“Although we had been saving money and thinking about getting into the real estate market for some time, the tax credit was the motivating factor behind our decision to move forward and purchase a home,” says Huisking. This sentiment echoes that of many first-time buyers who decided to take advantage of the tax credit at a time when home prices and mortgage rates are at all time lows. “Knowing that the credit was going to expire was a huge push into our moving ahead with the search,” he adds. Now that the credit has been extended and expanded, more first-time buyers as well as move-up buyers have the opportunity to take advantage of a benefit that won’t be around forever. 

For Bond and Huisking, the process of buying their first home and utilizing the tax credit is another success story in what will hopefully become a turning point for the real estate industry. Starting the process of searching for a home on their own, Bond and Huisking reached out to Vanderblue and Vartuli to enlist their help to be able to purchase a home before the tax credit expired. Vanderblue and Vartuli showed Bond and Huisking a dozen or so properties before they found the one that was right for them and recently purchased the home in a process that took just 30 days. “We recognized the value of the home as soon as it came on the market and moved quickly in order to close on it within 30 days,” adds Huisking. 

Even though Bond and Huisking could afford the home without the tax credit, it was a nice bonus for them. “If we had been on the edge of being able to afford the house, we might have been more hesitant,” says Huisking, “but we saw an opportunity to be able to purchase the home and then use the credit to invest back into the house.” Looking back on the entire process, Huisking sums it up in one word: simple. “In order to use the tax credit to purchase our home, all we had to do was file an amended 2008 tax return and we got the money within 6 weeks or so,” he says. “The biggest confusion we had throughout the process was whether or not we would be eligible for the entire credit or just a partial credit because of our income level.” Since Bond and Huisking filed as separate returners and she qualified for the entire credit, they were able to take advantage of the entire $8,000. 

“The first-time homebuyer tax credit has been a great tool to get prospective buyers off the fence,” says Vanderblue. “Now that the credit has been extended and expanded, buyers are going to sit up and take notice and will move to take advantage of it now, as it won’t last forever,” she adds. The increase in income level is a huge advantage of the extended tax credit ($125,000 for single filers and $225,000 for joint filers). “This is crucial, especially in a market such as Fairfield County,” says Vanderblue. “One of the biggest problems with the initial tax credit was the income level because most first-time buyers in our market didn’t qualify for the credit because of their income,” she says. 

Educating prospective buyers about the advantages of the tax credit has become an important task for Vanderblue and Vartuli. “We stress the overall picture of what the credit is about to our clients but advise that they speak with an accountant or attorney to get the specifics. The extended homebuyer tax credit gives us something to talk about as well as a way to shine as Realtors while educating our clients,” concludes Vanderblue. 

About the Vanderblue Team
One of the many benefits to using the Vanderblue Team is the specialized skill sets each team member offers, such as Short sales, New Construction, Investment Division, etc. Vartuli is highly-skilled in representing first-time buyers in the Fairfield and Trumbull areas and was chosen specifically to represent these buyers for her ability to guide them and educate them on the many options available to first-time buyers. 

For more information, visit http://vanderblue.com.

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“We are very excited to be partnering with VScreen to better enable our power brokers in capturing the rapidly growing video audience with custom-produced content,” said Darryl MacPherson, executive vice president, RISMedia. “VScreen was a natural fit for us, since they have been working within this niche for a few years now…and we look forward to what the future holds as the need for video continues to expand.” 

With a 40% annual growth rate, Internet video has become an industry standard, according to VScreen Co-founder Stephen Schweickart. 

“Video for both websites and newsletters, as well as social media and mobile applications, is rapidly moving from being an exception to the expectation,” according to Schweickart, whose firm produces tightly focused “short form” videos, designed to effectively engage the brief attention span of today¹s online video viewers. 

The partnership was welcomed by both parties as the next logical step in expanding video content and technology to meet the ever increasing expectations of the online audience. 

To see VScreen’s conference recap, For more information, please visit http://VScreen.com or Info@VScreen.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

A “short sale” is a sale where the bank accepts as full value a price that’s less than what’s owed on the property. The debt is forgiven (although not always without some tax consequences), a foreclosure is avoided, a buyer gets a good deal on a property, the bank saves thousands of dollars in legal fees and the real estate agent makes a commission. Elegant. Practical. Simple. But as we’ll see, not really quite so simple. 

