Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 1/29/2010

1) Cloud CMA and the downfall of crappy real estate software – I have been excited to try this since I first heard the early rave reviews. Problem… if you are not in California you are out of luck.

2) Video: Price Differences Between Foreclosures and Non-Foreclosures – According to this Zillow video it appears even thought foreclosures control the market in many areas there is still a discount for them.

3) Obama’s State of the Union – Housing Gets Three Lines in 70 Minutes – This struck me too. The housing market is not going to recover until it is easy for someone to become more mobile and easily change jobs across the country. With three lines I wonder if either A) they do not understand the problem is as large as it is or B) They really drink their own juice and believe what they are doing is helping. Either way someone needs to talk to his teleprompter and get them it in line.

4) 10 Commercial Real Estate Blogs to Watch in 2010 – I get emails every now and then asking for more commercial real estate news. Here are some sites that could bring more content.

5) Tough Time For Listing Agents – Good subject, what are the duties of a listing agent, to market your house to other agents and people searching or to actually bring bodies through the door.

6) Marketing for Leads on a $100 Monthly Budget – A few inexpensive ways to get more buyers and sellers calling you.

7) What Is A Strategic Default – There has been a lot of talk recently about strategic defaults, here is a good post that explains them a little more.

8) Why Realtors are Like Rocket Scientists – Did you know we are like rocket scientists? I think you can compare real estate to many jobs because I often tell my friends that it is a lot like my former career of political consulting and running campaigns.

9) Loan Modifications Are They Worth It – An Overview In Simple English – Here is a long post that can be summed up with “depends.” But if you are considering a loan mod it is worth a read.

10) What Exactly Is A Short Sale? – We should all know by now, but if you are wondering what exactly a short sale is, here is a good explanation.

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Part 2: Talking Shop: Discussing stories from the Tempe and Phoenix short sale market

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Fellow Phoenix area vlogger Kristin LaVanway and I decided to try a joint chat today on the topic of short sales. We are considering doing a regular show together and discuss topics each week that effect the Tempe and Phoenix real estate markets.

I really enjoyed the discussion which probably went on a little long and enjoyed the venue. If you are interested in classic muscle cars you should check out Steel Dreamz in Chandler. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette or you can email Kristen.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 1/28/2010

1) Two Companies Launching WordPress IDX Plugins into the Wild – Diverse Solutions isn’t the only IDX provider releasing an indexable solution for home searches. HomeQuest is jumping into the game too. @JBern recently gave me a walkthrough of the product and I think many of it’s features such as geotagging are very interesting.

2) Freddie Mac CEO Responds to Barney Frank’s Plan to Abolish Fannie & Freddie – I am surprised there is not more buzz about this subject. I cannot say I am a big Fannie and Freddie fan, but the idea of Barney Frank and the government coming up with a “better system,” no thank.

3) Milk? Eggs? House? Re/Max rolling out real estate offices in Stop & Shop supermarkets – This is an interesting new trend. Locally in the Phoenix area they are putting Walk In real estate offices in Wal-Marts, now RE/MAX offices in supermarkets?

4) Proposed Short Sale Guidelines (HAFA) – Part 3 – I have read all three parts, this is a good summary and I recommend everyone real all three.

5) Degrees Of Separation Between You And Your Competition? – Good short video, what are you doing different from your competition to market?

6) Tax Credit Ticking Away? – It is hard to believe we are talking about the tax credit expiring again already. Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that the excitement over the tax credit with buyers is not what it was 6 months ago.

7) Reviewing The FOMC Statement And What It Means For Mortgage Rates (January 27, 2010) – Feds Fund Rate unchanged, what does it mean to the market.

8) Shadow Inventory or Not? What’s Important Is Getting to Work! – Great post, don’t worry about what is coming or what could have been, just get out there and do something.

9) The Coming ARM Storm – With many of the 5-year ARM’s hitting over the next few years the market is going to be interesting to watch. These houses may delay a full recovery.

10) So Much For Real, Real Estate Recovery: Enormous Drop In Homes Sales – The real estate market took a beating in December. Based on the activity increase I have seen in December I personally think it has more to do with with the holidays and burnout from all the home shoppers in the fall. But time will tell.

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Talking Shop: Short sales in the Tempe and Phoenix real estate market

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Fellow Phoenix area vlogger Kristin LaVanway and I decided to try a joint chat today on the topic of short sales. We are considering doing a regular show together and discuss topics each week that effect the Tempe and Phoenix real estate markets.

I really enjoyed the discussion which probably went on a little long and enjoyed the venue. If you are interested in classic muscle cars you should check out Steel Dreamz in Chandler. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette or you can email Kristen.

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The new HAFA short sale program may have risk for agents if they are not careful

Video 86: The new HAFA program to make short sales easier and quicker has issues for the bank, the seller, the buyer and the agent. All sides need to be aware of what they are getting into if they decide to do the new short sale program. I believe there is a lot of liability in the program for agents if they are not careful. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 1/27/2010

1) Should you do a Short-Sale or just keep paying and wait? – Interesting look at the situation form a math point of view, but I disagree with the notion it is just a math problem.

2) The Top Five Signs of More Real Estate Pain to Come – Well when you put it that way…. a look at 5 troubling aspects of the economy and housing market.

3) Welcome to Acronym Week! RESPA, HUD, and the GFE – Oh My! – Great job by Kelly on talking about some relevant acronyms and not some useless 3-4 letter designations agents like to throw around.

4) Listen to Trulia’s Real Estate of the Union Industry Call – A good listen, but who could have possibly given Obama an A over the last year on how he has handled the housing situation?

5) Dual agency: Why Would You Allow it to Happen to You? – I agree with his notion that the buyer and seller should each have their own agent in most cases, but I believe it is possible for them to use the same brokerage, but still have the agent representing and fighting for them to the hilt.

