Real Estate Zealot

Attorney Michael Robinson performs the Livery Of Seisin or Twig and Turf ceremony

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:43:52 -0600

Livery of seisin is an archaic legal ceremony, once practiced in England and in other countries following English common law, to convey property. The common law in those jurisdictions once provided that a valid conveyance of a fee interest in land required the physical transfer by the transferor to the transferee, in the presence of witnesses, of a piece of the ground (often, in the literal sense of a hand-to-hand passing of an amount of soil), a twig, key, or other symbol.

Interviewer: Today we are talking with Michael Robinson from Robinson and Henry Law Practitioners, Michael welcome to the show, thanks for being with us.

Michael Robinson: Glad to be here.

Interviewer: We had done a previous segment we were talking about Deeds and the different types of Deeds, we went through the standard six but at the end we started talking about a very old method in which they used to transfer property and it was called Livery of seisin is that correct.

Michael Robinson: It sure it is and that's where the Deed actually comes from, is that action.

Interviewer: Real quick, what is Livery of season recap?

Michael Robinson: Because most people were illiterate in England at the time this thing developed, they would bring witnesses out to the property and witnesses would be able to witness the buyer giving money, the seller giving over the actual physical parts of the property namely Turf and Twig which is the two things that it is called the Turf and Twig ceremony.

Interviewer: Alright so for first time ever on IPTV we will do a reenactment here.

Michael Robinson: I think it is an excellent idea.

Interviewer: All right, so what we are going to do is, we are in old England and we are going to transfer property and of course we have to dress the part, now am I the buyer or the seller?

Michael Robinson: You are the buyer.

Interviewer: And you are selling me this land?

Michael Robinson: Yes, and we have come out here with two witnesses.

Interviewer: Okay.

Michael Robinson: Watch all this happening.

Interviewer: And how does this procedure go?

Michael Robinson: You are going to start by cutting out a piece of turf on the property.

Interviewer: All right, so we will just...

Michael Robinson: Then and you hold on to that turf.

Interviewer: On hold on to the turf, okay.

Michael Robinson: Now put money in the hole.

Interviewer: Alright I got some cash, how about a buck for this?

Michael Robinson: Buck is worth here, it is a couple of shillings back in old England.

Interviewer: Okay.

Michael Robinson: And then hand me the sod.

Interviewer: This piece?

Michael Robinson: Yes you do.

Interviewer: Okay.

Michael Robinson: And I take the twig and I take the sod and I say this following, "This turf and twig I give to thee, as free as Athelstan gave to me, and I hope a loving brother thou wilt be." and twiggle give with the twig.

Interviewer: Really.

Michael Robinson: Yes I do and then I put it in the sod and I hand it to you.

Interviewer: Thank you.

Michael Robinson: And then you take this sod and put it back in the hole.

Interviewer: All right.

Michael Robinson: And with that you just bought this wonderful property.

Interviewer: And I have been twiggled?

Michael Robinson: Yes you have.

Interviewer: Wow!

Michael Robinson: And the reason for that was so that the blind people could still buy and sell property even if they couldn't see what was going on. They knew that they were at least being getting the twig and they knew that they were getting the property.

Interviewer: Well that's a heck of a lot easier than the three hour closing today?

Michael Robinson: Yeah. In Pennsylvania, entire city of Pennsylvania was purchased exactly this way by William Penn.

Interviewer: Really?

Michael Robinson: Yes, and there is a statue of him in Delver actually Whiteshoe across the river from North Pennsylvania where he actually gave the this Turf and twig ceremony.

Interviewer: Last but not least, could this be recorded?

Michael Robinson : Yes and that's actually what was happening was at a later time when we started moving more toward recording of Deeds they would get the witnesses and they would get them to sign an affidavit saying that they had done this particular thing and they had witnessed that this happened. A witnessed an action, they witnessed a Deed occurring. You did a Deed or I did a Deed by giving it to you and that's actually where the word Deed comes from and all the other Deeds that we have today and most of the stuff if you think about it, it still exists today in modern real estate when you go to a closing there are other witnesses one of which is the notary public and almost always when you go to a closing at the end the buyer hands the keys to the seller..

Interviewer: Well I am going to twiggle my buyer at my next closing. Michael thanks so much for the information, I appreciate it.

Michael Robinson defines six forms of fee interest or estate in land transfers known as Deeds

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:19:40 -0600

Interviewer: Today we are talking with Michael Robinson from Robinson and Henry Law Practitioners. Michael welcome to the show.

Michael Robinson: Thanks, it's good to be here.

Interviewer: Today we are talking about Warranty Deeds, when you buy and sell property in Colorado and in most states you usually transfer that by a Deed. And I probably could have rattled off five of the six, I didn't know the sixth that we will get to it in just a second but tell me what types of Deeds there are?

Michael Robinson: Okay the most common one is the General Warranty Deed and that's the one at the, it is in our statuette as a matter of fact and that's one where you get Title Insurance and you are basic warranting that the title of the property is good.

Interviewer: And does the general give you the broadest protection?

Michael Robinson: Yes it does. And it is the one that, it is the most common one that's used is the one where the real Title insurance is bought. There is another kind called a Special Warranty Deed and it sounds like it is even better but actually it is just the opposite. It only warrants actions that occur during the time the seller owned the property, if there is something that existed before that and there is no coverage anyway down the line. So that is a lesser version of it.

Interviewer: Okay, how about number three?

Michael Robinson: See the quick claim deed where you simply transfer whatever rights you have to the other person. Lots of time, courts don't actually consider that as actual conveyance. We use that a lot though for estate planning where we do it for; we will Quick claim the house if it is only in one spouse's name to both of them in joint tenancy. It is a very, very standard and the next three I believe are all ones to have to do with the government. One is the Treasurer's deed for the sale, of a tax sale of people that buy tax liens. There is the personal representative's deed too.

Interviewer: Now that is the one that I didn't know. What is that?

Michael Robinson: Well when you die you end, and your estate begins and thee state needs to be probated and a personal representative is appointed. That person has the power to do all the actions for the estate which is now who actually owns the property because the decedent the dead person can't go to close in, cant do anything so it is a special kind of deed that's done for probate issues and then the last one is the Property Trustees Deed which is what happens in foreclosures.

Interviewer: Got you. Are there still some bizarre ways to transfer properties, or bizarre mechanisms still out there?

Michael Robinson: Well, there are some old ones and some of these oldie but goodies still kind of float around. One of which is I think is called the Livery of seisin. Livery is just like delivery and this was the oldest version in our legal system where you go out to a field with someone and you would actually give piece of grass and a piece of tree and then they would accept it. You would have witnesses seeing that and that was the real legal basis in England all the way up to 1900 and some really famous places have been transferred exactly that way.

Interviewer: Oh that is perfect that way. I mean I still work today. Why do all the paper work. Just have a piece of grass. Michael thanks. Great information. Very interesting.

Michael Robinson: It's been a pleasure meeting you.

Heather Heuer provides details about Certified Distressed Property Expert CDPE desigation

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:11:01 -0600

Interviewer: Today we are talking with Heather Heuer for REMAX Professionals and the topic is the 'Certified Distressed Property Expert' designation which is a mouthful. Welcome to the show.

Heather Heuer: Thanks, Dan Appreciate having me.

Interviewer: So recently you just obtained a designation as a certified distress property expert (CDPE). What is that exactly?

Heather Heuer: Well, a CDPE is someone that has taken the time to explore the real estate profession from a short sell perspective. It gives real estate agents a better understanding that the nuances in our current industry specific to the short sell process.

Interviewer: And ten years ago, this designation, probably wouldn't even existed.

Heather Heuer: No, of course not. And at this time 14,000 brokers nationwide currently hold this designation.

Interviewer: Okay and why did you think it was important again?

Heather Heuer: I think it is important to have a greater knowledge of the market place and this designation helps me have an understanding of what the banks need in order to complete a short sell process and help home owners that are facing a pre foreclosure situations.

Interviewer: All right. So that was the next question because people watching this are going to say, 'okay, what qualifies is a distressed property?

Heather Heuer: Well, distressed property is first of all, a home owner must be 31 days delinquent in their mortgage.

Interviewer: Okay.

Heather Heuer: Secondly, they must have some sort of financial hardship, and that could include a job loss, a medical emergency situation or possibly the loan was modified and they can no longer afford the payments.

Interviewer: Okay and this becomes termed a short sale?

Heather Heuer: Well. A short sale would mean that we are asking the bank to accept less money for the property than what they originally paid for.

Interviewer: Got it. Qualifications of a short sale. You said they have got to be what, passed to?

Heather Heuer: 31 days delinquent.

Interviewer: And what else?

Heather Heuer: And also they need to be have some sort of financial hardship, whether that be a job loss, a loan modifications, they couldn't afford the payment or possibly a medical situation.

