Tag Archives: real-estate

John Mudd — The Original Real Estate Blogger

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Becky Troutt let me know earlier today that John Mudd quietly passed away of natural causes last month and it is confirmed on one of his blogs. An article from his local newspaper gives some more details.

[photopress:John_Mudd_1.jpg,full,alignright] John Mudd has had a huge influence on my style of blogging. He was the first to key me into the importance of building up a personal brand through blogging. While not always explicit, his actions (like the fact that he appeared to be in every online real estate discussion) showed me that the most important way to play in the game was simply to show up. However, he did a lot more than just show up. Inside the blogging community he was opinionated and passionate, two great qualities for a real estate blogger. In addition to blogging, I’ve seen his writings appear all over the place: from trade magazines, to other blogs and given a little more time, I’m sure he would have completed the real estate blogging book he was writing.

When I read over the interviewed him I did with John last December, I can’t help but remember just how big the John Mudd presence loomed over real estate blogging when I first began writing. He was everywhere and it seemed like he knew everyone. In my mind, he will always be The Original Real Estate Blogger.

Addiction to technology can be damaging to your mental health

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Yesterday’s list of ten stories was fun to write… So in cleaning out the 400+ unread stories that had accumulated in my feed reader, I came up with these ten stories for today:

  1. I’ve had countless people ask me about how to set up a wordpress blog, so I was glad to see Matt point out that CNet now has a video that details the steps of setting up a WP blog. It’s a simple video, but that is appropriate since the instillation of WP is simple. However, if terms like “FTP”, “domain” and “web host” don’t mean anything to you, then skip over this video and go straight for a hosted blog like blogger or wordpress.com.
  2. Technology bloggers are so much more advanced in their blogging problems that they have to worry about things like the Echo Chamber. Since linking is still a novel enough concept in real estate, this is not really an issue within the real estate blogosphere. None the less, advice like “say something original once a day” is good stuff that we could all benefit from.
  3. I include the next article only for the last paragraph: ‘Employers provide programmes to help workers with chemical or substance addictions. ‘Addiction to technology can be equally damaging to a worker’s mental health’. (It’s one thirty in the morning as I type this, I obviously need help.)
  4. In an effort to separate addiction from hype, Seth Godin reminds us that “just because people know who you are doesn’t mean they’re going to buy what you sell… the best way to succeed is to have a really great product.”
  5. In relation to real estate technology, I can’t imagine why anyone with $17M would think that Reply.com is a good idea… How do they justify the business model that they are going to allow anyone to make an offer on any house? From their CEO: “every home in the country is for sale – for the right price!” The idea seems like a fun exercise for a graduate level economics course, but an actual product??? I don’t get it. Please feel free to let me know in the comments if I’m missing something…
  6. Also, Joel points out that Reply’s product is not likely to make Glenn very happy since he’s working on a similar service and even taken a patent out.
  7. More web technology that seems misguided to me: I can think of plenty of people who are in search of a good blog, but I can’t think of any other blogs that are in search of a good blogger…
  8. And then sometimes, people take misguided to such a different level that I start to doubt my own sanity. How smart do you have to be to refuse $1M? (Really! What does he know that I don’t???)
  9. Barely on topic… There is an interesting house that was recently (re)listed in the NWMLS. Turns out the owners were not doing a good job showing the house from 1000 miles away, so they took it off the market while they reorganized their efforts. During that time, a friendly conversation on staging turned into a full-on listing for one RCG contributor. So far, the owners have been blown away by the difference that this one woman can make in preparing a listing for sale. If you saw the place before, please considering checking it out again because the changes are phenomenal. A neighbor said she barely recognized the inside of the house.
  10. On a related technology note, I found out that the previous listing was “live” again because it showed up in my feed reader based on a listing feed I created for my zip code from Robbie’s fantastic Zearch tool. Anyone in the Puget Sound area can use this tool to be easily updated every time a new listing shows up in their zip code, city, neighborhood, etc.

UPDATE: After playing with the service, Joel goes so far as to give Reply.com the 3-finger salute.

"Tiptoeing" through ethical minefields

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It’s getting a little warm in the kitchen of Real Estate

Two questions have been eating at me for some time.
First, one of the most difficult questions to answer deals with my own brethren in the escrow industry. Why is it that a traditionally transaction “neutral escrow company or service” only receives compensation if a transaction successfully closes?

