Archives of real estate blog entries for December 23, 2007 (Page 6)

Blog posts


Real Estate Sales and Safe Driving - 05:33 AM
Last October I was driving past a local middle school.  I was driving in a caravan of cars all going about 35 miles per hour in a 30 miles speed limit.  All of a sudden we come around the corner and there is a sign that says 15 miles/hour with flashing yellow lights.  We call immediately slow down, but not quickly enough, and I got a ticket for speeding.  My first.  I am the type of person who follow all the rules about everything or I can't sleep at night.  I mailed in my ticket, pleading not quilty and waited for … (8 comments)

The Times They Are a Changin...... - 11:20 AM
Yesterday I read a post from about whether agents can sell anywhere in their state and whether they should or not by Charles McDonald. That post lead me to thinking a bit about this topic. SO...
Historically agents stayed in their areas.  All agents worked as sub-agents of the seller whether or not you had the buyer and if a buyer wanted to look in another area the agents would refer them and receive a 25-30% referral fee.  Seniors agents had referral networks throughout Westchester County and knew that if they referred out they would receive the referrals coming in.  An income stream.  … (8 comments)

A Real Estate Wiki - Live 1/1/08 - 01:46 PM
                       GOING LIVE January 1, 2008
 "At last the real estate industry gets its own, large, objective wiki that focuses on the real estate industry and the home buying and selling process. With real estate being such a huge industry you would think a free-standing real estate wiki would already exist but alas only a few small, in-house attempts have been tried.
When you realize how complicated and extensive it would have to be to truly be a meaningful and valuable resource it's no surprise that the task hasn't been undertaken - at least up until now.
This real estate wiki is the combined … (4 comments)

Live Writer Issue with WordPress.org Blog - 01:00 PM
Jay McGillicuddy wrote a post in November about using LiveWriter to post tables to your blog posts in WP. He has a great tutorial on it, that I followed to a T, and it worked perfectly.
Then with all my computer troubles last week, my tech guy deleted it so yesterday morning, I down-loaded it again and wrote a post on LiveWriter and published it to my outside blog, Ann Arbor Real Estate Talk.
I kept getting an error message:
Invalid response document returned from XmlRpc server  
The post showed up on the blog somewhere, and was in the management, back-end of Word Press. But, the post … (18 comments)

How to Do a Short Sale - 12:31 PM
To give you an idea of how the market has moved over the past several years, I first wrote an article about short sales in June of 2006, which generated little response until that fall, when the number of hits on that particular short sale article began to rise. By winter of 2006, How to Handle Real Estate Short Sales soared into first position of Google search results for the phrase "short sale", and has been consistently the most popular article on my About.com site. I describe how to do a short sale, the lender's expectations of the seller and the … (2 comments)

Short Sale and Foreclosure Effects on Credit - 06:48 PM
I've talked with sellers who honestly believed they could save their credit rating if they did a short sale instead of letting the property go through foreclosure proceedings. Somebody along the line erroneously informed these sellers that a short sale would not affect their credit rating. Both short sales and foreclosures will affect your credit rating and put a ding on your credit report. The difference is the intensity of that ding and how many points your FICO score will drop in the meanwhile. There is a measurable variance on the damage to credit caused by a pre-foreclosure that was redeemed … (10 comments)

Las Vegas housing crawls along - 09:41 PM
The November residential real estate indicators for Southern Nevada were recently published by Home Builders Research and SalesTraq, two local industry research shops. In general the numbers are down, an altogether familiar pattern for the past several months.
In the new home category sales are off by 47.5% from last year and the median price declined 20.2% , to $271,228. The drop in the price is meaningful, as it now reached over 20% year over year, a moderately high number. Resale house sales decreased 42% and the price was cut back 10.5%, to $257,000. During the boom years in Las Vegas the … (2 comments)

Why buy a southern facing home in Nebraska? - 01:32 AM
Why is it better to buy a southern facing home in Omaha, Nebraska?  In the Omaha Real Estate market, a southern facing home's driveway will melt faster and will be clear long before a home that faces north.  If marketing a home it is not a bad idea to point this out to a potential buyer.  I do not know about you but once a driveway is snow packed it is a real pain.
 
Most folks will not even give this a second thought.  Lately, we have had a decent amount of snow and this is readily apparent.  Here are two examples of driveways.  One … (0 comments)

Caring for the class "pets" over the Holidays - 01:45 AM
Our family just got bigger on Friday!  My oldest son in second grade has the class pets to care for over the holidays.  "Mr. Crabs" and "Blossom" are two hermit crabs and are spending the Holidays at our home. 
My wife and I laughed because we both felt some "pressure" about caring for these two critters.  We do not want to be the ones to have one of them die on our watch.  For the most part they really don't require alot of care, you squirt them with water and feed them for "crab" food and that is about it.
Thanks,
David Matney, CRS,GRI
Alliance Real Estate … (7 comments)

Client Gift - 02:25 AM
Most Realtors make the mistake of not staying in contact with their past clients.  You can always improve on your sphere of influence program and for me it is a work in progress.  This year for my buyer clients I ordered a hand painted ornament with a photo of their new home. 
This idea was from a CRS class and it made a HUGE impact on my clients.  This is just a small part of a ongoing past client contact program.  First, it gives you another chance to call them to say that you would like to stop by and wish them … (7 comments)

