Discussions about the current options available to Real Estate consumers that want to find, buy, and/or sell real estate. Plus opinions from the author and readers regarding the Real Estate Industry.
What client services are included when a home seller works with a Full-Service Realtor to list a home for sale?
Agent-2-Agent Networking - Yes
MLS Listing- YES
Advertise Property - Yes
Negotiate And Manage The Sale - YES
Show property to other agents clients - ???
Showing a property to other agents clients is a hot debate among Realtor groups and real estate consumers. This extra service from the listing Agent answers the demand of home buyers who want to see a property before they buy it and then submit an offer through a Discount Broker. Before the Internets' transparent introduction of letting home buyers view MLS listings and Open Houses on their own, the Buyers Agent would accompany the buyer and show the property. Now a relationship with a Buyers Agent, is less of a requirement, to find a home.
Touring homes with Redfin participating as the home buyers agent is done through a service called Redfin Direct. The first tour, for up to three hours, is free and there is no obligation whatsoever to use Redfin as the agent. Future tours are $125 per home or $250 for a three-hour tour. Also Redfin explains:
Calling a listing agents or touring a property on your own is easy and listing agents are typically happy to show the homes they are representing to qualified buyers. For first-timers, Redfin offers an outline of what to say on the call, and a spiffy one-page Redfin introduction for you to print and show the listing agent once you do the tour.
Kevin Boer explains via his comments on the Refin Blog that there isn't an obligation to show property to other agents clients. Keep in mind - don't shoot the messenger.
...though it seems really, really, really screwy to folks outside the industry, as it stands now, the listing agent does not have an obligation to show the property, and if he/she does, it's going above and beyond...
Even though it's not a legal obligation to make oneself available to show the property on behalf of a missing Buyers Agent, I feel it should be a moral obligation. The owner and Agent have an interest to sell the house. A licensed Realtor in this situation should set an appointment to show the property and allow the home buyer(s) to tour the property by appointment.
If you're working with an Agent to sell your home make sure to ask how they will handle home buyers that choose to tour homes without a Buyers Agent.
Change happens fast and it's getting faster. The real estate industry boundaries are starting to give way to the advancements in technology and transparency into the Basic Steps Of A Real Estate Transaction. This openness is creating momentum towards a larger and more dynamic international market for the Internet homebuyers and global investors of residential and commercial real estate.
The reasons for rapid improvement: Higher securitization levels, higher cross-border flows, and the introduction of more indices of listed (public) and unlisted (private) real estate performance.
If your looking to become more knowledgeable in the international real estate field check out the The Little Book of Real Estate Definitions authored by Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL).
Also take note of www.joneslanglasalle-dictionary.com it covers all aspects of the real estate terms discussed in the "Little Book of Real Estate Definitions" for FREE (Tools Listed Below). How very thoughtful of JLL, considering they had revenue of approximately $1.4 billion in 2005.
Country Terms: Don't understand SEPP in Australia or first-tier city in China? Learn what real estate terms are unique to each Asia Pacific country.
Market Practices: Find all the specific market information: lease terms, rental payments, charges, property taxes and lease disposal.
Metric Conversion Tools: Here is your instant calculator. Just enter the value you want to convert, and select the measure you want to convert.
Office Building Grades: This section will provide you a glimpse of the real estate scenario in each country.
Definitions Glossary: Find out about unique real estate terms used in different countries.
NeighborhoodScout provides real estate search resources for homebuyers looking to buy a home, condo, or property in the neighborhoods that meets a consumers personalized search criteria needs. This Patent protected search engine is available on a subscription basis; However ZipRealty will gladly pay for you to take advantage of the service for Free.
NeighboorhoodScout helps answer one of the first questions most homebuyers ask when looking for a home. "So, where should we focus our house search if we want to live in a neighborhood that has [Fill In The Blank] and doesn't have [Fill In The Blank]."
Note: NeighborhoodScout Real Estate and Relocation Services
This neighborhood search tool is probably the best resource for an online word-of-mouth experience of researching unfamiliar areas. Just remember that technology is not a spoken communication like you would get working with a Realtor, although web dialogue, such as "blogs, message boards and emails" are now included in the Wiki discussion. NeighborhoodScout uses nearly 200 characteristics to build a neighborhood profile for each and every neighborhood (Census Tract) in America. These profiles are created from data mined sets of information captured by the U.S. CensusBureau, the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the U.S. Geological Service, etc. So what type of data does that include: school quality, housing costs, crime rates, income levels, the age, size and style of homes, the density of buildings, rental areas versus owner occupied, the proportion of families with children, the ages of persons in the neighborhood, ethnic and racial makeup, educational levels, languages spoken, types of careers of those living in the neighborhood, numbers of farms, coastal setting, and more.
If you are looking for good schools combined with reasonable home prices within 20 miles of New York City, NeighborhoodScout will uncover the best matching neighborhoods in your price range in less than five seconds using its patented search technology that reveals results to the sub-zip code level, so the best options are never missed. Want to find the neighborhoods within 30 miles of downtown Las Vegas with the highest appreciation rates, yet which are still affordable? NeighborhoodScout will instantly map your results so you know exactly where to buy from among the many hundreds of neighborhoods in the Las Vegas area.
Another service from the Location Inc. Group is HometownGuides.com a nationwide resource of local information that allows you to instantly view social and community information for the city of your choice.
