Month: October 2007 (page 3 of 8)
[I was just finishing this up when I read Greg’s terrific post. Timing in life and all that…]
My first jaunt into online polemics was in the early nineties, the topic animal rights. The Animal Liberation Front was active in the Northwest – burning fur farms and research labs to prove the efficacy of their argument – and my (then) wife was involved with the breeding and showing of dogs, the kind of thing that worked a True Believer into lather.
Then, of course, it wasn’t blogs, but newsgroups – talk.politics.animals, as I recall – and it should come as no surprise that conversations tended to get a little, well, testy. I actually took a moderator position for a short time, part of my job to write, every third post or so, a plea of the “Can’t we all just get along?” variety, which would settle things down, but never for much longer than twenty minutes.
[One can tolerate only so much. A reader had logged in to pour out his heart: He was a teacher in a middle school that, for a fundraiser, had staged a pig kissing contest. The kids loved it, but the teacher was traumatized by the humiliation caused the pigs; he’d gone home and cried himself to sleep. What could he do to make others understand? I was asked to step down due to the insensitivity of my reply.]
Turning someone already steeped in the dogma is impossible, but there are tools available to convince the fence sitters: The first thing I did was read the literature, then I downloaded and printed out – I still have the somewhat yellowed copy within arm’s length of where I type – a list of forty three logical fallacies.
Dialogue requires order.
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Unfortunately, the web and blogs have managed to define discourse down even further. And – who’d have thought? – it’s even beginning to infect RE blogs. I think that’s why Rain City Guide’s Dustin Luther issued his preemptive admonition, brilliant in its brevity: Attack ideas, not people; no personal promotion. All’s well, and RCG continues to be one of the best in quality dialogue.
Then Read more
I live in an amazing world, which is to say a world by which I am continuously amazed, without boundary or graduation.
Here’s an example: I cannot for the life of me understand why National Association of Realtors President Pat Combs has not called me personally to ask me to come to Las Vegas for the convention to tell the NAR what it’s getting wrong.
Now you may think that’s an amazing hubris on my part, but in fact I am the obvious candidate for the job. Redfin.com’s Glenn Kelman is the only plausible alternative, but he is too much at odds with traditional real estate to qualify. I, on the other hand, am — on paper at least — the pot-bellied poster-child of the NAR — GRI, ABR, CRS the hard way. Add to that that I have spent many hundreds of hours detailing what’s wrong with the NAR, and have built a national platform from with to promulgate those arguments and, from my point of view — from Planet Cluetrain — the invitation should have been forthcoming months ago.
But there my amazement does not end. For, upon receipt of such an invitation, I would have to decide what to do about it. It wouldn’t be an easy choice. I think I might love to do it — on my birthday, no less — particularly if the audience were very hostile. But I don’t see that there could be any enduring benefit to it. If Pat Combs had ever even heard of the Cluetrain, she wouldn’t have any need to hear from me.
A nicer way, and I could do this easily enough, would be to go in and talk about the exciting world of Web 2.0 — and it seems likely to me that someone will be doing just that at some breakout session or another. And this will be just as stupid and pointless as the Inman BloggerDoggles, where earnest, well-intentioned people try to talk about community while a horde of congenital note-takers scribbles down tips on how to fake sincerity to snag more leads.
“The world sorts itself out” is what Read more
First off.. Well done to Brian, Kris and Jeff (good stuff).. I can only stand so much of the ‘canned’ news coverage of the situation in So Cal.. I used to work 2 1/2 yrs in San Juan Capistrano (yes, while commuting from Northern Cal) as the “real estate guy” for an East Coast Tower company.. I know the Fallbrook area very well and hope everyone will continue to stay safe..
I heard from my Broker (a close friend and honest lender) @ Pride Lending Group that select banks are raising their current maximum loan amount on VA loans as a result of Ginnie Mae eliminating the restriction on the size of mortgage loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Oct. 24th. The increased VA loan limits are expected to expand the availability of $0 Down loans to Veterans (with valid certificates of eligibility) by raising their current maximum loan amount to $1,000,000 plus the VA Funding Fee (for a maximum total of $1,033,000).
I know that there are a couple of experts on the panel in this field (I haven’t been involved in the retail lending side of the business since the early 90’s), can we confirm this? Does the VA still comprise a relatively small percentage of the available buyers? I would assume that this is another attempt (albeit a good start) to get the government involved in addressing the ‘credit crunch’ and move this market in a positive direction. One of my calls today involved a private builder looking to offload hundreds of finished lots at any price. Any attempt (by the gov’t) to address market perception has to be positive at this point, doesn’t it?
I heard from Brian Brady, who also seems to have escaped harm in the fires. His home came closest to being singed, and, while he has not yet been back to see it, he thinks it should be okay.
The podcast linked below is a free-ranging discussion of the fires, the response by individual citizens, and the kinds of structures that might replace those that were destroyed by the fires.
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As you might expect, Kris Berg’s take on the San Diego fires is phlegmatic and funny. She phoned just as I was posting the podcast with Jeff Brown.
