Video 39: So why do I do a lot of my videos from my car? It is the same as anyone else doing videos from their office chair, this is where I spend most of my time and it is easy to do it between appointments. If you have any other ideas I would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
Video 38: The $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit has officially been extended and expanded as we discussed yesterday it would be. Here is a chart that shows you some details. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
1) What do you think about social media? – When I first got involved a little over a year ago I saw social media as the way to take my business to the next level. Now I agree with Matt here, although I think it is still a great tool and one that will and is helping, I now no longer see it as the answer, but one of a few tools that helps me reach my goals.
2) 8 items homeowners need to get a loan approval in no time flat – Be ready when you go to get prequalified for a loan. Save yourself time and headaches.
3) Fannie Mae announces deed for lease program – Fannie Mae is going to be offering a program for home owners to give a deed in lieu of foreclosure, then lease the home back. Not sure I think this is the greatest idea of all time.
4) Gary Vaynerchuk live at Tom Ferry’s real estate training event – Gary is da man, if you don’t want to be motivated and learn to crush it, then move on.
5) Investors, tax credit and 90 day seasoning – Ardell is always informative and this is an issue that has a lot of confusion around it.
6) Lead response times – This one struck home, very interesting information. How long does it take you to get back to a lead?
7) Get real with unrealistic sellers overpriced listings gibe buyers bargaining chip – Rhonda always tells it like it is. Great points you may not consider when taking a listing you know is overpriced.
8 ) 15 features of Google Wave | Step by step – I know a lot of us have been complaining about Wave on Twitter.. .so here is some good info to use.
9) There’s going to be a whole lot of rubber-necking going on… – Redfin continues to kill it with what they are doing online.
10) Here are a few of my favorite links on the tax credit extension
Jay Thompson on the extension
Steve Lines on the extension
Lenore Wilkas on the extension
Dean Ouellette on the extension
Greg Swann on the extension
Ted Mackel on the extension
AArdell DellaLoggia on the extension
Video 37: The $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit is set to be extended and expanded. The House and Senate have both now approved a bill that expected to be signed by the President shortly that will extend the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit to homes under contract by April 30, 2010 and closed by June 30, 2010. Income levels for individuals qualifying have also been raised to $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for couples. Also added is a move-up credit of $6500 for those wanting to move up in houses, have lived in their present house for at least five years and meet the same income requirements. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
Video 36: The numbers for the Tempe AZ real estate market were mixed in October 2009. There were 136 houses sold in Tempe in the month of October, which is up from 85 in 2008 and is the highest number for October since 2005. Prices were down again this month from the previous month and both September of 2009 and October of 2009 were down 20% from the same months in 2008. The average price per square foot was the lowest we have seen this year and the first time the number has been down since the previous low in April. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
| Units sold | High Price | Low Price | Avg Price | DOM | $/sq foot | |
| Oct 2008 | 85 | $733,000 | $90,000 | $228,679 | 83 | $135.31 |
| Sept 2009 | 156 | $1,250,000 | $34,125 | $206,970 | 73 | $117.06 |
| Oct 2009 | 136 | $820,000 | $18,000 | $180,439 | 67 | $109.54 |
*DOM= Days on market
1) First-time Homebuyers Tax Credit extension passes the Senate – So of the dozens of posts on this subject why did I pick this one to highlight, first he got the facts right that it has not passed yet, still needs approval by the House and the President’s signature, but also because he included the text of the actual bill!
2) Of Gettysburg, open houses and tax credits – Tying in history of Gettysburg, pricing houses to high and open houses the way only PapaGrande can do.
3) Loan modifications, 5 things the Government is not doing but should – It is an interesting ready, interesting as in it amazes me that some people still think a lot more government intervention is a good thing. Isn’t it a large part of government’s fault for forcing lenders to loosen the purse strings that we are in this mess? #3 and #4 may have some merit, but 1, 2 and 5? I think it was Mark Twain who said “Thank God I don’t get all the government I pay for.”
4) Real estate iPhone apps gaining traction – When are people going to wake up and realize there are more Blackberry devices out there than iPhones. Give us our apps too.
5) Commercial real estate outlook: Between a rock and a hard place – Could things really be worse in the commercial side than residential over the next 5 years?
6) Escrow trenches: Nutty funding conditions – Oh so glad to see someone talking about one of my pet-peeves, the bizarre funding condition coming up at the last minute these days.
7) Better Homes and Gardens takes real estate iPhone Apps beyond listings – See #4, but really, this app sounds really interesting and would love to see it in action, can’t wait for it to come to the Blackberry, if it ever does.
8 ) The great unknown in buying foreclosure properties – While it makes some good points, buying a foreclosure is not as risky as it sounds. You still get the home inspection even though it is “as-is” just make sure you get yourself an agent who has worked a lot of foreclosure deals this year to help guide you through the process.
