BloodhoundBlog

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Archives (page 88 of 372)

May 4, 2010

iPad Arrives

by

Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Author website

My 64 gig WiFi and 3G iPad arrived on Friday. I had it delivered to another office where I knew someone could sign for it. When I opened the package in the lobby, the lawyer – an ex-Marine with 25 years of trial experience – looked at it and asked, “what’s that?”

He was unconvinced that it had any value, and I didn’t take the time to explain it to him.

Fast forward to Monday afternoon, where the two of us were sitting for nearly two hours waiting for our case to be called. He asked me whether I knew the potential sentence for a class of crime. I said I didn’t, but quickly showed opened the sentencing chart I had loaded onto the iPad.

Then he got interested, so I showed him how all my clients files are synched onto the device, how I have started to create a presentation for potential DWI clients that I can show to them when I sit down with them in their homes for the initial consultation, and how I am currently putting together a Probation Violation presentation together replete with video of the family from another state pleading for leniency.

That got him interested. Obviously this only scratches the surface of what can be done, but his next questions were: How much is it, will it work with Windows, and could I help him set his up?

Aside from downloading some Apps and putting client flies and certain legal documents on the device, I’ve been too busy to play with it. Will give it a review later.

May 3, 2010

This oil spill and the government’s belated response to it do not prove the value and efficacy of the government, but precisely the opposite.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

So I had a spam email from a state-worshipping zealot I’ve never met named Sara P. Miller. Apparently Sara P. Miller is the modern-age equivalent of those noxious creeps you used to find preaching the gospel of Jheeezuhs! on buses and subway trains, self-imprisoned in a never-silent pantomime of exhibitionism and self-loathing. I cannot be trusted to find the truth on my own, so I must have it thrust upon me by benificent busy-bodies. Good grief…

Anyway, here is Sara P. Miller’s argument, all spelling and punctuation errors faithfully reproduced: “As the sludge roles onto Louisiana’s coast, suddenly, the anti-government bashers are silent. [….] And this morning, as that horrible, poison sludge makes its tragic, putrid, photo debut, we will all believe in ‘big government.'” She defends this by making reference to a number of Rotarian Socialist statists, absolutely none of whom are anti-government. They are all exponents of the government — past or current office-holders.

And that doesn’t matter to me. I’m assuming Sara P. Miller sent this nonsense to me because I haven’t said anything about the oil spill in the gulf. “Cum taces, clamas,” say my Roman friends — “When you are silent, you shout.” Not quite. The topics I don’t write about are legion. Hell, the things I think about writing about but don’t constitute a vast library of unwritten prose. I haven’t written about this oil spill because I don’t care about it, frankly, and because I am busy.

But: The actual essence of Sara P. Miller’s argument, which she is not smart enough to make, could not be more wrong. This oil spill and the government’s belated response to it do not prove the value and efficacy of the government, but precisely the opposite. These events — and the cloying chorus of the Rotarian Socialists of both major political parties — do not argue for the glories of the state right now, but, rather, for its inglorious ignobility going back forever. The state is never anything other than crime, and the crimes being played out right now in the Gulf of Mexico are nothing other than further proof Read more

May 3, 2010

Gleeks, Freaks, and affirmations that improve my mood

by

Rust Belt Realtor

Author website

Talking with a client a few weeks ago. She’s been in her home for two years now, and her biological clock is beginning to tick tock. She’s nesting. It’s fascinating to see how property ownership impacts lives in a big way.

It is the husbandry of the land — each man to his own parcel — that most makes husbands of us, that sweeps away our willingness to live as brigands or rapists or thugs.

That applies to females as well, in case that needed to be explained.

This client was telling me that she was baby sitting for friends of hers, and the baby started crying, as babies are known to do. She didn’t know what to do for it, she tried this and she tried that with no luck, but then without a thought, she began to sing to the baby, and it worked. Singing is not something she’s prone to do. “I never sing” she told me. That little bundle of joy obviously needed comforting and singing was the key to calming the baby. My client learned what I’ve known for years- singing makes us happy and you probably figured out that I’ve pretty much always got a song running in my head as background music to my life.

All of this is my clumsy and roundabout way of working real estate and singing into one post so I can share a song I’ve been singing lately. It’s campy, it’s tongue-in-cheek, it’s awesome in its goofiness. If you are a newly minted Gleek, it’s okay to sing loudly and badly, as all the most fun show tunes seem designed for that very purpose. I’ve been accused of having a sense of humor and for not taking things too seriously, so it makes sense that for me, singing a show tune like this is as close as I ever get to an affirmation. “Money flows to me like a river.” Yeah, okay, but I’d much rather sing at the top of my lungs:

“I hear the sound of good
Solid judgment whenever you talk.

