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    <title>Massachusetts Real Estate and More</title>
    <link>http://activerain.com/blogs/wrsynergy</link>
    <description></description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3703799/help-boston-b-strong</guid>
      <title>Help Boston B Strong</title>
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"&gt;With your help, One Fund Boston can help the innocent victims of&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"&gt;The Boston Marathon Tragedy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"&gt;The Boston Marathon Bombings and the apprehension of the suspects - the pain, suffering and anguish felt by our families, friends and others, many of whom were&amp;nbsp; present during the attacks - have left all of us with great sadness and a desire for answers to help calm our fears. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"&gt;Boston Massachusetts, which was the birthplace of our nation, and known for its resilient sprit will not be deterred!&amp;nbsp;From all of us at WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy, we&amp;nbsp;would like to salute the&amp;nbsp;First Responders and Volunteers who labored to save lives and keep the public safe over the past week.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: medium;"&gt;No one would have ever imagined that the face of evil would choose to visit Boston last week, but in the tragedy and aftermath, Boston&amp;rsquo;s true colors shown through like a shining beacon.&amp;nbsp; WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy supports the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://onefundboston.org/" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; color: #0000ff; font-size: medium;"&gt;ONE FUND BOSTON&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: medium;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"&gt; which is leading the way for the relief efforts for the victims. If you would like to contribute, please click on the BOSTON STRONG icon below.&lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;a href="https://onefundboston.org/" title="OneFund Boston" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;img title="B Strong for Boston" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/5/0/4/0/7/ar136672846070405.jpg" height="203" alt="Boston Strong" width="249"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14px;"&gt;Martin E. Kalisker, Broker/Owner&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14px;"&gt;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14px;"&gt;2 Summit Avenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14px;"&gt;Brookline, MA 02446&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2013 08:00:47 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3703799/help-boston-b-strong</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3637851/is-energy-scoring-good-for-the-real-estate-industry-</guid>
      <title>Is Energy Scoring Good For The Real Estate Industry?</title>
      <description>&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;The City of Boston Takes a Serious Look at Energy Scoring&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Engergy Scoring, or the use of "uniform" rating tools designed to help property owners, landlords and prospective consumers of real estate to evaluate the energy efficiency of one property over the other, sounds appealing.&amp;nbsp; But is it a good idea?&amp;nbsp; Over the last few years, government regulators and utility operators have stepped up&amp;nbsp;efforts to advance the idea of energy scoring in local communities across the country.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Recent press coverage and attention to this issue by politicians has begun to emerge as environmental regulators in Boston are pushing the City to become the first municipality in Massachusetts to require &lt;strong&gt;both &lt;/strong&gt;commercial and residential building owners (including condominiums) to &amp;ldquo;score&amp;rdquo; their building, or face enforcement and fines.&amp;nbsp;Today,&amp;nbsp;Mayor Thomas Menino sent a letter to the&amp;nbsp;Boston City Counsel&amp;nbsp;requesting that they pass an ordinance in&amp;nbsp;an effort to regulate the "reporting and disclosure of energy and water efficiency in Buildings".&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Understandably, this is an area of great interest&amp;nbsp;to many, and something that politicians would love to be on the right side of - however,&amp;nbsp;this ordinance is only the first in a series of steps to implement a plan, which also calls for scoring and retrofitting a building&amp;rsquo;s inefficient energy systems at the time of property transfer. These efforts are relatively recent, but intensive: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span id="span88"&gt;The current official plan for Boston recommends that &lt;strong&gt;&amp;ldquo;every home and commercial building should be evaluated for energy use and efficiency and receive an energy usage label&amp;hellip;&amp;rdquo; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span id="span93"&gt;The plan also recommends that &lt;strong&gt;"all buildings should be required to meet minimum energy efficiency standards before they can be sold."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span id="span98"&gt;In 2011, City officials testified in support of the Commonwealth&amp;rsquo;s asset labeling program, asserting that the City strongly supports transition to a mandatory program to &amp;ldquo;allow the real estate market to properly value energy assets and performance.&amp;rdquo; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;
&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span id="span102"&gt;In 2011, the City&amp;rsquo;s efforts to conduct thermal scanning of homes as part of their energy program was suspended after privacy concerns were raised by the ACLU,&amp;nbsp;the Greater Boston Real Estate Board&amp;nbsp;(GBREB) and others. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span id="span105"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Undoubtedly, the City of Boston's efforts&amp;nbsp;to introduce the use of an energy score -- based on a property&amp;rsquo;s energy efficiency -- will affect the value of the real property&amp;rsquo;s value in the marketplace. Also known as energy benchmarking or energy labeling, energy scoring essentially requires owners to complete energy audits, report and disclose the results which will then be compared against other properties and evaluated or &amp;ldquo;scored&amp;rdquo; by government regulators. In this case, the City is targeting condominiums, multifamily residential apartments and commercial buildings, so the cost of implentation, enforcement and monitoring is quite high (some estimates are as high as $800 million.)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;While the Mayor's efforts to encourage energy efficiency, conservation efforts, and helping to preserve and protect or environment are admirable;&amp;nbsp; those policies&amp;nbsp;must not arbitrarily intervene with market forces, attempt to assign market value to buildings, stigmatize property, or otherwise interfere with transactions. While the City hopes to replicate energy scoring programs that have been adopted in other cities, there is no credible evidence to date that this regulatory approach is effective in achieving the goals for which they are intended. Requiring mandatory inspections creates an unnecessary financial burden for owners who already pay a surcharge on their energy bill for energy efficiency programs. &lt;br style=""&gt;&lt;br style=""&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;GBREB's Response:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;br&gt;Because no reliable studies of mandatory energy labeling programs for commercial buildings in the continental United States have ever been done, GBREB along with the Building Owners and Managers Association International, and the National Association of REALTORS&amp;reg;, commissioned an investigation by noted Harvard environmental economist Robert N. Stavins and the Analysis Group, a Boston-based economic consulting firm. Stavins specializes in the economics of energy efficiency and technology change. To date, Stavins and his team have raised many unanswered questions about the effectiveness of these laws and the programs they create. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span id="span113"&gt;Building labels could affect property values, as properties that receive a &amp;ldquo;green&amp;rdquo; score see appreciation in their market values, while properties with a &amp;ldquo;brown&amp;rdquo; score see depreciation of their market value. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span id="span117"&gt;Building energy efficiency labeling programs (&amp;ldquo;building labeling&amp;rdquo;) are designed to create and communicate information about a building&amp;rsquo;s energy efficiency performance beyond what is already available through these other mechanisms. Building labeling programs that have been adopted in some cities vary in the quality and usefulness of the information developed, and the requirements and costs imposed on property owners. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span id="span121"&gt;Policies that require &amp;ldquo;low-scoring&amp;rdquo; buildings to undertake energy audits or raise their energy performance can raise costs to affected building owners. Each building structure is unique and benchmarking tools often fail to accurately capture building energy performance. Consequently, simply because a building has a low energy performance score does not mean that owners can make energy efficiency investments that will produce greater reductions in energy costs.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span id="span124"&gt;The rationale for energy benchmarking offered by the City raises many serious unanswered questions. In one report, the City indicated that the intent of benchmarking initiatives is to ensure potential real estate market purchasers are fully informed about energy performance. However, the City generally does not impose public disclosure requirements on property owners for other types of information that might be valuable to property purchasers, such as the MCAS scores for neighborhood schools, crime statistics, or the location of public transportation. Individual market participants determine what information is important to them and use available options, such as conducting their own inspections, whether residential or commercial or review of utility bills, to gain desired information.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Local industry advocates have expressed concerns not only with the economic impact to the business community but to the adverse impact on housing affordability. As I mentioned before, this issue seems to offer a lot of potential political "punch", so it is only time that stands in the way before other neighboring communities begin to address this issue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;a href="http://wakefly.lyris.net/t/104291/3554265/6822/17/"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #0000ff;"&gt;Click here to see recent Boston Globe article&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://wakefly.lyris.net/t/104291/3554265/6820/18/"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style="color: #0000ff;"&gt;Click here to see a recent Boston Herald article&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://wakefly.lyris.net/t/104291/3554265/6823/19/"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style="color: #0000ff;"&gt;Click here to see a copy of the ordinance&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:32:08 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3637851/is-energy-scoring-good-for-the-real-estate-industry-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3590249/a-million-dollar-question</guid>
      <title>A Million Dollar Question</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Do odd-priced listings attract more or less attention?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;I recently ran into a situation with a listing agent who put a new listing on the MLS for $232, 574.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;This struck me as unusual, so I spoke with the agent and asked her "why the odd amount?", thinking that she would tell me that this was a pay-off amount for a loan balance, or that this was a set price by a housing authority that places income and asset limits on new buyers and restricts the appreciation on a subject property.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;The answer I received was equally interesting.&amp;nbsp; "That's what they teach us to do at BRAND X Realty.&amp;nbsp; They teach us to grab the buyer's attention by putting in an odd amount."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;Being one to love a challenge, I told her that I would be posting this question to a panel of peers (and consumers) to get their reaction.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As someone who looks at real estate listings, what is your reaction when you see a home listed for $232,574?&amp;nbsp; Would you think differently if the home was listed for $232,000, $232,500 or $233,600?&amp;nbsp; Does the "odd" price solicit a positive or negative first reaction?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;I'm curious and am opening this up to the AR Community and any members of the public for comment.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 17 Jan 2013 11:50:36 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3590249/a-million-dollar-question</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3460196/prime-newton-highlands-ma-location</guid>
