Antioch, CA (PRWEB) August 12, 2013

“We are grateful to our talented manager Melody Royal, who has led our Antioch office for almost 30 years, and who will remain as the manager of the office,” said Rich Casto, Chief Strategy Officer of BHG Mason-McDuffie Real Estate. “We welcome Tony Chahal as our new owner/partner in this office.”

“We now have eight great partnerships throughout the San Francisco Bay Area,” said Keith Robinson, COO. “These partnerships are part of our growth strategy and work extremely well.”

When asked why he entered into this partnership, Mr. Chahal said, “I am proud to merge my operation with that of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie. With everything Mason-McDuffie has to offer, there was no other organization that I met with that came close to their services and culture. The company is widely recognized as one of the most innovative real estate companies in the nation. I am excited to be a partner of this great company, and to be part of its history and its future!”

Mr. Chahal will be joined by 10 agents in the move into the Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie office space at 5887A Lone Tree Way in Antioch.

Resolute Real Estate, Inc. was founded in 2010 by Tony Chahal, who also served as the President and Managing Broker. He was formerly an associate at Prudential California Realty. Prior to that, he was the Staffing Manager at Zip Realty, Inc. where he successfully ran the number one recruiting platform in the company nationwide.

If you are interested in discussing growth opportunities, contact David Gardner at 925-705-1992.

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About Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate

Our heritage began with the founding of Mason-McDuffie Real Estate in 1887. The company is the 26th largest real estate services firm in the nation (REALTrends 500), and Number Two in the San Francisco East Bay (SF Business Times). The company provides comprehensive solutions to home buyers and sellers, and handled 6,500 transactions in 2012, generating $2.8 billion in sales volume. Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate is locally owned and has more than 1,200 real estate professionals with 30 offices in eight counties in the Bay Area and the Tahoe/Truckee region.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/8/prweb11003112.htm

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/business/press-releases/article/Resolute-Real-Estate-Merges-with-Better-Homes-and-4727626.php

Aug. 12 (Source: By Eve Mitchell, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.) - When the country’s credit rating was downgraded, experts thought interest rates would shoot up, another jolt to the struggling real estate market.The opposite happened, but that good news has been offset by the stock market’s wild swings.

Low interest rates can attract homebuyers, but that is only one part of the decision, said Faramarz Moeen-Ziai, a mortgage banker with San Ramon-based Bank of Commerce. A healthy job market is more important.

“The primary factor driving a purchase decision is people’s income,” he said. “And until we see unemployment go down, we’re not going to see (an increase in homebuying).”

Refinancing is another matter, however, as homeowners who have adequate equity rush to take advantage of low interest rates. “In the last week, we’ve noticed a spike in refinancing,” said Moeen-Ziai, who estimated that volume has about tripled.

The past two weeks have certainly been a test for the Bay Area housing market. Wild stock swings, the credit downgrade and continuing concerns about the economy have certainly weighed on buyers, sellers and their agents.

Rebecca Gallardo with Protello Group Real Estate Services in San Jose said she had a client pull out of a deal “because of the volatility. He thinks he’ll get a better deal come December.”

But not everyone is spooked.

“The financial unrest of last week has not had an impact on my decision to buy a home. I still consider purchasing a home one of

the best investments I can make,” Matthew Le, a 26-year-old San Francisco renter who is looking to buy a home in Pleasant Hill, wrote in an email.

“I have not had a buyer walk,” said Joy Di Ricco, a Realtor with the Antioch office of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate.

Still, it’s important to communicate with buyers, Di Ricco added. “They’re nervous,” she said. “If you don’t communicate, you will lose your buyers.”

Before it was evident that interest rates would be heading south, Realtors said they fielded calls from some concerned clients.

Cathy Warshawsky of Bay Area Home Loans in San Jose said she had several clients who were “working like mad” with their Realtors over concerns that interest rates would go up. “They were really scrambling.”

But other agents were surprised by their clients’ calm.

“I thought a lot of my buyers would be calling me saying, ‘I’m frightened’ about this and that and the other. But actually my buyers are acting contrary to how I might have expected them to,” said Anne Walker, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Cupertino.

“There’s so much pent-up demand for purchasing real estate that people (who) are so strongly set in moving in the direction of purchasing, that no matter what happens with the stock market and the SP rating, it just doesn’t seem to be deterring them.”

Economic issues are of course a factor, but for many buyers the choice is really about a place to live.

“Buyers are still careful buyers,” said Kristine Marr, a senior loan officer with RPM Mortgage in Walnut Creek. They want to find the right home and that’s what’s driving the buyer mostly as long as they are preapproved and ready to buy,” she said.

Contact Eve Mitchell at 925-952-2690 or emitchell@bayareanewsgroup.com.

Source: By Eve Mitchell, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

To see more of the Contra Costa Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.contracostatimes.com/.

Copyright (c) 2011, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc. Publication date: 2011-08-12

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Article source: http://www.loansafe.org/homebuyers-have-mixed-reactions-to-market-swings