The World Famous Talking Bear Stands Guard at the

Century 21 Ditton Sierra REALTORS® Office in the Center of Oakhurst

NEWSLETTER

“Yosemite Gateway Properties and Lifestyles”

A Locally Focused Newsletter for Property Owners, Residents, Visitors, Home Buyers, Home Sellers, Realtors®, Owners with Real Estate, Homes or Land, for Sale, and Others, Interested in Mountain Homes and Lifestyles in the Southern Yosemite Communities of Oakhurst, Bass Lake, Ahwahnee, Coarsegold, Mariposa, Midpines, Bootjack, North Fork, Spring Valley, Raymond, Yosemite Lakes Park, and Other Nearby Places

April 2007

Features

Ed Note

Some Sound Home Advice

Property Listings Wanted

A Mountain Treasure

The Mountain Real Estate Market

Some Better Buys

Featured Home of the Month

Art in the Mountains

Did You Know?

What’s Happening

Share with Us

Ed Note

Please allow me to share with you the kind of Real Estate Professional that I want to be.

I want to be the best known, most respected, most trusted, best educated, best trained, most knowledgeable, and most effective Real Estate professional that I can be.

No, I don’t want to be the highest earner, nor do I want to be the highest volume producer.  Instead I want to be the highest quality producer that I can be.  I keep my client list at a manageable level – having no more at any one time than I am able to provide with thorough and effective personal service, and complete customer satisfaction - and referrals.

Obviously all this does not “just happen.”

That is why I have completed six college level courses beyond my original license requirement.  That is why I am enrolled in the National Association of REALTORS® sponsored “Graduate REALTORS® Institute (GRI)” education program.  That is why I teach Real Estate at our Oakhurst Center Community College.  That is why I volunteered for and chair the Education Committee at Yosemite Gateway Association of REALTORS®.  That is why I edit two on-line newsletters.  One is “Yosemite Gateway Properties and Lifestyles, which can be read at www.EdBaileyRealtor.com, and the other one is the “Oakhurst Area Homeowners Guide,” which is available at http://www.realtydirect.net/news/?PUB=13067 .

If you would like to receive these two newsletters, send your e-mail address to:  edbailey@sti.net with the word “newsletters” in the subject line.

I hope you will keep me in mind when you or any of your acquaintances are in need of Real Estate services.

Some Sound Home Advice 

Six Ways to Shoot Yourself in the Wallet When Selling Your Home:

1. FSBO, Try selling it without the assistance of a Real Estate agent
2. Price it above current market value
3. Negotiate a lower commission rate
4. Make it difficult for agents to show
5. Use an “out of the area” agent
6. Leave too much of your “stuff” in the house

Each of these can help ensure both a lower selling price and a smaller net return when selling your home.

1. Research shows that the median selling price for homes sold by owner is lower than those sold through a broker by approximately twice what the customary real estate commission would have been
2. Overprice it and it will not sell, but grow stale on the market and buyers will start to wonder, “What is wrong with it that it has been on the market so long?”  Even if you get an over market value, the appraisal could be a real problem.  If you want to sell it, price it to sell.
3. A lower commission rate equates to lower incentive for hundreds of agents to show it and to sell it for you
4. Agents prefer to show properties listings do not say things like “by appointment only,” “24 hours notice,” “call listing agent for key, “or other such restrictions
5. Out of town agents are bad news because they are not likely to know the local market as well as an agent who lives and works in the area
6. Too much stuff in the home can make it appear cluttered and make the rooms appear smaller than they really are.

Take “yes” for an answer – Let a local Real Estate professional get you more than you can get for yourself.

Property Listings Wanted

It takes “more” than just listing a home to get it sold

As your agent, “more” is what I do for you, including all the following:

1. Feature it in my two monthly Newsletters: “Yosemite Gateway Properties and Lifestyles.” at:  www.EdBaileyRealtor.com/news.html and “Oakhurst Area Homeowner’s Guide,” at http://clientdirect.net/news/?Pub=13067
2. Advertise it on my web site:  www.EdBaileyRealtor.com
3. Sign our Exclusive Century 21 Seller’s Pledge Agreement, holding me and my company accountable by offering you the opportunity to be released from your listing agreement if we do not live up to the pledge.
4. Post it with  both Yosemite Gateway, and Fresno Area Multiple Listing Services, as well as Century 21 worldwide listings
5. Create a dynamic Visual Tour to  give your home superior exposure on the internet
6. Advertise it in the Yosemite Gateway Buyer’s Guide
7. Advertise it through direct mail and posted flyers
8. Do “on screen” presentations at meetings of Yosemite Gateway Association of REALTORS®
9. Send letters to all nearby property owners inviting them to help choose their new neighbors
10. Arrange a “caravan” viewing by Century 21 Ditton Sierra REALTORS® Agents
11. Arrange a “caravan” viewing by Yosemite Gateway Association of REALTORS® Agents
12. Expose your property to my prospective buyers list and incoming transferees referred through our worldwide Century 21 referral system
13. Hold “Open House” presentations
14. Help your buyer arrange financing

