Ted Truitt gives the real estate industry a bad name. And a lesson in ethics: www.tedtruitt.com. (See Inman News article.)

OK, I just met one more real estate agent who infers she has psychic powers. Maybe it's a California attribute, but being a psychic real estate agent is a great advantage when it comes to pricing, not to mention foreseeing encumbrances. Zillow should get into the game with Psychic AVM where psychic agents can prognosticate their Nostradestimates. And I haven't even begun with out-of-body home tours, a real timesaver for any agent.

Seriously, the psychic real estate agent has become a mildly entrenched meme in our culture... here's a review of a new rep production "I Hate Hamlet" featuring a psychic agent. The process of purchasing a home has a lot of psychic tension - am I overpaying? does this house "feel" right? did someone die in this room? - the validity of working with some sort of spiritual/psychic adviser becomes more credible (logically speaking). Tom says psychics are "cleansing" houses and agents are paying for it.

All this talk about funny psychic agents is a lead-in to the next Carnival of Real Estate... we're co-hosting with the funny Real Estate Weenie and we're inviting your most hilarious pieces, even if they are remotely related to real estate... check Transparent today for more details.

--Pat Kitano, Transparent Real Estate

A group called the Broker Boxing Foundation of Chicago is putting on a fight night next month that will feature several bouts between real estate and construction industry professionals, according to the group's Web site.

The first match will feature Cassano Realty's Sean "Son of Scotland" Reid vs. Mark "Hardcore" Herbick of Capital Building Services Group. Proceeds from the event will reportedly support the City of Hope, a medical institution.

Mixed messages: Nevada's Real Estate Division has a curious Web site address: Red.State.nv.us. (the "red" is presumably an acronym for Real Estate Division). But the state icon on the page (pictured here) shows a blue state with the "Battle Born" slogan.
Politically, Nevada was a "red state" (Republican) in the 2004 and 2000 presidential elections.

A real estate broker in Minnesota has moved his real estate business into a church building, The Daily Journal newspaper of Fergus Falls, Minn., reports.

Robert Jennings of Robert Jennings Realty, a former IBM employee, bought the 115-year-old church building for $48,000, according to the article. The building had served as a church until last year, when the congregation moved to a new building.

The pews, organ and stoves were removed before Jennings moved his business into the building, and his desk sits in the vicinity of where the altar formerly stood. The downstairs area of the building, which had served as a church kitchen, is now occupied by a massage therapist.

The latest hit from JibJab, "What We Call the News." (This is why blogging is so much fun and why so many are doing it.)

Craig Newmark, founder of the craigslist.org empire of community bulletin board Web sites around the globe, and actor Jason Alexander, who played "George Costanza" in TV's "Seinfeld" sit-com, are pictured together in a photo at Newmark's blog -- which appears to prove that the two are actually different people.
Newmark jokingly said, during a session at Inman's Real Estate Connect NYC conference in January, that a key to Craigslist's success was perhaps his own "George Costanza-like magnetism."
Newmark (the black and white mug shot at left) and Alexander (posing in the chair) appeared together to promote OneVoiceMovement.org, an international movement seeking peaceful resolution to conflict among Israelis and Palestinians.

The National Rifle Association today announced that Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed the so-called "Castle Doctrine," Senate Bill 378, providing that state residents may "use any manner of force, including deadly force" against people who illegally enter your home, occupied vehicle or office and are presumed to be there "to cause death or great bodily harm."

The legislation also protects persons from lawsuits filed by injured criminal attackers or their families if they act within the scope of the law.

Yet another reason not to mess with Texas, Texans, Texas homes, Texas cars and/or Texas businesses.

Apparently the world does not care if your name is Jack White and you recorded your hit album in the foyer. Or that the photographer sprayed down the driveway with a garden hose. That house you bought in 2002 for about $600,000? It's not worth your $930,000 asking price. Take the $650,000 and run. It's Detroit!

This one is a doozy for Zillow bashers: the Zestimate is $256,947, with a value range of $156,738-$706,604.
--Matt Carter, Inman News

BloodhoundBlog contributor (since January) Jeff Turner has left the blog, apparently over the "weenie brouhaha" between BloodhoungBlog founder Greg Swann and fellow real estate blogger Teresa Boardman, Swann says. Turner's picture and bio are already gone (the pic above is from his ActiveRain blog).

Boardman's new blog, Real Estate Weenie, ostensibly exists to document particularly egregious examples of the bad advice dispensed on blogs to consumers and real estate professionals. The Weenie was the recipient of BloodhoundBlog's most recent Cheez Whiz award, which Swann parcels out to companies that he thinks have dubious business models. Some saw it as a case of you can dish it out but you can't take it; others thought Boardman may have been goading Swann.

But don't listen to me -- both Boardman and Sellsius blogger Rudy Bachraty seemed puzzled by my take on the whole affair Friday (which, to sum up, was that it can be a drag when the people who bring you the news become the news). But now that I've fallen into that trap, I will say this: Sellsius is the authoritative source for breaking news on the subject.

Seems words can have consequences, and it's a lot easier to lob hurtful ones (even if unintentionally so) over the Internet. The best advice I've ever heard, and I wish I followed it myself all the time, is not to write anything in an e-mail or blog post that you wouldn't say to a person's face.   
--Matt Carter, Inman News