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Agents, stop wasting money on advertising Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, July 31, 2008.

Most real estate agents advertise, but very few have effective marketing campaigns. Do you know the difference?

Jennifer Cummings is America's leading real estate marketing coach. She helped Christina Martinez, America's top-producing real estate agent, increase her commission earnings from $4 million to $7 million in only seven months. What's the secret to her success? Marketing -- rather than advertising.  more...

GFCI electrical outlets are lifesavers

By Paul Bianchina, Thursday, July 31, 2008.

Q: What is a GFCI electrical outlet? Are outlets of this type required in all homes, and if so, where? --Allen D.

A: GFCI stands for ground-fault circuit interrupter. A GFCI outlet reacts much more quickly to the presence of an electrical short circuit than a standard circuit breaker does, so they provide additional protection against the possibility of injury should an appliance, tool or other electrical device malfunction.  more...

Double-hung windows on a Normandy?

By Arrol Gellner, Thursday, July 31, 2008.

Can't distinguish a double-hung from a double-boiler? Then here in a nutshell are the most common window types, along with the architectural styles they're usually associated with:  more...

Social networks: Think outside the real estate box

By Teresa Boardman, Wednesday, July 30, 2008.

There was a lot of information about social networking at the Inman Real Estate Connect conference last week. Many of us who attended the conference participate in online social networks. Several speakers mentioned LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook as must-haves for real estate pros.

What I find interesting about social networking among real estate pros is that there seems to be a lot of connecting with other real estate pros. There is a whole world outside of the real estate industry. I have found some of it by using TwitterLocal. With TwitterLocal I can put in my ZIP code and connect with twitter users located within a 1-to-20-mile radius. So far none that I have met are Realtors.  more...

New water heater? Not on landlord's dime

By Janet Portman, Wednesday, July 30, 2008.

Q: I've developed a painful skin condition that requires treatment with large amounts of very hot water. The water in my apartment isn't hot enough and it takes too long to heat up the amount of water I need, so I've asked the landlord to install a new water heater or give me a device that makes hot water at the sink.  more...

Tenant: Splitting cost of new floor is unfair

By Robert Griswold, Wednesday, July 30, 2008.

Q: I live by myself and have a large home. To help cover my mortgage I decided to rent out a couple of the extra bedrooms. My two roommates each have their own bedroom and bathroom, and we share the living room and kitchen and rest of the house.  more...

Mixing business with 'friends' Premium Content

By Kris Berg, Tuesday, July 29, 2008.

I am now accepting friends.

It became a little running joke at the Inman Real Estate Connect conference last week. For reasons known only to the sloppy vendor responsible for my brain's faulty wiring, I felt compelled during a panel discussion to publicly announce that I was, more or less, friendless. "I have 12 Facebook friends!" I blurted, and I was actually bragging when I said it. Having started the morning with a high "five" on my Facebook tally board (median age 16.8), I was feeling somewhat empowered.  more...

Condo 'passes financing' but is it structurally sound?

By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Tuesday, July 29, 2008.

Often our response to a question posed by a reader triggers another question from another reader on a related but different topic.

A couple of weeks ago a reader wanted to know if it was necessary to have the interior of a condominium inspected before purchase. We encouraged him to do so. That column sparked this question from another reader:  more...

First-time home buyers can tap IRA

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, July 29, 2008.

A friend of mine is a single mom who became a real estate salesperson several years ago following her divorce. She had a consistent flow of buyers and sellers until the beginning of the year when the market slowdown became even more apparent in many Pacific Northwest neighborhoods.

She postponed a long-awaited kayak trip because an out-of-state buyer was coming into town with a reportedly all-cash offer for a waterfront cottage. I laughed and teased her about postponing the trip when I found out the man was single.  more...

Housing still unaffordable Premium Content

By Marcie Geffner, Monday, July 28, 2008.
Affordability troubles remain despite home price declines.

Home prices have tumbled from their heights, but their fall still hasn't made much of a dent in the nation's housing affordability woes. In fact, "even with widespread price declines, affordability for would-be homeowners has not improved significantly."

That's one conclusion of "The State of the Nation's Housing 2008," a report published earlier this year by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies.  more...

Should homeowners remove asbestos ceiling?

By Barry Stone, Monday, July 28, 2008.

Dear Barry,  more...

Written home inspection report is gold

By Dian Hymer, Sunday, July 27, 2008.

A homeowner in Oakland, Calif., recently decided to put his older home on the market. At the recommendation of his real estate agents, he ordered presale inspection reports on the property. The home inspector noticed sloping in the floors and out-of-plumb door frames -- signs of settlement, which is not unusual for the area.

The seller informed the home inspector that an engineer had inspected the property when he initially purchased it. The seller, who was then a buyer, had been present at the time of the inspection, which is always a good idea.  more...

Pitfalls of buying foreclosures

By Benny Kass, Sunday, July 27, 2008.

DEAR BENNY: My mother was under contract to buy a foreclosed house from the bank. Before closing, she had the house inspected. During the time the house was being inspected, the heat and water system was shut off (I guess the former owners weren't paying their water and gas bill). The inspector documented in his report that the heater and water were not inspected and further stated that when it is turned on we should consult a contractor to check that everything is in order. My mother signed off and purchased the house.  more...

Kill mortgage broker deception

By Jack Guttentag, Sunday, July 27, 2008.

(This is Part 3 of a three-part series. Read Part 1, "Why good faith estimate needs overhaul" and Part 2, "HUD aims to crack down on loan overcharges.")

This series of articles explains recent proposals by HUD to make the good faith estimate of fees and charges (GFE) more useful to borrowers. The first two articles explain how the revamped GFE would make it easier for borrowers to shop alternative loan providers (LPs), and would eliminate critical weaknesses of the current GFE that encourage opportunistic pricing. This article looks at proposed revisions in the GFE to make mortgage broker pricing more transparent.  more...

Dos and don'ts of postcard marketing Premium Content

By Alison Rogers, Sunday, July 27, 2008.

Every so often, I like to take a break from doing my own marketing to see what works on me. I got a perfect chance to do this because we are selling the beach house, which has occasioned a flood of postcards from moving companies. I'm not quite sure what tipped them off -- I haven't filed a change of address yet, and I can't imagine that these movers are roaming the neighborhood looking for "for sale" signs. My best guess is that they somehow monitor the multiple listing service and see a contract has been signed.  more...

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