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Thank You and Happy Holidays!
2007-12-21 18:00:00
We wanted to say thank you to all of you for making us feel as though someone actually cares about what we have to say and think and for sharing your comments and feedback. We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season and a happy new year! On a side note... On behalf of the two pilots and the airline they work for, we want to apologize for some of you not receiving your gifts on time this year.
More About: Holidays , Happy Holidays , Happy

Realtor.com vs Zillow vs Trulia - Back To Real Estate 2.0 Basics
2007-12-21 13:25:00
With all the recent talk about subprime mortgages, foreclosures and government bail outs, the days of comparing Zillow with Trulia with Realtor.com seem to be gone. That's why we'd like to revisit those discussions from the angle of "what's been going on with these three since we lasted talked about them?". Well, here are some graphs from Compete.com comparing the three sites in terms of people count, visits and rank. People Count -the number of people visiting the site: Since...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Websites , Back

To The Agents Who Still Think That Blogs Are "Mumbo Jumbo", We Say Thank Yo
2007-12-20 15:19:00
Although blogs, specifically real estate blogs, have increased in number and credibility, many still think that they're "mumbo jumbo". In speaking with other real estate agents, brokers and other industry professionals, we still hear things like: "blogs are a waste of time" "blogs take too long to write" "I don't believe that blogs are a source of marketing and exposure that will actually bring me deals" To those folks, we say "thank you". Why? Because, by not being a part...
More About: Agents , Blogs , Weblogs , Jumbo , Gent

New-Home Slowdown Is Good News, Even To NAHB Chief Economist
2007-12-19 06:01:00
The pace of new-home construction in November dropped to the lowest level in 14 years. And that's good news, even to David Seirs, Chief Economist for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). David Seirs says he's somewhat pleased because builders cannot reduce their inventories of unsold homes unless they cut production, particularly in light of weak demand and rising competition from existing home sellers. "The builders are behaving appropriately at this point," Seiders said. "I would have liked to...
More About: News , Good News

Press Release: Danilo Bogdanovic Recognized as Contributing Author to "Real
2007-12-19 02:00:00
Ashburn, Virginia (Best Agent Business) December 18, 2007 ?- Danilo Bogdanovic, a top Realtor® in Loudoun County, Virginia, Real Estate Technology Consultant and Real Estate Blogger, joined with other top real estate agents around the country to write Real Estate in 2008, Book of Top Ideas for the Challenging Market of 2008. Real Estate in 2008 (http://www.realestatein2008.org) helps buyers, sellers, and agents succeed in, what's sure to be, a challenging 2008 market by providing hundreds of ideas from top agents...
More About: Books , Press Release , Agents , Press , Author

Federal Reserve Unveils New Mortgage Proposal With Stricter Lending Guideli
2007-12-18 18:16:00
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve unveiled a proposal today that would give people taking out home mortgages new protections against shady/predatory lending practices. The proposed rules, recommended by staff and expected to be endorsed by the Fed at its morning meeting, are especially geared to subprime borrowers. The proposal is expected to apply to new, or future, loans made by all types of lenders, including banks and brokers. The plan could be finalized next year. The Fed is considering...
More About: Proposal , Mortgage , Lending

The Ridiculously Long Tail of Real Estate Blogging
2007-12-16 18:37:00
On a regualar basis I like to go through my Typepad accounts and see what search criteria people are using to find our blogs. This morning I went through our local blog that generates traffic specifically for our local market and is directly at buyers and sellers of real estate in Loudoun County Virginia. To say that the searches are varied and unpredictable is a gross understatement. Here are the last 8 search criteria that generated clicks through to our...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Blogging , Real , Long

Update On "Borrower Approved, But Property Rejected By Fannie Mae"
2007-12-15 20:05:00
At the end of last month, I published a post entitled "Borrower Approved, But Property Rejected By Fannie Mae . The Latest In The Credit Crunch". It was regarding a real-life situation currently unfolding with buyer clients I was working with. They had a contract on a property that was initially approved, but later rejected by Fannie Mae for being "in an area of diminishing property values". At the time, the outlook was gloomy - the buyers were in default, faced...
More About: Mortgage , Update

Alliance Title - Another Casualty Of The Real Estate Market Fallout
2007-12-14 23:44:00
There is yet another casualty of the real estate market fallout - Alliance Title. According to a message at one of their branch offices, Alliance Title closed it's doors at 5PM yesterday (Thursday). The company web site was disabled and messages left at the company headquarters were not returned. Alliance Title is (was) headquartered in Silicon Valley and employed over 2,000 employees at 200 branches. All closings that they had on the books and escrow accounts are being transferred to...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market , Real

Update On H&R Block and Option One Mortgage - Losses Mounting, Will Miss Fi
2007-12-12 06:01:00
To add to H&R Block 's problems caused by failed talks with Cerberus Capital Management to acquire Option One Mortgage last week (story here), H&R Block announced that it expects to post more than $500M in losses. In addition, it will miss the deadline for filing its latest quarterly report to investors. H&R block is largely attributing the losses to its failed subprime lending subsidiary, Option One Mortgage. It's blaming the delayed filing on a switch of accounting firms. But, according...
More About: Update , Miss , Losses

