SF Peninsula Real Estate Guru

I am holding open my new listing at 125 Mission Drive, East Palo Alto this weekend.

This 2 bedroom 2.5 bath 1580sf end unit townhouse is listed at $520,000.

Virtual tour at: http://www.uBuildTours.com/tour.php?mls=749880

The first home I ever purchased is just 5 doors down at 130 Mission Drive. I became a proud homeowner in September 1980. I was the first buyer to move into the newly built Mission Palo Alto complex. PG&E had to erect a temporary power pole so I could move in. My loan was approved at 11.75% fixed 30 years but my rate lock was going to expire shortly and my townhouse wasn’t quite finished - big surprise – the builder was about one month behind schedule. Fortunately, my family and I had a good relationship with our banker at Wells Fargo, Wayne Spielman. (Back then, buyers went down to their local bank to get their mortgage). Wayne agreed to fund the loan despite the unit being unfinished with some funds held back in escrow pending completion of the townhouse. Rates had started up on their way up to 18% in those last few months of 1980 into early 1981.

I lived at 130 Mission Drive until 1986 when I was able to move and buy a home in San Carlos where I still reside. I paid $107,500 for 125 Mission Drive – sold it in 1988 for about $125,000 and now it is worth $500,000. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20 - one does what one can at the time.

It doesn’t seem like it was 27 years ago when I bought my first home. I was all of 26 and had been in the real estate business about one and a half years. Where does the time go?

Over these past 27 years, I have been married, raised my two sons, went through a divorce, and left my father’s real estate company (where I started in the real estate business) to go to work at Cornish & Carey where Wendy McPherson was manager – which was several years later bought out by Coldwell Banker.

The real estate industry has changed greatly over that time, too. When I first started each agent had their own “little black book” where there was one listing to a page – where we entered prices changes and pending/closed sales by hand - when the “hot sheet” came out twice a week. Each City had its own Board of Realtors and their own lock box key. I probably had 6 or 7 keys at one time. Fax machines were new. Were fax contracts legal? Enforceable? Everyone wanted to know. Cell phones – had did I ever conduct business without one? Contracts were 1 or 2 pages – now they are 10 pages. Back then, the entire transaction file could be put into a thin manila folder. Today, transaction files run several hundred pages each. There is one mls for the entire peninsula – one keysafe key opens properties from San Francisco to San Jose. Agents and the public are updated instantly as to new listings and sales. Virtual tours – Craig’s list – wow – what a long strange trip it has been J

Many agents have been fearful of the changes technology has brought to the real estate industry. Over my 29 years in the real estate business, I have tried to incorporate this advances into my business in order to provide better service to my clients..Despite the advances in technology, the real estate business is still all about relationships. It’s the personal touch – the building of trust and rapport – it is about taking care of one’s clients.

How has your business and life changed over the past 27 years?