Category Archives: General

Seatte Metropolitan Magazine's Best Places to Live

Posted on by
10

This month’s issue of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine features their annual “Best Places to Live”.    What strikes me is their number one pick is[photopress:seattlemet.jpg,thumb,alignright] not any where near Seattle; nor is it “metropolitan”.   It’s Kent.  I’m not knocking Kent.   In fact, my main office is head quartered on the East Hill of Kent and I grew up in south east King County.   It just seems out of place to have 40% of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine’s Best Places to Live be outside of Seattle city limits.

Here is the Best Places to Live according to SMM with the median home price:

  1. Kent $278,500
  2. Lower Queen Anne $289,000
  3. High Point $315,990
  4. Belltown $324,450
  5. Victory Heights/Pinehurst $356,750
  6. Rainier Vista $390,000
  7. South Lake Union $394,000
  8. Issaquah Highlands $569,950
  9. Somerset $697,500
  10. Yarrow Point $1,500,000

Is SMM out of neighborhoods in Seattle they feel are worthy?  Are they searching for newly constructed fresh neighborhoods…Seattle is pretty darn old, afterall.  

Last year, Eileen covered SMMs 2006 Best Neighborhoods on RCG.   She asked why not Burien?  Which I agree–Burien continues to be completely overlooked and…in my opinion, so is Des Moines.   Both of these neighborhoods are technically “Seattle”.  

What Seattle neighborhoods would have made your top 10 that are not receiving recognition on this years list?

Google's My Maps

Posted on by
10

You can create and link to custom maps on Google now. It’s an easy to use slick interface that would be useful for real estate agents interested in making a tour of their neighborhood. Parts of your tour will also pop up in searchers results, so don’t forget to put a link to your homepage. Actually useful for marketing? Only if you do it “right” and make some interesting tours. It’s like websites – every agent has one, but only a few (like Marlow) have great ones.

Non-agents (the home buying / renting public): it looks like it’ll be a great way to get to know a neighborhood once more maps are created.

What a week!

Posted on by
12

First Zillow releases a new version of their web site.

Then Microsoft releases a new Virtual Earth (VE 3D in Firefox).

Then the a new Beta of Realtor.com is released.

Galen releases new ShackPrices features.

Ardell is using her Verizon EVDO card in Vegas, probably while playing the slots and sipping drinks with umbrellas in them.

Then I discover, Redfin is merging with Move and they also just sold a home in neighborhood!

I’m feeling WAY behind the tech curve today.  I’m going curl up into a ball and read my RSS feeds in a corner now…. 😉

The Real Estate Consumer Bill of Rights

Posted on by
122

Inman News announced this morning, that the industry is being asked to consider and support the following “Real Estate Consumer Bill of Rights”.

1. Choose the services you pay for: Laws in more than a dozen states forbid brokers from refunding commissions to you, or require brokers to provide services you may not want to pay for. These laws protect the industry, not the consumer.

2. Know how your agent makes his money: In real estate, the seller pays both his own agent and the buyer’s agent a percentage of the sale; the agent earns more when his client pays more. If a house seems difficult to sell, the seller may even offer buyers’ agents an especially high percentage. Buyers’ agents should be required to explain to their clients how they are paid.

3. Know when you are committed to an agent: Often just showing a property entitles an agent to the commission for representing you, regardless of whether you intended to work with someone else or even preferred to represent yourself. The relationship between an agent and a consumer should always be explicit, so that both parties know when they’re committed to one another.

4. Know what services your agent will provide: Much of the work of a buyer’s agent begins after the buyer has agreed to buy a house. This work includes coordinating inspections, repairs, mortgages, title reviews and escrow services. But agents today are paid only to bring a buyer to a transaction. Once that happens, it is virtually impossible to fire your agent. In most cases, this is appropriate, as the agent who puts a deal together deserves the commission. But in becoming committed to an agent, you should know what services the agent will provide as part of that commitment and what recourse you have if the agent doesn’t perform those services. An open agreement between you and the agent protects the agent from being unfairly dismissed, and ensures you get the service you expect through closing.

5. Have an agent that represents only your interests: Most states allow an agent to represent the buyer and seller in one transaction, and get both sides of a commission. As a result, some sellers’ agents are on the prowl for unrepresented buyers to bring to the seller. It’s a solicitation neither side can easily refuse because the seller wants the buyer and the buyer wants the house. But an agent can’t fairly represent the interests of two parties to the same transaction. An agent should represent only one party, and take commissions for only one party.

6. Know the commission refund you can get before you buy a house: Depending on the service provided by the buyer’s agent, some sellers vary the commission offered to buyers’ agents. This flexibility is good in theory, but in practice it’s often used to thwart commission refunds: buyers expecting a refund of $10,000 or more from their agent discover on making an offer that the amount has been radically reduced in favor of the seller’s agent. Buyers should know in advance what circumstances let the seller’s agent keep more of a commission for himself. It’s fine to change the price but not at the cash register.

