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Stocks post worst week in Over 4 Years - buy real estate now
2007-03-03 18:14:02
I don’t care how the financial experts try to smooth over and explain away the over-inflated stock market bubble. It gives you a nice glance at exactly what you have and how fast you can lose it when “investing” in the stock market. They used fear to scare you away from buying real estate, you bought their IOUs instead. Now, do you feel more comfortable and secure with that IOU or a tangible brick and mortar house? For the week, the Dow fell 3.3 percent, the S&P 500 lost 4.4 percent and the Nasdaq fell 5.9 percent. For the Dow and the S&P 500, it was their biggest weekly point drop since the week ended July 19, 2002. And for the Nasdaq, it was the poorest weekly showing since the week ended Sept. 21, 2001, the first week of trading after the 9/11 terror attacks. There is now a good chance the federal reserve will re-think and lower their rates, they have to try and balance(manipulate) the stock market which is only built on a balance of fear vs positive s...
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Agents-The internet and their state of denial
2007-03-03 18:14:02
I have written so much about this but more new research info has come out to pile on. Number of agents an Inter net buyer interviewed, on the median: 1; Traditional buyers? 3. (Why would you want fewer auditions and more certain retentions?) - 69% of Internet buyers said response time was extremely important.83% of those buyers chose email as their favored communication method with their agent. 0% chose “in person.” (The Internet is the new “office visit.”) - Internet buyers were more satisfied with their agents: 4.3 to 3.3 for traditional buyers, on a scale of five where five is “surpassed expectations.” - 35% of traditional agents listed “faster response time from my agent” as the one thing they would change, if they could, about their experience; Internet buyers? 0%! Internet buyers were far more satisfied in every important researched category of satisfaction than traditional buyers were; when asked the number one reason for satisfa...
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Stocks down for third day - Stock bubble bursting
2007-03-02 06:13:01
The difference between how the housing market is treated and stock market is treated is so apparent right now. The private banking cartel AKA the federal reserve even trotted out Ben Bernanke to say something to try and stop the sell off. I ask again, where was all this stop the bleeding when it came to the housing market, nowhere, it was in fact just the opposite trying to talk it down further. Just another example of the financial / media manipulation of you. In an effort to keep pushing that agenda, notice how they intermix “new” home sales with “existing” home sales, and pick whichever condition sounds worse. There is a big story behind the pricing of the new homes and how quickly they increase their prices. As well if I were a current home seller I would want to see “new” home sales down, that means people must be purchasing more re-sale homes instead.
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Stocks plummet 3.9% ! - start of stock bubble !
2007-02-28 18:11:02
The Dow fell 546.20, or 4.3 percent, to 12,086.06 before recovering some ground in the last hour of trading to close down 416.02, or 3.29 percent. To further prove my point of the financial / media industries attempt to turn you off buying a home and investing (gambling) in “securities”. With yesterdays large percentage stock drops, why are the financial experts telling us it was just a small correction. But when its the real estate market, they tell us its a long term bubble correction to last for years. The “experts” can’t get on the media enough to say how bad real estate is. Yesterday they were they are out in front of their problem trying to minimize the losses and get your confidence back up to investing in the stock market. “This corrective consolidation phase isn’t just going to be one day, but we don’t believe this is going to be a bear market,” said Bob Doll, BlackRock’s global chief investment officer of equities...
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Zillow and agents CMA
2007-02-27 18:11:01
If you have been following real estate news at all you already know about Zillow . It is the first successful attack against the NAR / MLS real estate business model. You can “Zillow” a property and come out with a “Zestimate” on the homes value. From Zillow: “When our statisticians developed the model to determine home values, they explored how homes in certain areas were similar (i.e., number of bedrooms and baths, and a myriad of other details) and then looked at the relationships between actual sale prices and those home details. These relationships form a pattern, and they used that pattern to develop a model to estimate a market value for a home. Hundreds of home details feed into the formula and the home characteristics are given different weights according to their influence in a given geography and over a specific period of time. We compute this figure by taking zillions of data points ? much of this data is public ? and entering them into a for...
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Real estate agents - Blog or get lost in the fog
2007-02-24 18:09:01
Recently I had a chance to speak with some local Reno real estate agents about websites and blogging. While they did seem to somewhat realize they needed an online presence, they did not have a sense of how important it is or the power they have to use the internet as a business tool. They did not realize they need to start sooner rather than later. And why not, they have been doing business the old fashioned way and being successful at it. Truth is the major shift in how the real estate business works is already happening. It is happening very fast, most agents will be too late, and trying to play catch up. Unfortunately for them due to the way the Internet works, it will be very hard and costly to make up that time. In a recent article from 901AM, A recent survey done by Blogging Systems, 68% of real estate agents said they would be focusing on blogs as a marketing tool in 2007! Remember when real estate agents hired high schoolers to flyer homes? This was the old days. Now the ta...
