Do your homework before buying a rental

Rent it Right

BY JANET PORTMAN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012.

Inman News®

House under scrutiny 

image via Shutterstock.

Q: We bought a single-family home to use as investment property. The sellers told us that the neighborhood, near a major university, is very popular with students because the rents are reasonable. We went ahead and closed the deal. Now we've discovered that in fact very few students live here (apparently the rents are prohibitive). This has made it very hard to find qualified tenants. Do we have any recourse against the sellers? --Stephen and Catherine

A: When your seller answered your questions about student renters and their ability to afford neighborhood rents, he was making a "representation," in legal lingo. A representation is a statement that is offered as the truth, sometimes couched in "to the best of my knowledge ..."

When a party to a contract makes a representation, it's a big deal -- if it's false or misleading, about a material (important) aspect of the deal, and the other side reasonably relies on it to their detriment, the "representer" is in for some legal trouble.

For example, telling a buyer that there's no problem with the neighbors next door, when in fact the neighbors account for continuous police visits, is a major misrepresentation that, if uncovered, would likely affect the buyer's decision to proceed.

Realtor dues help protect your business

Associations play active role in local, state and national legislation

BY BERNICE ROSS, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012.

Inman News®

"Realtor Party" logo from the National Association of Realtors' website, realtoractioncenter.com.

It's almost January and time to pony up and pay your dues to your local, state and national Realtor associations. In case you're not aware of the value the various associations to which you belong provide, keep reading. You may be very surprised.

It seems as if the majority of agents, brokers and associations are struggling with how to demonstrate their value. In the past, Realtors were the gatekeepers of the multiple listing service and created their value by the information they could provide consumers. The associations are also the keeper of the ethics of how the industry conducts itself as well being a primary source for providing education.

One function that very few agents pay attention to is the role that associations play in interacting with the politicians who can make or break our businesses. To illustrate this point, I recently attended a legislative review session sponsored by the Austin Young Professionals Network.

Six more headed to prison for roles in Miami condo mortgage fraud scheme

Father and son real estate brokers among those sentenced after guilty pleas

BY INMAN NEWS, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012.

Inman News®

The Jade at Brickell Bay. Photo credit: Marc Averette/Wikimedia Commons

A father and son who worked as real estate brokers are among a half-dozen defendants who have been sentenced to prison in recent weeks for their participation in a multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme at a luxury apartment complex on Miami's Brickell Bay Drive.

Prosecutors said the defendants used straw buyers to purchase residential properties at The Jade apartment complex, submitting mortgage loan applications and supporting documents containing false information to fraudulently obtain more than $5.6 million in mortgage proceeds from lenders.

The defendants submitted false HUD-1 statements to lenders, and created a second version of the HUD-1 statements listing the actual sales prices that they provided to the seller, prosecutors said. To keep the scheme going, the defendants made some mortgage and condominium association payments and collected rental income for the units. The mortgage fraud proceeds were diverted into shell companies for the defendants' personal use, prosecutors said.

After pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in September, real estate broker Andres Mendez Sr., 47, on Nov. 28 was sentenced to 5 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks. Mendez's son, Andy Mendez Jr., entered a similar plea and was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, 18 months of home confinement and five years of supervised release. Both were ordered to pay restitution of $4.23 million.

Real estate attorney Lilia Casal-Diaz, 42, who pled guilty in October to conspiracy to commit tax fraud, was sentenced on Dec. 7 to to a year and day in prison, along with one year of home confinement and three years supervised release, and ordered to pay $509,543 in restitution to the IRS.

Prosecutors said Casal-Diaz, who practiced law in Coral Gables, falsified HUD-1 documents and failed to report on IRS Form 1099-S the sales proceeds from the transactions, or intentionally under-reported proceeds. When approached by IRS investigators, Casal-Diaz provided the agents with a phony Form 1099-S document, claiming proceeds from one of the real estate closings was properly reported to the IRS.

Top 5 selling points sellers fail to mention

Mood of the Market

BY TARA-NICHOLLE NELSON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012.

Inman News®

Walk-in closet image via Shutterstock.

Anyone who has house hunted in the Internet age has at least one or two memorable examples of homes they felt were falsely advertised.