Google has now completed the Beta version of its Blogger service. New features include drag-and-drop template editing, posting article labels, and more. I've been waiting to switch over to the significantly better Blogger version because I wanted to keep the same URL's and avoid broken links. The process of switching the Tour Sheet Blog to the new Blogger version is a bit of a challange because I need to go back and "label" each article post and decide on the best available layout templates for the site organization.
I want to use the labels feature to add value and simplify the online real estate consumers search for information. Im still thinking of how I can take advantage of "post labels" which are perfect for indexing the articles I have written.
The way you draw a house says a lot about your personality, according to DrawAHouse.com. After you draw your home answer some quesions based on your drawing - then find out what your house says about you.
Also the best looking, most imaginative houses are added to the Hall of Fame
What better way to celebrate the holidays than by purchasing a home of your own. To help increase homeownership opportunities during this holiday season, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is launching the "FHA Brings the Holidays Home" sales campaign.
Homebuyers who purchase a HUD-owned home and finance the purchase with an FHA-insured loan will be entitled to valuable sales incentives including:
$2,500 Holiday Home Improvement Allowance
$500 Selling Broker Bonus
Minimum Required Downpayment of Only $100
The incentives are effective for HUD homes sold between Friday, December 8, 2006 and Friday, January 5, 2007.
In addition to the special holiday sales incentives, buyers may also receive a credit for up to three percent (3%) of closing costs, a benefit HUD provides on most of its home sales.
2RealEstateAuctions.com is a Google Map mashup built with eBay's API. It displays live eBay listings from Real Estate Auctions. One great feature is that the site allows users to view the listings next to the highest bid count - alerting the internet homebuyer of a strong demand and possible bargin. Also, U.S. Census data for housing & occupancy near the home is available.
If your wanting to view more auction inventory take a look at Realty Bid it is not a mashup filter of eBay Real Estate Listings. It is an auction site that works with real estate agents, corporations and banks to accelerate the sale of real estate. The site is for "motivated sellers, but not necessarily desperate sellers. All properties offered on RealtyBid.com are required to have discounted minimum reserve prices as compared to the list price." Note: RealtyBid.com is designed to be a tool for real estate agents only. The site is a Non-For-Sale-By-Owner (NFSBO) site.
In October, RealtyBid.coms monthly inventory of properties up for auction nationwide topped more than 1,000 for the second time in four months. Octobers inventory of 1,038 properties was an increase of 427 percent over October 2005. Source: Denver Post
We try to fill the need by providing houses, by promoting the building of houses, planning the whole architectural enterprise. However hard and bitter, ... The real dwelling plight lies in this, that mortals ever search anew for the nature of dwelling, that they must ever learn to dwell... Rightly considered and kept well in mind, it is the sole summons that calls mortals into their dwelling
Not every building is a dwelling.
"In what way does building belong to dwelling? A bridge may serve as an example ... The bridge swings over the stream with case and power. It does not just connect banks that are already there. The banks emerge as banks only as the bridge crosses the stream. The bridge designedly causes them to lie across from each other. One side is set off against the other by the bridge."
<-- The "concrete bathtub" bridge over the Elbe River in Germany. Also located in Falkirk, Scotland - A giant wheel lifts and lowers canal boats from one canal to another. The move is about 200 feet. When you watch the Falkirk Wheel video here is what to expect.
"Build your ad once. Get it on several top classifieds sites. Free."
Postlets are category-specific ads that you build just once and then they are automatically posted on several top classifieds sites quickly and easily. Postlets are currently available for cars & trucks, housing rentals and real estate. My favorite feature of Postlets is that it generates hosted HTML code that can be used (cut & paste) to post your ad on other classifieds sites such as craigslist and LiveDeal as well as on your blog or email newsletters.
Also make sure to review: Postlets Plus - a website dedicated to your property listing. It gives you all of the good things you've come to expect from postlets plus:
Multi-page listing.
Huge photos.
Integrated mapping.
School info and mortgage calculator.
Virtual/video tour and external links.
No advertising next to ad.
Another option to look at is the SinglePropertySites tool that allows you to make a website devoted solely to the property. SinglePropertySites is mainly used by Realtors but they also have a FSBO platform available. You can log in to your free account, create a website (no obligation, no contracts, no charge). Then you will see a FSBO option from the site build wizard. Simply choose the FSBO to build your FSBO site.
Some are predicting that by the end of the decade at least 80 percent of home listings across the country will be available on Google or some other searchable Web site. Source: MSNBC
A side note: Technology will simply allow inventory to be more accessible to consumers using the Internet.
With this news and Zillow's move into property listings - more brokers will start sending listings to search sites such as Google Base or Zillow. For that reason - I've added Google.Base to the TourSheet Blog 'index' page for Consumer Links.
Wow~! Take a look at these stats on negative amortization (or "pay option") mortgages in today's L.A. Times. This real estate stat is a bit scary - if the individual is unaware of the possible effect of just paying the minimum payment each month.
New negative amortization mortgages in California:
2003 -- 8 of every 1,000
2005 -- 1 in 5
2006 -- 1 in 3
Note: To all with this type of loan - Negative amortization starts when the mortgage payment is smaller than the interest due and that causes your loan balance to increase rather than decrease. Not sure if your loan has negative amortization - usually you can find an 800 number on your statement each month to call and ask questions.
