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Those brass light fixtures send a message to buyers: C-H-E-A-P

By Mary Umberger, Monday, February 6, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-77235p1.html">Brass light fixture image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

Don't get Steve Somogyi wrong. He doesn't hate all brass finishes -- just the really shiny, yellow-toned stuff that he thinks screams "Cheap!" when homebuyers notice it in light fixtures, switch plates, doorknobs, etc.

That brass tone was fashionable a couple of decades ago, but its day is done and it has to go if it's in a house you're trying to sell, according to Somogyi, a real estate agent and interior designer.  more...

Good audio is key in real estate videos

By Mary Umberger, Monday, January 23, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-363508p1.html" target=blank>Headphones image</a> via Shutterstock.com.

NEW YORK -- Sure, they're called "videos," but don't underestimate the audio aspects of real estate videos.

Experienced video-shooting real estate agents and video professionals shared their insights on what makes a presentation sound good during a session earlier this month at the Real Estate Connect conference in New York City.  more...

Selling agents on a 'virtual office'

By Mary Umberger, Monday, January 16, 2012.
Image via <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-501856p1.html">sellingpix</a>/<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a>

NEW YORK -- The technology certainly exists to take a real estate business "virtual," but adapting and retaining agents in a world that lacks a brick-and-mortar office is a nuanced matter that brokers are figuring out as they make the leap.

In the "Operating a Virtual Office" session at Real Estate Connect conference in New York City last week, brokers said the ideal agents for such operations are those who are a bit adventurous and have demonstrated that they're self-motivated.  more...

Startups offer lead-tracking, transaction management tools

By Mary Umberger, Friday, January 13, 2012.
Image via <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-18p1.html">Jaimie Duplass</a>/<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a>

NEW YORK -- Being the new kid on the block sometimes comes with baggage, but not at Real Estate Connect, which put five up-and-coming companies on stage Wednesday and gave them an opportunity to show off in front of a crowd.

It's a tradition at Connect to single out five startups -- designating them as the New Kids on the Block -- and this year the conference also gave them the opportunity to do a real-time, five-minute demo of their product.  more...

Brokers grappling with multiple issues

By Mary Umberger, Friday, January 13, 2012.
Image via <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-587803p1.html">gornjak</a>/<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a>

NEW YORK -- Real estate industry leaders discussed critical issues for brokers including team-building, how to price new listings, and cloud computing during the Broker Summit track at Real Estate Connect on Wednesday.

Team-building

The "real estate team of the future" should divide up chores so that salespersons can spend their time selling, according to Ben Kinney, founder and chief executive officer of Home4Investment Inc., in Washington state.  more...

Behind the scenes at 'House Hunters International'

By Mary Umberger, Monday, January 9, 2012.
<b>Miguel and Runi Valenzuela and their two children are moving from San Diego, Calif., to Runi's hometown of Drammen, Norway, with the help of Realtor Ragnhild Haaning, left.</b> <i>Images/HGTV</i>

In case you've been wondering -- yes, there are real estate agents at work in the Arctic Circle.

This was something of an exciting revelation for Freddy James, senior vice president for program development at HGTV (Home & Garden Television), which airs the popular "House Hunters International" series and is perpetually on the prowl for far-flung locations where its cameras can deliver a regular dose of real estate voyeurism.  more...

Real estate agent hits road in search of nation's capitols Premium Content

By Mary Umberger, Monday, January 2, 2012.
Real estate agent Sara Zittlow with sons Andrew, 11 (left); Ryan, 7; and daughter Megan, 9.

For the past several months, Sara Zittlow said the people she's encountered seem to think that she's either: a) nuts, or b) lucky to be living out a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

On the "adventure" side, she's taken a leave from her real estate career and has embarked on a road trip that will take her to all 50 states.  more...

Spike TV's 'Flip Men': more than 750 houses bought and sold

By Mary Umberger, Wednesday, November 30, 2011.
Doug Clark and Mike Baird are Spike TV's <a href="http://www.spike.com/press/shows/flip-men/">"Flip Men."</a>

Mike Baird and Doug Clark sure wouldn't complain if they were to become the "American Pickers" of real estate.

Like antiques dealers Mike Wolf and Frank Fritz in the hugely popular History Channel reality series, Baird and Clark find themselves poking around in decrepit buildings strewn with trash and rubble, hoping to extract treasure. They even have a tattooed, feisty female assistant back in their office who's reminiscent of the "American Pickers" office manager, Danielle.  more...