Rooms that were Photoshopped to luxurious (if deceptive) spaciousness.

Neighborhoods described as "up-and-coming" that should have been deemed "down-and-out."

Conveniently omitted factoids like the roof is caving in on one side.

These are extreme examples of the listing tomfoolery about which so many buyers complain.

But as I see it, these examples are exceptional precisely because they are exceptions to the norm. Thousands and thousands of other listings come on the market every year, making every effort to place the property in its best light while also representing it accurately.

In fact, I've actually noticed that much more common than the listings that contain exaggerations or flat-out falsehoods are those in which the property is undersold. These are the homes that buyers see online for a few weeks, and rule out for one reason or another, then get sweet-talked into seeing in person by their agent only to realize how completely fantastic the place is!

StreetAdvisor signs up 2 Re/Max affiliates

Brokerages are latest to integrate neighborhood reviews into their own websites

BY INMAN NEWS, MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2012.

Inman News®

Two large Re/Max franchises -- including the largest Re/Max franchise in the world, Denver area-based Re/Max Alliance -- are the latest brokerages to brand neighborhood info site StreetAdvisor's local reviews and highlight their agents as prominent local experts via the site.

By licensing its social-engineered review platform, brokerages can integrate StreetAdvisor's consumer neighborhood reviews and local "expert" Q&As. create a page highlighting their agents as neighborhood experts and promote their reviews, and display StreetAdvisor content fenced to their location and to their agents, said StreetAdvisor co-founder Adam Spencer.

StreetAdvisor launched its "Pro" white-label product in November, with New York-based Houlihan Lawrence and Cincinnati-based Comey and Shepherd Realtors as its first customers.

Get the upper hand on clutter

Realtor Notebook

BY TERESA BOARDMAN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2012.

Inman News®

Photo of a Tokyo family's possessions from "Material World: A Global Family Portrait" Sierra Club Books.

I have spent a lot of time in the past year getting rid of stuff. By stuff, I mean things that I bought or was given that I no longer use, or never used at all.

There is a lot less stuff in my home now than there was at the beginning of the year. The less I have, the more convinced I become that having less is better.

Most people have clothes that they have outgrown, knickknacks that they hate, and items that they bought for the kitchen that just didn't work out. Friends and relatives give us gifts that we don't know what to do with. But we can't bring ourselves to get rid of them, and over the years it accumulates. We own things that we have forgotten about.

Connecticut real estate broker, trainer and Inman Real Estate Connect ambassador Linda Davis started a group on Facebook for people who want to de-clutter. As a Realtor, Linda worked with people who have to deal with a lot of stuff when they move. The experience started her on a journey to get rid of clutter.

Davis encourages people to remove a little clutter from their lives each day. Hundreds have joined her group, actively participating and encouraging each other to keep going. The group has changed lives. Each day Linda photographs something that she got rid of, and asks us what WE got rid of. Just one thing at a time makes the process less overwhelming.

Trulia adds 3-D map view in upgraded Android apps

Crime, school and other information now available

BY INMAN NEWS, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2012.

Inman News®

Crime heat map view in Trulia's updated Android apps

Real estate marketplace Trulia's free Android phone and tablet apps now offer 3-D Google Maps display and integrate neighborhood information like crime data, school information and nearby amenities in map view.
With the update, Trulia Android app users will be able to see crime data via heat maps, school attendance boundary zones, and other information like nearby restaurants for the first time, said Steven Yarger, director of mobile at Trulia.
The upgrade, which utilizes, and coincides with, a Google Maps software platform update, will allow users to toggle between standard, angled and "satellite" map views in the apps and between 2-D and 3-D.
The 3-D map views, Yarger said, are similar to those seen in Google Earth (a 3-D map system from Google), and can be rotated by users using their fingers. The update also allows users to access indoor maps of locations like shopping malls, where they exist, he said.

Angled map view showing homes for sale in Trulia's updated mobile apps.
Users of Trulia's iPad app, Yarger noted, already had access to some of these features like neighborhood data, but the 3-D feature is new to all Trulia apps and exclusively for Android as of now.

