John Cook is on vacation and while he is gone asked, ‘What Real Estate Sites Do You Use?‘. It’s kind of a loaded question because he implies that transactions are going to be on the internet in the future, and he’s looking to find out which website is leading the way…
Reading through the comments, the discussion revolves around Redfin, although I’m sure RCG readers could skew the discussion in a different direction.
[photopress:Ardell_attica.jpg,thumb,alignright]Choosing some lofty goals. You don’t climb a mountain, simply because “it is there”. You climb a mountain to get the strength of conviction needed to move mountains “The Day After”.
Taking the necessary steps to make changes that benefit both consumers and the industry at large, so others have a working model to follow, is my lofty goal. Telling everyone how I really feel is not about telling everyone how I feel. It’s about targeting some of the ways I can improve the system, one step at a time.
Climbing a mountain (See Quote #19) is of no use whatsoever, if you don’t do something differently the day after, and the day after that, and the day after that. When you run out of steam, or feel like you’ve hit a brick wall, or simply lose the courage to proceed…you find another mountain to climb and start the process again and again. C’est la vie for those who choose for it to be so…or not.
1) Every buyer should know the cash amount they need to bring to closing before they make an offer to purchase and not “after the loan docs come in”. We can change that in 5 seconds. I am changing that today.
2) There should be a training class for agents, that is actually a training class for agents. I need 10 agents to volunteer as guinea pigs for the class, so I can structure the curriculum. I’m hoping Seattle Eric will be one of the ten to volunteer, but he is the only “new agent, used to be investor”, that will be permitted in the class of 10, for “balance” purposes. Eric, agents should never be caricatures…too many are.
3) I decided to run for Club President of my Toastmaster’s International Club at next election in 8-10 weeks.
4) I’m giving my second speech on “Three Simple Steps to Effectively Managing Your Life” tomorrow night, and will continue to give that same speech, until I perfect the handouts to the point where everyone in the room “gets it”.
I’d like to have eight “lofty” goals, and add one every time I accomplish one. So if anyone out there has any suggestions for Changing the World one step at a time, I’ll consider picking the next 4 from your suggestions.
I need 4 more by Monday, so your thoughts appreciated.
At around 8pm, I woke up from a late afternoon nap to see that Ardell still had over 30 posts to write and I got a worried… So I took a Newcastle out of the fridge and started writing. I figured that should it become necessary, I could pass along a few extra posts to Ardell… (Greg’s not the only one with a competitive streak!) But she obviously didn’t need my help as she has just made it to 100 on her own! Awesome stuff!!!
Congrats to both Greg and Ardell… You’re both amazing.
However, because I hate to see things go to waste, I’ll go ahead publish the mini-blog posts I was going to pass along to Ardell. My intention was only to write a few “filler” posts, but…
1) I believe Greg when he says he could hit 135 in one day… The man in an animal!
2) Speaking of jobs! Give this man the full-time job as the Open House blogger… With articles like this fun one on an whimsical (artist) house and timely articles like this one on the number of NWMLS price reductions. Steve has come a long way in a few weeks since he asked me how to get some traction to his blog.
3) I steal a lot of “Rain City” traffic, so here’s my chance to give back:
4) Greg points out this post on the Trulia Blog… Considering all the work that Sami and Pete have done to bridge the gap with the broker community, I’m surprised they let that post slip through…
5) In search of a snippet…
6) Kris turns a strange day into a great 12-step program for blogging… However, note that most 12-step programs try to ween you of addictions while Kris is trying to give you one. You’ve been warned.
7) Review of the Bloodhound Blog… Nobody, and I mean nobody, feels more comfortable calling real estate B.S. when and where he sees it. With a fluent style, a quick wit, and a massive quantity of writing under his belt, the man has become addicting.
8) How to discuss Marlow’s recent post about Trulia’s expansion without sounding self-serving??? I put together a Excel spreadsheet that examines not only how many listings each service has, but also how many “accurate” listings each service has for one zip-code (98117) in Seattle. The results highlight a bunch of interesting things like (1) Redfin’s zip-code search is broken (i.e. a search on 98117 returns results for other zip codes like 98203 and does not return all the homes that Redfin has with a zip-code of 98117), (2) Realtor.com is missing more than a few Windermere listings (I was surprised when Marlow mentioned this, but the results pan out), and (3) Trulia has a long way to go before they are comprehensive. If someone wanted to take this data and add one more zip code in some other part of the country, I’d love to post the results. Maybe a Bay Area agent can take this on since all the sites in question have operations there!
9) One of the things I most admire about Ardell is that she focuses on the service (and then delivers a rebate). While it Bill’s approach makes for great blog posts, focusing on the “discount” doesn’t work for me.
