This week, Kristin LaVanway and Tempe Real Estate" href="http://DeanSellsAZ.com" target="_blank">Dean Ouellette tackle the questions:
* Can I keep my antique stove when I sell my house?
* What is the final walkthrough?
* Why didn’t I get the mortgage rate advertised online?
* Can the bank foreclose if I am negotiating a short sale?
Thanks as always to @SashaLopez even though she never watches our videos…
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts in no particular order…
1) Federal Housing Administration to Accept eSignature for Real Estate Contracts – Finally there is closure on this issue. Does FHA take Docusign signatures or not? Yes! Bookmark this so next time someone says they do not take them you have your ammunition ready.
2) Real Estate Coaching: Becoming Famous in a New Area – Forget the headline on this one, reason is you may say I am not new to my area why should I watch this. This post is relevant to ANYONE in real estate who is not doing the business volume they want. I think Coach Tom and just about anyone would be willing to bet you if you did this (2-3 hours a day) for a month you would have more business than you knew what to do with.
3) We’ve Come a Long Way Baby – Something you may not know about me, I am a history buff. When I was at the University of New Hampshire before I left for politics I was a history major with a concentration in early American history. That is one of the reasons I find things like this so fascinating.
4) Real Estate Professionals Pondering Wrong Question – Joe Manausa is becoming one of my must read bloggers. He is putting out a lot of good quality content. With the tax credit ending Joe points out there are only so many first-time buyers, we need to find a way to get move up buyers back in the market.
5) The Listing Interview: How To Get the Listing Even if Your Competition Charges Less – Who hasn’t had a situation where the seller was shopping commissions. Jennifer Allan puts together a great post here on how to combat that.
6) Growing Trend: Shared and Collaborative Office Spaces – Here in Phoenix we have RETT but there are other types of collaborative work environments as seen here.
7) Cash Flow: Real vs. Realtor – Easy lesson here, don’t pretend to know more than you do because those who really do know more will figure it out quickly.
8) Virtual BarCamp Presentation – The 1-2-1 Business Development Formula – Real estate is not rocket science. Take the advice from Coach Tom Ferry in number 2 and this good advice on how much time you should be spending in content creation and business development and you have a winner.
9) Home Inspection for “Informational Purposes?” Yeah right! – Like anything else if you have certain expectations make sure they are in the original contract.
10) Importance Of Long Tail Real Estate Keywords – You may never be able to rank on the top page of Google for “your city real estate” but pick a community or two in that city and now your chance of success is much higher.
Today’s top 10 real estate posts of the day in no particular order:
1) Why It Pays to Get Preapproved Early: You May Think You Know Your Credit Score – Just one more reason to be pre-approved before you start looking for a house.
2) Home Buyers Leave Clues On The Internet – Not all homebuyers are created equal.
3) Marketing Lessons I Learned From the CIA – If you are an investor looking for actual details of a marketing campaign.
4) Top 10 Home Buying Mistakes – Good advice for home buyers, everything from getting emotional structuring your offer.
5) Introducing the EWM Text App – Texting technology is becoming more and more important and desired in our business.
6) Question: Will the tax credit be extended to 2011? – I do not think an extension is likely at this time myself. I remember in October 2009 the flood of people looking for houses before it expired. Now I am just not seeing it. I think those who wanted to take advantage of it have.
7) Max-Bang Series: Incorporate Yourself! – This is something I have been thinking about lately just for the liability aspect.
8) Personal Brand vs. Reputation. One in the Same, or Different? – I recently made the transition from a big brand that has a balloon to a small boutique brokerage. What I have found is no one cares. All they care about is your reputation and your service.
9) RPR Launches Beta Testing . . .And The Winner Is . . . The Members!! – Ok I am ready to play with it… let me at it.
10) Increasing Numbers of Young Cincinnati Home Buyers Use Technology to Home Shop – Its basic but more and more your hose needs to show well online.
Today’s top 10 real estate posts of the day, as always in no particular order.
