Check out this website I found at blog.hubspot.com
5 Google Local Stats Every Marketer Should Know [Data]
Leave a reply
Daily Archives: March 17, 2011
Redfin to serve up agents’ comments on real estate listings | Inman News
Redfin to serve up agents' comments on real estate listings
Brokerage says VOWs can disclose comments under DOJ-NAR settlement
By Inman News, Thursday, March 17, 2011.
Registered users of Redfin’s website can now see what the brokerage’s agents thought of listings they’ve toured, whether "the lawn needs to be mowed" or the home "showed well," CEO Glenn Kelman announced in a blog post.
The comments that Redfin agents make in "Agent Insights" notes will also be e-mailed automatically to listing agents, Kelman said.
Given the sheer number of homes Redfin agents tour, the new feature will be a "game changer," for consumers, he said. The 13,793 Agent Insights currently available for homes on the market represent 35 percent of active listings in Irvine, Calif., and 31 percent of Seattle listings, Kelman wrote.
Redfin will give the client who requested the tour two days to decide whether they want to suppress Agent Insight comments.
"The reasoning behind this is that if you tour a hot property with Redfin, you shouldn’t have to worry that your agent will tell everyone else about it before you’ve had a chance to make your own move," Kelman said. "The customer who requested the tour comes first."
Only registered users of Redin’s virtual office website (VOW) will be able to see Agent Insights.
Under the terms of a November 2008 settlement between the Department of Justice and the National Association of Realtors, Redfin and other VOW operators are allowed to provide registered users of their sites with a broader range of property data from multiple listing services, which Kelman said includes the notes that agents take on home tours.
"This is exactly the kind of communication the Department of Justice’s historic settlement with the National Association of Realtors was designed to protect," Kelman wrote.
That doesn’t mean that buyers and sellers will be comfortable with this "degree of candor," Kelman acknowledged.
He said Redfin almost offered access to agents’ notes 18 months ago, after the settlement was finalized, but "couldn’t find a way to make it work for our agents, our buyers, our sellers, our peers in the industry."
By e-mailing "Agent Insights" to listing agents and giving prospective buyers the power to suppress their public display, the company hopes it has found a way to balance the interests of those groups, Kelman said.
The company plans to pay close attention to the feedback it receives on the new capabilities.
In 2007, Redfin was fined by Northwest MLS for publishing reviews of properties for sale on the company’s Sweet Digs blog. The reviews were authored by writers hired by Redfin to visit the properties in person.
Redfin appealed the fine, but shifted the focus of its blogs to be sources of information about markets it serves, analyzing price trends and recent sales.
Contact Inman News: Letter to the Editor
Copyright 2011 Inman NewsAll rights reserved. This content may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this content without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.
Tweet This 
via inman.com
Can I Do That On YouTube? Copyright Law & Posting Video Online
via reelseo.com
Lincoln, Lexus Top J.D. Power Study – BusinessWeek
About Advertising EDGE Programs Reprints Terms of Use Disclaimer Privacy Notice Ethics Code Contact Us Site Map
©2011 Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved.
via businessweek.com
Daily Economic Update: Jobless Claims, CPI : Economists’ Outlook
Waterfalls Inside a $35M Mansion in Upper Manhattan
via pptymag.com
Value of Illinois farmland increases 11 percent, some worried about bubble
farmland by robert paul realtor
Is Farmland the Next Bubble?
via realtor.org
California lawmaker proposes bill that would charge banks $20,000 fee per foreclosure | Markets | Market News | Canadian Business Online
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A California state assemblyman is introducing legislation that would bill banks $20,000 for every home foreclosure they execute in the state.
San Fernando Valley-based Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield’s office said in a fact sheet released Wednesday that the bill would help make up for costs associated with foreclosures, such as property tax losses.
The money collected would be used for school districts, police and fire departments, small-business loans and other applications.
Amy Schur, who directs advocacy group Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, which is supporting
Real estate price declines overshooting fundamentals? | Inman News
Real estate price declines overshooting fundamentals?
PMI: Income growth has outstripped home-price growth in most states
By Inman News, Thursday, March 17, 2011.
Home prices have fallen below fundamental values in more than half of U.S. states, overcorrecting from bubbles in some markets and dragged down by the recession in others.
That’s the conclusion of analysts at mortgage insurer PMI Mortgage Insurance Co., who warn home prices during the next few years will vary "far more by location than usual."
PMI’s monthly analysis of economic, housing and mortgage market conditions attempts to tackle the question, "Have house prices fallen by enough to be affordable again?" The answer to that question depends on where you live, PMI analysts said.
PMI looked at home prices relative to income at the state level, using 1995 as a baseline. Because of home-price declines during the bust, growth in per capita income has outstripped home prices in 35 states over that time frame. Home prices are trailing income growth by double-digit rates in 30 states, PMI said.
States that saw significant price appreciation during the boom but which have now seen prices overcorrect include Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and West Virginia, PMI said.
States that were largely immune to speculative bubbles but which have seen home prices dragged down below fundamentals by the recession include Arkansas, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
States where home prices still appear elevated relative to income include Alaska, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, South Carolina and Washington, D.C.
PMI’s analysis showed prices have returned to historical norms relative to income in Arizona, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.
There are many ways to measure affordability, but PMI chose to compare home prices to income because over time they should grow at similar rates.
In states where home prices have outstripped income growth, it’s possible that those prices can be supported if there are space constraints that preclude building more homes in desirable areas, the report noted.
In other cases, prices will have to fall further to bring house prices and incomes back into line. Because incomes are expected to rise over time, future price drops may be less than suggested by PMI’s analysis.
"House prices will likely fall in some areas in the near term, while rising in others as the recovery gains traction in different markets at different times," the report concluded. "Each area’s recovery will depend on local supply and demand fundamentals such as economic growth, the amount of distressed sales, and household formations — likely augmented by how far above, or below, prices vary from incomes."
The report forecasts that home sales will pick up in 2011, especially in the second half of the year, thanks to an expected rise in job growth, increasing numbers of households, and low mortgage rates.
PMI economists project existing sales will grow by 8.7 percent in 2011, to 5.36 million units, while sales of new homes will climb 19.9 percent to 385,000 units. Home prices are likely to continue a seasonal decline for a few months before edging upward as sales increase, the report said.
Contact Inman News: All rights reserved. This content may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this content without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.
via inman.com