10) I still haven’t made sense out of what it means to be part of a “Christian Real Estate Network”, but the guy does some great real estate blog posts… I like his latest on ways to learn about your competitor’s website is another doozy… although he does miss out on the most obvious trick, which is to use technorati to see who else is linking to them!
11) Interesting to see the competitiveness of the rental market…
12) I’m not sure who, but someone once said… “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” That’s the theme for these blog posts!
13) However, I must give credit to Jim for his excellent post on “why blog?”
14) Jay makes a bunch of valid points when he says it is time to “raising the bar” on becoming a real estate agent… Since stricter requirements would serve to keep out additional competition, I’m assuming that most successful agents would agree.
15) Tom echos this point, andapplauds the Governator’s move to require more education for California agents…
16) Merv continues to deliver with his price trend analysis… If you’re looking for good ways to display real estate data start with Merv!
17) Then go check out Mike’s Altos Research blog because he makes price trend analysis easy…
18) While just about anything is possible, tracking my net worth based on my home’s zestimate and MyYahoo stock tracking performance is going to far for me… and then making a button for the whole wide world to see? No thanks!
[photopress:realty_blogging_book.jpg,full,alignright]19) The real estate blog marketing book is available for pre-purchase on amazon… I spoke to these guys while they were writing the book and will be curious to read it!
20) Thinking of amazon wish lists… This four bedroom home in Malibu is currently on the market…
21) They are easy enough to find, but Hanan alerted me to this ironic clip of Bush…
22) “Seller will pay 6 months of mortgage payments“… (I’m all for good incentives, but is this loan fraud?)
23) The Inman Blog follows up on Trulia’s post where they asked a few real estate professionals to predict the August numbers… It seems no one really knows what’s going on, and if they do, they sure aren’t letting you know in a blog post! 😉
24) As usual, if you want the real scoop on the numbers, turn to Jonathan.
25) The group at Inman also wonder if the people over at Freddie Mac have their pulse on the Latino culture… I’m not holding my breath.
26) Jonathan is also wondering where are all the foreclosures… interesting stuff. I think there are a lot of bubble bloggers that are ampted up and ready to pounce should these trends ever change. I wonder how long they can keep up their intensity before their bubbles deflate… 🙂
27) Speaking of numbers… Peter over at the Business Week blog does an excellent job explaining one example where housing numbers have been so obviously manipulated…
28) I always like reading a blog posts from Sandy, but I just wish that she kept her posts short-and-sweet as oppose to long-and-infrequent.
29) Joel points out an unorthodox use of Zillow’s data… I haven’t looked through their API documentation, but do they insist that you add their name/logo when you use their data? How about refelcting them in a good light? Interesting stuff.
30) Now that they clog up our inboxes, real estate leads are a legitimate business [link removed]… On any given day, I literally get 100s of spam and my guess is that over 3/4 or them are real estate related. Thank you google for putting together such a good spam filter. I wouldn’t be able to handle the email I get to my blog email account with the filters on Outlook… I think I would just give up on email!
31) Elizabeth Razzi says that we should get to know the neighborhood before we buy a place. Not exactly brilliance, but it serves as a good reminder that there really are some intangibles that require more than an aerial view of a property!
32) Cherokee is looking for information on the Snoqualmie area… Pak gave one answer, but I’m sure there are others who could help! 🙂
33) The Seattlest gives hogwash a rave review as a fun for the whole family.
Hogwash – An Improvised Tall Tale For Small Children
Runs Saturdays at 2 p.m. until October 28, 2006
Historic University Theater, 5510 University Way NE (University District)
$10, Reservations – 206-297-1767
34) I like Rory’s approach: “I assert that a Real Estate Agent’s expertise and professionalism should be visible in their service and knowledge of the housing market and inventory. Their expertise should never be based on a carrot and stick ploy to drip feed clients MLS information.
35) Do you get comfort knowing that the home of the NAR president is lingering on the market? 🙂
36) If you’re curious, I’m going by the code name “tyr” in the Inkling Market set up by Keven Boer. At this point, I’m down… It seems more and more people are voting for Greg… Will a last minute spurt of posts from me help out???
37) The title may be a mouthful, Creative agreement may enable advantageous use of otherwise unavailable homesite, but Marlow points out a great example of the benefits of getting creative!
38) Welcome to the neighborhood…
39) When Shaquille O’Neal makes a $1B real estate investment, that’s a great story!
40) Claudia lets us know about the renevotations that hurt!
41) David organizes another fascinating (and colorful) post on the connection between home life and healthy aging…
Waking up this morning, I was pretty impressed to find that Ardell is already at 22 posts in the 101 Challenge… At that rate, she’ll make about 60 posts today if she doesn’t slow down!
