Commercial Property
Discrimination is an ugly thing, but so is unlimited power. When you think about it, prejudice is one of the manifestations of power.
Over the protests of housing advocates, the Federal Reserve has been accused of overstepping its charter on two key points. It"s allowing Wall Street investment banks to borrow money from the central bank and it"s guaranteeing $29 billion in Bear Stearns assets to JPMorgan Chase in a takeover bid.
For the first time in seven months, existing home sales increased, says the National Association of Realtors. February sales rose nearly three percent over January. That"s encouraging says the NAR, but is it enough to spur buyers?
For once, the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance and Realtors are on the same side of an issue. The Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR) is opposing an anti-rebate bill alongside the AHGA, the Consumer Federation of America and the Department of Justice.
Wall Street is buzzing about Microsoft"s extremely generous offer to buy Yahoo! for $45 billion, which is a 62 percent premium over what Yahoo! closed the market for on Thursday before the offer was made public. By Friday, the shares had doubled in price.
Homeownership reached a record high in 2004 of nearly 70 percent, parallel to home sales approaching all-time record highs. Homebuying was such a popular sport that one in 10 U.S. residents owns a second home.
The financial press did its job. It scared Americans so badly about a possible recession that now we might just have one.
Prices for homes listed for sale fell in 16 out of 20 markets that compose a new index. The Real-Time Housing Market Report says days on the market also increased in virtually all markets.
If you noticed a lot more coupons in your inbox yesterday, you"re not alone. Forty-two percent of etailers had some kind of online promotion from discounts to free shipping, according to the National Retail Foundation"s annual survey.
A record number of more than 30,000 Realtors&Reg; and guests attended the National Association of Realtors annual meeting in Las Vegas this week. That"s good news considering that many Realtors have had a tough year in 2007, despite NAR"s calculation that 2007 will end as the fifth best year in sales in decades.
Every day there are more and more ways to search and get information on homes online – whether they are for sale or not.
Mortgages are packaged into securities and sold to investors, but the number of subprime loans in a package is unknown. What has caused investors to get spooked is not knowing whether or not securities will lose value because of the unknown quantity of high-risk mortgages that may end up in default. Mortgage securities are necessary to help provide liquidity to mortgage lenders. As their packages of loans are purchased as securities, they have new money to lend to more borrowers.
Evidence that the economy is stronger than previously thought was confirmed when the Commerce Department announced that Gross Domestic Product growth of 3.9 percent over the late summer third quarter despite plunging sales and credit challenges in the housing market.
If you can"t find a bank to approve your home loan, ask the seller to consider being your mortgage lender.
In a recent survey of local and state REALTOR® Association Executives (AEs) and MLS executives conducted by the National Association of Realtors" Marketing Research Department, SentriLock ranked number one in four out of five key categories: lockbox product, service, system and overall satisfaction.Comparing Sentrilock to GE"s Supra and Risco products as well as mechanical lockboxes, Sentrilock was bested only in price by Risco, but soundly beat all competitors in the other categories.
Test anxiety causes a potential real estate professional to freeze when it comes time to take the licensing exam. Realty Times has some tips.
The population growth in cities is such a world-wide phenomenon that the U.N. Population Fund is studying the possible effects.
You may be supplied a workspace/computer/phone station by your broker, but there will be plenty of times when working from home will be more productive. The trick is in making your surroundings function well enough to keep distractions, temptations and timewasters to a minimum.
Amid rising interest rates, gas prices, and foreclosures, builders of new homes are losing confidence that the housing market will improve before 2008.
According to a new report researched by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA,) the economic benefits of MLS home sales is great, with each home sale impacting consumer spending by an additional $32,200 over the subsequent three years after the purchase. That"s furniture, appliances, remodeling, services and taxes included.
The number of legal immigrants into the U.S. is about one million annually, and between 300,000 and 500,000 illegal immigrants move into the U.S., too, says research gathered by the Joint Center For Housing Studies at Harvard University for its yearly report, The State Of The Nation"s Housing. Over 10.5 million illegal immigrants resided in the U.S. as of January 2005.
Both new and existing home sales numbers were released last week, but the totals suggest a disappointing spring market that is unlikely to be made up in the summer, particularly with expensive gas prices and higher mortgage interest rates looming.