Short sales were never intended to be a mass market solution. Rather, they were relatively rare occurrences that took place when an unfortunate homeowner had a financial catastrophe—a job loss, a divorce, a medical problem—at precisely the same time his or her home lost significant value. When that happened, a loss mitigation manager at a bank would research the market, review the homeowner’s financial documents, carefully consider whether the borrower and loan in question met the criteria to justify a short sale and act accordingly. 

This approach worked well when there was one request a week or every few months. But with over 1.1 million homes in various stages of foreclosure in the RealtyTrac database, the workload for these loss mitigation managers has exploded from several a month to hundreds a week, with no drop-off in the amount of paperwork or research needed. So there are unavoidable delays in simply processing the volume of paperwork. 

But it gets worse. Each lending institution has slightly different versions of short sale forms. Property valuations, even—perhaps especially—appraisals, are in a state of flux, so loss mitigation managers are struggling to determine whether a short sale offer is reasonable or just plain silly. And there are some accounting issues: in many cases, lenders may opt to decline a good short sale offer today so that they can defer the loss (even though it may be a much greater loss) to a subsequent quarter—or even later. 

And there’s more. A second loan on a property makes it much more than twice as difficult to execute the sale. The second loan either needs to be negotiated away completely or satisfied with some nominal payment. In other cases, the holder of the primary mortgage may find it better financially to foreclose, wipe out the second lien, and simply use that amount as a discount to sell the property at a profit. Similarly, if there’s mortgage insurance on the note, the investor may decide it’s better to foreclose, collect the insurance, and let the insurer worry about getting value for the house. 

So why all the hype? Well, with the REO pipeline clogged and choking, and loan modification programs failing to make a dent in foreclosure numbers, short sales represent an opportunity to feed the demand for discounted properties while reducing the number of foreclosures. What can you do to help make this happen? What does the government have in mind? We’ll cover all that and more in next month’s column. 

Rick Sharga is senior vice president at RealtyTrac. 

For more information, visit www.realtytrac.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com. 

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According to the company, incorporating state of the art, ultra-low power digital radio technology, REALTOR® Lockbox NXT Wireless raises the standard as the most technologically advanced, yet easy-to-use lockbox solution available. Coupled with the SentriLink Wireless Transponder companion product, a suite of extremely useful new features are now available for real estate professionals to differentiate their services to their clients. 

“Since we are majority owned by NAR, we know first hand how hard real estate professionals must work today to get the job done for their home sellers. So, SentriLock is bringing them the most future friendly lockbox to the market. We are excited to demonstrate REALTOR® Lockbox NXT Wireless in San Diego this week to real estate and association professionals,” said Scott Fisher, SentriLock CEO and co-founder. 

Fisher points out that REALTOR® Lockbox NXT Wireless provides real estate professionals with a number of industry-leading features and benefits including: Real-Time Notifications; Remote Reprogramming and Coexistence and Compatibility. 

For more information, visit www.sentrilock.com. 

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Nothnagle Realtors Property Center will open in two locations by early 2010, with the conversion of an existing office in the City of Buffalo and the opening of an additional office in the Clarence/Williamsville area. 

“Our current growth strategy focuses on establishing partnerships with other like-minded brokers to provide them with a successful platform to become market leaders in their area. The franchise arrangement allows brokers to maintain their independence while tapping into our successful infrastructure. Mark Pagano is an experienced broker with an exceptional business-sense. We share the same vision and believe that by empowering agents with the most innovative tools in the industry, we can offer the best buyer and seller experience in the Buffalo market,” said Armand D’Alfonso, president and CEO of Nothnagle Realtors. 

“Nothnagle not only creates innovative tools, they use them every day as a real estate company, so they understand the challenges I face in today’s market because they face them too. From the award-winning consumer-focused website, Nothnagle.com, to the comprehensive marketing tools and agent systems, Nothnagle’s advanced technologies have not been available in one platform in our market before now. It is a great fit for us. Our clients and agents will all benefit as a result,” said Mark Pagano, president of Nothnagle Realtors Property Center. 