Hey there, thanks for coming back to hang out. I found a cool site and want to share GreatBuildings.com. Here you can find pictures, 3D models, and links to structures of all kinds. A great resource to view architecture from around the world and designs from leading architects throughout history.
As a homebuyer what are the most popular web sites to find homes for sale? I just thumbed through the 2006 Realtor Technology Survey, conducted by NAR's Center for REALTOR Technology in May 2006 - I remembered a graph and posted it below.
Obviously, the survey is dated but it shows that Agents place the majority of their listings with a local MLS site, the brokers site, Realtor.com and their own site.
"The fact is that buyers buy from the available inventory:" Gregg Swann
The MLS is an inventory. It is not universal, and a huge number of homes sold are not MLS-listed. Craigslist has an inventory. Zillow will have an inventory. Having a fairly comprehensive inventory is important to Realtors, but...
...The fact is, although there might be 45,000 homes in the Arizona Regional Multiple Listings Service right now, when I go out to show houses, I will have (those) listings with me... When buyers are ready to buy, they will buy from whatever inventory is available from the vendor they have decided to buy from. If they are convinced FSBOs are a bargain, the 29 houses on Craigslist just trumped my 45,000.
With Zillow's free "Post Any Home For Sale" feature, it might become a new oppurtunity for fraudulent real estate advertisers. "In a effort to separate themselves from these false advertising concerns" - The Real Estate Group NY, who is a member of REBNY, publicly states on their website a guarantee that all the properties they list "are accurate and currently available according to the information provided to us by the property owners". (Realated REBNY Article)
Will Smith acts as a dating coach in the 2005 movie Hitch. Who, for a fee, helps men woo the women of their dreams. This service style of a coach is nothing new to the Realtor/Client relationship and it looks to be growing in popularity with consumers. So as a consumer how do you make sure that your unique needs are going to be served? What role will you play in the processes of searching for a home, negotiating the transaction, getting financing, or handle the transfer of ownership, etc.?
As Galen Ward of Seattle's Rain City Guide explains:
We are leaving the time of the agent-"leads"-consumer model in the real estate industry and we are entering the time of the agent-"coaches"-consumer model.
If your getting ready to sell or buy real estate - here are some things you should think about before taking the next step. Remember, a good coach will provide the client with the necessary support and structure needed to help realize the participants dreams.
Define the Communication Performance: Make sure that an expected Turn Around time is understood. Ask great questions and explain your decision-making strategies.
Define Team Strategies: Alerts of new homes on the market, Neighborhood and community information for properties you find on or off the MLS, Advice while working with transaction service partners (lenders, appraisers, lawyers, escrow, fees), Access to property walk-through times/lockbox access.
Talk About Barriers to Performance: Set expected availability hours, Emergency contact availability
Manage each others emotional state while working together - close to the purchase agreement you might start lacking sleep. Make sure to use respect in all situations.
Mentor: Work with a Realtor that can lead or coach by experience.
A seasoned real estate professional might be the ever so valuable "wing" on your team to help catch the home or homebuyer that you're looking for!. Bonus: Teaching you how to do it yourself along the way ~!.
Zillow is one of the top five most-visited real estate sites on the Web (according to Hitwise), with 3 to 4 million people visiting each month. Of these visitors, more than 85 percent are homeowners and more than half plan to buy or sell a home in the next 24 months. If you have a house for sale than why wouldn't you -the Selling Side - advertise it for free on Zillow?
Make Me Move Price (view it): Once you set your Make Me Move price, potential buyers can contact you anonymously via e-mail. Then it's up to you whether or not to sell your home.
Real Estate Wiki (view it): Contribute and share knowledge with others. This particular wiki is devoted to all aspects of real estate.
Update: More Real Estate Consumer Tools When You Register and get access to "My Zillow".
Use My Zillow to:
Track your favorites — Once you find a favorite home, add it to My Zillow to keep up-to-date on its Zestimate home valuation.
Create and save your own estimates — For any favorite you've saved, you can create your own estimate using My Estimator.
Manage your account — Update your communication preferences, e-mail account and password.
Claim Your Home — Claim ownership of your home, then customize your Home Details page and make it your own.
As the owner, you can:
Update facts about your home — Since we get lots of data from public records, the facts may occasionally be outdated or wrong. Set the record straight by editing your home facts.
Create your own estimate — Start with the Zestimate, but you can fine-tune it with your own estimate by adding information such as a remodel.
Quick press play and check out the Birdy Nam Nam crew. Its a DJ group from France whose members are Crazy-B, DJ Pone, DJ Need, and Little Mike. I listen to all types of music but saw this on YouTube and just loved the scratch - so I had to share. Is it me or do you hear some Kronos Quartet mixed into the beat?
Also if your looking to read the latest gossip - click over to TMZ.com I find the best way to navigate TMZ is the category toolbars on the left side of the website.
LowerFees Inc. provides real estate consumers with fee transparency and reduces the confusion about the charges during a real estate transaction. The web portal is an "open marketplace" to breakdown complicated vendor fees for closing costs. In other words it provides a Good Faith Estimate for the transaction that compares fees from multiple vendors (line item by line item).
With consumers being charged as much as $55B in real estate closing costs last year, LowerFees is positioned to help save up to $21B in junk fees. Source: LowerFees Inc.
