Lake Austin is filled back up (they drain it every year in January to control the hydrilla) and the weather was awesome today so we went out for the first day of wakeboarding/wakesurfing. It was a little bit chilly, but not too bad at all. Everyone gave me a hard time for wearing a wetsuit top. I didn’t bring a camera, but got a pic of one of my friends surfing (sans rope) with the phone.
I’m pumped that lake season is finally here!!! (after such a looong 3 months without)
Popular Science just published a study naming the Top 50 Greenest Cities in the United States .
Congratulations Austin Texas; that is an accomplishment to be very proud of. I think Texans should all be very proud because of the top 50 Greenest Cities, Texas has four, including Austin at #10, Fort Worth at #15, Amarillo at #34 and Laredo at #39.
Studies like this that put Texas in such a positive light will help keep the real estate market strong through 2008 and beyond. In talking with people every day I hear more and more from people the importance of Green Living in their lives.
The criteria Popular Science used for this study came from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Green Guide put out by the National Geographic Society which collects government statistics for all American Cities with a population of over 100,000 people in over 30 categories.
I did a quick search from the website infoplease.com and I was able to find that in 2005 there was an estimated 253 U.S. Cities with a population of over 100,000.
For this study Popular Science took the raw data and statistics they had and came up with four categories. Two of the categories, Electricity and Transportation were scored on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best. The other two categories Green Living and Recycling were scored on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best. So the best score possible with the four combined categories is 30.
Dennis Pease is a guest Blogger on Eric’s Austin , TX real estate Blog. Dennis specializes in Eugene Oregon real estate and Florence Oregon real estate . We have a lot in common with our Texas friends. Oregon only has three cities with a population over 100,000. Portland Oregon ranked #1 in this study with the highest score of 23.1 out of a possible 30, and my home area of Eugene Oregon ranked #5. Green Living is very important to most Oregonians as you can see from this study. See the 50 Greenest Cities study here for complete details and scores.
I saw this on a thread at REW and was pretty amazed/shocked. A local Austin real estate agent, Mohammed “Mike” Gharbi just had his license renewed by TREC (last month) with the following record:
*Arrested by the FBI
*Convicted of 5 counts in a $15m loan fraud scheme
*Sentenced to one year in prison
*Ordered to pay $84,914 restitution
He was convicted of purchasing cheap houses, getting fraudulent appraisals to justify loan amounts much higher, and then selling the houses to co-conspirators at much higher prices.
Apparently, he is in the process of appealing his case, and has 2 more months to appeal his case to the Supreme Court. TREC claims that they can’t yank his license until/unless he loses his final appeal.
In the real estate world innovative real estate agents and penny pinching sellers are always looking for ways to make a buck or save a buck. One of those ways is the fairly new buzz word “Flat Fee MLS”. MLS Flat Fee simply means paying a small lump sum of money to a licensed real estate agent whom you enlist to sell your home. The real estate agent takes the money and lists the home in the MLS. The agent’s services routinely end right there although some will include a few small or non-essential add-ons to help sweeten the deal.
Selling your home is a big deal. Any homeowner owes it to themselves to seriously consider the pros and cons of Flat Fee MLS and decide whether or not it is right for them. Below we list both sides of the coin from a buyer’s perspective and then from a real estate agent’s perspective with regard to a MLS Flat Fee program.
Pros
1. Can save thousands of dollars
2. Statistics show that MLS exposure alone is what sells a home
3. Can be in charge of everything
4. Can sell my home myself, I don’t need much help
5. Can price my house high and see if it goes
Cons
1. This will consume my time
2. This may cost me a lot of money in advertising
3. Prospective buyers may not want to meet me initially
4. Don’t have good people or negotiation skills
5. Still need to offer 3% to the buying agent
6. If my house stays on the market too long, buyers will think something is wrong with it
7. If I get in over my head I will probably need to hire a real estate attorney
Pros
1. Stand to get a lot of listings this way
2. May pick up a few extra buyers from sign calls
3. Can save time and money on advertising
4. Seller may opt for full service program instead after initial meeting
5. Seller may opt for full service program if their home doesn’t sell
6. This will give me lots of practice with listing presentations
Cons
1. Not going to make much money on the sale of the home
2. Sellers may still call me with many questions and advice
3. Sellers may price the house too high and get nowhere
4. If something goes wrong my name is on the listing
Initially as I sketched this out, I find more “Cons” for the seller and more “Pros” for the real estate agent. And, quite frankly, some of the “Pros” for the seller can be interpreted really as “Cons” or simply a big waste of time, depending on the level or experience or intelligence of the seller. Surely, most of the success in selling a home depends on the old tried and true basic three points: location, condition, and price. But once you get past that and are marching toward the closing table, many obstacles come into play that could wreck the deal. The current real estate market also factors in a level of complexity as well. For example, will a MLS Flat Fee program fair better for a seller in a seller’s market or a buyer’s market? That is a tough question to answer because in a seller’s market homes usually sell at or above their value and that dollar number changes quickly. A seller could be cheating himself unknowingly out of thousands of dollars. Or, in a buyer’s market there is usually a glut of inventory on the MLS. Will their home rise above or stand out in the endless sea of homes on the market?
