Phoenix Real Estate FAQ edition for 2/26/2010

Latest edition of Phoenix Real Estaet FAQ’s with Dean Ouellette and Kristin LaVanway:

Questions we answer this week include

  • Can my listing agent charge administration fees on top of commission?
  • Are open houses a thing of the past or should I have one?
  • How can I get more pictures of a house I see on the Internet?
  • Who is responsible for making sure utilities are on for the home inspection?

If you know how to operate a stop watch and a camera let us know as we may need to replace Sasha Lopez behind the camera.  As you will see at the end, she doesn’t always bring out the best in us.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 2/26/2010

top-10-logo 1) The 7 No’s of a Successful Realtor® – Ok this has some good information, read the list at the bottom for that good information. But that is not what has me fired up, think of the numbers mentioned towards the top of this post. 90% of all agents don’t make it out of the first year? Can that be right? That is probably worse then the amount of people who fail in some MLM schemes in the first year. This goes straight back to NAR and the requirements to get a real estate license. The entry is so low, the education provided to get your license is so weak, it sets people up to fail. Is that all they can care about is getting the money for those initial dues. Why not work on a system that trains people to succeed not just strive to have the same success rate as a quick MLM ponzi scheme.

2) Congress & Obama Clueless About How to Fix the Housing Crisis – What is disturbing about this is she is right, the housing market is not a priority at all to this administration. Their one attempt was going to help 4million homeowners, yet a year later it has helped closer to 150,000. A little short of the goal. The administration should realize that fixing the housing issues would make for a mobile economy which could then easily move to where the jobs are helping the economy even more. Then again, seeing their attempts to fix it in the past, maybe it is a good thing they are not focusing on it.

3) Thinking About Short Selling Your House? What No One Will Tell You. – Told like only Justin McHood can tell it. If you are not familiar with Justin’s writing style, it is typically blunt, honest and includes some humor.

4) Listing Price: What Matters, What Doesn’t – Heather sums it up pretty good here, pay attention sellers. What matters in pricing a house? How much it is worth. What doesn’t matter? How much you fantasize it is worth.

5) What conveys? More on fixtures, personal property, and those little contractual gray areas – Every state is going to be a little different, but I think this sums it up for most states. And as always, if there is ever any doubt or the potential for any doubt write it into the contract.

6) Why do Buyers Make Lowball Offers? –Some reasons why buyers make lowball offers. It is our job to educate them so they know what the market conditions are and the real value is.

7) Does Home Staging Really Work for Pasadena Real Estate Sellers – Those are some staggering numbers for how effective this home stagger is. I am sure not all are this successful, but these numbers will make you think twice about not hiring a professional.

8) Home Energy Audits, What’s Up With That? – A topic you do not hear much about, home energy audits. But I am guessing for a luxury traditional sale who is up against distressed properties, this could be a real value add if you had one done before you listed and provided results.

9) No, No, No, Yes. – Lesson to everyone, keep going and don’t ever take no for an answer.

10) Freddie Mac Posts More Losses – Good news for Freddie Mac, they only lost $25 BILLION last year, down from the $50 BILLION from the year before.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 2/25/2010

Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.

1) Are Realtors Afraid of CondoGo.com ? The Young Ones Aren’t – Have you been following the spat between Ian Watt and the agent in his office who sent an email complaining about the way Watt is doing business? Some people just don’t like change.

2) Marketing Idea: Rear Window Signage – All right, I would probably never use this, but GPS enabled marketing on your car? That is a cool idea.

3) By The Way…. This Is A Normal Market… – Having a hard time missing the good ole days? Get over it, today’s market is what it is and you need to either adapt or move on. Some great advice on here on how to adapt and survive.

4) Spring 2010 FHA Changes : Higher Fees, Bigger Downpayments, And More Mortgage Insurance – FHA loans are not going the be the bargain in 2010 that they were in 2009.

5) Real Estate Investors – Don’t Be Seduced By Rickety Cash Flow – Good article for investors who are obsessed only with cash flow.

6) 10 Ideas to Save Money and Make Your Tampa Home Greener – A year ago when showing houses I almost never heard anyone talk about things they can do around their house to make it more green. Now, I probably hear it at least a few times a month. Here are some tips.

7) Investors: Should You Get Your Real Estate License? – I have worked with a couple of real investors over the last year and I am amazed that they do not have their license. It would seem much easier for them to be able to set up their own MLS searches and view houses than to use an agent.

8) Taxpayers Seeking Homebuyer Tax Credits, Refunds Must File Paper – It is that time of year, people are doing their taxes. If you are claiming the first-time home buyer tax credit you will be filing on paper this year, not electronically.

