Friday 5/29/2009
1) Foreclosures: Read the fine print – Heather Barr takes a look at some language in bank addendums which accompany every foreclosure sale. I agree as agents we need to be careful and read these addendums closely, but the bad part is if you want to amend it, the bank would rather just cancel the deal.
2) Buyers twice as likely to search for open houses online than in print – We all felt it, but here is evidence.
3) Credit score key to mortgage – Some good basic credit score advice for buyers.
4) Words to avoid in real estate – A fun list of some short phrases you may find yourself saying.
5) Case Shiller Index – Price reductions reflect continued decline – Some good information, but one thing to remember is Case Shiller numbers tend to be a few months old, and at least in the Phoenix market, things have changed a lot in the last two months.
BONUS
6) Friday Fun – Not real estate related, but on a real estate blog and its worth a watch.
Thursday 5/28/2009
1) Foreclosures: Read the fine print – Heather Barr takes a look at some language in bank addendums which accompany every foreclosure sale. I agree as agents we need to be careful and read these addendums closely, but the bad part is if you want to amend it, the bank would rather just cancel the deal.
2) Buyers twice as likely to search for open houses online than in print – We all felt it, but here is evidence.
3) Credit score key to mortgage – Some good basic credit score advice for buyers.
4) Words to avoid in real estate – A fun list of some short phrases you may find yourself saying.
5) Case Shiller Index – Price reductions reflect continued decline – Some good information, but one thing to remember is Case Shiller numbers tend to be a few months old, and at least in the Phoenix market, things have changed a lot in the last two months.
BONUS
6) Friday Fun – Not real estate related, but on a real estate blog and its worth a watch.
Wednesday 5/27/2009
1) Foreclosures: Read the fine print – Heather Barr takes a look at some language in bank addendums which accompany every foreclosure sale. I agree as agents we need to be careful and read these addendums closely, but the bad part is if you want to amend it, the bank would rather just cancel the deal.
2) Buyers twice as likely to search for open houses online than in print – We all felt it, but here is evidence.
3) Credit score key to mortgage – Some good basic credit score advice for buyers.
4) Words to avoid in real estate – A fun list of some short phrases you may find yourself saying.
5) Case Shiller Index – Price reductions reflect continued decline – Some good information, but one thing to remember is Case Shiller numbers tend to be a few months old, and at least in the Phoenix market, things have changed a lot in the last two months.
BONUS
6) Friday Fun – Not real estate related, but on a real estate blog and its worth a watch.
Friday 5/15/2009
1) Your word is golden…or not – There has been a lot of confusion over the last few days on the proposed program that would allow first time home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment on their purchase. But now there is even more confusion as the speech announcing the program has been pulled from the HUD site.
2) Home affordable report card and additional modifications – There was a lot of talk about the Obama housing plan and would it help save peoples homes from foreclosure? Zillow takes a look at a few cases and says so far its a no.
3) HVCC…I’m not making this stuff up – Another look at the new appraisal rules when it comes to conventional loans.
4) Skinning elephants: The lifelong salutary benefits of negotiating your compensation with your buyers – Greg Swann’s long post takes a detailed look compensation to real estate agents and how our clients deserve to know what they are getting for their money.
5) Homeowner confidence shrinks – Survey shows only 60% of homeowners think their home value has decreased over the last year while in reality 80% have.
Thursday 5/14/2009
1) FHA and the $8,000 tax credit – what I know and what I don’t… – Tom Vanderwell takes a look at the decision to allow first time home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit for your FHA down payment. I did something on this yesterday too and have some of my own thoughts that are similar to Tom’s.
2) Rare breed indeed: SF Realtor is 18 years old – This Zillow blog post is an fun look at a 18 year old kid in San Francisco who is trying his hand at real estate.
3) Realtor member survey show response to challenging market – This Realtor survey has some interesting numbers such as money earned in relationship to time in business, hours worked, use of assistants, age of real estate agents and use of technology.
4) Phoenix foreclosure market, it is not the end – Last week we had a post about how the Phoenix foreclosure market has probably hit bottom, this post says not so fast, there is another wave to come.
5) Making an offer on a short sale – Jonathan writes this important blog post for those interested in purchasing a short sale. There are numerous posts warning buyers about the trouble they will face, I have written some myself. This one is a good post on how to do it if you still wish to after the warnings. And you have to respect any post that can work in a Brady Bunch reference.
Wednesday 5/13/2009
1) Your word is golden…or not – There has been a lot of confusion over the last few days on the proposed program that would allow first time home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment on their purchase. But now there is even more confusion as the speech announcing the program has been pulled from the HUD site.
2) Home affordable report card and additional modifications – There was a lot of talk about the Obama housing plan and would it help save peoples homes from foreclosure? Zillow takes a look at a few cases and says so far its a no.
3) HVCC…I’m not making this stuff up – Another look at the new appraisal rules when it comes to conventional loans.
4) Skinning elephants: The lifelong salutary benefits of negotiating your compensation with your buyers – Greg Swann’s long post takes a detailed look compensation to real estate agents and how our clients deserve to know what they are getting for their money.
5) Homeowner confidence shrinks – Survey shows only 60% of homeowners think their home value has decreased over the last year while in reality 80% have.
Tuesday 5/12/2009
1) On suing clients – Jay has a good conversation on not taking care of your clients, using Buyer Broker Agreements and suing your clients.
2) Online advertising – set goals – Scott Huber and the team at Zillow take a look at online advertising and how to use goals to get you where you want to be.