      <title>Prime Newton Highlands MA Location</title>
      <description>&lt;iframe name="flyer" src="http://vifp.com//preview_flyer.php?order_id=101565&amp;amp;ispres=1" frameborder="1" height="935" width="750"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:37:09 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3460196/prime-newton-highlands-ma-location</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3432399/wellesley-ma-is-a-green-power-community</guid>
      <title>Wellesley MA is a Green Power Community</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: right;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;US EPA names Wellesley MA as the first Green Power Community in Massachusetts&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy and Wellesley Green Power Community" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/1/0/0/0/ar134678706300016.png" height="204" alt="Wellesley MA Green Power Community" width="201"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;On Tuesday, September 4, 2012, the Town of Wellesley was named by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as the first Green Power Community in Massachusetts, and the second in all of New England at a ceremony at Wellesley's Town Hall. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;For the Town to be designated as a Green Power Community, at least 3% of the community-wide electricity use must be "green power" --- electricity generated from renewable resources such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas and low-impact hydropower. Wellesley's current community "green power" usage is at 4.12%.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Wellesley residents can participate in the Town's Power to Choose campaign by signing up and/or increasing the amount of renewable energy they are currently using at &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.wellesleyrenewableenergy.com/" title="Wellesley Renewable Energy" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;http://www.wellesleyrenewableenergy.com/&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:35:45 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3432399/wellesley-ma-is-a-green-power-community</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3418226/dual-master-bedrooms-the-wave-of-the-future-</guid>
      <title>Dual Master Bedrooms the Wave of the Future?</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it's good enough for Rob and Laura Petrie, it's got to be retro&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I think I have just "aged" myself by making a reference to Rob and Laura from the Dick Van Dyke Show, which was a '60's classic.&amp;nbsp; I still remember the "bedroom scenes" where not only was television more politically correct, but Rob and Laura shared different beds.&amp;nbsp; My parents always slept in the same bed, but I was too young to grasp &lt;em&gt;why &lt;/em&gt;Rob and Laura slept in different beds.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Turns out that maybe it wasn't just political correctness.&amp;nbsp; Maybe one (or both) of them had a problem....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;According to a blog post that I recently read, the National Association of Home Builders expects that &lt;strong&gt;60 percent of custom-built homes will include dual master bedrooms in the year 2015.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Reasons given were that a lot of couples fight in the bedroom because of things like snoring, bed sheet hogging, different air temperature levels in the bedroom, comfort of the mattress, etc.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some of this I can relate to, some not so much.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What I found particularly interesting is that this blog estimated that 25% of Americans and 10% of British couples (not&amp;nbsp;Prince Harry - he stands in front of windows in Las Vegas hotels in the nude with girls he just picked up&amp;nbsp; - - oh wait, that's a different blog post that I read)&amp;nbsp;sleep in separate beds.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So,&amp;nbsp;the National Association of Home Builders may be on to something here.&amp;nbsp; I wonder, though, if our local MLS will be receptive to creating a new search field "dual master bedroom."&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 22 Aug 2012 12:32:53 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3418226/dual-master-bedrooms-the-wave-of-the-future-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3350357/that-mezuzah-has-to-stay-</guid>
      <title>That Mezuzah Has To Stay!</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #660000;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;Would you dig up St Joseph after the sale of a home?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: x-small;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #660000;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial;"&gt;&lt;img title="That Mezuzah has to stay!" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/8/1/2/9/2/ar134030832929218.jpg" height="200" alt="mezuzah" width="200" style="float: right;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The heading is a bit tongue in cheek, but the point is real.&amp;nbsp; I recently had an experience where an uninformed (see, I can be nice) real estate agent and&amp;nbsp;seller's attorney took a rather unsympathetic view on my buyer's wishes.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;The Mezuzot (plural of mezuzah) have to stay!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Jewish law states that a homeowner shall not take down the mezuzot if they know that the new occupants are Jewish.&amp;nbsp; The talmud recites a story about a person who removed the mezuzot from his home when he moved&amp;nbsp;and ended up burying his wife and sons.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, as with all good things Jewish, there are lessons to be learned...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="That Mezuzah has to stay!" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/7/0/6/1/9/ar134030922691607.jpg" height="155" alt="mezuzot" width="169" style="float: left;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With a bit of imagination (the other agent was no help), I was able to decipher the issue with the sellers.&amp;nbsp; They weren't especially observant and didn't know that when one sells a home with mezuzot to another person of the Jewish faith, the mezuzot need to stay.&amp;nbsp; So, once I "educated" them as to the import this was to my buyer client, they moved on to their next "objection."&amp;nbsp; They wanted money for the mezuzot, since they now felt that they were not originally included in the price of the "real estate".&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oy vey!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now, I'm not really what you call "observant", and I have my own feelings about religion in general.&amp;nbsp; But one thing I am NOT going to mess with is Jewish law which&amp;nbsp; has been passed down from generation to generation for pretty much longer than you or I can remember.&amp;nbsp; So, without having to swallow my pride and have to explain to our Rabbi why I couldn't answer this myself (given that I too can trace my ancestors and heritage back way past any of us can remember - oh wait, I get it now "we shall never forget"), I did the next best thing.&amp;nbsp; I went to the internet for an answer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It seems that this is a common problem amongst our brethren.&amp;nbsp; The seller has something of value, and I want it.&amp;nbsp; Well, it's not that I want it, because I really don't like your mezuzot, but you have to give them to me because the talmud says you have to (I just make a grammatical error, but screw it).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ah! the Poskim (wise rabbinical judges) have the answer!&amp;nbsp; Both of you can save face and be&amp;nbsp;mensches.&amp;nbsp; Seller, you say that you would be happy to leave the mezuzot, but would like to be paid for the value.&amp;nbsp; Buyer, you say, "thank you, but I would like to&amp;nbsp;affix my own mezuzot." Basta.&amp;nbsp; Done.&amp;nbsp; The spell is reversed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Can I take this one step further?&amp;nbsp; Ordinarily, if the mezuzot come down, new ones need to be&amp;nbsp;affixed right away.&amp;nbsp; For after all, the mezuzah is considered &lt;em&gt;torah&lt;/em&gt; and one shall never live without torah and the prayer of Shema Yisrael, which eminates from the &lt;em&gt;mizvah&lt;/em&gt; (commandment) "to inscribe the Shema on the doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6.9).&amp;nbsp; But what if the sellers want to move and take the mezuzot before the new (Jewish) family moves in?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Again, those wise Poskim have permitted that mezuzot can be taken down for such purposes as, say, painting (and the mezuzot do not need to be affixed again until the home is occupied by a Jewish family - this holds true whether you are leaving the mezuzot or the new owners are bringing their own).&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, the story has a happy ending.&amp;nbsp; But I still don't know the answer about St. Joseph.&amp;nbsp; Do you or do you not dig him up after the home is sold?&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 21 Jun 2012 13:54:54 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3350357/that-mezuzah-has-to-stay-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3108555/-i-ll-take-agency-relationships-for-200-alex-</guid>
      <title>"I'll Take Agency Relationships for $200, Alex"</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Just When You Thought You Understood Agency Law, the Black and White Turns Grey&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="Hmm, It's Not That Easy Of An Answer" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/2/9/0/9/9/ar133311609699092.JPG" height="375" alt="Head Scratcher" width="250" style="float: left;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Answer:&amp;nbsp; Unless you have a listing&amp;nbsp;contract in place with a seller before your&amp;nbsp;appointment, anything that they tell you can be used against them if your buyer client subsequently makes and offer to purchase the home and you are not the listing agent.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Da, Di, Da, Dum, Da, Di, Da. Da, Di, Da, Dum, Da, Di Di, Da Dum Dum...&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Question: If I go on a listing appointment and I end up not getting the listing, am I obligated to fulfill the duty of confidentiality?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;****************************&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;This was an actual discussion of a "hypothetical"&amp;nbsp;event&amp;nbsp;during a recent discussion between the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of our Board's Professional Standards Committee and its General Counsel.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;The answer may be surprising to many of us.&amp;nbsp; But let me clarify a bit.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;In Massachusetts, real estate licensees are required under the Commonwealth's Consumer Protection Statutes to inform a consumer, at the first meeting, whether they are an agent of the seller, the buyer, or a facilitator to a transaction.&amp;nbsp; Technically, that's wrong.&amp;nbsp; What the Mandatory Licensee Consumer Relationship Disclosure form actually is intended to do is to inform the consumer that &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;if&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; a contractual relationship is established, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;then&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; the licensee will serve in an agency capacity of either a buyer's agent, a seller's agent, or a facilitator to the transaction (Forget Dual Agency for a moment - you are still a buyers agent to the buyer and a seller's agent to the seller, else you are not a dual agent.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;The bottom line is that unless your seller customer lists the home with you, you have no contractual relationship, no agency relationship and anything they tell you can and should be held against them if you are representing a buyer, in an agency capacity, or else you&amp;nbsp;may be violating your fiduciary duty to that client.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;How do you get out of this uncomfortable position?&amp;nbsp; Well honesty, integrity and full disclosure and discussion with the consumer is often the best remedy.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;Many real estate agents feel that once the consumer disclosure is signed, they have the right (entitlement) to be considered as the procuring cause for any transaction with this consumer.&amp;nbsp; Unfortunately, this is not the case, and to make things more confusing, the existence or non-existence of this &lt;em&gt;legally required&lt;/em&gt; form is not entirely relevant or&amp;nbsp;may be&amp;nbsp;considered by a hearing panel of your local professional standards committee for an ethics or procuring cause complaint against a REALTOR&amp;reg; member.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Inform the prospective listing customer that you may be obligated to disclose anything they tell you about listing the home to a buyer client if you do not become the listing agent.&amp;nbsp; This is an excellent way to encourage prospective sellers to interview only one or two agents before listing their home.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Tell prospective buyer clients that you may have knowledge about a particular property because you were asked to meet with the sellers and have them sign an acknowledgment that you are refraining from providing information gained during the listing presentation to these buyer clients.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: left;"&gt;Provide,&amp;nbsp; up-front, a written disclosure to both the listing customer and your buyer client's your firm's policy with regards to "confidential" information obtained directly or indirectly from parties prior to an agency relationship being consummated.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It is important to note that this was a discussion of a hypothetical situation and no formal recommendation or conclusion was drawn by the panelists, nor was legal advise ever provided.&amp;nbsp; If you see yourself in a similar situation, discuss the matter with your broker, the firm's legal counsel or call the legal advise hotline for your local board or state association of REALTORS&amp;reg;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:46:29 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/3108555/-i-ll-take-agency-relationships-for-200-alex-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2683838/sellers-do-you-know-what-your-tenants-are-up-to-now-</guid>
