BloodhoundBlog

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Category: General (page 4 of 23)

January 21, 2010

Heckuva Job Brownie

by

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

I believe in change.

I do not believe in politics as usual.

Horse trading behind closed doors isn’t change.

Has Scott Brown’s election defied the norm that all politics are local?

Yup.

Does Scott Brown’s victory represent change?

Jury hasn’t even been seated.  However, I suspect it may actually be the first green chute to all of this change business.

I can honestly say that I was pleased with the results.  Not because I am in alignment with his Republican cohorts, but because voters sent a message – not just locally, but nationally.

Now I openly profess that I voted for Obama despite the Neo-Con rhetoric bombarding me at home.  In my short few months living back home in Texas, my father has almost convinced me that our President’s name isn’t Barack Hussein Obama, but God Damn Obama.  While he hasn’t quite branded me with the cast iron “liberal” prod on my backside, he has broadly casts his brush to paint me with the same blue color – “you and your liberal friends” … needless to say, perhaps I put a smile on my father’s face after admitting Brown’s victory was a good thing.

I think I am more in alignment with the 51% of Massachusetts voters who identify with the Independent political affiliation … they are still in Massachusetts, let’s not kid ourselves – perhaps they’re not blue – maybe light blue.

I’m happy with the results because I want change.  I buy that health care reform is a priority, but the option(s) presented by Congress today represent neither change nor reform.  Again health care reform is important.  I personally agree it’s a priority, yet under our current economic turmoil, is it job number one?

No.

In this morning’s Dallas Morning News I read an interesting article that may share a common theme with Scott Brown’s victory defying the politics is local norm – maybe all real estate is NOT local.  While it doesn’t come as any surprise to all of us – except perhaps Congress – jobs do play a fairly significant role in driving the housing market.  In fact, when people are employed, they tend to purchase homes.

Fascinating.

According to the Read more

January 13, 2010

Using Social Media to Help In Haiti…..

by

Mortgage Officer

Author website

I wasn’t going to put anything up on here, but a very gracious e-mail from Greg Swann encouraged me to lay out my experiences over the last 24 hours and how we can use social media not only to further our businesses but more importantly in dark times like this, we can use them to do good for those who are much less fortunate than us.

For the last 22 hours and 15 minutes (with the exception of a 2 1/2 hour nap around 4:00 this morning,) I’ve been using social media to help in Haiti. Let me explain:

  • As many of you know, my wife and I adopted our two youngest children from Haiti in the summer of 2004. We’ve remained very involved with the orphanage that we adopted them from, God’s Littlest Angels, which is in Petionville Haiti.
  • I’ve been on the board for the orphanage since 2006 and every year since 2003 (with the exception of 2005), at least one of our family has been back down there on a mission trip to help out. My 20 year old has decided to devote her life to third world medical missions, almost certainly in Haiti.
  • Throughout those experiences, I’ve developed a pretty extensive network of people around, literally, the world who have connections to Haiti. Most of those are Facebook Friends.
  • In addition to that, I’ve developed a pretty extensive network of online friends in the real estate and lending communities literally all across the country. If you consider Seattle to Miami to be all across the country, I think I’ve got it covered.

Yesterday, those two worlds met and it’s been truly a mindblowing experience. Let me explain:

  • At 5:15 pm, I got a tweet across tweetdeck that was from @latimes (I use that as one of my news sources). It talked about a massive earthquake in Haiti, near Port Au Prince.
  • I immediately hopped on AIM and talked to God’s Littlest Angels stateside coordinator and confirmed that the orphanage was affected but that the damage appeared minor and everyone was safe.
  • I then spent the next several hours e-mailing, facebooking, twittering and IM’ng with people all Read more
January 13, 2010

The Physics of Economics Will Not Be Mocked – Just Ask YouTube

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Don’t know about you, but I’m sick to death of all the propaganda about Free being the future of ideas. Really? Let’s take that to the extreme. Ideas should be free for the asking? Not in my world. But if you listen to all the utopian crack smokers pontificating while enjoying their afternoon expressos at the local Ivory Tower Starbucks, they’ll tell ya — and I swear I’m not making’ this up — you’ve seen it everywhere — ‘information wants to be free’. Information doesn’t want anything. Duh. Folks who don’t/won’t/can’t come up with new ideas/information — they want information to be free.

