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Mar

30
2009

Google to track the property buyers that got away

By Global Edge, Monday, March 30, 2009.

How many potential buyers visit your Web site every day? How many of them do you manage to collect e-mail addresses from? One percent or 2 percent, 5 percent if you're doing really well. What happens to the people that don't respond to you? Some of them will be time-wasters and end up not buying, but others will purchase from your competitors.

This problem is particularly acute in overseas property as the purchase process takes such a long time that when a buyer finally comes to make a decision the chances are they've forgotten about you even though they visited your Web site a few months earlier.

Finding the buyers that got away

You usually get more than one shot at the cherry. If you understand your target customers' online journey, you can make sure you are highly visible in the paid and natural search results for phrases they search for and you can advertise on property portals they regularly use. However, it's a hit-and-miss exercise, and hundreds if not thousands of buyers are slipping through your fingertips.  more...

Mar

27
2009

'Foreign buyers are back and hungry'

By Curbed.com, Friday, March 27, 2009.

NEW YORK -- Corcoran broker Patricia Cliff tells the Raising the Roof blog that foreign buyers are back and hungry -- with Europeans making up 40 percent of her buyers over the past six months: "The bulk of the buyers have been Italians, Spaniards, Scandinavians, and 'inhabitants of London, who are typically not English, but rather from the Middle East, and Far East,' she says.

"The typical overseas buyer these days is looking for a 'place to park money' and, unlike in the past, they are 'not interested in new development condos,' she said."  more...

Kiss your home -- and latte -- goodbye

By Curbed.com, Friday, March 27, 2009.

LOS ANGELES -- The trickle-down effect of the foreclosure crisis is being felt acutely by coffee-drinkers in the down-and-out Inland Empire, reports Reuters.

When middle-class families were moving into the new tract houses of Riverside and San Bernardino counties a few years back, Starbucks engaged in a massive expansion project, opening stores in new strip-malls catering to the developments. But when the market crashed (Riverside County holds the eighth-highest foreclosure rate in the nation) and people moved out or failed to move in, there was no one to buy caramel macchiatos.  more...

Mar

26
2009

VOWs: MLS for the people

By Inman News, Thursday, March 26, 2009.

Whether you are new to real estate or a seasoned veteran, you must be aware that consumers are using the Internet as the cornerstone in finding a home to buy. Year after year the influence of the Internet is measured by many -- including the "2008 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers" study, which reports:

  • 33 percent started their home search by looking online for properties for sale (38 percent of repeat buyers, 27 percent of first-time buyers).
  • 87 percent claim that they used the Internet as an information source

    •    more...

Mar

25
2009

Signs of life in 2008's worst-off city

By Curbed.com, Wednesday, March 25, 2009.

Mountain House, Calif., in which over 90 percent of owners owed more than their house was worth in 2008, is feeling less glum these days -- you can tell by the Little League participation, which has gone from 178 to 220 kids in a year.

More importantly, the bidding war has returned to the real estate scene, with one family jostling with 12 others for a $299,000 5-bedroom home. (They lost, and the house eventually went for 30 percent above asking.)  more...

Mar

23
2009

Betting on bedrooms near subways

By Curbed.com, Monday, March 23, 2009.

As developers jockey for position and figure out how to make money in this market, the chants of transit-orientated development continue, reports Globe St. -- and everyone is writing off the suburbs.

At yesterday's Urban Land Institute conference, "At The Crossroads: Transportation and Development," held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Christopher B. Leinberger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, speculated that after the market bottoms out, "the vast majority of building permits ... will probably be in urban environments and transit-oriented development ... Add to that formula increasing energy costs and "boredom with drivable suburbanism," Leinberger said, "and it all equals tremendous pent up demand.' "  more...

Mar

20
2009

Chinese blow-out sale: Fail

By Curbed.com, Friday, March 20, 2009.

China Daily is reporting that the recent Chinese real-estate caravan -- where a group of Asian investors dropped by U.S. shores last month to buy up bargain-basement real estate in San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, Boston and Los Angeles -- was a major bust.

Apparently, unless Chinese investors have their cash in Hong Kong or U.S.-based accounts, they probably won't qualify to buy U.S. property.

Also adding to the disappointment was that of the 40 people who were supposed to come, only 21 investors made it, and it's not clear how many of those actually placed offers.  more...

Property comments can be constructive

By Inman News, Friday, March 20, 2009.

Re: 'Feedback, tact and holding back' (March 19)

Dear Editor:

I am a huge proponent of giving feedback to the listing agent after a showing. It's simply the correct thing to do.

I do not, however, fill in the preselected questions but instead go directly to the comment section. Discussions about value are never part of my feedback, whether the buyer has interest in the home or not. Feedback should be about only how the house presents and if there are any safety or utility concerns.  more...

Agencies balk at bulk buyers?

By Inman News, Friday, March 20, 2009.

Re: 'Fannie, Freddie REO inventory swells' (March 18)

Dear Editor:

I have been working with cash investors for over a year attempting to purchase bulk packages of foreclosures from the agencies, without success. These investors are willing to purchase at reasonable discounts and have exit strategies in place to put homeowners back into these properties using private money.

I have found no direct access to facilitate these transactions, and discounts that I have seen have not made these investments worthwhile for my buyers.  more...

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