Archives of real estate blog entries for December 29, 2006

Featured blog posts


Upload regional photos to Localism.com and earn points! - 03:30 PM
For those of you that haven't yet heard about the consumer side to ActiveRain at Localism.com (under construction) you might want to check out the following posts.
What is Localism? Some Localism.com updates What's Your Strategy for ActiveRain/Localism: "Umbrella or Bucket?" We want to compile a list of photos and images that represent the various States/Counties/Cities (and soon neighborhoods).  We're specifically looking for images that might give the consumer a feel for the community.  If you have photos that you wish to contribute they can now be uploaded on Localism.com  You will have to provide your ActiveRain username/password in order to upload a photo, … (93 comments)

Wonder What they Said Would Happen in 2006? - 12:59 PM
What will happen in 2006Perspective: Inman News real estate predictions
Perspective by John Occhi, Hemet REALTOR
Many times at this time of year we see article that review the past and make predictions into the future.  What we don't see very often are articles that look back at the predictions to see just how accurate a resource we may be spending our time with.
Like many of you, I subscribe to the Inman newsletter to keep up with the highlights of our very diverse industry.  Some of the articles stick a chord with me and I end up saving them for future reference points.    … (14 comments)

Hello, John Q. Consumer. Welcome to our world. - 12:09 PM
So, pull up a chair and let's talk about the consumer on ActiveRain. As many of you may already know, the consumer has arrived. They are reading and they are commenting on our posts. I personally have several that are regular readers and participants on my posts and it is a wonderful thing. It's one of the reasons we are here. This is not a passing trend and as time goes by it will be happening more and more. When you check to see whose logged on, on any given day, there are usually a couple of hundred non-members reading. Now I believe … (72 comments)

THIS is Cooperation! - 08:00 AM
Last month something very interesting happened in the Birmingham/Bloomfield real estate market. It may not sound like something groundbreaking to most of you, but to me it was a BIG thing.
My friend Sara Lipnitz, who is an agent in my office, called together some of the top producing agents in other offices around town to jointly hold a broker open together. She had a theme in mind, and the Home and Holiday Boutique Day was born. We had vendors in each of our listings so that agents and the public could do some pre-Christmas shopping while seeing 10 beautiful homes. The … (40 comments)

What will get the market in balance? - 02:36 AM
While the country at large is wrestling already dropping home values, there are some areas that continue to defy market conditions and still see the average home price increasing.
In my community of Morgan Hill and in Santa Clara County at large, we still saw a 5% increase in home prices over the year from October 2005 to October 2006. All this in the face of a huge inventory of homes,low sales and increases in the days it takes to sell a home.
The bottom line is that this is not sustainable. Something has got to give. In this market, there are really … (8 comments)

Advice for new licensees-part four in a series just for the newbie - 12:01 AM
So far we have discussed ways to get listings,the importance of being at the office and learning new things, and of course self image..but maybe I should have started at the very beginning.  I'm talking about when you are in Real Estate school and you have not even picked an office to work out of yet...
I'm sure your instructor told you how to choose an office, but did he REALLY tell you how to pick an office?  Here is my suggestion..
A Nationional Real Estate Chain  is the first place I'd tell any new licensee to hang their license.  Why?  Well, You … (28 comments)

Sellers...do you know where buyers come from? - 03:49 PM
Where do Buyers come from?Are you a home seller wondering where all the New Hampshire buyers are and how in the world do they find your home? That National Association of REALTORS® publishes a yearly report on Home Buyers and Sellers, they also break this report down to reflect the individual states.This typically revels some very interesting facts about today's New Hampshire home buyers, and since Jay and I sell real estate right here in Hampstead NH this type of information is fascinating to us.For example did you know that the average buyer purchases a home 15 miles for their previous … (49 comments)

Strategic Pricing - 09:51 AM
A new agent came to me for advice about a listing that wasn't selling. A quick look told me that the home was overpriced--by a lot!
When I asked why the agent had taken the listing at such an unrealistic price, she replied that another agent had offered to list the home for the higher amount and the client would have chosen the other agent if she had not taken the listing at the high price.
I won't go into all the reasons an agent shouldn't "buy the job." We've all heard plenty about that before. What concerned me about this situation is that … (15 comments)

What clients don't know: Condo association turn-over - 01:27 AM
The condo turnover meeting in Chicago
I frequently post on condo association issues... I feel it will at least get my readers and clients going in the right direction. With a recent rush of new clients out in the field looking for that teriffic box to put their new couch they haven't bought yet, the last thing most clients consider is the association. I think the questions start flying (the freak out) when they walk into a place and have that "oh yeah" feeling.It goes like this; "My 42 inch flat screen will look so freakin' awesome on that wall. What happends … (5 comments)

Buyer Inspection DOES NOT EQUAL Negotiations Round 2 - 10:42 AM
Jonathan Dalton inspired this post by his post yesterday about the Forest and the Trees.

