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Real Name: Chris Craddock Address: 3400 Calloway Dr #800 Bakersfield, CA 93312 Cell: (661)900-2222 Gender: male Member Since: June 30, 2007 Last Signed In: October 11, 2008 Profile Views: 572 Blog Views: 7205 What is up in Bakersfield Real Estate with the HUD's and REO's? Is it a Buyer's or a Seller's Market? Zero Down goes Bye Bye! Looking for the "Timber!" point of Bakersfield Real Estate Spring Has Sprung When the Buyers Return to Capistrano Home Tours, the Stock Market, Auctions, and Mortgages Financial Forecast Countrywide may be under Federal Investigation for Securities Fraud Local Honey, Spring Forward! June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 
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This is my dog, Delilah. She is a red Australian Cattle Dog, or a Kelpie, or maybe she is part Dingo. She likes to chase, nip, and herd. She also likes to run away, and if you chase after her, she keeps going farther and farther. But I have found that if I just leave the gate open, she will come back. At night, she doesn't want to come in. I can see why The Plain White Ts would write a song about her.
One more picture to show you how the scene went down on Monday night in a Wal-Mart Parking lot, with a free rock show with The Plain White Ts and Boys Like Girls.
Plain White Ts played in a Wal-Mart Parking lot. And here is what it was like:
I went to the free rock concert in the Wal-Mart Parking lot. I heard that The Plain White Ts were going to play, and since their hit song is Hey, Delilah, I had to be there. My dog is named Delilah, and she is a very bad girl, but I love her. My niece, Kelsey, told me about this song, and I thank her. I told her that they were playing, but she was torn, because the new TV season starts tonight, and she wanted to see the debut of Chuck, about a computer nerd who becomes a spy. I wanted to see the Big Bang Theory, but hey there is always Tivo, not to mention re-runs. So, live rock concert in Wal-Mart parking lot always trumps TV. At least for me. The opening act was Boys Like Girls. Did they mean that they are boys who like girls, or boys who are similar to girls? Anyway, they were pretty good, but I have seen plenty of incredible rock acts, and the kids have yet to really win me over. When The Plain White Ts came on, I was not totally bowled over, but I thought they were more than adequate. The kids were excited to see them, and I could see that they knew the words to their songs, as they were singing along, or lip synching along. One song was called I'll Figure it Out When I Figure It Out. Trying to remember other songs, but it was kind of a blur for me. But then, the penultimate song (second to last) was Hey, Delilah. An orgy of cell phone cameras, and I would have joined in, but my camera memory chip was full. I really like the song, Hey, Delilah. It is kind of a ballad, and the singer plugged in an accoustic guitar to do it. I think that the song is a big reason for them to have drawn the crowd they did, on a Monday night in Bakersfield, in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Everyone was singing along, and like I said, it was an orgy of cell phone camera madness. Afterwards I stopped in at the Macaroni Grill and had a Manhattan. The bartender knew what it was, which is actually kind of a Martini, but made with bourbon, instead of gin. Instead of an olive, they use a maraschino cherry. What is the difference between Bourbon and Whisky? Well, Bourbon should be distelled from 51% corn, and it doesn't hurt to be distilled in the county of Bourbon, either. The bartender knew this, so if you are looking for a knowledgeable bartender, try the Macaroni Grill. He said that due to the Fair, it was a very slow night. So, if you are craving a Manhattan, check them out. Not bad for a Monday night in Bakersfield. I really enjoyed the song, Hey, Delilah. My dog, Delilah, is such a bad girl. If she gets loose, she will run and run. Sometimes I chased her all over town, and she would just keep going. Finally I discovered that if I didn't chase her, she would come back, but once I chased her all the way to Beale Park from Chester. She will also sometimes bark at people, like if they are playing baseball or soccer, or riding a bike through the dog park. I try to catch her, but she is too fast for me. I think she just wants the people to run so she can chase them, but people do not understand, and think she is threatening them. She is a bad, bad,bad girl, but I love her. Sometimes when she runs away, I think I should just let her go, but that would break my heart. She has red hair, and a devil-may-care attitude, that is simply irresistable.