For more information, visit www.Nothnagle.com. 

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“We have made a number of strategic investments in our organization,” said Dave Lowman, head of home lending at Chase. “We have invested in new systems, aggressively grown our capacity and now are looking to increase our sales force. With our vast branch network and growing customer base, the opportunity for Chase loan officers is tremendous.” 

New loan officers will serve customers through bank branches in 23 states- including key states such as California, Florida and Texas and key metro areas such as New York and Chicago—as well as metro markets outside the bank’s branch footprint, such as Boston, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. They will help consumers meet their home financing needs by working with personal bankers and referral sources, such as real estate agents and builders, as well as with their own network of homeowners. 

“With nearly 5,200 bank branches—one of the largest networks in the country—we need to ensure each branch has seasoned mortgage professionals to help meet the needs of their communities and is well positioned when the housing market fully recovers,” said Lowman. “We see the mortgage business as core to our relationship with consumers and expect to be a major leader in the industry for many years to come.” 

For more information, visit www.jpmorganchase.com. 

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QuantumDigital has been working closely with real estate professionals for over 20 years. The company is focused on truly understanding the needs of the industry, educating brokers and agents on best practices, and developing marketing tools that offer results. Specializing in streamlining direct marketing campaigns, QuantumDigital’s real estate lead-generation marketing programs combine targeted, data-driven direct mail, email marketing and on-demand print collateral with new technology so agents can be more effective with their local prospecting and marketing efforts and ultimately get more leads. 

“QuantumDigital is taking real estate marketing to a new level,” said Eric Cosway, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of QuantumDigital. “With our services for direct mail, printing and email still tried and true, we’re rolling out new products, tools, tips and trends to help real estate professionals stay focused on what they do best, while we handle the marketing aspects of their business.” 

Conference attendees can visit QuantumDigital at booth #1941 to find out how real estate brokers and agents are already generating leads and realizing true profit. 

For more information, visit www.quantumdigital.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

HomeGain’s recent survey shows the top do-it-yourself home improvements that Realtors recommend to home sellers. HomeGain received responses from nearly 1,000 Realtors nationwide and configured a list of the top 12 do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvements that cost under $5,000 and benefit sellers most when they sell their homes. 

According to the HomeGain survey, the top five home improvements that Realtors recommend to home sellers based on cost and return on investment (from highest to lowest ROI) are: 

1. Cleaning and de-cluttering ($200 cost / $1,700 price increase / 872% ROI)
2. Home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase / 586% ROI)
3. Lightening and brightening ($230 cost / $1,300 price increase / 572% ROI)
4. Landscaping ($320 cost / $1,500 price increase / 473% ROI)
5. Repairing plumbing ($385 cost / $1,250 price increase / 327% ROI) 

Cleaning and de-cluttering continues to rank as the top suggested home improvement (since the survey was originally conducted in 2000), recommended by 98% of Realtors, costing less than $200 and returning a value of nearly $1,700 to the home’s sale price, or an 872% return on investment. 

“Many Realtors agree, especially in a buyer’s market, that sellers who make these recommended home improvements often get their homes sold faster and at higher prices,” stated Louis Cammarosano, General Manager at HomeGain. “We have customized our Home Sale Maximizer online home improvement tool to help identify and prioritize the projects that can increase the salability and selling price of a home.” 

Rounding out the top 12, the list of low cost, do-it-yourself home improvements includes: updating electrical, replacing or shampooing carpets, painting interior walls, repairing damaged floors, updating kitchen, painting outside of home, and updating bathroom/s.

The home improvement projects with the highest price increases to a home’s resale value are updating the kitchen ($1,200 cost / $2,850 price increase), followed by painting the outside of the home ($900 cost / $1,815 price increase) and home staging ($300 cost / $1,780 price increase). 

“Inexpensive cosmetic home improvements and basic improvements greatly enhance the value of the home,” stated Carol Wilson of Carpenter Real Estate in Indianapolis, IN, HomeGain AgentEvaluator member since 1999. 