The new Android apps also integrate tools from Trulia's mortgage center, which allow users to see mortgage rates from a variety of lenders via a link directly from a property view in the apps. IPad and iPhone users can access the tools, too, but they're in stand-alone apps, not integrated into the main Trulia app, Yarger said.
In May, Trulia debuted a mobile ads program that allows five agents per ZIP code to advertise on the map views of the company's mobile apps.
Trulia currently has 12 mobile apps that cover general real estate (6), rentals (4), agent needs (2), and consumer mortgage tools (2).

Housing recovery hinges on mortgage supply

Commentary: Outstanding mortgages now below $10 trillion for first time since 2005

BY LOU BARNES, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2012.

Inman News®

Mortgaged home image via Shutterstock.

Markets are very quiet despite the usual first-week-of-month flood of new data. In the last week the 10-year T-note has not traded above 1.63 percent nor below 1.58 percent, and mortgages are holding just below 3.5 percent depending on borrower and property.

The November payroll survey estimate arrived with a 146,000-job gain. That's better than forecast but garbled by Sandy, and we cannot know whether up or down. The unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, but may have been more distorted by Sandy than payrolls: The percent of unemployed fell because the surveyed workforce shrank.

"I'm calling from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If you are not at work, do you still have a job but just can't get to it? Have you quit looking for work because you're demoralized, or because a tree fell on your car? Hello? Hello? You're too cold to talk? You don't seem to understand how important this call is to the nation. Hello? Is your phone out? Yes, I know that if it were we wouldn't be talking. No need to be insulting."

Don't let expertise cost you listings

Conflict resolution in real estate

BY BERNICE ROSS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2012.

Inman News®

Lecturing mom image via Shutterstock.

Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series. Read Part 1.

Eric Berne's "The Games People Play" has powerful implications for how you conduct your real estate business, especially when it comes to the issue of resolving conflict. The question is, "Which games are you playing?"

Berne identified three different styles in which you can approach a "transaction" (i.e., a communication between two different people.) The three different approaches are "Adult," "Parent" and "Child."

Challenges are most easily resolved when both parties in the communication/negotiation approach it from an "Adult-Adult" approach. Part 1 identified what happens when the seller elects to respond to an "Adult" communication from his agent with a "Child" response. The example below illustrates what happens when the Agent acts as the "Adult" and the client acts as the "Parent."

Sally Agent: "John, properties with amenities similar to yours in this area have closed and qualified for a loan at $124 to $158 per square foot. The properties that have closed for more than $150 per square foot were all built in the last five years. Properties built 15 years ago have been selling for $135 to $145 per square foot."

Technology can't replace Realtor boots on the ground

Virtual tours are no substitute for seeing a property in person

BY ALISHA ALWAY BRAATZ, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012.

Inman News®

Boots image via Shutterstock.

Real Estate has gone the way of technology. What Realtor can function nowadays without their smart phone or iPad? Do you even remember the days before GPS? (I do. And I apologize to everyone who rode in my car.)

But there is one thing that the apps of today cannot replace: your brain. Which begs the question: Are you using your brain while you work, or are you running on autopilot? Are you engaged in your business? It matters.

Take a real estate tour, for example. Every area has one. Whether organized through your local MLS or through your brokerage, a tour of new listings has long been the bread and butter of a Realtor's life.

Attendance has tapered off in many cities, however, as Realtors turn to virtual tours and Google Earth in lieu of actually driving across town to view a property. Realtors who are touring listings are often lured in by drawings, Starbucks coupons, free meals, and lottery scratcher tickets, among other things. Sad, huh? But oh so true.

Radian mortgage insurance now available through Mortgagebot

Customers can now order PMI directly from loan origination system

BY INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012.

Inman News®

Mortgage insurance from Philadelphia-based Radian Guaranty Inc. is now available through a loan origination system from mortgage and consumer lending technology company Mortgagebot.

Financial technology firm D+H acquired Mequon, Wis.-based Mortgagebot in April 2011. The company counts more than 1,300 banks and credit unions nationwide as clients.

Radian Guaranty Inc., a private mortgage insurance and risk management provider, is a subsidiary of Radian Group Inc. Mortgagebot has now completely integrated Radian's mortgage insurance offerings into its Web-based Mortgagebot EnterpriseLOS, allowing customers of both companies to order Radian mortgage insurance directly from the platform.

