff Homes and a full-time Pleasanton Realtor, I like to keep track of the neighborhood market. Shadow Cliff Homes Pleasanton CA is a great place to live. Having lived here more than 20-years and raising 2 kids, I speak from personal knowledge.

We are blessed in Pleasanton CA to have Award Winning schools in a safe community with a very low crime rate. As of this writing, there are 141 detached, single family homes for sale ranging from $383,400 – $7,850,000; something for every taste! Additionally, there are 22 Condo/Townhomes ranging from $101,250 – $595,000 currently for sale on the market.

In the nearby shopping center located at the corner of Bernal Ave. and Vineyard Ave, businesses are continuing to move in. We now have a hair salon, cleaners, nail salon/spa, yogurt shop, sushi restaurant, jeweler, dance studio and more! Things are looking up with this center!

The chart shows the difference in the Shadow Cliff Homes Pleasanton CA Update market from 2010 to present. Last year at this time, we had quite a bit of activity; this year…not so much!

 

Pleasanton Real Estate is my specialty and I particularly pay close attention to Shadow Cliff Homes as I am an original owner and resident of the neighborhood. We have seen some very difficult times and are by no means on our way to smooth sailing, but there is some bright news. The chart below shows history from 2008 through today.

This chart is evidence of one neighborhood in Pleasanton, CA but I can surely tell you, activity and multiple offers are the norm in many parts of Pleasanton. In working with my buyers recently we made an offer on a home priced around $675,000. There were 9 offers on the property after only a few days on the market and shortly thereafter, we offered on a property that came on the market on a Thursday and by Saturday afternoon was already pending and also had multiple offers. Rates are low, inventory is low and sellers are seeing good prices for their homes.

If you’d like this kind of detail on another neighborhood, I’d be happy to provide it.