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“A well thought out estate plan is an act of love for yourself and your beneficiaries”. So says my guest Loulena Miles. 

Loulena Miles has been practicing law as a licensed California Attorney since 2003.  In our conversation today we will be discussing a very thin slice of California law - stepped-up tax basis. Loulena was a guest previously, on episode 32 of the show, when our conversation covered the basics of estate planning, and the different main documents that are involved in an estate plan. You are highly encouraged to listen to that episode as well - click here for the link. 

Loulena began her career in public policy in Washington DC working for the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. Following completion of her law degree, graduating in the top of her class at Golden Gate University, she worked as the Staff Attorney at Tri-Valley CAREs practicing environmental law and public policy. She then worked in private practice as an Associate Attorney at Adams, Broadwell, Joseph and Cardozo in South San Francisco with a focus on administrative law. Most recently, before forming Miles and Torres Associates, Loulena assisted senior citizens with legal issues including maintaining housing, healthcare and financial solvency. She is a Strauss Scholar and a New Voices Ford Foundation Fellow. She presented at the United Nations in New York and Geneva and the World Social Forum in Mumbai, India. She holds a certification in conflict resolution and mediation. She was awarded Witkin and Cali awards for top academic performance in Wills and Trusts, Criminal Law, Legal Research and Writing, Negotiations and Toxics Law and Policy. Loulena Miles is a member of East Bay Trust and Estate Lawyers and is currently serving on the nonprofit board of Tri-Valley CAREs.

Click here for a link to Loulena's law firm, Miles & Torres PC

Ideas for the show or to want just to support us? Send us a text!

It’s a lovely weekend to visit Open Homes!

We’re  happy to provide a complete list of *all Inner-East Bay open homes for this weekend, please click here.

*Areas covered: Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, Albany, Kensington, El Cerrito, Richmond, El Sobrante, Pinole, Hercules, Crockett.

For Open Homes limited mostly to the Berkeley area, we're happy to share the ‘Adreview’. The Adreview is a private Berkeley publication of open homes. It has a pleasant format but is by no means an exhaustive list of open homes in the Inner-East Bay. 

For this week’s Saturday Open Homes ‘Ad Review’ please click here.

For this week’s Sunday Open Homes ‘Ad Review’ please click here. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact us about property listed here, we’re happy to answer your questions!

For the printed data referenced in this podcast please reach out to [email protected]

Declan Spring is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01398898

Ideas for the show or to want just to support us? Send us a text!

It’s a lovely weekend to visit Open Homes!

We’re  happy to provide a complete list of *all Inner-East Bay open homes for this weekend, please click here.

*Areas covered: Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, Albany, Kensington, El Cerrito, Richmond, El Sobrante, Pinole, Hercules, Crockett.

For Open Homes limited mostly to the Berkeley area, we're happy to share the ‘Adreview’. The Adreview is a private Berkeley publication of open homes. It has a pleasant format but is by no means an exhaustive list of open homes in the Inner-East Bay. 

For this week’s Saturday Open Homes ‘Ad Review’ please click here.

For this week’s Sunday Open Homes ‘Ad Review’ please click here. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact us about property listed here, we’re happy to answer your questions!

For the printed data referenced in this podcast please reach out to [email protected]

Declan Spring is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01398898

Ideas for the show or to want just to support us? Send us a text!

It’s a lovely weekend to visit Open Homes!

Quick shout out to Kevin Roose, co-host of The NY Times podcast Hard Fork, along with Casey Newton, and my guest on Episode 16 of the podcast, for keeping their audience current on what's happening on the wild frontier of tech, and the inspiration for the format of this Weekend Open Homes & Market Analysis.

We’re  happy to provide a complete list of *all Inner-East Bay open homes for this weekend, please click here.

*Areas covered: Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, Albany, Kensington, El Cerrito, Richmond, El Sobrante, Pinole, Hercules, Crockett.

For Open Homes limited mostly to the Berkeley area, we're happy to share the ‘Adreview’. The Adreview is a private Berkeley publication of open homes. It has a pleasant format but is by no means an exhaustive list of open homes in the Inner-East Bay. 

For this week’s Saturday Open Homes ‘Ad Review’ please click here.

For this week’s Sunday Open Homes ‘Ad Review’ please click here. 

Please don’t hesitate to contact us about property listed here, we’re happy to answer your questions! 

For the printed data referenced in this podcast please reach out to [email protected]

Declan Spring is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01398898

Ideas for the show or to want just to support us? Send us a text!

During his almost 30 years in real estate, David Gunderman has become the most successful agent in his area, a true industry leader, and in 2022, the Gunderman Group became the third-highest volume producing group in all of Keller Williams. 

Dedicated to the “chosen family” model of business, David has gathered a team with deep roots in the community—a group of highly-skilled professionals who believe that every choice, every decision, every action they take must be steeped in strategy, awareness, and respect for each client’s unique life circumstances.

David’s many life experiences have contributed to his unique style, skill set, wisdom, and success. In our conversation, David and I discuss his background, career in theater, the various life experiences that inform his values, team building, advice to newer agents, consumer changes during his career, and industry changes to the purchase process since new NAR rules recently came into effect.   

You can find the Gunderman Group on the web here, and on Instagram here.

David Gunderman is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01313613

Declan Spring is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01398898 

Ideas for the show or to want just to support us? Send us a text!

It's been two weeks since my last podcast, The Dawn Of A New Era of Real Estate Practice. I recorded that podcast on the eve of August 17, a day before new rules came into effect from the National Association of REALTORS® that decouple compensation to the Buyer's Broker from the Residential Listing Agreement, and most Multiple Listing Services, and put the burden of responsibility for compensation to the Buyer's Broker on the Buyer in the form of a Buyer Representation and Broker Compensation Agreement. If you haven’t listened to that 11 minute episode I encourage you to do so. It will provide context for this episode. This episode is similarly short and, again, I don’t have a guest. For efficiency, It’s just my voice again following up with notes on what I’ve seen and what seems to be emergent over the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!

There's a lot of information packed into this short episode. For convenience, please find a transcript to the episode here.

For Buyers: Please find a guide from the National Association of REALTORS® here.

For Sellers: Please find a guide from the National Association of REALTORS® here.

Declan Spring is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01398898

Ideas for the show or to want just to support us? Send us a text!

Starting August 17 we enter into a new era of real estate practice in terms of how the buyer's broker gets compensated for the hard work of the individual buyer’s agent.

There's a lot of information packed into this short episode. For convenience, please find a transcript to the episode here.

I’m going to keep strictly to the facts here. This is not the right time or place to offer an opinion, or to speculate about how all of the following will unfold. Frankly, it will take several months at minimum for each State, each region, each metro, each city, and possibly even each neighborhood to find their new normal.

Although these changes are national, I can only discuss the forms that we’re using in California since I’m licensed only in California and have access only to the California Association of Realtors forms library.

For Buyers: Please find a guide from the National Association of REALTORS® here.

For Sellers: Please find a guide from the National Association of REALTORS® here.

Declan Spring is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01398898

Ideas for the show or to want just to support us? Send us a text!

Ideas for the show or to want just to support us? Send us a text!

Jodi Nishimura is a top producing East Bay Realtor® and the founder of Kai Real Estate.

Jodi has earned several distinctions both locally and nationally. Most recently, she is in the top 1% of Realtors® for the East Bay and was a recipient of Real Trends America’s “Best” designation — landing her in the top 0.5% of all real estate agents nationwide.

Jodi and I talk her upbringing in Hawaii, her background in education, and her eventual move to the Bay Area after stints in Japan, and New York. Jodi's journey into real estate started as an investor, then as a Realtor®, culminating more recently in the founding of her own brand, Kai Real Estate, with an office on Solano Avenue in Berkeley.

We talk about the value of coaching, the mental block that local Realtors® sometimes have with recognizing themselves as sales people, her decision to launch Kai Real Estate, why it is that Kai is attractive to newer licencees, the value that Realtors® bring to their local community, and the value and benefits of working with Jodi.

In Jodi's own words, her favorite part of the work is "The gratification of helping clients make wise decisions that impact their future, the gratitude and humility that comes with being trusted by them to do so, and the joy in partnering with them in this part of their life’s journey."

Jodi Nishimura is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE# 01762935
Declan Spring is a licensed CA REALTOR® DRE#01398898 

Ideas for the show or to want just to support us? Send us a text!

Pleasure and joy might be deemed frivolous by society at large but according to Katie Macks they are your birthright.

Katie Macks is a leadership coach, and her brand is Audacious Leadership.

From Katie's website: "Audacious leadership values our differences and creates an environment of belonging. We value and fortify one another with dignity, respect, and love and we’re changing the way business gets done! We are ushering in a new paradigm of leadership and business practices that changes the way we relate in our businesses and in our lives."

Katie's message and coaching will be of benefit to anyone listening, but for real estate agents there's the added bonus that Katie was a top-producing real estate agent in a past life so she really understands and can empathize with the personal challenges faced by real estate agents. 

To schedule a 30 minute alignment call with Katie at no cost please click here.