Tina in Virginia - Hampton Roads Real Estate

Brick Ranch Home for Sale in Chesapeake Virginia $234,800

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:28:25 -0600

Brick Ranch Home on Culdesac in Chesapeake

Overview
Maps
Photos
Description

$234,800

Single Family Home
For Sale

Main Features

3 Bedrooms
2 Bathrooms
1 Unit
Interior: 1473 sqft

Location

808 Contrell Ct.
Chesapeake, VA 23320

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Homes for Sale

Long & Foster Oceanfront
(+1) 757-287-6338 Call now
tina@tinamerritt.com
http://www.tinamerritt.com

Listed by: Long and Foster Real Estate

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

The ALL757 Network consists of both buyer and listing specialists helping buyers and sellers in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Isle of Wight County, Hampton, Newport News and Poquoson, Virginia.

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Social Media at the Beach!

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:54:12 -0600

January 23, 2010 will bring a new and exciting social media event/convention to Virginia Beach. Social Media @ the Beach will be held at Peabody's and will feature a day packed with great information for both the social media novice and expert alike.

Keynote speaker Jeff Turner will headline the event. Jeff is an internationally known social media educator and we are so fortunate to have him coming from California for our event.

Of course, in the spirit of other notable social media events and conventions, we have a designated charity: Mothers Fighting for Others (MFFO).

So, mark your calendar and visit the website to register for THE social media event in Hampton Roads for 2010!

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Dropping Out in Portsmouth

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:43:05 -0600

The Class of 2009 in Portsmouth received recognition that school officials would probably prefer to not see; they had the 2nd highest dropout rate in the State of Virginia.

The City had a 20.1% drop out rate. That is almost 3 times the State average of 7.9%.

In more promising news, the Portsmouth City Public Schools are all now fully accredited by the State. Also, the on-time graduation rate has continued to increase.

All of the Hampton Roads area school districts have at least one high school that has dropout rates higher than the State average. Virginia Beach City still has the lowest in the area at 6%, followed by Chesapeake. Suffolk and Norfolk both have dropout rates higher than the state average.

Portsmouth School officials say that reducing the number of required electives will help curb the dropout rate. Really? Seems to me that with over a fifth of the system's students dropping out, more serious measures need to be put into place. High dropout rates correlate with higher crime rates and lower community incomes. Students who dropout will cost the City more in services over the long term.

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Where to Vote in Virginia?

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:58:07 -0600

Thanks to Google maps, there is now a handy map that will show Virginia residents where they need to go to vote this Election Day. Simply enter your street address and your polling place will pop up along with directions you can print out, download, etc. as well as a list of the candidates who are running.

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Making a Difference - Extending your Help to Someone with a Simple Gesture

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:04:45 -0500

Via Anne Marie Malfi, Real Estate Marketing Consultant/Virtual Asst, Bucks County,PA (Malfi Marketing Solutions ~ for real estate professionals):

This community is full of people who are always looking to make a difference to the people who hire us to provide real estate services, in our communities or to those special people in our lives.

This idea was shared with my 11 year old daughter (Sarah) from a teacher in her school. My daughter has been actively looking for ways to get involved with more community service and this is one way she felt she could make a difference in someone's life.

If you're looking for another way to extend your help, especially this winter ~ another way you can make a difference to someone in your community, we hope you'll join us in making a difference!.

A simple gesture can make a difference, and you'll see how at the end of this short video.

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If it's not evident to you by now, consumers are very knowledgeable and computer savvy and are using the Internet to not only search for homes but for real estate agents and real estate professionals who they feel are like minded and can lead them to the results they are looking for.

As we all know, there are only 24 hours in a day to get it all done...are you focusing on the right stuff to grow your business and meet your client's needs? Contact us today to get started!

Ready to take your Marketing to new levels? Anne Marie Malfi ~ Malfi Marketing Solutions.com ~ Copyright 2009

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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New Updates on Extending the $8,000 tax credit for First Time Home Buyers

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:12:04 -0500

Via Kryste Adams - Central Oregon Real Estate (Fred Real Estate Group *Bend-Redmond-Sunriver-LaPine-Sisters):

Good News for First Time or Second Time Home Buyers in Bend, Oregon - Updates on Extending the $8,000 tax credit for First Time Home Buyers

According to CNBC, the extension of the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit is making progress. The most recent update has the $8000 tax credit extended through the end of April. In addition, the Bill will included a credit for repeat buyers (those who have lived in thier home three of the last five years) of a primary residence. Repeat buyers would recieve a $6500 credit. According to CNBC, "Senate Banking Committee Chariman Christoperh Dodd stated that a deal has been reached." Additional specifics on the "deal" have not yet been reported and the "deal" still has to pass a vote.

