Archives of real estate blog entries for September 01, 2006

Perhaps Zillow.com is something that we all will have to take seriously.  Many agents whom I work with laughed when Zillow was first launched.  Here in Arizona, the values they determined for homes seemed to be very inaccurate.  However, they seem to be getting much better and they are now being sponsored by large real estate companies.Recently I attended a list presentation class where the instructor suggested that we include a Zillow report in our presentations.  Thinking that this was a bad idea, I checked out Zillow to prove the instructor wrong.  I have to admit, I now think that Zillow just may be a good tool to use.  Sure their determination of a homes value is just a ball par estimate, but they do have other features that can be beneficial.For example, their new heat maps can be... 09/01/2006

Over the past four or five months I have polled my clients and had the agents in my office ask the same questions.  Which were Do designations behind a Realtors name mean anything to you? Question two:  Do you know what GRI, ABR and so forth mean?Surprisely although this was conducted on a small sample (85) I am beginning to see a real trend.  A trend which basically says that the designations mean nothing to the public except that "Realtor has taken some class". Ultimately it seems that personality, appearance and market knowledge mean more than athe designation as far as the public is concerned.  So to carry my little experiment even further I have added a "New" designation to my communications to other Realtors. My purpose was to ascertain if anyone in the industry paid attention and... 09/01/2006

Over the last twenty four hours the point split between Josh Plummer and Sara Lipnitz for the 3rd spot in Michigan has been as narrow as 6 points.  Sources from within the Plummer camp say that this will be an all nighter.  Rumors that Lipnitz has hired a ghost writer have not been verified.  We've got more details about the race here.  Both contestants have agreed to meet next week in Birmingham to mudwrestle for 300 points. Details about the event will be posted at a later date.Be sure to check back often for our exclusive coverage of The Race for Third!  09/01/2006

 Last Sunday I awoke to my 3 girls jumping on our bed." Daddy, Daddy, come quick, come quick, they shouted"! My girls have a habit of walking our dog in the morning and on this day, they found a 3 month old puppy wrapped in a towel at our doorstep. They start telling me, this poor puppy needs a home! The puppy is spotted, looks like a mix between a terrier and who knows.I must say it`s cute as a button..  The last thing we need is another dog. In fact, I`m thinking of our dog, who is suddenly leering at this puppy like he`s ticked..I explain to the girls, "This dog, must belong to someone, it must be a mistake" The kids don`t buy that. "Daddy, someone left this puppy for us" we want to keep him!Naturally, my wife who has a habit of acting like Sweden,she remains "Neutral" doesn`t say a ... 09/01/2006

Forget about getting training from a company or brand. Often, you just get the wrong training or bad information. Yes, they should teach you how to fill out a contract or use a lockbox, but after that, you're on your own.  As a new agent, you enter this profession and operate in one of two ways. You either fake your way through your career, being problematic to your clients, trouble to your fellow agents and detrimental to the transaction, or you can educate yourself and learn how to function as a true professional!When I first started in this profession, I took Floyd Wickman's Sweathogs program. (It's no longer owned or run by Floyd but I believe it's still being taught).  This program taught me the step by step process to get a listing appointment. I felt that if someone put a gun to ... 09/01/2006

The New Jersey area is a great place to find fantastic bargains at local neighborhood garage sales (commonly known as yard sales).  Because of their huge popularity, garage sales occur throught New Jersey on the weekends, most frequently on Saturday morning, during all seasons, except winter.  Because of New Jersey's high average household income, the quality and condition of the items you encounter may be very good and sometimes never used.  Garage sales are a great way to get rid of items you no longer need or can't take with you when relocating.  They're also a great way for buyers or renters to find supplies and furnishings that need to complete the homes into which they are moving.  Just check local newspaper and "pennysaver" (e.g., "Ad-Lines") classifieds, or just drive around loo... 09/01/2006

As you know from the proliferation of orange barrels all around us, the Town of Cary and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) have several road projects under construction in our area. Here is a brief summary of these projects.   [A] Louis Stephens Drive from Heritage Pines to Morrisville Parkway Under construction. The Town's portion will be complete by end of August. However, a critical segment of the road within Heritage Pines will be completed by the developer. The Town expects Heritage Pines to finish construction on its portion in mid to late Summer 2007.  [B] Louis Stephens Drive between Morrisville Parkway and Morrisville Carpenter Road Under construction. The Town's portion will be complete by end of August.  [C] Morrisville Parkway Plans for the Morrisville ... 09/01/2006

West Regional Library, 4000 Louis Stephens Drive in Cary, will pen its doors Saturday, September 16, immediately following an official ribbon-cutting ceremony.  To celebrate the occasion, West Regional Library will host a day of fun-filled events and performances for all ages that start at 10:30 a.m. and run until 5 p.m. Located near the intersections of Highway 55 and Morrisville Carpenter Road, the 30,000-square-foot public library will be the second largest in the county. West Regional Library will provide much-needed services to the rapidly expanding western half of Wake County by serving the Cary, Morrisville and Apex communities.  The library will be a neighborhood-friendly place, with 70 public computers, WiFi Internet access, conference room, six service desks, a drive-up book d... 09/01/2006

