Real estate blog entries tagged with business of real estate by Lane Bailey, Realtor & Car Guy (Century 21 Results Realty)

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business of real estate: Is now the time to buy? On BlogTalkRadio - 12/05/08 01:11 PM

Friday on BlogTalkRadio, the question was, "Is now the time to buy?" I was on the show for the last 20 minutes or so talking about it with Ken Cook, the host. The full broadcast is about an hour long, but I can hit the high points...
It is a tough question to answer because there are SO many variables. Region. Personal ability. Purpose (living in it or investment). The individual property. Risk aversion. The biggest point I made had to do with the NAR (National Association of REALTORS®), and their repeated cries of "Now is the best time to buy". … (4 comments)

business of real estate: To win... you have to show up! - 11/28/08 04:08 PM

I just got home from the Atlanta Thrashers v. Nashville Predators game. I have to say... the Thrashers didn't deserve a win this evening. Don't get me wrong, I wanted them to win, and I cheered for the win right up to the moment they went down in Sudden death Overtime...
Let's back up to the first period... and let's talk about how the stats and the reality don't stack up.
In the first period, the Thrashers had 10 shots on goal and the Predators had 4... and both teams scored one goal... but the Thrasher goal was a fluke.
The … (12 comments)

business of real estate: To require registration or Not require registration... Not - 11/19/08 03:07 PM

One of the more interesting (and repeated) debates/discussions/arguments at the Bloodhound Unchained conference had to do with property search registration... and whether to require it or not.
In this and the last post I am going to explore and debate myself about the pros and cons of each side of this question.
Requiring registration for property searches is a crappy idea...
EVERY real estate website now has an IDX (MLS access). Requiring a buyer to give up personal information is not a valid strategy. All it will do is drive buyers away from your website and kill any relationship you might … (19 comments)

business of real estate: To require registration or Not require registration... To - 11/19/08 02:51 PM

One of the more interesting (and repeated) debates/discussions/arguments at the Bloodhound Unchained conference had to do with property search registration... and whether to require it or not.
In this and the next post I am going to explore and debate myself about the pros and cons of each side of this question.
Registration requirements for search are a great idea...
Let's think about this for a minute. THE single most valuable thing that we have as real estate agents is the IDX (or whatever method we use to allow MLS searches). What consumers want is to be able to see listings. … (10 comments)

business of real estate: Time to start thinking about REtechSouth 2009 - 11/15/08 12:23 PM

It is still six months away, but that doesn't mean it isn't time to start thinking about it. Time has a way of creeping up on us. The date for the 2009 event is March 20th.
The inaguaral event was put together in just a couple of weeks, mostly by Brad Nix and Matt Fagioli. In those few weeks they managed to put together the coolest collection of technology sessions in the area. THE heavy hitters of technology in real estate made the trip. The people whose blogs you read and who you work to glean bits of information from were … (10 comments)

business of real estate: Gwinnett County Market Report, November 2008 - 11/03/08 02:48 PM

I just put the finishing touches on the November, 2008, Gwinnett County Georgia Market Report. It is pretty interesting. For the first time in a while there is something that was unexpected that snuck in on me..
Gwinnett County Real Estate Market Report 11 08 View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. If you didn't catch it, when the numbers were updated for Sept., there was an increase in sales from the previous year...
Yes, I said increase in sales over the previous year!
Of course, there is a caveat. In Sept. of 2007, we were hit with the worst of … (0 comments)

business of real estate: Is your Lilburn listing getting ready to expire? - 10/27/08 06:36 AM

If your home has been listed, and it is getting ready to expire, I would like to make a few suggestions...
Get a new agent... like me... Set up the new listing to begin the day after the current listing expires... Go on a nice vacation for a few days... Don't forward your home phone to your cell phone... and you might consider NOT sending it to voice mail... Why you ask?
Because it is going to get ugly. Seriously. It is kind of funny, I talk with agents all over... not just Atlanta, but all over the US... and … (6 comments)

business of real estate: Have you been left wondering how we've gotten here? - 10/25/08 02:45 PM

There are so many things going on in the world of finance right now. I know that you are hearing about things like:
Mark to Market Credit Market Freeze Derivatives Sub-Prime Mortgage Meltdown Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) And there are a hundred more...
I can't explain each of these in depth, but they are some of the things that NEED to be understood in order to know how we got to this point where the banks aren't willing to loan money to each other even overnight.
The path that we took to get here, in part, goes back to an … (5 comments)

business of real estate: Got money to lend... - 10/25/08 02:31 PM

I was talking with one of my mortgage brokers today... We are planning on doing a few podcasts, and he is a pretty cool guy, so we like to jabber every once in a while anyway. But there were a couple of things that Ken said to me as I was wandering around the store looking for birthday presents for a 4 year old and a 2 year old.
Lane, I have money here and I can't find anyone to take it...
I'm watching the news, and I'm reading about the real estate markets and the "credit crisis"... and from that … (0 comments)

business of real estate: Like glue sticks with steel... - 10/20/08 04:11 PM

I have a hobby for my hobby...
I love to weld. It is just fun. For those that don't regularly melt steel, this is kind of how it goes...
take two pieces of steel that need to really be one piece... mock them into position... fire up the welder... the welder feeds a wire that will melt with the juice... kind of sacrificial... squeeze it in there like a glue stick... ok, there is a pattern and a rythm... let it cool... very important... I actually do enjoy it. And there are two reasons. The first is that it is … (6 comments)

business of real estate: Housing starts fall to the lowest level in 17 years... and it is good! - 10/17/08 08:24 AM

