Rodeo Realty agent (and talented artist) Franklyn Burns was featured in the 2013 annual report from the Braille Institute for his work in the Express Yourself Creative Arts program. His bold and colorful prints have had public showings. He recently launched a course on real estate basics at the Braille Institute Los Angeles, his way of giving back to the community. Frank works out of the Rodeo Realty Sherman Oaks office.
Rodeo Realty Agent Tai Savet Explains His Work With The Rock Life Foundation
In the video above Rodeo Realty Calabasas agent Tai Savet shares a day in the life of a Calabasas agent and shows how he became involved with local organization, Rock Life as an Ambassador for Strategic Community Partnerships in Calabasas. Rock Life is dedicated to bringing awareness to the seriousness of bullying and related issues like depression, eating disorders, obesity, self-mutilation and suicide. In the video, Tai explains how he became aware of Rock Life and why he feels it is important for the local community. The organization recently held its first Rock Life Anti-bullying Celebrity Basketball Game in Calabasas on September 7th and you may spot a few famous faces including Chris Brown in the video.
Rodeo Realty Delivers 1,000 Pumpkins In Los Angeles
Rodeo Realty agent Tom Otero was a busy man on Friday. He delivered over 1,000 pumpkins to local neighborhoods and schools around the Lake Hollywood area. Tom reports that he has already received many calls and emails from happy and surprised neighbors who found a little touch of fall on their doorsteps.
Rodeo Realty Announces New Corporate Headquarters
Continuing a strong history of expansion in Southern California, Rodeo Realty is proud to announce a new corporate headquarters in the Palm Wilshire building located at 9171 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California. The office is centrally located in order to best serve Rodeo Realty’s 11 offices. This location offers complete in-house marketing, advertising, mailing, public relations, and website development services for the company’s over 1000 agents.
Based in Beverly Hills, Rodeo Realty continues to dominate the California market as the #1 independent single-owned brokerage with the largest market share in southern California. “Becoming a real estate agent means owning your own business, but our agents don’t have to go it alone,” said company founder and president Syd Leibovitch. “Our corporate staff is able to assist agents with all of their marketing needs and help them grow their businesses faster.”
Leibovitch is proud to be opening the state-of-art space which includes a complete print shop and post office facility. The new office provides room for expansion and allows his centralized corporate team to more efficiently do what they do best, help agents achieve their business goals. “My company gives agents an edge, by providing them with the technology and marketing tools they need to succeed in any market,” said Leibovitch.
Rodeo Realty itunes app now available for download! Check it out.
TODAY Rodeo Realty Launches Mobile Real Estate App to Search All Local Homes for Sale on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, iPads & Smart Phones
Our new mobile app uses GPS, when available, to locate the user and display listings in the immediate area. Users can also search by address, city or zip code to see property details for all homes for sale in a specified area, including price, square footage, estimated mortgage, taxes, features, maps, pictures and more. The “Refine Search” feature lets users select a price range, property type and the number of beds and baths to help them find just what they’re looking for.
Wherever you are, driving, or walking around looking at properties, you’ll have access to all of the MLS information on the homes for sale around you, with just one touch of a button on your cell phone. Hit “Call to See” and you will be put right in touch with ME, ready and waiting to serve all of your real estate needs.
It’s so easy to do! Just text RODEO to 87778, and the application will be sent to your phone by text message. Just click on it and the application downloads right away.
HGTV Selling LA: Rodeo Realty Beverly Hills Agent, Barbra Stover
Barbra Stover of Rodeo Realty Beverly Hills, who specializes in representing some of Los Angeles’ most luxury properties, was featured in the most recent episode of Selling LA.
Catch Barbara Stover’s part one segment here and part two segment or just tune in to catch the entire Selling LA show live on HGTV. Check here for local air times.
