Message from the Morgan Hill Unified School District Superintendent

Dr. Alan Nishino Speaks to Realtors

Today at our County Realtor's meeting we were addressed by the superintendent of our school system. After sharing with us his passion for our kids and education, he addressed his reason for being at our meeting today. The school budget is so bad, it is at breaking point and they don't know how to make it work. We are at the bottom of the list of quality education throughout the United States and we need to change that. How to affect change? Money! His plea was to address the money we receive from property taxes and bonds and to support increasing these costs inorder to raise money for our communities and specifically education.

Guess what? I agree with him no matter how unpopular that might be. I think where we do spend our money (as well as our values) is often misplaced and there is no greater place than education for our kids. "Good schools make good communities" said Dr. Nishino and it has been proven over and over again. This is a growing community (currently there are 9 languages spoken here according to Dr. Nishino) and complicated times for our kids. Our responsiblity is to prepare our kids even better than we were prepared.

One of his points was that out of the 45% earmarked for Special Education, only 17% was received. This is especially poignant for me as I have a special needs kid who is not receiving the services she needs. As I struggle with the school system, I am enough of problem solver to know that they can't perform on the level they need to perform. For more information about this school system, go to http://www.mhu.k12.ca.us/

My 2 cents - We need to meet the challenges of these times and prioritize our values and our futures by supporting our kids and their education.

Donate Blood to the American Red Cross

Giving Blood

A lot of us feel like this market is bleeding us anyway, so why not do a good deed and give blood to the American Red Cross? I thought about this yesterday as I gave blood in my town of Morgan Hill and wondered why more people don't give blood. Like a lot of things, we just don't think about it. I do believe people want to help others and would do more with just a little encouragement.

Well, here it is! Give blood to the American Red Cross! They aren't hard to find and they probably come to your area every 8 weeks (that's the time period to give blood). It takes less than 1 hour and you're done. I think these are the times to think about the many ways we can give back to our community and support each other. This one doesn't even cost money. You do have to develop a bit of a thick skin to get through their process of making sure your blood is healthy but it's obviously for the greater good. When the Red Cross comes to my town, I know I'm in for an hour of rock & roll music, some cookies and kind words along with my civic duty.

Drive while Driving?

No Texting While Driving!

I couldn't resist putting in my 2 Cents about texting while driving. Does anyone else think this is a little absurd that we have to dictate that we should pay attention to driving while driving? I think we all know by now that as of January 1st it will be illegal to text or read texts while driving. I never even thought of texting while driving but then this could be generational (am I giving away my age?).

I've heard studies say that hands free talking on the phone is as much of a distraction as holding a cell phone and talking. Hello everyone, we need to drive while driving. We can get away with it most of the time but there are situations that call for a quick response. And we need to be responsible about driving. It is a matter of life or death.

My 2 Cents - Try driving while driving and let voice mail do its job while we are on the road.

Silver Lining Update!

The gift of giving...

As of yesterday afternoon, my Intero office in Morgan Hill had collected over $1100 in donations for the little girl whose family was going through such hard times. In less than 24 hours, many agents called up and dropped checks off and said what they wanted for Christmas was a donation to Jammie.

I was going to let people know about Can Tree yesterday (but got side tracked watching the participation of agents on our company email) which is another fund raiser by realtors, only this one is sponsored by the South County Realtors Association (all the different real estate companies in our area). Every year we raise money and donate food to the local food banks. We donated over $4000 for the Thanksgiving Holiday and plan on doing the same if not more for Christmas.

My 2 Cents - I'm proud to be a realtor in this area where selling homes is closely tied to community and good works (and again, this hasn't been a great income earning year for most realtors). Happy Holidays everyone. Oh by the way, what do you want for Christmas?

A Silver Lining!

Restore your faith in people and read on -

This year our office has decided to adopt three families for the holidays and have been collecting donations. We will take the money and go shopping soon so three families can have a Christmas with gifts and some breathing room. Even though this has been a hard year on most of us, we know that it is even harder on those who have less.

So when someone from my office sent the following email on top of the giving we were already doing, I wasn't sure what the response would be. Read on (this is the email from an agent in my office) -

Hello Intero Family,

I am not one to ask of my fellow agents unless I believe it's important.

I'm sending this email because I know the fabric of the Intero Family and that you will support this young lady in her need.

This is important. There's a young girl (12 yrs old) who's dad died last year and who's mom is currently fighting cancer. She's on the Morgan Hill Raiders Junior Midget Cheer Squad with my daughter and they just placed in the regional which means they will need to travel to Orlando Florida for the National Competition. It's tough on this girls mom to foot the bill and even though they do fund raisers etc she's still $500. short to pay her way. *****$500.***** separates this young lady from a trip that would mean so much to her and go a long way in giving her a brief moment in time to forget about all the tough things she'll be returning to when this trip is over.

