BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Month: February 2010 (page 3 of 4)

February 11, 2010

I wanted to say, “Let’s hear it for the dogs!” — but before I can, I need to say: “Let’s clean house for the dogs…”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Here’s a true fact of BloodhoundBlog life: This is a very busy place. It always has been, but this one site — BloodhoundBlog — has been a huge resource hog virtually from day one.

We started off on a shared account at GoDaddy.com, but our traffic and our RSS subscriptions were killing us, so we had to move to a semi-dedicated server at HostGator.com.

Not long after that we had to move again, this time to a dedicated server. We ran all our domains off of that one box, but it was BloodhoundBlog that created all the headaches.

Since we’ve been on the dedicated server, we’ve had to go into both the server software and our WordPress configuration again and again to try to squeeze more performance out of the hardware.

As you will recall, we had a huge crash last summer, losing days of data and hundreds of comments. At that time, we moved to a different dedicated server — having smoked the first box to death.

And guess what? Here we are again. We’ve been redlining this server for months. In the past few weeks, we’ve been running from 30% to 75% of capacity for twenty hours a day. Surely you’ve noticed the sluggishness of service while waiting for posts to display or for comments to post.

So we’re moving yet again. Sometime tonight (I hope), we will be upgrading to much more robust hardware, a much faster server with four times our current hard disk footprint. I wish I could say that this will be our last move, but I’m sure it won’t be.

Unlike the server swap last summer, we’ll be moving to new IP addresses, which will entail an update to all the Domain Name Servers in the world. What that means is that the BloodhoundBlog you see over the next few days may or may not be the new server. If you land here by way of a non-updated DNS server, you will be landing on the old server. When I can, I’ll post a note to the new server to distinguish the new one from the old one.

Practically speaking, a DNS Read more

February 10, 2010

Real Estate Broker Sued for secondhand smoke

by

Realtor, Guerilla Technologist

Author website

Alyssa Burrage was smoked out of her $405,000 condominium.

Burrage has a history of asthma and has smelled smoke since she first viewed the unit on the south end of Boston in 2006 with her real estate broker.  The broker assured Burrage the smoke she smelled was from a previous owner and the stench would disappear.

After Burrage moved in she discovered the smoke was coming from a smoker in the unit below her’s.  The condo association refused to fix the problem as did the lower unit where the secondhand smoke was coming from.  Burrage moved out and leased the condo in May of 2008.  She states, “I’m certainly not a person who’s on a soapbox saying people shouldn’t smoke.  But when it affects somebody else, that’s where the line needs to be drawn. It’s an awful thing to not be able to escape from something that’s hurting your health.’’

Neither the real estate broker, Joseph DeAngelo, nor his lawyer would comment on the case. In a joint court filing summarizing the case, DeAngelo and his employer, Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty, deny that Burrage questioned him about smoke in the condo.

“DeAngelo never made any misrepresentations, or any representations at all, concerning the source of the alleged smoke smell,’’ the broker’s lawyer, Jay S. Gregory of Boston, said in the filing.

Burrage also sued the condo unit below her, and later settled out of court, because the lower unit condo owner stated that it was cheaper just to settle out of court.

Should Brokers be REQUIRED to disclose ACCURATE information about smoking to prospective buyers?

February 10, 2010

Buzzing about Google Buzz

by

Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Author website

The kind of awe and admiration Greg has for Apple, I have for Google. Whereas Apple’s product launches are greeted with unending speculation, leaks, rumor-mongering and fanfare, Google quietly rolls out new features.

Some are great – Google Voice has turned out to be surprisingly useful in my business. Others are not – I still haven’t figured out what Google Wave is good for.

Yesterday Google rolled out a new product, Google Buzz.

Unlike the iPad, Buzz is not a category killer. But it takes an existing category – the Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn world of social electronic interaction – and makes it… better.

I love the idea of social networking. I hate some of its implementations. For instance, Facebook is a terrible service – slow, buggy, non-intuitive.

Twitter is fast and a neat idea, but obviously limited in its implementation.

I rarely use LinkedIn.

But Google Buzz is potentially a useful collaborative tool that I can use across a range of relationships – from close friends, to family, to distant friends, to network contacts, to potential clients.

