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Month: September 2007 (page 5 of 6)

September 11, 2007

How to be a Successful Originator For About $25,000

by

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

Author website

Blogging for business is NOT the most efficient use of your time. Your time is better spent mining your database. This is a topic near and dear to my heart; my database is a mess. Had I properly maintained it these past 7-8 years, I’d probably be retired today. If I employed the 33-touch system, suggested by Gary Keller,  I’d not be hunting for the next batch of loans. I certainly wouldn’t be, as one online marketing vendor called my strategy, “puking all over the internet” , sifting through inquiries, to find serious borrowers.

That is not to say that blogging doesn’t have it’s place; it does. As Greg suggests, it is an excellent way to connect “viscerally” with your database. Creating a cozy community may be the focus of my online marketing efforts once I practice the “Law of the Broom” and clean house. This is not a reversal of my claim that keyword-rich text gets search engine results; it most certainly does. Blogging for your customers, employing a few basic keyword search terms, can attract more like-minded people which makes your business proposition more efficient (READ: I want more people that are just like my best clients). By playing to your strengths, you can hit more balls out of the park because you’ll start seeing the same kind of pitches.

Enter someone like Ray Cobel. Ray runs an outfit called Cobel Target Marketing. I met him on Active Rain and realized that he knows a helluva lot about mining databases. Ray has agreed to let me interview him for a podcast, to be hosted here on Bloodhound Blog. I’m still working on my questions so you can e-mail me if you have one for him.

I have some advantages as I start to apply the Law of the Broom. I’ve been in business for some twenty years, thirteen as a loan originator. I have a lot of people’s name in the computer, on business cards, or on cocktail napkins from Durant’s or the Poseidon. Read more

September 11, 2007

Would you trust this man with your most precious investment?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Four hundred families a year do. Believe it or not, that’s our own Russell Shaw in his salad days as a radio comedian in Phoenix in the mid-seventies.

Derrick Bostrom, of the band The Meat Puppets, maintains a virtual shrine to a radio show called Love Workshop:

“Love Workshop” was a fifteen-minute comedy program that ran on KDKB-FM radio in Phoenix, Arizona for most of 1976. The show was always somewhat of a mystery to me. During its brief life, “Love Workshop’s” hosts, Vern & Craig (Todd Carroll and “Wonderful” Russ Shaw) were my heroes, They just seemed to appear out of nowhere all of a sudden, offering the kind of savage humor I idolized in the “National Lampoon,” only they were right in my own backyard. And then it disappeared just as quickly.

The site is a weblog, of course, and today Bostrom reprints an old interview with Russ. Bostrom has also managed to collect recordings of Love Workshop episodes, which you can use to spice up your Russell Shaw MP3 collection.

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September 11, 2007

My 9/11 prayer . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is me, this time last year:

Cathy and I watched The Path to 9/11 on television tonight. I had forgotten that we were in Metro New York for the Turn of the Millennium. My father lives in Connecticut, and we went there that year for New Year’s Day. The photo you see is my son crawling all over a bronze statue of a stock broker in Liberty Park, directly across from what was then the Merrill Lynch Building — on December 30, 1999.

I lived in Manhattan for ten years, from 1976 to 1986. For quite a few of those years, I worked just across from Liberty Park, in the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway. At the other end of that little brick park was the southeast entrance to the World Trade Center complex.

I worked insane hours in those days, and, very often, when I got out of work, I would go sit at this tiny circular plaza plopped down between the Twin Towers. Not quite pre-dawn, still full dark, but completely deserted — and to be completely alone in New York City is an accomplishment. I would throw my head back and look up at the towers, the fourth movement of the Ninth Symphony running note-perfect through my head.

Everything I am describing was either destroyed or heavily damaged on September 11, 2001. Along with the lives of thousand of innocents. Along with the comfort and serenity of their families. Along with the peace of the entire world.

I don’t believe in any heaven except for this earth, this life — the heaven we make every day by pursuing the highest and best within us. The World Trade Center had its faults. I can detail every one. But it was a piece of the sublime, a proud testament to how high, how good our highest and best can be. I don’t believe in heaven, but when I think of what was done that day, I pray there is an everlasting torment for the men who did it…

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September 11, 2007

Are People Who Don’t Understand “The Dip” Complete Morons?

