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

It is important to always remember that all real estate is local or hyper-local. With that said good news emerged today from ‘across the pond’. It appears that the modest gains that have been being reported in many U.S. housing markets and the positive moves made by many Money Center Banks are beginning to catch on around the world. Now I do not want to report any unrealistic numbers nor do I want to give any unrealistic expectations. 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