Foreclosures are up to one filing for every 264 households, says a new quarterly report by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties. But following five years of record and near-record gains, is such a high number that unexpected?
David Seiders, chief economist for the National Association of Home Builders, has just released The Seiders Report, an analysis of housing economics. According to Seiders, key findings are:
Single heads of households are growing while single parent heads of households are barely changed from 1994 to 2006, says the U.S. Census Bureau"s latest report on Families and Living Arrangements from data collected in February, March and April of 2006.
A rookie Realtor wants to keep the momentum going. What can she do to double her sales in 2007?
In one of the biggest deals of the year, Dominion Enterprises, a media and information services company, has purchased eNeighborhoods, a real estate data, technology and marketing solutions provider, to further its online marketing strategies for real estate agents.
A raft of bad news is roiling the financial markets, mostly over housing and mortgage financing fears brought on by the subprime meltdown. Can consumer lack of confidence trickle down turn into a torrent? More homes, fewer qualified buyers suggests that housing likely has further to fall.
A little birdie sent Realty Times an email of a listing that had been Photoshopped to real advantage. Seems the telephone lines that converged over the home were edited out of the main presentation photo. To the agent"s credit, the secondary photos included the offending wires.
Realogy, the world"s largest real estate franchisor, is taking a sudden, aggressive stance in online marketing. They"re getting into the listings marketing game in a much bigger way than promoting brand websites that feature only same-brand listings.
Millions of homeowners need help and are facing possible foreclosure but not many are reaching out for it. In fact, it"s estimated that 60 percent of borrowers will never establish communication with their lender prior to losing their homes.
Some of the greatest women in interior design gathered to speak last week at the Women In Design Symposium, sponsored by Architectural Digest (AD) and The Women"s Museum in Dallas. They shared their personal journeys, design philosophies, inspirations, and slides of the pioneering works that earned each of them a coveted place on AD"s list of America"s 100 greatest interior designers and decorators.
Windows XP just came out a couple of years ago, but the Microsoft Corporation wants to improve its operating system by introducing a new version called Windows Vista that has more robust security features. The problem is, you may not be able to install or use your current productivity or MLS-access software on it because the bugs haven"t been worked out yet between Vista and other software vendors, according to Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions executives.
The Center For Housing Policy, a research affiliate of the National Housing Conference, an organization that promotes affordable housing, has released a startling study that reveals the inability of workers in certain MSAs across the U.S to buy median-priced homes.
Is it really correct to call falling housing prices a "correction"? It would be hard to argue that people who paid more than they can sell their houses for now didn"t pay market value at the time. They"d hate to think of themselves as incorrect about buying.
It"s bad news for homeowners with private mortgage insurance (PMI) payments to help them swing larger mortgages to get them into their homes. Risk of declining prices is on the rise, dashing hopes that rising home prices would let them out of their insurance payments earlier.
Listings don"t sell without buyers, but representing buyers, especially in an era when buyers can get listings online and contact listing agents directly, can be hard duty for some agents. They don"t want their time wasted, and many are beginning to ask buyers to sign representation agreements. But are they doing the buyer any favors?
As homebuyers and real estate industry professionals look for an economic beacon to follow in order to avoid crashing on the rocks, Realty Times finds itself inundated with forecasting requests.
While some maintenance issues, such as poor drainage, leaky roofs and old plumbing are common to all areas of the country, location is a driving factor for many home maintenance issues.
According to the National Association of Realtors 2006 Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers, historically 20 percent of homes purchased are new. In 2006, that figure rose to over 22 percent. While 78 percent of homebuyers purchased an existing home, is a trend developing that will make older homes more difficult to sell?
Brokers who participate in MLSs that withdraw MLS listing feeds from public portals such as Realtor.com will be able to provide direct feeds of their listings, says Allan Dalton, president and CEO of Realtor.com.
While the front page of its website blares that it"s a great time to buy a home, seemingly in contradiction to the endless stream of negative press about how housing is crashing whether it actually is or not, the National Association of Home Builders commissions a study to find out if the press indeed is behind buyers" reluctance to buy a new home.
After scaring homeowners, buyers and sellers witless for the last three years, the financial press and stock analyst economists contributed mightily to the decline of housing in 2006, where homes have lost value recently for the first time since the National Association of Realtors began keeping records back in 1968. Now these same self-serving analysts, who would like to see day-trading home investors pour their money back into stocks, are saying the worst is over, according to a new Wall Street Journal Online survey.
