More will be coming … Condo project shifts to rentals (in DC)A rant against suburbiaWhat do home sellers want?Fascinating and wide-ranging discussion on affordable housing at cvillenews.Charlottesville’s dirty secret is out. (we have traffic – occasionally lots of it) HT: Waldo.
Browsing Category Sellers
Zillow steps it up
Zillow!And may become the de facto National MLS. Greg at the Bloodhound has an extraordinary analysis…. The speed with which the real estate blogosphere has analyzed this is phenomenal.2. Most real estate agents still have absolutely no clue about what Zillow is, or how it is going to change their business.3.
Sexual offenders’ impact on property values (Part 2)
I never intended to do a Part 2 (Here is Part 1).At what point does the Commonwealths’s sexual offender notification website become a means by which to unfairly devalue property?The inaccuracy of the database was noted about a house in Crozet (west of Charlottesville) here and on NBC29…. The disclosure and disclaimer forms shall contain a notice to purchasers that whether the owner proceeds under subdivision A 1 or A 2, purchasers should exercise whatever due diligence they deem necessary with respect to information on any sexual offenders registered under Chapter 23 (§ 19.2-387 et seq.) of Title 19.2, including how to obtain such information.I wrote earlier this year about the impact that a sexual offender has on a home’s value…. How many potential purchasers of the house on the market on that street or the adjoining neighborhood may have been lost?If there is no trust in the value and accuracy of the information, how can one be reasonably expected to exercise thorough due diligence?
How is this not discrimination?
To refuse to sell or rent after the making of a bona fide offer or to refuse to negotiate for the sale or rental of, or otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, or familial status;2. To discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in the connection therewith to any person because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, elderliness, or familial status;Federal laws seem to be equally silent on sexual orientation.From Rismedia:The certification training for LGBTRES candidates includes a half-day live lecture course or an online track, which the candidate must pass to receive their certification…. The NGLCC will begin delivery of the training in the fourth quarter of 2006, and, in 2007, will certify LGBTRES trainers in Realogy’s major markets to make the certification available to a wider audience.As to someone’s sexual orientation, skin color, sex, age – I don’t care one way or the other. So long as they are qualified by a reputable lender, are looking within their comfortable price range and are ready, willing and able to purchase a home now or in the (sometimes not so near) future, that’s all I need.
How to differentiate one’s blog?
I don’t have a better word to represent what this is, but I feel that “blog” just might be the most over-used word of the year.The Tomato folks query whether one should focus on national or local real estate blogging…. This was my comment:To be clear on my intentions – I started my blog with not as a reason to draw in business, but as a vehicle to fill what I perceived to be a void in the local real estate market commentary…. Those who read blogs appreciate candor; they know it when they see it and will keep coming back if they find it.I have two real estate search sites – but they do not get nearly the traffic my blog gets, nor do they serve to establish anything other than “hey, another Realtor with a website.” Putting myself out there – my personality, my skills, my opinions does differentiate me from the others – sometimes that differentiation is good, sometimes probably not so good.
What is the future of the MLS?
