BloodhoundBlog

There’s always something to howl about.

Month: November 2007 (page 8 of 9)

November 5, 2007

TV writers shoot selves in foot: Rassafrassin’ swearing unconvincing

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

TechCrunch:

The strike poses an interesting challenge for television at a time where internet usage has surpassed TV viewing time in most homes. Users are already choosing online entertainment over TV, how many more will switch off their televisions when their favorite shows stop going to air? These eyeballs present a real opportunity for online content creators at all levels; from the VC funded video startups through to the DIY part timers. The trends in viewer numbers have all been headed online to this point, this strike could well accelerate this trend, particularly if it lasts over the long term.

I was thinking about this yesterday, and, of course, this was the subject of the very first post I wrote on BloodhoundBlog:

In a subsistence culture, the work of the mind is precious and literally unsupportable. We are by now so rich that millions of people can create intellectual resources that they give away, in turn to be remarketed by others…. If almost-as-good is free or nearly free, what is the market value of slightly-better?

As an irony supplement, some of the free content that will be created during this strike will have been created by the strikers.

Amendment: Like this:

There are natural barriers to wealth, such as scarcity and inaccessibility. There are man-made barriers to wealth, like walls and laws. And there are barriers to wealth that are co-factors of relative wealth and poverty.

In a condition of vast abundance, trying to build walls around popular media content is an effort doomed to failure. What the Writers Guild actually needs to advance its agenda is not a strike but a campaign to forbid the creation of cheesy entertainment without a license.

And now you understand the National Association of Realtors…

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November 4, 2007

I may see you on the way down

by

Realtor, Associate Broker

Author website

At our office meeting this past week, our manager shared this video with the troops. Our meeting, you see, happened to coincide with Halloween, and the intended nexus was a scary market and overcoming fears.

So, watch the video of the Crazy Man with a Death Wish (I dare you to take your eyes off of it), and we will have a short review and Q & A following the show.

Review

We all have fears, and to a real estate agent who enjoys the finer things in life, such as food, shelter, and the occasional trip to the Haircut Store, our current market can be quite frightening. These fears can be overcome, as demonstrated by Crazy Man with a Death Wish.

Simply think of your career as one big-ass challenge, one where you have been dropped at the top of a ginormous mountain with a snowboard. Think of your career as teetering on the head of a very tall pin. Executed with absolute precision and focus, you will reach your goals. Flawlessly navigate the moguls of misfortune, and you will quickly reach base camp from the pinnacle of self-doubt. Screw up, and every limb will be ripped from your fragile body in a single, excruciating moment of self-destruction, or worse. You might not get the Top Producer plaque at the year-end awards ceremony.

Q & A

Q. This is supposed to be metaphorical of my real estate career? Isn’t Crazy
Guy going downhill very, very fast?

A. Yes, and your point is?

Q. Wouldn’t a better metaphor be one where I am at the foot of the ginormous mountain of opportunity, and I must work very hard to scale same?

A. Just trying to keep it real here, but good point. Do you have a link to that video?

Q. Okay, so what if I am schlepping my pathetic unprepared self up that vertical slope toward solvency and see the oncoming avalanche of no-fear agents on their way down?

A. Make a snow cave.

Q. Can I fly the helicopter?

A. No.

Tomorrow we will watch a spooky video involving an agent who, while dropping notepads at random doorsteps, survives an attack by a pack of rabid Lhasa Apsos who had escaped their model-perfect, highly upgraded Read more

November 4, 2007

The Odysseus Medal competition — Voting for the People’s Choice Award is open

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

A dozen-and-a-half nominees, but seven of them are from BloodhoundBlog. We had a great week; there were five more that I had to wince hard and cut.

A lot from the news, as usual, plus tools, tips, tricks and techniques and the kind of deep thinking that makes this competition what it is.

Vote for the People’s Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface to see each nominated post, so comparison is easy.

