Why is nobody making my dream real estate app?

Realtor Notebook

BY TERESA BOARDMAN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012.

Inman News®

Dreaming image via Shutterstock.

I was recently asked by a company that builds iPad apps what kind of app I would like to see.

I did not hesitate to suggest an app that I could use to write real estate contracts. No one but agents who use iPads in the field fully understands what I am looking for, and I don't think the app is being built.

Pen and paper are easier than some of the clunky apps and mobile sites I have used to fill out forms and make offers, and that is just wrong. Some of them can reduce an agent to tears when they crash and the offer vanishes.

I want a single, easy to use app that works on my iPad where I can load or access the entire library of real estate forms, add forms of my own, and write offers for my clients, have them signed on the screen or electronically and manage them from cradle to grave and access them from any device.

The real cost of social media

Landing prospects through social media requires an investment of time

BY DAVID FLETCHER, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012 Inman News®

Infinite time image via Shutterstock.

With the help of a marketing professional with a doctorate in psychology, I am gradually overcoming what I thought was an incurable disease: socialmediaphobia.

I fear what I don't understand, and I have not understood exactly what social media I needed, why I needed it or what it would cost.

Fortunately, thanks to LinkedIn, a social media site known for its business contacts, I met someone who could help.

Barbara Lemaire, owner of Social Media Made Simple.info, invited me to connect with her on LinkedIn. When I saw that she was a Ph.D. with a website that said she was "first and foremost a marketing professional," I practically blurted out my concern about social media and its cost to operate.

California foreclosure law draws industry fire 'Homeowner Bill of Rights' could restrict supply of short sales, REOs

BY ANDREA V. BRAMBILA, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012 Inman News®

Monopoly houses image via Shutterstock.

A package of bills designed to protect California homeowners facing foreclosure and signed into law Wednesday have drawn praise from consumer groups and criticism from some industry participants.

Identical bills S.B. 900 and A.B. 278, which make up the key provisions of the legislation, were passed by the state Legislature last week and will go into effect Jan. 1, 2013.

Known as the Homeowner Bill of Rights, the legislation bans so-called "dual tracking" and will stall the foreclosure process while mortgage servicers review applications for a loan modification.

Foreclosure inventory remains near all-time high LPS: Most homes in foreclosure in judicial states delinquent for more than 2 years

BY INMAN NEWS, MONDAY, JULY 9, 2012 Inman News®

Dam image via Shutterstock.

The number of U.S. homes in the foreclosure pipeline remained near an all-time high in May with judicial foreclosure states posting inventory levels more than twice that in non-judicial foreclosure states, according to a monthly reportfrom loan data aggregator Lender Processing Services released today.

The nation's foreclosure inventory stood at 4.1 percent of all active mortgages in May. This includes all loans that have been referred to an attorney for foreclosure but have not yet finished the foreclosure process through sale.

Houston brokers swap franchise affiliations | Prudential, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate vie for market share

BY INMAN NEWS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2012  Inman News®

Calf roping image via Shutterstock.

Two brokerages operating in the greater Houston market have swapped franchise affiliations, with the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate network boosting its total agent count at the expense of the Prudential Real Estate franchise network.

Anderson Properties, which affiliated with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate in March 2010, has merged its operations with Alvin, Texas-based Prudential Reyes-Planka Realtors. The combined 202-agent firm will operate as Prudential Anderson Properties, with 10 offices in the greater Houston area, Austin and Lubbock.

Top real estate agents, teams make 'The Thousand' list | Realogy-affiliated brokerages up their share of spots to 40%

BY INMAN NEWS, MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012 Inman News®

High five image via Shutterstock.

Brands affiliated with real estate brokerage giant Realogy Corp. dominate the latest annual list of the top 1,000 real estate sales professionals in the country released by real estate consulting and communications company Real Trends Inc., in collaboration with The Wall Street Journal.

"The Thousand" is based on 2011 data and divided into four separate lists of 250: sales professionals by transactions sides; sales professionals by sales volume; real estate teams by transaction sides; and real estate teams by sales volume.

Economists: 2012 marks the end of a long bottom | Real estate industry experts offer midyear forecasts

BY PAUL HAGEY, FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 Inman News®

Swooping arrows image via Shutterstock.

DENVER -- U.S. housing markets are likely to continue on a path of slow recovery after seeing a multiyear bottom, according to three real estate industry economists participating in a forum hosted by the National Association of Real Estate Editors said today.

Continuing uncertainties over negative equity (about a third of homeowners with mortgages owe more than their homes are worth, according to Zillow), fuzzy housing finance reform possibilities, lagging foreclosure processing and tight lending standards are potential obstacles to the slow-rising tide of the U.S. housing market, they said.

Find the 'why' and they will buy | Instead of segmenting buyers, scope out their attitudes and feelings

BY DAVID FLETCHER, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2012 Inman News®

Fortune teller image via Shutterstock.

Today I issue a wake-up call to real estate agents everywhere: Stop worrying about reaching specific market segments.

You don't need to know about Generation X, Generation Y, Millennials, or the up-and-comers or the down-and-goners.

You want to label your prospects? I have the only three you need: ready, willing and able. Your problem is not the number of prospects you are working with. Many of you have more than you can handle now. Find the "why" and they will tend to buy.

Take your photo strategy beyond listings | Realtor Notebook

BY TERESA BOARDMAN Inman News®

St. Paul, Minn. Victorian home photo credit Teresa Boardman.

Home buying and selling activity started picking up a few months ago and is still going strong. But for me, it is also photography season.

I have an endless, inexhaustible need for photographs for blog posts and for advertising, and everything seems to look better in June. Some of the photographs I will take in the next two months will be sold next winter, and others will bring me clients.