"This is exciting news because it’s one more way Radian is working to accomplish one of our top priorities -- making it easier than ever to do business with us," said Brien McMahon, Radian’s chief franchise officer, in a statement.

New-home sales up 17.2 percent from a year ago

Supply of new homes steady at 4.8 months in October

BY INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012.

Inman News®

New homes image via Shutterstock.

Sales of new single-family homes dipped 0.3 percent from September to October but were up 17.2 percent from a year ago, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

The median sales price of new homes sold in October was $237,700, 5.7 percent above last October's level, but a 4.2 percent dip from September.

The Census Bureau says that the estimated 147,000 new homes for sale at the end of October represented a 4.8-month supply at the current seasonally adjusted rate of 368,000 sales per year. That's up slightly from 4.7 months in September but down from 6.1 months a year ago.

Puppy's adventures showcase Corcoran Group website

Brokerage commissions TV ads to demonstrate site's mobile, social capabilities

BY PAUL HAGEY, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012.
Inman News®

Screen shot of Marcel, star of Corcoran's TV commercial

Who wouldn't want to spend a day touring New York City's Upper East Side, taking a cab to get a massage at a mid-town day spa, getting a run in at the park, and doing some boutique shopping and meeting a significant other for a "romantic brunch?"

Marcel -- the French bulldog puppy who stars in The Corcoran Group's first scripted live-action TV commercial -- clearly does.

2-minute version of commercial by The Corcoran Group.

Marcel (his real name) will soon be familiar to TV viewers in the New York City market, where two-minute, 60-second and 30-second versions of an ad that showcases the mobile and social capabilities of the brokerage's new website launched Monday. The six-week ad campaign will also run in movie theaters and taxi cabs -- and on YouTube for long after that.

Zillow's 'social CEO' sounds off on Twitter, company's future

Connect speaker profile: Spencer Rascoff

BY PAUL HAGEY, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2012.

Inman News®

Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff on stage at Real Estate Connect San Francisco.

Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff has had quite a year.

Zillow signed agreements in 2012 to acquire four companies (RentJuice, Buyfolio, Mortechand Hotpads) and at the end of the third quarter had 508 full-time employees, up 54 percent from a year ago.

The nation's most-visited real estate website also boosted the number of "Premier Agent" advertising subscribers by 80 percent (to 26,703 as of Sept. 30), unleashed a free online foreclosure database, and launched its firstnational TV ad campaign.

To help fuel this growth, last year Zillow pulled off a $75.7 million initial public offering -- helping bring back the market for IPOs in the process. The company recently raised another $156.7 million in a secondary offering that closed Sept. 24.

Rascoff, 36, was named to Fortune Magazine's "40 hottest rising business stars under 40."

He's been called a "social CEO." He writes a blog, contributes to LinkedIn's "influencer" program, and Tweets frequently.

Buying a house with resale in mind

4 factors that will make profiting more likely

BY DIAN HYMER, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2012.

Inman News®

Curb appeal image via Shutterstock.

At the end of the 1970s, '80s and '90s, homeowners in many areas cashed in big profits when they sold. This enabled them to trade up to a bigger home, sometimes in a better neighborhood.

Homeowners used their homes as piggy banks through the use of home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) to buy cars, pay for vacations and medical bills, renovate their homes, and pay for college educations and retirement.

The recent housing recession brought a halt to this as home values dropped 30 percent or more, depending on location, wiping out equity for some and leaving many who bought with a low cash down payment with negative equity. More than 24 percent of homeowners in the U.S. today have a mortgage value that exceeds the market value of their homes.

7 customs to know before taking on foreign clients

Cultural differences in real estate

BY BERNICE ROSS, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2012.

Inman News®

Businessman image via Shutterstock.

Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series. Read Part 1.

Working with global clients can become a highly profitable niche for your real estate business provided you are curious about your clients' culture and you stay away from the pitfalls that can undermine your success.

Part 1 of this series outlined two important pitfalls to avoid when working with global clients: discussing anything about them or their transactions and avoiding questions about their profession or how much they earn. Here are seven additional pitfalls to avoid.

