BloodhoundBlog

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Archives (page 126 of 372)

May 21, 2009

News from the right side of the number line: Graphene, a possible replacement for silicon in computer chips, and a DVD-sized storage device that can hold more than a thousand DVDs

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

One of the paths to the singularity, and the one that is mostly readily plausible given the current state of physics, is nanotechnology. Here are two new nano-entities ready to break out of the laboratory.

First, how would you like to store your entire movie collection on one DVD-sized disc?

A DVD that can store up to 2,000 films could usher in an age of three-dimensional TV and ultra-high definition viewing, scientists say.

The ultra-DVD is the same size and thickness as a conventional disc, but uses nano-technology to store vast amounts of information.

Scientists believe it could be on sale in five years and say it will revolutionise the way we store films, music and data. 

One disc could back up the memory of a computer or record thousands of hours of film.

The breakthrough comes from Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, where scientists created a prototype using ‘nano rods’ – tiny particles of gold too small to see – and polarised light, in which the light waves only flow in one direction.

Professor Min Gu, whose findings appear in the journal Nature, said: ‘We were able to show how nano-structured material can be incorporated on to a disc to increase data capacity without increasing the size of the disc.’

A DVD can hold up to 8.5 gigabytes of information, enough for a movie, several special features and an alternative soundtrack.

Blu-ray discs, which were designed to replace them, can store 50GB, enough for a film and extra features in high definition.

But ultra-DVDs will be able to store ten terabytes – or 10,000GB.

Of much greater moment, consider Graphene, a perfect carbon structure one atom thick.

Eight MIT researchers, along with colleagues at Harvard and Boston University, have just received a major U.S. Department of Defense grant for graphene research. With this five-year grant, Palacios says, MIT and its collaborators “would become one of the strongest multidisciplinary teams working on graphene in the world.”

Its unique electrical characteristics could make graphene the successor to silicon in a whole new generation of microchips, surmounting basic physical constraints limiting the further development of ever-smaller, ever-faster silicon Read more

May 21, 2009

What would it take to reform the National Association of Realtors, to turn it from an anti-consumer cartel into a steadfast defender of the right of American citizens to own, use and enjoy real property?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Joe Loomer: > what could and should NAR do to dispell your views of it as a criminal enterprise?

In very broad outlines:

1. Stop writing and lobbying for legislation devised to churn the real estate markets.

2. Work tirelessly to eliminate all laws that serve to advance the interests real estate brokers at the expense of consumers in general as well as other people who might want to broker real estate for compensation.

3. Eliminate all coercive membership requirements.

4. Work with lenders and HUD to eliminate the co-brokerage fee so that buyers can obtain — and pay for — true, honest, untainted representation.

5. Work tirelessly to eliminate all laws impinging upon the right of each citizen to buy, own, use, enjoy, profit from and sell real property without interference.

For what it’s worth, I think number 5 is the greatest betrayal of the American people by the National Association of Realtors. Zoning? The NAR is for it. Eminent domain? The NAR is for it. Expropriation of ancillary rights such as water rights? The NAR is for it. At the national level, the grand poohbahs might issue a toothless snarl about Kelo, but at the local level, the Boards of Real Estate that make up the NAR are always working hand-in-pocket with governments and developers to rob ordinary citizens of their right to own their own property.

Soldiers are to be found everywhere in history, but freedom is won and held by citizen soldiers — which means a soldier who has his own land to return to when the fighting is done. By undermining the right to own real property, the NAR works — insidiously, corrosively — to undermine American liberty.

And, for what it’s worth, if the NAR were to apply itself and achieve item number 4 on my list, none of the rest would matter. More than anything else, the NAR and the MLS are made possible by the co-broke. Get rid of that and the rest of this ugly mess will crumble to dust in due course.

May 20, 2009

It’s not an EOD

by

Realtor, Renaissance Man

Author website

I am stealing from myself in this posting, which I believe is okay because the message just never seems to ring loud enough for me.  Some years back I met a Marine and his wife while showing homes.  What follows is my recount of meeting them.  It’s an account I hope some of you will follow with your own stories about perhaps your own EOD encounters.

