Video 105: Short sale agents will tell you doing a short sale is always better than doing a foreclosure. There are many cases that is true, but not for everyone. Always make sure you talk to a real estate attorney and a tax accountant to make sure a it is really the best thing for you. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) Is Your Mortgage Originator Licensed or Registered – Double standard anyone? Loan originators need to get licensed, unless they work for a depository bank.
2) HEFI: Home Equity Fractional Interest – If you have read my past blogs or watched my videos you know I am a big fan of HEFI. There is great opportunity here for investors, home buyers, underwater owners and banks if they would just get off their butt and take a look at it.
3) Let’s Admit It’s Bad and Help Our Agents through It – Times are tough in the real estate market. This post makes a great case for instead of letting your standards get looser in terms of which clients to work with, they should be getting tougher.
4) How to Be the Winner in a Multiple Offer Purchase – Yesterday I had a post in this list about being careful in bidding wars with multiple offers. This post looks at some of the ways to position yourself to win in multiple offers situations.
5) Three months into the 2010 Good Faith Estimate…and We Still Have Issues – Almost a year into HVCC and three months into the new GFE and what do we know? What we know before we did either, government regulations to protect the consumer and “help the market” often do not have their intended outcome.
6) Should I Own Several Real Estate Websites – I am a one site guy myself, but not really sure I agree that one site is always the only answer. We have two cases right here in Phoenix that prove the point. There is Jay Thompson that everyone knows at the Phoenix Real Estate Guy, they do not much better than him when it comes to running one site and generating leads. But then there is David Deon who few have probably heard of. He may not have a work horse like TPREG.com, but he has hundreds of sites, all smaller long tail sites, that most likely generate multiples more leads than Jay. Both routes are a lot of work, but both can be effective.
7) A Real Estate Investor Without An Exit Plan Is Like a Baseball Team With No Closer – If you are an investor do you have an exit plan? Jeff Brown lays out why you may be playing with fire if you do not.
8) On the eve of disruption: location and the real estate opportunity of a lifetime – How do you know when you are a geek? You read this, stat thinking about driving around with your WePad or iPad or whatever your flavor is and using all this technology Brain talks about.
10) REtechSouth Presentation: Master Jedi Tips for Conferences – Going to a Barcamp or Inman Connect or any conference like that coming up? Social media can help you connect and meet more people.
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) Real Estate Training: Lead Follow-Up – It has been to long since Tom made an appearance in the Top 10. Have been discussing this issue a lot lately and this is a good video on just doing it!
2) FHA Short Refinance: Does This Make It Real? – Short refinance? Good luck with that. If anyone hears of a success I would love to hear about it.
3) The Interest Rate Spread Between The 15-Year Fixed And 30-Year Fixed Is Huge – One of my favorite subjects, people think I am crazy, but I HATE debt so give me a 15-year over a 30-year any day. Just do the math, it is a no brainer.
4) RPR Hits The Ground Running – Wait?!?!?!? They were beta testing in Phoenix and didn’t invite me? What the?!?!? Why am I giving them this link love?
5) If the Bank doesn’t charge an "overage or points"…what do you call this? – I love when Rhonda gets fired up like this!
6) Just Say No to Bidding Wars – This is a very good look at under pricing listings to create bidding wars. In Phoenix right now it is really the banks more than the agents who are doing this.
7) Is Your Website Design Scaring Away Business? – Some good blogging tips to implement and avoid on your site. Whatever you do, please one thing is avoid number 1 in the No-No’s. Nothing will make me leave your page quicker.
8) I Bet Many of the Cool Kids Are On the Verge of Greatness – Good post reminding us that greatness does not come easy. Even Tiger Woods has to spend countless hours stroking his putter and swinging his club around to become the best at what he does.
9) Do You Need a Buyer’s Agent? Or Should You Find a Home, Then Use the Listing Agent? – OK we talk about it all the time. You need to be represented as a buyer. What blew me away about this video on this page was how everyone said they found their agent.
10) I Have a Short Sale Listing. I Have an Offer. Now, What Do I Do? – Hmmm I thought the answer was drop to your knees and pray, but that is not on there.
Video 104: I have been asked recently by a few clients if now was a good time to invest in Phoenix and Tempe condos. Honestly, I am not sure it is if you are wanting to wait until the bottom of the market. Yes prices are low and if you are looking for a primary residence now may not be a bad time. But if you are looking to fix and flip the Tempe and Phoenix housing markets seem to have stabilized, but the the condo market is a different story. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) Neg-Ams Receding – Will problems with option arms be less than thought?
2) Take Better Interior Photos by Kneeling – This wasn’t intended to be a post for real estate agents, but there is some great advice in there and I have seen the MLS pictures, most agents can use some pointers. Also notice the link towards the bottom on creative photography.
3) Seattle Real Estate: The Feds Purchase of Mortgage Backed Securities ends this Week…What do you Think Will Happen? – This is going to be an interesting week. Depending on who you read either nothing is going to happen or rates are getting ready to jump a point.
4) Loan Modifications: Bank of America Plans to Reduce Principal Balance of 45,000 Mortgages – I have been one of the leading BoA bashers, but this is a step in the right direction. No, this small program will not help enough people to make a difference, but it will make a difference to some families.
5) Spring 2010 FHA Changes : Higher Fees, Bigger Downpayments, And More Mortgage Insurance – Make sure you know about the changes in FHA loans coming soon.