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

Here is this week’s short-list of Odysseus Medal nominees:

< ?PHP $AltEntries = array ( "Galen Ward -- Photos Photos are worth 1,000 words (and a lot of money too)”,
“Kris Berg — The green room The Green Room“,
“Jim Cronin — RE weblogging The 7 Reasons Why Your (Future) Clients Should Care That You Are a Real Estate Blogger“,
“Jim Duncan — Martyr yourself? Are you willing to martyr yourself to the industry?“,
“Dan Green — Investors in ARMs Falling Prices And Adjusting ARMs: Real Estate Investors Have A Way Out“,
“Jay Thompson — Prize money? A Commission is Prize Money (?!?)“,
“Richard Warren — Trickle down The Economic Trickle Down Effect“,
“Rhonda Porter — Mortgage witch hunt The Mortgage Witch Hunt“,
“Steve Belt — Trulia Voices Opting out of Trulia Voices“,
“Brian Brady — Hiring a Realtor Hire A Realtor Like You Would Sign a Top NFL Draft Pick“,
“Bill Leider — What is a professional? What Is A Professional?“,
“Geno Petro — La spinster? Mademoiselle? Oui. La Spinster?…ZUT!“,
“Kris Berg — Gas guzzler My Hybrid is a Gas Guzzler“,
“Michael Cook — Perfect storm Real Estate Perfect Storm Warning: Do Not Miss This Window of Opportunity“,
“Brian Brady — HR 3915 HR 3915 Is Dangerous“,
“Teri Lussier — Twittering Twittering on a wing and a prayer“,
“Geno Petro — Search or sell Search Or Sell, Young Man“,
“Kris Berg — Genoa Petrol You, ma’am, are no Genoa Petrol!”
);
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    Deadline for next week’s competition is Sunday at 12 Noon MST. You can nominate your own weblog entry or any post you admire here.

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    • November 4, 2007

    The Odysseus Medal competition doesn’t change its clocks, but virtually everyone else does: Nomination deadline is 12 Noon MST

    by

    Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

    Author website

    Cut-off is today at 12 Noon MST, which means that folks on the left coast, particularly, need to adjust their thinking. In any case, if you know of something that reeks of pith (does that sound right?), your own work or someone else’s, nominate it now before you have to wonder what time it is in Phoenix.

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    November 3, 2007

    How low can they go? Negotiating a real estate bargain

    by

    Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

    Author website

    This is my column this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link):

     
    How low can they go? Negotiating a real estate bargain

    Everybody wants a bargain. The question for homebuyers is, how do you get one?

    I was in a property last weekend with a buyer. The home was listed for $450,000 and the buyer asked, “Do you think they’d be willing to cut the price by $100,000?”

    Stranger things have happened, but I’d bet against it.

    Here’s why: Let’s assume the monthly payment is $2,000. The seller could afford to wait four years for a better offer before slashing the the price by $100,000 would make sense. There are other factors to consider in real life, and this kind of analysis is best done on a spreadsheet. But a lot can change in four years.

    You certainly don’t want to pay any more than you have to, but you cannot possibly pay less than the seller will agree to.

    What can make sellers particularly negotiable? A new job out of state and they can’t qualify for two mortgages. A new house under contract with a hefty non-refundable deposit. No one likes to think about profiting on the misfortunes of others, but sellers who are facing foreclosure are likely to be ready to cut to the quick.

    In other words, sellers who have a strong motivation to sell now are going to be a lot more willing to negotiate price cuts than people who kinda-sorta want to move, provided they can get their price.

    But even if you find a motivated seller, there’s a complicating factor: That seller has to have room to negotiate — equity in the home. If the house is encumbered at or near the list price, there’s a limit to how much the sellers can cut the price, no matter what their motivation. To go further would result in a short sale — the sellers would come to the closing table “short” of the full amount they owe.

    Short sales can be great bargains, too, but, since you’re negotiating with the lender more than the seller, they’re a chancy proposition at best, and they can take a Read more

    November 3, 2007

    HR 3915: Exploring the Minds of the Enablers

    by

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

    Author website

    HR 3915 is referred to as the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007. It was introduced by Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts. I explored some libertarian thought about the bill here. I spent the last few days, perusing supporting messages, to discover if I might be mistaken. This is what I found:

    The Center for Responsible Lending encourages support of this bill. Here is the letter they want you to write to your Congresspeople:

    I am deeply concerned about the plight of 2.2 million families who have lost their homes to abusive subprime loans, or who will lose their home in the near future. Without stronger protections against predatory lending, the same conditions that led to this disaster will inevitably come up again. The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007 (H.R. 3915), which is based in part on existing state laws that have been effective, would help prevent another subprime disaster in the future.