Economic Update: Week of 3/22
Economic Update: Week ending 3/22
The federal reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke announced this week that the fed will continue bond purchases to keep long term interest rates down until substantial improvement in the employment market is seen. With that said 226,000 jobs were added in February and over the last 5 months the average has been 200,000 jobs added per month. The unemployment rate dropped to 7.7%, the lowest level since 2008. Bernanke also said that when the fed decides to pull back that they can act quickly and begin buying bonds again if the economy begins to stall. His suggestion of pulling back on bond purchases and letting long term interest rates rise to market levels mark a change in the long term foreseeable future comments made earlier this year. I believe we will see interest rates rising soon, as all indicators including employment have shown gains above what has been expected. This could begin as early as the next fed meeting.
In other news Cyprus had a run on its banks, which while newsworthy, had no impact on our economy or markets. Had it not been slow news days this would not have had much coverage as Cyprus is such a small economy. As far as home sales news: US home resale’s were up 10.2% and the median price index showed a 11.6% year to year increase for February, lower than California but huge for US! Home builders reported that they can’t find land to purchase and can not get zoning and building approval quick enough to meet demand.
Mortgage rates this week fell back toward historic lows after moving up a week ago. The average rate on 30-year loan fell to 3.54% this week, from 3.63%, a high for the year last week, and the highest rate since August 2012. The rate on the 30-year loan has been below 4 percent now for a full year and is expected to stay under 4 percent for all of 2013 based on Freddie Macs adjusted upper end of its inflation range forecast. The 15-year loan averaged 2.72% this week, from 2.79% last week. The lowest mortgage rates in decades are spurring more home purchases and refinancing. That’s really helped the broader economy. Increased sales are also pushing home prices higher. As the spring home-buying season begins, low mortgage rates will entice more people to buy homes or refinance. The National Association of Realtors reported Thursday that sales increased 0.8% in February from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.98 million. That was the highest sales pace since November 2009, when a temporary tax credit for home buyers had boosted sales. However, some people still are unable to take advantage of the low mortgage rates, either because they can’t qualify for stricter lending rules or they lack the money for larger down payment requirements. First-time buyers made up just 30% of sales in February. In more stable economies, they make up more than 40% of sales.
Rodeo Realty launches our new Architectural Lecture Series next Thursday, Feb. 28th
Rodeo Realty Hires Fred Henry to Manage Sunset Strip Office
Rodeo Realty is moving forward with plans to open a new office on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. Fred Henry, a Westside real estate veteran, will be managing the new branch.
Henry’s experience in the Westside market is extensive. He was manager and VP of marketing and communications for DBL Realtors (now Sotheby’s International Realty) on the Sunset Strip.
He opened one of John Aaroe & Associate’s offices in Los Feliz. The branch went on to be a great success for the company. And Henry was manager of Fred Sands on the Sunset Strip.
“The Sunset Strip area has always been a dynamic market,” said Henry. “It’s an entertainment hub and centrally located. It’s important to have an office in the neighborhood to really service this area right.”
Rodeo’s Sunset Strip branch will open in early 2011. Once the space is built-out, it will house approx. 100 agents. Henry is also hiring experienced Westside agents. The office will be a great addition to Rodeo Realty and West Hollywood, he said.
Walk-in Leads to Multiple Listings for Sherman Oaks Agent
Derick Vallance knows the value of working floor time. In a recent case, a young woman walked into Rodeo Realty’s Sherman Oaks office at about 6 p.m. with the L.A. Times Homes Section in-hand. She asked if she could speak with somebody about listing a home.Vallance was on floor time and took the meeting.
The woman needed an agent who could get two houses on the market the next day, host open houses by the weekend, and somebody who was not going to make a bunch of empty promises.
In two days, and with the help of the Rodeo team, Vallance had ads running in the newspaper, professional quality signs in place, photos of the properties, color brochures, lock boxes, and flags and balloons for the open houses. The open houses were a success.
The client came back the next week and asked him to list and host open houses for three additional homes. Vallance plans on spreading the open houses out a little bit in order to give each one his full attention.