It integrates into gmail, which allows me to use it in the same way I use email. It will connect with other legacy social network sites, such as twitter. And it will allow me to do social networking with a much richer range of tools – text, graphics, photos, and video.

February 10, 2010

Google releases a Buzz which may be a BuzzKill for others

by

Realtor, Urban Jedi

Author website

I’m sure we can all agree that Google is big. Huge in fact. From what I understand they had a Super Bowl add this year. Who Dat? Google Dat! But everything they do is not always a hit. When was the last time you checked out Knol?

Moving along. This morning the buzz around the web is that Google has introduced the Twitter/Facebook killer with Google Buzz. Poor Twitter gets killed ever once and awhile and so is apparently a cat of nine lives on it’s final death bed. Just don’t tell that to the 14 bazillion users out there tweeting at this very moment.

One big part of this domination tool though is Geolocation.

At first look, Google Buzz reminds me of Pownce. A twitter-like social network that came along about the same time twitter became popular and allowed your to share files, photos and other media in your updates. Pownce, of course, with many of the others have fallen by the statusphere wayside or are still being populated with home listing updates via Ping.fm from Realtors trained by geniuses that tell them the more spam they have in their nature, the better their homes will sell.

Back to Google. Here’s a look at all the Buzz from the release video:

I have not been able to log into the Gmail inbox interface yet, but I did have a chance to take a look at the mobile version on my iPhone. Now here’s where it might get interesting despite what Google’s biggest competitors think.

My first look on the iPhone. The top two nav features are “Following”, which is who’s in your network and “Nearby”, anyone checking in around your given location. Which is great considering mobile home page is location aware and features “near me now” already. After giving Buzz approval to locate you via GPS what you find is something that looks like this… and where it gets interesting is in the layers:

Unlike Twitter it’s all about location when your take a look at what’s happening nearby. Comments to each update can be threaded.

Like Foursquare a drop down menu of nearby pinpoints will allow Read more

February 9, 2010

Some random thoughts on a Tuesday

by

Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Author website

Three months into my law practice, I’ve broken all my targets, and revised targets, by a mile. In addition to doubling what I predicted I’d book between October and December 31, 2009, I’ve been relentless about moving up the Google rankings.

Basically, I’ve done this by first winning the search rankings in less competitive, but still prized and wealthy suburbs of Raleigh – if you search for DWI, criminal lawyer, or assorted offenses in Apex or Cary – I come up in the top ten in most search.

I’m now making my way into the top 10 for search terms like Raleigh criminal lawyer and criminal lawyer Raleigh and variations on that theme.

Here’s some specific advice. First, if you can get into Google local’s top 7 for your community, do it. And once there, don’t mess with your Google local account. Don’t tweak your listing to add new search terms. Google will penalize you for it. I played around with my Google listing, and was sanctioned for it in late November. My listing did not return to the top 7 for two months. I suspect that cost me $15,000 in lost business.

Second, think about specific terms you want to dominate. As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, people are not searching for a general realtor or a general lawyer. They’re searching for a criminal lawyer or drug lawyer or whatever. In the case of realtors, you need to think of your niche. But it’s easier to dominate the niche.

Third, if colleagues – aka competitors – start asking you how you’re getting in this business, be generous. I’ve had two tentative requests for help. I’m generous with my advice, knowing that telling someone how to do something, and having them turn around and do it, are two different things. They’ll appreciate the advice, even if they don’t or can’t implement it.

And if they do implement it, you’ll probably do better than them, seeing as you have the basic quality of an entrepreneur. And if Read more

February 8, 2010

Agents of Change

by

CEO, Redfin.com

Author website

Don Stewart posed an interesting question this morning about whether real estate is changing top-down from the broker or bottoms-up from the agent. In a post about how Redfin sees the real estate industry changing, Don suggested we had focused too much on the laws, the brokers, the MLS data sharing rules and the system by which sellers pay buyer’s agents:

I think that many agents are becoming more client focused, less afraid of discussing value for money, and are happy to be judged by their performance. They are not just trying to grab commissions, they want to build a professional practice. Real change happens from the ground up, not the top down and I see some very encouraging signs.

