Archives of real estate blog entries for October 6, 2006

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"The proof is in the puddin'" Range Pricing part 1,275! - 11:16 AM
Range Pricing. “The Lovely Wife” wrote a great post yesterday explaining this technique and how it works for us, to sell properties. This seems to be a subject that some Realtors are just having a hard time getting their heads around. So, with that in mind, I am going to try and address one of the questions, in a different manner, to see if it will help. The biggest question seems to be “Why would a Buyer offer and pay more than the bottom of the Range?” Now I agree this is a good question. So I am going to tell … (115 comments)

Homeowner's Insurance Shocker! - 09:40 PM
Last month I got a letter from StateFarm, my homeowner's insurance carrier. I called my husband & told him about it & he wanted to know what it was. I told hime that I didn't know because I hadn't opened it yet. I was calling him because I was afraid of the news the letter would bring. Having worked in insurance for over 11 years I know that you don't get envelopes 3 months prior to your scheduled renewal. I opened the letter, with my husband on the line, only to find StateFarm's updated privacy policy. Phew! We dodged another bullet!
My husband & I … (13 comments)

When do you check to see if there is a clear title? - 07:12 PM
About 12 years ago, I was working as a buyer agent for a really picky purchaser who was trying to find the “perfect” home for herself and a nine-year old son. After 30 or 35 houses and not feeling like we were getting any closer to finding the right home, I made a wrong turn and ended up in a newer development than we had previously looked at. Her eyes widened with interest and, she commented about the unique style of homes, the quiet setting, kids playing soccer in a common area behind the homes and so on. 
We continued into … (24 comments)

Upgrading search functionality shortly - 05:11 PM
We are going to make another attempt at upgrading the blog search functionality on ActiveRain shortly (4:00 pst Friday) Outside of 3:00 am when none of our brains are working this is the time of lowest usage.  If everything goes correctly it should only cause a minute of downtime, but last time it didn't exactly go as planned.  Just in case I would recommend composing any blog posts in an outside application and then pasting them in to avoid loosing work.
-Matt Heaton
… (24 comments)

“Teaming” or “Relationships” with other industry-related professionals - 11:32 AM
I know that around the country, RESPA impacts on the type and depth of relationships Realtors may have, principally, with lenders and settlement agents. A close eye is kept on anything that might smack of illegal compensation, regardless of the form. Clearly, there have been abuses at the public’s expense over the years. Otherwise, the legislation would not have been needed.
That being said and understanding that there are different procedures and protocols in different areas. Do you cultivate and give preference to other industry professionals? Do you rely on your client to identify or pick who is to provide services? … (18 comments)

Richest man in Babylon...does it apply today? - 11:13 AM
When I was child, my Uncle gave me a book called the "Richest Man in Babylon".  I of course read in quickly and the idea's seemed to be easy to understand and follow.  I'm also a member of a church where we annually give atleast 10% of our net or gross income to our church as tithes.  We also live in a country where the pressure to spend our money is ever present.  From DVD's to 4 Wheelers, we constantly are bombarded by media and peer pressure to buy the latest toy.  Consumer spending is considered good for the economy, and … (14 comments)

Property Management Is Really Tenant Management - 07:46 AM
Craig Schiller, this one's for you.  I've got just a few minutes.  I wonder if I can bang out a post in 14 minutes like the Sellsius 101 blogothon?
Property management is not property management.  It's tenant management!  Tenants are what make or break investors, not the maintenance issues on the property itself.  Some real quick hints I learned back in the day include:
The applicant's history may appear clean as a whistle and then the "live-in" appears.  How does one screen for that?  There are two issues here: a) the live-in is not on the lease and in my case makes the tenant … (23 comments)

Educate Buyers About the REALITY to the Changing Market - 01:15 PM
Where have all the Buyers gone!  Sounds like a song title from the old "Kingston Trio" back in the 1960's, doesn't it?
Quite frankly, buyers are scared stiff by all the negative news releases about: over-inflated prices, falling prices, rising interest rates, and the insecurity in their own market area.  But the reality is that NOW is still a great time to buy a home if you are wanting to move up, or down, to live in the home over the long haul.
Mortgage interest rates are still hovering around 6% and the economy seems to have stablilized and experiencing some growth in various sectors.  … (23 comments)

