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Category: Realty Reality (page 14 of 16)

August 8, 2007

Realtors Will Continue To Sell Houses – Business Goes On.

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

Some odds and ends here. (now isn’t that a compelling make-you-want-to-read-it opening?) I got a call today from my friend and fellow agent, JoAnn Calloway. She had been getting conflicting information regarding what is likely to happen with interest rates and the immediate possible changes to our marketplace. She was pretty sure I would know what was going to happen next. I don’t like to disappoint, so I want ahead and knew (no major changes to her market due to the sub-prime fallout). After I told her, she wanted to know how I knew. I told her I read BloodhoundBlog. That is how I knew. Yes, there are other posts on other blogs, but I find out about those posts and blogs by reading BloodhoundBlog. In this case, it was just a few posts, this one, this one and this one. Okay, it wasn’t just those posts – it was those posts, in combination with the comments to those posts. For example, when Greg showed the graph in this post and I saw Dan Green’s comments linking to this graph I was able to get a pretty good idea of what was going on as a result of what was being heralded by some as the end of the world as we know it. Long term (over the past five years) rates are slowly moving up. Short term, they are dropping a bit.get a brain morans
Prediction: the world will not end right away. I have seen the future and it is a lot like the past, only longer.

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Today, I finally ordered the external microphone for the digital video camera I have had for some time. This is for the coaching / mentoring I have been talking about making available here on BHB. So soon. Very soon, that will start for real.

If you have been waiting for that to get started, here is a little something that you might like. It is scheduled for 1 PM (Phoenix time) on Tuesday the 14th. The call will last less than an hour. For those reading this after the specific event I’m doing, but wanting to know about Read more

August 1, 2007

Thank You Governor Napolitano – Sam Wercinski Is the Best Commisioner Ever!

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

Sam Wercinski is the Commissioner of the Arizona Department of Real Estate. He was appointed by Governor Janet Napolitano to this post in January. I first started hearing good things about Sam by early February. Based on what I had heard I was already predisposed to liking him before I even met him. I had never liked the commissioner who immediately preceded him, as she was the worst kind of petty bureaucrat and mostly disrespectful of all Realtors. To be candid, Sam wouldn’t have needed to do much to beat her in the likability department.

Commish_Photo_SmallI had posted this on BloodHoundBlog a few months ago, telling about an event June 21st, where he would speak and later there would be a top producer panel. There was a buffet lunch and just as I was finishing my sandwich Sam and his entourage arrived. Every single person who worked for him was “there”; which is to say they were, each one, intelligent, articulate and – more importantly, in my opinion – was a genuinely nice person. But when I met him what I witnessed was a truly likable, charismatic and energetic leader. In just a few short months he has dramatically changed the very nature of the department. He has reached out and gotten help and input (real help along with real input) from the Realtor community. The ADRE now has their emphasis on regulating only those licensees that actually need “regulating”. No matter what group of Realtors I am talking to, whenever the subject of the department or the commissioner comes up and I say how impressed I am, the response is typically a knowing nod, “yes, I saw that in him too”.

I have been meaning to post a “Thank You” to Sam ever since I met him at St. Barnabas in June. Instead HE SENT ME A THANK YOU! Correct. A government official meets me and then takes the time to handwrite a note telling me what a pleasure it was to meet me. Too good to be true? I speculated right after meeting him that he plans on doing the most Read more

June 13, 2007

Another Happy Customer For Robson?

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

I happened to stumble into finding out about the website, robsonunfair.com by receiving an email. The people who put up the site are more than a little unhappy with their attempts to resolve their grievances with their homebuilder. The link from their site I found most interesting was this one. I had no idea that information was even available. It lists the total number of complaints (1998-2001) for all of the big to small homebuilders and the number of complaints they get – and then shows how many complaints compared to how many houses they build. Del Webb/Coventry, for example got only one complaint filed for every 189 houses they build. If I am understanding this correctly, Jackson Properties had a remarkable ratio of one complaint filed for every sixteen homes they built.

I am always amazed when a large (seemingly reputable) company allows their reputation to become tarnished like this. It is doubtful it is possible to build a lot Kathy_Robsonof houses and never have a problem. And there are some people you can’t make happy – no matter what you do.

Many years ago there was a car dealer in Phoenix (the dealership name still exists) named Lou Grubb. About 15 years ago Mr. Grubb retired and sold the dealership. A few years after he sold it, I read in the paper (bottom of the front page) about a woman who bought a used car at the dealership and when she took it somewhere for service about 5 months after she bought it the mechanic informed her that the odometer had been rolled back and that her car did not have the mileage she thought it did – but an extra 30,000 miles or so. She takes the car back to the dealership wanting a refund. The idiots who then ran the place explain to her they can not give her her money back – she has been driving the car for those five months. Further, they had purchased the car from a wholesaler and she can rest assured that it wasn’t them who tampered with the odometer. They offer her Read more

May 28, 2007

Separating the Buyer Agent Commission From the Listing Commission is a REALLY stupid idea

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

This is a continuation of Jeff Kempe’s thoughtful post below. At first, I was going to reply to his post via a comment. But as I thought about it I realized there was way more I wanted to say.