Interviewer: Okay, and of course they could go out and hire any realtor obviously to represent them but there is an advantage to hire a realtor with a CDPE.

Heather Heuer: There is. A CDPE understands what the bank needs in order to complete a short sale package. We also have information on how to price the short sale throughout the listing history and the tools that are needed in order to let the bank know that. The homeowner really is in distress and they should consider letting the home owner complete a short sale situation.

Interviewer: All right. Do you use Metro list to market this?

Heather Heuer: Absolutely.

Interviewer: How?

Heather Heuer: Well, Metrolist, we use it for the short sale package. They need to have a listing history. They also need to have comparables for the markets since the bank doesn't really know where this home is, and what it is comparable to as far as actives under contracts and sold. I also use it to let other brokers know my CDPE designation in the broker remarks.

Interviewer: Okay.

Heather Heuer: And I put the short sale addendum up on the ML system for everyone to see.

Interviewer: Do you think it has got enough penetration inside the market, meaning both consumers and realtors understand what the designation is and how it has been official?

Heather Heuer: I don't think that they know all the way.

Interviewer: Okay.

Heather Heuer: And that is why I am here. I think it is important for other brokers to really explore the option. I would love to work with another broker that is a CDPE agent because I know, they know the process also.

Heather Heuer describes the new Find Prospect feature on Metrolist Prime Access

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:45:33 -0600

Interviewer: Today we are talking with Heather Heuer from ReMax Professionals and the topic is Prime Acess 'MetroList' a new feature they are unveiling. "How are you"?

Heather Heuer: I am great, thank you.

Interviewer: Thanks for being in here. So it is called find prospect, tell me how it works inside a Metrolist provides brokers with prospect that match their specific listing with the MLS.

Interviewer: Okay so for instance, walk me through this. I have got a listing in say Washington Park, I have just put it the MLS and there is a feature that can direct me to agents who are looking for my home?

Heather Heuer : Yes, you go into the Listing feature of your home and in the upper right hand corner there is a button that says 'Find prospects' and you click on that and a list drops down that lists all the brokers that have prospects that potentially match your listing.

Interviewer: Now how do I contact them?

Heather Heuer: You can contact them by phone.

Interviewer: Just start dialing?

Heather Heuer: That's right. The prospect feature provides the brokers name, their company name, their phone number. Then the prospect itself as well as some status info and the price range. It doesn't provide an e-mail address for the broker, but I think that is okay because in this type of market we need to be talking face to face with other brokers.

Interviewer: So it's Heather if got a house in Wash Park, I think your buyers going to be interested in?

Heather Heuer: That's right and I hopefully I am going to sign them up and get a contract going with you.

Interviewer: Alright, is this feature limited to only your listings or any listings?

Heather Heuer: It is available to any listings including IRES and Pikes Peak MLS

Interviewer: Okay. What information do you need to use this feature?

Heather Heuer: What information? Well you need to have a listing.

Interviewer: Just in there, in filled out and complete?

Heather Heuer : Yeah and you know even if you are working on the by side, If you have a house that you want to make an offer on, you can use this tool to look at that listing and see what competition your buyers have and what price range those buyers are in so that you can write a solid offer.

Interviewer: I would use it. Alright, how about benefits to the lister?

Heather Heuer: Well for the lister you get to show them immediately what buyers are available in the area, you can talk to them about the value of a pricing for their home. Let us say they want to be priced at 500 thousand and you pull up this tool and all the buyers in that neighborhood are looking in the 475 thousand dollar range, you need to have a discussion with your seller to make sure you price correctly.

Interviewer: Aren't we always having discussions with our sellers about pricing correctly?

Heather Heuer: Yes we are. But it is another tool to help us. It is going to back us up when we need to have that extra little push.

Interviewer: You need more Data and more ammunition when you go in for that conversation.

Heather Heuer: That's right.

Interviewer: Heather, terrific information, thanks so much. I am excited about the feature.

Heather Heuer: Thanks Dan.

Friday afternoon Skype with Ed Kohler on Syndicating listings to websites

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:58:33 -0600

Mark Eibner: Hello my name is Mark Eibner, welcome to Broker IPTV, another production of IPTV voice media and today once again we are with Ed Kohler and he is with "Haystack In A Needle" and also the author of Technology Evangelist and Ed welcome to the show. Ed Kohler: Hi Mark how are you doing today? Mark Eibner: I am doing great. As usual with our Friday afternoon talk, we are kind of bring up a brief subject for our viewers out there, trying to keep our subject matter under three minutes. Today we are going to talk about or you wanted to talk about syndicating listings to sites like Trulia, Craig's list etcetera, do you think that's a good idea Ed? Ed Kohler: Well I think its something that lot of people are trying to figure out how to navigate these waters where I think it's a, it's a way to get some free traffic to your site, but there maybe some hidden costs or some that people need to at least understand you know as far what's the playing field of syndication today. Mark Eibner: What do you mean by hidden costs? Ed Kohler: Well for example if you know just to make sure what we understand what a syndication is first is where if you are an agent or a broker, you can push your inventory to sites like Trulia or Zillow, Craig's list in some ways. If you do that, one of the costs can be lot of these sites have what its called a fremium service where they have a free level but then they, from there have a lot of step up levels where if you want to have your logo up here or there or exactly how the information is presented on the site some of those are, involves monthly fees to the site, so you know you have to think about that stuff before you push your content out there. Mark Eibner: Yeah you are telling, ListHub would be, Point2 or ListHub are two products I can think do the syndication out of MLS systems? Ed Kohler: Yeah those are two very popular ones along the line of programs like that another consideration is if your listing is pushed out to Trulia or some sites like that... Mark Eibner: Right. Ed Kohler: If people click back to the original site, which site is it that they go back to, are they going to a Point2 version of your listing or are they going back to ListHub version of listing, maybe your board has a website and people end up there or you have your own website, do people end up there, there is a lot of different places where say Trulia could send people, so you know in most cases I think an agent or a broker is going to have the best chance of eventually closing that lead or that you know turning that visitor into a lead, if they get to them to their own website. So its, its worth understanding how these programs are you know designed so that you are getting what you are expecting to get. Mark Eibner: So I think good lesson here is people should trace all their listings through these different syndication portals? Ed Kohler: Yeah I understand that you know if they are giving you something for free there is possibly a reason why you know there is value in them having access to your data and being able to push that data out. So in a lot of cases they know that just a large enough percentage and doesn't even have to be very large percentage but a large enough percentage of people will be willing to upgrade to some sort of a premium service. So if you don't upgrade of course when your listing appears in some of these other websites you may not look as good as some of your competitors you know, so you are kind of in a position where if you are going to be in Trulia or if you are going to be on Zillow you may as well look well you know because what happens if your seller goes and looks at their listing on all these websites and your listings in comparison don't look that good. Mark Eibner: It's a dog, no photos and the links going over to some RE/MAX office. Ed Kohler: Right yeah. Mark Eibner: What do you think the sellers expect this or sellers are even cognizant of this, syndication? Ed Kohler: Yeah I think its still pretty early for a lot of this stuff I think sellers do understand Craig's List today and lot of sellers will actually take their own listing and create an ad even you know without the knowledge of their agent over ran Craig's list, but Trulia and Zillow while they have been around for a while and of course very well known among real estate professionals, you know when I talk to people about sites like Trulia and Zillow who are in the industry its still a foreign concept to them, so. Mark Eibner: So interesting ones, I have noticed Zillow, to me Zillow is kind of dropped off the map I don't even hear about them any more. Ed Kohler: They don't have the buzz they had before, but they are still doing quite well I think. Mark Eibner: Yeah what about where do realtor listings really belong then Ed? Ed Kohler: Well I think you know every broker; every real estate agent needs to make up their own mind about where the listings go, everyone has their own strategies for marketing their, their businesses. So my advice is to wherever you can put your listings make sure you look good, so be professional in whatever it is that you do, don't bite off more than you can chew. Mark Eibner: Yeah right keep your personal and company brand up. Hey Ed it had been great talking with you again, syndication of listings very critical I think to any broker's success in the future appreciate your being with us today. Ed Kohler: Thanks Mark. Mark Eibner: And we will see you next Friday and for more great information make sure to keep your browser on Broker IPTV.

Friday afternoon Skype with Ed Kohler defines "searchers"

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:50:38 -0600

Mark Eibner: Welcome to Broker IPTV. My name is Mark Eibner and we are on official Friday afternoon skype in with Ed Kohler and Ed Kohler is with "Hay Stack In A Needle" and also the author of Technology Evangelist and Ed welcome to the show.

Ed Kohler: Hi Mark how are you doing?

Mark Eibner: Super, hey in the spirit of our Friday skype in, just wanted to kind of take a subject we can talk about for three to four minutes, share with our viewers today we are going to be talking about different types of searchers and could maybe you can define for our audience what do you mean by searchers.

