Brooke Wolford
By Brooke Wolford
I recently decided to let go of a client. It was a really hard decision for me to have to tell a buyer that I couldn’t work with them anymore. In all, I had to weigh my options.
When I had initially starting working with this buyer, it was after a big dispute with another agent in my office. (See my previous blog posts Learning Valuable Lessions and Learning Valuable Lessons, Part II )
This was the buyer involved. I spent almost four months working with him. In that time, I had showed them 106 homes and most were 20 miles or more away from my office. This person would call me and stop in my office randomly and want to look at home now! This person also stopped by my house one day, as well. He ended up deciding to move out of state. A month later, he decided he was going to stay in state and start looking again.
I ended up showing the client a few homes again. Still nothing. He really didn’t know what he wanted. I started to get pretty frustrated.
I decided to tell him that I could no longer work with him. I stated that I needed to really know what type of house he wanted. Until he could figure it out, we needed to take a break. I hated to have to let him go, considering all I went through for this buyer but I could no longer be a glorified chauffer. Continue reading »
By G. M. Filisko, contributing writer, HouseLogic
HouseLogic, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS’® new consumer website covering all facets of homeownership, is a finalist in the 2010 Inman News Innovator Awards’ “media site” category. HouseLogic’s nomination places it in the running for Inman News’ People’s Choice Innovator Award.
The Inman Innovator Awards, launched in 1997, recognize companies that use technology and innovation to enhance the real estate transaction and experience for consumers and real estate professionals.
You can vote online through July 12 for the NAR-branded site to beat out such competition as The New York Times online real estate section. Winners will be selected by popular vote and announced during the Inman News Real Estate Connect conference July 13-15 in San Francisco.
HouseLogic is NAR’s no-topic-left-uncovered consumer website geared to helping homeowners make smart decisions to maintain, protect, and increase the value of their home. Content includes hundreds of articles written by premier journalists on everything from home improvement and maintenance, home system and structures, landscaping, pest control, energy efficiency, tax credits and deductions, finance, insurance, and building a community.
With the REALTOR® Content Resource, a new, free tool exclusive to NAR members, you can drop HouseLogic content directly into your marketing materials, website, and blogs. Customizable widgets also enable you to continuously stream HouseLogic content onto your website and blog in just three quick steps.
Nobu Hata
By Nobu Hata
I’ve been lucky enough to be a Realtors Property Resource™ beta tester for the last couple months, and MLS controversy aside, it’s an elegant site that belies a very powerful information resource, packed with potential, underneath it all. I’ve devised its place in my marketing plan (as a monthly client touchpoint) once live, but I’d never had the opportunity to talk about it with a consumer… until today, with the last set of clients I’d ever think of chatting about it with.
I’m working with a couple – a retired teacher and a very non-retired medical researcher – who are an absolute dream client. They don’t care about my website/Facebook Like-Page/Twitter stream, they don’t want MLS auto-emails, and they trust my judgment that the homes I’m emailing them for showings match their needs. They’re old school, and I love it.
Their home search has narrowed to two upscale condo developments in two very different parts of the Minneapolis market; one in a very established and stable neighborhood, the other in an area smacked upside the head by the overdevelopment/distressed property crow bar. Naturally, they love the latter.
Today, we had a showing at what ended up being a dud property, but it gave us an opportunity to talk about the “research” hubby had been doing on the condo building he and his wife love. Out flies the (circa 1990) MacBook and a spreadsheet that featured complete owner, tax record, previous sold dollar amount, city assessment, and price per-square-foot numbers for the whole building, to go along with average utility costs for the city, linked to very snazzy bar charts.
No joke, it was RPR – if my OCD grandpa had developed it. An hour of conversation followed: Continue reading »
Drew Burks
By Drew Burks
2010 Real Estate Connect San Francisco
This is one event I have always wanted to attend but never have. Well, this year I made the choice to not only attend the event but to participate with my fellow YPNers during the afternoon session of Agent Reboot.
Life is what we make it and we get out of life whatever we put into it!
Anyone who has attended RE Connect in past years will most certainly tell you this event is a smart investment of your money and time, so why would you not attend?
That is a great question! I figure some of you may be on the fence about whether or not you should take the time away from family and work, or to spend the money just to attend this three-day conference, so I came up with the following for you to consider …
… 3 reasons not want to attend the 2010 RE Connect SF event July 13-15 Continue reading »
Michelle Flaherty
By Michelle Flaherty
Has the incentive for first-time home buyers to break into the market just gone away?
My non-scientific market research has shown me that it has not. My buyer clients are still excited about the house hunting process, low interest rates, and attractive offerings at low prices – and I’m hearing the same from my peers.
In fact, the drop in interest rates over the past two weeks has created a long-term incentive even more attractive than the first-time home buyer tax credit – and *bonus* – it’s not costing taxpayers a thing.
How does this work? Consider the first-time home buyer using an FHA loan to purchase a $200,000 property. For the first five months of 2010, when buyers were snatching up tax credits like hotcakes, the typical FHA interest rate was 5.25 percent. Over the life of their loan, a buyer who locked in at 5.25 percent would pay a total of $412,621.13 in mortgage payments (including principle, interest, and PMI – not taxes or insurance). Now, with the 4.5 percent FHA rate, that same buyer would pay a total of $380,994.95.
The post-tax credit buyer will save $31,626.18 with the better rate, or $23,626.18 better than they would have done by going under contract in April, closing by the newly-extended Sept. 30 deadline, and collecting the $8,000 tax credit. The caveat, of course, is that their monthly savings only totals $87.85, so they would have to remain in their home for 7.6 years to collect $8,000 worth of savings. But after that, they’re doing better every month!
Michelle Flaherty is an associate broker with Prudential Northeast Properties, serving Greater Portland, Maine. Visit her Web site at www.michelleflaherty.com.
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