Can anyone tell us how we are supposed to sell a home in Canyon Country, when the next door neighbor, has an Andy Gump in their front yard? I suppose prospective homebuyers may get the idea that it's a free for all in the community, and pride of ownership is not what it should be. Granted there may be a very good reason for the Andy Gump to be in the front yard, but I can't really think of any, and, it has been sitting there for weeks and weeks…and weeks.

I'm sure there is a rainbow at the end of this rant, but, word to the wise…when you see your neighbor installing an Andy Gump in his/her front yard, let them know you are concerned about how long it will be there, and check with local authorities about whether or not it's allowed to be there in the first place!

Here's to hoping we sell the home, next door!

Buyers rejoice! You can now use our Santa Clarita real estate application for your cell phone (smartphone) to find homes for sale no matter where you are. Our real estate application uses your cell phone's GPS to locate where you are, and subsequently, the homes that are for sale around you. Imagine driving through a particular Santa Clarita neighborhood that you have an interest in, and you'd like to see what the homes are selling for. You'd simply pull out your cell phone (it's best on the iPhone), click on the icon for our application, and there it is….a map showing your location and all the homes for sale surrounding you.

 Watch the demonstration we made for you at our SCVRealEstate360 channel on YouTube. The below video is a quick tutorial and demo on where to download it, how, and how to best use the application. This is a tremendous opportunity for homebuyers and sellers in Santa Clarita to no longer have to pick up the phone and call a real estate agent in order to find out information that, for free, can be at your fingertips.

Have no fear, we are here if you need us however, for all of your real estate questions and needs. Just contact us at The Robert and Brian Team here, or call us at 661-964-1760.

Enjoy the tutorial of our Santa Clarita Real Estate Application for your cell phone!

We used Google's new "Search Story" to create our own Santa Clarita Real Estate Search Story. And we uploaded it to our SCVRealEstate360 Show on YouTube.

We love Google, and we thank them for helping us create a cool, and kind of meaningless video like this. Now we're off to go sell some more Santa Clarita homes to all of you fabulous buyers out there.

Contact us @ 661-964-1760 if we can help you with any of your Santa Clarita real estate needs.

Congratulations to our awesome homebuyers Cece and Pilar on their new home purchase in Santa Clarita. We love helping first-time homebuyers and guiding them through the process of purchasing a home in Santa Clarita.

Cece is pictured here holding her tax refund due to the tax credit that first-time homebuyers are entitled to (with certain restrictions), so long as they purchase a home and get under contract by April 30, 2010, and close the escrow by June 30, 2010.

Check out that kitchen of hers! Great home at a great price…congrats Cece & Pilar! Call us at The Robert and Brian Team @ 661-964-1760, so we can help you with your home purchase in Santa Clarita too!

We at The Robert and Brian Team would like to say Happy New Year to all of you. We are ready to work for you in 2010 as your local Santa Clarita real estate professionals, if the need arises, and you find yourself either buying or selling a Santa Clarita home.

Our 2009 was certainly above average, and we experienced enormous growth in our business, thanks to many of our loyal past clients, friends, and family spreading the good word. Our online presence is growing everyday, and the social media aspect of our business is taking over, slowly but surely. Become part of our social media sphere this year, by meeting up with us on our Facebook Fan Page, on Twitter, and so many other places like right here at our blog, Santa Clarita Real Estate Forum.

We think 2010 will be even better than 2009. In fact we're going to make sure it is!

Give us a call, shoot us an email, Facebook us, tweet us, or just stop by our office and say hello, in 2010. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Staying ahead of the curve isn't easy, but someone has to do it. Very few Realtors are providing this service, and we are proud to be amongst the few. Now you can search homes using our very own branded, The Robert and Brian Team Cell Phone App to search for Santa Clarita Homes, and homes across the country for that matter. This application is powered by Smarter Agent. The coolest part of this cell phone application, specifically for Internet smart phones, is that it utilizes the GPS in your phone to locate you, and it can show you all the homes for sale around your location. Imagine driving into a neighborhood and wanting to know what's for sale, because it looks like the type of community you'd want to live in…well all you would have to do is bust out your smart phone, click on our cell phone application, and choose "Map Closest Homes". It will immediately show you all homes around you that are for sale, or have sold, and you could then scan their details, their photos, and all the information that you could possibly need. You can even connect directly to us with the click of a button to set up an appointment to view the home(s) that interest you most.

This Santa Clarita real estate cell phone application, brought to you by The Robert and Brian Team of Realty Executives Valencia, can be downloaded on more than 95% of smart phones on the market (blackberry, driod, iPhone, you name it, etc!).

To download, simply follow this link: http://mobile.smarteragent.com/realtyexecutives/robertmickalson/

Or

Simply send the Message: SCVHOME via text to 87778

It's that easy. You will immediately get a text back with a link to download it, for free, on your specific phone. It's a simple process.  

Here is a video detailing information about our new Santa Clarita Home Search Smart Phone Application!

Is this the future of real estate search in Santa Clarita, or that of neighboring Los Angeles County cities? It would be incredible for homebuyers in Santa Clarita to be able to go to their computer, and fly through Santa Clarita via 3D models provided by Google, in collaberation with the City of Santa Clarita.

Imagine living hundreds, or thousands of miles away, and you have to transfer to Santa Clarita…what better way to get familiar with an area, aside from visiting it in person?

Check out Googles latest tool, Google Cities in 3D Program, which is will slowly be rolled out to (hopefully) a city near you! See below.

It's good to be home, but man was San Diego fun! I went to the National Association of Realtors Conference & Expo (NAR 09) last week, with my business partner Brian Ends. We figured that it was about time we join in an participate with some of our industry leaders and jump in on the dialog about some of real estate's most pressing topics.

