Real Estate Blog

My posting last week was relatively light due to a hectic business travel schedule Monday-Wednesday and then the Inman Real Estate Connect Conference in San Francisco.  It was great to be participating in the conference, but the big highlight for me was meeting CR of Calculated Risk and Merlin Mann both in person.  Connect had a great setup with an opportunity called “Meet the Leaders” where you could come up and talk to the keynote panelists.  I wasn’t missing out on meeting either of those two gentlemen and I’m glad I did.

If you haven’t you should check out Calculated Risk (it’s a must read for the mortgage/economy) and Merlin Mann (his site is a must read for productivity).

In addition to those two folks I met a ton of real estate bloggers (too many to name here) but it was great to meet all those folks and talk instead of blog and comment at each other!

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Inman Connect - Awesome

It’s hard to believe the Inman’s “Real Estate Connect” conference is only a week away. I’m looking forward to seeing many familiar (and new) faces next week, kicking off with our sponsorship of the 3rd Beer with Bloggers event. We’ve been asked several times about the details for this year’s Beer with Bloggers, so here’s the scoop:

What: Beer for Bloggers, a get-together for bloggers who are registered for Inman’s Bloggers Connect. conference.

When: Tuesday, July 22, 6-8 PM

Where: Cafe Du Nord (same venue as RE Bar Camp)

We’ll post another reminder post as we get close to the event, but wanted to put the details out there. We have had a great time at the two previous Beer for Bloggers events (the first in San Francisco and the second in New York). We hope to see you there!

Excerpt from:
Beer with Bloggers 2008

Strong odor + burned out trees = potential meth lab. This equation adds up to an alleged meth lab in this neighborhood in Houston. As reported on ABC13.com in Houston, this house is supposedly where the meth house is located and where one firefighter had to be rescued after being overcome by fumes. Neighbors are shocked at the reports and one commenter on Swamplot reports their own observations of this Oak Creek Village neighborhood. Below is a screenshot of the alleged home. Is it my imagination, or does it seem like the trees in front of the house are dead?

Excerpt from:
Meth Lab Found in Sedate Houston Neighborhood

If you’re at all concerned that your home’s value will dwindle if a nearby Starbucks store closes, you can check to see if your ‘hood is on the list. Starbucks just released its first closure list.

More here:
Starbucks Store Closing Locations Announced

The 99th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate is posted at Homethinking Blog. There are 5 posts highlighted, with Dan Green’s “12 Bullet Points That Matter to Every Home Buyer in America” easily taking top honors. For example, his intro paragraph, “If you plan to buy a new home in 2008 or 2009, give a lot of thought to moving up your timeframe. Mortgage approvals are about to get more scarce and more expensive for everyone,” should be compelling enough to dash over to The Mortgage Reports, pronto! Scary times, these are…

Next week: CoRE Reaches 100!

Drumroll, please… Yes, we will have reached the grand ‘ol number of 100, which means the Carnival of Real Estate, or CoRE for easier reference, will have been published 100 times since launching way back on July 17, 2006. Ah, the early, wild years of CoRE were interesting. Walking down memory lane, CoRE’s #2 post was by Dan Melson of Searchlight Crusade. And look at these early adopters of CoRE who contributed in August, 2006: Property Grunt, Brownstoner, Pine Needle Lawn, and The Landlord Blog. A big thanks to everyone who has supported the CoRE over the past 2 years and has helped make it what it is today.

The host of the 100th CoRE on Monday, July 21, is yours truly! Please submit your best post by Sunday, July 20, to be considered for inclusion in the 100th. 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.

More here:
Carnival of Real Estate #99

I recently stumbled upon this MSN article on kitchen remodeling trends for 2008. Most of the new trends weren’t a surprise to me (“green” is in, whirlpool tubs are out). But what really jumped out at me was the hunch that today’s stainless steel appliances may be going the way of those avocado appliances from the ‘70s. Meaning, on their way out. The article says that “concealed” appliances — tucked away behind cabinet doors — are gaining in popularity.

I must say, I’m skeptical. Sure, stainless steel appliances are a pain to keep smudge-free, but everywhere I look, I’m still seeing loads of stainless. One click over to the Dueling Digs kitchens section, our source for kitchen remodeling ideas, and you’ll see that the trend is still going strong. Stainless still reigns supreme in the most popular kitchens, such as this airy San Francisco kitchen and this Carlsbad, California beauty.

So what did we do? We called in the professionals. Seattle interior designer Theresa Benny of NB Design Group said:

“We love stainless, and can’t imagine it going out of style.  Of course, we do pretty modern, clean design, which stainless is perfect for.  We have designed kitchens with custom wood overlay panels, for the fridge or dishwasher for instance. We really try to steer our designs away from trends.  Stainless finishes are classic and timeless, which follows our design motto too.”

So there you go — stainless is still “in” (and probably will be for a long time), but custom overlays are also a popular option.