      <title>Sellers - Do You Know What Your Tenants Are Up To Now?</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Tenants&amp;nbsp;You Love So Much Are Actually&amp;nbsp;Hurting Your Chances of Selling Your Home&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;We've all&amp;nbsp;had them - the showing with Tenants From Hell.&amp;nbsp; If you live in a state like Massachusetts, where Tenant Rights reign supreme, you probably know what I mean.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Like a scene from the movie&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt; Pacific Heights,&lt;/span&gt; I've got a seller client who just can't seem to get rid of these nuisance tenants.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;I took this listing a few weeks back.&amp;nbsp; The kids inherited the home from their father and, after renting it out for a couple of years, decided to put it on the market.&amp;nbsp; Not the best timing, they knew, but they also weren't looking for more than what the current market will bear.&amp;nbsp; Oh, and there was a tenant in the house - shouldn't be a problem to schedule showings, though because she was a good tenant.&amp;nbsp; She always paid her rent on time and never caused any problems.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;"Can I get in to take some pictures?" I asked.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;"Sure, just give the tenant a call and work out a time." came the response.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;This is where the trouble began.&amp;nbsp; I have been constantly hampered in scheduling appointments because the tenant doesn't feel like letting me show it.&amp;nbsp; She plans to move out (she's buying a foreclosure), but this has been going on since before I took the listing.&amp;nbsp; On the few occasions that I have been inside the home, I can't begin to describe the deplorable conditions that this home is in.&amp;nbsp; I think that it's so bad, even the cockroaches won't stop by to visit.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;We're selling the home for the value of the land.&amp;nbsp; Realistically, the home is a complete gut renovation.&amp;nbsp; The ceiling height isn't up to current Code, the electrical is still knob and tube wiring with fuses, the roof is old and the siding is asbestos shingles.&amp;nbsp; But, prospective buyers still want to get in to see the home, so I have to accommodate their wishes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;Occassionally, I've reached out to the seller to let him know about the problems that I have been encountering.&amp;nbsp; The last time was when the tenant moved my sign to another side of the yard where it was less visible.&amp;nbsp; Today, I have a showing scheduled.&amp;nbsp; I have tried to be optimistic with the buyers agent, but also realistic in what they might see.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;However, I wasn't prepared for yesterday's text message from the tenant....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;" Sorry I forgot to respond.&amp;nbsp; Tomorrow should be ok.&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;FYI, my kids are sick with a stomach virus so there is a bit of a barf smell in the house.&amp;nbsp; Please text us when done..."&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;Ewww.&amp;nbsp; what kind of people are these that they can't either have the decency to clean the place up for showings or be up-front and tell me that the timing isn't right for a showing?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;Sellers.&amp;nbsp; Do you know what your tenants are up to?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:03:37 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2683838/sellers-do-you-know-what-your-tenants-are-up-to-now-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2666252/breaking-news-fnma-lenders-create-jobs-for-america</guid>
      <title>BREAKING NEWS:  FNMA Lenders Create Jobs For America</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New Jobs Created By Lenders Actually Slows Down Home Sales&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;This post is a bit tongue-in-cheek.&amp;nbsp; But I just couldn't help myself from falling out of my chair when I read this little tidbit from a fairly large mortgage lender.&amp;nbsp; After reading it, if you are scratching your head thinking "...are they serious?" you are not alone.&amp;nbsp; With all of the extra people needed to look at loan documentation, it's a mystery to me why we have any unemployment in this country.&amp;nbsp; Unless they are hiring illegal immigrants or farming this work out to Wichita, &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through;"&gt;India&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through;"&gt;Mexico&lt;/span&gt;....&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Reasons Why We Need So Much Documentation From You&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div style="line-height: 1.3; margin-top: 0px; width: 570px; display: block; color: #252525; margin-left: 120px; overflow: auto; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px;"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As you prepare for a mortgage application, we want to educate you on why we ask for, what may seem like, an excessive amount of documentation during your mortgage process.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Due to lax underwriting from 2004 to 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac decided that they weren&amp;rsquo;t being strict&lt;img title="Documents" src="http://www.guaranteedrate.com/images/blog/documents.jpg" height="176" alt="Documents" width="262" style="float: right;"&gt; enough on mortgage bankers and upgraded their standards in an attempt to prevent default mortgages, which began in 2008.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In order to sell any loans to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, lenders have to make sure we meet their requirements. This has led us to tighten our standards. If we fail to comply with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac&amp;rsquo;s obligations, whether a loan is performing or not, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac will pursue other options.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To prevent this, we now have at least eight people check every single item to prevent any possible mistakes. We want to be absolutely certain that we don&amp;rsquo;t have to buy back a loan from Fannie/Freddie and this results in an increase in requested documentation and scrutiny for each loan.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While this can cause some frustration and possible delays in getting to closing, this overly-cautious approach is our way of making sure your loan is accepted by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and your mortgage goes through.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more information, contact your mortgage expert.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:52:42 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2666252/breaking-news-fnma-lenders-create-jobs-for-america</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2655726/yes-timmy-there-is-a-santa-but-no-we-won-t-be-home-for-christmas-</guid>
      <title>Yes Timmy, There Is A Santa; But No, We Won't Be Home For Christmas...</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Holidays unleash a myriad of emotions for new home buyers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left;"&gt;I'm the type of guy who reads e-mails and then replies.&amp;nbsp; Not "&lt;em&gt;reply to all&lt;/em&gt;" but just a simple "&lt;em&gt;reply&lt;/em&gt;" to the sender.&amp;nbsp; I also get really, really&amp;nbsp; mad when someone forwards my emails to other people without my acknowledgment.&amp;nbsp; Case in point.&amp;nbsp; A couple of weeks ago, I sent an email to a listing broker letting her know that my clients were getting fidgety because their lawyer said that he was waiting for some documentation that hadn't yet been received from the seller's attorneys.&amp;nbsp; I urged the listing broker to have a conversation with the relevant parties on her side to help facilitate the buyers' attorney's requests (tongue twister).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Well, what ensued was the unleashing of Hell.&amp;nbsp; Not only did my email get forwarded, replied upon and re-replied upon, but a bigger issue came up in that the buyer's lender who had been uncomfortably silent, finally spoke up and said &lt;strong&gt;"No Commitment Letter For You..."&lt;/strong&gt; despite a conversation literally 20 minutes before stating that the loan had been approved and a commitment letter would be forthcoming.&amp;nbsp; You can only imagine the barrage of e-mails that ensued.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But there is a human (emotional) aspect to all of this.&amp;nbsp; When all the boxes are checked and documentation filed, will we have forgotten that my buyer clients are the innocent victims of the mass confusion caused by service providers that are stretched too far and not on top of things?&amp;nbsp; I'm talking about the short sale negotiator who doesn't know the file and &lt;em&gt;repeatedly&lt;/em&gt; ignores the closing attorney's requests for some form of acknowledgment by the primary lien-holder that the second lien-holder and seller have agreed to settle the extinguishment of debt for &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; than what the primary has offered.&amp;nbsp; Or the lender for the buyers asking for information about the proceeds from the sale of a car over six months ago (lender has had this file since August).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We were supposed to close on November 30, then December 14, then today.&amp;nbsp; Because no one is playing nicely, we don't have a loan commitment, the short sale approvals need to be extended, as do the purchase and sale contracts.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Where are my buyers in all of this?&amp;nbsp; Well, they already packed up their apartment and moved out.&amp;nbsp; Most of their possessions are in storage.&amp;nbsp; They are living with friends and the three year old son keeps on asking "when are we going to live in our new home?"&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I know that this scenario is common place.&amp;nbsp; That's why I want to syndicate a new Realtity TV show called "Buyers Gone Wild".&amp;nbsp; Here's the first segment, written compliments of my buyer clients when they heard that Larry, Moe and Curly were back at it last week.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;"That is unacceptable, we will turn this down if that is the case. My house is packed, I'm living out of boxes, I have a distressed three year old who doesn't have a Christmas tree. I am leaving on vacation to see my parents on the 28th and am swamped with work until then. Jxxx and I have jumped through every hoop we have been asked to. We were promised a Dec 14th close and I expect &amp;nbsp;someone to do something about this immediately. I understand that this is a short sale, but there is no reason that we shouldn't have been able to close this deal in the allotted time. If there is something that the underwriter needs for closing we should have been made aware of that immediately not today. I'm tired of being pushed around and I will not have my sons Christmas be ruined bc people are not communicating effectively. Someone needs to get in touch with me or Jxxx immediately to discuss this...."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:23:11 -0800</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2655726/yes-timmy-there-is-a-santa-but-no-we-won-t-be-home-for-christmas-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2580726/enhanced-harp-program-may-benefit-performing-borrowers</guid>