Stay tunned for addittional updates on the Bend, Oregon real estate market and the $8000 first time home buyer tax credit.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading my Central Oregn Real Estate Blog!

Kryste Adams

______________________________________________________________________________________________

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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International Paper Closing in Franklin

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:28:06 -0500

Isle of Wight County is about to lose a major employer. International Paper announced the closure of their plant in Franklin.

The layoffs will begin November 7th and continue through spring until the plant is permanently closed. The closure will effect 1100 employees.

Virginia is seeking aid for the workers under the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance Program. In addition to the 1100 workers, it is estimated that another 2400 workers could be hurt. Those workers include truckers, loggers, mechanics and other support service workers.

The current unemployment rate in Isle of Wight County is 7%. With the loss of these jobs, the rate may climb to 12% or higher, depending on the far reaching effects of the closure on the area's economy.

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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The Separation of Family and Money

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:11:49 -0500

I heard a very sad story earlier this week.

A father opened up a savings account for his son at a local bank. The son was leaving for college and the father wanted to be able to deposit funds for his son. The account was in the names of both father and son with the father's good intention of providing spending money to his son when needed.

The son got mixed up with a bad kid. The kid opened up a checking account at another local bank. The kid wrote a bunch of checks on the checking account (which didn't have any money to cover the checks). The son deposited them into his savings account and the two of them immediately withdrew as much cash as they could.

Now, the father must file charges against his son to protect himself from being held responsible for the bad checks. The father's credit will be damaged and it will be a lot of work to get it fixed.

We always hear of nightmare stories where a parent has co-signed on a loan for a child. This story shows it can also be risky to even have a joint bank account with a child or anyone else for that matter.

Tina in Virginia

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Virtual RE Bar Camp is Coming!

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:02:21 -0500

Educating Real Estate Agents On How To Use Modern Technologies To Better Their Business Will Never Be The Same!

On November 17th, 2009 dozens of the most respected educators in the real estate industry converge to host the first of its kind, Virtual Real Estate BarCamp.

Virtual Real Estate BarCamp is a 1-Day Learning Extravaganza.
From 9am until 4pm PST, three concurrent webinar "rooms" will each host 9 different sessions, for a total of 27 different presentations.
There is something for everyone and everything for someone, and best of all, IT IS FREE and attendance is unlimited!

Click below to:
Register.
Learn more.
See who is coming.
Check out the Session Calendar.
Get sponsorship info.

Attendance is projected to be at least 1000 agents, nationwide.
Do not miss out on being part of this ground-breaking event.

Session topics include:

Social Media Risk Management
Flickr for Real Estate
Developing Your Brand
Online Advertising Secrets
Facebook for Real Estate
WordPress Training
Daily Goal Tracking
Starting a Real Estate Blog

...and much more, with new sessions being added every day.

And if that wasn\'t cool enough, individuals from around the country are volunteering to host In-Real-Life MeetUps for after the event.
Learn all day, and then meet to have a beer with local participants. This is going to be a blast!

We hope to see you there!

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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HOME Investors Partnership Program

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:51:56 -0500

The Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority oversees the HOME Investors Partnership Program. This program assists qualified residents in the City of Chesapeake with the following:

Down payment/closing cost assistance to qualified homebuyers for the purchase of affordable single family residences.

Low interest/deferred loans, to qualified homeowners, for improvements to residential structures to correct violations of applicable housing codes and standards

Low interest loans to qualified residential rental property owners for improvements to correct violations of applicable housing codes and standards

Provide homeownership and credit counseling services to homeowners who participate in the Authority’s rehabilitation loan and homeownership programs

Provided financial assistance to local Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDO’s) through a 15% set aside of the Authority’s annual HOME fund allocation

For more information on this program, contact the Community Development Loan/Fair Housing Officer at CRHA. 757-523-0401 or online: www.crhava.org.