For more information, visit www.homegain.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com. 

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“Policymakers should also be lauded for working successfully to expand the five-year net operating loss ‘carryback’ period for companies – essential tax relief that will increase liquidity and allow companies to make new investments, sustain R&D and maintain and create U.S. jobs. 

“Timely, temporary and effective, these measures are exactly the sort of fiscally responsible stimulus action we need to ensure long-term U.S. economic growth. We are encouraged by the swift action by President Obama and the House of Representatives following the Senate’s passage, and look forward to similar bipartisan measures in the future that can nurture and sustain the young roots of recovery,” said Richard A. Smith, president and CEO of Realogy Corporation and Chair of Business Roundtable’s Housing Working Group. 

For more information, visit www.businessroundtable.org. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com. 

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Prudential Florida Real Estate Services has been ranked: 

#1 Prudential Affiliate in Florida; #1 Wells Fargo Joint Venture in Florida; #1 First American Title Agent Partner in Florida; #1 Sunshine Kids Fundraiser in Florida. 

The level of commitment and quality of our people has placed us in a lead position for growth, strength, success and generosity which will provide us a solid foundation to build on for years to come. 

Much of the company’s strategic growth can be rightly credited to the passion and dedication of President and Chief Operating Officer, Rei Mesa, who celebrates 10 years with Prudential Florida Realty on December 17th. Under Rei’s leadership, Prudential Florida Real Estate Services has become one of the most influential and highly respected real estate companies nationwide. 

“Rei has been an inspiration to many employees and managers of both the Real Estate Services and WCI groups. He is one of the hardest working and most passionate managers I have been associated with. He is an authentic leader in the Real Estate Brokerage business throughout the state and the country,” said David Fry, president and CEO, WCI Communities, Inc. 

The following Prudential Florida Real Estate Services team members who are celebrating their 10-year anniversary include: 

Rei Mesa – President & C.O.O.
Brigid Peterson, Vice President, West Coast & Central Regions
Sharon Sapp- Vice President, Business Development, Relocation, Referrals, & REOs
Kelly Davis- Senior District Manager, Florida Title & Guarantee
June Prophet- Director of Property Management
Bonnie Peters- Managing Broker, Prudential Florida Realty Stuart Branch Office
Rita Bravo- Rental Manager, Property Management
Karen Kemmerer- Administrative Assistant, Prudential Florida Realty Marco Island Office
Deborah Alvord- Administrative Assistant, Prudential Florida Realty Stuart Branch Office
Marcia Soforenko- Senior Title Representative, Florida Title & Guarantee
Joan Liebeck- Senior Title Representative, Florida Title & Guarantee 

For more information, visit www.prudentialfloridarealty.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

“The Tri-Real-A-Thon Award outlines the three most important avenues of real estate in our company; listings, sales and sponsoring, said Morris. We’ve outlined specific parameters where our associates are put to the test and only one can come out on top.” 

In order to qualify for this prestigious designation, EXIT Realty associates must achieve a minimum of 24 sales ends, 35 listings and 4 people sponsored, all within the award period of July 1st to June 30th of the current year. Despite the challenges faced by the real estate industry over the past couple of years, Hoobler smashed these minimum qualifiers to take EXIT Realty’s top award. 

“Winning this award means a lot to me,” said Hoobler. “Hard work and placing systems into action allows me to be able to do a high volume. I am actually going to raise the bar higher for next year. I knew I was in the running and had a good shot at this award.” 

For more information, visit www.exitrealty.com. 

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The initiative widens the exposure of “For Sale” Southwest Florida property listings online by leveraging Point2’s syndication and re-syndication network of nearly 40 high traffic search engines, real estate search sites and media websites to maximize listing visibility with prospective buyers. According to the company, a simple dashboard provides participating brokers and agents with complete control and choice over syndication destinations, on a listing basis, and enables them to track traffic results generated on key websites. 

“The partnership with Point2 will enable our brokers and their agents to maintain profitability and grow their businesses, while protecting their listing assets,” said Suzanne Sherer, Association president. 