Last Saturday I went to the Camp Luau, an annual party thrown by Judy Camp, that has been going on for at least 10 years. Since Judy was the Sales Manager at Touchstone, and since they merged with Watson she is still a Manager of something or other, there were a lot of Real Estate Agents at this party--especially from Watson Touchstone. Since I blogged about the BLS I was expecting perhaps a reaction but I guess that issue is yesterday's paper. Speaking of yesterday's paper, I heard that there was a quite detailed article about some of the flipping and other details of the Crisp & Cole details, many of which are now in foreclosure. I haven't seen it yet, but I had a friend save it for me. Anyway, the party was really a lot of fun, though I didn't stay long, because I had to go to see my neice's boyfriend in a play at Empty Space, where Brandon played Jesus Christ in a play about the trial of Judas Iscariot. The Camp Luau had excellent barbecue and other pot luck dishes from the many esteemed guests. There was music, dancing, food, and other libations. I heard some interesting facts at the party, due no doubt to the fact that no one there had seen my blog. One intriguing item was that the owner of Touchstone is in the aviation business, and has just built a fast plane that was purchased by Harrison Ford. It is supposed to be extremely fast. I am wondering if he will take his girlfriend, Kallista Flockhart, for a spin in it. Last Friday I posted that the FBI was investigating an appraiser, but I didn't want to say his name. I put a clue in my blog so that if and when his name came out I could prove that I had known all along. My clue was a picture of Issac Newton, and when no one got that I said that the appraiser was considering the "gravity" of the situation. Gravity was in italics, but no one picked up on my obvious clue. Newton, sitting under a tree, sees an apple fall, and it gives him the idea for the physics theory of gravity. So, here is a clip from today's article about the raids on Crisp & Cole and associates:
The Bakersfield Association of Realtors has been around a long time, for more than a century. Since early on they have had a Multiple Listing Service, where all of the various Real Estate offices and agents would list all of the houses currently for sale. Before computers, this list would be printed out in big binders, and the agents would sift through the information manually. Once computers came about, all that changed. Now, available houses could be searched online, and digital images, Virtual Tours, and YouTube vignettes can be included as part of the information about the house for sale.
The Multiple Listing Service was almost synonymous with the Bakersfield Association of Realtors. They were actually separate entities, intertwined, intimately blended, yet distinct. By belonging to the Association, you were also bound by the rules of the Association, and one of those rules was that you stated how much commission would be paid to the Buyer’s Agent in the MLS, and you abided by that agreement.
That was how it was in 2001, when I first began working in Bakersfield Real Estate. I worked at Watson, which was one of the biggest and best known offices in Bakersfield. It had a long history in Bakersfield, and the national chains and franchises that opened up had a hard time establishing themselves in its formidable shadow. It was a happy place to work, and I have many fond memories. But lots of agents grew unhappy and started opening up their own offices. This exodus of agents coincided with a Real Estate Boom the likes of which Bakersfield had never seen before. The more the money flowed in, the greedier people got. It was an insane time, in a lot of ways.
New construction was booming. There were massive construction companies, corporate entities with offices far away, and also smaller builders, thriving in places like the Northwest. The demand for new houses was so sharp that the supply couldn’t keep up. Builders would make customers line up like rock fans, camping out and sleeping overnight in lines so they would be there first thing in the morning. Builders wouldn’t cooperate with Real Estate Agents, wouldn’t pay the Buyer’s Agent any commission. If you had been showing a buyer houses and he decided to buy new construction, it meant that all of that time you had worked finding them a house was completely wasted. You would not be getting paid.
Builders got very greedy, and as the prices began to rise steeply, they got even greedier. Upset that the prices they had agreed upon when the project started, perhaps 6 months ago, were now obsolete, hopelessly low. Builders had ingenious ways to break their sales contracts so that they could offer the houses on the current market. If you showed up at a building site, and so much as set foot on the property, they would tear up your contract due to your trespassing. One buyer complained and threatened to sue, and when he said he was a lawyer, the builder tore up the contract because he didn’t like lawyers. He had a rule that he would sell houses to lawyers. The lawyer, of course, tried to sue, but the judge ruled that you could discriminate against lawyers, as it was neither a race, religion nor creed, and was NOT protected. Another scam was putting the cabinets upside down. If you got mad, and yelled at the builder, he would escalate the tension, and get you madder. If you got mad enough, you yelled that you didn’t even want the house. You would think the builder was stupid, and worry about the slipshod way the house had been thrown together, and wonder what else he had done wrong. But he would be laughing at you, because he played you like a Stradivarius.