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Teenagers Beware! New Policy at MacArthur Center!

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:51:54 -0500

Effective October 19, 2009, unsupervised minors are no longer permitted in the MacArthur Center Mall in Downtown Norfolk after 5pm.

Yes, ID's will be checked and extra security is on hand to enforce the new regulation. Teens found in the mall unsupervised after 5pm will be escorted to their "accompanying adult" or escorted out of the mall.

According to mall officials, the new rule is to help keep shoppers safe and kids out of trouble. In recent years, the number of minors "hanging out" in the mall has grown.

Some of the businesses are not happy about the new rule. Both Nordstrom and Dillards said they will continue to allow teenagers to shop in their stores after 5pm.

Click HERE to read the new "Adult Supervision Policy" for MacArthur Center.

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Offender - The iPhone App to Locate Sexual Offenders

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:28:41 -0500

ThinAir Wireless has created an app that many real estate professionals may find useful. Offender is an application that searches around your current location or another address for registered sex offenders.

Since the app was released on June 2, 2009, they have seen over a million downloads. There are 2 versions: a limited free version and $1.99 for the full version. The app has also cracked the iTunes top 10 list in popularity a few times.

Home for Sale in Virginia Beach

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:50:17 -0500

CLICK TO VIEW LISTING WEBSITE

Description and Features

Adorable and affordable 4 bedroom cottage convenient to the beach! Sunny and open floorplan features updated kitchen and baths, new carpet, fresh paint and much more! Enjoy the outdoors living space with fenced yard and covered front porch. Great curb appeal!

Bedrooms:	4
Bathrooms:	2
Parking Spaces:	3
Square Feet:	1300
Year Built:	1999
Floors:	1
MLS #:	0942670

Location

Click to view map: 1141 Carver Ave. Virginia Beach VA 23451

Links

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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15 FREE Sites to Post Your Open Houses!

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:33:26 -0500

Not advertising your open house is just like having a party and not inviting anyone. Why bother? Pull out a calendar and SCHEDULE your open houses. PLAN for them. And, most important of all, ADVERTISE them! Make sure when you advertise, you also add directions that are easy to follow - (not everyone has a GPS).

Advertise a drawing for a free Flip video camera. You can find them on Amazon now for about $50. After 4 or so open houses, draw a name and make a big deal announcing the winner - advertise that too. Make sure to order a custom skin for the Flip camera with your branding on it (skinit.com) so everyone knows where it came from! I've attached a picture of Dakno's custom skin.

For the list of free sites to advertise your open houses, read the entire post here.

Have a great party!

Tina in Virginia

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Chinese Dry Wall Claims May Get Your Insurance Canceled

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:51:53 -0500

Via Nestor & Katerina Gasset Realtors® Wellington Florida Luxury Homes (International Properties and Investments, Inc.):

Wellington Florida Real Estate News- Chinese Dry Wall Claims May Get Your Insurance Canceled.

It has come to our attention that some homeowners' insurance companies are canceling policies after homeowners make a claim because Chinese Dry Wall was found in their home.

Most developers and builders we know have been taking care of the Chinese Dry Wall issues themselves. Where Chinese Dry Wall has been found, the builders or developers if it is still a new development have been moving families into other homes while they go in and tear out all the Chinese Dry Wall and replace it with code approved and certified dry wall. There are many lawsuits going through the courts right now against builders and developers who are not replacing the dry wall and repairing the damage. Lennar and GL homes are 2 of the builders that are repairing, replacing and re-mediating the issues with Chinese Dry Wall without a cost to the homeowner. In turn, the builders and developers are turning to the manufacturers for recouping some of the expenses.

We are not attorneys so you would need to talk to your attorney first and this post is not giving you legal advice. What we have found many homeowners doing is first getting the builder to replace and repair the Chinese Dry Wall and also getting the builder to pay for their temporary move and storage of their belongings. This way a claim would not have to be made to their insurance company.

Most claims to insurance companies are being denied anyways, because most insurance policies do not cover building material defects and contamination.

The other problem with making a claim to your insurance company is that is now put on your record and your insurance company may not renew your policy unless you totally fix the Chinese Dry Wall issue. So if you don't have the money to fix it and the builder refuses to fix it or you bought the home from a homeowner after their warranty ran out and now can not fix it- you may have a real problem on your hands by your insurance company knowing about it.