The bottom line is that LowerFees.com compares fees from local vendors, allowing consumers to make educated real estate decisions.
LowerFees.com currently offers the following products to aid the consumer:
Through the website's database of more than 10,000 real estate service providers, users simply input their property type, estimated property value/loan amount, occupancy type and zip code into the Quick Quote system and will instantly find the lowest closing costs for their transaction.
If you were selling a 600,000 house, how much money would you expect to spend marketing and selling that house? What is the average price for common marketing options available to the Sell Side of the market?
Marketing: Newspaper Listings
List your property for sale or rent on NYTimes.com now and reach over 1.1 million prospective home buyers and home renters in the New York area and nationwide today!
Free real estate magazines are displayed in high traffic locations such as grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, fast food businesses and hardware supply stores. Homes & Land Magazine: To advertise in this publication you need to be a licensed Real Estate Agent. So Im not able to get a cost to run a property ad.
Marketing: - Neighborhood Postcards
Well-designed or timely postcards can have a very high impact. Unlike letters, postcards have no envelope hiding their message. Also be aware that a local Title Insurance company will supply you with a FARM of neighborhood residents that live in a property that is non-owner occupied indicating that they are occupied by renters. Direct mailing to renters in the local area is a great way to find a homebuyer.
Marketing: - Virtual Tours - Professional Pictures
Sellers who want to maximize the impact of their listing online and print need professional pictures and/or virtual tours. The average cost I've noticed is around $149 dollars.
Marketing: - Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
The MLS is setup for Agent to Agent communication. If you are working with a Realtor to sell your home - ask to have your home listed on the MLS. The MLS is the single greatest marketing tool a Realtor has access too. There are also Low Flat Fee MLS services available online that will include getting the house listed on REALTOR.com - but make sure that you understand what's not included with the listing. For example, I bet dollars to doughnuts that the owner is listed for the contact information and that structure is disruptive to Agent to Agent communication.
The housing market is experiencing a cooling-off period from the boom of several years ago, making today’s economic environment the perfect one in which to buy a home. Rates are low and inventories are up, meaning more choices for home buyers. Browse the resources gathered below to discover why in today’s market, the buyer holds all the aces.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) explain that the best way to “play it safe” is to actually buy a home. But before you go out and buy - I'd suggest to ask a local Realtor for a report about the recent inventory patterns of homes for sale in the area.
And, Wow - that's bold advice from NAHB - since the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that the median price of a single-family house in the third quarter dropped 1.2% from 2005. Even more dramatic than the price drops was the steep drops in the number of sales.
The decline of sales volume was off the charts in Nevada, down 38 percent. Arizona, ( - 36 percent), Florida (- 34.2 percent), California (- 28.6 percent), Hawaii (- 25.8 percent) and Virginia (- 24.4 percent).
It might be time for the NAHB to take a more "middle-ground" approach to advising homeownership - especially with the growth of stalled subdivisions.
Stalled subdivisions are starting to gain attention from the media. The housing market for single-family homes and condominiums in rural areas were builders bought land cheap threatens the quality of life for new construction homebuyers.
As builders continue to lower prices, neighbors in the new communities are coping with empty lots and crime. New home construction has fallen - most builders say its the worst market they have ever seen. Such conditions are resulting in leaving brand new homes next to empty lots and barren blocks. I remember when home builders would throw a slick sales pitch of "Hurry up and buy now before the price increase next Monday." Im thinking that this type of sales pitch wont work now.
In 2003, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan developed the 7% Expanded Homeowner Exemption in an effort to provide immediate relief to homeowners facing skyrocketing assessment increases and the resulting increases in their property tax bills.
This property tax relief legislation was signed into law in July of 2004. The law is set to expire in the reassessments of the north and south suburbs in 2007 and 2008. Currently, a proposal to renew this provision is pending in the state legislature, but the attempt is stalled.
Barb Head, a Lakeview resident and president of the Tax Reform Action Coalition, an organization that has been lobbying hard for the 7 percent cap voices - “We’ve received assessment notices from people who have gotten 70, 80, 104 percent increases this year.”
Senate Bill 2112 "long-term goal is reducing the over-reliance on property taxes by restructuring Illinois' tax system, we must first stop the increasing tax burden that is threatening to destroy our neighborhoods," Houlihan said. "We need to take this first step and provide relief to homeowners now, and then keep the momentum going to bring substantial structural change to our property tax system in Springfield."
The Cook County Assessor's office has put together data about The Impact of the 7% Expanded Homeowner Exemption. Select either the North Suburbs or South Suburbs to view the effect that 7 percent has on your community.
Successful real estate salespeople have been farming for years. A farm is a marketing tool that organizes detailed information on properties and property owners in a format that can be used by realtors, real estate investors, home sellers, etc. for marketing purposes. A farm list is used to create a local geo-target area with detailed demographic information for real estate marketing efforts.
Farming is a excellent way to target homebuyers and home owners. The data attributes available include: geography, mortgage amount, lender, home value, financial attributes, characteristics, owner occupied, non-owner occupies, date of purchase, loan type, and demographics, to name a few. Most often a local Title Insurance company or a local Realtor can help clients develop a farm list for particular individual needs.
The building sector not the transportation sector is responsible for the largest consumption of fossil fuels and natural resources in the world today. According to this independent survey.