U.S. Marine Corps


I took a young couple out looking for homes today. First time we had met, and our initial introduction had been through my web site and a couple of emails.In the course of our meeting I engaged in my usual convivial chatter, finding out in small snippets where they were from, what they were dreaming, and of course, what they “did for a living.” Now an old philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, once wrote “if you label me, you negate me”, and being not quite that old, but old enough to remember and revere the 60’s, I always ask “what do you do” hoping it creates something that really takes me to the core of that person, not just to the superficial meaning of his or her life as labeled by a job.

So today I asked “what do you both do?” She said, “I’m ex-military, and he’s still on active duty.”

“What branch?”, I asked.

“I was in the Air Force”, she said, “and he’s in the Marines.”

We’re here in Oceanside, California, home of Camp Pendleton, and some of the finest young men and women in the whole world. I myself served as a Marine many years ago, but continue to find that meeting and interacting with young service people always makes me glad I live in the San Diego area where so many opportunities arise to do so.

“What do you do in the Marines?”, I asked.

“EOD’s,”, he said.

I’m looking at him, and he’s a young guy who clearly loves his gal, his country, and is not a big talker like me. So I ask him, “EOD’s….what are they?”

“Explosive Ordinance Devices,” he says. “You know, Read more

May 20, 2009

$8,000 Tax Credit Advance Friend or Foe?

by

Realtor, Newlywed

Author website

I have been following the $8,000 Federal Tax Credit with great interest this year. Currently it is the most talked about topic that I am discussing with potential home buyers. There is a lot of interest in receiving $8,000 when a first time buyer files their taxes for 2009. Now that many states (Washington being one of them) are discussing ways to use the $8,000 tax credit as a way to help first time home buyers get into their homes through bridge loans the discussions have really become spirited. When HUD announced that they would allow the $8,000 tax credit as collateral for “bridge loans” to cover the down payment on FHA insured mortgages the pot literally boiled over with opinions.

Currently it seems on a daily basis that the $8,000 tax credit advance is in the news for one thing or another. Yesterday the Arizona Republic announced that the tax credit would be ineligible for down payment. Later in the afternoon the Seattle Post Intelligencer announced that the Feds still plan to allow use of tax credit for down payments.  Today the Arizona Republic reports the HUD bridge loan program hasn’t been killed. So what exactly is going on with the $8,000 tax credit advance? It would appear that nobody even HUD and FHA really know. I am sure that by the time I actually publish this post there will be something new to report.

What I want to know is what the readers of Bloodhound Blog think of the $8,000 tax credit and in particular what you think of allowing the tax credit to be used towards a buyer’s down payment?

I will go on record that I feel that this makes sense in some particular situations and with some additional requirements on the borrowers.

  • Potential home buyer has the income to cover the complete cost of home ownership out of their current income. The ratios must be well within the FHA guidelines.
  • The credit score of the home buyer is greater than 675. There is no need to allow marginal credit worthy buyer’s even easier access to borrowing money that they Read more
May 20, 2009

What’s the best way to use ALT Tags on a web site?

by

Realtor, Tech Connoisseur

Author website

I usually use a dozen or more photos for EACH neighborhood, and want to include neighborhood name in each Alt Tag:

For Instance: Berkeley 4th St “what it is”

Berkeley 4th St Spenger’s

Berkeley 4th St Peets Coffee

Berkeley 4th St Amtrak Station

Will the repetition of “Berkeley 4th St.. ” in the beginning (or end) of the Alt Tag be considered keyword spamming if EACH of the 12 photos on that web page has an Alt Tag starting (or ending) with the same expression?

Ira

May 19, 2009

No more free lunch! Understanding the National Association of Realtors — all the way down to your bones…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Michael DiMella wrote the remarks quoted below in a comment, but I’ve extracted them and my responses to him into a separate post.

