Trump-Style Negotiation

George Ross in his new book talks about how he closed deals by simply using human nature and time to his advantage. Ross believes in keeping a good rapport with communication when talking to the other side in the deal. He reminds the reader to accept a fair price and don't negotiate for a few more dollars, find a common ground for the deal and secure future business with you the next time.

From the Publisher:

Trump became the world's most famous negotiator with the publication of his million-copy seller, The Art of the Deal. That book told great stories, but it didn't explain how to negotiate like Trump. In Trump-Style Negotiation, George Ross explains how anyone can implement the tactics and strategies Trump used to rise to the top of the business world. It's full of stories from Trump's biggest deals, as well as lessons from other top New York real estate titans such as Helmsley, Zeckendorf, and Sol Goldman. Trump-Style Negotiation is not a book of stories, but a practical playbook that can be easily used by the average person effectively in all types of business and personal situations. Ross demonstrates the proven Trump style business tactics for negotiation success in an easy-to-follow and easy-to-read format. Importantly, he offers his own strategic insights, real world cases, and savvy personal advice, arising from the breadth of 50-years of his sharply defined negotiation skills.

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

NAR TV Public Awareness Campaign

Check out the Television Ads for NAR Public Awareness Campaign. NAR states that they have three new communications components. I wonder if NAR will start to post the 2007 ads on You Tube?

The first addition to the campaign, "Someone You Can Trust", promotes the REALTOR® Code of Ethics and highlights the honesty and integrity that REALTORS® bring to every transaction.

The second addition, "Don't Try This At Home", targets unrepresented sellers (the FSBO market). The commercial features a hard-hitting message: REALTORS® have the experience to price your home effectively, so it can sell for up to 16% more than selling it yourself. (From NAR's 2005 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers Study.)

The third component, "Entrepreneur at Heart", features REALTORS® talking about what it's like to be out on their own, every day, in an increasingly competitive marketplace. They also discuss the pride they feel in helping people achieve the American dream of homeownership.

When Rust Grows In The Front Yard

The real estate market has slowed, creating opportunity for homebuyers, builders and investors to negotiate an even better deal on your neighborhood "teardown" property (lot). In fact a common theme in most neighborhoods today is a "For Sale" sign in the front yard with "New Price" or "Price Reduction” added to the metal frame - starting to develop rust.

What happens after the sale and the house is demolished to dust for new construction? Does the buyer build another single-family home on the lot(s) or decide to replace it with a multi-unit dwelling? If the answer is a new multi-unit dwelling, then your neighborhood teardowns or price-reduced houses might be the targets for Infill Development (ie: Smart Growth).

This is a hot topic for the industry and is both the solution and problem for the parties involved. It concerns neighborhoods from the smallest towns to the world’s largest cities. Buyers should always review the lot zoning rules that regulate the kinds of activities and densities, which will be acceptable on a particular parcel of land. Homebuyers should be aware of what can be built next door. Moreover the multi-unit buildings built most often have limited space. The new family or owner that moves into the townhouse or condo might discover in a short time that "we found affordability but need more space." In turn, selling the home and not becoming a long-term resident of the community.

In parallel, some developers have switched from building, commute heavy - residential subdivisions in far out and rural areas. Aiming more towards parcels of land closer to suburbs with densely populated communities. This way the builder can expect a faster sale and lower the cost cycle to carry the land acquired.

New York Times Walked Out

It's been a while since I last checked out the New York Times Walk-Through Real Estate Blog. I just read that they have decided to turn away its focus and concentrate on Real Estate News.

It might be a good idea for the NY-Times to stop "telling it like it is at the street level" and just report the news.

Own Multiple Properties - No Problem

Take a look at this idea. HomeFree is a site that has products availble to Realtors, Investors, Home Owners. "Homefree is the personalized online toolbox that helps you make smart home maintenance decisions in just minutes a month. It helps you stay on top of your home's needs—keeping things under control before they break."

The About Us section of the website has a brief story of how the founders came up with the idea. "As a multiple property owner, (we) could relate. "Larry and I started talking about these homes we had that we just couldn’t keep up with," he explains. "That’s when it hit us that there were no great products available that could help with maintaining your home." Looking at their own lives and their in-the-trenches experiences as homeowners, they struck upon the concept of Homefree."

Check out the Demo~!

Retirement Planning within your IRA

There is a small IRS provision that lets you extend your real estate purchasing with tax-deferred dollars. One of the requirements is that the real estate is not being used for your own personal use, such as a vacation home or an office for your business. To learn more than I can explain ask a financial advisor who specializes in IRA's or your real estate professional.

UPDATE: Realtor Magizine Article

Marketing a Home For Sale with Online Auctions

I just read an Article from MSNBC.com that talks about motivated sellers that are still showing the house through an agent but using eBay to market the home for sale. The article suggest that "online home auctions are not putting real estate agents out of business. Many agents are learning how to use these Web sites to their — and their clients’ — advantages."

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.

Find a Experianced Realtor

Homethinking is an online service that helps home owners choose the best neighborhood realtors to sell their house.

They measure performance by monitoring real estate transactions to know which houses each real estate agent has sold, for how much and how long on average it took them to do so. There are also user reviews by home owners who have sold their house with the particular agent that helps determine the rank of them.

