The most popular real estate stories this week from REALTOR® magazine’s Daily Real Estate News ranged from mortgage fraud busts to a nontraditional selling approach.

The stories, in order of their popularity, are:

1. Hundreds Charged in Fraud Sweep

2. Make Your Business Cards Count

3. Mortgage Broker Gets Jail for Stripping Home

4. A Commonly Missed Tax Break

5. A Stripped-Down Approach to Selling

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

Posted on June 27 at 08:52 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By Stacey Moncrieff

On the one hand, I was glad to see that Mary Umberger—the Chicago Tribune real estate columnist whose work I admire—was paying attention to our blog. In her June 22 column. Umberger cited our senior editor Wendy Cole’s observation in "Life's Hard Even at the Top" that even in a “hot” market like Charlotte, N.C., external scrutiny can create pressures and unrealistic expectations.

On the other hand, I was disappointed by Umberger’s flip “well, OK” at the end of the column. To her, I suppose, it seems that real estate practitioners want it both ways: They want the media to stop reporting so much bad news about real estate, while at the same time, they want to downplay “best market” hype. But I can understand it. It’s the same reason I’ve heard Detroit practitioners express frustration over being labeled the “worst market.” The truth is that homes are still selling in Detroit and not every home in Charlotte is jumping off the MLS rolls. Our seemingly insatiable desire for “best” and “worst” lists (and I read them, too) doesn’t really offer us much in the way of meaning. When attention is focused on any market — be it a local real estate market, a stock sector, or some other investment — that attention has the potential to oversimplify reality and even cause a psychological shift, either creating new demands or causing people to wonder “how long will it last?”

What do you think? Is reporting about your market creating unrealistic expectations among your buyers or sellers? If so, how do you set the record straight?

Posted on June 24 at 03:02 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (4)

The most popular real estate stories this week from REALTOR® magazine’s Daily Real Estate News ranged from the fastest growing cities to marketing ideas to promote your business.

The stories, in order of their popularity, are:

1. Fastest Growing Real Estate Markets

2. Forget Open Houses, Plan an Event

3. FHA Waives 90-Day Waiting Period

4. Practitioners Mix Old, New Marketing Ideas

5. Former NFL Player Sells Brokerage for $613M

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

Posted on June 20 at 08:33 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (2)

By Wendy Cole, Senior Editor

Be careful what you wish for.

I took a trip to Charlotte, N.C., last week to get a feel for what it's like to sell real estate in a market that’s been well publicized as an exception to the national housing slowdown. I chose the Queen City because its market has stayed strong and steady, even notching price gains for much of this year.

My colleague, managing editor John Frank recently took a similar trip to Sacramento, Calif., to talk to practitioners in a market where sales and prices have fallen off a cliff. His goal, and mine, was to find out what readers in these markets think of our magazine and to get ideas for how we can serve them better. I thought I'd pose similar questions to a focus group that, at least judging by the headlines, is in an extremely enviable position.

In the first quarter of the year, Charlotte home prices jumped 4 percent over the year before. (New York City was the only other metro area with a gain — 2 percent — during that same period.)

So I thought it would be refreshing and encouraging to hear for myself about the upbeat news out of Charlotte, a major financial hub commited to smart gowth. I'm sad to report that I couldn't have been more wrong.

Real estate practitioners there say they feel enormous stress about meeting the expectations of sellers who have also read those same cheery headlines. It seems all the positive buzz is making it harder for practitioners there who say the market really isn't as rosy as it seems.

The fact is the numbers in the past few months have turned down in Charlotte, as many transactions have fallen through because out-of-town sellers hoping to relocate there can't find their own buyers. Charlotte sellers have been some of the most stubborn about lowering prices, as inventory there has started to mushroom.

The message that the local real estate sales community would like to get out: Stop talking us up so much; it's making it harder for us to do our jobs.

How have media reports affected business in your markets? Are stories about price reductions starting to get buyers off the fence? The falling prices do seem to offer new marketing opportunities, no?

Posted on June 13 at 11:05 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

The most popular real estate stories this week from REALTOR® magazine online’s Daily Real Estate News ranged from the best U.S. cities to live to how to structure a congratulations letter for your customers.

The stories, in order of their popularity, are:

1. Some Home Owners Opt to Buy and Bail

2. 10 Best Cities to Live, Work, Play

3. Pending Sales Up 6.3% in April

4. Congrats Letters Make Big Impressions

5. No-Downpayment Loans Still Out There

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

Posted on June 13 at 09:14 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

By Mariwyn Evans

The median number of transactions completed by REALTORS® in 2007 dropped to eight from 10 the previous year. However, brokers and sales associates who brought a combination of experience and hard work to the table were rewarded, according to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® 2008 Member Profile.

The median gross income before taxes and expenses for all REALTORS® was $42,600 in 2007, but REALTORS® with 16 or more years of real estate experience had a median income of $69,500. In the same vein, REALTORS® who work 60 or more hours a week grossed $80,800. The median years of experience in 2007 was eight years, up from seven in 2006. The median number of hours worked was 40.

Watch for more details from the new Member Profile in the July issue of REALTOR® magazine.

Posted on June 10 at 12:15 PM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (0)

The most-read real estate stories this week from REALTOR® magazine online’s Daily Real Estate News ranged from new guidelines for buyers to mortgage fraud.

The stories, in order of their popularity, are:

1. 5 New Rules for Home Buyers

2. Where Mortgage Fraud is Prevalent

3. How to Get More From Your Prospecting

4. Most Common Mortgage Scams

5. Bank-Owned Homes Continue to Surge

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

Posted on June 6 at 10:56 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (1)

By Stacey Moncrieff

I had an interesting discussion this week with Phoenix practitioner Jane Brunet, who specializes in short sales. Brokers in her area, she says, are telling their associates to avoid short-sale properties because of the difficulties in getting transactions closed. The transactions are complex. They require a keen understanding of financing, banks' loss mitigation policies, and bankruptcy law, among other things. Brunet says brokers should be providing in-depth education rather than discouraging their associates from engaging in such deals.

The irony of avoiding short sales, of course, is that homeowners with underwater mortgages are then forced into foreclosure leaving houses vacant — never a good thing for real estate values — and the banks gain control of the inventory.

That's a dangerous scenario in Brunet's mind. The conventional wisdom is that banks don’t want to hold REO — it’s costly to them — but Brunet’s not too sure.

She has a theory that banks have been trying for years to get into real estate through government fiat. Now, they’re getting in another way: by controlling inventory (and commission rates) of a large chuck of the Phoenix market. I find Brunet's theory fascinating, though it's hard to swallow the idea that banks would conspire in such a way. She does allow that, since last year, banks have become much more willing to negotiate terms with troubled homeowners.

I have no trouble buying Brunet's other point, however, that if sales associates are properly trained on the issues surrounding short sales, they'll be more willing to represent buyers in short-sales transactions. To that end, I was happy to see a notice in the Real Estate Buyer's Agent Council's June 6 e-newsletter promoting a Webinar for its members entitled "Short Sales: What a Buyer’s Rep Needs to Know." The Webinar is June 30 and is free to REBAC members. The council promises to provide information on how to register in an upcoming issue of its weekly e-newsletter, TBR Hotsheet.

Questions: How prevalent are short sales in your market? Do you see brokers avoiding them? Is in-depth education on short sales needed in your market? And finally, what do you make of Brunet's argument that banks would rather foreclose than approve a short sale?

Posted on June 6 at 01:04 AM | Permanent Link | Add a Comment (20)