The meta issue is this: Is the NAR a criminal conspiracy against consumers, and, whether or not it is, is there nothing else good about it?

Michael DiMella: > you seem to have a thorough unwillingness to learn what NAR actually is and does.

That’s astoundingly false. I have written more about the NAR’s criminality than anyone, ever. You may not want to focus on that, but criminality is NAR’s sole reason for being. Everything else it might do is window dressing devised to fool the public — and gullible patsies within the NAR.

> That doesn’t make you a bad guy, but I, for one, would appreciate a modicum of respect.

Good grief. I will offer you and the NAR the oath of respect Fiorello LaGuardia paid to a similar criminal mob when he was inaugurated as Mayor of New York: “E finita la cuccagna!” (“No more free lunch!”)

> To [eliminate mortgage interest deductibility without comprehensively revising the tax code] would be careless and have a major negative impact on a majority of Americans.

False. The deductibility of mortgage interest is a handout to the rich. I’m opposed to all taxation, but it is absurd to argue that the wealthiest Americans cannot afford to bear their own economic weight. In any case, as is discussed below, using tax policy to favor one group over another, thus artificially to churn the markets, is vicious and wrong no matter who is hurt or helped.

The next argument would be that, in a condition of pressure-group warfare, to lay down arms is suicidal. That’s as may be, but, in order to make this argument, you must first argue that there can be circumstances in which you feel yourself justified in expropriating other people’s property — stealing, that is — for your own benefit. Are you an advocate of theft? Did I hear you say something about wanting respect?

> I would say NAR’s support of the MID is well intentioned to protect consumers

The sole purpose of the mostly Read more

May 19, 2009

NAR midyear: They’ve got a lot of what it takes to get along

by

Rust Belt Realtor

Author website

Did midyear throw you for a few loops? Why?

We real cool, but for all our coolness, our cutting edginess, our self-important bellowing, we belong to an enormous *ahem* trade organization. So step back a moment and let me break it down for you.

A trade organization exists to represent its members.

All decisions it makes will be in the best interest of the majority of its members. Why? Because a trade organizations exists to represent its members. The end.

If you are not in the majority then your edgey place represents one of two things to a trade organization: Something to be ignored, or something to be absorbed. There are no buts.

“But they twitter!”

“But they leave comments on my blog!”

“But I met them at REBC and they were nice!”

They represent their members. They speak on behalf on their members. You may wish and hope and want to believe that things are different, however, facts is facts. It is what it is.

Meanwhile, how about those “Transaction Fees“? I don’t pass transaction fees on to my clients. I would hate it if it happened to me. So as the NAR creates a song and dance regarding Busby v. JRHBW Realty, Inc. (members only, sorry) thereby protecting the majority of its members, here’s a little toe-tapping number dedicated to the wackadoodle world of the NAR. Appropriately, she’s singing in pig latin!

May 18, 2009

What’s the HVCC and what does it mean to Loan Officers, Realtors and Consumers?

by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

Okay, first, I have a confession to make.   The bank that I work for chose to be proactive and we began implementing the Home Valuation Code of Conduct on mortgage applications taken on or after January 12.   Why did we do it so early?   I’m not going to attempt to read the minds of the corporate people on that one.

I am going to share what I’ve learned about the Home Valuation Code of Conduct and what it means for lenders, Realtors and consumers.   Please remember this is not a formal analysis of the rules of the HVCC, this is strictly my personal experience of what it means:

The Five Most Important Things About the Home Valuation Code of Conduct:
1. For consumers – it means that the cost of an appraisal has gone up.   6 months ago, a standard appraisal in my area would cost between $275 and $300.   Now, that same appraisal is going to run $375.  What does the consumer get for his additional $75?  Basically, he gets one thing.   He gets a bit more comfort that the appraiser isn’t necessarily a friend of the Realtor or the lender and he doesn’t need to be as concerned that the appraiser is being pressured by someone to “meet a number” so the deal gets done.

