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I want to buy a house – where do I start? When thinking of purchasing a house, there are logical steps to take. It may seem at first thought to begin searching homes on the internet. While this is a great source of information for the potential buyer, it is not the most important and crucial place to start.

First and foremost the buyer needs to find a lender they can trust. How can that be accomplished? Below are a few common ways to find a lender & Realtor when asking yourself, I want to buy a house, where do I start?Ask for referrals from your friends or family for both a Realtor and lender. Referrals are a fantastic way to find a professional.Search on Trulia.com & Activerain.com. Active agents that are engaged both in their physical communities as well as online communities can be found here. Once a few interesting prospects have been found, read their blog. A buyer can learn the style of the professional by the way they communicate with their audience via the internet. Finding a personality style to meet one’s needs is important as finding a professional with the most knowledge about their market.

Once you narrow down your persons of interest, send them a communication via YOUR favorite way to communicate. Some prefer text, email or social media, while others prefer to just pick up the phone. This will give the buyer a better understanding of how timely this professional responds to an inquiry. With all the difference means of communication these days, this step is important.

Whether you find the Realtor first or the lender first doesn’t truly matter. In many cases, a Realtor will surround themselves with very competent professionals that are an integral part of the transaction. Vice versa, the lender will have their finger on the pulse of the most effective agents in their area (in many cases).

Now that you’ve found your professionals, take the time to contact them and set an appointment. In the lender’s case the initial information can be gathered over the phone and necessary documents can be emailed or faxed. This process can take less than an hour. This is your ROAD-MAP. Now you know exactly where you are financially headed.

Putting the “cart before the horse’ so to speak in searching properties before the financial road-map can lead to disappointment. It’s never fun to get excited about a property only to find it is out of the buyer’s price range. Save yourself that frustration by following these steps above when thinking, I want to buy a house, where do I start?

Originally posted via Activerain.com 10/2/2011

Serving Others in Remembrance of 9/11 – Thanks KLOVE! My favorite radio station is encouraging all to make a difference in the lives of others to honor and remember those that lost their lives on 9/11. I think its a great idea!

So I sat down at my computer today to decide what I would do to serve others and came up with “hosting a Food Drive”. I went to the Alameda County Food Bank website, clicked on Food Drive, then “organize a Food Drive“. It was that simple. What next… I contacted my favorite local Coffee Shop, Coffee Ali to see if she would be willing to have a collection barrel delivered to her location and of course, she was thrilled and agreed! The form was simple to complete online including where I wanted the barrel delivered.

The Alameda County Food Bank supplied me with a list of the most needed items to assist people in knowing what they can provide.  Our barrel will arrive the week of Sept. 12, 2011 (I’ll post an update when it arrives).  The food collection will go through the week of October 24.  Donations can be delivered to:

Coffee Ali, 3550 Bernal Ave #140
Pleasanton CA 94566
Between the hours of 7:00am – 4:00 pm daily

Here are some other ideas I came up with to ‘make a difference” in honor of 9/11:

Prepare a meal for someone in need
Visit your local senior center to put a smile on the face of a senior
Visit your local Red Cross to donate blood
Write letters of encouragement and thanks to our soldiers
Collect supplies to donate to our military
Contact a battered shelter for volunteer ideas

AND SO MANY MORE…

In Serving Others in Remembrance of 9/11, we can all once again come together to show our American pride and support of mankind just like we did on that horrific day 10-years ago. People helping people, that’s what this event is all about. Please join in. What will you do?

Originally posted: Activerain/rhondafee 9/10/2011

Happy 100th birthday Grandma ~ The Parkview Pleasanton Assisted Living celebrates with Daisy for her 100th birthday! It’s not everyday we get to witness someone celebrate a century of living and 5-generations together at one time! The Pleasanton Weekly was there to capture it as well!

