I love it when a client calls to let me know that I single handedly sold a house for them. While I was photographing his own home that he was listing, Lior Kane told me that I had sold this house for him. I laughed when he said this. However, he said he wasn't kidding. The virtual tour that I had taken of the house had caught the eye of a couple in Los Angeles. Pasadena wasn't even an area that they had considered looking. Then they saw my virtual tour and immediately called. They were at the house for a viewing the next day and made an offer. I have to admit I'm pretty happy. I know virtual tours are a really great tool, but that is such a great example of how they can work for you. Now the real question...where's my commission Lior? 03/08/2009

I get alot of questions from home buyers asking me if we are at the real estate bottom here in Burbank and the San Fernando Valley and the honest answer is, I don't know.  But I will tell you that looking at the unemployment numbers that came out today, I would guess the answer is probably, no.  But keep in mind that we won't know where the bottom actually was until things start to improve. Unemployment hit at 25 year high for February coming in at 8.1% and to make matters worse the numbers from December were revised.....for a total loss of 681,000.  The December revision makes that the worse figure in 59 years.   If you look at the numbers more closely you'll find that the average wage has been trending up slightly indicating that more lower paying jobs were cut.  But the cuts have bee... 03/06/2009

      Image by Getty Images via Daylife    First, what is the pending home sales index?   The NAR (National Association of Realtors) developed the pending home sales index as an indicator of housing activity. It tends to be a leading indicator of existing home sales, not new home sales. A pending sale is one in which a contract was signed, but not yet closed and it usually takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale. Until housing data improves, the economy as a whole won't show significant signs of life.  The numbers that came out today offered little hope. While the pending home sales index jumped up in December, 6.3 percent to 87.7 the pending home sales index fell a very steep 7.7 percent in January.  This data indicates that we'll probably have weak home sales data for Febru... 03/03/2009

Burbank, CA       January 2009   Market Index A market index of above 1.20 is a seller's market, between 0.80 to 1.20 is a balanced market, and below 0.80 is a buyer's market.    The market index dropped five points to 0.28 from 0.33.       New Listings - 64 new listings,  versus 53 last month and 94 in 2008.   Pending  Listings - 48 listings opened escrow, compared to 40 last month and only 27 last year.   Pending  Ratio - 0.75, surprisingly equal to last month, compared to last year's 0.29. Listing Inventory -300 properties on the market, compared to 321 last month, versus 346 in 2007.      Sold Listings - 35 properties sold, compared to 67 listings last month and 42 in 2007.   Average Sales Price - $484,620, which is 10% lower than last year.  It is interesting that with the large am... 02/25/2009

  Monthly Activity Report Burbank-January 2009     SFR Avg Sale Price-2 bed SFR Avg Sale Price-3 bed SFR Avg Sale Price-4 or more bed Condos Avg Sale Price Condos Units Sold Total Avg List Price Total Avg Sale Price Total Units Sold Avg DOM $529,800 $605,200 $768,300 $387,000 8 $451,783 $508,508 28 83   Information is Believed To Be Accurate But Not Guaranteed Southern California Multiple Listing Service   Month to month average home sale price in Burbank from December 2008 to January 2009 is down $38,507, or 7%. Average days on market, are up 3 days. Most notably number of sold properties is down almost 58 % from December 2008. Reasons for this trend include the significant price reductions we saw towards the end of last year, banks wanting to clear out inventory before the end of the ... 02/16/2009

GET CASH BACK WHEN BUYING A HOME!   CASH BACK TO HOMEBUYERS in San Fernando Valley - Commission Credit towards your closing costs - Commission Rebate - REALTOR REBATES TO HOME BUYERS & INVESTROS AT CLOSING - BURBANK Discount Broker (HABLO ESPANOL)  Lupe Soto, Realtor  up to 1% CASH BACK TO BUYERS AT CLOSE OF ESCROW (*) GET CASH BACK WHEN BUYING HOMES Homebuyers or savvy investors will qualify for cash back rewards!. We WILL CREDIT YOU UP TO 1% of sales price at close of escrow on all purchases(*) when we represent a homebuyer with an agreement, minimum purchase price is $300,000, based on 3% commission with 1% rebate rebate to buyer at close of escrow, if commission is less than 3% the credit will be 33% of the actual commission received by broker.   Referral buyers will not qualify for... 02/13/2009

2010  Feng Shui Auspicious Directions - Burbank & San Fernando Valley & Feng Shui with Lupe Soto, Feng SHui Realtor in Burbank, to contact Lupe, e-mail to:  Lupe@HomesWithLupe.com   (Se Habla Espanol) THE YEAR OF THE TIGER IN 2010   THE YEAR OF THE OX IN 2009 fills with good fortune. To enhance, display a Jade Ox in the Northeast of your house in the living room. Besides that, you need to enhance the good areas and suppress the bad areas to ensure a good year comes to you and all the bad or misfortune luck is under control. Take note on the following enhancers and cures that you should display in your home according to the areas stated     Southwest - 6 White The year 2009 sees the auspicious star #6 White align in the Southwest, therefore those who are seeking recognition, fame and mak... 02/11/2009