New construction was booming, but resale residential home sales were also exploding. The demand was so great that listing a house and receiving multiple offers on the first day was the norm. The rapid appreciation led to lots of investors speculating on Real Estate. This drove the prices even higher. In this climate, the discount brokers thrived. Why pay high commissions when the houses practically sold themselves? Lots of companies sprang up that cut out all the frills, all the service, and just did the bare minimum, at a greatly reduced rate. Truth be told, there was hardly time to do any work before the house was sold.
Just after I left Watson was when I heard that they were starting their own Multiple Listing Service, which they named the Bakersfield Listing Service, the BLS for short. 5 big Real Estate companies: Watson, GMAC Stroope, Coldwell Banker Preferred, Coldwell Banker America West, and KW Associates, cooked up this bright idea. They claimed that they were doing it because they were dissatisfied with the MLS, and the BLS was touted as being technically superior. To other Real Estate Agents they claimed they did it to cut back on the amount of discount brokers, and out-of-town agents. But there were two reasons why they actually did it:
1. They thought it would give them a strategic advantage.
2. It would be run as a private business, with the profits accruing to them.
The BLS had a large fee that had to be paid by the broker for an office to join it. This favored the larger companies, because only large offices could afford to pay this fee. If you only had one or two agents, you still had to pay this big per office fee. They also had a larger agent fee to belong. The fee paid by each agent individually to belong to the BLS was much more. The MLS really didn’t charge very much. Out-of-Town Agents could afford to join just to make a single deal. But the BLS cost a lot more. You also had to buy new lockboxes. This was a technical innovation that the MLS hadn’t embraced yet, but perhaps in response to the BLS, the MLS converted to the newer lockboxes.
When the BLS was announced, nobody else liked the idea, except for one notable exception. A town hall meeting was called, and a lot of impassioned speeches were given denouncing the BLS. Don Cohen was then the incoming President of the Association of Realtors, and he gave the most memorable speech. He and others spoke as if we were being attacked by the BLS, and that it might be a long fight, but in the end, justice would prevail.
Another Broker of a medium sized company (he had one of the first Real Estate cable television programs) thought that the BLS might prevail. The MLS was hampered by the fact that it was just an association, but the MLS could make executive decisions, plus they had a huge budget that they could spend at their own discretion, on advertising, promotion, and whatever else it would take to reach the tipping point in their favor. His strategy was going to be to join both, and then advertise that as an advantage. I felt that he was selling out, and was angry that he was going to pay their dues, give them money, and help them grow stronger—but in the end, we all ended up following his strategy.
A reporter from the Bakersfield Californian was there, but nothing of substance was ever reported about the BLS in the Bakersfield Californian, because the Bakersfield Californian was a partner in the BLS. The Bakersfield Californian had a deal to post the BLS listings on its website. The view of most Realtors who opposed the BLS was never given voice in the paper, as the Bakersfield Californian had a stake in their success. Though the owners of the paper and the journalists who wrote for the paper were supposed to be independent, truth was that any negative views of the BLS were either censored by the powers that be, or the journalists merely self censored, in fear of reprisals. The Bakersfield Californian betrayed the Real Estate community, plain and simple.
The previously mentioned notable exception who liked the idea was Touchstone. They served champagne at a BLS unveiling, and right from the beginning joined the BLS as enthusiastic partners. Touchstone was formed from new construction profits. They billed themselves as “Doing Real Estate Different” and seemed to grow like mushrooms overnight. Their billboards were everywhere, it seemed.
For the non-BLS Agents, the BLS was a major hassle. If you wanted to show one of their properties, you had to go to the office and get keys, then after showing houses, you would have to drive all the way back and return them. If you had to get keys from several offices, and then the houses were on the other side of town, you were talking about a tremendous amount of time and gasoline. Also, I remember returning keys, but the receptionist would forget to log it in, or lose the key, and they would keep calling you back, asking for the key, over and over.
