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            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/we-are-feeling-loved-part-2.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/we-are-feeling-loved-part-2.html</link>
            <author>info@herth.com (Admin Account)</author>
            <title>We Are Feeling Loved! Part 2</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Another awesome recommendation from our clients:






"Bernie Katzmann and Mike Shaw at Herth Real Estate are very, very experienced and sophisticated at marketing and then negotiating the sale on personal residences.  Their attention to detail as well their strategy to create anticipation and buzz was key to getting the final, extraordinary price.  They should teach a master class on estate sales" - Recent Seller




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            <pubDate>Thu, 03 May 2012 20:03:30 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/upcoming-event.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/upcoming-event.html</link>
            <author>info@herth.com (Admin Account)</author>
            <title>Upcoming Event</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Last year, Herth Real Estate showed their commitment to the community by showcasing local artists and holding a fundraiser for the beautification of our Castro neighborhood with hanging flower baskets. The event was an amazing success and this year we plan to do it again! Stay tuned for more info.



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            <pubDate>Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:30:52 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/multiple-offers-strike-again.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/multiple-offers-strike-again.html</link>
            <author>info@herth.com (Admin Account)</author>
            <title>Multiple Offers Strike Again!</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Recently two of our listings have jumped on the trend of receiving a high number of multiple offers! The spring real estate season has officially begun in San Francisco and we are seeing it bloom. 


348 Church St #201 received 13 offers after only being on the market for a little over than a week. Make sure to check out the photos of this 2 bedroom 2 bath condo in Mission Dolores. View more.


120 Corona Street is currently pending and received 20 offers after being on the market for a less than a month. Make sure to check out the photos of this 3 bedroom 2 bath detached home in Ingleside Terrace. View more.


 



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            <pubDate>Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:32:18 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/we-are-feeling-loved.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/we-are-feeling-loved.html</link>
            <author>info@herth.com (Admin Account)</author>
            <title>We Are Feeling Loved!</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
From one of our amazing clients to, our top producer, Bernie Katzmann. They recently closed escrow on their new home. We wish them the best and as Bernie put it, "enjoy many years of health, happiness, love and success in your new home"







Hi Bernie,


 


Thank you so very much for your incredible support and assistance in this process, it has been a pleasure to work with you on this house finding adventure. We are going to miss seeing you and I hope that we can stay in contact in the future, we'd love to meet your partner and take you both out for dinner as a way to thank you.


 


I'm almost itching with excitement about getting my hands covered in soil and spending hours in the garden. We'll post photo's as the project develops.


 


Again thank you Bernie, you're a Realtor super star, a credit to your profession and company.


 


Hugs Andy


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            <pubDate>Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:59:50 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/its-a-over-asking-multiple-offers-kind-of-market.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/its-a-over-asking-multiple-offers-kind-of-market.html</link>
            <author>info@herth.com (Admin Account)</author>
            <title>It's a Over asking + Multiple Offers Kind of Market!</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Barbara Gullion's listing of 1305 Scott Street recently sold over asking and with 12 offers! 



Top-floor light-filled condo in a meticulously maintained 4-condo corner building. Spacious open living room with lots of windows and dining room with fireplace. French doors open to covered deck for good entertaining flow. Sunny kitchen with plenty of counter and storage space. Two bedrooms, one bath. Square footage in tax records is incorrect. Condo map shows 1127 sq ft. Three separate deeded garages for this unit. Also deeded utility/craft/work room and storage. Common laundry. Well-run HOA; $332 monthly; reserves. Convenient location near Fillmore Jazz District, NOPA, Japantown and Sundance/Kabuki, Kaiser Hospital, Geary transportation. Take the dogs to Alamo Square where they can run without leashes. Also play equipment for the kids.




