about real estate: Do We Know Who We Are?
- 02/26/14 09:06 AM
I am a real estate broker in Florida. In my day-to-day work I deal with agents and brokers. I have no idea whether they are REALTORS or not, nor do I care. Realtors to me are not a protected class to whom ethical behavior is due, while all others are game.
Our license to work and our laws do not come from NAR. They come from our respective States. States license us. So, whether I deal with a person, who pays dues or does not pay dues, does not matter much to me. I deal with a broker or an … (50 comments)
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about real estate: To Stage Or Not To Stage?
- 02/04/14 02:52 PM
To stage or not to stage? That is the question…. Do Buyers get scared by over-staging? According to what I read today, they do.
Obviously, they know what over-staging is. I don’t.
Is it like pornography? We know one when we see it?
Denise Hamlin posted “Does Home Staging Work? Maybe... What NOT to Base Your Opinion On”. Like everything she writes, it is very thoughtful, and it is very good. You do not need to trust my word, just go and read her post, and her other excellent posts.
She inspired me to post this.Actually, not only her post, … (15 comments)
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about real estate: $100,000 For A Floor?
- 02/01/14 10:02 AM
I saw this question on Trulia:
«I like granite . I am planning to use granite(slab not tiles) for flooring . I am in Austin TX. is it desirable to do so?. Does the heat and AC utilities bill will be effected very much. will it be difficult to sell the house if I desire so. How much value it adds to the house. I am planning a 3500 sft house with 2500 first floor»
There were several answers, and they were pretty much on target. People have enough sense to understand that even if you are fond of granite, it is … (28 comments)
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about real estate: Zillow... Any Love & Affection?
- 01/26/14 01:10 PM
I, actually, have no bad feelings towards Zillow, but I understand that I might be in minority here.
But let me ask you a question: if there were no Zillow and Trulia, who would have benefited?
I believe nobody, except real estate agents and brokers.
So, we understand why so many agents and brokers have strong feelings against Zillow & Trulia, but it is not that they are evil. I do not know about you, guys, but I use Zillow, to save time, to get the idea of the value.
It is quick, effective and is reasonably good for … (30 comments)
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about real estate: Weird Spice Called Google
- 01/17/14 08:34 AM
A condo in Oceans Grand in Daytona Beach Shores. 2 showings in one day.
The first couple walks in, looks at the unit, checks the view, asks a few questions, and then the lady asks to show her the indoor pool.
Sorry, there is no indoor pool in Oceans Grand.
The Buyers are upset. Turns out they told their agent that they were coming only in winter and indoor pool was an absolute must.
The agent keeps a leather face. She has no clue. She thought that all condos have indoor pools. She has a list of condos she lined … (18 comments)
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about real estate: Your Juicer May Be Broken
- 01/15/14 10:07 AM
It is quite common in comments on AR to see members being more concerned with interaction with Google, than with their interaction with live people, other members, customers…
We know that Google is constantly trying to replicate human behavior, to emulate our way of reading, judging, so that they can be relevant to people. However, when people are constantly trying to replicate Google, it is sort of like moving backwards, isn't it?
If
If Google is focusing on the content most, and is trying to figure the closest to human eye and brain way to valuate the content, why are … (56 comments)
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about real estate: The Art of Professional Vision
- 12/29/13 01:34 AM
A friend of mine, a Russian immigrant, Ph.D., MD, a former surgeon from St. Petersburg, passed the National Exam in US, but did not go through internship. This loophole soon was closed, but he was grandfathered and while could not treat live patients, became an ace in Pathology department. He is a virtuoso with the scalpel.
He worked at Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York. They had fellows coming from all over the world, and my friend would get “fresh” tumors and his work was bringing them to the group and initiate discussions.
Here is the story he told … (107 comments)
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about real estate: Buyers In My Pocket
- 11/30/13 08:52 AM
Time from time I get emails or calls from Sellers, who have Googled a particular property and saw my name, read my blogs, and they want me to bring the buyer for their condo or condo-hotel unit.
However, they will not list it with me. Either they do not want to list, period, and are promising me to pay if I bring the buyer, or they have listed it with their niece, but know that she is either very green, and/or out of the area, so they are trying to promote their condo unit as they do not expect the niece … (77 comments)
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about real estate: Is "I told You So" Enough?
- 11/25/13 03:11 AM
Terry McCarly inspired me to write this post. In Do I really Need A Home Inspection? The House Is In Great Shape! shre tells the story of a Buyer refusing to do the inspection, and later blaming the agent for selling her a "lemon".
Terry reminded her the conversation, when she was advising the Buyer to do it, but couldn’t make her agree to pay for the inspection. It was "I told you so" moment...
But is “I told you so” enough in Real Estate?
This story happened over a decade ago. The Buyer refused to do the inspection because … (73 comments)
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about real estate: About Love and Affection
- 06/22/13 04:26 PM
My clients are wonderful people. They were here a year ago, looked at condos, but did not buy. Came this year with the understanding that market is different and their perfect condo can be a bit more pricey than a year ago.
They increased the price range, thus more than compensating for a little higher prices. A whole new round of showings.
Nothing.
They are even more frustrated than I am at this point. Actually, I am not really frustrated, I am confused. I am confused because I can’t figure out the criteria.
There are no perfect condos or houses. You … (17 comments)
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about real estate: How Good Is Your Name?
