Real Estate Blog

Over the past few months, some Zillowites made headlines for their stellar contributions to the real estate industry, the Zillow Web site, and Zillow Blog, so we wanted to take a moment to congratulate them:

• Rich Barton and Lloyd Frink - Inman’s 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders: 2008
• Drew Myers - Inman’s 25 Most Influential Bloggers 2008
• Diane Tuman - World’s Most Powerful Property People
• Ken Kaufman - Finalist, Exceptional DBA of the Year 2008

Now, get back to work!

More here:
Zillowites Receive Awards

Law enforcement officials are trying hard to snuff out a foreclosure scam in San Diego, CA. According to today’s San Diego Tribune, a scam artist by the name of Maurice Simmons, identifies homes that are abandoned — usually due to foreclosure — then he files official-looking grant deeds with county recorder offices. The deeds are bogus, but county recorder officials say they don’t have time to ascertain their authenticity. Simmons then re-keys the locks, posts these documents in the windows of the homes and turns the house over to people who are looking for a place to live. All along, these people are under the belief that Simmons is the rightful owner of the home. Simmons defends himself by saying,

“Bankers are defrauding people, and all I’m doing with this program is helping people get into homes who deserve to have a home but who got screwed,” Simmons said in interviews before his arrest. “I’m tired of people getting thrown out of their homes and no one seems to care.”

It sounds like a Robin Hood-type story of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, but the added twist is that Simmons says he’s operating under common law and not judicial law. Alongside the “quiet title” document claiming ownership, he also posts signs on homes declaring “Spiritual Sanctuary” and “No Tresspass.” When the rightful owner shows up — usually after purchasing the home through a foreclosure sale — they find it occupied.

Real estate scams are on the rise, as witnessed by another recent story about an elderly couple in Ohio who seems to have been swindled with a mortgage they didn’t need. Chalk this up as another weird foreclosure story.

Read more here:
Scam Alert: Bogus Grant Deeds on Abandoned Homes

While much of the news coming out of Zillow’s Q3 Real Estate Market Reports last week was grim—1/3 of Americans who sold a home in the past year lost money— there is some good news to share for  select parts of the country. In Central/Western New York and various cities in North and South Carolina, home values are actually increasing.

Ithaca, NY, home to Cornell University and Ithaca College, saw the greatest gains in home values nationwide, up 5.6% since last year, bringing the Zillow Home Value Index to $179,000. At a time when many markets are starting to see home values depreciate over 5 years, Ithaca’s 5-year annualized change is a healthy 7.8%. It’s difficult to pinpoint an exact reason for Ithaca’s appreciation, though it’s clear the city didn’t experience the huge rise in home prices that many markets did over recent years.

The New York Times recently noted that the city is luring second home owners and retirees with its picturesque setting on Cayuga Lake (you may be familiar with the “Ithaca is Gorges” slogan), cultural offerings and burgeoning  wine industry.

Ithaca is a reasonable four hour drive from New York City, where many Cornell and Ithaca alums live. If those alums are looking to escape New York City during summer weekends, like most NYC residents try to do, I can see the appeal of turning to a beautiful lake town like Ithaca, where you can practically buy a house for the price of a summer share in the Hamptons.

Ithaca wasn’t the only New York city with good news. I was thrilled to call my hometown paper, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, to tell them that Rochester’s home values rose 3.1% year over year. The city with the greatest 5-year annualized appreciation in the country was Glens Falls, NY .

Other bright spots nationwide include:

• State College, PA -  home values rose 4.0%
• Jacksonville, NC - home values rose 3.9%
• Winstom Salem, NC - home values rose 3.4%
• Bay City, MI - home values rose 3.2%
• Greenville, SC -  home values rose 2.8%

Have a theory as to why these cities are bucking the downward trend we see elsewhere across the country? Chime in on the Ithaca thread in Zillow Discussions with your thoughts, I’d love to hear your two cents.

Good News for New York State

We’ve quietly added yet another real estate widget to our offerings for real estate professionals. For those who have their listings on Zillow (not sure what you are waiting for if you haven’t uploaded your listings already) — the latest My Listings widget gives you a way to showcase your Zillow listings on your own web site or blog. The widget automatically displays listings associated with your Zillow account and allows a visitor to scroll through them.

For an example of the widget in action, you can check out the Stockton Real Estate Specialist, a blog written by Pat Holkesvig.

Read more here:
Show Off Your Zillow Listings

(Photo courtesy Dallas Morning News)

A recent article in the Dallas Morning News revealed that 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 60 every day. And these boomers — those born between 1946 and 1964 — are the driving force behind universal design, which is becoming a popular home improvement trend. Basically, it’s designing a home that is accessible and useful to everyone, but mostly for our rapidly aging population of boomers.

