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December 7, 2006

Early morning Zillow news round-up . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I have a walk-through this morning, so this is just a list of what I’ve seen out there this morning. I’m sure there’s stuff I’m missing, and the real news will come when people have had time to play with the new feature set. No particular order, no presumption of agreement or endorsement, just wall-to-wall coverage.

Drew Meyers’ list of links has been expanded.

Ardell has a list of her own going.

Much more: ZillowBlog, LA Times, Ardell’s other weblog, MSNBC, Seasttle Post-Intelligencer, HotPads, SocketSite, TransparentRE, Ubertor, Three Oceans Real Estate early and later, Sellsius, Galen Ward at RCG (cited last night, also), Real Central VA, Matrix, 360 Digest, BlueRoof.com.

BloodhoundBlog’s team coverage of the Zillow.com upgrades:

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December 7, 2006

Is Bloodhoundblog The Most Wired In Blog In Real Estate?

by

Mega-Producing Realtor

Author website

I got back to my desk late this evening. I had an Inman News Flash email with a time stamp of 10:21 PM announcing the new features on Zillow. Naturally I thought I would pass it along to the Phoenix resident expert on all things Zillow – Greg Swann. The last two times I tried “helping Greg” by passing something along to him I was surprised to find that he already knew about it. This time I thought it might be different as it was about 11 PM and I knew he didn’t have a paid subscription to Inman News. But just to be sure, I went to Bloodhoundblog to catch up first. As you will see below – if you haven’t already, Greg not only knew all about it – he had known all about it for days, and had been interviewed by the folks at Zillow so they could find out what he had to say about it!

Damn! What an amazing group has been assembled here. Good thing none of us suffers from stage fright, as I suspect the spot lights aimed here will only get brighter. On that note, I need to admit several errors on my part. I don’t have all of the correct facts yet, but I received a call last night from my good friend, Marge Lindsay – Bob Wolff had called her. Most of today Bob and I played phone tag and I have not spoken to him yet. Bob is the top selling Re/Max agent whose name I mentioned in my post about Steve Ozonian’s home sale. I believe the specific statements I made which are not true are: his house was not located in Laguna Niguel, there was no dispute regarding commissions – in fact Bob Wolff HAD the listing but later canceled it, and it was not a Coldwell Banker agent who later sold the house. I was also told that Steve Ozonian had sent me an email to let me know about this but I did not receive one from him. I did reply via email to a comment from Read more

December 6, 2006

2006 is the Year of Zillow: The 900 pound AVM has been upgraded to be a free listing platform and the presumptive national MLS system . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

The News

An upgrade made tonight to Zillow.com‘s on-line home evaluation system will add the following new functionality:

  • Owners or listing agents for any of the 67 million homes in Zillow’s database will be able to list those homes for sale at no cost.
  • Owners of any Zestimable homes will be able to post a “Make Me Move” price on their homes, the price at which all objections to selling will have been overcome.
  • Zillow is creating a real estate wiki to serve as a sort of Wikipedia.org-like encyclopedia of real estate.

From the company’s press release:

Leading real estate Web site Zillow.com today announced a major upgrade, allowing homeowners and real estate agents to post homes for sale for free. Additionally, in redefining what it means for a house to be “For Sale,” Zillow? is enabling any homeowner to post a Make Me Move? price.

“To date Zillow has created a Web page for almost every home in the country – close to 70 million – on which we’ve placed public records data and our Zestimate? home valuations,” said Rich Barton, Zillow’s co-founder and CEO. “With today’s new release we are opening up every home’s Web page on Zillow.com for owners and their real estate agents to plant virtual ‘For Sale’ signs in their Zillow front yards for free.”

In addition, any homeowner can now post a Make Me Move price. “What number would it take for you to call the movers and hand over your keys?” asked Lloyd Frink, Zillow’s co-founder and president. “Make Me Move is our twist on the traditional ‘For Sale’ sign.” A homeowner can easily post a Make Me Move price without exposing any personal information. Zillow then enables interested buyers to contact the owner through an email “anonymizer.” There is no charge for the service.

