You say tomato, I say tomahto. You say remortgage, I say refinance. Yup, you guessed it. They both mean the same thing. The only difference is “remortgage” is the term used primarily in…
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A Remortgage - What is It?
I was inspired to write this post after the several public whippings I have received in support of Twitter. I think it’s obvious that either “you do” or “you don’t” Twitter. And that’s fine. Nobody is saying (especially me) that if you don’t Twitter you will never reach Zen 2.0, or your real estate client database will double overnight. I think I just appreciate the utility of Twitter (among other things) and I’m happy to share what I’ve learned and discovered thus far. So if you love it already like Hitler, or you’ve found yourself on a bandwagon to Twitterville, this post is for you.
Quickly, (I’ll try) let me fill you in on why Twitter has become my connection companion. First, I find myself behind a computer most days and it’s nice to know that others out there sharing the same interests (or not) want to share themselves with me. And not only share their transparent moments, but also extremely helpful tips, resources, and information….that positively impact my own professional development and business. Twitter has even assisted me with customer service 2.0. (Thanks @Midphase)
Out of the office, Twitter Mobile -Style is where it’s at! I can send pictures of whacky things, great ideas, or inspirational thoughts with any of the numerous Twitter apps available. Moreover, I can check in with the people that mean the most to me. I can find out where my peeps are at for a meetup or connect with conference goers on a deeper level. BTW-If you’re already using Twitter, I’m sure you have 101 reasons why you already love it (so leave me a comment). This lightening speed overview is mostly for newbies wondering what the hype is all about.
So if you’re on the fence or not. Check out the following widely used and loved Twitter applications that I either use myself or have been clued into by other Twitter users. Twitter does not require outside apps to gain appreciation or like, they just make the experience more lovable! FYI-I do NOT recommend downloading and trying to use every app mentioned below, but rather encourage you to peruse for yourself and pick a few to try out. Now if you are in good company with other Twitter users, I’m sure they will point you in the direction they favor most!
| 10 Mobile Apps: | 10 Desktop Apps: |
10 Twitter Tools:
To get the conversations starting, here are 10 really cool RE twits that crack me up or assist me in my goal of being a lifelong learner (don’t hate, just follow):
TWITTER DISCLAIMER: Twitter can spend your time like nobody’s business. So manage accordingly. Also, in the beginning you may feel compelled to add everyone who adds you. I did. But now I recognize the people I find interesting, helpful, hilarious or meaningful. Everyone else is getting “unfollowed”. Sorry, I can only stand so much noise.
BTW-Check out this new Twitter Commercial…you may see a familiar face…and hands?
See more here:
A Twitter Resource for Real Estate Twits
Last week, we released our Q2 2008 Real Estate Market Reports, in which we reported that, nationwide, 29.1% of homeowners who purchased in the past five years are currently underwater on their mortgages (i.e., owe more on the mortgage than the house is worth). We also reported that almost half (45%) of those that bought at the national market peak of 2006 currently have negative equity. The first chart below shows the number of homes with negative equity as a percentage of homes sold in each of the last five years (broken out by region). As you can see, homeowners buying in the West at the 2006 peak have been hit the hardest with almost 60% of purchasers in that year upside down currently on their mortgage.
After doing a bit more number-crunching, we’re able now to report these numbers as a percentage of all homes, not just homes sold in a given period. The numbers are even more startling than we expected with almost 14% of all single-family homes in the U.S., regardless of when they were bought, currently in negative equity. That’s one in seven single-family homes in the country underwater right now. The second chart below breaks these numbers out by region as well. Here, the impact of significant market declines in California, Las Vegas and Phoenix are evident in negative equity rates in the West which top 18 percent (almost one in five homes underwater). The lowest rates of negative equity are found in the Northeast with only about 6 percent of homes underwater.
