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.

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.

Realtors seek details of 'secretive' REO bulk sales

Fannie, Freddie regulator says it will release 'pertinent information' when deals close

BY ANDREA V. BRAMBILA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012.

Inman News®

Spotlight image via Shutterstock.

California Realtors say Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's federal regulator is moving forward with bulk sales of real estate owned (REO) homes in "a highly secretive manner," without giving full consideration to the objections of California lawmakers or the program's potential negative economic impact on housing markets and cost to taxpayers.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is implementing an "ill-conceived" plan while "refusing to disclose any details, such as property locations, final property count, sales price, or names of winning bidders," said LeFrancis Arnold, president of the California Association of Realtors, in a statement
FHFA, the federal regulator that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced last year that was considering bulk sales of properties to investors, with the goal of converting REO properties into rentals.
After collecting feedback and under pressure from lawmakers to move forward with the program, FHFA in February announced the launch of a pilot initiativetargeting bulk REO sales in metropolitan areas "hardest-hit" by the foreclosure crisis, including Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and parts of Florida.

Austin Realtors sign up for Matrix CoreLogic: 25 MLSs now using platform acquired in 2011 Tarasoft deal

BY INMAN NEWS, MONDAY, JULY 23, 2012 Inman News®

Binary data image via Shutterstock.

The Austin Board of Realtors (ABoR) has signed a multiyear agreement to offer CoreLogic Inc.'s Matrix MLS platform to its 9,000 members alongside of ABoR's current Fusion/MLXchange MLS system, also from CoreLogic.

"Matrix provides the speed and mobile accessibility that many of our members are looking for," said ABoR CEO Matt Maire in a statement. "By offering Matrix alongside our existing MLS system, we can expand our menu of services and empower our members to differentiate themselves in a competitive market."

ABoR is the ninth new MLS to sign up for Matrix since CoreLogic acquired the platform's Canadian-based developer, Tarasoft Corp., in September 2011 for $30.3 million. In January, Michigan's largest MLS, Realcomp II Ltd., signed a multiyear agreement to use Matrix.

Euro breakup wouldn't spell disaster | Commentary: Fed will be free to take necessary measures

BY LOU BARNES, FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2012 Inman News®

Greek warrior image via Shutterstock.

Now we wait. Greek election results will begin trickling in Sunday afternoon and who-knows-what explosion at the opening of Asian markets Sunday night. More likely: a few more frozen days to digest the results, and any number of empty cans kicked into nearby walls. Top Real Estate in Rockford Illinois.

The biggest event next week will be the Wednesday conclusion of the Fed's meeting. The stock market this week began to trade up on bad news (a small rise in unemployment claims, a dinky drop in industrial production) on the assumption that bad news would mean QE3 from the Fed, which must be good news for stocks no matter how ugly the reality might be.

Did Penguin eat your Google ranking? | Search algorithm changes could impact real estate listing syndication

BY BERNICE ROSS,  Inman News®

Search key image via Shutterstock.

Google recently made search ranking algorithm changes that will influence how easily potential buyers and sellers can find you online. Whether you are a brokerage or an agent who markets your real estate business online, staying on top these changes may require that you adjust your Web marketing strategy.

For the last two years I have been reluctant to touch our home page content, since RealEstateCoach.com was normally coming up in the No. 1 or No. 2 position on the three major search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) for our primary search term: "real estate coaching."