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Goodbye clogged gutters

By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

Q: Do houses have to have gutters all around the roof? Mine are always getting clogged. Any reason why I can't remove the ones that aren't over an entrance?

A: Houses don't have to have gutters. But before you rip yours off, we suggest you think through the reasons for doing so and the alternatives we're about to suggest. Simply having to clean clogged gutters every so often isn't reason enough in our minds to tear them off.  more...

Buy home, get free air miles

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

Air miles are a curious commodity. The people who have the most rarely take the time to figure out how to most efficiently use them, while others who guard them like gold would happily miss their mother's birthday if they could fly someplace "for free."

Perhaps it's been the rotten early spring weather, the need to travel at this graduation time of year, or the real estate industry pulling out all the stops to accentuate the positives of buying a home and getting a mortgage, but I have been hearing and reading more announcements intended to tweak my interest in air miles and getaways.  more...

Lenders promise streamlined workouts

By , Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

More than two dozen loan servicers that collect payments on most U.S. mortgages have agreed to adopt guidelines that are intended to expedite the process of working with troubled borrowers to prevent foreclosures.

The new HOPE NOW guidelines state that loan servicers should inform homeowners within 45 days whether their application for a workout -- such as a repayment plan, loan modification or short sale -- has been accepted or denied.  more...

Please stop innovating!

By Kris Berg, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

Now, where did I put my social network?

Yesterday I showed the state of California. In all fairness, it wasn't the entire state, but just several of the larger Assembly districts. The buyer, who contacted me because he found my blog online, narrowed down his area of interest to seven ZIP codes. "Why these areas?" I asked. "I researched the demographics on ZIPskinny," he replied.

What I said: "Oh, of course!" What I thought: "Huh?"  more...

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2008

U.S. copyright law and you

By , Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

What's this about the AP cracking down on bloggers for excerpting from and linking to news stories? The practice is allowed under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. copyright law -- as long as you're only quoting a portion of an article for purposes of commenting on it (you can't just cut and paste the whole thing into a blog post). Mark Glaser has one of the better roundups of the issue(s) at Mediashift.  more...

Welcome to real estate Bedrock

By Marc Davison, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

Abracadabra. Your Web site has vanished.
Your blog: MIA.
HomeGain, Trulia, Zillow, ActiveRain … all gone. As if they never existed.

You reach for your phone but there's no dial tone.
Your computer -- no Internet activity.
No e-mail. No IM. Dead calm.

Lead generation, TMS, CRM … fond memories.
Lockboxes. Coaches. Trainers. Continuing-ed outfits. Gone.
No more "vendors" profiting inside real estate.  more...

Clearing title for the Jetsons

By , Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

Wow -- who would think of marketing title/closing services with a cartoon ad on Sunday morning TV?  more...

Lawsuit challenges real estate auctions

By , Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

A lawsuit filed in California Superior Court challenges real estate auction practices, charging that some auction companies engage in deceptive advertising and violate provisions of federal law related to real estate closing services.

"Many modern real estate auctions are nothing more than a bait-and-switch scheme to lure hopeful buyers to submit offers that can later be accepted or rejected by the lenders/sellers, despite the general public's perception that once the auctioneer declares, 'Sold,' the property is in fact sold," the lawsuit charges.  more...

Clock ticking again on seller-funded down payments

By Inman News, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

Federal regulators on Monday renewed their efforts to ban seller-funded down-payment assistance on FHA-guaranteed loans, publishing a proposed rule and reopening the public comment period on the plan until Aug. 15.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development says allowing sellers or others with a financial stake in the sale of a home to fund down payments inflates home prices and triples the chance that a home will end up in foreclosure.  more...

Foreclosure tough on renters

By Inman News, Tuesday, June 17, 2008.

Renters suffer foreclosure woes
More and more renters who are in good standing on their rent payments are being forced to move out when their homes go into foreclosure, Reuters reported this week.

The problem is the inevitable fallout from the foreclosure crisis that has stricken so many homeowners in recent years, and many attorneys who assist troubled renters say the problem has worsened since last year.  more...