Fix & Flip or Fix & Hold? Are Reality TV Shows Helping or Hurting...? - 02:28 PM
So, let me blow off some steam here...
We all have the "NEW INVESTORS" that have watched too much TV and now want to go out an find a fix-n-flip right? I dont know about you, but our market doesn't really support that. It DOES support fix and hold rentals. In fact we have a great market for that, but not for the quick money.
I have been approached on multiple occasions to find a home under $100k that only needs carpet, paint and maybe a few appliances and, when complete, will then sell for well over $200k. Um, that "deal" is not … (25 comments)

Carpetbaggers are on the loose...lookout for dirty deals - 11:00 PM
When times get rough, some people get creative.  Not creative in a GOOD way.  As we all know loan fraud is running rampant these days. 
Homeowners expecting and needing to sell homes are anxious and frustrated.  Investors (aka Carpetbaggers) are coming in offering them outrageous prices in return for a fraudulent scheme.
In today's Rocky Mountain News an interesting quote relating to mortgage and appraisal fraud:
"We have been seeing many more homes on the market, and average prices (in most months) are going up, which does not make any economic sense," Mygatt said.
Two days ago, a Coldwell Banker broker severed a listing … (19 comments)


Blog posts


Oops, an Email Faux Pas - 03:10 PM
Sheri Ann posted about good email etiquette which included using the "BCC" field rather than the "TO" field to enter multiple email addresses.  
Too bad folks at the Moda Condominium project in Seattle didn't know any better.  Due to overwhelming success in selling out their 250 units in just 4 days they have started a waiting list.  How better to inform hundreds of interested people about the waiting list than to send out a email.  They did.  And, they put everyone's email address in the "TO" field allowing hundreds of people access to hundreds of email addresses.  Just think how many … (10 comments)

A little social justice for tenants - 05:21 PM
Seattle, like many other areas, have seen an increased rise in condo conversions.  I like conversions, reusing existing structures to meet the demand for home ownership, particularly for first-time home buyers.  But, conversions aren't without a social, human cost which I wrote about earlier.  In Seattle, just 90 days and 500 bucks to low income tenants is all that developers need to kick out long-time tenants and start the conversion process.
Well, when over 3,000 tenants are displaced and get virtually little in return, the politicians smell blood.   One state senator is proposing a relatively aggressive measure to protect tenants.  The … (1 comments)

WHY DID YOU GET INTO REAL ESTATE - 02:21 PM

Do you ever ponder why you got into real estate?  Wish you started earlier?  Think about your "old life."  I had a rental house that I was selling and the buyers were using such a bad agent (and lender), that my agent's transaction coordinator was picking up the slack--I had to communicate with her quite often.  The transaction coordinator had been an agent for many years herself and knew I was thinking about going back to work (my husband had passed away  1 1/2 years before and I was ready).  I had worked at Boeing for 23 years and going back … (4 comments)

Upgrading search functionality shortly - 05:11 PM
We are going to make another attempt at upgrading the blog search functionality on ActiveRain shortly (4:00 pst Friday) Outside of 3:00 am when none of our brains are working this is the time of lowest usage.  If everything goes correctly it should only cause a minute of downtime, but last time it didn't exactly go as planned.  Just in case I would recommend composing any blog posts in an outside application and then pasting them in to avoid loosing work.
-Matt Heaton
… (24 comments)

What Will $14.9 Million Buy? - 12:02 PM
The most expensive house on the market in Minnesota, that's what.  It's called Thistledor and it sits on Brackett's Point, a peninsula jutting out into Lake Minnetonka. 
It was listed at $18 million when it first went up for sale in April.  Now the price is $14.9 million. The estate, being sold as two properties, also contains a cottage and a caretaker's house.
Lot Size: 5.71 acres
Shoreline: 1,575 feet
Includes: Tennis court, pool, e sprawling lawn and mature trees
THE MAIN HOUSE
Built In 1952
By Architect Edwin Lundie
Size: 6,134 square feet
Includes Seven bedrooms and Five bathroooms
It's a picture perfect location with great lake views!
http://www.startribune.com/106/story/716154.html
… (5 comments)