2. For Realtors – it means that they can’t rely on “a friend” to get the deal done.   The days of working with the local appraiser who knows pretty much the entire market are over.   Now they have no impact on who does the appraisal.  So what does that mean?  It means that they are probably going to be getting some appraisers who don’t know the market as well.   What does that mean?  It means the Realtor has to not only know the market, they have to have the data available and be able to pass that information quickly and easily to the appraiser.   I don’t believe that it would violate any rules if the Realtor were to look up what they feel are the 6 best comparables, print the information and have it waiting at the house Read more

May 18, 2009

Nothin’ New Under The Sun — Especially If I’m Involved

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

I learned early on in my career I had no problem whatsoever taking others’ ideas and running with ’em like a thief out of a 7/11 carrying a paper bag full of ones and fives. I’m BawldJapan — I can take your idea, tweak it for my uses, and most of the time make it work to some degree. Ideas don’t have to be new, or even perceived as cool — they just have to work. What a concept — excuse me a sec while I write that gem down.

For the record, often times epiphanies for me are just empirical evidence I may have arrived at grammar school via the little bus. I’m reminded of my never ending irritation with the various business magazines aimed at entrepreneurs. Two lifelong best friends succeed wildly with a Mexican restaurant in their hometown, and are interviewed by Peter S. Small of Entrepreneurs and Stuff.

“Tell me guys, to what do you attribute your wild success?” “Well Peter, one day we were lamenting the dearth of high quality, affordable Mexican restaurants in Southern California. Then it came to us like a flash! We’ll do our own, and we’ll do it right. The rest is history.” You KNOW you’ve read those interviews too. You can’t swing a dead cat in SoCal without hittin’ an affordable Mexican restaurant with good food.

I’m now about to take what I’ve been saying here for quite awhile to house agents, into what I do. The concept of hyper-local has been cussed and discussed into oblivion. This isn’t about that exactly. This is about taking something that’s traditionally been done on a much larger scale, and narrowing it down to its lowest common denominator. Or something like that. It’s nothing new, and you may have even tried before.

For years I generated impressive business volume using direct (mass) mail — it was always successful, once we figured out the winning formula. From 1987 ’till around 2004 or so, no letter sent out yielded less than five figures worth of closed escrows. A few resulted in six figures. Then it stopped Read more

May 18, 2009

Taking A Page Out of Realtor.Com’s Absurd Playbook, Craig’s List Offers FREE Showcase Listing Package!

by

Retechulous...

Author website

I generally don’t get involved in causes. I don’t vote. I try not to step on toes. I truly think doing something trippy drippy nuts absurd is a more productive use of time then taking a real side or a position on anything.

But this MIBOR/NAR deal really has me going. I can no longer summon up that blissful apathy. And I’ve been scheming ways to get involved, to somehow help this situation along, basically getting senselessly fired up over something I can’t control…then came Greg’s last post.

From Greg’s last post

 

If you despise the NAR because it is technologically inept, you’re hating it for the wrong reasons. The right reason to detest the NAR, and to seek its extinction, is because it makes war upon the free market in order to expropriate unearned wealth for brokers.

Yeah, I’ve been feeling superficially pissed that the retechulously inept are making decisions that require some bit of tech-tidude. But really, this is about my right to innovate; to hack up what the competition is doing; to market freely in any ways I see fit just so long as nobody gets hurt in the process. After all, what’s going on with situations like Paula Henry’s is that they’re messing with what many of us (arguably the best of us) consider to be the best part about being a real estate agent—The fact that we’re truly independent business people with the right to roll as we see fit just so long as we abide by the code of ethics, some local regulations, and general golden rule style decency.

 

So how the frak does displaying property listing data, no matter what the source, become an issue for anyone other than the owner of the gosh darn property and the person they hire to complete the task? Answer: It doesn’t. It shouldn’t. Way to waste those NAR dues on something productive…  This whole thing really is totally and completely absurd!

 

So, what’s a guy to do?