The Tax Relief Act of 1997 and its capital gains exclusions for homeowners who live in their homes only two years spawned a new kind of homebuyer -- the daytrader investor who buys property with selling in mind. An investor writes Realty Times and asks if it"s a good time to sell his Bend, Indiana property.
A Deed of Reconveyance is used in conjunction with a Deed of Trust and it"s purpose is to clear the title of any liens pertaining to the Note and Deed of Trust which secures that note. The parties involved in the Deed of Trust are the Trustor (the Borrower), the Trustee (title company, bank, or third party), and the Beneficiary (the lender). Once a Deed of Reconveyance is recorded, the title becomes clear of the lien.
Often a buyer wonders if he is buying property in a state which is considered a "title theory state" or a "lien theory" state. Why would you need to know which custom is practiced in your state?
Question: We signed a contract to sell our house, and gave the buyers certain time limits. From the date of "contract ratification" they had 7 business days to have the house inspected, and 30 days in which to obtain financing.
LendingTree doesn"t just let lenders compete over you, it also has significant forays into the real estate industry where it is trying out several business models, including selling leads directly to agents, the RealEstate.com Broker Network, which offers rebates to customers, and iNest, a subsidiary which offers a rebate and specializes in the new home construction market. Tapping Bret Violette, formerly of Weichert Realtors, as the company"s senior vice president and manager of the Western division, a mystery subsidiary is being launched.
Taking out a full-page ad in USA Today"s Oct. 6, 2006 edition, Realogy is sending a strong message to the press, the public and its franchisees -- there"s a positive story to tell about real estate -- namely, that interest rates are low, inventories are favorable, and now"s a great time to buy a home.
Some economists are circulating the new memo -- things aren"t so bad out there in the world of real estate.
While the National Association of Realtors does a great job tracking the information sources such as real estate agents, yard signs and open houses that homebuyers use to choose the homes they buy, little is known about the impact of ancillary marketing tools such as flyers. We know that 90 percent of buyers use real state agents to look for homes, 77 percent use the Internet and 71 percent peruse yard signs, 51 percent open houses, and half use newspapers to search for a home.
The U.S. Census reports some startling facts about the single and unmarried demographic within the American population. Just one question -- isn"t single and unmarried the same thing?
Long-time nemesis of NAR, San Francisco anti-trust attorney David Barry has failed in his recent attempt to put an open-to-the-public statewide MLS on California"s November ballot. Barry had filed a ballot initiative with the California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, claiming that a public MLS would end the real estate industry"s monopoly on home listings.
Realty Times routinely recommends that consumers check ARELLO.org, the official Website of the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO) to verify that the agent they are considering hiring is properly licensed. One upset broker, following our advice, says she found that her information is 30 years out of date.
It"s great news for the airlines. A large percentage of second home buyers would as soon fly as drive to reach their vacation homes, says a new survey by HomePages.com, a division of HouseValues that allows consumers to see aerial views and neighborhood-centric information of homes.
Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES) is rumored to be up to something big. Though no one"s talking at the company, it"s being said that the company is finally going to put all the pieces together and launch a major threat to online competitors who drive traffic to Realtors. Judging from the company"s strengths as a subsidiary of one of the largest title insurance companies in the world and its position as a major productivity service provider to Realtors and their MLSs, whatever FNRES has planned is sure to be Realtor-friendly.
The winner of the real estate horror story for the decade is a home that drove its owners batty -- literally. Realtor Jerry Fowler, who has had a radio talk show in Columbia, South Carolina, for over 14 years called Real Estate Focus, has done a weekly segment on Real Estate Horror Stories, and has never topped the one about the home with bats in the belfry.
The Federal Reserve has raised short-term interest rates to banks another quarter point -- as it has for 17 straight meetings since June 2004. The lag effect on long term interest rates, such as mortgages, is they also rise.
Cars.com has observed that consumers are dumping their SUVs in growing numbers. Will big homes be next? It"s a good question as America posts a new record in home sizes.
You might assume from the steady drumbeat of bad news about housing and real estate that there"s nothing encouraging out there in the economy.
