As the incorporation of San Martin nears it final dead lines for their efforts to incorporate, San Martin has experienced a few bumps on its road to self governing.

The bumpy road started in late March when the “Revenue Neutrality” efforts came to an impasse. “Revenue Neutrality” is a state law that was passed to protect counties from the loss of revenue when a new city is formed. It sets out a series of guidelines for the county and the city organizers to use for negotiating a win-win for both bodies. Unfortunately, the impasse has moved to the most recent Board of Supervisors actions on Tuesday, April 8, 2008. The Board of Supervisors voted to oppose San Martin becoming its own city if the city can not pay for the counties belief in loss revenue.

According to Sylvia Hamilton the President of SMNA stated,, “The Board of Supervisors has nothing to do with the decision as to whether or not the incorporation is feasible.”San Martin Neighborhood Alliance (SMNA) has hired William Ross; an attorney who knows “Revenue Neutrality” state law, who has prepared a legal brief that shows that the county has failed to factor in the savings it would get by no longer having to maintain the roads in San Martin, thus the impasse.

On April 16^{th at 1:00 PM at the county offices on Heading in San Jose, LAFCO will hold a hearing to hear the public’s comments before they make their final decision on May 7, 2008. The organizers for the incorporation are planning a good old fashion political rally just prior to the LAFCO meeting at 12:00 PM. Talking to Silvia Hamilton, “this is another indication that the County of Santa Clara does not care about the people of San Martin – this is a David and Goliath story”.}

^{Submitted by: Leonette Stafford, South County Realtor Association - Government Relations Director}

 How do you know the real estate market has bottomed out and it is the right time to buy!!!

1. Go to your favorite Chinese restaurant and read a fortune cookie
2. Consult with your brother-in-law who knows nothing about real estate but has an opinion about everything.
3. Ask your hair dresser
4. Go see your favorite fortune teller since she has been right about evrything in your life.
5. Consult your bookie

That was a bit of tung and cheek about timing the real estate recover.  If you would like to know more about the recover and if it is a good time to buy, please read on below.

Being a Realtor, one of the biggest topics of discussion when I am out and about, is people asking questions about the real estate market. They expecting us to know when this real estate market is going to turn around, what our insights are and when is the best time to buy. Of course if I had a crystal ball about the real estate market, It would be a very marketable commodity today. As a Realtor, I do keep my ears open for what is next and I look into what indicators are telling us. I listening to people who have been through this type of market before, I seek out the trends of what might be some tell-tell signs of what’s next and when the real estate market is hitting rock bottom.Here is the most recent information that I can share. While at a real estate conference last week, we had a master coach who has been in this industry for over 30+ years. He shared that the very early indicators are starting to appear. New housing stocks rose over 10% this past week indicating that investors see new home sales happening in the next 18 months. Another small indicator is the economist were expecting the increase in home sales to hit the end of March or April. If you read “USA Today” last week, home sales went up 2.2 % in February. Reading in-between the lines, you will see that this is the beginnings of small indicators that are starting to point to a real estate recovery.Stay tuned. I will write more about this and who should be buying now in another article.Leonette

You may also see other neighbors out for a stroll to the local coffee shop or on their way to downtown University shops and restaurants.  This neighborhood is one of those rare places that makes you feel that you are home.  In today’s busy lives, coming home to the tree lined streets and friendly neighborhood it is indeed a rare environment.

1. Offer vacations to Mountains Resorts
2. Offer cruises to Caribbean
3. Offer Selling agents double the commission rate
4. Offer of Diamond Jewelry
5. Offer stock in their company
6. Offer weekly Massages for all of the stress that they are experiencing
7. Offer Piano lessons for their children
8. Offer a Neiman-Marcus Gift Card
9. Offer a train ride on the Orient Express
10. Offer a Brand New 2008 Mercedes

If you have any additional offering that are unusual that you would like to see added to the list.  Let me know.  Until next time.

Your crazy Realtor, Leonette

1. Qualified Referrals for people who want to purchase homes in the South County Area and in the Willows of Menlo Park
2. A “Smart Phone” that is easy to use and doesn’t use up the battery in a blink of an eye.
3. An Administrative Assistant who will take off some to the MANY  tasks that need to be done to keep me moving forward.
4. Qualified Referrals for people who want to list and sell their homes with “ME” and have their home be the next “Shinning Star” on the Realtor tour.
5. More TIME.
6. A Body for Life
7. Successful Sale of my personal home by April 2008
8. A smooth transition of our San Benito County minor Sub-division
9. Time for a 2 week vacation to Hawaii
10. PEACE on EARTH!!!!!!!!! (inspired by Sandra Bullock in “Miss Congeniality̶

This is the first in a series of articles that I will share, that will give you some how too’s that can have you get the look of a decorator for a minimum amounts of time and money. 

1. You must start off with a clean slate.  If you would like to obtain this list of “Honey Do’s” or “I Can Do’s“ for preparing your home to sell, use this link www.SiliconValleyRealEstatePros.com the “Preparing Your Home to Sell” power point presentation.
2. The biggest key to having a house that is a “Shinning Star” is to KEEP IT SIMPLE SMARTLY (KISS principle).
3. Pack up all of your personal items and put into your garage or into a storage locker or “pod”.
4. Have an evaluation of what items will make the biggest difference in having your house be the “Shining Star” in your market. 
5. Agree upon the things that need to be accomplished and work out a calendar of time lines to have the items completed.  This will include things like packing of your personal items, painting (if needed), repairs, carpet replacement or cleaning, house cleaners, window cleaners, etc.)
6. Determine what items you currently own that can be utilized in the staging of your house so that you can save money and still have a house that expresses some of your personality and charm (if you currently don’t have any personality or charm in your home allow someone to infuse some of their ideas into your house).
7. Once you determine what items you currently have that can be used, you will determine a theme or color pallet that can be used to create operation “Shinning Star“.  If you don’t have any color pallet in mind then I always suggest choosing a “Complete Bed Set” that can be something that you love, this will serve as your inspiration piece. I usually suggest going to a discount store that has the complete bed set for under $100, Marshall’s, TJMax, Ross, Liens and Things, Home Goods, DD’s and I sometimes even find things at Goodwill.  Really you can do this on a budget.
8. From that “Bed Set” I usually choose neutral color pallet for the interior walls and use the other splashes of color as the accent colors (it doesn’t take much punches of color to start pulling a decorator look together, biggest mistake is to take bold color choice and have it as the dominate color, as my mother use to say about my make up, a little will go a long way.)

In my next article I will continue with my personal tips and thoughts on how to pull together the house that will be the next “Shinning Star“.