1) How to talk to buyers who view your home – I debated to include this one or not. The tips are good if you are doing a for sale by owner, but if you are using an agent to sell your home you should not be home when someone is there viewing your home. They will spend about 1/3 the time in the home compared to if you were not home.
2) The Paper Trail Every Rehabber Should Follow – The market is flooded right now with people wanting to flip houses in the heavily hit housing markets. Here is some great advice if you are a newbie looking to get involved.
3) Tips On Preparing Your Home For Sale – How To Enhance The Perceived Value In The Eyes Of The Buyer – If you are trying an equity sale right now you have two choices, drop the price to that of short sales and foreclosures, or make your house shine like a superstar.
4) Are Drip Email Campaigns a Good Idea? – I have to completely disagree with Jeff here. I recently implemented some drip campaigns and I love them. Here is the thing, they came to my site wanting information about homes and signed up on my site. I am providing them a service with the drip campaign about the current market that can help when they buy or sell their home. And there is a nice big opt out at the bottom. Over the last seven weeks, one person has opted out.
5) I’m officially a Realtor! Time to… wait. Now what? – I admit I have a love-hate relationship with the NAR, first as a former Republican political consultant I always loved REALTORS because they often came to the rescue of good conservative candidates and causes. But then I have this feeling all they really care about with agents is getting more in even though they know they are going to fail so they can get those initial dues. This is where RTB comes in in the licensing department.
6) Don’t fire the agent that brings you offers – If you are selling hour house, what are the rules about your agent showing you insulting low ball offers.
7) A Refresher on the Mystical Zestimate – Great job Kris. One of my favorite subjects. I love this line and am going to steal it. “Steve likens them to the proverbial broken clock – right a couple of times a day.”
8) 5 Things Your Unprofessional Email Address Says About You – Amen brother. It always blows me away when I see agents with MyCollegeEmailNickname@aol.com .
9) Vandalized Queen Creek Foreclosure Video – Check out this house. I have seen them like this before too. I am guessing they did not get cash for keys. I wish banks would go after these home owners.
10) MAKING A QUALITY PRESENATION – Want to improve your listing presentation, read this, then go back and read it again.
1) A smarter real estate search – Imagine if searching for a house was like listening to music on Pandora. I am just not sure users would want to give up that much control although agents would probably love it.
2) Real estate down 80,800 local jobs – Any doubt the real estate market and real estate related jobs have been extremely hard hit by the economy?
3) HAFA goes live at BofA- Short Sale Power Hour 04/06/10 – This is great, interview with a BoA rep on the new HAFA program.
4) With More Homes Going Under Contract, Home Prices Certain To Rise This Spring – Of course this is only to the famous shadow inventory we have been hearing about for 18 months is released (that is a joke people).
5) Multiple Sources of Retirement Income Through Real Estate Investing – This article gives you great ways to diversify if you are into real estate investing.
6) Short Sales, HAFA, and You! – I will continue to remain a skeptic until something happens to prove me wrong.
7) New Investing Mindset in the New Economic Normal – These are trying times and the future of real estate does not seem bright any time soon. How can you use this to your advantage?
8) Redfin Pre-Installed on Apple Store iPads – Now that is a power move by Redfin.
9) A Dozen things I can’t wait to learn tomorrow – The next REBarCamp is tomorrow, but even better is the PHX Bar Camp on Friday.
10) Get Yourself Connected – Are you in a position to communicate to your clients they way they prefer?
Today’s top 10 real estate posts of the day in no particular order…
1) Fed stopped buying MBS; What happens to Mortgage Rates now? – Rates were up about a quarter of a point last week, more to come?
2) If Your Friend Is Broke In Bank and Spirit. Share The Jessie James Solution – Resurrect Your Success In 30 Days. Boom Goes Your Dynamite, IF Light The Fuse. – Stuck in a rut? Need to get something going in the next month? Here is a great suggestion to kick start your real estate business.