I do not intend to bore readers, but this has been a very hot topic of late, and I am fascinated by the direction of the MLS for a variety of reasons:1) How will this affect my clients?2) Emerging technology and the implementation of said technology fascinates me.3) How will this affect my business?4) What do I need to do to adapt, overcome and out-innovate my competition?… We are in a time of massive transition, from one where the Realtor controlled all the information and consumers were forced to go through a Realtor to buy or sell property to a world where information is free-flowing…. I would argue that most of this is happening in a way that consumers are not paying close attention to the changes, but they are in fact experiencing and taking advantage of the changes.But – referencing free information, such as that provided by Zillow, Johnathan Miller states:Free infers less precision, so as long as the product is marked accordingly, thats ok. I think the turmoil created has been the assumption that the result was gospel, and people will rely on the results, which may or may not be accurate.Most consumers do not use the MLS every day, but I would argue that somewhere near a majority checks the local MLS public search page at least once a month, if not once a week – just to satiate their own curiosity.For more information and insight, read Russ’ review from this past May and this article describing the future path(s) of the MLS concept. Disclaimer: I am a member of the NAR Future of the MLS PAG (how’s that for acronym overload).This, from Saul Klein’s blog (actually a cut-and-paste of an Inman article) – from Tom Stevens, CEO of the National Association of Realtors:What makes MLSs unique in the business world is that they exist first to facilitate cooperation between brokers, and that includes interbroker compensation…. (I am not advocating this position, just asking the question)Now that two large brokerages are going to send their listings to Google Base (subscription only), how long before an MLS decides to do the same? Or a large regional MLS?”The content partnership with Google will grant home sellers increased visibility for their property listings, as the partnership allows home buyers greater access to search for properties with specific attributes including details on bedrooms, baths, lot size and address,” according to Prudential California’s announcement..How long before they stop adding properties to their local MLS’? How will this impact consumers?Each day that I learn more and think more about the future of the MLS, the future of marketing property, a couple of things become clear:1) I get more confused2) I get more unsure as to what the future will look like3) What we know today is far different than what we will know tomorrow4) Property data (or content) is becoming far more fragmented than ever before.
The solution to many of real estate’s problems
Buyers Should Know that Mortgages Can Include Fees Paid Directly to Buyer Brokers In most cases, the fees charged by even non-traditional buyer brokers are paid out of the co-op fee offered by the listing broker or the seller. In some cases, however, listing brokers may want to see particular buyer brokers fail,(376) particularly those the broker has targeted with adverse split arrangements.(377) These listing brokers may refuse to adjust the purchase price to cover the buyer’s broker’s fee…. That does not appear to be due to any formal rules deterring banks from granting buyers mortgages based on a total sale price that includes the fee paid directly to the buyer’s broker rather than by the listing agent from the latter’s commission received from the seller. Nevertheless, many lenders appear resistant to regarding a fee paid directly to the buyer’s broker as part of the sale price, even if only out of ignorance.378 This may occur because some written lending standards may not have been officially revised to recognize that agents working with buyers are no longer usually subagents of the seller.(379) Buyers and banks should be informed that these mortgages are available and accepted in the secondary markets…. Educating all the Realtors who have not read this study would be at least half the battle.If the Buyer is able to negotiate the commission, rather than rely on the pre-negotiated price offered by the Seller, which the Buyer will be amortizing over thirty years through their payment of the mortgage, true freedom would be had.In fact, the FTC hypothesized that the ability of brokers to steer their customers to homes associated with agents charging the going commission rate and split “is the most important factor explaining the general uniformity of commission rates in most local markets.â€366 This is a bogus argument. With the rapid increases in technology, the fact that most consumers use the internet and the fact that most of today’s consumers have adopted the emerging search technologies more rapidly than most Realtors, “steering” consumers away from houses with a lower co-broke fee is 1) difficult if not impossible, 2) clearly not in the best interests of the client and 3) stupid.Their Six Recommendations:- Home Buyers Should Know What Their Broker Will be Paid- Home Buyers Should Know Specifically What Services Their Broker Will Provide, in Particularly Whether the Broker’s Agent May Intentionally Overlook Some Homes – Buyers Should Know that Mortgages Can Include Fees Paid Directly to Buyer Brokers – Sellers Should Know that Some Buyers Forgo a Broker Seeking to Save Money- Sellers Should Know that Buyers May Agree on Lower Fees with their Brokers – Listing Brokers Should Disclose What Specific Services They Will Provide, and Whether They May Selfishly Seek to Limit Dissemination of Listing Information Are all mostly reasonable. Might they also suggest that real estate agents who are able to adapt should be paid even if there is not a successful transaction?I’ve said it before and I will say it again:Marketing will become less and less a component of a Realtor’s core competency…. It will be part of the job, but not, as it too-frequently is now, the only part of the job.Competition on price has always been part of the equation; many clients feel that they get what they pay for.