U.S. CO2 Emissions by Sector Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics
Architecture2030.org explains that combining the annual energy required to operate residential, commercial, and industrial buildings along with the embodied energy of industry-produced building materials like carpet, tile, glass, and concrete exposes buildings as the largest energy consuming and greenhouse gas emitting sector. (Seems to makes sense when you combine such a large list of energy needs.)
U.S. Energy Consumption by Sector Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration statistics
After looking at this study - Is there a need for massive change in the way architects design buildings? The building community (according to this calculation) is responsible for almost half of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions annually. Globally the percentage is even greater.
Ahh home sweet home, my vacation in FL was excellent. Im slowing getting into the day to day. I viewed an awesome post I wanted to share check it out.
The idea here is that "you have to press play on the following videos (in vertical order) so that they all stream to you at the same time. You may need to adjust the volume on each respective network, though. Press play on the top (YouTube) video, then immediately press play on the second (Google Video), and then press play on the third (Revver). Bam, bam, bam - and you should see ‘em playing back simultaneously."
Hello everyone, Im on vacation this week. I'll be bringing my laptop as a carry-on, in case I see or hear something interesting. Blogging is not so much work to me - so - most likely I'll sneak a few posts to my Blog. But, it's going to have to be when Im not snorkeling, hangin at the beach, or making a trip to the Buffet, Or checking out Miami's - South Beach - nite life. Also I'll be taking some time to browse properties and learn more about the South Beach neighborhoods.
What is the best way to protect yourself from fishy real estate deals.
How do you know that you're not being taken advantage of when you get involved with a real estate transaction? The best answer might be to maintain a "buyer beware" mentality. Ask all the questions you can think of, read all the small print, check references. Also you could call your state attorney general's office if something seems too good to be true, or doesn't feel right.
The good news is that the IRS is taking real estate fraud crimes seriously. The IRS started 309 fraud cases against individuals so far this year in 2006. Real estate fraud continues to grow and with the increase of home values the sleezbag scams will most likely not go away. There's an old saying that proclaims - "To find the problem find the money." Well it applies with real estate, especially when dealing with loans. In an attempt to vent some clean air into the rotten tank of real estate scams - I've listed a few below:
Equity Stripping: A lender convinces you to take out a home equity loan that you can't really afford by padding your income on the application to help get it approved.
Hidden Loan Terms/Balloon Payments: To avoid having your home foreclosed after falling behind on the payments, a new lender helps you refinance by offering lower monthly payments. But read carefully.
Loan Flipping You feel you could use some extra money, so a lender convinces you to refinance. A few months later, he offers you more cash by repeating the procedure. But with each loan, you incur more charges in points and fees. You'll have a pile of cash, but the pile of debt is much larger and must be paid back with interest.
Home Improvement Loans A contractor offers to arrange a loan through which you can pay for a remodeling or a major repair. After he begins the work, you're asked to sign a bunch of papers--he'll threaten to walk off the in the middle of the job if you don't.
Credit Insurance Packing At a loan closing, the lender "packs on" credit insurance you didn't ask for at additional cost to you. Often, the lender casually tells you the insurance is a "standard" part of the loan.
Mortgage Servicing Abuses You receive letters from a lender shortly after taking out a mortgage explaining that your monthly payments will be higher than previously discussed due to escrow payments for taxes and insurance.
Signing Over Your Deed A distressed homeowner having trouble keeping up with the mortgage is pursued by another lender, who tells him it's necessary to deed the house over to him in exchange for new financing. Often, the money never comes.
Forged Deeds Undeveloped land is prime fodder for a forged deed: A scammer takes over a piece of land illegitimately, then flips it before he has to repay the loan.
Straw Buyers This scam involves a home owner who sells his property to an accomplice. The seller forges appraisal documents to help inflate the value of the house he is selling to the fake buyer. The bank lends money to the fake buyer, then he disappears--and gets a cut of the profits from the seller.
Lease Options Landlords lure wannabe homeowners by signing them up to rent a home with an option to buy.
Also check out CNNMoney.com - they list some of the most common and destructive swindles to watch for when looking at home repair.
Sybil Pryor thought she was getting a deal. Early last year, a contractor showed up at the 77-year-old's Oakland, Calif. home and offered to install a new roof and new siding. The cost? Not to worry, he told her. All Pryor had to do was sign a few papers. Big mistake. The documents turned out to be for a home-equity loan, one that authorized a bank to pay out the proceeds of the loan -- more than $90,000 -- directly to the contractor... "It's awful, but I probably see 20 of these cases every year," says William Denny, the deputy district attorney on Pryor's case.
The Craigslist website defines itself as "a community-moderated commons run by and for its users, who self-publish and manage their own ads and use a flagging system to police the site." Which led to the "Fair" Housing Lawsuit against Craigslist by the CLCCRUL, a non-profit that works to stop discriminatory housing practices - to be dismissed on the grounds that internet sites can not legally be held liable for content posted by users. Unlike, a newspaper that is defined as a publisher and held responsible for such morally wrong and evil content.