To me, at least in the realm of escrow, this is the mother of all potential conflicts of interest. Isn’t it a conflict of interest to the parties involved and our fiduciary duty to the lender (yes, folks we do have a duty to protect the lender from potential fraud, which is clearly stated in escrow instructions from some lenders) if we are only paid if the deal closes? Wouldn’t that create a lot of problems, particularly if you have pressure from loan officers or Realtors to “just get it done

10 Great Conversations

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Just for fun, I started recording notes on real estate conversations I enjoy following and I decided that when the list hit ten, I’d hit publish:

  1. David Smith has a great (no wining allowed) article about the housing bubble. I only wish David interacted with the real estate blogging community a little more because his stuff is great but easily missed…
  2. Continuing on the bubble topic, Dan Melson puts on a great effort describing why renting really is for suckers (and what yo do about it). For me, this is a great example of why real estate professionals should not write about the bubble (David Smith being the exception! 🙂 ) It reminds me of the “fool“ish investment advice so popular in 1999/2000 that said it didn’t matter what price you bought a stock at as long as the company was good, you would make money in the long-term. Here’s my problem with this argument… If rents are cheaper than the interest payment (i.e. both of these being the completely sunk costs) and home prices go down slightly in the near future (which doesn’t seem inconceivable for selected markets in the country), then no amount of number juggling will replace the fact that if a potential home owner would be best served waiting to buy until the prices bottom out. I realize there are more than a few “ifs” in my statement, but my goal is not to say that it is a bad time to buy, only that a blanket statement “it is always a good time to buy” falls on deaf ears.
  3. On a related note, it is timely that the NYTs notes that rents are rapidly rising across most of the US (with Seattle being a highlighted area!).
  4. Greg shows off his custom signs. I think these are brilliant marketing moves and every agent should look for ways to market themselves through their listings. Beautiful stuff…
  5. And talking of beautiful ideas, Claudia Wicks mentions a very simple marketing idea ($1.50 simple) that could go a long way… There’s a beauty in simplicity (and it reminds me of an idea that Anna and I were batting around a while back…)
  6. And if you really want beauty, Fraser Beach takes staging to a new level by hiring actors (beautiful ones!) to play house during an open house…
  7. It takes a certain level of confidence to have fun with your previous mistakes. (Kris is clearly a confident agent and I like that!)
  8. ActiveRain is getting some hype from both the Real Estate Tomato and the Future of Real Estate Marketing. I definitely think that Matt Heaton is onto something interesting, and he doesn’t get particularly phased by either Greg or Joel, which I think is a great sign.
  9. Because I’ve been there…
  10. Greg (Linden this time!) creates a list with (nearly) all the Seattle start-ups and their associated Alexa rankings. It is a list that is definitely worth checking out as you might be surprised at the massive activity within the Seattle start-up community! For those interested, the rank of the real estate sites were: Zillow (976), Homepages (21,720), Redfin (22,117). RCG was not included in his list, but we are ranked at 75,844. You might also be interested to know that despite the fact that we’re not ranked as high as some of the other sites, our reach is right up there with HomePages and Redfin. (not bad for a site with no paid staff and $120/year hosting fees!). And since I mentioned ActiveRain earlier (and they are based in Kirkland), I think it is interesting to note that they are seeing awesome growth in the number of pageviews that is blowing away all the local real estate sites save Zillow. Considering their Alexa ranking is only 108,655, they are obviously creating a sticky user experience.

Painting the Industry with a Broad Brush

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[photopress:paintcanc.gif,thumb,alignright]Before I take the full rap for painting the industry red with a broad brush, let’s look at this line from an interview in Inman News today. “To bring buyers and sellers together requires lying, cheating and manipulating.”

Defending bad behavior does not invoke change. Let’s hear from some agents regarding how they were trained:

1) How and why they should not consider the amount of their eventual commission, when selecting homes for their buyer clients.

2) How they should advise seller clients, and assist them in getting the property in proper showing condition, before taking photos and entering them in the mls.

3) What classes are available to assist agents in taking better photos and in photo editing, now that this skill has become such an important role in selling a home for top dollar.

4) How they are taught never to use a listing to promote themselves, and to get new clients, from a seller’s most valuable asset.

5) How they are taught that doing an Open House is not solely or primarily a means to obtain new clients.

6) How to recognize when their buyer client is a victim of predatory lending, and being pushed to spend more on a home than they can reasonably afford.

7) How NOT to push in house listings on the buyer clients of other agent’s in the office.

8) How to stop in their tracks when a buyer or seller client looks uncomfortable, as in sweating profusely or shaking with tremors, and determine the root of their concerns, before proceeding.

9) How to get up from the table without getting something signed by the client, if the matter at hand does not have immediacy issues to the client’s advantage, and give the client time to consider the information presented to them until they are satisfied that their answer is a well thought out and informed decision.

