Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) HVCC and AMCs Violate RESPA?] Here’s a possible solution – Holding the banks more accountable, This is long fairly dry post, but worth the ready. The problem is it almost makes sense, so what chance does it have.
2) An RPR Q&A Overview from Leading RE – So what is this RPR thing everyone has been talking about for six months now. If you want to get caught up quick this is for you.
3) Want Smooth Sailing? The Short Sale Listing Agent and the BPO – If you list short sales read this… “So, if you are a lazy listing agent who has little interest in your deal closing successfully, that’s cool. Don’t go to meet the agent preparing the BPO. But, if you want to be a super successful short sale listing agent and see more closings than ever before, get out of bed and go meet the agent at the door!” – I would take it one step further, meet them with photos on a thumbdrive and comps in hand. They are not making that much money, make their job easier.
4) Online real estate opportunity screams – are you listening? – Why is Marc comparing a house to a pair of sneakers? Read it and find out, then chances are most agents will be kicking themselves.
5) Trulia’s VP of Marketing Heather Fernandez on CNBC: The Search for a New Home – Could there be a trend where after the foreclosures are picked through in a market the market in that city just crashes?
6) Cash for Appliances Program – One of our jobs as real estate agents is to bring value added to our clients. Letting them know about programs like this is one way to do it.
7) Phoenix home buyers, are you being realistic? – A conversation I have with buyers on a daily basis. Yet for some reason few want to believe me until they loose the first 4 houses they make an offer on. Then they start to get it.
8) I Wasn’t Going To Buy This House Until I Saw The Realtor’s Headshot On The Sign – A little comedy for you on this St. Patrick’s Day. Enjoy, it is worth the read. (H/T Jim Duncan)
9) Adjustable Rate Mortgage Talk – Is your market strategy prepared for where your market is headed over the next few years? Which by the way may not be that different than it has been for the last six months.
10) Storytelling through Real Estate Video. Take two. – If you have looked around my blog at all here you know I am in love with video. This is just a “WOW” video when it comes to marketing a house.
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) REDC Auction: Scam or the Real Deal? – There are different types of auctions for houses, there is the type where you go to the courthouse step and bid on the foreclosures and then there are the auctions like Hudson &Marshall or REDC where you can bid on a property that has been on the market a while. The advantage to the second is you can visit the house before hand and you can use financing, but don’t think you can steal it with a low ball offer.
2) Rants and Raves ! WHERE DO THESE MIAMI PRICES COME FROM? – One of my favorite subjects, why do we still price houses like it is 1992 and people are still looking at pictures in a MLS book. How we shop for houses has changes, so should the way we price them.
3) Is a Short Sale Free? Will it Cost Me Anything? – This is a common question I get too, what will a short sale cost me as a seller? The answer should be not much if anything at all. Although I would add into this equation the cost of getting legal advice.
4) Why Never Taking ‘No’ For an Answer Will Make You Wealthy – This is a great post that is relevant to investors, agents or anyone in life. If you refuse to take no for an answer it will get you thinking out of the box.
5) The Challenge of Being an FHA Home Buyer in a Seller’s Market – Condos, single-family homes, both have different challenges, but both do have challenges with FHA loans in today’s market.
6) Real Estate Agency, and Why I Can’t Help You – If you are working with another real estate agent, sometimes we just need to do the ethical thing and say sorry, we cannot help you.
7) Is Homebuyers’ Negotiation Power on the Rise? – The average price a house sold for 97.3% of the last list price in January.
8) The Difference Between a Blog and a Website – Do you know what the difference between a real estate blog and a real estate website is? Not much.
9) Consumers Are Not Getting Enough Credit in Today’s Market – Access to credit, HVCC, all things that are helping keep the market down.
10) Two Things: Agents and Listings – Great story for Brokers looking to expand, there are only two things to concentrate on. And for agents, take this information to your business. What are the two things that are money making activates, concentrate on them.
