Windemere,San Ramon Blog

Crazy day in the life of a Realtor...I say now, if you want to buy a house it is a lot easier to find you a home than getting you a loan.

What a challenge it has been in getting loans these days. In a transaction right now that is already 2 weeks past its closing date. the loan officer has been at the other end of the most vile vitriolic pouring out of my tongue but what can she do?? We are dealing with morons with the title of Underwriters who leave their brains and commonsense behind at home everyday.

The MI company comes back asking for explanations from the appraiser. Now of course I forgot to mention that the appraisers have their own egos too and we have to pander to them, till they decide they want to talk to you. Oh ! and the HOA company cannot deliver us docs up to 10 working days of ordering them and they get paid from the dues that are paid by home owners. And the saga continues....

Now the file is back with the underwriter and she says that she is getting a fraud alert on the property and needs further explanations from the appraiser. Appraiser says - go to hell, I have other things to do. I tell my loan officer- for heavens sake there are no more comps in the area, where did the UW pull them from her? Her a@#^%???? When I look at the fraud alert( since this is a flip) ALL the comps she is pulling are wrong !!! Hours of correcting them, sending the property history reports/ agent reports/tax reports and she still says No, I won't use them ! At that time I am ready to stick a knife in her throat but she got saved with her manager intervening and saying they will get it done. The best part of it is that the client knows what is happening but is totally oblivious on what this all means !!

At the end of the day, I sat back and thought- who the hell says our jobs are easy?? yes there are many Realtors who do not involve themselves with the loan process at all and leave the client to fend for themselves. But I am one of those( Crazy??) Realtors who keeps a grip on the whole transaction and the grip loosens the day it records. I have to say that the hardest part of my job right now is not finding the home for the buyer or holding a buyer down when I represent the seller but it is the loan process. Guidelines change everyday and suck the joy out of our work lives too...and if we stay offhanded then transactions have a much bigger chance of falling apart than sticking !! Have fun with the loan process folks :):)

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The craziness never seems to end in this Real Estate market. The government has come out with nothing but failure programs; the consumers- be it buyers or sellers- everyone is under duress; the Realtors are playing scammy games; lenders want to make your life so difficult.... When is this going to End???

There definitely seems to be no respite. I could rant for hours on all the garbage inundating our industry but it is going to do no good. America is on a fire sale and we are getting bought out by other countries. Who do you think is buying in this market? Look around you and you will know.

The new Refinance program the Obama administration is coming out is yet another failure. Why help only those who have their loans backed by Fannie? There are millions of people who do not have loans backed by Fannie and Freddie, what happens to them? They cannot refinance their homes and the deluge of short sales or foreclosures will still continue. Why pretend that they are introducing this new program ( to get votes)when it is not going to stop the systemic bleeding?

Many( not all) Real Estate practitioners are making life so difficult and there is no one to control or police our fraternity. The filthy underhand deals going on is unbelievable. Especially in short sales where the sellers do not care, the agents are running schemes to get money under the table for themselves and the sellers, and cheating the system as much as they can. MLS rules are being contorted and manipulated to suit their own needs. If they are reported, the Boards turn a blind eye because they need the revenue. No wonder people think that we are the scum of the earth ! Living an honest life in a dishonest world is the new name for stupidity.

And the Lending institutions are equally insane. Bank of America came out with new rules that the files go through multiple audits, then go back to the underwriters for another 48 hours before they go to docs. So if you are getting a loan from BofA, you better get ready to jump off a bridge if you are planning to close a loan in time !! A- paper borrowers are being put through the rigors like they are criminals.And the real criminals- The banks- pocketed our money and are mocking us on how we got duped into helping them.

Here we are struggling to sell homes and the consumers think our lives are so easy and we make tons of money in commissions but they don't realise that the amount of work and struggle going into taking them from start to finish is unbelievably stressful. And not to forget the legal pitfalls and consumer protection that we have to take care of. I tell my clients- step into my shoes for a week, and I guarantee you will start to love your current job. BTW- I did get Diabetes and High blood pressure by being in this business!