Some of the adverse affects of Chinese Dry Wall are health issues such as difficulty in breathing, nosebleeds and headaches. The property issues consist of air conditioning units that stop working and the smell of rotten eggs throughout the house.

The costs to replace the Chinese Dry Wall and the corroding parts of metals and air conditioners and other construction parts- can ring up to 1/3 of the original construction cost.

Thousands of homes here in Florida that were built after the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 contain Chinese Dry Wall. This also happened to be the housing boom time here in Florida and builders were buying dry wall from China that was not approved nor stamped certified to use.

The Florida Senate is holding meetings in Tallahassee to discuss ways in which to help the homeowners. Making the insurance companies cover the claims is not on the table being discussed at this time. Most of the attorneys representing homeowners in lawsuits against their insurance companies argue that no one even knew what Chinese Dry Wall was when homeowners policies were established and to deny their claims because it was not invented is just wrong.

We will stay tuned and follow this story to see how it all turns out and bring you the breaking Wellington Florida Real Estate News.

FTC Disclosure: While there is no outright solicitation in this post nor in the intent of this post and it is written for informational purposes we may end up getting a listing or a buyer that contacts us because they are a reader of our blog or they happen upon this post as they search on the internet for information. There is a chance that we may gain some type of benefit known or unknown from writing this post. Hmmm, wondering if this covers enough of the vagueness of the new FTC rule on disclosure of business relationships that may be, could be or may one day be formed through writing this post.

T o view Florida Short Sales- Click here . We know Palm Beach County Short Sales and Port St Lucie Florida Short Sales and will help you get your home Sold if you need to Sell your home and help you buy your home in Palm Beach County Florida : Call us today.

By TwitterButton

Wellington Florida Real Estate News- Chinese Dry Wall Claims May Get Your Insurance Canceled. -was first published on South- Florida-Luxury-Living.com.

Copyright © 2009 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.*Wellington Florida Real Estate News- Chinese Dry Wall Claims May Get Your Insurance Canceled.*

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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"Home Inspection For Information Purposes Only" Hell no.

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:18:31 -0500

Via Northern Virginia Homes - FRANKLY REAL ESTATE Inc:

You've seen them, and maybe you have used them.

The "Home Inspection for Information Purposes Only." (coupled with no home inspection contingency, ie, no back and forth, no walkingg after the inspection)

What the hell is that? It is a trick, is what it is. In my first year, I let one agent do this, thinking it would build goodwill, and it backfired. They did it during the HOA review period and backed out over something stupidly small!

(Sidenote, I was able to keep $3,000 of the deposit for my client. Why? Because the idiot put on my voicemail that he was backing out because they found XYZ. Thing is, with HOA docs, you can get out for NO reason, or an HOA reason, you can't get out for an unrelated matter. The broker said "in my 30 years... I've never...")

Now my motto is "You want that information, great, do it AFTER closing."

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for home inspections. What I am against is agents sneakily (is that a word?) trying to make their contract look more attractive, either to win a bidding war or to win on price (see post on winning on terms).

There are other creative ways to help your client while making your contract stronger (without increasing the price).

Such as:

1) Put in a provision that the buyer will only request items over $2,000 to be repaired. That way the seller knows you aren't going to nickel and dime them

2) Or go higher. Put in a provision that the buyer will only request items over $15,000 to be repaired. That way the seller knows you just want it inspected to make sure it isn't falling off a cliff (which is usually most people's concern)

3) Make it an all or nothing home inspection. That is what the banks do sometimes. I'll get it inspected and I'll walk or I'll buy it. Hopefully this implies that you won't sweat the small stuff.

But don't do the "Info Only" stuff. It is dishonest if you try and do it during the HOA review period with the intent of using the HOA Docs to get out. And if the seller can prove that this was your intent, you might risk your deposit and more. (most people think only the deposit is at risk when you back out of a contract, they are wrong)

And the only thing worse that an "Info Only" inspection is a contract with no home inspection contingency yet the buyer still sneaks in their Home Inspector anyhow, and then they have the gaul to bring one anyhow? No Sir.

Frank- Broker FranklyRealty.com

Wolf pix by manitou2121

Please report typos

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Commotion in the Ocean!