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            <pubDate>Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:49:37 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/home-selling-home-staging-tips.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/home-selling-home-staging-tips.html</link>
            <author>markdmchale@gmail.com (Mark D McHale)</author>
            <title>Home Selling: Home Staging Tips</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Home selling over the past years has become an art form
with many people searching for creative ways to make their home stand above the
others. One of the major art forms is home staging, and it can be achieved in a
number of ways. It’s not only about having a company come in and strategically
place furniture and accessories, but it’s something you can do on your own. 


Before doing anything though, you need to get yourself
comfortable, and you’ll need to move beyond the emotional attachment to your
material possessions. Step back and look at your décor. If your design taste
was something different would you be able to see beyond what’s in front of you?
Probably not, and once you adjust your vision you can look at home selling as a
business. You need to make the most with what you have, right?




Family
Portraits – Having family pictures hanging on your walls, or lining
your mantel and shelves is only natural, but for prospective buyer who don’t
know your family it looks a bit cluttered. If you have pictures hanging on the
walls, lined up on shelves, or in other special places dust them off and place
them in a dresser drawer or even box them.


Repaint –
If you love lavender in one room, chartreuse in another, and tangerine in
another, that’s great. However you should strongly consider investing your time
and money in painting that room, or rooms, to a neutral color. The colors
potential buyers see when they enter your home should be neutral because buyers
can become distracted by the color as opposed to what the room has to offer.
They might walk away thinking “wow, that was a lot of color” when you want them
to walk away thinking “wow, that was a great house. I can see myself there.” They
should see the walls of your home as a blank canvas on which to project their
own preferences and style. Neutral doesn’t equal ‘white,’ it is a more subtle
color such as olive, gray, beige and tan.


Furniture –
First impressions are everything, so if you think your furniture looks worn,
then a prospective home buyer will see it as very worn. Just like the paint
colors mentioned previously, the buyer could become distracted by the furniture
and furniture placement. This often influences a buyer to offer a lower price
because they feel the seller needs to move because they cannot afford to live
here anymore. Store come of your current furniture, and invest in some form
fitting slip covers. Or, rent furniture from a home staging company.


Knick-knacks
– Just like family pictures and portraits, put these personal gems away. Box
them up early because to the average home buyer, displayed collectables often
come across as clutter. As the home seller, you want to be sure your personal
valued belongings are stored away for safe keeping anyway. Think of it this
way, there will be less to pack later when you sell your home.




Whether working with a stager, or doing it yourself, home
sellers and real estate agents should focus on low cost home staging ideas that effectively showcase the true value of your
home.


 




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            <pubDate>Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:25:21 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/richard-discusses-new-home-owners-with-curbed-sf.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/richard-discusses-new-home-owners-with-curbed-sf.html</link>
            <author>info@herth.com (Admin Account)</author>
            <title>Richard Discusses New Home Owners With CURBED SF</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Herth agent, Richard Gullo, recently dicussed new SF home owners with sf.curbed.com! Read the transcript below. 




CSF: How do 1st-time buyers expectations differ from others?RG: They're not that different, and very close in expectations these days. Most buyers are doing a lot of research about neighborhoods, pricing and their loan options before they really hit the ground and start seriously looking with an agent.


CSF: Are they nervous?RG: Most of them are. It can be intimidating at first but once they get out there looking, making offers and watching the market they can feel better about what they are getting into. They've been successful in one business- usually tech- and bring the same intelligence and research to the table, but there's always emotion involved in buying a first home.


CSF: How do you manage their expectations?RG: With a soft glove. It's a big step. Buying a house is like mapping out one's future.


CSF: How do you vet your new clients?RG: It's not really necessary, since they're almost always referrals. But we always get the loan pre-approval out of the way first- if they haven't come already pre-approved- which gives us both a better picture of what they can afford. And coming to an agent pre-approved means you're serious about buying a house.


CSF: How do they react to a suggestion to bid over asking?RG: I've had clients completely walking away from the idea of buying at all, and others really asking questions and using my knowledge of what I see happening.We're seeing the return of the "pre-emptive overbid" this year, and that takes some serious intestinal fortitude.