"The State of the Nation"s Housing 2006," one of the most anticipated annual housing reports, has just been released by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
[Note: To follow is an excerpt of a radio show interview conducted by Peter L. Mosca, host of Income Property Investment Talk with the Cato Institute"s Senior Fellow Randal O"Toole who discusses a new study that examines how restrictive government policies choked off growth, encouraged localized housing bubbles, and triggered the current financial crisis. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/100709.]
Some may be old enough to remember the rock band from the 1970s called Three Dog Night. There is an interesting story behind their name. Australian aborigines domesticated and kept wild dogs (dingos). On cold nights they would customarily sleep with their dogs to keep warm. On colder nights they would sleep with two dogs, and if a night was especially cold, it was a "three dog night”.
With the real estate industry"s eyes on seniors and baby boomers, it"s appropriate to acknowledge Older Americans Month this May.
It was just a matter of time before the large franchises fought back the intrusions of the Department of Justice and third-party lead generation services into online marketing of MLS listings by setting up their own real estate portals.
One-third of the homes sold in 2004 were vacation, second homes or investments sold to non-occupying owners. In 2005, the numbers were even more startling. Just when it seemed there couldn"t be a bigger market for vacation homes, the National Association of Realtors® announces a record year for the sale of second homes.
It all came to a head in 2003 when many in the real estate industry reacted to new revenue plans by Supra to put lockboxes on subscription plans, with cumbersome technologies designed to trap Realtors into providing streams of income to GE-owned Supra/Risco, said some real estate professionals at the time. Association Executive meetings in 2003 at the NAR conference gave new meaning to the phrase "the air was blue" when they began talking about how Supra was no longer going to support lockboxes that were neither worn out or needing to be replaced. Instead, the company"s plan was to hook associations and their members into lengthy "subscriptions" highlighted with outdated technologies, fumed the AEs.
It"s not his case yet, but attorney J.T. Westermeier, partner in the firm of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP, says the Department of Justice is off-base in suing the NAR for its Internet Listings Display policy.
Real estate brokers around the country are tracking prices in Zillow"s new site, and like what they see -- housing valuations as much as 40 percent off the mark. Even Zillow doesn"t shoot at a higher target, admitting to BusinessWeek that its "estimates are typically on target, falling within 10 percent of the actual home-sale prices 62 percent of the time."
The lending industry has a lot of products including energy-efficiency, interest-only and VA and FHA loans to make homebuying easier for first-timers. Almost all mortgage loans are related to the value of the house, yet most refinance products are used by homeowners not to put back into their houses, but to eliminate credit card debt, send kids to college, and pay other expenses.
With the NAR"s new buyer-seller survey showing that the Internet has done nothing to disintermediate Realtors from transactions with consumers, a science blog, posted by someone named BJS at Penn State explains why.
Following the passing of Charles McKee, president of The Realty Alliance, the all-star real estate networking group is starting over with an interim president and a new strategic plan to increase its voice and power in the marketplace.
If 2005 was the Chinese year of the rooster, the real estate industry had plenty to crow about.
You can easily clean up bad indoor air quality at home with just a few lifestyle changes and adjustments in your air quality management.
Zero seems to be the key number in several areas of the economy. Not only are consumers saving less than zero, but a prominent stock analyst predicts zero earnings growth on Wall Street next year.
Republican Mike Oxley, known for his Eliot Ness-meets-George W. Bush-like pursuit of evildoers in financial services and real estate, is retiring from his seat in the House of Representatives after 25 years of service. Few in the real estate industry will miss him because of his pro-banks, anti-Realtor stance. In fact, he was so consistently pro-banks and anti-Realtor that many believe he will take a position in financial services, perhaps as a lobbyist.
The commission squeeze is causing the industry to place a lot of blame on competitors that advertise discounts, when it was the traditionals themselves that began the discounting practice long ago with affinity partners like Costco and USAA. Agents were empowered by agent-centric companies like RE/MAX International to negotiate their own commissions.
Sometimes you don"t get what you pay for. A homeseller finds that a discount-proffering real estate agent hasn"t done much for the attractive commission he"s charging.
It"s good mental exercise to read a wide range of news and imagine how the stories might apply to real estate. One recent survey indicates that certain cars have higher resale than others. These are trends that might also foreshadow what consumer preferences will be in housing.