Americans still dreaming of big, opulent homes

Coldwell Banker Pinterest boards reveal 'Ultimate House'

BY INMAN NEWS, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2012.

Inman News®

This photo of a 7,500-square-foot mansion near Bellevue, Wash., is one of the most repinned on Coldwell Banker's Pinterest boards.

The housing bubble and recession may have dented even the fattest wallets, but Americans still have a soft spot in their hearts for grandiose, extravagant and ostentatious homes, if the most repinned photos on Coldwell Banker Real Estate's Pinterest boardsare any indication.

Pinterest is "the place to be for dreamers, and dreaming of a perfect home is something that millions do every day regardless of whether they are pinning their dreams on Pinterest or not," writes Lindsay Listanski on the Coldwell Banker "Blue Matter" blog. "So we wondered ... if we took the most repinned photos from our boards what would the ultimate house actually look like?"

Strong sales and tight inventory boost home prices

NAR: Median home price in October up 11.1 percent from a year ago

BY INMAN NEWS, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2012.

Inman News®

Housing trend image via Shutterstock.

A combination of rising sales and the lowest inventory in six years helped existing-home prices post annual gains for the eighth month in a row in October, the National Association of Realtors said today.

Sales of existing homes were up 2.1 percent from September to October and 10.9 percent from a year ago, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million.

At $187,600, the national median price for all housing types including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops was up 11.1 percent from a year ago. The national median price last posted eight consecutive months of annual gains before the crash -- from October 2005 to May 2006.

Also released today, a survey by the National Association of Home Buildersshowed builder confidence rose in November for the seventh month in a row to its highest point since May, 2006.

Rising home prices are boosting home equity, and NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun thinks the improvement could be even greater next year.

Honest marketing proposals get listings

5 basic expectations sellers and agents should agree on

BY ALISHA ALWAY BRAATZ, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2012.

Inman News®

Agreement image via Shutterstock.

Journey back with me to those first few months after becoming a bona fide real estate agent: You had a desk full of brand-new file folders, a shiny name badge, and a go-get'em attitude that just wouldn't quit!

If you were anything like me, you'd also invested in a full-grain leather briefcase and some hoity-toity shoes, too. Fake it till you make it, right? Right!

Until the new excitement wears off and you find yourself shrinking in the back row of the office meeting and thinking please don't call on me!

What happens to your taxes if we go over the fiscal cliff

Real Estate Tax Talk

BY STEPHEN FISHMAN, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2012.

Inman News®

Fiscal cliff image via Shutterstock.

If you've been paying any attention to the news, you doubtless know that the United States is rapidly approaching a "fiscal cliff."
This is the date that various tax cuts and benefits enacted over the past 11 years are set to expire. That date is Jan.1, 2013.
It's quite possible that President Obama and Congress will come to some agreement before Jan. 1 and extend at least some of these tax cuts.
However, it seems equally possible that they won't.

What happens as of Jan. 1 if no deal is reached and we plunge off the cliff? Your taxes are going to go up.

The following handy chart shows what will happen if the most important of these tax provisions expire.

2 questions you should never ask foreign clients

Cultural differences in real estate

BY BERNICE ROSS, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012.

Inman News®

Foreign real estate clients image via Shutterstock.

Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series.

Sooner or later you will probably work with a buyer or seller from another country. If you handle the transaction well, you can have a steady stream of referrals for many years to come. The key is how to avoid the cultural pitfalls that could cost you the deal.

With the worst of the real estate downturn behind us, the United States continues to be an attractive place for offshore investors to purchase property. Establishing a niche serving global buyers and sellers can be a smart move for a variety of reasons.

Freddie Mac offers agent bonuses on REO sales

$1,000 for buyer's agents, $500 for listing agents on sales closing by April 15

BY INMAN NEWS, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012.

Inman News®

Santa Claus image via Shutterstock.