10) How to determine why a house has been lingering on market, without taking verbatim the listing agent’s representation of same to properly advise your client, if they like the property enough to make an offer.

11) How to deal with inspectors who don’t write what they say, and point out problems verbally, that they do not write in the inspection report and summary.

12) How to forewarn sellers, especially of older homes, that there will likely be a few things to negotiate at time of inspection, and put a misc. buffer amount to cover repairs, in the estimate of seller’s net proceeds before they sign the listing contract.

13) How to stay involved with the process during escrow, and be proactive in the escrow process and not just hand over the file and walk on to the next sale.

There’s a Baker’s Dozen of issues, that could literally fill volumes. Where did you as an experienced agent learn these things and where do new agents get this training today?

Inman News and St. Joseph

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[photopress:St_Joe.jpg,thumb,alignright]Dustin, Glenn Roberts and I received an email yesterday from Bill over at The Real Estate Cafe, about an Inman News article on the use of St. Joseph statues to sell real estate, and a comment I made on it. Dustin didn’t know about the practice, which is fairly well known around the Country, so I thought I’d shed some light on why, how and when the statue is used in the real estate business, from my personal perspective.

Many years a go I had a wonderful client who was losing her home. She had started her own business and had used her home as collateral for the business start up expenses. Her husband had a good job, they were doing well financially. She was not behind on her mortgage payments. They had lived in their home for a very long time with their now grown daughter and little poodle. But the lien against the house for the business bankruptcy was causing them to lose it.

The woman was so beside herserlf, because she caused it. She was a dynamic person. So when she approached me rather sheepishly one day with a request, I was a little surprised at her quietness and hesitancy. She said, “I really need your help with this and I don’t know how to ask you to do this. Someone told me to plant a St. Joseph statue in my back yard upside down and all will be OK. I wouldn’t have any idea where to get one, since I’m Jewish, and I thought you might be able to do that for me. I know it’s a lot to ask of a real estate professional, but since you’re Italian…I thought…”

While Bill over at The Real Estate Cafe, and many Catholics, are up in arms over using St. Joseph in this manner, I didn’t hesitate to jump into my car and find the little plastic statue shown here. I didn’t know there were actually “St. Joseph kits” designed for this purpose. I just went to the same place I might buy rosary beads and they knew right away what I needed. I went back to the house. It was one of those houses that appraised at $185,000 but the owner “had to have $205,000”. When I first listed it I didn’t know why they were selling it, or let’s say I wasn’t buying their story that they were just downsizing. I didn’t know why they HAD to have a certain price.

The owner wasn’t present when I performed my little ritual for the first time of “planting St. Joseph on his head in the yard”. Needless to say it worked. The owners received the price they had to have from a buyer who loved the house. It was one of my favorite sales, as the woman came home every day at lunch to vacuum. This was in the days when agents called the office for an appointment and no one in my office would speak with her. They thought she was difficult, I knew she was distressed. I asked her to remove the blue tablecloth in the kitchen and replace it with a white one. An hour later there was not one white table cloth, but two, so that if it got dirty she could quickly lift off the top one. She worked like a dog to get top dollar, I came up with the spiffiest flyer anyone had ever seen and she and I, together with St. Joseph, accomplished the objective that seemed near impossible.

The bankruptcy attorney cut the commission down at the last second and my office manager was freaking out. She even went to the closing where the bankruptcy attorney, she and the other agent were duking it out. I stayed outside with my clients while they where fighting, and assured them that it was one of my favorite sales, regardless of what happened in there. It was truly a pleasure to have known them and to have helped them in their dark hour. I never contacted them again because I knew I was part of a memory they should never have to revisit. “Follow up postcards” from me would have been painful reminders of a time they wanted to put behind them.

While Bill is upset over the fact that there are some agents who order St. Joseph statues in bulk like business cards, the custom of burying St. Joseph to assist in the quest of real estate pursuits goes back to at least the 1500s, when St. Theresa of Avila buried a St. Joseph medal. They needed some land for a Church and St. Theresa buried a St. Joseph medal in a plot of ground that was perfect, but they could not afford, and of course they did eventually raise enough money to buy the land with St. Joseph’s assitance.

St. Joseph is “the worker”. He’s the symbol that any pursuit backed by one’s sincere desire and hard work is achieveable. For many years after he helped my clients, I had this little statue (right side up) where ever I worked. When I had too many closings all at the same time, I would lay him down and put a little felt blanket over him and tell him it was time to rest. St. Joseph and I performed some great miracles together and he was my guiding force my first few years in the real estate business.