3) Feds say rip Chinese drywall out of homes – It is going to be interesting to see who ends up paying for all this in the end.
4) Hyperlocal lifestyle real estate search is finally here- SpatialMatch - If we could get something like this added to IDX solutions then find a way to integrate with Yelp and 4Square… That would be a hit
5) Lease Purchase Agreements Continue To Grow In Popularity – I personally am not a fan of a lease purchase for buyers, I would love to know how often the sale goes through on a lease purchase, I would have to guess less tahn 10%.
6) Buyers hunting for a bargain – Two houses, same floorplan, same community, one is $100k the other is $50k. There are other factors that do not always make the $50k home a better bargain.
7) Prepare to be a good Mortgage Candidate – When it is time to go for a mortgage make sure you are ready adn be honest.
8) 365 Things to do in… – We were talking about this very subject in #RETT when community pages were announced. Could someone like Dale Chumbley lose what he has spent so much time working on.
9) How To Use Rate Locks To Negotiate Yourself A Lower Mortgage Rate – The longer you lock your rate into the future the higher it is likely to be. Another reason to have a lender who can close quick.
10) Thinking About Skipping the Home Inspection? Think Again… – Everyone knows the basics you do a home inspection because you want to know if anything major is wrong or it is better to be safe than sorry. This video takes a different look at it. Two other reasons you may want a home inspection you are probably not thinking about.
Video 107: Canadians have been buying a lot of homes in the Phoenix area over the last year. I have worked with more than my fair share of those coming from Canada to buy a condo or house in the Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale area.
I heard something today from another agent though that blew my mind. Canadians are buying heavy in Maricopa right now. In 2008 there were about 330 homes in Maricopa owned by Canadians, and now there are over 1150 homes in Maricopa where the tax bills go to Canada. Looks like Canadian’s love Maricopa. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
If you have any ideas or thoughts on how to improve the Top 10 list please leave a comment and let me know. Here is today’s Top 10 real estate posts of the day.
1) Gift Funds on FHA Home Loans – Gift for FHA down payments is acceptable if the gifter is a relative.
2) Zillow bets on the iPad’s adoption, releases iPad application – I hope they have the Android version ready for the wePad coming this summer.
3) Long-Term Mortgage Rates at Second Highest Level This Year – Rates are still at low rates historically, but are they heading back up to the 6’s?
4) Real Estate Investment – More Definitions In Plain English – Want to get into investing, but not sure what GIO or NOI is, here you go.
5) The 2 Most Important Things To Consider About Your Real Estate Blogsite-Website – Why are your visitors there, do you provide them with what they are looking for?
6) A Time to Sell, a Time to Buy – Opportunities Abound for All in 2010 – But if rates keep going up better hurry.
7) Too Many Choices – Real Estate Web Usability – Looking forward to series on web usability.
8) A Lesson in Supply and Demand! – Do you see the opportunities? They may be coming.
9) The most rapidly growing counties across America – Good news for Florida, if people keep moving there the market is likely to rebound even quicker.
10) Ten Day Close: Can You Close Your Mortgage In Ten Days? – It is not often you find a lender who can get a loan closed in ten days.
Video 106: As you have heard me say in the past, the lender is the most important part of a transaction. A bad lender can absolutely kill a deal while a great lender will get the deal done, get it done early and it will be so smooth that you never even know they are there. Recently I was working with a buyer who had his own lender, one of the big box banks. After two months they were still unable to close the loan because of their internal bureaucracy. I happened to be having lunch with Shane Hollenback of the Veracity Team and told him about the file. He took a look at it and said there was no reason this loan should not be completed in two weeks. The seller was getting ready to walk from the deal and we were able to convince them with Shane’s reassurance the deal would be done in two weeks if we could switch lender. That is exactly what we did, and that is what happened, two weeks later the frustrated buyer was a new home owner. The lender makes all the difference in the world that is why there are three lenders I work with that I recommend buyers talk to, and Shane and his team is one of those lenders. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.