9) Forbes’ Top Ten Best Housing Markets Across America – This year’s Forbes list of top housing markets is great news if you like the cold.

10)  9 Items to Help you in Your Personal and Professional Growth – This article is a very good one productivity and getting things done.

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Is this neighborhood safe? We cannot answer that, but we can show you where to get the answer

Video 96: How is the neighborhood? Would you live here? Those types of questions we as Realtors are not allowed to answer because of Fair Housing laws. While I cannot answer that question, I can show you where to get the answer. The Arizona Department of Real Estate has a Buyers Advisory which will give you the information you need to make those decisions for yourself. If you work with me as a buyer, you will always get a copy, but in case you want one now, here is a PDF version of the Arizona Buyers Advisory. 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 2/24/2010

Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.

1) HUD May Limit SELLER FINANCING! – It is time to let your voice be heard before the feds make another big mistake in the housing industry.

2) Valid Electronic Contracts: Consent to do Business with eSignature – Glad to have this so I can point it to some agents who have no clue, yes believe it or not they are out there.

3) Drop The Motive! Step Away From The Consumer! – What are the motives you have when you talk to people? Are they just another deal?

4) How You Can Get The Most Accurate, Real-Time Mortgage Rate Quotes Available – It is something I work on educating clients with all the time. That 3.975% you saw in the add or the 4.60 you saw in the paper are unlikely to be real. To many factors go into an interest rate to make one number work for everyone. And if it was real, it has likely changed 6 times since then.

5) Q & A with Morgan Carey (Real Estate Webmasters) about Indexable IDX – Indexable IDX results, do they hurt you? Do they help you? If you are not having some sort of indexed results on your blog you are missing out, but that is ok, us who are will just keep enjoying the benefits.

6) Brokerage replaces 176 sales agents – Now we are talking about some RTB’ing. Grubb & Ellis terminates 176 agents who are not meeting sales goals that Grubb & Ellis set.

7) NRVLiving – Real Estate. Simplified. – Quick video well done on how interest rates move and work.

8) Rent/Buy Worksheet from Inman Column – Very detailed worksheet if you are wondering if you should buy or rent right now? This will help you decide.

9) Handling Multiple Offers in Today’s Market – A very good analysis on a subject that comes up a lot today, what do I do when there are multiple offers on the table.

10) Treasury Proposes Plan to Help Borrowers – Why do I feel like we get beat over the head twice a week with a new federal plan that is going to save the housing market. Wasn’t it about a year ago that Obama stood less than 1.5 miles from where I am typing this now and said he was going to help 4million homeowners over the next year? How did that turn out, something like 160,000 helped. So hang onto your wallets as they keep rolling out these plans to help the market.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 2/23/2010

1) A pulse, a passing grade and a business card: raising the bar on real estate agent qualifications – What will the brokerage of the future look like? Will more formal education be required, will more real estate class hours be required? It is hard to imagine this will be the model for a business where the agent needs to pay the brokerage every month to be associated with it.

2) IRS Clarifies What’s Needed to Claim Tax Credit – If you are applying for the tax credit do you now what you need to submit to get the credit?

3) Bank of America forecloses on house that couple had paid cash for – I have a question for Bank of America. Why does it seem that almost every time there is a nightmare story about a bank having to do with a botched foreclosure and/or short sale the bank involved tends to be BoA? This is at least the third one of these I have read about, good to see the owners fighting back.

4) Breakout Session Highlight: Short Sale Offers and Contracts That Win – Part of a session from the Keller Williams Family Reunion #KWFR. We often read about how to deal with short sales, but how about dealing with buyers who may be interested in a short sale?

5) The Offer: There’s More to It Than Price – What if your offer on a house was the highest and was not accepted? It happens. There is a lot more than the offer price to determine the best offer.

6) $8,000 (or $6,500) Home Buyer Tax Credit – Lobbyists on the move for ANOTHER extension – I did at least a couple videos last fall before the tax credit was extended saying “don’t do it.” But they did. Now they are talking about doing it again and don’t be surprised if they do extend it one more time, after all, it is an election year.

7) Missing the Forest for the Trees: the RPR License – Rob Hahn takes a close look at the RPR license. You have to give RPR credit, they are making the process completely open and transparent.

8) Why is My Insurance Premium Different from My Neighbors? – A look at some of the factors that can effect your homeowners insurance premium.

9) Mortgage Rates Change Faster Than Freddie Mac Can Report It – We have covered it dozens of times, why you cannot shop for mortgage rates online.