• An American Institute of Architects survey revealed most homeowners are asking for greater accessibility within the home through wider hallways, fewer steps and single-floor design. This percentage is up from 66 percent the year before.
• The National Association of Home Builders also reported that 63 percent of upscale builders and 56 percent of average home builders believe they’ll see a growing trend toward universal design over the next decade as Baby Boomers advance in age and decline in health.

Universal design elements include:

• No-step entry
• One-story living. Everything is on one level, which is barrier-free
• Wide doorways (32-36 inches wide)
• Wide hallways (36-42 inches wide)
• Extra floor space
• Pull handles instead of knobs on cabinetry
• Under-cabinet lighting
• Adjustable rods and pullout shelving in closets
• Lever handles on doors instead of knobs
• No-step showers and baths

Be sure to catch up on what we’re seeing in Zillow for kitchen designs, bathroom designs and living spaces. What you’ll see are for sale homes that are real homes lived in by real people. Yes, the real deal!

Source:
Remodeling Trend: Universal Design

Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates have remained pretty stable for the past two weeks, hovering around 6.00 percent. The average rate last week was 6.03 percent, down just a bit from 6.09 percent the week before, according to the Zillow Mortgage Rate Monitor, which we compile with real rate quotes from Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.

And rates haven’t changed much this week, either. As of Tuesday morning, the 30-year fixed rate was at 5.91 percent.

Rates stayed pretty steady on a state level, as well.

The rest is here:
Mortgage Rates Still Stable

Red, white… orange?

Yakima, WA, a rural town in Washington state’s wine country, has something new to toast to — home values. Relatively speaking, that is.

The Yakima Valley in Eastern Washington was one of the top performing real estate markets in Washington state during the third quarter. On a national level, Yakima ranked in the top 20% of US real estate markets with a year-over-year change of just -1.0%.

The splattering of orange in the map below illustrates home value appreciation over the past five years. Orange represents year-over-year value change of +5%. (Layman’s translation: orange = “whew, my house is still appreciating!”)

What’s keeping Yakima home values out of the red? Well, maybe the answer is in the red.

In recent years, Washington’s wine industry has become the fastest-growing agricultural sector in the state. The number of Washington wineries has increased 400% in the last decade, attracting 2 million annual visitors to Washington wine country and creating a $2 million wine-tourism industry.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the economic downturn, people are still shelling out for the necessities in life. Like, good wine.

Here is the original post:

Earlier today, we wrote a post about two homes that miraculously survived the Santa Barbara wildfire. Unfortunately, the home of actor Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown in “Back to the Future”), was not one of them. His home at 1050 Coyote Rd., Santa Barbara, CA, (address according to Celebrity Real Estate) was destroyed by fire, reports Ann Brenoff of the LA Times.

Read the rest here:
Christopher Lloyd Loses His Home in Montecito Fire

The 117th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate is now posted over at Agent Genius. Author Benn Rosales awarded 5 top picks, but all submissions got a link!  You’ll have to head over and take a look to see who received this week’s top honor!

The carnival will make its next appearance on Monday, Nov. 24 at Stockton Real Estate Specialist. Please submit your best post by Sunday, Nov. 23, to be considered. Are you a real estate blogger and would you like to host a future edition? If so, get instructions on how to do so here. Please check the complete FAQ list if you have other questions as to how to participate.

See the original post here:
Carnival of Real Estate # 117

(Photo by Scott Heckel / GateHouse News Service)

That’s Bette and William Hammen above, of North Canton, OH. They are 85 and 83 years old, respectively, and they were THISCLOSE to losing their home to foreclosure this morning, but a recent check of CantonRep.com shows the sheriff’s sale of the couple’s home was canceled. Whew.

Their story is not easy to hear. According to the Holland Sentinel, the Hammen’s received a foreclosure notice back in February, but it got lost among the other mail and was never opened. Records show they took out a $105,000 mortgage on the house in 2006, but William doesn’t recall needing one until, “Two men showed up one day with papers to sign.” To add insult to injury, Hammen was involved in an Internet scam in which he was sending money to Nigeria, hoping to win a lottery. Also, he lost his car to the repo man.

As you can see, age and deteriorating health has played a big part in the Hammens’ present plight, but, for now, they are safe in their home. What’s the moral of this story? Check on your parents or elderly family members. Make sure their papers are in order and they’re not suckered into any kind of real estate scam. It’s always better to be safe, than sorry.

Read the rest here:

There are lots of creative stories emerging in this down real estate market such as the woman in Florida who is using a word jumble contest to try to sell a handful of homes and now, a video story on CNN that highlights a guy in Haslett, Michigan, who is trying to swap his lakefront house for a “metro Detroit home,” or get his asking price of $379k. Chris Recktenwald is using Craigslist to advertise the home with a link to the details of his swap idea. His home is right on Lake Lansing and is close to Lansing, Michigan State University, and the hub of auto manufacturers.

