Real Estate Blog

Pretty much like everybody else in the soft economy, real estate agents are taking a pay cut and that’s giving sellers some bargaining power.

Sellers Get A Break On Commissions

Most of the learning we do in life is from observed behavior. This observed behavior happens in all environments from work to home. A few months ago, my wife, Joan, came to me because of observed behavior that Wesley, my five-year-old son, picked up. Joan was driving home from errands with Wesley in the car. She was following slow moving cars in front of her, and Wesley asked her why she was going so slow. Joan told him she couldn’t go any faster because there was a car in from of her. Wesley asked her, “Why don’t you just honk the horn; that’s what Daddy does.” I was busted! In Wesley’s mind, due to observation, he learned that a slow moving car means you should honk the horn.

Originally posted here:
Accomplish Team Training: Monkey See, Monkey Do

The recently passed Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 helps first-time homebuyers enter the housing market in a number of ways, like offering a tax credit of 10 percent of the cost of the home, not to exceed $7500. Builders are doing their part to stimulate activity at a time when sales activity is beginning to pick up pace. Pulte Homes, for example, is giving an even broader boost to buyers as with its “Jump-Start” promotion whereby every buyer who signs a purchase agreement on a new Pulte, Del Webb or DiVosta home through September 15, 2008 is eligible for at least $7,500 in savings in addition to any government-sponsored tax credits that may apply to their home purchase.

Continued here:
Builders Doing Their Part to Help Consumers Take Advantage of Tax Credits

Is the slump over for condo sales in Las Vegas? Having been designated as one of the leading foreclosure cities in the United States several times this last year, sales are edging up and prices holding steady.

Read the original post:
Condo Trends: Las Vegas Home Sales Increase Following Months of Drop

While not a large market, the Casper, Wyoming, real estate marketplace has skyrocketed in 2008. Pending home sales over the last few months (which is a sign of future business) have shot up dramatically month after month each month in 2008 to as much as 1,000 percent in January when 56 homes went under contract. Last January only 5 homes went under contract in the same market.

See the original post here:
Hot Market: Casper, Wyoming Pending Sales Explode

McLEAN, VA — Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.52 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending August 7, 2008, unchanged from last week when it averaged 6.52 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.59 percent.

More:
Long-Term Mortgage Rates Relatively Flat: Housing Industry Still in Deep Slump

Question: As a rookie, I am getting mixed signals from the old heads in the office. Some tell me not to waste my time with open houses. Others say it’s a great way to market your listings, get exposure, and satisfy your clients. I want to put my time where it’s likely to get the best return. Who is right?

See original here:
Ask Dr. Real Estate: Are Open Houses A Waste of My Valuable Time?

Housevalues lost $1.3 million in the 2nd quarter of 2008, the company reported in a press release last week. John Cook also reported that they lost over 400 customers in the same period.

But don’t shed a tear for HV - they’re still sitting on $62.7 million in cash. And that’s a bucket of cash that they’ve been willing to swing around a bit recently.

The press release highlighted RealtyGenerator, a company HouseValues acquired in November of last year. RealtyGenerator is a pretty slick product that functions as a lead generation and CRM tool for brokers and agents.

Personally, I was more curious in seeing what HouseValues had to say about its other investment - the $2.75 million they plunked down in January into ActiveRain.

Took a while for me to find any mention, but I did manage to dig this out of their Letter to Shareholders from the 2007 Annual Report (PDF link).

While the acquisition of Realty Generator will go a long way toward enhancing our products, we believe our investment in ActiveRain will help us broaden our sales reach. ActiveRain is a leading community and social networking platform for real estate professionals. The company has attained a high level of user engagement and has rapidly grown to more than 80,000 members. While ActiveRain will continue to operate as a completely independent business, our strategic relationship creates the potential for a new and rapidly growing channel.

Clearly Housevalues is excited about their new properties. I’m not sure investors were similarly moved however, as the stock price (SOLD) has remained relatively static.

Here is the original:
New Sales Channels for HouseValues

The follow up, contrary to what the name may seem to imply, is not limited to what you do after you say, “Goodbye.” More properly, it could be described as what you do after you say, “Hello” and detect that a customer wants to say, “Goodbye.” In short, the follow up involves taking the necessary steps from the outset of each sales presentation to bring customers back, ready to listen, understand and buy.

View original post here:
Bring People Back to Make the Sale

House, Spain, Villa with panoramic view to the sea (bay of El Portet) … 398.000 EUR

Here is the original post:
Moraira charming white villa

California’s median home price sank at a record level in May, but home sales came hard about in the state’s choppy sea of housing.

Read more:
Wild, Wild West: As The California World Turns

Student housing in major college and university towns has been one of the steadiest performing niches in real estate throughout the current down cycle. After all, no matter what’s going on in the economy, college students are still flooding campuses, they still need a place to live, and they strongly prefer private rental housing over dormitories.

Credit:
Investor Report: Student Housing Performing

In real estate, the traditional mantra was always location, location, location. In today’s world of value-based purchasing, it’s price, price, price. Around the country, prices have hit a psychological floor for buyers who now believe now is the time to get off the fence and get into the game of buying homes. Thus, slowly, prices and sales volume are starting to swing upward nationally.

Read the rest here:
Hot Market: Glacial Move In Prices, Sales Signaling Turn Around

Do you ever wonder what is holding you back? Do you ever wonder what is stopping you from having all the clients, all the money, and all the transactions that you desire? Chances are that you have all the skills and knowledge you need.

View post:
Real Estate Marketing Strategies: Are your Self-Limiting Beliefs holding you back?

McLEAN, VA — Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.37 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending July 10, 2008, up from last week when it averaged 6.35 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.73 percent.

More here:
No Big Changes in Mortgage Rates According to Freddie Mac Weekly Survey