No Tax on Foreclosures or Short Sales? True or False? - 11/28/08 02:50 PM

Via Sharon Stevens:
Many homeowners are concerned and confused about everything within the mortgage industry these days. But at least there is a little relief concerning the tax liability on the forgiven debt in a short sale or foreclosure. There is tax relief available to struggling homeowners.
H.R. 3648, the "Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007" will ease some of that stress and worry about paying income tax on that amount of forgiven debt. But there are a few guidelines and qualifications within this "Act".
APPLIES ONLY TO FEDERAL TAX OBLIGATION!!! You may still owe your State Income Tax. It must … (0 comments)

Happy Thanksgiving! - 11/24/08 10:09 PM
Happy Thanksgiving!!  I wish you and your families a wonderful Thanksgiving. 
The housing market is "tough," the stock market is down, but there is so much more to be thankful for.  Be sure to take some time this week to really consider how lucky we are!  Eat a bunch of turkey and when you wake-up, things will already be getting better.
As for the picture, no turkeys were available - but you get the idea. [Grilling tip: Google "Beer can chicken" - it's fun and tastes great!]

ALSO, I'm thrilled to tell you that I'm putting together my best campaign … (8 comments)

The Effect of the Cause - 11/24/08 09:57 PM

Via Larry McGee:
Midday Friday, I was informed that an expected closing had fallen. One of my associates, the listing agent, received a call from the buyer’s agent with the very sad news that the buyer had been laid off from his job this morning, an hour after his wife had completed the final walk through for the scheduled 1:00 P.M. closing. Fallen sales are always disappointing, particularly so in the present economic climate, but this one got me to thinking about the effects of this one fallen sale.
Consider that the buyer got of bed today with high hopes, enjoying the … (0 comments)

It's Free, It's Fun, It's Your Credit Report? - 11/24/08 09:55 PM

Via Jason Sardi, Pennsylvania Mortgage Broker:
To say your credit history & score is HUGE these days may be a borderline understatement.  For purposes of my experience, I'll concentrate on how credit relates to getting a mortgage to buy a home or trying to refinance the one you currently own.
Talking about credit is about as much fun as chewing broken glass while watching Yanni's latest video on VH1, at least to most.  Even for the most severe masochists or staunchest Yanni advocators, it's probably not a subject full of brim excitement.
So, I'll try to make this concise and simple.  Educating … (0 comments)

Integrity Without Compromise - 11/24/08 09:36 PM

Via Debe Maxwell:
Integrity Without Compromise In·teg·ri·ty
What does integrity mean to you?  What does it mean for you in your business?  Moreover, what does your integrity mean to your clients?  

The definition of integrity is really quite simple--firm adherence to a code of especially moral values. Integrity is synonymous with words such as incorruptibility, soundness, completeness, and honesty.  As real estate professionals, our 'value' is only as good as our integrity.  

Commitment to integrity is something that is predominantly 'ingrained' in us as children; however, as adults, we must establish a commitment to this practice both in life and … (0 comments)

Get the Hubbard out of the Cupboard - buying and selling in a "Buyer's Market" - 11/24/08 09:30 PM

Via Marilyn Katz - ABR, e-PRO - WestportCTProperties.com :
Simultaneously, buying and selling a home can be a tricky proposition, especially in the current "Buyer's Market."  Kinda like "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"   Do you find the home you want to buy and then put your home up for sale or do you put your home on the market before you start looking?
Let's assume you don't have to move,  You just want a bigger, smaller, more expensive, less expensive home, or a different location.  First you want to make sure that the home you desire is out there.  So, you decide to … (0 comments)

Sometimes when you do not get the listing the first time, you get it the second time ! - 11/24/08 08:43 PM

Via Christopher and Stephanie Somers - Realtors - Philadelphia Real Estate :
Listing success in Northern Liberties
Have you ever really thought that you would be representing a seller to find out that they listed with someone else ?  Or it was a competitive situation and the seller chose to list with a different realtor ?  In those cases, what do you do ?
I know it is very easy to be super upset and angry.  I have heard some agents say "I will never work with so-and-so again ! " .  Or other agents will fall into some sort of depression … (0 comments)

Mike Hughes is a Social Butterfly - 11/22/08 11:24 AM
Mike Hughes Just Joined Twitter.com
Okay, I'm becoming fully immersed in social networking - or at least it feels that way.  Needless to say, as a Mike Ferry trained agent, my coach would strangle me if he knew how much time I'm spending online - rather than on the phone. J
Consequently, my most recent addition to the online world is at Twitter.com.  Now you can "Follow me, "friend me," link to me on Linkedin, email me or simply call me ... the choice is yours.
In case you are trying to keep up (which you are probably not J), here … (1 comments)

