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'Raving fans' help build real estate biz Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

All industries recognize the power of the testimonial. Are you putting this valuable tool to work in your business?

The last two columns have looked at how to capitalize on word-of-mouth marketing. Testimonials from raving fans are a powerful way to build your business. On the other side of the coin, negative word of mouth about your business can wreak havoc within a very short period of time.

Many real estate professionals focus almost exclusively on marketing and advertising. Spending money will make the phone ring.  more...

Real estate agents face fines for not sharing listings data Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Thursday, October 13, 2005.

The Coastal Carolinas Association of Realtors is pursuing fines against members of its multiple listing service that fail to list property data for other members to view.

Charlie Brindel, executive officer at the Coastal Carolinas association, said the association began enforcing its MLS policy about a month ago, though it has been on the books for a long time.

There are about 3,000 members in the association's MLS, which covers an area that includes Myrtle Beach and Pawleys Island, among other communities.

 more...

Falcon Gateway mall sold in Arizona

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

Lee & Associates negotiated the sale of the 59,223-square-foot Falcon Gateway Shopping Center in Mesa, Ariz.

The value of the transaction was approximately $17.6 million.

Built in 2003, the class A retail center is located on the southeast corner of McKellips and Greenfield roads.

The retail center was 98 percent leased at the time of sale. Tenants include: Staples, Payless Shoes, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar, Great Clips, Subway, Panda Express, Sleep America and Fashion Bug.   more...

REIT buys massive self-storage portfolio

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

Marcus & Millichap arranged the sale of a seven-property, 2,903-unit self-storage portfolio in Colorado.

The purchase price was $19.5 million.

The properties include: Airport Self-Storage, in Aurora, 514 units; Altura Self-Storage, in Aurora, 290 units; South Broadway Self-Storage, in Littleton, 365 units; South Federal Self-Storage, in Englewood, 372 units; Lakewood Self-Storage, in Denver, 452 units; Nook & Cranny Self-Storage, in Colorado Springs, 513 units; and Avon Self-Storage, in Avon, 397 units.  more...

Matthews Corners purchased in North Carolina

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

Cushman & Wakefield brokered the sale of the 167,459-square-foot Matthews Corners shopping center in Charlotte, N.C.

The value of the transaction was $21.8 million.

The property, located at the intersection of U.S. 74 and N.C. Highway 51 in the Matthews submarket, was anchored by HHGregg, Marshalls, Hobby Lobby and Linens N' Things at the time of sale.

Atlanta-based Branch Properties sold the asset to Durham, N.C.-based Zapolski + Rudd and its partner.

Cushman & Wakefield is a privately held real estate services company operating worldwide.  more...

Spanish-speaking real estate referral network launches

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

A national referral network offering the full gamut of real estate service providers for Spanish-speaking home buyers launched today on MSN Latino Finanzas, a Spanish-language financial education portal.  more...

Houston man indicted in alleged real estate fraud scheme

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

A Houston man was indicted in a multimillion-dollar mortgage scheme said to have been going on in that city since 2002.

Lawrence Randall Benham, 41, is charged with five counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and one count each of bank fraud and making a monetary transaction with criminally derived property, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas said.  more...

Several U.S. cities suffer from concentrated poverty

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

New Orleans was not alone in the United States as a large city with a high rate of concentrated poverty, according to a study by The Brookings Institution, an independent, nonpartisan think tank.  more...

RE/MAX lands in Bulgaria

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

The RE/MAX International real estate franchise system has expanded its reach to Bulgaria, the company said today.

RE/MAX Bulgaria has been purchased by George Petrov and Ilyan Nikolov, and becomes the 58th country for franchising of the global real estate network. Both are natives of Bulgaria and will serve as co-regional directors of the new operation. The two were partners, operating a construction business when they discovered RE/MAX.  more...

Appetite for credit card debt grows Premium Content

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

More American families are turning to credit cards as their financial safety net, citing skyrocketing costs, dwindling savings and stagnant wages, according to a report released this week by Demos and the Center for Responsible Lending.  more...

CEO confidence hits 4-year low

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

Chief executives' confidence fell to its lowest level in four years, The Conference Board reports today in its latest survey of CEOs.  more...

Overnight real estate rates pick up

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

Long-term mortgage interest rates climbed again Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield gained to 4.46 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average rose to 5.6 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate edged up to 5.18 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 4.17 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield advanced to 4.69 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  more...

Real estate titans clash over trademark use

By Inman News, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

LendingTree officials announced Thursday that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed a preliminary injunction that had prohibited the company from using certain real estate brand names affiliated with Cendant Corp. -- including Century 21, Coldwell Banker and ERA -- in marketing its own real estate broker network.

"Our use of these names accurately describes members of our network," Doug Lebda, CEO for LendingTree LLC, said in a statement.  more...

Diary of a real estate flipper

By Alison Rogers, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

Like most people who work at desks for a living, my husband is slightly suspicious of my new freelance lifestyle. He called me the other day – a day when I was supposed to be looking at houses – and he heard the TV on in the background. "What are you doing, hon?" he asked.

"I'm watching 'Flip This House,'" I replied. "It's research."

Perhaps a result of the 72 straight hours of kidding I had to endure about that, I thought I'd do some nose-to-the-grindstone work: I put down the remote and picked up the telephone.  more...

America may be at peak of 'materialistic' cycle

By Arrol Gellner, Thursday, October 13, 2005.

We Americans are a people with profoundly changeable opinions. Our lifestyle ideals, for instance, seesaw from extravagance to asceticism in bursts of 30 years or so. This peculiar national trait affects our architecture as it does everything else, repeatedly taking us from overblown ostentation to reactionary modesty and back again.  more...

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