And then I noticed Greg is at 50. Wow! Someone needs to spike his coffee with some sleeping pills! 🙂
Ardell: If I may… it is time to pump up the quantity and not worry about quality! You’re at the perfect stage to write about 50 filler posts: simple, short, one link-type posts. And then end the day, finish up with some high quality Ardell classics! 🙂
[photopress:Sichelman.jpg,full,alignright]”Lew Sichelman reports on the national housing scene from his Washington, D.C. base. A past President and Director of the National Association of Real Estate Editors, he has been the recipient of numerous journalism awards, and his weekly column on housing is syndicated in more than 150 newspapers throughout the U.S.”
Every once in a while, Lew includes some quotes from agents that end up in articles across the nation. I get calls from Seattle or Washington, or L.A. from people I know, thinking I was interviewed by that particular newspaper. So I show an explanation above as to why this article regarding commission issues, might appear in many papers around the Country.
Two paragraphs and the last word…thanks, Lew. Lew’s a good guy. I’ve never had problems with his quoting me in the past. My married name was a lot easier for him to spell. Lew, you shouldn’t separate the Della from the Loggia, or people may think I’m the illigitimate daughter of Robert 🙂
This was the last line of the quote before it was cut to fit the article: “It’s a business, look at the money and stop crying about percentages is what I say.”
[photopress:MacCommercial.jpg,full,alignright] The next step in the Home Buying Process is determining how much home you can afford and how much you actually want to spend. When buying your very first property, it is important to note that while a lender may tell you that you can afford a property priced at $350,000, lenders do not actually qualify you based on sale price. It has become common practice for the ease of agents and buyers to quote a sale price. But the actual process qualifies you for a monthly payment that includes Principal + Interest + Taxes + Insurance/HOA Dues.
This is VERY important because a Townhome with very high monthly dues can be more expensive, even though it has a lower price, than a Single Family attached townhome.
There are four townhomes on my desk. Let’s look at these as a real life, current example. Let’s calculate the monthly payment based on 20% down and an interest rate of 6.25%. 20% down is clearly not the norm for a first time homebuyer, but the way to finance the amount of loan on the 20% top portion, varies greatly from one individual to the next. So we are eliminating that factor to make the point that taxes and homeowner dues, can impact the price at which you can purchase, even though your “lender letter” says you qualify at $350,000.
1. Price $315,000 – Taxes $1,559 a year – Dues $310 a month (Condo Townhome)
2. Price $359,000 – Taxes $2,986 a year – Dues $282 a month (Condo Townhome)
3. Price $365,000 – Taxes $2,064 a year – Dues $239 a month (Condo Townhome)
4. Price $375,000 – Taxes $2,460 a year – Dues $75 a month (SFR Townhome)
1. Payment $1,550 + $130 taxes + $310 dues = Total Payment of $1,990
2. Payment of $,1765 + $250 taxes + 280 dues = Total Payment of $2,295
3. Payment of $1,800 + $170 taxes + $240 dues = Total Payment of $2,210
4. Payment of $1,850 + $205 taxes + $75 dues = Total Payment of $2,130
The homes in price order do not follow suit with regard to monthly payment order. The second lowest price has the highest monthly payment.
If the lender qualified you at a purchase price of $350,000 with 20% down at 6.25% using $200 as estimated dues and $200 as estimated taxes, that would translate into qualifying you at a payment of $2,125. Using the real life examples above, you would actually qualify better for the townhome priced at $375,000 than the one priced at $359,000, even though the lender said your max affordability was $350,000.
When you and your agent walk off with a lender letter at $350,000 and buy a townhome or condo at $350,000, but the lender used $200 a month for taxes and the real taxes are $300 a month, and the lender used $200 for monthly dues, but the real dues are $325…the sale can fail on financing issues. Many owners and agents get very angry when the financing fails, but it really falls upon the agent to know the estimate of taxes and dues used by the lender, so they can adjust on a case by case basis before submitting an offer.
Moral of the story is, when a lender hands you a letter saying “you qualify at a purchase price of $350,000”, make sure you know the interest rate, downpayment, taxes and ins./hoa dues the lender used to come up with that number. Then you can adjust, if you are liking a townhome with dues of $425 a month!
We all know that one complex in Bellevue that has high dues and more “Sale Fail Releases” than any other complex in the Seattle area. Now you know why that is happening.
After reading John Cooks blog, ‘Beware of what you post on Zillow?‘ I started to think, how much is to much??? Much like my last post about the ‘Trojan Horse‘ are we all becoming so connected that it makes sense for the County Assessor to start using these tools as a way to fuel the County. In my case, King County Assessor Scott Noble was even quoted as saying, “the new Zillow service could be used as a tool to make sure that homeowners are paying their “fair share.” If the KC Assessor’s office would have used Zilllow’s Zestimate for the tax assessed value of a home LTD Real Estate just sold they would have almost doubled the tax bill. That would mean from this home alone, $2,601.51 more towards the bottom line. Hopefully Ron Sims doesn’t read this blog post…
I think I am going to keep my home information my own information.