I will also:

1. Order a preliminary title report immediately (no cost to you), and address any questions or potential problems early on.
2. Gather data for your required disclosure process before – not after - we get an offer.
3. Provide you with regular progress reports and be available to you on your schedule

Put Marketing Strategies that Work, to Work for You.  Let’s Talk

Disclaimer – If your property is listed with a real estate company, please do not consider this a solicitation

A Mountain Treasure

Emerson Theological Institute, Oakhurst, California

The Mountain Real Estate Market

Mountain Area Single Family Home Sales

Six Month Period Ending March 31, 2007

with Month-to-Month and Year-to-Year Comparisons

(Compiled from MLS Records by Ed Bailey, Editor)

For more information call me at 559-313-1081 or send email to edbailey@sti.net

Some Better Buys (In the opinion of the Editor) in Oakhurst

 For more information call me at 559-313-1081 or send email to edbailey@sti.net

Some Better Buys (In the opinion of the Editor) in Oakhurst

Disclaimer:  MLS information is presumed to be accurate but not guaranteed

(Excerpt from March 2007 Newsletter, “Yosemite Gateway Properties and Lifestyles” published on line at www.EdBaileyRealtor.com/news.html)

Featured Home of the Month

A Genuine Mountain Beauty

Fresno Flats Road in Oakhurst

$895,000

A few minutes from Yosemite and Bass Lake

45 minutes from Fresno

This 3600 sq. Ft., 4 bedroom, 2 bath Arts & Crafts style home is loaded with mountain charm.

Completely remodeled, upgraded and restyled, top to bottom, inside and out. granite counter tops, a bonus great room, a walk-in redwood lined wine cellar, a dumbwaiter, and a great view overlooking a peaceful pond.  This home on 4.61 acres, has a detached three car garage, a large workshop, and a huge greenhouse, 

Call 559-313-1081 or 888-683-5193 to see this mountain treasure for yourself.

Oakhurst Area Places of Worship

For information on mountain area places of worship, go to: http://www.emccc.net/resultsMemberCat.php?catName=Churches&Submit2=Find+by+Category

Art in the Mountains

About the Artist
A native Californian who has chosen to reside in the rural Yosemite area, Mary's art style is Impressionistic-Realism. Primarily a watercolorist, she is proficient in a variety of media such as acrylic, oil and printmaking.

She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Design & Illustration, from California State University, Fresno, and began her formal training under nationally known artist, Darwin Musselman. She continued studies extensively with Carlene Kostiw, a leading California watercolorist. Mary has taken workshops with a variety of artists from the United States to Europe, including Gerald Brommer, Jerome Grimmer, Donald "Putt" Putman, and Jane Gyer.

Mary has worked in both fine arts and commercial art since 1976. As a fine artist she has shown her work as a member of the Central Coast Watercolor Society as well as in regional, group and solo art exhibits in the San Joaquin Valley. As a commercial artist, she was an art director, graphic designer and illustrator for various manufacturing and printing firms.

She is an Associate of the National Watercolor Society, the Fresno Printmakers Guild, and Timberline Gallery

http://www.sierratel.com/timberline/MaryJaneCampbellMann.html

Did You Know? 

You can get the Oakhurst Area Homeowners Guide-Newsletter sent to you each month free. It has lots of helpful information for homeowners, home sellers, and home buyers.  Just send your e-mail address to edbailey@sti.net  and you're in.  It will arrive in your in-box on the first Monday of each month.

Moving?

If a move is in your near future let me make it a little less stressful for you.  I will be happy to send you a free 39 item checklist of smart things to do; (1) before the move, (2) on moving day, and (3) after the move.  Just give me a telephone call at 559-313-1081 or send an e-mail request to: edbailey@sti.net

You can find out how much your home is worth on the current market FREE.  Get a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) with no obligation or commitment on your part.

Just go to:  http://www.edbaileyrealtor.com/sellers.html    and fill in the information.