First things first: Welcome Jeff, Lani & Morgan! I’m delighted to have you here.

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It is common for a person to have a completely false idea of why something is good or bad and for them to still be correct that it is good or bad. This can come about when the person looks to see why something is the way it is and not knowing the correct answer (real reason why) they then make up or invent an answer. This new datum is then used to explain away some situation or circumstance they observe. This is so common that you can see examples of it in almost every profession, industry and government. Failure to correctly observe the real “right why” is THE WHY for every failure any individual, organization or government ever had. A real WHY opens the door to handling.

Man too often finds that his “solutions” become his new problems. Most of the difficulties one faces on a regular basis (problems) are, in fact, themselves solutions to earlier problems.

I do not intend to be disrespectful here towards your friend and mentor, Jeff – but several of the things he has informed you about are completely incorrect. The thinkingcapidea that a Realtor not sharing a commission was passed into law in state after state after state, across the country, to “protect Realtors” or to somehow impede discounters is just flat wrong. I can’t say that any of those laws were the best possible solutions but they had nothing to do with “protecting Realtors”. In every state where a real estate license is required to legally earn and collect a commission (all 50 in the United States, last time I checked) there is some sort of rule or regulation that states commissions can not be paid to an unlicensed individual. In most every state there is a special exception to this rule for lawyers Read more

May 21, 2007

Like a Virgin

by

Realtor, Associate Broker

Author website

So I’ve spent the last hour trying to navigate Word Press — I’m going to bet it’s much easier than I’m making it — have written a terribly serious post on the allegorical link between Nordstrom and real estate, and decided that’s a really inelegant way to introduce myself.

Yes, thirteen years with Nordstrom in the late sixties and seventies, the perfect business education. Twenty five years as a manufacturer’s rep, until getting on planes and traveling salesman jokes simply got to be overwhelmingly dull. I got my real estate license nearly three years ago, and immediately wished that I’d done it years before.

Which means most here probably know more about real estate than I do. The reason I came to Bloodhound Blog in the first place was to learn.

What I do know is people. Why they buy, their motivations and reactions. I know that the Arizona Board of Appraisal is thoroughly nuts for thinking it can shut down Zillow, or even trying. I have a pretty good notion Redfin will be out of business in two years. Sixty Minutes is an anachronism.

And I’m certain the real estate business is changing. Much of the status quo is antithetical to anything I learned at Nordstrom: the industry gets much of its incentive from what’s best for the industry, not what’s best for the people we serve. I’ll never understand the first seminar I went to after I was licensed, where the instructor said good agents spend 90% of their time prospecting for new clients. 90%. If I spend that much time selling myself, what, exactly, am I selling?

Phil Knight said: “Nike is a marketing company, but our product is our number one marketing tool.” What I do for buyers and sellers is my product, and my interest is in being as good at that as I can be.

That’s why I’m here; I really, really look forward to it.

Thanks, Greg; I’m honored!

May 21, 2007

I Still Want to Know Who Pays You, Bruce

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

I received the following via email and also as a comment to a post on BloodhoundBlog. It is from Bruce Hahn. Bruce claims to represent 75,000,000 people – and I think that at least 74,999,000 of those people have never even heard of him. He and his wife (along with some other unnamed person) are the American Homeowners Grassroots Alliance.

Bruce HahnBruce has a background as a lobbyist and has written several books. These days he seems to spend most of his time letting various government divisions (with loads of emphasis on the federal government) know “what is good for consumers”. He has a big heart, he just wants to help. He is quite secretive on who pays him. But he has come right out and said it is NOT Bank of America – so my guess on that is obviously wrong. I really don’t expect him to be forthcoming now – whoever does pay him doesn’t want anyone to know who they are.

Here are some links I found telling you more about this endlessly polite and highly articulate and prolific man who seems to have dedicated his life to making sure consumers aren’t taken advantage of by Realtors (or anyone else).

http://www.inmanwiki.com/Real-Estate/Bruce_Hahn

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=view&id=4047

http://www.theamericanconsumer.org/Bruce.htm

http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20070221_grassroots.htm

http://justice.gov/atr/public/workshops/rewcom/212268.htm

http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20041001_agencyerosion.htm

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/print/12_21/13695-1.html

http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/workshops/rewcom/212268a.htm

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Russell

Thanks for the link to our website!

