Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 12/9/2009

1) Congress Screams Bloody Murder About HAMP Program – Lani to answer your question it is ironic not noble. I just did a quick search and couldn’t find it, wish I could find the video of him leading the effort to make home ownership “more affordable to more Americans.”

2) Roost.com Expands Into Eleven New Metro Regions – Here they grow again. Roost is quickly becoming one of the leaders in home search and IDX solutions.

3) JPMorgan: 200,000 HAMP Mods Offered, Only 2% Permanent – For those of you so psyched about the new short sale program recommendations I hope you are paying attention. I predict the success rate of those will be somewhere around the same as this joke of a program.

4) Mortgage Myth Busted : Mortgage Rates Don’t Take The Elevator Up And The Stairs Down (At Least Now, Anyway) – Strange how some myths sound great, but when analyzed with data just do not hold up.

5) Career Loyalty and Longevity, Do You Have What it Takes? – Congrats to Lesley Lambert, 20 years as a Realtor. Lesley shares why she has lasted so long.

6) Would you like my 2010 Calendar? – Are you an agent that likes to do calendars? Well here is a different take on it, using local pictures of the community that you take.

7) Trulia’s December Price Reduction Report – Home Price Reduction Levels Drop to 2009 Low – According to Trulia’s data 22% of U.S. homes on the market as of 12/1/2009 have had at least one price reduction, which is the lowest number since April 2009.

8) Real Estate Brokerage Websites – I Don’t Think We Are In Kansas Anymore – One broker looks at why blogging is such an important part of a web strategy for any broker.

9) Modifications are Failing…. (More on the Acronym Soup) – More reasons why the loan modifications are failing. I should consider doing a post on this too. I have been in the homes of people trying to help them get loan modifications to become permanent and some of the stories I have are amazing. I had one who had been working on it for two months, had sent in all the paperwork back in September and then late November they were told they had to start all over again at the beginning with another department because the bank had changed the way they handled process. Not that the lender would transfer the paperwork to the new department, they had to start all over again at square one. Redonkulous.

10) [Altos Research/Real IQ] November 2009: Listing Prices Down In 25 of 26 markets – Real time market stat updates on your site? I have been holding off jumping onto the Altos bandwagon. This may get me to jump.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 11/25/2009

1) The flip property – When it’s time to give it the slip – Dave takes a look at some of the pros and cons of purchasing a property that has been flipped and also what to look for in a flipped property.

2) Q and A: Using a buyer’s agent or going directly with the listing agent? – As I have discussed in many posts before, you should always have your own representation.

3) Half of Arizona homeowners with mortgages are underwater. 23% nationwide… – Imagine being in a state where every other house has negative equity. Well Arizona is not alone, and 1-in-4 nationally are in the same boat.

4) Advanced Facebook – Some good tips on using Facebook for real estate agents.

5) Thinking about buying an Apple iPhone? – Interesting video on how a real estate agent uses his iPhone. I am still not sold, or at least going to wait until it comes to Verizon to see if doesn’t drop calls there.

6) Mortgage rate predictions for the next 30 days – WOW, this is the first time in this poll I have seen everyone so much in synch with what is going to happen in the next 30 days, and it is not good.

7) New cameras for the Bloodhounds: MY take is that the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1 offers a lot of bank for the buck – Many agents take their own pictures for their listings, so it is important to have pier reviews on cameras.

8) Tsunami of foreclosures in doubt  – Demand for retail space is falling fast in 2009, but will that trend continue?

9) Self love machine: Futurenow – How often do you talk about your customers on your blog or do you talk more about yourself?

10) Electronic signatures – Not groundbreaking but great all the same -  Everyone knows what a huge fan of Docusign I am, I do all my contracts either with Docusign via email, or in person signing. Here is another take on their service.

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Top 10 real estate posts of the day for 11/17/2009

1) Mortgage rates are gonna rise – We have been hearing it for a while now, it is coming. One thing I think everyone agrees on, they are not going to be falling by any measurable degree.

2) Virtual REBarCamp is today – I am not going to be around much today unfortunately, or this is where I would be at!

3) Listings on Facebook – I am not really a fan of listings on Facebook, but if you want them on a fan page I get it. If you do decide you want them, this is a cool app! If you are really trying to do real estate on Facebook and you have not contacted Mike Mueller yet, what are you waiting for?