We haven’t heard about this custom for quite awhile because it has been a seller’s market. But based on Inman News giving the custom some attention recently, it looks like St. Joseph may be making a comeback. To Bill Wendell at The Real Estate Cafe, try not to think of all of the agents buying 100 statues at a time and using it as a “gimmick”. Think of my lovely story, and how St. Joseph, while standing on his head, brought some comfort to some very nice people in need of his gentle touch.

Perhaps a buyer’s perspective…

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Sometimes a comment is so darn good, it really should be a post.

Perhaps a buyer’s perspective might be useful here.

I don’t know jack about real estate. My husband and I have been burned in the past by a string of dishonest agents, most recently in January when we relocated to Seattle. We were so full of loathing for the industry in general that we seriously considered Redfin, simply because we had no hope of finding a “real person

The Super Agent

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It seems to me that the agents who post and comment on RCG are ‘mom and pop’ agents whose business is limited to their ability to work with clients directly throughout the real estate transaction. I’ve not heard from any of the ‘Walmart’ agents who have built organizations allowing them no upper limit on their ability to service clients. In fact, many comments and posts have implied that the latter approach is bad for the consumer. Is Walmart bad for the consumer? We all may hate how Walmart shuts down mom and pop stores that can’t compete with the scale and volume pricing of Walmart, but does this have anything to do with the end consumer? Macroeconomically and politically, absolutely; however, consumers have voted with their wallets that the Walmart model makes sense.

When an entrepreneurial agent builds a business, hiring a licensed assistance, then listing specialists, then buying specialists, then a business manager, then a lead manager, why do the lone agents seem to have little respect for the organization they have built? Given the state of the industry today, as others have defined it, where new agents get little training and modeling by experienced agents, wouldn’t such a scaled organization be welcomed? Think of the licensed assistant? It seems to me that by working with an agent so successful and productive, this assistant would be exposed to every type of transaction, and grow up to be a better agent.

To me, it’s the scaled super agent business organization that would be the best place for a new agent to learn the ropes. As many have written here on RCG, the traditional brokerages have little motivation to spend a lot of time growing an individual; however, a good super agent aligns incentives so that the training and modeling he/she provides others within his/her organization contributes to the organization’s bottom line, and such an investment pays off as productivity grows.

Do consumers suffer with these super agent organizations? The mom and pops would claim they do, for in their paradigm, the real estate transaction can only be truly successful if the agent is hands-on throughout. Do the consumers feel slighted, unsatisfied? My guess is no, for the most part. No matter big or small, an agent needs a bedrock of referrals to succeed long term. Clearly, these super agents excel in lead generation and marketing, but a happy client is a happy client, and they’ll refer their friends.

As a new agent, and as an investor, I would love to be in a position where I could lead an organization and model it for success, and get paid handsomely for it. If any super agents are out there reading RCG, I’d love to see your perspective represented here on these pages.

"Frank"-speak on "broads" and the mls' lame 24 hour rule

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[photopress:bgrable.jpg,thumb,alignright] This broad is lonely. You know, the kind of lonely that just has to be scratched…like an itch. So she says to me, she says, Frank, I just gotta get out there and get a man, and she starts putting on her coat. I say Whoa there…hold up, Babe. You ain’t gonna get the right man that way. Go in the toilet there and fix yourself up a bit first. Pin up your hair like Betty does, and put on that fancy armored under-stuff that makes every woman look like a Betty Grable pinup at first look, till you get up real close and see the spines on ’em. That’s right. Take your time, honey. The better you look, the more successful your gonna be at this venture. Now put on that lipstick and pull down that thing over there and hike up that and stand up real tall, like you don’t need nobody! That’s better. If youse goes out lookin’ like a loser, that’s exactly what you will end up bein’ at the end of the night…a loser!

Now someone please tell me who came up with that stoopid mls rule that says a seller HAS-TA put his house up for sale within 24 hours after he signs a listing contract? Hell man, da ink isn’t even dry yet! Do yus really think an owner can get his sh-t together that fast and spif up da joint in 24 hours?! Heck…he barely has time to pull up his pants and douse his tonsils with his “Jack”. Are you guys kiddin’ me??

