Jan Skrentny

An old friend of mine asked me to come to the Northern Virginia to help them look for a new home in horse country.

As a licensed California Real Estate Agent, I can list and sell anywhere our diverse state. But I have no professional standing in Virginia except that I know the questions to ask to help my friend get the necessary information on HOA (Home Owner Association) rules, zoning, taxes, septic systems, water rights, construction codes, historic excavation sites, drainage, and, not to overlook, the best price for the property. Like agents in California, some of the Virginia agents we dealt with were very forthcoming with information while others only answered the questions they are asked.

In my opinion you’re better off with the former.

However, the point of this page is that at the same time I was in Northern Virginia, in Lake Arrowhead I had an escrow closing, two clients wanting to write offfers, another escrow running into some bumps, and one new client wanting to know information on property that had just come onto the market and I had not seen.

As I have written before, Prime Properties is a boutique agency. We have ten agents, all ten of whom I know well, especially their strengths – construction, landscaping, decorating, appraising, contracts, commercial property, repoes, dealings with banks, people skills. I am fortunate that I could pick between them for the qualities I needed most to help my clients even though I was physically not there.

Of course I was on the phone with my clients all the time but when they needed to view a property in person, submit an offer, investigate an inspection problem, get keys after a closing – I had skilled people to back me up; as I would back them up if the situation were reversed.

My broker at Prime Properties is Jeff Perls. Jeff has been a real estate agent for 25 years. During that time he has seen the good, the bad and the really ugly of real estate happen in the San Bernardino mountains.

A year ago, Jeff came up with a new concept for real estate; he calls it Transforming Real Estate.

So how do we transfor real estate? Well, to proverbially put his money where his mouth is, Jeff bougth an old, run-down gas station on the corner of Hwy 189 and Daley Canyon, truly an eye-sore and transformed it, made it into an utterly beautiful building (“eye-popping”) which is our new office as well as the Lake Arrowhead Welcome Center.

The building is like a giant living room with comfortable seating, music, a fire place, sitting garden, fountains, large screen video projection. Not a cubical or desk in sight. The idea here is to be helpful: answer questions, give out information, help those who come in better focus their ideas on what is important for them and their families.

Jeff has also gathered an eclectic group of agents: Interior designers, builders, commercial developers, landscape planners, engineers, accountants and me – a former Hollywood screenwriter and film maker for PBS, The Smithsonian and National Geographic.

We help each other do the best job for our clients from buying land, designing a home, building, remodeling, improving exterior design or finding the perfect home be it horse property, view property, lake front property, secluded property.

Here’s the scoop: for most agents real estate is just about making money – it’s very gratifying to be helpful, too.

When you come to Lake Arrowhead or the surrounding communities stop by the Welcome Center and let us welcome you.

Every Thursday morning hundreds of real estate agents in the Lake Arrowhead area get up early to ready themselves for the rigors of…”Touring” otherside known as “Agent’s Tour Day.”

This is the day we go out to see new listings. Often times the listing agent will serve food or have a drawing for dinner, bottles of wine, Angels tickets in an effort to attract agents to see their listing. Why would they do that?

Well, you see, usually, agents sell you your home. You give them the criteria: number of bedrooms, garage or not, on the lake and they make the choices of what you’ll see or not see. Some of the big companies prefer to show you just their listings – they’re big, have big overhead and you get the picture.

Smaller agencies are inclined to show you everyone’s listings. Agents are your gate-keepers of information. And in real estate – information is power.

On Friday mornings some of us tour Crestline listings – that is a neighboring community. There are not as many of us because Crestline prices aren’t as high and therefore neither are commissions. You get the picture again, I’ll bet.

The motto of one agent from a big company is: “I’ll drive anywhere.” And she does. She’s a very good agent. You really want a very good agent to represent you – it’s just finding her or him that’s the trick.