Ed Kohler: Okay in this case by searchers what I mean are people who are over on Google or Yahoo, who are in the real estate market in some way and it turns out that if you take a step back and you kind of think about how people are you know what they are typing in search engines, they had a lot of different phases in the buying process and I think a lot of people with their websites haven't yet created content that addresses all the different stages that someone maybe at.

Mark Eibner: So what type of information should people have these different types of searches?

Ed Kohler: For example a lot of real estate websites do a pretty good job of the home search process, so it's really kind of buy side what they have out there. They tend to be a little weak sometimes on the information they provide to home sellers. For example a home seller they are trying to figure out you know what's my home work of course that's a very important question to them, but of course they are also trying to figure out if my home is worth this you know what can I expect to get out of it if I sell it and what can I achieve on my next buy with what I have left after you know selling my home and that type of information like that depth of information for sellers is something I don't see a lot of today.

Mark Eibner: You talk about just basic evaluation tools like a Zillow evaluation something like that?

Ed Kohler: Yeah it can also be in the form of blog post and just helping people understand all different things involved you know when a transaction from selling one home through buying the next, you know giving people some guidance and also you are kind of demonstrating your expertise.

Mark Eibner: Sure yeah excellent ploy actually being a little more transparent coaching people through the selling process, so they can get to the buying process, maybe area stats or zip code stats, dial stats something of that nature?

Ed Kohler: Yeah and that's in the buying process there is also the phase of trying to figure out where in town is a good place to lay off and trying to understand you know what can I get from my money, is that something that I think is still trying to be figured out of mine, for example say someone works in a downtown of a metropolitan area and they want to spend $300,000 and they hope to have a house with a yard because they have a dog or something, so you know there maybe some compromises they need to make in terms of how far they are willing to drive and different types of neighborhoods of things that, type of information that can help guide people towards what neighborhoods or suburbs or whatever should they even be considering and so that kind of stuff they kind of get people pointing the right direction is another area where when people are what said it, you are [Inaudible] [00:03:15] about what sort of terms you might type into a search engine where you could have content that kind of addresses that.

Mark Eibner: You bet any good sites you can name off the top of your head that agents or companies or demonstrating this type of information for different types of people in searches?

Ed Kohler: To me the most of I see today is mostly agents who have taken ownership in neighborhoods where whatever neighborhood they happen to work or city they happen to work in, if they have created a blog where they just decided I am going to document everything I can about this and share what's going on, people stumble across those through search because blogs tend to do very well on search engines.

Mark Eibner: You bet.

Ed Kohler: But I haven't seen much about words tying it together where they tend to be a stand alone blog and then separate you know an IDX type website, and they are starting to be some mergers there but it's not as elegantly tied together in most cases as it could be.

Mark Eibner: Okay so we are talking about kind of hyper localism really that's what it's coming down to?

Ed Kohler: Yep.

Mark Eibner: Super well once again some great information Ed on our Friday afternoon skype in; appreciate you being with us today.

Ed Kohler: Thanks Mark.

Mark Eibner: And we will see you next Friday and so for more great information make sure to keep your browser on Broker IPTV.

Friday afternoon skype with Ed Kohler

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:46:14 -0600

Mark Eibner: And welcome to Broker IPTV. My name is Mark Eibner and we are having another Friday afternoon skype in with Ed Kohler, Ed Kohler is with "Haystack In a Needle" and also the author of Technology Evangelist and Ed welcome to the show.

Ed Kohler: Hi Mark how are you doing?

Mark Eibner: I am doing great. Hey so keeping with the spirit of our viewers, giving some great tit bits of information in a three to four minute time span today we wanted to touch briefly on Google Analytics. Ed maybe could tell our viewers out there Ed what is Google Analytics, where does one get it and why should we even care about it?

Ed Kohler: Okay Google Analytics is one of the most popular web stats programs on the web today, so of course provided by Google and if you go to google.com/analytics or just Google, the term Google Analytics you will find it. The stats program is a relatively easy thing to install, you just put a little bit of code on every page of your website and then Google will log all the visitors to your website and keep track of where they came from, what they looked at, how long you spent on your website, all kinds of things like that so its weird way to kind of keep track of what, how people are using their website and where people came from.

Mark Eibner: So you say they could go to Google it's a free piece of software they can get a snip of the code and it has to be inserted on every one of their web pages in their...?

Ed Kohler: So if you work with the web developer you could ask them to set up a Google Analytics account, in fact they may already be running one on your account for you, if you set up a blog for example you may have to just go in and paste a little bit of code into your blog's template like in the footer file for example and then that will just carry across all of your pages. So it's really a one time thing to get things set up, it's not too bad.

Mark Eibner: So things that will be measured I guess types of browsers people are using where they are coming from like a time on the site what about key words in the search box that got them to the site?

Ed Kohler: Yeah Google are first I would, a lot of information about visitors to your website, so it will show you where they came from, whether its they clicked from another website, whether they typed in, your domain directly to call a direct visit or if, if someone ran a search and came over, it will also parcel the jet search turn that used to arrive at your website, so it's a lot of different ways of slicing it out, if you do any online advertising they can also break that out separately whether its Google ad words or ad over on Zillow or Trulia they can track that as well.

Mark Eibner: So any other key metrics that people should be paying attention to specifically real estate brokers and brokerages?

Ed Kohler: Well real estate is kind of a tricky one for online metrics in some ways because unlike e-commerce where you have really kind of high volume and a lot of transactions because you are, people are buying something that only costs you know tens of dollars or hundreds of dollars instead with real estate the transactions are very large and the lead volume is just lower because of that. So its within Google Analytics you can track conversion, so someone fills out an online form on your website you can track that back to where that person, what they originally searched for to get to your website and that will help you figure out what sources of traffic are the ones that are most valuable for you, but short of that another way that you can kind of figure out what's working and what isn't isn't, is to look at the balance rate from different websites which is a measure of people coming to your website looking at one page and then deciding to leave. If you happen to like say buy an ad in a local newspapers online website and you notice that the balance rate is very, very high for whatever reason the traffic is coming over its not finding really what they are expecting, so they are leaving after one page view, so that's a sign that for whatever reason its just not working, so keep that in mind.

Mark Eibner: Well I think one thing that's unique to the Internet search world here and working in the Internet in general as far as true analytics is unlike some of our past pieces of media, television and newsprint etcetera you can truly track your results literally click by click where they came from, where they are going, how long they have been there, very unique proposition.

Ed Kohler: And but generally one thing that, that's still missing today that will, eventually will get worked out is, its very difficult to track offline leads that your website generates. So if someone calls you after looking at your website that's not necessarily being tied together, but if when people call you be sure to ask them you know how did you find lot about me and you know keep track of that in your CRM system.

Mark Eibner: Great well hey once again Ed great information for the Friday skype in.

Ed Kohler: Thanks Mark.

Mark Eibner: I appreciate your being with us today.

Ed Kohler: No problem.

Mark Eibner: And for more great information about real estate marketing technology and everything else involved in the industry make sure to go to brokeriptv.com. Thanks we will see you next Friday in our skype in.

Paul Mulley talks about Home Warranties

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:46:13 -0600

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with Paul Mulley from Colorado Home Warranty and Paul welcome to the show.

Paul Mulley: Well, thanks for having me.

BrokerIPTV: Thanks for being here, Home Warranty's what are they and how do they work for those people who are unfamiliar?

Paul Mulley: Basically Colorado Home Warranty works, when you buy a home, lot of the owners or, new owners of the home are kind of little paranoid about the condition of all the appliances, and all the systems in the house, and so I think it would kind of give them a little bit more assurance, because we do cover the hot water heater, your furnace all your systems in the house. So, if anything does break down during that first year of coverage, it will only cost the home owner like $55 for a service call, so when you are talking $1500 worth furnace or, whatever you are talking, considerable savings.

BrokerIPTV: Yeah, no question all right, so my hot water heater goes out and you know its 2 o'clock in the morning and what do I do, how does the process work?

Paul Mulley: Well, don't call me at 2 o'clock in the morning.

BrokerIPTV: Okay.

Paul Mulley: No, but typically we do have after hours numbers as well, and so what we do is when we get the call, and within an hour we will contact a contractor to service your needs, typically if you get somebody out there within a couple of hours after the home owner first calls us, so it's we are, we do try to respond very, very quickly.

BrokerIPTV: Okay, so he comes out, he ascertains I need a new hot water heater, and my charge to me, because I have a Colorado Home Warranty, it's a $55 service charge and that is it.

Paul Mulley: That is correct.

Paul Mulley: Even though typically a hot water tank is four or five, six, seven hundred dollars.

BrokerIPTV: It sounds like a good deal.

Paul Mulley: That is a good deal, I mean it really is, I mean the hot water heater and furnaces are the biggest two liabilities so to speak for the home owners, so if you can come with those well, we build our business quite, quite well.

