Positive Real Estate Professionals

Over the span of the last 10 years, I have watched this battle evolve. When a home owner decides that it is time to part with one of their largest investments, a house, then they have a huge battle ahead of them. They have to pit Realtor® versus FSBO. Before I go any deeper, let me say that in 2007, I attempted the FSBO route. Even with all of my marketing skills and connections to the real estate world, I was unsuccessful in doing what I set out to do. I failed miserably and had to rethink my strategy. If I had to do it all over again, I would have hired someone that could have marketed it for me. With that said, let’s tackle the question between using a Realtor® or selling your home FSBO style. Read More

Many people who are buying homes today are young, first time buyers. Because of the enormous financial responsibility that buyers are taking on, it is important to do a bit of research into the different options that may be available. With the soft sellers’ market that many areas of the country have been experiencing over the past few years many Realtors®, builders, and sellers are offering more incentives to buyers. Keep in mind that there is no one single, monolithic market when it comes to real estate but thousands of local and hyperlocal markets that are as unique as snowflakes. With that said, one of the most common incentives offered to buyers is the home warranty. Read More

Today’s difficult economic reality has many people being vigilant on their spending habits. The following article from Danny Thornton is a great example of smart economizing and potentially costly economizing. I hope that it provides some good food for thought, especially if you are considering buying or selling your home. Read More

With this being undeniably a buyer’s market there are a lot of properties for buyers to choose from; this also means that there are a lot of properties for Realtors to wade through to try to match buyer’s wants. This being the case there has been a conundrum in the past two years: why lenders who had agreed in principle to the terms of a short sale would diminish the likelihood of that sale occurring? What I am referring to is the unabashed insistence by many lenders that Realtors on both sides of the transaction take reduced commissions. Now many of you may wonder what the issue with this is; don’t all Realtors drive Mercedes and eat at swanky restaurants? This idea is not only wrong but it presumes that Realtors are heartless as they dine on caviar while their clients can barely afford hamburger helper. Keep in mind as you read the following article from Sandy Noll that the general commission on a sale is 6%. This 6% is then split 3% to the seller’s agent and 3% to the buyer’s agent. Sounds good right? Wait, both agents then have to split their 3% with the Broker/Owner of the real estate office they work for. This split can range from 70%-30% to 50%- 50%. So on that $100,000 dollar sale the total commission is $6,000. Split among the agents makes it $3,000 each and then taking a 70%-30% split (which is very generous on the part of the Broker/Owner) you get the agent making $2,100. While this may seem like a lot, both agents will have to pay out of pocket for all of the marketing of their listed properties and all the taxes. So my point with this big lead in is cutting the commissions of the Realtors not only may be counterproductive in the selling of short sales, it also directly affects the families of Realtors who work hard to provide for them. Read More

Too many times have I seen potential sellers and buyers attempt to go it alone. When you are set out to either buy or sell one of the biggest assets, it is not wise to walk into it alone. So many times I reference buying a home to walking into battle. There is no way that General Patton would have walked into battle on his own. Instead, he had some of the best military minds that stood beside him and helped guide him through it all. Read More

Frank Schulte-Ladbeck continues his crusade to help educate the consumer. If Frank had been your high school geometry teacher, he would have made you hunger for knowledge because of the empowering effect it has. This is a prime example of Frank’s keen ability to take a complex issue and break it down so the consumer, and professionals, can understand it clearly. This article deals with the limiting effect on consumer choice that could easily arise with the passage of a couple of pieces of legislation before Congress. The current atmosphere of animosity towards lenders may help the passage of this bill rather than the bill’s own merits. This article is admittedly a bit long but it is well worth the read. Read More

This is by far one of the best articles I have come across in a long time that really spells out the need for buyers to get a pre-qualification letter as a first step in finding the home that fits perfectly for their situation. In today’s market, when gas is expensive, realtor safety is always a concern, and setting realistic expectations for buyers is more important than ever,  it only makes sense to help buyers maximize their home search. Debbie goes into many of the reasons why this is important. Her article is not meant to discourage any qualified buyer. It is I believe meant to help both buyer and realtor to know what type of house they should be looking for. I am sure you will enjoy this article from one of the most successful realtors in Virginia. Read More

A couple of days ago Fred Chamberlin wrote an excellent article, Buying Your Home: Do You Want To Buy a Foreclosure? In that article he discussed many of the issues that a prospective home owner might encounter when buying a foreclosure. In this post Fred discusses the importance of having a Realtor® that is knowledgeable and trustworthy to represent your interests. Read More

One of the purposes that I wanted to achieve when we created Positive Real Estate Professionals was to locate the cream of the crop in each and every field of the Mortgage and Real Estate fields. We not only wanted to locate these professionals, but we wanted them to become vendors here on PREP. Typically in the process, we interview each and every vendor that comes our way. This way we can be sure that the vendors that we are recommending to you, the customer, will fit your needs. Read More

Though the title may seem to frame the question in a negative manner, it becomes readily apparent that this is not a negative article. In fact the article is encouraging. It encourages real estate industry professionals to practice their chosen profession in a professional and ethical manner. Read More