1) Can SMS Real Estate Marketing Attract more Home Buyers? – There will be more text messages sent this year than phone calls made. Why fight it any longer. People like to communicate that way, make it easy for them and place a rider on every sign you have.

2) Gifts from the Bank of Mom and Dad – Part 2: Conventional Financing – In only a way Rhonda can do she takes a boring subject and makes it easy to understand and enjoyable.

3) February 2010 : 4 States Account For More Than 50% Of Foreclosure Activity – What is really amazing about this list is no sign of Nevada or Arizona? The have dominated this list in the last 18 months.

4) How To Succeed in Anything in Life – Don’t Do This And You’ll Fail… Every Time! – OK tell me you are not going to read that one with that title. I did, and it was worth it. Nothing earth shattering, but a good reminder of what we should be doing.

5) Listing Icons: Is Adopting Abandoned Buyers Stealing or Smart? – Now this is an idea  I admit I never heard of. But I love it!

6) The Purpose Of Real Estate Photography… – Want to learn something? Read this post! You will never think of photos for a house the same again.

7) The Source of Confusion – What do you get when take one of the top thinkers in the business dissecting the work of another top thinker? You get something that makes you question the very work model which you love.

8) Top 5 Tips for Securing an Accurate Appraisal – Be prepared if the appraisal comes back and you know it is bad.

9) “Gearing Up Your Web Presence” Seminar – I dont agree with those who believe you need to be successful online to be a successful agent, but if you are making it part of your business plan, are you doing it right.?

10) Top 10 Tips for !st Time Homebuyers in Northern Virginia – There are a lot of Top 10 lists out there for home buyers and sellers, This list is as good as any of them.

Video 101: I have read at least 20-30 different agents who have been touting how great the HAFA program is on their blogs over the last few weeks. Last night I issued a challenge a couple times on Twitter to any of those agents or even to the National Association of Realtors, who are defending the program, to do a point – counter-point with me in a blog post. I do not see how anyone who read the pages on the new short sale program could defend it as good for banks or for the home owner. If you are true believe in HAFA, and they have to be out there because there have been plenty of blog posts, let me know. I would love to debate you on the merits or lack of merit in the 43 pages of garbage. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

Looking for free wi-fi in Tempe AZ?  Try Steve’s Espresso

If  you are looking for wi-fi in Tempe you may want to check out Steve’s Espresso at 1801 E. Baseline. It is located on the south east corner of McClintock and Baseline. Steve’s has been open for over five years now and has not only free wi-fi for their customers, but great coffee and pastries. Make sure you try their muffins.

In this week’s episode of Phoenix Real Estate FAQ Dean Ouellette and Kristin LaVanway answer the following questions:

* Is it a good time to buy a house?
* Do I need a home inspection if I am buying As-Is?
* Can my Realtor give me the lockbox codes so I can check out a house?
* Why do short sales take so long?

Thanks, Sasha (Speilberg) Lopez doing her part and keeping us on track and keeping us laughing.

Send us your questions…we’d love to hear from you…

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

1) Three Geniuses Walk Into a Bar… – Three respected individuals in the industry answering a series of questions in 10 words or less (sometimes).

2) FHA Flips for Flipped Homes (Some Restrictions Apply) – The FHA 90-day no flip rule was suspended for a year in February. There are restrictions though.

3) 5 Secrets To Success When Getting a Mortgage – Here are five things that seem so obvious to us for people who are in the process of buying a house. Then thinking about the last year I think I had someone who broke all five of these rules.

4) 1,000,000 Real Estate Agents Have Got IT All Wrong – Very interesting take on agents and how they do and should be using the internet and their website.

5) In Just 50 Days Your Home Will be Worth $8000 Less! – Going into last November I would have agreed with there, there were a flood of people looking to take advantage of the first-time home buyer tax credit. I just do not see the same wave of people this time.

6) Realtors Top Marketing Preferences – My favorite part of this may be how little agents think of Youtube. There were some surprising answers, but the one thing I agree with, referrals are still the king.

7) Paying More Than Asking Price For Your Home – In today’s market sometimes you are going to need to go over asking price to get what you want. That doesn’t mean you are overpaying.

8) Reclaiming my “rookie” enthusiasm…. – This is a great post that showed up in my RSS reader yesterday. I didn’t realize at the time it was a year old, but it is still worth posting as a top post of the day.

9) Impacting Home Values Is the Real Estate Industry Heroes or Villains? (Video Blog) – As agents we impact the value of the home through pricing and how we market the home. We also effect the future value of other homes in the area.

10) Treating Buyers the way Greg Swann treats sellers…and Cheryl Johnson treats agents in her office. – This is a very interesting tool that any brokerage could use that would save both time and money for the agents and their buyer clients.

Looking for free wi-fi in Tempe AZ?  Try Gold Bar Espresso

If  you are looking for wi-fi in Tempe you may want to check out the Gold Bar Espresso at 3141 McClintock. It is located on the north east corner of McClintock and Southern. You won’t find any whipped cream from a can here, all theirs is home made. Make sure you try the Mocha Especiale. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

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

1) Determining Maximum Purchase Price (MPP) – If you are looking to invest you need to be able to quickly determine the maximum purchase price. Here is a quick formula that could help you.