The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal "to make, print, or publish ... any notice or statement with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or family status." The summary of the lawsuit from the Craigslist Website can be read below:
A group of lawyers is suing craigslist over a handful of allegedly discriminatory housing ads posted by our users, ignoring the fact that craigslist is not a publisher, but rather a community-moderated commons run by and for its users, who self-publish and manage their own ads and use a flagging system to police the site. These lawyers demand that we impose ill-conceived, mistake-prone, and potentially illegal controls on the craigslist community, which if adopted would actually reduce fair housing opportunity, while eroding important free speech and privacy rights. In reality, the craigslist community already excels at ensuring equal opportunity housing, and continues to improve in this regard, earning praise from fair housing groups. This lawsuit will likely be dismissed as groundless, but more importantly the craigslist community will be recognized for its exemplary record in promoting fair housing for all, while fully respecting each person's constitutional right to free speech and free association.
If you suspect a housing discrimination contact HUD or just call 1-800-669-9777.
If Craigslist isn't responsible for removing the posting - someone needs to be. The flagging system at Craigslist explains: If a post receives enough negative flags it will automatically be removed. Well, what constitutes "enough"? The Craigslist community is working to help solve the problem inside the flag forum, check it out~!
The Aspen, Colorado 56,000 sq ft home retreat of Prince Bandar bin Sultan, from Saudi Arabia is set on 95 acres of land, with two ponds, horse stables and thousands of aspen and evergreen trees. It's close to the slopes, and has 15 bedrooms, 27 bathrooms, a dining room that seats 24 and an indoor swimming pool. It is priced at $135 million. So why is it so expensive? The house doesn't look all that spectacular. The True Gotham Blog quotes The Rocky Mountain News, with the house value being assessed at $55,953,500. So why is the former ambassador from Saudi Arabia to the US saying - Show Me The Money? It might be that Aspen is one of the top holiday destinations. Opportunities to secure that much land in a desired location are few and far between. Its always about location, location, location.
Speaking of Show Me The Money did anyone catch William Shatner and the Million-Dollar Dancers tryin to bring sexy back. I think the Women's Rights Movement just fell back 50 years.
A correct answer, combined with choosing a dancer holding big money, can catapult the player's winning into the millions. But a wrong answer, and the wrong dancer, can wipe out winnings in an instant.
The Answers and Dancers Show.
But there's more. At any given moment, the 13 Million-Dollar Dancers, as they're called on the show, may spontaneously break into any style of dance and, ABC promises, Shatner spontaneously "boogies with the beauties on stage." Source: washingtonpost.com
Business 2.0, November 2006 issue features a number of articles giving you advice on subjects such as real estate investment strategies, online home auctions, tax shelters, best places to still invest, where not to buy, and more. Here's the kicker - its Free - Its also worth the cover price if you decide to purchase the magazine.
I was looking at the Homes & Land Publication which advertises homes for sale that are represented by real estate sales professionals. On the Homes and Land cover was a excellent low altitude aerial photograph of a house for sale. I started to wonder how the picture was taken since a full-size aircraft is prohibited from low fly-overs of populated locations. I envisioned a giant ladder or a crane with a camera hooked up to it - "that would get the job done", but how affordable is the cost. Then I figured to just search the concept online and find the answer.
I found a company called Aerial Views of Virginia Inc. that produces aerial images with remote control (RC) helicopters, airplanes, and airlifts. Ariel Views of Virginia's remote piloted planes do offer cost-effective aerial photography.
This zoomed birds-eye view is perfect for real estate and can produce an excellent value-add image to marketing a house for sale.
"By nature, blitzes are risky endeavors for the defense. Since the defense is taking away coverage defenders that rush the QB, there necessarily are holes in pass coverage. The defense does not and cannot cover all offensive players... Source: Answers.com
The real estate industry's commission-based sales structure is undergoing a strong linebacker blitz from the increasing group of low-cost online business models to attract consumers. In addition, the Listing Agent (Sell-Side) landscape is even more competitive because most real estate markets are slowing. Owners are now focused on how much money they will recieve after the house is sold and the transaction closed. With a response to the sellers concerns - the playbook of sell-side discounters is continuing to grow with examples listed below:
Posting houses in the local multiple listing service for a flat-fee with exposure to Realtor.com (if the local MLS sends feed to the site) ... hmmmm
Menu of services such as negotiation of contracts, advertising help, and showings - the seller pays only for the services selected.
Yard Signs, Lockboxes and Brochure Boxes
Property Profile Webpage with several top Internet classified listings.
Offering varying levels of service for fixed fees
Still, owners who are busy and pressed for time or do not want to handle part of the work usually will go with a traditional brokerage. On the other side of the ball, owners who purchased a house at the top of the market really cant afford a 2.5 or 3 percent commision to the sell-side. The house hasn't raised enough in value to cover the expense to offer 6-5% to a Realtor to sell the house.
Cyberhomes (mildly evocative name) explains that thier valuations allow access to "most of the same information that real estate professionals use to evaluate homes." The Cyberhomes database includes more than 100 million property, ownership, sales, and mortgage records, covering more than 85% of the United States population.
Fidelity Title's move into AVM's is two fold. First it offers Realtors a tool to integrate - Cyberhome valuations - into their web sites for free. Second its a move that directly targets Title Insurance consumers (ie:Realtor clients) and is free for them to use.
INTRODUCING YOUR SPANKING BRAND NEW CUSTOMER ....
Finally, you need to market to the ultimate buyer of your product - the Consumer!
Fact: you title insurance companies have never marketed to the consumer. Period.