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

Matt Kinsey and Ken Wheaton are educated idiots. Here are the book reviews they wrote for “The Dip” by Seth Godin. I sent that link with those reviews to Greg Swann just as the book was being released. I suppose you could say I was trying to help him not waste his time going to hear Seth speak. Seth Godin came to Phoenix and I didn’t go to see him. That was pretty stupid of me to allow myself to be influenced by those two reviews. Even though I had loved his earlier book, Purple Cow, I bought into their reviews.idiot test

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Dean Selvey called me telling me he had a book he wanted me to read. He drove over to my office to give it to me. It was The Dip. I was leaving the next day to fly to San Jose to give a seminar for Starpower and took it with me to read on the plane. DAMN! What a simple and wonderful viewpoint Seth communicates in this easy to read, easy to understand book.

Get ALL the way in or get ALL the way out. Do it or don’t do it. Be the best or skip it. These concepts are apparently so advanced that some reviewers just can’t grasp them at all. They need a checklist (maybe for them Seth could write a manual on how to chew soft bread?), for sure they aren’t going to look directly at anything.

Today, Dean and I had lunch. It was very good. It was his turn to buy, so I really enjoyed it. Thanks for lunch and for the book. 🙂
___

On a completely different note, here is a very nice write up on setting up a real estate sales assembly line from the legendary Ralph Roberts. Ralph was one of the original Superstar agents – he was one of the guys who did it back when there was no one to copy – he was a trail blazer. He understood The Dip.

September 10, 2007

The Odysseus Medal: “Superior taste, no overdone sugar coating which only masks the real product, and no nuts”

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

It is my honor and privilege to work with some of the best writers in the RE.net. There are other folks I deeply admire but whom it would be unseemly for one reason or another to recruit. But the people who write for BloodhoundBlog are first among the first rank, whether they are writing here or at their home weblogs. The Odysseus Medal competition gives me a chance to savor great writing from other great writers, so I am not twice-blessed but dozens-blessed every week — as are you.

Here are the winners of this week’s Odysseus Medal competition:

This week’s Odysseus Medal goes to Kris Berg for News You Can Use – Real Estate is a Business:

Any new agent who steps foot in the Broker’s door without basic technology skills or a strong desire to learn and embrace technology, should ahead of anything else be given a 2.0 crash course. A canned, unmanned page on your Broker’s site is not good enough; yourname@aol.com is not good enough. What they need to teach and you need to possess is a commitment to continuing education and an aching hunger to understand as much as you possibly can about the countless technological tools at your disposal in the big, wide world out there. Your business depends on it. Eighty-six your planned recipe card mailer, and reallocate that money and time to establishing and growing an online, relevant presence.

This post is a string of stunning Black Pearls all on its own.

But: This week’s Black Pearl Award belongs to Jonathan Dalton for Sell Your Phoenix Real Estate in Two Weeks. Not as local as the title makes it sound:

Take your home’s value back in November 2004 before the run began. Compute what your home’s value would be based on 5% annual appreciation. Then take the last sales price (or prices for currently active homes) and find the midpoint between that price and your adjusted home value.

For example: your home was worth $200,000 in 2004. Assuming 5% annual appreciation, your home would be worth roughly $231,000 now. If currently active homes are selling at $270,000, split the difference – $250,000.

Congratulations. You Read more

September 9, 2007

Voting for this week’s People’s Choice Award is open

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Vote here.

The short list just keeps getting longer. I’d apologize, but I’m cutting ruthlessly. We’re just getting a lot of truly excellent entrants.

Voting runs through to 12 Noon PDT/MST Monday. I’ll announce the winners of this week’s awards soon thereafter.

Here is this week’s short list of nominees.

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September 9, 2007

Last call for Odysseus Medal nominees

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I changed the graphic at the top of the page for the better part of last week, an homage to Kris Berg’s excellent post, but I don’t think anyone noticed.

We have a bunch of great entries for The Odysseus Medal, but only you know what we’re missing out on. Deadline is 12 Noon PDT/MST, so make your nominations now.

