The most-read real estate stories this week from REALTOR® magazine online’s Daily Real Estate News ranged from snagging the best property deals to the tragic murder of a fellow real estate practitioner.

The stories, in order of their popularity, are:

1. Best Places to Get Foreclosure Deals

2. Million Dollar Homes at Bargain Prices

3. Ex-Con Admits Killing Real Estate Pro

4. Home Sales Still Strong in Key Areas

5. 10 Fastest Growing U.S. Cities

To subscribe to the Daily or Weekly Real Estate News e-mail, visit REALTOR® Magazine Online.

Posted on March 28 at 10:50 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By John N. Frank

Many years ago, when I was dealing with a profound personal tragedy, someone recommended I read a book that started out with a Buddhist guiding principle, “life is suffering.” The book wasn’t trying to be maudlin or to get me more depressed. Rather, the author was making the point that difficult things happen in life. That’s a given; what’s up to us is how we deal with and go on from them to have happy and fulfilling lives.

I’ve been hearing just that message again recently as I interview real estate professionals for a story I’m working on for the June issue of REALTOR® magazine. The article will talk with five

practitioners who are 50 years old or older. All have become trusted mentors to younger real estate pros. And all have gone through hard times in the past and learned from them. They’re now passing those lessons on to their younger associates, many of whom are experiencing their first market downturn. The veterans are talking about the importance of remembering and practicing basics in prospecting, career education and in providing service to clients.

My story will go into much more detail, but I wanted to give you a short preview here and get your reactions to what they’ve been telling me. I also want to thank everyone who nominated people for this story. I have many more nominations than I can write about in one story.

The overarching message from these generational brethren of mine is to keep going; life can have difficult moments, but those aren’t signals to throw in the towel and go sit in a corner. Or to stay up watching endless late-night TV as I have been known to do.

Rather, find ways to keep going and to adapt to changing business conditions. “You just have to keep working. I preach never give up—if you hit that brick wall, go over it or go under it,” one person told me. Said another, “Sometimes you look at the whole elephant and say ‘there’s no way I can eat that.’ Well, sure there is, you eat elephant one bite at a time.”

These folks aren’t being Pollyannas, who I instinctively shy away from as a rule, they’re being realists who want to help others know that clouds pass and the sun comes out again.

So who wants to eat some elephant?

Posted on March 26 at 10:56 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By Stacey Moncrieff

We've had about a dozen reader comments on my post last week concerning fraud charges filed against a former "30 Under 30." I'm grateful for the reader interaction and am taking all your comments to heart. Many of the comments seems to fall into two categories: (1) I don't like that "30 Under 30" feature anyway, and (2) the bad apples make it harder for the rest of us to maintain a good image in the eyes of the public. I'd like to address both concerns.

On the first point: The "30 Under 30" was conceived as a way to get young people excited about

being part of this business. In that goal, I can say the program has been an unmitigated success. Applicants talk about having read past issues and dreamed of becoming a "30 Under 30." They say it motivates them to work harder. Past "30s" are giving back by getting involved in local, state, and NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS committees, and they're impressing their more experienced counterparts.

The "30 Under 30" feature runs only once a year, and I'm afraid it gets an inordinate amount of focus from its critics. That said, I hear you! When we redesigned the magazine, we instituted a new regular column, "Success Story," that enables us to focus on a broader range of readers. (To the reader who said the magazine focuses too much on success, I respectfully say that our mission is to help you succeed. However, if you spend time reading "Success Story," you'll see that we've broadened the definition of success. This is not a repeat of our old "Top Performer" column but stories of people who are finding success on their own terms. We also instituted REALTOR Magazine's Good Neighbor Awards program eight years ago as a way to spotlight those members who are doing tremendous volunteer work in their communities.)

I agree with the second point about bad apples. However, I'm concerned that many of the people who are writing in assume that Eve Mazzarella is guilty. As one writer pointed out to me, in our legal system, people are innocent until proven guilty. The Eve that we interviewed a year ago was kind and hard-working and didn't seem to have any visible strikes against her. I hope that we someday have the full story and--if there is wrongdoing--the guilty are brought to justice. But I also hope you understand my reluctance to post comments that assume Eve's guilt.