If you would have read some of our recent congressional testimony on subprime lending (which is on our web site and is very critical of the banking sector), you would understand why we are not getting any funding from Bank of America or other banks. And if you had gone back in our history to see some of our past Congressional testimony against the banking sector for its legislative efforts to hamstring Freddie and Fannie, you would have no doubts at all. We are opposed to “Rotarian Socialism”, as Gregg Swann so aptly described it in his outstanding February 13 Bloodhound post. In it he wisely noted that NAR’s “on-going legislative campaign against banks competing for real estate transactions is just more of the same: “Protecting” mediocrities from fair competition.” Our aforementioned testimony opposing banking practices in the mortgage lending sector simply reflects our opposition to Read more

May 11, 2007

Heads Up All NASCAR Fans

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

An email I received today:

NOHASSLE uploadno hassle listing was not my experience. Your representative sent to install my sign refused to put the sign where the realtor and I agreed to. He was too busy talking on the phone to listen to
me. And when I asked for the 5th time to move the sign the crack head acted like he was going to attack me with a 5′ foot steel pike. I promptly told your sign installer to get the sign and his self off my property. Regardless of weather he was a contractor or not he is your representative. I expect anyone involved in the listing of my home to be drug free, not tweaking on speed and making threatening gesture. AND I QUESTION THE PROFESSIONALISM OF YOUR COMPANY even considering sending this company
back to install my signage. The experience was more than a hassle. It was a nightmare. I have wasted valuable time and effort dealing with Russell Shaw to list my home. Also the lack of
response to correct the matter was simply unacceptable.
I will be filing complaint’s with board of realtors, State of Arizona , better business bureau, and all of the local TV investigative reporters.
I also plan to use my 24′ enclosed racecar hauler and racecar to advertise to the valley my experience with no hassle listing. Look for me at the fall nascar event…
May 7, 2007

A questionable practice?

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

Christopher R. Dunn writes:

A questionable practice?It would appear that numerious RE firms here in the Bay are making it real_estate_book_sma practice to List, market with open houses, advertise properties at a below market number with no intentions of selling at that number.The listing broker will take offers and hold them until a later date, usually two weeks or so to generate “competitive” offers.

Are Real Estate Firms practicing this in other areas?

To my knowledge, not in our area. If it is as you describe it, I don’t see it as “questionable” but intentionally deceitful. It is in direct violation of the Realtor Code of Ethics (download a copy of the code here) Article 1 (treat all parties fairly), Article 2 (avoid exaggeration, misrepresentation, or concealment of pertinent facts) and Article 12 (shall be careful at all times to present a true picture in their advertising and representations to the public). It would also likely be actionable by the California Attorney General’s office, as well.

If some Realtors are doing this sort of thing I believe it should be stamped out and stamped out hard.

May 7, 2007

Odds & Ends

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

In no particular order:

Who has the most irritating driving habits, men or women? I don’t think this question has an answer but found the comments section funny.

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The other Russell Shaw. Actually, there are several. This one I’ve been in touch with several times over the past few years, as people sometimes send him an Family Marketemail in an attempt to reach me. Russell always forwards them to me. He is (in addition to being a very nice and very bright
guy) a VERY prolific blogger. And until now he had not been blogging about real estate. He is now. As much as I might like to take credit for some of the insightful things he writes, I don’t want to risk getting caught – so I wanted to point out that I am not “that Russell Shaw”. In the past it was Russell the blogger and Russell the Realtor. The line became blurred once I joined BloodhoundBlog and now the distinction of “the one who blogs about real estate” just went away too.

He damn sure better not move from Portland to Phoenix and go into the residential real estate sales business – because then we are going to have trouble. 🙂

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Years ago I read a book (now out of print) called the Robert Half Way To Get Hired in Today’s Job Market. Robert Half had and has one of the largest employment agencies in the world. As I’ve always considered the process of me “getting a listing” me applying for a job – I got a lot out of it. About two years ago I happened to run across this website and was very impressed. His name is Nick Corcodilos. He has a free weekly email newsletter where he responds to letters from people looking for jobs. Lots of smart employers and business people read it regularly. There isn’t something I can use in every issue but there is often enough to make it worth my time.

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I received the following email from Kerry J. Grinkmeyer:

—– Original Message —–

From: Kerry J. Grinkmeyer

To: Number1Expert@nohasslelisting.com

Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 2:47 PM
Subject: Your Recognition Plaque

Russell Shaw

Congratulations on Read more

May 3, 2007

I’ll bring you a big basket of cash if you’ll let me sell your house for free

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

Chris writes:

I’m looking to get into real estate after i graduate in a couple of weeks but i have a couple of questions that i’m looking to get answered, appreciate your help.

If all real estate brokers in an area generally charge the same fee for selling a house, how do real estate agents compete with one another if they cannot vary their fees? Also is the real estate profession overcrowded in your judgment?

