By Melissa Zavala on February 8, 2010
Determine the Source of the Hardship
There has been a lot of information in the news lately about strategic default. Strategic default is the decision of a borrower to stop making payments (to default) on a debt despite having the financial ability to continue making those payments. Whatever your opinion might be about participating in a strategic default, it would be difficult to deny that it’s pretty darn stinky to see your property value decline significantly—especially if you have made a large down payment!
Many individuals question whether strategic default is ethical. Certainly it’s a lot more socially acceptable now than…
Posted in Coaching | Tagged hardship letter, short sale negotiation, short sales, strategic default
By Lani Rosales on February 8, 2010
We want to know
Where do you spend most of your day as a real estate professional?
With the rise of virtual offices, many people are leaving the desk life, but as any pendulum swings, we’re seeing people that have learned they don’t function effectively at their home office due to distractions, so many are going back to their brokers’ office for various reasons.
Take the quick poll below telling us where you spend most of your work day and feel free to comment as to what works best for you and why!
<br /> <a href="http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2665946/" mce_href="http://answers.polldaddy.com/poll/2665946/">Where do you spend…
Posted in Marketing | Tagged productivity, professionalism
By Lani Rosales on February 8, 2010
Custom wall maps
I know we’re all big huge fans of the MLS maps from the local Board of Realtors, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a close up of your niche area? Wouldn’t you love to have a map on your wall that was zoomed in enough that you could actually push pin your listings into it? Call me old school, but I love the tangibility of maps and I don’t think they should cost a fortune of be bought at the gas station and feature creases.
In steps Google Map Buddy which is software that you un-zip and…
Posted in Tech | Tagged mapping, Marketing
By Lani Rosales on February 7, 2010
This week on AG:
Sometimes when you’re busy selling homes, it’s hard to read every single article on the web that you want to, so we’re doing our best to highlight some top reading for the week for expediency. This week’s most popular topics predictably centered around a divisive issue in the real estate space surrounding Real Estate Bar Camps while the Apple iPad continues to keep the attention of readers across the web. Notably, Russell Shaw’s 2009 article about the Bank of America Short Sales division appears on the Top 10, yet again (the only article to be in the…
Posted in News | Tagged Real Estate News, top 10
By Greg Cooper on February 7, 2010
Did anyone else get lost? Trying to keep up with the different discussions last weekend basically required one to take notes.
For those who still believe that associating words are simple misunderstandings, we’re not the only ones to disagree on that. There were several ‘bigger picture’ issues that emerged from last Sunday’s post.
First, a few thoughts on last week and then why whether you agree on not, intermingling online identities is playing with fire. If we aren’t careful, we’ll end up with a mess on our hands.
Posted in Politics | Tagged politics, social media risk management
By Ken Montville on February 7, 2010
This week the President rolled out his budget. There was a lot of hand wringing and posturing about the size of the budget — now measured in trillions — and the size of the deficit it projects.
Yawn.
Can we please talk about something else? Torturing the underwear bomber (not to be confused with the shoe bomber)? Maybe the snow storm of the century (and possibly the 20th Century, as well) which hit DC with a vengeance? That’s something to talk about. Prince George’s County, MD has already blown through it’s budget for snow removal from the last storm. Now…
Posted in Real Estate
By Gwen Banta on February 5, 2010
Beware all agents: My loyal spies and I are watching everything you put in print. Why? Because real estate ads can be more fun than a whoopee cushion! We found another batch of blatant bloopers that will set February into full swing. Here we go again – jump onto the MLS Malapropism Merry-go-round and enjoy the ride:
The Demise of Webster and Roget
“House near Malibu Whinery” (Buy a bunk near the Drunk n Funk)
“Bambo floors” (Bimbo Agent)
“Paneling made of imported Europein wood” (If you’re a peein,’ Ima leavin’.’)
“Delicious abbatizers served” (Cue the Abba music: “You are the…
Posted in Friday, Highlights, Marketing, Marketing, Opinions, Real Estate, Realtors, Silly | Tagged humor, Marketing, MLS, Real Estate, Realtors
By Chelsea Stark on February 5, 2010
It’s rare that anyone can successfully shove the big G out of the way, but in the battle of online news eyeballs, another giant is stepping in.
Web Analyst company HitWise employee Heather Hopkins posted a blog saying that Facebook had been gaining ground on Google Reader and Google News in driving traffic back to news sites. According to her data, Google Reader accounted for .01% of upstream visits to news/media websites last week, Google News accounted for 1.39% of visits and Facebook 3.52%.
Facebook is already encouraging news entities to set up feeds, almost emulating many of the sites’…
Posted in New Media | Tagged facebook, google news, hitwise stats
By Chelsea Stark on February 5, 2010
The big blue lego of doom
An attempt to run cnn.com on an iPhone. Flash won't work.
Apple’s yet-to-be-released iPad hasn’t been a critics’ darling like the company expected, and now one of the biggest companies ‘snubbed’ by the iPhone operating system is taking swipes at the tablet.
An Adobe employee released graphics showing popular web applications like Hulu, Farmville and CNN simulated on an iPad. The one thing they had in common: they all had the big blue lego in place of where the content would be.
Anyone who has used an iPhone extensively knows how obnoxious it is to…
Posted in Tech | Tagged apple, iPad, mac, Technology
By Lani Rosales on February 5, 2010
Just a blip?
After a year and a half of slowly declining numbers of homes listed for sale in America, January’s numbers reported by ZipRealty show an increase in listings by 2.9% or 15,000 total homes.
The rise in the number of listings in the 27 major US metropolitan markets totals 567,265 homes for sale, and with 18.9 million homes vacant, which isn’t quite the hair that will break the camel’s back but doesn’t look like an upswing in the immediate future can be forecasted.
Stabilization in the housing market will come when many of the moving pieces fall into place…
Posted in News | Tagged real estate market, real estate sales
By Lani Rosales on February 5, 2010
Making Outlook obsolete, one tip at a time
Some years ago, I switched from Outlook for many reasons and began using Gmail and since it is a mail service that is still being developed, there are some features lacking in the offering.
We’ve talked now about adding a HTML signature to your outbound mail, about how to recall an accidental email sent and adding a basic client management tool, bringing the offering closer to complete.
But there are more features missing from Gmail
One reason I prefer web based mail is the consistent interface that I can use from my phone, my…
Posted in Tech | Tagged email, gmail, Technology
By Lesley Lambert on February 4, 2010
What a surprise…
I have this amazing listing that is priced WAY below market value because it is a: dunh dunh dunh DAH…..Short Sale.
It gets shown twice to three times a day and the feedback is all good, yet no offers and why not?
Because it is a: dunh dunh dunh DAH…..Short Sale.
I get it. I respect it. I even advise some of my buyers that they shouldn’t look at short sales, but not ALL of them. Which brings me (in a round about fashion) to my actual point:
Who should (and should not) buy short sale properties?
Now remember,…
Posted in Economy, Mortgage, Real Estate | Tagged buying a short sale home, distressed home, real estate short sales
By Melanie Wyne on February 4, 2010
A View from Inside
In the past month or so that I’ve been writing at Agent Genius, my employer, NAR, its volunteers and staff have taken a lot of heat. I’ve watched mostly from a distance but this week I thought I’d offer my perspective from the inside. I offer my personal perspective both as NAR staff and as a professional who spends her days as an advocate—someone who endeavors to get a large, tradition-laden, often intractable organization to do what I want them to do. I’m talking of course about Congress, but the lessons can be applied universally.
Most…
Posted in Real Estate
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