6) Uh Oh, Bank of America Forecloses on a House They Don’t Have a Mortgage On…AGAIN – This is just mind-blowing.

7) dsIDXPress: Search Engine Friendly IDX – This new plugin could be a game changer if you have Diverse Solutions. If you are not blown away by this, you need to have someone who understands it explain it to you.

8) Why Do Agents Suggest That Sellers Price Their Home “At The Market”? – Great advice for home sellers and for agents looking to explain pricing better to their clients.

9) The Secret Recipe for Email Success – If you think about this one in depth, there is really some good marketing advice here for agents.

10) Electronic Signatures and Records: What’s the Current Law? – This is a MUST for all tech savvy agents. Know the law.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 1/26/2010

1) Typical Counter Offer to Buyer’s Short Sale Offer – I require the buyer to put down a $1,000 deposing for 90 days on ALL my short sales now.

2) We Pre-Qualify Our Buyers, Let’s Pre-Qualify Our Short Sales – Could not agree more. If the seller is not totally committed to the short sale process it is not worth the time, because as we all know short sales are not a short time.

3) Foreclosure Vs. Short Sale – This makes me wonder, are short sale rates different indifferent parts of the country? Do we get a higher percent of short sales approved in the Tempe/Phoenix than they would in St. Paul because almost every house here is in a short sale situation? The number is still much lower than it should be, but it sounds like it is higher than here.

4) Standardized Short Sale Process Will Benefit All Parties – WOW, another one that should know better promoting the HAFA program. I wish they accepted comments on this post. Want my take? Seller BEWARE!!!. Here is a video I did on why the HAFA short sale program is unlikely to work. And a second one I did yesterday on why the short sale program could be dangerous and this is just part one of at least 3.

5) This Should be Fun – Raising the Bar – Have you caught the #RTB fever yet?

6) Introducing 1000watt Spotlight: A real estate e-newsletter for curious (and busy) minds – Want to stay up on the latest in technology for real estate agents? I suggest you check the top 10 every day and subscribe to this newsletter.

7) It’s Called Negotiating, Not Eating Crow – Something everyone involved in the real estate transaction should read.

8) Crap, What To Post! How About… “Building A Web Based Real Estate Investor Lead Generation System – Week #1?” – This post was meant to introduce you to his new series on capturing investment leads. What I like most about it is his advice on coming up with a weekly topic to cover with some good suggestions.

9) Barney Frank Calls For an End to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac – Do we really want Barney Frank of all people, who was yelling at banks to loosen their lending standards, to come up with a new system of housing finance?

10) Hey Banks! Wake Up! Loan Mods Aren’t Working… – Anyone who is saying loan modifications are working is either smoking something they should not be smoking or has their head somewhere the sun doesn’t shine.

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New short sales program may bring dangers sellers want to avoid

Video 85: The new HAFA program to make short sales easier and quicker has issues where I do not see many lenders taking advantage of the program. But what if they do? Should sellers enroll in the system? There are some real dangers to the new short sale program that sellers need to be aware of which we will be covering over the next few days. Stay tuned, more to come and as always never do a short sale without talking to an attorney. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

Previous video on why short sale program unlikely to succeed.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 1/25/2010

1) How not to sell your Phoenix home – Jay shows you how one listing does just about everything wrong. Best part may be I pulled him up in the MLS and everyone of his listings is the same as this.

2) The Bankrate Mortgage Rate Trend Index Was Less than 25% Accurate In 2009 – All buyers seem to ask their lenders the question, should I lock now? Well turns out the lenders are less accurate than flipping a coin.

3) Sucking the Wind out of Sails: Why Mobile Won’t Matter in 2010 – Rob always has a very interesting, thought provoking take on most issues. I find myself agreeing with him a lot, but in this case I think he is reading to much into it. I see his point, just don’t believe in the real life applications if plays that big of a factor. If mobile fails in 2010 it will be because no one is making the mobile app worth using.

4) I Can’t Give You the Good Stuff.. – First, to bad everyone does not have Heather’s ethics when it comes to this issue and second if you are looking for a great marketing idea that will be easy and inexpensive to do, here it is.

5) Outside.in Hyperlocal Search – Most bloggers will tell you hyperlocal websites are the way to go. Here is an interesting new tool that could make that easier for you.

6) Property Appraisal Insight – from Philip Spool, ASA – Sure, but when you have 2 appraisers look at the same house and their values are 20% off, it does make you scratch your head.

7) How to Tell If You’re Going to Be Successful – Look in your car or around your office and ask yourself this, if someone were to look at them could they tell what you did?

8) Shame On You REALTOR.com for Promoting Dual Agency – This is more or less because I want to hear people’s opinions. I disagree with NAR/Realtor.com on many issues, but this one I think the post reaches to far. The agent handles it exactly how it should be handled in my opinion, come into my office and we will talk, and I will show you other people’s listings not just mine.

9) Let’s Play the Trulia Valuation Game! Prizes to the Winner! – Want to win free SEO consulting? Play this game. Although not being allowed to take money from agents I am not sure how it happens.

10) National BLS: The Future is Listing Home Buyers – New model of a buyer’s database instead of home database. The only thing I see why it won’t be big is it is not the best thing for a buyer. The buyer will miss to many houses this way, a MLS search will be much better to not miss houses.

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Academy Mortage – Home of the 10 day close proves me wrong

Video 84: I had a deal all messed up by PennyMac then Justin McHood of Academy Mortgage came to the rescue and said he could get a loan closed in under 10 days. I told him and Steve Lines if they could get it done I would do a video for them, but if not, they had to buy me lunch wherever I wanted. Well here is the video. What PennyMac could not do in 45 days, Justin and Steve did in 2 days. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

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