Water, Water Everywhere? - 12:56 PM
I have a buyer scheduled to close next week on a new construction home.  About two weeks ago, because the plumbing wasn't capped in the Master bath, they had a "water issue".  Water flowed over the carpet and then through the can lights in the kitchen below and onto the wood floor.  They are very concerned about future problems and mold growth.
What do you think the Builder's responsibility is in this situation? 
Should they pay for mositure testing and then repair anything revealed during the test?  Is that enough?
What about compensation for the Buyer since they will now have to disclosure this … (5 comments)

10 Popular Real Estate VA Services - 08:31 PM
Professional Real Estate Virtual Assistants (PREVAs) electronically support Real Estate Professionals (REPs) from a distance. PREVAs use the latest technology available to support their clients without geographical boundaries.1. Online Transaction Coordination (OTC)2. Drip Email Campaigns3. Client Database Management (CDM)4. Marketing Materials- Flyers, brochures, e-zines, newsletters, postcards, etc...5. Real Estate (SEO) Services6. Lead Follow Up & Tracking7. Website Maintenance8. Just Listed/Sold Postcards9. Special projects and campaigns10. Closing gifts … (5 comments)

Lazy Agents not Doing Their Job - 02:28 PM
There must be a hex on me or why do I keep getting the "winners".  I blogged earlier in the week about a guy in the process of getting his license on wanting a referral fee.  I've got a humdinger today..
Part of my business, like many, is working with investors.  I recently got a great deal on 3 houses in a growing community, and I told a couple of my investors including the main mortgage person who hooked me up with this investors in the first place.  While I'm working on trying to get a couple of these guys into these … (3 comments)

Halloween Carnival - Scary Real Estate Stories - 09:43 PM
Announcing the Carnival of Scary Real Estate Stories!
The Real Estate Tomato will be hosting a special Halloween Blog Carnival for the real estate industry.   We want to hear your real estate horror stories. 
The Carnival will be held on: Halloween, Tuesday, October 31st.
All entries must be submitted by 12:00 Midnight, Sunday Oct 29th.
Halloween Carnival submission rules:
Articles must have a theme coupling real estate with something SCARY, SPOOKY, HORRIFIC, DISGUSTING, SUPERNATURAL, GHOSTLY, GHASTLY or simply a Real Estate Urban Legend.Multiple entry limit: 2Submit entries to: realestatepumpkin@gmail.comAll articles must have permalink url.All qualifying entries will be postedTop … (10 comments)

Las Vegas construction update - Juhl - 01:46 AM
Construction is underway on one of the downtown loft projects. The Juhl loft project will be located in downtown Las Vegas in the "art" district. The building foundation is in the process of completion. Construction crews have begun a series of concrete pours and the entire project is projected to be completed by spring of 2008. The Juhl is unique in that a consumer has a choice of roughly 100 floor plan variations to choose from.   Other loft projects under construction include the Newport Lofts and Soho lofts which are near completion.
The first loft project to be completed was the Metropolis, … (4 comments)

Why Las Vegas is a hot market - 06:57 PM
Gena Riede put up a post about the hottest markets, hurting markets yesterday. Las Vegas came in at #2, right behind Cape Coral Florida. Frankly, I can't believe we didn't come in first!  The different factors used to determine the best and worse markets, are jobs, employment trends and growth rate, over both a one year period and a five year period.
With such a large tourist trade, you would think that most of the jobs in Las Vegas are gaming related. And you would be wrong. The Las Vegas area has attracted some of the largest companies in the world, … (6 comments)