    Hmmm, well they fired a biased shot across the bow by referring to subprime loans (in general) as abusive. It lets you know that they despise any loan that isn’t an “agency” loan. The CRL also predicts that (a) more people will lose their homes (b) the disaster, left unchecked, will happen again. What they don’t tell you is that the innovative lending products added some ten million NEW homeowners to the ranks this decade. While 2 million foreclosures suck, a net gain of 8 million homeowners is nothing short of astounding.

    The bill addresses many abusive lending practices that directly contributed to today’s foreclosures crisis, including reckless loan underwriting, abusive subprime prepayment penalties, and direct incentives for mortgage brokers to steer families into excessively expensive and risky loans. Basically, the bill would allow consumers to have greater confidence that subprime lenders will refrain from reckless lending and assess whether complex loan products are truly affordable for the families that receive them.

    Ho ho ho! Reckless, abusive, and steering! Underwriting is to protect the lenders, not the borrowers. Here comes Big Momma to tell Read more

    November 2, 2007

    Mademoiselle? Oui. La Spinster?…ZUT!

    by

    Chicago Broker Owner Realtor | RE 2.0 Blogger

    Author website

    I could see the fan and I could see what was about to hit it. We were all sitting around the closing table…signing, witnessing, and waiting to be paid (the latter being me, of course), when the question was posed to my client by her counsel—an attorney I usually recommend for relatively routine transactions. A nice guy but no Bruce Cutler if you know what I’m saying. He’s cheap, actually.

    “Married, Divorced, or Spinster?” he asked my client, looking at a title form he obviously had never seen before.

    ‘BAM!’ (splat)… then dead silence for one of the longer two or three second periods I can recall in recent weeks.

    Did I just hear what I thought I heard? I hoped it went unnoticed as I looked up from the mindless game on my Treo, just three deals away from completing Solitaire for the 100th time in about as many closings. Not a chance.

    “Did you just call me the ‘S’ word?” answered my client, a lovely unmarried woman who, with pen in hand, was about to sign the final document and close escrow on her first condominium in Chicago. When a question is answered with another question in such a situation then the next one who speaks loses. We all know this. And I knew who wasn’t going to say anything as I went back to my PDA, clearing the game and pretending to enter something into the calendar, all thumbs in different directions on the tiny keyboard. I was careful not to make eye contact with anyone. I was listening though.

    “Pardon me?” asked the attorney.

    I felt like popping him on his forehead with the palm of my hand …”Dumb dog, dumb dog.” The funds weren’t transferred from the Federal Reserve yet. Say something stupid after we’re paid for our services and keys are handed over. And just like the time one of my golfing buddies got caught cheating on his wife, I was also in trouble just by association. (And for the record, the wife was much hotter than the girlfriend, I thought. Either way, she got the house, the stock portfolio and the good car while he was left with the girlfriend and I guess, whatever Read more

    November 2, 2007

    The Jim Duncan Channel: Learning to surf the enblogged globe

    by

    Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

    Author website

    We’re adding another new BloodhoundBlogger today — and I’m not done yet.

    Today’s addition? A well-known name in the RE.net, Jim Duncan:

    Jim Duncan is a third-generation Realtor, a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and a long-time real estate weblogger. He is active within the NAR, and has made a name for himself as an ethical lodestone in real estate.

    Jim was one of the first webloggers to make contact with us when we started BloodhoundBlog. He is a very thoughtful man — a man full of thought — and he is never hard to find, since he’s always on the side of the angels.

    I think Jim is one of the most important voices on the RE.net, period, particularly on the subject of Realtor ethics. So why didn’t I invite him to join us a long time ago? Pure thoughtlessness on my part. For the most part we have added people by self-selection, and I have tried to avoid stepping on toes. (Honest, I have!)