My mind is running at a million miles an hour right now because I so want to spill my guts on this white screen but the backlash will not be pretty. So I swallow a container of bitter pills, hunker down and continue to work hard in the hope that one day the environment will change; people will be more respectful; our work lives will not be as stressful and this country will be able to pick itself from the pits it's in right now. It is just so amazing to see this amazing country slip from being the land of opportunities, where people were courteous/respectful and happy TO the bottomless pit of despair. I pray that we will get a chance to see the good times again.

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My silence for some time has been for a reason. The economy has not been helpful to the market, the media is droning on and on about everything negative and I am just tired of listening to bad news. Quite obviously it is scaring the home buyers out of the market. So I decided to take some down time to observe what is happening and give my own thoughts structure.

The buyers who are sitting on the fence today are actually going to be losing out very soon. Just as they always say- Buy when the media says "FIRE" ! But the buyers today are behaving exactly the same way as the ones in 2008. And all of my buyers who bought in 2009-2010 paid atleast 25% more than the prices in 2008. We went up further from the 2009 -2010 prices as well and the buyers think that the impending second recession is going to bring the prices down to prices lower than the 2007-2008 levels. I remember the time when my son told me to buy Apple stock when it was just under $100 and I thought to myself-  I will buy it when it dropped more. And what happened? I lost the opportunity to make a fortune !

Now I don't even bother to convince my clients that this is a great time to buy. Sounds like a sales pitch and a broken record. If you cannot see the opportunity, you will be like me- looking back in hindsight and losing the dream of becoming a millionaire !!! Interest rates are low as could be but if fear grips you, that's ok - because the ones who have the guts will be the ones who will run way ahead in the race. I have family in India where they pay atleast 15 times more for the kind of square footage we can get here, their interest rate is 16% and the people who buy homes know that once they get their foot through the door it will pay off in the long run- despite the corruption in their system !!

It is a open door for huge opportunities because what is available at basement pricing now will be a premium in 10 years from now. And if I am alive I will look back and laugh because the fearless will be laughing with me.The nay sayers will keep their money in the banks at a paltry 1% interest and will continue in the path of mediocre growth.

 San Ramon, 94582 Housing Market Analysis from 2009-2011 YTD 

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Lectures on Morality becoming commonplace in this country. Who is anyone to tell the next person where the moral standards should be when this country's politicians are the most immoral and corrupt bunch ! The country cannot pay its debts and the people going through the grind are expected to pay their bills??

There is moral degradation to a point where I am forced to think that if paying back your debt really is the best thing to do anymore. The average American works hard( that is if they have a job), pays their bills, pays Uncle Sam and yet looks at a bleak future of maybe no social security checks in the near future, no Medicare and wonders everyday where is his tax money going.

And on the other hand we have folks who are on either end of the spectrum. The super duper rich continue to rake it in because the political parties cover their behinds in tax subsidies and loopholes just to make sure that the political contributions continue. And the other end of the spectrum is the people who milk the system ! They refuse to work, collect money from the govt every week, and add on to the bleak unemployment numbers- and these people CHOOSE to be that way. And who is in the middle? People who either work or are looking for work. What are we doing in this country????? This is no longer the America I migrated to. It is becoming almost worse than the third world countries- at least there you knew the politicians were corrupt and nothing was going to happen, rather than presenting a polished exterior covering the jackal inside.

I am so angry at what is happening in Washington that I honestly propose that the tax payers should quit paying their taxes till these idiots come to their senses. Quit making your payments because your efforts are not being appreciated. Am I being ridiculous? Hell NO ! I am being honest and my anger is well founded. And before I stop, the media needs a serious gag shoved down their throats for causing more mayhem, confusion and propaganda than what is true. Good Luck America because you are becoming a country of bigots, playing dirty racial politics that I thought only existed outside the borders of the US.

Click Here to view a list of home available for Sale in Windemere San Ramon CA

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New Listings in San Ramon CA

For a Viewing of the beautiful homes on Fioli Loop and other homes in the San Ramon/Dublin and Pleasanton area, contact

Rama Mehra @ 925- 236-0375 or Sunil Mehra @ 925-698-1816

Rama and Sunil Mehra are available to help you with all your real estate needs including relocation to San Ramon CA, Dublin CA, Pleasanton CA, Danville CA and other nearby areas.

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Long Days at work and many dialogues from people sometimes drive me up the wall ! So while taking the evening break I decided to do some investigations on what actually has been happening in the market since 2008 regarding homes for sale in Windemere.