Yes, the industry is horribly overcrowded, there are way too many agents chasing too few deals for all of the agents to make a decent living. This has been a true statement for at least the past four decades. 13 out of 14 agents fail and leave the business within two years. bugAll real estate brokers do not charge the same fee. Some brokers charge 6 – 7% to list and sell a house and others charge half that amount, some companies charging a flat fee of $300 – $500 to list a house. There is now a company affiliated with Buy Side Realty who will list the house at ZERO. Correct. A FREE MLS listing. And when you buy a house through Buy Side, they will give you back 75% of the commission. These companies are already “national” unlike the endlessly commented upon Redfin, who only has offices in a few cities.

A company was started some years back called HomeGain that was initially based on the premise of agents blindly (they wouldn’t know who the seller was – but the seller would know who they were) offering to list a home for less. The agent who offered the lowest commission won the prize of getting to list that home. This company was started by Bradley Inman and he sold HomeGain for enough money (tens and tens of millions of dollars) so he can now devote as much of his life as he wants to working on getting agent’s commissions down.

Then, how DO agents compete with one another? If you are in the business and working on getting business, you somehow contact someone and let them know you are Read more

April 29, 2007

Boston Globe on the enblogged globe: Brokers in Blogsville

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

The Boston Globe has a feature on RE.net webloggers today. Nothing that will seem to be news to regular real estate weblog readers, but a nice chance to shine for a lot of familiar names. No mention of RCG, Matrix or BHB, but that’s perfectly understandable. When reporters finally resolve to pay attention, they become webloggers.

Technorati Tags: , ,

April 23, 2007

Now My Space really IS MY SPACE

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

Am I popular with young people? Hell, I’ve got my own page(s) on My Space. I just found out about these pages today – Greg sent me the links via email. Here is a link to the first page Greg sent me. After I wrote him back insisting I have NO idea who posted the page, he sent me this link. Have your speakers on the get the full experience. Of course I am flattered that someone cares enough to do something like this – even using one of my favorite quotes from L. Ron Hubbard. “Art is a word which summarizes the quality of communication.” But to prove they didn’t really know anything meaningful about me, the person who posted as me on My Space (attributing it to me) said, “I’m Russell Shaw and I’m not a fan of popular music, or any music for that matter. When you’re in the business of selling homes, you don’t have time for other things.” Actually, I obsessively find and listen to new music, as I’ve been doing this most of my life. They also shaved four years off my age and got my “sign” wrong, as well. But you have to give them (deranged) credit for trying. Hopefully, by the time anyone reading this blog a few days from now sees this the pages for me on My Space will be gone. But in the meantime I’m quite confident my message of how to take more listings and supercharge your business will no doubt be quite a hit with hundreds of thousands of preteens.

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I have lots of other friends too. For example, just today, my big fan, Jef Rice wrote to me (here is Jef’s email, in case you would like to write him for me jef@gumiyo.com). Here is the entire text of the email Jef sent me:

Hi Russell,

I really enjoyed reading articles on your real estate blog. You have a good point of view. I would love to hear your opinion on our new service – www.gumiyo.com. Let me give you the quick rundown. We are the latest and greatest Mobile-focused Read more

April 16, 2007

Open Letter to Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors Regards RMLS Ruling 13

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

The following was sent to me by Steve Westmark. He was the very first agent interviewed by Howard Brinton for what is now known as Starpower. He is a very nice man, who spends a great deal of his time (and money) working for Habitat For Humanity. He and the other agents using the term “MLS” in their URL got a very raw deal from the shortsighted people who sit on the Board of Governors for the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.

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Open Letter to Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors

Regards RMLS Ruling 13

My name is Steve Westmark, a long-time agent with Counselor Realty and prior to my resignation September 2006 a long-time member of the Board of Governors at the RMLS of MN (the “Board”). Because I am, and have always made my living as a practicing Realtor, I can say that my goal while serving on the board has been to protect the interests of “practicing Realtors” as my 1st priority (not necessarily for brokerage “owners and operators”). In July of 2006 I made a very difficult decision to resign my position on the Board in a last resort protest of Rule 13 because I believe the Rule is not in the best interest of Realtors.

I have spoken with many of you (my fellow members), there seems to be a number of misconceptions for my resigning from the Regional Board of Governors of the RMLS, and the ensuing lawsuit protesting Rule 13. I am writing the open letter in hopes that you will better understand why I believe Rule 13 is a detriment for all Realtors.

My History

I served and was Chairman of the MAAR MLS Committee for nearly a decade. I was involved with the task force to bring the Regional MLS into existence. As a Governor for RMLS I have served on the Technology Sub Committee, Executive Board, been involved with vendor selections, task force for bringing on new executive, but most of all wanting to be a representative for the real estate practitioner whose day-to-day use of the term “MLS” is vital and the main source for information for Read more

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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.

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