Business & Real Estate

Los Altos

58 Alma Court, K. & R. Carrie to C. Fan for $4,210,000

17 Farm Road, Byer Trust to H. & H. Hua for $1,350,000

456 Gabilan Street No. 6, Recht Family Trust to J. & S. Lee for $1,570,000

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier

The fourth location of Joseph Yoon’s family-owned Sky Martial Arts is slated to open in the former home of Kids Only on Main Street next month.

As Joseph Yoon prepares to open the fourth location of his family-owned Sky Martial Arts in downtown Los Altos in mid-January, he believes he’s found the perfect spot, because the city is at “the peak of everything.”

I have the great pleasure of being allowed into the lives of my real estate clients during what is arguably one of the more stressful times of their lives. They allow me to take over and manage the delicate and complicated process of buying or selling a house.

We hear a lot about what makes a good agent, but what about what it takes to be a good client?

Q: What qualities do you see in your best buyer and seller clients?

A: It usually boils down to a few key characteristics: trust, communication, involvement/participation, patience and flexibility.

Q: Which of those characteristics is most important?

A: Trust. Clients need to trust that the agent they have chosen has their best interests at heart. Trust will permeate a transaction, from bringing in trusted contractors to connections with trusted lenders or advice on what sort of a purchase offer to make or whether contingencies are good or not. If you don’t trust your agent to be looking out for you, you need a new agent. (Caveat: An agent agreeing to a discount is not always a signal that he or she has your best interests foremost.)

Q: Why is communication important? Shouldn’t you already know what I want?

A: A real estate transaction is made up of hundreds of moving pieces, and if you don’t make clear your wishes, wants, preferences, etc., you are bound to have problems down the line.

Q: What sorts of miscommunications do you see?

A: Some are really basic: How do you like to communicate? Phone? Text? Email? Do you want me to update you with every little detail as it happens, or would you rather only hear from me when I need something? If hiccups occur along the way, do you want to know about them, or do you just want them to be resolved?

Q: What do you mean by participation/involvement?

A: A real estate agent is a bit like an orchestra leader: overseeing the entire process as individual musicians each do their part. Clients can’t sit back and just “listen to the music” – they have to be active players. When your agent needs your help, needs you to prepare disclosures, needs you to read the disclosures, etc., you need to listen. The more you are involved, the more successful you will be.

Q: In this fast market, why is patience so important?

A: Some things just take time, so trust your agent when he or she tells you, for example, that you haven’t received an offer after just six hours on the market, that the homeowners association documents may take some time to get or that your lender preapproval needs more time.

Q: Why do I need to be flexible? Isn’t it pretty cut and dried?

A: It never is. Every transaction is different. It is impossible to predict what may happen within any sale or purchase. Every time I think I’ve seen it all, something new comes up. Always wearing your “flexibility hat” will allow you to be prepared for whatever happens.

Q: If you had to describe your best clients, what would they look like?

A: The clients who have the most success in a transaction are the ones who trust their agent, defer to their knowledge and experience, yet are involved enough and educate themselves about the process enough to know how to ask the right questions. They are responsive to requests yet understand that some things just take time.

Q: Have you ever had a problem client?

A: Unfortunately, yes. The ones who stand out in my mind are the ones who feel that they know all the answers, know more about the market and the process than anyone else, second-guess every decision. These types of people end up shooting themselves in the foot, being dissatisfied with the process and blaming everyone other than themselves.

Owen Halliday is a realtor who manages the Sereno Group office in downtown Los Altos. Text or call him at 492-0062 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Los Altos

980 Black Mountain Court, Knell Trust to Z. & E. Xia for $2,500,000

1235 Eva Avenue, Ringer Trust to C. & L. Bride for $2,781,500

1440 Highland View Court, A. Singh to W. & J. Law for $3,250,000

1390 Holt Avenue, Holmes Trust to Ren Family Trust for $2,680,000

1654 Newcastle Drive, Kennedy Family Trust to S. Tatavarti for $2,510,000

1340 Ranchita Drive, Gaw Trust to P. & B. Lee for $4,280,000

658 Spargur Drive, Chavan Family Trust to Tagur Trust for $4,500,000

1230 Thurston Avenue, Bowman Family Trust to E. & R. Nakamoto for $2,998,000

517 Tyndall Street No. 3, Tyndall Street Townhomes LLC to Farhi Trust for $2,098,000

362 Yerba Buena Avenue, Peterson Trust to Khurana Family Trust for $3,150,000

Mountain View

139 Carmelita Drive, Walden Trust to K. & M. Gandhi for $3,699,000

316 Circuit Way, Pulte Home to P. & J. Dai for $1,458,000

77 Dalma Drive, Duran Trust to N. & R. O’Connell for $2,200,000

3343 Grant Road, Viscovich Trust to J. & H. Lee for $2,300,000

1223 Nilda Avenue, R. & V. Peng to J. & T. Lei for $2,200,000

306 Nita Avenue, Kipp Trust to S. & R. Stein for $1,500,000

1864 Orangetree Lane, Pedri Family Trust to S. & A. Fathi for $2,370,000

107 Ortega Avenue, Lennar Homes to C. & J. Sun for $1,740,000

Cupertino

22330 Homestead Road No. 209, Srivastava Trust to A. & R. Gutfreund for $1,200,000

10250 Johnson Avenue, W. Hu to Goswami Trust for $1,522,000

10686 Par Three Drive, Smith Family Trust to O. & J. Young for $1,700,000

7529 Rainbow Drive, Jeffers Trust to H. & S. Radhakrshnan for $1,755,000

10134 Randy Lane, M. & P. Lesaicherre to Medeiros Trust for $2,650,000

21056 White Fir Court, S. Hua to T. & S. Wang for $1,150,000

Overall

Los Altos

Total sales: 10

Lowest sale: $2,098,000

Highest sale: $4,500,000

Average sale: $3,074,800

Mountain View

Total sales: 8

Lowest sale: $1,458,000

Highest sale: $3,699,000

Average sale: $2,183,400

Cupertino

Total sales: 6

Lowest sale: $1,150,000

Highest sale: $2,650,000

Average sale: $1,662,800

– Cal REsource

Eliza Ridgeway/Town Crier
Peet’s Coffee & Tea manager Samer Mustaklim, above. At the closed San Antonio Road location, below, Mustaklim said the staff will miss relationships built with longtime customers but have all found new roles at other Peet’s, with the exception of one college-bound barista.

The Peet’s Coffee & Tea at San Antonio Road and El Camino Real in Los Altos closed permanently at noon Sunday, one of three to shutter in the area.

Peet’s spokeswoman Elizabeth Ricardo said the coffee chain “must keep pace with changing markets” and was closing locations in Menlo Park and Palo Alto over the weekend as well.

Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier
Pennslyvania-born psychiatrist Danielle Kamis recently put down roots and set up a practice in downtown Los Altos. Kamis specializes in sports psychiatry, sleep medicine, women’s wellness, psychotherapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Dr. Danielle Kamis said she always wanted to start her own practice, and in August the psychiatrist did just that in downtown Los Altos.

Opening a private practice “gives me the freedom and flexibility to be able to practice the way that I see best,” Kamis said. “I don’t have a limit to the number of hours I see a patient.”