BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Month: April 2010 (page 1 of 2)

April 30, 2010

Welcoming a new contributor to BloodhoundBlog: Alex Cortez

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We’re adding a new contributor today, regular commenter and long-time friend of BloodhoundBlog, Alex Cortez.

Alex writes all around the RE.et, so you may know him from otherwhere. I’m mainly ignoring requests from people who say they want to write here, but Alex went beyond persistence in his campaign. More to the point, he’s already participating here.

Here’s is Alex’s brief self-description:

Alex is a real estate agent specializing in south Maui luxury real estate and investment properties. In his spare time, he enjoys being chased by his toddler son and wife, as well as learning to surf (even it if kills him, which is an inevitable fact).

We can put him to the test when first he posts. In the mean time, please make him feel welcome.

April 28, 2010

Pimping Tomato Real Estate Video Class…

by

Retechulous...

Author website

Hi All,

I just got an email from Jim Cronin, (Tomato Head) asking me if I’ve pimped the class I’m doing at 2PM East today over at Tomato University.

Well Jim, I guess here’s your answer:
I’m a total procrastinating slacker…. this blog post is part of my last ditch attempt at doing my part 🙂

For anyone not familiar with Tomato U. It’s a pretty cool concept… a menu of one-off workshops/classes that’ll let you brush up on real estate tech stuffs.

Disclosure: I’m getting paid to teach the class today…


April 25, 2010

It looks like the dam is finally bursting on politicaly-correct self-censorship in behalf of Islamofascist rageaholics.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

You bastards!

The essence of Political Correctness is to get people to volunteer for their own self-imprisonment. In fear of offending some perpetually-offended jackass, the victims of Political Correctness come to be stunted, stilted, stifled — and ultimately silenced. But, alas, they never, ever manage to escape the snide, sneering insults of all those perpetually-offended jackasses.

Why? It’s simple: The sole objective of Political Correctness is to take power of other people — who are innocent of all offenses against anyone — by inducing them to to volunteer for their own self-imprisonment.

Heads up: If you don’t have the guts to stand up these cowards, these moral midgets, then you deserve what they are doing to you.

There’s more, and I’m loving it: Mark Steyn, Diana West, a wonderful unsigned manifesto, a kickin’ cartoon from Chris Muir, and, finally:

May 20th is everybody draw Mohammed day. This last strikes me as being a little over the top, since the objective would seem to be to offend Muslims, rather than simply to defend one’s own right to express oneself at will, without fear of a violent demise. But that distinction delivers precious little difference, and the time for phlegmatic reason in this particular dispute was three years ago.

I’m nobody’s artist, but I do love to make jokes. My poor long-suffering wife can tell you that I can make some raucously funny jokes about religion. Normally I don’t do this in public, because people have a right to believe what they want. But as soon as you or anyone tries to tell me I can’t make fun of religion — that’s when I’ll tell you why Bill O’Reilly says you should never, ever, ever cut Mohammed off in traffic.

This is bug-stomping, carrying out the trash, but it is absolutely necessary. Whenever exponents of savagery manage to stop denouncing the West, they commence comparing themselves to it, instead: “Well, the Incas invented the wheel.” “The Chinese invented explosives.” This is twice sad: It’s the most pathetic kind of collectivism — racism — and it misses the point of Western Civilization entirely. The West didn’t invent this technology or that Read more

April 23, 2010

Text Messaging Real Estate Lead Generation Template (with Renter Focused Mobile Squeeze Page)

by

Retechulous...

Author website

Here’s a fun one that’s sure to please and could be easily posted in the following places:

  • Above your Craigslist Property Ads
  • In Your Facebook Sidebar
  • On Postcards to Renters
  • On the back of your Biz Card
  • At The Top Of Your Blog
  • (and just about anywhere else you can drop a quick sentence)



SEE WHAT YOUR LANDLORD IS DOING WITH YOUR RENT MONEY RIGHT NOW! Text “4528” To “411669” FOR THE PHOTO SLIDESHOW!

Click Here To Skip Sending The Text & See The Mobile Website Prospects Will See


April 23, 2010

Performance Bonds For Real Estate Escrows

by

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

Author website

The world of distressed real estate (only about 90 of my past 100 transactions) is a funny one; all the rules are different.

The REO sellers are pretty simple.  They have a take it or leave it policy when it comes to negotiations, escrow terms, etc..  Some short sellers however, can be like the  “bait and switch” mortgage brokers of last decade.  The “bait and switch mortgage brokers” would issue a fictional good-faith-estimate prior to pulling credit, getting a good valuation estimate, and checking income.  One week prior to escrow, a “surprise” was discovered, changing loan terms and putting the potential escrow in jeopardy.