6) How To: Create A Facebook Community Fan Page – Most of the early real estate fan pages were a waste of space in my opinion, but some ideas are now taking off. It’s time to start looking at what is working, and do the same in your area.
7) THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BIG-BOX BROKERAGE – Tired of the topic yet? Based on comments on a lot of these blogs most are not. Here is another great one to add to the discussion.
8) “Stranger Danger” applies to home sellers, too. – Some really good advice you should be giving to your clients.
9) The Future of The Carnival of Real Estate. It Could Be In Your Hands. – Fan of the Carnival? Want to see it succeed? Then step up to the plate.
10) Where’s the (NAR) Scandal? – I have avoided this because I don’t think we should be drawing any attention at all to the person behind the site, but this is funny!
This week Kristin LaVanway and I answer the following Phoenix real estate questions:
Thanks to Sasha Lopez for keeping us on time as always
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) Credit Nightmares – Some great advice in here for everyone. We all know someone who is going through financial hardships right now.
2) California Offers a New Tax Credit for Home Buyers – California signed into law a $10,000 home buyer tax credit. Didn’t we just send billions to California to bail out their bankrupt government? Here is another one on the subject. It’s Official… $10K CA Homebuyer Tax Credit signed into law!
3) Video Is The Future – Jump to about 3:45 and Jim starts talking about video as the future… But I think it is the present. I have some clients I do that for now, when we walk through I video tape it for them so they can go back and look at it again later.
4) More “does your brokerage matter talk.” We have had a lot over the last week and today we have Mark Davison with Can a real estate brokerage matter? and Jonathan Dalton with Forget Big Broker vs. Small Broker, Let’s Talk Bad Broker vs. Good Broker.
5) Renting vs. Buying when it comes to a house – I love this video, why? Because Jessica shoots straight. It is NOT always better to buy than to rent. I think a lot of people underestimate the cost, the true cost of homeownership.
6) NAR President says another extension of the homebuyer tax credit is “unlikely” – Finally we have some good news. Homebuyers better get to work and get under contract by April 30th if they want to take advantage.
7) Are Sellers Rejecting All Of Your Offers? – Putting in a lot of offers and not getting any accepted? Here are some tips. But remember, do not put in an offer unless you want the house if the offer is accepted.
8) Syndicate Your Original Content, Like You Syndicate Your Listings – If you build it they will come, if you build it in multiple locations they will come a lot quicker and in much larger numbers.
9) Does Fannnie or Freddie own your mortgage? – You may want to refinance your loan or you may want to know the bank is not supposed to be cutting your commission on that short sale you are working with. Either way it is good to know if it is a Fannie or Freddie mortgage.
10) And for comic relief…. Agents see the strangest things at open houses – Where are all these naked people? Not that I want to see them, but I have been into thousands of houses and never once did I see a naked person, but hear about it all the time. and THE MLS – WITH ZEST! – Some fun MLS typos, or we hope are typos.
REBarCamp? What is that? If you are wondering what REBarCamp is, here is a short video to try and explain it with me and Kristin LaVanway. If you want to sign up for the Phoenix REBarCamp on April 9th, sign up today.
Video 103: When you take a new short sale listing make sure it is a listing that can be sold. Anyone can take a short sale listing, but are you and your seller willing to do what it takes to get the house sold and closed. One of the key determinants I have found to be a factor is with the seller. Will the seller do what it takes to get the house sold? One easy test that will also make the short sale go much easier is are they willing to get you all the paperwork you need for the packet before you even list the house? I always provide the seller with the packet materials I need before we even sign a listing agreement. I have found if the seller is willing to submit that short sale packet to me before we even list the house, they are much more likely to work with me to get the deal done. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) Trials and Tribulations With Appraisals – I like it, a listing agent fighting back against a perceived bad appraisal.
2) Housing Market Set For Double Dip? – Double dip? Is that like a Dairy Queen ice cream cone? This is going to be an interesting year.
3) Ignoring The Shadow Inventory Will Not Make It Go Away – Shadow inventory is no doubt out there, but it has been for a year. The question is will they release it and flood the market or just keep the trickle coming.
4) New Yahoo! app “sketches” the future of real estate search – With the iPad and the even cooler WePad devices coming this, things will changes. These will be a real game changer for real estate.
5) New lead paint rules go into effect April 22 – This is not going to help the value of your house if it was built before 1978.
6) 7 Tips for Better Negotiation – Dealing with foreclosures we may not do as much “negotiations” as before, but when that case does come up some good advice and tips.
7) The Next Generation of Mobile Real Estate Marketing – Geofencing – So this is an interesting and maybe “cool” idea, but how is it different than a setting up an email alert for a home in your desired neighborhood?
8) Does the Real Estate Brokerage Matter to the Home Buyer / Seller? – Does your brokerage matter? As someone who recently went from a big name to a small boutique I think brokerage matters, I am just not sure that big name matters. I don’t think some of my clients even know which company I work for. Best part, great discussion below the post.
9) Bank of America Makes a Bold Move – Principal Forgiveness – This is going to be interesting to watch. With BoA I want to see proof first.
10) If Consumers Shopped as Diligently for Agents as Homes, the Real Estate Business Would Look Quite Different – This is why Jonathan Dalton is one of the best readers out there you are probably not reading.
