reside real estate

here is a press release for an event i volunteered at last friday night;

GIVE A GIFT, MAKE A DIFFERENCE:
CLUB PARTNERS WITH KOODOOZ TO DO GOOD FOR HOMELESS YOUTH

A night without a home. . . On any given evening  there are approximately 50 homeless families with children in Santa Monica. To raise awareness around youth homelessness the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica and KooDooZ hosted a “Night without a Home” last Friday. Over 100 Club Kids, volunteers and members of the community came together for a thoughtful discussion and activities around every-day actions we can take to help those in need. The event was held outdoors on the basketball courts behind the main Clubhouse. It was a fitting venue for a talk on homelessness as the fog rolled in and attendees shared blankets and coats to keep warm.

Special guest speaker Jonas Corona, just 7-years old, shared how he has assembled 1,500 backpacks filled with supplies with his organization “Love in The Mirror” for kids experiencing homelessness. Ehecatl Rojas of Los Angeles Youth Network (LAYN), which serves local homeless youth throughout the county, shared characteristics of children in distress and made suggestions for supporting this vulnerable population as part of the discussion. Concerned Club members, some not much older than Jonas, had plenty of questions on what they could do to help.

“Not since the Great Depression have so many kids stood at poverty’s door,” shared Lee Fox, founder of KooDooZ.  “The purpose of the event is to expose the harsh realities of youth homelessness and also to give kids smarter ways to address this humanitarian challenge,” added Fox. Located in Santa Monica, KooDooZ is a cause-based social networking site for “KDZ” (friends , students and agents of change) who aspire to make the world a better place.

After the discussion Club members assembled care packages with handmade cards, personal journals and blankets to be donated to LAYN. Volunteers from local businesses including Yoga for Change, Le Merigot Hotel, Muselli Commercial Realtors, Reside Architecture, Brand Culture, and the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce came out to help with the care packages and to learn along with the Club Kids.

To wrap up the insightful evening participants pulled out more blankets and watched “The Pursuit of Happyness,” starring Will and Jayden Smith. The movie is based on the true story of Chris Gardner , a father who struggled to protect his son from the realities of homelessness they experience after a family crisis.  By 10 p.m. as the movie ended, participants were grateful for the shared experience . . . and to be able to head to their own homes for the night.

According to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty 1.35 million children are likely to experience homelessness in a given year (2007). “The Boys & Girls Clubs of America has always offered a safe and affordable place for kids to discover their potential to ‘be great’ and do great things,” remarked Aaron Young, CEO of The Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club.  “I think it is important for our members, families and the community at large to understand more about this population and what we can do collectively to make a difference.”

See photos from the event on our Facebook page,
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=210691&id=157549157887&ref=mf

  i discuss the importance of looking at the price per square foot in your neighborhood to get a good idea of market value, especially when your considering buying or selling a home.

 I discuss some overall numbers for the Westside Market as well as discuss what has happened in the last week.

Here are some great overall numbers for the Westside Market as well as what has happened in the last week. 

show your support by visiting www.healthebay.org and clicking the alert button and call your senator today! it takes 15 seconds

I’m finally back after a 3 month absence and just finished an amazing 3 days with tom ferry and his success summit! lots of great ideas and topics coming along the way!

Like what you see? tell a friend and check out our youtube channel

Patience. The debate is still open between my wife and I about how much patience I possess. I think I have a lot, my wife thinks otherwise. 

Let’s see. I waited until I was 34 before marrying the love of my life and 35 before having our first son. That’s pretty patient. Okay maybe there wasn’t much patience between getting married and having Jake, but I was not the impatient one. Actually neither one of us were impatient, we were just blessed and still buzzing from our 3 week Italian honeymoon. 

There is no debate, however, about our two boys’ patience, or lack thereof. From first waking in the morning and demanding “I want breakfast now” to trying to eat dessert before dinner is done (did I mention our boys really like to eat?), they do not like to wait for anything. And they are not bratty kids, they are very polite and say please and thank you. Maybe they are just hungry all the time?  

