Lenore & Alex Wilkas

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I say Bravo to NAR for developing a tool that really makes sense to the public. It's elegant in design, as it should be, since the designers are the top of the heap. I would like to link to this site, or embed it into my site as a nice tool for my client base. I wonder if this will be allowed. It is a site I will refer my clients to for more detailed information about homeownership, and be confident that the information will be good and sound. Thank you NAR for spending our money wisely on a great project. I also want to chime in on the comments about the NAR designation and how perhaps it can be tightened up. I see one silver lining in this recession and that's the drop off of bad agents. The next would be tightening up of renewal programs and NAR association. I have spent time learning my industry and educating myself with additional training and course work. Most of you have also. This should be worth something and NAR needs to look at another level of designation, above the "entry level". State associations are too intrenched in the combination of NAR and their group to change but why not have a higher level for superior agents? If you've completed GRI, CRS, or another major level of training you automatically are in this level. That might be an easier solution to giving NAR more oomph. Just a thought... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lenore Wilkas, GRI,SRES,RCS-D Prudential CA Fine Homes International www.SanMateoRealEstateNews.com

Bravo for this insightful story. While my Mom was alive, she moved into an Assisted Living facility by buying a condo there, but was never a happy person about it. Although she grew to like the services, it wasn't her cup of tea. This facility is first class, in a downtown location 2 blocks from a market, 3 blocks from the Library and near shopping. They offer tremendous services but it is still an Old Age Home. When first built they anticipated having people buy-in at a younger age but today the average age of the person coming is 85. These people have to then live with death on a weekly basis. Someone dies, someone is resuscitated, someone is ill. They do have amazing Sunday brunches and these are filled with families and young children, but on other days it's quiet there. Someone, somewhere, decided that seniors must live in quiet surroundings with no young children. Noise is verbatim. You see this all of the time with age restrictions and no children allowed CC&R's. I don't understand the logic behind this. The European's are miles ahead of us in planning for life cycles. We need to incorporate some of their ideas and some of Gurney's ideas and build homes for kinds of people. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lenore Wilkas Prudential CA Fine Homes International www.SanMateoRealEstateNews.com

Your suggestion to have the inspections done up front is an important one and something that is done regularly in our market, the San Francisco Peninsula. When the seller pays for inspections (physical and pest) up front, the buyer is able to see what issues there may be, if any. If they have questions, they are free to have further inspections done on their own, and some people do if the inspector was not thorough or issues appear to need them. It's a good way to conduct business but rare for other parts of California. We do not renegotiate once a contract has been accepted because we generally don't need to. The seller has disclosed everything and the buyer feels comfortable in knowing this. It works with most attorney's too. They can't complain if the work was already done. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lenore Wilkas Prudential CA Fine Homes International www.SanMateoRealEstateNews.com