As you can see there are a few important considerations in selling a home with an MLS Flat Fee program. Home selling is an important step in anyone’s life. Since each home seller’s situation is unique to their situation, I suggest they run their own pros and cons, ask questions about both the Flat Fee and Full Service plan, and then make the best decision based on their personal needs.
The conforming loan limit increase included in the recently passed economic stimulus package unfortunately doesn’t mean any change for Austin. The conforming loan limit can increase to as much as $729k for some counties, but the loan limit can only increase to 125% of a county’s median priced home. Travis County, with a median price of under $200k, won’t benefit from any increase. A county must have a median price of at least $333k + in order to see any increase.
Well….ABoR didn’t like ABoRForum.com. I was trying to help by putting the forum together - a place where all of the Austin brokers/agents could go to discuss what’s going on in the market, in our business, and with the local board of Realtors. Right now, a lot of brokers/agents are REALLY upset over MLXChange, and someone specifically asked for a forum. Currently, ABoR doesn’t have a forum, and I’m pretty handy with the ol’ computator, so I decided to throw one together.
ABoR didn’t like it. Do you ever wonder why our dues our so high? It’s because they like to freely spend money on expensive attorneys, when a simple phone call will do. If they would have called me and asked me to switch the URL, I would have. If they would have asked me to GIVE it to them, I would have - as long as it would have remained up. Nevertheless, they dropped a couple hundred of our money on a letter to me.
So….I transferred everything over to AustinBoard.com. I like it better - seriously. Has a nice, catchy ring to it. Let’s just hope that ABoR doesn’t have the copyrights to “Austin” or “Board.”
I’m throwing my hat into the ring for this one! I came up with the idea, but Morgan Carey from REW has the clout to make it happen. Take a look at the rules for the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World contest. I’m planning on using a combination of social media campaigns, traditional article campaigns, and some good, old fashioned blogging to make this happen! I will update this blog w/ commentary on techniques other agents/brokers are using to go after this keyword, and I what I think of their techniques. For now:
1) Eric Blackwell - this is viral at its best. He’ll have to continually promote this, but if/when he catches a foothold with it (and he has the microphone to do so) he stands a huge chance of winning. After all, a team of agents working is much better than just one. They have a great chance of winning the Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World competition!
Hey guys - we’ve put together a forum to discuss MLXChange, as well as any other issues that can come up in the future. It’s not skinned (pretty) yet, but it’s fully functional. Check it out ABoRForum.com.
****Update & Edit****
In their infinite wisdom, the ABoR decided to spend our board dues on an attorney from Baker Botts to send me a C&D on ABoRForum.com. Funny thing is…if they would have just asked me to give them the forum, I would have. I just want a place where we can go to discuss problems.
Regardless…I moved everything over to AustinBoard.com - no content, threads, or information was lost.
Two real estate agents in Victoria, Australia have filed suit against Google. Mark Forytarz & Paul Castran claim defamation due to articles painting them in a negative light that can be found on the search engine. So…they’re filing suit for links. Here are Mark Forytarz’ search results.
The articles, found on Melbourne Indymedia, claim that Mark Forytarz bullied a mentally challenged man into selling his home in order to earn a $200k+ commission. The article further alleges that Paul Castran used fake bidders to inflate the prices of properties he sold.
Forytarz & Castran claim that the article paints them both in a negative light, and that they have suffered embarrassment & humiliation as a result. They asked Google to remove the links to the article a year ago, but Google did not comply.
So…this begs a few questions:
1) Why aren’t they suing Melbourne Indymedia? (Could it be a lack of Google-deep pockets?)
2) Why haven’t they launched a counter-PR campaign, explaining their side of the story?
3) How has this not been thrown out of court?
Are you still mad about the lost functionality that MLXChange provides? Vent!!!
I’ve framed in a nice little MLXChange Survey - click on the link in the top navigation & let First Am know how you feel!
Did you receive the latest ABoR newsletter that proudly proclaims, MLXChange Overcomes Hurdles, Delivers Value to Members?
Deliver some value to them! Click on this link and leave a comment on that proud proclamation!