Video 57: I have been working with a client as a buyer in a Tempe short sale. I tried to explain to them the frustration of purchasing a short sale before we ever made the offer, but they still are frustrated after only 4 weeks. Either I didn’t do a good enough job, or they were not really wanting to believe what I was saying. When you buy or sell a short sale you need patience. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
1) Crozet Tweetup – 10 December – Really? A local Tweetup as a top 10 real estate post of the day? No, not really. This post alone is probably not worthy, but I am putting this here to show real estate agents what a real local niche blog should be. I have close to 300 blogs in my RSS reader that I go through every day and off the top of my head I cannot think of many that do a better job day-to-day of highlighting what is going on in their community than Jim Duncan does.
2) ZipRealty (almost) creates a handheld lead machine with iPhone app – Zip Realty may really be onto something here. It actually has me thinking of a few ideas.
3) 3 Evolutions of the Web – Notice how Jim Marks goes out of his way to work his brand into this video. But in this video Tom Ferry focuses on brand protection on the web.
4) Two Agent Genius articles on Google Goggles. Have you tried it yet? I downloaded it yesterday and played with it for a while, it still has some work to go, but the potential is HUGE. Of course it is, it’s Google. Google Goggles Revealed, New Way to Search Introduced which was followed by Google Goggles for Real Estate- Rock Your Marketing- Offline?
5) Moving In The Next 5 Years? Rethink Your Current Mortgage And Save 40% Per Month. – It is a very rare day when I disagree with Dan Green. What he says I usually take as mortgage gospel, but I have a hard time telling anyone if you plan on moving in 5 years to take out an ARM to save 40% because what if in 3-4 years when you are planning on moving interest rates are at 12, or 15%, would you still move? I see what he means by the math, just not sure I agree it is every a good idea because you never know what will happen. Now that that is said, I go back to following Dan as the king or mortgage bloggers. Sorry Rhonda and Justin.
6) When Is the Best Time to Send Marketing Emails to Your Database? – Very interesting data here on the typical day in the life.
7) Why Loan Modifications Aren’t Working – In this video Kristin LaVanway sums up how loan modifications are just a band-aid and are not working.
8) Just another short story – No one in the business tells short stories like Kris Berg.
9) SEC Files Fraud Charges on Former Subprime Lenders – This is tough… on one hand you had lenders making irresponsible loans, on the other you had the feds ordering lenders to loosen their standards.
10) Trulia’s New iPhone App and Mobile Website – App looks pretty cool, when they going to start developing for the Android?
Video 56: The numbers for the Tempe AZ real estate market were solid for November 2009. There were 128 houses sold in Tempe in the month of November, which is up from 59 in 2008 and only slightly down from the 136 sold in October of this year. Prices were up slightly this month from the previous month, but still the lowest number this year besides in October. The average price per square foot in the Tempe housing market was also the second lowest we have seen this year. 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 | |
| Nov 2008 | 59 | $895,000 | $80,000 | $256,120 | 96 | $137.04 |
| Oct 2009 | 136 | $820,000 | $18,000 | $180,439 | 67 | $109.54 |
| Nov 2009 | 128 | $913,740 | $44,900 | $185,631 | 86 | $112.04 |
*DOM= Days on market
1) Buy Now or be Priced Out Forever! – With prices as deflated as they are, you may never be able to afford the house you can afford today.
2) Less is more for the holidays – When it comes to people decorating for the holidays and trying to sell their house, yes decorations are good, but going Grilswold is not the best thing.
3) 10 Dont’s When Buying a Foreclosure – Some fairly solid advice here when buying a foreclosure. I would say the number one thing is always make sure you and your Realtor read the bank addendums.
4) Absorption Rate? What is this about? – No absorption rate has nothing to do with how much bread you should eat while drinking with friends at a bar on a Friday night. Lane explains how it is the market of what is available and how many weeks or months or years of inventory that number is.
5) Good time to start a real estate career? – Is now a good time to get into a real estate career? Is it ever a good time? I agree with Josh here, if you get in and learn to survive during this type of market, you should flourish when the market is cranking.
6) How does a short sale or foreclosure impact your credit – Rhonda Porter is considered by many one of the top 3 brightest mortgage bloggers out there, so when she talks people listen. Here she discusses foreclosure, short sales and deed in lieu of foreclosure and the impact on your credit.
7) Mortgage Insurers May Reject As Much As $4 Billion in Claims – Insurers want to hold banks accountable for their junk loans.
8) The Real Estate Brokerage of the Future – Claim 1 – The Wise Team talks about the real estate brokerage of the future. An interesting comparison of lessons learned from the auto industry.
9) WordPress Mobile Admin Plugin – Dave Smith brings us another great little WordPress plugin. This one allows you to manage your blog quickly and easily from a mobile device.
10) 3 Big Reasons Why You Need To Be Plugged Into Social Networking – Michael Krisa, That Interview Guy, interviews Coach Tom Ferry on mistakes to avoid with social media.
1) 2010 Big Broker Market Domination Action Plan – The pie in the sky scenario, something to strive for, but guessing no one will do.
2) Home sellers: Top 5 home improvement projects based on cost & return on investment – Interesting, I have a hard time buying some of these ROI numbers because I think they really would be hard to measure and results would vary so greatly, but still interesting.
3) Changes Coming to a HUD-1 Settlement Statement Near You – Everyone brushing up on the new HUD-1 statements? You should be.