Grandma (Daisy Roberson) is generation 1, Gloria Roberson, my mom, is generation 2, my sister Denise Fee & I are generation 3, our children Kayla & Connor Coatney & Alivia & Morgann Schlesser are generation 4 & Alivia’s, Caylee Rose is generation 5! Wow!

Daisy grew up in a family with 6 brothers and 4 sisters. Her family lived in Kansas on a farm. Farm work was a part of every day life starting very early in the morning and working hard all day long. At the age of 6, grandma told me she learned to bake and cook. As her granddaughter, I have to say her skill for baking is a favorite of mine and growing up we often shared recipes and the love of baking.

Throughout my life grandma rarely ate out at restaurants. She has always had a great awareness of cleanliness and good hygiene. Realizing you don’t always know what you’ll get at a restaurant, she chose to steer clear of eating out most of the time.  In large part, I imagine that’s part of the reason she is still to this day one of the healthiest people I know. With that said, she mostly ate only what she cooked. She personally has never eaten (and still to this day does not eat) butter, gravy and mayonnaise. Seriously, in her baking she used shortening instead of butter! Go figure!

In my childhood, Grandma literally made her own donuts, Cinnamon rolls, pies, cakes and candy! I believe my love of sweets is in large part grandma’s fault! Sweets have always been her favorite and they are for sure mine! Thanks Grandma!

What a great celebration! Happy 100th Birthday Grandma! Parkview Pleasanton Assisted Living – a place for seniors to call home.

Originally posted 9/4/11, Activerain.com/rhondafee

Back to school time – Pleasanton Unified School District Walk-Thru Registration is on the minds of many parents during this time of year. Can you believe your child is old enough to begin kindergarten or maybe graduating high school? Speaking from my own experience, time certainly flies! My kids have grown up in Pleasanton CA all their lives and went through school beginning with Gingerbread Preschool all the way through high school.

Whether you’re brand new to Pleasanton or you’ve lived here for a while, this time of year is back to school – Pleasanton Unified School District Walk-Thru Registration time and is likely on the minds of many parents with kids attending our schools.

Since Back to school time -Pleasanton Unified School District Walk-thru Registration is now just around the corner, its a good time to start thinking ahead. The district requires 2-proofs of residency each and every registration year. In my personal experience with this, they are sticklers, so be prepared!

Acceptable ‘proofs of residency” can be a current phone, water, garbage or PGE bill. If you are a renter, your lease could be one form of proof, or maybe you have recently purchased a Pleasanton CA home. In that case your escrow papers for the transaction would be one acceptable form. Please be prepared to show original documents as copies may not be accepted. (I was turned away as I recall for not having the proper documentation, so save yourself the frustration)!

The registration process has become much more sophisticated over the years. You can now download and print the required documents, complete them in the comfort of your own home and take them to your designated ‘walk-through registration’ location. Simply go to your child’s school website and find the ‘walk-thru registration tab’.

At registration time, you can also purchase p.e. clothes, year books, parking permits, and more. It can be a big day for the checkbook, so again, be prepared. In the elementary school sector you might have the opportunity to sign up for volunteer opportunities for things such as driving on field trips, classroom helpers, office assistance and so much more. If your child fits that age range, parents are encouraged to be involved and the teachers love the enthusiasm of helpful parents! Not to mention, it will brighten your child’s day and make them proud on the days their mom, dad or maybe even grandparent is the assistant their beloved teacher. After all, the mindset of my children at that age was that their teachers were the be-all-end-all of everything! (Wait til they get a little older, they might not be in such awe of their teachers…I’m just sayin’…embrace it while you can).

The gist of my message..Back to School – Pleasanton Unified School District Walk-thru Registration is quickly approaching, get your ducklings in a row!

Originally posted 8/9/2011: www.pleasantoncarealestateblog.com

The Person Behind The Blog…

Rhonda Fee, Realtor, ABR, CHS
www.Rhondafee.com
925-200-0827 Call or Text