BrokerIPTV: Now, some people may be familiar with people who provide home warrantees on a national level, but you are a local company, and there is advantages to working with a local company.

Paul Mulley: Well, we believe so and that is kind of why we did this, did so well for last ten years. A lot of your national companies, you call the 800 number and you will get tied up in the phone maize, and they will call you back a day or two later. I think some [Inaudible][00:02:04] heat you know, and so in the middle of January in the snow storm you want somebody out there immediately, so we provide ourselves in trying to respond a bit quicker you know.

BrokerIPTV: Well, I know from experience from working with you in the past, you guys have personal contact and you have a local call center, so I think that is important.

Paul Mulley: I think we should try to personalize our service you know to most of the real estate market, and so I think they enjoy that, and it works out well for both parties, because we try to make the agent look like a hero, so if somebody calls the agent and says hey my hot waters heater is down, who do we call you know agent calls me and he goes hey you want my business next week, you better fix it for right now, but that I mean it's not like that, but we do cover it very, very quickly.

BrokerIPTV: All right, people naturally would be concerned with the contractors that are working on their house or replacing, how do you go about selecting your vendor?

Paul Mulley: Most of them, we do get from the real estate community, so like when we talk to the agents, we say okay who is your good [Inaudible][00:03:00] guy or, who do you really have had a good response with the plumbing person you know, so we really rely on our clientele to provide us with the better trades people, and that works out pretty well.

BrokerIPTV: And you have had a long relationship with many of these people.

Paul Mulley: Ten years now we have been in business and you know Colorado Home warrantees so, we are working on a second decade so you know.

BrokerIPTV: That is great, Paul good information thanks for being with us.

Paul Mulley: Thank you appreciated, thanks for the time.

BrokerIPTV: Appreciated.

Paul Mulley: Take care.

David Douglas talks about email marketing

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:40:30 -0600

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with David Douglas, a board member for [Inaudible][00:00:03] and an agent with Keller Williams, David welcome.

David Douglas: Thank you very much, thank you for having me.

BrokerIPTV: In the previous segment we were talking about social media and marketing, and I want to talk more about marketing right now, and specifically E-mail, because I would say that the majority of the real estate world is fully engaged in E-mail, whether it's transactions, talking with their buyers and sellers, but E-mail marketing is that still alive and well?

David Douglas: I think E-mail marketing is definitely still alive, I think it's on the way out eventually. I think eventually no one is going to be doing it, because people want to get information back, people want to go out there and sent request information, they don't necessarily want to, you blast them everyday, but I think somewhere in the next five to ten years E-mail marketing could potentially be dead for the masses.

BrokerIPTV: So, Outlook is never closed on my computer, but you could foresee a day where my Facebook page is never closed.

David Douglas: Correct, I think Facebook would definitely be one that would be open along with Twitter, Outlook is definitely always going to be something that we love and we enjoy, I don't think Outlook is going anywhere, because we need it to manage our lives.

BrokerIPTV: Yeah no question about that. How about some advanced features these days with E-mail campaigns?

David Douglas: Okay. Most agents think Outlook is nothing more than E-mail calendar and you're to do list and your contacts. They think they are all separate, in the reality they really do all integrate together using categories, categories is huge and most people never get into categories, and that is part of the E-mail marketing and getting stuck out to your clients, because if I get a free four day pass to get or free four passes to go to skiing or to go golfing, I am going to send it out to my [Inaudible][00:01:48] or to my golfers or my skiers that way I am targeting just them. The other thing is people don't use the contact linking on that, in other words you have a buyer, a seller, a lender all involved in the contract, I will make sure I put them all into my contacts, and I link them all together that way if I ever go back to you and my buyer, I say who all was involved with this transaction right here.

BrokerIPTV: May be one of the things you could teach everybody is, when to use the reply all and when not to use the reply all?

David Douglas: Oh my goodness, you know the number of the agents that have called me up and said "You know what David, I made a booboo, I have said, I have replied back to some people, and I should not have said what I said, is there anyway to get it back." Really no way to get it back, what you had sent say goodbye, but one of the things that I have told people in the past I said you know what, use rows, set up a row in your outlook to differ sending E-mails for two minutes, that way if you hit send and if you get to do that attachment or you send that E-mail accidentally and you realize you replied to all, you can stop it right then and there.

BrokerIPTV: All right, so may be one of the final recommendations we can give people when it comes to E-mail and Outlook and so forth is, get a class, is that right?

David Douglas: Yes and [Inaudible][00:03:02] Denver board of realtors, I have got a three week class, three hours a day like we will do it like on a Wednesday for three hours straight, and we will do it for three weeks just to get people started on Outlook from beginning to end, that is the biggest thing is to get a class, and to hire someone who knows what they are doing to help them along.

BrokerIPTV: David thanks, I love it.

David Douglas: Thank you very much.

BrokerIPTV: Appreciated.

David Douglas: All right.

David Douglas discusses social media and new marketing techniques

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:15:21 -0600

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with David Douglas, he is the board director for [Inaudible][00:00:03] and agent with Keller Williams, David welcome.

David Douglas: Thank you, how are you doing?

BrokerIPTV: Nice to have you here.

David Douglas: Thank you very much.

BrokerIPTV: Talking about a topic, I like a lot which is social media and new marketing and so forth, but there is a lot of realtors that go oh! I don't really want to talk about that, let's start there, why are they a little skittish about social media?

David Douglas: I think most people, most realtors don't understand getting onto social media and the impact it can have in the business. I think most time they get on there and they think you know what, this is just people having fun and people talking about useless stuff, but to me it's about being on the top of my clients minds day in and day out, and that is how I am portraying it to them, trying to get and say you know what guys, get on there and be on the top of their market, you are sending out monthly mailers once a month, and I am saying like once a week, once a day so.

BrokerIPTV: That is a great point and you can do it so quickly with just a click.

David Douglas: Right.

BrokerIPTV: Once you get started all right, the two the people most know about is probably Facebook and Twitter, let's just go ahead and tackle Twitter for those people who don't know what is it, how does it work?

David Douglas: Okay. Twitter is basically a 140 characters, and it's a quick sms message to send out to the world. Originally it started out as hey what are you thinking about right now, and a lot of people with a hey you know I just woke up, going to the bathroom, whatever so, it turned out to be really silly, and then some people got the idea hey you know let's turn this into something a whole lot more, and you know and what went on with our land, without the elections that went on over there trying to get people together, turned into that, so it became a quick sms message out to a bunch of people, and I love it because I can be at the top of my clients minds every single day, and I really try and stress that to realtors, but it's so hard to get that across too.

BrokerIPTV: And the way it works is, you are following certain people throughout their day, and certain people are following you, and the people who are following you, you are sending them a quick message and basically saying hey! I got this great new house available in Highlands Ranch, Colorado you might want to check it out.

David Douglas: All right.

BrokerIPTV: So, we are really using it for business purposes as well as social purposes.

David Douglas: Correct and I am, just a little bit on the social, on the social side, because I think that people need to get an item of value as [Inaudible][00:02:16] say most people around [Inaudible][00:02:17] but get something that is going to make them better, so I will send out post on neat tech ideas with outlook, with Twitter thinks like that, so hey go check this out and take a look at it.

BrokerIPTV: All right, how about some must do's and do not's when you are using Twitter?

David Douglas: Okay and everybody is different on this, and for me something that I say that is a do not is do not post business every single day, that you are going to go see house every single with the client, because it really doesn't benefit the Twitter, the Twitter world, most of the time you know on just you know it's not it's no of no benefit.

BrokerIPTV: That is a do not, how about a do?

David Douglas: How about a do.

BrokerIPTV: Yeah.

David Douglas: One of the things that you should do is, you should be doing it you said blogging three times a week, and you know what you should be Twittering at least once a day and using [Inaudible] [00:03:05] they are quick way to send out, they come on 19 different social media sites, I send out a quick update as to what to you know what is going on, sometimes I just say good night Twitter world and that is it just to remind people.

BrokerIPTV: At the beginning of the interview we talked about some agents who have been in the business a while who are kind of resistant to social networking, social media, but what you are finding is new agents who are coming into the business are fully engaged right.

David Douglas: Fully engaged, because most people are on there, they want to go out there and get information from other realtors and from people, to find out good information, so they are looking for those good agents out there that are posting good information, not necessarily things that are going to benefit themself, but they you know things that are going to get back to the client. So, a lot of them going out there, lot of clients are going out there looking for that information.

BrokerIPTV: So can I count on you as a follower on my Twitter page.

David Douglas: Oh definitely, most definitely.

BrokerIPTV: Okay thanks, appreciated David good information.

David Douglas: Thank you, thank you.

Bill Henry dips into a sensitive subject, Divorce and Real Estate

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:00:13 -0600

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with Bill Henry; he is a partner with Robinson & Henry law firm, Bill welcome.