“It’s exciting to see the real estate industry take back its future by way of organized and supervised dissemination of listing data to the Internet and beyond, with Point2 participating as a key enabler of this progress,” said Saul Klein, chief executive officer, Point2 Technologies Inc. With Point2 syndication, we are enabling organized real estate to empower real estate professionals on the ground with control over when and where their listings are published online, on the most popular websites, while ensuring leads generated from the listings are directed to the respective listing owner.” 

For more information, visit www.Point2.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Year-over-year home values in the United States declined for the 11th consecutive quarter, falling 6.9% to a Zillow Home Value Index of $190,400. However, the rate of year-over-year decline shrank for the third quarter in a row, meaning home values did not decline as dramatically year-over-year in the third quarter as they did in the second or the first. 

In addition, the Zillow Home Value Index remained relatively flat in the short term, declining 0.4% from the end of the second quarter to the end of the third quarter. The Zillow Home Value Index measures the value of all homes in an area, and the Q3 Zillow Real Estate Market Reports encompass 156 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). 

Foreclosure re-sales remained high, making up more than one-fifth (21.4%) of all U.S. home sales in September, and made up the majority of sales in several MSAs including the Merced, Calif. MSA (74.2%), the Stockton, Calif. MSA (69.3%), the Madera, Calif. MSA (68.7%), the El Centro, Calif. MSA (68.1%) and the Las Vegas MSA (67.5%). Additionally, 26.9% of home sales nationwide sold for less than what the seller originally paid. 

“The decline in the percentage of homeowners with negative equity is a positive sign, and is directly attributable to the stabilization of home values from the second quarter to the third,” said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries. “It is also attributable to many homeowners who were previously underwater on their mortgage losing their homes to foreclosure. 

“The next several months will be critical to the housing market. Previously, we’d been expecting to see increasing foreclosure rates during the real estate market’s slow winter season, a confluence of events that would likely drive inventory up and prices down. But now, with the extension of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit and a new $6,500 credit for some repeat homebuyers, we could see a bump in demand that could partially offset the increased supply of foreclosed homes on the market. The credits are likely to bring continued stabilization in prices over this period, versus the price declines that we almost certainly would see otherwise. Whether this stabilization will be sustainable after the tax credits expire, however, is yet to be seen. Some of the demand that we are buying with tax credits we are also borrowing from the future, and will likely have to pay for later in the form of weaker-than-normal demand.” 

Some markets across the country showed encouraging signs in the third quarter. Home values increased year-over-year in 24 of 156 MSAs and remained flat in an additional 16. Only nine MSAs – including the Merced, Calif., State College, Penn., and Salisbury, Md. MSAs – showed increasing year-over-year declines. 

The Milwaukee and Boston metropolitan statistical areas were the largest markets to show positive year-over-year changes in home values, with the Zillow Home Value Index rising 2.6% in Milwaukee and 1.6% in Boston. 

For more information, visit www.Zillow.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com. 

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The extension is part of a $24 billion economic stimulus bill that will extend the $8,000 tax credit for homebuyers who are purchasing their first home from the current November 30 deadline and expands the program to offer a credit of $6,500 to homeowners who have lived in their current home for at least five years and are seeking to relocate. 

The following details apply to the homebuyer tax credit expansion: 

Who is Eligible
-First-time homebuyers, who are defined by the law as buyers who have not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase, may be eligible for up to an $8,000 tax credit.
-Existing homeowners who have been residing in their principal residence for five consecutive years out of the last eight and are purchasing a home to be their principal residence (“repeat buyer”), may be eligible for up to a $6,500 tax credit.
-All U.S. citizens who file taxes are eligible to participate in the program. 

Income Limits
Homebuyers who file as single or head-of-household taxpayers can claim the full credit ($8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers) if their modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $125,000.
-For married couples filing a joint return, the combined income limit is $225,000.
-Single or head-of-household taxpayers who earn between $125,000 and $145,000, and married couples who earn between $225,000 and $245,000 are eligible to receive a partial credit.
-The credit is not available for single taxpayers whose MAGI is greater than $145,000 and married couples with a MAGI that exceeds $245,000. 