    In any case, I finally caught a clue and thought to ask, and Jim was gracious enough to accept.

    Last night in email to me, Brian Brady pointed out that we had had 15 posts by nine contributors in the past two days. We’re not trying to overwhelm you, but we are trying to do what we came here to do. More and more, you will have to learn to treat the enblogged globe like television, tuning in to what works for you and switching away from what doesn’t. I know we are not for everyone. But for real estate professionals who care about the ideas that will drive our industry in the twenty-first century, we need to be a hot-button on your remote control.

    And if it all gets to be too much for you, you can tune out everything except the Jim Duncan Channel.

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    November 1, 2007

    Who is not whom in the world of “Real Estate Web 2.0”?

    by

    Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

    Author website

    I caught this bit from the GeekEstate Blog in my feed reader.

    That’s the list of weblogs in the suitable-for-framing map of “Real Estate Web 2.0” produced by the 1000Watt Consulting group, a consortium of people who make money by not understanding the difference between wattage and luminosity.

    Notice anyone missing? It’s not just us. Curbed can’t find a parking space. Rain City Guide is left out in the rain. Even Bert and Ernie, who have been everywhere, can’t make it here.

    We get snubbed from dumbass beauty contests all the time, and I take a certain kind of delight in it. First, nobody has to be told what is going at BloodhoundBlog — or anywhere else that matters. And second — and this is especially rich — the essence of Web 2.0 is that no one can tell you what does or does not matter. The first middle-men to be disintermediated by Web 2.0 were the would-be arbiters of taste.

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    November 1, 2007

    Mortgage Grader: Revolutionary or Just One More Marketing Widget?

    by

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

    Author website

    Mortgage Grader is a consumer-operated, automated underwriting system. Jeff Lazerson, its founder, has been working on this idea for 3-4 years. It was released this summer.

    Consumers enter information and are issued an approval. The mortgage grading engine mashes up various automated underwriting systems (FNMA Desktop Originator, proprietary sub-prime engines, etc.), searches out the best terms, and delivers the equivalent of a wholesale lending approval, with wholesale rates, to the consumer. The consumer then hires an approved mortgage broker to package the loan for a flat fee.

    Have we heard this idea before? Jeff Corbett has been talking about a transparent underwriting and rate search engine for some time, now.

    I know both Jeffs. I met Jeff Corbett last year and have known Jeff Lazerson, since 1997, when he was selling his book, “How to Make A Fortune In Loans Without Leaving Your Desk“. Both are veterans of the industry who have seen mortgage consumers get raked over the coals by originators.

    Transparency is nothing new to the mortgage industry. Mortgage brokers have practiced transparency, by law, for years. Mortgage originators often teach customers how to lower their fees by accepting a higher interest rate in exchange for lender-paid yield spread premium– I’ve done that since the mid 90’s.

    Transparency is the law for mortgage brokers. Flat fee loan originations are nothing new. Innovation Mortgage has been offering a flat fee model for 6 years now.

    Is this the end of the full-service mortgage originator? Absolutely not. Technology, while useful, is the consumer’s worst enemy. Ten years ago, mortgage originators feared that Desktop Originator would eliminate their utility. It was the advancement of technology, however, that allowed for more innovative loan programs. The only way for these technology engines to work is if we revert back to the “good ol’ days” of two loan programs: 30 year fixed and 15 year fixed. Nobody really wants less choices.

    Nothing beats the advice of a mortgage professional. We are the first experience many consumers have with financial planning. Two hours with one of us will help a consumer to better understand Read more

    November 1, 2007

    PMAR, OAR, NAR, David Barry and the Essential Elements of non-Reform

    by

    Realtor, Associate Broker

    Author website

    The confluence of events:

    Last week I received a lead from our lead generation system.  I had only a name and email address:  she wanted info on three listings, then two more, then the next day seven more, each emailed separately.  There was no contact number, only her email address, and it turned out she wasn’t really in the market to buy, just curious.  And: all she wanted were the addresses, was more than a little annoyed – so was I – she had to jump through hoops to get them.  Damned REALTORS®!

