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NAR: Prices drop in 80% of metros

By Inman News, Tuesday, November 10, 2009.

The median single-family resale home price dropped in 80.4 percent of the 153 U.S. metro areas tracked in the third quarter compared to the same quarter last year, and 36 metro areas experienced double-digit percentage declines in price, the National Association of Realtors reported today.

The national median price of single-family resale homes was $177,900 in the third quarter, down 11.2 percent compared to the median price in third-quarter 2008.  more...

Think like a millionaire

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, November 10, 2009.
Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/books_9780446537834.htm" target=blank>Hachette Book Group</a>.

By now, most personal finance book aficionados are familiar with the Lifestyles of the Rich and Not-Usually-Famous genre exemplified by "The Millionaire Next Door." These titles tend to be equal parts counterintuitive voyeurism ("75 percent of millionaires drive a bucket and hand-wash their own undies) and advice on how to get where the books' subjects are. ("If you drive a bucket and hand-wash your own undies, you, too can be on the path to millions!")

"The Richest Man in Town," written by Worth Magazine founder W. Randall Jones, sticks to the formula of providing interesting tidbits about the lives of his subjects and their path to wealth, and spinning the common threads into a fabric of wealth-building advice. However, there is something inherently compelling about the approach of the book that flips the formulaic genre on its ear.  more...

Timing a holiday home sale

By Bernice Ross, Tuesday, November 10, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fauxen/337884210/in/set-72157594447727252/" target=blank>Fauxen</a>.

DEAR BERNICE: My husband just received a job promotion that will require us to move from Virginia to South Carolina. He starts his new position in January. Our girls are ages 2 and 4, so we don't have to worry about when we sell in terms of their preschool.

I was wondering if it would be smart to list our home over the holidays or to wait until after the first of the year. We have owned our home for 10 years. It's in a good school district. There are not many houses for sale in our area, so we're thinking it might be smart to sell sooner rather than later. What's your opinion? --Cheryl S.  more...

Townhome repairs no laughing matter

By Barry Stone, Tuesday, November 10, 2009.

DEAR BARRY: We own a townhome and are trying to deal with the fools who run the homeowners association (HOA). Last month, we had a major roof leak that wiped out our master bedroom ceiling. The HOA is supposed to maintain the roof, but they've neglected it for years. Now that their negligence has damaged our home, they refuse to pay for interior repairs. They say the interior is our responsibility. A lot they know about responsibility. At the last HOA board meeting, we requested that they pay to replace our ceiling, and they dismissed this as though it was a joke. What can we do to get some fair treatment? --Karen

DEAR KAREN: The HOA is in no position to be laughing. Instead, they should rethink the situation. Under ordinary circumstances, interior repairs are paid by the homeowners.  more...

Shorter URLs and real estate SEO Premium Content

By Gahlord Dewald, Tuesday, November 10, 2009.

One of the tricky parts about using social networking sites for marketing your real estate business is that you don't make the rules about how they work. For example, one of the most ubiquitous features of social networking sites is "status updates." These are blurbs of text that tend to be updated frequently and let the rest of the social network know what you're up to.

The length of status updates tends to be limited, usually 140 characters. This is great, except when you want to publicize a link via your status update. Let's look at how two powerful marketing tactics can collide and then use a tool to do something about it.  more...