Effective Dates
-The eligibility period for the tax credit is for homes purchased after Nov. 6, 2009, and before May 1, 2010. However, home purchases subject to a binding sales contract signed by April 30, 2010, will qualify for the tax credit provided closing occurs prior to July 1, 2010. 

Types of Homes that Qualify
-All homes with a purchase price of less than $800,000 qualify, including newly-constructed or resale, and single-family detached, townhomes or condominiums, provided that the home will be used as their principal residence. Vacation home and rental property purchases do NOT qualify. 

Tax Credit is Refundable
-A refundable credit means that if the amount of income taxes you owe is less than the credit amount you qualify for, the government will send you a check for the difference.

-For example:
-A first-time buyer who qualifies for the full $8,000 credit who owes $5,000 in federal income taxes would pay nothing to the IRS and receive a $3,000 payment from the government. If you are due to receive a $1,000 refund, you would receive $9,000 ($1,000 plus the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit).
-A repeat buyer who owes $5,000 would pay nothing to the IRS and receive $1,500 back from the government. If you are due to get a $1,000 refund, you would get $7,500 ($1,000 plus the $6,500 repeat buyer tax credit).
-All qualified homebuyers can take the tax credit on their 2009 or 2010 income tax return. 

Payback Provisions
The tax credit is a true credit. It does not have to be repaid unless the home owner sells or stops using the home as their principal residence within three years after the purchase. 

The www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com site is being updated. Check the site next week for more detailed information on the new tax credit. 

For more information, visit www.nahb.org. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com. 

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Example 1:
Jane purchased a home in 2002, lived there for 5 years as her primary home, moved out in 2007, and turned that home into a rental property. If Jane decides to buy a new primary residence today, she would qualify for the $6,500 tax credit based on the fact that she lived in the same residence as her primary home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight.

Example 2:
Harry purchased a home in 2004, and lived there for the past 5 years as his primary home. If Harry decides to buy a new primary residence today, he would qualify for the $6,500 tax credit based on the fact that he lived in the same residence as his primary home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight.

Example 3:
Nicole purchased a home in 2006, and lived there for the past 3 years as her primary home. If Nicole decides to buy a new primary residence today, she would not qualify for the $6,500 tax credit based on the fact that she did not live in the same residence as her primary home for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight. 

The tax credit applies to homes purchased for less than $800,000 before May 1, 2010. “If you sign a binding contract to purchase a home before May 1st, you would need to close on the transaction before July 1, 2010,” Nicholas said. “It works kind of like a gift certificate that can be redeemed for cash. You simply file a form with the IRS right after you buy your home, and the IRS will send you a check for the full amount of your credit.” 

The income limitation for single tax payers went up from $75,000 under the old rules to $125,000 under the new rules. For married tax payers, the income limitation went up from $150,000 to $225,000. “This means that more people will qualify for the credit – especially in parts of the country with higher costs of living,” Nicholas said. “This should help stimulate parts of the housing market that may not have been impacted by the old version of the credit.” 

There are many creative ways of structuring your home purchase transaction in ways that maximize the benefits of the credit. Here are a few examples: 

-The credit applies to 1-4 unit homes as long as you live in one of the units as your primary residence – you could live in one unit and rent out the others

-If two unmarried individuals buy a home, and only one of the individuals qualifies for the credit based on their income or past home ownership status, the individual who qualifies for the credit can claim the full credit. (Note: In the case of married couples, both spouses must qualify for the credit).

-The credit applies even if you have co-signers on your mortgage loan 

For more information, visit www.CMPSInstitute.org. 

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Jim Dohr
President
Coldwell Banker Gundaker
St. Louis, Missouri 

Region served: Saint Louis metropolitan area
Years in real estate: 32
Number of offices: 27
Number of agents: 2,100
Average sales price: $200,000
Average time on market: 100 days
Best tip for dealing with difficult customers: Practice the Golden Rule and put yourself in the other person’s position. Always treat the customer right and everything else will take care of itself.
Keep meetings productive by…Starting and ending on time. Also, have an agenda and stick to it.
Key to staying profitable: You have to be willing to make tough decisions and do the right thing no matter what. When making these decisions, remain objective and remove emotion from the process as much as possible. 