      <title>Enhanced HARP Program May Benefit Performing Borrowers</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;Modifications to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) due out November 15&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;For borrowers who haven&amp;rsquo;t been able to take advantage of today&amp;rsquo;s interest rate environment due to declining property values and erosion of equity, there may be hope yet. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) just announced&amp;nbsp;that it will expand eligibility for the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) to include more Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac borrowers who have been timely in making payments, but may have very little equity or may already be under water. Industry experts estimate that the HARP program has&amp;nbsp;benefitted around 900,000 borrowers to stay in their homes&amp;nbsp;via refinancing;&amp;nbsp; the FHFA expects this guideline enhancement will substantially increase the number of&amp;nbsp;eligible borrowers under the HARP program guidelines. &lt;em&gt;Some estimate over 10 million households could now be eligible to refinance.&lt;/em&gt; FHFA&amp;rsquo;s goal&amp;nbsp;is two-fold: By allowing these borrowers to refinance, not only is the financial position of these existing borrowers improved, but the borrowers are more able to continue to make mortgage payments which will, in turn,&amp;nbsp;help Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by not adding more defaulted loans to further increase their workload. Details regarding implementation are planned to be announced on Nov 15, at which point lenders will start to build out how to pass this through to borrowers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Over the past few weeks,&amp;nbsp;some of the impact of the Federal Reserve&amp;rsquo;s latest stimulus plan (dubbed &amp;lsquo;Operation Twist&amp;rsquo;) has been seen by its purchasing of&amp;nbsp;approximately $1 billion of the $2 billion in daily mortgage-backed securities volume. However, there&amp;nbsp;continues to be&amp;nbsp;much public discussion and controversy amongst the Federal Reserve Governors regarding the Fed's stimulus plans, with some Fed officials&amp;nbsp;pointing to additional asset purchases being needed in order to truly boost the economy. Whether this will create any&amp;nbsp;real impact&amp;nbsp;for the housing market has not yet been seen as mortgage rates remain fairly stable.&amp;nbsp; In fact, at a recent presentation by Chase Bank that I attended in Boston last week, the Chief Economist of Freddie Mac also supported this position by demonstrating how the home affordability index continues to climb as rates remain low and housing prices dip lower, but&amp;nbsp;buyer confidence is at historical lows because of low GDP growth and uncertainty caused by high national unemployment rates.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Therefore, it is very important to keep current owners in their homes to prevent a further onslaught of short sale and foreclosure properties from looming over our heads in terms of shadow inventory and excess supply which would further put downward pressure on home prices.&amp;nbsp; The HARP guidelines, when announced, could definitely help the economy by meeting this goal of keeping people in their homes.&amp;nbsp; Only time will tell if what sounds good in concept, will actually work in practice.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:05:05 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2580726/enhanced-harp-program-may-benefit-performing-borrowers</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2540249/congress-allows-loan-limits-to-decrease-in-massachusetts</guid>
      <title>Congress allows loan limits to decrease in Massachusetts</title>
      <description>&lt;h2 class="singletitle"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FHA/Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limits revert back to lower levels&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;in Massachusetts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div class="entry"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Despite&lt;/strong&gt; REALTOR&amp;reg; efforts on a national level, Congress let the temporary increases to FHA and Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limits lapse on October 1.&amp;nbsp; As a result, loan limits have reverted back to pre-February 2008 levels (the date that former President Bush signed the 2008 Economic Stimulus Bill, which temporarily raised the limits).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;As a result,&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; loan limits declined in 669 counties in 42 states across the country.&amp;nbsp; The new limits will be equal to 115% of local area median home price (from 125%).&amp;nbsp; The high cost cap will fall from $729,750 to $625,500.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Below are estimates from the National Association of REALTORS&amp;reg; on the decreases&amp;nbsp;affecting Massachusetts buyers.&amp;nbsp; The folks who are most immediately affected are those first time home buyers who qualified under these government and government sponsored loan programs - thus putting another hurdle to entry for these folks.&amp;nbsp; The effects of this anti-stimulus measure cannot be predicted, but I am confident will be felt throughout.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.themarreport.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Oct-1-loan-limit-decreases_FHA.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.themarreport.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Oct-1-loan-limit-decreases_FHA.jpg" height="415" alt="" width="390"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.themarreport.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Oct-1-loan-limit-decreases_GSE.jpg"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.themarreport.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Oct-1-loan-limit-decreases_GSE.jpg" height="410" alt="" width="389"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To see loan limit estimates in other states/counties &lt;a href="http://www.realtor.org/wps/wcm/connect/3ace760047433b5fb9cabf0e6e9f088e/oct1+limits+-+fha++gse.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&amp;amp;CACHEID=3ace760047433b5fb9cabf0e6e9f088e"&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:26:30 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2540249/congress-allows-loan-limits-to-decrease-in-massachusetts</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2531775/it-all-boils-down-to-one-word-ethics</guid>
      <title>It All Boils Down to One Word...Ethics</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;The Six Pillars of Character&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: left; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;As many of us celebrate the New Year and the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, it is a time for reflection and evaluation in all things we do.&amp;nbsp; I remember hearing a real estate coach once say that "Success is defined as living in alignment with your core values...."&amp;nbsp; For me that means a lot.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Character Counts!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The Josephson Institute of Ethics defines ethics in terms of moral duties and virtues that flow from six core ethical values, collectively known as The Six Pillars of Character. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Trustworthiness: Being honest, having integrity, keeping your promises and being loyal.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Respect: We must not only respect ourselves, but remember that each person has the right to our respect.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Responsibility: We must be accountable for our own actions, practice self-restraint and always try our best at whatever we put our hand to.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Fairness: Sometimes this means doing the right thing even if others don't agree.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Caring: Concern for the interests of others.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Citizenship: Being involved in public service, including voting, reporting crimes, testifying as a witness, and protecting the environment.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:55:00 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2531775/it-all-boils-down-to-one-word-ethics</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2492055/can-real-estate-agents-really-walk-and-chew-gum-at-the-same-time-</guid>
      <title>Can Real Estate Agents Really Walk And Chew Gum At The Same Time?</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is it that makes you respond to an AR Blog Post?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img title="Improve Your Reading cc Photobucket.com" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/4/2/9/8/4/ar131525900748924.jpg" height="300" alt="Improve Your Reading cc Photobucket.com" width="530" style="vertical-align: baseline;"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What is it that makes you want to respond to a blog post?&amp;nbsp; Is it the title?&amp;nbsp; Is it the first sentence, the graphics, the author...?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I wrote a blog post&amp;nbsp;that struck&amp;nbsp;a&amp;nbsp;nerve&amp;nbsp;with a lot of people today&amp;nbsp;, but as I read through the comments, it became clear to me that &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;very few people had actually read the entire blog post.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Now, I'm not perfect in many ways.&amp;nbsp; But I am a good student.&amp;nbsp; I keep my blog posts short, to the point and keep the graphics and special fonts and characters to a minimum so that everyone will have an easy time downloading my blog.&amp;nbsp; I don't interact with AR as much as I used to because I get bogged down trying to find unique, timely and topical conversation with all of the paid ads, flash video and listing postings that have obviously been uploaded from a &lt;span&gt;html&lt;/span&gt; dump and the author hasn't even bothered to view the posting to see if the formatting worked.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But I digress.&amp;nbsp; I cannot tell you the number of times that I read a blog post and the related comments and scratch my head thinking "where in the world did that person come up with that thought?&amp;nbsp; That's no where near close to what the author was writing about."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Is it because people don't take the time to read a post carefully?&amp;nbsp; Is it because we just like to hear ourselves "talk"?&amp;nbsp; Or is it because of &amp;nbsp;"the more posts I respond to, the more points I get on AR" phenomena?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;I had to laugh.&amp;nbsp; I saw someone's blog post today where the author responded to each and every comment.&amp;nbsp; The only thing was that one of these "replies" was an actual spam ad for some completely unrelated product (like sunglasses or something).&amp;nbsp; Even so, the author took the time out to thank the person for responding.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;What is it?&amp;nbsp; People seem to become comatose when it comes to reading and posting comments on blogs.&amp;nbsp; Maybe some people should go back to school to pick up on reading and comprehension skills.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Have we all become so automated that we can't even take the time to read and understand something and provide meaningful commentary?&amp;nbsp; Is this how we behave with our customers?&amp;nbsp; I hope not, but am afraid that many real estate agents do that exact thing.&amp;nbsp; They hear what they want to hear, they talk over their customers objections and flaunt their &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through;"&gt;ignorance&lt;/span&gt; expertise.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Real estate is not a mechanical process that can be replicated the same way each and every time.&amp;nbsp; Neither is a blog.&amp;nbsp; Unless we add some personal value to the process, our customers might as well as work with a robot, or read&amp;nbsp;a blog written by a &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through;"&gt;ghost writer&lt;/span&gt; robot&lt;span&gt;.&amp;nbsp; &lt;span&gt;Hmm&lt;/span&gt;.&amp;nbsp; Maybe that wouldn't be so bad after all.&amp;nbsp; At least it would probably be spell checked.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Enjoy the rest of the holiday folks.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:14:47 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2492055/can-real-estate-agents-really-walk-and-chew-gum-at-the-same-time-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2475934/irene-visits-new-england</guid>