One of the things we learned quickly in real estate was to do everything possible to avoid - preclude - prevent - whatever your favorite word is - BAD surprises during the course of a transaction.
Since we were and are primarily focused on listings, we found that there were several "opportunities" for the ever lurking "Murphy" to swoop in on any transaction, all of which could be prevented in advance.

One of the predominant ones "Buyer Inspections and Request for Repairs" I'll address in this … (37 comments)

How Much Does the Broker Get? - 08:02 PM

I had a little class of agents from different companies several weeks ago, and we all learned a little something.  The person who had the most sales, made the least amount of money!
This is the time of year when agents need to go through all of their sales and make some hard decisions.  Look at every single transaction.  Look at whether or not the client received a good value for the service on each and every sale.  I don't want to hear that they ALL DID!  Get really, real and look at the time spent, out of pocket costs, … (43 comments)

New Faces From New Places - 12:24 PM
I've been prowling the Introductions Forum again. You never know who you might meet there. Who knows, ActiveRain's next awesome blogger might have signed up yesterday. Or it might have been a new Home Stager with creative ideas. Or even a Marketing Guru coming in from cyberspace to check out the 'Rain.
In any event, I think people can easily get lost when they first come to our ever-growing network of characters, wisewomen, gurus, newbies, experts and pranksters.
Here's a sampling of the new folks who stuck a hand in the air to say hello to ActiveRain. If you see some one … (34 comments)

Overcoming Challenging Listing Scenarios - 06:32 PM
How do you handle a "difficult" listing scenario? You don't hear much discussion about how to market homes where challenging circumstances necessitate a sale, be they divorce, death, separation, foreclosure, job loss etc.  The reality is that a very significant portion of homes which are on the market are being sold for one of these reasons.  In West Michigan, the foreclosure crisis has some estimates predicting between 6000- 10,000 homes being placed on the market due to foreclosures within the next 1-2 years!  To give perspective, our current board average of home listings is 10,000+. 
A decade ago, the prevailing wisdom was to obscure the … (16 comments)

How To Get Referrals From A Busy Mortgage Broker - 02:01 PM
Part diatribe, part expose and all fact:
Many mortgage brokerages do their own advertising and have their own referral base. My Novation Mortgage has a huge client base and spends heartily for on air, print and web advertising. Our phone rings off the hook. No joke. Our average originator turns roughly 50 applications per month. Of those 50 approximately 25 are new callers who have not yet found a home. Of the 25 who have not yet located a property approximately 10 have not yet engaged the services of a real estate professional.
Now let me tell you a story about a … (39 comments)

Why won't the MLS let me? - 08:48 PM

As the listing agent, it is my job to get people to come and see the property.  Most people view property through a publicly available search engine that shows the photos that have been uploaded into the MLS.
My job is to get them to STOP!  Stay at my listing long enough to decide to at least add it to the list of properties that they will be asking their agent to show them.
If you have ever see a consumer scanning through the photos and saying very quickly, Nope, Nope, Nope...you know how hard it can be to get … (71 comments)


Blog posts


Daytona Beach Area Assocation of Realtors Market Report For October - 01:44 PM
 
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Daytona Beach Sellers,
You may be wondering why your property is STILL on the market, well I am here to share some important information you may not be aware of.  For starter's if you are interested in statistics for home sales in our area for any given month please go to http://www.daytonarealtors.com/   Under the Press button you can get the facts.  November and December Sales are not posted just yet but you can form your own opinion by clicking on October's Sales.
 Let me recap for you a few of the stat's that you may … (0 comments)

Upload regional photos to Localism.com and earn points! - 03:30 PM
For those of you that haven't yet heard about the consumer side to ActiveRain at Localism.com (under construction) you might want to check out the following posts.
What is Localism? Some Localism.com updates What's Your Strategy for ActiveRain/Localism: "Umbrella or Bucket?" We want to compile a list of photos and images that represent the various States/Counties/Cities (and soon neighborhoods).  We're specifically looking for images that might give the consumer a feel for the community.  If you have photos that you wish to contribute they can now be uploaded on Localism.com  You will have to provide your ActiveRain username/password in order to upload a photo, … (93 comments)

Follow up to an email lead… - 11:26 AM
What should be the lag time to follow up to an email lead on your listing?  Is it 1 hour, 2 hours, next day, or 3 weeks?!
3 weeks!  As a test I filled out a contact form for a new condo development in NYC (a National recognized condo developer) and in the message box I wrote this, “I am ready to buy.  Please contact me.”  I received a phone call from the admin at the sales center 3 weeks later.  The time between me filling out the form and getting a phone call was so long…I forgot I even filled … (8 comments)

Are the filthy rich boring? - 12:34 PM
That’s what I see when I look at this $ 47,500,000.00 listing in Manhattan.
    
