Archive - Columnist Article | Real Estate and Technology News for Agents, Brokers and Investors

Date

Type

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...

Bankruptcy fails as foreclosure rescue

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

In this case, homeowner David Coletta secured a note for $60,000 with mortgages on two properties in favor of mortgage holder Nicholas Mattera. After the homeowner defaulted on payments on the note, Mattera filed a foreclosure action in the county court.

The homeowner's response failed to conform to the court's rules, and he was given an extension of time to respond appropriately. Instead of responding, the homeowner filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy action, which automatically stayed the foreclosure proceedings. His attorney was unable to provide evidence that he notified Mattera of this bankruptcy filing. The homeowner failed to follow through with the bankruptcy case, and it was dismissed. more...

Real estate's Web 2.0 science lesson

By Kris Berg, Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyohm/2729475946/in/photostream/">mightyohm</a>.

An agent wrote recently on his blog, "If you are not ahead of the technology curve, you are behind and I mean WAY BEHIND!"

These words were penned by someone I know and respect -- a very smart dude -- so I have no doubt he intended to inspire and deliver us all unto 21st-century greatness. But, I also suspect that the vast majority of agents who happened to read these words have long since assumed the fetal position, fully prepared to let their licenses lapse.

I wanted to smack him (in a friendly sort of way, of course). What am I "behind" in? more...

Taking a stand on floor insulation

By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

Q: Our Mill Valley, Calif., home was built in 1957 and was not insulated. Every time a wall is opened up, we add insulation. Some say it would be a good idea to insulate the floor of our house. There is a crawl space under the house where we could reach the bottom of the floor. As the house is built on a slope, the crawl space varies from 2 to 8 feet tall.

Others say insulating the floor may not be a good idea. In the summer, the house gets hot, and the coolness of the crawl space will help keep the house from getting hotter.

What do you guys think? more...

Commission shoppers beware

By Bernice Ross, Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

How will you decide who is the best person to market your property? If you're shopping exclusively based upon commission, you could be making a very costly mistake.

Recently I was speaking with the CEO of a well-known real estate firm. He shared his frustration about what he was hearing from many of his broker-owners. Apparently, a large percentage of buyers are calling various real estate offices and asking, "How much is your commission?" If the person answering the call says, "Six percent," the caller hangs up. Another version of the same scenario sounds like this, "We just talked to Joe Agent who works for the same firm you do, but he was willing to take our listing for 5 percent. We really like you, but unless you cut your commission to 5 percent, we're going to list with Joe." more...

6 tips to better real estate photos

By Mary Umberger, Wednesday, November 4, 2009.

Ashley Myers collects bad photography. Specifically, she collects bad real estate photos -- the ones that seem to go out of their way to make a home unappealing to would-be buyers.

To make her point on her blog on the ActiveRain.com networking site for real estate agents, Myers easily drums up half a dozen offenders culled from her local multiple listing service in Richardson, Texas: pictures that emphasize garish furniture instead of the room it's in. Fuzzy snaps of unremarkable bathroom vanities. Cloudy rooms -- photographed at night -- that are so underlit that one strains to discern such hard-to-miss features as a fireplace mantle. more...

Little house of septic system horrors

By Barry Stone, Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

DEAR BARRY: We bought our home about two years ago, and everyone said the septic system was OK. This was the first home we ever owned with a septic tank, so we didn't know any better.

A plumber was hired to inspect it, and no problems were found. But last week, the water main broke, the tank got flooded, and sewage backed up into the house. That's when we learned that the septic tank is under the concrete floor in the garage, the tank is collapsing, the leach field is under the driveway, and the water main is over the tank. more...

Build wealth the Trump way

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470455829.html" target=blank>Wiley</a>.