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION - GET YOUR FINANCES IN ORDER!! - 10:39 AM
FREE MONEY MANAGEMENT AUDIO BOOK
MONEY MANAGEMENT "THE RULES"
8 Chapter audio book written and recorded by Rashaun Page.
Rule#1- change the way you view money
Rule#2- who's paying me?
Rule#3- no impulse buying
Rule#4- get organized
Rule#5- give, give, give
Rule#6- get a mortgage and stop renting
Rule#7- balance(health,finances,family,leisure)
Rule#8- investing and insurance
Author: Rashaun Page is a power insurance broker from NYC. His company RJP insurance group represents some of the biggest names and companies in New York state,including Viacom,new york knicks/liberty,And 1,the cochran firm and more.This audio was done to show everyday people that you don't have to be rich to be debt free.
ORDER YOUR FREE COPY TODAY … (1 comments)

Placentia Home Sale Report | Real Estate Update ~ November 2007 - 08:32 PM
Selling a Placentia, CA home? If you're a home seller, or considering selling your home in the near future it's essential you know your numbers when it comes to the market activity. It's also important you hire an agent who is experiences and skilled in changing markets.
The SoCal City of Placentia is well located in Northern Orange County. However like most areas of Southern Cal sales have been sluggish. Actually according to Dataquick, (a market data company) our sales activity for November was at a 19 year low for SoCal.
The real estate market report for sales/market activity for November 2007 … (4 comments)

Grab a chair, you're invited to my Christmas dinner!!! - 03:53 AM
For all my friends and avid readers of my Active Rain blogs, please pull up your chair at my Christmas dinner. I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas, joyous holidays and a prosperous year in 2008.
I havent been able to blog as much just because my time is limited with the care of my (now) 2.5 month old and real estate is just too busy.
I havent been able to get Christmas cards out to my business associates like I want to. But for my very dear AR associates, do know that it's coming. It will be after … (12 comments)

No one cares about your photo - 04:14 AM
Realtors have been putting their photos on their business cards for decades. Many swears by it while others do it simply because others are doing it. Then, there are a group where they dont.
Which group are you?
We know for a fact that real estate clients do not care. Or do they?
I do feel that your track record show say alot about your work ethics and performance. However, depending your business model, I'm not entirely convinced that real estate clients simply do not care about the picture on your card.
I can only speak for my own business and how I run it. … (38 comments)

Will The PARROT CONVEY??? - 08:07 PM
Will the PARROT  stay with the house?
This buyer  may as well have asked that, she was referring only to the fish in the tank,
I know that this is a Buyers Market but you should draw the line for things that convey by saying. .if it’s alive . . IT IS NOT CONVEYING!!. .unless there is some roaches between the walls.. .you may keep those.
 
When we decided to put this house for sale, my client asked me. What do we need to do to ensure the sale of my house.
Well, besides assuring ourselves of a very … (3 comments)

Divorce and Long Beach Real Estate - 02:20 AM
 
Divorce often necessitates the sale of family homes. Selling your Long Beach Homes does not have to become a damaging event in your lives. Couples coming to terms with the loss of love, past memories, dealing with the present and trying to plan for the future, need to maintain a level head throughout this process; not always an easy task. Well intentioned friends and relatives are offering you advice on your divorce, your children, your careers, the sale of your home, your future; all adding to the overwhelming stress you are already experiencing. It has been my experience that this … (24 comments)

The Greatest Gift of All - 08:28 AM
In watching last minute shoppers scurrying around for that one more perfect gift it made me think that often what people need at Christmas and throughout the year is not so much the material of the world but something more on a deeper level. I call it the greatest gift of all.
The greatest of all gifts is LOVE. You may not be able to find or afford sometimes what you think someone would like. But the greatest of all gifts has another unique characteristic compared to those gifts that are material in nature. It is FREE. Our material gifts may be … (24 comments)

Guess What? To Get Out of Debt - Ya Gotta Get Real and Face the Truth! - 05:36 AM
This week, I was contacted by a gentleman who was asking for help getting out of debt.  He found me on Active Rain and his e-mail was desperate.   I had a hunch from the tone of the e-mail that he was beyond the scope of my services but I of course returned the e-mail and contacted him.
I told him to outline his debts and income for me and that I'd review it and make some recommendations - no problem.
Turns out that this gentleman makes less than $1,000 a month in income and is nearly $100,000 in debt with total monthly payments of nearly … (7 comments)

Virtual Open House after Staging - 09:15 AM
This is something that you could offer your clients, as a feature to your home staging business. Right after the home is staged, post great pictures of it on the most powerful Virtual Open House website, in the country. Type in the address of the property and the staged Open House appears. Most of the time, the home goes to #1 on GOOGLE, also. What a great selling feature, to attract more business for you. It only costs 25 dollars, and it stays on the Open House site for up to 6 months. You can try it here, http:/6447Cypress.info You could even have your Own Open House Listing webpage to advertise your … (0 comments)

Great Listing Website - 11:44 AM
If your looking for a listing website, you may want to consider this one. You can change the name on top of the page to anything you want. Example, John Smith's Open Houses, or John Smith's Listings, or John Smith's Homes For Sale, or keep it as an Open House site, anything you want. You have many features on the site for people to use. You can have as many pictures that you want to include and also virtual and video tours can be posted on the site. People are brought to the listings by entering the address of the property … (0 comments)

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