As residents return to New Orleans, Houston and other areas hit or spared by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, new questions are arising about housing. Some will find a way to salvage their homes, while others will find total devastation. Hundreds of thousands of people will have to start over somewhere else, which will make for the largest relocation effort in U.S. history.
As part of their relentless persecution of the real estate industry, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are planning a public workshop on Tuesday, October 25, 2005 at the FTC"s Satellite Building Conference Center at 601 New Jersey Avenue, NW. in Washington, D.C. to discuss competition in the real estate industry.
Mortgage fraud is the real estate cancer, says broker Ralph Roberts. He"s busy writing a book, meeting with government agencies like the FBI, and taking his crusade on the road to inform the real estate industry, lenders, and consumers about the tricks of the mortgage fraud trade.
Do you love where you work? The folks at Realcomp II Ltd, Michigan"s largest Multiple Listing Service, serve 15,000 subscribers, yet manage stellar "outstanding employee retention, diversity and overall workplace environment," according to the "Cool Places To Work" award, handed out by the American Society of Employers and the state of Michigan.
Oil prices are at record highs -- $2.50 a gallon at the self-serve pump nationwide. That may slow consumer spending down a little, and cause some first-time homebuyers to think twice about buying a home just now. Or they might consider buying a less expensive home. Pressuring first-timers even more are interest rates, which are finally starting to creep up.
With hundreds of thousands of articles written over the last few years about the "real estate housing bubble," which is still being debated strongly, Wall Street may be attempting to influence journalists into accomplishing what market fundamentals have so far failed to do -- let the air out.
Constant talk about a housing bubble could single-handedly cause housing prices to moderate or dip, as the financial press attempts to worry the nation into shifting its money from real estate back into stocks.
Two recent reports suggest that housing affordability is declining nationally and is close to setting new records in California where one out of nine Americans live.
If you"ve been wondering whether to buy or sell in 2005, you won"t go wrong either way. Leading housing economists suggest that 2005 will go on record as the second highest year for sales since 1972.
According to the latest Coldwell Banker® Luxury Index, America"s wealthy homeowners haven"t changed much in their preferences when it comes to the amenities they want to have in their homes or to add to their homes post-purchase.
On June 6, 2005, Senate Bill 673, sponsored by the Oklahoma Association of Realtors, was signed into law by Governor Brad Henry. In a similar move, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed SB810 into law.
If there was ever any doubt that Rep. Mike Oxley, R-Ohio, chair of the Financial Services Committee, is out to destroy the existing real estate industry, it was removed with the introduction of HR 2660 IH, the euphemistically titled "Fair Choice and Competition in Real Estate Act of 2005," on May 26th, 2005.
For nine weeks in a row, mortgage interest rates have slipped, creating land office business at real estate brokerages and the buzz is May will be another record-setting month.
Dallas-Fort Worth may have hit the economic and housing bottom, with nowhere else to go but up. At least a pack of rich developers in Dallas" Uptown area think so.
One time when I was a principle selling a home there was an agent who clearly had the inside track for my listing. In fact, he was the only agent in my area who I had ever had a conversation with, and he and I had spoken with each other several times.
In spite of warnings by the Department of Justice, the Texas House and Oklahoma Senate moved forward on the same day to pass bills which are intended to support statutes that require minimum levels of real estate brokerage services to consumers.
Over 1400 real estate industry leaders, in 58 markets, have participated in the drafting of standards by a grassroots organization recently incorporated as the Real Estate Standards Institute.
In response to discussions between National Association of Realtors attorneys and the Department of Justice representatives, NAR leadership is recommending a change in the Virtual Office Website (VOW) policy. In hopes of resolving the DOJ"s investigation into the Real Estate Industry"s internet data display policies, the Multiple Listing Issues & Policies Committee is reviewing a report and recommendation of it"s IDX Enhancement Work Group.
It"s fascinating to learn the thought processes and actions behind today"s buyers and sellers, and every bit of information the industry can learn helps it to hone its services accordingly.
If the wheels of justice appeared to move slowly in the federal indictments of former Homestore executives, CEO Stuart Wolff and VP of business development Peter Tafeen, it"s obvious from related news from Time Warner just a few days ago, that justice was simply waiting for the right grease. Three days after Time Warner finalized the terms of agreement with the SEC, including a $300 million settlement payable to the US government, Wolff and Tafeen were indicted.