    Monday I was in a meeting to introduce our new company web site, including a new property search engine.  The mock up included maps, street view and… addresses!  Transparency; terrific!  But, no, sorry, that’s not a real fixture.  Apparently that’s against the bylaws of one of the five MLSs we deal with; “Besides, we want to give a reason for the phone to ring!”  See above.

    Then last night – after fifty plus sugared up munchkins – I opened my annual Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors bill, which includes dues for PMAR, OAR, and NAR. Last year it was $343, and this year: $459. For those who dabble in percentages, that’s a 34% increase. 

    The stated reason:  A $100 ‘special assessment’ to OAR:

    The Public Awareness Campaign is an integrated program designed to address multiple issues facing the real estate industry in Oregon as a result of extreme changes in the real estate market including the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the threat of an initiative petition to give unfair advantage to a new MLS provider and the ongoing threat of a real estate transfer tax. 

    The Public Awareness Campaign special assessment will accomplish two goals – it will fund the specific campaign to raise the profile and enhance the image of our Members [sic] in the eyes of the public, and it will make available the necessary funds to educate the public regarding initiative petition issues that impact the real estate industry and consumers in Oregon.

    So that’s a $2 million confiscation, not to study and/or implement ways to make agents more efficient, to make us Read more

    November 1, 2007

    See Steven Groves and Greg Swann on “Real Estate and Social Media” at PodCamp AZ, Saturday from 3:30 to 4:30 pm

    by

    Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

    Author website

    Okay. So Cathleen is wicked sick, coughing like a rented tractor. We’re busy, and I don’t mean just a little. Applications are up, originations are up, rates are down, demand is maybe just short of a frenzy, and the mechanics of doom today accidentally discovered that the implications of currency inflation are that their desperately-sought collapse in values may already have happened — and no one noticed.

    In any case, just to complicate my life, I agreed to present with Steven Groves this weekend at PodCamp AZ at The University of Advancing Technology.

    We’ll be doing the session on “Real Estate and Social Media.” It’s Steven’s show, and his passion as well, so it should be worth seeing. We’re on from 3:30 to 4:30 pm, and we may be accessible in video live on uStream.com as well. I would like to shoot digital video, too, if we can rope a volunteer to operate the camera.

    The links I’ve shown here will give you all the details. See you there!

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    November 1, 2007

    You, ma’am, are no Genoa Petrol!

    by

    Realtor, Associate Broker

    Author website

    Dear Mr Shaw,

    I am writing to inquiry about a position as Blogging Assistant. I am a fan of your work on the Bloodhound Blog; your piece on the bananas was pure genius. I believe I would add value to your blogging enterprise, and it would be an honor to work under your tutelage.

    By way of background, I too used to contribute to the Bloodhound Blog. My tenure was cut short when some “Geno Petro” guy showed up. My spell checker says his name is really Genoa Petrol, but I don’t think that’s right. Anway, he knows books, he knows pop culture, and he can certainly turn a phrase. He even uses colons!

    While I have no real writing training (I have admittedly never enjoyed formal instruction in the liberal arts beyond the requisite How to Write in Nearly Complete Sentences college course where, I am proud to say, I received a passing grade), I did take an English and American Literature class in high school. (Yes, my school combined the two; this allowed time in the schedule for Home Economics and Making Fire 101.) It was there that I was required to suffer through read Jane Eyre and the Grapes of Wrath. I finished both, although I found the latter unsettling and eerily biographical. Oh, and the Latin I know comes entirely from the back of a dollar bill.

    So, I am seeking a position with the potential for upward mobility, as I find I have none at my current position.  I believe that I can turn my “negatives” in to “positives”; unshackled as I am by the encumbrances of any real credentials or talent, I can quickly embrace new approaches. Since a truly original idea has never come within two quarks of my brain, I am adaptable. Finally, I have good problem solving skills.

    I do not come to you without references. As a blogger, I have received much praise on my own blog which boasts a current readership of three:

    “Since it doesn’t take much to be a Realtor, your pool is full of monkeys.” – – Eric Estrada

    “Most Realtors are lazy and uneducated. They will go away like other brokers 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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