Jim Minkey's (jminkey) Blog

After I came down from my soap box the other day when I discussed how agents are being left behind amidst the advances in technology that apply to Real Estate, I thought I'd go ahead and climb back up there and have a look at the other side of the coin in this area...that is the pitfalls of using...

 When I first started in the Real Estate business in 1990 things were just a tad bit different than they are right now. First off, nobody had a computer. The local MLS actually published a book that had all listing data in it and they delivered it to every office in San Mateo County each Monday m...

It's no big secret that Real Estate is a competitive business. I recently heard that there are roughly 550 homes selling per month in San Mateo county...and there are something like 3300 Realtors. Needless to say, competition is keen and as a result it's not uncommon for alot of us to become adve...

Before I got into the Real Estate business I had all kinds of false perceptions about what this industry really was and how it worked and in many areas I was very surprised to discover that reality was a whole lot different than my thinking was. Take the dual agency thing I posted about earlier. ...

In his book, Markets,Mobs and Mayhem, Robert Menschel writes about how our world suffers from herd mentality. He notes that bubbles and busts have shaped history and that today with the scope of the media and technology allowing so much access to information we're more at risk than ever. Whenever...

Here's a little slice of life. I've got some buyer clients who are qualified up to $900,000 looking for a house with minimum 3 bedrooms, one level, good area and not a tear down and, of course, a good deal. We were planning to go look at some places one Saturday recently. All of my clients are pl...

Whenever I hear Realtors in the Mid Peninsula talk about property values and the current market sooner or later the subject of schools will enter the conversation and one of the most often repeated mantras is the excellence of the schools in San Carlos, Burlingame and Baywood School in San Mateo....

I don't think it's possible to write this post without including at least some rudimentary language about how the State of California views agency.       1. Seller's Agent  A seller's agent under a listing agreement with the Seller acts as the agent for the seller only. This agent has "A Fiduciar...

In the "never a dull moment" world of lending it sure seems like the programs offered, along with the criteria expected, changes every week. In fact, the criteria has gotten signifcantly tighter. Maybe the most significant area among these changes are the minimum down payments lenders are now req...

During the really super hot last few years in our Real Estate market the concept of buyer's writing love letters to sellers and submitting them along with their offer gained quite a bit of traction on the Peninsula. Buyer's and their agents were looking for any advantage they could get to persuad...