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40 Mountain Haven - Real log home
2007-02-24 18:09:01
Well I have been too busy with other things rather than writing blogs. Last weekend the weather was so nice, I took a short drive up to the open house to see this home. While so many homes today are spec builder homes that are all made the same, with immitation design features to look like something they are not. This home actualy is a new built log home, with heavy wood posts and beams, real wood floor, all from on site cut timbers.    For more info, photos and VRtour visit the agent, Julane Wehbe’s blog.
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Turning the tables on those tired old bubble blogs
2007-02-18 06:04:01
I just found Jon Dalton’s real estate Blog . I have written many posts with similar thoughts, please check out Jon Dalton’s Phoenix Blog. He is trying to smash the fear the Bubblista’s established in his market and across the country.  
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Phenomenal Mid Century Modern mansion of Charles Steen for sale
2007-02-14 18:02:02
Here in Reno there are so few mid century modern homes of any size. But we do have one of the best MCMs in the U.S. The awesome Charles Steen mansion, designed by one of the foremost mid century modern architects, Clarence Mayhew. Mayhew is one of the elite group of MCM design founders, that include more well know names such as the master Walter Gropius, A. Quincy Jones, Marcel Breuer, William Keck, Mies Van Der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, Serge Chermayeff and of course Charles and Ray Eames. Another well known Mayhew design is the Alumni House at U.C Berkeley 1954. The Steen mansion is one of those unique homes that must be purchased by someone who can fully appreciate MCM design. This home was listed by Chase International for $5.8M in 2005, now in 2007 it is a steal with Dickson Realty for $4.95M. You can take a virtual tour of this home right here. One unfourtunate note, the listing agent chose to describe the house as “In the spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright”. But due to the h...
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KB homes detached or townhomes ?
2007-02-13 18:01:01
The new KB Home s development down in Damonte / Curti Ranch area called Ravenna and Calabria at Monte Sereno are quite interesting. While they are sold as single family “prestigious” homes, they actually look closer to a townhome. These giants are so close together you would think that they are townhomes, but they are large single family homes on undersized lots. What makes this community even worse is the fact they put so many two stories side by side (as pictured above) I counted twelve in a row then one single then the two stories started again. Wonder if parts of the street even get out of the homes shadows. I also found interesting is the high level of upgrade the models have. The lists at the doors are three pages long in small font. It would be pretty tough for a potential buyer to visualize the standard house they would actually get for the advertised price (plus lot premium). I could not believe that ceiling height was actually an option from standard 8ft to opti...
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Invest in real estate or mutual funds?
2007-02-10 05:58:01
Why is that financial “experts” in cooperation with the mainstream media talk down real estate? Why do they never talk down buying stocks or mutual funds? Fun ny, its always a good time to buy those. Both of these industries have much to profit by convincing you not to put your money into real estate. To me real estate is something tangible and concrete, whereas stocks, mutual funds are not, they are IOUs of liability. Take a look at Wall Sreet Fine Tracker and see what these companies are up to. Note that there are many companies such as Goldman Sachs, Knight Trading, Citigroup, Bank of America, Ameritrade, Prudential Financial, Bear Stearns, Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley pay these fines in order to “would neither admit nor deny the findings”. Feel your money is safe now?
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Have fun with widgets
2007-02-08 17:57:01
There are so many great widgets out there, I found this one, while technically not exactly a widget, it is a fun tool for a web 2.0 type agent, or maybe a buyer / seller to have fun with on their own. I made this very quick VR tour of a Double Diamond park here in Reno. The VR tour is quite powerful and easy to use. Check it out at their website Mapwing.
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Agent ahead of the curve
2007-02-08 17:57:01
An excerpt from Glen Roberts Inmans news, “Teresa Boardman, a broker for Keller Williams Integrity Realty, has a home office and a couple of neighborhood coffee shops serve as her field offices. Boardman, a real estate professional for the past five years, is a self-described “army of one.” She has built up her Web presence and generates 80 percent of her business through online leads. “I’m getting leaner and meaner all the time.” And she is exploring the possibility of shedding the Keller Williams brand and relying on her own brand of business. “The way the industry is changing is kind of making us all rethink relationships with teams and real estate companies. Technology is kind of filling in the gaps,” said Boardman. Author Seth Godin wrote “Small is the New Big,” a book about the changing face of marketing and the ability of entrepreneurs to compete with big brands in creating contagious campaigns that capture con...
