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Hummingbirds Anyone?

Ever wonder how to attract hummingbirds to your front or back yard? Last year, my family planted several new varieties of plants in our front yard.  One of those we weren’t familiar with, but thought it was a nice pop of red color, was a Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ sage plant.  It has turned out to be one of our favorites, as it attracts hummingbirds like crazy!  I decided to poke around online to see if I could find any other plants that do well in California and also attract our tiny flying friends.  Here’s a few that will, according to Ms. Doreen Smith of the Marin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society :

• Snowberries
• Columbine
• Flowering Sage
• Monkeyflower
• Huckleberry
• Manzanita
• Blue Penstemon
• Redbud
• Red Larkspur
• Leopard Lily

Did you know that hummingbird’s don’t necessarily like red flowers better?  According to Las Pilitas Nursery, bees avoid red flowers, which usually means more and better nectar for hummingbirds. Happy planting!!!

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Multiple Offers in this Tri-Valley Real Estate Market?

You heard correctly. Multiple offers are back in the Tri-Valley. However, this version of the multiple offer scenario is more similar to the out-of-control child that you hope your son or daughter never befriends. Sellers should hold their enthusiasm about this multiple offer trend because many of these offers are low balls. Regardless of how well priced a seller’s home may be in this marketplace or the fact that some believe that prices have already seen their most significant drop in value, buyers are still psychologically under the spell that THEY MUST LOW BALL AND OBTAIN A BIG DISCOUNT ON THE HOME.

I have personally experienced this trend on a few of my listings in Dublin within the last month.  Also, many of my colleagues have reported similar circumstances.  For example, I recently received multiple offers on a listing that was very reflective of current market values.  These offers came in within 4 days of the home being on the market.  However, all of them were low balls. From a seller’s perspective, this is an insult and this aggressive strategy by buyers can backfire. Some sellers may not even want to deal with low-balling buyers in the future if they have to downwardly adjust their pricing in the future.  This is just plain and simply due to the “bad taste left in their mouths” from the initial experience.  Note to buyers:  Not all sellers have Bank Owned or Short Sale mentalities.  They are savvy people who understand the current market conditions, priced their homes to reflect these conditions and are looking for a fairly negotiated price on their home.

Some recent statements by the chief economist of NAR may steer buyers away from this low ball trend.  Despite a continuing decrease in housing prices, prospective home buyers may not want to wait much longer for the market to hit bottom, experts say.

There are a few reasons that Read more

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