Freddie Mac is offering a $1,000 bonus to agents who represent buyers of "HomeSteps" properties from its inventory of real estate owned (REO) homes in 20 states, and $500 to listing agents.
The HomeSteps winter sales promotion, which kicked off today, applies to offers received between Nov. 15, 2012, and Feb. 28, 2013, and closing on or before April 15, 2013, for properties in Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
Investor purchases, auction sales, sealed-bid sales or bulk sales are not eligible for the program. At the end of September, Freddie Mac had 50,919 REO homes in the HomeSteps program, about two-thirds of which were located in those 20 states.

1stdibs.com attracting high-end listings

Houlihan Lawrence latest luxury broker to market homes on the site

BY INMAN NEWS, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012.

Inman News®

A Sotheby's International Realty listing featured on 1stdibs.com.

Luxury real estate brokers are discovering yet another way that the rich are different -- instead of shopping on Amazon.com, they're pining over fine art, jewelry, fashion and now homes at online luxury marketplace 1stdibs.com.

Westchester County, N.Y.-based real estate brokerage Houlihan Lawrence is the latest brokerage to market listings on site, saying it will display 100 upper-tier homes on the high-end online marketplace this month.

The homes will show up under the "Fine Homes" section of the 1stdibs.comwebsite, where luxury home shoppers can see listings from luxury brokers operating in markets like New York, California, Florida, Texas, Washington, D.C., and France, the only featured international market.

Other New York brokerages with listings on the site include Prudential Douglas Elliman and Realogy Holdings Corp. subsidiaries The Corcoran Group, Sotheby's International Realty and Coldwell Banker Real Estate. California's Warwick Property Group and Texas-based Greenwood King Properties are also marketing listings at 1stdibs.com.

Uncertainty, QE3 push mortgage rates to new lows

Demand for purchase loans rebounding after Hurricane Sandy

BY INMAN NEWS, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2012.

Inman News®

Percent sign image via Shutterstock.

With U.S. lawmakers heading toward the edge of the "fiscal cliff," government-backed mortgage bonds that fund the vast majority of home loans are looking like a safe haven for investors, helping push mortgage rates to new lows.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.34 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Nov. 15, down from 3.4 percent last week and 4 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

That's a new low in Freddie Mac records dating to 1971. In the four decades that Freddie Mac has conducted the mortgage market survey, rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans had never been below 4 percent until last year.

The survey showed rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaging 2.65 percent with an average 0.7 point, down from 2.69 percent last week and 3.31 percent a year ago. That's also a new record in Freddie Mac records dating to 1991.

Should lockboxes be mandatory?

NAR revisiting rule governing 'optional' MLS, association services

BY MATT CARTER, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012.

Inman News®

Lockbox image via SentriLock LLC

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct that while some Realtor associations and MLSs want all of their members to pay for lockbox services, those members would not be required to use the devices. The subhead of the story as originally published stated that the NAR policy under review prohibits MLSs and associations from requiring the use of lockboxes. The policy only prohibits MLSs and associations from requiring that members pay for lockbox services.   

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The National Association of Realtors is considering whether multiple listing services and Realtor associations will be allowed to require that their members pay for some services that are now considered optional, such as lockboxes.

At least three MLSs have notified NAR of their desire to require all of their subscribers to pay for lockbox services, citing security issues when members don't use the devices, and potential cost savings from universal member participation.

A policy adopted by NAR in 1996 to curb potential abuses of authority by MLSs and local Realtor associations limits the services that can be included in member dues. Products and services are defined as either "core," "basic" or "optional."

Bulk REO sales have California Realtors calling for FHFA leadership change

Investors buy 1,763 homes in 5 states

BY INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012.

Inman News®

Bulk sales image via Shutterstock.

California Realtors are calling for a change of leadership at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) following the first transactions in a pilot initiative to sell real estate owned (REO) homes in bulk to large corporate investors.

The California Association of Realtors has previously criticized the agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for moving forward with the initiative in California without giving full consideration to the objections of state lawmakers or the program's potential negative economic impact on housing markets and cost to taxpayers.

CAR has also criticized what it said was "the highly secretive manner" in which the bulk sales were carried out, objecting to the FHFA's failure to publicly disclose sales prices and exact locations for individual properties.

Google Ventures backing agent matching site

HomeLight features only top agents based on performance data

BY ANDREA V. BRAMBILA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012.