Fidelity's Cyberhomes might be the catalyst that moves the industry toward accepting a more detailed specialization and greater segmentation of the skills and services needed in a transaction. If that is a good thing Im not sure. However, it's obvious that the real estate consumers adoption and awareness of new technologies is driving the pace of the industry's transformation.
Openhouses.com (plural) allows homebuyers to search open house listings in over ten US real estate markets. The website needs improvement (better display of dates and times) to view the open house - but still it gives internet homebuyers the ability to narrow down their home search by beds, baths and price. Then they can map it and print a Tour Sheet of the desired open homes to view without an appointment scheduled. Openhouse(s).com is owned by Tribune Interactive who has an online presence both locally and nationally. They operate news and information sites in 25 major markets -- including 10 of the top 12.
I posted an article about Openhouse("- the s").com a while back and raised attention to its resources. Below is the list of Openhouses.com listing resources. They, unlike openhouse.com, do not only show homebuyers open houses from preferred brokerages - also take note that the site includes FSBO open houses. When the Sell-Side buys an advertisement to market the open house in the below mentioned newspapers it (not sure if there is an additional fee) is listed online at openhouses.com
Buyer's remorse is an emotional condition whereby a person feels regret after the purchase of an item. In the context of Real Estate there are a many possible scenarios that bring on buyer's remorse: such as - continuing to look at homes after you buy, no guidance after the transaction, or talking to others about the new house - etc... On the flip side of this is Seller's Remorse. Some scenarios that bring on sellers remorse are that the sellers start thinking about all the wonderful memories enjoyed in their home or how they think they will never be able to find another residence as nice.
If your a home seller avoid Seller's Remorse and ask yourself why do you want to sell your house. If the answer is a new job, divorce, financial problems, pending foreclosure, or moving closer to family then you should be safe from the issue of sellers remorse. However, if you answer that your curious what you can get for the house, need to sell for fast money, or your tired of the responsibilities of home ownership then make sure you want to sell before you list the house for sale.
Home Seller Beware: of the "we're not moving" possible legal consequences or penalty's of your breach of the buyers purchase agreement.
In a nutshell, if the buyer really wants the home, the buyer can bring a "specific performance lawsuit" to force the seller to complete the sale on the terms agreed in the signed sales contract.
To make matters worse for the seller, a savvy buyer's lawyer will usually record a "lis pendens" against the title to prevent the seller from selling to another buyer or even refinancing the property.
The legal reason is every property is unique, so monetary damages are not an adequate remedy for the buyer if the seller breaches the sales contract.
For more details about the results of breach of contract by either the home seller or buyer, it's best to consult a real estate professional.
Yakko, Wakko And Dot from Animaniacs Sing About The World. Steven Spielberg (<--- check out his house) created this always funny cartoon for children to watch in the early 90's on the WB.
Attention real estate investors and.or property managers check out a new online tool to stream-line your properties workflow and management tasks in your portfolio. Property Center is offering a Free 30-day trial" of its property management web application. Property Center was designed by landlords for landlords and their employees. It allows its users to keep track an unlimited number of leases with lease history. Also, legal forms specific to your state - such as rental applications, tenant inspection/acceptance forms, rental agreements - can be set-up to automatically populate the required information.
>To learn more about Property Center's application take a tour of the applications features.
Update: Also check out http://www.iiproperty.com/ an incredibly easy to use service for people who self-manage their properties.
A recent real estate article from Inman News correspondent Jessica Swesey announces that REBNY "...has begun developing a Web portal that will incorporate its members' property listings and make the portal available to the general public for free in early 2007." After reading - the Inman article - I started to remember my article posted last week about MLS's ending the listing feeds to Realtor.com. Im wondering if New York City's largest real estate trade association is positioning itself to also pull its feed to realtor.com - at the end of their contract. The Real Estate Board of New York's web portal idea is very close to a "me-to" strategic move - just - take a look at REIL's web portal that went live and is free to the public.
At REIL's web portal real estate consumers can conduct a free search of non-proprietary listing data, can request open house information, and can also access directories for agents or offices.
Viewing the video to explore the building and its grounds was almost like being there. The Half Life user behind this video is known as Kasperg and tried to make his work as true as possible. He is an architecture student and built the Fallingwater map based on floorplans, layouts and available interior and exterior photos of the grounds.. Considering the detail this is an excellent piece of work. The performance quality of the video is slow, so dont expect to see this at high speeds... Awesome~!
Well its Halloween~! So I thought I'd go with a haunting article today - and found an Open House prank that's a tad scary. If you're not scared than surf over to AVF's site and read about the prank they pulled on the Landlord and Realtor as they worked to market and sell a multi-unit dwelling in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. If you've heard em' all than go get a scare here!Selling a rental property and having it occupied by a prankster tenant like the two in this stressful story is a nightmare. If you are selling a multi-unit dwelling its best if one unit is kept empty and used as a 24/7 "showroom" to prospective investors and/or homebuyers. With an empty unit - no rent money will be coming in but it allows access to an example of the current dwellings, without having to worry about a current tenants availability and privacy in their rental unit.
The following press release was issued from the NCRC website. In summary the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) filed a consumer protection complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging Zillow.com is misleading consumers, real estate professionals and financial service providers in on-line home valuations.