Allow me a major, albeit, related detour. I promise it’ll swerve back to the whole concept of Free. I’m reading one of the best books I’ve come across in quite some time. Outliers, written by Malcolm Gladwell. In it, among other things, he gives some astounding examples of what he empirically proves are totally erroneous conclusions based upon false assumptions. These false conclusions are then ‘proven’ by future results. In other words, horrible analysis produced WAY wrong conclusions, which were then proven ‘correct’ years later. Confusing? Here’s an example I lived in real time.

Gladwell talked about this in his book, though he chose youth hockey as an example. Their system mirrors Little League exactly. We all know how Little League works. The kids are kept within their own ages more or less, so as to keep things on as even a keel as possible. When it comes time to pick All-Star teams, performance, merit if you will, is the criteria. It’s been the same since before I was born. It’s also been universally accepted as the best system. Why? They simply point to the kids they chose as ‘the elite’. As they grew older, a percentage became stars in high school. From there, some went to college and thrived at that level. Some eventually became Major League players. How much proof do we need, right? Those not chosen didn’t amount to a hill of beans for the most part.

Wrong, analyst breath. The entire theory is built Read more

December 31, 2009

Stop The Presses! BawldGuy Agrees With Arianna Huffington?!

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Live long enough and you’ll pretty much see and hear everything. I’ve seen a pitcher strike out five — count ’em — five batters in one inning, standing right behind the catcher. I’ve seen a so-called conservative president actually increase the requested spending of a bill authored by Ted Kennedy. Hell, I’ve even seen, be still my heart, the Chargers in the Super Bowl and the Padres in two World Series.

I wonder what odds Las Vegas would lay on me agreeing with the Huffington Post that today is New Year’s Eve? Let’s just say she and I could save each other a buncha time on election days by not voting, since we cancel each other’s vote every time out on virtually every issue/office.

But then it happened. Huffington coauthored a post with Rob Johnson on the topic of what we, as regular folk, can do about the abusive conduct of most of the To Big To Fail banks. It’s both simple and brilliant. They even provide a pithy video and a link to a list of local banks in your community.

The idea? Let’s all take our money outa those thug-like banks and move it to local institutions. The money will still be equally insured. Imagine the message it’ll send to not only the TBTF’s but to Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol HIll who, so far, have been the poster folks for clueless in D.C.

Anywho, thought it was worth sharing.

Happy New Year!!

December 30, 2009

The All Too Often Missing Ingredient

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Over the weekend I was reminded of an illustration of what true commitment is. The story was about breakfast, specifically ham and eggs. You’ve probably heard it. Grandma first told the story to me when I was in high school.

It goes like this. The chicken is involved in the breakfast. She laid the eggs, and went about her business. The pig however is committed to that breakfast. A huge difference.

Think about any part of your life and ask yourself whether you’re the pig or the chicken. How about your business? Are you ‘involved’ like the chicken, or ‘committed’ like the pig?

I’ll only speak for myself here. When I take on a client, time is not an issue. Most of my clients will require many years to achieve their goals. Geography isn’t an issue. We’re already in several states, headed for more. Furthermore, I require the same piggish behavior from my clients. I simply will not work with a client who cares less than I do about their outcome. No exceptions.

You can, as I have, look at areas in your life and your level of commitment to them. How about your kids, your marriage, or your core beliefs. Put them to the test: Are you the pig or the chicken?

Maybe most importantly, why are you one or the other?

December 12, 2009

Into the belly of the beast…

by

Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Author website

So I’ve been building a criminal practice… I’ve now reached the point that I’m bringing in enough clients to make that self-sustaining in terms of paying the bills and generating some income. Criminal practice is fun, but limited in terms of compensation.

My intention has always been to add at least one, maybe two areas of practice onto that. I’ve been considering some kind of debt/bankruptcy law or equine law (or both). Of course, I don’t want to spread myself too thin. There’s a lot to learn in each area. Equine law is uncharted. There are a few practitioners, but none doing it the way I’d like it to be done. I’d need to invent a whole business model myself, test it, then innovate. In addition to that, I’d need to get acquainted with areas of the law for which there are few, if any, mentors. There’d be a lot of self-learning.

Debt/bankruptcy law is pretty well charted, although I have my own innovations I’d like to introduce, particularly on the business and marketing end. The good thing is that while I’d be able to innovate in certain respects, I wouldn’t have to develop a business model out of whole cloth. And there are tried and true litigation methods, and “Continuing Legal Education” classes that teach you those methods.