Dallas" fiscal problems may not mean anything to most readers, but the kind of city service issues it has is a lesson for all municipalities, and the Realtors who go to the effort to bring business into the city.
Critics of the National Association of Realtors" virtual office Website (VOW) policy love to point out that the policy has invited the scrutiny of the Department of Justice (DOJ.)
According to the California Association of REALTORS® (C.A.R.) "2004 – 2005 State of the Housing Market" report, home sales and the median home price reached record high levels in 2004, while supply conditions and the share of first-time buyers in the California housing market fell to historic lows, showing a trend toward more of the same for 2005.
Conventions are back in style. The National Association of Realtors reported record attendance for its annual convention in November, 2004, and the Real Estate CyberSpace Society has posted record-breaking attendance for the last three years of its online convention.
The commission-based traditionals in real estate are so terrified of the new MLS-entry only limited service business models that they are trying to get state legislatures to battle back limited-service brokers by introducing minimum service levels.
According to Standard & Poor"s Ratings Services" Housing Volatility Index (HVI), which calculates the volatility of housing in 331 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) and determines the probability of price declines in the event of an economic downturn, what went up may be coming down.
Hank Morris (not his real name) wanted a good agent when he and his wife transferred to Denver, so he went to Realtor.com to find one.
The housing economy is changing and experiencing positive momentum while the glut of unsold inventory is beginning to shrink, according to The Los Angeles District Council of Urban Land Institute. "The old model has been turned on its head," says Joseph Miller, President of The Runyon Group. The company develops real estate projects in the Los Angeles area as well as advises builders and developers on their projects.
You"ve seen it happen often - an otherwise law-abiding citizen breaks the law. Not because he"s a criminal, but because he"s part of a crowd, and being law-abiding won"t get him what he wants.
A future buyer"s agent writes Realty Times because he is curious as to how he would be paid. His question is at the heart of consumer confusion over how the real estate industry operates.
The markets are fascinating to watch and yesterday was particularly interesting. A spate of mixed reports just released on October 5, 2004 shows the perfect real estate storm may have picked up wind again.
While MLSNI and association executives run for cover in Chicagoland due to the findings of an audit of the MLS and its CEO that suggests that directors may have fallen down in their fiduciary duties to protect association members, the Chicago Association of Realtors and the Three Rivers Association of Realtors are taking lead roles in bringing closure to matters surrounding the CEO of MLSNI and what happened to two million dollars MLSNI invested in the CEO"s wife"s company REBIG by dumping their directors and helping to convene a special executive session of the board of directors of MLSNI.
Bruce Hahn, founder of the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance (AHGA,) plans to lobby Congress through the new Antitrust Modernization Commission to look into the erosion of the laws of agency that have taken place in many states which condone dual agency, transactional agency or designated agency.
Van Davis is the former CEO of one of the nation"s largest franchise organizations. Now"s he"s itching to implement the ideas he was precluded from trying in the more structured franchise environment. He"s the new CEO of Foxton"s North America, a full-service, reduced fee brokerage firm.
Americans have always had a love affair with the macabre. Maybe it"s a fascination with the grotesque. Or perhaps its simply that heinous events cast a spell over our natural curiosity. Or just maybe people are intrigued with all things celebrity, and just can"t get enough of it.
Every time I write a piece about first-time home buyers, I"ll meet one who is a little older than the rest -- late 30s or early 40s.
In an effort to reach out to the Realtor community, the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI) is educating Realtors about the importance of home inspections and working with home inspectors as independent professionals.
As sellers find they have missed the all-important back-to-school deadline in selling their homes, some blame their Realtors, but is there more to the story?
A reporter from a major financial magazine called recently wanting to brainstorm a theory - that it is the discounters in real estate which are causing real estate commissions to come down. While discounters have had an impact by making it easier for consumers to get a "discount," there are other points to consider.
Brokers, agents and association executives are waiting for the other shoe to drop in the forensic audit called for by MLSNI board members into the activities of MLSNI, its CEO Jay Huffman, and MLSNI"s investments into entities such as Multiple Solutions, LLC, a subsidiary formed to oversee MLSNI"s investments into REBIG, a data licensing firm headed by Huffman"s wife, Brenda Huffman.
Want to find out what your competitors are doing online? Take the JupiterResearch-Realty Times Executive Survey for broker/owners and find out. Click here!