      <title>Irene visits New England</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Play it Safe by Staying Safe&amp;nbsp;When Hurricane Irene Visits Massachusetts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;The strongest storm to hit the East Coast in decades is upon us.&amp;nbsp; Please be prepared. Experts are calling this storm an "Extraordinary Threat for New England" becasue Massachusetts is 190 miles wide and this storm is 430 miles wide.&amp;nbsp; No matter where you are in New England this storm will effect you.&amp;nbsp; We&amp;rsquo;ve complied these tips from government websites to help you and your family be prepared for the storm.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Have an emergency kit which should include: non-perishable food, medicine, water, flashlights, battery powered radio and batteries.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Make a family plan to know how you will contact one another, how you will get back together and what you will do in case of an emergency.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Make sure you have adequate pet food and supplies for your animals. If you have to evacuate&amp;nbsp;- take your pets with you.&amp;nbsp; There are many pet friendly shelters and hotels out there.&amp;nbsp;Now is the time to plan.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Develop a Disaster Supply Kit &amp;lsquo;Go Bag&amp;rsquo;, with essentials in case you must evacuate quickly.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;If you are asked to evacuate &amp;ndash; Evacuate!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;You should also:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Cover your home&amp;rsquo;s windows with pre-cut plywood to protect your windows from high winds.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Bring in all outdoor furniture, decorations, garbage cans and anything else that is not tied down.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Keep all trees and shrubs well trimmed so they are more wind resistant.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Turn off utilities as instructed.&amp;nbsp; Otherwise, turn the refrigerator thermostat to its coldest setting and keep its door closed.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Turn off propane tanks.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Reinforce your garage doors; if wind enters a garage, it can cause dangerous and expensive structural damage.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;Ensure a supply of water for sanitary purposes such as cleaning and flushing toilets.&amp;nbsp; Fill the bathtub and other large containers with water.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; color: black;"&gt;
&lt;span style=""&gt;Find out how to keep food safe during and after and emergency by visiting &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;&lt;a href="http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=20047728&amp;amp;msgid=56574&amp;amp;act=IRR7&amp;amp;c=991026&amp;amp;destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foodsafety.gov%2F"&gt;&lt;span style="color: #9e0b10;"&gt;www.FoodSafety.gov&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:58:43 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2475934/irene-visits-new-england</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2471483/ftc-map-rule-points-in-only-one-direction</guid>
      <title>FTC MAP Rule Points in Only One Direction</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: small;"&gt;New FTC Rule May Impact Brokerages &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Federal Trade Commission (&amp;ldquo;FTC&amp;rdquo;) has recently issued its Mortgage Acts and Practices - Advertising, or &amp;ldquo;MAP&amp;rdquo;, rule (&amp;ldquo;Rule&amp;rdquo;). The Rule imposes requirements on&amp;nbsp;anyone&amp;nbsp;that provides information about mortgage credit products to consumers by prohibiting misrepresentations during these communications and also imposing recordkeeping requirements.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;The Rule will impact real estate professionals that provide this information to consumers, such as giving a consumer a lender&amp;rsquo;s rate sheet, and took effect on August 19, 2011.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The&amp;nbsp;attached &lt;a href="http://www.gbreb.com/gbar/2011/ftcrule2011.pdf" title="FTC MAP Rule" target="_self"&gt;NAR Article&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;provides a full overview of the Rule&amp;rsquo;s Requirements, the Application of Rule to Real Estate Professionals, a Disclaimer or Qualifying Statement and the rule&amp;rsquo;s Recordkeeping Requirements.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;If you are like me, the attorney that manages your brokerage business dealings may need to consult with an FTC specialist to provide you with proper advise regarding any implemenation of these Rules and required disclosures.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:48:49 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2471483/ftc-map-rule-points-in-only-one-direction</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2463775/words-to-live-by</guid>
      <title>Words to Live By</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt; Every week at our office meeting, our agents practice dialogues, we role-play client "objections" and renew our "purpose".&amp;nbsp; It is an exercise that never gets old.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;Yesterday, one of my agents shouted at another agent to &lt;strong&gt;"Treat Real Estate like your job and not a $#@?# hobby."&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; This got me thinking.&amp;nbsp; Perhaps we all need a refresher in why we are here and words we all need to live by.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"&gt;Here is our list:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 24pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;The Most Important&amp;nbsp;Words to&amp;nbsp;Live By&amp;nbsp;in Real Estate&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;The SIX Most Important Words:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;I AM a Real Estate Professional&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;The FIVE Most Important Words:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Real Estate Is My Career&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;The FOUR Most Important Words:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;I Embrace Ethical Behavior&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;The THREE Most Important Words:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;I Represent You&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;The TWO Most Important Words:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Customer vs.&amp;nbsp;Client&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;The ONE Most Important Word:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;We&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;The LEAST Important Word:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color: red; line-height: 115%; font-size: 20pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Calibri;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Me&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:19:45 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2463775/words-to-live-by</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2463255/who-can-negotiate-a-short-sale-</guid>
      <title>Who Can Negotiate a Short Sale?</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is an excellent reminder for all consumers and their real estate agents that practicing law by negotiating short sales is NOT within our level of competence and things can really go bad for both the consumer and the real estate agent (expecially&amp;nbsp; REALTORS&amp;reg;) if a short sale is negotiated incorrectly.&amp;nbsp; Although the legal citations are for North Carolina, the same principles apply here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div id="reblogging_tag"&gt;Via &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://activerain.com/blogsview/2460441/who-can-negotiate-a-short-sale-"&gt;Steve  Wilde (Wilde Law Firm, PLLC)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;:&lt;br&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;Completing a short sale involves much more than just sending in an offer that the bank accepts. By definition the Seller&amp;rsquo;s mortgage and judgment lien debts must be negotiated.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;There are three issues of liability that face the real estate agent and/or a third party facilitator who takes on the job of negotiating a short sale with a bank in North Carolina.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;First there is the Unauthorized Practice of Law.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Second, and just as important, is the liability that goes with every short sale.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Third is the statute concerning Debt Adjusting.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;1.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;The Unauthorized Practice of Law Without a License&lt;/span&gt;. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;A real estate agent is licensed to negotiate between the buyer and seller.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;An attorney is licensed to advocate/negotiate between the client and a third party.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The unauthorized practice of law is illegal because a person who is not trained and licensed as an attorney may seriously harm the interest of a member of the public by providing incompetent legal services.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;The North Carolina Bar Association has stated, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;ldquo;Generally, a real estate agent can negotiate strictly financial terms on behalf of the client.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Once questions arise about the legal rights of the client, such as whether a deficiency judgment may be entered or if there will be a complete release of liability or if there is a pending foreclosure, the agent is no longer negotiating financial terms, but is negotiating a legal settlement.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;That would be the practice of law.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;T&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;here are, however, deficiency issues and tax consequences associated with every short sale&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;These liabilities could easily be $100,000 or more. and are discussed in detail at my &lt;a href="http://wildelawfirm.com/realtor-workshops/"&gt;Realtor Workshops&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The &amp;ldquo;Catch 22&amp;rdquo; is that the real estate agent is not allowed to represent the seller in negotiations or settlement discussion regarding the deficiencies and tax issues. If these are not discussed and properly handled, though, the real estate agent and the agency they work for may be held responsible for such neglect. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;This is where law suits are born.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;To take it one step further, if a foreclosure has been filed the real estate agent cannot even negotiate financial terms because that would be advocating on behalf of the Seller in a lawsuit.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is specifically the practice of law and the agent should be even more careful as to what, if anything, they do for their client in this situation.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;The Unauthorized Practice of Law is a Class 1 misdemeanor criminal offense that may be prosecuted by the local district attorney.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;2.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Liabilities Inherent in a Short Sale&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;As stated above, if a real estate agent does take on this advocacy role on behalf of a Seller, the agent may also be taking on all of the responsibility and liability that would normally be associated with an Attorney. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;3.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt; &lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: underline;"&gt;Debt Adjuster &amp;ndash; Class 2 misdemeanor&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The North Carolina State Statute &amp;sect;14-423 states: &amp;ldquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;If any person shall engage in, or offer to or attempt to engage in, the business or practice of debt adjusting, or if any person shall hereafter act, offer to act, or attempt to act as a debt adjuster, he shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.&amp;rdquo; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;The bottom line is that if a real estate agent or a third party short sale company negotiates the Seller&amp;rsquo;s debt with the third party bank for a fee, they would be considered a Debt Adjuster under the statute and would therefore be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;So who can negotiate a short sale?&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;A) The Seller, because it is their debt and their short sale.&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;B) An Attorney. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Cambria;"&gt;See more answers to frequently asked questions on my &lt;a href="http://wildelawfirm.com/frequently-asked-questions/"&gt;website.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria;"&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 19 Aug 2011 11:26:27 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2463255/who-can-negotiate-a-short-sale-</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2396992/debunking-the-zestimate-myth</guid>
