Welcome to my new column. I have been a Real Estate Broker and brokerage owner for six years in Midtown and now in East Sacramento. For the past three years I have primarily sold foreclosures for banks and institutions. Before I became a Real Estate Broker I “flipped” older distressed homes in the greater downtown Sacramento area. I am a member of four professional associations and attend several conferences and workshops a year where I have direct contact with the real estate industry’s leaders and experts. This insight helps me greatly with the understanding of real estate’s future. As most people are well aware the real estate market is not going to recover soon and the foreclosure ma

 *   You have likely heard the old joke that lab rats are being replaced by lawyers because the lab workers do not get emotionally attached to lawyers.  Or the one about a thousand lawyers being chained together at the bottom of the ocean being a “good start”.  As these jokes (and the hundreds of others) show, lawyers have a bad reputation.  Personally, I have never had the need for one and only know a few, and I have worked pretty hard at maintaining the status quo on both of those points.  It seemed to me that lawyers are for people who live near secret toxic waste dumpsites.  Recently, my work helping small businesses with marketing led me to a local Law Firm and Real Estate company

Orangevale, CA--Today, as my truck swung into the horseshoe driveway, Megan immediately saw the Notice of Trustee's Sale tacked to her front door, the locks had been changed, and a Realtor's lockbox was affixed to the entrance of the large family home with a pool and acreage. Her house had been sold at auction. This was the end of my friend's dream. And as her Realtor, I was a reluctant witness to the final chapter. Megan had tried to work out a "short sale" with the bank--selling the house for less than was owed. Within two weeks of listing the house, she even received two offers, one for cash. But, in the end, the bank decided to send the house to auction on October 26, 2009. On the st