Cliff’s Notes: Life is mostly back to normal in Scripps Ranch except that the air is grey with smoke and ash and the kids are off from school. Kris is as funny on the phone as she is in person.
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I was able to connect with Jeff Brown, and we spent a few minutes on the phone talking about today’s events in battling the fires in San Diego.
I was unable to get through to either Kris Berg or Brian Brady, but I’m hoping this simply means their cell phone batteries are dead.
Jeff spoke with Brian earlier today and wrote about it here.
Lani Anglin was able to talk to Kris, which you can read about here.
From Jeff’s point of view, they’re over the hump, and we can only hope he’s right.
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They’re leaving from multiple launch points, and being seen all over. This is the best news we could hope for. They’re fighting through some very dangerous visual conditions.
For the people who’ve expressed an interest in more in depth info, in real time….
You can go online and listen live to KOGO AM 600 in San Diego.
Let me know if you encounter any problems connecting to the stream. I’ve tested it with no problem.
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Dan Melson continues his regular updates on the San Diego fires from a new post.
From Google Blogoscoped, KPBS has created a Google Maps overlay on the San Diego fires, with information on fires, evacuation centers and closed routes. KBPS also has a live radio stream and a Twitter feed.
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“I have some good news – and I have some bad news.”
That was what what an agent in a fellow broker’s office stood up to announce at their weekly meeting.
“I just picked up a new listing.”
And the laughter ensued.
Many of you know why… ’cause you get it. For the rest of you – here’s the reason:
Listings cost time and money – make no mistake. Unless you’re one of these agents who take a listing – stab a sign in the yard – hang a lockbox on the door – and then get back to work prospecting for your next listing… you’re going to be spending precious time and money attempting to sell the property.
Another broker was telling me that the number of listings she is holding is at an all-time high. A couple of years ago, this would be welcome news. Today, however, it is not. It is indicative of a slow resale market.
Many listings that were held by good, responsible agents end up expiring – and turned over to the next agent… who – oddly enough – also cannot sell the property at the price the seller wants.
I get many requests for CMA’s (comparable market analysis) each week… and the sellers, for the most part, don’t like the numbers I give them. So sorry. I am not trying to woo anyone with faulty data or promises. The market is what it is.
And the costs for the agents continue to go up. Look at Russell Shaw’s post regarding Realtor.com. Everyone has their hand in the agent or broker’s pocket – tempting us with the latest method to either acquire new business – or sell our inventory.
So to all you sellers out there – I have some good news and some bad news:
The good news is that if you’re serious about selling your home – it can be done.
The bad news is that it probably won’t be at the price you were hoping for.
.
The phone range at 3:44 AM this morning — Mom was calling to tell me she was packing, as she said, “Just in case”.
‘Just in case’ became reality when she answered the knock on her door around 5. It was a concerned neighbor, ensuring herself Mom knew things were getting maybe too close for comfort. She lives in Spring Valley, a community just east and a touch south of where I live, in La Mesa. Her call came as I was still in bed, listening to the radio. She saved me a call, cuz I was about to assert my rights as concerned son, politely insisting she pack a quick bag, and head over to my place.
While writing, from my living room window I can see to the south and east. Spring Valley’s Mt. Miguel is ablaze — I can clearly see the flames. They’ve been visible since I first looked, around 5:10 this morning.
Before continuing, some folks in other parts of the country, have said they’re not getting nearly enough info on San Diego. For those who would like to find out about friends and relatives here, one of our local TV stations has a pretty solid website, giving updates, maps, and overall coverage of the fires.
Also, the San Diego County Emergency Homepage might be of some help for those seeking info.
300,000 San Diegans have been evacuated — fully 10% of the county’s population.
One trivial note: The Charger’s home game appears almost surely to be moved to Glendale Arizona’s new stadium. The team left yesterday for AZ, hoping they’d be able to return for Sunday’s game. That’s a fantasy. They’ll be in AZ until after they’ve played the game there.
Ramona a town in the northeast part of the country, and Fallbrook, located off of the 15, not far from Temecula, have both been completely evacuated, according to news reports.
I called my brother-in-law just after 6. He lives fairly close to the path the fire has been taking in Spring Valley. He says he’s already got several boxes packed, and his pickup ready Read more
Geez, another fire, no, two of the nasty boogers. Santa Ana’s suck. What’s a Santa Ana you ask? It’s when desert winds from the northeast come swooping down into So Cal, bringing super low humidity, and winds blowing the wrong way. It also brings mid-80’s temperatures in late October.
When a few years of dry weather come one after the other, this is never good for San Diego. Add to the mix all kinds of dry dead wood for fuel, and you have the formula for what’s on the news the last few days.
As I write this it’s now too dark to see the more southern of the two fires. I have a southeasterly facing balcony with a gorgeous view in San Diego’s East County. As recently as an 45 minutes ago I could clearly see the Potrero fire’s smoke plume. It appears we’re winning that one. From about 4 PM until 6:30 or so, it was losing size, and depth of color. A great sign, based on my experience with these huge fires.