Sometimes you read something on Active Rain, and you'd swear you wrote it, or at least thought it before! John Novak in a recent blog here on Active Rain got me thinking about my "Big Why" experience. (a Big Why is referred to in Gary Keller's book and described in John's earlier blog)  If you haven't had that "chat" with yourself, now would be a great time! I was confronted with my Big Why about 3 years ago. A sales person for Mike Ferry's organization called to invite me ($$$) to his upcoming seminar. He said, "don't you want more free time?" my answer, "No, I don't work crazy hours now!". "Don't you want a vacation home?" My answer, "Don't like to visit the same place twice!" "Don't you want to own an airplane to travel to new and exiting places?" My answer, "my wife doesn't like to ... 09/01/2006

BPO's, CMA, LMC, DRIVE BY, regardless of what you call them, they can be extra income for you. They do require a time investment on your part. The payout is not high for each job, nor is the pay on any type schedule for each company worked for. Some pay in approximately 30days others in 90 or more days, usually however you do get paid. Occasionally a company will go out of business, or just go away, these are not very often however. Are you intrested in BPO's?, CMA's, LMC's, Drive by inspections, Real Estate Inspections, Real Estate Foreclosures, Extra Money in Real Estate? There are many opportunities for you. This ia a perfect place for an on going discussion as things change often. If you would like to share some information with others lets talk. ezeland@aol.com , www.valleymls.com/... 09/01/2006

One of the side projects I've been working on (obviously not very hard) since before ActiveRain (this has nothing to do with ActiveRain and is an independent side project) is the BlogMyHome site.  I'd be interested to hear what Real Estate agents think about this idea.It's a pretty straight forward concept.  Home sellers get a free, "home show case" oriented blog to put anything they want up about their house.  There are also Google Maps, directories, (and maybe a "find a real estate agent" tie-in with ActiveRain if, when I get there, Matt thinks that is a good idea). My wife and I have always found it funny that people are selling homes (probably the biggest financial transaction of their lives) with often 3 super small, terrible pictures, nothing about the community, etc. (i.e. most M... 09/01/2006

We have a habit that as a professional to make sure that any person we represent as a client receives our undivided attention at closing. That means prior to closing although the attorneys go over the HUD, I make sure to explain certain charges, make sure they have a drivers license prior to coming to close, and alert them to bring a certified check. I have been doing this for years, so I`m positive by now I know what am doing, the attorney knows what their doing and ditto the lenders. Sitting at  closing yesterday with our buyers made me realize that I forgot to mention to our Buyers that relatives shouldn`t  act as Attorney`s and practice make believe Relative Law! Our buyers bought their cousin yesterday to the close,she told us that she worked in a Mortgage Company.There begins the ... 09/01/2006

Home Inspectors play a very important role in the purchase of a home.  New York State finally has realized this and effective December 31, 2005 has required home inspectors to be licensed by the state in order to perform home inspections.Until recently, anyone could represent themselves as a home inspector.  The relationship between real estate agents and their 'inspector' has resulted in home buyers purchasing properties that had 'problems' that the inspector did not report.  After moving into their new home, the buyer discovered the problems and had to pay for repairs that should have been disclosed early in the purchase process and reported to the seller for repair or credit.  In the past there was little or no way to recover the loss due to the faulty inspection, even if the buyer c... 09/01/2006

I'm sure each area of the nation has different periods of activity and market change. In Atlanta and most of the South "Holiday Season", or at least the atmosphere created by the series of Holidays to come, begins with Labor Day. That's our last big "lake weekend" or huge cookouts. Sure there are other days we'll go to the lake or have a cookout or whatever but this is the last big "hoorah".The effect this collective consciousness has on prospective home clients is detectable. There are folks out there who are now looking for that new home where they can entertain family and friends for all the coming events through the end of the year. We'll have a meeting on Tuesday morning to kick off this season and to the surprise of my agents (remember, I'm not in the real estate business - I'm in... 09/01/2006

Do any of you out there do a little investing in real estate. If you do how do you do it what kind of guidelines do you follow to determine whethetr it is a good deal, what guidelines do you follow in determining that the house needs to much work? Here in Crossville it seems that you have to move fast to get one. Yesterday I found one that had only been on the market 2 days and it already had multiple offers on it. Have you been it long enough to just know when you lokk at a house what it's worth and what you should offer on it. 09/01/2006

In todays market with so many properties and so few Buyers I have a question? Why is it so hard to make appointments to see properties?We all are trying to make business happen but there is a lot of agents who can't be bothered to answer calls for showings. It can take 24 hours for an agent to call back when setting up appointments. You would think that we are all in the same business and that we want to make our life and the life of fellow agents easier. When setting appointments we put a list of properties (That are paying at least 3%) together in order to show them. When agents don't call back for 24 hours this leaves us to scramble on the showings end up being late making sellers unhappy etc.Does it take so much of there time to call back an agent or have an assistant call back to s... 09/01/2006