I started out in this industry photographing apartments and rentals. I feel like that aspect of photography is something I know and really enjoy....I know there really isn't much difference. My real goal when I photograph a rental or a house for sale is to show the room size and the extras that make it special. Pamela Rich from Condos LA gave me a call to photograph her house. I have been to her home before and just love it. It's a very young, fun house. Modern and just the right amount of space. They decided to rent out this home and move to the coast...I'm very envious! Take a look...                 02/07/2009

Friday I photographed a house for my client Lior Kane with American Realty Centre. It's a beautiful little house in the Glendale hills. 2 Bedroom, 2 bathroom with beautiful built-ins and great details around. It really was a cozy home. Take a look at the virtual tour here... 02/01/2009

Market Index A market index of above 1.20 is a seller's market, between 0.80 to 1.20 is a balanced market, and below 0.80 is a buyer's market.    Jumped UP from 0.26 to 0.33, SIX points.  Is this the start of a trend?      New Listings - We had 53 new listings, compared to 88 last month and 62 in 2008. Pending  Listings - 40 listings opened escrow, compared to 44 last month and only 35 last year. Pending  Ratio - 0.75, a big improvement from 0.50 last month, and compared to last year's 0.56. Listing Inventory - 321 homes on the market at the end of the month, compared to 397 last month, versus 334 in 2007. Sold Listings - 67 listings sold during the month, compared to 61 last month and 37 in 2007.   Average Sales Price - $546,479, which is 1.46% lower than last year - but UP from July a... 01/30/2009

  Ever wonder what the difference is between a foreclosure and an REO or real estate owned property? A foreclosure is a legal process in which the owner's right to a property is terminated.  It usually involves a forced sale of the property by a public auction to repay whatever debt is owed on the property.  Real Estate Owned (REO) is real property that has been foreclosed by a lender and is now owned by the lender due to an unsuccessful sale at the public auction. Here are some facts: A foreclosure property goes through a foreclosure auction which is usually held on an assigned date on the steps of the county court house. Foreclosure property buyers need to be able to purchase the property for CASH. At auction, an opening bid on the property is set by the foreclosing lender. This openi... 01/21/2009

Burbank Real Estate & San Fernando Real Estate & Homes For Sale with Lupe Soto (818)276-6882. For Bank owned or REO properties in Burbank & San Fernando Valley, please go to:  www.SOLDwithLupe.com or for multi-family income properties, please visit: www.IncomeREproperties.com.  Lupe Soto, Successfully Negotiations Real Estate Transactions With Unmatched Dedication!  What makes a real estate agent a good negotiator?    Certified Real Estate NegotiatorLupe Soto   Quite often I see buyers and sellers request an agent with the number one prerequisite that they be a good negotiator. But what does that mean? What does that mean to the real estate agent and to the consumer who is requesting this quality? And does the consumer really understand what a good negotiator does in a real estate trans... 01/17/2009

Image via Wikipedia  Housing Tracker is predicting a trend of -23.9% for Los Angeles area home prices and Homepredictor.com is prognosticating a 21.7% drop in prices for the Los Angeles area. Many economists are predicting that housing will not rebound in 2009. But how do you know what your area will experience?   Whether looking at Burbank or the San Fernando Valley, if you have followed real estate home sales for any amount of time you know that neither gains nor losses are ever uniformly distributed throughout a city or county. Certain areas experience the majority of the gains, other areas will experience more of the losses and it’s not always easy to predict.  The reason for homes in a particular area to be hit hard on the up or downside depends on many factors. From a macro econom... 01/11/2009

  Market Index A market index of above 1.20 is a seller’s market, between 0.80 to 1.20 is a balanced market, and below 0.80 is a buyer’s market.   Dropped from 0.41, FIFTEEN points to 0.26.  The last time there was a drop this big was the mortgage meltdown last fall.      New Listings - We had 88 new listings, compared to 79 in October, versus 64 in November 2007.   Pending  Listings – Forty-four listings opened escrow, compared to 79 last month and only 25  last year.   Pending  Ratio – 0.50, about even with October’s 0.49,  it was 0.47 in November of 2007.   Average Sales Price - $546,479, which is 13.6% lower than last November – but UP from July and steady for the past four months.   Price per square foot $345.87, down slightly from last month.  Down 15.7% from last year,but still a... 12/06/2008