Bill Henry: Thank you.

BrokerIPTV: Tax planning, real estate, and we are also going to dip into a sensitive subject here, divorce in real estate.

Bill Henry: Sure.

BrokerIPTV: It can be difficult. You are going in as a real estate agent; you are trying to represent a husband and wife who are splitting. The house has to go for sale, there is lot's of complicates issues talk about it.

Bill Henry: Yeah, well if you are the agent and you are looking at trying to sell the home, it obviously can be pretty complex, because now you have got two parties and they are not getting along very well, all right that is the purpose of the divorce, is they are obviously not getting along. So, what happens is you end up as a real estate agent, as the realtor acting as a facilitator as much as you are, and someone that is going to sell the property, and that is going to try to market the property, and from the realtors perspective you really need to be seen by both parties as neutral towards each, and not biased, because if you seem like you are biased then there is a high likelihood that the deal could just fall through, because one side just assumes the other side is somehow getting this better deal even if it's not true.

BrokerIPTV: All right, so what are some big mistakes outside of may be siding with one or the other that a realtor could potentially make with a divorcing couple?

Bill Henry: Well, what we are seeing right now and you know it's the realtor, it's also how realtor can advise their clients, and what we are seeing right now with the market place being and houses being worth less that no dollar [phonetic] [00:01:20] is the deficiency that is created, and it has got huge implications and how they handle that in the divorce is going to really affect what happens after the marriage, what we are typically seeing is, one spouse is going to say all right I am going to take on this home, this is my home, and he says I am going to be responsible for selling it or I am going to keep it, and therefore they are also saying I am going to take on this debt, what could happen many times is they have inadvertently or, sometimes by design have agreed to identifying [Inaudible][00:01:45] harmless which what that means is.

If you will make the payment to the bank, and the bank comes after the other spouse, and this spouse can come after you, so it creates almost like a triangle, it creates big problems also when we look at the other areas while we are going towards a bankruptcy, it limits how that spouse can discharge that debt, normally most people would imagine that they are going to file a Chapter 7 which is your fresh start bankruptcy.

BrokerIPTV: So, may be our first determination right after that is, what is the status on Loan to Value Ratio right after that, and if there is a deficiency let's negotiate this between the parties right upfront.

Bill Henry: Absolutely, absolutely if it can be handled up front before a court enters the order for the decree, and who is going to handle that debt; it's obviously much better and of course if you can negotiate out that deficiency, if it's going to be a short sale, much better situation for both parts.

BrokerIPTV: All right, are there some more tips that you can pass along to realtors who are representing divorce couples?

Bill Henry: Yeah, when you are representing a divorce couple, and assuming they are both on the loan and so therefore they are both on the title so you are really representing both of them, you have to recognize that they are not getting along very well, and so therefore you need to make sure you are communicating with each party, and you can assume just, because you told one party something that it is going to get to the other party, because most likely it's not going to happen.

BrokerIPTV: And sometimes they are not living under the same roof anymore.

Bill Henry: Many times correct.

BrokerIPTV: Yeah and then the signing of documents by the respective parties becomes even more paramount.

Bill Henry: Right absolutely, absolutely.

BrokerIPTV: That is good information, thanks so much, appreciated.

Bill Henry: Thank you.

Bill Henry answers a real estate legal question

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:45:05 -0600

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with Bill Henry; he is a partner with Robinson & Henry Law firm and Law associates, welcome to the show.

Bill Henry: Thanks, nice to meet you.

BrokerIPTV: Hey legal questions, when it comes to real estate obviously quite a few I would like to consult with my attorneys on a pretty regular basis, but one thing that people wouldn't think about is, well what if I didn't have a down payment for a home.

Bill Henry: Sure.

BrokerIPTV: Will I call an attorney? Probably not, but you say yes.

Bill Henry: Well, you know I would say you need to speak with your tax adviser, because right now a lot of banks obviously, credit is really tight and we are not getting the loans that we used to get back in 2006. So, there is a bunch of different tax advantages that you can take advantage of in your 401(k) and your IRA, with the 401(k) you are allowed to take a loan out in many circumstances, and you can use that for your down payment, now to loans you are paying yourself back and you are going to pay interest on that, but you can then avoid PMI in mortgage insurance, on the IRA front if you are a first time home buyer, there is a lot of opportunity for you to be able to take out a $10,000 withdraw, and not pay the penalty and then use that for your down payment. Now obviously it's pretty complex and you definitely want to speak with the tax adviser to make sure that you fit within the exceptions and then you can make that without hitting that probably.

BrokerIPTV: And this is an area that you guys specialize in.

Bill Henry: Yeah we do a lot of tax work, we do for debtor defense and tax defense within also tax planning, and of course there is lot more tax planning going on a few years ago and now it's a lot more defense, but at the same time it's we are starting to move back in that direction.

BrokerIPTV: All right. We are in the final days of the tax credit, whether or, not it will be extended is a whole another show and so forth, but obviously lot of focus, lot of attention on first time home buyers what is the update?

Bill Henry: Well, you know realtors obviously know about the $8000 credit, and they know that it's expiring November 30th, so there is not a lot of time if you can get your contractor to get it closed by November 30th, and the national association realtors they are pushing for a lot of other organizations who want that extended. Well, right now unfortunately there was recently a Shaun Donovan who is the secretary for the department of housing and urban development who said to a hearing in the senate, that you know he didn't know if the benefits of the program outweighed the cost, and that the administration was going to look at everything and then make that determination.

Now, on the other hand we have also heard of talk that well, may be we should open up that credit and extend it and open it not just to first time home buyers, but to any home buyer. So, that would obviously be great, I know this morning I read an article where in September the sales of preexisting homes were more than they have been in the last two years, and that was really driven by those first time home buyers, so and there is a lot of evidence out there that the program is helping, so hopefully it will pass and who knows what will happen with congress.

BrokerIPTV: Let's quickly touch on short sales and foreclosures, because there is some tax ramifications with both types of sales.

Bill Henry: Sure. Yeah, with short sales and foreclosures, what happens whenever you take out a loan with a bank is you are getting all this money, but there is not tax problem, because you are going to have to pay it all back, so you are not getting that income. However, if the bank is going to write off a portion of that on the short sale or, they are going to write it off after a foreclosure that can, at least initially look like it's going to be income, because you don't have to pay it back. There is a law that's been put in place till 2012 for primary, if it's on your primary home they are discharging it that you are not going to be charged for that income, but if you have got an investment property that doesn't apply.

Now there is two different ways you can look at avoiding that, one would be bankruptcy, so if you file bankruptcy you are not going to charged with that discharge of [Inaudible][00:03:20] income or cancellation of [Inaudible][00:03:21] income, the other one is to prove you are insolvent, and that is a complex determination, generally really general, it saying that my debts exceed my assets, but again you need a tax professional to really walk you through the steps and help you there.

BrokerIPTV: It's you know like foreclosures and short sales are complicated enough thanks, I appreciate good to meet with you.

Bill Henry: Nice meeting you.

Paul Mulley talks about the importance of Home Warranties

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:40:02 -0600

BrokerIPTV: Today we are talking with Paul Mulley from Colorado Home Warranty, and Paul welcome to the show.

Paul Mulley: Thanks for having me.

BrokerIPTV: In a previous segment we were talking about Home Warranties, what are they and how they apply to realtors, and people who are buying or, selling a home and things of that nature, this time I want to talk a little bit about people who aren't so, and aren't listed, but could use a Home Warranty, how much of that is your business?

Paul Mulley: It's not that larger percentage right now, I think that is the one area that we haven't really delved into too much, because most home owners don't know that they can get a home warranted from Colorado Home Warranty, even if they are not selling their home. So, but basically we would cover the exact same systems and appliances as we would for any other home owner.

BrokerIPTV: Now, I am not selling my home, but I would be interested in having one can I call you?

Paul Mulley: You can call me.

BrokerIPTV: And what type of coverage are you going to provide me?

Paul Mulley: Well we cover the basic coverage's like it covers all the appliances, all your systems, your whole entire kitchen, the only extras that we do charge for would be a washer and dryer, and or air conditioning, but in Colorado air conditioning is not as prevalent let's like if it is in Arizona or California or Florida, so we kind of leave that as an option for the home owner.

BrokerIPTV: So, I could add the air conditioning if I wanted to.

Paul Mulley: Yes, you can.

BrokerIPTV: What about washer and dryer, just out of curiosity how come that is not covered?

Paul Mulley: Well lot of folks have their own washer and dryer [Inaudible][00:01:20] folks inherent the washer and drier when they do purchase their home. A lot of folks don't even have a washer and drier, [Inaudible][00:01:27] you know, so we kind of leave that as an option as well.

BrokerIPTV: Okay. Now, at one point I guess you know your local utility company was marketing very heavily that we are going to cover your appliances, talk about that program versus what you guys do?