- 03/23/13 06:48 AM
In December 2012 we decided to close our office in the condo-hotel building. With our shift towards condos rather than condo-hotels, having an office in a condo-hotel became a disadvantage. Plus, after having sold quite a few units there, we were losing a lot of time on casual conversations with owners and (guests) coming to stay there. If it was raining outside, they did not have what to do and would come to chat… So, we were moving. It was a perfect time to change the name, as we would still have to change the address and all the marketing pieces. … (14 comments)
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about real estate: What Are You Looking For?
- 03/21/13 01:59 PM
I heard this story from Orlando area broker a few years ago. It was about an acquaintance of his, who said he was looking for a home, and then he described the home: the area, size, age, views, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, countertops, garage…
The broker lined up homes to look at, but they were not impressed and then decided to wait. A few months later he learned they bought a house. They saw a sign, knocked on the door, and ended up buying the house.
The broker said It was in different area, 2-bedroom instead of 3-bedroom, no granite, no … (24 comments)
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about real estate: How To Lose A Shirt
- 03/18/13 02:01 AM
Have you ever thought of a chance to get rid of your sizable mortgage and for less than half the money own the property free and clear?
Well, sometimes things like this may happen.
We are watching foreclosures and tax deed. A 35-pad mobile home park with 32 homes. It is not in the best shape, 6 homes are closed and there are warnings from the city of Daytona Beach on the windows. Code violations. The rest of them are rented. Excellent location two blocks from the river.
At the peak of the market it was bought for $800,000. Then, just … (10 comments)
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about real estate: Write, Baby, Write...
- 03/15/13 04:23 PM
With regularity I read posts about… writing posts.
Interestingly, they do not go Shakespearean “To write or not to write”. And not because we know the answer, but rather because we don’t care about the question.
It is always “write, baby, write”…
Equally interestingly, there are a lot of post about how to write. it is about how long posts should be, when the best time to submit, how to write a “gotcha” title (see mine, for example – LOL).
The magic pill is exercise. Write often…Actually, as often as you can't. Because as you can is not often enough.
Active … (14 comments)
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about real estate: Relationship Is When You Are Naked In Bed
- 03/13/13 12:55 AM
In the years, when, as every immigrant of the 90s, men were either driving a taxi, or a limo, I was driving a limo in New York City. And when I did not have passengers, I would listen to the radio.
I was fascinated by a talk show by a psychologist / psychotherapist (she is still on the air). People would call with questions, and she would answer. She was absolutely brilliant, and her answers helped me to adapt to life in the US a lot. It helped me better understand how people think here.
Unlike Russia, where you get entangled … (89 comments)
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about real estate: To Script Or Not To Script?
- 03/03/13 04:27 AM
Actually it is not even a question. Or, if it is, we all know or should know the answer.
This post is inspired by Marte Cliff’s excellent post Real Estate Marketing – Another Scientifically Backed Copywriting Tip Scripts are not the culprits, laziness in internalizing them is. I used to be an instructor in school, a teacher, and what it meant was, pretty much, using scripts. The difference between good teachers and bad teacher to an extent comes from whether they spend time and effort and were able to made it their own, or were too lazy… One of the best … (20 comments)
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about real estate: What Difference Does a Good Offer Make if Nobody’s Listening?
- 06/01/12 02:54 PM
Friday is the day when the County schedules foreclosures for Daytona area properties. Used to be 2 days a week on average 30-35 properties a day. Not anymore. Today after a few cancellations, which is very common, there were only 5 properties left on the foreclosure list. I drove all the way to Deland, our county seat, because there was one condo-hotel unit in Oceans Jewels Club going on the chopping block. The foreclosing bank is known for the deepest discounts, starting from 10 cents on a dollar of the balance of the loan. I did not expect 10%, but I … (10 comments)
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about real estate: 2+2=? Wow!
- 05/20/12 05:04 AM
Sometimes I would ask my assistant to check the units for sale in a particular condo-hotel, and she would give me the number, and then, I go on MLS and my number is different. It is because of the way we search. She goes by the name of the condo and checks “Condotel” in MLS. I search by the addresses. Half of the time the results are different. For example, today 6 out of 13 condo-hotels have each one listing, which is not showing up in a “condotel” search. Many agents mark them in MLS as “Condos”. So, if you search … (11 comments)
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about real estate: Sign Here That You Are Honest...
- 05/13/12 09:07 AM
No, I am not writing it to express my deepest disbelief in Buyer Broker Agreements. There were too many spears broken over it. I guess there is no right and wrong here. Some States require them as I heard, so the whole point there is moot…
I read E.J.”Mike” Carlier’s post Why should I sign a buyer's broker agreement? Well written post, gives customers some clarification… But the reasoning made me speechless. Basically, Mike made it clear that unless there is a signed BBA, he can instead of writing an offer, as asked by the customer, turn and buy for his … (10 comments)
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about real estate: Treacherous Word “Market”
- 05/03/12 03:15 PM
Treacherous Word “Market” It is such a beaten word that we all feel that we know what it means. In economic terms “Market” means “the coming together of a buyer and seller” So, if the Seller sells the property for certain amount and the buyer buys this property for this amount, it is a fair market. This would be true when we talk about big numbers, like regional market. For local markets it may not be always the case. Circumstances can play a big role. Take the latest twist in condo-hotel market in Daytona. Someone working for American Auction Network came … (24 comments)
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I am a real estate broker in Florida. In my day-to-day work I deal with agents and brokers. I have no idea whether they are REALTORS or not, nor do I care. Realtors to me are not a protected class to whom ethical behavior is due, while all others are game. 
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