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Real real estate professionals please help yourselves
2007-02-08 17:57:01
I just still don’t understand it. Real real estate professionals need to get out and show that they do bring value to a real estate deal. I believe there are some who are trying, but they are caught in the brokers vise. Brokers have the most to lose as we head into the new online real estate transparent relm, and they want to stay relevent to the transaction in order to stay in business. Surfing around for real estate news I found the Buzzmachine Blog and this post “real estate agents are next”. This article and the comments are a small fraction of what is brewing out there in real estate clients and potential clients heads.
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Moving in - moving out
2007-02-07 17:56:01
United Van lines, the largest moving company in the U.S recently released its migration study (Jan-Feb 2006). Of course as we here in Reno know, Nevada is INBOUND, with 59.9% and has been an inbound state since 1986. On the other side of the story, OUTBOUND, California comes in at 52.4%. Interestingly, they do comment that is the lowest number in four years. Buy I suspect that is at least partially due to the housing bubble scare that slowed down sales of homes from people that intend on moving to Nevada. I still seem to see a high volume of California cars here in Reno.
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The Gen X real estate customer
2007-02-07 17:56:01
One of my favorite blogs is future of real estate marketing. Their post on “meet the new real estate customer” is right on. Check it out and see who we Gen X are.
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What buyers and sellers expect from a real estate agent
2007-02-07 17:56:01
Sacramento Realtor Elizabeth Weintraub wrote a interesting article regarding what buyers and sellers expect.“Honesty and Trustworthiness. They want you to tell them the truth, even it means you could lose the possible sale. (It?s also the law.) They want buying agents to point out possible defects in a home and seller?s agents to lay it on the line as to what might cause a buyer to think twice about purchasing their home. They don?t want hype, fluff, false promises, truthiness or reason to doubt your word. They want somebody on their side, a fiduciary, an agent who will hold their personal information in confidence.” Her whole post is available on the real estate tomato. Buyers, sellers and most of all agents should read it.
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Groundhog does not see shadow or housing bubble
2007-02-04 17:54:02
Well Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow and also predicted an early start to the traditional home selling season. Phil stated that the housing crash doomsayers actually saw their shadows and scurried back into their holes.  Buyers get out there, and remember to help educate yourselves visit transparentre.com
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Typical media numbers game
2007-02-04 17:54:02
Here in Reno we have been pummled with the sky is falling real estate pricing and news since early 2006. We were told home prices were going down 30% maybe more. Now in todays RGJ with a headline of “Area prices still falling” they report from the NNRMLS that “During the fourth quarter, the median price fell to $314,250, down 11% from the same quarter in 2005 and down from $324,500 in the third quarter, according to the report by the Northern Nevada Regional Multiple Listing Service.” Now wait, I was told that that prices were going to drop or had dropped (its so hard to keep track) 30% from spring 2006, now I am told its only 11% down all they way back from the third quarter in 2005, huh? Well if I were to crunch some numbers and calculate the percentage drop from the third quarter 2005 number of $324,500 to the current presented number of $314,250 I get a percentage drop of less than 3%. Big deal!, so I am up around 100% from purchase price and short term d...
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RGJ is really confused
2007-02-04 17:54:02
In addition to my last post, I checked out the online RGJ real estate business section. A headline dated 12/29/06 is “Median resale prices rise in November” then on 1/30/07 “Area home prices still falling”. RGJ, Which is it? 
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Federal reserve holds
2007-02-01 17:52:02
The federal reserve today held the interest rate at 5.25%. “Recent indicators have suggested somewhat firmer economic growth, and some tentative signs of stabilization have appeared in the housing market. Overall, the economy seems likely to expand at a moderate pace over coming quarters.” Buyers it is still a great time to buy, but the best time has already past as our Reno stock of homes is basically at normal levels approx 3200 homes.
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Internet - Real Estate - Internet
2007-02-01 17:52:02
The real estate industry, said Conway, ?is frankly about Web presence ? and anybody who hasn?t figured that out is probably not going to have a business in the next couple of years”  
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Classy website for this agent
2007-01-29 17:50:02
Julane Wehbe’s website  is a very classy design, which really gives a visitor a sense of her professionalism. This is the exact opposite of the vast majority of agent websites that are cluttered, linkmania, un-professional jumbles. Looking through Julane’s website, she also has a blog, which obviously is new but is also professional, clean and concise. After researching her, I found that she recently had sold an exceptional property in 90 days after it had been for sale through four other brokers since 2001. Check out her and her website http://www.jwsellsreno.com/ 
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Fed rates unchanged after meeting - will buyers notice ?