What is your biggest challenge in today’s market and how is your company taking it on? Our biggest challenge is staying profitable in today’s declining market. We are coping with this challenge in that we are willing to look hard decisions in the eye and make them, but at the same time, remain sensitive to maintaining the company culture. With each decision we make, we focus on how it will affect our agents’ attitudes and employee morale. Keeping our company culture intact is crucial in today’s market. 

What’s your best strategy to get buyers to see a listed home? Our three best strategies to get buyers to see listed homes are to price it correctly, increase the commission payout that goes to the cooperating broker and have a comprehensive Internet marketing strategy. 

What are your best marketing techniques? Everything we do drives traffic to our website. Whether we use print advertising, billboards or TV, we direct everyone to our website because that is where the action is. 

How are you keeping consumers educated about today’s buying opportunities? We have a very interactive PR campaign taking place at the moment in which we are conducting interviews on radio, TV and through print. In addition, we spend a lot of time educating our agents and providing them with the tools they need, such as statistics and hard data so they can educate consumers from their end. 

How do you keep your agents motivated? Keeping our agents motivated starts with communication. We are always in touch with our agents, providing them with hard data and statistics and then using the data to find positive stories about the current market. We also conduct numerous workshops and hands-on training to help our agents focus on what is in their control. The workshops focus on relationships and basics like selling 101. We present ideas to enable our agents to work harder and smarter. 

What are the advantages to being able to offer your customers home warranties? The home warranties that we provide through American Home Shield have been a great tool for us. Statistics show that when a home has a warranty, it sells 23 days faster, on average, in addition to the price being 4% higher, on average, as well as the final price being closer to the listing price. Home warranties give our buyers peace of mind especially in today’s market, and they have been a huge advantage for us. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com. 

For more headlines on RISMedia.com, be sure not to miss:
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This year’s conference is themed, “Chart A Winning Course” and involves four days of intensive training for brokers, sales agents, commercial practitioners, IT professionals, international specialists, property managers and more—with 200 programs in all. 

“Ten years ago we started out as a virtual tour company, and about three years ago we changed our own paradigm and went directly to the online consumer” said Glade Jones, Obeo president and CEO. “What they told us became the catalyst of how we re-created our strategies to meet their online needs. They wanted a more personal experience with the online listings to include the ability of changing the color of walls and changing flooring. No other company in the real estate vertical provides this capability, and we are proud of the success that has come with that.” 

For more information, visit www.Obeo.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

The annual College HPCI released by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC provides an apples-to-apples comparison of similarly sized 2,200 square foot, four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom homes in college markets home to the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision schools. This year, Akron, Ohio (University of Akron) is ranked as the most affordable college town, where a typical four-bedroom home costs $121,885. Muncie, Ind. (Ball State University) took the No. 2 spot at $144,996. Ann Arbor, Mich. (a quintessential college town home to the University of Michigan) came in as the No. 3 most affordable college market, where the sample size home only costs $148,000. 

Overall, the 2009 College HPCI revealed that real estate buyers can find a typical four-bedroom home for less than $250,000 in 62% of the college markets surveyed (72 total), including iconic American college towns such as: 

-Syracuse, N.Y (Syracuse University): $171,711
-South Bend, Ind. (University of Notre Dame) $183,938
-Athens, Ga. (University of Georgia): $205,862
-Oxford, Miss. (University of Mississippi): $212,000
-Knoxville, Tenn. (University of Tennessee): $223,850 

Further research indicates that the charm and affordability of college towns is appealing to more than just students. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey; Austin, Texas (University of Texas), Provo, Utah (Brigham Young University), and Raleigh, N.C. (North Carolina State University) were among the metropolitan cities with the greatest population growth in 2008. In all three rising cities, home buyers can find a four-bedroom home for very a reasonable price; only $226,642 in Austin; $231,000 in Provo; and $241,462 in Raleigh. 