3) Why mortgage rates may plunge one last time before low rates are gone for good – With the $820 billion the Federal Reserve has left to spend to keep mortgage rates low, Dan Green thinks the Fed may accelerate to use of those funds to drive mortgage rates down one last time.
4) Losing my CRM was the best thing that happened to my business – Chris talks about how losing his CRM a few years ago made him work harder to rebuild it. While it does not want to make me sabotage my CRM, there are some interesting lessons.
5) Mortgage rules: Currently a moving target – I have been hearing this more and more recently from my lender and it’s information every real estate agent should be aware of when working with a buyer.
Monday 5/11/2009
1) If we disconnected every IDX feed in every city across America, would we have your complete attention? – The discussion about the NAR and their stances on the IDX debate continues.
2) Turning Internet leads into real estate business – If you are reading this you probably either use, or want to use the Internet to create leads. This is a good quick guide on managing those leads.
3) Short sales: Banks blocking way out of foreclosure crisis – This Huffington Post article on short sales brings up some of the main points on why short sales are so painful for both the seller and buyer.
4) Tips for buyers previewing foreclosure/bank-owned homes – The tip I like the most if for real estate agents, bring a flash light. The biggest one he is missing for buyers, get pre-approved. But he may be assuming that already happened.
5) Arizona earnest deposit – Here is a good look at the question most buyers have, what exactly is the earnest money for?
Friday 5/8/2009
I am looking for design ideas on the Top 5 daily list. If you have any ideas on how to make this better please let me know your thoughts.
1) Did Google scrape my website? Rules threaten Realtors and IDX providers – This has been going on for a few days, but somehow I missed it. This story about the NAR should scare almost any Realtor reading this. Make sure you check out the comments.
2) What mortgage rates will do over the next 30 days – Dan Green and his friends at bankrate.com believe rates will be increasing over the next month.
3) Less Americans on the move – Mary Miller looks at how the number of movers nationwide fell significantly in 2008.
4) Mortgage Relief Program – We’ll make your house payments for you – You have probably seen the Saturn commercial, if you lose your job they will make your car payment for you. Well now a local realtor in Arizona is making the same promise.
5) It’s Phoenix Real Estate Guy’s fourth birthday – If you read real estate blogs you know about TPREG and his impact on the community. Happy birthday Gramps.
Thursday 5/7/2009
I am adding new blogs to my RSS feeder every day, if you want to make sure I have yours please shoot me an email or leave a comment below.
1) Everything you need to know about the FHA Streamline Refinance – Dan Green gives you a good run down on an FHA Streamline Refinance including how to apply for one.
2) Would you go to a wedding to date the bride? – Jonathan Dalton gives some great advice on on things to consider if you are planning on placing an offer on a short sale.
3) Squeeze more Google SEO juice from your photos & video – Ira Serkes gives some great advice on how to handle photos on your site to help with your SEO.
4) How much do you know about the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit? – D. Patrick Lewis provides an interesting link that addresses some common questions.
5) Two great videos on the Q1 real estate market. From Fox News. (via Rain City Guide) From CNBC. (via Zillow)
Wednesday 5/6/2009
1) Realtors push mortgage reform – Latest legislation NAR is pushing on mortgage reform.
2) Ten steps to negotiating an affordable loan modification – Interested in trying to get a loan modification done? Good luck, but here are some good tips to getting one done from the AAR.
3) The secret of successful real estate career is summarized in this post – Nothing overly special about the post itself, what I find interesting is some of the comments and reaction to this short post.
4) How not to buy a house – I love sarcasm, this is an entertaining look at some mistakes buyers make.
5) Buying a foreclosure? Get free money! – There have been many areas that have tried to implement plans to help absorb foreclosure properties, unlike most, Missouri’s new program seems reachable.
Tuesday 5/5/2009
1) How to get your San Francisco property taxes lowered – You may not live in San Francisco, but these tips by Luba could help you too.
2) Phoenix housing market makes history – Not the history Phoenix wanted to make, it is the first Amercian city to have their home values cut in half.
3) Energy usage in your home – David Lorti takes a look at how much power some of your appliances are using in the standby position.
4) They’re advertising the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit but you may not be eligible to claim it – Dan Green looks at some of the pitfalls to the tax credit.
5) Remember the $15K tax credit? House Republicans aren’t giving up yet – Jay Thompson takes a look at how the House Republicans are trying to bring back the $15,000 home buyer credit.
Monday 5/4/2009
As I discussed yesterday, I am going to be starting a top 5 real estate posts of the day. They are the top 5 as decided by me. I will be doing installments on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Here is my first installment, in no particular order. Leave a comment if you want to make sure I have your blog in my RSS feed.
1) Update on short-sales involving CitiMortgage. If you are a buyer who has worked with me you know I discourage short sales when there are foreclosures. Here is just another story of the long process.
2) I am not making this up.. It seems Teresa Boardman is having the same experience in St. Paul as we are in the Phoenix real estate market. The clean foreclosures are selling quickly and almost always going to multiple offers.
3) Cash is king. Jamie Geiger takes a look at how more and more deals are going cash. I am seeing this too and working with a lot of cash buyers in the $50,000-$100,000 range. If you want to compete with cash you need to come in strong.
4) Writing offers doesn’t equate buying a house. Jonathan Dalton often has some great advice for buyers and sellers. Here is another. Sure it may be a buyers market, that doesn’t mean you can steal that house though.
5) What mortgage rates will do over the next 30 days?What mortgage rates will do over the next 30 days. I am leery of those who try to predict the future, but when it comes to mortgage rates Dan Green knows them better than most.