But they can be patient about one thing… going to bed at night. They will try every trick in the book to stay up “just five more minutes” or to read “just one more book.” Let’s face it, no one really expects little boys to be patient anyway, right? 

What about us adults? Should we be patient?  

That probably really depends on who you ask. If you ask anyone in the real estate industry, I hope they would say an emphatic yes (dealing with banks is not easy). What about homeowners facing a difficult financial situation? I hope they would realize yes as well, because there are options to help those homeowners but solutions will take time. 

I think Patience is the new cool for the future. It’s something that if you don’t have right now, you should be exploring ways to get some (maybe amazon.com or a yoga retreat in the desert). Just don’t confuse patience with passiveness.   

And if my wife is reading this, I think I continue to prove my patience. I haven’t  bought an iPad…yet. 

david doucette, architect | associate broker
reside architecture & reside real estate  

keller williams santa monica

the following appeared in my may newsletter and sheds light on where i’ve been the last couple of months;

where does the time go???? it’s been a few months since my last newsletter and i can’t believe the month of may is almost gone. TIME just slips away.

As many of you know i currently produce “the approachable architect podcast” as well as “the reside realtor online radio show”. i’ve also recently begun producing a daily video podcast called “the reside daily bite.” oh yes, and i also run an architecture practice as well as a real estate practice and recently launched residerealestate.com. and did i mention i spend a lot of time on the social media networks?

so how do i find the TIME to do it all? i work A LOT. just ask my wife, wendy and two boys, jake and remy, who haven’t seen a whole lot of their husband/daddy these last few months. i’ve been consumed with the office, getting the real estate side of the business up and running, and the different shows i’ve been producing. as many of you also know, i’m very passionate about the work i do and i love working with people.

BUT my relationship with my family has been taking a back seat. i have not had enough TIME with them. SO what does all this mean?

well, i attended a real estate conference earlier in the week and one of the speakers mentioned what would become my biggest A-HA moment in a long time. he asked the audience the question “how do children spell love?” one would initially think L-O-V-E or maybe L-U-V, but that’s not correct. the answer is T-I-M-E. Bingo! it hit me like a ton of bricks. i shared the revelation with my wife as soon as i got home that night. the next day, at the same conference, i had the honor of hearing gary keller, ceo of keller williams, speak and he, coincidentally, asked the same question, but instead asked “how does my wife spell love?” yup, the answer again was T-I-M-E. i knew at that very moment, the universe was reaching out to me in a BIG way and i couldn’t ignore that. i realized right then and there, i needed to spend more TIME with my family, and needed to figure out a way to do that, but i also didn’t not want to sacrifice my client relationships. so what’s a fellow to do?

i’ve put all the podcasts on hold as that took up several hours a week of time and re-prioritized the way i run my business. i’m going to be creating more systems that will allow me to run a more efficient business AND at the same TIME allow me to spend more time with my family.

my clients will still receive the great service they’ve grown accustomed to and my focus will become much sharper on the business as i scale back the podcasts and time spent on social media. i’ll also be implementing plans to grow the business and recruit great people to help me along the way. have no fear, the podcasts will continue to provide a lot of great content in their existing format, and i look forward to the day when i start turning on the microphones again.

BUT for now, family comes first, and TIME is my NEW FRIEND.

david doucette, architect | broker
reside architecture & reside real estate
keller williams santa monica

i discuss a great resource for credit repair and talk with larry and jordan carnahan from americancreditrepair.net. they are passionate about helping people get their credit back on track. tune in to episode 011. of the reside realtor online radio show.

here is a great resource for those homeowners considering a “short sale”, www.makinghomeaffordable.gov and the youtube channel video called “your graceful exit”.

i discuss what is a short sale and the requirements to be considered for a short sale.

there’s some good news coming from inmannews.com & foreclosureradar.com that indicates the foreclosure cancellations in california have increased 174% over the past year meaning banks are starting to work more with homeowners to avoid foreclosure.

i discuss a news piece that aired on 60 minutes last night about a new trend of homeowners walking away from their mortgages even though they can afford their home payments because their mortgage is “underwater”.

i read viewer comments and feedback from the past few weeks. happy friday!