Don’s right. When I first got into this business, Redfin focused on structural ways we could make real estate better: by surveying customers and publishing responses, by paying agents at least in part based on survey results, by sharing as much data as possible with consumers.

But the most profound change has probably come from our agents. I’m not sure if we attracted the most progressive agents, or if those agents were in fact what made us progressive in the first place. But the longer I’m in this business, the more I’ve come to realize that what I think doesn’t matter as much as what our agents do every day.

What do you think? Is change coming via the agents or the brokers?

February 6, 2010

Can’t Find A Nut? Search In A Nut House

by

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

Mortgage squirrels, searching for some nuts, during what I believe could be a long winter, might consider this idea:

There should be a lot of listings hitting the market when the shadow inventory eventually gets released.  Banks are not very attentive sellers inasmuch as they care less about condition and price than expediency.  Rather than pump money into property improvements or work with HOA’s to get the financial statements in order, they reduce the price until a cash buyer comes along.  Zillow showed us that REOs tend to sell for 3/4 of the market price.

Equity sellers might be having a tough time moving condominiums because (a)- the REOs are priced lower and/or (b) the HOA hasn’t taken the time to secure an FHA and VA approval for the complex.  Mortgage squirrels can focus on (b) and add value to the sellers by broadening the market.  While assisting the HOA secure complex approvals will help the REO sellers, those sellers often prefer cash offers.

Consider targeting condominium owners who have had the property listed for more than 60 days.  Send a letter to the owner and carbon copy the listing agent and HOA President.  Highlight these points in the letter:

  • a complex approved for FHA or VA financing will open up the market and attract owner-occupants
  • more buyers means higher property values
  • gov’t loans are assumable which could translate to even higher values when rates are higher

It is possible that listing agents will be upset with you.  When you explain that you are not an agent and you are trying to help them and their customer to sell the property, they will be open to your proposal.  HOA Presidents may have no clue about this because property management companies (that manage HOAs) typically don’t want to address this with the HOA boards.  The sellers may be skeptical but will offer you a chance to present your proposal.

You have a chance to be a hero with (a) someone who intends to buy another home (b) a selling professional who could be a great referral source for future business. and (c) an influential owner within the complex who might Read more

February 5, 2010

Deflationary Or Inflationary? Laying Economists End To End

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

The last half of the title came to me as I recalled one of Johnny Carson’s most memorable lines. He was talking about how economists are supposed to be the smartest kids in the room, but at the same time can’t agree with each other what day it is. He said, “If we laid all the economists end to end around the world…it would be a good idea.” (Insert rimshot here.)

There are two basic schools of economic theory — Those who believe economies can be centrally controlled, engineered if you will — And those who believe economies should be as free as prudently possible, with regulation in place to abort fraud etc., i.e. they avoid central control as much as possible.

The engineers think they know better what ‘needs’ to be done, while consciously eschewing human responsive behavior as part of their equation. They believe if you raise/lower taxes the result will be arithmetic in nature, and that you and I won’t modify our behavior in either circumstance. That’s surely an oversimplification, but accurate.

The free market crowd says if you raise taxes you slow economies down, and if taxes are lowered more jobs are created due to more capital venturing into the market because of the lowered cost (taxes).

Then there are the folks who think they’re smarter than both schools. They try to blend what they think are the best ideas from both theories. Good luck. 🙂

We’ve all seen the argument between the two camps rage since we learned to spell economics.

I bring this up only to illustrate the current example of how the smart kids in at least one of the schools just doesn’t get it. I’ll leave it to you to decide which school that might be.

The argument today is, Are we in a deflationary cycle or are we about to enter what could be a hyper-inflationary cycle?

I lean toward deflation. Every single time an economy, any economy in the last eight centuries, has gone through a massive deleveraging, it’s been deflationary in nature. There have been no exceptions found in the research, Read more

February 4, 2010

What’s Your Niche Biche! – Could Broker Pimps Just Mandate Agent Created Content?

by

Retechulous...

Author website

So, if a broker owner really wanted to build a mega monster traffic magnet lead generation machine, couldn’t he or she just mandate that team members create a regularly occurring piece of content around some theme?