The other hassle, an even bigger one, it turned out, was that BLS offices started claiming that they wouldn’t pay commissions to non-BLS agents. This threat was carried out, a few times that I know of, by the BLS companies. The first one I heard of was KW Associates, which stood for Karen Wass Associates. They were later bought out by Prudential. The other deal I heard about, where they refused to pay the commission to the Buyer’s Agent, was Watson. Of course, once KW and Watson had tried this tactic, someone did it to them. A loan officer I know happened to be in the office when Ken Carter, President of Watson, and Scott Tobias, then Sales Manager, learned of this. They didn’t care for it, and were quite upset. They could dish it out, but they couldn’t take it.
At one point there was talk of the BLS and MLS merging, or both co-existing in mutual harmony, but this was one of the points of disagreement. Another one was the issue of who owns listing data. The BLS stripped all the data from the MLS and fed it into the BLS—but they didn’t post it on the Bakersfield Californian website. So, the public, searching their listings online, would never find any MLS listings, only the BLS. The BLS Agents could see both MLS and BLS listings. This was the issue that the MLS sued the BLS over, but the MLS lost, when the BLS folded the point became moot.
Meanwhile MLS only Agents couldn’t see BLS listings, but most of the ones I knew just got a password from a BLS Agent and hacked in.
The Five BLS offices, the ones who started it, made all of their agents drop out of the MLS. This was their big mistake. Now they were at a strategic disadvantage—they were left out in the cold, the way everyone else had been when they started. Touchstone and some other independents remained in the MLS. To be in both was still a hassle, but at least you didn’t have to drive all over town, getting and returning keys. It was a major expense, though, paying both MLS and BLS dues, and having to have two keypads, one to open BLS and one to open MLS lockboxes, and two lockboxes for every listing, one BLS and one MLS. They were incompatible, although they were the exact same thing. You had to label which one was which, since they looked exactly alike. Anyway, the strategy of joining the BLS to kill it was working. When the BLS offices forced their agents to drop out of the MLS a lot of disgruntled agents left their companies. Also, home owners wouldn’t want to list with them once they found out that they would only list it in the BLS, only market it to BLS members. In spite of the money the BLS was bringing in, it was also probably costing a lot, what with all the cutting edge technology that most agents couldn’t use, and that often didn’t work, and the lawsuits, and all the Agents who were leaving, and clients who chose MLS or MLS/BLS.
The BLS quietly shut its doors, and Agents throughout Bakersfield sighed in relief. A lot of bad blood had poisoned the waters, but since the whole BLS fiasco had backfired on its perpetrators, most were content to let the poisoned water be water under the bridge.
The recent merger of Touchstone and Watson, now called [Watson Touchstone (edit.)], is bittersweet irony. The champagne they toasted the BLS with seems all the more poignant, as they were toasting the thing that would eventually drag Watson down to their level, to the point that they could merge as more-or-less equal partners. Touchstone had joined the BLS to kill the BLS, and the BLS had nearly killed Watson.
Saw this on the 11:00 news, and it is also online at www.bakersfield.com I posted something here in my blog on Friday, about the appraiser who did a lot of inflated appraisals for C&C. 20 minutes later I got a call from Vanessa Gregory. I admitted that it was only rumors I had heard, but I wouldn't be surprised if they turn out to be true. I put a clue on my blog so that if and when the appraiser is revealed, and convicted of wrongdoing, I can point to it and show that I knew it all along. Let's just say that said appraiser may soon realize the gravity of his situation. These latest accusations from the Department of Real Estate are not that serious, in my opinion, and even if they are found to be true, will only result in their licenses being pulled. When I say they are not that serious, I mean in comparison to what may eventually come out, they are the tip of the iceberg. Mostly they said that they claimed to be owner occupant, but leased or rented the property instead, and that they took out serveral loans without informing the other lenders. There was also some alleged false or misleading claims that the loan applicants owned companies, when they were in fact merely employed by them. Some of the people named as associates of Crisp & Cole are not licensed, and there is little that the Department of Real Estate can do to them anyway. The 25 page list of charges can be found on the Bakersfield Californian website. Finally, remember that everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty, and anything I say is either merely my opinion, or opinions I have heard. I have no direct knowledge of any of the deals or activities described in the latest charges, and am waiting to see what the outcome will be.
