Tag Archives: real estate blog
First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit – 2009
Thanks to the NAR : God help me, I hope something passes – anything that can be done to remove uncertainty from the market will be welcomed.
In short, if you were a first time homebuyer after 9 April, 2009, you may have a tax credit to claim. Continue reading
Reflecting on Zillow’s Influence Over the Past Three Years
A lot has changed in the real estate tech space, but the real estate business remains a belly-to-belly business, with client relationships solidified with handshakes and time spent together in the car, in houses, at the coffee shop. 
Zillow’s presence in the Charlottesville real estate market is negligible; in spite of this I’ve always considered them another tool in the good Realtor’s toolbox. … I for one, have welcomed the opportunity to answer this. (more in a later post) Brian Boero at 1000Watt Blog offers this kick ass post on Zillow’s three year anniversary – (bolding mine/read the whole thing) The real estate industry owes Zillow a debt of gratitude, whatever their fate may be. Continue reading
Design and Context Matter
I see print as irrelevant for marketing houses, but relevant for branding – branding me as a professional, my company, my profession all of which constitute my brand. … This one, too, shakes everything up – The invention of printing did away with anonymity, fostering ideas of literary FAME and and the habit of considering intellectual effort as private property. Continue reading
Billable Hours, Straight Commission, Hybrid or Both?
One giant stipulation for this somewhat hypothetical discussion is this – in this make-believe world of fairies and unicorns, the buyer pays the buyer’s agent and the seller pays the seller’s agent – in other words, we have succeeded in rending total control of the buyers’ agents’ compensation from the seller and the sellers’ agents. ( hint : we’ve divorced the commissions ). … And when the agents representing the buyers have nothing to give away but conversely have to place a price on their services and actually charge their clients directly, the associated accountability will only benefit the buyer… So let’s assume that the buyer is willing to pay her buyer’s agent . Continue reading
I Can Think of Only a Couple Reasons to Delete Comments
For just a brief moment, I’ll pull from the archives some advice I learned in August of 2006 about pulling posts that can be applied to comments as well – One of the best (and worst) parts of blog writing is that the author can be held accountable for each and every word written. … If you’re a Realtor, spend the time educating yourself at Jay’s post and elsewhere about the threat potentially posed to us by our own Associations. Continue reading
