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DoJ: Competition and Innovation are Good, Even in Real Estate 2007-10-11 09:17:22 Yesterday, the Department of Justice published a website that focuses on the importance to consumers of competition in real estate. There’s a good summary on the InmanNews blog. They found that that commissions have risen along with home prices, which is no surprise to anyone who’s been in the market. But the data are interesting, and the DoJ also adds specific information on regulations by state. The DoJ estimates that the median commission paid by consumers so far in 2007 is $11,302. This includes both buyers’ and sellers’ commissions. (The buyers’ agent is usually paid half of the sellers’ agent’s commission, so while buyers’ agents may charge no direct fee, they are still receiving up to 3% of the total costs paid by a buyer at closing.) As a point of comparison, we looked at commissions paid by Redfin customers who bought in 2007. We focused on buyers’ commissions only, where we have the most data. Redfin’s average ...

Central Alberta Landscapes 2007-10-11 09:03:00 The attraction to the area is more than economic potential from oil or gas, we are nestled in the parkland, and surrounded by vistas and landscapes with impressive views and scenes. Red Deer and the surrounding communities get a lot of press regarding the Oil and Gas Industry, rightly so, however the community has a deep and rich history with roots in farming. We have mountain views, refreshing lakes, river valleys, and prairie fields from bright yellow canola fields in June to the golden sheaves of wheat in the fall, the Central Alberta Landscape is spectacular. . This morning I had the opportunity to stop and take in such a view. Red Deer is a great place to live, Your Friend In Real Estate,Patrick Galesloot ...

Is anyone else fascinated by the Countrywide bracelet? 2007-10-11 08:24:06 For some reason this idea is just amazing to me. Finally someone has cracked and put theirs up on ebay. Feel free to bid away at a relic of the soon to be housing bust. But, be forewarned, you’ll be up against me - seriously. I guess I’m just giddy at getting my hands on something that stands for so little but is supposed to mean so much. Another favorite is the nicely stamped “Made in China” on the inside of the bracelet. Made in China, just like their mortgage loans! Here’s the listing. Share This ...

Six Percent Is Insane 2007-10-11 06:21:58 According to Marc Davison, a founding partner of 1000watt Consulting, commissions taken by real estate agents are exorbitant. I totally agree with this point. “An agent takes 100 shots with her $350 digital camera, shoots video and uploads it to Wellcomemat, produces a Real Estate Show, blogs about the home, adds it to Zillow, creates a vFlyer Web site and syndicates the listing to 20 additional Web sites — all within a couple hours. The listing then appears on the screens of thousands of agents and consumers who view the photos, read the blog post, and map out a drive-by. When it’s time to make an offer, the agent tees it up on her $1,000 PC and shoots it to another agent who counters the offer using electronic signature software without ever touching a piece of paper. The deal flows through the pipes of a transaction management system and the clients receive two trees’ worth of paperwork on a flash drive when it’s all over. The agents do a knuckle hand ...

Best retirement neighborhoods 2007-10-11 06:10:20 Today, CNN Money launched their annual Best Places to Retire feature that highlights the best U.S. neighborhoods in 30 of the country’s largest cities for those lucky folks on the golden path to retirement. The feature spotlights 35 neighborhoods from peaceful neighborhood of South Loop, Chicago to the water views of the Marina District in San Diego to walkable Downtown San Antonio. ...

Zephyr Weekly Sales Reports - October 10th, 2007 2007-10-11 00:00:59 Below is Zephyr Real Estate’s sales data for the previous week. These are NOT properties that have closed, just listings on which a purchase agreement has been ratified and the property has gone into escrow. It’s been a busy week, and I almost forgot to post this data today! But here it is, for your statistical pleasure. Sales are up again a good chunk from last week… so for those Chicken Littles , nanny nanny boo boo! The San Francisco real estate market is still going strong and SF homes are still selling. Multiple offers are down from last week, and properties selling under asking price are up a little. But over all, things are still moving and properties are still selling. And just a reminder, take these statistics with a grain of salt. Lots of things will affect these Zephyr sales statistics, including the fact that it’s JUST Zephyr sales, and frankly, not all of us can make every weekly meeting. Sometimes we have to be in a property inspec ...

