I have recently moved and I for the first time used a moving company.  Prior to this move I have moved 14 times as an adult ... not including the 9 different moves while my father was in the Air Force.  So I know about moving.  I researched and got quotes from several movers, I did not go with the cheapest nor most expensive. 

Let's start with the beginning:

Salesperson makes promises that I have in writing about the cost ... I received a Binding Quote which means they could not charge me any more.

I packed all my lose items and the movers were to use pads for the furniture and load it on the truck.  This is the first place that the nickle and diming started ... although the pads were included in the price the "foreman" told me I had to pay for all the tape used to secure the pads ... here was the first call to the salesperson to get this cleared up.  They used 19 rolls of tape and wanted to charge me $4 per roll.

I do not have enough to fill an entire truck so I was to be put onto another truck and then shipped out, you would think that this would be arranged days in advance ... no the moving company will not give you a timeframe until all your items are on the truck and then they will tell you that someone will call in the next few days with a delivery range.  Seems that it would be pre-arranged through the scheduling department.

When all my items were on the truck my agreed upon price had a clause that said if I was under weight and volumn that I would be refunded up to $250 ... once they had my items that clause was "not valid" any more.  The "foreman" of the loading crew speaks poor English and makes it difficult to ask questions.  When I asked to supervisor I was told that if I didn't like the price he would unload my items on the dock and I could come and get them myself and find another way to move.

Upon delivery the driver said that the stairs were to many and that he would charge another fee for the stairs, this is not what the salesperson says.  All the items that I packed came through just fine ... the items the movers packed had several broken items ... know let's see how long it takes to get reimbursed from the moving company.

Why do moving companies have ... and deserve such a bad reputation:

1) BECAUSE THEY WILL PROMISE ANYTHING TO GET YOU TO SIGN A CONTRACT

2) BECAUSE ONCE THEY HAVE YOUR ITEMS YOU ARE AT THEIR MERCY

3) BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T GIVE IN TO THEM YOU WILL HAVE NO FURNITURE UNTIL THE ISSUE IS RESOLVED

Call me directly and I will tell you the name of the company I used.

On June 11th the Wall Street Journal published an article titled "Some Buy a New Home to Bail on the Old", the article discusses the fact that some homeowners are buying a new home claiming that their existing home is being rented and then simply letting the first home go into Foreclosure.  The article even states that some are being "coached" through the process by real estate agents and brokers.

Can you think of more unethical and fraudulent behavior? 

I understand the need for lenders to consider a person renting out what would be their primary home in order for the borrower to purchase another primary home ... but if the first home goes into foreclosure right after the second home is secured than their should be some recourse.  Fannie Mae is adjusting their guidelines to accommodate this situation which is not widespread, but their should be some serious laws against this type of fraud; think about the fact that you the taxpayer are going to be covering this cost.

Agents and mortgage brokers that participate in this process should have their licenses revoked.

Sometimes having been in this industry so long that I have become jaded to some of the fades that have come and gone, remember the recipe cards sent every month?

 Staging is the latest in (I won't call it a fad) classes that I have to question.  As an agent I always spoke with my clients, and taught my agents to do the same, about pre-packing and removing clutter and de-personalizing the property before selling.  I have seen some really bad properties and always ask a very HARD question to the seller ... "If you walked into your house like it currently is would you pay TOP dollar?"  If the answer to the question was "yes" than I told them to find another agent.

 This technique has worked for me for years and I have never lost a listing because someone answered "yes" ... they always changed their mind when they realized I was willing to walk away from the chance to sell their home.  Honesty has always been a great tool.

 I have always staged homes and have never taken a class.  Sure they don't look like model homes but they look good and they sell.  Do you need a course to tell you to; clean the house ... and keep it clean, to de-personalize, to remove clutter, to make sure everything works, to pack away things that are not necessary?

 What are your thought about paying up to $3,000 to learn to stage? ... Yes I almost gagged when I saw the price of one two-day course.

Let's just be frank and straight forward.  For those of you that think Business Planning is a process of listing out your goals and showing them to your manager I will give you a one-word summation "BROKE" ... which is probably what you will be if that is your plan.  In a down market your business plan is the tool that you should be using to take corrective action and cut expenses where possible.

 How?  Simple, with your Business Plan and your dedicated use of your plan you should see which Activities you are doing that generates you the most number of Appointments and Transactions.  All the marketing that you are tracking that is not performing should be eliminated.  All those websites that you used in the boom to draw buyers ... if they are not working get rid of them or reduce your cost with them, still sending Just Listed or Just Sold Cards ... if they are not performing than get rid of them.

 There is no panacea in real estate.  What works for one agent may not work for another agent for a variety of reasons; Size of Sphere, Time in Business, Use of Automation, Upkeep with Past Clients, etc.  What does work for any agent is treating this business like a real actual business.  You should know where every dollar is being spent and what that money returns for you.  If you send out 300 cards per listing for each of your listings and you do 12 listings in a year that is 3,600 cards or approximately $3,600.  Does not sound like much, but to the average agent it is a good chunk of money.

