Our MLS just released a more robust statistical engine.
Browsing Category General Real Estate
Half of the world’s wealth is now in real estate….
Half of the world’s wealth is now in real estate….
USATODAY.com – High gas prices fuel public transit use
USATODAY.com – High gas prices fuel public transit use: High gasoline prices are turning some drivers into riders, say public transit authorities in several states. Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority head Joe Calabrese says high gasoline prices are turning drivers into riders. It’s a trend that Joe Calabrese, general manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, expects to continue as long as a gallon of gas remains about $2. My question is – how much higher is gas going to have to go until we as a region seriously consider some form of efficient mass transit?
WSJ.com – Home-Sales Data Will Prove Crucial
WSJ.com – Home-Sales Data Will Prove Crucial: Boom or Bubble: Tomorrow’s existing-home sales report and Tuesday’s data on new-home sales will be crucial for real-estate investors and nervous homeowners alike. Last week the housing-starts report showed that home construction plunged 17.6% in March, the steepest drop in more than 14 years. The numbers will prove interesting, particularly when compared to the local numbers.
More on boycotting
Boycotting exploits the one major weakness of the multiple listing service. The MLS’s upside is that it centralizes all homes for sale in a single electronic marketplace that can be accessed by all agents — and these days by Web-savvy consumers as well. The downside is that brokers must depend on one another to help sell their homes, and that discourages them from undercutting each other’s commissions. While boycotting the listings of discounters is generally considered an antitrust violation — if undisclosed, it’s also a breach of buyer’s brokers’ fiduciary duty to clients — industry insiders are well aware that boycotting goes on, even if they claim not to condone it.
A Crusade For Competition (washingtonpost.com)
A Crusade For Competition (washingtonpost.com): The Department of Justice has two blunt warnings for the American home real estate establishment: • Do not block efforts to save consumers money through rebates of real estate commissions. • Do not stand in the way of discount “fee-for-service†firms that will list sellers’ properties for a fixed-dollar amount but not perform all the traditional brokerage services, such as holding open houses or advising on buyers’ offers. I saw this the other day with some buyers; they asked why a property had been on the market for longer than the competing homes…. However, when working as an Exclusive Buyer’s Agent, it is that Agent’s duty to show ALL homes that may fit, FSBO’s, lower fee properties, etc. Simple.
Closing Day Disasters
The New York Times > Real Estate > Closing Day Disasters: IN a real estate utopia, there are no last-minute meltdowns and no buyers forsaking an apartment because of a $100 microwave…. No one acts like a character in an Edward Albee play.But in the ever-so-flawed real world, all those things do happen….There are no data to record how many closings die or are delayed, but brokers are seeing and hearing about more 11th-hour problems.At any time, finishing a real estate deal can be far thornier than just signing deeds, writing checks and handing over the keys to the front door. Closings may not end with a handshake but with failure, fury and two people nearly aborting a $400,000 apartment sale because they can’t decide who should pay $250 to replace a broken air-conditioning unit…. When parties place their own goodwill aside in order to beat out the other guy, even the most simple task can seem insurmountable.