WCCAR Meetings

MLS Committee Meeting

May 22, 2013, 12:00pm
Board Room

Budget & Finance

May 22, 2013, 1:00pm
Board Room

Thursday Morning Meetings

May 23, 2013, 9:00am
Board Room

WCCAR Affiliate Committee

May 23, 2013, 10:00am
Board Room

Memorial Day Observed

May 27, 2013, 8:30am
Association Office Closed

Bay Area home prices soar in buyer bidding wars

As many sellers remain on the sidelines, desperate Bay Area homebuyers are streaming through open houses, making offers tens of thousands of dollars above asking price and still coming away empty-handed.

A three-bedroom Dublin home recently drew more than 40 offers. Across the bay in Cupertino, 300 visitors streamed through one home for sale during a weekend showing, said Miawand Bayan of DeLeon Realty.

"It's nuts," said Livermore real estate agent Cher Wollard of Prudential California Realty. "We areseeing the evidence of real pent-up demand."

The intense demand has sent prices soaring, according to a report released Thursday by DataQuick. Potential sellers are either waiting for prices to go higher or are unable to sell because they're still underwater. And homeowners who want to either downsize or move up are reluctant to sell because there is so little to buy.

The median sales price of an existing single-family home increased 20 to 30 percent in March over the year-ago March in the East Bay, Peninsula and South Bay, the San Diego real estate research company said.

It was the 13th straight month of year-over-year price increases for homes in Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties, according to DataQuick.

Thursday Morning Meeting May 23rd

Speaker: Kris Kirkham from North American Title

Topic: "Current Escrow Trends & Ongoing Challenges"

* Foreign Investors

* State and Federal Withholding

* Sales (short and otherwise) Involving Seller In Bankruptcy

* 1031 Exchanges

* Signing Authority for Trusts, Corporations and LLC's

* Third Party Deposits To Escrow

Picnic In The Park August 2nd

Location: Fernandez Park Pinole
Time: 11Am - 3PM

WCCAR Annual Golf Tournament Sponsors!

It's that time again to receive "FREE ADVERTISING" how? Sponsor a hole in the WCCAR Annual Golf Tournament. Each year sponsors send in their $100 Sponsorship Fee and their company's name will be advertised in the WCCAR e-Blast until the golf tournament date, September 9, 2013!

This is a great way to advertise, meet and greet the players as well as other sponsors. Still have questions on how this works? Call Rudy Wilson at 510-222-8340 or Carl Schober at 510-724-7800 ext 15.

Turn your iPhone(r), Android(tm), or BlackBerry Smartphone into your Supra lockbox key!

Want to avoid having to "cradle" your key for updates? Want to get any deposit you have for your dKEY and Cradle refunded to you? Does a Supra Key that is always updated and can gain you access to all Bay Area County lockboxes sound good?

Then bring your dKEY and Cradle into WCCAR, sign up for eKEY service, and purchase the new eKEY FOB3 at WCCAR!

With the new eKEY from Supra, it's easy and reliable to use any SmartPhone to unlock Supra iBoxes! Just buy a FOB3 at WCCAR and our staff will download and install the eKey application from the Apple App store, Google Play Store or the Blackberry Market and you're ready to go. When you want to unlock an iBOX, press the button on the eKEY FOB when the eKEY application prompts you. It's that simple...

Now, the eKEY FOB3's can be purchased for just $59.99 plus tax right here at WCCAR.

WCCAR has also lowered the eKey Fees and updated The Key Billing Process for all eKEY Subscribers. Starting with your billing this summer, eKEY Subscription Fees will cover one year subscription (July-June) for either the eKEY Basic or eKEY Pro. If you're not an eKEY subscriber, you can sign up now:

eKey Basic $199 a year

eKEY Pro $375 a year

C.A.R. President's Monthly Message

To all of you who attended C.A.R.’s Legislative Day in Sacramento earlier this month, thank you all for making it a great success! More than 2,300 of you turned out to hear California Gov. Jerry Brown discuss such topics as California’s economy in relation to the global economy, the state’s education and employment outlook, and the improvement in the California housing market. We then headed over for a photo opportunity on the steps of the Capitol and, later in the afternoon, returned to the Capitol to discuss with our state legislators the issues of importance to the real estate industry. In fact, thanks to your direct efforts at Legislative Day, we scored a big win with AB 905, a private transfer tax to fund environmental improvements to a property. C.A.R. opposed AB 905 because it forced a financial burden on future owners of a property with no oversight, no accountability and no limit on how long the tax can be imposed, even years after the improvement has been paid for or the useful life of the improvement has passed. Following Legislative Day, the bill’s author decided to make AB 905 a two-year bill, essentially tabling it until 2014.

I’m happy to inform you that C.A.R. has developed the next evolution of zipForm® 6 Professional. zipForm® Plus Beta is a Java-free, web based application that can be used in multiple browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc.). This beta release is a vital stage of product development, and we’d like you to give it a spin and provide us with your feedback before it’s launched in its final version. We’ve received feedback through a national users group that the zipForm® Plus Beta user interface is intuitive, modern, and very easy to use. Nevertheless, we strongly encourage beta test users to watch a brief video that provides an overview of the new user interface, highlights differences between zipForm® 6 Professional and zipForm® Plus beta, and shows how to move between the two options and what to expect from the beta test program. For complete information.

Quick Links

Laptop Repair - Members Only

Get Your Laptop Fixed Fast, at the Best Price - By the Pro's at WCCAR!

Laptop giving you fits? Is Paragon MLS dragging? Want it to run faster, quickly view photos and videos, and make life easier and more efficient? Call the WCCAR Member Services at 510.233.1152. They'll do a full assessment of your needs and move you and your laptop to the next step. It's that simple.

WCCAR Android & iPad Optimization!

Have WCCAR install and set up all the apps a REALTOR® needs!

* Library of WCCAR best of breed applications

* Installation of applications

* Email setup

* Cloud storage setup

* 15 minutes of hands-on training

* WCCAR Mobile Resources and MLS

* Access zipForm®

* Digitally sign documents with DocuSign

* Create, edit, and email documents from your Android device

* Remotely access your home and office computers from your Android device

* Social networking

The Android device must have Android OS 4.0 or higher (ICS or Ice Cream Sandwich) Check at www.android.com/devices.

Contact Robert Morgan at robert@ccartoday.com or 925.295.9212 for more information

iWanna iPad

Now you can utilize WCCAR's industry leading expertise to BUILD a new iPad or OPTIMIZE your current iPad into a REALTOR® - ready machine! We'll install your hand-picked applications, set up your email account, configure Wi-Fi printing options, customize for use with the MLS and WCCAR's Mobile Resources, and we'll include 15 minutes of "hands-on" training.