In an earlier analysis at the beginning of this year, Moody’s Economy.com reported rates of negative equity at the time of about 10 percent with a projection for rates to near 14 percent by the end of Q2. Indeed, it does appear that we’ve hit those levels as indicated by our own numbers. With negative equity being a factor in foreclosure rates, these numbers are just one more reminder of the severe strain being felt by many homeowners right now.
Go here to read the rest:
Look Around: One in Seven is Underwater
As you know NikNik, Chad and I have a strong love for real estate technology. Recently we crossed paths with Alan Hainge, President of Cyberstars. Alan will occasionally contribute his thoughts on marketing, technology and its application in the real estate industry. Please Welcome Allen as a guest contributor to MyTechOpinion. [Read full bio here.]
What an opportunity! 90% of the agent population still relies on traditional marketing methods: classified ads, same-ol-same-ol real estate magazine ads, recipe cards, open houses, floor duty, etc. Folks like you, as evidenced by your reading MyTechOpinion.com, realize that you can market much more effectively and reach far more prospects for less money by using methods that meet the needs of today’s consumer.
How do I know? I teach tech seminars to the real estate industry, both my own seminars and as a Senior Instructor for the Council of Residential Specialists (CRS). Across the country, I see that the majority of agents are well-grounded in traditional marketing but that a small percentage are using Web marketing to build their businesses.
Fortunately, there are exceptions. Many of them can be found among my CyberStarsTM, a group of 200 agents from the US, Canada, the Bahamas and Australia. We are a networking group of top agents who use today’s technology to meet the needs of today’s consumer. You will hear about them and see examples of how they use today’s technology to capture their markets in future posts, but I will mention one here.
James Nellis of RE/MAX Allegiance, Burke, VA, has always taken the lead in marketing with today’s technology. He shared one of his latest finds with us recently: Issuu.com. This dynamic site lets you save documents such as PowerPoint presentations to pdf format and then upload them to Issuu.com, where they display as stunning presentations in book, magazine, journal, newspaper or photo album formats.
You can see James’s listing presentation on Issuu here or one of his beautiful property brochures here.
Note one more thing: James has his listing presentation on Issuu (and also on YouTube). More about why he (and other CyberStarsTM) does that and how it works in my next post.
For now, congratulations on being in the 10%….those agents who realize that you need to know how to use today’s technology to meet the needs of today’s consumer!
Picking the right insurer for your home can be a daunting task especially if you’re a new home buyer with no prior experience. There are so many providers out there with such a vast range of…
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Home Insurance - Where to Start
If you visit Zillow today using your iPhone Safari, Blackberry, Opera Mobile or other mobile browser, you will notice something different. The mobile homepage. That’s because we just launched a mobile browser version of our popular home search feature making it easier and faster to search properties from your hand held device.
Our goal: To speed things up and improve the mobile user experience. To make this all possible we put together a lightweight search interface that should be easy to use on mobile devices. Built by myself and designer Adam Ebel, we intentionally kept it simple. Just enter the address and press “GO”. If we find an exact match for your search, you’ll see a home details page which will tell you:
• Zestimate
• Number of beds
• Number of baths
• Square footage
• Sale price
• Homes for sale/Recently Sold/Make Me Move status
• Photos
• Seller and owner added facts
• Zestimate history graphs
• An inline static Google Map of the home’s location
• Links to view the home details page on Zillow (and for iPhone users, on the built-in Google Maps)
During your visit, you’ll be able to use links to switch between the mobile site and the main site, so virtually all of Zillow is viewable, and finding homes using the address search feature is a snap.
Feedback and requests for future versions are much appreciated. Feel free to e-mail me at davidgo@zillow.com.
In a magnanimous act, real estate developer Donald Trump is rescuing Ed McMahon from foreclosure by buying McMahon’s home and leasing it back to him, according to the L.A. Times. As The Donald put it,
“When I was at the Wharton School of Business,” Trump said, “I’d watch him every night. How could this happen?”
Now that Ed is saved from foreclosure, what about other celebrities facing foreclosure?