10) Ohio Man Sends Bank a Message Via a Bulldozed Home – You have probably seen the video by now, but just in case you have not… That is going to be an expensive mistake.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 2/22/2010

1) Stated Income Loans: The Unexpected Victims – With stated income loans virtually disappearing, the victims are those who it was initially intended to help.

2) Fair Housing’s One Thing, Common Sense a Close Second – Jonathan makes a good point. We are not allowed to say if we would live in a neighborhood or not, but even if we could, that does not make it a good or bad neighborhood because everyone has different personal taste.

3) The New Normal for Luxury Real Estate Buyers – While the number of luxury homes selling may be down, they are still moving. This post takes a look at how they are buying homes these days. I personally am finding in the luxury home market cash is involved more often than not lately.

4) Required VS Voluntary Sign Ups – Do you require people to sign up on your IDX to view homes? I personally was a believer of allowing free search, after all my Mom told me I needed to keep it open. Then I went to requiring registration. My only question is why didn’t I do it earlier.

5) Smile! You’re Showing Skills Are On Candid Camera. – Interesting discussion, now about video taping the home while being shown. I agree that agent feedback is next to worthless, this would provide much better feedback and give the seller a greater sense of security.

6) Finding a Home Online: The Do’s and Don’ts of Online Real Estate – Some good advice of what to do and what not to do when looking for houses online.

7) Learn to Communicate with Your Clients! – Agents, how do your clients want to hear from you? Do they want email, calls, text, DM’s? Find out what they are doing and make them feel comfortable.

8) Obama Announces $1.5 Billion in Housing Aid – Oh Really? – If throwing $75 billion at a problem does not fix it you can always be creative and try something different, like throwing another $1.5billion at it :-/

9) Can I get proof of a competing offer? – If you are asked to raise your price because there is a higher offer can you get a copy of that offer as proof? Generally not? BUT I have seen it happen where I use an escalator clause and if the escalation is needed then the seller needs to show me proof with page one of the contract that an escalation was needed.

10) Here Comes the Corner – Are You Going To Be Ready? – This brings up some interesting questions, will the housing stimulus programs be extended when later this year. If you would have asked me last fall I would have said no way. Now I am not so sure. After all, remember, it is an election year.

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Special Top 10 edition: Top 10 real estate sites for your RSS reader

Top-10I hope by now everyone reading this has seen my Top 10 real estate posts of the day which I do 5 days a week. Doing those posts means I need to stay up on hundreds of real estate websites on a daily basis. While I am sure I do not have every great blog in my RSS reader, I am betting most of the great ones are in my list of over 300 blogs which I follow daily.

Maybe you don’t have the sickness I do which requires me to spend 3 hours a day going through other peoples posts like I do, but you want to stay on top of what is going on in the industry. What I have done is select a list of ten blogs I would keep in my RSS reader if I could only have 10. They range from national blogs such as Active Genius to local blogs such as Real Central VA. Also there are paid services sites that would be included in a good Top 10 list, but for this list I am including only ones that are free to everyone.

So here they are, 10 blogs (in no particular order) that should be in your RSS reader.


National blogs

These blogs focus on national issues and national audiences.

Agent Genius
This is the one blog you need to keep your eye on for what is going on with real estate on a daily basis. The blog covers every issue you can think of and is not afraid of controversy. You may not like every post they allow on their site, but they are not afraid to throw stuff out there and see how it goes.

Bigger Pockets
Bigger pockets has a great mix of what is hot in real estate and brings you some of the best information on real estate investment on the net. If you are an investor or work with investors you need to check them out daily. In full disclosure I recently started to write for them on a weekly basis, but anyone who follows my Daily Top 10 knows I have been including their posts several times a week for a long time.


Local Blogs

These blogs focus more on their local market.

Real Central VA
Jim Duncan has his pulse on Charlottesville VA, both the real estate market and community events. Few, if any, do a better job combining both market stats and general community information on their sites. And every now in then he will weigh in on a national real estate topic with a point of view worth listening to.

Miamism
Ines makes you feel like you are living in Miami. Everyone has an impression of what it must be like to live in Miami, and watching her posts makes you feel like you are part of that action. But that is not where Ines really separates herself. In my opinion Ines has the best community pages on the net, not just for Miami, but for any region in America. I must admit, I have been trying to copy what she is doing lately and just wishing I could do it as good as her. Check out her community pages.

Ian Watt
I hear it in my sleep… “Hi this is Ian Watt in downtown Vancouver” and if you want to know what is going on in downtown Vancouver this is where you turn to. Ian is the most consistent video blogger in the real estate industry which is why he was featured in Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It book. If you want ideas on video blogging for your community check him out.