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September 8, 2007

Church of Darth Vader opens: Shuttles to the Death Star III departing daily

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

No, wait. Appearances to the contrary, that is not the Church of Darth Vader. It’s the brand new Tempe Center for the Arts — a concert venue, because Phoenix can never have enough empty concert venues.

It’s built near a working freight railroad line.

It’s built in the glide path of Skyharbor Airport.

It’s built in the flood plain of the Salt River.

Who says taxpayers are dupes?

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September 7, 2007

I Want My Half

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

An email I received:

Dear Russell;

How many years have you been in Real Estate here in the valley? (I know it has been a long time)

We were going to build a custom home for resale in Circle G Ranches Silvercreek, which is in Gilbert. We had a lot partner that owned the lot and would subordinate it to us to get the construction loan. When the project was completed and sold, all debts would be paid and the profits would be split 50/50.

The deal did not work out. The real estate market (as you are very aware) has softened. The lot she bought in March 2006 for $485,000.00 has now appraised for $430,000.00. The lot owner feels she has suffered a loss on the lot and wants us to split the $55,000.00 loss, yet she will keep the lot and in the future either sell the lot or build a home on it.

What do you think? We think she hasn’t suffered a loss until the lot is sold and she officially suffers a loss.

Thank you for your time.

half-halfThis is my 30th year in the real estate business. I started with John Hall & Associates early in the year in 1978. Now for the far more important question, has your lot investor suffered a real loss. It depends on how you look at it. Is the “loss” real to her? I think that answer is yes. Is it real to me? Not so much.

Have prices dropped since March of 2006? Yes, absolutely. Is that lot now worth less? Maybe. But if we look at who appraisals are for we may get better insight on this issue. Appraisals are for the lender or necessary to show some other party the “true value”. They are not required by the buyer or seller. Oddly, issues like the buyer’s FICO score can be a factor in determining the appraisal amount – so – no disrespect to appraisers – but I’m not very interested in what an appraiser thinks the value is, unless that appraiser is going to buy it. There are various rules that appraisers must follow Read more

September 7, 2007

You can use the No-Hassle iPhone to hang up on the NAR, but first attend to those Odysseus Medal nominations

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Wanna hear something amazing? Twenty-one months into the downturn, and the NAR is still adding new members. Not much growth, mind you — not cancerous growth — but growth is growth.

I want to get back to the idea of alternatives to the NAR, but I’ve been busy — that’s because the real estate market is bad.

Dan Green and Tom Royce are all over the idea, but, among other things, I’ve been busy selling a Russell Shaw listing. Definitely no-hassle on my end. His team members are as sweet and thoroughgoing as the man himself.

Meanwhile, Apple’s stock price is down for three days running, so Robert X. Cringely hints that it’s time to buy. What did he miss? The show-stopper at the end of the Leopard product release is going to be a 16GB iPhone for $499. You heard it here first.

Why would you need that much memory in a mobile phone? So you can watch the Compleat Russell Shaw on the flight home from Christmas at Grandma’s, of course.

But: Until then, there is an Odysseus Medal competition to consider. Deadline for nominations is Sunday at 12 Noon PDT/MST, but if you know of something insanely great, your own work or someone else’s, nominate it now while it’s on your mind.

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September 7, 2007

Appraisal, inspection could swing the balance toward sellers

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

This is me in the Arizona Republic (permanent link):

 
Appraisal, inspection could swing the balance toward sellers

It’s not fun to be a home seller right now. We’ve talked about why your home must be priced right, prepared right and presented right in order to sell. But — guess what? — even that might not be enough.

There are subdivisions where twenty or more essentially identical houses are for sale. There may be at most one buyer for all of those homes in any given month. Still worse, that buyer’s loan might not hold up all the way through the closing process.

The good news is that the belt-tightening the mortgage industry has been going through may be loosening up by a notch or two. There will be no more reckless loans to unqualified borrowers, but buyers with good income, good credit and good debt ratios are qualifying for very aggressive interest rates. And jumbo loan borrowers are being welcomed more warmly than they were a week or two ago.