Swimmer Natalie Coughlin from Vallejo, California (Photo courtesy Al Bello/Getty Images)
Many of us here at Zillow have been cheering on the U.S. team in the Beijing Olympics this week. Which got us thinking, which state do you think has the highest number of Olympians? If you guessed California, you’re right. In fact, California wins by a mile — of the nearly 600 athletes that make up Team USA, 166 have hometowns in California. (The second-highest state, Texas, trails with 43 athletes.) Holy moly, there must be something in the water!
Of course, California also has the highest population of any state, so maybe that’s the difference. But that doesn’t explain why California has almost 4 times the number of athletes as Texas, which has nearly two-thirds the population of California.
Which city has Olympic bragging rights? According to this U.S. Olympians hometown list, that would be sunny San Diego. Seven Olympians call San Diego their hometown, closely followed by Irvine, California, with 6 athletes.
Go here to read the rest:
California Takes the Gold for Most Olympians
If you work in this industry you hear it constantly - like a chant - “Real Estate is local. Real Estate is local.” No two housing markets are alike; trends in home values are local and demand for housing is localized. Even expertise is local; you do not want to hire a Seattle Realtor to sell your Manhattan loft and so it’s logical that advertising in the Real Estate game is most effective when it is - you guessed it - local.
Go Local with Showcase Ads
Zillow just launched Showcase Ads - local advertisements targeted at the ZIP code level. If you have a local business or service to promote this is the ad product for you. Showcase advertisers can purchase 25, 50, 75, or 100 % of ad placements in a given ZIP code. If you’re a Realtor whose farm spans a few ZIP codes your Showcase Ad can be targeted to buyers and sellers searching for homes in multiple ZIPs (and at a fraction of the cost of sending postcards.)
Pricing
Showcase Ads run for 30 days and are paid for per ZIP code targeted. Pricing varies from ZIP to ZIP depending on both the popularity of the ZIP code (number of visits on Zillow.com) and the value of the real estate there. For example, 25% of page views in my Seattle ZIP code (98103) gets me 13,000 impressions in 30 days and is priced at $136 whereas the 98244 ZIP (in a remote part of Washington state where I own some land) gets me <500 impressions and is priced at only $10. It’s simple to figure out what your ZIP code is going for; just create an ad and click through to “Step 2. Pick ZIPs.”
Get Creative
Showcase Ads offer advertisers the chance to get creative with the imagery and the content of their ad. An ad can include an image, a headline, two lines of text and a link. Unlike many ad products online, advertisers are allowed to include their phone number and e-mail address in their Showcase Ad.
An ad’s creative design plays a huge role in the attention it gets - so it’s important to experiment! Advertisers can change the design of their Showcase Ads at any point during the 30-day window and we show you the number of clicks your ad’s getting so you can work out which design has the biggest impact.
Easier than EZ.
Showcase Ads is Zillow’s second generation local ad product. It’s a re-branding and re-tooling of the successful EZ Ads product and so I’ll wrap up by explaining the transition from EZ to Showcase Ads. “Showcase” is more descriptive branding of the ads and it’s more logical branding for Zillow’s newspaper partners who are selling the ads through the phone to the papers’ classified ad customers. But more importantly, Showcase Ads are even easier to use than EZ Ads were. Customers gave us great feedback about EZ Ads and the most common thing we heard was “just make my ad show up on every page!” In response to that request, we devised the simpler 30-day pricing model of Showcase Ads.
To get started with Showcase Ads click this link.
After doing a post about the home in Detroit that is listed for $1, there were some challenges that I had the wrong home. While I was 99% confident it IS the home, I thought I’d verify it by going to Ron French of the Detroit News, the person who originally reported the story.
Ron, who has visited the house, took the time to describe it to me, but the real verification was in the photos he sent (below). The reason why there was a question as to whether this was the house was because it doesn’t look anything like it used to, due to the vultures that have swooped in and stripped it of nearly everything of value.