Paul Mulley: Okay, well that program covers all your appliances, all your systems, we are a lot more in depth, and let's say like the utility company, utility company I think is only going to be covering primarily electrical type of items you know, and we go a lot deeper, we go into plumbing you know if we got leakages or, you know civil problems or whatever. So, I think and then another thing too, as a utility company they have a tendency not to respond as quickly as we do, you know they have a lot larger customer base, and so I think like you got a hot water heater out or, your dish washer went out. I can guarantee, we would respond a lot quicker than they could ever dream of.

BrokerIPTV: What are something like this cost, because I imagine there is a range here?

Paul Mulley: There is a range, our policies range from a two and quarter, to two ninety five, we have 12 months coverage, we have 15 months coverage, we have buyers, seller coverage, and all kind of depends, we can customize it a little bit to fit each home owners need.

BrokerIPTV: And occasionally do you offer discounts or...?

Paul Mulley: Well, some of the discounts would be the lower and as far as two and a quarter okay, typically like the agent pays for a warranty, we normally charge the agent 250 or so, sometimes you go down two and a quarter if we do have a special, you know so yes.

BrokerIPTV: Well so that is obviously a great selling point for an agent who wants to either help a seller or a buyer which is, hey I am going to thrown in a warranty here for it, because I am so sure that this is the right house for you, we want to protect you that type of thing I am sure you hear that.

Paul Mulley: I hear that lot too, and then you know lot of your real estate agents would do in a say like for a closing gift to their buyer and or a seller, and say hey look you know thanks for doing business with me, I am going to cover you for a year, you know and give you a free home warranty, and the home owner goes well, and that kind of reinforces the home buyer to you is that agent again in five or ten years when they want to sell their house again, and they go you know what that guy treated us well, so it works out very, very well.

BrokerIPTV: Paul thanks so much.

Paul Mulley: Thanks, thank you appreciate your time, appreciated thank you.

BrokerIPTV: Appreciated.

Paul Mulley talks about the importance of Home Warranties

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:39:34 -0600

Metro Broker Sandy Trujillo says time is running out on the first time home buyer $8000 tax credit

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:05:39 -0500

DENVER, CO - Time is running out for first time home buyer's to claim the $8,000 tax credit

As the November 30th deadline for the $8000 first time homebuyer tax credit approaches, realtors say people are still waiting to close on their homes. If anyone is looking to buy a home under this program they need to go in prepared with a pre-approved lender letter and be under contract before the last week of October. Sandy Trujillo of Metro Brokers says, "It takes probably about 30 to 45 days to close a transaction. There's issues that come up at times between the inspections, appraisals, underwriting conditions that you can't anticipate and so you need to have a little extra time built in there to make sure that all the details are taken care of." Trujillo has seen an increase in multiple offers on bank-owned and HUD homes and growing interest in the areas outside of Denver. Homes in the $200-299,000 price range such as in Aurora are great buys right now. The National Association of Realtors is working adamently with Congress to get the program extended but Trujillo says if they do extend it, there is no saying how long it will take. News of any extension could be delayed as close to the Nov. 30 deadline as possible. Trujillo states that to keep a since of urgency for the buyers, it is in the plans best interest to prevent sales from stalling and keep the buyers guessing. Something must be going right because the IRS says 1.4 million first time buyers have claimed the $8000 tax credit.

Jeff Newman from Chemist to Real Estate Broker

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:41:15 -0500

Jeff Newman from Chemist to Real Estate Broker

Kathy Soltero: Hi I am Kathy Soltero with Metro Brokers TV. Today in the studio we have Jeff Newman, thank you so much for coming in Jeff.

Jeff Newman: You are welcome.

Kathy Soltero: Tell me a little bit about yourself, your company, your real estate company, where you are at?

Jeff Newman: Okay I am Metro Brokers with, Partners in Real Estate and I work out at the office at underneath in [Inaudible].

Kathy Soltero: And do you work primarily in that area or where do you work?

Jeff Newman: Central is where I live, so I kind of specialize in the central and then kind of northern part of the metro area.

Kathy Soltero: And are you, your own office or by yourself?

Jeff Newman: I am, I am in that office but I am a broker on my own so independent.

Kathy Soltero: Okay very good. How long have you been in the business?

Jeff Newman: Five years.

Kathy Soltero: And how have you seen, I mean when you started real estate was just kind of teetering on a rough area here?

Jeff Newman: Right it was okay when I started and just rear kind of kept going down so.

Kathy Soltero: What did you do prior to real estate?

Jeff Newman: I worked in the pharmaceutical industry; I was a chemist so, quite different but...

Kathy Soltero: So what lured you into real estate?

Jeff Newman: Kind of one at I mean introvert in that job, so I wanted to be more of an extrovert and work with people and I don't know just loved real estate and so.

Kathy Soltero: Have you found that it's really kind of helped you get out and do you love your clients or?

Jeff Newman: I do and I think they like me too.

Kathy Soltero: Well that's a good thing, that's a really good thing. Do you specialize in any specific area, do you do foreclosures, do you do short sales?

Jeff Newman: Just basic residential, no specialization of, you know foreclosure or anything so.

Kathy Soltero: But you tackle them or?

Jeff Newman: I thought a couple yeah but never dived into it for you know do full time.

Kathy Soltero: and you say its central area, when you talk about central area what do you mean pretty since you are [Voice Crossover]?

Jeff Newman: The downtown area. I live down there so I really loved the older homes and you know [Inaudible] you know that market basically so.

Kathy Soltero: If there is one thing that you would want your customers to know about Jeff Newman that you have really stand out why they should work with you, what would you tell them?

Jeff Newman: That's I know my job and that I am, I make real estate the purchase fun.

Kathy Soltero: Jeff thank you so much for joining us on Metro Brokers TV and for more real estate related videos be sure to tune into metrobrokerstv.com.

Metro Brokers Jim Leto discusses his real estate company

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:24:38 -0500

Metro Brokers Jim Leto discusses his real estate company

Kathy Soltero: Hi I am Kathy Soltero with Metro Brokers TV. Today in the studio with us is Jim Leto. Jim thank you so much for coming in.

Jim Leto: Well thank you for having me.

Kathy Soltero: Tell me a little bit about your real estate company, where it's out, how many people are in it, that sort of it.

Jim Leto: Well the Metro Brokers office [Inaudible] is at 550, South Wadsworth in Lakewood and I am with real estate professionals and there is only about five of us in the office right now so.

Kathy Soltero: Do you work primarily then in the Lakewood area or?

Jim Leto: I do a lot of Lakewood and a lot of Denver also because I have been living in South West Denver area.

Kathy Soltero: And how long have you been in this business?

Jim Leto: 20 years.

Kathy Soltero: Wow so you have seen a lot of different cycles?

Jim Leto: Yes I have.

Kathy Soltero: How would you say the market is going right now?

Jim Leto: I would probably call it a fairly amazing market; I mean it's a challenge that's for sure. So but I am feeling pretty good that it's starting to break loose. I am getting some good listings and some good activity on them and I think there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Kathy Soltero: Absolutely. What did you do prior to real estate, you said you have been in it for 20 years so...?

Jim Leto: Well I did a lot of different things. I owned the retail stores, some clothing stores and then I was a Mayor in my little town and a county legislator in [Inaudible] state New York did that and then had a midlife crisis and moved to Colorado and at 39 years old and actually had a store in Colorado and so has been for a while.

Kathy Soltero: So then you went into real estate and closed down the stores or?

Jim Leto: Well it's not quite as simple. Actually I was widowed and then went out to California in business and bunked in an old friend of mine and we ended up getting married so.

Kathy Soltero: Oh!

Jim Leto: about a year and a half or two years.

Kathy Soltero: So you are joint business partners?

Jim Leto: Yeah she was, she was already real state agent in California.

Kathy Soltero: Oh that's awesome. So do you specialize in any specific area I mean right now we have got so many short sales out there its almost like every ten that we pick up but we just pull up ten listings almost nine of them are short sales?

Jim Leto: I don't think in that I have one short sale listing right now and that quite a courageous to have a lot of them because it is so next to the tail ends there. I specialize in town house area that I happened to live in now and also an area that I used to live in both of those happened to be in South West Denver.

Kathy Soltero: All right well Jim thank you so very much for being with us on Metro Brokers TV.

Jim Leto: All my pleasure, thank you.

Kathy Soltero: And if you want any more information or you want to watch more real estate related videos, be sure to tune into metrobrokerstv.com.

Former ReMax Agent Cher Schafer is thrilled about being an independent agent with Metro Brokers

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:19:47 -0500

Cher Schafer on Real Estate and cherschaferhomes.com

Kathy Soltero: Hi, I'm Kathy Soltero with MetroBrokers TV, today in the studio we have Cher Schafer. Cher Schafer thank you so much coming in.

