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The 1st & 2nd Moments of Consumer Delight 2008-02-03 12:18:45 Reacting to Thursday’s announcement about the new “Freakish Depth” release of Redfin.com, Austin asset manager Lani Anglin-Rosales wrote an analysis of Redfin’s brand for national real estate magazine Agent Genius: Redfin is actually designed to appeal to GenY by using hip vernacular like “Redfin’s goal is to delight our audience of hard-core real estate fanatics by offering Freakish Depth on major real estate markets.”� On the same day that Lani talks about our appeal to people born between 1980 and 1995, San Diego real estate blogger Kris Berg writes “you dudes, like, speak my language,” and Greg Swann wonders about the “gnomes who find Redfin appealing.” But it was Lani’s analysis that generated so many comments she had to close the post, concluding with: As an insider, I can tell you that GenY falls for wants jazzy words and being made to feel special, so all you really have to do to cater to GenY is tell them ... Amp

Barack Obama’s Mortgage Reform Policy 2008-02-03 11:19:15 Following up on my review of Hillary Clinton’s one-sided mortgage reform policy ideas; today we’re talking about what Barack Obama has proposed as part of his mortgage reform package. This article will be decidedly shorter; as Mr. Obama’s policy changes seem (to me at least) to be rather nebulous in nature. At least with Hillary we could clearly see that she puts the blame on brokers Mr. Obama seems keen on studies, curbing insider lobbying and defining fraud; which seem to have fewer teeth than the Clinton plan. I was going to title the post Mr. Obama gets it half right because I think a couple of his ideas have some merit, as we’ll see below. Let’s start with what Mr. Obama has to say about the subprime mortgage crisis. Barack Obama on Subprime Lending From Barack Obama’s web site his policy on subprime lending reads as follows: The implosion of the subprime lending industry threatens to bring foreclosure to over two million households, includi ...

Real Estate Agency … “eh?” to “zed” 2008-02-02 03:34:23 Ever wondered what the term real estate "agent" really means? That single word - "agent" - has great significance, and does far more than just designate an individual who holds a real estate license.  The real estate brokerage business is governed by a body of law called "the law of agency". The word "agency" refers to the relationship which exists "when one person is employed to act for another". In real estate, the most common form of agency is established when homeowners employ a real estate brokerage to act on their behalf to secure a buyer for their property. The term "act on their behalf" is important in that it refers to the brokerage’s responsibility to look after the best interests of the owners.  Once homeowners have listed their home for sale with a brokerage firm, the brokerage becomes their agent. The owners become the brokerage’s client (or principal).  The duties of the real estate ...

Sugar Beach 2008-02-01 14:05:50 Jarvis Slip to become ‘Sugar Beach’ A new urban beach is coming to downtown Toronto. Waterfront Toronto announced today it has chosen a playful beach design to revivify the Jarvis slip, a one-acre parcel of waterfront property between the Redpath sugar refinery and an office building for Corus Entertainment. The winning design, Sugar Beach, weaves together a public plaza, a promenade and a new sand beach along a dock wall at the foot of Lower Jarvis Street. The plan’s signature feature is several rows of candy-coloured beach umbrellas. However, immediately after lavishing praise on the winning designers from Montreal-based Claude Cormier Architects, the chairman of the jury that selected Sugar Beach suggested the umbrellas be scrubbed from the design. ...

Encouraging reinvestment in urban cores and rental housing 2008-02-01 07:57:12 OTTAWA, Jan. 31 /CNW Telbec/ - Three national associations whose members are central to the investment, management, purchase and sale of real property are calling on the federal government to change capital gains tax policy in the 2008 federal budget to encourage reinvestment. The members of the three associations generate hundreds of billions of dollars of economic activity annually. The policy change proposed by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations (CFAA) and the Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac) would support urban regeneration and expand rental housing in Canada by encouraging new investors, and by providing existing owners the opportunity to re-invest because of capital gains deferrals. The three Associations have completed new research to support the proposal to allow the deferral of capital gains tax and recaptured capital cost allowance when an investment property is sold and the proceeds of the sale are ...