Well, if as Greg says, “we can obviate the NAR by supplanting it…”

Then…

I hereby pledge to replace Read more

May 17, 2009

Earth to NAR: Drop dead — and try not to stink up the place while you’re doing it

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I haven’t paid any attention to this MIBOR business, and I’m grateful to John Rowles for keeping us up to date. Anyone who is dismayed at the way things worked out should be sure to sit at my table when we have a BloodhoundBlog poker tournament: You’re my kind of sucker.

The fact that the NAR is composed of clueless morons should come as a surprise to no one. The fact that they think they can buy off their intellectual superiors by kissing their asses should astonish no one who reads here: I’ve been telling you for years that the dinosaurs pretend to take you seriously in the hopes of compromising you in their corruption. Of course, no one will learn a thing from this experience, which suggests that the dinosaur strategy might well be sound, even though it is absurd on its face. They reason that a grand pageant of being lied to and pandered to makes people feel important, and the evidence suggests they’ve got a good bead on their designated spokesmannequins.

But none of this has anything to do with anything. Whatever combination of cluelessness and collusion motivated this MIBOR clusterfrolick, it’s just a side effect. The NAR is a criminal cartel. Its purpose is to deploy legislation at the federal, state and local levels in behalf of real estate brokers and to the detriment of consumers (and, secondarily, real estate sales people). If you despise the NAR because it is technologically inept, you’re hating it for the wrong reasons. The right reason to detest the NAR, and to seek its extinction, is because it makes war upon the free market in order to expropriate unearned wealth for brokers.

Who pays for the tax deductibility of mortgages? The 70% or more of us who don’t qualify for the deduction. Who will pay for the $8,000 first-time home buyer’s tax credit? Your grandchildren — and it will cost them quite a bit more than $8,000 in interest costs. Thus do the vampires in the NAR make make vampires of us all.

If you want to grouse or joke about how stupid the NAR Read more

May 17, 2009

NAR Board Sends IDX Policy Back to Committee

by

IDX Search Entrepreneur

Author website

http://speakingofrealestate.blogs.realtor.org/2009/05/16/nars-idx-rule-changes-need-more-study/

For a few hours there, it looked like the NAR BOD was actually going to do the right thing.

Then, the guy from Indianapolis stands up and says, in effect, “Instead of doing the right thing, lets send this back to the rules committee so NAR members can enjoy another 6 months of uncertainty.”

It was apparently a close vote, but in the end, the decision was not to decide.

As the band Rush put it in “Free Will” (not “Tom Sawyer” — thanks, Tony) — If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.

Its interesting that the motion to send a rule that would have protected a broker’s right to use IDX data for SEO purposes back to committee was made by a director of the board that tried to label Google a “scraper” in the first place.

Why would he do that and why would the board go along with it?

It comes down to the question I’ve already asked: It’s either a stunning degree of cluelessness, or it is a deliberate attempt to find a way to hobble IDX to the benefit of NAR (Realtor.com) and to the benefit of the local boards who see being a consumer Web destination for local listings as a rasion d’etre.

If its the latter (and I suspect that it is), it shows that NAR and some MLS boards see themselves as being in competition with their own membership, who, by the way, provide the frolicking listing content in question in the first place!

The MLS ostensibly exists to organize the market. Brokers who are stuck in MLSs that have decided to become competitors under the guise of a “member service”  need  re-assert themselves and remind their boards who works for who.

Here’s a metaphor that even a NAR Director can understand: If the role of MLSs is to market its member’s listings, then why didn’t MLSs compete with brokers for column inches in newspaper real estate sections, or publish their own glossy magazine-style publications full of (outdated) MLS listings?

Here’s a modest proposal for a motion for the NAR BOD to consider: I move that all local Read more

May 16, 2009

Press Pause Before I Get Popped In The Balls

by

Retechulous...

Author website

A ton’s been going on at CentralPaLiving.Com. I’ve got like 5 great topics for blog posts shamelessly promoting the site.

But for now, I’m hoping for some feedback on the video heavy approach I’m taking on the site’s home page…

Thinking maybe it’ll be better to charm em into opting into an e-newsletter and checking out a few featured listings?