9) Happy sandwich day (and some stuff about the escrow process) – Some of this stuff is California specific, but most of it will give you a good idea about the escrow process.
10) Ian Watt speaking at Tom Ferry’s Realtor even in San Diego – The man, the myth the legend.
Video 35: The seller has a signed contract with an agent to have the agent represent them, why should the buyer not have the same representation. A Buyer Broker Agreement looks out for both the buyer and the agent who is hired to represent the buyer. Should you hire an agent to represent you? If you can get a good qualified agent to look out for your best interest I say absolutely. If the agent is not doing their job, you just fire them. A defendant in a legal case has their own lawyer to represent them, and does not rely on the plaintiff’s lawyer, why should you rely on the seller’s agent to represent you? Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
1) Don’t fall into the trap – Good planning is where it’s at – It is that time of year where as business owners and managers we should be thinking about our goals and objectives for 2010. There are some good tips here, not to get started on mine.
2) Turn off the Real Estate Muzak and demand perfection – I never thought I could learn anything from Michael Jackson that would help my real estate career. Marc Davison shows me I was wrong.
3) A ReTechulous real estate office website live chat approach – I have a live chat on my site, but will be updating it now that I have read this with a the Gmail approach.
4) Do your leads in your database have value? – I have hundreds of leads in my database, and in the past week I started going through all of them get a real pulse for them. This post hits on exactly what I have been doing, and in less than a week I have already seen a change in my business.
5) Luxury real estate branding: Connecting through emotional branding – a good illustration on how branding can move an emotional chord in someone and if you miss that emotion, your branding may fail.
6) Congress poised to keep homebuyers’ tax credit – Despite my repeated objections to extending the program it is looking more and more everyday like the $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit will be extended. Guess Congress doesn’t watch my videos.
7) 5 reasons every agent needs a Facebook page – I have been working on my Facebook presence of late by checking out what Mike Mueller is doing, some of his customization work is amazing and makes you feel like you are not even on Facebook. The video at the bottom is very helpful.
8 ) Forget everything you know about social media and Google – The new Google Social Search should be effecting the way you use social media.
9) Newsweek: Foreclosures spread to middle class – Reading the whole Newsweek story it is interesting to see one persons perspective on the foreclosure crisis starting with bad loans, then unemployment in wave two and now speculation we will be moving into a third wave of adjustable rate mortgages coming due.
10) Staging with storage – Whether it is the kid’s toys or dad’s much larger toys, they need to be kept organized when you are selling your house.
Video 34: If you are a fan of Tempe AZ like I am, you may wish there was a convenient way to stay up to date with the news and events going on in Tempe. Sure there are dozens of websites you can visit, but why when you can get the information sent directly to you. If you are on Facebook you can now become a fan of Tempe AZ fan page. This is not another real estate page I have put together, this is just news and event information for the city of Tempe Arizona and an easy place to find the answer of what to do in Tempe. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
1) Can we create home buyers with tax incentives? – Teresa Boardman believes we cannot create new buyers with a tax credit. I hope she is right. I would hate to think someone is making a big financial decision because the taxpayers are giving them an $8,000 tax credit.
2) My new business cards are for you AND me! – Daniel has a really interesting idea on his new business cards.
3) The housing market bottomed 9 months ago, based on data – Sure supply is down and demand is up which leads to higher prices, the only question is will it remain that way or are housing prices being manipulated by banks? While no one knows for sure right now, time will tell.
4) How long will it take to close my loan? – Anyone working with buyers recently knows the answer to this question is a long time. And if you are working with Chase it seems like it is a long time plus a few weeks.
5) How to make use of Twitter lists – Want some really good tips on using the new list feature in Twitter? This is your post! Right now I am still not a fan of lists because I have to go to the Twitter website to use them. I can do the same thing in Tweetdeck, just not share it.
6) FTC says MLS cannot exclude discount broker listings from feed to public websites – I’m not so sure about this decision. I kind of hope they take the case to U.S. District Court. Not making an opinion on discount brokers, but is not Realcomp a private company providing a service in which they can make the ground rules in which you can be included?
7) A little effort can go a long way – Great advice on a place you can save money on your monthly bill without trying to time the market with the interest rate.
8 ) 55% of commercial loans due by 2014 are under water – Think the residential real estate market has been bad? Wait to you see what happens to the commercial market in the next few years. Those who know a lot more about commercial real estate than I do have been telling me this for months.
9) Pending home sales index up for 8th consecutive month – Remember one thing, all real estate is local, your market may vary and talk to a good real estate agent in your area to see what the local market is like.
10) Distractions in the real estate business – Distractions and a lack of focus, once again Tom Ferry hits it out of the park. Looks like I know what I need to work on this week…