What do you think? Is stainless here to stay?

Continued here:
Kitchen Remodel Trends: Stainless on Its Way Out?

Zillow is edging closer to 3 million homes for sale (see the “Homes Currently on Zillow” counter box on the Zillow home page) and mixed in among these millions are many celebrity homes for sale. Sometimes you know, sometimes you don’t. For example, Michael Vick’s former Virginia home contains the facts right in the seller’s description: “THE MICHAEL VICK HOUSE.”

Here’s one that caught our eye and with some sleuthing, we discovered it’s Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter’s home in Parkland, Florida. Not sure if Nick is cutting his ties with Florida, but it is reported that he also recently purchased a home in L.A.

Note: If you look closely at the photo above, you can see photos on the wall of Nick with the other Backstreet Boys.

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It’s amazing that real estate agents and home owners allow really, really bad photos to be published as part of the real estate listing. I suppose a bad photo is better than nothing. Or, is it? You make the call:

• The blog “It’s Lovely, I’ll Take It!” devotes itself to “A collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate listings. With love.” [Hat tip to A Whole Lotta Nothing]
• Athol Kay’s REagent blog has a category “Bad MLS Photo of the Day” with some funny commentary.
• Newsday’s Real LI blog has a category “Retake this photo, please” which gives us really bad photos, Long Island-style.

Maybe a class by Larry Lohrman will save all of us from sabotaging our real estate listings.

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Bad and Really Bad Real Estate Photos

When I was 8, my family moved into the Northshore School District because word on the street (AKA, other moms in playgroup) was that Northshore test scores were high, class sizes small, and teachers friendly. Based on this informal school “research” we purchased a new home inside the school district boundaries and relocated across town.

Zillow, as of this week, is making it easier for families to simultaneously find out information about schools (and homes) on Zillow, and then compare them on an apples to apples basis. Now, on all home details pages, there is data about the elementary, middle, and high schools in the neighborhood. In addition to standard demographics and enrollment statistics, you can uncover unique school information such as Sports, Classes, Clubs,  SAT/ACT scores, and aerial photos (check out the impressive sports fields!).

Just for fun, search for your childhood schools and see how good kids these days have it. From Art Club and Marching Band, to Ecology Club and Golf, it’s pretty impressive how many options are available!

Go here to read the rest:
Zillow Introduces School Data

Evander Holyfield was prominently mentioned as part of a recent celebrity foreclosure blog post, which listed the latest, greatest celebrities to be at risk of foreclosure. It looks like Evander, in true heavyweight boxing fashion, ducked the threat of losing his sprawling Fayetteville, GA, mansion to a July 1 auction date when he came up with the money for child support and, evidently, a mortgage payment.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Holyfield’s financial problems came to light when a legal notice in a small suburban newspaper said his 54,000-square-foot home — which has 109 rooms, including 17 bathrooms, three kitchens and a bowling alley — would be auctioned off because he had defaulted on a $10 million loan.

But the lender, Washington Mutual Bank, pulled the home from its auction list after an apparent settlement was reached. The bank said it was barred by privacy laws from commenting on Holyfield’s case.

What? No boxing ring in the house? 

Source:
Evander Holyfield Ducks Foreclosure Punch.. for Now

Many real estate professionals and publications have links from their websites to pages on Zillow.com. If you link to Zillow we now have a great way to show you just how grateful we are that you do! Any website that links to any page on Zillow.com can virtually follow their site’s visitors to Zillow.com and co-brand their experience on the site. And co-branding includes a handy link back to your website.

So what does this mean for web publishers, exactly? When someone clicks on a Zillow link on your Web site or blog they will see your branding at the top of each page they visit on Zillow.com. Co-branding includes your profile photo, contact information and a link to your Web site. There are 2 main requirements for co-branding your links — you must have an active Zillow profile and the link you co-brand must reference your Zillow profile name.

Here are four ways a web publisher can participate in the co-branding program;

• Any link to Zillow can be co-branded. Simply add the code “?scrnnm=zillowscreenname” to any links to a page on Zillow.com. You will need to substitute your Zillow account screen name for “zillowscreenname.” If you are a blogger, any link on your blog can now generate a co-branded experience. [And a hint to PHP developers out there; a WordPress plugin to automatically add Zillowscreen name to any blogged Zillow links would be super-cool!]
• Mortgage rate widgets are co-branded by default. Our brand new mortgage rate widgets provide great content for a real estate website or blog. Anyone who clicks on the rate widget on your site will see your co-branding when they arrive in the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.
• Profile badges are co-branded by default. Also brand new today are profile badges that bloggers and others can use to link to their profiles on Zillow. To see what badges are available to you, simply check out your profile page for more details.
• Zillow API partners can co-brand their API links to Zillow. If you use any of Zillow’s API’s to publish Zestimates, property records or local information on your site, we encourage you to co-brand those links.