He loves his home on the lake (who wouldn’t), but would like to relocate to Detroit for job reasons. “I thought it would move fast, but there’s lots of uncertaintly in the market. People are interested, but can’t do it because their house can’t sell.” He is willing to trade up or trade down for a Detroit home.

In comparing Detroit home values to Lansing home values, Detroit has a Zillow Home Value Index of $85k, while Lansing is $107K. It’s not every day that you see someone who wants to move back into Detroit from a pristine, lakefront home in Lansing. Good luck, Chris.

See the rest here:
Michigan Man Using House Swap Idea

Home buyers want to see all possible listings, not just MLS listings. For an agent or broker website, why not enable buyers to search through all the listings on your own web site rather than making buyers go search elsewhere to see for sale by owner listings?

For those agents and brokers who are Diverse Solutions clients, they’ve just done the legwork for you. They are the first IDX vendor that I’ve seen to integrate non-MLS listings into their search interface. They’ve taken Zillow’s Postings API to allow buyers searching for homes in specific neighborhoods or ZIPs to view for sale by owner and Make Me Move(TM) homes (which are not officially for sale) from Zillow directly in their IDX interface. The links to Zillow utilize our co-branding technology and result in the agent or broker’s contact information and photo being displayed to the visitor throughout their session on Zillow. You can take a look at the functionality on their DEMO site here.

There are a ton of other new features that were added with this most recent release that you can read about on the Diverse Solutions Blog. Congratulations on the big release last week!

See more here:
Diverse Solutions Adds FSBO Listings From the Zillow API to their IDX Product

Congratulations to Jo Ellen Nash of Downing-Frye Realty, Inc in Naples, FL for being the winner of the iPod give away at our NAR booth.

Jo Ellen mentioned a few reasons why she is a great real estate agents (she uses Zillow for one thing), but now we know that she must be an even better mom. After getting so excited upon hearing that she won the iPod, she followed that up by saying her son has a birthday in a few days and would probably give it to him.  Now that’s a great mom!  I just hope he doesn’t read the Zillow blog so the surprise won’t be ruined!

Congratulations Jo Ellen.  Thank you for taking the time to stop by the Zillow booth in Orlando!

Continued here:
Congratulations To The NAR Conference iPod Winner

Congratulations to Jo Ellen Nash of Downing-Frye Realty, Inc in Naples, FL for being the winner of the iPod give away at our NAR booth.

Jo Ellen mentioned a few reasons why she is a great real estate agents (she uses Zillow for one thing), but now we know that she must be an even better mom. After getting so excited upon hearing that she won the iPod, she followed that up by saying her son has a birthday in a few days and would probably give it to him.  Now that’s a great mom!  I just hope he doesn’t read the Zillow blog so the surprise won’t be ruined!

Congratulations Jo Ellen.  Thank you for taking the time to stop by the Zillow booth in Orlando!

Read the original:
Congratulations To The NAR Conference iPod Winner

Last week, we dropped our real estate brokerage licenses in all states except Washington and Texas. (Inman’s excellent article on the topic can be found here.)

We first obtained brokerage licenses when Zillow was getting started as a legal precaution because we were displaying so much real estate data. We did not have brokerage licenses because we intended to act like a real estate brokerage or agent. Now, three years later, Zillow has become an accepted part of the industry, a source of information and transparency that is here to stay. Since the industry understands our media model and, in fact, participates actively in Zillow, we feel we can safely drop nearly all of our licenses.

We decided to keep the license in Texas because it is a non-disclosure state so having the brokerage license allows us to access certain data which helps us produce Zestimates. In Washington, we kept our license because it’s where we’re headquartered and it allows us to be more of a member of the real estate community here.

The response to this news has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s almost like the entire industry just let out a huge sigh of relief. Frankly, if we had realized just how much fodder the brokerage licenses provided for conspiracy theorists, we would have dropped them long ago. But, better late than never.

Hopefully this announcement will put to rest any concerns about some top secret Zillow plan to disintermediate Realtors or to compete with brokerages. Neither is true. We’re a friend to the real estate industry, and we’re very pleased to have dozens of fantastic partners with companies like Realogy, Keller Williams,  and Weichert, to name a few. Our Broker Advisory Board boasts industry luminaries like Steve Baird (Baird & Warner), Ken Baris (Jordan Baris), Bob Blount (RE/MAX Allegiance), Sherry Chris (Better Homes & Gardens), Craig Cuyar (Realogy), Dan Elsea (Real Estate One), Pat Lashinsky (Zip Realty), Mike Montsko (Weichert) and Mark Woodruff (Prudential Gary Greene).

You can learn more about how to work with Zillow in our “RE Pros” section of the site.

See the rest here:
Zillow Drops Brokerage Licenses