Location:
South H St & White Lane,
Bakersfield, CA
5000 block of White Pine
A
Location:
s. h st & white lane,
bakersfield, ca
We have a Caravan every Thursday, which is where agents Caravan to a group of houses and view them. Some of the agents play a game, called Bakersfield, Come On Down, where we try to guess what the houses will sell for. When it sells, we check and see who had the best guess. Here are the houses we looked at and the sale price guesses. Caravan for August 30th, 2007: 2707 El Caballo Ave Bakersfield, CA 93304, Listing Agent: Luz Mayorga. DOM: 7. BD: 5. BA: 2.75. Sq Ft: 2230. Listing Price: $435,000. Sale Price Gue$$timates. Helen Martinez: $375,000, Chris Craddock: $399,000, Kyle Wigley: $389,500, Marge Fredenburg: $385,000, Pattyann Grubbs: $315,000, Average: $372,700. 3016 Dell Ave Bakersfield, CA 93304, Listing Agent: Marge Fredenburg. DOM: 257. BD: 3. BA: 2.75. Sq Ft: 1500. Listing Price: $249,950. Sale Price Gue$$timates. Helen Martinez: $239,000, Chris Craddock: $244,000, Kyle Wigley: $220,000, Marge Fredenburg: $239,000, Pattyann Grubbs: $225,000, Average: $233,400. 2320 Belvedere Bakersfield, CA 93304, Listing Agent: Nila Starr. DOM: 28. BD: 3. BA: 1.75. Sq Ft: 1520. Listing Price: $240,000. Sale Price Gue$$timates. Helen Martinez: $235,000, Chris Craddock: $222,000, Kyle Wigley: $200,000, Marge Fredenburg: $229,000, Pattyann Grubbs: $215,000, Average: $220,200. 209 Pine St Bakersfield, CA 93301, Listing Agent: Denise A Wigley. DOM: 36. BD: 3. BA: 1. Sq Ft: 1036. Listing Price: $235,000. Sale Price Gue$$timates. Chris Craddock: $221,000, Marge Fredenburg: $219,000, Pattyann Grubbs: $189,000, Average: $209,667. 2636 Beech St, Listing Agent: Desi Neville. BD: 4. Listing Price: $325,000. Sale Price Gue$$timates. Helen Martinez: $305,000, Chris Craddock: $299,000, Marge Fredenburg: $305,000, Pattyann Grubbs: $300,000, Average: $302,250. 3700 N Q St #102 Bakersfield, CA 93301, Listing Agent: John C Stone. DOM: 44. BD: 1. BA: 1. Sq Ft: . Listing Price: $139,950. Sale Price Gue$$timates. Helen Martinez: $139,950, Chris Craddock: $136,000, Marge Fredenburg: $139,950, Average: $138,633. 4116 Charter Oaks Ave Bakersfield, CA 93309, Listing Agent: Laora J Norcross. DOM: 2. BD: 3. BA: 1.75. Sq Ft: 1461. Listing Price: $274,000. Sale Price Gue$$timates. Helen Martinez: $249,000, Chris Craddock: $269,000, Kyle Wigley: $220,000, Marge Fredenburg: $259,000, Pattyann Grubbs: $230,000, Average: $245,400. 619 Hewlett St Bakersfield, CA 93309, Listing Agent: Wanda Allen. DOM: 21. BD: 3. BA: 2. Sq Ft: 1942. Listing Price: $339,950. Sale Price Gue$$timates. Helen Martinez: $299,000, Chris Craddock: $303,000, Kyle Wigley: $299,950, Marge Fredenburg: $299,000, Pattyann Grubbs: $300,000, Average: $300,190. 421 Montalvo Dr Bakersfield, CA 93309, Listing Agent: Shannan L Taylor. DOM: 40. BD: 4. BA: 2.75. Sq Ft: 2805. Listing Price: $449,000. Sale Price Gue$$timates. Helen Martinez: $425,000, Chris Craddock: $411,000, Kyle Wigley: $419,000, Marge Fredenburg: $427,000, Pattyann Grubbs: $400,000, Average: $416,400. |