  Economic Recap:   Pending home sales for September dropped 4.6%, worse than expected. Showing extremely weak numbers, total domestic light vehicle sales came in at 7.7 million annual unit sales. This the lowest since the recessionary times in the early 80s. The car rate of 3.9 million is the lowest yet in data going back to 1967. The October jobs report fell for a tenth-straight month, showing larger-than-expected job losses and the highest unemployment rate since 1994. Nonfarm payroll employment in October plummeted another 240,000, following a revised drop of 284,000 in September and a revised decrease of 127,000 in August. The For the year-to-date, the economy has lost 1.2 million jobs net. Federal Reserve lowered interest rates this week by ½% to 1% for the federal funds rate and ... 11/07/2008

Burbank Condos For Sale and Burbank Townhouses for Sale, Burbank Bank Owned Condos For Sale , REO's Townhouses, Short Sale, Foreclosure Condos & Townhouses in Burbank CA, easy to show, request an appointment TODAY. For other condos and townhouses for sale within Burbank Unified School District, please contact Lupe Soto condo-expert and Burbank Realtor.  Please call for faster service (818)968-3718.  If you are looking to find a condo, townhouses or home for sale within Burbank Unified School District, high-achieving school area, please contact Lupe Soto Burbank Realtor for assistance.  I will be honored to help YOU find the perfect condo or house for sale in Burbank CA.  Visit our BURBANK VIDEO BLOG with condos townhouses & homes for sale, click here For a List of REO's Bank Owned Short... 10/29/2008

Burbank SOLD Homes, Burbank SOLD Condos, San Fernando Valley SOLD Real Estate by Lupe Soto, Feng Shui Realtor (818) 968 3718 www.BurbankinAction.com  CONTACT LUPE TODAY FOR A FREE CONSULTATION     Simple Tips For Staging Your Home, Lupe Realtor Getting your house ready to sell can seem overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. Just keep in mind that you're wanting potential buyers to be able to see their own family and possessions in your home. In order to do that, your home must have more "blank areas" than usual to allow buyers to imagine their things in your space. Since you're going to be packing for your move anyway, go ahead and get a start on it now. Box up out of season clothes to make closets seem more spacious. Remove family photos so buyers don't feel the house is already "tak... 10/27/2008

Looking for a POOL HOME or TOWNHOUSE WITH POOL in Burbnak or San Fernando Valley, Antelope Valley.  I am available to help YOU.  If you are looking for bank owned pool homes for sale in Burbank, Arleta, Canoga Park, Calabasas, Chatsworth, Encino, Glendale, Granada Hills, Hidden Hills, Lake Balboa, Lake View Terrace, Mission Hills, North Hollywood, North Hills, Northridge, Panorama City, Pacoima, Porter Ranch, San Fernando, Reseda, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Sylmar, Sun Valley, Sunland, Shadow Hills, Toluca Lake, Topanga Canyon, Tujunga, Valley Village, Valley Glen, Van Nuys, Universal City, West Hills, Winnetka, Woodland Hills, Antelope Valley, you have come to the right place! CASAS en venta con PISCINA (hablo en espanol) http://www.CasasConLupeSoto.com    POOL HOMES FOR SALE FROM $234... 10/22/2008

BURBANK REAL ESTATE & HOMES FOR SALE (818) 276-6882   TOP 10 BEST BUYS IN BURBANK FROM $417,000 TO $600,000, ALL 3 BR HOMES, 2 BATHSFOR BANK OWNED LIST OF HOMES IN BURBANK & SFV, CLICK HER   http://www.soldwithlupe.com INSIDE ABOVE SEACH TOOL, YOU CAN ADD "REO/LENDER OWNED" DOWNPAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS & GRANTS FROM $10,000 TO $80,000, CLICK HERE      Lupe Soto, Realtor & Certified REO & Bank Owned Specialist (818) 276-6882DRE # 01380599Burbank in Action Realty & Mtg Svcs3500 W Olive Ave # 300, Burbank CA 91505   FREE HOME SEARCH  24/7 - Any Area - Any Price 10/21/2008

Farmers' Market Information for Burbank   Day: Saturday Hours: 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM Location: East Olive Avenue & North Glenoaks Blvd City: Burbank County: Los Angeles Manager: Carolyn Hill Office Address: 717 N. Cordova, Alhambra, CA 91801 Phone: 626-308-0457     Make sure to visit the Burbank Farmers Market any time you visit the Los Angeles area. A street map to get to the Burbank Farmers Market is attached for your convenience. What's Fresh Right Now •           Spinach•           Pomegranates•           Tangerines•           Avocadoes•           Limes•           Persimmons•           Walnuts•           Asian Pears•           Winter Squash•           Green beans•           Beets•           Chinese Broccoli•           Brussels Sprouts•           Mandarin Oranges•           Honey•     ... 10/14/2008