And what agent worth his weight in peanuts is gonna have a fancy, glossy, snappy flyer ready in 24 hours? Heck, can ya even get a sign up that fast? Who made up that rule anyways? You guys better stop drinkin’ that NAR Koolaid and get da F outta here pronto! Cause I ain’t puttin’ my house on the internet for everyone to peek at until it’s good and ready! Ya hear dat! GOOD and ready. And youse guys can go pound sand with your lame mls rule dat says udderwise. I don’t give a rat’s behind if you guys stab each other in da back or in da front or any other ways. Dat ain’t MY problem! You can’t tell me what I HAVE to do and you sure as hell can’t tell me that I ain’t got no say in it. So what that I can give you some letter saying “hold up, pal”, what about da poor slobs dat don’t know any better and have their underwear hanging over the shower curtain in the mls photo. Scratch that rule…scratch it now…cause it’s lame. Like my pal Robbie says…Lame, Lame, Lame MLS Rule! Trash it, cause it’s garbage and its stinkin’ up da place!”

I’m signing this here contract to get me the best damn agent there is and I’m sure as hell payin’ him plenty of dough! So’s he better damn well work his butt off for a whole lot more than TWENTY FOUR HOURS before HE pushes that button that sends me LIVE into the cyberworld.

I thought it was jes dose NAR Koolaid drinkin fools spoutin’ this garbage. But when I saw David Barry sayin’ his NEW Consumer Oriented Free Public mls was gonna go and copy that same stoopid lame mls rule, I said dat’s IT. I’ve HAD it. Jilly…go knock some sense into dos guys before the whole planet goes koo-koo on dat koolaid! Knock some heads together if ya has to…but don’t let the poor public be fooled into thinkin that they have to go out in public lookin’ like a LOSER! It ain’t dare right to say so…cause I say so and it just ain’t the right way to treat people and their most valuable asset. Heck, a girl takes longer than that to spruce herself up to find a guy. How da heck is a fella supposed to spruce up his whole house in 24 hours! It ain’t right…it just ain’t right.

Polarized Activity and the Real Estate Industry

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[photopress:Cavegirl.jpg,thumb,alignright]I started butting heads on industry changes long before I started “blogging”. Below are two “posts” I made to an internal agent real estate forum about a year ago. They have been “picked up” on the internet, and so are now “publicly available” on the internet. I thought I would take them out, dust them off, and look at them again and see if my views have changed at all in the last year.

From September 2005: The challenge of this industry is to find the correct resolution to “What’s wrong with this picture?”

From the DOJ and the consumer standpoint, what’s RIGHT with this picture is the opportunity for Joe Public to pay less than the rate Realtor’s dictate is correct and appropriate. What resolution resolves the issue for both Realtors and the public’s right to competition in the marketplace with regard to cost of service?Secondly, if you insert the EBA model into the above excerpt with all facts the same except “Why would you want to call the “Seller’s Broker” when you can have separate and full representation at the same price?” you have another question to answer. What “boycotts” the discounter also “boycotts” the EBA, as they both use other Broker’s listings to promote a model that urges you not to use the company who listed the property. Is there an answer that is fair to the listing company/agent, provides an open marketplace with regard to commissions charged consumers, and allows the Exclusive Buyer Agent to promote the benefits of separate representation?

Is your response part of the solution or simply an attempt to keep your finger in the hole in the dike for as long as you can.
Ardell DellaLoggia

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To date, the Realtor organization has considered it a courtesy or “by permission of” the listing company for one to advertise oneself by using another company’s listings. Those outside of the Realtor organization have not considered this internal courtesy arrangement, and so are confused by the Realtor argument against anyone using listing info as they choose without approval. Even within the industry there are discrepancies as listing “agents” give permission when, in fact, the Broker should be, and usually is not consulted.

The house of cards is toppling. We created a system that supported the traditional business model and frankly, “set” fees nationally. The DOJ is not incorrect in seeing a problem with the system from the consumers’ perspective. It is incumbent upon the movers and shakers of this industry to promote a solution that is fair to all.

To date, our systems have only supported the full service, traditional, full fee business model. I once suggested to Early (maybe twice 😉 that he not be a Realtor as his business model does not “fit” with the Realtor organization’s objectives. I put my money where my mouth is in that I have followed my own advice. I set my fees on a case by case basis and I am very cognizant of the consumers’ right to choose their form of representation among the various options available to them. I am not a “discounter” or “single agency shop” by definition, I simply allow the possibility for the consumer to choose from all options. That is really all the public wants and deserves.

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Back to the present, sometimes it takes a “Cavegirl” who has been around the block a few times, and carries a big club, to beat the issues into submission from both sides of the fence. I’m going a bit inward here and re-examining my own words and thoughts from a year ago. Are we any closer to the true solution? NAR is not. The DOJ is not. I’ll have to read over my own words a couple of times and see where we are…