[Sorry, you’ll have to actually hit Central Pa’s most funnest Real Estate site to get the full effect 🙂 ….]

So what do you think? Will this sorta chicanery work?

Too Corny?

SEO Ignorant?

Too Much Balls?

May 16, 2009

Realtor.com : Truth in Advertising?

by

The Real Estate Group, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake VA

Author website

I like Mark Madsen. He thinks like I do. He wants to help people and he trusts that in the end that helping people will help build his reputation online and off. Anyone who was at BHBU knows this.

He is a nice guy. I’d like to think I am a nice guy too. But even us nice guys have their tolerance levels for BS. And they ESPECIALLY have them for when people screw with their friends. (In my case friends = REALTORS). But what do I know…I am just a technologist.

Check out this weekly email update being unwittingly sent by many Louisville area REALTORS to their desperate to sell a home clients.

realtorcom

What’s wrong with this picture, you ask?

Well for starters, my mom has a word for houses that have been viewed on REALTOR.com (or any other place 4,272 times in the last 2.5 months)….SOLD. This house has not had near enough showings to come close to what that level of exposure should generate.

So while I am not technically calling BS on you REALTOR.com, the biggest part of me wants to. I am asking you for an explanation of how these supposed pageviews are calculated. You CLEARLY state at the bottom of your graphic that “views is views”. Is that similar to what the meaning of the word is is??? Hmmm???

This smells ESPECIALLY funky in light of the following:

REALTOR.com does not RANK anywhere on the first page of Google for Louisville Real Estate and for most of the higher traffic terms.

I have never seen a REALTOR.com TV ad run in our area.

I have heard a couple of the Ty Pennington radio spots on lower traffic radio stations run a few months ago. Would that gin up this kind of views on a $100k house??

From whence cometh the traffic?

HERE’S WHAT I THINK YOU ARE DOING:

I think when someone does a search for houses in the 100k to 150k range, you pull them ALL up. That may be well over 1,000 homes. (100 pages of listings) I think you are giving a “pageview” to ALL of those listings…even the ones on page Read more

May 15, 2009

Unchained Freedom “Friends Keep Friends In The Business”

by

Las Vegas Mortgage Blogger

Author website

As I was driving back to Las Vegas after a full week of hanging out with the Bloodhound crew at Unchained, my mind was racing to get a grasp on all of the new real estate marketing possibilities that I could achieve by the end of the year.

The confidence I gained through the relationships built at Unchained was all I needed to fully execute my online marketing plans.

I believe that everyone is an expert at something, and we all have a ton to learn from each other.

The Scenius sessions at Unchained were a great example of this concept:

  • After a full day of building blogs, Eric Blackwell, Ryan Hartman and I stayed up until 3 am discussing some SEO strategery for Battleback.com.
  • Greg showed me how simple it would be to syndicate my mortgage content on all of my real estate agents’ blogs with just a little bit of technical savvy.
  • Brad Coy and Brian Brady helped me figure out how to easily integrate a Twitter or Facebook presence into my weekly relationship building routines without having to spend too much time being social.
  • Al Lorenz and I talked about the benefits of owning the social media platforms that our clients and referral partners participate on.
  • Sean Purcell’s brainstorming session over a $100 casino chip got me excited about top of mind sales and branding tools.
  • Kerry Melcher’s “Small Town Phoenix Living” reminded me of how important it is to connect with the emotional needs that may impact our clients’ decisions to do business with us.
  • Scott Cowan and I compared our local markets and shared similar opinions about how much online social networking really matters in the long run.
  • Scott Schang and Mark Green opened my eyes to the power of holding online webinars for the purpose of building a loyal database.

I could go on and on about all of the great conversations that I had at Unchained.

My main objective for that week was to fill in a few technical gaps with my blogging skills.  As Greg has mentioned many times, real estate professionals have a publishing problem.

There are so many ideas that I haven’t been able to 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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