#eric dunstan

Tips for First Time Millennial Home Buyers

Last month I was invited by Millennial thought leader, television and radio talk-show host, Chelsea Krost to participate in her weekly Twitter Chat, #MillennialTalk. She invited me to share my thoughts on what Millennials need to consider as they work towards buying their first home. What a fun event. We had a very active and engaged audience who asked several great questions. Buying the first…

Owning a home requires Top Ramen and a budget

Over the past few months I’ve been working with a first time homebuyer who is searching for a single-family home in the heart of the Silicon Valley. Yikes, I had to help him overcome the sticker shock of San Francisco Bay Area real estate prices in comparison to prices in his hometown in Alabama! What is most exciting about this buyer is that he clearly sees the value of owninghis own home and…

Owning your own home is totally doable

The thought of owning a home never crossed my mind until my early thirties. I remember a myriad of limiting thoughts crossing my mind including, “there is NO WAY I can afford a home,” or “I don’t have the time or the money to maintain a home” or “owning a home is something you do when you settle down…and renting is still cheaper.” Looking back on those thoughts I can’t help but laugh. Yes, those…

Happy Spouse, Happy House and Happy Employee

I’d dragged myself out of bed most mornings at 6am to go to the company gym. Now don’t worry, I always made sure I put deodorant on and brushed my teeth before I left. Fresh breath is a priority in my life. * The company gym offered classes, trainers, and a decent variety of equipment that rivaled most pricey outside gyms. Most importantly, the gym also offered a chance to get to know work…

Lend Me Some Sugar! I Am Your Neighbor!

I became a realtor to help preserve what makes the San Francisco Bay Area such a great place: our communities! I want every client I help to say, “Lend me some sugar! I am your neighbor!” *

I was born and raised in Saratoga and my roots go back 5 generations in California. I have seen our communities evolve as people from across our nation and the world come to the Bay Area to live and work.…

Tax benefits are a huge upside of SF Bay Area home ownership

I was reminded again this week by how red hot the residential rental market is in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over lunch with a few friends, discussions quickly turned from the quick “what are you doing now” update to rants like “I am spending so much on rent…and my landlord is going to increase it again this year!” This statement is quite common for renters in non-rent controlled areas like Palo…

Buying the first home means not buying the sports car

The explosive growth of the Internet brought a lot of money to the San Francisco Bay Area and the Silicon Valley in the late 1990s. Many of my work colleagues and friends cashed in their stock options and bought high-end cars or lived BIG in San Francisco during those go-go years. Many of us younger employees did not know the difference between paper wealth and actual wealth. Unfortunately, the…

Uncle Fester says, “Focus on the customer!” Snap snap.

Last week I had lunch with a member of the leadership team of an e-commerce company I am advising. I love these lunches for I get to hear about the challenges, provide a point of view, suggest an action plan, but I’m not responsible to drive the implementation. Sigh, it’s a nice change for I’ve spent many years driving and it’s nice not to have to provide a well thought out plan and sell it to…