Posted on March 25 at 05:04 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

The most-read real estate stories this week from REALTOR® magazine online’s Daily Real Estate News ranged from a mortgage fraud case to handling listing objections from clients.

The stories, in order of their popularity, are:

1. Vegas Couple Faces Fraud Charges

2. Neighbors get Nasty Over Sale of Home

3. Fed Slashes Rates

4. FBI Examining 17 Lenders

5. How to Handle Presentation Objections

To subscribe to the Daily or Weekly Real Estate News e-mail, visit REALTOR® Magazine Online.

Posted on March 21 at 08:47 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By Stacey Moncrieff
I was disheartened to see in the NAR Wisdom blog that Eve Mazzarella’s name was attached to a possible mortgage fraud. Eve was named to our “30 Under 30” list for 2007. From more than 600 applicants to our “30 Under 30″ program last year, Eve stood out for her “bootstraps” story and for being a risk taker.

You may be wondering, in light of this news, if or how we vet candidates for our annual 30 under 30 presentation. We put all applicants who make it into the finals for “30 Under 30″ through a screening process, as we did with Eve. We do checks with the local association of REALTORS to determine whether there have been any ethics violations and with the state real estate commission to determine whether there have been any complaints, investigations, or license law violations. Occasionally, as a result of that screening, we drop a candidate from contention. We found no red flags with Eve.

Fraud, whether intentional or inadvertent, deserves the bright glare of media attention. We’ve done a number of stories on mortgage fraud; most recently, last week, our senior editor Mariwyn Evans attended a local mortgage fraud seminar and posted an entry at our blog, “Fraud for Homes Comes Under Greater Scrutiny.”

A year ago, Eve’s future seemed bright. If this indictment results in a conviction, it’ll prove a poignant lesson to anyone in this business who thinks it’s OK to get ahead using anything but the straight-and-narrow path.

Posted on March 17 at 05:11 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (14)

The most-read real estate stories this week from REALTOR® magazine online’s Daily Real Estate News ranged from articles on why it’s a good time to buy to affordable kitchen remodels.

The stories, in order of their popularity, are:

1. Why Now is a Smart Time to Buy
The financial gurus at the Wall Street Journal are talking up homeownership and offering tips to buyers about jumping in.

2. Lease-to-Own Primer
Lease-to-own agreements can help you sell a hard-to-sell property. Here's how they work.

3. Some Home Owners Just Walk Away
As prices drop, some home owners who bought at the top of the market are mailing their keys to the lender and walking away. In some circles, it's called "jingle mail."

4. Tax Benefits of Owning a Home
Do you have buyers on the fence? Share with them these details on why they can't afford to wait any longer.

5. Low-Cost Kitchen Updates
Make that outdated kitchen more appealing to buyers with these low-cost fixes.

To subscribe to the Daily or Weekly Real Estate News e-mail, visit REALTOR® Magazine Online.

Posted on March 14 at 08:43 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By Mariwyn Evans

Just in case you needed a “wowie” figure to make you feel even worse about the credit markets, try this one — mortgage fraud increased 139 percent between 2006 and 2007, according to a presentation I heard yesterday from Merle Sharick of the Mortgage Asset Research Institute. Even scarier is that the huge jump figure is based only on federally regulated lenders and doesn’t count all those state-chartered banks and mortgage brokers backed by private capital sources.

It also surprised me that, according to Sharick, lenders are beginning to pay more attention to what he called “fraud for housing.” Unlike “fraud for money,” which gets most of the attention from the FBI, fraud for housing can be as simple as a real estate practitioner “forgetting” to show

the reduced sale price in the MLS so the buyer can get a big enough loan to make the deal.

In a market where home prices were rising and sales were strong, such frauds were largely ignored so long as a borrower continued to make mortgage payments, says Sharick. But now, lenders, worried about falling home prices and underwater borrowers, are starting to take notice.

So, no matter how deserving the buyers, resist the temptation to “just help them out.” Otherwise, you may regret it.

Posted on March 13 at 03:26 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)