Fed Cuts Funds Rate And Discount Rate By 25 Basis Points. But What's The Ef
2007-12-12 01:27:00
Today, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee lowered its target rate for the federal funds rate as well as its discount rate by 25 basis points. The federal funds rate is now 4.25 percent and the discount rate stands at 4.75 percent. Here's the explanation as to why they lowered the rate(s): "Incoming information suggests that economic growth is slowing, reflecting the intensification of the housing correction and some softening in business and consumer spending," the committee said in a...
More About: Mortgage , Points , Funds , Lending , Discount

Will The Down Real Estate Market Affect Consumer Holiday Spending?
2007-12-08 17:00:00
We did a poll on our other blog, Loudoun Stats, asking whether the down real estate market would affect people's spending this holiday season (click here for the actual poll). Here are the results: 54 percent said that they definitely would not be spending as much as in previous years 27 percent said that they would be spending about the same as in previous years 19 percent said that they would be spending close to that in previous years, but...
More About: Holiday , Estate , Real Estate , Real Estate Market , Market

Option One Mortgage Shutting Down It's Doors
2007-12-04 22:16:00
Option One Morgtage, a part of H&R Block, is officially shutting down it's doors after a failed sale to Cerberus Capital Management. Option One Mort gage had been in talks with Cebrerus for quite some time. Back in April, H&R Block was celebrating the possibility of Cebrerus paying up to $800M for Option One Mortgage (Bloomberg story here). After a $193M loss in the quarter ending July 31 and another $150M to $200M in mortgage-related losses anticipated for the quarter ending...
More About: Lending , Doors

Will Countrywide Choose to Declare Bankruptcy?
2007-11-03 16:03:00
Back in August, during the height of the mortgage crisis, there was concern that Countrywide could possibly go bankrupt. A Merrill Lynch analyst said that if investors lost confidence they could cause the company to become insolvent and force the company into bankruptcy. Fast forward two months and Countrywide reports the first quarterly loss in 25 years. The loss was $1.2 Billion or $2.85 a share. The company went on to say that they would report a profit in the...
More About: Bankruptcy , Choose , Bankrupt , Clar

Realtors are Too Old to Relate to First Time Home Buyers
2007-10-26 20:03:00
The average age of a Realtor is 51. The average age of a first time home buyer in the United States is 31. That is an entire generation gap. And it is not an easy gap to cross. I am 40 years old and I wouldn't take much advise from most of the 50 year olds I come across in my daily life. They are, for the most part, too far behind the technology curve. They have a sense of...
More About: Realtors , Home Buyers , Agents , Time , Home

Countrywide and NACA - During Hard Times, Even Enemies Unite
2007-10-25 21:42:00
With production volume way down, massive job cuts and a worsening reputation, Countrywide has joined forces with its arch enemy, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA). The nation's largest lender and its harshest critic and community advocacy group have partnered and come up with a program that Bruce Mark, NACA's CEO, would like to see become the standard in foreclosure prevention. The Countrywide/NACA partnership and initiative comes on the heels of the program announced on Tuesday by Countrywide where...
More About: Mortgage , Enemies , Hard , Times , Lending

Subprime Loan Alternative Pilot Program Being Rolled Out In Washington, DC
2007-10-04 22:47:00
Those with very little or no credit history can now only obtain a "subprime" loan, which comes at a higher interest rate and/or closing costs. But that may be changing. Borrowers in the Washington , DC area may be eligible for more affordable, traditional mortgages through a $200M pilot program called "R-Home". The "R-Home" mortgage program is based on an alternative credit scoring system that uses rent, utility bills, child care payments and other non-traditional payment history to evaluate the creditworthiness...
More About: Alternative , Loan , Mortgage , Program

AOL Real Estate Site Gets Facelift
2007-10-04 17:04:00
AOL recently launched their new and improved real estate site in an effort to increase it's presence in the already-saturated market of listing sites. AOL's new real estate site also includes a revamped home-valuation center through a partnership with Cyberhomes, a part of Fidelity. The new site and partnership was done in an effort to place property search front and center while offering consumers a broad view of the market, company officials said. AOL has partnerships with various sites and...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Tech , Site , Facelift

Real Estate Blogs Popular Topic Of Discussion At 2007 VAR Convetion
2007-10-03 16:34:00
Even though we knew that the number of Realtors who wrote or read a blog was low (4 percent), we didn't realize how turly unaware or scared most Realtors were of blogs. But as we're here at the 2007 Virginia Association of Realtors Convention in Williamsburg, VA acting as "Social Media Techs", we're hearing and seeing it first hand. It seems to appear much more scary to most Realtors than it really is. But once they've set up their blog...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Agents , Blogs , Popular

Move, Inc In Trouble Again - This Time With ActiveRain
2007-09-29 15:23:00
Move, Inc is back to it's old (corrupt) self once again. This time around, they've gone at it with ActiveRain. ActiveRain alleges that Move stole company information including customer (real estate agents and industry professionals) information during a "failed acquisition". From Glenn Roberts, Jr of Inman News: "ActiveRain, an online real estate blogging community and social network with about 47,000 members, has filed a lawsuit against property-search giant Move Inc. that seeks millions in damages and alleges that Move broke...
More About: Time , Move