Not all “oops” moments were conceived in evil nor should they be attributed to professional incompetence; sometimes; s**t just happens.

A similar trend has developed in short sale real estate agent community.  Like the bait-and switch mortgage broker, some short sale agents low-ball the price, collect offers, submit them to the bank, and pray for a reasonable settlement.  Oftentimes, the counters are far apart from the originally accepted offer.  Sometimes, the term changes are issued after the buyer has become emotionally vested to the property or invested  funds to secure a loan approval for purchase.

I’ll repeat myself; sometimes, s**t just happens.  Other times, the surprises DO come from professional incompetence, poor disclosure and communication, or just plain old deceit. The result is an unhappy buyer or seller.  The collateral damage is consumer mistrust in every agent involved in the transaction.

Rather than vent about the reasons, let’s consider a private market solution to the problems:  Performance Bonds.

Performance bonds, issued by independent insurance companies, could seriously contribute to the #rtb movement.  They can be offered by mortgage originators and listing agents alike.  The credibility of offers to purchase, and listings for sale,  could rise with the attachment of a performance bond into the escrow terms.  Buyers could confidently place non-refundable escrow deposits, knowing that the lender has indemnified them from loss.  Likewise, listing agents could rely on timely execution of the escrow if a lender performance bond were attached.

Performance bonds could lend confidence to short sale transactions, too.  Buyers could enter Read more

April 23, 2010

TweetSpinner: Making some damn sense out of Twitter

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

Alright kids, a quick damn screenvid.

I didn’t think I needed followers till I started seriously seeing my bit.ly links had more clicks.   That was cool.

Then I learned that those clicks opt in at the same damn rate as PPC/SEO clicks.  Even cooler.

Now…you can get LOCAL followers en masse with very little work.  Takes 2-3 months but you can build to 2,000-3000 or more.

Here’s the rapid fire video, where I just do it, share the (LEN) function thanks to Jesse Petersen.

I know, most of you won’t give a Twit, but this thing rocks, and if your pages convert can be automated.

April 22, 2010

What’s joy to a Bloodhound? Work, of course. Here’s that hard-working Bloodhound praxis applied to the problem of having fun.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I built FreePhoenixMLSSearch.com from an API that FBS Systems — creators of the FlexMLS system — made available last year. I may be the only person taking advantage of this interface. I don’t know of anyone else in Phoenix who is, in any case.

That much is cool, and the API, along with Flex’s general philosophical approach to software openness, enabled me to build a very robust search tool, much more robust than anything you can buy from IDX vendors. Still better, I can extend my search power whenever I want, building “pre-fab” searches that solve problems that might not be intuitively obvious to more-casual users.

Here’s an example: Doctors relocating to Phoenix — may their names be legion! — can do a radius search from any Phoenix-area hospital. Always on-call? You can live within walking distance. Need to be to the hospital within 30 minutes? You can search within a 15-mile radius.

My end of this stuff is all written by me, in PHP, with the code running on the SplendorQuest server. I can change the site whenever I want to, in the never-ending quest for better results.

All that is fun, and this is a big part of Bloodhound life for me, building and refining the tools we use every day — on- and off-line. Everything that I’ve worked on over the past four years is available to me to make new tools, and I’m mixing and matching that stuff all the time. The number of engenu pages on our sites is enormous by now, but the number of engenu-like pages runs to the tens of thousands. Even now I’m working out how to use ScentTrail to auto-generate an engenu-editable cloud-based transaction management site for every client we touch.

That idea — the equation of software with control — is something that I should write about. But not today. For now, Bloodhounds just want to have fun.

That image is a screen shot from Twitter. Every time someone runs a search from FreePhoenixMLSSearch.com, a Tweet is auto-posted summarizing that search. There is search-engine juice to be had from Twitter, but this is just dumbass fun Read more

April 21, 2010

Linking votes to taxes paid!

by

Realtor, Media Mogul

Author website

Think about this:

If one has no financial stake in our country, how much of a say-so should he have in its management? Let’s put it another way: I do not own stock, and hence have no financial stake, in Ford Motor Co. Do you think I should have voting rights or any say-so in the management of the company? I’m guessing that the average sane person’s answer is no.

Walter Williams is becoming one of my favorites.  He is certainly thought provoking.  The quote above is from an Investors Business Daily editorial by Walter Williams on Linking Voting Rights With Taxes Paid.