Cher Schafer: Thank you, I appreciate it.

Kathy Soltero: Tell me a little bit about your real estate office and your real estate company.

Cher Schafer: Well I'm Cher Schafer Homes of Metro Brokers and I'm located out of the Dakota Ridge office which is at C-470 and Bowles.

Kathy Soltero: Are you all by yourself then or do you have any other agents with you?

Cher Schafer: I don't have anyone underneath me, my license.

Kathy Soltero: Is that something you plan to do, are you going to expand?

Cher Schafer: Um, not at this time. I don't have any plans for that, I kind of like doing my own thing and being responsible for myself.

Kathy Soltero: How long have you been in the business?

Cher Schafer: Actually this month it's 20 years.

Kathy Soltero: Wow, so you have seen quite a cycle of things happen.

Cher Schafer: Yeah, definitely.

Kathy Soltero: What did you do prior to real estate? What lead you into a real estate career?

Cher Schafer: I actually got my real estate license when I was 21 years old. But I was in insurance at the time and I just kind of let myself be guided and it turned out to be real estate was the right thing for me.

Kathy Soltero: Did you do any real estate when you first got your license or?

Cher Schafer: No, it was inactive for awhile actually.

Kathy Soltero: And now CherSchaferHomes.com, do you specialize in any specific area? Or do you specialize in any kind of real estate?

Cher Schafer: Mostly residential, horse property also, townhomes that type of thing. Jefferson County, I've worked quite a bit there because I'm form Colorado actually and grew up in that area.

Kathy Soltero: Cher, you've been in the real estate business for twenty years, tell me how how you've seen it change dramatically over the past few years even?

Cher Schafer: Well, when I got into the business it was very much the HUD market then and so that kind of got me into that gear and was actually a good learning experience to go through that period of time. then it got better after that and now we're right there again, so.

Kathy Soltero: Is it different in dealing with those HUDs and the foreclosures and the short sales that it was back then?

Cher Schafer: It is definitely and you just have to be able to adjust I think to what the market is at the time. Right now the lower price range is really rapid and I think that's a good place to focus on right now too with people trying to take advantage of the $8,000 credit and that kind of thing.

Kathy Soltero: Alright, Cher Schafer, thank you so much for joining us today on Metro Brokers TV.

Cher Schafer: Thank you.

Kathy Soltero: For more real estate information or any of these real estate videos be sure to tune into MetroBrokersTV.com.

Former ReMax Agent Cher Schafer is thrilled about being an independent agent with Metro Brokers

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:45:42 -0500

Cher Schafer on Real Estate and cherschaferhomes.com

Kathy Soltero: Hi, I'm Kathy Soltero with MetroBrokers TV, today in the studio we have Cher Schafer. Cher Schafer thank you so much coming in.

Cher Schafer: Thank you, I appreciate it.

Kathy Soltero: Tell me a little bit about your real estate office and your real estate company.

Cher Schafer: Well I'm Cher Schafer Homes of Metro Brokers and I'm located out of the Dakota Ridge office which is at C-470 and Bowles.

Kathy Soltero: Are you all by yourself then or do you have any other agents with you?

Cher Schafer: I don't have anyone underneath me, my license.

Kathy Soltero: Is that something you plan to do, are you going to expand?

Cher Schafer: Um, not at this time. I don't have any plans for that, I kind of like doing my own thing and being responsible for myself.

Kathy Soltero: How long have you been in the business?

Cher Schafer: Actually this month it's 20 years.

Kathy Soltero: Wow, so you have seen quite a cycle of things happen.

Cher Schafer: Yeah, definitely.

Kathy Soltero: What did you do prior to real estate? What lead you into a real estate career?

Kathy Soltero: Did you do any real estate when you first got your license or?

Cher Schafer: No, it was inactive for awhile actually.

Kathy Soltero: And now CherSchaferHomes.com, do you specialize in any specific area? Or do you specialize in any kind of real estate?

Cher Schafer: Mostly residential, horse property also, townhomes that type of thing. Jefferson County, I've worked quite a bit there because I'm form Colorado actually and grew up in that area.

Kathy Soltero: Cher, you've been in the real estate business for twenty years, tell me how how you've seen it change dramatically over the past few years even?

Kathy Soltero: Is it different in dealing with those HUDs and the foreclosures and the short sales that it was back then?

Kathy Soltero: Alright, Cher Schafer, thank you so much for joining us today on Metro Brokers TV.

Cher Schafer: Thank you.

Kathy Soltero: For more real estate information or any of these real estate videos be sure to tune into MetroBrokersTV.com.

Tom Guest with Key Masters real estate

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:42:50 -0500

Tom Guest with Key Masters real estate

Kathy Soltero: Hi I am Kathy Soltero with metrobrokerstv.com, joining us today is Tom Guest. Tom tell us a little bit about your company.

Tom Guest: Hi Kathy. I have started Key Masters real estate and it's located in Highlands Ranch. We have four brokers working for us and we have been, been in business for about a year in that location.

Kathy Soltero: Do you specialize in that Highlands Ranch area or?

Tom Guest: Specialized in Highlands Ranch, but also work every other area in Denver Metro.

Kathy Soltero: How long have you been in the business?

Tom Guest: Been in the business for 17 years.

Kathy Soltero: Long time?

Tom Guest: Long time.

Kathy Soltero: You have seen a lot going on and [Inaudible]?

Tom Guest: Seen a lot of changes.

Kathy Soltero: What have you done prior to real estate, what got you into the real estate business that maybe was a good transition?

Tom Guest: Prior to real estate I worked retail wholesale and I used to run prize clubs and Pace Membership Warehouse. I was the Marketing Director for the nation for Pace Warehouse club.

Kathy Soltero: And you found that was a good transition then into real estate here?

Tom Guest: It was an excellent transition having the marketing experience.

Kathy Soltero: Do you specialize in anything we are seeing a lot of foreclosures right now, short sales that sort of thing throughout the market?

Tom Guest: Do a lot of bank owned properties helping buyers doing short sales, residential condos just a little bit of everything but there is a lot of bank owned opportunities.

Kathy Soltero: Are you seeing the market start to pick up a little bit right now?

Tom Guest: Seen an excellent pick up in the market this past year especially with the $8000 tax credit that has really benefited first time home buyers.

Kathy Soltero: All right. Well Tom tell me a little bit exactly where your office is located and if people want to contact you, how do you get hold of you?

Tom Guest: Our office is located in Highlands Ranch at 200 Plaza Drive, Suite 130 and just south of the AMC movie theater off of Broadway.

Kathy Soltero: And if they want to call you?

Tom Guest: Phone number 303 718 1182.

Kathy Soltero: And that's your direct line?

Tom Guest: Direct line.

Kathy Soltero: So we will get hold of Tom Guest. Thanks so much for coming in Tom.

Tom Guest: You are welcome, thank you.

Kathy Soltero: Great to talk with you today and for more real estate related videos, be sure to check out metrobrokerstv.com.

Moe Giroux Shuttle Engineer to Real Estate Broker

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:40:05 -0500

Moe Giroux on the road from Senior Space Shuttle Engineer to Real Estate Broker

Kathy Soltero: Hi I am Kathy Soltero with Metro Brokers TV and today in the studio we have Moe Giroux, Moe thanks so much for coming in.

Moe Giroux: Thanks for having me Kathy.

Kathy Soltero: You bet, tell me about your real estate career.

Moe Giroux: I got into real estate business in 1981. I started with Moe and Company back then. After a couple of years in the business I realized if you are going to be in this business and do some business you need to be in the 100% concept and at the time Metro Brokers were still getting going and the only company that was in office that was in my area was RE/MAX. So I joined RE/MAX in 1984 spend eight years there then I realized that you got to be in the business its time to do my own thing and that's what I did I joined Metro Brokers.

Kathy Soltero: And what areas of real estate do you actually specialize here?

Moe Giroux: I own the Metro Brokers office down town its called the Littleton South West office its down in the Ken Caryl Business Center which is basically the South West part of the town.

Kathy Soltero: And so you focus on that area or how many regions?

Moe Giroux: I do focus on that area but wherever the client takes me as well I go whatever the problem is whatever their issue is, within reason you know I go down the Castle Rock or Parker, Aurora is getting a little far away end up North is a little far away but in general it's the Denver South West Metro area.

Kathy Soltero: What did you do before real estate?

Moe Giroux: I was actually a senior engineer on the space shuttle program that [Inaudible] air space that's what brought me here in 1980, and realized right away that that corporate world wasn't quite for me and ended up getting my real estate license and haven't looked back its been great.

Kathy Soltero: With all the foreclosures and short sales and bank owned properties that sort of thing out there, do you specialize in any of those or what do you do?