Mix of national and local

Phoenix Real Estate Guy
Everyone seems to know Jay Thompson (full disclosure as of this week he became my broker, but he would have made this list anyways). Jay is one of those guys who just dominates the online market in his area. Why? Because he has been writing good content for a long time. And the key there is “good content.” Just watch the comments section on Jay’s blog. Jay writes both about local events and national issues. If you are looking for good quality content on a regular basis this is a must. And if you are ever looking for the new fun toys for your blog, he probably has them on his site too.

Rain City Guide
Rain City Guide is one of the original real estate blogs everyone turned to, and still puts out amazing content to this day. Whether you want national issues, lending content or local Seattle information Rain City Guide continues to pump out great information from a variety of sources.

Lender Blogs

The Mortgage Reports
Let’s face it, reading about mortgage information is not the most enjoyable thing in the world (besides for a few sickos out there). There are a couple such as Rhonda Porter and Justin McHood who make it somewhat interesting, but Dan Green in my opinion puts out the best content on a regular basis.

Thought Provokers

These final two go in a class by themselves. They make you think. You will not always agree with them, I am sure they wouldn’t want you to because they love the back and forth so much.

1000watt blog
I am trying to remember the last time I read something on 1000watt blog that I thought, nothing interesting here. It just does not happen. Marc, Brian and Joel are all must reads, but I have to admit a little bias here. I cannot think of one person in real estate who really gets challenging my thinking more than Marc Davidson. There are many people who disagree with him on a lot of issues as you will see following him on Twitter. But he always has great back up for his ideas. Brain and Joel are no slouches either and the three of them make an incredible team that I hope I get to meet in person soon.

The Notorious Rob
I consider Rob Hahn in the same class as Marc Davidson. Rob also likes to think big and think outside the box. Rob is always challenging everything and everyone and it makes the discussion better. If you are ever wondering what the hot topic of the week is in RE.net, check out Rob’s site, I can assure you he is writing about it and challenging your thinking.

Before anyone gets upset, there are other great blogs out there that I would not want to miss like Sellsius, Geek Estate, Rhonda Porter, Kris Berg, Bloodhound Blog, Mike Mueller and Theressa Boardman. Those were just some off the top of my head. You could make an argument for any one of them to be in the top 10, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I know there is not one person who will agree with this list 100% and that is ok. This is just my list, let me know what your list is below.

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What is #RETT, a working space or a social meet up?

Video 95: So you have heard of #RETT by now right? Well here is a quick video of the actual working environment. 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 2/19/2010

Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.

1) Mortgage Markets Pass The Tipping Point; Mortgage Rates Up For Good? – We have been hearing it for a while, rates are only going up. With an increase in the discount rate is that time now?

2) Day 2: Sonic Drive-In Happy Hour in East Vancouver – This one goes under the “you should be stealing this idea for your blog” category. Don’t take this the wrong way Dale, but this post by itself is not something amazing, and the video is nothing amazing… but the concept for the series? Brilliant. So easy, so informative, such a great idea. I hope you keep it going for 365 days, I am looking forward to watching it develop.

3) Is There a Loan Modification That Will Work? – There are so many factors in loan modifications, but from my experience the answer is with the current system banks are using, no! Tom does a good job writing about it in a lot more detail here.

4) WARNING: You Don’t Want Your Home on the Market Forever! – If you are serious about selling your home do not let this be you. If you are not serious, and only going to sell if you get what you want for it (different than what it is worth) this method is ok, but don’t expect an agent to spend much money and time marketing it.

5) $100 Down payment HUD Home Financing in Phoenix – The 2,000.00 Mistake – Do you have a buyer that is interested in using the $100/down HUD program? If you are in the Phoenix and Tempe area you can almost forget it. Most of these homes are selling over list price, which causes a problem as Christoph points out.

6) RPR MLS License-What RPR can do with data – So I have a sickness, just can’t get enough reading in about the RPR. And I think my opinion on it is starting to change. I can’t wait to get to play with it.

7) What Unique Selling Proposition is a Real Estate Broker or Website Using? – Really this is a challenge, how far out of the box can you go? Who can get outside the box, help the client the most and gain traction doing so?

8) 10 Reasons Why eSignature is the Most Powerful Tool In My Bag! – Yup Docusign rocks! Why are you not using it, that is just mind-blowing.

9) Short Sale Tempe – Bank Of America Equator – I just love watching people rant on BoA short sales process.

10) FHA Flip Rule Video – This is a fairly creative video on the FHA flip rule, nothing new really, but just an interesting way of presenting it.

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