CSF: Do they think it's going to be like an episode of HGTV's House Hunters?RG: I'm sure that has something to do with it, but with their own set of bullet points to check off. They are concerned with lifestyle issues, like where the private transport buses to the Peninsula stop and whether the neighborhood is walkable.


CSF: Do they read real estate blogs?RG: They are very educated when it comes to what they're doing with their money, and any form of information is a large part of the education of the process.


CSF: Do they shop/search the internet?RG: Oh yes. This is a large part of the process. With so many ways to get information now, they want to see it all- but in the end, real estate is about bricks and mortar. And money.


CSF: What about the "Is this a good investment? Will it increase in value?" question?RG: First-time buyer are rarely flippers. San Francisco real estate is still expensive, and compared to the rest of the world, values here have held up remarkably well despite the recession. And buyers know it's not 2007 anymore, so no, the question doesn't come up. They've already decided what to do with their money and how they want to live.CSF: Have you encountered a buyer's particular obsession, like gas stoves vs. electric?RG: Yes. I had a gentleman whose favorite part of the house was the kitchen, with the gas stove being the centerpiece. He's a great cook. But part of the learning process for a first-time buyer is them figuring what they really want, rather than what they think they want. 


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            <pubDate>Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:02:58 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/newest-addition-to-the-herth-family.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/newest-addition-to-the-herth-family.html</link>
            <author>info@herth.com (Admin Account)</author>
            <title>Newest Addition to the Herth Family</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Herth welcomes our newest agent in training! Congratulations to Matt and Shindi !!!



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            <pubDate>Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:48:24 -0500</pubDate>
                    </item>
        <item>
            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/herth-agents-featured-in-wsj.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/herth-agents-featured-in-wsj.html</link>
            <author>info@herth.com (Admin Account)</author>
            <title>Herth Agents Featured in WSJ</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 
Herth agents Bernie Katzmann &amp; Mike Shaw's clients were featured in a recent Wall Street Journal article about their newly purchased home in Noe Valley on Cesar Chavez. 




A bidding war broke out in November when a small house in San Francisco's tightly packed Noe Valley came on the market.


Twenty-two people, including employees of Facebook, Zynga, Google and Pixar, battled for the home. The winning offer was $1.5 million—40% higher than the asking price. The house had a great view, but it was only 1,800 square feet and came with an old kitchen which, like most of the interior, was covered in 1970s plywood paneling. Seen from the curb, there's hardly any house at all—just a one-car garage and gate leading to small front courtyard.


The inconspicuousness was part of the attraction, said Jasmin Arneja, 42, who bought the two-bedroom house with her husband Gagan, 40, a software engineer at a networking start-up. "It's the antithesis to these outrageous bizarre Gordon Gekko-esque houses. It just incorporates so much of our values," said Ms. Arneja, who runs a philanthropic advisory firm.


Housing prices in the San Francisco Bay area are once again soaring, thanks to an infusion of cash from the rising shares of Apple and Google and the initial public offerings by Zynga, LinkedIn, Yelp and soon Facebook, expected to be the largest in Internet history. But while a previous generation of dot-com executives opted for mansions in wealthy San Francisco neighborhoods like Pacific Heights and tony Silicon Valley suburbs like Atherton, this generation is gravitating to modest homes and condos...




Read more here.


 





Image source: Jason Henry for The Wall Street Journal
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            <pubDate>Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:14:27 -0500</pubDate>
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            <guid>http://www.herth.com/blog/210-lexington-lynne-jassems-new-video-tour.html</guid>
            <link>http://www.herth.com/blog/210-lexington-lynne-jassems-new-video-tour.html</link>
            <author>info@herth.com (Admin Account)</author>
            <title>210 Lexington! Lynne Jassem's new video tour!</title>
            <description> <![CDATA[ 

 

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            <pubDate>Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:43:45 -0600</pubDate>
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