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Redfin offers real-time sales info

By Inman News, Friday, November 6, 2009.

Seattle-based real estate brokerage Redfin says it's begun posting the sales price of homes as soon as they are sold, along with photos and other details, and has updated its Web site to include similar information on every property sold in the past two years in the markets it serves -- about 1.4 million properties.

Consumers outside of the Seattle and Washington, D.C., markets must be registered users to obtain that and other detailed information shared between brokers and once accessible only by real estate agents.  more...

Deadbeat tenants on the rise?

By Robert Griswold, Friday, November 6, 2009.

Q: For the past 20 years I have been buying and managing rental homes and I have to say that these days tenants are worse than I have ever experienced. Not all tenants are bad, but lately I have seen a noticeable increase in tenants who do not pay their rent and then leave in the middle of the night after causing a lot of damage to the house. At one rental, I recently had to spend almost $6,000 to fix up the house for re-renting.

I certainly understand the economy is bad in our area and many parts of the country, but my management company is unable to collect any money after the tenant moves out. The manager simply gives the case to a collection agency, and I never collect any money from the agency. It has been a repeated problem. Can you please suggest what I should do? Can you suggest a reputable collection agency?  more...

Dire prediction for jumbos

By Steve Bergsman, Friday, November 6, 2009.
Flickr image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgraths/3248483447/" target=blank>seanmcgrath</a>.

In springtime, when all things hopeful and botanical bloom, there was a widespread sprouting of press announcements, particularly from the major banks, about increased dollars allocated to the business of jumbo loans.

Alas, the soil for such pronouncements has proven poor. A dearth of jumbos persists and the market appears to be wilting.

As an executive at one mortgage research company told me off the record, earlier this year there was a flurry of activity with Bank of America and other major banks announcing jumbo loan programs, "but I haven't heard anything since then. The market doesn't appear to have changed much. I think some of these announcements were made to generate good press. The banks were saying, 'Hey, we are open for business -- don't forget us,' but they weren't doing anything more than what they were doing before."  more...

15 best iPhone apps for mobile agents

By Joseph Ferrara, Friday, November 6, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamhook/2830319467/" target=blank>William Hook</a>.

1. Vlingo. Since real estate agents do a lot of driving, using your voice -- instead of your fingers -- to search the Web, compose an e-mail, text message or take notes is useful (and safer).

Vlingo lets you do this with your voice. You can even send tweets to Twitter and update your Facebook. Oh yeah, use Vlingo to call anyone in your phone book. Simply press a button and talk. Vlingo does the rest. My favorite.  more...

Index compares prices in college towns

By Inman News, Friday, November 6, 2009.

An annual index comparing home prices in 120 college-town markets revealed a $1.37 million price difference between homes of similar characteristics in Akron, Ohio, and Palo Alto, Calif.

Akron, home to the University of Akron, ranks as the most affordable college town tracked by Coldwell Banker, with a $121,885 price tag for a typical four-bedroom, 2.5-bath home that averages 2,200 square feet.  more...

Seeking outside help for short sales, REOs

By Inman News, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

Alex Charfen is co-founder and chief executive officer of the Distressed Property Institute -- which has trained a number of in-house transaction coordinators and bestowed its "Certified Distressed Property Expert" designation on about 12,000 agents and brokers who have completed its courses.

He is leery of third-party companies that offer to act as short-sale negotiators and make "outrageous claims about their closing percentages," and those that "claim do be national processing centers for foreclosures."

And he said consumers shouldn't have to foot the bill for participating in short-sale transactions.  more...

Congress extends homebuyer credit

By Inman News, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

President Obama is expected to sign a bill passed by Congress today extending and expanding the first-time homebuyer tax credit to homes under contract before May 1.

The credit, equal to 10 percent of a home's purchase price, remains capped at $8,000 for first-time homebuyers, but income limits have been raised.

Congress also approved an expansion of the credit to allow homeowners who have been in a principal residence for at least five of the last eight years to claim a tax credit of up to $6,500 if they sell that home and buy another.  more...

5 things to never tell a buyer

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

A buyer is looking at your home and asks a question. Be careful what you say, as it can cost you much more than you realize.