The Buyer Agent Should Do More - 11/22/08 10:56 AM
So, I've been playing with the idea of delegating some of the "listing agent activities" to the buyer agent. 
First, here is my thought process.  Buyer agency is now very popular and greatly benefits the buyers, sellers and listing agents.  However, since this evolution, many of the "traditional" duties have remained the same.
As we constantly work to grow our business and add efficiencies, how can we better team with the buyer agent to successfully close the deal?  My first thought is to involve them more in the process after the contract has been negotiated.  For example, have the buyer agent … (9 comments)

Do Buyers' Agents Actually Explain Negotiations to Their Buyers? - 11/21/08 10:53 PM

Via Donna Harris, ASP:
I sometimes wonder is Buyers' agent actually explain things to their buyers in terms that they'll understand.  If they do, why do so many things happen that don't make sense.
My latest example is this:  I have a listing under contract. The buyer did their inspections and presented an amendment to the contract.  My sellers countered back. 
The counter included agreeing to one repair, giving the buyer a $500 repair escrow, and leaving the $1200 fridge that is barely 2 years old.
When I presented the fridge, I reminded the agent to let the buyers know that if … (0 comments)

Real Estate Marketing Strategies -7 Ways To Overcome The Myth That You Have To Be "Pushy" To Succeed - 11/21/08 10:51 PM

Via Maya Bailey:
Haven’t we all been told that the ones who succeed are aggressive and pushy? Isn’t this why so many people are scared of marketing themselves? In my 30 years of coaching people, I have found that almost everyone has an aversive reaction to marketing. In other words, they would rather do anything but market themselves and that’s what they usually do.
Tip 1: Look at your old concepts of marketing: What images come up for you when you think of marketing? Do you visualize a pushy salesman at your door? Do you think of telemarketers calling you at night?
… (0 comments)

Twitter for Business: How Does It Work and What's the Value? Part 1 - 11/19/08 10:32 PM

Via Paul Chaney:
(First, sorry for my latency in posting of late. Was away with my wife Amie on the trip of a lifetime to NYC! Travels are over; getting back to business.)

One of the questions I'm getting A LOT is "What's up with Twitter?" and "How do I use Twitter for business?" Let me say at the outset it is an amazing app with manifold uses. Companies as large as Dell have created a business model around it and solo entrepreneurs (real estate agents included) are proving its case as another channel for business development.
It's my aim to … (0 comments)

The Power of Twitter: A Denver Meetup Case Study - 11/19/08 10:18 PM

Via Joel McDonald:
OK, here's another post for all of you who are still on the fence about "that silly little chat-thingy called Twitter".  I had been going through the motions, and when I went to a conference a couple weeks ago, I saw the potential.  Now, after last night after an event called #DenverTweetup... I'm sold.  I'm officially taking the position of "You are absolutely crazy if you don't jump on this Twitter bandwagon!"Here's a Little Story of how last night got started:  Over the past couple months, whenever I got followed by someone in/around Denver, I'd send a little welcome … (2 comments)

ActiveRain and Your NEW Twitter Settings - 11/19/08 09:27 PM

Via Brad Andersohn ~ Community Builder:
Mark this day as another that will go down in History as an "AWESOME NEW FEATURE" added to the ActiveRain Network.  We have added and are rolling out Twitter auto-feeds for your AR Blog posts.  If you have a Twitter account already, you can set yours up now.  If you don't, you'll need to go to Twitter.com and set one up.  It will take less than a minute.
What is Twitter?  It's micro-blogging.  "Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as … (0 comments)

Real Estate Urgency... How to sell homes in a slow market? - 11/16/08 09:01 AM

Via Judy Greenberg- Buffalo Grove-Long Grove- Vernon Hills Real Estate :
No one is in a hurry in today's real estate market...Actually, everyone is procrastinating... Let me explain the real estate strategy of creating a sense of urgency that I have just utilized to help me sell a home in today's slow market. 
Creating Urgency!  Strategy 6 in selling a home for the highest price in the shortest amount of time..
One of my sellers recently had their beautiful home on the market.   The sellers were the original owners and had immaculately maintained this home.  The home received many showings and everyone who saw it … (1 comments)