Windemere started construction in 2002-2003 and at the time being the only new development in the area, it sure seemed like a great place to buy a home. There were bus tours arranged by the builders and you had to wait in line to hop on one ! Till about 2003 end- early 2004 the market definitely started to warm up and towards the middle of 2004 the Windemere real estate market really took off.

With every new phase the builders were increasing prices by 30-50,000 USD. The demand was high and opportunity beckoned to many crazy people who thought they would buy and flip these homes. What a brilliant idea it was because by the time these homes were delivered the market experienced a cool down. Many real estate agents too bought speculation properties thinking they could make a fortune overnight. But now the buyers started exiting the marketplace and these big speculation homes were not moving off the shelf.

So they were rented out and the negative amortized loans gave the owners some breathing space to catch up. The thought was- oh well, it is a temporary lull. But this lull went into a full blown downturn with no respite in sight . These homes were rented and now with the mortgage resets, the owners could not afford them any more. And at that time the short sale concept was still very fresh and the banks were not in the mood to cooperate.

In 2008 , only 21 short sales closed and 37 foreclosures sold in Windemere.
The following year in 2009 there were 73 Short sales in Windemere that sold and 31 closed foreclosures.
In 2010, the short sales numbers came down to 69 closed short sales and 15 bank owned homes sold in Windemere.
In 2011 YTD, there have been 27 closed short sales, 12 bank owned homes and 18 are listed for sales as short sales and 3 homes were sold as Bank owned homes.

Pricing Trends since 2008 to YTD on List price vs. Sales price of Short Sales in Windemere

As it is clearly evident, the low price on LP vs. SP is coming down over the years and that is being caused primarily due to the issues that the Shellbourne complex is having with litigation, driving prices downwards. But when we move into the Median ranges, the list price came down in 2009, further down in 2010 but picked back up in 2011. And along with that the median Sales price is trending up as well. The higher end homes saw a larger change in the list prices since 2008, but except for 2008 the rest of the years the sales price of higher priced homes in Windemere is either the same as list price or higher !

The nay sayers will keep saying that Windemere is too shaky and not a good return on money... what they don’t say is that the view ends at the tip of their nose. The long term view will definitely be far more rosy  !! The “golden years of Windemere “may be left behind but I foresee it coming back with far more solid gains with way less volatility.

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I said it earlier and I knew that every word would come true. In my last blog I talked about the prices in Windemere and now we have constant price reductions happening every day. With 51 homes for sale in Windemere, there is a lot to choose from. prices are ranging from $380,000 for the smallest 1211 sq ft Joree lane home to $1,135,000.

9 Windemere homes are in the price range of 300-500,000. Out of these 3 homes have had downward price changes from - $9000 to $25,000 with only 1 home on 2114 Joree lane increasing their price by $56,000 !!!!!!! The story being that it orginally was listed for $410,000 then reduced to $325,000 and now back to $385,000.

5 Windemere homes in the 500-600,000 price range. Only 1 home saw a price reduction of $10,000

4 Windemere homes in the 600-700,000 price range. Price reductions on 3 homes ranging from $500 to $60,000.

9 Windemere homes in the 700-800,000 price range. Price reductions on 7 of these homes from $ 7000 to $39,000

4 Windemere homes in the 800-900,000 price range. Price reductions on 1 of these homes for $21,000

13 Windemere homes in the 900-1,000,000 price range. Price reductions on 9 of these homes from $ 6000 to $45,000

5 Windemere homes in the 1,000,000 price range. Price reductions on 3 of these homes from $ 51,000 to $70,000

Here is a list of 14 Windemere homes that have Sold in the last 1 month

Currently there are 56 Windemere homes pending under a sales contract. With 14 new homes listed in the last 14 days , the absorption rate is lowered with homes staying in the market for much longer. The homes that are now in the 900's were in the million dollar plus price range. Short sales are continuing to flatten the market but not to that bad of an extent. REO's on the other hand are getting multiple offers substantially higher than list price. And the regular sales are the ones getting hit. The only way their sales will pick up if the buyers consider them to be good buys. But if they came on the market at a much higher price and then had price reductions, buyers just wait for more reductions to take place. Unfortunately, that is just the nature of the market right now. Bad news mixed with price reductions causes buyers to withdraw. But the counter to this is the correct pricing of the home on the sellers part. On the buyers part, retracting is a big mistake- make the offer where you think is a fair value of the house currently and not based on a projected value of minus 15-20%, that may never happen ...