This week there has been a bunch of consternation in the press about 47% of the population not paying income taxes.  The question, Bloodhounds, is do you think “taxes paid in” or “ownership of real estate” or something else altogether would be a better way to encourage voters to support policies that strengthen and are good for the country rather than just protecting their handouts?

April 20, 2010

The Death and Birth of a Salesman

by

Realtor, Renaissance Man

Author website

San Diego Equity Facts

Jeff Brown would think I’m long, long overdue.  Brian Brady, in his staccato voice, would let me know it’s all good.  Greg Swan would smile.  “He’s finally taking the step.”
 
All of you are in the business, both financially and personally, of real estate.  As the years go by you literally create a real estate family around yourself.  These family members include real people such as your TC, your title gal, your beloved escrow person, assorted very highly qualified lenders, associates with whom you like to exchange ideas and sometimes just BS with, and yes, even your web site(s). 
 
I can’t see or talk with Greg every day, or most all of you, so the Bloodhound Blog becomes an appendage to our relationship.  I see what’s on your mind.  I hear what concerns you.  I ponder your thoughts, your rationales, your pain and your ribaldry.   And if I’m fortunate enough, some of you will come to know me through what I write, or perhaps through my site.
 
So it may come as a surprise to have me admit, and for anyone who knows how hard it is to become a welcomed writer to the Bloodhound community, that during this past year I have had to slowly watch a death in the family.   Well, really two deaths as you’ll see later on. 
 
First, my father-in-law, Dave McGregor, an 84-year-old retired engineer, WWII veteran, and subsequent farmer who took up residence in Staunton, Virginia, came down with  Alzheimer’s disease this past year.  He became unable to drive, and he and mom moved out to San Diego to live with Beth and me.  That happened in September.  It was hard on them.  Although just in the mid stages of Alzheimer’s, Dave seemed to be doing well enough, and was adjusting to his new life here when on Christmas Eve he took ill and was admitted to the hospital.  Seven days later, on New Year’s Eve, we took him home to our place again, but this time with a diagnosis of CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia), and a need for immediate hospice.  Twenty-three days later, oxygen machines humming in the Read more
April 18, 2010

The threshold of accountability is accounting for things: Is this, finally, the CRM I’ll use?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

The iPhone screen shot is from a piece of software I’ve been playing with since Thursday. We got the gross idea from Redfin’s agent-monitoring software. Their stuff is simpler and prettier, but ours is robust and mission-critical.

What is it? Basically an automated tickler, the relationship-management part of Customer Relationship Management software. I’m still massively ambivalent about saddling on a big new piece of software like Salesforce, but I’ve been less than whelmed by cheaper products like Heap.

What I need, I realized, is this: Something to keep me on track every day. The records we’re showing are very brief, but they can contain every mission-critical detail we need to make contact with the client. The software runs on our file server, so it will work from any web browser and also from the iPhone. On a desktop machine, you can also do manual data entry, but typing on the iPhone is so painful that I left that feature out of the iPhone version.

But on the iPhone the phone number is “hot,” as is the ePage number if we have one. Likewise the email link, obviously. The Web Site link will take us to any URL we have linked to that record — with the most obvious destination being a cloud-based transaction-management page.

(I have plans there, also, with an iPhone-ready contact sheet for the entire transaction — agents, lender, title, inspectors, etc. On the iPhone, any PDF file is accesible, so the Web Site link will give us instant remote access to every live transaction.)

Here’s what it looks like on a desktop browser:

This doesn’t solve our larger CRM problem, but it’s built to harvest data from a real CRM system, once we have one. I have plans, too, to integrate it with Google Calendar — to calendar those events automatically — and with our existing web-based forms. Very soon, if you fill out a form on our web site, the form will create a record in this software automatically. I also want for it to tickle us by email on event days. Tickling us, too, to let us know when we’re not keeping Read more

April 15, 2010

iPad observation #10: Is the iPad an unforced error? I say Google and MicroSoft can’t even copy genius.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Busy as anything, ever, as I’m sure you can guess from my absence hereabouts. How busy am I? I still have not lain my own hands on an iPad. Tried to make time a couple-three times, but I couldn’t squeeze out the seconds.

But I have been paying attention to the aghastrointestinal noises made by the sputtering pundidiot class about the iPad, to some amusement. Translated into a language ordinary people can understand, the main objection runs like this: “These beach socks will look terrible with my tuxedo!” Could not agree more. But if you’re clamming or gigging frogs, you might-could find them a good fit.

Whatever. The iPad’s day is but barely begun, and one of the revolutionary things it will do is wash away this entire cadre of washed-up technology “experts.” Here’s hoping they can find a job worth doing.