Yet, there’s the bold, brave spring
Of the tiger that quickens your walk.
(roar, Read more

May 2, 2010

Professional Development, Are You Doing Enough?

by

Realtor, Surfer-in-Training

Author website

First, I must say that it is an honor to be able to share my thoughts with such a distinguished audience.  This site and its members has been essential in my professional growth and development.  As such, I found it fitting that my first post should be about professional development.

As real estate professionals, we have a duty to develop our real estate expertise and industry knowledge in order to keep up with the changing markets and best serve our clients.  Yet everyday I am seeing (both online and offline), professionals who are content spouting off ‘advice’ (and I use the term loosely here) on topics about which they apparently are ill-informed.  For example, a few days ago I overheard an agent telling their client about a ‘real estate investment opportunity of a lifetime’ (that’s an actual quote, I couldn’t have made THAT up).  However, in their cashflow worksheet he failed to take into account property taxes, estimated repairs, projected vacancy rates, etc. which when calculated would make this cash cow into quite a money pit.  In addition, although as professionals we are expected to have a certain degree of industry expertise, we are NOT an attorney or a tax adviser so refer any questions outside your scope of expertise to the appropriate party!  I saw a post on a national real estate forum in which an agent answered a potential buyers question:  “I am considering buying a $52K property that I intend to rent out to bring in income, do I qualify for the $8k tax credit”.  The agent’s response was an unequivocal YES, “Yes, you qualify and it’s the perfect time, I am a Realtor in your area so give me a call”.  Does anybody see something wrong with that answer?  I won’t go into detail as to the many ways in which he is wrong, but you get the point.  Don’t pretend to be an expert in something you are not!

I fully realize that this is not applicable to BH members/subscribers, as by nature Bloodhounders are professionals who seek to raise the standard by continuously pursuing self-improvement and knowledge.  Read more

April 30, 2010

Welcoming a new contributor to BloodhoundBlog: Alex Cortez

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

We’re adding a new contributor today, regular commenter and long-time friend of BloodhoundBlog, Alex Cortez.

Alex writes all around the RE.et, so you may know him from otherwhere. I’m mainly ignoring requests from people who say they want to write here, but Alex went beyond persistence in his campaign. More to the point, he’s already participating here.

Here’s is Alex’s brief self-description:

Alex is a real estate agent specializing in south Maui luxury real estate and investment properties. In his spare time, he enjoys being chased by his toddler son and wife, as well as learning to surf (even it if kills him, which is an inevitable fact).

We can put him to the test when first he posts. In the mean time, please make him feel welcome.

April 28, 2010

Pimping Tomato Real Estate Video Class…

by

Retechulous...

Author website

Hi All,

I just got an email from Jim Cronin, (Tomato Head) asking me if I’ve pimped the class I’m doing at 2PM East today over at Tomato University.

Well Jim, I guess here’s your answer:
I’m a total procrastinating slacker…. this blog post is part of my last ditch attempt at doing my part 🙂

For anyone not familiar with Tomato U. It’s a pretty cool concept… a menu of one-off workshops/classes that’ll let you brush up on real estate tech stuffs.

Disclosure: I’m getting paid to teach the class today…


April 25, 2010

It looks like the dam is finally bursting on politicaly-correct self-censorship in behalf of Islamofascist rageaholics.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

You bastards!

The essence of Political Correctness is to get people to volunteer for their own self-imprisonment. In fear of offending some perpetually-offended jackass, the victims of Political Correctness come to be stunted, stilted, stifled — and ultimately silenced. But, alas, they never, ever manage to escape the snide, sneering insults of all those perpetually-offended jackasses.

Why? It’s simple: The sole objective of Political Correctness is to take power of other people — who are innocent of all offenses against anyone — by inducing them to to volunteer for their own self-imprisonment.

Heads up: If you don’t have the guts to stand up these cowards, these moral midgets, then you deserve what they are doing to you.

There’s more, and I’m loving it: Mark Steyn, Diana West, a wonderful unsigned manifesto, a kickin’ cartoon from Chris Muir, and, finally:

May 20th is everybody draw Mohammed day. This last strikes me as being a little over the top, since the objective would seem to be to offend Muslims, rather than simply to defend one’s own right to express oneself at will, without fear of a violent demise. But that distinction delivers precious little difference, and the time for phlegmatic reason in this particular dispute was three years ago.

