Archives of real estate blog entries for May 8, 2007 (Page 2)

Blog posts


30,000 looming - 06:17 PM
Wow. What a long, strange trip its been. It seems to long ago that we join AR. At that time, the point leaders had about 12,000 points or so.  There weren't any Canadian members and Localism wasn't even a dream at that point.
Now, there are moderators working on picking out the best posts out of the hundreds posted every day. Localism is starting to generate some actual client leads for the membership and Active Rain has changed itself yet again. To quote Ben Parker, "with great power comes great responsibility."  Active Rain has done an outstanding job of keeping most … (6 comments)

C2 Lofts in Summerlin - 10:13 PM
Christropher was the first loft builder in the Summerlin master planned community. C2 Lofts is a mid-rise project (five stories) of two buildings, each housing 50 lofts. Construction is well under way and should be completed soon. Potential residents will have a choice of eight floorplans, ranging in size from approximately 1,400 to over 2,800 square feet of luxury. Each C2 loft has two garage spaces, a covered balcony, alarm system with motion detectors and a storage unit.  Other amenities include a rooftop garden (both buildings), firepit, heated spa, wet bar, fireplace, barbecues, seating areas and much more.
Due to the tremendous success of … (4 comments)

Photoshop: Lassoing A Window - 06:34 AM
As I read Lawrence's McBride's post Is It "Snowing" Outside Your Listings?, it occurred to me that using Photoshop's lasso tools to select the outline of a window is a very useful real estate photoshop skill, and because windows are mostly of a uniform, regular shape without complex, curvy lines (no matter how ugly they are) they are excellent objects on which to practice your lassoing skills.
First find a photo of an ugly window.  Here's one from my reject file.  You can even right click- and Save As - for your own use, completely free of charge!
Click the lower right corner of the Lasso … (7 comments)

Attention Marco Island Vacation Rental Owners - 07:56 AM
If you own a home that you rent out on Marco Island you might want to read what Marco Island City Council is thinking of doing... 
Limiting the single family homes to 30 day rentals.   There are many homeowners who have purchased vacation homes on Marco Island and rent them out to cover the cost of carrying. 
Currently there is no restriction on the length of stay on Marco Island, making single family home vacation rentals very popular.
With the Real Estate Market already soft and the number of available listings high, if this were to be implemented it could have a … (8 comments)

Show me the money - who's got the money? - 04:11 PM
FLORIDA REAL ESTATE ESCROW AGENTS
In the State of Florida there are three separate entities that are allowed to hold escrow in the sale and purchase of a real estate.  There are only 2 entities permitted to hold escrow in a real estate rental transaction.  Many customers commonly question which entity should hold their escrowed funds. The information below should help you decide which entity is the best choice to hold escrow in both the sale and/or rental of real estate.
The buyer/tenant generally selects where they prefer the escrowed funds to be held and this is generally suggested by their Realtor®.   However, … (4 comments)

Love Gardening & Tours? Upcoming Greater Indianapolis Home & Garden Tours for June 2007 - 01:21 PM
… (5 comments)

Fredericksburg Virginia Real Estate Broker Goes West - 08:09 AM
Last week we traveled out west to Albuquerque New Mexico for a gathering of the CyberProfessionals.  This august group meets twice a year and this time it was at the Sandia Resort and Casino.  The resort sits at the foot of the Sandia Mountains.
CyberProfessionals gathered in Albuquerque to share ideas about how they could enhance the service we provide to our clients.  This meeting was rich in ideas!  Came away from the conference with plenty of new ideas; some have already been implemented!
On Saturday my wife Carol and I took a trip north to Santa Fe.  On the way up we … (10 comments)

Signs of the Times - 09:14 AM
My friend Linda Davis has a blog on some cute signs she observed while attending the CyberProfessional conference in Albuquerque.
On the ride back to Fredericksburg VA from Albuquerque, I had an opportunity to take a picture of a very interesting comment imprinted on the seat in front of me.  Hopefully, you will be able to read the comment:
Guess it is easier to fasten your seat belt while seated than it is to fasten it on your way to the lavatory!
Unfortunately, I could not get a picture of another sign that was over the isle right next to my seat.  Nonetheless, I … (3 comments)

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Does anybody really care? - 07:34 PM
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! A while back I posted information on a closing that took 3 years to happen. Today an agent told me their own horror story about a closing that took 2 years and another that was dragged out 3 months due to misunderstandings. 
I'm currently working with a customer who has suffered through one failed closing (which luckily we accepted an offer on the next day after posting a classified ad on Craig's List! Woo-hoo!) to jump into another that is 60 days past the original contract closing date (Boo-hoo!).
What's the record here for delayed closings? Is 3 … (5 comments)

The sky is falling...the sky is falling! - 08:21 PM
 
Showing property early today took on a whole new dimension.
As I left my home to venture out to my first appointment, I realized that today was going to call for some unusual real estate gear.
With all the smoke from the Georgia and Florida wild fires being blown over southwest Florida today, even those of us in Englewood experienced ASH SHOWERS early in the day.  Yes, small particles of ash were falling from the sky and accumulating on our cars and making it hard to breath. Stinky too!  I had flashbacks to Mt. St. Helen's! I had to protect my customers!
So, back into the … (1 comments)