4) Monday morning planning session! – Tom always has great ideas on planning, which I still need a lot of help with. Love the IF N.I.S.I.D.E. concept. If you live in the Phoenix area Tom Ferry is coming to Scottsdale on December 8th for a free seminar.

5) Part time Realtors make $8,600 per year!!! – Brad makes the case for why you should hire a full-time agent in this short video.

6) The purchase agreement is more than a letter of intent (or should be) – Kris, this is something I have been thinking about addressing lately, but no way could I have done it as well as you have.

7) Buyer Reps: Helping Everyone Win in a Short Sale – This post goes great with number 6.

8 ) Three reasons Dave Ramsey got it right – A follow up to the Dave Ramsey segment on why you should use a real estate agent to sell your house.

9) Change will make you an enemy of the status quo – Change anyway – Matt does a good piece here on how standing out in the minority is a good thing and we should always be questioning our industry, but remember, we are part of that industry.

10) Details of the new $6500 tax credit for existing homeowners – Video on the extension and details on the $6500 tax credit.

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How long is your mortgage rate quote good for? Not long so get ready to move

Video 33: Rates change quick, just because you got a mortgage rate quote three hours ago does not mean that rate can still be met now. If you get a mortgage rate quote you like, be ready to lock it in. Mortgage rate sheets come out anywhere from 2-to-4 times a day and each sheet means a change in the rates. As Dan Green says, rates go up a lot faster than they come down, so don’t try to time the market. Would love to hear your thoughts, you can leave a comment or e-mail me Dean Ouellette.

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Top real estate posts of the day for 11/2/2009

1) How long do mortgage rates quotes last? – It’s a problem I hear with buyers often, they are given a quote then the next day the rate is different. I think lenders need to do a better job explaining to buyers when they do give them quotes.

2) What happens in escrow? – You can read all the details on what is involved in the escrow process or you can jump to the end and have have it explained like he explained it to his 6-year old.

3) I love my dogs but… I also had a bad experience with a cat getting out at a showing a few months ago. Homeowners, agents please make sure you notify people of pets in the house.

4) Broker to Congress: Don’t extend the credit (just keep rates low) – Now here is one I can appreciate, don’t give away more or my money and drive us further into debt, just do what you can to keep rates low.

5) National Association announces 2010 buyer MLS system – This is not a real story, but the idea actually has some merit. It would be an interesting idea to look at going forward.

6) Zemanta blogging with training wheels – but worse – If you are a geek like me Zemanta may have been one of the things on your long list to try. This may save me some time.

7) The net effect of government intrusions in the real estate market is to create a standing wave of foreclosures amid steadily-declining home values – Greg as always writes a thought provoking column and uses his unique style to explain it. And again, as much as I may not want to, I have to agree with him. The staggering part? The National Association of Realtors reports that 59% of all new home loans this year were underwritten by the Federal Housing Authority, the Veterans Administration or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. So basically the federal government owns 59% of the houses purchases this year.

8) A word with the Broker – Technology policies and monitoring tips – Every Broker should read this one, doing to much or not enough are both bad options.

9) Search engine optimization tip – word separators – If you are a blogger read on… if you are not, go to number 10.

10) Just one successful way to use Facebook – A Facebook agent who uses Facebook to keep in touch with her community, but not promote she is an agent.

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Top real estate posts of the day for 10/29/2009

1) Mortgage rate predictions – I have been watching this poll for a while now and with 67% believing rates will increase over the next month this is the highest percentage of people I can remember agreeing on anything in this poll. This means rates are probably going up.

2) Realtor.com redesigns home page – Sure it looks better, but that doesn’t mean I am going to start going there.

3) 7 bad writing habits you learned in school – Bloggers may want to read this. There is a reason I gave up writing and moved to video, because I know I am not a great writer.

4) A world without the MLS: It exists – Walking neighborhoods to find listings, no one place to search for homes, listing a house with more than one broker? What is this, France or something?

5) Quality content plus site navigation = Success – Site navigation is very important, it has to be easy for users to get around your site without thinking or they will find another site they can easily navigate.

6) Want to know how to influence buyer and seller behavior? – Interesting posts, but It feels to salesmanish for me.  I know, I should work on that.

7) Extend the home buyer tax credit – Here is an opinion in favor of extending….

8 ) Please do NOT extend the $8,000 tax credit – And here is an opinion opposing….  Should it be extended? Here is my opinion on extending the tax credit

9) Tricks for buying a home at the bottom from the Today Show – This video from the Today Show gives advice on buying a home. The questions that come to mind are we really at the bottom of the market? And she states buying a foreclosure can be a great deal, and while that is true, that does not mean you are going to get it a lot under asking price.