Here is today’s list of top real estate posts of the day.
1) Realtor Facebook Fan Page Strategy Gains 4,000+ Local Fans in 12 Days – He is now over 7,000 fans in 15 days. I first mentioned what Dale Chumbley was doing in my Top 10 list on day 2 of his 365 day project. I thought it was going to be a hit, but nothing like this.
2) Shock Value – Lesson learned, keep your house ready to show when you are selling it because you never know when the buyer will be coming through that door.
3) CitiMortgage Tests New Foreclosure Alternative – So Citi is looking at taking homes back with a deed in lieu of foreclosure instead of foreclosing. If other banks followed this my guess is it would have an effect on short sales. Part of the reason it is beneficial for a bank to allow a short sale is because the cost of foreclosing. They would still have carrying costs, but how much of the cost is in the actual foreclosure? Something to watch.
4) How Much Would You Pay for a Viable Real Estate Lead? – A good look at leads, what do they cost when you buy them and are they worth it?
5) Home Inspection — Is it important when buying a home? Any post that every answers that question with a no would never make my list. Talk to your agent about good home inspectors. They know the good ones from the ones who miss black mold. Yup, it happened.
6) Traits of a Great Real Estate Agent – Great advice on being a great real estate agent, but really this should have been titled be a great listing agent. And we all know we need more great listing agents. There are some out there, but not enough.
7) Buyer Agency – is This Realtors’ Dirty Little Secret? – I’m including this because I would love to see more discussion. I know most agents I talk to never use an exclusive buyers agreement. Yet they are represented really in the comments here.
8) OK, not exactly a post here, but I noticed this fancy new brochure that NAR has put out on the HAFA program. I am still convinced, as I have been since November when I did my first video on it, that Vicki Cox Golder has not read this. I’d love to know how much of my dues went to the HAFA brochure from the NAR. Another fine government program that will have the same effect as the last few useless programs.
9) It’s Not You, It’s Your Neighbors – One of the biggest challenges with getting a new loan, be it a new or refinance, is the appraisal. Appraisers were quick to jump prices in the mid 2000’s and now seem just as quick to price homes in the other direction. Even when every indication is prices may be raising in an area. So how do they come up with that price? Blame your neighbors.
10) How Long Do Potential Buyers Need to Wait to Obtain Financing after a Hardship? – It’s a common question we get a lot these days, if I file BK, or do a short sale or have a foreclosure, how long until I can buy a house again?
1) FHA renders three the magic number to buy a home after foreclosure – Did your house go into foreclosure in the last few years, FHA says you need to wait three years before you can qualify for an FHA loan to buy a new house.
2) Are FHA loan limits going higher? – Increase FHA limits even higher with still just 3.5% down? Do we not ever learn?
3) Where online real estate has gone wrong – Dalton makes some great points about user comments on real estate listings and how that may not be the best thing for a listing.
4) Mortgage delinquencies & foreclosure rates shatter records – Delinquencies are up, foreclosures are up, mortgages becoming harder to get, while the market may be stabilizing, don’t expect a quick recovery.
5) ‘Maybe’ kills our careers one letter at a time – Want to be successful in real estate, Scott Cowan things the trick for him has been getting to the ‘yes.’
6) How political is your real estate business – I am starting to really enjoy Greg’s weekly vlog on politics and real estate. Politics effects our day to day life and business more than most like to admit.
7) "In the Nest” episode 2 – Special Guest Tom Ferry, founder and CEO of Tom Ferry – yourcoach– It is a little long, but a bunch of great information from Coach Tom Ferry.
8) On Google’s latest real estate foray: Implications & speculations – Google’s next step in world dominance. But here we go again… Is Google a scraper for real estate?
9) Overhauling the current HVCC system across the board – Could change be coming to the HVCC, we can only hope.
10) Google makes yet another big move into real estate territory – This could be really bad news for a site like Zillow, and could it even be a threat to RPR?
