TurnHere's YouTube Channel

A while back I covered TurnHere a professional digital videos production company and suggested that it could be used as a tool to research locations to purchase a home. Well I just received an email from Andrew at TurnHere who let me know that TurnHere is now distributing its videos on the major search engines, including YouTube (TurnHere Channel), Google, Yahoo! and AOL.

The TurnHere Channel on YouTube also has a real estate play list that displays videos that profile individual Realtors, real estate firms, neighborhoods and houses. The cost for producing your own professional video tour of your business, house for sale, neighborhood, personal message, etc. is $550. The ability to tell your story and/or sell your service or product with video is playing out to be a requirement for the competitive real estate industry.

The one complaint is that TurnHere has disabled the ability to Embed YouTube videos into other websites. Andrew who made that decision and why? Is it possible to give an option to the producer of the video to allow embedding? . Anyway here is the video I was going to include with my post~!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8edY7bUa18o

Problem: No Buyers Agent Available

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.

Global Real Estate Transparency and Knowledge

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.

More info on Real Estate Transparency: (Global Transparency Index 2006).

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).

Another reference tool can be found from The Global Real Estate Project for international real estate research. The information contained in these profiles has been compiled by the Burns School of Real Estate and Construction Management at the University of Denver.

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.

Neighborhood Search Engine For Homebuyers

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.

FREE NeighborhoodScout Tools from Zip Realty

First Time Home Buyers | Family Communities | Luxury Communities | Retirement Communities | Build A Neighborhood | Match A Neighborhood | Neighborhood Profiles | Neighborhood Appreciation Rates
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

Find a Realtor | Buying a Home | Selling a Home | Real Estate Investment | Relocation Services | Real Estate Loans

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.

Real Estate Auction MashUp

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

Inventory of Homes For Sale

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.

Zillow Homebuyer and Seller Tools

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?

Zillow has added some new features:

• Post Any Home For Sale FSBO (view it)
  
• Post Any Home For Sale Agent (view it)
  
• 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.

Home Alone in 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.

Something's Fishy

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.

Homebuyers Print a Tour Sheet

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

Latimes.com (Los Angeles, CA)
ChicagoTribune.com (Chicago, IL)
Newsday.com (New York, NY)
OrlandoSentinel.com (Orlando, FL)
Sun-Sentinel.com (South FL)
BaltimoreSun.com (Baltimore, MD)
Courant.com (Hartford, CT)
DailyPress.com (Hampton Roads, VA)
StamfordAdvocate.com (Fairfield Co., CT)
GreenwichTime.com (Fairfield Co., CT)
Mcall.com (Allentown, PA)
amNY.com (New York, NY)

Real Estate Router

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~!

A similar article posted on July 28, 2006.

The Cats Out Of The Bag

As the saying goes - once you let the cat out of the bag, it goes wherever it wants. To this point, click over to read Greg Swann's blog about "the home-buyer’s place at the table". The essay details ideas for homebuyers and Realtors to adopt when working together as a team. The basic theme is telling the homebuyer to be aware of costs in a transaction and always ask “How much do you charge?”.

Among other suggestions and ideas Greg makes mention of a “secret” field displayed in some MLS systems. Telling his readers that "listings you find on Realtor web sites or on Realtor.com" do not detail the co-broke / commision field — it is kept concealed.

Why is the co-broke field kept concealed from the homebuyer view in MLS systems? Overly restrictive? Pro-competitive? Anticompetitive?

What would change if the homebuyer was able to view the "secret" fields that some MLS systems keep concealed?

compensation for buyer representation

Real Estate Español and Asian Pacific

RealEstateEspañol.com is a real estate/financial services portal created to serve the Hispanic–American community and the official Internet site of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). This site allows homebuyers to search for an agent profile, list a property for sale, or search new listings if you would like to purchase a property. In addition, you can read valuable educational materials, useful interactive tools, ask advice from the loan counseling service, or contact a mortgage center.

Also the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community has a national professional trade organization dedicated to closing the homeownership gap (AREAA). AREAA’s membership represents a broad array of real estate, mortgage and housing-related professionals that serve the diverse Asian Pacific American market.

Condo Buyer's Look Out

Buying a condo in a high-rise is getting to be a popular way to break into the home ownership market. Newly built condos and/or renovated condos tend to look fantastic, but you have to be ready to investigate your location in the building. Condo's can house a ton of hidden problems that you can avoid if you look out for them. If you already own a condo than you might know what Im talking about. For example, I was reading an article in the Chicago Tribune , a home inspector was telling a story about a client who was distressed to discover that the garbage chute in his new condo building made a 45-degree bend right outside his unit, near a common wall. The condo owner would hear cascading trash hitting the chute wall all night. Ouch~! I wonder if he'll disclose that in the re-sale of his condo?