10) Why a Realtor vs. for sale by owner – Brad does a video on why you should consider using a Realtor vs. for sale by owner.

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Top real estate posts of the day

1) Inflation is both overstated and understated. Mortgage rates lose and win. – OK so I like to know if inflation is going up or down and what that means to me. If you want more information than that, like how its calculated and how it may be a misrepresentation, Dan Green is your man. Conclusion, inflation is not as bad as some on Wall Street think.

2)How long does it take to close a loan? – According to this post, the guys at Academy Mortgage are closing FHA loans in 10 days, guaranteed.  I am not sure this one passes the smell test.

3) Can I get a house in Phoenix for less than a car – OK so I can buy a house for less that $28k, but what if the buyer is like me and won’t spend more than $10k on a depreciating asset like a car?  Well the pickings are slimmer.

4) Don’t SPAM your old friends – So I have to admit I have not spent a lot of time really on Facebook, but now that I am working on that, it is good to know little tricks like this. How to turn off notifications of sending your friends acceptances to all your friends.

5) Work expands to time allotted – Another killer video by Tom Ferry, I know time allotment is one of my biggest problems, that is not allotting time for not working.

6) REALTOR 2.0: Getting started in social media – NAR’s social media guru Todd Carpenter gives some advice on how to get started in social media. This is a good starting point for those just dipping their toes in the social media ocean.

7) Decision on extending the first-time home buyer tax credit could come this week – Will it be extended? Will it be slowly phased out? Will income levels to qualify be raised? With the deadline coming soon we will find out shortly. Do I think the first-time tax credit should be extended?

8) While waiting for new FHA rules on condos, anticipation mounts – New FHA rules are coming for condos including the elimination of spot approvals. This means the while unit must be approved for FHA. This will not effect luxury condos as condo units over $346k (in Phoenix) do not qualify for FHA funding anyways.

9) Office supplies, task management and more with a web 2.0 flare – This post gives you a bunch of tools you can use from creating business cards, to creating to-do lists, on-line marketing and free conference calling.

Starting today I am going to try to have a video post of the day. Some days will be hard because there are not enough of us video bloggers out there yet to have something every day unless I have a video from Ian Watt or myself, but I am going to try to have one each day.

10) Charlottesville and Albemarle – Real Estate Anecdotes and anomalies – Jim Duncan does a good job showing how you can do video and keep it on a local topic, I may be borrowing some of this stuff for an upcoming webisode.

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Top 5 real estate posts of the day for 10/14/2009

1) Is an FHA loan better than a conventional loan – FHA buyers are having a hard time winning bidding wars, are they being discriminated against?

2) Guess who’s crushing it in Gary Vaynerchuck’s new book Crush It – Congrats to Ian Watt.

3) Pack up the cats and head to REBlogWorld Las Vegas – If you are going to be there make sure you say hi.

4) That dreaded “to-do list”: Why I say stop the insanity! – Good video by Tom Ferry, I need to heed his advice and focus on the outcomes!

5) Mortgage rates, a 2-for-1 top 5 special…. What’s ahead for mortgage rates this week, and also Trends: Mortgage rates fall in the fall.

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Top 5 real estate posts of the day for 10/13/2009

1) Closing costs should not be hidden – No home buyer should be surprised about closing costs, their lender should have covered it with them before closing.

2) “Leading” with listings, systematically getting (a few clicks) from Twitter, and using some lazy math to justify the effort… – Interesting idea on a Twitter ID for each listing.

3) Shar, I’ll take a safe neighborhood for $200k, please – Fair Housing, always a popular subject.

4) Mortgage rates are now as low as newspapers are reporting – It’s hard to write a story about mortgage rates when they change 4 times a day.

5) How much house can you afford? – New app helps you answer that question.

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Top 5 real estate posts of the day for 10/9/2009

1) Free consulting to Move, Inc – Should we pay more NAR services? Before you say no read the article, it is interesting, and the comments below are somewhat surprising.

2) Waste your money in the classifieds? – Taking a look at how good or bad of an investment classified ads are.

3) I can always tell we missed the mark the first week – Video from Ian Watt on how he knows if his listing is priced right in the first few days.

4) Thou shall not paint – Some interesting paint jobs.

5) Mortgage rate predictions – This week the group thinks they are going to remain mostly unchanged in the next 30 days.

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