Can you think of one thing that is the same today as it was 20 years ago? We can — real estate companies. Lifestyle Real Estate services was founded on the basic idea that there is a better way to sell a home than to hire a real estate salesperson to sell it for you. We’re a real estate marketing company.

When a person wants to sell real estate professionally, he or she has to get a “salesperson” license from the Department of Real Estate. Real estate salespeople have to split a portion of each dollar they earn with their company. If that person wants to start their own company, he or she has to get a “Broker” license. Naturally, at that point, most real estate brokers don’t have much to do with selling homes — they’re focused on finding salespeople who are licensed to sell homes so they can make a cut of that person’s earnings. The result is an industry whose growth is built on hiring better, more effective salespeople — not on getting your home sold.

These days, when big-brand companies market their products their focus isn’t on hiring salespeople. Instead, they go to ad agencies who will create amazing print ads, interactive websites and stunning commercials to get people excited. With the amount of money riding on your successful home sale, you have two choices: you can hire a salesperson to “talk it up” to the ten people who will show up for a weekend open house, or you can hire a marketing firm who will “create a buzz” with the thousands of people looking for homes like yours.

We hold all the appropriate, professional licenses for selling real estate, we carry the same insurance protections as other real estate companies, and, of course, we subscribe to the REALTOR® Code of Ethics (in case you haven’t read it yet, check out our broker’s company philosophy). What makes us different is why our clients love us — we use high-level marketing media to showcase your home and get home buyers excited. Our clients enjoy top-dollar for their homes with extremely short marketing times.

There are three ways to shop for a home in the Bay Area. If you’ve been looking for a home, you may recognize one or more of the following:

1. Get in the car. The least efficient way to shop for homes is to pile the family in the car, and drive around on the weekends looking for open houses. The number of homes that are held open on the weekend are typically pretty minimal. While you get a good feel for the homes you see, most of the homes on the market likely won’t be available to be seen. That means your dream home may be out there, but may not be held open on the weekend.
2. Go online. There are plenty of websites (this one included!) that have information about homes currently on the market. You can read a description, look at photos, and see property statistics just like Realtors do. While this method lets you see a lot more homes than driving around on the weekend, the problem comes when you look at the same list over and over, trying to figure out which ones are new that you haven’t seen before, or when you view repeat results on different sites.
3. Get a Lifestyle Alert account. The best way to shop for homes is with a Lifestyle Alert account. If you’ve been shopping a while for a home, you’ve probably experienced the situation where you see a home online, your agent calls to schedule a time for you to see it, but someone else has already written an offer and beat you to it. With a Lifestyle Alert account, that doesn’t happen anymore. You will be among the first to find out about homes the first day they are on the market with an alert sent to your email. After that, if that home has a price reduction, goes under contract, or sells, you’ll be among the first to know. If you are a serious home shopper, we can send you alerts as frequently as once per day. For more casual shoppers, alerts can be sent once per week or month — the choice is yours.

If you would like to have a Lifestyle Alert account set up for you, fill out this form or give us a call at (925) 230-8375. A member of our real estate team will be happy to set it up for you! Also, don’t forget to check out our Featured Listings to see if we’re currently offering a property that may be perfect for you!

For the first time real estate investor, just knowing where to begin can be a stressful prospect. Finding an investment with a minimal amount of risk, calculating a return worth your time and money, and finding a property, or properties, that require a minimal amount of management can be a little overwhelming. That’s where Lifestyle Real Estate Services comes into play.

Our first clients were investors, and therefore Lifestyle Real Estate’s roots are based in helping clients build wealth through investing in real estate. Some of our clients have done quick “flips”, while others have buy-and-hold strategies. Some are looking for gains through appreciation, others desire a supplemental income through rents, while still others already have income they are looking to shelter through write-offs and depreciation.

In other words, there’s no such thing as a “typical client.” Whether this is your first rental house, or if you’re looking to trade up with a 1031 Exchange, we’re excited to speak with you. We’ll help you analyze each property uniquely, in line with your goals. We’ll help you understand deferred maintenance issues and their associated costs, and help you negotiate a great deal.

We’ve developed a 5-year Projected Analysis for real estate investors to understand how an investment property could be expected to perform. You can download a sample version here. For a more detailed explanation of this Projected Analysis, feel free to give us a call at (925) 230-8375, or send us a message, and we’ll get back to you right away!

Lifestyle Real Estate Services is familiar with everything that goes into buying and selling a home, including the management of investment/rental properties. From simple tasks like collecting rent payments to more complex issues like tenant screening and responding to maintenance requests, we’ve got you covered. Our Property Management services include (but are not limited to):

1. Exclusive rental home advertising and marketing campaign on LifestyleRES.com and affiliate sites.
2. Tenant placement in the shortest amount of time possible.
3. Tenant screening – Background check, credit check, eviction history, etc.
4. Handling of maintenance inspections, and tenant complaints, repairs, emergencies.
5. Collection of rent payments, and appropriate pursuit of past due payments.
6. Monthly disbursements of rent payments.
7. By-the-book rollout of eviction procedures, if necessary; quick preparation of vacated home for re-rental.

Although our territory covers the entire East Bay area, we make sure to invest quality time with each and every property that we manage. Our focus is to make sure every client is overwhelmingly satisfied with our property management services. We strive to make your investment property a stress-free, income-producing investment in your future. To sign up for Lifestyle Real Estate Services’ property management services, either send us a message, or give us a call at (925) 230-8375.