Breaking: Merrill Lynch Charged with Fraud By Massachusetts 2008-02-01 06:56:24 Breaking News. CNBC is reporting that Massachusetts is charging Wall Street giant Merrill Lynch with fraud relating to their collateralized debt obligation (CDO) issuances. More as it develops. And oh yeah, we all saw this coming, didn’t we? Update 1: From Market Watch and the coverage on the Massachusetts CDO fraud lawsuit: Massachusetts state authorities on Friday charged Merrill Lynch and Co Inc Friday with fraud and misrepresentation related to about $14 million worth of subprime securities it sold to the city of Springfield. The complaint also charges Merrill agents Carl Kipper and Manuel Choy. “This complaint is focused on Merrill Lynch’s sale, through agents Kipper and Choy, of certain esoteric financial instruments known as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) to the City of Springfield Massachusetts, which were unsuitable for the city and which, within months after the sale, became illiquid and lost almost all of their market va ...

Winter Recreational Property Report 2008-02-01 04:05:06 Winter recreational property prices remain red hot during Canada’s coldest months. Canadians are committed to their winter retreats despite rising prices. While sunshine states such as Florida and Arizona have long enticed Canadians to purchase their winter retreats in warmer-weathered American cities, the uncertainty clouding the U.S. housing market has many Canadians favouring properties north of the border. In fact, 36 per cent of Canadians who own a winter recreational property or who are considering purchasing one cite they are more inclined to buy a property in Canada than in the U.S. because of the economic uncertainty plaguing our southern neighbours, according to the 2008 Royal LePage Winter Recreational Property. The 2008 Royal LePage Winter Recreational Property Report comprises a nationwide research poll of Canadians’ attitudes on the market (conducted by Angus Reid) and an analysis of recreational property prices, trends and activity in selected winter leisure ...

ByTheOwner January 2008 Webstats - FSBO Visitors Approach 1 Million! 2008-02-01 02:59:19 ByTheOwner.com’s website statistics for the month of January 2008: Website visitors increased from 677,030 visitors in January 2007, to 973,095 in January 2008. This is a 44% increase in website visitors from January 2007 to 2008. We will soon be passing 1 million website visitors per month! Pageviews increased from 6.2 million page views in January 2007, to 8.6 million pageviews in January 2008. This is 39% increase in pageviews from January 2007 to 2008. Unique visitors and pageviews are the two most useful statistics when it comes to measuring the exposure you will receive from a For Sale By Owner website. Unique visitors is the number of individual people coming to look for properties on the site. Pageviews is the number of pages that those visitors look at. Some websites claim to have a certain number of “hits”�. This is not a valid measure of website activity, because a “hit”� can be counted a number of different ways. For example, if a page has ...

Toronto home buyer tax starts today 2008-02-01 01:49:24 See Tax Calculator » Buyers in Toronto’s high-priced real estate market will be digging even deeper today as the city’s newest tax goes into effect.  "Obviously the day has come. It’s still a back-breaking tax," said Von Palmer, spokesperson for the Toronto Real Estate Board, which led a bitter fight last year to block the municipal land transfer tax. "We hope it does not affect the market in a negative way." Sales increased after the tax was approved last October, Palmer said. In the first two weeks of January, Toronto sales were up 21 per cent over the same period in 2007, while in the 905 area “? where the tax does not exist “? sales were up by only 5 per cent. "We’re not suggesting it’s because of the land transfer tax. That would be speculation," he said. "However, human nature being the way it is, some are wondering how to avoid the land transfer tax." The tax, on both residential and comme ...

Free Canvas Grocery Bags for Luba’s SF Real Estate Blog Readers 2008-01-31 21:23:10 A while ago I noted that San Francisco had put a ban on plastic grocery bags. Since then, many cities have followed suit, or at least have contemplated following suit. The problem is that stores aren’t using the biodegradable starch based bags and instead are using paper bags - a big problem for tree lovers and trees alike. The problem is that while a paper bag won’t sit in landfill for thousands of years like a plastic bag will, it actually takes more energy to make a paper bag than a plastic bag. My suggestion, although probably controversial, is stop selling paper bags too. Stores can then charge anywhere from $0.10 to $0.25 a bag for the starch based bags. People will learn that you either need to pay up or bring your own bag. And stores can stop bitching that the starch based bags are too expensive and cut into their profits. In Europe, everywhere I went I wasn’t handed a bag unless I asked for it, and paid for it. And no one complained. My suggestion - ...

