By Lani Rosales on February 9, 2010
We’ve said poo poo to the iPad
With the release of the Apple iPad tablet, I didn’t have much nice to say other than “it’s a tablet.” Some have speed read and missed that we have been talking about tablet computing as the next step for quite a while and we have said repeatedly that in the third generation, we believe the iPad will be a game changer, but in its current state (which has no flash, and no multi-tasking, so you can’t have your email open and use a web browser at the same time), it is absolutely useless outside…
Posted in Tech | Tagged apple, dell mini5, microsoft courier, tablet computing
By Lani Rosales on February 9, 2010
Slate’s 2009 Most Generous list released
Slate.com today released its annual Slate 60 list outlining the top 60 largest philanthropic donations in America in 2009 and compared to previous years, donations are (as everyone would suspect) down considerably and the top donor isn’t Oprah or Bill Gates.
We decided to analyze the list this year to see how generous leaders in the real estate sector despite the crumbling industry and was surprised to see that several people linked to the real estate industry made the list with their philanthropic efforts. Four made the list this year, two of whom gave more…
Posted in News | Tagged philanthropy
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 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 Lani Rosales on February 4, 2010
Apple announces iPad, apprehension continues to spread
Last week, Steve Jobs’ announcement of a “magical” and “revolutionary” technology was announced and the iPad was revealed to the world that had been rumoring its existence for months. We had been talking about tablet technology as a game changer for some time and believe it still has a chance to be a massive change in how we compute, most notably while mobile. The current iPad however, fails to meet the criteria for being a game changer in business OR personal use in its current form, therefore, we predict that the third generation will…
Posted in Tech | Tagged apple, iPad, tablet computing, Technology
By Lani Rosales on February 4, 2010
HUD steps it up
Earlier this month, the Housing and Urban Development Department which oversees the Federal Housing Administration stepped up their effort to curb the foreclosure crisis by vowing to speed up the resale of foreclosures. This week comes the announcement making it official that from February 1, 2010 through February 1, 2011, the FHA is lifting the rule that prohibits insuring a mortgage on a home owned by the seller for under 90 days. This rule has been informally called the “anti-flipping rule.”
The change was made to speed up sales of renovated homes in communities with too many…
Posted in Real Estate | Tagged FHA, lending, Mortgage
By Lani Rosales on February 3, 2010
Foreclosures rise
As the number of foreclosure filings hit historic highs, studies and statistics show staggering results. Of the 130.6 Million housing units in America, 18.9 Million homes are vacant as of the end of December 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s more than the entire population of Greece and Israel combined!
The Census Bureau also reported that national vacancy rates in the fourth quarter 2009 were 10.7% for rental housing and 2.7% for homeowner housing and that the vacancy rate for rentals was higher than the fourth quarter 2008 rate of 10% but just barely (at 1%).
Some economists…
Posted in News | Tagged foreclosures, lending, Mortgage, REO
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