Are you or Your Friends Looking for a Home for Sale in  Oakhurst, Bass Lake, Ahwahnee, Coarsegold, North Fork, Raymond, or Mariposa?  Refer them to a listing of all real estate, land and homes, for sale in our mountain area.  Just go to: http://www.edbaileyrealtor.com/search.asp

Dining out in the Mountains

You can read customers’ Reviews and Ratings of Oakhurst area restaurants at: http://oakhurstrestaurants.com/

You can get free help with your “For Sale by Owner” (FSBO).  I’ll mail you a copy of the “For Sale by Owner Manual,”   It will give you helpful pointers on how to go about preparing and selling your home.  I will also be happy to provide you with comparable sales information and help you arrive at the right asking price. 

I’m happy to help because research tells me that most “for sale by owner” efforts end up listing with a REALTOR®, for a faster sale and a better price.  If that happens in your case, I only ask that you consider letting me be your agent.  In the meantime, I wish you well in your selling effort. Please let me know if I can help.

What’s Happening

                                                                 Click

To Read Calendar

ART, MUSIC AND DINNER IN THE MEADOW

1 to 8:30 p.m., Saturday, June 2, 2007

Coarsegold Historic Museum, 31899 Hwy 41, just south of Lucky Lane

2007 represents the fourth year of the successful Music in the Meadow museum fund-raising event.  But this year is special, as we are expanding the event to include local artists and the Chukchansis.

The afternoon will offer several booths where our wonderful artists may display and sell their work and chat with the public from 1 to 6, demonstrations by the Chukchansis and by individuals hooking rugs and more!  Beverages and snacks will be available all day.  The evening offers lively, toe-tapping bluegrass and country music by the String Bandits from 5:30 to 8:30 and dinner served by the docents of the museum that may be eaten in the meadow where the band will play.  (Note:  Dinner will be $10 if a reservation is made by June 1:  642-4242.  Dinner $12 with no previous reservation.) (Also, we suggest you bring your own comfy chair to enjoy your dinner and the music.)

During the day the Plein Air Artists will display the paintings they have created at the museum.  Everyone in attendance will be invited to vote for a favorite painting, and at 7:30 the winner of the Popular Choice Award Exhibit will receive a check for $100 from the Coarsegold Historical Society.

Over the past five years, Sierra Art Trails has grown to become the largest and most anticipated annual arts event in the Yosemite Foothills!  The show is focused on the communities of Eastern Madera and Mariposa counties.  In 2006 the show featured 116 artists and

Mark your calendars! The first ever Sierra Art Trails (SAT) Fundraising Event is May 12th, 2007.

There will be silent and live auctions, as well as performing artists of music, poetry, modern dance, song, storytelling and more. It’s going to be quite an art extravaganza at the Golden Chain Theatre.

SAT is seeking entrants for performers as well as volunteers for helping onsite at the event, lighting, stage hands, etc. If you are interested in performing or volunteering, please contact Paula Sweat at 559-658-0432 or email: paulasweet@sti.net
Also seeking donations of items for auction.

Or just come join us in a really interesting and fun evening that night! It should be a feast for our eyes, ears and minds!

Bass Lake

Calendar of Events

Jazz on the Lake - Memorial Day to Labor Day

Share with Us

Do you have a question about our Oakhurst area?  Do you have a real estate question?

Do you have a suggestion for additional features in this newsletter?  Send me your thoughts and your ideas.

Also tell us, in 50 words or less, what you consider the most interesting of our Mountain Treasures, and why.  Examples of Mountain Treasures:  Timberline Gallery; Sierra Mono Museum; Mariposa County Courthouse; the Wild, Wonderful, King Museum (vintage clothing);  the Children's Museum of the Sierra; Fresno Flats Historical Park; the California State Mining and Minerals Museum in Mariposa; Sierra Scenic Bypass; the Little Church on the Hill; the Talking Bear; Sierra Art Trails; the Elegant Auction; Heritage Days; the Fall Arts and Music Festival; the Loggers Jamboree; the Coarsegold Rodeo; the Christmas Tree Auction; the Honorary Mayor Contest; the Wild, Wonderful Chocolate Festival; Jazz on the Lake; the Bass Lake Fishing Derby; the Mountain Bear "Angels Amongst Us" Annual Awards Dinner; The Wall of Heroes Annual Awards Dinner; or name your own Mountain Treasure.  E-mail it to: edBailey@sti.net. You may call us at 559-683-5193 or toll free at 888-683-5193.