      <title>Debunking the "Zestimate" Myth</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;By Zillow's Own Admission, An Estimate is Only an Estimate&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Never being one to shy away from controversy, and always being on the lookout for news and statistics that can actually help a buyer or seller in today's real estate market, I have a bone to pick.&amp;nbsp; And it's name is Zillow.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I'll make it short and simple.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;In Zillow's own words, on a national average, it's "Zestimates" are "Good" - meaning 3 out of 4 - in terms of accuracy - the proximity of a Zestimate to the actual sales price.&amp;nbsp; In fact, on a national basis, Zillow estimates that 50% of its Zestimates are within 8.5% of the actual sales price and 50% are &lt;strong&gt;more than&lt;/strong&gt;8.5% away from the actual sales price (the so called "Median Error".)&amp;nbsp; Although 74.7% of all Zestimates on a national basis are within 20% of the actual sales price, only 33.2% are within 5% of the actual sales price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These are Zillow's own numbers.&amp;nbsp; The table below shows the effects of Zestimates in several Major Metropolitan Areas across the country:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="642"&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr height="160"&gt;
&lt;td height="160" width="110"&gt;Msa&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;Zestimate Accuracy&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="89"&gt;Homes on Zillow&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="89"&gt;Homes with Zestimates&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;Within 5% of Sale Price&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;Within 10% of Sale Price&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;Within 20% of Sale Price&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;Median Error&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="64"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Atlanta, GA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2,229,215&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2,013,956&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;32.4%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;54.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;73.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;8.8%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Baltimore, MD&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;971,667&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;953,118&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;35.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;57.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;78.3%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;7.9%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Boston, MA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,444,468&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,379,813&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;38.0%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;62.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;80.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;7.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Chicago, IL&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3,527,633&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3,145,576&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;31.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;51.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;71.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;9.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Cincinnati, OH&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;730,914&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;663,259&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Cleveland, OH&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;815,569&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;719,970&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;31.4%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;52.9%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;71.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;9.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Dallas-Fort Worth, TX&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2,144,860&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,935,285&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;26.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;48.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;70.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;10.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Denver, CO&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;978,988&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;876,426&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;46.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;71.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;88.9%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;5.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Detroit, MI&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,869,264&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,735,050&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;29.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;49.9%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;67.8%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;10.0%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Houston, TX&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2,035,650&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,781,326&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Kansas City, MO&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;738,891&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;710,847&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Las Vegas, NV&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;727,775&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;672,082&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;41.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;67.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;85.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;6.4%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Los Angeles, CA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3,261,891&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2,972,179&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;41.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;68.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;86.3%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;6.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2,650,334&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2,437,053&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;28.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;50.9%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;72.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;9.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Minneapolis-St Paul, MN&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,184,423&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,117,593&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;34.0%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;57.9%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;77.4%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;8.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;New York, NY&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4,857,481&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4,358,363&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;35.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;58.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;78.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;7.8%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Orlando, FL&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;916,023&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;774,011&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;30.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;53.0%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;73.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;9.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Philadelphia, PA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2,062,217&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,977,375&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;38.3%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;60.8%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;78.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;7.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Phoenix, AZ&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,687,727&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,462,711&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;33.3%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;57.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;78.0%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;8.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Pittsburgh, PA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;937,244&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;857,715&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;30.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;50.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;68.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;9.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Portland, OR&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;788,667&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;704,802&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;41.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;65.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;83.8%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;6.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Riverside, CA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,614,609&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,286,333&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;38.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;62.9%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;82.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;7.0%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Sacramento, CA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;823,012&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;691,657&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;32.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;54.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;76.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;8.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;San Antonio, TX&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;822,441&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;726,813&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;--&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;San Diego, CA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,031,653&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;840,656&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;44.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;70.1%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;88.3%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;5.8%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;San Francisco, CA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,302,352&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,195,781&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;37.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;62.3%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;81.5%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;7.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Seattle, WA&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,295,985&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,151,224&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;41.8%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;67.8%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;85.8%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;6.2%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;St. Louis, MO&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,089,503&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;990,363&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;31.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;54.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;75.9%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;8.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;Tampa, FL&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,277,509&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,148,726&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;31.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;53.4%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;72.6%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;9.0%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Washington, DC&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,881,957&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;1,826,347&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;45.0%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;68.9%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;85.3%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;5.7%&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing="0" border="0" cellpadding="0" width="642"&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr height="20"&gt;