Almost 80 Percent Of All Credit Reports Contain A Mistake. Are You Sure The
2007-09-28 20:11:00
As consumers, we are often reminded that we should get copies of our credit reports. However, actually getting a copy of them is similar to flossing - you know it's good for you yet, it's easy to put off. But a new study should shock you into sending away for those reports right away. The study found that almost 80 percent of credit reports contain mistakes. Several studies over the past 15 years have documented mistakes in credit reports. However,...
More About: Credit , Mortgage , Lending , Consumers , Ports

Real Estate Columnist, Author Robert Bruss Dies At Age 67
2007-09-28 00:59:00
Robert Bruss, a nationally syndicated real estate columnist, author and investment adviser, has died at his Silicon Valley home at the age of 67. Bruss had intestinal surgery earlier this year and died of cancer, said Brad Inman, founder and publisher of Inman News. For 23 years, Robert Bruss has written the weekly syndicated "Real Estate Mailbag" question and answer real estate column, the "Real Estate Notebook" feature on real estate trends, "Real Estate Law and You" about recent court...
More About: Author , Robert

Gallup Poll Shows Real Estate Industry Image in Freefall
2007-09-27 19:21:00
Back in August, Gallup ran a poll asking people about their opinions on 25 different industry sectors. Respondents were asked how they felt about each industry. The real estate industry was one of only 9 industries that received a net negative score. The real estate industry rates just slightly better than airlines (the butt of all standup comedy jokes) and lawyers (What do you call 10,000 attorneys buried up to their necks in sand?....... Not enough sand). Unbelievably, real estate...
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Industry , Poll , Freefall

K Hovnanian Homes pulls an Apple - Minus The Money Back
2007-09-21 06:05:00
Last weekend, K. Hovnanian Homes had their "Deal Of The Century" promotion running in 31 communities across the US. They slashed overall prices by up to $100,000 and offered extra appliances and upgrades to new customers. Similarly and only a short while ago, Apple decided to cut the price of the iPhone from $599 to $399, just weeks after it's initial release (and original price). But that's where the similarities end. Unlike Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple who came out...
More About: Money , Back , Pull

Warning Zillow Investors - You Should Give Your Money to Trulia
2007-09-20 15:16:00
It was just announced that Zillow received another $30,000,000 in funding to go along with the $57,000,000 they have already received in two previous rounds of investing. According to the article, the money will be used to accelerate the offerings from Zillow to homeowners and real estate professionals. I'm not sure what analysis the investors used to determine Zillow was worthy of additional funding but I can tell you they probably didn't talk to any real estate professionals, they probably...
More About: Money , Websites , Warning , Give

Credit Crisis and Panic Hits A Peak - Northern Rock (UK) Customers Withdraw
2007-09-14 23:50:00
If you think the panic from the credit crisis is bad here in the United States, take a look at what's going in the UK with Britain's fifth-largest mortgage lender, Northern Rock . Telegraph.co.uk is reporting that hundreds of Northern Rock customers are lining up today throughout Northern Rock's 76 branches to withdraw their money. Customers panicked and Northern Rock's stock price tumbled after news spread that Northern Rock had to ask the Bank of England for emergency financial assistance. Hmmm...do...
More About: Credit , Mortgage , Hits

One-Third Of Home Buyers Fail To Close in August - Even Higher Percentage F
2007-09-12 00:53:00
According to a new survey of mortgage brokers, one in three prospective home buyers who had signed purchase agreements in August ended up cancelling. The survey of 1,744 mortgage brokers, conducted by Campbell Communications, Inc., found that the cancellation rate for subprime borrowers was 56 percent while the cancellation rate for prime borrowers was 21 percent. Compare this to a cancellation rate of only 4 percent for mortgage related reasons during the booming real estate market in 2004. In addition,...
More About: Home Buyers , Home , Mortgage , Close , Buyers

First Ever Virginia Real Estate Blogger Convention In Less Than 3 Weeks!
2007-09-11 18:23:00
The first ever Virginia Real Estate Blogger Con (blogger convention) will be hosted by the Virginia Association of Realtors (VAR) on Wednesday, October 3rd. The BloggerCon will be held during VAR's annual convention (September 30-October 4) in Williamsburg, Virginia. BloggerCon will bring current Realtor bloggers and those who may be interested in learning more about real estate blogging together in one place during a convention for the first time ever. Among the many discussions going on at BloggerCon, a few of...
More About: Real Estate , Agents , Tech

The Carnival of Real Estate Makes a Pit Stop At real/diaBlog
2007-09-10 19:08:00
Welcome to the 58th edition of the Carnival of Real Estate ! We're proud to host this edition of CoRE and select some of the entries submitted to highlight the Carnival of Real Estate . There were many good entries, but we narrowed it down to the top 7 we found most interesting, entertaining and useful to consumers and/or real estate professionals. "...but I took my business to the companies that offered more and better. Do you think your customer might be...
More About: Stop