In today's real estate world it appears that most realtors are using personal or company websites to showcase their property listings with photo's to attract more buyers, tenants and sellers. (This is a great tool, it's inexpensive to get a website, hosting, etc.) Also we all like to tell the world about our experience in real estate and our dedication we have to our clients. Furthermore, this has the potential to be just that, having the world know you are a professional realtor and a darn good one at that and also showing off all your listings!But there is one little problem that most of us are having. Getting people to our sites without spending more than we are earning. If anyone out there has any advice for all of us in the Active Rain Real Estate Network, please let us know. Your ... 09/01/2006

Learning deal structuring for you investors out there is very important. The first thing you need to do is, "investigate the deal and do your homework" to know the ins and outs and facts about the property (what I call the DNA of it all) and it is important to know what is the seller's main objectives or motivation.  Why do they want to sell?  It should make sense.  How is it that you can get a property that you've done comps on that is worth let's say, $150,000 for only $110,000? That allows you to have an idea of what approaches are going to be compatible with the sellers needs and your financial interests, allowing you to do the deal. Also, Create a Real Estate Forms Portfolio.  This should include:-a weekly planner & priority schedule along with an Analysis of Property (sellers info... 09/01/2006

This morning, I read where MYSPACE.com drives more retail traffic than MSN.com The authors are not talking about hits to the site; rather, they are referring to advertiser clicks, which should sound an alarm to many--including ttraditional search engines and advertisers alike. If MySpace can deliver more traffic to eBay, Amazon and Craislist, then MSN had better go into major rethinking mode. That ubiquitous MySpace (check the back cover artwork on Reader's Digest this month) now accounts for 2.53 percent of all US up$tream traffic.Bill Tancer, general manager of Global Research at HITWISE, said, "With the growth of MySpace and others, online retailers should expand their focus beyond search to consider social networking sites as a source of additional traffic." (Are you hearing this, A... 09/01/2006

Carnival of Blogging Success I want to remind ActiveRain Members that The Real Estate Tomato is hosting a Carnival of Blogging Success, open to ActiveRain Members only. Postings about success through blogging in the real estate world should be submitted to bloggingsuccess@gmail.com by Midnight tonight.   If you make The Tomato's Top 10 we'll be awarding points!  Get your submissions in now. Include:1.  Link to your Profile on AR 2.  Link to your Article. (Or entire article if no link available).3.  Name as you would like it to appear with article.4.  Please proofread and spell check all articles Please see the details and requirements here. 09/01/2006

 When the Chairman of the Federal Reserve lowers "rates," he lowers the "Federal Funds" rate. Its the interest rate at which large banks lend funds to one another and is a "short-term" rate. Mortgage interest rates are long-term, up to 30 years. Longer-term interest rates are sensitive to expectations about inflation. When short-term rates fall, like the ones the Federal Reserve controls, borrowing and spending usually increase, which can actually cause inflation. Longer-term rates, like mortgage interest rates, can rise when concerns about inflation increase. Bond prices and bond yields have a direct effect on long term interest rates. Bond prices and bond yields always move in opposite directions (if one pays more for a bond, the yield decrease, and vise versa). Bond prices, hence the... 09/01/2006

 A mortgage loan that is held as an investment by a bank , rather than being sold on the secondary market. It is usually due to the fact that the loan does not comply with the underwriting guidelines set by the secondary market investors. Most portfolio lenders follow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines but can also give exceptions to your loan if they choose to do so. It gets confusing because portfolio lenders are also involved in typical mortgage banking. Portfolio lenders, are commonly known as Savings & Loan institutions. They are called portfolio lenders, because they originate loans for their own portfolio, but don't sell them to the secondary market.These lenders while rare can also help with borrowers who do not qualify for loans with typical lenders because they make their o... 09/01/2006

I think someone was looking for this?? Arizona Southwest Housing Foundation Down Payment Gift Program (GIFT)$25,000 (480) 926-7206 Flagstaff Affordable Housing Coalition Inc Community Homebuyer Assistance Program (CHAP)$10,972 (520) 214-7456 Glendale Los Vecinos Housing Development, Inc. First Time Homebuyer Program (FTHB)$40,000 (623) 435-2255 Multi Counties Community Services of Arizona Rural Home Purchase Assistance Program (RHAP)$10,000 (602) 280-1365 Northern Arizona Council of Government, Rural Home Purchase Assistance Program (RHAP)$10,000 (92 773-1135 Phoenix Community Housing Resources of Arizona (CHRA) Homeownership Incentive Program (HIP)$1,500 (602) 631-9780 Phoenix Neighborhood Housing Services of Phoenix Down Payment Closing Cost Assistance Program (DPCC)$2,500 (602) 258-1... 09/01/2006