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:50:57 -0500

On Saturday, October 17th 8pm until midnight, the Virginia Aquarium is presenting Commotion in the Ocean. Enjoy live music, adult beverages, a silent auction, live music, dancing and delicious food.

Proceeds from this wonderful evening, will help to fund a permanent interactive children’s learning gallery at the Virginia Aquarium. Tickets are $75 per person. Black tie preferred. Sponsorships and tables seating 10 are available. For more information call (757) 385-0261.

The Virginia Aquarium is located at 717 General Booth Blvd. in Virginia Beach. Visit them on the web at www.virginiaaquarium.com

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Google Wave will change the way real estate transactions are conducted online

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:27:58 -0500

Via Real Bird (RealBird Inc.):

First, please watch this YouTube video by Epipheo Studio explaining why Google Wave will revolutionize email communication. Then see how it will change online real estate transactions and sales cycles for the better, by making it integrated, manageable and streamlined.

Most of what I write below is based on my expectation of the exact features of Google Wave without actually having access to it and to the API sandbox (Google - please send us an invite already, will you?)

As you can see from the video above, Google Wave improves email communication by solving the mess, that the back-and-forth, multi-participant email communication creates. Any process (business or other) that has a relatively long timespan and involves many participants are a pain to conduct via email. That applies to the management of a web design project as described in the video above, planning a wedding or a corporate event, and true for real estate transactions as well. Since real estate transactions and the real estate business cycles are 1) lengthy by nature and 2) they involve many stakeholders besides you and your client (inspectors, assistants, insurance folks, lawyers, interior designers, vendors etc.), it is very well suited for improvements by the Google Wave platform.

What is Google Wave?

At its basic level it is:

A communication platform, that combines different features and benefits of

email

threaded discussions

media-independent sharing (any digital object - text, video, PDF etc. can be attached to the Wave)

real-time chats

open, standard extendability

If we dig deeper into its capabilities, it will clearly show that the sum of all these things is bigger than what the individual features by themselves can deliver:

The real estate business cycle consists of 4 major components:

Self marketing and prospecting

Servicing active clients
Listing marketing (etc) for sellers and home finding (search, showing etc.) for buyers

The closing process

Customer retention (CRM, farming, newsletters, market updates etc.)

Even though, during the last decade or two, most of these processes became computer aided and many of them went online, integration of individual business processes are still cumbersome if at all doable.

Google Wave has the potential to change this. You will be able to set up a Wave, invite all participants to communicate in one communication channel, attach all information to one thread and you and your clients will be able to track progress, communicate decision points all within one environment.

Let's talk about Extendability:

I believe, that Google Wave will become an overnight success for many reasons, but the emphasize on extendability can not be stressed enough. Theoretically, you could imagine that one software vendor could create a service for you that supports the whole real estate business cycle via their proprietary system, but in practice a system like this can be prohibitively expensive and always lacking and slow to adopt to new requirements. Alternatively, you could ask the many vendors supporting your individual business processes to pick up the phone and start talking to each other and integrate their systems (IDX and eDoc and marketing tools and lead management and CRM etc.) but quite frankly, the chance of this happening is close to zero. The cost and risk is too high for the vendors and their interests overlap and collide. This is where Google Wave extendability comes to the picture. Wave is designed from the ground up to be a platform that provides the infrastructure for 3rd party vendors to add their own custom functionality to it. It is a centralized standard that vendors will adapt and you will be able to replace an under performing vendor by simply signing up with a competing one WITHOUT jeopardizing your overall service.

Via the Google Wave's robots and gadgets specification, software vendors like us at RealBird and Zillow, Cyberhomes, Altos Research, Trulia and many others will be able to create extensions that interact with your Waves and enhance them with added functionality and information.

The easiest way to imagine how a Google Wave application will look like is to take all the scenarios where you or your visitors or your clients initiate an email conversation. Replace the email communication with Wave and imagine how much better the whole process will be when other stakeholders and 3rd party information can be attached to the conversation thread.