BEFORE: Traverse Street home before being stripped
AFTER: Traverse Street home with siding removed
AFTER: Another view of the Traverse Street home
AFTER: The rear of the home, with the back door entirely gone
Ron said it’s fairly typical to see this type of thing in bad neighborhoods in Detroit, but it’s becoming more common to see it happening to in nicer neighborhoods. “As soon as they know it’s empty, it’s like a gazelle limping in the Serengeti — they will take it down. You will see people pushing a wheelbarrow down the street, full of siding or copper. They take everything.”
And by the looks of these photos, not much is spared.
Read more from the original source:
The Remains of the $1 Detroit House
Detroit Home for Sale: $1
Desperation has hit Detroit. According to the Detroit News, several homes and a parcel were listed for sale for $1 in Detroit. One piece — at 8111 Traverse St, Detroit, MI (photo above) is close to a sale. And no, this is not a family member passing along a long-time property to another relative or some other insider deal, this is the ugly truth of how eager a bank is to unload a foreclosed property.
Not only is the bank owner losing any potential value in this property, but it will cost the bank an additional $10,000, “to pay $2,500 in sales commission and another $1,000 bonus for closing the $1 sale; the bank also will pay $500 of the buyer’s closing costs. Throw in back taxes and a water bill, and unloading the house will cost the bank about $10,000.”
In Zillow’s just released Q2 Real Estate Market Report, Detroit continues to slide with a decline of 12.9% year-over-year in Q2. The 5-year annualized is not quite so bad with a 3.2% decline. Detroit’s current Zillow Home Value Index is $124,126. The last time Detroit’s index was at these levels was Q4 of 1999.
Here is the original:
$1 Will Buy You a Home in Detroit
In digging through more than 3 million listings on Zillow, we occasionally stumble upon some that have a celebrity angle to them. Here are some homes for sale that we think you’ll find interesting.
Former home of Judy Garland and Sammy Davis Jr.
Judy Garland/Sammy Davis Jr.
8850 Evanview Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90069
For Sale $4,995,000
Hollywood Hills area
Kicking off this roundup is the home formerly owned by singer/actress Judy Garland and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. (obviously, at separate times). Judy and her then husband, Vincente Minnelli, purchased the home back in the mid-1940s, in which she had an architect design and expand the existing structure. What’s interesting about the transformation of this home is that the present owners have remodeled it with many green features. It’s being listed by Coldwell Banker’s Gillian Caine, an investor/Realtor who specializes in “living real estate.” Here’s a laundry list of the home’s green features.
Gillian tells me that “The green element seems to be more important in the lower to mid-priced homes as that is what I am getting the most requests for and there is very little inventory in the lower price ranges. I believe the upper range people either add their own green elements to existing homes, or are not as concerned.”
Interest in the home is “significant,” according to Gillian, because it’s “an extremely rare combination of location, square footage, view, lot size and grounds, and privacy. Add the incredible Hollywood history, and you have a true gem of a property.”
Other notable homes:
Cher
25142 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA
For Sale: $45,000,000
Malibu area
Cher's Malibu Home
Listing Description: Cher’s famous Italian Renaissance-Style Malibu Estate. Set on 1.72 acres on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the 14,000 square foot villa has 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a theatre, a gym and multiples verandas. There is also a suspended tennis court with stunning views of the Malibu bay, an infinity pool and a guest house. Due to new Coastal Commission restrictions, such an extraordinary property could not be built today! Listed by Hilton & Hyland. [Source: Big Time Listings and Stewart Penn.]