So I’m in a bit of a quandry. I’m leaning toward the debt/bankruptcy practice because it is proven and because I can anticipate returns in the first half of 2010. These returns are not insignificant. Equine law may be a time and money suck for a while before either failing or being a huge winner. The upside on equine law could be huge, much bigger than bankruptcy/debt law.

Here’s one additional consideration: If you’re a pessimist about this economy, you should expect bankruptcy and debt law to be a thriving area for years and years to come.

Any thoughts?

November 29, 2009

Where’s that inflation?

by

Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Author website

I’ve been saying for a year now that inflation is down the road. I had predicted that we’d start seeing the first signs of it by the end of 2009. And I had said, in anticipation of inflation, the Fed would start raising interest rates, in order to draw out all the money it and the rest of what the federal government has pumped into the economy since the fall of 2008.

But… there’s no apparent inflation yet. The CPI – however accurate that is – has increased at between .2 and .4 percent in July, August, and September.

As a result, the Fed has contented itself with keeping interest rates low. But this can’t last forever can it?

Where’s the inflation? Someone smarter than I please chime in.

November 23, 2009

A World of Thanks…..Bloodhounds

by

Realtor, Renaissance Man

Author website

As we approach the end of this year, celebrating and reminiscing, dining and partying, worshiping and contemplating, I wanted to simply say thanks to all of you. You’re now all part of my world, and thus what you give spills over into that which I, too, am able to give.

A very special thanks to Greg and Cathleen, who yoke us together, all of us, in our individual pursuits, foibles and moments of grandeur.

Enjoy a bit of celebration about the world you Bloodhounds have helped shape. Remember our singular bond, notwithstanding our differences, to be bold and fearless in all our endeavors, seeking a taste of Greg’s Greekness if only for just moments at a time.

Oh, in case you didn’t notice, I managed to sneak into the session around the 50 second mark to add a bit of my own musicality to the group. Happy Thanksgiving week to all of you!!

November 17, 2009

Purposeful Living Is Living For Real

by

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

Such a simple phrase, yet apparently so difficult to execute. Agreeing with myself on what my purposes are was at the same time a task easily accomplished, and reminiscent of a root canal. Once they’re established, any goal flowing from them will almost always be accomplished. The importance of having purpose in our lives can’t be overstated.

I learned about purpose by analogy. Purpose is a map — any destination on the map, if we choose to go there, is a goal. The reason goals aren’t achieved, the root cause, is because the goal’s ‘destination’ isn’t on any of the ‘maps’ of the person’s purposes. If your goal is to go to Canada, but none of your maps include that country, it’s highly unlikely you’ll find your way there.

Experts have devised several methods to help folks discover their purposes. Frankly, I’ve always shied away from the concept of ‘discovering’ a purpose, as I’ve always inferred that to mean it was always there, so not necessarily my choice. We can decide at any time to change our main purpose for existence. One of the extreme examples of this truth was the Biblical story of Paul. In the story he not only radically altered his purpose, but reversed it — becoming the world’s strongest advocate for what he’d previously did his utmost to destroy.

So understand, the excuse for not having a guiding purpose cuz ya can’t ‘discover’ it is lame beyond description. We all decide what our purpose in life is, whether it’s a proactive decision or not. Furthermore, having that purpose will not only cause goals to be far more easily achievable, but will generate the goals resonating with the purpose itself. Who’d a thunk?

I don’t advocate any particular method to decide your purpose. Some write down purposes ’till one hits home. Some go to a quiet place and meditate, some even consult experts from different disciplines. It doesn’t matter as long as it produces a purpose with which you’re both at peace and big time excited.

There’s very little in the world more powerful than a purpose driven goal — Read more

November 11, 2009

A Veteran’s Journey Home

by

Las Vegas Mortgage Blogger

Author website

It was Christmas Eve December 24, 1967, and he stood in front of his parents house for the first time in 21 months since he had left to serve his country in Vietnam.

The cool San Francisco fog was a pleasant change from the sticky Mekong Delta heat that he had endured less than 28 hours earlier.

While pleasant and welcoming, the faint background sounds of traffic and sea gulls confused his heightened sense of awareness.

Trying to gain a perspective of his new surreal, yet familiar surroundings, this 23 year-old kid paused at the bottom of the long steps that led up to his front door….