For example, take a RealBird single property website. Some prospective buyer finds it through syndication or search engine marketing and is interested enough to share it with his or her spouse. Currently they send an email using the built-in email tool. We will provide an option for them to not only send an email but create a Google Wave - which eventually invites the spouse to join the conversation via email. They start their discussion about the property within the Wave. Let's say they decide that they want to see this property, Currently, they would send you another email, a step which starts breaking down the communication process to unconnected channels. With Google Wave, they will invite you to join the existing Wave as a participant. With the built-in permission system, they will be able to add you to the conversation without disclosing what they talked about before. Once you joined the Wave, you will be able to add calender events and todos to the conversation (maybe using a 3rd party Wave extension gadget) and attach more information such a disclosures, floorplans and any other info that you think will enhance the process. Let's say, your prospective buyers like the property and for the sake of argument, let's say they have their own buyer's agent already. At this point - or maybe earlier - they invite her to join the Wave. Again, with appropriate permission control. Eventually, they make up their mind and make an offer. Let's say the offer is accepted. From this point the Wave will turn from a prospecting channel into managing the closing process. You will be able to add new 3rd party "robots", maybe one from DocuSign or other eDoc providers, and you will invite title and escrow people etc. You get the point: the Wave - with it's core platform and with its 3rd party applications - will help you cross the current boundaries and disintegration points of the business process, melting them into one, easy to manage integrated environment.

This is just an example process, simplified for the sake of the example, but I think it's good enough to show the power of Google Wave to manage business processes. This particular one shows an example from the buyer's perspective, how they can add stakeholders to the process, but you can take other processes and apply the same exercise with you being the "chairman" of the thread. Or imagine a Wave for a home search, with RealBird Property Search "robots" participating and posting matching listings into the Wave. Or conducting office collaborations. Or open house marketing. Only the imagination is the limit.

Google, if you are reading this post, please send us an invite already, we can't wait to start developing Wave robots and integration points for RealBird. Will you? Thanks.

-- Zoltan
RealBird.com

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Speechless Sunday - The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, VA

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:55:06 -0500

The Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia, was built in 1766. A National Historic Landmark, The Homestead is nestled in the Allegheny Mountains offering over 3000 acres of activities, relaxation and natural beauty. The adjacent Homestead Spa was built in 1892 and is still fed by the famous hot springs which have been attracting visitors since the 1700's. The Homestead Resort also features 3 championship level golf courses, a golf academy, trout fishing, skiing, tennis, horseback riding and many, many more activities. For more information, visit The Homestead's website.

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Slideshow: Posterous is the new Twitter

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:59:44 -0500

Via Patrick Kitano (Domus Consulting Group):

Active Rain adopted the trend of reposting other people's content with its Reblog feature. Reposting, reblogging, retweeting, rebroadcasting - the function of distributing information and date relevant to your message is a function of media. Blogging purists may criticize this trend claiming it detracts from the voice of the blogger, but the reality is most people aren't bloggers but do like sharing information.

Posterous is a blogging game changer. It elegantly automates the function of reposting so that anybody can build a decent looking "blog" without writing one. It also automates syndication across the social media landscape so it gets instant recognition from your networks as well as from Google. Here's the slideshow:

How to create a blog without "writing" oneView more presentations from Pat Kitano.

Posterous facilitates becoming a media resource. We see templates and themes built for Posterous that will have the look and feel of the New York Times. We've been asserting over the past year that becoming the media is the next marketing paradigm. This is the slideshow we're presenting at the California Association of Realtors next Tuesday at 2:00:

Media is the New Marketing
View more presentations from Pat Kitano.

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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RE Bar Camp Lynchburg October 8th!

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:40:35 -0500

RE BarCamp is Coming to Lynchburg, VA!

Holiday Inn Select
601 Main Street
Lynchburg Va
8 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Networking events both
Wednesday and Thursday nights!
RSVP Today!

Also known as an “un”conference, the attendees decide the material discussed. The agenda is set that day, which may seem strange at first, but it works. If you’ve never been to a Bar Camp before, you need to experience it. If you think you can pass on this event, you can’t. The information and networking involved in this setting is invaluable for your real estate career.

Remember, it's FREE!!!!!

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Really? You Represent the Buyer? Really? Are You Sure About That? Really?

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:05:03 -0500

Mr. Innocent First Time Home Buyer called me (we'll call him IB) and asked to see one of my listings. When I asked IB if he was currently working with an agent, he politely said, "Yes, I am. However, she is currently out of town and cannot show the property to me. She TOLD ME to call you."

Really? "IB, are you under a buyer brokerage agreement with this agent?". IB's response, "Yes, I am".