 The problem stems from the inability of agents to let go of past habits.  "Well it worked back then!"  There is an old saying in the stock brokerage business ... "Don't Confuse Brain with a Bull Market" ... meaning that sometimes and in some markets all you have to do is be breathing and you will get business.  So many agents that were breathing got business and thought they were great business people ... then reality sets in and because these individuals had no business plan or sense of what worked and what didn't they kept doing what they have always done and assumed that it would generate business like the past.  May I remind all readers what the first three letters of assume spell.

 So get out of the past and stop assuming that what worked then will work again.  Get a business plan put together and stay on top of it.

Recently read an article about short sales and a comment on the article was from a client of a NATIONALLY known coach who said (Paraphrase) 'Don't do short sales because they take too much time and are too emotionally draining and you don't get full commission'

That is a bunch of *&^%$#

Here was my response.

1) ... If agents took more responsibility for the buyer instead of the "It is not my job" attitude than there would be less people in this position. You know that many mortgage lenders are not licensed and are only looking after their own paycheck ... it is our DUTY to try and assist in a short sale "So what if you don't get full commission and have to spend more time doing it ... it balances out all the quick and easy deals that were done in the boom time!"

2) Get trained on how to properly analyze a potential short-sale to see if it will qualify and if it will work ... consider earning the CSP (Certified Short-Sale Professional) designation from RealtyU.

To ActiveRain members ... It is my strong opinion that we a the focal point in a real estate transaction and that our clients should look to us to be the SANE and COMPETENT anchor in determining the right property and whether the loan is legitimate and well suited today and into the future ... if you are unable or unwilling to perform this fiduicary duty than leave real estate to those that are.

Tax Ramifications of a short sale ... prior to taking the Certified Short-Sale Professional course from RealtyU I was under the impression that you you would be given a 1099 for the amount that was forgiven by the lender.

YES and NO - If you are INSOLVENT (read previous blog http://activerain.com/blogsview/470140/Short-Sale-Myths-Part) than you can use IRS code 108(a)(1)(b) also known as 1401 which states that a borrower who is INSOLVENT at the time of the taxable event is exempt.

Additionally, President Bush signed the Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 last December which allows those that experience a short sale be exempt from the first $2 million dollars of debt forgiveness if married filing jointly.

The types of indebtedness will be discussed in another blog.

Great class from RealtyU http://www.realtyu.com/ 

I just finished a short-sale course that was very impressive, Certified Short-Sale Professional Course from RealtyU.  I have been in real estate many many years and was floored by some of the myths I had about short-sales.

Myth #1 - Your Total Liabilities must be more than your Total Debt - essentially bankrupt.  WRONG ... A short-sale deals with cash-flow and the bank will make you prove that your INCOME is less than your EXPENSES.  The bank is not checking to see how much savings you have or your 401(k) balance.

The term that the bank uses is INSOLVENT - as an accountant I can see how this would make one think assets and liabilities - a better term to use is ILLIQUID.

The course from RealtyU is very enlightening and a great value too.  www.RealtyU.com

From Inman News comes the following:

Roommate.com LLC, a company that operates a Web site that matches people with rooms to rent with tenants, may have violated fair housing laws by requiring users to disclose their sex, sexual orientation and whether they had children who would live them, an appeals court has ruled.

In a ruling that sends a lawsuit against the company back down to a district court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the lower court's ruling that Roommate.com was protected by the Communications Decency Act if users of the company's Web site used it in ways that violated fair housing laws.

In a precedent-setting decision, the appeals court said that although Roommate.com was not responsible for answers provided by users in open-ended questions, it became more than a passive participant in the process when it created online forms that asked users for information that could be used to discriminate against them -- namely, their sex, family status and sexual orientation.

"By requiring subscribers to provide the information as a condition of accessing its service, and by providing a limited set of pre-populated answers, Roommate becomes much more than a passive transmitter of information provided by others; it becomes the developer, at least in part, of that information," the appeals court ruled.

This is a terrible ruling against Roommate.com.  As a renter of a room you are inviting someone into your home to live as a roommate, not renting the entire property to the person.  To screen for matches it is appropriate to screen for sex, sexual orientation and presence of children.

What is the 9th Circuit going to rule next ... that dating sites cannot ask those questions either.

How Absurd!!!!

Top 5 challenges facing real estate agents today are discussed in detail in the Swanepoel Trends Report for 2008.  However, the National Realty News did a nice summary of these challenges in an article posted on March 6th ... URL=http://nationalrealtynews.com/content/templates/contrib.aspx?articleid=840%26zoneid=4

However, I think one of the challenges that was not listed is a lack of understanding by most agents of the mortgage and credit crisis and how that market effects buyers today.  Consumers rely on the advise of professionals and often times it is the agent that is looked above as the professional that has the consumers best interest in mind. 

This is a play on words to some extent.  The Fed has raised the Jumbo amount to over $700k in some areas.  The Fed also believes that by raising the Jumbo loan limits that there will be much more refinancing over the next several months making late spring and into the summer a better economic picture.

The play on would is from the phrase "Trickle Down Economics" the theory that if those with means do not spend than those with no means do not work.  How much will the ability of $700k plus loans being refinanced weigh on the economy ... here is some simple math.

If one loan is refinanced and saves the owner of that home 1% that is an extra $7,000 spendable income into the economy per year.  In the state of California alone that could mean a huge impact since the average home price in many areas is outside the previous conforming loan limits.  Having a higher limit allow "Average" home owners to be able to refinance.

Let's wait and see.