Whether or not you're an aficionado of the get-rich-quick genre, you can't deny that the name Trump signifies smart, strategic and profitable real estate investments. Today's reality TV audience might primarily identify Trump as the possessor of an extremely swoopy comb-over or the frequent-bellower of "You're Fired!" But every time I'm tempted to give Trump less real estate street cred, which is always threatened with overshadowing by his reputation as the serial ex-husband or Rosie O'Donnell's staunchest foe, I remind myself of his initial real estate deal: buying the defunct Commodore Hotel for $10 million and rehabbing it into the Grand Hyatt, eventually selling his 50 percent share for $140 million (after securing $111 million in tax savings by way of a 40-year abatement he negotiated with New York City).

Note, though, that Trump didn't actually write this book. more...

Think twice before buying rental

By Benny Kass, Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

DEAR BENNY: In approximately one year, my wife and I are going to sell our house and move to Arizona. Selling the house is not a problem, but we have decided to rent out the next property we buy, whether it be a house or condo. We have already inquired about a real estate agent and we have talked to a friend of a friend over the telephone. We intend to meet with him on our next trip to Phoenix this year.

My question is: How do we determine what an appropriate fee is for this agent's services? I know he will not do this house hunting for free, but is there a contract drawn up, is there a flat fee or is there a rate depending on the number of houses/units we look at? Are there other things we need to know ahead of time? --Patrick more...

Get real with unrealistic sellers

By Dian Hymer, Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

In some areas there is a shortage of desirable, well-priced listings. Sellers who don't need to sell now are waiting for a better market. Many sellers who would like to sell now have unrealistic expectations about what a buyer would be willing to pay for their home.

One approach if you like a listing that is overpriced for the market is to keep your eye on it and wait for a price reduction. The risk of this approach is that another buyer might come along and start a negotiation with the seller. It would be unfortunate if you were to find out later that the listing sold for a price that you would have been willing to pay. more...

Google's got social game

By Gahlord Dewald, Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

Google has added a new tool: Social Search. Accessible via Google Labs, Social Search provides results culled from the searcher's social media graph.

Just as there are separate tabs in the normal Google search for images, blogs, video, etc., once you opt in to the Social Search experiment you'll see a new tab for social-enhanced search-engine results.

For now, I'd consider this tool pretty bleeding-edge: the requirements for opting in, creating a Google profile and logging in to your Google account will curb the initial group using this tool. more...

Understanding home seller behavior

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, November 2, 2009.

Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/deltamike/751707089/">deltaMike</a>.

You might recall from last week that a new friend of mine, Danielle LaPorte, wrote a guide to finding your "style statement" -- a two-word phrase that "define(s) the true you." While LaPorte's style statements describe the subject individual's aesthetic and world view, I couldn't help trying my hand at creating a few homebuyer profiles based on this principle. While a true style statement might be a phrase like "elemental power," I came up with style statements of typical homebuying behavior like "Decent DIYer" and "Righteous Nit-Picker."

With sellers, more than buyers, their selling style is not necessarily their usual, personal style of interacting with the world. We're specifically talking here about their style of thinking about this particular experience and transaction of selling their home. more...

Real estate celebrity is dead

By Bernice Ross, Monday, November 2, 2009.

If you're still marketing your services with the "I'm the best agent in today's market" (even if you are), it's time to stop being the celebrity and to start asking, "How can I be of service?"

For years we trained agents to promote themselves and their companies: "You should hire me because I sell more houses than anyone else in this area," or "You should hire us because we are the No. 1 company with the No. 1 market share in this area." These types of marketing messages worked back in the 1980s and '90s. Most sellers wanted the best because they believed they would sell their home more quickly and at a higher price. In many cases, celebrity brokers were held in awe. more...

Mortgage shopper's dream come true

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, November 2, 2009.

As noted last week, borrowers often make costly transactional mistakes because they know less than the loan providers they deal with, who are motivated to exploit their information advantage. A borrower who pays 5 percent when she could have gotten 4.875 percent if she had known what her loan provider knew has made a transactional mistake.

Borrowers make lifestyle mistakes for the same reason, and also because lifestyle decisions are often complicated, and borrowers tend to overweight short-term benefits and underweight long-term costs. A borrower who refinances to reduce her payment at the cost of owing substantially more after five years may have made a very costly lifestyle mistake. more...