Inman News®

Screen shot from HomeLight home page.

A new real estate technology company backed by Google Ventures, among others, officially made its debut into the fractious world of agent rankings today.

HomeLight is a referral-based site that claims to match homebuyers and sellers with unbiased real estate agent recommendations based on transaction performance data.

The site launched out of beta today with $1.5 million in funding in hand from Google Ventures (the venture-capital arm of search giant Google), Crosslink Capital, Innovation Endeavors, and several undisclosed angel investors.

The company had been in beta since late last year.

MLS most used Internet resource for homebuyers

NAR's survey of buyers and sellers reveals most find agents through referrals

BY INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012.

Inman News®

Crowd image via Shutterstock.

Multiple listing service (MLS) websites were used by more homebuyers when searching for their home than any other source of online information, including third-party listing sites and mobile apps, according to the National Association of Realtors' 2012 survey of 8,501 homebuyers and sellers.

Fifty-four percent of the homebuyers who used the Internet (90 percent of respondents) to help them find a home used their local MLS site, according to the survey, conducted in June 2012 and representing the 12 months spanning July 2011 to the end of June. All respondents had purchased a home in that time period.

Social media lets brokers get proactive about recruiting

Once prospects are identified, vet them closely

BY MATT CARTER, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2012.

Inman News®

Job interview image via Shutterstock.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- With housing markets on the mend, competition for top agents is heating up, and real estate brokers should be using social media sites like LinkedIn to proactively target agents they want to recruit instead of posting a help wanted ad and waiting passively for responses to come in.

That's the advice former headhunter Daniel Abramson had for real estate brokers attending the National Association of Realtors' annual Realtors Conference and Expo in Orlando today.

But identifying good prospects is only half of the equation, said Abramson, the president and founder of training and coaching firm StaffDynamics. In-depth interviews are needed to determine who's got the right combination of people skills and determination to succeed.

Social networking "is only a vehicle for bringing in people. You still have to interview them," Abramson said.

Realty One Group now a franchisor

California broker Barbara Baker is first to affiliate with company

BY PAUL HAGEY, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 Inman News®

Real estate brokerage Realty One Group Inc. has entered the franchising business with Temecula, Calif.-based broker Barbara Baker affiliating with the company as Realty One Group Southwest.
Currently, Realty One Group Southwest has between 15 and 20 agents, and expects to grow to between 50 and 75 by year's end, Baker said.
Based in Las Vegas, Realty One Group operates 15 brokerage offices with more than 4,000 agents in Arizona, Nevada and Southern California.
In August, CEO Kuba Jewgieniew announced that the company would develop a franchise system as the next step in the company's plans to expand nationwide and become a publicly traded company.
With Baker on board, Realty One Group's new franchising arm, Irvine, Calif.-based Realty One Group Affiliates Inc., now has its first franchisee.

'Nudge' real estate marketing tool now incorporates photos

Version 2.0 of 1000watt app allows updates directly from Instagram

BY INMAN NEWS, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012.

Inman News®

Nudge, the Web-based app from real estate marketing firm 1000watt Consulting that allows real estate pros to create clear, straightforward ads in a short amount of time, now incorporates photos.
The app was designed to be a streamlined, simple real estate marketing alternative to the sometimes difficult-to-relate-to marketing reports full of text, charts and graphs, said 1000watt partner Marc Davison, who helped design the app.
With the release of Nudge 2.0, users can now update photos directly from Instagram, or from their desktop, and create straightforward ads akin to those from big-brand ads like Groupon, Davison said.
The first iteration of the app, released in April, had 10 clip art-like interactive images that users could modify to indicate broad market conditions such as whether inventory was up or down.
Users would adjust the art in its predetermined settings, give it a title, include some text (450-character max) and then send it out over email, embed it on their website or share it via social media.
Now, while retaining many of the app's former characteristics, Nudge allows real estate pros to add their own images and includes a streamlined design, Davison said. In a nutshell, he said, it's now become a marketing tool that allows users to create a marketing piece with "a nice image, simple text and a call to action."

"Marketing should have a soft touch," Davison said. "A Groupon comes every day for one cool thing," and Nudge makes it easy for real estate pros do to the same thing, he said.