Successful web publishers inevitably refer their visitors to other sites for additional information. Whether you send them to Zillow for detailed mortgage rate information, home values, local data and photos of neighborhoods and cities, a look at Zillow’s quarterly home value reports, or just to get remodeling ideas – you will now remain top of mind with your photo or logo along with a link back to your Web site on top of every page during their current session.

Happy linking!

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Today, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace reached a couple of impressive milestones: more than 50,000 loan requests have been submitted, and more than 3,000 lenders responded to those requests with 250,000 loan quotes. All of this activity has taken place since the product’s launch on April 3 — just three months ago!

In addition to the previous feedback we received from borrowers, our site metrics tell us that on average, borrowers wait only 18 minutes to receive their first quote from lenders, and each loan request receives 8 quotes. Some requests are even receiving more than 30 loan quotes! Here is what some borrowers have to say about Zillow Mortgage Marketplace:

• “I like the fact that I am not being contacted by the lenders, and that I have the freedom to choose which company I want to deal with.”
• “I like the anonymity of the whole process. I felt like I was in control and not pressured.”
• “This is the ideal way to shop for mortgages. Thanks for giving the power to the consumer.”

Not only is Zillow Mortgage Marketplace helping borrowers, but it is also working for lenders. According to a recent survey among confirmed lenders, two-thirds of lenders have been contacted by at least one borrower. Lenders stated that the greatest benefits of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace are the ability to get free, unlimited leads, and the ability to get quality leads. These benefits, combined with the effectiveness they’ve seen so far, resulted in lenders rating Zillow Mortgage Marketplace 32% higher than Bankrate and 18% higher than LendingTree in terms of overall satisfaction. Here are some quotes from happy lenders:

• “I have worked Internet leads like Lending Tree and Lower My Bills and I can say I actually prefer Zillow leads, for the pure fact I don’t have to chase anyone. Any loan officer can hunt; pounding the ground with their network or grinding on the phone making cold calls. But here on Zillow, we fish. I choose my river, cast my net and watch it work.” Aaron Opfell, Sunrise Vista Mortgage Corporation, Citrus Heights, CA
• “I previously used online search marketing, but I have suspended that because Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is driving more traffic.” Gregorio Denny, Tripoint Mortgage Group, San Diego, CA

If you’re looking for a loan, it takes minutes to fill out the form and there is no obligation, no personal information revealed and no one will call you until you initiate contact. If you’re a lender, it’s pretty easy to see that you can fish all day for free. And yes, the bites and catches are coming.

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Zillow Mortgage Marketplace Milestones

First Team Real Estate, one of Southern California’s finest real estate companies, is now in partnership with Zillow to display their property listings on our site.

First Team is the number one independent real estate company in sales in southern California. As such, they have taken proactive measures in today’s business climate to further increase their marketing presence, including the submission of their listings to Zillow.

First Team began operations in 1976 with 4 agents and have grown both in size and reputation. Today they have almost 1,850 agents with almost $5 billion in sales volume last year alone.  Good job team!

Welcome First Team! We are proud to be a partner.

If you too would like to create a feed to have your listings appear in front of Zillow’s monthly audience of five million  visitors, please visit www.ZillowFeeds.com to get started.  PS - We generated a million clicks to our listing partners last month!

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Zillow Welcomes First Team as a Listings Partner

Former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, who was convicted in 2007 of bankrolling a dog fighting operation and is now serving a 23-month sentence in the federal pen in Leavenworth, Kansas, made headlines again today by filing for bankruptcy protection. Vick allegedly owes approximately $10-50 million to creditors.

Vick’s former Virginia home where the dogfighting occurred (photo above) is on the market for $995,000. Vick bought the home in 2001 for $35,000, then sold it in 2007 to an investor — reportedly for a tremendous below-the-market value of $450,000. It was to be auctioned off last December, but the bidding never rose to the level the investor liked, so here it is, on the market again. Vick’s home in Duluth, GA, (photo below) is also listed for sale by Funari Realty for $4,500,000 and it looks like it’s been for sale for a while.

Excerpt from:
Michael Vick Files for Bankruptcy

Coffee giant Starbucks was admired for its real estate acumen for installing stores in prime locations throughout the globe. The Starbucks brand and the demographic that it attracts is so revered that to have a Starbucks store in a neighborhood, means area homes prices go up in value. So, with 600 Starbucks stores closing in the next year, homeowners can only hope and pray that their area Starbucks won’t be among the 600.

Starbucks’ biggest mistake was to place their stores too close to one another — some within a mile of each other and the other trouble spot brokers and analysts point to is the housing crisis. Many of the newer Starbucks stores were built in areas of expected population growth that never took off. In this case, Starbucks was ready for takeoff, but the real estate market didn’t follow.

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Starbucks Effect: Will Closings Hurt Home Values?