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HardiePlank siding gets thumbs up

By Barry Stone, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

DEAR BARRY: My mother is planning to replace the wood siding on her home. We'd like to know which is better: HardiePlank or steel siding. Which do you recommend, and why? --Susan

DEAR SUSAN: Some may disagree with this answer, but my preference is HardiePlank. It has the look of wood siding but is actually fibrous concrete. In my opinion, it is superior to steel siding for the following reasons:  more...

Case-Shiller: Prices back to 2003 levels Premium Content

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

Prices were down from a year ago January in all 20 metro areas tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, with 13 of those markets seeing the steepest rates of decline since the downturn began.

Prices fell by more than 10 percent in 14 of the 20 metro areas tracked by the indices, and more than 20 percent in nine. The 20-city composite was down a record 19 percent from a year ago, and 29.1 percent from its peak, as average home prices returned to levels last seen in late 2003, Standard & Poor's said.  more...

RealeFlix offers free real estate video tours

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

RealeFlix, a free online service that launched in February, allows users to search and publish video tours of properties.

The site (RealeFlix.com) features a range of property types, including single-family homes, multifamily structures, vacant land, condos, commercial real estate, farms and timeshares. Users must register to publish video tours at the site.  more...

Success: Luck and sweat

By Alison Rogers, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelleyboone/2078304297/" target=blank>Kelley Mari</a>.

The No. 1 business book in the country is "Outliers: The Story of Success," the new book by Malcolm Gladwell, author of "The Tipping Point." "Outliers" is basically a collection of weird little scholarly studies and anecdotes strung along like pearls on a necklace, arguing that it's smarter to be lucky than it's lucky to be smart.

Lyrics from "Pippin" aside, Gladwell spends a lot of his time indicating that a strong factor in success is that the seed finds fertile soil -- as in his story of the kings of Silicon Valley, who were all born within two years of each other, because any computer geek older than that would have been ...  more...

Fidelity to pay regulators $365K

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

Fidelity National Title Company has agreed to pay $365,000 in penalties and reimbursement to California regulators to settle allegations that the company's Orange County office provided printing, gifts, travel and entertainment to Realtors and lenders in a position to refer the company business.

The California Department of Insurance announced the Feb. 17 agreement Monday, saying it related to illegal rebating activities that allegedly took place from 2000 to 2002. The department said it opened an investigation in September, 2002.  more...

First-time buyers crucial to recovery

By Marcie Geffner, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

Can first-time homebuyers save the U.S. economy?

Plenty of politicians, pundits and prominent economists believe so. In fact, new homebuyers are so crucial to a recovery that the federal government has anted up an $8,000 tax credit for those who haven't owned a home in the previous three years, and the state of California has added on a whopping $10,000 tax credit for residents who buy a brand-new home in the state this year.  more...

Dramatic increase in prime-loan foreclosures

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

Foreclosure starts and foreclosure sales of homes purchased with prime loans increased dramatically from January to February, and the percentage of homes completing the foreclosure process approached highs not seen since last summer.  more...

A Realtor's best friend

By Inman News, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.

Realtors showing up to make a listing presentation to Candy Spelling -- widow of famed television producer Aaron Spelling -- first had to pass muster with her dog.

Agents hoping to land the job of marketing Spelling's $150 million Los Angeles mansion were first introduced to Madison, her Wheaten Terrier. If the dog didn't like the agent, "Spelling crossed them off the list," the Associated Press reports.  more...

IPhone spurs app revolution Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Tuesday, March 31, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamhook/2830319467/">William Hook</a>.

New mobile-phone applications tailored for real estate are moving beyond for-sale property searches and into areas once reserved for personal computers, such as lead generation and management, market research and analysis, and customer relationship management.

As is often the case in the fast-moving world of technology, yesterday's dazzling breakthrough -- the ability to access listings on the go using a mobile phone -- is becoming the norm. Now consumers and real estate professionals are demanding more.  more...

NAR: Slowdown in vacation-home sales Premium Content

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Monday, March 30, 2009.

The share of second-home purchases among all home sales fell to 30 percent, according to the latest annual National Association of Realtors survey, down from 33 percent in the 2007 survey and 40 percent in 2005.

Sales of primary residences dropped 13.2 percent from 2007 to 2008, while sales of vacation homes fell 30.8 percent and sales of investment homes fell 17.2 percent during the same period, NAR reported.  more...

Beating the recession Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Monday, March 30, 2009.

Is your real estate business suffering from too many expenses and a lack of closed sales? If so, today's column gives you four ways to put your business back on track no matter what the market does.

1. Invest in training and education
The number one mistake that both agents and companies make in a slowing market is to cut back on their training and education budgets. When money is tight, it's easy to justify diverting funds to other areas. The agents and companies who are currently investing in training are picking up market share now and will be well positioned to dominate players as the market improves.  more...

Cancel impound account? There's a fee

By Benny Kass, Monday, March 30, 2009.

DEAR BENNY: Can you explain how a bank can legally charge a quarter of a point of the loan to opt out of an impound account? We have always paid our property taxes twice a year and always on time and have excellent credit. It feels like extortion to me. --Jerry

DEAR JERRY: It may not be legal extortion, but it's close. For years, lenders argued that it was necessary to collect escrows for taxes and insurance (also called "impound accounts") in order to make sure that the real estate taxes and insurance policies would be paid and kept current.  more...

Homeowners find it pays to go green

By Dian Hymer, Monday, March 30, 2009.

The green revolution is spreading as the public becomes aware of the need to reduce dependence on foreign oil and improve the environment through conservation and recycling.

Today's recession-wary homeowners are reluctant to spend a penny on home improvements. However, some effective energy-saving home improvements don't cost much and can save you money in the long run.

For example, a tight house prevents heat loss. To keep your home from leaking, weatherstrip by sealing voids around windows, doors, vents, cables, electrical outlets, and switches and electrical wires.  more...

Clareity announces new MLS security tools

By Inman News, Monday, March 30, 2009.

Real estate tech company Clareity Security, through its partnership with tech company AdmitOne Security, has announced the release of two new security products: Scout for SAFEMLS and Sentry for SAFEMLS.

The tools are intended to help multiple listing services prevent unauthorized access of MLS information.  more...

Rental site rebrands as 'Beast'

By Inman News, Monday, March 30, 2009.

A Massachusetts-based rental search site, formerly known as Grand Central Apartments, has rebranded as Rental Beast.

It is common for renters in the Boston area to pay a broker fee to secure a lease, and this cost is often the equivalent of a full month's rental fee, in addition to the first month's rent and last month's rent and a security fee, Rental Beast's Web site states.  more...

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