At this point, I really felt sorry for IB. He seemed like such a nice guy and he also deserves BETTER.

Buyer's Agents: by having the listing agent (who represents the SELLER, in case you forgot) show the property to your BUYER (whom YOU represent), you are failing in your fiduciary duty to that buyer! WHY? WHY? WHY would you do this??????

Don't get me wrong now...I represent the seller, remember? I will be more than happy to show my listing to YOUR buyer. While I'm chatting him up, I'll find out where he works, what his motivation is for buying, take the time to explain to him why THIS house is the perfect one for him. And...I will use all this information to negotiate on behalf of my client, the SELLER.

Just to satisfy my curiosity, I asked IB if "his" agent mentioned anything about another agent covering her business while she was on vacation. He said, "No, she told me just to cal the listing agents if there was anything I wanted to see and she would write the offer when she got back".

I wonder how IB's agent would feel if she were being sued and when her attorney went on vacation, the attorney told her just to call the plaintiff's attorney for help. Maybe if she continues this type of behavior, she will find out.....

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Make HUD / FHA Lenders Accept ESignature

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:17:30 -0500

hud, fha

Via An Bui (DocuSign):

This is so important, we're reblogging this from DocuSign's Corporate Blog.

PLEASE reblog this and email the FHA to let them know that they need to accept electronic signature! Details below:

Are you having problems using e-signatures with clients who have FHA loans? Are your clients losing their rate locks? Do they have to go back and re-sign with a “wet signature” because some lenders are unwilling to accept e-signatures? Has this affected your income? If you’ve been touched, frustrated or worse, lost income because of this issue, we need to hear from you!

We are working to help you.

At DocuSign, we heard you loud and clear and have teamed up with ESRA (Electronic Signature & Records Association, www.esignrecords.org) to bring this message to theFHA. ESRA’s mission is to educate its members, the public, and the government with respect to the legal, regulatory and operational aspects of the use and acceptance of electronic signatures and records.

We need your help.

As you know, electronic signatures are not new. Signed into law in 2000 by President Clinton, the ESIGN act provided for documents and signatures in electronic form to have the same legal standing as paper documents and handwritten signatures. By not recognizing these 100% valid transactions, FHA is single-handedly setting e-commerce back years and creates real economic hardship for all parties in the real estate transaction.

To effect change with lenders, change must first start in Washington D.C., more specifically the FHA. With FHA’s sudden preeminence in the mortgage market, its policies are affecting those of major lenders.

What you can do.

Your voices need to be heard by decision makers at the FHA. To do this, tell your story of customer frustration, economic loss, whether it is financial or hours/time lost in closing because of last minute lender acceptance problems, and demand the FHA publicly state its policy regarding e-signature acceptance. The only way to effectively turn the wheel of change from “status quo” to “e-signature acceptance” is to stand up and be heard.

You can use our template to copy and paste into your email or just use it for inspiration.

Address your email to the following list of public representatives.

David.H.Stevens@hud.gov

Margaret_Burns@hud.gov;

Bonnie_McCloskey@hud.gov

cc: ESRA@esignrecords.org.

Act Now! FHA needs to hear from you. Send your email today.

Together, let’s make a difference. Click here for more information about this initiative regarding esignaures and the FHA.

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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New FHA Condo Guidelines Pushed to November 1, 2009

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:31:34 -0500

It has came to my attention that some agents and buyers are still unclear with the new condo changes that are coming up for FHA. Deadline has been pushed from October 1st to November 1st, 2009.

In the past, you only needed to satisfy one of the following two criteria to finance a condo unit using FHA financing.

1.) The Condo Project has a FHA warranty

- This requires the Homeowners Association of the condominium project to apply and receive a warranty on the project from the HUD.

2.) The unit must pass a questionnaire called a “Spot Check” done on an individual basis

As of right now, after November 2^nd 2009 FHA is voiding all condo project approvals that were done BEFORE October 1, 2008. This means FHA loans will not be able to be done in an ineligible project until it is re-approved which will be a difficult and lengthy procedure! A project approval will cost $1,500 and up and FHA is now going to require an attorney's opinion letter, which can be another $800 or higher.

Spot FHA condo approvals will no longer be allowed

This means that if you are a buyer or an agent with a condo client who wants to buy or sell FHA, you should get them to do it NOW. After November 2^nd, the whole project will have to be approved for just one FHA loan and it will be a long and tedious process.