Can I look my own mother in the eyes without letting her see right through to the pain and fear that is hidden just beyond this external shell of a man?

It had only been weeks, or days, or maybe even minutes since he raced to stop the bleeding and save another brother’s life.

As a Field Medic, he had been trained to maintain composure while holding a dying man’s hand, yet the Army never prepared him for when he returned to the real world.

His mind drifted back to the day his father dropped him off at the bus station when he was heading off to boot camp.

A solid man, who fought back tears as he explained to his son that he joined the fight in World War II so his children wouldn’t have to.

Will his return open up wounds that his father spent years healing? Does he even have to share his story with his Veteran dad, or will he already know the ending?

He took the first three steps…. only 8 more to go before he has to face his future.

A soft bed, secure behind locked doors was motivating him to gently move up a few more steps, only stopping for a brief moment as he cringed with the thought of his prior sleeping conditions.

Nights were either spent in a foxhole infested with fire ants, or on moonlit missions into the jungle rooting out ambushes. Either way, the thought of a full 12 hours of sleep Read more

October 31, 2009

Business as Politics? No way.

by

Raleigh Criminal Lawyer

Author website

I don’t know where I am on the political spectrum.  I don’t think it’s particularly important.  But I know that if I took Robert Worthington’s approach to my business, I would be out of a job.  People come to me with problems.  I try to help them resolve their problems within the set of rules.  They pay me.  End of story.

What I think about those rules when I lay my head down at night is quite distinct from how I earn a living.

Whether you’re a lawyer or a real estate agent, a lender or a widget maker, you add value to the world by solving other people’s problems: keeping them out of jail, finding them a home, helping them finance a purchase, or selling them some widgets.

How you conduct your business – how you treat people and honor your commitments – matters.

What you think about whether they take a tax credit, or borrowed from 2003-2006 at Fed subsidized mortgage rates, or have benefited for decades from the mortgage interest rate deduction does not matter.

And if you’re so concerned about an $8,000 tax credit that you’d turn away customers, I think, quite frankly, your priorities are confused.  There are some deep injustices in the world, and in this country.  An $8,000 giveaway, however stupid or smart a policy that may be, is not one of them.

October 28, 2009

Please do NOT extend the $8,000 tax credit

by

Realtor, Guerilla Technologist

Author website

If you are on the far left, there is no need to read any further, for what I am going to say, is from a capitalist “conservative” mindset (which only means to left wingers that…I must be a hate monger for not wanting to extend the first time home buyer tax credit to those poor innocent people who can’t afford a home in the first place).

To extend the tax credit is simply going to increase the national debt load beyond what taxpayers can already afford to pay, yet weakening the economy even deeper.  Simply put I’m sick and tired of Realtor’s wanting the extension of the tax credit because it only benefits a few parties to a transaction instead of bettering the country.  We need to look at the big picture.  The fact is the tax credit must end at some point in time; that is a fact!  Realtors need to put their own personal interest aside and do what is best for this country, not themselves!  Extending the FREE money tax credit will only increase the pain of debt until the US dollar is worthless.  So the FACT is…Americans must be willing the do the tough thing!

What is the tough thing you might ask? well, for me,  I have refused to work with buyers looking for the tax credit!!! YES, you heard me correctly.  I know that if I am against the tax credit, then I must ACT as I believe.  I BELIEVE the government should not be handing out any of my money “tax payer money” to try and stimulate an economy that is FALSELY INFLATED in the first place.

How about this for a thought.  How about Americans need to live their WAGE so no tax credit is needed!  Here is my thought for the day.  WHAT IF, your home cost 125k instead of 300k?  what if you drove cars 10 years old with no car payments?  Could YOUR WIFE be a stay at home mother for her CHILDREN if this were the case?  Would the 10% unemployment rate drop to near zero if Americans lived their wage so Read more

October 6, 2009

Want buyers to think you are better than sliced bread?

by

Realtor, Productivity Guru

Author website

Were ready for step two of the series on how to effectively use a tablet PC to run your day to day real estate tasks.  I’m including a screencast to actually give you some visualization on how I actually use my tablet PC for working with buyers in the field. Warning: Please turn down volume on screencast prior to starting.
Using a tablet PC when out in the field

The basic premise of what I do with buyers out in the field is extremely simple but very effective for organization, having a go-to information source, and being looked to at a whole new light in your clients eyes.