As a seller, you may find yourself at home when a buyer is looking at your home. In most cases, it's smart to leave during the showing. If you are at home and the buyer or his/her agent asks a question, tread carefully. Here are five things to never tell a buyer.

1. Where is the property line?
It's easy to point to the fence and say that's where the property line is. The correct answer to this question is, "I don't know where the exact property line is. If you want the exact location, you will need a survey."  more...

Putting fair-housing law into practice

By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, November 5, 2009.
Image by <a href="http://www.thegoldguys.blogspot.com" target=blank>thegoldguys.blogspot.com</a>.

Last month, Inman News columnist Bernice Ross wrote an excellent column about fair-housing issues. What she wrote were some blatant examples of fair-housing violations. Such violations can still be found in marketing, and there can be subtle violations, too, as following the letter of the law is complicated.

"Family" is one of those words that pose complications for real estate professionals. I try to dot every "i" and cross every "t" when it comes to fair housing and I believe in fair housing, yet the rules that real estate professionals must follow to be fair are confusing.  more...

A foreclosure protection strategy?

By Janet Portman, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

Q: My landlord, who's been a great guy, told me that he thinks he's probably going to lose the property to foreclosure. My lease runs out in a couple of months, and I was hoping to stay here for at least another year. The landlord offered to renew the lease now, for as long as I want, because he says there's a new law that makes foreclosing banks honor existing leases. If we do this, will it work? --Paul L.

A: Your landlord is correct about the new law. Signed by President Obama in May 2009, the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 requires foreclosing banks who become the owner upon foreclosure to honor existing leases. If someone buys the home at a foreclosure sale intending to occupy it, however, the new owner can terminate the lease with 90 days' notice. (Incidentally, for month-to-month tenants, both the bank and any new occupying buyer have the right to terminate the rental agreement, but must give tenants 90 days' notice.)  more...

Purchase power: Know your true max

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

Q: My wife and I were approved to buy a home up to $400,000, but we knew that we couldn't actually afford the monthly payment on that much. So, we started out looking at homes in the $200,000 range. Over the months, we realized that we would have to offer quite a bit more than the asking price to get in. And so many of the properties we were seeing were in really bad shape -- so bad that we couldn't afford to fix them up if we did get them. So we decided to look in the $250,000 range, but even after offering $30,000-$40,000 over asking, we still weren't getting anything.

Now we're looking up in the low $300,000s -- we're starting to see fewer offers on the properties and better places, but I'm concerned by this trend, and I fear that we're in danger of overextending ourselves. How should we proceed?  more...

IRS tax credit safeguards fall short

By Tom Kelly, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

A 4-year-old …? How does a 4-year-old get approved for an $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit?

While Realtors, lenders, appraisers, home inspectors, escrow officers and every other professional service connected to home sales and financing are lobbying for an extension of the first-time homebuyer housing credit, a recent audit revealed thousands of fraudulent claims and a need for more safeguards to support the popular program.  more...

The end of Big Technology?

By Robert Hahn, Thursday, November 5, 2009.

There is a special category of news that no one will actually pay attention to, and yet is incredibly important. For example, most people will not pay attention to the bankruptcy of CIT, which likely means that thousands of small retailers and mid-sized clothing manufacturers will not be around come 2010.

Nor will the vast majority of people even care that Boeing is opening a new 787 plant in South Carolina, instead of Washington, even though the reason why Boeing left its traditional home might be important to think about.

Within the real estate world, the recent unveiling of the new Web site for @Properties, among the largest residential brokerage companies in Chicago, should be filed under "critical but ignored" news items.  more...

FHA delays new condo rules

By , Thursday, November 5, 2009.

The Federal Housing Administration is delaying implementation of new rules for condo approvals until Dec. 7 and will reportedly pull back from some changes that critics said would have delayed or derailed many condominium sales.

In a June 12 letter to lenders, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced FHA would implement a new approval process for condominium projects on Oct. 1.  more...

Real estate's new intermediaries

By Inman News, Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

With distressed properties accounting for a greater percentage of sales than ever -- more than half in some hard-hit markets -- agents and brokers who have never handled a short sale or bank-owned home may find themselves feeling left out if they don't jump on the bandwagon.

But many real estate professionals who do specialize in short sales warn that it's a business of risks and rewards, requiring skill, connections and patience.  more...

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