But the problem remains: There can be so much inventory that buyers are literally paralyzed. On the one hand, they want to see everything before making a choice. On the other, they rightly fear that prices might be even lower a few months from now.

What should you do as a seller? Whatever it takes.

Here are a couple of ideas:

First, have the house appraised, price the home below that appraisal and leave the appraisal report out where buyers can see it.

Second, have the home professionally inspected. Do all of the repairs in the inspection report, then have the inspector back to confirm your work. When everything is ship-shape, leave that report out where buyers can see it.

You can’t control lenders or interest rates. You can’t control the price of homes into the future. What you can do is take away every buyer objection over which you have control.

Nothing matters more than price, so if you won’t price your home to the current market, you needn’t bother with anything else. Your house will not sell. But if you’re committed to doing whatever it takes, these ideas could swing Read more

September 6, 2007

Unlike venture-capital vampire Redfin.com, Iggy’s House seeks suckers on Wall Street

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

John Cook’s Venture Blog:

Despite challenges in the national real estate market, Chicago discount real estate service Iggy’s House plans to try its luck with an initial public offering that could raise up to $15 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If successful, that would be just $3 million more than what Seattle-based Redfin, one of Iggy’s primary competitors, raised in its venture round in July.

In addition to traditional real estate firms such as Prudential Financial, RE/MAX and Realogy, Iggy’s House also faces direct competition from upstarts such as Redfin, ZipRealty and iNest. It also may face competition in the future from Zillow.com, HouseValues and others, according to the filing.

Iggy’s House, you’ll recall, is the ultimate discount lister.

How ultimate? All the way. Allowing for the buyer’s agent’s commission, Iggy will give you a limited service MLS listing for free. A sister company, BuySideRealty.com, will rebate 75% of the buyer’s agent’s commission when they (don’t actually) represent you as the buyer.

How can they do it? They’re lenders. Both real estate businesses exist to drive loss-leader business to their loan brokerage business. Pondering the spreads on the loans they underwrite will probably repay your effort.

And: Even though the company is appealing directly to share-holding suckers, rather than the venture capital suckers favored by parasite sites like Redfin.com, Iggy is so far living up to what you might anticipate for its financial performance: “Iggy’s House posted revenue of $425,000 and a net loss of $5.1 million last year.”

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September 6, 2007

What could be worse than our current capricious zoning laws? New even-more-capricious zoning laws — imposed by zealots

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Tipped again by Poor and Stupid, novelist Orson Scott Card discovers everything that’s wrong with one-size-fits-all municipal zoning laws:

I’m not urging that the government mandate any more absurd mileage requirements for cars, or ration gasoline, or any other absurd proposals. Hybrids are great, for the things they’re great for. But even hybrids still burn gas, and if we could drive less, then hybrids would save even more gasoline.

In fact, all that I want government to do, locally and at higher levels, is to stop with the regulations that force us to use cars for everything, and replace them with regulations that permit us to walk or bike.

Right now, in most locations zoning laws force developers to create neighborhoods with houses of about the same size and cost, on roughly the same size lot, while forbidding any retail within walking distance.

Meanwhile, those same laws generally forbid the construction of new neighborhoods that mix income levels, house sizes, and densities.

(In Greensboro, we do have mixed-use zones that permit some aspects of a walking neighborhood, but it is only used in specific new developments, not for regions of the city large enough to make a difference. Most of the city is still zoned in the old way.)

It’s as if government looked at the beloved old neighborhoods that people drive through with yearning and nostalgia, and banned them.

The result is that the poor are shunted off into isolated islands, where crime thrives, employment is remote, and the poor have to own cars just to get a job. Meanwhile, most people can’t walk or bike to any useful destination, because the law has forbidden retail or office buildings anywhere near where people live.

I have no problem with allowing people to continue to live in pedestrian-hostile neighborhoods, if they want to. I just want the law to allow the construction and adaptation of low-car-use neighborhoods.

That means allowing low-parking retail to be built close to new and existing residential neighborhoods, like the old-fashioned “Main Street” town, where a commercial strip leads immediately to residential side streets.

In a town the size of Greensboro, this doesn’t mean one downtown that Read more

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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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