The ‘Witch’ fire is another story altogether. It’s not looking good. As of yesterday, it had already burned over 8,000 acres. Personally, my home isn’t in danger. My aunt and uncle, plus a cousin and his wife, living in La Costa (North San Diego County) have fled to Dana Point. Mom, who lives near me, has been my ‘stringer’, reporting on all the affected family members. My sister and her husband almost left their La Costa home, but when, at the last minute the order to leave was downgraded to voluntary they stayed. My brother-in-law is prone to severe asthma, so traveling to their downtown condo through all the muck was deemed far too risky.
Brian Brady, a good friend and almost neighbor, was the gracious host for five families from a community nearby his coastal home, which is close to Del Mar. They were from the Carmel Valley area, which was under mandatory orders to get outa Dodge.
I spoke to Brian an hour ago, finding him in the parking lot, J-3 to be specific, Read more
…Dan Melson is doing regular updates…
< ?php include("SDfiresupdates.php"); ?>
Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate
I’m a busy boy. We’re busy with money work, but Cathleen has been sick, sicker, pneumoniated. The good news is, you don’t have to cut off your ear to take great pictures, you just have to hack like Selma on the Simpsons. I’m picking up the slack, plus I have a great new idea for BloodhoundBlog that we’ll be rolling out shortly. In any case, I might seem abrupt here, but that is no stain on the quality of today’s winning posts.
Jim Duncan was one of the first real estate webloggers I became aware of when we started BloodhoundBlog. We discovered the power of the long tail together in posts about dual agency. He is always to be found on the side of righteousness in real estate — ethics, education, putting the client first with first-rate service. He’s a great blogger, too, as he demonstrates with this week’s Odysseus Medal winner, Wither false blame?, an extended riposte to a particularly lame lamentation about imaginary offenses by the sub-agents who no longer exist in most states:
The author and professors make one accurate argument accidentally – until the real estate industry, mortgage industry, HUD, etc. embrace divorced commissions, we have a long way to go. Divorced commissions means simply that the buyer pays the buyer’s agent and the seller pays the seller’s agent. Until this is fixed, the perception will exist amongst those who don’t know any better – whether by unfamiliarity or neglect (as would seem to be the case in the Wharton professors’ cases) – that true representation does not exist.
I come not to condemn the professors (I have read the Mortgage Professor site for years), but to enlighten them to the wonderful world known as the 21st century and Buyer Brokerage. While the seller may pay my commission now, the loyalty and trust I am earning is the buyers’.
Here’s a proposal – First, apologize and clarify. Second, invite a guest speaker write a guest post on your blog and to explain to your classes what real estate agency and buyer/seller representation are. Explain how much the profession has changed in Read more
A dozen nominees again. It’s a workable number, and it gets us down to nothing but very serious posts. There are three from BloodhoundBlog here, but there’s nothing for it. Two of the three dominated the debate this week. If anything, I’m less fair to our contributors in the final judging, to make sure I’m being fair to everyone else.
Vote for the People’s Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface to see each nominated post, so comparison is easy.
Voting runs through to 12 Noon PDT/MST Monday. I’ll announce the winners of this week’s awards soon thereafter.
Here is this week’s short-list of Odysseus Medal nominees:
< ?PHP
$AltEntries = array (
"Morgan Brown -- FHA secure Qualifying for FHASecure and Refinancing in a Changed Mortgage World”,
“Jim Cronin — Blogging for buyers Looking For Ready To Act Buyers? Blog These Proven To Succeed Real Estate Topics“,
“Dan Green — Housing starts Why The Terrible Housing Starts Number Could Be A Signal Of The Housing Market’s Recovery“,
“Jeff Brown — Social Security First Baby Boomer Applies For Social Security — Let The Games Begin“,
“Kris Berg — Paper trained Paper Trained“,
“Jim Duncan — Wharton calumnies Whither false blame?“,
“Dan Melson — Going vertical Economics of Home Ownership in High Density Areas“,
“Morgan Brown — Wholesaling DOA? Dead Man Walking – Wholesale Lending is Marching Towards Extinction“,
“Benn Rosales — Despised Realtor Realtor most despised – an open letter“,
“Brian Brady — Blog compliance Disingenuous Diatribe: Compliance is Crap-It’s About the Cash“,
“Kris Berg — Face time Face Time or Facebook?“,
“Jeff Brown — Hyperlocal blogging House Agents — Wanna Start the New Year Kickin’ Ass? Here’s How”
);
shuffle($AltEntries);
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$num = count($AltEntries);
for ($i=0; $i< $num; $i++)
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$pieces = explode("\t", $AltEntries[$i]);
$radioGroup .= "
$radioGroup .= “$pieces[0], “;
$radioGroup .= “$pieces[1]”;
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echo (“
- $radioGroup
“)
?>
Deadline for next week’s competition is Sunday at 12 Noon PDT/MST. You can nominate your own weblog entry or any post you admire here.
Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate, real estate marketing