All postings, be they “For Sale” or Make Me Move, provide free uploading of pictures, home descriptions including “what I love about my home,” and neighborhood commentary. Additionally, real estate agents who post homes they are representing for sale can publish their own contact information, link to listings on their own Web sites, and upload a photo Read more

December 6, 2006

Ask the Broker: Should I Wait Until January to Sell?

by

Realtor, Associate Broker

Author website

I’m wondering if (my) house should be listed now or should we wait until the middle of January? I’ve heard that it’s better to wait until after the holidays.

We are often asked this question this time of year. The prevailing sentiment among sellers is that Spring is always the best time to sell. This perception is based on the fact that Spring and Summer months generally enjoy a more active real estate market and more recorded sales, with January marking the seasonal turning point. But while more homes sell during this time of year due to heightened buyer activity, there also exist a much greater number of homes offered for sale: More buyers and more competition among listings.

I personally never suggest that someone wait until January to offer their home for sale, Sure, the buyer pool is somewhat diminished during the holiday season, but it is really a quality versus quantity issue. We all know first hand what a valuable commodity our discretionary time is this time of year. Most if not all of the casual home shoppers are busy with other commitments, leaving only the truly serious buyers out there looking. And, what better time to make a purchase which is hugely emotional than during the season where thoughts of family, hearth and home are forefront in our minds and visions of sugarplums are dancing in our heads? Speaking from my experience only, December is consistently one of my busiest real estate months (second only to July).

As a final thought, the “correcting” real estate market that we are currently facing further supports my argument for not waiting until after the new year. Seasonal factors are only important in the context of all other factors being relatively equal. If prices continue to decline (as many, many believe they will), there is no time like the present.

December 6, 2006

Ask the Broker: Can I cancel my listing agreement . . . ?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I am currently in a contract with an agent who is not only disappointing me with her lack of enthusiasm and professionalism, but seems to be giving up on my house as well. She keeps saying she doesn’t know what else to do, short of lowering the price of the house dramatically, which I’m not willing to do — we’ve already come down by about $100,000 — not sure we can go much lower than that! So if we’re mutually unhappy/dissatisfied with the arrangement, what are my options? Do you think it will be easy to “legally” get out of the contract? I have a few more months left, but I am hoping to get out ASAP. I really feel that listing with her is a waste of time. What do you think I can do, and is this a common situation?

Very common situation right now, I’m afraid.

I’m going to assume you signed an Exclusive Representation contract, a normal listing agreement. Unless there is explicit language in that contract providing for unilateral cancellation, it can only be cancelled by mutual consent.

As a matter of course, all of our employment contracts include this language:

This agreement will be terminated without recourse upon written notice by either party.

If you’re done with me, I’m done with you. Another way of doing something similar is a buy-out clause: You can unilaterally cancel upon payment of a contract buy-out fee. That may seem unfair, given that your house hasn’t sold, but your agent went out of pocket on the listing expecting to have six months (or whatever) to recoup that investment. For my own part, I don’t want to take your listing unless I’m convinced I can hang a “SOLD!” sign within a month.

But there may be a way out of this labyrinth. My very first listing cancelled on me. I went to my broker at that time and said, “The seller wants to cancel, but it’s your listing contract, not mine. What do you want me to do?”

And the answer he gave me was beyond wisdom, in essence a one-sentence encyclopedia on how to run a Read more

December 6, 2006

And then there were ten . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Today we add a tenth member to our team of webloggers, Dan Green of The Mortgage Reports:

Dan Green is Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist working out of Chicago. In an industry too well known for its churn and burn methods, Dan and his team take a thoughtful, deliberative approach to mortgage lending.

We’re delighted to have Dan with us. If you’ve followed his weblog, you know that he writes in a way that makes arcane topics not just clear but fascinating. And he certainly plugs a gap in our line-up, bringing us an expertise in the lending side of the real estate transaction.

I was email-interviewed yesterday by Jim Cronin of The Real Estate Tomato. We went through the history of BloodhoundBlog and our goals for the future. The advent of Dan Green is hinted at, and it is by adding great webloggers like Dan that we will achieve those goals.

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December 5, 2006

I’m a Granite Counter Top

by

Realtor, Associate Broker

Author website

Or rather, most mornings I greet the day with the eerie feeling that in one nanosecond I just may become one. If you can follow my stream of consciousness, I will explain.