Good luck to all !

I have many observations to make on the Windemere market in San Ramon but if I truly tell you the expletives I would use, it would not be pretty.The agents who control the inventory and list homes here are probably lying to get these listings.


It is an amazing sight to watch people list their homes at prices that are not supported  by the market. There are times when the sellers insist on crazy prices and many times it is the Realtors who guide them to do it. Feed the seller what they want to hear and get your sign in the front lawn.Great agenda!

But this agenda backfires. We currently have 53 homes listed in the market.7 homes have had price changes;I am predicting that 11 more listings are going to have a price reduction soon and the rest of the well priced listings suffer because of them ! Why? Because the buyers perceive that the prices are coming down so they should wait till all of them drop further or make low offers to snag a deal.

When price changes happen they depress the complete market.Buyers don’t understand that they were overpriced in the first place and then generalize for all available inventory. The sellers want more so they fall for the flash and false promises of their agents. Don’t get your house to be contributing factor to creating downward trends. The internet is littered with price data and you are skewing the numbers.

Given the way the market is, I highly recommend to get an independent appraisal done on your house. Make that small investment to give you a clear indication as to where your home’s value is or ask someone who can give you a desktop AVM.Let that be your guiding factor on your price range.

Windemere is still a  very hot sub division and people want to move here despite complaints of higher taxes.Sellers need assurance that their house will sell in a timely manner and at a decent price; Buyers too need reassurance that things will not turn 180 degrees south as soon as they buy the house.Inexperience and lying is hurting the consumer confidence- and we see that filter down from a national level.


When Realtors skew market statistics just out of frustration or desperation, they hurt everyone in the process. Quit it people, this is serious- you are not a part of the solution but a part of the problem.

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Getting hit by sales calls, sales pitches- I have come to the conclusion that I am done listening to all this chatter around me and focus on what is important. Our industry is inundated with product pushers, claiming the next big things that will make our businesses soar to a million dollar production level. I have heard hundreds of “training calls”, and what I gathered from all of it was that we are to push the sales pitch to our customers. And then the Aha moment hit me- that is why customers do not trust our fraternity.

Many trainers and coaches say that our job is to prospect. What happened to the transaction? It sickens me to the pit of my stomach because when I think about it as a consumer- I sure as hell don’t want my Realtor to consider me as a prospecting number. It is the biggest purchase of someone’s life and they are using your services to protect their interest, not your own.

Listening to all the sales talk, feeling the pressure to do QR codes to social networking to SEO, technology tools just made me feel like I was inside a pressure cooker ready to explode. No more of that because it took the joy out of what I was doing.

It is my decision, moving forward, to listen to my heart. This business is about being the trusted advisor to our clients, serve them with honesty and protect their interest. I have always conducted myself in that manner and the intense pressure just made me more and more unhappy. I am hoping that one day a coach or a trainer tells you that when you do something with your true heart and passion, you will be successful.

In the last couple of weeks the inventory in Windemere San Ramon has been increasing slowly. It is now up to 55 homes on the market. 7 homes saw a price change; 7 are new homes; 41 homes active homes.

The homes in the Shelbourne community that was built by D.R.Horton in Windemere ( opposite Dougherty Valley High School)are a cause of problems because the HOA is in litigation and no lender is giving loans on those homes. Which means cash buyers are the only ones who can buy and there are short sales coming up in that area with the banks causing delays in sales.

The activity in Windemere is very erratic and changes almost on a weekly basis. There are weeks when things are so hot and the new homes that hit the market go up in price and then there are weeks when it is slow and price changes take place. It is very odd because there does not seem to be much stability right now and pricing homes in such a market is harder than one can imagine.

The coming summer months will be heated. It always happens- everyone wants to buy at that time due to the schools. There is a 60 day window of opportunity to buy and I see every summer people scrambling to buy. Honestly, it may be a good time to buy now when price changes are taking place.

Windemere Schools
Windemere Parks
Windemere Trails and Open Spaces
Windemere Community Center
Windemere Library- Dougherty Valley Station
Windemere Homes for Sale