Just off the wires in the latest housing news...
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Construction of new homes dwindled to the second-lowest level in 50 years last month, as home builders sought to reduce the number of unsold inventories in an elusive quest to find the bottom of the historic housing collapse, according to government data Friday. Housing starts fell 6.3% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 817,000, the lowest since January 1991 and just 19,000 above the record low, the Commerce Department estimated. Starts of single-family homes tumbled 12% to an annual rate of 544,000, the lowest since February … (0 comments)

business of real estate: Prepping for the marketing takes how long? - 10/14/08 01:04 PM

I am slow to bring a property to market. And I am proud of that. In fact, I think that more agents should be slow to bring a property to market. There are a few things that NEED to be done, and should really be done before the property is listed in the MLS or anywhere else...
Photos of the house and property Virtual tour Website Flyers or brochures Video tour Staging We all know that the absolute most important time to have everything right and in place for a listing is the first couple of days it is listed. Not … (6 comments)

business of real estate: Why tax business? - 10/14/08 04:27 AM

I often wonder about this. I hear all of this campaign rhetoric... "Don't cut taxes for 'big oil' or 'fat cats on Wall St', instead, we need to raise taxes on big business."
That is when it becomes obvious that most of our politicians have NEVER run a business. They simply don't understand that increased expenses lead to increased prices. Like Hillary Clinton talking about a "Windfall Profits Tax" on "Big Oil" to be used to send money to the consumers (oddly, at the time, Obama said it was a gimmick, now he has proposed something similar)... Did she not realize … (9 comments)

business of real estate: Oh, just Short Sell it... - 10/11/08 04:00 PM

I don't like to write about short sales, because people will find the post through Google... but this is important.
While I was wandering through a neighborhood grocery store here in Lilburn, GA, I overheard a conversation. I wasn't liking what I was hearing.
Two folks were talking about a friend that was upside down on the home she bought a couple of years ago. One of them then suggested to the other that she could "just make the bank settle for less on a sale." There was a little more explanation, and then "get her to find a friend or … (7 comments)

business of real estate: Real Estate Marketing Camp? Part II... Dispensing with comfort - 10/06/08 02:56 PM

Anyone hanging out in the mountains of western North Carolina this weekend might have noticed that at night it was COLD... seriously flippin' COLD. Breath in front of you turning to ice crystals cold...
And, as I mentioned in Part I, Plan Bs are required... and I had a Plan B for when the new sleeping bag failed to make its appearance until I returned from the trip. Let me tell you what Plan B was...
I had three sleeping bags... yes, three sleeping bags. I put one down on my air mattress, slipped into the mummy bag and then had … (8 comments)

business of real estate: Real Estate Marketing Camp? Part I... Plan B - 10/06/08 01:50 PM

As some of you may know... I just got back from a couple of days in the wilds... camping and running registration for a 4x4 event in North Carolina... and I do consider it a relaxing weekend. I had a wonderful time, and I learned some pretty interesting lessons.
Frequent readers will know that I like to apply the lessons learned in one aspect of my life to a completely different segment... So, here we go.
Lesson I... Preparation...
I ordered a new sleeping bag, expecting cold temperatures, and knowing that my current bag(s) wasn't (weren't) up to the task … (4 comments)

business of real estate: Survey Says... - 10/02/08 04:52 AM

I got an email this morning from Obeo, the provider of my virtual tours. It was the results from a survey they commissioned about home buying habits for internet users (there were a few people that weren't internet consumers).
Here is part of the press release:
Obeo Survey Provides Landmark Insight Into Home-Buying Behavior
Obeo -- the expert in buyer behavior -- has released the results of an in-depth demographic analysis that will help real estate agents serve the end consumer. (PRNewsFoto/Obeo)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT UNITED STATES
SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- In keeping with its reputation … (4 comments)

business of real estate: So, you want to buy a foreclosure? - 10/02/08 01:13 AM

I was with a buyer last week that wanted to look at a certain foreclosure home that they had seen listed. The price seemed a little high, but they thought there might be room for the bank to wiggle... It had been on the market for about 8 months.
When we walked in the door, the odor of decay was overwhelming. Literally. We couldn't walk into the house for more than a moment.
Of course, there was no power, the HVAC had not run for at least as long as it had been on the market, probably longer. There was (probably) … (7 comments)

business of real estate: It's time... - 10/01/08 04:10 PM

Each year around this time, I get out of town for a couple of days, hang out with the guys and camp.
It is that time of year again... and I am ready to go.
Despite that fact that I am running registration again (ok, I run the club that is running registration and people yell at me)... I think it is relaxing. Aside from the few minutes I'll actually work, I get to hang out with a lot of cool people, make some hilarious jokes and see some groovy junk Jeeps and trucks. And even the working is groovy because … (10 comments)

business of real estate: Enter ACORN... and the Presidential Candidate... - 09/23/08 09:46 AM

If you haven't already read Part I of this, please go back and read it... I'll wait.
So, now that you are caught up, we can talk about ACORN and their use of the CRA to control the activities of banking interests.
To start with, let's take a moment to talk about ACORN, or the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. Reading over their Wiki entry, many folks will read their own spin into the text. But there are a few things that stick out in my reading about ACORN. To start with, they don't treat their own people the … (20 comments)

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