This listing has 7 baths and 5 beds located right on 5th Avenue in the Upper East Side; developed by Extell Development and marketed by Corcoran.  
The building is called The Stanhope. This has to be one of the least exciting condo development websites I have ever seen. I would have expected more life and some real pictures of a 1st Class Model room in the sales center. Maybe they have one…not sure. For any of you SUPER rich folks out there…does this website … (9 comments)

Oaklawn Doubles Down on Fun and Excitement! - 12:19 PM
One of America's most popular and prestigious racetracks now has a full house of thrilling plays for their fans to enjoy.  The historic introduction of electronic games of skill makes Oaklawn Racing & Gaming the place to be every day and every night, all year long, for non-stop action.  Sizzling 7s! Double Black Tie!  White Hot Aces!  These names now echo down the same hallowed halls as such great thoroughbred champions as Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, Cigar and Azeri.
Of Course, Oaklawn's storied thoroughbred tradition only grows greater with another record-breaking year in sight, featuring some of the world's best horses, jockeys, … (0 comments)

Oaklawn Doubles Down on Fun and Excitement! - 12:20 PM
One of America's most popular and prestigious racetracks now has a full house of thrilling plays for their fans to enjoy.  The historic introduction of electronic games of skill makes Oaklawn Racing & Gaming the place to be every day and every night, all year long, for non-stop action.  Sizzling 7s! Double Black Tie!  White Hot Aces!  These names now echo down the same hallowed halls as such great thoroughbred champions as Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, Cigar and Azeri.
Of Course, Oaklawn's storied thoroughbred tradition only grows greater with another record-breaking year in sight, featuring some of the world's best horses, jockeys, … (0 comments)

Hot Springs Ranked No. 1 "Value" Town for Retirees - 12:21 PM
Hot Springs, Arkansas has enjoyed popularity as a spa resort, but its low cost of living also makes it of particular interest for retirees, according to geographer Warren Bland.  The Arkansas town is No. 1 on Bland's list of the top 10 value towns for retirees in 2007.
The Central Arkansas location also is especially attractive to those with family in the Midwest.
To rank the towns, Bland uses 12 criteria:  landscape, climate, quality of life, cost of living, transportation, retail services, health care, community services, cultural activities, recreational activities, work/volunteer activities and crime.  Bland has also authored books on the topic, including … (0 comments)

PRICE YOUR HOME TO SELL, Part 2 of 5 - 02:15 AM
PRICE YOUR HOME TO SELLBY JOHN OCCHI, HEMET REALTOR®Originally posted to this BLOG
Thanks for coming back.  In the first part of this report, we looked at the motivation of the home seller.  We asked ourselves some tough questions to help determine what our real motivation is and what condition our home is in, to sell.
Today, we are going to take a look at how we determine who the best REALTOR is for "US" the individual seller.  Just like you, each realtor is an individual also, and there is a match that needs to be made.
**********************************
Part 2 of 5Who Is the Best … (1 comments)

CREDIT PREPARATION 101 - 02:20 AM
CREDIT PREPARATION 101JOHN OCCHI, HEMET REALTORWhen we want to buy a house, there are several things that we must do in order to prepare ourselves..  we all know that buying a house is never as simple as driving to the mall and buying a new pair of shoes - although I am not certain which one you might look at more options than the other...but that's another story.
No, to buy a house most of us know that we will need some money in the bank - both for the purchase and for reserves.  Then we should all know that we need … (0 comments)

Wonder What they Said Would Happen in 2006? - 12:59 PM
What will happen in 2006Perspective: Inman News real estate predictions
Perspective by John Occhi, Hemet REALTOR
Many times at this time of year we see article that review the past and make predictions into the future.  What we don't see very often are articles that look back at the predictions to see just how accurate a resource we may be spending our time with.
Like many of you, I subscribe to the Inman newsletter to keep up with the highlights of our very diverse industry.  Some of the articles stick a chord with me and I end up saving them for future reference points.    … (14 comments)

How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Your Mortgage! - 07:21 PM
How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Your Mortgage!
By John Occhi, Hemet Realtor
The "American Dream" of owning a home is becoming very allusive these days. Although everyone would like to have a home that is paid for free and clear, many people are forced to assume mortgages that will be paid over 30, 40 or even 50 years into the future. Everyone is constrained to a certain degree by their budget. Yet there is a way to pay off the existing mortgage on your home quicker and save money in the process - a lot of money. Just about every mortgage … (0 comments)