FSBO Jumps the Pond 2007-10-10 16:06:00 The BBC recently produced a feature (read or watch the coverage) on the budding For Sale By Owner phenomenon in the UK, where traditional estate agent-brokered sales are slowly giving ground to the independent seller. While FSBO’s popularity is not nearly as widespread as in North America, it still manages to account for about 6% of all home sales on the Isle. This is a staggering figure when one takes into account agent fees in England are usually about 1.5% of the sale price, as compared to the 6% commonly commanded by realtors this side of the Atlantic. This means British FSBO homeowners clearly believe the effort needed to sell one’s home, using the Internet and marketing tools provided by an FSBO website, is well rewarded by just a quarter of the savings a North American homeowner can reap. ...

Downey Savings to report $23 million quarterly loss 2007-10-10 14:35:57 Local lender (to us anyway) Downey Savings reported a loss of $23 million for the 3rd quarter recently ended.  The loss is due to none-other than loan loss-related charges and the overall slow down in the housing market.   From the American Banker story: The company will take a $82 million provision for credit losses, while the value of its real estate held for development will fall by $9 million. “The continued weakening and uncertainty relative to the housing market, coupled with the third-quarter disruption in the secondary mortgage markets, unfavorably impacted our borrowers and the value of their loan collateral,” the firm added. This is an important development in many respects.  Downey Savings is one of many regional portfolio lenders who specialize in the negative amortization pay option loans that have been very popular over the last few years.  Downey, along with World Savings, Bank United and others, stepped “into the void” so to speak when inst ...

Fed President Rosengren calls for banks to support subprime lending 2007-10-10 08:59:56 The new President of the Federal Reserve of Boston called on banks to support subprime lending as mortgage rates reset to higher levels following the binge of the first part of this decade. Selections from Market Watch: Banks must step up and provide loans during times of financial market distress and also help homeowners who find themselves behind in their payments of unfavorable mortgages, said Eric Rosengren, the new president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank. Rosengren said the recent market turmoil was not a wholesale reassessment of risk by investors. Instead, the central issue was a lack of liquidity, as relatively low-risk financial assets traded between large financial institutions experienced the most difficulty. Bank balance sheets expanded in August and September as securitization of subprime mortgages and other asset-backed commercial paper declined. Rosengren said that “conservatively underwritten securitizations and asset-backed commercial paper will find ac ... President

Creepy neighbors living next door-BEWARE! 2007-10-10 04:51:12 RottenNeighbor.com is the first real estate search engine of it?s kind that helps you find bad neighbors before you move so you don?t regret the purchase of your new house, home, condo or apartment. You can search by zip code and turn up warnings like “Very dangerous family.Unsafe use of firearms and fireworks.Criminal son still lives at home.They let their pets run loose.” Or “Bad Man. Had an affair with a married woman. Ruined a 25 yr marriage. Lied to the woman and gave her herpes. His actions destroyed 2 lives.” Locate and Share Bad Neighbors! ...

11 Steps to Selling Your Home Successfully in San Francisco- Step 4: Getting Your Home Ready For the Sale! 2007-10-10 00:05:55 If you’ve picked your agent already, they’ll be able to guide you through Step 4 of Successfully Selling your San Francisco Home. And right about now, you should be taking the first steps to get your home ready to put on the market.  You are probably thinking about what to fix, what to paint, what to do with your furniture…. but before you do a single thing to get your home ready for the sale, STOP!!! I can’t tell you how many times I have walked into a seller’s home and they have already started remodeling their home for the upcoming sale. The problem is, they’ve picked the wrong appliances, chosen the wrong colors, have spent money where it doesn’t count and have skimped where it does. Let your REALTOR® take a look at your place and give you advice on where to spend your dollars sprucing your place up. Some things will be obvious, (peeling paint for one), but please, please, please, let your REALTOR® guide your decisions.  For instance - ...