Zillow is placing the American dream of homeownership at risk for countless working families,” says John Taylor, NCRC President and CEO. “For a company that represents to consumers that they are the ‘Kelley Blue Book of Homes,’ this is a very dangerous situation. We call upon the FTC to intervene and ensure that Americans receive accurate appraisals and valuation information to protect the single most important investment of their lives: their home.
From my understanding about Zillow's home valuations tool called "The Zestimate" it is a starting point to help a consumer figure out the true value of a home. The company explains that the vast majority of Zestimates are within 10 percent of the selling price of the home. Not an exact value - more of a range. For more information about the Zestimate Accuracy check out how Zillow explains the process to price a homes valuation.
Also note the article posted that brings attention to comments made by Lloyd Frink, Zillow's CEO when he was at a recent Realtor conference in Long Beach, CA. According to Maria Patterson - Frink’s comments did not sit well with the audience.
"Zillow is a Web site that’s trying to empower consumers with tools and information,” explains Frink. “We have been fortunate to date that what we’ve done is popular with consumers, which is to provide them with a starting point to figure out what homes are selling for in their market. I thought it was worth making it clear to everyone in the audience that our model is one of a media company, and we would like the people in the audience to buy ads from Zillow. I think that part of the apprehensiveness on the part of Realtors comes from our history at Expedia where we were part of the transaction and that’s not what we’re doing here. We think that we can add a lot of value in terms of information and tools and service that will be complementary to the expert advice and guidance that Realtors give to their clients." Source: RISMEDIA
Surf over and take a look at RealEstateRouter.com. The site aims help the Sell-Side market homes for sale & help homebuyers organize their route to tour open houses. This website is just out of the gate and looks to have succeded at offering a value-add application to marketing a house online. Bravo~!
Northwest Multiple Listing Service to pull feed to realtor.com at the end of their contract. Im not sure about this move - it limits the marketing of the inventory of homes For Sale at a website that has an established and valuable Brand Name.
With Realtor.com the homebuyer was able to know what website to goto when starting a real estate search... Are homebuyers in the Northwest going to find NWrealestate.com easier than Realtor.com?
investinreits.com! This site has been designed to provide visitors with all the tools to learn about real estate investment trusts (REITs) and publicly traded real estate companies. The website is by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT).
NAREIT is the trade association for REITs and publicly traded real estate companies.
Maria Patterson from RISMEDIA writes an interresting article that centers the debated hot topic of the 'Realtor and Consumer' relationship.
The news article contains quotes from the California Association of Realtors Conference in Long Beach, California from President and Co-founder of Zillow, Lloyd Frink. Also former CEO of REALTOR.comAllan Dalton, now President of Move.com's real estate division. Dalton, explains that sites like Zillow’s are undermining the Realtor’s true value proposition by classifying them as “service providers.”
“Zillow cannot marginalize Realtors ... and their value proposition,” Dalton added. “... If the industry allows the collective advocation of a company like Zillow to commoditize real estate to the degree that consumers believe the value of a home can actually be preordained before the value that a Realtor can add (in terms of marketing, negotiating, staging and networking), then what we will be left with is an injured consumer who believes that..."
A business relationship of service in my opinion should be customer-centric and recognize that the balance of power is toward the customer paying for representation. As a result, the Realtor and the Consumer needs to identify what is of value to them.
I've visited a few Virtual Tour sites on the web recently and they do not make their products and services available to For Sale By Owner home sellers to purchase. This trend of only offering marketing tools to licensed Realtors is nothing new but not much has been said about this market-share/safe business practice of having a strong customer focus towards Realtors while turning away business from FSBO home sellers. I call these companies Non-For-Sale-By-Owner (NFSBO) sites.
For example I visited a company website that has been in business since 1996 called TourFactory. The site states: “(Listing) Agents have been using the TourFactory Internet Marketing System for 10 years - as a cornerstone in their marketing program."
I agree, TourFactory sells products that would make a house stand out online from the overcrowded inventories of properties For Sale. Also check out TourFactory's HomeDebut that allows homebuyers to search virtual tours ordered by participating Real Estate Agents.
Moreover I also visited Obeo that states "(our) solutions help the Real Estate professional thrive." I saw great products here also with 100+ tons of online marketing tools available that would capture the attention of home-buyers searching for Real Estate online. Yet, these companies still decide to stay market-share/safe and only offer services to licensed Real Estate Agents.
Just to double check that I wasn’t making a mistake with my comments - I called TourFactory at (888) 458-3943 and made a request. "I'd like to order a Virtual Tour." The operator on the phone started to set up an account for me and took my first and last name. Then she asked if I was a licensed Real Estate Agent. I said “no” that I was selling my property For Sale By Owner. Her response was "I'm sorry we only sell tours to Real Estate Agents." Of course, I asked why and was told that "We're exclusive to licensed Real Estate Agents it's the company policy." I then contacted Obeo through its LivePerson chat and received the same answer.
My feeling is that the Internet hasn't created a new real estate consumer; it just formed a more educated one. We should all know this – it’s old news. But, still some vendors/transaction service partners in the Real Estate Industry will take the route of the slow box turtle towards adopting the Internet in full. While the traditional real estate consumers continue to hop onto the Internet taking full advantage of the many online resources available with the speed of a European Brown Hare.
A real estate consumer advocate who follows the industry. This blog provides insight to the online real estate consumer looking for education about the market and services they require when going into a transaction.
