Inman Blog

The house that roared

matt@inman.com — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:10:30 -0700

It may look like your typical American home, but when this property in Trussville, Ala., changed hands for $187,000 in 2004, the stage was set for a legal battle that could have implications for every real estate brokerage's business model.

The buyer, Vicki Busby, was charged a $149 "ABC fee" (administrative brokerage commission) on top of the $4,675 commission she paid her agent (the agent's split of the 5 percent commission on the sale -- see the HUD-1). Busby's agent didn't see any of the ABC fee -- it all went to the brokerage, RealtySouth, which is now facing a class action lawsuit alleging it violated RESPA by charging an unearned fee.

Such fees are becoming increasingly common in some markets, and often they're even bigger. In a three-part series beginning today, Inman News looks at the legal, ethical and competitive issues involved in charging such fees.

Defenders of the fees say brokerages have instituted them in order to cope with the rising cost of providing services and smaller commission splits with agents. As long as they're properly disclosed, they are both legal and ethical, they say.

But brokerages that decide to charge the fees seem to be running the risk not only of lawsuits by consumers, but of alienating their own agents, many of whom see them as "junk fees" (see Part I).

The particulars of the Busby case will be discussed in Part II of the series tomorrow. For a taste of what's in store in Part III -- which details the backlash by consumers and agents -- check out this Q&A that RealtySouth prepared in 2003, in hopes of defusing the protests it expected from agents when it implemented an ABC fee. Questions addressed included:

Wasn't Realty South "being greedy by imposing such a fee?" Would competitors use the fee against the company? What if a potential client decides to look for a company that doesn't charge the fee? "Why do you keep putting these roadblocks in the way of of my doing business?"

Agents continue to voice similar concerns today, as the fees become more common and larger.

Incidentally, Busby's home is back on the market. It's listed for $169,900 -- less than it sold for in 2004 and 2001. Needless to say, the listing is with another brokerage.

This is not 'Missile Command'

glennroberts@inman.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:16:39 -0700

TIP Strategies Inc., an economic development consulting firm, has mapped out U.S. job-loss trends using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. You can press the "play" button to watch as green circles (representing job growth) shrink and then blossom into red circles (job loss) over time.

If this were a game of "Missile Command," you might expect "Game Over" to pop up at any moment. But how far from over is this grisly unemployment trend?

Even the smartest ones lose their homes

curbed@inman.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:00:00 -0700

First, Edmund Andrews, an economics reporter for the New York Times (who makes $120,000 a year), falls in love, and then he buys a $460,000 house in Silver Springs, Md., by taking out two mortgages (a primary mortgage of $333,700 and a "piggyback" loan for $80,300).

Here's how his broker convinces him not to worry about the loans: "'Don't worry,' " Bob reassured me, saying what almost everybody else in real estate was saying at that moment. "'The value of your house will be higher in five years. You'll be able to refinance.' "

And then the credit-card debt starts piling up; and then his wife gets laid off; and then they default on their mortgage, but JPMorgan Chase is so busy dealing with the mess of the housing market that the bank is too busy to foreclose on his home.

Wondering how he, an economics writer, failed to understand what he was doing (well, he knew he was gambling), Andrews ends his essay this way: "Eight months after my last payment to the bank, I am still waiting for the ax to fall."

Reposted with permission from Curbed.com. Click here to view original post.

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Introduce yourself to our Blogger's Connect Keynote Speaker

daniel.rothamel@inman.com — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:38:57 -0700

The program for Blogger's Connect SF '09 is filling out very nicely. The entire day is jam-packed with information and tips that everyone from the novice to the expert will find useful.

As Blogger's Connect continues to evolve in order to meet the needs of the audience, there have been all kinds of changes. This year, you'll notice that some of the time slots have two sessions. This will help people maximize their time and learning potential by choosing the session that best fits their needs and level of expertise.

The Blogger's Connect Keynote is gonna ROCK!

Another big change to the program this year is the rebirth of the Blogger's Connect Keynote. We didn't want to bring the keynote back unless we could find someone who we knew would blow away our audience with knowledge and useful takeaways. There was much debate and discussion over who could do this the best, and when all was said and done, we were thrilled to announce that Sonia Simone, Senior Editor of Copyblogger.com, will be this year's Blogger's Connect Keynote speaker.

Copyblogger was one of the first blogs that I found when I started blogging a few years ago, and am I glad that I found it. On a regular basis the writers at Copyblogger share their insights and expertise on how to make dynamic, compelling content that will not only attract new readers and customers, but get them to act, so that you can grow your business.

Sonia Wants to Get to Know You a Little Better

After graciously accepting our invitation to be the keynote speaker, Sonia asked if she could get to know a little bit more about the Blogger's Connect audience. Like any good presenter, she wants to make sure that the content she is delivering is not only relevant, but also valuable. She asked if we could send her some examples of real estate and mortgage blogs so that she could get a feel for the audience.

I could have picked 20 or so and sent them to her, but what fun would that be? One of the great things about being the Community Manager for Inman News is that I get to engage our community and watch it grow. I thought it would be kinda presumptuous of me to send a list of blogs to Sonia, so I'm asking for a little help from the community of Blogger's Connect attendees.

If you are planning on attending Blogger's Connect SF '09, and you have a blog, leave a link to the URL as a comment on this post (NO KEYWORD LINKING! SERIOUSLY.)

I'll make sure that Sonia reads the post, and she can see for herself the kind of bloggers that will be in San Francisco. How's that sound?