2007-01-26 05:48:02
From the Federal Reserve today The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 5-1/4 percent. Economic growth has slowed over the course of the year, partly reflecting a substantial cooling of the housing market. Although recent indicators have been mixed, the economy seems likely to expand at a moderate pace on balance over coming quarters. The federal reserve has not used the term “substantial” previously regarding the housing market. Seems they finally realized they went too far with rate hikes. FYI, did you know that the Federal Reserve is not federal or any kind of reserve, but a private banking cartel.
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The Wall Street ?experts? manipulate buyers - buyers lose -
2007-01-26 05:48:02
This idea has been a reoccuring theme in some of my posts, but its not a theory, it is a fact and buyers are the ones on the losing end. Wall street wants to sell you stock / bonds, whatever useless IOU paper they can. So they scare buyers to not buy a personal home to live in, investment, vaction, 2nd home, etc. People seem to take these “expert” opinions at face value when they are repeated by the mainstream media as facts. Buyer s are manipulated into acting just the way Wall Street wants, just like a heard of sheep. I found this case example from Dallas Texas as written by Blance Evans for Realtytimes; Realtor Mary O’Keefe says one of her clients refuses to take her advice when making offers. He prefers to listen to his Wall Street buddies who don’t live in Dallas and aren’t familiar with sold comparables. “They’re telling him that he should offer $50,000 less than the asking price,” says O’Keefe, who has been showing the buye...
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Mortgage rates !
2007-01-26 05:48:02
From bankrate.com, The 30-year fixed-rate average stayed at 5.68 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate held at 5.44 percent. The 1-year adjustable was unchanged at 5.31 percent. Maybe buyers think these rates are too good and are waiting until the “experts” tell them to buy when rates are 6.68%.
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Nothing going on and worthless expert predictions
2007-01-26 05:48:02
I have not posted anything since the 21st. There has not been anything worth writing about. Just the typical “expert” market 2007 predictions that are guesses anyway. I am working on some local Reno info and will get to those soon. 
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Just the facts - Median resale price rises in November
2007-01-26 05:48:02
Excerpts from an article in todays RGJ by Zack Hall. The median price, the midpoint in which half the homes sold for more and half less, of those resold homes in the greater Reno-Sparks area rose to $315,000 in November, up from $312,400 in October, according to a report by the Northern Nevada Multiple Listing Service. I don’t think we were ever as bad as what some people said, but now we are showing some positive signs, said Steve Haley, agent for Keller Williams Group Realty and the 2006 president of the Reno-Sparks Association of Realtors. The amount of inventory on the market also appears to be normalizing. In the metro area, there were 3,261 active listings for single-family homes and another 794 listings for condos and manufactured homes, according to MLS. That’s down from the more than 5,000 listings that have been typical in the area throughout the year and closer to the roughly 3,000 listings that would be considered normal for Reno-Sparks. Ken Wiseman, broker-o...
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Sellers - Demand much more from an agent you intend to hire
2007-01-26 05:48:02
The power of online real estate marketing has far surpassed anything that can be done in the old print media. Most real estate agents either believe the old way of doing business is still good enough, most either do not want to recognize the storm of high tech that is rapidly changing their business before their eyes. As a seller if you are considering hiring a real estate agent you need to demand a certain amount of online marketing. At minimum this would include that the agent has a professional custom designed and constantly updated and marketed website, this website will have many details and creative thoughtful descriptions of your house. It will have a minimum of 8 high res professional photos. It will be linked to various online real estate search engines such as realtor.com, trulia.com and the new homes.point2.com. Your house also should have its own Google Adwords marketing campaign. Make your potential agent prove to you they will use the power of online marketing and not ...
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Broker internet strategy
2007-01-26 05:48:02
From Glenn Roberts Jr, Inman news, NEW YORK — During a discussion of broker Inter net strategies at a real estate conference Monday, Justin McCarthy of Google said the real estate industry appears to be shifting toward openness rather than exclusivity in the sharing of property information. While brokers had historically discussed how to keep listings away from aggregator sites that sought to share more listings information with consumers, McCarthy said the discussion is now about “how do you get listings to all of these sites.” From all the other articles I have found telling of how the NAR and brokers have been fighting this, the above should more correctly read “forced toward openness”.
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