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RealEstate.com pushes listings to YouTube Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Monday, March 16, 2009.

Real estate brokerage and Web portal RealEstate.com has put virtual tours of all of its agents' listings on a dedicated YouTube "channel," and will do the same for any broker or agent with featured listings on the company's site.

The YouTube channel shows RealEstate.com's commitment to helping its 1,100 agents and other partners bring information to platforms consumers are using, said Greg Hanson, Senior Vice President and General Manager of RealEstate.com.  more...

15 GMAC Real Estate offices convert to franchisees

By Inman News, Monday, March 16, 2009.

A real estate veteran who previously sold his company to GMAC Home Services has bought it back as a franchise operation, according to a company announcement today.

Saul B. Cohen, who with Joseph Hare established Boston-based Hammond Residential Real Estate in 1991, sold that company in 2001.  more...

Protecting your online reputation Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Monday, March 16, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/laszlo-photo/133014799/" target=blank>laszlo-photo</a>.

Like it or not, you have a reputation as a real estate professional both online and offline. Are you taking the necessary steps to protect that reputation?

The majority of real estate agents have an e-mail account and a Web site. A much smaller number are actively engaged in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and/or MySpace. An even smaller number are blogging. Given that the median age of today's Realtor is over 50, it's not surprising that a vast majority don't understand why participating in these sites is good for their business. Their attitude is, "Why should I care that you are on your fourth cup of coffee today?"  more...

Buying house? Think long term

By Dian Hymer, Monday, March 16, 2009.

Now would seem like a rotten time to sell. The economy is in recession and many housing markets around the country have suffered serious downturns.

However, if you're a seller who will also be a buyer in a market where prices have declined, it could be a good time to both sell your current home and buy a new one. You sell for less than you would have in 2004, but you also pay less than you would have then.  more...

Intrafamily refi forgoes costs, hassle

By Benny Kass, Monday, March 16, 2009.

DEAR BENNY: I am looking into refinancing my Texas home from a 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage to a fixed-rate. During this process my mother stated that she would lend me the $150,000 to pay off my existing loan and I would pay her back at the current market rate for a 30-year fixed. This would provide her a stable investment, and I can forgo the closing costs, paperwork, appraisal, etc., associated with a refi.

What are the legal implications of this transaction? If I pay off my current loan do I assume title? What paperwork do I have to sign with my mom to validate the transaction and where do we file it? She would have to claim the income; can I still write off the interest as I would do with any other home loan? Is this transaction as simple as it sounds? --Craig  more...

Buildup, bubble and bust explained Premium Content

By Patrick S. Duffy, Monday, March 16, 2009.

Recently, Inman News launched a "Roadmap to Recovery" project to encourage new ideas and foster communication with the goal of improving the business of real estate transactions. In early March, the editors proposed 10 reforms to not only improve how real estate is bought and sold, but, more importantly, to ensure that the type of cataclysmic boom-and-bust cycle through which we're now suffering will never be repeated.

Of those 10 reforms, one really hit home for me: "Real estate professionals should provide buyers and sellers with vastly improved market analytics." That's because at the same time I read the reforms, I was combing my way through "The Great Housing Bubble," which is a real estate development insider's account of how bubbles form, methods to property evaluate home values, the important impact of bubble-market psychology, and the future direction of home prices.  more...

Capital requirements could hurt banks

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, March 16, 2009.

While policymakers and their kibitzers, among which I count myself, debate what is needed to cure the current crisis and associated recession, another debate brews in the background. It is about how to fix the system so that it doesn't happen again.

Any coherent proposal for fixing the system is necessarily based on judgments about the causes of the current crisis. While there are many differences in emphasis, I believe that most observers would agree on the essentials: The crisis originated with a bubble in the residential real estate market, followed by its inevitable aftermath of declining home prices, and a subsequent explosion of home mortgage defaults and foreclosures.  more...

Mood and doom

By Inman News, Monday, March 16, 2009.

Photo by C.J. "CHARLIE" VLAHOS

"Mood and Doom."

Realtor C.J. "Charlie" Vlahos snapped this photo of his wife, also a Realtor, "in a moving vehicle after talking with a client doomed for foreclosure." The couple works for Blanket Real Estate in New Fairfield, Conn.  more...