Is downsizing the next trend in Las Vegas - 10:00 PM
While construction hasn't slowed down at all, the size of new projects has to an extent. With the exception of Project City Center, which also includes hotels, retail shops as well as condominiums, quite a few of the new loft and high rise projects are thinking smaller is better. The trend for smaller projects started with the French Quarter lofts with roughly 35 units. Newer projects are following suit including the Sasson project SpaLofts (137), Luxe Lofts (83) and Green Valley lofts (44). 
It seems that developers are targeting more niche buyers now that the market has cooled a bit.  Sales … (2 comments)

Local Area Home Sales are Down - 04:00 PM
Local home sales numbers are down throughout most of the St. Louis Metro-East and for the first time in many years, prices are starting to fall.
Here are the statitics for St. Clair County, Madison County and Monroe County Illinois for the last 3 years for home sales
County                     2006                                2005                                 2004
St. Clair                  933(+5.6%)                        833 (-6.2%)                       942
Madison                1022(-3.8%)                       1063 (11.1%)                      1197
Monroe                    105(-3.7%)                        109 (-5.2%)                         115
Second quarter figures recorded ove the past three years indicate a decline in each metro-east county since 2004. Madison County home sales are down by almost 15% and Monroe County sales have dropped by almost … (2 comments)

My First Invitee! - 12:03 PM
Hey, my first Invitee to Active Rain has joined!!!!  Welcome, Claudia Castro of CTX Mortgage !!!
Now, Claudia, get busy and blog something!!!   :-)
… (4 comments)

Punchin' The Time Clock - 08:14 PM
Back in the 1980s, I can remember that we usually wrote contracts stating "14 days from opening escrow", or "21 days from opening escrow".  Then somewhere along the line, the California Association of Realtors changed the phrasing in the standard contract to read "___ days from acceptance of offer"
Often two or three days can pass between the acceptance of the offer, and the opening of escrow.
Recently, we had a selller - a long time, experienced, real estate broker selling his own property - opt for the old fashioned way, counting time periods from "opening of escrow".  And you know what?  It … (3 comments)

What Part Of... - 02:09 PM

Confirmed Showing
do agents not get? 
On the MLS Clear as day there is my office number, there is my cell number.  I have spent the better part of a day trying to calm my elderly clients about a showing yesterday.  One which an agent felt it perfectly acceptable to just show up without a card or an appointment. 
My poor client was so rattled she cannot remember her name or company.   This woman is mortified, she was in the shower when they came to the door, her bed wasn't made, the breakfast dishes were in the sink, the papers were scatted … (11 comments)

Angler's Cove Market Update - October 2006 - 04:05 PM

I keep going back to my pricing theory when I look at communities that are not seeing the sales that they should be seeing and it appears that this is yet another example of a market correction, especially in the 1 bedroom units while the two bedroom units are performing better than my projection.    
  Email Colleen Kulikowski | All posts by Colleen Kulikowski   
… (0 comments)

Guest Writer - Ralph Iorio, Broker Assist 2 Sell Buyers & Sellers Real Estate - 04:38 PM
My Broker writes a column and he emailed it to me and suggested that I share it with my friends at Active Rain!    
… (3 comments)

Interest Rates Are Good! - 05:26 PM
As expected, the Jobs Report came out below expectations.  At 51,000 jobs created in Sept., it was well below expectations.  We haven’t had this low of a representation since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last year.  The Hourly Earnings component being down to 0.2% from the expected 0.3%, reduces fears of wage pressured inflation ...good news for Bonds.   
The Bond market had already been pricing in a miss on the heels of the weak ADP report.  Today's negative Bond market reaction is also due to short-term Traders looking to make a quick buck when they saw the market going against them and … (1 comments)

Pioneer piggy back blog thanks to Todd Murphy - 11:41 AM
Todd Murphy wrote a blog today about settlers or pioneers.  I really liked it and wanted to share my thoughts with the group.   We are co-promoting properties in 3 countries so we are definetly in the pioneer category.  Co-promoting within the USA too on luxury offerings.  We create our own markets and depending on how big your vision is one is only limited by the depth of their own dreams.  It is a big fish pond so why not park yourself where the big fish are biting!  Jock Barker a CRS instructor once started a seminar with this saying.."successful peiople do … (2 comments)

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