The conference was located in Downtown San Diego at the enormous and picturesque Convention Center. Every city should have one of those things! But only San Diego could pull off a location like this – right on the water and footsteps from some of the best food and people watching in the world – the famous Gaslamp District.

Before the NAR 09 conference, we got into town the day before, for an "unconference," called Real Estate Bar Camp San Diego, or, #REBCSD! This by far was the best day we had while in San Diego, not because it was FREE and held at the coolest restaurant/lounge I've ever been to – Stingaree, rather it was because of the niche mini 45 minute seminars of all different kinds that we got to participate in, hour after hour. And the people – we met some of the best real estate/technology minds from all over the country at this event. The hot topic of the day, was of course, Social Media. And there were definitely some Social Media industry stars in attendance at the #REBCSD.

So what did we actually learn aside from the fact that San Diego is gorgeous in November?

• I want to move back to San Diego ( I used to live there for 3 years), and live in a high rise condominium. I know that will never happen especially seeing as I have two kids and 3 pets and lord knows what else, but, perhaps as a vacation retreat! Walking distance to the Gaslamp, Petco Park, the Trolley, and Seaport Village…c'mon!

• People will travel from all over the globe (Brazil, Austrailia, England, New York, etc) to come to the hottest Real Estate Conference on earth. It's really nice to see the travel efforts people put in, in order to advance their skills. I'm very proud to serve in an industry where people take that much pride in what they do. And no, they didn't all come to San Diego for the Zoo – people at this conference meant business. Standing room only at many of the seminars!

•  Technology and Social Media ( a bit of the same thing) has no age limit. I'm not saying that I thought people into their 60's, 70's, etc., didn't "get" technology or social media , and embrace it, but I was definitely amazed at the large handful of agents from around the world who were well above 60 years old that DID get it! They were asking excellent questions and really dissecting the new real estate technology being discussed and the social media revolution. In a sense, I was proud of them. Proud, because I know there are so many people who just don't get it, and choose to turn a blind side to the new ways of doing business in an ever changing industry.

 

• Social Media is dominating the real estate industry discussion right now. With tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Foursquare…it's all about connecting with your fellow colleagues, clients, friends, and family online, in ways that we never have in the past. These new methods of communication, will forever change the way we, as Realtors get our business. For those Realtors who don't embrace this technology and new method of communication, I fully expect them to lose some of the business they have relied on, as those clients will start to identify and communicate (online) with other real estate practitioners that do "get it."

• It's going to take time for the masses of real estate agents out there to understand the changes that are going on in the real estate industry. Sure, it looks like there might have been thousands of agents who "got it" in San Diego….but do you know how many agents are out there that didn't go to the convention, and or aren't even aware of what Twitter, Facebook, and Blogging can do for their business? Strike while the iron is hot. If you don't know – learn. Your local competition is very slim right now. It's as if your one of the few agents with access to the MLS. Other agents in your area, in large numbers, don't get it yet…but it won't be that way forever.

•  Help is all around you, and me, when it comes to improving our skills and understanding of new tools in the real estate business. It is astonishing to know how many nice, intelligent, and helpful people, in and just outside of our real estate industry there are. And they really do want to engage with you and I. I speak with them all the time. It's awesome to know that a key player in a particular field, 3,000 miles away, can send me a tweet with important information, and in one second, set me on a path to make a positive change in the way I conduct my own business. And that happens every day, on many different levels.

I can't wait to become more and more part of this sweeping revolution that is changing the way real estate business is being conducted. It will be interesting to see how what we know today, is changed and put to work in ways we don't yet comprehend or foresee. Until then, let's all take a deep breath, embrace change, take every opportunity to learn from those around us, and improve upon the current way we do business. Our clients expect these improvements, and so should you.

We will be going to the National Association of Realtors 2009 Conference and Expo in San Diego tomorrow! San Diego for 5 days, bummer, I know. We pride ourselves as being students of the real estate business. It's funny to know that veterans of the business, often come to us with their unique real estate questions. I don't mean to gloat, but it's true, it happens frequently.  But only because we are die hard students of the game, and love to learn all about it. I guess it shows, and there is a trust that has been built between us and other agents due to that. In order to be the best possible Realtors in the Santa Clarita Valley, we are always looking for ways to gain the competitive advantage, and better ourselves through continuing education. The NAR 2009 conference is just one, of many great ways for us to refresh our focus, and improve our skills in the ever changing real estate market.

Have no fear, you will still be hearing from us frequently, even though we are out of town, away from the action that "is" the Santa Claita Real Etate market. We will be live blogging from the event, bringing you crucial information and news about the real estate industry, as we learn it. We will also be adding new episodes to our SCVRealEstate360 Show on YouTube. So many opportunities to bring you the best news and information, so little time. We will chose wisely.

In addition to the learning and the never ending goal of improving skills, we will be networking! Our Santa Clarita real estate clients benefit from the networking we do! The connections we have made, and will continue to make in this industry, are priceless. People from all over the Country (and World), in the real estate business, and businesses that service the real estate industry, will be at this NAR 2009 conference. We're looking forward to connecting with as many of them as possible. Hopefully we can bring you some interesting "stuff!"

We really are a team…our staff will still be working hard at our office each day while we're away. Homes will still be shown to buyers with the help of Emily Ball, our Buyers Agent, and sellers will still have their life line to us and our transaction coordinator who handles a lot of the dirty work on our escrows.

San Diego – here we come!

- The Robert and Brian Team

Full post and details tomorrow on this, but today the Senate voted to extend and expand the home buyer tax credit through Spring 2010. It's off to the House of Representatives now for their vote, and then off to the President for finalization. Looks as good as done, but, it's not done yet. More on the details on this extension and expansion of the tax credit, on a new post Thursday.