Maybe the agent entrance interview would so something like this?:

Broker Pimp: So, what’s your niche biche.

Agent: I don’t really have one.

Broker Pimp: That’s ok, we’ll help you come up with one. Then we’ll help you work it In a way that generates copious lead flow for you.

Agent: Sounds great, so what do I have to do?

Broker:Well every agent here at Cosmodemonic Realty is required to contribute some form of content to our company blog on a weekly basis. All you have to do is create the content and email it in to our in house technomarketer Nick Burnsy editor guy. And we’ll take care of the rest: Syndication to your social profiles, some paid click advertising, seo… All you do is create that juicy content on the regular then wait for the phone to start ringing. Our weekly E-Newsletter goes out every Saturday morning and most of our agents generatlly get some kind of healthy interaction based on the content they’ve recently contributed.

Agent:But I’m not really that great of a writer.

Broker PimpThat’s ok… Can you take a picture or a video from your fancy phone?

Agent:Sure.

Broker Pimp:Cool. We’ll set you up with a secret email address that you can use to send area photos to. What town do you live in? Could you see emailing in a “Yourtown” Business of the Week” on a regular basis? Maybe with a quick sentence or 2 about the business? Or perhaps you’ve got the stones to just stop a neighbor on the street and ask them what they like about where they live?

Agent: Sure I guess, but I don’t want to limit myself so narrowly to one area.

Broker Pimp: That’s great! You’ll never be asked to only work within your designated niche focus, you’ll be free to contribute as much extra stuff as you want. In fact, most of the Read more

February 4, 2010

A Scary Thought on the (Non-Existent?) Shadow Inventory

by

Real Estate Renaissance Man

Author website

The shadow inventory has been a topic of interest with almost every agent I talk to lately.  Most believe it is large and few understand why it isn’t in the marketplace rather than held by the banks.  Russell Shaw recently wrote about the shadow inventory being gibberish.   It is an interesting article and one I recommend reading.

I rarely disagree with Mr. Shaw, and rather than do so now I’ll simply suggest that we are talking past one another.  As I read it, he is suggesting that this inventory doesn’t exist because it is, for the most part, out there already; just not listed as REO.  He makes it quite clear, however, that he is not talking about foreclosures still to come. (Apologies to Russell for over-simplifying.)  This is where we begin to part ways.  I submit that the shadow inventory must necessarily include not only actual REOs (or REOs not listed as REOs), but the entire picture.

More to the point, if we look at all the homes that have been foreclosed on, are in foreclosure and should be in foreclosure, we are left scratching our heads and find ourselves back to the same question: why aren’t the banks taking these homes in, putting them on the market, and selling them?   (I’m talking here especially about those homes where people have stopped making their payments and continue to live for 6, 12, even more months.)

MORTGAGES IN DEFAULT
Here’s a graph courtesy of the New York Times:

Sources: Federal Reserve Board and Mortgage Bankers Association, via Haver Analytics

That is an awful lot of mortgages in foreclosure; but add to that that lower line – of mortgages in default and not yet in foreclosure – and the numbers are staggering (again, think of people staying on a year after they’ve stopped making payments).  So no matter what we call it, the question remains: What are the banks doing? Why aren’t these mortgages foreclosed?  Why isn’t this inventory on the market?

I know all real estate is local and there are plenty of areas around this country where the last thing agents want Read more

February 3, 2010

President Obama To Las Vegas Residents: “Screw You!”

by

Las Vegas Mortgage Blogger

Author website

President Obama told a New Hampshire town hall meeting:

“When times are tough, you tighten your belts. You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices and it’s time your government did the same.”

Amazing, I wonder how Obama talks about Vegas when he’s not on TV?

Maybe this is why HUD Dissed Las Vegas In The Housing Stimulus Lottery, or Florida got their high speed Disney World Train and Las Vegas didn’t.

Either way, at least we know exactly what Las Vegas can expect when the President speaks about “Jobs” being his top priority in 2010.

And the Mayor’s reaction:

Speaking of blowing a bunch of money on trips….

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Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

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