&lt;td height="20" width="110"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;United States&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="89"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;110,926,139&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="89"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;97,284,156&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;33.2%&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;55.3%&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;74.7%&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="58"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;8.5%&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td width="64"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;strong&gt;Note:&lt;/strong&gt;Zestimate accuracy is computed by comparing the final sale price to the Zestimate on or before the sale date. The data herein is computed for the three-month period ending March 31, 2011.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;****************&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;In some parts of the Country, Zillow estimates its accuracy to be "1".&amp;nbsp; Which is based on tax assessment data.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;Is some information better than no information?&amp;nbsp; I guess it all depends on how this information is used.&amp;nbsp; It is certainly incumbent upon all of us - Realtors&amp;reg;, ABRs, buyers agents and listing agents alike, to make sure that our customers are aware of the pitfalls of over reliance on Zestimates, or any other tool used to create a micro view of the housing market.&amp;nbsp; Home prices can only be determined using a macro view, which is where we as a profession need to step in and either validate or invalidate customers' attitudes.&amp;nbsp; This is one area where a seemingly know-it-all consumer will be grateful for your input.&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:41:50 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2396992/debunking-the-zestimate-myth</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2367962/irs-standard-mileage-rate-increase-goes-in-effect-on-july-1</guid>
      <title>IRS Standard Mileage Rate Increase Goes In Effect On July 1</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New Standard Mileage Rate Increases From 51 Cents to 55.5 Cents&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In a sign that rising fuel costs are here for at least a while longer,&amp;nbsp;the Internal Revenue Service&amp;nbsp;recently announced&amp;nbsp;new standard mileage rate allowances both for business use of an automobile and for medical and moving expenses. The new optional standard mileage rates will apply to expenses incurred on or after July 1, 2011. The business rate will go up to 55.5 cents per mile.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 Jun 2011 09:46:27 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2367962/irs-standard-mileage-rate-increase-goes-in-effect-on-july-1</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2329684/better-safe-than-sorry-tips-for-what-to-do-if-a-tornado-strikes</guid>
      <title>Better Safe Than Sorry - - Tips for What To Do If A Tornado Strikes</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Killer Tornadoes in Massachusetts Remind Us All To Play It Safe&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As all of us in Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut sadly learned yesterday, tornadoes&amp;nbsp;with deadly force can strike with little or no warning,&amp;nbsp;masked by other weather phenomenon and&amp;nbsp;barely evident&amp;nbsp;until a funnel cloud&amp;nbsp;starts to kick up dust, water&amp;nbsp;and other debris.&amp;nbsp;Residents and visitors&amp;nbsp;in the western part of Massachusetts yesterday were out shopping, driving their cars, and otherwise enjoying what "seemed" to be a nice day and&amp;nbsp;going about their business when tragedy struck.&amp;nbsp; In the end, four people have been confirmed dead; property damage estimates are mounting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you find yourself in a situation where a tornado watch, warning, alert has been announced, or if you find yourself in a situation where the skies suddenly turn from bright sun to eerie darkness and the silence of a pending storm is emerging, safety officials recommend that&amp;nbsp;people follow these basic guidelines in the event a tornado is set to strike:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;Plan in advance.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; Identify and make sure all family members are familiar with where to go during a tornado or other adverse weather.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The basement is one of the safest places to go, but if there is no basement, a center hallway, bathroom or closet on the lowest floor is also acceptable.&amp;nbsp; Find a place to hide under a heavy work table or under stairs to avoid crumbling walls, chimneys and debris.&amp;nbsp;Stay away from areas on lower floors that are beneath heavy objects such as pianos, refrigerators and beds, as these can fall if winds tear up the upper level floors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;Rule Number 1 during a storm - -&amp;nbsp;Go to the safe&amp;nbsp;shelter&lt;/strong&gt; you designated (above).&amp;nbsp; Do not waste precious time looking for your personal diary or photo album of your family and friends.&amp;nbsp; Your safety is at risk!&amp;nbsp; If you can quickly leash your dog or cat, take them with you, but don't go out in the yard looking for your pet because it probably has already found a safe place to wait out the storm.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;Stay away from glass walls and windows&lt;/strong&gt;, in all circumstances.&amp;nbsp; Cracking open a window on all sides of a home may equalize inside pressure, but by doing so also increases the risk that a window, if detached by the force of the winds, may shatter and dangerous shards of glass could go flying with serious consequences if they strike a living object.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;Get to the lowest level of your home or a public building&lt;/strong&gt;; find an interior room or hallway away from windows, and try to put as many walls between you and the storm as possible. Flying debris is the leading cause of fatalities and injuries in a tornado.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;Crouch or lay as low as possible to the floor&lt;/strong&gt;, facing down, and cover your head with your hands.&amp;nbsp; Bathtubs and commodes are sometimes are the only things left standing after a storm. If a tub is solidly affixed to the ground, get into&amp;nbsp;it &amp;nbsp;with a cushion or heavy blankets over you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;In high-rise apartment, condominium or office&amp;nbsp;buildings, get to the lowest floor possible&lt;/strong&gt;, then&amp;nbsp;try to find a hallway in the center of the building. Central stairways are a good choice if they are enclosed by concrete,&amp;nbsp;but never&amp;nbsp;glass. Stay away from elevators which can get stuck in the event of a power failure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;Mobile homes&amp;nbsp;never safe&lt;/strong&gt;, even if securely tied down. Residents should leave their mobile homes and mobile home parks immediately upon any warning signs of an impending storm and go to the nearest sturdy building or shelter for safety and shelter.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;If you are in your car during a storm&lt;/strong&gt; where tornadoes are imminent, pull over and find cover outside in a ditch or low-lying area.&amp;nbsp; Look up and around- if you see utility wires or trees, find someplace else to retreat.&amp;nbsp; If traffic is light and you can see a storm ahead of you, you can also try to out of harm's way by driving at right angles to avoid the path of the storm.&amp;nbsp; When in doubt, get out and lie low in a ditch.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;Don't take shelter under overpasses&lt;/strong&gt; or think that your car is a safe place to stay. Deadly winds can carry your car away or damage roads with falling debris that could injure you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;Stay away from home improvement, grocery and other stores&lt;/strong&gt; that have a lot of products on shelves during storms.&amp;nbsp; These types of stores are full of loose items that can&amp;nbsp;be picked up by the force of the tornado and can become quite dangerous if you are struck and injured by an object that comes flying off of a shelf.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;In schools, shopping centers, churches and other large public buildings&lt;/strong&gt;, avoid areas with wide, free-span roofs such as a gymnasium, an atrium or ballroom. If possible, get under a sturdy table and use your arms to protect your head and neck. Crouch down and cover your head. Stay away from windows and outside walls.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;In churches or theaters,&lt;/strong&gt; get under seats or pews that are affixed to the ground.&amp;nbsp; Protect your&amp;nbsp;head with your arms.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;bull; &lt;strong&gt;If you are outdoors&lt;/strong&gt;, get to a sturdy building or low-lying area. Keep your head and neck covered - find a trash barrel if necessary - anything that can help to protect you.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The above tips are meant to be useful suggestions.&amp;nbsp; Common sense and safety are paramount in any emergency situation.&amp;nbsp; Listen to your radio or check your smart phone for weather updates.&amp;nbsp; Follow the instructions of emergency personnel and be safe.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:51:51 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2329684/better-safe-than-sorry-tips-for-what-to-do-if-a-tornado-strikes</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2266184/don-t-look-now-big-brother-is-watching-your-fico-scores</guid>
      <title>Don't Look Now, Big Brother Is Watching Your FICO Scores</title>
      <description>&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fair Isaac goes Orwellian&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;In yet another instance of "I know more about you than you know about yourself", Fair Isaac recently announced that it had created a "black box" that financial institutions and loan servicers can use to determine if an individual is at high risk of strategic default months in advance of the actual event (See article published on Inman News &lt;a href="http://lowes.inman.com/newsletter/2011/04/27/news/142036" title="Fair Isaac Goes Orwellian" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;I don't know about you, but I have a big problem with someone else "guessing" whether or not I am going to default on my mortgage - - or anything else.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; What Fair Isaac is doing is akin to racial profiling.&amp;nbsp; "Well sir, you are being placed under arrest because you wear a beard, and we all know that terrorists wear beards..."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;I really don't think there is any black box in the world that is going to predict with any accuracy at all whether someone is likely to strategically default on their mortgage.&amp;nbsp; All this seems to be doing is giving financial institutions another way to tighten the strings around a homeowner's neck and force him to default, rather than if they had just left him alone to manage his finances and get back on his feet.&amp;nbsp; After all, Fair Isaac states that people who strategically default typically have excellent credit scores.&amp;nbsp; But when you leave the banks to "pre-empt" people that they think are candidates for strategic default, they actually contribute to the borrower's problems by tightening credit lines, removing unused lines of credit (thus increasing the ratio of outstanding debt to total credit) and artificially push the credit scores down.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;I'm skeptical of this, and of anything that suggests that a computer or someone else knows me better than myself.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com"&gt;http://www.synergy-metrowest.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 Apr 2011 15:28:36 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2266184/don-t-look-now-big-brother-is-watching-your-fico-scores</link>
    </item>
    <item>
      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2245277/affordable-homes-do-exist-in-wellesley-ma-move-right-in-to-75-manor-ave</guid>
      <title>Affordable Homes Do Exist in Wellesley MA - Move Right In to 75 Manor Ave</title>
      <description>Introducing 75 Manor Avenue in Wellesley MA.  Situated on the town line with Weston, 75 Manor Avenue features 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, including a master suite with bath and separate shower.  Conveniently located close to the Mass Pike, Rtes 9, 30 and 20 and I-95/128 as well as Wellesley Center, this home sits on a conforming 10,000 sq. ft corner lot and has been impeccably maintained.  Totally renovated in 1999/2000, there is literally nothing for you to do but move in!