4) Big Changes Coming for FHA Loans – If you want my opinion I say good, these all sound like good changes. Remember it is our money that is backing these loans, we should make sure the FHA is not the next Country Wide or Indymac.
5) foursquare, and the Mobilization of Social Media – So you have heard of Foursquare and not sure what all the fuss is about? Carpenter has a good rundown here. It’s fun, and if you live in the Tempe/Phoenix area hit me up on there.
6) New To Real Estate Blogging? 6 Simple Steps to Get You Started. – When it comes to real estate blogging you can always count on The Real Estate Tomato to give some good solid advice.
7) Quick Answer Series: What About Direct-Mail Marketing? – I don’t usually agree with everything Matt Jones says in his videos, but he always backs up his opinion very well and this is no different.
8) Psychologist Weighs In on Whether or Not People Want Privacy – This do we want privacy goes very well with the other AG article — Do We Have a Reasonable Right to Privacy Using Social Media?
9) Free Mobile Business Card: DUB Me Now – This is cool, and I am going to download it as soon as I post this, but its kind of hard to leave it behind on a counter when you show a house.
10) Running a Successful Real Estate Business Part Un: Kill Overhead – Interesting advice although may be designed more for larger agents or even brokerages.
Video 55: So you live in Tempe AZ and trying to get a loan modification or short sale from Indymac or OneWest. Do not hold your breath on then ever approving a short sale, it doesn’t make sense to them financially when the bailout they will receive from a foreclosure is bigger to them. H/T Patrick Pulatie I would love to hear your thoughts or any suggestions for future videos you have, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
1) We’re the Treasury- We’re Here To Help You With Short Sales (kinda) – More on the new short sales program. Rathbun has a reserved opinion, me, not as reserved, I think the new short sale guidelines are going to fail.
2) BofA to Repay $45 Billion in TARP – My take on this? The government is making the short sale “suggestions” listed in #1. When it fails will they make the suggestions mandatory for those who still owe TARP money? Don’t be surprised and BOA being one of, if not the worst to deal with when it comes to short sales may want no part. Just a thought.
3) FHA Downpayment, FHA Insurance Costs To Rise? – It is going to get tougher to get an FHA loan. Will be interesting to see if they do require a larger down payment. I for one hope they do!
4) Get a free credit report before you look for a house – I like her recommendation of getting one of your reports every four months. I used to do that when I cared about my credit score.
5) REW’s New IDX Map Search is Coming – For the other agents out there this is going to be an very interesting one to watch.
6) Exactly How The Long Tail In Real Estate Blogging Will Bring The Ready-To-Act Home Buyer – Determine what keeps home seller and buyer up at night and blog about that? So what is it?
7) Stop Thinking About It. It’s Time to Sell Your House. Inventory is Very Very Low in Northern Virginia – Looking for content for your site? I bet this is relevant to many agents out there and well done.
8) Christmas Comes Early For Some FHA Borrowers – Not to be confused with number 3 in this list. 2nd appraisals appear to be going away.
9) I can’t tell you how disgusted this makes me…. – Is Bloodhound becoming the Thom Vanderwell blog? He is just cranking out content. Great story he picks up here, if true everyone involved should lose their license.
10) “The Digital Handshake” by Paul Chaney – Don’t Miss This One! – There are very few books out there on social media worth owning. This sounds like it may be one
Video 54: Great news, real estate agents are jumping up and down because of the news that short sales are going to get shorter. The Obama administration announced yesterday that the process was going to be streamlined. Everyone jumped up and down (including myself). Well now that I have read the 43 page “guideline” on short sales, I am not so thrilled. Nothing to see here really when you read the details. I would love to hear your thoughts or any suggestions for future videos you have, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
1) Anatomy of a government-abated fraud: Why Indymac/OneWest always forecloses – WOW… As someone who has recently been working on a short sale with Indymac this actually explains a lot!
2) Keys to Short Sale Success – A short but very informative post on the keys to a successful short sale.
3) Project WordPress: Preferred Plugins – You a WordPress blogging Realtor? Then you will want to check this out for some great plugin suggestions. I even learned about a few that I will be trying.
4) New real estate settlement HUD-1 on the way – Good news for home buyers and sellers, starting January 1 the new HUD statement is going to make things much clearer and protect you more.
5) Grey is Every Theory, Green is the Tree of Life – Proof you can never please everyone. Other things to consider with Case-Shiller is the numbers give a good review of the national housing market, but when it comes to buying or selling your house all real estate is local.
6) Do Cute E-Cards Really Work? – If the e-cards are successful and more people turn to them, then will they become less successful as our inboxes get full?
7) Five Ways to Use GeoMeme For Your Real Estate Business – Do you consider yourself a Realtor 2.0 type? Have you got comfortable with the word “Geo” yet? If not you may end up being behind the curve in the web 3.0 world coming next year.
8) Lend America Slapped by FHA, Closes Their Doors – As Justin McHood has been predicting for a while, another independent mortgage originator down the drain.
9) “Productizing” the Realtor mind – As always Brian Boero nails it on the head, accurate automated housing values, if can be made accurate that is, are bad news for Realtors.
10) Some Predict Recovery With News of Rising Pending Home Sales – Pending sales up 9 months in row, can it really continue in 2010?
Video 53: Should I walk away from my mortgage if I am underwater? I would never advise anyone to do that, but I think it makes sense for some to consider walking away. I would love to hear your thoughts or any suggestions for future videos you have, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