A little background is important to know. Every year we have a company Christmas Party and do a grab bag with a Secret Santa gift. We pick names and buy a gift for the person picked.

Within minutes of the email posting, someone replied to all that she would appreciate a donation made to the little girl as her Secret Santa gift. Well, it was as if the dam broke and all night long there have been emails saying, 'count me in', 'donate my Secret Santa gift to Jammie', 'whoever pulled my name, please donate to this little girl' and on it goes. It's fun being on line and seeing the emails continually pop up. And this is a little girl who needs support. Her dad was killed in a tragic motorcycle accident last year and her mom is battling cancer. Her family was only able to fund raise $100 and the total cost of the trip is $1700. Her coach has contributed $600 but can't afford to pay for the whole thing as both her daughters are on the squad. I figure we have raised about $600 to $700 with more sure to come in as only about half the agents in my office have responded so far.

I know it's so easy to see the down side now more than ever but I believe people are good. I believe people want to be a part of something bigger and better than just themselves. I am proud today to be part of an office that can find money to help others in a year when there is not a lot to go around.

Yes We Can!

Obama is the next president of the United States!

I probably can't separate my political leanings from my excitement and pride towards my country. It was only four decades ago that we were spilling blood over civil rights. We made history last night when we elected our first black president. I was impressed listening to both McCain and Obama and heard their call for us to work together as a country. I could feel my hope grow as I listened to the words of Obama calling us to action and they brought back the words of Kennedy - "Ask what you can do for your country". I am so proud of us and hopeful for our future!

Get Out There and Vote!

Don't Forget to Vote!

I imagine it would be hard to forget to vote today but just in case, today is the day! Go cast your votes and participate in our election process.

My husband and I stumbled upon an old tape of West Wing shows which we've been watching again. It used to be one of our favorite shows. It brings back to me that sometimes, we are a group of people agreeing to disagree and that's OK. Maybe that is more than OK. Maybe that is a lot of what we as Americans are about.

So let's all of us (not just the folks who agree with me) get out there and make a difference (and believe that you can)!

Sorry I Just Couldn't Resist!

Zillow Update

America is in one of the worst housing crisis in history, yet 49% of U.S. homeowners believe their home's value has increased or stayed the same over the past year, according to Zillow's Q3 Homeowner Confidence Survey.

In reality, 74% percent of homes have lost value in the past 12 months, according to preliminary findings in Zillow's Q3 Real Estate Market Reports, which will be released Nov. 12.

(As a realtor, I just couldn't resist sharing this information. In my experience, almost every homeowner has an inflated view of the worth of their home because of the value of their home to them - which doesn't always translate to the current market. Isn't it interesting that even with all the media, people still think it doesn't apply to their home. I have to tell you folks, this is one of the number one reasons I have a job. We can't be dispassionate about our own homes, which is probably a good thing.)

Playing Hookey!

Taking a Day Off!

Yesterday, instead of going to the all company meeting or just working for that matter, I "played hookey". At least, that's what we called in my day when we didn't go to school when we were supposed to (but then that is probably dating me more than I would like). I went on a field trip with my daughter's high school fashion design classes. We went to 2 fabric stores, one in San Jose called Hancock Fabrics over by Oakridge Mall which has a good selection of patterns and fabrics and kudos to the day manager who spend extra time to get us authorization to give students the weekend sale prices. Then we went to Fabrics R Us over on Berryessa and King which is like Christmas for people who like to sew - literally bolts and bolts of beautiful fabric. It was fun being with teenagers and their enthusiams and endless energy. Great time with my daughter (yes, priceless) and nice to be away from work for the day. I highly recommend you all try it sometime.

Enough Doom and Gloom!

Are you ready to get where you want to go?


I was reading the Wall Street Journal yesterday and in their real estate section, there was a blurb about Hillary Swank purchasing a 3.5 million dollar townhome, part of some new construction in New York. What struck me about this multi-unit building was that all the homes were selling and there was only one available to date. Without discounting today’s harsh realities, can’t we shed a little light on the fact that there are people with money (and not just movie stars), with cash, with the ability to get loans (at good rates) and there is much more selling & buying & even lending going on than the media would have you believe. It’s a great time to find a home and get a loan at a great interest rate. Right now! Right now there is a good selection of inventory, good interest rates and not a lot of competition from other Buyers. Although I hear that is changing in some areas and situations and we are seeing more multiple offers in our markets. For those of you still fencing sitting, no one is going to ring a bell when the market hits bottom! You have to figure out for yourself what is a good deal and what it is worth to make change in your life and get where you want to go.