Renting vs. Buying in Denver - 12:15 PM
There was an article last month in the New York Times measuring the benefits of renting vs. buying in Manhattan. They offered a handy little program that tells you whether one is better than the other. In Denver the median price for a single family home in April 2007 was $248,000 (average was $322,510, but median is a better indicator of value than average because the average includes high-end homes which act as outliers). The Denver-Aurora metropolitan statistical area occupancy rate in the first quarter of 2007 was 93.5%. 
The NYT calculator tells me that buying in these circumstances doesn't begin to pay off till the 8th year of home-ownership. (You can set the calculator … (0 comments)

Manufactured and Mobile Homes In New Jersey - Buying, Owning and Selling - 02:19 AM
Manufactured (or mobile) homes are handled differently in New Jersey than other types of homes.  If you currently own and plan on selling, or are considering buying a manufactured home, you need to understand the process that you will undergo and the conditions that will effect you when selling and/or buying.  Here are some important points:1. New Jersey treats manufactured homes as movable (mobile) units and they are therefore licensed by the NJ motor vehicle commission (MVC).  Any licensed NJ real estate agents can handle their sale and the homes can be listed on the local MLS just like any other type of home.  … (3 comments)

Deny our reality and substitute your own. - 05:17 PM
I have an old client. I sold them their house about 7 years ago. They are considering selling their home and wanted me to sell it for them, but since I was on sabbatical, I could only refer them to someone.
They thanked me for the referral, but said they would take the advice from my podcast and interview 3 agents (including my referral) to see who they would give the listing too.
Now keep in mind that despite the fact that I am on sabbatical, I know the market back home better than most of the agents that are there on the … (3 comments)

Give us a congressional throw down! - 05:33 PM
Laws. They are everywhere. There is a saying out there that you cannot obey any law, without actually violating some other law while doing so.
Maybe we let laws get that way because the process of making them is so damn boring. I mean, have you ever watched a session of congress or the senate on one of those access channels? Its like watching "The March Of The Snails" without the benefit of time lapse photography.
But what if we could change all that? What if we could turn this lawmaking stuff into an event that folks could get into... connect with?
We could … (0 comments)

The "Deal" from hell - 05:37 PM
The old saying goes that anything that sounds too good to be true, probably is.
Check out this article about a couple who bought a home at government auction for $40,000 and ended up going through hell to ultimately have the home sit vacant.
What this article should teach more than anything is that real estate is not easy not always easy to buy right - particularly when your buying it from the government.
What is really annoying about this is that if the seller had been ANYONE but the government, these folks might actually have someone to sue! 
… (5 comments)

You can only post to 5 groups - thank goodness! - 02:33 PM
You can only post to 5 groups - thank goodness!by Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler REALTOR®Chandler AZ Real Estate
Thank goodness!  Did everyone see one of the recent changes to AR?  Posts are now restricted to a maximum of 5 groups....A little background first.  Groups, in my opinion, were a wonderful addition to AR.  Now folks with various things in common, ie region, interest, profession, goals, etc., would have their own forum.  This made sense to me.  Lets have an AZ Real Estate group - discuss matters relevant to AZ.  How about a FSBO group - how to market to FSBO's?  Great, that exists!  … (11 comments)

Great News for Arizona Realtors! 4-year licenses - 09:00 PM
Just received an email from the Arizona Department of Real Estate! Check it out on LateBreakingNews @azre.gov. Did you know you could subscribe to these little tidbits? Great information.
Senate Bill 1349 was passed by the House and Senate last week, and was signed into law by Governor Janet Napolitano on 5/1/07. The 4-year License Renewal and the pairing of the Designated Broker and Entity licenses will take effect July 1, 2007.  Any Licensee who renews after July 1 will receive a 4-year License.
The 4-year license renewal and the pairing of the entity license with the designated broker's license will … (5 comments)

Nocatee - 07:32 PM
The Town of Nocatee is starting to make some improvements. The main road from the Intercoastal bridge to US1 is really changing the landscape in this area. Going to attend a Toll Brothers event next week to check out their homes. Nocatee … (1 comments)

Central Florida vacation homes are sizzling..... - 05:08 AM

The National Association of Realtors' annual Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey, which was released earlier this week, indicates that vacation home sales have been the one bright spot in an otherwise soft real estate market in central Florida real estate, with vacation home sales in 2006 rising 4.7 percent to a record 1.07 million. And in spite of a weak real estate market, people who market vacation properties for sale or rent in the Orlando area continue to be optimistic.
Survey results recently posted on the NAR Web site describe the typical vacation-home buyer as:
44 years old, with a median … (3 comments)

A useful way to use Associations in Active Rain... - 10:08 PM
 
I have another usage for "Associates" which I have been working on for the past year almost. If you take a look at my profile, I have a list of agents from specific states in my associates area.
If I have a client that wants to move to that particular area... I can get in touch with an Active Rain agent hopefully near where the client wants to relocate. Just another way to use "Associations" in Active Rain.
Hop to it if that inspires ya!!         
 
… (18 comments)

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