Thinking about selling your house by yourself? It's good to know that free help is available. I have just finished constructing the FSBO (For Sale By Owner) page and I believe with my help your home might just be selling a little quicker.
Why do I offer free help to you even you don't want to list with me? Well, the reason it is very simple, just in case you don't want to deal with the hassle of selling a home anymore, I hope you will consider me first to list your home for sale. If you have browsed through my web site, you know that I offer very competitive service to my clients. To learn more, please check out the FSBO page now.

IE v.s. Firefox, which browser is better?

Lately I noticed there is a hot discussion on the release of Firefox 1.0, the IE's alternative web browser. So I downloaded a copy myself to see if it lives up the claim of being better than the Internet Explorer. By the way, here is the link to download a copy yourself, it's free: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/. I am suprised on the small download file size. It's less than 5mb, takes less than 5 minutes to download with my dsl connection. the set up is straight forward. The only thing I don't like about the setup process is when I choose to install into another directory, I need to create the directory first. I can't just switch the drive letter like other setup programs. It has a nice feature which allows you to import all the favorites and settings from your IE into Firefox. After finishing the setup, I can run the program right away without rebooting the computer. As I tried to browse several websites I used to visit, including my own website, I am quite happy with the loading speed which I think it is faster than IE. However, I did notice the difference between Firefox and IE. In the area of displaying web pages, Firefox is still like Netscape, there is subtle difference between the two browsers. I notice this difference on my own website. First, the add to my favorite JavaScript doesn't work with Firefox. Secondly, the special effects on the property slide show don't work with Firefox. And the last difference I notice is the spacing issue. IE has a better control of the page display for framed pages. Other than that, I like Firefox. I would give it a 9 out of 10 rating. However, I still like IE better, at least for now. I suggest you keep both browsers in your computer as what I did with Netscape before.

Don't know if you have noticed, to show my appreciation to my clients, I am now offering rebate and gift at the closing. Simply click on "Rebate + Gift At Close of Escrow" quick link on the home page to find out more.

Here are some Real Estate News From California Association of Realtors:

"CALIFORNIA'S HOUSING AFFORDABILITY INDEX REMAINS AT 19 PERCENT
The percentage of households in California able to afford a median-priced home stood at 19 percent in October, a 6 percentage-point decrease compared with the same period a year ago when the Index was at 25 percent, according to a recent C.A.R. report. The October Housing Affordability Index (HAI) was unchanged from September, when it also stood at 19 percent.C.A.R.'s monthly housing affordability index measures the percentage of households that can afford to purchase a median-priced home in California. The index is the most fundamental measure of housing well-being in the state. At 42 percent, the High Desert region was the most affordable C.A.R. region in the state, followed by the Central Valley region at 26 percent. The Santa Barbara region was the least affordable in the state at 9 percent, followed by the Monterey region at 11 percent."

"HOME SALES EXPECTED TO REACH RECORD HIGH THIS YEAR
Existing-home sales are expected to jump 7.9 percent to 6.58 million in 2004, which tops last year's record, NAR recently reported in its year-end forecast. Reasons for the upwardly revised estimate include stronger than expected home sales and higher median prices. The Association also projects new-home sales to rise 8.9 percent to 1.18 million this year.While NAR foresees a strong housing market in 2005, it predicts that the current sales pace will decline slightly. For 2005, NAR anticipates existing-home sales to reach 6.38 million units, which would be the second-highest level on record, and new-home sales to be 1.13 million units, just shy of the record expected this year."We're setting our fourth consecutive record year for existing-home sales, and even with strong fundamentals such as household growth, low interest rates and an improving economy, we simply can't set records every year," said David Lereah, NAR's chief economist."

Internet is a great medium for information exchange. Many of us have become more and more rely on the internet to get information. However, this also presents opportunities for con artists to scam people. There are many versions of scams floating on the Internet. I have received many emails claiming that I have won a lottery; the son of a deceased official in a country somewhere in Africa asked for help to get the huge sum of inheritance money and willing to share a million or two with me. These scams are pretty obvious to many people. I am especially upset about the following version of scam. I am afraid that many novice Internet user might fall into the trap. The con artist usually send out an email claiming your eBay account or bank accounts have been accessed without authorization. The scammer wants you to click on a link including in the email message to update your account for better security. If you did, you will be directed to fate website and your account information will be stolen if you fill out the form. Just to give you an example of this kind of email scam, I am posting the excerpt of the message I just received a few minutes ago:

"Dear Washington Mutual customer,We recently reviewed your profile, and suspect that your bank account may have been accessed by an unauthorized third party.
Protecting the security of your account and the Washington Mutual networkis our primary concern.We appreciate your assistance in helping usto maintain the integrity of the entire Washington Mutual system.As a security measure, we have temporarilylimited access to sensitive Washington Mutual account features.
Please take 5 minutes out of your online experience and renew yourrecords and you will not run into any future problems with the online service. However, failure to update your profile will result in account deletation. For more information about how to protect your account, please visitWashington Mutual Security Page - Notification expires on December 10, 2004.
Once you have updated your account records your internet bankingservice will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Please follow the link below and renew your personal information..."

At the end of the message, there is a clickable link and a fake Washington Mutual Bank banner. Why do I know it's fake without clicking on the link? Because, banks and other legitimate businesses should not ask your personal information such as bank account numbers and passwords over the Internet. Even if they do ask you, don't send the information over the Internet, call them up first or visit their websites by typing in the correct website addresses. By the way, I don't have an account with Washington Mutual, stupid!!

NEW HOME SALES CONTINUE TO RISE IN OCTOBER

According to C.A.R., sales of new single-family homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.226 million units in October, a 0.2 percent increase above the revised September rate of 1.224 millions units, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce reported last week. The rate was 7.4 percent above the sales pace of October 2003. The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of October 2004 was 412,000, a supply of 4.1 months at the current sales rate.
Both the West and Northeast regions posted increases in new single-family home sales in October 2004. Sales improved by 12.7 percent in the West, while sales in the Northeast rose 19.7 percent. Sales of new single-family homes declined in the Midwest and South regions, falling 3.6 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively.