Pre-Market Listing Opportunities in 2016

As part of the Alan Wang Realty Group network you have exclusive insider information on upcoming listings in red-hot neighborhoods.  If you or someone you know would like an off market opportunity to avoid competition let us know!  These listings will hit the market but have unique situations that could be a win/win for everyone.

  Highly Coveted Varsity Park Home in Mountain View with Los Altos Schools!

      In a prime location with a close commute to Linkedin and Google, quickly access Downtown Mountain View, walkable to Varsity Park excellent schools Springer, Blach, Mountain View/Los Altos High Schools.  Seller’s are looking for flexibility on the close date as they need to find another property in the same neighborhood, lots of potential

      http://alanwangrealty.com/IDX/Fordham-Way-Mountain-View-CA-94040/2224377976/0005610

Executive Almaden Home for a Large Family

      Executive San Jose Almaden property 4 Bedrooms and a bonus room, over 3,300 square feet of living space on a large 8,000 square foot lot, with a 3 car garage, excellent schools in a great neighborhood.  Seller’s looking for a flexible Buyer who can provide a rent back

http://alanwangrealty.com/IDX/Scaletta-Lane-and-Josslyn-Drive-San-Jose-CA-95120/2224387841/0005610

End Unit Townhouse in Morgan Hill

      Large End Unit Townhome at Creekside Village in Morgan Hill, oversized backyard, multiple amenities such as a clubhouse, pool, spa, sauna, exercise room, tennis courts, and children’s playground

http://alanwangrealty.com/IDX/Creekside-Circle-Morgan-Hill-CA-95037/2224397580/0005610

Sunnyvale Condominium Central Location

      Convenient Sunnyvale Condominium located in close proximity to Technology giants such as Apple, Linkedin and Google.  Quick access to highways and walkable to local park.  Attends Homestead High School.  Seller currently has a tenant in the property until August.  Contact us if you are interested in this opportunity

http://alanwangrealty.com/IDX/Corte-Madera-and-Ano-Nuevo-Sunnyvale-CA-94085/2224414317/0005610

2015 Silicon Valley Real Estate Year in Review

As we close out another great year for Bay Area real estate in the Silicon Valley, I wanted to take a moment to reflect upon 2015 and look onward to 2016.  It has been a more volatile year than previous years which makes our year end review much more detailed.

Looking Back to 2011

It was February 2011 when our market rebounded from the housing crisis.  Since then, home prices over the last 4 and a half years have aggressively pushed upward every year, with each home sold pushing over the sold price of the previous week through bidding wars.

2015 Hot Start

2015 started out with an absolute acceleration in home purchasing activity.  Buyers came in out in packs and multiple offers were abundant.  Winning offers were hundreds of thousands over list price and competition continued to heat up in all locations.  Due to the imbalance of low supply and high demand, homes sold in 1 week with double-digit number of Buyers and prices increased aggressively with every home sale.  Prime locations were San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.  As the prices increased Buyers were forced to further locations such as Alameda and Contra Costa Counties and drove prices up in those areas as well.

Profile of the 2015 Buyer

In previous years, cash investors from abroad especially China were commonplace.  In 2015, the Chinese government sealed many of the loopholes that were being leveraged, which has made it very difficult to generate the cash outflow to the United States.  Those that were able to get cash into the country and required a mortgage, the banks put another layer of restrictions on these funds requiring these funds to be in the United States in the Borrowers account for 2 to 3 months for what is called a “seasoning period” in order to combat money laundering.  The 2015 Buyer was more of the local Technology employees, many utilizing their stock options or restricted stock units towards their down payments.

Summer Cool Down Fall Slow Down

As summer approached the market began to cool as more inventory hit the market and Buyers’ were on hold due to high prices and summer holidays.  For the first time Seller’s noticed that their homes were not selling in a week, many took 30 or more days to sell.  This was a major adjustment as we were all used to 7 days being the average time a home would be on the market with multiple aggressive offers.  For those homes that had multiple offers, the prices were not as aggressive.  During this time period the Chinese stock market took a plunge and caused a panic in the US market as well, causing Buyers to further delay their home purchases.  The fall was also slower as days on market increased and Buyers were still sparse during this period of time.

Winter Rebound

Winter inventory shrunk to low levels as is typical of the season.  With this lower supply, homes some homes actually generated multiple offers at times depending on location while other continued with longer days on the market.

Trending in 2015

The most recent trend is that more and more companies are being founded and headquartered in San Francisco, which has driven home and rental prices up sharply.  The Peninsula continues to be a popular midpoint between San Francisco especially for dual income families where one spouse is at a startup in San Francisco while the other works for established companies such as Facebook, Google, Apple and Linkedin in the Southbay.  The other hot spots are in the San Jose Berryessa and Milpitas neighborhoods due to the fact that BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train line (http://www.vta.org/bart/timeline) is being extended to these destinations targeted for 2018.  These are also neighborhoods that are still quite affordable some with decent elementary schools.  As all of these neighborhoods have increased in pricing, more have opted for further commutes to Pleasanton, Dublin, Danville and San Ramon for better schools and great communities often sacrificing commute.

Areas with great school districts such as Palo Alto, Los Altos, Cupertino, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Millbrae, San Carlos, Belmont continue to be strong markets due to their top school rankings, convenient locations and low supply.

Looking Onto 2016

2016 was looking to be the year of leveling home prices given the slowdown from the summer months.  One would argue that home prices have been on the rise for 4 and a half years and due for a slow down.  Also the Federal Reserve is planning to raise interest rates imminently.  This will not immediately affect mortgage rates, but will eventually increase the rate of borrowing though likely just by a quarter percent.  The concern is partially psychological as Buyers often experience remorse by not getting the lowest rates, but from a practical standpoint it could also increase their monthly payments where they were already pushing their budgets to purchase.  The major wild card is that the technology sector continues to demonstrate growth.  There appears to be no slowdown in the hiring by the Technology giants in the area, which means a basic supply and demand problem that will keep rents high and create more Buyer interest for sparse real estate.  Also there are potential IPO’s coming from companies such as Airbnb, Pinterest, Snapchat, Palantir and Cloudera which will flood more liquidity into the real estate market.  2016 could be another year of price growth.

Thank You for Your Referrals!

We wanted to thank you for your support and referrals.  We are so pleased that the vision we set out 12 years ago to create a new customer centric partner Agent has resonated so well with you, your families, friends and colleagues.  We are firm believers that real estate is a business of relationships where we are your resource for a lifetime.  We tune our craft to ensure that we are the industry experts with the experience, knowledge and innovation necessary to ensure that you have the highest quality Agent working on your behalf and not trying to sell you but partner with you to achieve your real estate goals.  Without each and every one of you we would not have achieved being the third ranked team in the region for Keller Williams.

Join the Conversation on Linkedin! - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2015-silicon-valley-real-estate-year-review-alan-wang 

We wish your family a safe holiday season and a Happy New Year!

Regards,

Alan Wang Realty Group

Photo Source http://www.avascent.com/2015/01/defense-industry-could-benefit-as-liaison-between-silicon-valley-and-dod/

Silicon Valley Real Estate Cools Down September 2015 Update

Join the conversation on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/silicon-valley-real-estate-cool-down-september-2015-alan-wang

Since February of 2012 we have experienced an accelerated Seller’s market with the most aggressive Buyer activity-taking place from January through May of 2015.  Inventory has been extremely low throughout this period and Buyer demand was at all time highs driven by the potential of rising interest rates.

Hottest Markets

The San Francisco market leads the pack with their surging growth of startups and uniqueness of city living, this market continues to be resilient.  The next market are Southbay Prime Locations near established technology companies such as Google, Facebook and Linkedin.  The Peninsula emerged as the newest mid-point between San Francisco and Southbay jobs as often a family will have one spouse in each location.  As prices soared in these highly coveted locations, Buyers expanded their searches further south.  Eventually prices continued to push higher and out priced Buyers moved to the East Bay and pushed prices up in those areas as well.

Summer Real Estate Activity

In June and July the market showed signs of a cool down, namely less quantity of offers yet offers were still of high quality as a remnant of Buyers were still searching from the hotter months.  Inventory levels rose as they typically do in the summer months.  As we progressed, the market continued to slow further.  Bidding wars had exhausted Buyers as many were priced out and re-focused their attention on vacations and summer activities; Buyer demand subsequently dropped.

In August, Buyer’s were rattled by volatility in the stock market mainly from a shaky China market and speculation on the Federal Reserve’s possible increase in interest rates.  Until that moment we saw enormous growth and solid returns in the stock market.  Especially in the Silicon Valley where Buyers’ down payments are directly correlated to the value of stock options and restricted stock units, this caused many to put a hold on their purchase plans.  Offers dropped to single digits, and on some homes no offers came at all.   The typical home that sold in a week started to sit two to even four weeks.

In September, the Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates steady.  Even though the US economy economic indicators have been improving and our overall health is pointing in a positive direction, we are also a major player in the global economy.  Countries such as China and Europe continue to struggle and that ultimately affects our economy as well.  The interest rate hold should have been good news overall, yet surprisingly the uncertainty on timing has sent a chill through financial markets.  There is speculation that the rates will still increase this year and that speculation is causing nervousness amongst investors.  Once the rates do go up, this will directly affect interest rates on variable rates and equity lines that fluctuate with the prime rate.  More importantly, already out priced Buyers will see their mortgages increase which will further put pressure on affordability.  It is the psychology of Buyers that is worrisome, as many will feel that they did not catch the lowest rates.  Yet in the grand scheme of things, this is still the lowest interest rate we have ever seen even if it is a quarter point higher.

Looking forward to October there are some major regulatory changes coming to the lending industry.  This is called TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures.  In short a new disclosure will be provided for Buyers with some built in delays on various parts of the loan process.  Banks are anticipating some pains in complying with this new system that could slow down loan processing from October onward.  This could further dampen the market by literally slowing things down close times.

Seller Sentiments

This shift was especially tough for Sellers, as we have come to expect homes to sell in short periods of time and for prices grossly over list price in most areas.  For those on the market it was a tough adjustment to make as prices were coming in either at the last comparable and some even slightly under the last sold prices.  However, to focus on the short term would be short sighted.  Looking at the bigger picture as we passed three and a half years of aggressive price gains, Sellers are still able to capitalize on these enormous gains.  If you are a Seller there is a short window left to sell this year.  I would recommend taking your gains now if you are positioned to do so.

Buyer Opportunity

If you are one of those Buyers who became frustrated with this aggressive market, currently there is a window of opportunity for you.  The market is in a state of flux and Buyers are not as aggressive as they have been.  Buyers are offering at the last comparable sold price and often slightly lower.  The number of competitors has come down to a handful or none at all.  Sellers are nervous so it provides a nice opportunity for you as a Buyer to not have to go as aggressive on pricing and possibly reserve some contingency times where we have been unable to do so during times of fierce competition.  Those of you who had lower down payments, your offer might considered if you are the only offer on the table.  As a side note, rest assured that a great home in a great location will still sell quickly and with multiple offers.

In Closing

The market is cooling down but there is no free-fall at this juncture.  We anticipate that prices will level slowly over the next few years barring any major events in our economy or global events.  This is likely the first year in a long time that seasonality will actually come into effect.  In a normal market, the winter is typically a slower time due to the holidays.   This aggressive Buyer behavior was never sustainable and it would be refreshing to have some sense of normalcy and shift towards equilibrium in the marketplace.

July Market Update and New and Upcoming Listings

We hope that you and your family are having a wonderful summer and had an excellent 4th of July weekend!  July 4th is always a time to reflect on this wonderful nation that we live in.  The key take away is that because of the freedom that we have, we are blessed with endless opportunity to pursue our dreams.  So in as long as we work hard and keep ourselves focused towards our dreams, the possibilities are endless.  We are thankful for a country that enables us.

Market Shift in Progress

Buyers we know it has been a frustrating time over the last 3 years and even more frustrating in 2015 as competition accelerated.  We are pleased to announce that in the month of June, we have observed a slowdown in the Silicon Valley real estate market in certain pockets.  Now before you get too excited this does not mean that we immediately start offering $100,000 under the list price.  The market has slowed down as far as the amount of offers coming in are fewer and competition is less though many are still high in quality, prices are selling towards their previous high but not going over those previous baselines.  We have been seeing that homes in the $2M range have been initiating price drops which is unheard of in the last 3 years.  We have also been noticing homes in and around the $1M mark have also seen less activity as well.  New home builders once very confident are seeing homes left after a Saturday release where as there are typically camp outs and long wait lists.  Homes under $1M especially those under $600,000 continue to see a flurry of activity likely due to their affordable price points.

There are a few explanations for this slowdown.  The first is just the seasonality of summer, Sellers tend to sell in the summer, thereby flooding the market with more supply and creating more competition, while Buyers are taking time off to travel and occupied with the hustle and bustle of summer camps and time with kids they are taking a break as well.  The second possibility is that this is the beginning of a longer slowdown that will cause prices to level rather than their aggressive week to week increases as they have been over the last 3 and a half years.  This was always un-sustainable in our opinion.  Also on our minds is the Federal Reserves increase of interest rate which maybe coming end of this year.  It is too early to tell, but we will continue to monitor and provide an update as we see more as to which direction that this maybe trending.  Tied in with the first possibility of the summer slowdown is that the market picks back up in the fall which is possible as well.

Buyer and Seller Advice

We don’t know how long this slow down will last, but if you have been looking to buy it maybe a good time to re-enter as competition is less and we maybe able to get some below list offers accepted or at the least have less competition.  If you are a Seller likely you are pleased with your price gains.  It maybe a good time to exit as this market has been going on for some time and the question is did we just pass the peak?  We can't see into the future,  but we know the gains that you can take off the table right now.  Contact us for your personal analysis on your specific market.

New Listings

We are excited to present 2 new listings in San Jose and some upcoming ones as well!  Both properties will have Open Houses this Weekend from 1:30PM to 4:30PM come join us!

• 53 Mirabelli Circle in San Jose – This is a lovely unit right in the heart of North San Jose.  Walking distance to Cisco, Samsung, @First shopping center, Levi’s Stadium and Great America is steps away.  Companies such as Flextronics, Polycom and Broadcom are within biking distance.  Top floor corner end unit, bright, updated move-in ready great location for a primary or investment home

• 1265 Sundown Lane in San Jose – So many of our clients dream about living in a Single Family Home with a yard space, yet so many are priced out of that dream.  We are pleased that 1265 Sundown Lane in San Jose is for that Buyer who does not want the hassle of updating a home and wants to just move right in.  Sundown has been meticulously maintained and updated with an open floorplan, updated cabinets, generous use of granite, laminate and bamboo hardwood.  Too many upgrades to list come by to take a look

Coming Soon!

Contact us if you’d like an early preview on any of these properties.

• 2284 Avila Avenue in Santa Clara – Is available off market.  Owner poured her heart and soul into this property raised ceilings, slate, quartz, refinished hardwood floors, new bathrooms, this home was taken down to the studs and re-done.  If you are interested let us know!

• San Jose Single Family Home – 3 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom, 1338 Square Feet on a large 9,533 square foot lot.  Large bonus room between the garage and kitchen (permits unknown).  Many upgrades done, updated cabinets and granite countertops and bathrooms, tiled floors.  Target List Price in the $600,000’s
• Santa Clara Condominium – 1 Bedroom 1 Bathroom Condominium in Santa Clara 716 square feet.  Great investment or a primary home to stop paying rent and have appreciation potential and tax benefits.  Target List Price in the high $400,000’s

Thank you for all your trust over the years!  Have a great rest of the summer!

Pre-market Listings Coming Soon in Mountain View, Santa Clara and San Jose

As we kickoff the summer months I hope you are enjoying wrapping up the last days of school and hopefully spending more time with the family and enjoying our beautiful California weather.

Upcoming Listings

We are pleased to announce upcoming listings and you get to hear about them as part of the Alan Wang Realty Group preferred network.

• 445 Chagall Street in Mountain View – Another Mondrian listing will hit the market very soon.  Let us know if you would like a sneak peak at this 2 and a half year new townhome with over $70,000 spent in upgrades.  Located close to Downtown, right next door to companies such as Coursera and Mozilla and very near Google and Linkedin.  Stunning home with all the upgrades you would expect on a lovely property.  Call us for a sneak peak!
• 53 Mirabelli Circle in North San Jose – This top floor corner unit Condominium is located in the heart of Silicon Valley.  Walking distance to Cisco, steps away from Levi stadium, shopping centers and from companies such as Flextronics, Polycom and many more!  Light Rail, highways all quickly accessible from this lovely property.  Pergo floors in the main room, tiled floors in the bathrooms and upgraded carpets in the bedrooms.  Will be online in July, ask us about getting a sneak peak before it hits the market!
• 2284 Avila Avenue in Santa Clara – Very convenient location, located near Santa Clara University and quick access to Central Expressway and the San Jose Airport is accessible.  Owner poured a ton into this home and wants to find a great owner.  Property is great as a primary home or an investment as it garnishes solid rental prices.  Property is off market at the moment, the Seller is willing to hear serious offers schedule an appointment with us to take a look

Recent Publications

For those of you interested in more Real Estate related education, we have published some blogs for your consumption:

• How Loans, Appraisals, Down Payments and Deposits are intertwined - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-loans-appraisals-down-payments-deposits-intertwined-alan-wang 
• Why Cash is King in Real Estate - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-cash-king-real-estate-alan-wang
• May 2015 Real Estate Update - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/may-2015-silicon-valley-real-estate-update-alan-wang

Upcoming Trainings

Whether you are an agent, home buyer or seller, there are always great opportunities to learn and grow yourself.  In the month of June we have the following upcoming courses.

• Technology Tuesday Learn how to Manage Documents Online and Tie Them into Docusign
• What: Never print out a piece of paper again, do everything online, save time be more productive
• When: June 16th Tuesday, 11AM to 12PM
• Where: Keller Williams, 19400 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 200, Cupertino, CA, 95014
• How to Win in a Competitive Market
• What: Let’s face it, it is a cut throat market out there and the top Agents know how to win!  Come and learn how the top agent do this with ease!
• When: June 16th Tuesday, 1:30PM to 3:30PM
• Where: Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, 1651 N. First Street, San Jose, CA
• Content Marketing
• What: In this day and edge of social media, you must be your own PR department and shine as the subject matter expert, come learn how!
• When: 6/24 1PM to 2PM
• Where: Keller Williams, 19400 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 200, Cupertino, CA, 95014

Thank you for all of your support and partnership over the years and we look forward to continually serving your real estate needs.

Regards,

Alan Wang Realty Group

May 2015 Silicon Valley Real Estate Update

Here is our May 2015 Silicon Valley Real Estate Update! Join the conversation on Linkedin! https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/may-2015-silicon-valley-real-estate-update-alan-wang

Why Cash is King in Real Estate

Our latest blog on why cash is stronger than a loan offer for a home purchase.  Join the conversation on Linkedin!

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-cash-king-real-estate-alan-wang

Welcome Melissa Ryan to the Alan Wang Realty Group!

As any business grows and scales, there comes a time that one realizes that one can't do it all alone.  Our theme for 2015 is "Scalable Growth."  It has been challenging to figure out how to maintain the same high level of service and quality while also realizing that there are only so many hours in a day. The answer is to hire high quality talent and train them in the right methodologies.  I am pleased to add yet another member to our team today.  I am proud to introduce Melissa Ryan who has been at Keller Williams for over 9 years.  I am very honored that Melissa chose to join our team in order grow her career welcome to the team!

New Listings, Open Houses and Property Tax Reminder

I hope that Q1 has been good to you and your family.  My Q1 2015 Real Estate update is in progress so I will send that out shortly so stay tuned.  In three sentences I would say that we are in the most aggressive Seller’s market I have seen in my 12 year career.  If you are a Seller I would sell now while things are going well, as a Buyer let’s make sure we sit down and strategize how to win in this market.  Investors there are still a few locations that may get good rent, but overall flipping is a risky bet as there maybe a slowdown around the corner.

Interest Rates

I never imagined that interest rates would be at another low.  I am refinancing again, let me know if I should connect you with my loan agent to look at your loans.

New Listings and Open House Schedules this Weekend

• 2284 Avila Avenue in Santa Clara - www.2284Avila.com – This property has been taken down to the studs with a complete re-model with meticuluous detail.  High end upgrades throughout the home on a corner lot.  Property is open from 1PM to 4PM Saturday and Sunday
• 216 O’Keefe in Mountain View – www.216OKeefe.com – Highly coveted Townhome in the Mondrian community with over $80,000 in upgrades.  Located in Mountain View, steps away from Downtown Castro, Caltrain, Linkedin, Google, Mozilla, Coursera and so many more! The Open House is from 1:30PM to 4:30PM
• 3530 Oakwood Terrace in Fremont – www.3530Oakwood.com – Ground floor Condominium with tasteful updates, an oversized balcony that overlooks the greenbelt and pool.  Community is private and gated don’t miss this gem!  Open house from 1PM to 4PM

Property Taxes are Deliquent on 4/10

A reminder that property taxes are deliquent on 4/10 and the county is NOT flexible on dates so avoid a penalty pay today!  For your convenience here are the links to the county websites:

• Santa Clara County - https://payments.sccgov.org/propertytax/Secured
• San Mateo County - http://www.sanmateocountytaxcollector.org/index.html
• Alameda County - http://www.acgov.org/propertytax/
• Contra Costa County - https://tcpws2.co.contra-costa.ca.us/taxpaymentrev3/lookup/
• San Francisco County - https://gate.link2gov.com/sfpropertytax/PropertySearch.aspx?TaxType=Secured

I wish you the best for the rest of the year.  Thank you for all of your trust as of this month this will be my 12th year in the business and none of this would have been possible without your support and referrals!

Regards,

Alan

KW Leadership Award and Top Associate in Closed Units and Production

We are pleased to announce that Alan Wang takes home the Keller Williams Cupertino Leadership award and Top Associate in Closed Units and Production!  Thank you all for your continued support!

Give the Fat Boy a Chance

It was another beautiful summer afternoon in the Silicon Valley.  Many employees gathered after work to play basketball near one of the main gyms on campus.  We went through and did the free throw shoot around to determine teams.  As I looked at my teammates, one of them stood out to me.  He stood about 6 foot 3 and must have been about 300+ pounds.   As the game began, I was running point and doing my job of distributing the ball around to my teammates to set the flow of the game.  As I guarded my opponent, I timed his crossover and punched the ball out for a turnover.  I start running down the court looking for any trailers on my team.  As I looked up there he was, jogging down opposite side of me.  I did an overhead pass to him and with a grace I had not expected he glides down the lane, finger rolls the ball gracefully off the backboard right in for the score.  He turns around back down court, put his hands up, shrugged his shoulders and hollered out “give the fat boy a chance, give the fat boy a chance!”

People are More Than Search Criteria

How often do we as human beings judge those around us?  With the abundance of information on the Internet and now our dependence on mobile devices, there is a firehose of information that is grasping for our attention every millisecond of the day.  In order to make sense of this large distorted unstructured quantity of information, we naturally compartmentalize, modularize and filter down this information so that we can process it.  This is at the core of why search is such a powerful tool in whatever software or applications that we depend on in our daily lives.  However, we as a society have boxed ourselves in with this way of thinking.

The Home Buyer

I got off a call with a potential real estate client and it dawned on me how much this is ingrained in us.  The majority of new customers I interview in that first requirements meeting, often immediately jump to the search parameters right away, rather to what they are really looking for.  The question I love to ask is what is your dream home and what does that look like.  Customers often get stumped and take a moment, but then the real story comes flowing through as they are allowed to dream a bit.  In that daydream is where I get the humanity of the person rather than the mechanical search criteria’s we are so programmed to enter into a web form.  Because at the core of a person you will find what they are really looking for and often that which they didn’t even know about themselves.  You find for the parent they are looking for a safe area and yard space for their children to play, a neighborhood of kids, a great school for their kids to thrive or a fully re-modeled home that requires little work.  The younger working professional is the complete opposite of the parent and really wants to live in a place surrounded by festivities, be close to work, wants newer properties with very low maintenance.   You may meet the retiree that have been through both of those phases and are thinking about how to structure their home for their children, having trouble handling the large amount of yard work or paying off the home and minimizing the tax burden as they no longer have income.  These are some examples of what we as human beings think and worry about in our lives and it is so much more than boxes in a search form.

Great Job but…

I once interviewed a candidate for a development position.  He had all the right skillsets, tools and experiences that we needed.  At the time the decision was to put him in a contractor position.  So we put this person at the forefront, developing the core of our system.  A year later, his work was front and center of production code and literally very few bugs where found.  I then advocated that we should bring this person on full time.  The answer I got was the school he went to would never pass our high standard for hiring.  I could not believe this answer.  This type of thinking is weeding out a large amount of ambitious talent that may not have had the resources or desire at one point in their lives but have evolved and found it at a later time.  In your companies’ battle for talent, try to see past the standard checkboxes.  There are many talented people that are hungry and looking for an opportunity.

Top Talent

Having worked at Technology companies for over 13 years, I have watched hiring practices play out in day-to-day execution.  Companies in the valley focus on this idea of “top talent” often defined by a narrow set of degrees with a narrow set of top schools.  What I have seen is that there is a high quality of smart individuals brought in but they often end up working on mundane tasks.  There are a limited amount of top priority cutting edge R&D projects as compared to the bugs that need to be fixed in existing code every day.  Why are we so obsessed with finding top talent?  In fact a staggered team makes more sense so that not everyone is not for the same promotions.  A tiered team of Junior, Mid-level, Senior and Architects would also ensure there is work that is challenging for each level and encourages collaboration to help each other improve their skills together.

Measuring Heart

I will never forget an interview candidate that I was interviewing for an Engineering position.  Question after question he could not get to the answers that I was asking.  At the end of the interview I was perplexed and I was a sure no on this candidate.  A few days later my Manager and I de-briefed and I mentioned how he could not answer any of my questions.  My Manager looked up at me with a confused look as he had asked similar questions to mine and the candidate passed with flying colors.   We both stopped for a moment and concluded that he studied and learned Unix in a day.  In many companies my “no” would have meant this candidate would not have gotten the job and we would have continued looking.  But in this instant, we saw the passion and work ethic of this individual and decided this was a person worth bringing on-board.  Just a few years later, this hard working employee climbed the ranks quickly and is now a principal engineer.  To think we would have missed out on this talent if we had followed standard protocol.

Look Around You

Look around you at your peers, those you manage, your family and your friends.  Do any of these people have the potential to be that top talent you have been desperately looking for?  A true leader identifies undervalued talent and turns them into superstars.  Is there someone around you looking for a chance to show you that they can do the job with passion, heart and effectiveness?  Give them a chance and they just might exceed your expectations.

PS> If you were the teammate who I played with so many years ago, send me a message I’d love to catch up, you inspire me!

The source of this blog can be viewed on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/give-fat-boy-chance-alan-wang