I’m nobody’s artist, but I do love to make jokes. My poor long-suffering wife can tell you that I can make some raucously funny jokes about religion. Normally I don’t do this in public, because people have a right to believe what they want. But as soon as you or anyone tries to tell me I can’t make fun of religion — that’s when I’ll tell you why Bill O’Reilly says you should never, ever, ever cut Mohammed off in traffic.

This is bug-stomping, carrying out the trash, but it is absolutely necessary. Whenever exponents of savagery manage to stop denouncing the West, they commence comparing themselves to it, instead: “Well, the Incas invented the wheel.” “The Chinese invented explosives.” This is twice sad: It’s the most pathetic kind of collectivism — racism — and it misses the point of Western Civilization entirely. The West didn’t invent this technology or that Read more

April 23, 2010

Text Messaging Real Estate Lead Generation Template (with Renter Focused Mobile Squeeze Page)

by

Retechulous...

Author website

Here’s a fun one that’s sure to please and could be easily posted in the following places:

  • Above your Craigslist Property Ads
  • In Your Facebook Sidebar
  • On Postcards to Renters
  • On the back of your Biz Card
  • At The Top Of Your Blog
  • (and just about anywhere else you can drop a quick sentence)



SEE WHAT YOUR LANDLORD IS DOING WITH YOUR RENT MONEY RIGHT NOW! Text “4528” To “411669” FOR THE PHOTO SLIDESHOW!

Click Here To Skip Sending The Text & See The Mobile Website Prospects Will See


April 23, 2010

Performance Bonds For Real Estate Escrows

by

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

Author website

The world of distressed real estate (only about 90 of my past 100 transactions) is a funny one; all the rules are different.

The REO sellers are pretty simple.  They have a take it or leave it policy when it comes to negotiations, escrow terms, etc..  Some short sellers however, can be like the  “bait and switch” mortgage brokers of last decade.  The “bait and switch mortgage brokers” would issue a fictional good-faith-estimate prior to pulling credit, getting a good valuation estimate, and checking income.  One week prior to escrow, a “surprise” was discovered, changing loan terms and putting the potential escrow in jeopardy.

Not all “oops” moments were conceived in evil nor should they be attributed to professional incompetence; sometimes; s**t just happens.

A similar trend has developed in short sale real estate agent community.  Like the bait-and switch mortgage broker, some short sale agents low-ball the price, collect offers, submit them to the bank, and pray for a reasonable settlement.  Oftentimes, the counters are far apart from the originally accepted offer.  Sometimes, the term changes are issued after the buyer has become emotionally vested to the property or invested  funds to secure a loan approval for purchase.

I’ll repeat myself; sometimes, s**t just happens.  Other times, the surprises DO come from professional incompetence, poor disclosure and communication, or just plain old deceit. The result is an unhappy buyer or seller.  The collateral damage is consumer mistrust in every agent involved in the transaction.

Rather than vent about the reasons, let’s consider a private market solution to the problems:  Performance Bonds.

Performance bonds, issued by independent insurance companies, could seriously contribute to the #rtb movement.  They can be offered by mortgage originators and listing agents alike.  The credibility of offers to purchase, and listings for sale,  could rise with the attachment of a performance bond into the escrow terms.  Buyers could confidently place non-refundable escrow deposits, knowing that the lender has indemnified them from loss.  Likewise, listing agents could rely on timely execution of the escrow if a lender performance bond were attached.

Performance bonds could lend confidence to short sale transactions, too.  Buyers could enter Read more

April 23, 2010

TweetSpinner: Making some damn sense out of Twitter

by

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

Alright kids, a quick damn screenvid.

I didn’t think I needed followers till I started seriously seeing my bit.ly links had more clicks.   That was cool.

Then I learned that those clicks opt in at the same damn rate as PPC/SEO clicks.  Even cooler.

Now…you can get LOCAL followers en masse with very little work.  Takes 2-3 months but you can build to 2,000-3000 or more.

Here’s the rapid fire video, where I just do it, share the (LEN) function thanks to Jesse Petersen.

I know, most of you won’t give a Twit, but this thing rocks, and if your pages convert can be automated.

