Praise for HouseLogic

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.”

Our Challenge to You

So we’re launching a new contest — but we’re calling it a challenge.

A group of us at REALTOR® Magazine have joined with a group from HP for “The Marketing Makeover: Stage Your Business for Success.” The REALTOR® who wins will receive a prize package worth $4,000, including that printer on the left. Even though we all communicate electronically now, we’re far from being able to do without our printers. So we were enthused about the ideas of teaming up with HP to demonstrate what effective print marketing looks like.

For this challenge, we’re looking for five REALTORS® who are committed to improving their print marketing. To be considered for the challenge, fill out an official entry form online by Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2009. From the eligible entries received, we’ll choose five challenge participants based on composition of their entry, creativity of the entry, and adherence to the essay topic. All five will receive $1,000 prize packages, including the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One Printer, inkjet cartridges, and a credit toward marketing resources through Marketsplash by HP.

During a six-week challenge period that follows, the five participants will use their new equipment and resources and will post weekly updates at a special contest blog. The grand prize winner will be determined in March by the judges and by public voting at the blog. Are you up for the challenge?

Learn more at REALTOR.org/realtormag/marketingmakeover.

Cost vs. Value: Two Ways You Can Make It Better

By Stacey Moncrieff, Editor in Chief, REALTOR® Magazine

We’re on our way to producing the 2009-10 Cost vs. Value Report. So far, 1,544 REALTORS® have completed the Cost vs. Value survey that’s in the field. Another 1,153 have started the survey but not completed it. That’s a great start, but I’d love it if more of you–brokers, salespeople, and particularly appraisers–would take the survey (http://www.Specpan.com/CostValue).

The Cost vs. Value Report is one of the most popular features we run every year. It gives an estimated resale value for various remodeling projects (33 this year). In REALTOR® magazine, we present an overview of the report (typically in December, but because of our reduced publication schedule, watch for this year’s Report in January 2010). Our partner, Remodeling magazine, provides complete metro area reports free (in PDF format) to those who register at costvsvalue.com.

Chances are, if you live in one of the 80 metro areas covered by the report, you’ve already received an e-mail message (or two, or three) from me asking you to complete this year’s survey. I apologize for the redundancy, but the broader the participation, the more reliable our data. So the first way you can make the report better is by completing the survey.

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A Sunday Open Like No Other

Don’t call it an open house. That was the message from the hardworking “M&M Team,” Maria DelBoccio and Michelle DePinto of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, who staged a “lifestyle marketing event” at their $1.7 million new-construction listing in Arlington Heights, Ill., yesterday.

OK, so the listing was 20 miles from my house, and exponentially more than I could afford. Still, I had to check this out.

The first thing I noticed was, although there were other open houses in the neighborhood, none of them had valet parking. Nor did they have a Maserati parked in the driveway, a singer crooning “Fly Me to the Moon” when you walked in the door, bruschetta and caponata (delicious!) served in a backyard tent, and cakes and other confections (also delicious) served in the three-car garage. Read more

Have We Learned Anything From the Financial Crisis?

If you agree that the country hasn’t yet learned its lesson from the financial meltdown of 2008, you’ll want to take a look at a piece in Sunday’s New York Times by Sandy B. Lewis and William D. Cohan.

“The Economy Is Still at the Brink” alternately takes to task President Barack Obama and Congress (stop with the short-term fixes, and start imposing some real reforms on the banking system), U.S. consumers (stop spending money you don’t have), the securities industry (let’s have some real transparency in the area of asset-backed securities), and Wall Street executives (when are they going to publicly admit their role in the financial crisis?). Read more

Another Lesson in Short Sales

By Stacey Moncrieff, Editor in Chief, REALTOR® Magazine

The more I learn about short sales, I told Scott Thompson yesterday, the more complex they seem. That’s pretty much par for the course, according to Scott, whose company, Mortgage Resolution Services of Sacramento, works on short sales every day.

Scott and I were having breakfast yesterday, preparing for our second short sales webinar. The first, in March, enjoyed an enormous response. Besides the thousands who joined the call, more than 14,000 people have either played back the session or downloaded it.

Yesterday’s session was a bit of a free-for-all. We fashioned it as a way to answer the questions we couldn’t get to in the first session. Some of the key points I took from Scott’s comments yesterday were:

• Second-home and investment short sales are possible. A lot of participants asked about this. Both second-home owners and investment property owners stand a chance of making a short sale work — as long as they’re upfront and honest about their situation. Scott talked about the importance of an effective hardship letter. It should include three elements:
  • “Dear Lender: I’m sorry about this situation I find myself in.”
  • “Here’s the modification or action I’m requesting.”
  • “I’ve exhausted all other possibilities.”

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Helping Homeowners Stay Put

By Stacey Moncrieff, Editor in Chief, REALTOR® Magazine

Tucson, Ariz., practitioner Frances Flynn Thorsen is fighting mad — and she’s not sparing any punches. She wants the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and state REALTOR® organizations to do more to help homeowners with underwater mortgages keep their homes.

“All the education programs and certifications that exist today are sales centric,” she says, “not a single word about loan modifications.”

Frances has taken her crusade to the airwaves with “Truth in Housing Matters,” a weekly show on Access Tucson. She’s also written an education program on home retention and has applied for CE credit through the state of Arizona.

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