Open Shutter to the Past: San Francisco in Pictures - Milk Came from Wagons (1898) 2008-01-31 20:55:01 Welcome back to Photo Friday - my little way of taking a break from San Francisco Real Estate and instead blogging about our great City’s past instead. All photos are published with permission from the San Francisco History Center and San Francisco Public Library. Nothing too exciting seems to happen in the Richmond District. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I grew up in the Richmond District. I attended Cabrillo Elementary School which sadly closed in 2006. (Ms. Grist was the best kindergarten teacher ever!) and then transfered to St. Thomas the Apostle from 2nd grade through 8th grade (They provided a great education there, but took themselves a little too seriously for my taste.) I like the Richmond District. It was nice then, and it’s even nicer now. It was fairly quiet most of the time, and it’s still fairly quiet most of the time. Nothing too exciting ever really happens in the Richmond District. In fact, I think the most exciting thing to happ ...

SunTrust to close several wholesale branches around the country 2008-01-31 14:39:31 SunTrust is planning on closing their Denver, Dallas and Richmond wholesale branches within the next 60 days according to a highly reliable source. From the SunTrust Web site: SunTrust Mortgage, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SunTrust Bank - a $180.3 billion financial institution operating in Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida. Currently, SunTrust Mortgage, Inc. originates loans through 214 locations in SunTrust markets and adjacent states, maintains correspondent and broker relationships in 49 states and services loans in 50 states and the District of Columbia. We’ll provide more details as they come available; but for now just more of the same. Wholesale branches seem to be the first on the chopping block for any lender looking to weather the storm. Share This ...

Mortgage Rates are”¦. UP! 2008-01-31 08:00:34 You heard it right folks.  For those of you playing roulette trying to game the mortgage interest rate market in light of recent Fed activity let this be a good lesson.  The Fed cuts and mortgage interest rates go higher.  Don’t be fooled in to believing that the interest rates you pay on your mortgage are in lock-step with the Fed.  They aren’t, and if you try to game the system that way you’ll certainly miss out on opportunity. From the Market Watch story covering the rising mortgage rates: The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.68% during the week ending Jan. 31, up from last week’s 5.48%. The mortgage averaged 6.34% a year ago. The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.17%, up from 4.95%. The mortgage averaged 6.06% a year ago. Five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 5.32%, up from last week’s 5.13%. The ARM averaged 6.04% a year ago. And 1-year Treasury -indexed ARMs averaged 5.05%, up from 4.99%. The ARM averag ...

Jobless claims indicate “border-line recession warning.”� 2008-01-31 05:00:31 Jobless claims surged and sent stocks plummeting in the opening minutes today as traders worried about the possible onset of the credit/housing-bust led recession.  First time claims rose by 69,000 to 375,000 smoking estimates of a smaller rise of jobless claims to 320,000. Even factoring in for seasonal volatility the number came as a shock to people on Wall Street.  From the Market Watch story on the higher jobless claims: Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 69,000 in the week ended Jan. 26, reaching 375,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. It marked the highest level since early October — and the biggest weekly jump since September 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Non-seasonally adjusted claims actually fell in the latest week, but seasonal factors expected a much steeper decline. All the same, Robert Brusca, chief economist at FAO Economics, said that, despite the technical noise, claims are now indicating a “border-line recession warni ...

ByTheOwner.com featured in the National Post and the Financial Post! 2008-01-31 02:34:36 ByTheOwner.com was recently featured in the National Post and the Financial Post. The articles focuse on our owner, Nicolas Bouchard, and our growth since 1997. The articles can be read by clicking on the link below: National Post Article Financial Post Article In the past 3 months, ByTheOwner.com has been featured in: The Toronto Star The Halifax Daily Star The Vancouver Province The Montreal Gazette www.ByTheOwner.com ...