Moe Giroux: Everything you just said. If you are not working those issues, you are not doing much business because that's, that's the majority of the market is, things are changing I think, the properties that are owned by people that are not foreclosures or bank owned they are realizing they need to compete and they are doing so. So we are starting to see more and more of let's say call the regular market coming out there, but in general yeah there is a still a lot of short sales out there and a lot of bank owned properties.

Kathy Soltero: Okay Moe Giroux, thank you very much for joining us on Metro Brokers TV.

Moe Giroux: Thank you.

Kathy Soltero: And if you would like to get more information, or other real estate related videos, be sure to tune into metrobrokerstv.com.

Michael Paul an Independent Broker with Realty Oasis

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:36:29 -0500

Michael Paul and Independent Broker with Realty Oasis

Kathy Soltero: Hi I am Kathy Soltero with metrobrokerstv.com and today we are joined by Mike Paul, Mike thanks for coming in.

Michael Paul: Well thank you for having me.

Kathy Soltero: Tell me a little bit about your real estate company.

Michael Paul: Well I am in Mark Eibner's office at Realty Oasis. I am a broker associate there not a, you know not an independent broker as many of the Metro Brokers are. It was purely just a matter of choice for me I didn't need to be, need to have my own company and I like it there a whole lot.

Kathy Soltero: And where exactly are you located?

Michael Paul: We are in the Inverness office park, Inverness Parkway very near the headquarters from Metro Brokers.

Kathy Soltero: Do you have lot of other agents that are working with you there?

Michael Paul: You know there are not a lot in the office but there are quite a number I don't know how many, but a lot that are associated there most of them work from their home or from starbucks or wherever.

Kathy Soltero: And how long have you been in the business?

Michael Paul: I am old.

Kathy Soltero: I know.

Michael Paul: Yeah I have been in the business for more than 30 years in one form or another.

Kathy Soltero: So you have seen it cycle around and around?

Michael Paul: I have, I have.

Kathy Soltero: What do you specialize in?

Michael Paul: Currently I am you know a horse property specialist. My wife and I have had horses you know all of our married life and before that even and so it's an area that we are comfortable you know when we meet horse people we always have something to talk about it.

Kathy Soltero: That's right is it a tough real estate market for horse property to decide something else?

Michael Paul: Yes yeah I think its every bit is tough there as it is in the other area of real estate we are feeling the pinch, but we just keep at it.

Kathy Soltero: Do you specialize just in the areas around Douglas County or?

Michael Paul: Well I live in Douglas County, so I probably do more business in Douglas, but we actually you know we form horse people. Its kind of what we do and so wherever they want to be and have horses that's where we go you know whether its buyers or sellers or whatever.

Kathy Soltero: Thanks Mike Paul for joining us today on metrobrokerstv.com.

Michael Paul: Well thank you very much for allowing me to be here.

Kathy Soltero: Absolutely and if you want to see more real estate related videos, be sure to tune into metrobrokerstv.com.

Jeff Newman from Chemist to Real Estate Broker

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:32:45 -0500

Jeff Newman from Chemist to Real Estate Broker

Kathy Soltero: Hi I am Kathy Soltero with Metro Brokers TV. Today in the studio we have Jeff Newman, thank you so much for coming in Jeff.

Jeff Newman: You are welcome.

Kathy Soltero: Tell me a little bit about yourself, your company, your real estate company, where you are at?

Jeff Newman: Okay I am Metro Brokers with, Partners in Real Estate and I work out at the office at underneath in [Inaudible].

Kathy Soltero: And do you work primarily in that area or where do you work?

Jeff Newman: Central is where I live, so I kind of specialize in the central and then kind of northern part of the metro area.

Kathy Soltero: And are you, your own office or by yourself?

Jeff Newman: I am, I am in that office but I am a broker on my own so independent.

Kathy Soltero: Okay very good. How long have you been in the business?

Jeff Newman: Five years.

Kathy Soltero: And how have you seen, I mean when you started real estate was just kind of teetering on a rough area here?

Jeff Newman: Right it was okay when I started and just rear kind of kept going down so.

Kathy Soltero: What did you do prior to real estate?

Jeff Newman: I worked in the pharmaceutical industry; I was a chemist so, quite different but...

Kathy Soltero: So what lured you into real estate?

Jeff Newman: Kind of one at I mean introvert in that job, so I wanted to be more of an extrovert and work with people and I don't know just loved real estate and so.

Kathy Soltero: Have you found that it's really kind of helped you get out and do you love your clients or?

Jeff Newman: I do and I think they like me too.

Kathy Soltero: Well that's a good thing, that's a really good thing. Do you specialize in any specific area, do you do foreclosures, do you do short sales?

Jeff Newman: Just basic residential, no specialization of, you know foreclosure or anything so.

Kathy Soltero: But you tackle them or?

Jeff Newman: I thought a couple yeah but never dived into it for you know do full time.

Kathy Soltero: and you say its central area, when you talk about central area what do you mean pretty since you are [Voice Crossover]?

Jeff Newman: The downtown area. I live down there so I really loved the older homes and you know [Inaudible] you know that market basically so.

Kathy Soltero: If there is one thing that you would want your customers to know about Jeff Newman that you have really stand out why they should work with you, what would you tell them?

Jeff Newman: That's I know my job and that I am, I make real estate the purchase fun.

Kathy Soltero: Jeff thank you so much for joining us on Metro Brokers TV and for more real estate related videos be sure to tune into metrobrokerstv.com.

Kathy Soltero of Metro Brokers talks about the roller coaster market

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:29:10 -0500

Kathy Soltero of Metro Brokers talks about the roller coaster market

Mark Eibner: This is Mark Eibner with Metro Brokers TV and we are here today with Kathy Soltero and Kathy welcome to the show.

Kathy Soltero: Thank you my pleasure.

Mark Eibner: Hey you could tell our audience out there how long you have been in the real estate business?

Kathy Soltero: I have been in real estate now for eight years.

Mark Eibner: Eight years?

Kathy Soltero: We have seen a lot go on in short amount of time, is a great market to start out with and then it got, got of went down and it started to pick up again.

Mark Eibner: Well [Inaudible] all cyclic.

Kathy Soltero: Yes.

Mark Eibner: Any areas you specialize in, in the business?

Kathy Soltero: You know I have actually in the eight years I think done everything and short sales, listings, short sale buys, I have done foreclosures, I have done on the buy-side and on the list side, I have done relocations, I have done listings and buyers I have done first time buyers, I think I basically covered it all and there really I mean I love first time home buyers. I love cash buyers and I just love them all I think every deal is going to be different, short sales are amazing.

Mark Eibner: Well what do you think the majority of your business comes from then?

Kathy Soltero: I would say a lot of my business is coming from referrals and from the Internet, you know website really draws people to, to you and tells you a lot about who you are and that sort of thing. So you know hopefully people tune into metrobrokerstv.com and see more about me.

Mark Eibner: You bet. Well we appreciate you being on the show today Kathy.

Kathy Soltero: My pleasure.

Mark Eibner: For more information about Metro Brokers and their culture make sure to tune into metrobrokerstv.com.

Metro Brokers Jim Leto discusses his real estate company

Mark Eibner CRS, ePro,GRI (Metro Brokers Realty Oasis-BrokerIPTV) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:25:53 -0500

Metro Brokers Jim Leto discusses his real estate company

Kathy Soltero: Hi I am Kathy Soltero with Metro Brokers TV. Today in the studio with us is Jim Leto. Jim thank you so much for coming in.

Jim Leto: Well thank you for having me.

Kathy Soltero: Tell me a little bit about your real estate company, where it's out, how many people are in it, that sort of it.

Jim Leto: Well the Metro Brokers office [Inaudible] is at 550, South Wadsworth in Lakewood and I am with real estate professionals and there is only about five of us in the office right now so.

Kathy Soltero: Do you work primarily then in the Lakewood area or?

Jim Leto: I do a lot of Lakewood and a lot of Denver also because I have been living in South West Denver area.

Kathy Soltero: And how long have you been in this business?

Jim Leto: 20 years.

Kathy Soltero: Wow so you have seen a lot of different cycles?

Jim Leto: Yes I have.

Kathy Soltero: How would you say the market is going right now?

Kathy Soltero: Absolutely. What did you do prior to real estate, you said you have been in it for 20 years so...?

Kathy Soltero: So then you went into real estate and closed down the stores or?

Jim Leto: Well it's not quite as simple. Actually I was widowed and then went out to California in business and bunked in an old friend of mine and we ended up getting married so.

Kathy Soltero: Oh!

Jim Leto: about a year and a half or two years.

Kathy Soltero: So you are joint business partners?

Jim Leto: Yeah she was, she was already real state agent in California.

Kathy Soltero: All right well Jim thank you so very much for being with us on Metro Brokers TV.

Jim Leto: All my pleasure, thank you.

Kathy Soltero: And if you want any more information or you want to watch more real estate related videos, be sure to tune into metrobrokerstv.com.