7. See all the houses for sale: Many of the multiple listing services set up to share listings between brokerages forbid participating websites from displaying for-sale-by-owner houses alongside broker-listed houses. As a result, home buyers usually don’t see all the houses for sale, and home sellers have to hire brokers just to get their house on mainstream sites. MLSs should not require exclusive display of listings.

8. Have an open discussion about a house for sale: On the web, you can openly discuss almost any product for sale except a house. That’s because sellers’ agents “own the listing,” controlling where and how it’s posted for their benefit. The rules of some MLSs discourage real estate websites from publishing independent reviews and preclude owners from distributing MLS marketing materials outside MLS-sanctioned websites. Once a house is for sale, everyone in the market should be able to discuss it.

9. See all the information available about a house for sale: Many MLSs make it difficult for buyers to see recent past sales data, how long a house has been for sale, or whether its price has been reduced. Once a house is for sale, you should be able to see all the information available about it on your own, without becoming anyone’s client. The only exception to this rule is information whose publication jeopardizes the seller’s safety, such as when the presence of children precludes a showing.

10. Be sure your agent will show your house to everyone: Some sellers’ agents selectively refuse to show houses to a buyer represented by an alternative brokerage, which hurts the seller and the buyer. If, as part of his service, a seller’s agent doesn’t show houses to all buyers, the seller should know it, and the buyer should be able to contact the seller directly. When agents don’t facilitate showing a house, they should at least stand aside and let buyers see the house on their own.

Greg Swann of BloodHoundBlog in Arizona, Kevin Boer of 3 Oceans in the CA Bay Area, Kris Berg and I were contacted by Glenn Kelman of Redfin prior to the Inman anouncement and asked to support The Consumer Bill of Rights on Redfin’s site. The email we received is posted in Greg’s article today.

There are portions of the Bill of Rights that appeared contradictory, and a bit self serving of Redfin, such as:

#5 which preclude’s the buyer consumer’s right to represent themself with NO agent, while still holding the listing agent somewhat accountable.

From what I’ve seen in the marketplace, there are many buyers who want the same advantage as a For Sale By Owner. They want the right to be totally commission free, and represent themselves without an agent at all. I don’t see that right highlighted adequately in this Redfin penned “Consumer Bill of Rights”. I have provided this option free of charge to buyers this year on a couple of occasions, and so know it is an option that is possible for buyer consumers. Clearly omitting this option is an error that needs to be corrected by Redfin before I would jump on this bandwagon of supposed “consumer rights”.

#4 which suggest that assisting the buyer consumer with property selection, and giving advices regarding properties with inherent market weaknesses BEFORE an offer is made, is of no never mind, since they don’t do that.

#8 seems to forget that the Seller is a “consumer” as well, and so maybe this “Consumer Bill of Rights” should say “Buyer Consumer’s Bill of Rights” and we should counter balance with a “Seller Consumer’s Bill of Rights“. I may just have to pen that one myself, showing that Seller’s have the right for the buyer to be fully and well represented, to protect the seller from after-sale consequences of the buyer being inadequately advised and represented by the buyer’s agent”.

I’m heading over to Greg and Kevin’s sites to comment on their take on this. In the meantime, enjoy the “breaking news”. I expect most of the major brokerages will simply choose to ignore it, hoping it will just “go away”.

I Wonder How They Practice Real Estate in China!

Posted on by
Reply

[photopress:world_map.JPG,thumb,alignright]Before I tell you why I’m blogging on this subject, I first want to tell you what I’ve been doing over the last months (instead of blogging). So I have an announcement to make. As I was building LTD Real Estate I studied several business models and I knew I didn’t want to build any of the traditional models like those I’d previously been associated with (the big 3). Along the way, I studied the RE/MAX model and liked it so well and the RE/MAX agents liked it so well, I decided to join the RE/MAX family. So today, I am officially RE/MAX Connected, Connected meaning not only developing internet marketing but especially here in the Pacific NW, where we do so much business with other Pacific Rim Countries and we all have so many European and Asian clients, too, so Connected also means connected to the world.

It wasn’t until my owner training however, that I realized what being worldwide means to a business. In my class alone, there were 6 countries represented, including Slovinia, Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Mexico. There was even a translation room for those that were non English speaking. It’s mind boggling to me to think of practicing real estate in a previously communist country. Apparently, when Slovinia joined the EU, they had to first license professionals, like attorneys, accountants, realtors, etc. The 20 something couple that bought Slovinia bought the whole country with a population just under 2 million. Slovinia is the first country that pulled out of Yugoslavia in 1991 after the fall of the Iron Curtain and so the young kids raised without Communism are now hitting their 20’s, have grown up on MTV and The Apprentice and been exposed to international trends and thinking and, of course, capitalism

