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

1) Splash: the key to better real estate branding – Great advice on branding as always from Marc.  Don’t tell them you are the best, show them you are the best and they will come to the conclusion you want.

2) Brokers’ rights to control uses of their data and the RPR license agreement – The RPR-MLS-Broker discussion is quite interesting. If RPR cannot get all the data in the MLS their service will not be nearly as impressive as if they have all the data. If MLS’s do not provide the data brokers could do so. But again, this is only beneficial if all the major broker’s agree to it.

3) Using Local Forums To Generate Real Estate Leads – Most agents are always looking for new ideas, new marketing or farming techniques. Here is one that is easy and free to do.

4) Paragliding Must-See – Who doesn’t want to find a new way to market their home? Of course everyone does! Here is one that is sure to turn a few heads. Somehow I do not think we will be seeing it much.

5) Improvements nobody thinks of… – Looking for some low cost improvements, here are a few that will improve any house!

6) CUSTOMER SERVICE DOESN’T EQUAL ACCESSIBILITY – How many full-time agents take the advice in this post? I bet you not more than a handful. I know myself and most of the agents I am friends with do  not. But I think we should.

7) Who Says MLS Photos Aren’t Important? – WOW… you need to check this out. Want a nice video of your listing, but not good with video? I love this!

8) Buyer Sues Over Secondhand Smoke – And now for something completely different… This is so bizarre I had to Google it to make sure it was real before posting. How does this even make it to a court room?

9) Raising the Bar (#RTB) Starts Here for REALTORS – This all sounds wonderful, but when you have goals such as “Improve the competency and professionalism” or “Support and enhance the relationship between Realtors and consumers” what the heck does that really mean. All I see is language someone came up with with no meaning, but to maybe justify their job position?

10) The www.CondoGo.com iPhone App with Mortgage Calculator is Now Available for FREE on iTunes – Talk about big time! @IanWatt has been one of the leaders in real estate technology. He now even has his own iPhone app.

1) Realtor® or Detective? When Listing Short Sales, You Must Be Both! – This is good for agents who want to join the short sale listing club. I treat short sales different, I fell the home seller needs to hire me and I am only taking the position if there is full commitment. This post explains many of the things I am looking for.

2) If I Can Change, and You Can Change, Everybody Can Change! – I know Redfin takes a lot of heat from the real estate community, but this post makes me stand up and cheer. I really like their philosophy.

3) Licensing to Realtors Property Resource (RPR) and Others — Things to Consider – Attention MLS committees. Thinking about if you share your info with RPR? Here is a good place to start. Now if I could just get my MLS Committee to call me back, been trying to join them for months now.

4) No Brown Nosing Required. Your RAISE Is Ready When You Are. – This gives me an idea for a post, why I got into real estate. This may be reason number 1, you control your own fait.

5) FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums : Don’t Confuse The FHA’s Wish List For Your Own Reality – OK Dan, why are you trying to confuse me with the facts. FHA cannot just change their guidelines, they need Congress to approve it.

6) Learn by Doing, Exercise 1 for Real Estate Investors – How to Buy – This is directed towards investors, but really there are lessons here for everyone reading this.

7) How Do Search Engines Find My Real Estate Website – New real estate blogger? If so read this, just because you have a site does not mean anyone will find it.

8) 10 Home Features Buyers Want – What do buyers want it a house? The only one of these I do not really hear on a regular basis is number 8, the rest of the list I think is dead on.

9) The BEST way to share content on Facebook – Wondering how the best way to share an Internet article or video on Facebook? Here you go.

10) “Life of a Realtor” Video – This one is for pure entertainment purposes.

1) Characteristics of home buyers and sellers from NAR – Almost half of all home buyers this year were first time home buyers between the age of 25-34 years old.

2) Using consumer confidence to guess where mortgage rates are going -  Dan Green shows how the stock market is up, home sales are up, but spending and consumer confidence is not so right now expect mortgage rates to remain fairly steady.

3) Strategic defaults: It depends how far under water you are – Walking away from your mortgage, who would have thought it was a “keeping up with the Joneses” thing.

4) An unhappy client can kill your reputation in 6 months or less – Letting an unhappy client go may be the best thing you can do for your business, because they can kill your reputation online.

5) Existing home sales surge to highest level since February 2007 – Sales were up more than 23% over the same month last year. That trend in November may end up changing a little as inventory levels (at least in Tempe AZ area) seem to be creeping up.

6) The end of the MLS as we know it? (Part: 546) – Rowles makes a good point on the MLS will still be needed even with Google and RPR.

7) Stop acting rich: Household struggles go beyond the mortgage payment – This goes perfect with one of my favorite Dave Ramsey quotes “live your wage.”

8) Selling your home during the holidays – John Jones addresses they myth that you should not sell your house during the holidays.

9) Commercial real estate not expected to recover until after 2010 – In many markets the residential housing market has started to recover, the commercial market is lagging behind and could be another couple years before any rebound starts.

10) Win an autographed copy of the Whuffie Factor. It’s easy! – Not sure what the Whuffie Factor is? Then you should really be entering this competition.

Top 5 real estate posts of the day 5/28/2009

1) What happened, what does it mean, and where do we go from here? – Tom Vanderwell takes a good look at the current news headlines and how they effect mortgage rates. And as a bonus, Rhonda Porter looks at what happened to mortgage rates yesterday as they went up, way up.

2) Do you qualify for a loan modification? – Here are some general guidelines that can help determine if you qualify for a loan modification or not. Just remember these are general guidelines and not hard and fast rules as each lending institution is different.

3) Real estate’s nonsensical business model – Jonathan Dalton takes a look at why buyers should hire a professional to help them find a home. While he makes a good case I think the part of the buyer broker agreement that gets ignored is how it protects the buyer, not our paycheck. If you were going to court would you the prosecutor to represent you too seeing he already knows about the case anyways? No, which is why the buyer should hire their own representation.

4) Bait and switch: How to ruin this game – Justin McHood should be the consumer’s favorite read when they are looking for a mortgage and a loan officer’s worst nightmare.  He is always good at giving us gory details about what goes on behind the scenes in the loan industry. Buyers and agents representing the buyers both should read this.

5) Joining the NAR’s multiple listing issues and policies committee – It is good to see that we (real estate online community) have one of our own (Jay Thompson) representing us on the MLS issues and policies committee. Good luck Jay, I think are going to need it.