Real Estate Urgency... How to sell homes in a slow market? - 11/16/08 09:01 AM

Via Judy Greenberg- Buffalo Grove-Long Grove- Vernon Hills Real Estate :
No one is in a hurry in today's real estate market...Actually, everyone is procrastinating... Let me explain the real estate strategy of creating a sense of urgency that I have just utilized to help me sell a home in today's slow market. 
Creating Urgency!  Strategy 6 in selling a home for the highest price in the shortest amount of time..
One of my sellers recently had their beautiful home on the market.   The sellers were the original owners and had immaculately maintained this home.  The home received many showings and everyone who saw it … (0 comments)

Why choose a digital SLR over a point and shoot camera? - 11/16/08 08:50 AM

Via Richard Weisser - Coweta Fayette Real Estate - Newnan homes for sale:
Digital SLR (Single lens reflex) cameras are not the most compact cameras on the market, nor are they the easiest to use. And although they can be feature rich, they may have a high learning curve for the casual user.
Many point and shoot cameras offer extremely high resolution, and automatically set focus and exposure. They often have spectacular results, and can fit in your pocket.
So why would anyone choose a more expensive camera body that may be harder to use? The answer is the broad spectrum of … (0 comments)

You have no right (as a Timeshare Owner) - 11/15/08 02:39 PM
Well, maybe some rights, but what are they?My wife and I bought a timeshare a few years back ... Honestly, we really only went for the free night on Cape Cod and the promised dinner tickets (I had just lost my cooperate job so we were living inexpensively). J
NOTE: In MA, timeshares are essentially condominiums with divided ownership time.
Since buying it, we have been thrilled with our ability to trade and the pressure it creates to "use it or lose it."  In other words, it commits us to vacationing and enjoying some time off.  For example, we have been … (0 comments)

You Too Can Be Homeless - 11/15/08 08:24 AM

Via Gary Woltal - REALTOR® Dallas Ft. Worth :
You too can be homeless.
No, I don't mean starving Realtors thrown out on the street after a bad year or two, although that does happen. I mean in life we all are a cast of characters. We play various roles whether subjected unto ourselves by our environment, fortunate or unfortunate circumstances, our own choices, or just our plain stubborness to change for the better. So often the power to change roles lies within us DESPITE our circumstances.
That phrase, there but for the grace of God would I be, is so true. Look … (1 comments)

Ten Take-Aways from the NAR 2008 Annual Convention - 11/15/08 07:24 AM
NAR's 2008 convention commentary by the industry's leading technology consultant and expert.
Via Matthew Ferrara:
After spending five days in Orlando, Florida with the National Association of REALTORS Annual Conference, I thought it might be helpful to provide the 99.95% of the Association who didn’t go to the event with a few take-aways from what we saw. With trainers, consultants and trade show booth staff in every corner of the Conference, Matthew Ferrara & Company easily saw a little of everything going on. Here, then, are ten take-aways of what you missed.
 
1. If the National Association of REALTORS can only … (0 comments)

Five Ways To Kill Your Business - 11/15/08 07:03 AM

Via Clint Miller - www.recr.com:
It amazes me on a daily basis how many agents that I deal with actually set themselves up for failure by making simple, yet deadly, mistakes in their business.  Some of these mistakes seem to be so simple to overcome.  Yet, time and time again, they repeat the same thing expecting a different result.  That is the definition of insanity. 
So, in the hopes that I can in some small way help YOU avoid making these mistakes, I wanted to summarize an article I found in BrokerAgentPro that lists 5 of the things agents do that hinder … (0 comments)

new Rain blog themes... RE/MAX & Keller Williams + featured posts - 11/15/08 06:52 AM

Via The Blog Artist - marti garaughty:
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 Hi guys, as I mentioned in my post introducing Rain Blog Themes, here are the next 2 themes in a new series of graphics designed to fit perfectly into an Active Rain blog. I'm doing this to help out anyone who wants to spice up the look of their AR blog in the easiest way possible.
 Each Rain blog theme comes with high quality, fast loading graphics and suggestions on how to color co-ordinate the graphics into an Active Rain blog.
 
 
 

theme preview

 
 The graphic … (4 comments)

The Power is in 'The Terms'. - 11/15/08 06:28 AM

Via Melody Botting Real Estate Network:
In all the years I have been in real estate, the seasoned agents may smirk, I have been told the most important thing in home buying is location, location, location.  Almost nine years ago when I was sitting in my first real estate class the instructor said it over and over.  It is such a common saying you think of it first when someone asks, "What is most important?"  (Old car also comes to mind but that is for another post).
It has shifted.  Did you feel it?  When speaking with two buyers this week they asked … (1 comments)

 
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Mike Hughes Services Newton, Brookline, Lexington, Waltham & Watertown

Newton, MA

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RE/MAX Leading Edge

Address: I'm Always Mobile, but Right Now, I'm in Newton, MA

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