So, do yourself a few favors-- 1) Head on over to Copyblogger.com so that you can make yourself a little more familiar with Sonia (you can follow her on twitter, too), and 2) Leave your blog URL in the comments so that she can get to know you better.

Don't Miss Out!

And hey, if all of this sounds like great fun and and awesome opportunity to learn from the best in the business-- that's because it is! Don't be left out of the fun. Register for Connect SF '09 right now!

See you in San Francisco!

Photosynth could spark Virtual Earth comeback

joel@inman.com — Thu, 14 May 2009 08:23:09 -0700

From Future of Real Estate Marketing blog

Over the last few years many of the major real estate search sites have moved over to Google Maps from Microsoft’s Virtual Earth as their mapping API of choice (Redfin being the most recent notable defector). HomeGain, Trulia, Homefinder, Estately and others all use Google Maps. But, interestingly, both the #1 and #2 sites; Realtor.com and Zillow, are still Microsoft clients.

Given that, they will likely be interested to hear that Microsoft has announced that they are now rolling in Photosynth technology into the Virtual Earth platform.

Photosynth is a platform that grew out of Microsoft Live Labs (see Next Generation Virtual Tours) and allows for amazing 3D environments (”Synths”) to be stitched together out of 2D photographs.

From the press release:

Photosynth software analyzes digital photographs and generates a 3-D model by “stitching” the photos together. These models, or “synths,” can now be viewed using Silverlight technology across multiple platforms. Virtual Earth brings together features, functionality and content that help consumers, businesses, citizens and governments bring location to life. It helps businesses and governments share location-based information, build better connections with consumers or citizens, and helps organizations make better operational decisions. With the integration of Photosynth into Virtual Earth customers will be able to create detailed 3-D views of anything from places to products and from hotels to homes.

Most recently, it was used to create an immersive view of President Obama’s inauguration on CNN.com called The Moment. (If you haven’t seen it, go check it out - it really is pretty amazing)

Rolling Photosynth in Virtual Earth has some pretty big implications for real estate as one could imagine a developer could take widely available assets (listing photos) and roll them into a pretty nifty 3D representation of a property that’s for sale.

You can see a sample “house Synth” on the Microsoft Virtual Earth site. (Click on the sales sheet for a really slick representation of what’s possible)

Cool factor aside. Whether or not this is a big enough feature to get some of these other sites to switch to VE, that’s another question all together.

Update: Here’s Microsoft’s video on the integration:

The Future of Real Estate Marketing is a part of Inman News.

Survey: Closing in on REOs and short sales

glennroberts@inman.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:04:45 -0700

Inman News has launched a survey to study the experiences agents and brokers are having with real estate-owned (bank-owned or REO) properties and short-sale properties.

Complete the survey for a chance to win a $200 Amazon.com gift card. Survey respondents can also choose to receive a free copy of the survey results.

The survey is a part of this month's focused coverage on "Fixing the Foreclosure Crisis."

Click here to take the survey.

The word on the Tweet

matt@inman.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:19:34 -0700

Some of what's going on in the world of real estate today, as seen through the window of Twitter:

Within 40 minutes of landing in Washington, D.C., Phoenix-based broker-owner Jay Thompson has remarked twice about the horrible traffic and then declared "apparently I am now in Maryland."

NAR has paid Thompson's way to the midyear conference in order to provide feedback on the trade group's IDX policy -- which according to the latest staff interpretation, allows MLSs to require that brokers block search engines from indexing other brokers' listings (see story).

1000Watt Consulting's Marc Davison fumes that "The next broker who complains they don't have $25,000 2 develop an app then takes a month off 2 cruise Mediterranean, why return?"

For additional context, check out Davison's Inman News column today (welcome back Marc).

Davison writes about his frustration with what he sees as the failure of some in the real estate industry to recognize the potential of the iPhone, which runs an operating system that makes it possible for companies to develop customized applications. Trulia and Zillow are among those who have seen the light -- Davison reports that Zillow's Spencer Rascoff says Zillow's new iPhone app was downloaded 150,000 times in eight days and generated 25 percent of the site's searches last week.

Another Inman News columnist, Bernice Ross -- CEO of RealEstateCoach.com -- tweets that "I am conducting a training class on Twitter at Long & Foster in McLean Virginia -- all but 2 people are new to Twitter."

If any of this sounds interesting and you are not Twittering, here's a recent post that can get you started. It includes links to a list of real estate profesionals using Twitter, and blog posts by Gahlord Dewald on using Twitter for lead generation, customer service, trend spotting and reputation management.

Find a cure for foreclosures, win a prize

inmannews — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:02:52 -0700

This month, Inman News will gauge the depth of the U.S. real estate foreclosure problem with a series of articles, a reader survey and other news and features.

We'd like you to share you personal experiences in working with homeowners and properties facing foreclosure, and to hear your suggestions about ways to treat the financial and emotional wounds inflicted by the foreclosure wave and to minimize the impact of foreclosures on individuals and communities.

We are offering a $200 Amazon.com gift card to the author of the best essay we receive this month on the topic of "Fixing the Foreclosure Crisis." Essays should be 500-1,000 words in length, should not be promotional in nature and Inman News will retain all copyrights for published works. Send essays to: future@inman.com.

We will also award a free pass (for new registrations only) to the upcoming Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco to the author of each essay we choose to publish in full at Inman.com.

Click here for more details.

Flickr photo by austrini.