Developer offers 'Not So Big House'

By Mary Umberger, Wednesday, November 30, 2011.
The "Not So Big" showhouse in Libertyville, Ill. <i>Photo/Barry Rustin</i>

Devotees of the "Not So Big" school of architecture now have a brick-and-mortar place of their own -- at least for awhile.

Architect Sarah Susanka, who has developed something of an anti-McMansion cult following with her popular series of eight "Not So Big House" coffee table books, recently opened a showcase home in Libertyville, Ill., that will function as what she calls her 3-D thesis.  more...

Former economist offers discount, FSBO real estate services Premium Content

By Mary Umberger, Wednesday, November 16, 2011.
Lori Alden

Sign up Lori Alden to help you purchase or sell a home, and as a bonus, maybe she'll also help you get a grip on those supply-and-demand concepts that receded from your memory after you waded through "Econ 101" in your college days.

That's because Alden, who has run her own real estate brokerage for more than four years, also holds a doctorate in economics and lectured on various areas within the discipline at the college level for more than 20 years.  more...

Sold: 'Field of Dreams' field Premium Content

By Mary Umberger, Monday, November 7, 2011.
This Iowa property, featured in the baseball film "Field of Dreams," has been sold. Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwlguide/109959263/" target=blank>mwlguide</a>.

Dispatches, bulletins and outright oddities from across a very wide real estate landscape:

The Iowa farm that was featured in the 1989 move "Field of Dreams" -- and was the focus of a 2010 Inman News story (see: "Ex-major leaguer recruited to sell 'Field of Dreams' ") about the former Major League pitcher-turned-real estate broker Ken Sanders -- has found a buyer, according to The New York Times.  more...

White House replicas for sale -- a blue one, too

By Mary Umberger, Thursday, October 20, 2011.
<i>A country estate in Charles County, Md., resembles the White House. Photo courtesy of <a href="http://8325bensville.com/">Gisela Gilbert</a>/Long & Foster Real Estate.</i>

Judging by all the recent hollering, finger-pointing and campaigning, it would seem that a goodly number of people aspire to live in the White House -- though, of course, only one of them will get the key to the Oval Office washroom.

For the runners-up, there are some consolation prizes out there: Replicas of the executive mansion not only are surprisingly plentiful, but at least three of them are for sale.  more...

Real estate reality TV family publishes fictional novel

By Mary Umberger, Monday, October 17, 2011.
The Kleiers (from left to right): Sabrina Kleier-Morgenstern, Michele Kleier, Samantha Kleier-Forbes, and Ian Kleier. Photo courtesy of HGTV.

A Manhattan real estate agent is walking a client through a swanky Park Avenue open house, when the client's buddy -- who claims to have a debilitating fear of heights -- decides that being on the 16th floor is just too much to cope with, and promptly throws up in the powder room toilet.

It's a vignette within a new novel revolving around the world of big-ticket New York real estate, where such behavior is generally considered undesirable.  more...

Former Illinois governor, wife pursue 'FSBO' real estate sale

By Mary Umberger, Friday, October 7, 2011.
Family home of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Photos courtesy of Patti Blagojevich.

It's a historic home (though by dubious standards), and it's for sale: The house where federal wiretaps overheard the seated governor of Illinois discussing how to wrest personal gain from the appointment of someone to take President Obama's old Senate seat went on the market recently for just over $1 million.

The 13-room vintage house on Sunnyside Avenue in Chicago's Ravenswood Manor neighborhood had been unofficially for sale at least since last summer, when a federal judge ordered its owner, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, to post the house as collateral for bond after his conviction on multiple corruption charges at his second trial in June.  more...

Jennifer Lopez takes on real estate agent role

By Mary Umberger, Monday, October 3, 2011.
Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/speakerpelosi/3926753297/" target=blank>Leader Nancy Pelosi</a>

J.Lo takes on role as real estate agent

Picturing Jennifer Lopez as a real estate agent is admittedly a bit of a stretch. But as a "matronly" one? Apparently so, according to several celebrity websites commenting on her character's costume (some used the word "frumpy") during the recent filming of "Parker," a thriller in which "J.Lo" portrays a real estate agent who partners with a thief who steals from the wealthy. Photos of the actress on the set show her clad in what to most mere mortals would appear to be simple business attire -- a long-sleeved, tailored blouse and A-line skirt.  more...

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