“College markets have long-been one of the real estate industry best-kept secrets,” said Jim Gillespie, president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. “Real estate professionals have been investing in college towns for years, often purchasing homes for their children who are attending school. However, these vibrant cities are not only for students; many empty nesters and families are attracted to the health care systems, culture and overall quality of life that college towns offer.” 

While real estate in college markets may be an undiscovered gem, pride for teams and alma maters are definitely not under-wraps, regardless of how pricey the school or city. For an added perspective, Coldwell Banker asked fans to share “what’s best” about living in their college towns for its new Coldwell Banker On Location video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0S7eKOih7k. 

More expensive college towns are also worth the investment for many people. For example, students have been competing for years to get accepted into prestigious schools like Stanford University, despite its high tuition and cost of living. Located in the most expensive college market in the nation (Palo Alto, Calif.), an average 2,200 square foot home costs a whopping $1.49 million. 

2009 Coldwell Banker College HPCI – Highlights & Interesting Real Estate Related Facts: 

This year, there is a $1,367,841 price difference between the sample size four-bedroom home in the most affordable college town (Akron, Ohio) and most expensive college market (Palo Alto, Calif.). 

Five schools with football-teams-to-watch this year currently ranked in the BCS top 25 standings are also front-runners for home buyers:

-Fort Worth, Texas (Texas Christian University), $153,450
-Houston, Texas (University of Houston), $159,847
-Cincinnati, Ohio (University of Cincinnati), $189,750
-Boise, Idaho (Boise State University), $215,432
-Iowa City, Iowa (University of Iowa), $217,500 

The Mid American Conference is the most affordable conference overall, where a typical four-bedroom home costs an average of $182,322.

For more information, visit www.coldwellbanker.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Kevin Faherty
Vice President of Operations and Sales
Centralized Showing Service
www.feedbackcentral.com 

Almost universally, sellers are instructed by their listing agents to make sure their house is clean and “showable.” Many sellers go to great efforts to pick up dirty clothes, organize, put the dogs in the car, turn on all the lights and bake cookies before the next showing in hopes that this showing will sell their home. 

The seller leaves their home with all the common fears of having strangers inside their home—evaluating them, seeing how they live, and judging whether their home is “worthy.” When the showing is over and the seller comes home, they wait. And wait. And then they wait some more. 

After going through all that trouble, sellers invariably want to know how the showing went. What did the buyer like? What didn’t they like? They’re usually willing to do whatever is necessary to make a sale happen—whether with the current buyer or a future buyer—but in order to make these changes, the seller needs feedback provided in a professional way. 

Many listing agents dutifully try to get feedback from the showing agent, but the showing agent doesn’t respond, even after repeated e-mails and calls. Some listing agents don’t even try. 

As an industry that promotes its professionalism—nay, sells its professionalism—to the public, it is crucial that agents make an attempt to provide feedback on showings. Not only will this improve the Realtor image, it will also assist sellers in upgrading their properties and changing their behavior. The combination of these factors can result in a faster sale. Everyone benefits. 

Some agents fear that providing feedback may someday come back to haunt them. After scheduling close to 50 million showing appointments, Centralized Showing Service, Inc. (CSS) has never had an instance where professionally provided feedback, positive or negative, has caused the showing agent to regret providing it or the listing agent from passing it along. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

October also marked the sixteenth consecutive month-over-month decline in the total number of home listings, based on combined Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data from these 27 areas where ZipRealty operates. 

Other highlights from ZipRealty’s October Housing Inventory Index include: 

-The combined number of MLS-listed single family homes and condos within all 27 major U.S. markets in October 2009 totaled 593,794, down from 611,026 in September 2009.

-Two Arizona markets experienced an increase in inventory in October compared to September, as Phoenix inventory increased by 4% and Tucson inventory increased by 2%.

-Markets with significant month-over-month inventory declines include Las Vegas (5.8%), Minneapolis (5.3%) and Chicago and Seattle (5% each). Median sale prices continue to decline in each of these markets.

-Markets on the West Coast led the list of the largest year-over-year declines in home inventory, including Los Angeles (56.3%), San Diego (55.1%), San Francisco Bay Area (51.1%) and Las Vegas (50.7%). 

For more information, visit www.ziprealty.com. 

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.