Fashion designer Betsey Johnson
45 5th Ave, New York, NY:
For Sale: $2,495,000
Greenwich Village
Fashion designer Betsey Johnson's Fifth Avenue Penthouse
Listing Description: This stylish Gold Coast penthouse duplex loft is the New York residence of a famed fashion designer whose underlying respect for classics always has an irreverent edge and sense of fun… A lavishly presented confection of fifties Hollywood glamour trimmed in lace, velvet, and gold tassels, beneath the signature pink paint and fabulously frou-frou furnishings is a home with unique character and great bones. [Source: Hooked on Houses]
Former NFL star Vinny Testaverde
Tall Oaks Court, Syosset, NY 11791
For Sale: $6,495,000
Vinny Testaverde's North Shore, LI, home
Listing Description: This gated brick center-hall Colonial sits on four-plus Oyster Bay Cove acres in one of the Gold Coast’s most prestigious communities. … This exquisite North Shore Mansion has every amenity imaginable for the sports fan, including state of the art fitness center with sauna and steam room, movie theater, video game room, billiards room, full basketball court and a sports court. There’s also a cabana, heated Gunite pool with a 20-foot waterfall, kiddie pool and an eight-person Jacuzzi. There’s even a trophy room, but don’t expect this Heisman Trophy winner to leave Heisman behind. You’ll have to earn that yourself. [Source: Luxist]
NFL quarterback Chad Pennington
2080 Edge Rd., Syosset, NY 11791
For Sale: $3,995,000
Home of NFL quarterback Chad Pennington
Listing Description: Exquisite 7200 sq ft Brick Center Hall Colonial Set On 2+ Meticulously Manicured Private Estate Property! Beautifully Designed With 6 Bedrooms, 7.5 Baths, 2 Story Entry Foyer, Gourmet Kitchen With Top Of Line Appliances, Magnificent Family Room W/Built-ins & Stone Fireplace, Master Suite With Fireplace, Custom Walk In Closets, Steam Shower, Whirlpool Tub & Radiant Heat. Fitness Room, Billiard Room, Media Room. Creston Security System. [Source: Luxist]
Ed McMahon
12000 Crest Ct., Beverly Hills, CA 90210
For Sale: $6,500,000 $4,600,000
Ed McMahon's Beverly Hills home
Listing Description: Ed McMahon’s private Mediterranean Estate, in the Prestigious Beverly Hills Gated Community, The Summit, can be yours. This once in a lifetime offering is full of charm and character. The foreign imported doors and meticulously chosen fireplaces are unlike any other. Listed by Redfin. [Source: Dr. Housing Bubble]
Celebrity tips and quips welcome! Send ‘em to celebtips@zillow.com.
I may have been tired with kids whining in the background…but I didn’t let that stop me from quickly shooting this Contest Update with Reggie’s help. So whatever obstacle is standing in the way of your video blog entry, I don’t care! No excuses, send us your link already…I’m waiting!
View contest submissions here!
Here is the original post:
Real Estate Vlogging Contest Update
With Zillow’s Real Estate Market Reports for the second quarter of 2008, the U.S. housing market turned in another dismal quarter of performance with a year-over-year decline in the Zillow Home Value Index of 9.9 percent. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year home value declines and, as in the previous five quarters, represents another record-breaking decline, the magnitude of which has not been seen in the previous twelve years of Zillow data stretching back to 1996.
The extent of the current housing woes is revealed not just in the magnitude of the annual depreciation but also in the widespread scope of the poor performance with 140 of the 165 markets (85%) covered this quarter experiencing year-over-year declines in the Home Value Index as of the second quarter. Since the peak of the national housing market in the second quarter of 2006, home values have fallen more than 13 percent, taking values back in time to levels last seen in the fourth quarter of 2004 (see chart below).
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Market performance varied widely with parts of California’s Inland Empire again topping the list of weakest markets as seen in Merced and Stockton where year-over-year declines were 40 percent and 38 percent respectively. Other large metropolitan areas hit hard with market declines included Las Vegas (-27% year-over-year decline), Los Angeles (-21%), Miami (-21%), Orlando (-20%) and Phoenix (-19%). Those few bright spots out there still experiencing positive appreciation included several metro areas in the Midwest and Southeast such as Oklahoma City (1.1%), Austin (1.2%), Chattanooga (2.9%), Mobile (3.3%), Tulsa (3.9%) and, always in the list of top performers, Grand Junction, CO (4.9%) [Can somebody in Grand Junction tell us what the magic is out there?]. See the map below for home value changes across the country.