How to Get a Job Outside of the Mortgage Industry 2007-10-09 19:21:34 I get a lot of resumes. People who read Blown Mortgage send me their resume and inquire about employment at my company. I’m always flattered when someone sends me their resume; it means they have an interest in my organization and, in a roundabout way, me personally. But, of course, my company is not hiring. We’re not immune to the effects of the market slow down. We went through layoffs and downsizing back in May, and I blogged about the agony in which I had to let friends and relatives go. But that experience, and the continuing influx of resumes gave me pause. There are too many good people out there; those that worked hard, did their job well, who are now looking at a complete shift in career. The jobs are just not in the mortgage industry any more. Whether you have 6 months or 6 years of experience there is little in the way of gainful employment. Save for the booming loss mitigation/REO/servicing side (which is an important option to consider, btw) there isn& ...

Blown Mortgage : Carnival of Real Estate; Fish : _________ 2007-10-09 16:25:34 The Carnival of Real Estate was hosted by the vFlyer Blog and Blown Mortgage was representing again. The entry selected was the “5 Things to do Right Now if Your ARM is Going to Reset Soon” post. I admit, not my most elegant title selection; but the content is worthwhile for homeowners in adjustable rate mortgages that are set to adjust soon. View the rest of the winners at the vFlyer blog. Here is a snip of the winning post, if you’re hedging on clicking the link. I’ve put together this list of 5 things to do right now if you are in an adjustable rate mortgage so that you can better manage what needs to happen before your rate changes. I recommend starting this process at least 75 days from your adjustment date; however, if you have credit issues I recommend starting right away - regardless of your reset date. 1. Determine your rate adjustment date. 2. Determine what your new interest rate and monthly mortgage payment will be. 3. Determine your credit sc ...

The Slashdot Effect, The Kawasaki Effect, The TechCrunch Effect (And Lifehacker, Too) 2007-10-09 13:57:59 In a post last week, Redfin got all excited about showing up in TechCrunch, on Guy Kawasaki’s blog and AskSlashdot. Since all three happened on one side or the other of the same weekend, we promised to let folks know which one ended up driving the most traffic. And then we forgot to post the results, until a reader asked us about it on Monday. Here, a few days late, is the list of blogs sending visitors to Redfin, ordered according to which drove the most traffic between Friday, September 28 and Friday, October 5. Lifehacker: though not an official entrant because the site hadn’t published anything until Thursday, Lifehacker was the blog that sent the most people our way. Following our performance upgrade to Redfin.com, Lifehacker published a glowing review touting Redfin’s “terrific map mashup that uses Microsoft’s Virtual Earth, easy-to-parse data fields, and nicely designed galleries… Redfin helps you get an overview of available houses and let ...

Toronto Commercial Real Estate 2007-10-09 08:02:08 Leased Space Up 12 Per Cent in September Toronto Real Estate Board Members reported 1,112,814 square feet of space leased through the TMLS system in September, a 12 per cent increase over the 988,678 figure reported during September 2006, Commercial Council Chairman Garry Lander announced today. “Square footage is also up 38 per cent from August,” said Mr. Lander. “Either way you look at it, the Fall IC&I market is off to a fast start.” No marked price trends could be seen in September’s figures. While leased industrial space (all size categories) rose five per cent to $5.80 sfn over September 2006, commercial space fell 29 per cent to $12.52 sfn from last year’s figure of $17.58 sfn. Sales Market Highlights TREB Members reported 57 IC&I properties sold through the TorontoMLS system in September. Industrial properties (all size categories) comprised 32 of these sales and averaged an unusually low $61.17 per square foot, due to the sale of on ...