· Project approvals are currently taking 6-8 weeks. If FHA holds to their current November 2^nd rules, and some 55,000 condo projects nationwide have to get re-approved, who knows how long an approval may take.

Only 30% of the loans in any project will be allowed to be FHA loans

For example in a 30 unit project only 9 FHA loans will be allowed. Since FHA is the preferred program currently for most condo buyers, condo sales for the remaining 21 units will be difficult.

The official mortgagee letter is found here http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/letters/mortgagee/files/09-19ml.doc for more eligibility requirements

FHA Link to check if the condo is approved https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/condo1.cfm

For more information, contact:

Justin Williams

Home Mortgage Consultant

Prosperity Mortgage Company

M8612-011

4701 Columbus Street Suite 300

Virginia Beach, VA 23462

(757) 490-9200 Tel

757-692-3464 Cell

1-866-922-5123 Fax

Justin.Williams@prosperitymortgage.com

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

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Those Who Have Chosen to Walk Away from Home Mortgages

Tina Merritt - Virginia Beach Real Estate (Long and Foster Real Estate) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:27:53 -0500

Via Liz Miller (Keller Williams Arizona Living Realty):

A new study looks are those who have chosen to walk away from home mortgages, and it has a few surprises.

For example: Who is more likely to walk away from a house and a mortgage -- a person with super-prime credit scores or someone with lower scores?

Research reported in the LA Times, drawn from 24 million individual credit files, has found that homeowners with high scores when they apply for a loan are 50% more likely to "strategically default" -- abruptly and intentionally pull the plug and abandon the mortgage -- compared with lower-scoring borrowers.

National credit bureau Experian teamed with consulting company Oliver Wyman to identify the characteristics and debt management behavior of the growing numbers of homeowners who bail out of their mortgages with none of the expected warning signs, such as nonpayments on other debts.

With foreclosures, delinquencies and loan losses at record levels, strategic defaults and walkaways are among the hottest subjects in residential real estate finance. Unlike in earlier academic studies, Experian and Wyman could tap into credit files over extended periods to identify patterns associated with strategic defaults.

Among researchers' findings are these eye-openers:

* The number of strategic defaults is far beyond most industry estimates -- 588,000 nationwide during 2008, more than double the total in 2007. They represented 18% of all serious delinquencies that extended for more than 60 days in last year's fourth quarter.

* Strategic defaulters often go straight from perfect payment histories to no mortgage payments at all. This is in stark contrast with most financially distressed borrowers, who try to keep paying on their mortgage even after they've fallen behind on other accounts.

* Strategic defaults are heavily concentrated in negative-equity markets where home values zoomed during the boom and have cratered since 2006. In California last year, the number of strategic defaults was 68 times higher than it was in 2005. In Florida it was 46 times higher. In most other parts of the country, defaults were about nine times higher in 2008 than in 2005.

* Two-thirds of strategic defaulters have only one mortgage -- the one they're walking away from on their primary homes. Individuals who have mortgages on multiple houses also have a higher likelihood of strategic default, but researchers believe that many of these walkaways are from investment properties or second homes.

* People who default strategically and lose their houses appear to understand the consequences of what they're doing. Piyush Tantia, an Oliver Wyman partner and a principal researcher on the study, said strategic defaulters "are clearly sophisticated," based on the patterns of selective payments observable in their credit files. For example, they tend not to default on home equity lines of credit until after they bail out on their main mortgages, sometimes to draw down more cash on the equity line.

Strategic defaulters may know that their credit scores will be severely depressed by their mortgage abandonment, Tantia said, but they appear to look at it as a business decision: "Well, I'm $200,000 in the hole on my house, and yes, I'll damage my credit," he said of defaulters. But they see it as the most practical solution under the circumstances.

The Experian-Wyman study does not try to explore the ethical or legal aspects of mortgage walkaways. But it does suggest that lenders and loan servicers take steps to screen and identify strategic defaulters in advance and possibly avoid offering them loan modifications, since they'll probably just re-default on them anyway.

Realtor Liz Miller - Lake Havasu City, Arizona Real Estate

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Tina Merritt and the ALL757 Network can be reached at email: tina@tinamerritt.com or 757-287-6338.

Visit the ALL757.com Website

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