Meanwhile, Richard Riccelli passed along this catalog of Grave Portents published by that citadel of techspertise, Slate magazine. Richard’s question is this: With the iPad and its closed software universe, has Steve Jobs committed an unforced error — unnecessarily created an obvious opening for Google and MicroSoft to compete?

My answer is no to everything.

Every kvetch about the iPad comes from people who will not be its audience.

1. It’s not a laptop. Duh.

2. It’s a closed hardware/software universe. Thus does Apple piss off 40% of the INTJs — 2.8% of the buying public.

3. It fosters a market opening for losers who could have beaten Apple ten years ago — except they’re losers.

We’ll have to wait to see it — Alice in Wonderland is an early mover (that munches up all of Brad Inman’s stale Vookies) — but the software built to take advantage of the unique iPad hardware will be killingthing.

Jobs is not wrong. Jobs is early. As always. Why? Because the future doesn’t exist until he invents it. Not hero worship, just an awareness of the amazing things the man causes to be done.

The two big iPad stories, going forward: How cool this tool is, and how lame are the clones.

Don’t believe me? Go buy an Android. Go buy a Zune. Google Read more

April 13, 2010

FHA/ VA Tip: The Amendatory Clause

by

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

Author website

Here’s a tip for real estate agents, when presenting an offer with FHA  or VA financing; include the FHA/VA Amendatory Clause to the Purchase Contract as part of the offer.   You’ll save you, the seller’s agent, the escrow company, the lender, and most importantly your buyer, a lot of last minute headaches.

You can download a copy of a templated form here.  Most lenders will accept this templated form.  If you don’t know the agency case number, etc, don’t worry about it.   The most important thing is to get the property address, the buyers’ and sellers’ names and the final contract price on the form.

Why the VA Amendatory Clause doesn’t need to be a “deal killer” for the appraisal contingency clause of a contract:

Contractually, the VA amendatory clause portends a 21-day appraisal contingency period for VA loans.  Pragmatically, the appraisers and underwriters complete their work prior to time limits making the 17-day appraisal contingency of the RPA feasible.  What that means to real estate agents is that it is conceivable that the appraisal contingency MAY have to be extended to 21 days if things go absolutely wrong but that the 17-day contingency period is reasonable for VA loans.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

From a Zillow Consumer:

Who must sign the Amendatory Clause? Two good answers were offered:

by Brenda Zabriskie:  Buyers, sellers, listing agent, and selling agent.  I usually scan it into my computer and send it off to the other Realtor who usually scans it again and sends it back to me.  I’ve never had a problem with having to have originals.  I guess it depends on which bank you are dealing with.

by Timothy Sutherland:  It depends also on the entity selling.  You don’t need it if it’s a bank owned property an FHA/VA/Fannie/Freddie sale.

From another Zillow consumer:

If I’m planning to use an FHA loan, can I order an appraisal in advance? Two good answers:

by Greg Darlin:  Yes, you can order an appraisal but you will be wasting your money.  If you order the appraisal on your own, it will be Read more

April 12, 2010

On work, busywork, hard work, and how to tell the difference

by

Rust Belt Realtor

Author website

A revelation: At this moment in time, my business is exactly where I want it to be. Is that weird? I don’t think so, as I’m getting exactly the business I’ve earned. That’s not to say it’s the business that would make you happy, and it’s not to say it’s the business I want in six months or six years, even six weeks from now, but today, when I stopped to think about it, my business is in direct proportion to the amount of work I’ve put into it.

I’ve been busy over the past few years, but I haven’t always been busy on work. Some of that is my own fault, I’ll own that, I always have owned that, but the fact remains that the business I’m getting is exactly proportional to whatever I put into it, and that’s the good news for the day, because I know that whatever I put in, I’m going to get out.

I haven’t talked about my dad in a long while, but everything I know about work, I learned from him. I think you’d like my dad- he’s a Bloodhound. He grew up in a hardscrabble part of town, in a Catholic orphanage where the nuns let him be as much as they could. He is a kinesthetic learner. He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever known, but not in a bookish way. He can teach himself any sort of thing, but only if he does it and the nuns allowed him to follow the plumbers, the maintenance people, the doers, around. He’d ask them questions about what they were doing and hand them tools when they asked. Other kids were off playing pick up games or getting into neighborhood fights, Dad was learning, always learning stuff.

When he had a family to support, Dad became a salesman which allowed him to get out and talk to people. A desk job? No thanks. My dad needed to live unchained, so he headed out- an independent sales rep for tool manufacturers. It wasn’t an easy life for him, but he was used to that. He loved Read more

« Older posts

Inventing Real Estate 2.0

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.

Media Contacts