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All of this real estate depreciation was translated predictably into high rates of negative equity across the nation with more than 29 percent of homeowners who purchased in the past five years currently owing more on their mortgage than their home is currently worth (leaving them “upside down” or “underwater” on their mortgages). Among those homeowners who purchased at the height of the market in 2006, almost half (45%) are currently underwater on their mortgages.
To get more insight into the difficulties in these various markets, we began reporting this quarter on a variety of Distress Signals such as percentage of homes with declining values, percentage of homes selling for a loss, and rates of foreclosures. Nationwide, 77 percent of homes declined in value over the past year (although only 38 percent of homeowners in a recent Zillow/Harris Interactive survey believed their homes had declined in value which is a whole other story). In Q2, about a third of homes (32.7%) actually sold for less than the value for which they were purchased. In Los Angeles, more than half the homes sold in the second quarter were sold for a loss (51.1%) and in Las Vegas the percentage of homes selling for a loss reached almost 70 percent. For the nation at large, more than 18 percent of sales transactions in the second quarter were foreclosures, up markedly from just 7 percent in the second quarter of 2007. Commensurate with the large home value declines and high rates of negative equity, the metro areas of Stockton and Merced both saw foreclosure rates in excess of 50 percent for the second quarter (and percentages of homes selling for a loss of greater than 70 percent).
While predicting the bottom of the market is difficult, it’s clear that with year-over-year depreciation currently in the near double-digit range, we’re going to remain in negative territory in most of the hardest hit markets for the next several quarters (even were the market to bottom out now). And stabilization of home values must be preceded by a substantial clearing of the glut of unsold homes that is clogging a lot of these metro areas, an event which is made all the harder given the large numbers of foreclosures flooding into these same markets right now. And while negative equity is a contributing factor to foreclosure rates even in normal times, there’s anecdotal evidence that the high rates of negative equity currently seen in the market are having an independent effect on foreclosure rates by inducing homeowners who haven’t experienced an acute financial hardship that typically leads to foreclosure (e.g., job loss, death, mortgage resets making payments untenable) to walk away from their homes – frustrated with making payments on an asset than is now worth substantially less than it was originally. All in all, not a cheery picture in this quarter’s numbers.
We offer up this data in all 165 metro markets (the most comprehensive set of real estate data you’ll find anywhere) with the hope that knowledge will set you free. Even in bad times (especially in bad times), knowledge of the local real estate market is a consumer’s best friend and it’s Zillow’s mission to provide consumers with the most detailed and up-to-date information on what’s happening in the real estate market around them.
Who says you have to move to the suburbs if you want a spacious home? In Boston’s Back Bay area, neighbors are currently watching as a 24,000-square-foot mansion — the biggest in Boston — is being assembled before their eyes.
You might think this is a case of raze and rebuild, but it’s not. The owner, Ofer Nemirovsky, a managing director of an international private equity firm, is actually combining two historic buildings to create a single-family structure. According to the Boston Globe article, this is only the latest example in a wave of wealthy owners who are moving back to the city, and choosing to preserve historical buildings by making expensive repairs and renovations. It’s quite refreshing to hear, given the teardown boom that’s been happening across the country.
Since 1997, Nemirovsky has been aquiring the properties that will make up the home, including these condos in the 25 Exter St. building and a townhouse at 196 Commonwealth Ave., costing about $13.5 million in total.
While the interiors are being gutted, Nemirovsky will be making very minimal changes to the exteriors. Once the $10 million renovations are complete, the home will feature 15 bathrooms, six parking spaces, an atrium, a “ball-playing court,” and a master suite with “his” and “hers” studies, dressing rooms, and bathrooms.