How to Sell Your Home in Today's Buyer Market, part 1 of 2 - 11:07 PM
How to Sell Your Home in Today's Buyer Market, part 1 of 2by John Occhi, Hemet Realtor
I first published this article in November 2006 on my original blog.  It is rather lengthy , so I have decided to re-post it here as a 2 part article.It should be pretty obvious to anyone who has any interest in the real estate market. You should know by now that the ‘sellers' market we had in Hemet during the first half of this decade has all but evaporated and transformed itself into a bona fide ‘buyers' market. What this means is that Hemet, like … (0 comments)

Counter Offers - 12:59 PM
In my day to day real estate practice, I prefer to work with sellers.  It seems to me that sellers have a better sense of what they want (motivation) and what they need (net proceeds).  A buyer tends to be more flighty and even though we are in a great buyers market, most appear to be on an expedition to find out how motivated a seller is.
I'll get to counter offer in a moment ....  Everyone wants value (and instant equity) but why does it seem to be getting more difficult for buyers agents to educate their buyers on "on a … (1 comments)

If you wait on the sidelines, you never get in the game - 04:44 PM
Well friends, we seem to have reached an impasse. It is amazing how one event can trigger a series of events that eventually change to course of a nation. This is a real estate blog, so I will focus on the chain of events that turned the market 180 degrees over the course of just about one year.It was August 29th, 2005 and most Americans were glued to t.v. sets watching images of a large storm covering what seemed to be the entire gulf of Mexico. The storm was headed for the area between Louisiana and Mississippi. At one point, it … (0 comments)

A Heartfelt Tribute to Shadow - 04:49 PM

I am like most men I know. I like to think that I am my housemate's best friend. This weekend, I sadly accepted the title by default.Fourteen years ago, my room mate brought a new puppy home. This new bundle of joy was a mix between a golden retriever and an australian shephard. This was long before I entered the scene. My room mate sat up nights with a scared puppy and came home from work every day at lunch to check on her. This love and attention was returned many fold over the next fourteen years.Shadow was a constant … (6 comments)

Safe neighborhoods - 04:50 PM
As a Realtor, I have the chance to meet many people seeking a new home. I am fortunate in that they come to me from many sources. Some are referred by clients, some walk in the door of the office, some have read this blog and others come from various lead generation programs that I use.
The size and price of the home they are seeking varies. The ethnicity of the clients vary. The age of the clients spans the spectrum. One thing remains constant. It doesn't vary. Everyone includes the feeling, and I will paraphrase here, I want a safe … (5 comments)

Science has explained "buyers market" - 04:52 PM
I have been just as busy as most Realtors the past few months. New buyers are beginning to show up and appear ready to put there proverbial toe into the water. Rates have held at around 6% and that is about as good as they have been for the last year or so.These new to the market folks are stunned to see the wide array of homes available to them. It is the housing version of sensory overload. Apparently, the total volumn of homes has reached a point that clients are once again asking for advice regarding the "best home for … (0 comments)

The wonderful world of forums - 04:52 PM
We Realtors are a group like any other. We have our boards where we share information with one another. We also pontificate about the world at large. Sometimes this sharing turns ugly. Toes are stepped on, posts are volleyed back and forth and often someone removes themself from the fray, vowing to never visit that particular forum again.We Realtors are a group like any other. After some recent acrimony between members of two boards, I thought, there must be others such as this. There are probably folks across this broad interweb that are dipping their toes into the water and reaching … (1 comments)

Pictures Can Cost Thousands of Dollars - 01:37 PM
I saw the post yesterday about making sure your lead picture is desirable.  In the below example, the lead picture actually isn't that bad.  What this picture says to me is that it is a quiet, mature house in an older area.  Since the newer communities don't typically have trees for several years, this picture shows the unique size of the trees which many of our relo buyers like.
 
BUT, boy was I wrong!!  Look at these pictures!  Are they selling their house, or are they selling their "stuff"?  Stuff is such a nice word. I can't tell what most of the rooms … (11 comments)

It's the Simple Things - 03:22 PM
'Tis the Season... 
Keep in mind that it's the simple things in life that are appreciated the most, and not how much something cost or how many presents you received this holiday season.
I admit that I get frustrated this time of year because I get gifts where I just want to shout out, "What were you thinking?!"  I can't really give examples because my family checks my blogs every now and then, but believe me, there have been some doosies! 
I'm a simple person.  And just like Oscar here, I'm easily amused...  Isn't he cute?  Just make sure you let your family know how much … (7 comments)

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