Realtors who are looking for Alan Isabelle, former president of Informedia Group, Inc., can find him at a company called Mortgage Loan Specialists, aka Homeloandesk.com, where he may be engaged in building a new company to sell leads and transaction management platforms to mortgage brokers.
Out of towners are flocking to Alleghany County, Maryland. Rolling mountain views, a slower country lifestyle and recreational opportunities are making Maryland’s least expensive housing market to suddenly heat up. More than 40 percent of houses purchased in the area are by buyers who live elsewhere, according to the county’s website.
The Federal Reserve"s decision to raise interest rates Wednesday might create as many problems as it solves, suggests Dr. Irwin Kellner, in his recent CBS Marketwatch column, "Between Scylla and Charybdis," Dr. Kellner makes the point that because job growth has been weak, so has personal income growth, with the result that many have borrowed at adjustable rates that can only rise with the Fed rates.
Commission pressures are among the biggest concerns for real estate practitioners, as their average payday has sunk nearly 15 percent recently, according to industry consultants. The oft-quoted figure is that commissions average 5.1 percent today when six and seven percent commissions used to be the norm.
"Michael" wanted to know how long he can expect to sell his home in today"s economy.
Homestore CEO Mike Long"s biggest challenge in getting the company to profitability is dealing with the disinformation, alienation and belief systems of Realtors that have turned many of them from supporting their own brand - Realtor.com.
RealEstate.com has unintentionally embroiled its adopted parent LendingTree in a mess.
In this exclusive interview with Blanche Evans, Realty Times, Long reveals his innermost thoughts about the future for Realtors and a possible change of business model for the biggest riches-toting camel in its caravan - Realtor.com.
Realtors are importuning Realty Times to "do something" about Yahoo! and its publication of a SmartMoney story that disses real estate professionals. We already did - four and a half years ago.
If you"re looking at housing statistics over the past quarter or year, there"s no question you"re going to come up with a lot of negatives.
After reading a Realty Times story that suggested that the CMA be repositioned as a marketing tool, Century 21 broker/owners in Salt Lake City decided to see if leaving CMAs out of listing presentations would really work. While the experiment wasn"t formal enough to yield solid statistics, the brokers decided that to try to teach their agents to reposition the CMA in their presentations to sellers was worth the price of the experiment - a few lost listings.
Meetings are the venues wherein homeowner association business decisions are made. Since these meetings are usually infrequent, the importance of the decisions made cannot be understated. However, some HOAs are decision challenged because:
You"re trying to get your sellers to get rid of clutter before putting the house on the market. The last thing you should do is suggest a garage sale. Here"s why.
On February 12, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a division of the U.S. Treasury, has adopted a regulation that "preempts state banking laws and exempts national banks from having to comply with state banking laws, including those protecting consumers from predatory lending and other abusive banking practices," says the National Association of Realtors.
When GMAC Real Estate announced that it has a new insurance package designed for real estate affiliates by its sister company GMAC Insurance, it prompted Realty Times to investigate - what do other franchises offer? Does it really pay to affiliate with a large franchise?
If you think only boomers and GenXers use the Internet to find homes, a new survey by ERA Real Estate, conducted by Insight Express, has some surprises for you that may change your ideas of what seniors want in their next homes.
While the Fair Housing advertising guidelines seem plain enough, there are many words and phrases that practitioners can still use without risking getting sued.
In the fall of 2003, eRealty"s CEO Russell Capper was invited to present his views on virtual office Websites to The Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO) during their annual conference. Taking the opportunity to fight the National Association of Realtors" (NAR) virtual office Website (VOW) policy, Capper presented his argument at round table discussions, supplemented by handouts prepared for him by his attorney Robert D. Butters, that VOWs should be treated by regulators as virtual offices, and not as advertising mediums.
This week Middletown, CT-based subprime lender Mortgage Lenders Network USA (MLN) pulled the plug on its loan originating operations after growing from 7 to 1,800 employees in 10 years.
As part of the Clinton Administration"s undying efforts to boost home ownership, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has reminded lenders originating government-insured FHA mortgages that disabled buyers may be eligible for special consideration.
You probably remember the line about porridge from Goldilocks: It wasn"t too hot, it wasn"t too cold, it was ... just right.