What a weekend it was!
Before I get to what is showing up on Brokers tour on Tuesday I want to share with you how the upcoming townhome listing is coming along, we’re just weeks away from putting it on the market. The painting should be completed next week. The floors will be refinished, carpet and vinyl floors laid shortly thereafter and then it’s time to sell.
We met with the sister in law of the late owner Thursday afternoon who was deciding on how best to get rid of a relatively new and complete queen size Sleep Number bed, a ladder, a TV stand and some plant stakes, everything else was going to the auction 
house. Freecycle is the first thing that popped into my mind. For those of you unfamiliar with this yahoo group there happens to be over 4,450 members in Alameda alone. How it works is, after you subscribe to the yahoo group (and there’s probably one for your city or close by) you can post in brief form items that you are offering, the format is ; “Offered-5 gallon paint cans-Bay Farm etc;” or wherever you are located, don’t give the address out yet, you do that after the responses come in. I ask for a date and time for picking up to be included in the responses. Once you select the recipient then you can give out the address to that person. Many times I’ll just leave the item outside 15-30 minutes from the pick up time and voila it’s gone, usually. Sometimes you may have to offer via email to the next response for various reasons. The items must be for free, no money is to be exchanged. Some items are not allowed such as alcohol or medicines. Aside from that, almost anything goes here. Now you wait for the moderators to review your posting before allowing it to be posted and watch the email responses come in. I’ve seen toilets and windows from remodels to the kitchen sink, freezers and everything in between, foods, toiletries, laundry items, top soil, dirt, broken concrete and clothing. It’s just amazing how well this recycling group works. I was done by Sunday morning. I have emptied many a home of undesired items that either a seller or buyer don’t want any longer or don’t want to inherit. Why hire a hauling company?
My favorite story with regards to this group is a couple of years ago a buyer wanted the indoor/outdoor carpet in the garage that the car was parked on removed, a 12’ x 12’ gazebo in a backyard and at least a dozen rusted cans of dried and fluid paints. You guessed it everything was taken within a couple of days.
It gets better, it works in reverse too, and if you need something you can post a “Wanted” request and hope for the best.
Maybe I’ll be able to help you out in the future or vice versa, happy recycling err Freecycling!
Now onto business, Tuesday 5/19’s Brokers tour is at six homes. One home originally on the tour earlier today at 101 Payot Court has dropped off the list, but I’m going to post the link showing the original seven homes just in case the dropped house tour was an error. Of the seven homes, two are condominiums, four are single family homes and the last one listed as a fourplex is actually two duplexes on the same lot. If you’re a buyer or a seller reading this and have questions call Nancy or me.
Ciao for now Chuck.