What I do when working with buyers using my tablet PC:

  • Fire up my MLS and find the homes that I will be showing to my buyer
  • Go to File Print and select the Print labeled “One Note 2007”
  • Once the spec sheet is in One Note I move it into a pre-created notebook for my specific client for organizational reasons
  • You can also print specific tax bills or anything relevant to that specific house you can think of that maybe handy and impressive to show in-front buyers.  The most relevant thing that I have added into my showings is the listing history/price change sheet.  (We all know they ask they questions almost every time no more fumbling, time to be the expert we really are!)
  • Next I go show the house and take notes on each property that we see so I can give relevant feedback to the listing agent.  Taking notes on every house is also a great way to remind buyers about the prior homes.

As you can see what I’m presenting here is really simple and should not intimidate anyone that is afraid of technology.  It’s as simple as Print/Move to a Notebook this is a good start of what we will be building in on future posts.
The real reason I’ve decided to take on this Tablet PC for Real Estate blog journey is to communicate with other people who share similiar interest’s and can share new ways of working with a tablet PC to become more efficient Read more

September 28, 2009

FHA Broker Approval Delegated to Approved DE Lenders: Will This Squeeze Out Smaller Players?

by

Mortgage Technologist

Author website

Over the last eight days, calls from my clients and mortgage associates having been growing on a daily basis concerning the recent announcement by the FHA delegating mortgage broker approval to originate FHA loans to approved DE lenders. Quite frankly, many small lenders and mortgage brokers are concerned the mega-lenders will yield a big stick and force the smaller players out of the FHA playing field.

In this video, I provide an overview of the concerns, share background information and then present my thoughts.

FHA Delegates Broker Approval to DE Lenders

Note: This is my first video, so please excuse any rookie production mistakes.

September 24, 2009

Yes, there are Good and Honest Loan Officers in Florida!

by

Mortgage Technologist

Author website

Two weeks ago, I attended the Miami REBar Camp to witness for myself what I had been hearing and reading about. While I found the event educational and interesting, what I enjoyed foremost was getting to meet and know Chris Brown better.

Being on the Mortgage Revolution Education Committee, I had spoken to Chris, however had not had an opportunity to get to know him well. Being the information gathering Ninja loan officer I learned Chris is, he conducted marketing intelligence and reviewed the attendee list and who he would like to meet. Upon seeing I was attending, he called and told me he “would love to meet me and talk shop.” When he discovered I was planning on driving from Atlanta to Miami, he asked if he could catch a ride with me as I drove through Orlando. Being that we had several mutual friends and they assured me Chris was stand-up guy, I agreed to meet and pick him up at one of the Orlando I-75 exits.

For the trip, my Mother also decided to tag along for ride, as she had never been to Miami. Needless to say, Chris and my Mom hit it off immediately and for the first hour of the trip, they discussed and shared their favorite Bible passages. As for me, if my Mom likes someone, that is normally a good sign. For the last three hours of our journey, Chris and I engaged in a Socratic learning experience that truly impressed me. Quite frankly, Chris loves learning and implementing strategies that put his clients in the best overall financial position, even if that means he makes a lesser commission or recommends NOT getting a home loan (no commission). Having been in the mortgage business for twenty-three years, believe me; I can spot and smell a bull shitter a mile away…Chris’ sincerity and concern for his clients and referral partners is genuine.

In addition, Chris was aware of my background and the success I had experienced as a mortgage originator, sales manager and mega-bank executive. In a nutshell, he maximized his time with me asking questions on Read more

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Inventing Real Estate 2.0

Welcome to BloodhoundBlog, the national real estate industry marketing and technology weblog written by, for and about real estate professionals. Better yet, welcome to the wired world of real estate. We are busily inventing Real Estate 2.0 – technology, marketing, service and salesmanship. Like all Bloodhounds, we are smart, frisky and fiercely independent. We've built a spot on the earth – beloved over all – where each one of us can be who we are, no matter who that might be. We are committed to an idea of excellence that will flush the bums, the con-men and the crybabies out of the real estate industry. If you yearn to have your failures excused, your moral lapses absolved or your boo-boos kissed, seek elsewhere. But if you are sick to death of mediocrity – welcome home. Read all about us, subscribe to our feed and steel yourself for the hunt. We work hard, we play hard, we learn everything we can – and we bow to no one.

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