Very attractively priced at $699,500.  Call Joyce Creigher at 617-517-5427 or Martin Kalisker at 781-694-3513 for a private showing.
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:58:23 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2245277/affordable-homes-do-exist-in-wellesley-ma-move-right-in-to-75-manor-ave</link>
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      <guid>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2185935/still-sitting-on-the-fence-fha-just-made-it-more-expensive-to-buy-a-home</guid>
      <title>Still Sitting on the Fence?  FHA just made it more expensive to buy a home</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FHA to Raise Mortgage Insurance Fees Yet Another Example of Why NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY AND NOT WAIT!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For all those buyers out there who thought that they had a clearer insight to the future than their Realtor&amp;reg; -- Trade in those crystal balls and get off of the fence!!!&amp;nbsp; Effective April 18, The FHA will be&amp;nbsp;increasing the annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) charged on its home loans, a move that will increase the cost of a FHA mortgage by about &lt;strong&gt;$21&amp;nbsp; a month per $1,000&amp;nbsp;borrowed&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;by&amp;nbsp;increasing the annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) on 30- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages by 25 basis points, or one-quarter of one percent of the total loan value.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The move almost immediately implements one of the Obama administration's recommendations for reforming the U.S. housing finance market, submitted to Congress last week. The increase will not affect existing FHA mortgages, nor will it be charged on FHA reverse mortgages, or home equity conversion mortgages (HECMs).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;FHA Commissioner&amp;nbsp;claims that the c&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;apital reserves have been depleted&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The action is intended to help replenish the agency's&amp;nbsp;capital reserves, which have been depleted due to losses on bad loans in recent years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"After careful consideration and analysis, we determined it was necessary to increase the annual mortgage insurance premium at this time in order to bolster the FHA's capital reserves and help private capital return to the housing market," said FHA Commissioner David Stevens, in announcing the increase.&amp;nbsp;"This quarter point increase in the annual MIP is a responsible step towards meeting the Congressionally mandated two percent reserve threshold, while allowing FHA to remain the most cost-effective mortgage insurance option for borrowers with lower incomes and lower down payments."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FHA is directed by Congress to maintain a capital reserve equal to at least 2 percent of its outstanding loans, but that has fallen to around 0.5 percent with the downturn in the housing and mortgage markets. The new fees are expected to generate about $3 billion a year for the fund, which held about $3.6 billion at the end of FY2010.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Think of PMI as an increase to the Costo of Borrowing&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The FHA calculates the fee increase will raise the cost of a $157,000 mortgage (which is the national average borrowed using FHA program loans), by about $33 a month. &lt;strong&gt;The upfront fee of 1 percent of the amount borrowed charged on FHA loans at the time the mortgage is originated will not change.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The fee increases mean that &lt;strong&gt;FHA borrowers will be paying about twice as much for mortgage insurance on a 30-year loan than they would pay for private mortgage insurance (PMI) on a non-FHA mortgage.&lt;/strong&gt; Borrowers who put at least 5 percent down on a 30-year FHA mortgage will pay an annual insurance premium of 1.10 percent of the loan value; those making a smaller down payment will pay 1.15 percent.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For 15-year mortgages, the MIP will be 0.25 percent on mortgages with at least 5 percent down, and 0.50 percent on those with less.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;PMI is typically half a percent of the loan balance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Both types of mortgage insurance effectively increase the mortgage interest rate a borrower pays by whatever the insurance rate is, since they're all charged as a percentage of the loan amount.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We've all&amp;nbsp;seen illustrations of what happens to the&amp;nbsp;monthly, annual and lifetime cost of of mortgage when interest rates increase.&amp;nbsp; But, many&amp;nbsp;may not think about what happens to the cost of borrowing when&amp;nbsp;MIP increases.&amp;nbsp; As an example, a 30-year FHA mortgage at 5.0 percent interest and a 1.10 percent MIP is essentially the same as a loan at 7.10 percent with no up-front insurance premium or MIP.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For some first-time home owners and others using FHA financing to borrow, the increased MIP rates will also lower the maximum value of the loan that you may qualify for because of current underwriting guidelines connected to income and debt ratios.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;No one knows what will happen in the future.&amp;nbsp; One thing is certain.&amp;nbsp; Now is a great time to buy and now is a great time to sell your home.&amp;nbsp; Home prices, interest rates and/or the costs of financing need to go up to stabilize our economy.&amp;nbsp; So, don't try to time the market.&amp;nbsp; Go out there and buy that home that you've always wanted!&amp;nbsp; Give me a call and I'll show you how easy it can be too.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="agent_signature"&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;BORED WITH YOUR CURRENT JOB?&amp;nbsp; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Do you feel like your office is holding you back from your true potential?&amp;nbsp; Is your broker competing with you for new business?&amp;nbsp; Do you&amp;nbsp;sometimes wish that you&amp;nbsp;could work&amp;nbsp;with an energetic and fun team of seasoned and new agents that enjoy the benefits of&amp;nbsp;being affiliated with an office that provides superior technology; a lucrative compensation package, including profit sharing; company generated buyer and relocation leads; and office management that does not compete with agents for new business?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Come see what&amp;nbsp;WEICHERT, REALTORS&amp;reg;-Synergy has to offer.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Interested?&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;Contact us &lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com/menuform.asp?WebFormID=3" title="Join WEICHERT REALTORS-Synergy" target="_blank"&gt;now&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;or call&amp;nbsp;us at 617-751-4001&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href="http://www.synergy-metrowest.com" title="Invite Us In...We'll Bring Results" target="_self"&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert Realtors Synergy- Your trusted neighborhood specialist" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/6/2/8/9/9/ar12406930699826.jpg" height="98" alt="Weichert Realtors Synergy - Your trusted neighborhood specialist" width="158"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;img title="Weichert REO Network" src="http://activerain.com/image_store/uploads/3/6/7/3/6/ar125580244763763.jpg" height="104" alt="Weichert REO Network" width="100"&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;/div&gt;</description>
      <dc:creator>Martin Kalisker, WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174;- Synergy: MA Real Estate &amp; More (WEICHERT, REALTORS&#174; - Synergy)</dc:creator>
      <pubDate>Sun, 13 Mar 2011 13:54:13 -0700</pubDate>
      <link>http://activerain.com/blogsview/2185935/still-sitting-on-the-fence-fha-just-made-it-more-expensive-to-buy-a-home</link>
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