[photopress:destroyed_check.JPG,full,centered]
When checks are late to the recipients, escrow tends to sweat. Now we know where this check ended up! Everyone started laughing when we received this 1/6th scale “lost” check in the plastic baggy from the post office. This was shreaded and after a few minutes of taping what we had together and smoothing it out with books, this is what was left!
Note the language on the postal baggy: “We care….we hope this didn’t inconveniece you….” Nah, we enjoy angry customers wondering where their money is. 🙂
Isn’t that photo Awesome! I just got an email announcing the Broker’s Open on Tuesday, September 19th from 12 to 2, but I have an appointment here on the Eastside at 1:30.
First Public Open will be September 23rd and September 24th from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. An amazing array of styles from studios to townhomes and amazing array of prices to go with.
[photopress:Queen_Anne_HS.jpg,full,alignleft]
More info at www.queenannehigh.com Very cool site. You can visit each floor and scroll around the different units and floor plans. The studios start in the “low” $300,000s. They say “townhomes” start in the mid $700,000s. Not sure how you fit a townhome into a High School. Lots of floor plans and prices in between. I think there are 139 units altogether on five floors, plus a furnished rooftop deck with amazing views.
One of only 37 buildings in Seattle on the National Register of Historic Places. Should be worth the trip! I’ll have to catch it at one of the Public Opens.
Queen Anne High School was built in 1909 and the historic photos on the site are well worth visiting. This is a public service announcement, and not an advertisement of a Coldwell Banker listing 🙂
[photopress:dog.jpg,full,alignright] Is there a difference between dogs and cats? When you take out a leash, a dog usually gets all happy because he knows he is going to go outside. When a cat sees a leash he usually has the opposite reaction (some exceptions, of course) and says, no way I am going to be LED anywhere!
So what do dogs and cats and leashes have to do with consumers signing contracts?
For many years, agents have insisted that the seller sign a contract for their services, and by and large sellers have been happy to do so. I have never had a seller say, “Can’t you just do what you do, without my needing to sign a contract?”.
A seller is more like a dog than a cat, and a contract is somewhat like a leash. Most dogs are more than happy to be on a leash, as long as the guy at the other end of the leash, keeps pace with WHAT THE DOG wants to do.
The reason it is not possible to represent a seller client without a contract, is because of the “3rd party” promise to pay. The seller via that contract and the seller’s broker, agree to pay the agents who show the property. Say I list a house at $500,000 and the “seller” offers 3% “in the mls” to the Buyer’s Agent. That’s $15,000. While it may appear on the outside that the seller is offering that money to the Buyer Agent in the MLS, he isn’t. The buyer agent is an unknown person and the buyer is an unknown person, at the time the property is entered into the mls. The seller is not putting anything in the mls, the seller’s agent is putting it in the mls and promising to pay the buyer’s agent. The agent would actually have to cough up that $15,000 from his own personal funds, if he didn’t have a contract signed by the seller at the time he put the “offering” in the mls. That’s a little too much to ask of anyone on a handshake, so a contract is required from the seller.
Back to sellers are dogs and buyers are cats. The seller has a known address to the “product”/the house. It is easy to get a list of “services and metres” specific to that house. Does it need some staging? Is it photo ready? Can we get 15 photos quickly after it is staged and edit and upload them…on and on. Specific defined things after viewing the product/house, based on that house’s strengths and weakneses. Pretty simple stuff to calculate from day one, for the most part.
Buyers on the other hand are cats. They do not know “the address” of the property at the outset. They sometimes do not know for certain whether they will be buying a brand new townhome (not as much work for the agent) or a single family home built in 1910 (lots more work for the agent). They sometimes don’t know if they are going to buy in Renton or in Juanita or in Greenwood. Sometimes they need to see some property before making some of these decisions.
So a buyer needs to roam freely a bit, without a leash, more like a cat, to gather the information needed to come to an informed decision regarding type of property, general location of property and ballpark price of property. A buyer may need to see property with an agent in Renton, a different agent in Juanita and a third agent in Greenwood, before having enough information to hire the right agent for their needs. Anyone who has been in this business for awhile, knows that they are sometimes a stepping stone, in a buyer’s journey to an informed choice.
The absolute worst thing that can happen in this country, IMNSHO, is for buyers to be required to sign a contract, just to SEE a house. First of all it is demeaning, and lacks the respect and understanding of the industry, and its differences. It’s trying to put a leash on a cat, and pretending the cat is a dog.