In 1989, Steve and I left our condo at the beach and bought our first “grown-up” house in the ‘burbs. Those were the good old days in San Diego, and our purchase required that we camp out at the new home sales office to assure we would beat the thundering herd to the holy grail of mass-produced, cookie-cutter stucco living. Actually, we had a guy named Bradley camp out for us. (Honestly, I don’t remember his name, but he could have been a Bradley). Bradley (if that is his real name) was apparently younger, dumber, and hungrier than we; he spent 48 hours in Steve’s little backpacking tent on the sidewalk of Frank Daniels Way to hold our place in line. After two days of delivering Breakfast Croissants?, Happy Meals?, and Whopper Combos? to our employee (Bradley was a big eater), we were able to waltz into the sales office on Phase Opening Day (behind the Stevens-Family-from-the-Winnebago) to secure our Dream Home. Of course,
we have since sold it.

Our 1989 Dream Home had stylish bleached oak cabinetry reminiscent of the, well, late eighties and, most importantly, white tiled counter tops. I’m sure granite had been invented, but it was not a builder option. Fast forward to today when a buyer in the builder “design center” is subjected to information overload. The buyer can customize just about everything but the foundation. At some point, and I am not sure precisely when this occurred, certain “upgrades” became viewed by home buyers as a divine right, as critical to the home as, say, the insulation. This is particularly true of granite counter tops. Today, a home with them is not considered enhanced. Conversely, the home without them is considered deficient.

Which brings me to real estate (finally). Last week, Toby Boyce wrote an excellent article (and a Carnival favorite) which identified information overload as one of the big paralysis-causing buyer plagues. I am the victim Read more

December 5, 2006

Ask the Broker: Can buyers negotiate for the buyer’s agent’s commission to be paid to them instead . . . ?

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We have been focussing on new construction and have been meeting directly with builders and their agents. We have not been represented by a buyer’s agent up to now. Our strategy has been to save on commission by dealing with a single party.

We recently looked at several resales where we sought out the listing agents, with the same commission saving strategy. We found a home we like, but the seller is being relocated by his company. The seller will be reimbursed for a full commission paid to the seller’s realtor. The normal strategy of reducing the commission has disappeared as any reduction in commission will ultimately result in less money in the seller’s pocket.

First, I’d be curious where you learned your commission reducing strategy. Is it something you read somewhere or learned at a seminar, or did you work it out on your own? I ask, because, while it is not impossible, it seems to me to be very implausible.

A new home builder pays a buyer’s agent’s commission as a gratuity to that agent for making the introduction. In Arizona, licensees are expected to actually represent their new-home buyers, but the builder certainly doesn’t want or expect this. I can drop off a party just like dumping the kiddies off at day-care and still get paid. I do not endorse this way of working — just the opposite — but the builder would have no problem with it.

But: Because the builder is paying an agent to introduce the buyer to the builder, why would the builder pay you anything. You’re already there for free. The sine qua non event the builder might be willing to pay me to effect has already been effected without any need to pay a bribe. This is why builders won’t let me represent you if you show up at a new home subdivision without me: The introduction has already taken place. What do they need me for?

In fact, right now — and uniquely right now — you just might be able to get builders to cough up some extra coin to get your name on the Read more

December 4, 2006

Monday links: I’m from Missouri . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Two of the posts in the Carnival of Real Estate really popped for me. Toby Boyce at Sadie’s Take on Delaware Ohio explores the reasons why a buyer’s market in real estate seems so bizarre. And Bryant Tutas at ActiveRain teaches sellers what they knew all along.

Have I mentioned that Kris Berg is a brilliant real estate weblogger? Steve Berg is no slouch, either, but he suffers Mercury’s misfortune. Mercury is an amazing planet. It was fascinating to Einstein. But just when you’re ready to take account of all of Mercury’s unique features, you catch a glimpse of its golden-haloed neighbor and all conversation stops. Unjustly eclipsed. It ain’t fair, it just is.

The Real Estate Bloggers wonder how the shift in power in Washington will affect real estate. Not my ideal state of affairs, but gridlock can effect the Metternichean stasis: “Govern and change nothing.” More freedom? Bring it on! Lower taxes? Even better! Likelihood? Zero. Absent those, few if any changes in the laws give people the opportunity to plan in a stable environment. We could have done better before this. The challenge now is not to do worse.