So far, RE/MAX has only franchised non Communist countries but the company is now spending the next 6 months selling 30 divisions in China! I can not imagine what it must be like to work for profit in a country whose ruling party’s supposed ideology is anti-competition, anti-capitalism, anti-private property. Practices that we agents take for granted must still all have to be hammered out. Is there escrow or attorneys. What about disclosure? Is there such a thing as anti trust? Are the agents more or less controlled by government rules and regulations and will the new RE/MAX owners be allowed to develop their businesses without being taxed excessively? I wonder how Starbucks and McDonalds are doing. There is no private property in China. It’s all owned by the government who issues lands leases for up to 75 years for residential. The government issues the contracts, too. Who is being protected, buyer or seller in a lease transfer? I wonder if the title policies are simply a thread of lessees. Since there is no fee simple estate, what does a title policy consist of, just a leasehold interest? and I wonder how complete the records are. What will happen as a lease reaches it’s 75th year? ? I would think the lease value would diminish as the lease aged and make purchasing the lease much less lucrative than home ownership. I wonder if the lease has the ability to transfer via will, etc. Maybe a situation like Hawaii will occur where the leases eventually are sold by the (original) government to the current lessee. The typical agent gets paid 2% there, as a function of the lease value. I don’t know if you multiply the one year lease income by 75 and take 2% of that or not. Since there is no multiple listing service, agents must have to sell their own listings. If there is an inspection, does the state get involved with what the person holding the lease can and can not do? They do have lenders there, but loans are typically 5-20 years with 30-60% down. I’m especially looking forward to the direct referrals from China as agents at ReMax Guizhou! (Hope they speak English!)

Two years ago when I was in China at Christmas time I was amazed that all the large stores were featuring Santa Claus and his reindeer and having Christmas sales. I’m glad I’m living in this new world where previous enemies (some say still enemies, of course) have found a way to work together. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the whole world was like that? I couldn’t find any mention of real estate agents in Iran. Wonder if there are any McDonalds. I didn’t see any in Viet Nam although they must be there. Maybe when that happens, the world will be a safer place.

Grasping for pebbles & listening for grasshoppers

Posted on by

[photopress:grasshopper.jpg,thumb,alignright]Gordon Stephenson of RPA asked me the other day for blog setup advice. Although I consider myself good friends with the master of real estate blogging, I am a blogging grasshopper compared to many folks. You see, I have never set up a blog before. Sure, I’m a contributor on RCG, I comment on popular real estate blogs, and I even write Virtual Earth based IDX/MLS systems (w/ geocoded RSS feeds) for fun and profit. However, I’m sure Dustin sets up more blogs before 10 AM in a typical day, than I do in a year. Hence, the reason for my post. Besides, as another real estate blogging master has pointed out to me, blogging about blogging is always a good topic.

Anyway, I essentially told Gordon the following…

  1. I’d pick up a copy of the Realty Blogging book and read it. It’s probably out of date, (like most technology related books are) but I suspect it’s as good a starting point as any.
  2. I’d recommend finding a good shared hosting company that sets up & hosts WordPress or Typepad blogs.
  3. Most importantly, I’d ask other bloggers what they think!

I feel that’s good advice, however my clients deserve superior advice, and I don’t feel qualified to give it. Besides, Master Dustin took his pebbles when he left Seattle. 😉

Anyway, I really don’t want to host their blog. Besides, Zillow hosts their blog on Typepad, Move hosts their WordPress blog with Inmotion Hosting, and ShackPrices hosts their WordPress blog with Dreamhost, so I know I’m not alone in my thinking that they are better off out-sourcing to a shared hosting company that does blogs. So I have the following questions for the blogging masters.

Real Estate Blogging Questions

  1. What value / features do Real Estate targeted blogging platforms (Blogging Systems, Ubertor, etc) provide over general purpose alternatives (WordPress, Typepad, Community Server, dasBlog, subText)?
  2. ActiveRain or Real Town Blogs – To join or not to join, that’s my question…
  3. Are free blogging platforms, such as Blogger or Live Spaces, considered the blogging equivalent of using aol.com or hotmail.com for your e-mail?

General Blogging Questions

  1. What blogging platforms do you like or dislike and why? I know most of the masters recommend WordPress, so I’m more interested in hearing from folks who use something else and are happy with it.
  2. What company would you recommend or avoid for blog hosting? There’s a million of them out there, everybody uses somebody different.
  3. Do these companies provide tools that make it easy to setup? What about analytics, back-up, comment spam blocking, and everything else you want to do?
  4. Any good books or blog posts you’d recommend?

Geek Blogging Questions

  1. If I were crazy enough to host my own blog, what’s the best blog platform if you want to host on IIS/SQL Server/Windows?
  2. What blog platforms or plug-ins do you recommend for code syntax highlighting?
  3. Is there a way to get WordPress to not mangle, HTML/Javascript in a blog post?

Thanks for your help,

Your humble grasshopper

425 Eastside Magazine

Posted on by
32

[photopress:425cover.jpg,full,alignright] I picked up a copy of this magazine and it seems to be more ads than info, but then so is Vogue and In Style. 

Not exactly new news, as it appears this publication launched back in November.  But my sources tell me that people are streaming into Borders in Redmond looking for it, so here’s the online version via the link.  I got my copy at the 7 Eleven at 6th and Central/85th in Kirkland, if anyone’s looking for it.

Spring 2007 Edition says “2nd printing”.  Anyone know where I can get the first one?