By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
In the past couple of years, it hasn’t always been easy to find bright spots in real estate. Falling prices, declining sales volume, increases distressed properties, tightening credit, unemployment—all of these things have afflicted, and some still afflict, our industry since the downturn began sometime during late 2007 or early 2008 (depending on where you live). And though many experts are starting to call an official recovery in housing, too many things are still too bleak for many of us to agree.
Thus, it may be harder than in years past to figure out what we can be grateful for in our business. For your consideration, though, here are a few things to be thankful for: Continue reading »
Budgets may be tight, but you’ve got to continually reinvest in your career and technology is an important part of that. So, as you look ahead to next year, what would you like to add? New camera? Upgrade to a smartphone? A netbook? Something else?
Tell us what what’s on your wish list for the Buyer’s Guide we’re preparing to kick off 2010. Send your thoughts and suggestions to Mike Antoniak at antoniak@dtccom.net and you may be contacted for this story or other guides in the year ahead.
By Stacey Moncrieff, Editor in Chief, REALTOR® Magazine
Often, we aren’t aware of the people who are positively influencing our life and work. In the past two days, I learned of the death of two such people: Mal Sherman of Baltimore and Thomas J. Graff of Oakland, Calif.
Sherman was a real estate broker, who—in the early 1960s—took the moral high ground and become a vocal supporter of equal housing opportunity. This despite his attorney’s warning that he was committing “business suicide.” The attorney was wrong; Sherman remained a successful broker and was asked to head President John F. Kennedy’s National Committee for Equal Opportunity in Housing. I learned his story thanks to Damian Da Costa, who profiled Sherman for the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ centennial book.
By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
Since the beginning of the short-sale problem, NAR members have been seeking plain-language, common-sense tips for dealing with these difficult transactions. We tried to help fill the information gap earlier this year with two free webinars, one in March and one in May, with Scott Thompson, a short-sale specialist who shared his ideas in a way that seemed to resonate with our members. The last time I checked, just under 39,000 of you either attended, viewed, or downloaded the two webinars. They were also incorporated into NAR’s new Short Sales and Foreclosures Resource Certification (SFR) curriculum.
Lynn Madison
By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
There are many reasons for the success of NAR’s most recent Call for Action, to which more than 18 percent of NAR members—a record— responded.
First and foremost is the compelling subject of the CFA: getting the home buyer tax credit extended and expanded. As NAR Chief Ecionomist Lawrence Yun has been saying for weeks, residential home prices are stabilizing and are on the cusp of heading up—the all-important precursor to restored confidence in homeownership. We’re relying on that improved confidence to boost sales, tighten inventories, and restore healthy credit markets.
Given that, letting the credit expire on Nov. 30 could have stopped sales momentum dead in its tracks.
It was also huge that Congress added the $6,500 credit for repeat buyers, because throughout 2009 much of the sales weight has been carried by first-time buyers. For market stability, repeat buyers needed to get off the fence and Congress saw that. Continue reading »
The small but dedicated staff of HouseLogic, and the Web design and development team at Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Huge Inc., scored a compliment from tech consultant Robert Hahn in a piece for InmanNews. Hahn offered encouraging words for my colleagues, who’ve been working overtime–and then some–to build a site that promises to inspire and inform home owners.
At the REALTORS Conference & Expo last weekend, many NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS members got their first look at HouseLogic. Hahn quite rightly said the site’s launch may have been lost in all the talk about the REALTORS Property Resource. But the beautifully designed HouseLogic — which aims to mobilize home owners on issues that matter to both REALTORS and consumers — deserves attention in its own right.
“The heart and soul of HomeLogic.com is political advocacy,” Hahn said. “If NAR is successful here, HouseLogic will permanently change the landscape for Realtors.”
By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
There was a lot of ground covered during the Board of Directors meeting Monday at the 2009 REALTORS® Conference & Expo. Here are some of the highlights:
• The REALTOR® Property Resource (RPR): Attendees got a guided tour of this impressive new site, which ultimately aims to cover pretty much every property in the United States. RPR will be a massive database that will allow NAR members (and only NAR members) to search properties across numerous criteria, from school districts to tax info. Users will also be able to gauge the value of a property based on home improvement projects, site conditions, and comparables. Call it contemporary. Call it cutting edge. Just don’t call it an MLS. Continue reading »
By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
There’s a temptation among buyers hoping to land a good deal with a short sale to avoid committing themselves with money and effort until the seller’s lender gives its OK, but that’s a sure-fire way to ensure the deal won’t close, short-sales trainer Lynn Madison said Sunday at the 2009 REALTORS® Conference & Expo.
Lenders are too backlogged and have too much to lose to consider offers whose buyers haven’t provided earnest money, had an inspection conducted, or applied for financing, said Madison, who help devise and also teaches classes for NAR’s new Short Sales and Foreclosures Certification Program (SFR).
Doing all of these things—along with submitting a reasonable offer—can improve your client’s chances greatly. This is not the time to low-ball on a property whose value has already deeply plunged, she said. Continue reading »
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