Kevin Boer at Three Oceans Real Estate is looking for shady agent stories. As rough as I can be on my fellow practitioners, in the abstract, I tend not to believe stories like these. They always seem to involve friend-of-a-friend transactions, the kind of Baconian distances that induce spontaneous telephone games. I’ve run into dumb Realtors and lazy Realtors. I’ve run into Realtors who thought I was a dumb Realtor. I’ve run into a lot of Realtors who have never discovered that it possible for Realtors to pay small sums of money to make trivial sticking points go away. And I have run into a very great many Realtors who were smart, honorable, efficient and a joy to work with. So: If you want to cry to me about abuse, show me the bruises, show me the scars, show me the hospital records, show me the police report, show me the trial transcript. Everybody has a sob story. I’m from Missouri…

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December 4, 2006

The Carnival of Real Estate…

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

…is up at The Property Monger. Host Jon Ernest celebrates the Carnival’s twenty-first-iversary by awarding 21 winners, split across two days. Grand prize goes to Northern Michigan Real Estate Blog with an argument about last week’s NAR anti-trust ruling.

We entered Russell Shaw’s essay on The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, but we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out if it made the second string at The Property Monger. That post was one of the selections for The Carnival of Marketing, though, hosted this week by The Real Estate Tomato.

Cathleen Collins is dictator-for-now in judging which BloodhoundBlog post to enter in The Carnivals of Real Estate, Marketing and Business. I stuck her with the job because I can trust her to judge fairly among our many very talented webloggers, without playing favorites in my direction. It’s more responsibility than I want to take on.

But we decided to have a second competition within the Bloodhound Pack, call it the Carnival of Bloodhound. Based on the votes of contributors, the first Carnival of Bloodhound winner is Richard Riccelli’s “Charmed, I’m sure”, a quick take on how to write listing copy that makes houses sell faster and for more money.

Finally, kudos to the brain-trust at CoRE Headquarters. Rather than get worked up about what is and is not a true real estate post, they simply added three categories: Investing, local real estate and real estate professionals.

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December 4, 2006

Ask The Broker: What if my lender won’t underwrite a land lease?

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

I am a buyer in a real estate transaction for a condo in California. I have been in escrow for the past 45 days but have been unable to obtain a loan due to the fact that the condo is on leased land which is due to expire in close to 30 years and the bank does not want to take the risk. There was a finance contingency. A 15 year loan would not be satisfactory to me and I may not even qualify for it. Can I cancel and get my earnest deposit back, thanks.

California says the condo is, I guess technically, not considered real estate because of the less than 30 year lease term. This may be a large exit door for you.

Although I’ve run into this problem in Hawaii with clients, never in California. A practical solution is to find out if it’s possible to have the lease extended past 30 years. That worked for me many years ago. If the land owner will do this you’ll probably be able to obtain your loan.

Otherwise, this gets into a legal judgment call. Does the contingency specifically say you’re to obtain a 30 year loan? Or did you leave that section blank? If the terms of the loan are not mentioned you are in a gray area, and might be better of consulting a real estate attorney.

In the end, this may be much like a trick question on a test in school. My first comment will probably be your out. A five minute consultation with an attorney should solve this for you, and put a smile on your face.

December 3, 2006

An Uncivil War

by

Realtor, Associate Broker

Author website

(A Bloodhound Blog/San Diego Home Blog simulcast).

Negotiator: one who arranges for or brings about through conference, discussion, and compromise.

Bully: a blustering browbeating person; especially : one habitually cruel to others who are weaker; a hired ruffian.

As agents, so much of our value to our clients stems from our reputation among peers. As listing agents, pre-sale, we market homes, hold open houses and generally get the word out. As agents representing the buyers, we identify and show properties; we make the introduction. When a buyer identifies a property and it is proffer-the-offer time, however, many agents on both sides of the table consider this a call to arms, time to don the pith helmet of negotiation and browbeat their “opponent” in the name of representation.