What if a homebuyer moves into a condo that is next to the Elevator. "Ding~!" Everytime a neighbor goes up and down from/to the lobby?

What if a homebuyer moves into a condo that is next to an EXIT door to the parking garage. "Squeek, Slam, Chatter" On the way out of the door to get to the car?

What about parking - If the condo includes a parking space, I'd suggest trying to get a spot on the 1st or 2nd level. Why circle down and drive up to your parking floor everytime you leave the building?

If you think of some other hidden problems in buying a condo - please comment.

Redfin News Story

Redfin is a online discount real estate brokerage firm and have been featured in the evening broadcast of KRON4 in San Francisco.



Related Post:
Full-Service Realtors work hard for their customers and know their neighborhoods. The trouble is, alternative brokers figured out how to sell homes cheaper by setting up Internet offices and letting you view MLS listings on your own.
Discount Brokerage

Home Selling Advice

An excellent online resource of Real Estate information and articles can be found at Real Estate ABC. The company was founded to help educate the real estate consumer. Real Estate ABC has the vision "to help consumers with insight into how things [Real Estate] really work with straightforward analysis of market trends and "how to" guides."

I really like this site. I found a long list of Sell-Side information. Here is the link.

Discount Brokerage

Buy Side Realty licensed in multiple states is an alternitive to a full service Realtor. There business model understands that 75% of the work when buying a house is locating the property. With, you, the real estate consumer doing most of the work it allows BuySide Realty to put the commision paycheck back in your pocket. To reach a Buy-Side Realtor go to the website or just call 1-877-4-BUYSIDE.

A few items to note:

Every BuySide Agent is a licensed member of the National Association of REALTORS®. So you still have the legal protection and/or assistance for the real estate transaction.

If you want to check out the inside of a home then contact the Listing Agent or Home Owner selling the property. If you have no luck getting inside the property then ask BuySide to schedule the showing for you. They require you to have a mortgage pre-approval from a qualified lender to assist in the setting up of the appointment to walk-through the home.

To write an offer on the property with BuySide Realty you fill out most of the terms within the purchase agreement online. Then a local BuySide Agent will prepare the official offer documents and return them to you to review and sign. The contract then goes into there Transaction Management System (TMS) and you will be able to monitor the progress of the transaction in real time, online.

And of course the REBATE. You will receive a check from BuySide Realty for 75% of BuySide’s commission recieved from the Seller. Or, if you prefer, you can take the rebate as a credit at closing. If you are unsure of the Sell Side commision being offered to the homebuyer contact the listing Agent or Owner. The range you should expect from a seller of a house is 3 to 2 percent. The range you should expect from the seller of vacant land is 6 to 2 percent.

OpenHouse.com Resources

Before the Internet was around Home Buyers usually would spend a few hours on the weekend driving around local neighborhoods they wish to live. In hopes of spotting an Open House sign that they could "walk-through" (view) without having an appointment.

Now websites are available to help Home Buyers find an inventory of Open House's to tour. However, pay attention because I noticed on OpenHouse.com in the Resources section of the site that the inventory of Open Homes displayed are only from Coldwell Banker, ERA, Sothebys Realty, and Centry 21. A Home Buyer will not see Open Homes from other brokerages such as RE/MAX, Intero Realty, Independant Brokers, Alain Pinel, For Sale By Owner, Help-U-Sell, Redfin, Buy Side Realty, and more.

OpenHouse.com 's registrant is NRT Inc. according to the Whois Record. So you may ask - Why do they limit the internet home buyers view of available open homes to tour on the weekend at OpenHouse.com?

UPDATE: David Linger, RE/MAX founder and chairman told an audience at the Inman ConnectSF conference that "On Dec.5th of 1998, RE/MAX went live with 100% of listings that Realtor.com had -- it created a firestorm overnight. We had RE/MAX listings and every other listing that was on Realtor.com. Other companies complained about the fact that RE/MAX was displaying all of the listings and Realtor.com asked RE/MAX to stop the practice." Then in August of 2005 RE/MAX announced the same plan to list 100% of the listings from all Real Estate Brokerages -- "..this time without the Firestorm." Linger's quotes are from an Inman News article by Glenn "Fireball" Roberts called "Internet is Overvalued, says RE/MAX founder"

Related: OpenHouses.com Article
Too Little Too Late (2007)
OpenHouse.com (2008)