April 22, 2010

What’s joy to a Bloodhound? Work, of course. Here’s that hard-working Bloodhound praxis applied to the problem of having fun.

by

Suburban Phoenix Real Estate Broker

Author website

I built FreePhoenixMLSSearch.com from an API that FBS Systems — creators of the FlexMLS system — made available last year. I may be the only person taking advantage of this interface. I don’t know of anyone else in Phoenix who is, in any case.

That much is cool, and the API, along with Flex’s general philosophical approach to software openness, enabled me to build a very robust search tool, much more robust than anything you can buy from IDX vendors. Still better, I can extend my search power whenever I want, building “pre-fab” searches that solve problems that might not be intuitively obvious to more-casual users.

Here’s an example: Doctors relocating to Phoenix — may their names be legion! — can do a radius search from any Phoenix-area hospital. Always on-call? You can live within walking distance. Need to be to the hospital within 30 minutes? You can search within a 15-mile radius.

My end of this stuff is all written by me, in PHP, with the code running on the SplendorQuest server. I can change the site whenever I want to, in the never-ending quest for better results.

All that is fun, and this is a big part of Bloodhound life for me, building and refining the tools we use every day — on- and off-line. Everything that I’ve worked on over the past four years is available to me to make new tools, and I’m mixing and matching that stuff all the time. The number of engenu pages on our sites is enormous by now, but the number of engenu-like pages runs to the tens of thousands. Even now I’m working out how to use ScentTrail to auto-generate an engenu-editable cloud-based transaction management site for every client we touch.

That idea — the equation of software with control — is something that I should write about. But not today. For now, Bloodhounds just want to have fun.

That image is a screen shot from Twitter. Every time someone runs a search from FreePhoenixMLSSearch.com, a Tweet is auto-posted summarizing that search. There is search-engine juice to be had from Twitter, but this is just dumbass fun Read more

April 21, 2010

Linking votes to taxes paid!

by

Realtor, Media Mogul

Author website

Think about this:

If one has no financial stake in our country, how much of a say-so should he have in its management? Let’s put it another way: I do not own stock, and hence have no financial stake, in Ford Motor Co. Do you think I should have voting rights or any say-so in the management of the company? I’m guessing that the average sane person’s answer is no.

Walter Williams is becoming one of my favorites.  He is certainly thought provoking.  The quote above is from an Investors Business Daily editorial by Walter Williams on Linking Voting Rights With Taxes Paid.

This week there has been a bunch of consternation in the press about 47% of the population not paying income taxes.  The question, Bloodhounds, is do you think “taxes paid in” or “ownership of real estate” or something else altogether would be a better way to encourage voters to support policies that strengthen and are good for the country rather than just protecting their handouts?

April 20, 2010

The Death and Birth of a Salesman

by

Realtor, Renaissance Man

Author website

San Diego Equity Facts

Jeff Brown would think I’m long, long overdue.  Brian Brady, in his staccato voice, would let me know it’s all good.  Greg Swan would smile.  “He’s finally taking the step.”
 
All of you are in the business, both financially and personally, of real estate.  As the years go by you literally create a real estate family around yourself.  These family members include real people such as your TC, your title gal, your beloved escrow person, assorted very highly qualified lenders, associates with whom you like to exchange ideas and sometimes just BS with, and yes, even your web site(s). 
 
I can’t see or talk with Greg every day, or most all of you, so the Bloodhound Blog becomes an appendage to our relationship.  I see what’s on your mind.  I hear what concerns you.  I ponder your thoughts, your rationales, your pain and your ribaldry.   And if I’m fortunate enough, some of you will come to know me through what I write, or perhaps through my site.
 
So it may come as a surprise to have me admit, and for anyone who knows how hard it is to become a welcomed writer to the Bloodhound community, that during this past year I have had to slowly watch a death in the family.   Well, really two deaths as you’ll see later on. 
 
First, my father-in-law, Dave McGregor, an 84-year-old retired engineer, WWII veteran, and subsequent farmer who took up residence in Staunton, Virginia, came down with  Alzheimer’s disease this past year.  He became unable to drive, and he and mom moved out to San Diego to live with Beth and me.  That happened in September.  It was hard on them.  Although just in the mid stages of Alzheimer’s, Dave seemed to be doing well enough, and was adjusting to his new life here when on Christmas Eve he took ill and was admitted to the hospital.  Seven days later, on New Year’s Eve, we took him home to our place again, but this time with a diagnosis of CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia), and a need for immediate hospice.  Twenty-three days later, oxygen machines humming in the 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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