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.”

Take the Distress Out of Distressed Properties

By Wendy Cole, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

Foreclosure filings have decreased slightly for the past three  months in a row, according to RealtyTrac. While that’s certainly welcome news from a short-term perspective,  the larger picture concerning distressed properties remains grim. October 2009 marked the 45th straight month of year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity. In the third quarter of this year alone, there were still more foreclosures than in all of 2006.

At the RISMedia Power Broker Perspective Panel on Distressed Properties, RealtyTrac’s Rick Sharga noted that the year will end with about 3.3 million households having gone into foreclosure. And because of  rising “shadow inventory” another 4 million properties are expected to hit foreclosure status in 2010.

The Obama Administration’s recent push to accelerate the pace of loan modifications to keep struggling borrowers in their homes also has a dark side.  Some 50-60% of those whose loans are modified are expected to redefault eventually nonetheless.

This massive inventory of distressed properties continues to put significant downward pressure on home prices nationally, and makes it tempting for real estate practitioners to slip into a state of powerlessness and discouragement. That’s a huge mistake. Read more

Social Media Best Practices

By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor REALTOR® Magazine

Social media should be used to create communities and not to push listings out. You wouldn’t go to church to hand out your listings, and therefore, you shouldn’t do it through your Facebook page.

That was one of the main arguments presented by Ginger Wilcox, GRI, Kelley Koehler, and Mariana Wagner—all experts with the Social Media Marketing Institute—at the Introduction to Social Media session at the 2009 REALTORS® Convention & Expo this morning.

The panel advised real estate pros to think about using social media to connect with people to build relationships that will eventually lead to communities.  Read more

Things Are Looking Up: 2010 Economic Forecast

A large crowd of REALTORS®, many with coffee cups in hand, snapping photos with iPhones and Blackberries, packed a ball room this morning to hear NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun discuss housing market trends and the economic outlook.

Yun kicked off his presentation by telling the capacity crowd that things are looking up with the recent extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credit and home prices beginning to stabilize. While the U.S. economy still faces some significant challenges, including high unemployment, Yun says there are a number of reasons for REALTORS® to feel optimistic about 2010: “The momentum is building. . .”

According to Yun, the tax credit has already delivered a significant boost to the economy, bringing 350,000 to 400,000 buyers to the housing market so far. The extended and expanded home buyer tax credit will help to release pent-up demand, bringing more buyers–including move-up buyers–into the market and increasing market velocity. Yun estimates that in 2010, thanks to the credit and home price stabilization, home sales should increase by 15%–an estimate that he was careful to explain is extremely conservative. Home values, which Yun stressed are key to durable economic recovery, will begin to become positive in 2010.

To check out NAR’s Economic Forecast or the slide show presentation, visit NAR Research’s home page.

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.

Deliver Happiness

By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

A few months ago, I heard Alfred Lin, COO & CFO of Zappos.com speak at Inman’s Real Estate Connnect San Francisco 2009. The company has won accolades from the business community for taking an innovative approach in terms of their values. “We’re in the customer-service industry and happen to sell shoes,” Lin said.

I’ve found myself thinking about Zappos’s unique business model. Here are some key points from his talk: Read more

Are You a Master?

By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

In February 2009, REALTOR® Magazine launched the Masters Series, a video diary of top-producing practitioners, who represent expertise in a certain field within real estate. We traveled all over the country to meet some of the best real estate pros, followed them around for a day, and learned their trade secrets.

We’re planning for the 2010 series and we want to hear from you. Next year the video will focus on mastering certain aspects of the business: staging, prospecting, negotiating, and more. Read more

Bonds Are Back—Tax-Exempt Bonds, That Is

By Robert Freedman, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

Since the credit crunch hit a couple of years ago, investors have been shying away from tax-exempt bonds. That’s one aspect of the financial crisis that never received that much attention in the media, but the impact of that was severe on state and local housing finance agencies (HFAs), which make low-cost mortgage money available to working households that have trouble qualifying for conventional financing.

Like FHA, VA, and the Rural Housing Service (the old Farmer’s Home Administration), these state and local HFAs help make homeownership possible in a responsible way. That is, the loans are structured in ways that take into account the household’s ability to pay. And they almost always require some kind of financial counseling.

If the HFAs were sorely missed these last two years, then it’s indeed good news that investors are starting to invest in tax-exempt bonds again, because these bonds are how HFAs generate their low-cost money for making loans to eligible home buyers. Read more

Tell Us About Your Pro Bono Work

By Katherine Tarbox, Senior Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

I recently read an article in the New York Times about John Burger, a practitioner with Brown Harris Stevens in New York, who offered to sell Bernie Madoff’s penthouse (list price: about $7,000,000). Here’s the most interesting part: Burger planned to donate his commission check, which could have been as high as $400,000, to the fund for victims of Madoff’s infamous Ponzi scheme

Ultimately, the government rejected his offer because standard policy prohibits them from accepting pro bono work. Not a bad idea, though: Burger comes across as a generous practitioner and generates some good publicity from it.

I’m working on a story for the November/December issue on practitioners donating their services. Have you ever done this? What successes have you had working pro bono? I’d love to hear your stories at ktarbox@realtors.org.

Save Some Green With Right Tools, Right Now

By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the NAR “value proposition,” which outlined where members’ $80 in annual dues go, and also showed how many benefits they get gratis.

One of the newer free perks is the Right Tools, Right Now initiative. This is a collection of hundreds of tools that are offered to members for free, at a deep discount, or at-cost. Moreover, this suite of resources is constantly growing. For example, we recently added the NAR Green REsource Council’s ‘Eco Family Guide’ and a Mortgage Finance webinar.

You can find out what’s available anytime by going to http://www.REALTOR.org/RightTools to see new and existing offers. And be sure to check back monthly to see what new resources we’ve added!

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