2) Questions to Ask Before Listing Your Home with a Real Estate Agent – Advice from the Donald Trump team about what questions to ask before listing your home. Agents, are you prepared to answer them?

3) Assessed Value vs Market Value – Why is my assessed value so different than what my agent says my home is worth?

4) Real Estate Print Advertising – Not Dead, but Evolved – Interesting way to use print to drive people to your blog.

5) The Official Mortgage Rate Prediction For The Next 7 Days (March 11, 2010) – Very interesting results this week. There are three options, Up, Down, Same… usually the split is pretty good between the three, not this week. Check out these results.

6) Q&A Session with Dale Ross, CEO of the REALTORS® Property Resource (RPR) – You have a question on RPR it is probably answered here. Lots of good questions.

7) Underqualified? Underread? Under a Rock? Became an Underwriter! – This could be on the top 10 posts for the months! Dalton hits another one out of the park!

8) Safety – Cash Reserves – Never a Losing Year – If you are going to invest make sure you are really in a good position to do so.

9) Home Valuation from the Buyer’s Perspective – An interesting debate can occur from this, who does control pricing? Is it really the market or could it be the real estate agents or appraiser?

10) Does Face Book Help Your SEO? – How Twitter and Facebook can help you in Google with the new Google profile search

Video 100: The more and more short sale videos I do, the more questions I get from home owners and other agents. I am launching a new short sale section on DeanSellsAZ.com which you will find above. It it starting out with Short Sale FAQ and we will be adding more to build out the section. I will be adding in all my short sale videos and other short sale information as time goes. 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) Brokers: embrace difference, love the eccentric – Marc Davison of 1000watt Consulting talks about what he would do if he was a broker, right down to the restroom in his office. The key, being different.

2) What’s wrong with Private Transfer Fees? – While all the comments on this post agree with the author, I differ. Private transfer fees are annoying and should be done away with. Add the fee into the cost of the house and that is real disclosure.

3) The Art of Negotiating – Don’t let principle get in the way.

4) Higher Foreclosure Sales Expected By 2012 – Oh goodie-goodie, foreclosures will continue for another two years!

5) Revisit Your Circle of Influence and Revive Your Real Estate Business – Great advice for new agents and seasoned veterans, get to work on that sphere.

6) The Foreclosure Epidemic – A Discussion with Alex Charfen – Ok I am going to put aside my feelings on the CDPE program and Alex Charfen for a minute (and no John, there are better programs out there) but I love his look at foreclosures in this video. He explains why it appears foreclosures may be slowing down right now, but they are really not. 1-in-6 mortgages in this country are late. Just let that number sink in.

7) Do We Believe in the Millenials? – People currently between 18-30 are Millenials, how will they effect the future or real estate?

8) The Good Side of Loan Modification’s Failure, A Buoyant Foreclosure Market – Now here is someone reaching for a silver lining. Interesting take on the good side of loan mod failures.

9) Are Real Estate Stats Where It’s At? – Short term results, but interesting perspective on adding stats to your site.

10) Blog Carnival of Real Estate – My First Time to Host! Winners Announcement – The Canival is back in town.

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

1) How To Shop For Mortgages And Keep Your Credit Scores High – Just a wealth of information in here I did not realize. A must read for agents and home shoppers.

2) 7 Expectations of Real Estate Investors – Beware of Potential – Thinking of getting involved in real estate investing or working with a new investor who is looking for some tips? Here are some tips that you need to be aware of.

3) Socialist need not read –> Like Big Oil –> Big Expired Program; windfall profits – Looking for a new marketing program, but expired listings are not your thing? Check out these numbers.

4) Homes for Sale in Denver Face Scams from Craigslist…Still. – I had this happen on one of my listings a few months ago. Beware of this scam. Seems to have hit Tallahassee too.

5) Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Needs a Good Flipping – NAR has their ideas for reforming Fannie and Freddie. What I don’t understand is how an organization I usually agree with in their political endorsements can be wrong on so many issues like supporting HAFA and even further federalizing Fannie and Freddie.

6) Taking a Short Sale Listing: ‘To Be or Not to Be?’ – I couldn’t agree with you more Melissa. Before I even take a short sale listing I make the seller gather all the required documentation, that way I know there will not be a problem and I know they are willing to do what it takes.

7) Squatter Claiming Adverse Possession in Puyallup – Ohhh if only it were that easy, I would have a new house next week.

8) Real Entrepreneurship – GREAT read. Real estate agents are true entrepreneurs.

9) Twitter 101 – Some basic Twitter tips for those who may not be getting what they hoped out of the social networking platform.

10) Keep those Garlic Fries to yourself – Those of us who do not play the Mafia Wars and Cafe World usually don’t want to see those continuous updates from others playing the games. Here is a good tip on getting rid of those updates.