What many agents forget is that the parties are not the Blue and Gray on opposite ends of a battlefield, but are real people who have everything in common. You have a side that wants to buy and a side that wants to sell, and the agents’ roles are to bring them together through negotiation of a treaty that satisfies all involved. Ardell DellaLoggia spoke to this last summer and, while I suggested then that the negotiating table scene in her Norman Rockwell portrait was the stuff of fantasy, the underlying argument was dead on.

Steve called my attention this week to a full-page ad in San Diego Magazine taken out by a local agent. It begins well enough, “Good deals can be found, but great deals are negotiated.” But here is the first paragraph:

The real estate market has changed. As an exclusive buyer’s agent in San Diego for the past nine years, I’ve witnessed the evolution first-hand. Given the current market, I firmly believe that lowball offers and strong arm tactics with the seller should be expected from a buyer’s agent. If your present agent is uncomfortable with pressuring the seller due to the fact that someone might not like the offer, come to me.

“Strong arm tactics” and “pressuring the seller”? I bet “trash talking” is among his list of services as well. As an aside, our Read more

December 2, 2006

Thoughts on a New Years Resolution

by

Associate Broker

Author website

Each year, many of us look back on the previous year with thoughts on how to improve ourselves in the coming year. Well… not all of us – but most of us, at least.

Sometimes we look to improve our looks. We vow to eat less and exercise more.

Other times it might be a resolution of faith… or charity. The giving of ourselves in service to others.

This year, I am making a commitment to increase my value to my clients. Not my apparent value (although the recognition would be nice) but rather my true value. I am looking to provide a better return to my clients than previously possible.

In the past, I have tried to stay a step or two ahead of the pack with innovative technology… sometimes too many steps ahead. It wasn’t that long ago that while most agents didn’t have a website – I was running streaming video tours of my listings. Not the crappy ones, mind you – good ones. I spent over $15K to have the equipment to produce quality video… and that’s exactly what I did. For a while, anyway.

In my opinion, however, quality still photography is a better medium than video… and if you combine still photography with a flash presentation complete with voice-overs and background music – you’ve got the best of both worlds. A multimedia presentation that the viewer can control.

I am a firm believer in the concept of communicating the features and benefits of a particular property to buyers and their agents, alike. I believe it serves my clients well to have the best exposure I can give them. Here is a draft of a presentation I am working on now. Keep in mind that it’s not finished… and the audio will have to be re-recorded as I did this while still feeling very ill and short of breath.

www.2561WoodCreekCt.com

So set your sights on the New Year soon to be at hand.

What will YOUR resolution be?

December 2, 2006

Praising Cain: Change the world forever by learning to love your life the way you actually live it . . .

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

Imagine this: You are the High Priest of a nomadic tribe following a herd of foraging sheep. When the tribe needs food, a beast is slain and the meat is shared equally. The political structure is hierarchical, but even the Chieftain is governed by the unchanging traditions of the tribe.

One year the herd wanders toward the seacoast. You encamp a short walk away from a trading post built by a sea-faring civilization.

For the first time in their lives, your tribesmen discover a way of life different from their own. The traders live indoors, sleeping on beds! Their diet consists of more than meat and foraged nuts. They eat grain, fruit and fish, flavoring their water with delectable nectars.

Wealth is not shared. Villagers trade with each other to get what they need — and each family owns its own land! Disputes are resolved by reasoned conciliation, not by fiat. Even so, each family seems to own more weapons than your whole tribe combined.

Anyone can introduce a new tool, technique or idea at any time — upending the whole civilization if it comes to that — and not only is this not forbidden, it is avidly sought!

This is horrifying to you as High Priest, but your horror is nothing compared to the apoplexy of the Chieftain. As he watches tribesmen disappearing into the village one by one, he turns to you for a solution.

Now you understand the story of Cain and Abel.

Cain made a sacrifice of grain, Abel of meat, and the meat — the wealth of the herders — was pleasing to the god of the tribe. Why does Cain slay Abel in the story? To scare the tribesmen back into the herd.

The Greeks found a better way to live, spreading it with capitalistic abandon. Those who abhorred the Greek way of life crafted their mythologies to portray Hellenism as evil.

Would you like to change the world, forever, for the good, one mind at a time? Here’s how:

If you live in Cain’s world, stop pretending to live in Abel’s.

If your life depends on capitalism, private property and free trade, stop pretending 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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