Pocket Realtor by Sprint Mobile

The Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999 *(E911) has helped a company called Smarter Agent and Sprint offer of a wireless phone application called Recently Sold Homes. Smarter Agent combines a cellphones E911 GPS capabilities with real estate content about properties, neighborhoods and interesting places around your (ie: cellphone) location, location, location.

Check out a screenshot of the application. The application can be purchased by anyone with a Sprint or Nextel phone (Coverage Area). You'll be able to conduct unlimited searches for a single monthly fee of $4.99, plus data charges from Sprint.

*The wireless E911 program is divided into two parts:

Part I requires carriers, upon valid request by a local Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), to report the telephone number of a wireless 911 caller and the location of the antenna that received the call.

Part II requires wireless carriers to provide far more precise location information, within 50 to 300 meters in most cases.

Birds Eye Music Video

This video from Zero7 flys over some Real Estate with a Google Earth type map integrated with images of the band.

U.S. Home Price and Sales Volume Decline

The median U.S. existing-home home price dropped 1.7 percent and the sales rate dropped 12.6 percent in August 2006 compared to the same month in 2005, the NAR trade group reported today.

"Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast rose 1.9 percent to a pace of 1.07 million in August, but were 11.6 percent below August 2005. The median existing-home price in the Northeast was $271,000, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier.

Existing-home sales in the Midwest rose 0.7 percent in August to a level of 1.44 million, but were 11.1 percent lower than a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $176,000, which is 1.1 percent below August 2005.

Existing-home sales in the South slipped 0.8 percent to an annual sales rate of 2.51 million units in August, and were 7.4 percent below August 2005. The median price in the South was $184,000, down 2.6 percent from a year ago.

Existing-home sales in the West dropped 2.3 percent to an annual pace of 1.29 million in August, and were 22.8 percent lower than a year earlier. The median price in the West was $345,000, up 0.3 percent from August 2005."

Maps Reveal New Shapes of Land

Have you ever looked at an ordinary map of the world. All of us all have but Mark Newman uses the science of cartograms to view the world through the prism of population, greenhouse gas emissions, etc...

Population

In this map the sizes of countries are proportional not to their actual landmass but instead to the number of people living there; a country with 20 million people, for instance, appears twice as large as a country with 10 million. Where did Russia go?
Overcrowded Homes

Overcrowding is defined here as when there are more than two people for each room in the house. If you are interested to see more cartograms, visit the website of the Worldmapper Project. Mexico grew into a shape that looks like California?

SMS Delivers Instant Property Details

CellSigns Products turn the front yard "For Sale" Sign into a interactive sales system with SMS technology.

"Home buyers can request property information by sending a text message with the property id to CellSigns. Then the buyer can request a callback, schedule showing or request a property brochure by email - all via text messaging."

Available for the Listing and FSBO market.

Take a Test Run send a TXT message - - - To: "79274" with the Message: "CS20051"

UPDATE: House4Cell looks to be a service only for the Realtor market, but wanted to share the Flash Demo.

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

Attention Sellers: 1st impressions are HUGE

When you bought the hose it was state of the art design - but in 10, 15, or 20 years it might now be dated. Ask yourself or a Realtor their opinion about the look and feel of your home. Is the interior of our home what homebuyers expect to see when they shop for a house in this area? Also don't forget to touch up the exterior of the home for a marketable curb appeal.

Or ask a professional home stager:

Staged Homes
Center Stage Home

According to a 2004-2005 survey of 200 staged homes conducted by StagedHomes.com staged homes sell for an average of 6.9 percent more than homes not staged and in half the time.

UPDATE: Property Stylist Blog

Appraisals Get Tricky in a Cooling Market

More comments about home values in the news recently because a homebuyer dosen't want to overpay for a house and the home seller wants to have a competitive selling price.

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The housing slowdown is making it increasingly difficult for appraisers to use comparable sales data in calculating a home's worth.

Gary Crabtree of Bakersfield, Calif.-based Affiliated Appraisers says he now takes into account pending sales, current list prices, supply and demand, time on the market, price fluctuations, defaults and trustee's sales, incentives, and the market perceptions of real estate agents.

Crabtree says valuations become complicated when real estate practitioners engage in "the re-list game," in which a home that has sat unsold for a long period of time is removed from the multiple listing service and re-listed with a new price and MLS code to make it look like a new listing.

"Just looking at historical data can be perilous," says Appraisal Institute spokesman John Bredemeyer, who explains, "You've got to answer the question: 'Where are we in this cycle?' And you've got to factor that into your valuation."

Source: Baltimore Sun, Ken Harney (09/15/06)

Home Valuation Tools

Keep your eyes open when you buy or refinance a home and make sure the value is current and correct. Many internet companies provide free tools to value a homes market rate. Just how accurate and trustworthy are these Automated valuation model (AVM) tools? And what exactly are AVM's? - Below are a few opinions about AVM's

Yes: Fannie Mae's Perspective
Yes/No: AVM threat and opportunity
No: The BIG AVM Lie ("horror stories")

If you decide to hire a appraisal instead of using a online tool - here is a link to the Appraisal Institute. The members have met rigorous requirements relating to education, testing, experience and demonstration of knowledge, understanding and ability. Also try AppraiserUSA.com.