Screen shot of part of a Nudge piece made by Fort Worth, Texas-based Fischer Real Estate Services. See the full version here.
"(N)udge makes digital marketing easier," wrote Jack Miller, the chief technology officer of the Austin, Texas, real estate firm The GoodLife Team, in a Facebook comment posted today. "We did some tests with it in the earlier version, and I'm very excited about the creative possibilities with it now with the photo tools. Cool stuff."
Nikki Beauchamp, an agent with Warburg Realty Partnership Ltd., indicated that she was excited by Nudge's ability to allow her to market differently than she usually does. "I like sharing my photos various places," she said in a Facebook comment today. "But very exciting to be able to use as a more general marketing touch other than 'here's new data.'"
1000watt charges individual agents $149 per year for access to platform. Brokerages, regardless of the number of agents they have, can purchase the service for a flat fee of $1,000 per month.

Counseling keeping homeowners in their homes

Study: Nearly 70 percent who sought counseling before becoming delinquent were current 18 months later

BY STEVE BERGSMAN, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012 Inman News®

Home sweet home image via Shutterstock.

Since the onset of Great Recession and the subsequent housing crisis, hundreds of thousands of homeowners have lost their residences.
However, there were also thousands of other homeowners who were close to the desperate edge but managed to make it through those trying times because they were counseled by professionals who steered them past the economic shoals.
While it looks like the worst is over for homeowners, there's still much trouble in paradise and organizations that do counseling have begun to pick up the pace.
In August, Fannie Mae announced it opened an extension of its Los Angeles Mortgage Help Center in the Inland Empire region to provide free education and counseling services to struggling California homeowners. Fannie Mae now has 12 Mortgage Help Centers around the country.

Meanwhile, earlier in the summer, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) launched a telephone counseling program aimed at helping homeowners in six states who are facing foreclosure.

3 things you should know about mortgage insurance

REThink Real Estate

BY TARA-NICHOLLE NELSON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 Inman News®

Calculator image via Shutterstock.

Q: I'm trying to get a better understanding of private mortgage insurance (PMI). I understand the fundamentals and that it usually equals 1/2 percent-1 percent of the mortgage, but what I'm not sure about is how it is paid.
Is the PMI paid each year until you reach the 20 percent mortgage-to-value ratio? Can you elect to pay the PMI upfront if you do not want the cost of the policy to be included in your monthly mortgage payments?
If you are allowed to pay PMI upfront, instead of monthly, do you have to pay the full premium at the beginning of each year?
A: When you put less than 20 percent of the purchase price down on a home, your lender will charge you for the costs of placing a private mortgage insurance, or PMI, policy on your home loan. Though the borrower pays for it, the policy actually protects the lender in the event that the borrower defaults on the loan -- a risk that is statistically more likely to damage the lender's interests when there is little equity in the property.

Don't 'date' the real estate ingrate

How to spot would-be clients you should drop like a hot potato

BY ALISHA ALWAY BRAATZ, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012.

Inman News®

Date image via Shutterstock.

I recently heard a radio host reading a piece on the subject, "Who not to date -- ever." It was so funny, and right on, that I tried to Google it for my husband to read.

Turns out there are millions of results for that search term. I never did find the right one. But after reading through the first 10 or so entries, I concluded that trillions of people the world over hate a nag, a know-it-all, and a money-grubber.

The stereotypes were spot-on, and it got me thinking about our real estate clientele. Because, you have to admit, courting a client is a lot like dating -- minus the butterflies, romance and tequila shots.

We dedicate weekends to these people, buy them steak dinners and have their number on speed dial. We practice making small talk in the rearview mirror on the way to pick them up. We dress to impress. We wash the car. And we never pass gas or burp in front of them (I hope!).

5 ways to achieve top producer's mindset

The SLAM model for real estate success

BY BERNICE ROSS, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012 Inman News®

Vince Lombardi painting by Daniel A. Moore via Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

Editor's note: This is the last in a five-part series. See Part 1,Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Top performers in virtually all industries share one common trait: a positive mindset. You can have the best systems, and understand how to apply leverage and attraction, but it is your mindset that will ultimately make or break your success.